lalala. thinking about shelrodcee erogenous zones…
Arcee likes having her helm buns stroked in a circular motion, especially if you gradually move towards the inner “ear”. She would love q-tips… Anyways. The grill on her breastplate is also sensitive; dragging nails back and forth across the ribbing or jamming fingers between the spaces feels heavenly. Of course with Arcee you always run the risk of getting pounced on lol so tread carefully when teasing her.
Hot Rod likes having his stomach/abdomen area rubbed, especially his headlights. It’s sort of a fanon thing that his spoiler is sensitive, which I think is true, but it’s specifically the edges that do it for him. Dragging hands/lips along the rim gets him all squirmy. The “spine” that connects the spoiler to his backside is full of sensors, so he’s very tender there and easy to overstimulate. You also have to be careful with that though because his instinct is to lean into you. Don’t get squished.
Shelby’s biggest weakness is his ears. Any kind of stimulation (especially whispering or nibbling) absolutely melts him and he will try to squirm away. She also likes having her inner thighs kissed or ghosted and tends to be more vocal when touched there. She gets really tense when stimulated, so you might have to do some relaxation exercises with him so he doesn’t cramp.
Feeling listless about post-grad life, Shelby Love decides to move away from her hometown and set roots in Chattanooga, Tennessee, hoping for a fresh, new start. She works full-time for a local café to make ends meet, and in her spare time submits artwork to comic book publishers in hopes of one day making it big in the industry.
In an effort to make connections locally after the big move, Shelby joins a beginner hikers club, who meet every other weekend to hike along the Tennessee mountain range. One fateful weekend, the group organizes an all-day trip to Lookout Mountain. While making their way up the trail, Shelby’s interest is piqued by a bizarre-looking ‘city’ on the other side of the tracks. Since this takes place during the early years of public Internet (2003-2005), declassified information about Cybertronian operations on Earth are still scarce, and Shelby just can’t help her own curiosity. Knowing that the group wouldn’t entertain the idea, she sneaks off to get a better look for herself, winding up lost in the process. By a stroke of luck, she runs into one of the locals— Hot Rod.
After their first meeting, they continue to cross paths several times in increasingly comical ways, leading the two to form a friendship based on their mutual fascination with one another and their shared love of Earth’s culture and natural beauty. As they grow closer, Shelby gets to meet the other denizens of Autobot City, including two of Hot Rod’s partners: Arcee and Springer; both of whom take a liking to her.
Shelby is creative, kind, and has a good sense of humor. She’s a romantic who tends to lose herself in daydreams, and her sweet tooth is unmatched. She’s also very emotional, and is often easy to anger/upset. She sometimes struggles with confidence, though she tries to remedy this through self-assuring jokes. Some of her more withdrawn traits clash with Hot Rod and Arcee’s confident & outgoing personalities. Through her relationship with them, she learns to have more faith in herself and take life by the horns (or steering wheel…?).
I’m basically just vomiting up all my notes so this won’t be super organized, sorry if there’s any tonal whiplash. 😭🙏 Mostly a collection of cute little fun facts and details about each relationship.
The majority of the AU takes place before TF:TM (between 2003-2005). Post-movie/season 3 DOES happen but it’s something I need to make a separate post for bc RodiShel is a whooole other thing. (evil grin)
I’ve decided to use Chattanooga, Tennessee as the setting for the AU because the geography of Lookout Mountain in TF:TM is similar to the real-life location in Tennessee.
Relationships
Shelby + Hot Rod
General Dynamic
Shelby meets Hot Rod by chance while on a hike through the mountains. After their first encounter, they start running into each other more often, and build up a friendship based on this silly chain of coincidences.
The relationship is painfully awkward at first. They’re very much in awe of one another and view this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so they’re both anxious about messing it up. Hot Rod shifts wildly between being a tryhard to impress Shelby and totally clamming up around her (much to his own horror), whereas Shelby tends to be soft spoken and easily embarrassed.
Once they get past all the new love jitters, though, they find that it’s wonderfully easy to be themselves around each other. They feel like old friends meeting after years apart.
