Chapter Text
Time passed quickly, and changed a surprising number of things in that rapid pass, Frenzy thought. Rumble, for example, was more or less at the point that he was glad they had found Rapture, just because of how things were now. Frenzy was pretty much of the same opinion, and not only because they were currently getting ready to visit Spike and Carly, and their new daughter, in what had become a weekly visit. They had also gotten to know some of the other Rapture survivors, though the group of farmers had remained just as generally unwelcoming as ever, and he was willing to leave them to their lives.
Mikeala was in her tree when they arrived, Spike standing below the branch, watching her. He didn’t immediately notice them, or he didn’t care. “I know they’re pretty, but leave the birds eggs alone, okay?” he said.
“Will we have baby birds later?” the young girl asked, climbing to a different branch. She looked down, then spotted them, grinning toothily. “Uncles are here!”
“First, yes, we will. Second, yes, I just told you that they’d be here soon,” Spike answered, laughing at her, and her instant struggle to get out of the tree as quickly as possible.
“Hey there, ‘Keala,” Rumble greeted, chuckling a little and waiting for the girl to get to them on her own. She didn’t bear that many traces of her time in Rapture, skin taking easily to the sun and appetite taking happily to whatever Carly or Spike made, or okayed, for her.
“We have birds, an’ they made a nest, and made pretty rocks, an’ we’re gonna have babies!” Mikeala cheerily informed him, dropping from the lowest branch and running to wrap her arms around his leg, while Frenzy waited for his turn. Mikeala never had been frightened of them, only a little shy, and it was really quite sweet now.
“Eggs, sweety, they laid eggs, not rocks,” Spike corrected gently, but with good humor as she giggled- showing that she knew very well that they weren’t rocks- and moved to hug Frenzy next.
“What’s the difference?” Rumble asked with a huff, but teasing.
Mikeala giggled, then did her best to start climbing Frenzy as Spike rolled his eyes at the question. “Edibility?” he answered back, teasing in return.
“Pretty sure I’ve seen your kids eat rocks,” Rumble answered, as Frenzy held himself in such a way as to let Mikeala climb him better. She liked climbing, which had made Eleanor laugh when they’d told her. So far, as far as Frenzy knew, Spike and Carly hadn’t asked for much help- but things were still pretty new with the little family, and Frenzy found it really interesting how quickly they had become a family.
“Eating something and it being edible are two different things,” Spike said with a laugh. He took a step towards the house, and seemed to be entertained by the idea that Rumble had watched children eat rocks.
“Does this mean I can try and eat rocks?” Mikeala asked from where she’d found a perch.
“No, no eating rocks. You aren’t a bird, are you?” Spike answered, though what he got in return was Mikeala squawking and flapping the arm not latched onto Frenzy. “See what you’ve done now,” he scolded jokingly. “You’ve turned our nice little kiddo into a bird. What are we going to do now?”
“Build her a birdhouse?” Frenzy suggested, moving towards the house too. “Only I’m not sure you’d like one’a those, ‘Keala. Birds don’t eat cake and frosting and waffles and bacon… An’ I’m pretty sure they don’t sleep in beds. …’Cept Beaky and ‘Saw, but they’re not really birds…” And also didn’t usually recharge in beds...
The girl frowned at the long list of things birds didn’t eat. “...What ‘bout dinosaurs? Grimlock has a bed!” she said, apparently giving up, mostly, on being a bird.
“But Grimlock isn’t really a dinosaur, is he? And you can’t eat nothing but raw meat or ferns, or energon, can you?” Spike asked. “Sorry sweety, you’re a boring human like me.” He flashed a smile, and Mikeala giggled.
“You’re not that boring,” she said, before looking thoughtful, and probably mulling over food again. “If I have to be human, can I have a cookie?”
Spike hummed, looking thoughtful in an over exaggerated way. “Well,, if it’s so horrible being our species, I suppose you may have a cookie to make up for that.”
“I dunno, Spike. It’s not all bad being your species. I mean, your self-repair is great. And your hands…” Rumble said, trying to tease.
Frenzy resisted the urge to do anything more than poke Rumble over the bond and add, “Yeah. You give good massages. It’s a lot easier when y’can reach the cablin’... An’, you can eat cookies. We can’t…”
Looking distressed over the lack of cookie-eating, Mikeala hugged Frenzy’s arm. “But we made you cookies, special!” she said. Looking at Spike, she froze. “Oh. That was the surprise, wasn’t it? I’m sorry...”
