Thunk.

A stack of comic books hit the table, obscuring most of the little boy's face. He quickly adjusted himself, standing on tiptoe so he could peer over his collection. "Hi, miss, will you sign my comics?"

"Manners," his mother reminded him, tapping his shoulder.

"Sorry! Could you please sign my comics?"

The author smiled, picking the top book off of the stack. "Of course, that's why I'm here!" She opened to the first page, poised her pen, and glanced back up at the boy. "Now, who am I making this out to?"

"Alex!"

"Alrighty, Alex, who's your favorite?"

"Arcee!"

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"She's so cool! And she's a motorcycle! And even though she's little she can still beat any Decepticon she wants to! And I'm little, but I bet I could beat a Decepticon too." Alex beamed proudly. "I wanna be just like Arcee when I grow up. And I want a pink motorcycle that looks just like her."

The author grinned. "Arcee wasn't always pink, you know."

"Really?"

"Really. Here, want to see the first ever drawing I did of her?"

The boy nodded eagerly, bouncing on his heels. The author quickly opened a binder and pulled out a drawing. The color was faded with age, but it clearly depicted a childlike drawing of a blue motorcycle. Hearts and rainbows floated around it, and the blue coloring seemed to have been added as an afterthought. She held it in front of the boy, lowering it so he could see.

He frowned a little. "Blue?"

"Yeah. Blue."

The boy lingered on the old drawing a little while longer before plucking one of his comics out of the stack and flipping open to a page featuring Arcee. A expertly-drawn pink and white motorcycle had just ramped off of a cliff, heading straight towards an unexpecting Decepticon below. He held the drawing up next to the one the author held. "Wow, she's a lot different now."

She nodded and put the drawing back in her binder before signing his comic. "To Alex: The Autobots are proud of you, especially Arcee. Keep doing good things on Earth!" She then signed her name in loopy cursive letters underneath it, no doubt raising the value of the comic. "Signed, Miko Nakadai."

"Thanks, miss!" He scooted the stack off of the table, a few books teetering precariously and threatening to fall. His mother took the load from him, but he snatched the top book and hugged it to his chest. "Mom, I'm keeping this one with me forever!"

"We'll see."

Behind the table, Miko smiled as she began packing up her things, leaving the library table cleared of contents. She made her way out, bag of art supplies in one hand and a guitar case in the other.

Outside, a dark green off-roader waited. She put her things in the back before sitting in the driver's seat. A voice spoke from the radio.

"Pink, huh?"

Miko just shrugged. "Hey, I can either change her color scheme or give away her identity."

"Well, what color am I?"

"You're the same, Bulk. I don't have any reason to change the colors of an Autobot that I 'based off of my car.'" She folded her fingers into air quotes.

"Good, I don't wanna be pink." He started his engine while Miko laughed, mentally plotting a way to work a pink Bulkhead into her next comic. Or real life. Or both.