The little sparkling version of Miko giggled quietly when she saw that the Prime was recharging. She crawled out of his arms and watched him for a minute to make sure he wouldn't wake up from her sudden movements. When Optimus continued recharging, she smiled cheekily and went to the edge of the berth.
Of course, a berth that belonged to Optimus was bound to be quite large. To Miko's sparkling optics it was a massive drop, but knowing her she jumped anyway not caring if she hurt herself. She landed with a thud and thankfully in a position that braced her little body and therefore preventing any damage. She let out a victorious giggle and gazed back up at Optimus before turning her sight to the door of his quarters. She crawled swiftly towards it and the door opened, sensing movement from the inside.
Miko crawled down the corridors looking for hints of where her destination might be. She cursed her young Cybertronian body and its inability to walk or run.
"I don't have forever, its only a matter of time before boss bot realises I'm not tucked up next to him" she babbled to herself as she crawled.
Soon enough she reached the main room of the base and practically felt her soul lurch out of her body when she saw Bumblebee stomping around in anger. She backed away into a corner as she watched him settle down and sit on an energon crate with his head held in his hands. Miko waited for a fews seconds before slowly crawling past him, staying in the shadows of the room. The scout was oblivious to the little sparkling scuttling past him.
Bumblebee was vexed. Optimus couldn't just take Raf off of him like that! He was his rightful guardian, not Ratchet! Its not like Raf got hurt or anything! Bumblebee ventilated angrily. Of course Optimus would use his age against him. The Prime seemed to enjoy using Bumblebee's age to his advantage, but honestly, even if Optimus was just trying to keep him or the others safe, he saw it to be pointless. Despite his age, he was stuck in the middle of war. He lost his creators. He lost his family. What was Optimus doing to him?!
Bumblebee whirred angrily, lifted his head and sighed. Optimus had acted as a father to him, that was why he acted the way he did with the young scout. But it gave him no right to completely dismiss him of his guardianship of Raf! Thinking of that just made him angrier. This is why he had come back to the main room, he knew that if he'd stayed in his room then everyone would have heard his angry statements and he would've landed himself in deeper trouble with Optimus.
The black and yellow bot continued to think as Miko found her destination. Once she was alone at the base with Ratchet at Optimus and to her they were the most boring of the Autobots. Even though Ratchet tried to show her some scientific equations she had still wandered off, finding her exploration of the base more exciting and important than science. Optimus had even attempted to quell he curios nature by calling her back and trying to interest her in Deception intel that they had gathered throughout the war on Cybertron. She had been enthralled and gladly listened to Optimus as he talked about the main Deceptions and the battles that happened. However, he had barely even started on the third 'Con, Soundwave, when Miko had somehow escaped the Prime's invisible hold.
Knowing her curious nature, Ratchet and Optimus counted on her finding something they probably wouldn't have wanted her to find. And it was true. She had found a room that possessed enormous cans of paint that the bots used to occasionally brighten themselves up after battle. There were all sorts of colours but she noticed that the cans were mainly dominated by the colours that the bots possessed. Miko looked very pleased with herself as she rediscovered the paint room. She smiled cheekily as she picked out the lighter, smaller cans of red and white. She found herself climbing the shelves to find more cans that would be easy for her to tug along with her. how she could do that but not walk was a mystery for her. What she didn't realise that she was making a fair amount of noise.
Bumblebee's brows creased and his optics spun slightly as he recognised the sound of clashing of cans. Everyone was in recharge so who could possibly be making all that noise?
He rose from his position on the crate and activated his weapon system as he began walking in the direction of the sound. As he inched closer to the room that the noise was originating from, he realised it was one of the storage rooms that Ratchet went to to retrieve paint for when he deemed them in need of a new coat.
His optics instantly widened when he was met with the sight of a small sparkling pulling a few red and white paint cans with her as she crawled out. He realised it was Miko and instantly felt at peace knowing that this sort of behaviour wasn't remotely strange. Carefully, he walked over to her and picked her up, cradling her against his chest being gentle with her tiny wing nubs.
'What are you doing out here?' he questioned in beeps and buzzes.
She replied in a string of sparkling words that he could never hope to understand. However, going by the smirk on her little face meant that she was up to something naughty. He looked over at the paint cans and noticed that they were specific colours. Once again, his optics widened but out of realisation rather than shock. If he was guessing right, she was going to mix those paints together. Red and white made pink...
Bumblebee giggled evilly. The little sparkling had given him to cruelest idea. Without wasting anytime he picked up all of the cans that Miko had retrieved and walked quickly and silently in the direction of the personal quarters corridor. Miko smiled happily up at the scout, silently thanking him for his help. She had clearly grasped onto what she intended to do.
