"Smokescreen, can you stop at Taco Shell? I am starving!" Torryn groaned from the passenger seat of Smokescreen, still clad in her cheer uniform as her guardian drove her home from the game.

Unsurprisingly, Memorial High won by a landslide and most of the team was celebrating by having what was supposed to be a "crazy" after-party at the quarterback's house. Torryn, of course, had been invited but opted not to go knowing Smokescreen would drive her and she truly did not feel like having him witness that side of her.

"Sure thing," came Smokescreen's enthusiastic reply as he turned into the empty drive-through of Taco Shell.

Quickly, Torryn unbuckled her seatbelt, crawling from the passenger seat and into the driver's seat. It was well past ten o'clock at night making the popular fast-food chain empty as it closed in an hour. However, this worked in both Smokescreen and Torryn's favor for what happened next.

As Torryn sat in the driver's seat, Smokescreen for whatever reason had taken that moment to activate his holoform. Right under Torryn in the driver's seat.

"Jesus Christ!" Torryn yelped as the familiar but foreign holoform of Smokescreen activated and made it so she was now sitting on his lap.

"Oh, sorry," Smokescreen apologized, not sensing the awkwardness of the situation as he subconsciously wrapped his arms around the cheerleader's waist.

Forcing the impending blush to go away, Torryn cursed while turning back so her head was facing Smokescreen. "Smokescreen," she hissed with embarrassment, not taking note that Smokescreen was still driving his alt mode to the ordering device of the drive-thru. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I thought since I have my holoform now, it was my job to order your food," He explained with a shrug causing Torryn to sigh in exasperation.

"But you don't even know how a drive-thru works!"

"Hello, welcome to Taco Shell, what can I get started for you?" The voice of a tired-sounding teen drifted from the ordering device in the empty drive-thru to Smokescreen whose window was hanging open.

Quickly, Torryn sat straighter causing Smokescreen to inaudibly groan at the foreign feeling coming from his pelvis area. Ratchet had not mentioned anything about that!

"Uhm..." Torryn was quick to scan the menu, her eyes snapping over all the options at what seemed to be the speed of light. "Yeah, can I get an "authority burrito" with a medium coke?"

She shouted, ignoring how Smokescreen's arms around her waist made her feel. Actually, more like how this entire situation made her feel.

"Of course, will that be all?"

Not thinking about it, Torryn asked possibly the most stupid thing in that situation. "You want anything Smokey?"

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry!" She mumbled in embarrassment before turning back to her order. "No that'll be all!"

"Okay, your price is $3.56 at the second window, have a taco-tastic night!"

"Thank you!" Torryn shouted as Smokescreen began rolling up his window, the car slowly lurching forward. "Dude, you got to get rid of your holoform now, the looks we will get if this is how we come to the window..."

Groaning loudly, Smokescreen tilted his head back, his amazing bright blue eyes gleaming with annoyance at not being able to use his holoform. "Fine," he sighed as the holoform fizzled away leaving Torryn to plop back down on the seat, Smokescreen's full attention now in his alt mode.

As Smokescreen rolled up to the window, Torryn pulled out a black credit card from the bra of her cheer uniform.

"That's where you keep your things?" Smokescreen's Autobot insignia lit up on the steering wheel.

Rolling her eyes, Torryn lightly slapping the wheel. "Only when I'm wearing my uniform, now be quiet, they're about to open the window," she hissed as the window opened revealing a girl around Torryn's age with heavy bags under eyes.

"$3.56 please," she muttered so quietly that Torryn had to lean in to hear properly.

Mutely, Torryn handed the girl the card watching as she swiped it while tapping her nails against the card reader from inside the restaurant. Torryn eyed the way the girl's hair was colored pink and pulled up into a ponytail. Not only that but the girl was forced to wear the classic "Taco Shell" hat covering most of her forehead.

"Nice nails," Torryn complimented the worker's vibrant nail color as she handed back her card.

"Oh thanks, just got them done yesterday," she smiled at the redhead before her gaze traveled down Torryn's body clad in her cheer uniform. "How'd the game go? I obviously couldn't go because I'm working,"

Assuming this teenager went the Memorial High alike to the rest of the teens in this crummy little town, Torryn answered her question.

"Pretty good, we won by a landslide, not like Gerome High is much competition though," Torryn smiled thanking the worker as she handed her the brown bag filled with her burrito.

