Transformers Short Story

Proposal

Rose hummed to herself as she walked through the base, looking over her clipboard as she passed the lined up shipments in the side hanger. The CO placed her clipboard on one of the boxes and counted the containers, making sure all her inventory was accounted for. The base was pretty quiet for a weekend. A majority of the soldiers and Autobots were lounging outside in front of the base or in their personal quarters. Rose nodded in satisfaction when everything was organized to her liking, turning on her heel to exit the side hanger into the main command center. She glanced up at the Communication Deck, pleased to see the desktops were all empty and the larger monitor, where Ratchet usually stood, was dark and silent. Rose smoothed down her clothes. Seeing as it was a weekend Rose had allowed for a civies day and all the soldiers were dressed in casual clothes for the occasion. Airforce Ones, light grey sweatpants and one of Drift's oversized T-shirts was her outfit for the day; made complete with Rose's dog tags and the twin gold chain (which she shares with Mitsy). She paused to fix her hair into a high ponytail, shaking out the tension from her shoulders as she let out a deep sigh. The light from the open base doors bounced off something, making a shiny film over the ground. Rose glanced down to her wedding band, a simple diamond ring. Rose smiled, despite herself, and stared at the newest addition to her jewelry. Drift had picked out the ring with her about a year prior but he hadn't actually proposed until two days ago. The samurai had waited until the anniversary of their first meeting, back when they were just younglings. Rose smiled at the memory of their private and intimate proposal, her smile turning mischievous as she looked out at her team laying around the base. Not a single person had noticed the addition to Rose's and Drift's hands and the couple were beginning to think they'd had to announce the news themselves. Rose fidgeted with the ring as she walked out of the base, greeting people as she tried to locate her new fiance. Drift was situated towards the far side of the base, cleaning his weaponry with his two pupils: Jetstorm and Slipstream. The two mini-cons paused their work to greet Rose, "Rose!" The CO smiled at their excited greeting, "You all look busy." Jetstorm straightened from his meditative position and proudly showed off one of Drift's striated throwing stars. Rose took the piece out of his servos and inspected the metal before tossing it with all her strength to Drift, who promptly caught it, his optics twinkling, "There was nothing else to do." Rose hummed, looking over the other weaponry laid out before them as she leaned against his right thigh plate, her arms crossed. Drift shifted slightly to accommodate her, his frame pleasantly warm after being in the sun all day, and he noted, "You will get burned if you lean against my plating all day, my blossom." Rose glanced up at Drift, tuning out the mini-cons snickers as she was scolded by their master, "I'll be fine, Drift." Rose sat neatly next to his leg, the bulk of it creating a shadow across her lower half as she rested against him. Drift only huffed in amusement before inspecting the rest of his gear and positioning it back in it's rightful places. Rose sat with the three of them in comfortable silence, watching the rest of N.E.S.T lounge all around them. "Rose!" Rose turned in the direction she was being called, raising a single eyebrow as Miko bounced over to her from Bulkhead's side, "I haven't seen you allllll day!!! Are you hiding from me?" The teenager plopped herself down next to Rose, patting Drift's upper leg with a chuckle as the samurai only rolled his optics. Rose chuckled at her infectious mood, "I've been catching up on paperwork and moving around the new shipments we got, what have you been doing? The base has been way to quiet." Miko gave her a fake pout at her teasing words, "Hey! I can be quiet! Me and Bulkhead have been sunbathing while we watch the new Monster Truck Rally! It's so cool! They brought out my favorite driver from the last show!" Rose nodded along, "It's good to see you're keeping Bulkhead out of trouble." The green wrecker sputtered at her words, "Me? I've been trying to keep Miko entertained for the past three