#post-destruction

As the military was now cleaning the remaining trasformium off the streets and making sure no civilian came in contact with the energon lingering everywhere, our famous heros returned to their NEST base in order to avoid the press going after them. All grand presses wanted to have a word with the leader, but also with the infamous Sentinel Prime who almost threw the Earth into slavory. Thankfully it was all an act to try and lure Megatron in and use him in order to restore Cybertron. He never intended for Autobots to get hurt, especially Ironhide... he thought it was a stun gun, and not his fussion rust gun.

The writhing of machinery around the base was an all-too present sound in the facility, the booming voice of Ratchet calling everyone to their destined repair bays was echoing in the main area. All but one went to get fixed. And this got you confused. Everyone deserved a good rest and new platings since the battle was so uncommancibly hard; so you approached him.

“Hey…”

He just let out a low, gutural sound as he looked in your direction. “Do you need anything, human?” So, back to the Sentinel who didn’t really care about learning people’s names, huh?. Fucking snob- “ “I am not in the mood to be talking to you, flesh” Ok, ouch, that hurt quite a bit. Why was he so mean all the time- oh yeah right, almost evil type shit. Sometimes, the amount of patience and forgiveness that Optimus is giving some of theese people is insane; no one you know would just forgive and forget anything- and almost enslaving a planet is worthy of not forgiving, thank you.

“I just wanted to make sure you are alrigh. You didn’t go to any repair bay…”

“It is none of your concern. As a Cybertronian, I can withstand great damage and still be standing. Of course your insignificant speecies does not understand that. You are too soft.”

“Ok, listen here you fucking asshole-” He really got you angry. But who wouldn’t get angry knowing the stress and loss you experienced, and now this moron was telling you, you don’t actually know what is hard and what not. You wanted to slap him across that stupid face soo much, but of course you couldn’t reach. You were just human after all. So, what did your sweet mind think? That kiccking his leg would actually do something. “I hate you-” And it did nothing. Absolutely nothing. But did you really believed that kicking a 30 meters-tall alien robot would do anything? You were weighting maybe about a 200th of his mass or so. Yet, you had the determination of thousands of little angry sparklings. And even if you managed to reach and slap him across his faceplate, he is made entirely out of metal. Hard metal that almost no utility machine on Earth can cut through it.

“Apologies? I am confused, did I perhaps say something that angered you, human?”

“Yes- Now listen, I heard from Ironhide you’re a racist fuck, but really? Right in my face?! He was so right about you-”

“I do not understand what you mean. Our races are different, of course I will state the differences very plainly.” He slowly crotched down so he could be closer to you, take a better look at you and try to understand why you were so furious at him. In all honesty, Sentinel thought- for a short second- that it was cute when you tried to kick him. He even had to try his mighty lot not to chuckle at that.

“So… you were not mean just for the spite of humanity or-”

“Your kind amuses me. So sensitive and ready to jump at each other’s throats if one says something that you do not like. You all behave like satrved, frozen sparkplugs; and I can tell you you are one that's most reactive to my words only.”

His servo reached for you and extended on the tiled floor, right next to you like he was inviting you in it. Was he trying to mime what you and Optimus did sometimes? Yes, the Autobot leader used so hold you in his servos and walk with you just so he could be closer to you- but you never would have thought that his mentor would try the same thing with you. Now, my dear, who were you to decline such an offer? You looked straight at him, in his soul and cautiously got in his servo. It was rougher than Optimus, battered even. The transformium alloy that covered it had countless scratches and chips. The knuckles of his fingers were a bit rusty and made a weird clicking sound when he moved them.

You haven’t even realised how much you’ve been staring at him, taking in every single detail that you could, like it would help you in case he changed his mind and dropped you. Before you even realised, Sentinel took you outside the base and stopped at the edge of the island-ish structure. “70% watter yet some of it is useless to your kind… How did you survive for so long if what every single human needs most is water, yet you cannot use this type?” Was he trully interested in humanity or was he trying to act nice so that you could “forgive” him. Either way, that would imply Sentinel cares about humans, or at the very least cares about you, as a human. You didn’t even think of the answer before he started to talk again “You know, on Cybertron we always got rid of things we didn’t need so that we can maximise our development and living conditions. I can still remember the life in the Forge before the toxic Red Energon was mined and detonated on Luna I. Oh, what memories”. He was talking as much as an old man, but you didn’t really mind, as long as he wasn’t saying something outrageous- “Your kind should do the same really- you’re stupid for not making teams and working to better everyone’s lifes.” Here it was. Again with the bustarded beliefs. In a way you couldn’t really blame him for them, it was just the way he was programmed most likely. Are Cybertronians programmed? Was this a bustarded comment from you? Or thought…

