International Joys (Optimus Prime X Reader)
Hey y’all, a Canadian girl here with Canada Day oneshot for Optimus! Enjoy!
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Optimus entered the lit base, the lights shining off his cherry paint and glinting off the blue on his pedes. The others had woken up earlier to pursue their charges, and now he entered to a base nearly quiet with early morning serenity (save for Miko’s loud voice, though he was she meant to be little...outspoken).
Miko and Jack sat with one another on the couch in front of the television, as he learned it was called, as it played an advertisement for fireworks on low volume, providing background white noise for the group. Miko enthusiastically began to point to the television before arching her hands and fluttering her fingers, no doubt imitating the fireworks.
Smiling at the duo, he knew that of the three bots assigned humans, there would be one out on patrol, one within the base, and one still picking up their charge. Ratchet was at the console, probably up earlier than any of them to do extra work. His stubborn friend and medic, doing anything he could to help even when he was recharge-deprived. Thank goodness that Ratchet recharged this week a few times unlike running himself to near forced recharge like last week.
“Good morning, old friend” Optimus’ voice interrupted Ratchet apparently, as the CMO jumped and turned to face him in amiable surprise before scolding him.
“I am working with delicate instruments and algorithms, Optimus. You know better than to startle me” Ratchet said, masking his playful meaning with a grouchy attitude.
“Is there any Decepticon activity to report?”
“None, thankfully. I will keep you updated in case anything happens” Ratchet promised, delivering some good news this morning.
Ratchet’s statement was followed by a chorus of laughter from the human children, and Optimus could see the corner of Ratchet’s mouth twitch slightly in a smile. Optimus basked in the tranquility of the morning.
The distant rumble of a familiar engine signalled the arrival of the last bot, who was assigned a human.
Bumblebee turned the corner, the asphalt under his tires quickly transitioning to the cool concrete of the base’s floor, the Autobot symbol pressed into the floor signalling that he was safe to transform and stop, as he was home.
Bumblebee stopped quickly and spun on his tires, skidding to a stop as his trunk whirled to face the stairwell leading to the mezzanine for the humans. Both backseat doors opened up as two humans stepped out.
Bumblebee’s partner Raf came outside first, opening his door and unlatching his seatbelt, gently pushing the latch out of the way as the belt retracted on its own, and he rushed up to the mezzanine, smiling up at Miko and Jack.
The second human was a recent addition. She had become their new charge as a result of an accidental clash with Decepticons. Surprisingly enough, the Autobots were the ones who the ‘Cons met first, and upon seeing the bots getting hurt, particularly Optimus as he fought the Vehicons, the human surprised him by actually attacking the Decepticon, giving him enough of a window to destroy both of the Vehicons attacking him. Since that day about 2 months ago, the human had joined them.
Their name was (Y/N). They were a University student in Canada, but came to the base often with an Autobot because of how their encounter with the bots, which was from Optimus’ mission in Canada to investigate a small energon signal that day. Bumblebee collected them today, and though they were partnered with Optimus, it was obvious to them that Optimus didn’t have time for them always, and often paired with whatever Autobot was available (and for their understanding, Optimus was eternally grateful). It took a small while for them all to adjust to a new human in their fold, but the human had become a necessity in the base.
Optimus became curious as he observed Raf helping (Y/N) with a package, full of many little trinkets, in dichrome red and white. Raf helped (Y/N) take the package up the stairs, both of them whispering in hushed excitement. Miko and Jack were visibly confused, wondering what was going on. Only Miko voiced it out loud.
“Whatch’ya got there?” asked Miko, leaning over the railing (in a way that the Autobots slightly feared she’d fall) to investigate the box. Raf chuckled as he cryptically spoke between giggles: “You’ll see, Miko”. It did nothing to sate her curiosity, and thus Miko turned and huffed, pouting as she dramatically dropped back to seat herself on the couch, arms crossed, wondering what was going to happen.
Raf and (Y/N) stepped onto the platform and placed the box onto the table, before Raf whispered something to Miko and Jack that made their eyes light up. The kids then began to dig through the box, and pulled out little things and set them up on the table. (Y/N) grabbed a bunch of flimsy paper strings in red and white, and began to lock them together. Jack and Raf began to cut coloured paper while Miko began to draw. Together, the humans began to create multiple pieces of art. Bumblebee and Bulkhead asked their charges what was going on, but they were silenced with a cryptic statement of finding out later.