"That's true," the worker giggled while handing Torryn her coke, Torryn placing the drink in Smokescreen's cupholder. "Nice car, by the way, real beauty,"

Patting the steering wheel that was warmer than usual, Torryn handed the girl a smile, "Yeah, he is," Torryn spoke while waving to the girl and pressing Smokescreen's gas.

"Aaghh!" Torryn jumped at Smokescreen's cry, her hands gripping the steering wheel even tighter.

"What? What's wrong?" Torryn's eyes flicked around his interior trying to find something even slightly out of place with her guardian.

"You pressed my gas!" He complained, "I'll handle the driving, let go of the wheel and get your foot off me!" The young guardian exclaimed earning a scoff from Torryn.

"Whatever," Torryn sighed, but complied and simply dug into her bag of food.

Bringing out her burrito, she tore open the wrapping wasting no time in digging in. She had not eaten for hours and she was extremely hungry. Moaning at the taste, the redhead eagerly ate her food.

Unfortunately for Smokescreen, he had decided to take the turn into the small road leading to Torryn's home rather fast causing for Torryn to drop a part of her burrito onto his seat.

Torryn winced when Smokescreen screamed overdramatically, crying out for Torryn to get it off.

"Jesus Christ," Torryn rolled her eyes while using one of the napkins in the food bag to wipe the small portion of her burrito off of his seat. "Don't be so dramatic, there it's gone," she tossed the dirty napkin back into the bag.

"Well excuse me if I don't want human food on my seats, that's so disgusting," Smokescreen sassed.

Torryn gasped as if Smokescreen had just committed taboo. "Food is not disgusting, food is the best thing to ever happen to mankind. Besides, it's your fault for taking that turn so sharp anyway,"

Smokescreen only grumbled in response, but he was secretly smiling at the girl whom—as much as he hated to admit it— was slowly stealing his spark.

✸✸✸

"Knock it off, femmes!" Ratchet growled in irritation at Torryn and Miko.

"Last I checked I am a girl, not a femme," Torryn teased the grumpy Autobot medic, Miko throwing her friend a smile from where they were carelessly dangling at the edge of the human comfort zone.

Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead were off on recon for the next few hours leaving only Optimus, Ratchet, and the humans at the base. With none of their guardians there to entertain them, the humans had taken to entertaining themselves and each other.

Jack and Raf had chosen to play a rather violent game on the game station, something both of them had been glued to all day. It was much more interesting than the racing games they usually played as well as much more competitive. Torryn and Miko, on the other hand, chose to swirl up some trouble by pestering Ratchet to oblivion while he tried to work.

"Ratchet, will you pretty please go on a date with me?" Miko begged in a playfully annoying tone while batting her eyelashes.

Torryn burst out laughing, falling backward and gripping her stomach as she heard Miko's words. Ratchet slowly turned to the Japanese girl with wide optics, he could not believe what was happening. Had the humans gone crazy overnight?

Growling, Ratchet pointed a digit at Miko. "Listen well, I will most definitely never go on a date with you, ever, and if I ever catch wind that you are dating someone even half my age...!" Ratchet was threatening causing Torryn to laugh even harder and Miko to let out a few snorts herself.

Ratchet truly did sound like an overprotective father with the way he was chastising Miko.

"Goddamnit!" Ratchet, Miko, and Torryn turned to Raf in shock at hearing that phrase fall from the younger boy's lips.

He never cursed.

Raf was grabbing his hair and shaking his head at the game while Jack did a victory dance over the him.

"Haha! Suck on that!" In the background, Jack's virtual character could be seen pulling out the intestines of Raf's videogame character.

Yes, it seemed the humans had indeed gone crazy overnight.

"What are you doing? What is that game?" Ratchet demanded, seeing the violence of the video game.

In the short few seconds, Ratchet had taken his eyes off the girls, it seemed Torryn and Miko easily slipped under the doctor's watchful eye and made their way to Miko's speaker.

"THE BITCH IS HUNGRY!" Torryn practically screamed in the microphone while Miko violently strummed the strings of her heavy metal guitar, the loud sound of Torryn's heavy metal rock singing and Miko's guitar quite literally shook the base.

If the microphone did not already amplify Torryn's voice, the fact that the girl was using a louder tone than normal—A.K.A a slight banshee tone—did.

