Starscream

ᯓᡣ𐭩 "Ha! That bold, are you? Is there no end to your feeble little plans?"

ᯓᡣ𐭩 He sounds a little mean about it, but it's just his usual teasing. Sort of in a 'that's nice honey' kind of way. He of course argues that if anyone is fit to carry the world, it would be him, obviously

ᯓᡣ𐭩 It takes some convincing to get him to kneel down. He pretends like he's oh so busy and has so many important things to do, but inevitably gives in and indulges your whims

ᯓᡣ𐭩 The second your hands reach his face, he gets it immediately. He stammered a bit, chuckling as he tried to brush it off. He didn't want it to be so obvious that something so small could fluster him, but he couldn't help it around you. "Ahem- well- you're very brave for being so forward! But I suppose I can allow you to hold on for a moment longer"

Soundwave

ᯓᡣ𐭩 "Improbable. The world is too big for human hands"

ᯓᡣ𐭩 Takes your words at direct face value. He's trying to be honest and let you down easy. He's got no idea how you somehow convinced yourself you were strong enough to pull that off, but he feels like he has to bring you back to reality

ᯓᡣ𐭩 He's only confused when you ask him to come closer. What does this have to do with your claim? He leans down of course, but he doesn't understand what's happening

ᯓᡣ𐭩 When your hands hold his face, he just pauses. He's about to correct you, but before the words can fully leave his mouth, he realizes what you're trying to say. He sighs from his vents as he holds onto your wrists. "I see. I.. can hold the world in mine, too"

Megatron

ᯓᡣ𐭩 "Aiming big, aren't we? Your time will come"

ᯓᡣ𐭩 He indulges your comment. He's promised you the world, everything his servos can carry. Of course it'll all be yours someday, he'll make sure of it

ᯓᡣ𐭩 He leans down at your request, though he of course asks what you're planning. He can tell by your little grin whenever you've got something brewing in your head, but he allows it for the sake of it

"I decided to widen the perimeters of our regular patrol routes. One of the areas I was scouting myself was much drier than usual, and the dust clouds were quite large."

You hum in acknowledgement, shuffling your feet on the three-tiered step ladder you stand on. Even at the top step, you still need quite the reach to wash from the top of his entire side panel. Already having washed his entire left side, you begin to clean the other. Huffing a little at the thought of cleaning his front, you think of the gross bugs that you probably need to scrub off of his grills and windshields. Oh well, it's worth it to pamper the large leader and get him all shiny, he deserves it after all.

Reaching tall, you shudder at the uncomfortable feeling of soapy water running down your forearm and dripping off of your elbow.

"Ah yes, the misfortune of landing on our big ball of dirt. You're lucky I actually like doing this. Was it a nice drive at least? You run into any trouble?"

"No trouble today, and it was a nice drive. As a matter of fact, I'd like to take you on a drive through that area sometime. I think you would appreciate the view."

You smile at that, always loving when he takes you on drives.

"Yes! I'd love to! Even if it means you need another wash, haha. Y'know what? With how often I offer to do this for you and the others, I should make an Autobot cleaning service. Start charging y'all cool alien trinkets and nice long drives."

He lets out a low chuckle at that and replies, "Oh, you'd have a fee, huh? You know we have washing stations at base, right?"

"Yeah, but this is more personal. I think you appreciate my hard work. You wouldn't come to me if you didn't prefer a good wash by yours truly. A giant shower doesn't have these magic hands after all!"

You step off of the step ladder and move it aside to start cleaning the middle and bottom half of his side, grabbing a smaller sponge from the bucket to get into the grooves of his door, door handle, and running board.

"I'm free tomorrow if you'd wanna go then. Are you busy? Cause I'd like to come over early anyway to see everybody and say hi." You lean up from washing under the running board and stretch your back after asking. A moment of silence passes and you pause, noticing his lack of response.

"Oppy? You good?"

"Who are you talking to?"

You startle and drop your sponge, spinning around as it makes a wet 'splat!' on the ground. Behind you is your neighbor, hands in their pockets with a bewildered look in their face.

How long have they been standing there?

You notice their eyes dart between your ears, looking for headphones or a Bluetooth connected device of some kind. You stare at them for a beat of silence before replying.

"To my beautiful truck, obviously." You say, as if it's the most obvious thing ever.

"…Uhh, right…" They look at you skeptically.

"Did you need something?"

This jolts them out of their confusion, as they remember what they had come over for.

"Oh, yes! Yes I do. Could I borrow one of your baking dishes for a while? My idiot roommate broke mine trying to make brownies."

"Uh, sure thing, I'll go grab one. Just a moment." You pat Optimus' side as you walk past to go inside, nearly stumbling over the water hose in your distraction.

You quickly speed-walk to your kitchen and grab your cheapest ceramic dish and head back out, catching the sight of your neighbor closely admiring Optimus' alt mode. They turn to you as you approach with a long whistle.