You tried to think of how a young Sentinel would be like, but you simply couldn’t. It was like he was born old, made to be old. Like that one neighbour you have back at your parent's house that's been there before the house even existed in the first place! And Cybertronians were not so different from humans, you thought: Sentinel was that neighbour. And truth be told, you heard about The Forge, a place where Primus made the first primes and working class autobots. So, there was a slim chance that he built Sentinel Prime to be an older mech, to guide others and piss off humans like you. You heard about it from the others a couple of times, but didn’t really ask more about it, you were human and as far as you could tell, The Forge and The Well o'Allsparks were sacred things to Transformers. Or something very close to sacred. 

You just laid in his servo and looked up at him, thinking about nothing in particular, but trying to look as if you were not thinking about him in particular. The both of you stood like that for a hot moment, yet it felt like an eternity. “Hey… old man, why did you want to take me here? And why like this?”

“Seeing Optimus do this I thought it was normal customs with humans.”

“Please say sike.”

“Pardon?”

Oh, so you really did need to talk to him like you would tak to an older man… You couldn’t really help yourself but snicker at the way he sentenced everything. Gosh, he really was trying to mimic Optimus. But why? And why with you? Not to mention that the fact he did not understand slang, yet this idiot downloaded his English language module from the 'World Wide Web'- you felt like getting older just hearing him say it.

“I mean… you really thought that you guys just reandomly pick up humans and walk with them??”

“Yes-”

That was it, you straight up just threw yourself into a laughing fit, leaving the older Autobot to meditate on what he did wrong now.

“I really need to teach you more about humanity, don’t I?” You tried to calm down from your laughing fit, as the elder bot still couldn’t wrap his head around things. “Ok, so right off the bat, we don’t just get picked up by you like we’re an object…”

He nodded, taking a mental note about everything you say: from how standard conversation queues worked, to how not to fall for bad jokes. No Candace, no ligma, no Joe-- you tried, oh how much you tried to make him understand that humans had horribly funny and stupid humour. It was so much easier with Optimus- yet again Sentinel’s production date must’ve been close to the Big Bang at this point, or at least to God's birthday or something.

“Thank you, flesh… this past hours have been entertaining.”

Oh yes, you lost track of thime that bad now. Neither of you had a care in the world about his wounds or the media banging at the facilities main enterance to demand answers. You smiled stupidly to yourself as the thought of you standing next to a convicted criminal that traded Earth (almost traded Earth) for his own planet that wasnt really convicted right now was quite funny.

“Sentinel, I do know a thing or two about your kind from Optimus-”

“Why are you so attached to him…?”

His question completely threw you off your orbit and made you stare into the hurison, not really knowing what to answer him. You always felt a deep connection with the leader of the Autobots- like he was family. Everyone knew not to mess with you because you were ‘boss’s little thing’. People around the base always judged you, thinking that your relationship with him was more than just found family… And now Sentinel was thinking the same. "I know what you are thinking, old man. No, I am not in love with Optimus-- he feels like family."

"I did not ask you of your love interest, fleshling. I have asked what makes you so attached to Optimus. I am intrigued and I want to know what makes you two click so perfectly given you're human and he's not."

At least he did not ship you with the current autobot leader, so that my friend, is a very big win. You tried to explain to him that it's not something gin particular that makes you and the truck-transformer be a good duo, but rather just time made that professional bond feel like fond family to the both of you. Most of the terms you used were almost alien to Sentinel, as he did not learn your language through the 'world wide web' as Optimus would say, but by scanning the first military man he saw and adapting to the language as he speaks. A very stupidly long and hard process that could have been prevented if someone told the old fella what he should've done in reality. 

Graces to you, you did not say something stupid or quote (too many) vines. You tried to keep it simple, yet simple it wasn't. Why? Because he hits you next with another un-answerable question.

"If the two of us were to spend time together just as you did with Optimus... would you consider me family as well, flesh?"

"Well, you see... It really depends on more than one thing Sentinel. Time is what was the most obvious. But we can barely even talk to each other because you don't understand me!" You rubbed the back of your neck slightly, feeling a bit bad you couldn't tell him a heartfelt 'yes'. But again, were you going to forgive a war criminal? He let out a soft chuckle, thinking of a way to get himself out of the accused side of this moral trial "It is not my fault you said rizz, human. I barely understand your language as it is, and this slang makes it impossible for me."

