Chapter 4: New Home, Old Habits

A/N: I told you Optimus would be in this story! Although, to be honest, it's not a major role. Sorry 'bout that. So far, I haven't really tried writing him yet. It's something I'm working on tackling.

Of course, things changed when the Avengers more or less officially moved into the Autobot base. At first, they each tried to have their own room, but that plan was (thankfully) shot down before they went to bed by Tony seeing a spider and screaming, which drew the attention of a quarter of the base. What they really needed was a soundproof room, making for a foolproof plan. Except for the fact that some of them only went because they heard everyone else going (nobody mentioned that, though).

They eventually just found a big room, made it their common room, dragged their beds into it, and voila. It was big, (almost) soundproof, had its own kitchen, and space for a TV. They found a closet and filled it with movies and video game stuff (because watching tired Avengers attempt to play Mario Kart at 4 in the morning was a funny sight to see), while the Science Team portion of the group set up the flat screen, Wii, and Netflix. And yes, there were a couple couches and chairs (obligatory, of course).

Within two days, it looked like a room where there was constantly a sleepover going on. There were beds dragged next to each other, the floor in front of the couches, chairs, and coffee table were covered with thick quilts and comforters, pillows and blankets were lumped into piles on beds and on the floor, and there were always at least two movies and a video game lying on the shelf under the TV.

Now, in Major Lennox's experience, the only time a room ever got this messy (and it wasn't entirely a mess, more like organized chaos) was when you didn't bother cleaning it up today because it's gonna be just as messy tomorrow. It never got better (except on cleaning day), and it never got worse. (Prowl still sighed and told them to clean it up, even if it was "just a little", every time he passed it, and the answer was always "Getting around to it.")

Optimus didn't understand why they'd (including Megatron and Ripclaw, which had surprised him) been so adamant about how the setup was (their own big, at least 85% soundproof room, the arrangement of the blankets, pillows, quilts, beds, everyone being there, and other such things) until he passed by it one night at around 3:30. He heard a scream, quickly followed by murmured voices for a few minutes, then what sounded like the TV playing. Then he got it.

Later that day, when the Avengers were out doing their various things that mainly involved not being in their room, Optimus switched to his human holoform and walked in. He'd seen the picture by the TV, but had never actually seen it in detail. He looked and saw it was a picture of everyone in front of the TV at the Tower, watching it or laughing and talking, and some had even fallen back asleep. It looked like a family picture, and he supposed that it really was.