hours!" Miko stuck her tongue out at her companion, her eyes twinkling, "Admit you like watching the rallies too, Bulk." Bulkhead deflated slightly and rubbed at the back of his helm sheepishly, "Well, I guess you're right." Miko cheered at his confession, "I told ya so!" Rose shook her head at their banter but Ratchet interrupted the two before they could really argue, "You both like Monster Truck Rallies, we get it." Miko rounded on the CMO with a mini glare, "Oh and what have you been doing, Docbot?" Ratchet huffed at the nickname, his plating smoothing over itself as he pointed to a datapad at his side, "Reading." Miko wrinkled her nose, "Reading? Now?" Ratchet rolled his optics and muttered, "Primus knows some reading would do you some good." Rose covered her mouth in an attempt to hide her smile but Miko puffed up at his words, glaring at everyone who was laughing, "I do enough reading in school." Ratchet narrowed his optics, a clever look on his face plates as he pointed out blandly, "School you barely stay in?" Miko gave an outraged shriek as everyone broke into laughter and she turned on her heel to stomp towards Bulkhead, her nose in the air as she sulked, "At least Bulkhead doesn't complain about my academics." Bulkhead opened his intake to retort but Wheeljack elbowed him with a deep chuckle of his own, "Let it go, Bulk." Bulkhead smartly remained quiet, allowing Miko to settle next to him and continue where their show had left off. Ratchet gave her a look with a small shake of his helm, amusement clear on his face plates as he glanced back to Miko and Bulkhead again. Rose chuckled, enjoying the easy banter between all of them. A shadow covered Rose's form and she glanced up, shielding her eyes in confusion. Drift smiled down at her, his optics recycling on her form, "Has anyone noticed yet?" Rose smiled, letting the ring twirl in the light, "No, not yet." "Noticed what?" Hot Rod slung his arm around Drift, his fangs showing in his smile. Drift shifted his gaze to the speedster, "Look at Rose's hand." Hod Rod furrowed his optic ridges but shrugged, "Okay...?" Hot Rod squinted his optics, looking over her hands with sharp senses. He paused on her ring with a confused tilt of his helm, "I don't remember you having a ring there before, what does it mean?" The couple shared a look, much to the confusion of Hot Rod. Their conversation was starting to draw attention and now some of the other Autobots were gathering around curiously. Ironhide snorted out a puff of hot air, "It's like the one Will and Sarah wear....wait, you!?" He turned on Drift with a slag-eating grin, "You fragger, congratulations!" Drift nodded his helm with a pleased smile and he joked, "Took you long enough to notice." Hod Rod blinked dumbly, "I missed something." Rose showed off the ring to the waiting Autobots who had started to catch on, "It's a engagement ring. It means me and Drift are now fiances and we will be getting married sometime in the future." The information took a second to land but he immediately pounced on the samurai almost trampling Rose and the mini-cons in the process. Rose rolled out of the way, dusting herself off as she gave the two an amused smile. Hod Rod was hugging Drift so tight it looked uncomfortable. Drift stiffened before relaxing into his embrace, pulling the speedster off of him after a few minutes, "Okay, okay I get it." Hot Rod straightened to his pedes, flashing his charming smile to all the N.E.S.T with a pleased grin, "I've waited forever for this to happen!" He did a dramatic twirl and leaned down on one of his knee joints to ruffle Roses hair with a single digit, "Congrats, you Amica stealer." Rose moved out his affections with a easy grin, "Hey, he was mine first." Hot Rod pouted, "He's both of ours." Rose rolled her eyes and affirmed, "Shared custody?" Hot Rod considered her words for a second, cutting off Drift before he could reply, "Deal!" Drift shook his helm at their antics but he was smiling through it all. "What's all the commotion about?" Ultra Magnus was watching the group with a stern expression on his face plates, his own Conjunx, Wheeljack at his side. His words caught Ratchet and Optimus's attention and the two gave prompting looks to the group. Hod Rod moves out of their view, his optics twinkling with mirth, "Uh oh, someone forgot