Neither of us had realized that it had gotten so late or so dark. At least, I hadn't realized because I didn't have an internal chronometer. Talking to Ze was just so easy. Not nearly as intimidating as it had been before. She was genuinely funny when she wanted to be and vastly curious about everything I had to say. She had an abundance of questions and I was only happy to answer all of them the best I could.

"So, this President Nixon of yours, he reminds me of this mech I know. One of, if not the most paranoid people you'd ever encounter. He worked mostly in security and damn good at his job, but there was this breach once and he almost convinced the lieutenant in charge to have everyone scanned for viruses. Virus scans aren't pleasant, they scour deep into the protoform."

"Is it like looking for lice? Lice are these little parasitic bugs that live in your hair and feed off of the blood of mammals. You put this conditioner stuff in your hair and take a very thin comb and comb through all of your hair to get the lice out. I had lice once because I shared a hat with Andrew Wales in fifth grade and it was awful."

"That may be the closest equivalent, yes. But to get back on topic, he resigned before he could be impeached? That brings up a story about this politician my family was regrettably friends with, his designation was Poisonpen and-" She was cut off by an abrupt yell.

"Hey! Do you ever check your fragging phone?" Sideswipe slowly skated into the room, hands thrown up in exasperation to silently demand "what the hell?". I reached around to my back pocket to click the shutter on my phone and promptly choked. My phone was always on silent and there were at least a dozen calls from him, one of them from Sunny, one of them from Bluestreak, and too many text messages to read them all. "I've been looking everywhere for you! And you!-" Sideswipe pointed at Ze with an accusatory finger. She merely raised an articulate eye ridge. "I asked if you had seen her and you said no! What do you call this?"

Ze looked at me before looking back at Sideswipe. "I call it blatantly lying to you, but in my defense, we were talking and whatever it is you want with her, I'm certain it would've disrupted our chat." I sucked my lips into a flat line to keep from smiling. She liked talking to me.

"Yes, it would've. And now, I don't feel bad about it. Jenny has to go home, Lennox's orders."

"Why?" I whined. "I'm making new friends, I don't wanna leave yet."

Sideswipe shrugged, gently ushering me onto his hand. "Special base security protocol stuff. All you need to know is that it's above your pay grade."

"I'm not paid."

"It's above your clearance." Yeah, that was probably true. Ze vented softly, standing up and strapping her rifle to her back.

"That means I should go speak with Optimus. There are a few housekeeping items that have yet to be sorted." She didn't look enthusiastic about any of it. Optics that I will continue to describe as soft flicked down to me. Ze smiled, the corners of her optics creasing in mirth. "I expect to be fully caught up on our next meeting." She gave a small bow of her head. It gave me an idea.

"What about tomorrow? Tomorrow's the New Years party." I shrugged in suggestion. Sideswipe chuckled, the strong vibrations resonating through my legs.

"It sure is, isn't it?" I didn't have to turn around to see that glint in his optics.

"You're planning something." It was more statement than anything else.

"Don't you worry about it." He said, waving a hand to brush it off. I was worried about it.

"Lennox will be so busy tomorrow that I'm sure I could sneak in." I stated. Ze immediately shook her head.

"I'm not going to disobey direct orders. If you're not supposed to be here, then I'll see to it that you're not." Ze shot me down as I deflated, sputtering disbelieving sounds.

"But! But we- I just-"

"However," She followed up. "I have heard that Bluestreak is fond of another human whom you are also close to. And as it so happens, I expect I'll be busy tomorrow and won't be partaking completely in the festivities. I would try getting him to turn a blind optic instead, I'm sure he'd oblige both of you. Farewell for now." She smoothly turned on her heel and walked away down the hall towards Prime's office. I looked up at Sideswipe and beamed, hugging myself around his thumb.

"I think she likes me." I cooed, letting the smooth, warm plating seep its heat into my skin. The AC was blasting and without a jacket, it had gotten chilly over the past hours.

