The Guardian (Reader x Optimus Prime)

5 - Recoup and Recover

My light footsteps made small klinks as I walked down the halls of the Lost Light. I was just following a whim of instinct at this point. I had no idea where to find Chromedome but something was leading me. Brainstorm passed me in the hall and I quickly tapped his shoulder.

"Have you seen Chromedome?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's in his room." Brainstorm replied melancholically. Everyone has been in a terrible mood since the funeral. But Chromedome, I could feel his grief like it was my own and it made my spark ache.

"Thanks," I said and walked down to the door at the end of the hallway. Magnus had given me a directory of the ship yesterday at some point and I mentally thanked him for it. I raised a servo to knock and listened for a moment, inside I heard a small sound, sobbing. I knocked and heard shuffling before the door opened.

"Y/n?" Chromedome asked, confused.

"Hey. I-uh just wanted to see how you were doing." I said. He looked absolutely terrible and his optics behind his visor were dim. "You wanna talk about it?"

Chromedome just stepped away from the door, signaling that I could come in. The room was dark and there was a box in the middle full of different things. On the screen, to the left, there was a video paused.

"Does it go away?" He suddenly asked.

"The pain? No, but you become numb to it. If you surround yourself with friends it helps. The best thing to do is keeping living for your other half." I told him, looking him straight in the optics.

"I miss him already." He sobbed. I laid a hand on his shoulder and sighed. My visor slid back and I looked at him.

"Every little thing is going to make you miss him. You just have to...you have to...who am I kidding I still haven't gotten over anything. I'm not the best example of what to do. I've been distracting myself the whole time I've been here. When I'm not sleeping, I busy myself. It helps but it's not healthy. You have friends Chromedome, don't push them away, let them help you." I said sincerely.

"I'll try my best." He sighed. A sudden urge flooded me and I wrapped him in my arms. I stood quite a bit taller than him and he just kind of melted into me. Something covered my armor and it was full of relief and grief. Apparently, he could feel my confusion because he explained what it was. "It's called an EM field. It conveys emotion."

"Weird. Tailgate said something about that before. Do I have one?" I asked.

"Yes, but you've tucked it in very close to your spark. Think of how a force field works and that's kind of how an EM field works. In close proximity, two fields can mix between Amica Endura and Conjux Endura."

"I have a lot of terms to catch up on." I chuckled. Chromedome laughed a little and I looked down at him.

"If you ever want to talk, I'll always be here for you," I told him.

"Thank you. Out of everyone on the ship besides Rewind, you're somehow the person I'm most comfortable with. Maybe it's because I've seen all of your memories but you have a vibe that says 'safe' too." He said.

"I wish you could meet my Optimus, he was like a big Dad to everyone. The younger bots actually liked to call him Dad to tease him sometimes. He had the safest vibe." I laughed.

"From what I saw, he seemed pretty cool." He said curiously.

"He was the best. Once he opened up and didn't have a stick up his ass anymore he was the best guy I knew." I said fondly. Suddenly I heard a huge commotion somewhere on the ship. "Something's wrong."

I pat Chromedome on the back, shut my visor, and we went out into the hallway.

"Why the hell would you do that?!" Ratchet yelled at Rodimus.