Miko and (Y/N) whispered to one another and Miko soon began to repeat what (YN) had taught her, which was to weave the paper strings to and fro until they were flattened into little folded squares. The boys soon came to (Y/N) and announced they finished their paper crafts, and together they set aside their crafts before placing a candle beside the box, and taking out a small plastic bag filled with wires and laid it on the table. The boys and Miko then helped (Y/N) get their crafts together to one corner of the railing.
Optimus and Ratchet were the closest to them, and both Prime and medic watched in curiosity as Miko and (Y/N) pulled on opposite ends of the square, unravelling it into a woven interlocking pattern of red and white in a decorative weave. Miko and (Y/N) secured the string before giving the thumbs up to the boys, with Miko yelling: “You can start!”
Her yell attracted the attention of passing Autobots, specifically their guardians. Arcee, Bulkhead and Bee watched as the boys began to tape little pointy leaf shapes below the streamer. Bulkhead recognized some of Miko’s drawings as Jack and Raf taped a few red and white little squares to the railing.
The children were decorating. For what, they didn’t know.
Optimus too grew curious, and having decided he needed answers, quietly walked up to (Y/N).
(Y/N) stood on the left railing, on their right on the mezzanine, a ways from the lounge and on the adjacent wall from Fowler’s on-site office. Miko stood closest to the stairs as she held onto the end of another set of woven paper, while (Y/N) had gone to the railing’s end at a wall, pulling the length to the end and preparing to secure it. Miko, having received the cue, also began to pin down the woven end with tape.
Optimus approached (Y/N) while they concentrated on taping the end, either not noticing he was approaching or simply not really moving because they didn’t feel like they needed to. Optimus stepped close to the riling before leaning down slightly, closer to eye level with the human as they fiddled with the tape, scraping at it with their fingernails.
“If I may ask, what are you holding?” Optimus’ voice rang through the base, the question on every bot’s mind lingering in the air. (Y/N) turned from the tape to face him, giving them a warm smile that totally didn’t make him melt on the inside.
“They’re streamers, Optimus; decorative papercraft. We’re decorating the base” (Y/N) explained, their voice warm with tranquility with the prospect of a celebration.
“May I ask what the occasion is?” the Prime asked.
(Y/N) turned to answer him once more, with a smile even brighter, explaining:
“Today is July 1st, also known as Canada Day. I’m from Canada, so I thought that I might celebrate it, along with July 4th for the States later. I wanted to celebrate it at the base, and well”, (Y/N), averting their gaze back to the tape before turning to him once more, “I wanted to bring a piece of home with me for one day, something Canadian” they explained, and a hush fell over the whole base as the children continued decorating.
Optimus relayed the information, thinking it over in his head. While (Y/N) may be in the States, they celebrated the day of independence for their country in a different sovereign land. Though the Autobots knew about the Fourth of July (in huge part to Fowler’s love of the day and his country), they never truly grasped til now that there were people in the base who came from a different background, and while the children already had enough differences but a shared American holiday, the forgot that there were more unique differences they had yet to learn. Humanity was so connected yet so different in many unique nuances, it never failed to inspire a small amount of wonder in them.
The last statement (Y/N) gave made Optimus wonder if they were missing home.
This is likely a day they would spend with friends and family, and not being there but instead here, with them, he wondered if the newest charge was feeling lonely.
(Y/N) whispered a tiny ‘aha’ as they finally got the tape to unravel, and with a quick pull to the cutting edge they secured the end of their streamer to the railing, before helping Miko in putting little leaves up again.
Looking closer at the decorations, Optimus recognized the leaves. Red Maple.
A symbol of Canada.
The little drawings Miko made were of red and white Canadian flags. A miniature one sat upon the table, held up by a weighted stand, the flag waving under the air vent.
Optimus thought back to a few weeks after (Y/N) had joined them, and was sitting under the vent while the children shied away, Jack questioning how (Y/N) could stand the cool air which to him felt frigid. Optimus chuckled inwardly before, but looking at it now, they must have missed the north.
Maybe this day was what they needed to reconnect with home.