"Which is weird, because it took us a really long time to even be considered friends." Sideswipe rose an eyeridge at me as he slowly skated out of the room and towards the main hangar. "This is soft Ze you're seeing. Back when she was a commander?" I felt him shiver.

"Were you the type to act out?" I asked.

"I think you can answer that question yourself. She was no nonsense and I liked a little bit of nonsense here and there. I once broke into her office, because who doesn't want to know your commanding officer's secret? I found this bottle of highgrade, real classy stuff. She caught me sharing it with some of the weapon specialists and there was no getting out of it, I had the empty bottle in my hand."

"What'd she do?"

"She sent me to the scrapyard and back." He grinned sheepishly, shaking his helm. "I used to joke that those legs went on for daysbut a couple roundhouse's and from then on my spinal strut was straight if I heard her coming down the hall." I took this all in and saw how, despite the violent memory, he seemed so genuinely nostalgic. Happy.

"Sent to the scrapyard means she kicked your ass, right?" I asked. Sideswipe looked down at me.

"You're trying to make me say it, but yes."

"So then, hold on," I readjusted, lounging against his cupped fingers. "If she hated you, how'd you get to be friends?" I curiously questioned, wanting to piece together a rough timeline.

"She never hated me. She actually told me that. No, Ze was just that kind of commander. She was different than what Sunny and I had ever had before. Y'know, usually it'd be brig time or more patrol or another disciplinary action filed. We thought we knew how to navigate the system, more or less, but then Ze. She was the first person to look us in the optics and ask why we did what we did. Everyone always assumed I was just a troublemaker, I'm from Kaon, I'm built like that. Maybe that has some truth to it. But, I dunno, her approach to dealing with us just worked. Any femme that can get Sunny to tap is someone I'm willing to follow into a spray of plasma rounds. I think the main thing was that she was never expecting us to cause trouble. She never assumed that anything that went wrong had anything to do with me or Sunny. That was refreshing, having that chance to defend yourself." Soon enough, we were approaching the main hangar and Sideswipe blinked. "Didn't expect to spill my spark like that, but yeah. She can hang with the worst of mechs and handle herself just fine, so she fits with us just fine."

"You really like her." I quietly stated, watching his face. It widened with surprise.

"Well, yeah, but don't get me wrong, never like that. To use human words, she's more of a mom figure than anything else."

"A mom who has legs for days?" I teased, grinning widely. Sideswipe gave a short laugh.

"Okay, you are not telling her I said that. Just because I'm not ordering from the menu doesn't mean I'm not gonna look at it." I threw my head back and laughed, clapping.

"Good human verbage, you're getting really good at it." I complimented. Sideswipe smiled, before winking at me.

"I aim to impress." I felt a knot in my stomach and was suddenly really warm. Damn this summer heat.

XxXxX

Hey there. So, it's summer. I've been working two jobs, getting ready for sophomore year in college. I started this story when I was a freshman in high school and that's insane. I feel like I've grown up a lot since then and looking back, I can make this better. Honestly, I don't like what I wrote in the pas and I want to fix it. I want to bring it up to standards. The only problem is that I feel like it'd be a lot of work and I don't want to fall out of love with this fiction I have created. Do not worry, the few who still read this, I am not abandoning this. I have so many new ideas of where I want to take this and I'm really excited to share them with you soon, but I think I need to clear some cobwebs first. I need to rejuvenate the juices. Which is why I'm writing something new.

I want to explore my writing and what I can do, so that means the opposite of this here. It's not so much a story with an end in mind, but rather just a small photosnap in the life of a golden gladiator. Fair warning, it will be rated capital M, just so you know. I'm diving deep into exploration. I will be writing some stuff on that, and will also plan on updating this story as well, but it'll be more of reuploading chapters I've rewritten. Sorry if this throws a wrench into your reading lists, but I've gotta get my ideas out somewhere. Thank you to everyone who ever commented, followed, favorited, PMed, I am so grateful!

This is not the end, I just want to make that so clear. Stay classy, you beautiful bastards.