However, she realised Bumblebee hadn't quite fully understood when she was placed into a room along with all the paint cans. She didn't intend to paint this person but with the scout egging her on she couldn't help but flash him a massive smile and continue. Honestly, she could understand why he wanted her to paint this bot instead of Ratchet.
Ratchet would've been fun to paint but this certain mech would be just as fun. She giggled and got to work while Bumblebee slipped back into his own quarters, giggling madly.
/-\
The next morning, Optimus woke up of his own accord. No crying. That was nice, having a peaceful night-
Optimus shot up and searched for Miko on his berth but found no trace of her. Knowing the rest of the team would be awake, he commed them with a slightly annoyed sigh.
/Good morning, Autobots. Unfortunately, I cannot find Miko. I would appreciate if you would help./
He heard them all groan in response. It seemed they needed to keep a tighter leash on their rambunctious, trouble-making sparkling. It seemed to be quite a feat of theirs to just disappear at the most annoying times.
Optimus slapped a hand over his face and groaned as he pulled himself off of his berth. He decided that before leaving he may as well search the rest of his room for the little one. After thoroughly searching every part of his room he deemed it logical that she must of escaped during the night. He exited his quarters after gathering the Prime within him to come out and take over his current mood.
He slowly walked down the corridors, keeping an optic out just in case he caught a glimpse of a certain little devil. Optimus was approaching the main room when he resumed looking straight ahead instead of around him. He walked into the main room and saw that things were peaceful. They would've remained that way too if Miko hadn't scampered off. Bumblebee was sat on a crate reading a data pad and consuming his daily ration of energon, Arcee was sat on the floor with a happy looking sparkling in front of her, Ratchet was holding Raf to his chest, feeding him whilst looking over the monitors for any sign or Deception movement, and Bulkhead was out on the morning patrol.
"Good morning." he announced himself.
His Autobots turned around to address him but all stopped and looked at him wide optics and open mouths that looked like their jaws were about to drop off their hinges. Optimus didn't like it.
"Is something wrong?" he inquired.
Bumblebee, Arcee and the two little mechlings started laughing whilst Ratchet struggled not to.
"Optimus... Have you perhaps wondered why Miko might have run off in the night?" Ratchet asked with a massive grin.
Optimus cocked his head to one side.
"Yeah, it seems like she realised that you might not be happy with her little project!" Race wiped away the tears forming in her optics from laughing hard.
"...Project?" Optimus was confused.
"Look in the monitor, Optimus" Ratchet chuckled as he switched his monitor scree onto a video feed that had Optimus filling it.
"Optimus' remains stoic as ever before cocking an eyebrow up, forming his unimpressed look.
He was pink.
Bright pink.
Miko had painted him pink during his recharge!
"Okay, Optimus, go get cleaned up and we'll go look for Miko" Arcee giggled as she stood up with Jack in her arms.
The Prime nodded and turned in the direction of the wash racks. He wasn't necessarily angry that the sparkling had painted him but it annoyed him that the sparkling had somehow managed to outsmart him. How had he not found any clue of the paint she had used? He shook his head in disbelief and continued on.
/-\
Miko was found asleep in the vents, smothered in the pink paint herself, way after Optimus had scrubbed all of the pink paint off of himself. In fact, it had taken the team so long to locate he that they became worried. Once they had a hold of her, she was instantly handed to Optimus who gave her a stern look. She giggled, already knowing what the Prime had looked like in a coat of pink paint. She was slightly disappointed that he'd washed it off though.
"Miko. I'm not happy with you or your actions." he said to her.
She looked up at him with the most innocent look she could muster.
"By the looks of it she needs a bath." Bumblebee commented with an amused speck in his optics.
"Not before she eats and gets a change." Ratchet insisted and passed Optimus a bottle of warm low grade energon.
Both mechs gave thankful sighs when Miko didn't struggle and immediately latched onto the bottle and began suckle. It wasn't long before she was sucking in air and Optimus pulled the bottle from her mouth, ignoring her annoyed squeak. He lifted her to his shoulder and began to pat her back, being careful not to pat too hard so he didn't hurt her little wing nubs. Soon enough she burped and then her, from what it seemed, new guardian began walking into the wash racks and preparing a small bath for her. While he waited for the bath to cool off a bit, he began to change the little femme, which as always proved to be a difficult task.
It didn't get any better for the red and blue mech as for some reason, being put in the warm water of the bath seemed to trigger the sensors on her wing nubs and she instantly began whining and struggling.
"Hush, Miko. It is alright" Optimus tried soothing her.
It didn't work, she continued to struggle against his hold on her and the Prime realised it was probably the best thing to wash her as quickly as he could.
Now that he'd finished, he pulled her out of the water and wrapped her in a large, warm towel. Soon enough, Miko was asleep in the strong red arms.
/-\
Ratchet had been in the medbay with Raf sat up on the medical berth. Optimus was in there helping Ratchet and had placed Miko on the berth next to Raf.
