Airachnophobia (Airachnid X Male Reader)

8. Not Mine, but Not Yours

     Y/N had taken a walk into the forest every day since Airachnid left, hopeful he might hear the low hum of propellors above him. So far, after two weeks, he had had no such luck. It wasn't exactly disheartening, since she was an alien who did threaten to kill him. He just had some unfinished business with said alien, that was all. He had yet to even decide what the favor would be if she did show, so he didn't know what he would say to her. He did recognize, however, that the thought of it was eating up his focus during the day.

     Something Y/N had realized that made everything make a little more sense was that Airachnid was responsible for the giant webs in the forest. It didn't even click in his brain that her name was a play on the family of bugs spiders belonged to. As much as he hated spiders, it was because of the mystery surrounding their small, spindly bodies, covered in hair. They even use their blood like a hydraulic piston to move their legs, which creeped him out to no end. While Airachnid did in fact have eight legs (something Y/N was surprised to see once she stood up), none of the reasons she terrified him were the same reasons spiders did.

     Y/N's phone rang, breaking his chain of thought as he walked. Assuming it was one of his parents, he put it to his ear.

     "Hello." He said, almost exasperated by how much they were checking in on him after the whole Airachnid incident. Obviously he hadn't told either one of them what happened, for fear of the giant spider somehow finding out, but they were worried regardless after seeing the state he was in.

     "Greetings, young Y/N." A familiar deep voice pierced his ears from the other line. Jumping from surprise caused Y/N to drop his phone, and he scrambled to the ground to pick it up. Reading the name of the caller ID, something he should have done before answering, he saw the words Optimus Prime.

     "You caught me off guard there, sorry." Y/N apologized. "I forgot to look at the caller ID before answering." Optimus made a hum of understanding through the line.

     "I would have been surprised had you been expecting me." The Prime reasoned. "I am simply checking to make sure you are still intact. Is this an inopportune moment?" He asked, innocently. Y/N shook his head, a gesture he realized would be lost through their communication method.

     "I'm fine, after getting what she wanted, Airachnid left me alone and flew off to who knows where. In fact, assuming she hasn't bugged me, forgive the pun, I'd be willing to tell you everything that happened if you're concerned about it." Y/N admitted. It seemed to be just what the mech needed to hear, as he huffed, or vented, in approval.

     "I was hopeful this would be the outcome. I will come retrieve you shortly. Would you mind sending me your coordinates?" As Optimus spoke, Y/N grew wary. He hadn't realized he would be going on a field trip to the Autobot interrogation room. As if reading his mind, the red and blue titan explained further. "You won't be in any danger, but the team would like to hear your story. Especially the children." The Prime elaborated.

     "Children? What children?" Y/N was officially lost. Do Cybertronians have kids? How would that even work? Y/N thought to himself. Before he could get an answer out of the mech, a familiar green, swirling vortex appeared in front of him with a loud noise. With an unclear understanding of how long he would be gone, Y/N quickly texted his father before anything happened.

     Y/N: I'll be gone a little while, not sure how long. Field trip.

     Dad: DW about it, just make sure you get employed soon.

     Y/N: Yeah, yeah. 🙄

     Just as Y/N hit send on the last message, a red and blue 18-wheeler (minus the trailer) appeared through the entrance of the vortex, something the Autobots called a Ground Bridge last time he saw it. The passenger door opened by itself, and it took Y/N an embarrassingly long time to realize the truck was actually the Prime's vehicle form. He allowed himself a small smile as he climbed up the step to the door.

~~~~~

     The rest of the Autobots waited patiently in a circle around the entrance to the Ground Bridge, but Arcee was more fidgety than usual.

     "I hope this doesn't become a regular thing." The undersized blue bot admitted to Bulkhead, who happened to be next to her. "I get a lot of hostile energy from the human." She elaborated. Bulkhead brushed her off.

     "You're overthinking it. I didn't get anything like that." The green mech reassured her. He clearly hadn't seen what she had.

     "Didn't you see the way he looked at me? He didn't do it to the rest of you." As she spoke, she recalled the glare she'd received from the man upon stepping through the Ground Bridge. Her concern got Bulkhead's processor out of the scrapyard for once. He lifted his chin in thought as he crossed his arms. A smile grew on his face as he came to a conclusion only he thought was funny.

     "Maybe she talked smack about you to the little guy." He laughed as he said it, the concept hilarious to the big mech. As abstract as it seemed, Arcee wouldn't write off the possibility until she knew for sure.

     "Not funny, you boulder." She countered. Bulkhead just kept laughing to himself about his own quip. All heads turned as the Ground Bridge reopened, allowing their beloved leader through. It wasn't him that all the bots were focused on though, and Miko voiced the opinion everyone shared.

     "So where's the guest?" She asked, loud enough through the silence of the room to make Arcee recoil, rubbing her audio receptors with her tiny digits. The main issue she had with being shorter than the rest of the crew was that she was closer to Miko on the ground, meaning all the screaming and pouting Miko did on a regular basis were ingrained in Arcee's processor. The discomfort almost made her forget about the human, but she snapped back to reality when he got out of the red and blue truck in front of her.

     The first thing he did was look around the room taking everything in with wide eyes, until those eyes reached Arcee and narrowed.