Playing With Fire || TFP Knockout x Female reader

16. Change

~
(Still Knockout's pov)
~

"You seem like the guy to fancy cars, and I collect Nascars. I got a bunch of '80's classics, like Earnhardt and Petty."

"Define Nascar."  I said to myself, looking through my internal filing cabinet. The word seemed familiar but I couldn't quite place it, and I kinda needed to in the next minute or so. I remembered a singular name, that'll have to do for right now.

"Do you have a....Newsom?" I asked, reloading my inner data banks to self check before Eli could answer, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it to pull up in my processor. Seems like a block or glitch occurred, weird.

Aren't we, a very intellectual group of mechanical engineering robotics supposed to be super advanced? I can get by with a little bad luck but not for long.

Finally I got over the firewall in my mind to look up the information but the boys spoke up first. "Yeah, I got two of him. One's even a platinum edition."

I pushed the now irrelevant information away to the back of my helm until my senses actually came back and slapped me in the face. There was a task at hand, after all.

"I would never dream of passing on that great of an opportunity, but unfortunately I need to go find that sister of yours."

I smiled as the two brothers somewhat understood, thank the Allspark. Josh scratched his neck, looking to his cellular device. "She's probably at work by now, that's my best bet."

"Thank you boys. I'll catch up later, and you'll get to know me more with time. I'm a friend of a friend."

After my goodbye I went for my car, pulling out and back onto the quiet road. I met her brothers.

I met her family.

~

Suddenly she's here, oh look now she's over there, then poof she's completely gone from thin air. The sound of my burning rubber across the scorching Nevada dry roads made me cringe and crinkle up the nose I wore as I came to a halting screech, right in front of the dainty little flower shop I've grown accustomed to.

I stepped out of my car, feeling the small pebbles tickle the soles of my feet from the bottom of my black designers. Fixing my jacket and slamming my car door shut, my eyes automatically squinted upon glaring into the shop's crystal clear windows. Of course the finest blossoms of Earth's flora decorated the corners of the windows, but from my distance I still had a great shot of the front desk, where I'd usually find Acura.

Thing is though, she wasn't there. Of course she wasn't there.

My eyes panned to the desolate parking next to me, not seeing that grey-green car of hers parked anywhere. I sighed, defeated once again as I opened my door to sit back down and possibly throw my head against the steering wheel. But before I could daydream anymore about the next thirty seconds the sound of the little chime on top of the door rang out, making me perk my ears back to the shop's direction.

I lifted my head and prepared a usual snarky comment of mine but choked it down when I seen the shadow close the door behind her, dark eyes on mine.

"So you must be the infamous boy Acura hasn't shut up about. She's not here yet, but please, feel free to come in and wait. You can even help me around the shop if you'd like."

The lady laughed as her aged face smiled, and I swore I've seen her before as a feeling of home engulfed me. There was nothing else to do but take her offer up as I shut and locked my door, jogging up to properly introduce myself to even more of her family.

I had a gut feeling I couldn't decline even if I wanted to. My throat swallowed my nervousness as I took small steps toward the store and the woman. Her brothers were one thing, it was her infamous grandma that scared me, as lame as that sounded.

"Knolan, is it?"

"Indeed. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in such circumstances." I said politely, hesitant to shake her hand as ai did so. Her old eyes played a story, as if every wrinkle on her face was in place of a memory. Her eyes only projected her long life.

She looked familiar. Her eyelashes battened as her lips forced themselves into a genuine smile as her grip loosened, her back opening the door for us both as the chime rang once more. "She's not here yet, I called her on the road to pick up my medicine at the pharmacy down the road for me."

I nodded, getting blasted with the pleasant smell of honeysuckle and lilac. The dainty little shop was decorated for the season, flowers in pretty little displays everywhere. It was a neat concept, and to think how much work went into building it up in the years was remarkable.

"I noticed your car." The woman said, fixing some of the flowers before handing me a pair of scissors. "Aston Martin?"

I nodded, watching what she did with the snappers, carefully trimming the excess vines on one of the particular types of flora, the mandevilla.

"Yep. There's a fine line of luxury in this world, and I must admit the flashier car models caught my attention for as long as I can remember. Red just happens to be my color, so you can say it was love at first sight." I laughed, seeing her lips purse up.

"Oh I can imagine. I was a car nerd when I was young too, of course the cars these days are dramatically different from the past models."

I went to speak, but the woman's scissors snapped and ran it's fine blade up to strip the vine. She rehab started back up. "It might've been love at first sight, but the driver, the personality behind the wheel, makes the vehicle either dull or shiny. You just have to choose which path you'll drift to in life. What I'm trying to say is the exterior depends on the interior much more then just being a pretty ride. Without the inner workings the car won't run, and all you'll have is a hot look. Don't waste life without living it to your full extent without having any fear of getting a little rough on the edges, because at the end of the day you could always rub the flaws out on the outside, but on the inside, well, that's a life lesson for another time."

I don't know how or why, but her words moved me. My past, insecure self would be totally cringing at my thoughts right now.

Her words struck me like a truck, and me, the infamous Knockout, Decepticon medic and pretty faceplate, stood there lost.

It's time to change, not that I'm too afraid to admit that I've already started to change.

To shift; to swiftly change gear.

My hand was already stationed on the shift, I only now just needed a little push to reverse.

~