Ratchet cried in frustration; the loud sound of the video game, the cover of a heavy metal song, and Ratchet's screaming had finally caught enough of Optimus Prime's attention that the Prime began making his way from the back of the base where he was peacefully sipping some energon to the main part where the doctor and humans currently resided.

If Optimus was being honest with himself, he was not sure what he walked into when he entered the main part of the base.

"Miko and Torryn!" Ratchet was screaming at the two girls who were jumping around, Torryn shaking her long hair out as she screamed/sang into the microphone alike to a true heavy metal star.

Miko herself waggled her tongue as she arched her back and struck every note with what they all swore was the noise of hell. Jack and Raf were both taken back into their game, concentrated looks on their faces with bloodshot eyes.

"By the All Spark!" Ratchet had suddenly thrown a huge wrench at the speaker causing it to explode a little as it immediately broke. "Shut up!"

Miko and Torryn shrieked, the 'music' dying down with the speaker's demise.

"Ratchet!" Miko yelled in outrage, stomping her foot on the ground as the robotic medic smirked at the tiny human.

Rolling her eyes, Torryn looked to Miko. "Don't worry Miko, I'll buy you a better even louder speaker," she moved her eyes to Ratchet who once again looked furious.

"And I will break that one too—"

The medic was cut off by the gentle but firm tone of their leader.

"What is going on here?" Optimus Prime questioned in a slightly strict tone, looking to the humans and Ratchet disapprovingly.

"We're bored..." Miko whined before anyone could speak up causing for the blue optics of Optimus to fall onto her.

"FUCK YOU!"

Everyone turned to the person who had said that in shock, Torryn doubling over at the sight of Jack screaming profanities to the television.

As it would turn out, Raf was the one who beat him this time. The small boy pushed his glasses up with a victorious smile, not even fazed at Jack having a freakout and screaming into the cushions of the couch.

The others were staring at them wide-eyed, Ratchet's jaw actually having fallen slack. Shaking his helm, Optimus remained calm like always.

"It would be wise of me to take the children somewhere else, I can see sitting here cooped up is doing nobody any good," Optimus spoke to Ratchet, silently pondering on where he would take the children.

"That," Jack hissed, suddenly unplugging the television causing Raf to yell in irritation, "is a great idea!"

"What is wrong with you?" Raf nearly screamed, his tone much louder than usual.

Torryn snickered as Raf hit Jack with a pillow in a place where the sun didn't shine.

"Get him, Raf, take him down!" Torryn cheered as Miko pumped her arms watching Raf attack Jack with a pillow like a vicious dog.

"I promised to bring you a snowball a while back didn't I, Raf?" Optimus desperately tried to get Raf's attention, not wanting to physically pull the human boys away from each other.

Luckily, his attempt worked as Raf slowly clambered from the groaning Jack.

"Yes, you did!" He chirped, Torryn raising a brow between the two, surprised with how fast Raf could snap back into his normal self.

Torryn quite liked it when the younger boy got aggressive, it was funny.

"Very well, how about a trip to Colorado? I heard it is snowy at this time of year," how the Prime ever heard that Torryn would probably never know.

However, that did not mean she was not up for a trip to snowy Colorado.

"Ooh, yes please!" Raf grinned along with the three other teens, all of them now leaning over the edge so they were closer to Optimus who looked down upon them with the hint of a smile.

Sparklings. Children. They were all the same to Optimus, and he had to admit that he loved every second with the human children whom he had the opportunity to call his friends.

A few minutes later and the children were dressed for snow all huddled inside the cab of Optimus as he drove through the swirling green portal. Quickly, Torryn and Miko had their faces pressed against the windows taking in the sight of the snow-covered clearing Optimus had driven out to.

Torryn herself was quite fond of the snow having grown up in Seattle and experiencing it all her life. This was the first year that she had ever lived somewhere where it did not snow, and though Torryn was curious about the change, she had to admit she missed Seattle's normal rainy weather and white winters.

All Jasper had nature-wise was dirt, dirt, and guess what? More dirt with dust added into the mix.

As Torryn would say, it was "so not the move".

Optimus came to a stop in the middle of the clearing just as the ground bridge disappeared behind them. Immediately the familiar large body of Optimus's holoform appeared in the driver's seat right next to Miko causing the girl to jump.