Ah... I must explain. At some point during the conversation you told him about Lenox's rizz in general. The man ain't even trying and yet he still smashes hard. And of course, Sentinel didn't knew what the hell rizz was, and you ignoring his inquarry. It was fun, in a way, to mess with the old Prime as you two were speaking. It  almost made you forget about the whole situation. Yet, the uncanny feeling you got when he was looking at you, the creaking of his rusting servos and peds, the tone in which he called you flesh. They all were a quick reminder to you that Sentinel Prime hated humans, wanted all of you dead and almost traded your planet for his only 2 and a quarter hours ago. Just a normal Wednesday at NEST I suppose-- "Neither it is mine. You're just old-" "I literally sired Optimus, you think I wouldn't be old?"

Excuse you?! Sentinel was canonically (sorry not sorry) Optimus' father? This was information that not even the great internet mega-archive of past-pressent-future could not hold. You felt your lips tremble up in an awkward smile as you muttered "Lovely". The whole sceene made Sentinel chuckle, his cooling fans kicking in as he moved his servo and squeezed you gently. His knuckles clicked softer now, sign that the metal was slowly growing more accustomed with the age rust around them.

"It is a long and very tragic love story between Stardust and I... oh what a beautiful and smart  shuttle-form she was. Her mind was even greater than her looks, and believe me when I tell you, tiny flesh, she was devine. Primus had outdone himself the day he created her and to be honest, I was not even thinking of courting her. I knew she'd maybe go for Zeta or frag- even Minimus, but not I. I was what you told me... an ugly duckling when younger." He looked a bit off to the side to a wall, as if he was imagining her being right here, right now. "So you could imagine the surprise I felt when darling her asked me out on a flight with her, and I said yes... even if I had an energon hoover frame back then- uhh... terrain mining, just to be sure you understand"

"And what happened?"

"I begged Primus to let me scan a second form for her, to impress her. He did not allow it, of course. He kept bullshitting me that she'd love me for who I am and not for my secondary form. And by the stars was he right. She laughed her head off when I told her the truth saying that she knew all along, since fly-mech usually holf their wings out to  impress. And the rest is history really"

"You said it was sad..."

Maybe you were stepping on mine terrain, where you shouldn't be. Truth be told, you were sitting on a huge land mine right now; but you were surprised that the prime gently ruffled your hair and pressed the very tip of a digit to your mouth. "And I'll deliver the full story if you want, but not until you tell me why you care so much." "I just found out my best friend's father is holding me in his palm." "Touche, little human..."

He reached out with his other servo and took an energon cube, drinking a long sip from it and sighed. "Everything was going fine: I became Prime together with 12 others, we began to lead Cybertronians as Primus retired into the core of our planet and I made Stardust my Conjux Endura. But beautiful moments never last long, Y/N" He did it, the mother fucker did it- "After we had planed to have sparkling and settle down, I was ready to give my position to the next Prime in training and senator at the time - Shockwave. But he became corrupt, something that I have been to careless to notice..."

There was a huge hint of regret in his voicebox, as if he blamed himself for whatever came next. You rubbed his thumb in a there-there way, to try and comfort him. But how does oene comfort a huge alien robot. 

"I was too deep into settling down, and having my femme carry at the time also made me soft and too careless... Shockwave's corruption, Megatron's revolutionary poems and Soundwaves espionage lead to the downfall of all Primes. They hunt us down like animals; and Ratchet helped me and Star back then. He sheltered us into the cargo of the main med bay of the planet. He checked on Star and always made sure she'd be comfy..."

"If Ratchet helped you then, why don't you let him help you again?"

"Because I am ashamed, human. One night, when I was helping Zeta reinforce the borders, Soundwave found Star and snuffled her spark right there and then. Ratchet was in an opperation with another doctor, but dropped everything to try and save her. Nothing could be done, except save our sparkling."

"Optimus-"

"Optimus... I was so angry when I caught word of it, it felt like I teleported there. And I blamed Ratchet for not doing enough to save my conjux, I yelled at him even if I saw how terrified and concerned he was..."

You wanted to hug him, you wanted to tell him that it's no one's fault except the Decepticon's. "And what if I tell you Ratchet doesn't hold a grudge against you anymore?"

"I'd call the bluff... even if it's most apreciated."