Suddenly the sound of coughing and spluttering reached both of their audio receptors. They turned and saw that Raf was pretty much having a coughing fit.
"Rafael?" Ratchet asked concerned as he looked over.
The old medic quickly walked over and picked the little mech up and began patting and rubbing his back. However, that plan backfired as it only caused him to sick up his morning energon. Optimus' optic brows raised in alarm and he went to get a rag for his old friend.
"Ratchet, use this to clean yourself and i'll scan Rafael."
Ratchet nodded as he took to rag from his leader and passed him the now crying sparkling in return. By now, Miko was wide awake and watching with interest as Raf continued to bawl his optics out. She looked on, wondering what was happening to her younger friend.
"Miko," Ratchet called as he finished cleaning himself up, "Would you like to go and play with Bulkhead while Optimus helps me with Rafael?"
She squealed happily in response and Ratchet smiled as he walked out of the medbay. He gently stroked her wing nubs and smiled even more when he felt her press her back into his hand. Although he hadn't been keen on the idea of a seekerling in the bas (for its own health and safety), he was beginning to think that it wouldn't be so difficult. He passed her onto Bulkhead and heard their laughter as he walked back to the medbay. Honestly, Ratchet was happy that Team Prime were enjoying the sparklings.
Rafael's crying got louder as he approached the medbay and when he entered it was almost audio shattering.
"What do his results say?" Ratchet asked Optimus.
"He has cyberflu and there is no detected cause of it" Optimus told him as gently held Raf against his chest while Ratchet began to prepare some medicine for him. The Prime's spark seemed to soothe him and he settled down from crying to just small, shaky sobs.
"It's probably because of his vents. They're younger and much more open to ventilating the wrong things." Ratchet sighed as he finished up with the medicine needle.
He approached the sniffling sparkling that was holding on tightly to Optimus' chest plates. Raf was shaking and the older mechs couldn't tell if it was because he was upset, cold or scared.
"Do I need to hold him in a certain position?" Optimus inquired.
"No, he's not Miko. He won't move as much as her." Ratchet almost snorted.
With that, he pressed the needle into Raf's arm. The mechling squealed in shock and tried to wiggle away but the Prime's grip proved to be too strong. He fell limp when the needle was removed from his arm and felt himself being passed over to Ratchet. The old medic lightly patted his back to keep him calm before bring a bottle up to him. Raf turned his head, not wanting the energy but Ratchet insisted and pressed the bottle nub to Raf's lips.
"Come on, Rafael. You need this if you're going to get better" the medic cooed.
Raf squealed in discomfort and batted at the bottle and Ratchet's hands. It wasn't long before the crying started again and Ratchet was left comforting whilst Optimus couldn't help but look on with bemused optics. Had he looked like this with Miko?
"Optimus!" the Prime looked up at Ratchet, "Pass me that blanket on the side."
Optimus did so and watched as Ratchet wrapped the small sparkling in it. The crying began to stop when this happened and the two older mechs guessed he had just been cold. Now he accepted the bottle and Ratchet let out a sigh of relief.
"Optimus I won't be needing your help until later" the medic said quietly so he didn't disturb the now drowsy sparkling.
Optimus took the hint, nodded to Ratchet and then left the medbay to go and join the others in the front room.
Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, Jack and Miko had been building a large fort out of the couch and the energy crates. The fort took over the entire main room and the road that led to the exit of the bas, and all of the bots included were laughing and having fun with the sparklings. They were all walking, crawling, running, galloping, climbing and crawling their way through the homemade fort, playing a game of tag.
"C'mon Bumblebee! I thought you were fast!" Bulkhead taunted whilst running alongside Arcee who laughed as she held both sparklings. Jack and Miko were laughing insanely as Arcee ran faster and suddenly turned a corner, leaving Bulkhead running in the original direction.
"HEY!" Bulkhead stopped and complained as he saw them go the other way. He was suddenly rugby tackled by Bumblebee who beeped and whirred in laughter before running off in the same direction as Arcee and the sparklings.
Bulkhead remembered the paths of their fort and went the other way to trap them in a different corner that they would eventually reach. With a small laugh, he ran off but stopped when he heard a crash, a groan of pain and a voice.
"Autobots? What is the meaning of this?" Optimus' voice came from the outside of the fort. He didn't sound impressed either.
Bulkhead's optics widened before he walked back into the depths of their fort and away from Optimus. He decided to comm his friends.
/Arcee, Bumblebee, Optimus is here and he doesn't sound too happy with his discovery of the fort. What do we do?"/
/I say we ignore him and keep playing/ Bumblebee laughed
/Can't help but agree with 'Bee, Bulkhead. I haven't had fun like this since I was a sparkling/ Arcee added.