"Sure is a nice truck you got here. Not the kind of thing I'd expect you to have though. I've never even seen this thing here before, much less seen you drive it. Is this really yours?" They inquire.

Bro oh my god go away.

"Well actually, he's a friend of mine- er, belongs! To a friend of mine. It's his truck, I just borrow and care for it sometimes."

"Oh cool. Are they a trucker? This thing's realll heavy duty! I love the colors. Nice job washing it, it looks so shiny!"

"Haha yep! I love it too. Well anyways, I should get back to washing him- it! Washing it! Here you go," you say as you thrust the pan to them, causing them to step back a little in mild surprise.

"Oh right, thanks! I'll be sure to return it soon. See you around."

They turn to leave, stopping to give a pat to the door to Optimus' cab to hear the resounding metal sound, the soap having dried streaky in the sun by now, before finally leaving to go back to their home. You wait to move until they're a considerable distance down the sidewalk, and as they walk back to their own door, they turn to give you a smile and a wave.

You respond with your own and heave a sigh once they're back inside and out of sight. You pick your sponge back up and switch to the larger one to continue the wash and refresh the dried soapy smears on his pretty paintjob.

"Welp, that was one of my neighbors. They're pretty nice, though that roommate of theirs tend to break stuff pretty often. Let's hope they don't get their hands on my baking dish."

"You didn't seem too happy to see them." Optimus noted, once again free to speak.

"Well, it's not that I wasn't happy to see them, I just got a little annoyed. They were taking my time away from focusing on you, after all."

You step back up on the step-ladder to start from the top once more, the streaks disappearing under the new soapy layer dripping down his side. Making your way from the top and down again, now satisfied with your work, you grab the hose lying nearby and rinse his side off. You then grab the towel you used to dry the other side to do the same here, making sure no water droplets dry to make tacky little spots all over him.

"So you love my paintjob?"

"Hm?"

"When your neighbor was here they said they love my colors and you agreed."

"Ah, yes. I sure do! Such pretty shades, and blue and red is such a great combo. You're so pleasing to look at!"

He shifts on his shocks just slightly, preening inside under your compliments. The softness of the large towel was pleasant against his alt-mode, and he made a mental note to show you just how much he appreciated your detailed care later, perhaps with something in a addition with drive to the special view he found. Maybe your wish for some kind of trinket wasn't just teasing?

"Whew! Okay, done with that part! On to the front." You say, arms strained with the task of reaching to dry every inch with the now heavier weight of the towel, which turned from damp to nearly just wet. Walking to the front of him, you grimace at the splattered bugs that didn't come off in the pressure wash, still stuck in his grates. The thought of how that might feel to him crosses your mind.

That…seems very unpleasant. Dried bugs on someone's body…after millions of years of war, I think that would be my breaking point. Why does he still love this planet.

"…Dude…oh, oh you poor thing." You say as you shudder.

"Hm? Is something wrong?" He asks.

"Nope!" You say, popping the p. "Nothing wrong at all. Matter of fact, I'm making everything all righty."

You reach into your wash bucket and grab the smaller sponge from the bottom you brought just for scrubbing away stubborn spots and bugs and get to it. As you scrub away the spots, you remember your conversation before your neighbor showed up.

"Oh, I totally forgot about my question! Could we hang out tomorrow? If you're busy I could drive to base myself and chill with some of the bots."

"I don't have patrol tomorrow, just some review of reports and projects that need my sign-offs, though I could put those off for a day with you." He replies.

"Although," he adds, "as I mentioned, the area I want to show you was quite dry. I'd hate to spoil your hard work and get so dirty again tomorrow. Perhaps you'd like to go some other time?"

Aww, how thoughtful!

"Nah, it's no problem. Like I said, I actually like doing this. Something about the process and getting your metal all clean is really satisfying to me. If you need another wash I'll do it, easy peasy. Besides, maybe we'll get a little rain tonight and it won't be so dry tomorrow!"

If he were in his root mode, he would have a mile-wide smile. You were always so helpful to him and the other autobots in whatever way you could be, and your care meant more than you could know. He thought maybe you were exaggerating the fact that you enjoy doing this to make him feel better, but you weren't the type to be dishonest, so it seems a job well done really does please you.

"Very well then. I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning, and we'll spend the day together." He says.

Finally, you finish your scrubbing and rid him of his buggy plight. You dry the front of him off with the towel that gets even heavier with the addition of even more water, giggling at his rumble as you slide between each grate, then drop it by the bucket. You back up and take slow steps around him, admiring your hard work. His glossy shine is now more apparent, not a single streak of dust left on him. Your proud smile is as bright as he is now as the satisfaction of taking care of your best friend and the excitement of spending tomorrow with him fully sets in. You give his hood a firm pat and feel the warmth from his own temperature mixing with the bright sunshine.

Such a nice day, and there's still plenty of the afternoon left! Hmm, while we're at it…

"So, now that that's done, how would you like a detailed interior clean?"