“It’s okay, sweety,” Spike answered, laughing as they made it into the house, and Carly appeared in the doorway.
“I was wondering what was taking you so long,” she said.
“We turned your daughter inta a bird, an’ had t’turn her back,” Rumble explained, going up and hugging Carly as they had learned she liked.
Frenzy chuckled a little at Mikeala, and patted her head. “Well, I’m sure if you and your dad made ‘em, we can figure out how t’eat ‘em. Hello, Carly. Bro’s right, we had to make ‘Keala human again.” He grabbed the girl and swung her off his shoulder while she laughed at the motion.
“Oh, I see.” Carly hummed back, pressing into the hug. “Well, thank you for turning her back.” She smiled at Spike, kissing him on the cheek when their hug ended and he got close. It was still fascinating to see them interact in a fashion much closer to bonded mechs, now that there wasn’t danger, and they trusted the Cassettes.
Spike chuckled. “Well, at the very least, yes, we have goodies for you guys, for once. But we had help in making them.”
“Y’know you don’t need ta make us goodies. With or without help,” Frenzy pointed out, as Mikeala ran towards the kitchen. He also didn’t address the fact that he and Rumble had a little store of Spike and Carly’s favorite sweets on the Nemesis, even though the humans almost never visited there. Decepticons were more welcome, now, to try building on the surface, but Soundwave wasn’t quite ready to leave, and so the cassettes didn’t leave either. And Rumble, picking up on the earlier thoughts about the couple, pulled Frenzy closer before they made their way to the couch.
“We know, but we wanted to,” Carly answered, smiling. “We’ve been bad hosts, you know. It’s proper to have treats for guests. Although, you’re more family than guest…” she mused on it while Spike slipped from the room and brought back a square glass container, very similar to the ones that were used by Autobot and Decepticons to store solid energon. Inside it, little stacks of round solid flat wafers sat. Spike looked incredibly proud of them.
Rumble chuckled at Spike’s expression, and took one of the wafers when Spike offered the cube. “Wow. Ain’t seen things that look like this… for a while…” he said, examining the wafer, and ignoring Mikeala’s impatience.
“Yeah. An’ when we do, usually give ‘em to the birds…” Frenzy agreed, also taking one. “Don’t worry, though, Carly. Like you said, we’re more family…” He shrugged a little, ducking into Rumble’s hold, before trying the solid energon.
“Ooh, this is good, bro!” Rumble said, taking advantage of the fact they didn’t technically need to talk with their mouths. His voice sounded more than a little weird, though.
Grinning, Carly shook her head, while Spike moved the tray closer to Frenzy, then set it down near them when the mech had grabbed one. They didn’t seem disturbed by the change in voice, though Mikeala narrowed her eyes slightly, until Frenzy bit into a wafer of his own, and she cheered. “Do you like them?” she asked.
“Let them finish eating, first,” Carly teased. “Anyway, we wanted to. We were thinking about asking if Soundwave had decided to come up, yet. But if not, we could visit?”
Finishing his first treat, Rumble chuckled, and spoke normally. They didn’t like to upset Mikeala! “Boss ain’t ready t’leave yet. Think I told ya, Nemesis got one a’ those Daddies… Just seems t’want to fix the ship, an’ we’re inclined ta let him. Tenenbaum an’ Eleanor say it’s safe- anyway. Boss wants ta keep an’ optic on ‘im.”
Frenzy swallowed as well, smiling. “We’re okay with it. You can… visit if ya wanna, guess… An’ yes, ‘Keala, the treats are good. I like ‘em, least.”
Perking considerably, the young human smiled. “Yay!” she cheered. “I’m glad. Cookies are the best.”
“The last time they were here, I thought cupcakes were the best,” Spike said. He laughed when she pouted, then climbed up between Rumble and Frenzy.
“That was last week,” she said. “Now, we can share cookies, so they’re the best.”
Rumble laughed, patting Mikeala. “That makes sense. What’s it- ya got a sayin’, don’t ya? Bout… sharing is caring?”
“Yup!” the girl agreed, grinning broadly. Of course she couldn’t exactly ‘share’ their cookies, but details like that didn’t seem to bother her, and Frenzy thought it was because she understood the bigger picture better. On the other hand, he didn’t spend all that much time with human children, usually!
“We should visit,” Carly said, dragging them back to the question, and offer, of before. “I think it will be okay.” She sat on the edge of the couch, smiling, and they were reminded of the warning that either human might panic if brought back to any place under water. That hadn’t happened, but the warning from Ratchet had stuck.
