My best friend is an Autobot - stuck with you

Chapter 16. News

Someone had gotten Sideswipe out of bed and I had to admire the bot who was capable of doing that. He was sitting on his hood, scrolling through his phone. I didn't know what I was supposed to do with him anymore. Everything I try or do isn't good and I don't understand him. All I can do is be patient and hope he will miraculously change. I just don't see that happening anytime soon. Now with Mark training, I decided to give it a shot. 'Hey, Sideswipe.' He hummed. 'Shall we go into town?' he looked up. 'And do what?' he mocked. I shrugged, 'Have some dinner?' He seemed to be okay with that and gestured to me to hop in his alt-mode. 'You didn't want to make me food but you are taking me out?' He scowled. I sighed softly. 'I was hungry, I still am and that's your fault,' he snapped. I sighed softly. 'What happened to your head?'

'Ratchet forced me to shower,' he muttered. I tried not to chuckle. 'Ah...' he shot me a nasty glare. 'You think it's funny!' he snapped. 'No, I don't think it's funny at all... I was just, you know... we both know Ratchet,' I said. He shook his head, 'it's not funny,' he muttered. 'Why don't you tell me the truth?' He glanced at me, still angered. 'The truth of what?' he snapped. 'What is bothering you. Why you are the way you are and don't mention the 'neglecting' part again because we talked about it. You are the one pushing me away no matter what I try. I really wanna be there for you. I want to help you and support you. Sideswipe, you're so funny, sweet, strong and a brilliant fighter. You can get smiles on people's faces but I don't get why you are not yourself and why you act so childish and stubborn. I know something is going on, why don't you talk to me. What if I can help?'

'Nothing is going on, Skylla. This is me and there's nothing more to add. I'm just waiting for Stacy to call me,' he sulked. 'She's not gonna call, you know that right?' I asked. 'She will!" he hissed. I raised my hands in surrender. 'You don't know me, we barely know each other so don't pretend you know me because you don't,' he snarled. 'And just for the record, you do neglect me. All you do is hang around that human,' he spat. 'Yeah, because he's my boyfriend, Sideswipe.' He glared at me. 'Don't give me that tone!' he snapped. 'It's really a shame you turned out to be this way then.' Sideswipe didn't reply to that.

That next day, Sideswipe was hiding a little in the shadows. 'Do you know what is going on with him?' Mark pointed at Sideswipe. 'No, I don't... he's been this way ever since we got back from our dinner trip. I don't know what to do with him anymore. I  really wanna help him but... it's not possible if he keeps playing this little game of his,' I said. 'What? You mean you have to break him?' he mocked. I shrugged, 'break him?' he repeated. I raised a brow, 'I don't like using the work breaking because he's sensitive and I know that something is going on. I would say... break through his shell and get to know him better because he's not himself lately,' I said. 'It's still breaking him,' Markus stated. 'What if we make his life a hell? Perhaps he would like that,' he snapped. 'Mark, please... you put me in a difficult position.' I grabbed his arms but he pushed me against the pillar. I collapsed and looked up in shock.

"Hey!' Sideswipe smashed him against a parked military vehicle. 'Do that again and I will make sure you will never be able to touch her,' he sneered. Markus pushed him away from him. 'Who do you think you are!" he snarled. 'Her guardian, asshole,' Sideswipe snarled. It surprised me that Sideswipe actually did this. 'She's my girlfriend so don't get between this,' Markus snarled. Sideswipe grabbed his knife. 'Don't you dare to come closer,' he snapped. Markus shook his head and stormed off. Sideswipe offered me his hand and hoisted me up before putting his knife back in his holster. 'Don't get yourself in so much trouble,' he muttered and turned around. I forced him to turn around and hugged him. I felt like he needed one. After a minute, he wrapped his arms loosely around me.

'I don't hate you if that's what you think. I don't want to hurt you or whatever. I just want you to feel better, because I have been there. You have no idea what I have been through and the last thing I want is to feel the same thing. I looked up to him. 'You're a tough cookie...' I trailed off. Sideswipe snorted and shook his head. 'You are so sweet and I know you have a good spark,' I said, tapping on his spark area. Don't let other people ruin you, it would be a shame and you're right, I don't know you that well but I want to get to know you better. I want to know everything, what you like to eat, when you go to bed, what your favorite game is, what you hate, which fruit you disgust even which gel brand you use for your hair.' He chuckled and looked down at the floor for a moment. 'I am serious about it, Sideswipe.' He looked up to me again. 'You have so much to offer, don't let people like Stacy take that away from you. You are better than that and besides, fragging out love is more worthwhile than doing it because you think it will make you feel better.'

'Alright...'

'Good, we need to talk anyway,' I said, passing him and turned around. 'I am not in the mood to talk anymore and I have stuff to do,' he said. 'yeah? So you're saying that whatever 'stuff' you have to do, is more important than your brother? I get it, it can wait,' I said and turned around. Sideswipe took a sprint and blocked my way. 'My brother? You know where he is?' he questioned. 'It's a bit complicated... Come with me.' I took Sideswipe to a private room and shut the door of the meeting room. 'I called some friends at NASA, it's a long story how I made friends there but they have confirmed that approximately a month ago something crashed landed. They thought it was a plane so it was never recorded. Except that they were never able to find the plane.' I grabbed my phone, 'Shortly after, they started to pick up strange signals and it seemed to come from this car...'

I turned my phone around to show him. 'Yes! That has to be Sunstreaker! He loves yellow and he loves Lamborghini, we have been joking about that car back on Cybertron when we did research for human vehicles. That's him! Where is he.' Sideswipe got up. 'I am done yet, Sideswipe. Sit down.' He slowly sat back down. 'They tracked down the car, followed it for a while but it suddenly disappeared. The signals, the strange occurrences were gone. This was reported just over the Canadian border but your brother could be anywhere. The good news is that he's on earth. The bad news is that your brother made a mess and sort of disappeared. I am not saying that he's kidnapped or hurt because he could easily retreat in the woods and keep a low profile but it makes it really hard to find him. Another option is that humans got him and I don't want to worry you but I will try everything I can to figure out where he is and how I can reunite you with him, okay?'

'Humans?' he repeated and got up. 'There's a group and they name themselves 'Machination, they experiment on humans, animals and aliens if they can get their hands on them. I am trying to worry you but I want you to know. Last thing I want is you to think I am keeping things behind.' He became quiet for a long time. 'I appreciate your honesty and I really do... I am just...  pissed off and worried.' I grabbed his hand and he froze. 'It will be okay, I promise.' Sideswipe gave a small nod. 'I need some time...' He waved me off. I sighed softly and got up. I gently lifted his chin and pressed a kiss on his forehead. 'I promise we will find him,' I mumbled and softly cupped his cheek before leaving him behind.