Laughing, Raf threw open the door of Optimus, jumping into the softly fallen snow, his nose quickly turning red from the cold. Jack was next followed by Torryn then Miko and Optimus.

Optimus's holoform, Torryn, Miko, and Jack watched with smiles as Raf reached down touching snow for the first time, the boy taking his gloves off and allowing his own fingers to feel the freezing crushed ice.

With a large smile, Raf dropped the snow in his palm before shoving his glove back on. There was no warning when Raf turned around suddenly and launched himself at the Prime, wrapping his smaller frame around Optimus's large stature.

Optimus's holoform was dressed in winter attire as well, though he did not actually need it, Optimus simply wanted to join in with the human's festive outfits.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Raf repeated while hugging Optimus's waist.

Optimus himself stood frozen with wide blue eyes, glancing down at the boy in shock. In this war, hugging was not something done commonly anymore — the Prime could not even remember the last time he was hugged.

The last time he was hugged was probably by his late Conjunx Endura; Elita One, over seven thousand years ago. As much as he did not want to admit it, Optimus missed the feeling of a hug and he quite enjoyed the way the smaller boy was hugging him.

Allowing a rare smile to grace his lips, Optimus reached down picking Raf up and hugging him to his chest as a father would do to a son. Raf laughed while cuddling Optimus back: Torryn, Miko, and Jack suddenly felt left out as they watched the two hug.

"Move over, big guy, we're coming in!" Miko shouted while wrapping her own arms around Optimus.

"Scoot over, Miko!" Torryn hollered as she too hugged Optimus from next to Miko, Jack following by gripping the Prime harshly and hugging him.

Optimus stood with a large blush growing on his holoform's cheeks, hugging all of the children in a group hug. Yes, he definitely loved hugging the children, they were so much more precious than even they themselves realized.

They, as well as the rest of the human race, were the innocent in this long harsh war between the Decepticons and Autobots.

Torryn pressed a long smooch to Optimus's cheek before pulling away, the Prime smiling even more at the affectionate gesture. Jack and Miko followed after her, Optimus setting Raf down watching as the older teenagers showed Raf how to make a snowball.

Looking at them now, Optimus could not help but think of his young rookie on Team Prime. In reality, Smokescreen was the equivalent of Jack and Torryn in age (maybe a few years older by technicality), and Bumblebee was only slightly older.

It truly was a shame to think of such young Cybertronians fighting in this terrible war when only a few million years ago they would have most likely been doing as any young Cybertronian would. Gaining an education, hanging out with others, and having fun, but that was all wiped away with Cybertron when it fell.

And now, millions of years later, both the Autobots and Decepticons were nearly wiped out but they still could not stop fighting. At this point, all Optimus was really fighting for was the protection of the human race from Megatron. After all, with his species being so scarce, and the Autobots even scarcer, what did they have left to fight for?

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the Decepticons and Autobots were completely extinct. Energon was running low and continuing to fight was doing no one any good.

Optimus sighed at these thoughts turning to face the beautiful snow-covered sight of the mountains. Earth was a beautiful planet, sometimes Optimus thought it was even more gorgeous than Cybertron had been.

While Cybertron was a metal technological planet, Earth was the opposite. Though many of his race (the Decepticons) only saw a dirt-ball of a planet, Earth was so much more than that. It was amazing how far the species was able to evolve on Earth in such little time, not that Unicron would realize it being the center of their planet, but he was the cause for the birth of such a glamouring natural species.

Optimus puffed out a breath, shoving his gloved hands in the pockets of his jeans. It was interesting to him, the humans were so young with a bright future, and yet the Cybertronians were so old with what was no doubt going to turn out to be a devasting future.

Optimus could only pray the human race would not make the same mistakes that his species had.

Optimus was cut from his thoughts by the voice of a familiar redhead.

"Snowball fight, assholes!"

Before Optimus could turn around and reprimand her for her use of language, he grunted in surprise when something cold hit the back of his head. Slowly, he turned around with a raised eyebrow, catching sight of the children's looks. 

Miko covered her mouth with her hands trying not to laugh, Jack looked at him with wide eyes, Raf was smiling, and Torryn... well Torryn was laughing.

Looking at her now, Optimus could not help but compare her to a fox in the snow with the way the white snow stuck to her bright hair. He also knew she was the one who had hit him with the snow.

Allowing a small smile to creep up his face, Optimus forgot all about his previous thoughts, for once just living in the moment and having fun.