Rumble reached for another wafer-cookie before answering. “You could, but you don’ have to,” he said. “We don’ mind being up here.”
“Yeah, but that’s not fair,” Spike said, glancing at Carly.
Frenzy shrugged a little, glancing at Rumble. “I mean, y’can. Sibs would like ta see ya- An’ I think Reflector would like to show you their pictures- if you’re up to it. Just… let us know if you’re havin’... any problems…?”
“Of course,” Spike answered, nodding. “Oh, ah… Mikeala, didn’t you want to show them your doll? How about you go make it look nice?”
The young human giggled then rushed from the room, leaving them for a few clicks. “Any word from the islanders?” she asked. Rumble made a face at the question about the former-Rapture residents rescued from the city, then shrugged.
“Well, they’re alive,” he said.
Spike gave a soft sigh of relief. “Not causing trouble?”
“No,” Frenzy answered. “And we’ve been keepin’ track, too.”
“Good. Though I never thought you wouldn’t…” Spike answered. “I… do understand that we couldn’t leave them, but… Well.”
Rumble nodded a little, and Frenzy agreed. Morally, the rescue had been needed, but none of the Decepticons were really happy with the risk- then again, they weren’t the most happy with so many former Adam-users running around, either. Especially the ones they hadn’t met very much…
The mood was rescued by Mikeala running down the stairs, grinning and holding something. Despite the fact that she was the one who was the most dangerous, here, Rumble and Frenzy both broke into wide grins as she came over. Mikeala wasn’t going to hurt them, and was perfectly sweet too!
“‘Keala, remember to be careful on the stairs,” Carly ‘scolded’ the young human, though it wasn’t really a true scolding.
Only pausing in her grinning to nod at Carly, Mikeala thrust the doll at them, “I couldn’t find the perfect colors for yous, but I tried!” she declared. It was a rather large thing, and very bulky, squared- Rumble needed way too much time to realize it was a mech, or at least a Cybertronian.
“Oh. Is this… us?” Frenzy asked, while Rumble was still looking at the doll. Only they never really had yellow on them… “It’s okay that ya couldn’t find the right colors… Bro’ an’ I change our paint sometimes,” he added, trying to make Mikeala feel better.
“I think it’s cute,” Rumble said, reaching to see if she’d let him hold the doll. It was horribly made, really, with clumsy stitching and haphazard placement of everything, but that just… meant that Mikeala had made it. And that was sweet.
The young human beamed, then delicately handed it over. “One of the other sisters said that everyone should have a protector doll. But I didn’t want any of the ones they had.” She looked at Carly, then grinned. “You guys are betterer!”
“Much better,” Spike agreed, teasing the young girl.
“Oh, did she…?” Rumble asked, optics flickering just a little. Of course they both remembered how the Sisters saw them, but… “Well, of course we’re gonna say we’re betterer than anyone else!”
“‘Cept maybe th’ Boss. But he’s ours,” Frenzy teased, taking the doll and looking over it after his brother. “The doll is very nice. Do ya sleep with it?”
Mikeala nodded, smiling toothily again. “Of course!” She took it back when it was offered to her by Frenzy, tucking her arms around it in a hug. “He keeps bad dreams away. But you can borrow him tonight.”
Spike stifled a laugh at the look of surprise that Rumble knew he had on his face. “That’s if you want to stay a couple days again. We were going to ask.”
“You can keep him. Bro’ an’ I got each other,” Frenzy answered, patting Rumble as well. “...’Less your parents are willin’ ta let us extend th’ sleepover…” He glanced at Spike, nodding a little. They’d be happy to stay a couple days, and if the first night had Mikeala sleeping with them, that wasn’t a problem. It would be really nice if Spike and Carly joined them- it didn’t happen much, and that was fine, but it was nice when it happened.
“We’d like that,” Carly answered, looking quite happy by the prospect.
Mikeala cheered, then absolutely lit up ask Spike stood and offered his hand to her. “Come on, then. Let’s get blankets for a pillow and blanket fort, yeah?” They disappeared a click later, and Rumble vented as he shook his head, amused. He squawked when a pillow hit him on the return, and any semblance of discussion dissolved into a ‘fight’ of pillows and shrieking from Mikeala.
Later, when the young human was in recharge, and they were cycling down, Carly and Spike did join them, curling close for quiet talk, family.