to tell the Creators." Ratchet huffed, "Tell us what?" By the look of his face plates, Optimus had already caught on and he gave the two a small smile, "Congratulations." Ratchet turned his helm in his mate's direction, his optics ridges furrowed. Rose held up her hand in Ratchet direction, his smile sheepish, "Surprise?" Ratchet's optics honed in on her hand and the ring, his vents sputtering in shock, "What!?" The group broke out into laughter again and now the soldiers were gathering around, trying to pick up on the conversation. Ratchet rounded on Lennox and Misty, his optics narrowed, "How long have you known about this?" Lennox blinked in confusion, "Know about what?" Mitsy let out a gasp as she spotted the ring, "Oh my God." Lennox whipped his head around at her exclamation, his own shock apparent, "You're engaged." The XO slapped a hand to his face as he processed what he was seeing. After a few minutes he doubled over in laughter, "You're fucking engaged! That's...." Lennox rushed up to Rose to look over the ring before he swept her up into a brief hug, his eyes light with happiness, "Congratulations!" Rose laughed at his shock, sobering as soon as she met Mitsy's eyes. The doctor was stunned into silence. Rose gave her a small smile but was interrupted before she could speak, "That's what you meant when you said you had something to tell me...I thought you were just joking around." Rose shook her head, mirth in her eyes, "I obviously wasn't." Mitsy moved forward to inspect the ring, her eyes leaving Rose's hand to level Drift a serious look, "You picked a crazy one." Drift ruffled Rose's hair fondly, prompting her to swat at his servo, "I'm aware." Ratchet crossed his arms, looking to his sparkmate in disapproval but Optimus only let a small chuckle slip, "I gave them my blessing, old friend." Ratchet puffed up and glared at the samurai, "You didn't think to ask me?" Drift leveled him a look, "Would you have said yes?" Ratchet slumped slightly, chuckles going up among the group. Drift grinned, his fangs showing at the corner of his denta. Optimus placed his servo on Ratchet's shoulder and the two shared a look before the Medic relaxed, taking a long drawn out breath before he smiled at the pair. Drift transformed into his alt-mode and his holo-form jumped out, coming to Rose's side and placing his arm around her waist as he pulled her close. Miko shrieked loudly at the sight, "I knew it! You guys weren't be sneaky at all." Drift rolled his eyes, giving Rose a knowing look, "We weren't exactly trying to hide it, Miko." Miko shook her head with a smirk, "I want details! When did he purpose?" Rose hummed, giving the teen her hand as Miko gushed over the ring, "Two days ago. He took me to the Griffin Rock and proposed to me in Blossom Vale, then we stayed on the beach pretty much all day." Miko tugged at Rose's hand with a devious grin, "Can you reenact the proposal!? Did you cry? Did you know about it? Were you shocked? Surprised? Did you two-" "-Miko." Bulkhead cut off the teen's stream of questions but he was looking to the couple expectantly. Drift hummed and answered, "I think she knew something was going on but I don't think she was quite expecting a proposal." He paused to give her a cheeky smile, "As for a reenactment? I think we can do that...what do you think, my love?" Rose rolled her eyes with a laugh, "Okay but no dramatics." She gave a warning glance to the audience before giving her ring to Drift, moving a part from him. Hod Rod gave her a smile, "And action." Drift approached her with adoration in his eyes. He leaned in to give her a sweet peck before dropping down on one knee, looking up into Rose's eyes, "I said some sappy speech and then asked her if she wanted to be my wife and sparkmate and well..." Rose hummed, "And I said yes." Drift placed the ring back on Rose's finger before sweeping her feet out from under her. Rose huffed with a warning look in the group's direction, "Drift." Drift smirked, "Hey, the audience wanted a remake." He dipped her and kissed her passionately, evoking cheers from the crowd around them. The two parted after a couple minutes and Drift right Rose, slinging an arm around her and smiling up at her with his best puppy-dog eyes. Rose shook her head with a light laugh, looking to her Creators with exasperation.