Bulkhead couldn't help but agree with Arcee. Fun like this was hard to make time for in a war and their only excuse to do things like this was because of the sparklings they were currently looking after. And, Bumblebee never got to do this when he was younger so it was only fair that they pretended not to hear Optimus and continue. Bulkhead smiled before running off after his team mates, looking for them and hoping to tag one.
Optimus had walked into the main room and had been rudely interrupted by a whack to the helm. He clutched his head and groaned before looking at the sight of him. The entire room had been turned upside down to create some form of fort. He cocked an optic brow before hollering.
/-\
"Autobots? What is the meaning of this?"
He heard shuffling and muffled laughter but got no reply.
'Okay, the old fashioned way it is' he thought to himself as he set out to look for his soldiers and the two sparklings they had.
He entered the fort and realised that it wasn't going to be as quick a find as he thought it might be. The pathways that had been made winded around in an almost maze-like fashion. With a slightly annoyed sigh, he began to carefully walk down the paths in hopes of finding all of them.
It felt like he was walking for ages until finally he saw, in the crossway he was approaching, Bumblebee and Arcee, with the sparklings in her arms, laughing as they ran from Bulkhead. His optics widened in realisation at what they were doing before he smirked to himself and began running after them in the same direction.
The Autobots stopped, confused, as they heard a pair of footsteps, they were loud and drawing closer at a fast pace. They all turned and saw their leader running at them with a mischievous, playful grin on his face. They all watched with wide optics as their normally stoic leader was openly inviting them to play a game with him. Bulkhead turned tail and ran past Arcee, Bumblebee and the sparklings. The others looked at him before following suit and began sprinting away from their Prime.
This continued for a good while until Bulkhead clumsily tripped over his own pedes and tumbled to the floor. He went sliding into the makeshift wall of the fort and was successful in causing the collapse of everything. Crates went tumbling and rolling as the fort became a complete mess. Optimus felt a shock of worry shoot up his spinal cables when he saw a crate fall and hit Arcee, resulting in her falling to the floor with the two sparklings. They slid out of her arms and were piled on top of each other on the floor. His felt his spark rate increase tremendously when he saw yet another crate threatening to fall and smash into the ground. In the same place as it's desired smashing point, the sparklings.
The Prime thundered towards the human-turned-sparklings and scooped them into his arms just before the crate fell and landed behind him. He helped up the other bots that had been downed in the collapse and guided them out of the mess.
"Autobots, I would deem it wise not to create another adventurous contraption such as this." he said calmly yet sternly.
'I agree' Bumblebee buzzed as he rubbed his bicep cables where a crate had fallen and dented it.
The four Autobots looked at Jack and Miko who were messing around with each other in the strong hold of Optimus.
"Jack, Miko," the Prime called and they looked up at him cutely, "We will not be playing that game again."
Their faces scrunched up as they took in and realised what he had just told them. They looked on the verge of tears as their main guardian had practically just torn away their favourite game. Optimus was about to turn back to the Autobots when he felt two little fists smack down onto his chest plating. He looked back down at the culprit; Miko.
"No!" she shouted at him in a squeaky voice.
All of the elder bots looked at her with shocked looks.
"Her first word!" Bulkhead exclaimed happily.
"Bulkhead, this is Miko. To be honest, it was nice when she couldn't speak at all. And to top it all off, her first word is 'no'." Arcee groaned as did Bumblebee.
"Nonetheless, her first word hasn't been placed in a manor worth praising." Optimus frowned.
Of course it made sense, she was rebelling against him. The cheeky little sparkling had hit him and told him 'no' and that didn't suit well with the Prime. He wasn't their sire but he was set on acting as one to them, therefore manners had to be put in place.
"Miko, you will not hit me or anyone else. Is that understood?" he looked at her with a fatherly stern look.
"No!" she shouted again. Jack seemed to find this hilarious and began laughing at his friend.
"Well at least he's happy." Arcee smiled.
"No!" another squeaky voice shouted. It was Jack this time.
"For Primus' sake, who keeps on shouting?" Ratchet came out of the medbay with a recharging Raf in his arms.
"No!" twin voices echoed.
The medic looked almost dazed as he gazed over the smiling sparklings.
"Oh, for spark's sake..." he grumbled as he headed back in the direction of the medbay. The last thing he needed was the most unruly of the three speaking. Jack didn't really bother him but Miko and her machine gun mouth were a different story.
"Ratchet, how is Rafael?" Optimus called as he let the sparklings climb around in his arms.
Ratchet stopped walking and sighed, turning to face Optimus.
"Not good, Optimus. By the looks of it he's too weak to handle what the virus is doing to his systems..."
'Why whats wrong with him?!" Bumblebee demanded as he quickly walked over to Ratchet and Raf.
"He has cyberflu, and from the looks of it, its slowly killing him."