Gosh, fun seemed so foreign to the Prime now, he could not even remember the last time he let himself have fun. Being around the children though, it seemed he was unable to stop himself from having fun.

Jack, Miko, and Raf grinned as they watched the leader gather snow in his hands, aiming straight for Torryn who was too busy laughing to notice the oncoming snowball. With perfect precision, Optimus threw the snowball at Torryn hitting her straight in the face causing the other three children to burst out in laughter. Optimus let out a few chuckles himself at the disbelieving gaze Torryn was throwing at him.

"You actually just hit me with a snowball!" Torryn yelled with amusement clouding her tone.

"Yes, I did, just like I am about to hit Miko," as he said that, the snow went flying hitting Miko square in her chest.

"Oh, it is so on!" Miko cried as the children teamed up against Optimus, but stood no chance against the leader's quick reflexes.

Snow went flying for what seemed like hours, and laughter and happiness spread throughout.

It wasn't until Raf had managed to hop on Optimus's back playfully, that the snow stopped being thrown. Optimus gently flipped Raf off his back and into the snow, playfully pinning him down.

"Take him down!" Torryn cried as Miko let out a battle cry, tackling the Prime away from Raf and into the snow.

Torryn and Jack followed after her, all the children teaming up against Optimus in a dog pile. Optimus laughed loudly at the children on top of him, truly comparing them to sparklings now. After a few minutes of keeping Optimus down, Miko suddenly hopped away.

Spinning around, Miko sang out, "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Grinning, Torryn was the second one to get off Optimus, joining her best friend in rolling together a huge white ball of snow.

"What is a snowman?" Optimus questioned as Raf and Jack helped him stand up, Optimus brushing the snow out of his hair.

"C' mon, we'll show you!" Raf cheered as they joined Miko and Torryn.

Optimus was in charge of lifting the large balls of snow on top of each other while Torryn and Miko did the rolling, and Jack and Raf found the decorations. At last, they were done, the snowman standing with two large branches sticking out of the sides and small pebbles to be its eyes with mouth and the buttons on its chest.

"Now all we need is a carrot for the nose," Miko chirped with a hand tapping her chin.

"Where are we going to get a carrot though?" Raf asked while looking up at everyone.

"Oh! I have one!" Torryn laughed while pulling a carrot out of her coat pocket and sticking it in place of a nose.

Optimus, Raf, Miko, and Jack gave her weird looks, Jack shaking his head.

"Why do you have a random carrot in your pocket?" Jack questioned earning an eye roll from Torryn.

"Why did I need to help you and Sierra finally go on a date?" She quipped causing Jack to glare and Miko to giggle.

"Is this supposed to resemble a human?" Optimus finally questioned with a funny smile, not seeing the resemblance between this snow and humans.

"Yep!" Miko cheered, only for Torryn to finish her sentence. "Only, it's missing something," Torryn hummed while plucking Jack's snow hat off his head.

Jack grumbled at the loss of his hat but didn't say anything as Torryn placed it on the snowman, taking off her scarf and wrapping it around the length of the snowman.

Optimus smiled, wordlessly taking off his gloves and putting them on the branches meant to represent the snowman's arms.

"Let's name him... Martin," Raf said with a breath.

There was a pause before everyone grew grins, all nodding.

"Okay, Martin the Snowman it is!"

They stood examining Martin with a grin for a few more minutes before they noticed the sun going down and the temperature beginning to drop drastically. Raf started shivering, but there was still a happy look plastered on his face.

"Perhaps it is time for us to return," Optimus spoke while leading the kids to his alt mode which was still sitting there ideally.

They nodded in agreement while getting into Optimus's warm interior sighing at the newfound warmth. Shutting his door as the children all got inside of him, his holoform grinned at them before fizzling away.

Immediately, his engine revved to life, the blue and red truck driving toward the ground bridge that Optimus had just called for.

"We need to do something like this again, can we Optimus?" Torryn begged, holding the large steering wheel as she was the one sitting in the driver's seat.

There was a pause before Optimus answered. "Of course,"

"Ooh, I vote sledding!"

"No way, how about cliff jumping?"

"Hiking?"

"What about exploring some caves?"

Though the children could not see it as Optimus drove them through the ground bridge, the leader was smiling. Yes, he most definitely would do something like that with them again.