Beginning Anew (TFP Fanfic)

Quick Best Friends

Mikel and Gecko walked home together that day, as well as the next day. They continued having lunch together, and the days turned into weeks.

Into a month.

They talked about hobbies and interests, Mikel getting a full rundown of all of the giant robots, as well as any other things that Gecko found relevant in the day's news. And Gecko began to be obsessed with Mikel's 'forbidden' garage.

As the school year drew to a close, and the students attended less, - staying up too late for a regular school night, - Gecko and Mikel had several movie nights, - always at Gecko's house due to Mikel's lack of a T.V. The popcorn and treats provided by the geeky Sophomore's parents, and any movie the two friends could find, became a regular and favorite pastime over the summer.

Mikel offered what she could at her house, which was really just her ping pong table, which Gecko loved anyway. Mikel couldn't really tell if he was faking his enthusiasm, or if he really did enjoy the hours they could spend at the table.

When the pair had a free afternoon, they would spend it together, usually in the desert area behind Mikel's house, where they would amuse themselves with drawing in the dirt, biking together on the rough, barely visible trails, or trying to catch one of the tiny Western Banded Geckos that lived out on the arid plains. Mikel thought if they ever did catch one, it would make the perfect pet sidekick for McKay.

Both of the kids' parents became very familiar with the other, Sierra told Mikel one night after she'd returned from hanging out with Gecko:

"It's almost like you two are the brother and sister the other never knew about," she'd said. "You found him, and now, you two are almost inseparable."

Mikel had smiled at that. She did enjoy spending time with Gecko. Sure they had only met a few months ago, during the last semester of school, but it felt as though, she'd known him her whole life.

He is kind of like a brother to me, she realized as she lay in bed one night. The dark of her room was only slightly tempered by the weak orange light that leaked through the underside of her door. Her wrists were still throbbing from a small fall she'd taken as they'd biked through the hot desert sand that day. Gecko had immediately dropped his own bike to assist her up, even though the scrape was literally nothing more than that: a small scrape on her knee, and soon to be bruises on her wrists and hands where she'd caught herself.

McKay was not only kind to her, but he would actually talk to her, not just the small talk she would sometimes have from her peers. He genuinely knew her, and she him.

Mikel laughed to herself. Over the time they'd spent on the topic during their lunch breaks, Mikel figured she probably knew everything about the "Cybertronians" that Gecko knew. And she returned his curiosity about her father's case, which Gecko had become what they called, a JCSI: Junior Crime Scene Investigator - about.

The next day, as Mikel and Gecko were sitting on a bench in a local park, feeding cracker crumbs to the birds at their feet, Gecko was peppering Mikel with questions he'd thought of the previous night.

Mikel found herself struggling to answer most of them, and instead using the evasive reply of: "Maybe in the garage."

"What did your mom use on your dad's case?"

"I don't know. Probably something in Dad's garage."

"Is there any evidence of him being a murderer before?"

"Maybe in the garage."

"Is there any evidence from the case at all?"

"Maybe in the garage."