Shelby finds Hot Rod’s spontaneity and recklessness very freeing. She is a careful and anxious person who doesn’t take risks often, so being around him helps her to let go of her inhibitions and be more confident. On the inverse, Shelby’s disciplined and cautious nature keeps Hot Rod grounded. Being forged during the war, he’s never really known stability, so having her around makes him feel secure.
They’re both heavy on physical affection and feel most comfortable/natural when they’re touching or holding each other.
The most important aspect of their relationship is cultural exchange— learning to not only navigate but appreciate their differences. They love teaching each other about their respective customs/cultures and incorporating little pieces of them into their everyday lives.
They also bond over their shared love of nature, and spend a lot of their time together outdoors; hiking, fishing, picnicking, driving, etc.
Fun Stuff
Shelby’s nicknames for Hot Rod: Roddy, Rod, Angel/My Angel, Kitten, Pumpkin
Hot Rod’s nicknames for Shelby: Shel, Shelbs, Beeb, Sweetheart, Peaches
“Separate Ways” by Journey is their favorite song.
Aside from their love of the outdoors, they also enjoy making mixtapes/cd mixes together! They always end up with a few of the same songs on everything, though.
Shelby is a huge foodie who’s always looking to try new things— especially sweets. She drags Hot Rod to every bakery, café, and fancy restaurant that catches her eye.
They love to do big movie marathon sleepovers at Hot Rod’s hab— snacks, blanket fort, the works. If the movie is in Cybertronian, Hot Rod will do a dramatic voice-over so Shelby can understand.
Shelby is an artist and an aspiring comic book illustrator. She has grand ideas for a dark adventure/sci-fi series, but really her passion is drawing cute girls and cartoon animals.
Hot Rod is into street racing, but very few bots around the base will humor him, so he often gets rowdy with the locals in Chattanooga. He’s earned himself a bit of a rivalry with a mysterious black Pontiac.
At some point after they start dating, Shelby adopts an orange tabby kitten. She tentatively names it ‘Hot Rod’ after a teasing conversation between her and Arcee about how it sort of looks like him. The name sticks, and Hot Rod starts treating it like their son. They have a running bit where they pretend to be in a custody battle over “Little Rod”.
Shelby always calls Hot Rod before bed to say good night, but Hot Rod will sometimes rope her into staying on the phone until she falls asleep. <3
Hot Rod misses Shelby when she’s at work, so he likes to stop by the coffee shop just to bug her. He doesn’t even like the menu that much, but he has a regular order picked out (dragonfruit lychee refresher and a chocolate croissant. gaaaaayyyy) just so he has an excuse to see her at the drive thru. Her coworkers think it’s the cutest thing ever and they love to tease her relentlessly. Shelby is mortified.
On top of Shelby’s interests in hiking and drawing, she’s also big into fashion. She loves experimenting with different styles and reads a lot of alternative fashion magazines/style books. She has plenty of different looks, but cute, fluffy pastels or denim + leather tends to be her forte.
Hot Rod has a sort of fascination/envy for human fashion and gender expression, and often uses Shelby as his muse for these feelings. He eventually decides to get a holoform (that Shelby helps him design) so that he can experiment with himself.
Flaws
Shelby is good at appearing outwardly calm and collected, but in reality she’s constantly anxious. She has trouble not letting this anxiety rule her life.
Hot Rod can be very jealous and attention seeking at times, and will sulk or become agitated when he’s not getting as much attention as he’d like.
Hot Rod also has some trouble opening up about his feelings. He’s worried about being a burden on others, so he often plays it off as a joke. It’s easy to tell when he’s bothered, though— he tends to become avoidant or passive aggressive.
Both Shelby and Hot Rod are extremely forgiving individuals, which can make them easy targets for manipulation.
Shelby + Arcee
General Dynamic
Arcee asks to meet Shelby after months of listening to Hot Rod’s fond ramblings about her, and ends up falling in love at first sight.
Unlike Hot Rod, this is not Arcee’s first rodeo with a human partner— she is very forward with Shelby.
