These Paths We Tread (Autobot x OC)

LIX. Hard Sun

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Not for the first, and certainly not for the last time, Catherine was beginning to doubt her own words. She also wished she would stop talking if only to not jinx herself.

She supposed it was her own fault. She had honestly fooled herself into thinking she might be able to get through the infamous jerk that was called “Sunstreaker”. The only problem was that her attempts were like a cat trying to capture the red dot on the wall and she was the cat while Sunstreaker was the light. No matter how hard she would try, that light was not going to end up in her paws, and instead, she would, at some point, smack into the wall. While no one was going to laugh, it still hurt and the light was still not in her grasp.

It was frustrating and that had been after only one day.

She could at least say it had been a good attempt. She had finally managed to be in the same room with him after hours of trying. For whatever reason that had made him hate her, the moment she would walk into any room he might be in, he would leave. Even if Sideswipe was there, he would still leave, and she would stare. Sideswipe would stare, too, and then go after him to try and “talk” again, but that never worked either. However, his avoidance could not be stopped come routine check-up times. As it turned out, she and Sunstreaker had them at the same time, so he was forced to “endure” her presence while Ratchet made sure both of them were in pristine health, which they were. Of course, the second the Chief Medical Officer gave them leave, he was gone in a flash.

Ratchet had tried to give her encouragement, but how did one encourage a person to break down a huge, stalwart wall made from seemingly impenetrable material? Sideswipe tried much the same, although he hadn’t bothered to hide his doubt. That, along with the fact his brother never came by to visit them before recharge, solidified the realization that trying to get through to Sunstreaker was going to be more impossible than trying to get Galloway to be on their side. Still, she would try.  She had a week left before she had to go back to work. That had to be enough to time to get at least one word out of him!

Or, well, she hoped.

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-O-

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Aaaaand there he goes, she sighed as the golden-armored mech moved around the door, out of sight. Catherine let it simmer for a few more seconds before she groaned, flopping down into her chair. Just when she thought she’d found a place he’d stick around and she could maybe get something, he’d pushed aside training in favor of not being within one-hundred feet of her presence.

“Still no luck, niña?” a familiar voice inquired, and she looked over just as a comforting hand pat her shoulder. Fig gave her a sympathetic grin as she let her head fall back.

“You have no idea,” she rumbled, rubbing her brow, and the Mexican man settled in the chair next to her. He then revealed the two bottles of soda he’d hidden in his other hand and tossed one to her. She gladly took it and downed a good portion of it. With a sigh, she slumped down more, turned her gaze to the latest sparring pair—Nightbeat and Knockout—but did glance over at her teammate. “Fig, did you ever have problems with your brother?”

The older man chuckled, scratching at his shadow, “Naw… mi hermano y yo were tight. Can’t remember us fightin’ over anything.”

“Well, shit. That doesn’t help me,” Catherine huffed, and she felt his grip on her shoulder again.

“Lo siento. Jackson might be the better guy. He has a brother-in-law, and I think they don’t get along. He doesn’t talk about him, anyways.”