Transformers: A Matter of Fate

FASCINATION AND BONDS

Hound rubbed his foreplate slightly. "And what do your comrades say about this?" Hound grunted.

"Them Dinobots still not speak." Grimlock replied "Them Dinobots still downloading them human language."

"But you can." Mark pointed out "And I bet you can speak theirs too."

Grimlock exhaled a moment, and brought his head down towards Mark. Of course, Hound took a moment to carefully step in front of his charge in a protective gesture, although the t-rex offered him no aggression. "The Dinobots processors were scrambled from years encased in ice. So it takes them a longer time to learn these things." He explained "Grimlock barely was able to download the data himself." He then added "Even he doesn't know why yet."

"Oh." Mark replied, frowning a little "I guess that makes sense."

"Him human, curious one." Grimlock observed "Why you human smaller than other humans?"

"He's still a sparkling." Hound answered for him.

Grimlock stared between the two of them, and then let out what seemed to be a deep chuckle. "Me Grimlock wonder if that make you Hound him human's carrier." Immediately recognizing the Cybertronian word for mother, Mark snorted.

Hound looked as though he could have smacked the Dinobot for that obvious joke. But he just put his hands on his hips, and looked up at the t-rex with narrowed optics. "If you want to go, then go. We obviously don't have a way of keeping you here." Hound replied "I'll send Crosshairs to see you out."

"Mmmm. Me Grimlock no want to leave anymore."

"Why?"

"Me Grimlock annoy you Hound. Me Grimlock think that funny." Grimlock commented "Me Grimlock stay."

Mark grinned a little, and crossed his arms with a nod of approval. "Well, I like him."

"Remind me not to let you two be in the same room often." Hound replied "I have a feeling I'm not going to like that."

Grimlock looked at Mark and snorted, the steam rushing over the human lightly before he lifted his long head again. Grimlock yet again seemed to regard the young human for a while before turning around. "Me Grimlock like human. Him human funny."

Yep, Hound now definitely knew he needed to keep them out of the same room if he could.

...

Later that day, Mark set forth to drawing these new Dinobots out of pure curiosity and amazement. To his surprise, Grimlock didn't even seem to notice, or if he did, didn't care enough to confront him on why he was spending a long time staring at him. "Do you have a crush on him or something?" Mark nearly jumped out of his skin, turning as Crosshairs approached him from behind "You're even doing one of those little drawings of yours of him."

Mark closed up his sketchpad to hide his now finished picture, standing from his seat against the wall of the hangar. "I like girls, Crosshairs. And besides, I just find them... Crazy cool." Mark looked over at Grimlock and the others calmly "I mean, have you seen them? They're so big, strong and scary... Imagine having that kind of power at your disposal, man."

"You have a thing for dinosaurs, don't you?" Crosshairs asked.

After a moment, Mark shrugged and gave a small nod. He had always been a fan of dinosaurs as a kid, mostly thanks to most of the movies made up about them. But none-the-less, the giant behemoths did awe him, and to be in the presence of the Dinobots really did feel like a dream come true. "I just always kinda thought they were cool." Mark admitted "I know, I'm a nerd, laugh it up."