Shelby, on the other hand, is a bit bashful around Arcee, even after they’ve grown closer. She’s beyond charmed by her confidence, as well as her playful and caring personality. A few sweet words will have her blushing like a lovestruck schoolgirl.
Arcee is just as weak in Shelby’s hands, though. She adores how sweet and easily flustered Shelby is and can’t help but fawn over her. She’s very attentive and chivalrous, and just loves to spoil her. All Shelby has to do is bat her eyelashes at Arcee and she’ll give her anything in the world.
They’re the kind of couple who annoy everyone around them with their constant coy flirting and mushy pet names. Their relationship is sickly sweet.
They spend a lot of their time together doing craft projects and filming silly skits. Arcee is also Shelby’s biggest enabler when it comes to her sweets obsession and is constantly on the lookout for new places to take her.
Arcee has a severe case of cuteness aggression and has to be especially mindful of it around Shelby. Trying not to squeeze your itty bitty girlfriend to death is very hard! :(
Fun Stuff
Shelby’s nicknames for Arcee: Cee, My Knight, Sir, Sweetness, Love
Arcee’s nicknames for Shelby: Shels, Princess, Babygirl, Precious, Honeybuiscuit
They associate their relationship with cherries after sharing a shirley temple on their first date! They own lots of cute cherry-themed trinkets as mementos.
Their favorite song is “Cheri Cheri Lady” by Modern Talking.
Shelby and Arcee love karaoke! Their date nights are usually spent at a little hole-in-the-wall karaoke bar downtown. (Shelby swears by their piña coladas.) Their favorite songs to sing are “Self Control” by Laura Branigan and “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears.
On nights in, they like to play party games like Smash Bros and Mario Party. Arcee can be… competitive, to put it lightly, which Shelby finds attractive up until Arcee steals her last star. Fortunately, their love is much stronger than Mario Party 3. 🫡
Arcee is very charmed by human cosmetics and wears lipstick for fun. Shelby and Hot Rod get to be her ‘test subjects’ whenever she buys a new shade.
Shelby is a sappy romantic who often gets lost in her daydreams, imagining herself in elaborate fantasies about princesses, vampires and space operas. She gives grand gestures of love at random; love letters, bouquets, candle-lit baths, etc. Her favorite holiday is Valentine’s Day, if you couldn’t guess.
Arcee has lived many lives, but the one she holds most fond is her time as a derby star before the war. Though she’s matured a lot since then, she sometimes misses the simpler days. Unlucky Decepticons are the only ones who get to see her tricks anymore, it seems. If Shelby plays her cards right, though, Arcee might tell her a story or two about her time in the spotlight, or show her some mods she picked up from shady dealers. She still hasn’t convinced Arcee to show her any of her famous stunts, but she’s nothing if not determined.
Shelby and Arcee love entertaining themselves with stupid bits. Adlibbing a crazy breakup, pretending to be secret agents, dueling PTA moms, mob bosses, etc. They especially love doing this within earshot of other people just to fuck with them.
Arcee is a big SpongeBob fan with an even bigger merch collection. She runs a blog about it under her human pseudonym ‘Aarvi Castell’ and is well-known in fan forums. Her favorite characters are Gary and Patrick. :]
Shelby’s most prized possession is a rare cellphone charm of Jirachi from Pokémon that she won in an eBay bidding war. She keeps it in pretty pristine condition despite how much she drops her phone.
Arcee also gets in on the “bother Shelby at her job” bit with Hot Rod. She never has an order in mind, just says the same corny line every time (“I want something as sweet as you teehee”), which Shelby’s coworkers absolutely adore, and customers behind her in line absolutely despise. She tips well, at least.
Flaws
Arcee is fiercely protective of her loved ones and can be a bit overbearing. This is especially true of her relationship with Shelby. She knows that humans are much more fragile than Cybertronians, so she frets over her constantly.
Shelby is a very emotional person who is easily upset/angered, and prone to lashing out or shutting down when provoked.
Arcee can be manipulative at times, though it’s almost never her intention. When you’ve been at war for as long as she has, you learn how to get what you want out of people, and eventually it becomes a force of habit. This trait haunts her in her relationships with others; it’s hard to catch herself when she does it.