(Y/N), Jack, Miko and Raf finished their decorations, before sitting down together and opening a small container from (Y/N)’s box. Inside were confectioneries called ‘cookies’, little baked sweets. Optimus couldn’t help but smile inwardly as the humans all noted the small circular disk of white with two sides of red and one adorably drawn red maple leaf in icing. The children ate the cookies, enjoying the flavour. Miko had the bright idea to grab her water bottle and raise it up in toast of Canada Day, before the others followed suit, exclaiming ‘to Canada Day’ as they tapped their water bottles in celebration, giggling together on the sofa, enjoying the minor festivities and company.
Optimus worked at the terminal with Ratchet before (Y/N)’s voice called out to him.
“Optimus, can we go to the roof? Me and the others want to show you guys something up top”.
“I doubt it’s anything important” Ratchet grumbled under his breath, though the underlying curiosity in his voice was not lost on Optimus. The elevator’s doors closed, going up, and Optimus could see it carrying the other children up.
“I will go, Ratchet. You may remain, though I urge you to come too” Optimus stated, nodding to the other bots in the base to go up to the roof with him, stopping only to collect (Y/N) in his palm, seeing as the human elevator had yet to return. Optimus, Bee, Bulkhead and Arcee squeezed into the Cybertronian-sized elevator, watching the floors pass as the elevator lifted them. The Autobots stepped out onto the roof one by one, watching the children mill about as they placed tiny little contraptions around the roof’s perimeter in a large (comparative to humans) circle. They were a bit wiry, and each of the children held a small candle. Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead stepped out of the elevator to greet their charges, to see what they were doing. Optimus stepped out last, placing (Y/N) on the ground before joining the other bots outside the circle to watch their charges.
The Autobots watched as (Y/N) ran to them, holding a candle. They looked on in shock as (Y//N) pulled a small box out of their pocket and rubbed a small stick along the side of the box, lighting it on fire. They watched uneasily, slightly holding one another back from stepping in as (Y/N) lit their candle on fire, blowing away the flame on the small stick and smothering it under their footwear. They held their candle towards the group, who ignited their candle wicks, before each of them took off in different directions. Jack, Miko, Raf and (Y/N) paired up a few feet away from the centre and one another, each one lighting one of the little contraptions, before moving on to light more. Each one lit 4, making 16 in total.
The Autobots watched in humble awe as the children stood in the centre of the circle, their tiny flaming decorations letting out little sparks, but none of them were in close enough range to get lit. The bots watched in the dying rays of the summer sun as the eyes of their humans lit up with the sparks, throwing flecks of gold in their honey coloured, sky coloured, cinnamon coloured, (descriptive eye colour) coloured eyes, wonder and joy alight upon their youthful, innocent features. The bots looked into their charges’ eyes, noting the incredible colours of the light in the humans’ eyes, shadows playing upon the roof, and in the light of the sparkling little flares surrounding the humans and the evening sky above sprinkled with spare stars in setting sunlight the bots swore they could see the beauty of humanity, the same they saw in one another and themselves. For a single moment, everything looked and felt perfect, and the children were ethereal in their own otherworldly beauty.
The little flames died down and the ‘sparklers’, as they heard Miko call them, were extinguished on their own. The bots watched as the humans gathered smaller sparklers in their hands and lit them with their candles, before running around and drawing shapes and playing games with their flaming little wands (which, loathe as they were to admit it, scared the Autobots half to death for a moment or two). (Y/N) gestured the other three to their side, and each human offered their guardian one. Bulkhead immediately held onto it carefully when Miko offered it to him; Arcee gingerly accepted and held one after Jack implored her twice to grab one, promising her it was fun; Bumblebee beeped worriedly as Raf encouraged him before promising all would be well, and with their candles, the children lit each of their guardians’ sparklers, watching the light play on their divine, metallic features much like the Autobots did earlier to them. Bumblebee and Raf pretended to be wizards from ‘Harry Potter’, a favourite of Raf’s books, while Bulkhead and Miko waved them around telling stories and making plans for ‘dune bashing’ tomorrow. Jack chuckled at Arcee’s attempts to spell human words in the air with her sparkler, and they took turns comparing and complaining lightheartedly about the light in one another’s eyes.
Optimus turned to the feeling of a human tapping his pede, and looking down he could see the face of (Y/N) lit by their own sparkler in the dull light of the set sun.
“Optimus? Would you like one?” asked his charge, holding in their hand a sparkler.
“No, thank you. You may enjoy it instead” Optimus declined.
Optimus watched as (Y/N)’s shoulders drooped a little and their smile dropped slightly at his rejection, and he felt bad knowing that this day meant something to them; he was about to offer to take it until he was surprised by (Y/N) handing the sparkler over to Jack who handed it to Miko whose sparkler was extinguished.
(Y/N) turned back to Optimus, and asked: “Can I stick with you?”
Having felt badly about rejecting the sparkler, Optimus nodded, lowering his pedes until they were safely both low on the floor. (Y/N) stepped around the edges of his pedes before sitting, leaning against his knee, watching the children and their guardians play together in quiet appreciation.
Optimus snuck glances towards his charge, looking at (Y/N), who no doubt watched the goings-on with a fond smile like his own. It made him smile too, to see his soldiers connecting with their charges, learning more about humanity and just...enjoying life, even for just a day in their hard lives. The times had been harsh, the war leaving none of them unscathed, but to see them carefree as if there was no war was quite a treat they deserved. With this, they could enjoy a moment of peace and remember what they fought to protect for future generations of both Cybertron and now, Earth.
Watching (Y/N) and the others, he couldn’t help but think about how they probably would be celebrating at home happily with their own friends and family. He could only imagine how much they missed their loved ones who were a whole country away from them. Probably almost as much as he missed his own planet.
Maybe he could bring them back there for a moment?
“(Y/N)” Optimus murmured lowly, which to his human sounded like a hushed but still loud baritone, the voice of an angel drifting into their ears, demanding their respect and obedience.
(Y/N) turned and looked to their guardian, slight confusion but a sweet expression of merriment still present upon their face. “Yes?” came their reply, as gentle as a songbird during an earlier drive he took a few weeks back.
Optimus looked into his charge’s eyes, wondering if what he suggested would be sufficient.
“If you desire to see your family and friends back in Canada on this day, then we can arrange for Ratchet to bridge you home to spend time with them” Optimus suggested. His charge was still, their brows furrowed in question, prompting Optimus to add: “You should not have to miss out on celebrations with your family due to your involvement with us”.
Optimus shifted his gaze from the eyes of his charge to a spot on their face, not willing to truly look into his charge’s eyes out of guilt of his own conscience. As he said, they didn’t deserve to miss out on celebrating their national identity with family abroad simply because of a war they did not belong in.
Optimus was only brought out of his musings when (Y/N) had placed a warm human hand on his knee, bringing him to look into their eyes once more.
He was surprised to find them staring up at him with eyes no longer in question, but with joy and, even more puzzling, resolve. Their eyes sparkled even in the dim light cast only by the ring of lights upon the base’s roof which lit up the floor in the evening. Glowing blue optics met shining (eye colour) eyes as (Y/N) shook their head.
Optimus’ face minutely twitched into a concerned face as he wondered why (Y/N) would decline. (Y/N) answered:
“Optimus, Canada Day is a celebration no matter where I am, it’s a day for a country, and I’ve already recognized it. I don’t particularly need to be there. And, as for celebrating with my friends and family, I already am. Regardless of our differences, you are a friend and Team Prime is my family. I don’t have to celebrate it with relatives; I’d rather, in fact, celebrate with you”
Optimus felt warmth as they laid their head upon his knee, looking up at him once more. It was incomparable to the warmth in his spark as he basked in the moonlit smile of his charge who had compared him to family, and wanted to celebrate with him. Even when given the option, they still chose him.
“Besides, I doubt I’d be able to explain how I got up north so quickly from Nevada without revealing you guys. I don’t think that’d be good for secrecy” his human added with a chuckle.
Optimus vented carefully as his spark swelled at the prospect of being, apparently forgiven, though he knew that (Y/N) would probably say there was nothing to forgive if he spoke on it. Regardless, he reveled in the facts revealed, and felt a small smile reach his faceplates after their revelation. (Y/N) smiled at them too, that brilliant smile that made sparks melt, before leaning against him once more, watching the children take out glowsticks and play around with them from the bag of accessories they brought.
A tranquil silence befell Optimus and (Y/N) as they relaxed in one another’s presence and enjoyed the sight of their team and family joined in celebration. Their words circulated around one another's minds, but both were simply glad to be in one another's regard, and this knowledge had them wrapped in the cool evening wind with their hearts and sparks the only thing they needed to keep warm in the cool dusk.
It never ceases to surprise how much joy one can give by sharing their souls, and it never failed to bring others closer regardless of location, nationality, even species.
Optimus and (Y/N) sat under the stars, watching their family enjoy a reason to celebrate together.
