I would leave with you (Ironhide and Estrella)

Ironhide had to admit that since his conversations with a depressed Estrella he had been seeing the autobots in a different light altogether. After all, they seemed content to welcome in the rest of her friends but seemed equally content to leave one of their members in the clutches of the Decepticons.

And Ironhide didn't sign up to the autobots to be on the side that just gave up when people were captured.

He signed up because he wanted the best for his people. He wanted peace for his people and he had followed Optimus because he thought that peace would be better if it was gained by the Prime. After all, he was much less likely to launch headlong into another war.

Megatron was not quite so peace-loving.

He knocked on the door, his doubts in his mind, and smiled a little bit,

"Estrella... open up, it's Ironhide." he called to her, mindful that she was still refusing to see her other friends most of the time, even if she was speaking to more people and coming out of her rooms for small periods of time, "I've got some rust sticks, some creamed cogs and no one to share them with!"

He paused before adding, embarrassed,

"And that 'Love Actually' human film..."

Estrella was still deeply perturbed by what had happened at the party with the Autobots, she wanted to say that she was not being petty, and that would be true. It was true also however that the doubts she had about her friends and how good a leader Monite actually was came from what had happened at that party.

Nobody had elected her leader of the Neutrals, she could take her place but...Estrella didn't think she would be a very good leader either. She wasn't strong enough.

She was still in her room, and had in fact begun to work on more technology to build into herself in case there was a battle in the future she needed to be a part of. Although she didn't have a lot of training with it yet she was sure that she would be able to use them effectively - it would require her to actually move from her room to train.

The knock on her door made Estrella blink a little bit and she grinned softly, it was Ironhide! Jumping up from her table she opened the door and let him come inside, the offer of creamed cogs and rust sticks were tipping her slightly to allow him to stay for longer. Long enough to watch the human film together.

"Hey Ironhide!" she smiled brightly, he being one of her closest friends "I missed you today, I'm glad you came to visit I was hoping that you would do."

Sitting down on her berth, Estrella curled her legs up underneath her and patted the spot beside her for Ironhide to sit in;

"Awwww excellent, I am happy that you remembered that I liked the sound of the film, come sit beside me." she smiled "How has your day been?"

Ironhide had to admit that Estrella had become one of his main reasons to get up in the morning because as much as he cherished some Autobots, quite a lot of them were seriously making him consider just leaving the entire war behind. Why would he fight and die beside mechs like the Twins? They were complete retards! They had taken to human culture in the worst possible way and half the time he want to strangle them.

The other half the time he wanted to blow their heads off.

He grinned when Estrella opened the door to his offer of rust sticks, creamed cogs and some human film that had been very embarrassing to download onto a digital cube for their viewing pleasure it had to be said,

"Of course I was going to come round! I always come round." he teased her a little bit as he kissed her cheek with a sly grin, "But nice to see you still can't get enough of me."

Closing and locking the door several times behind him, Ironhide followed her instructions and sat beside her on her berth with a small grin,

"Yeah well I thought I might indulge you." he told her before smirking, "Even if it is a big pile of... mushy romantic stuff."

He groaned a little bit,

"I had a patrol... with the Twins."

Estrella smiled brightly when she heard that Ironhide would always come around to see her, he was one of the only people that she could count on, she wanted to be able to have these constant friends in here life. Bumblebee was her other, close, friend and she did have others amongst the Autobots but none as good as those two.

So much so that she had been able to get so close to them that she could tell their moods just in a few moments. As a result of that skill she could tell that Ironhide was rather irritated right now underneath the happiness at getting to spend time with her.

Blushing softly, her facial plates heating as her coolants decided to become decidedly weaker, Estrella was glad that Ironhide sat down and she could lean against his shoulder plating. The cool of his metal made her cheeks go back to their normal colour; "Of course I can't get enough of you Ironhide, you are my best friend after all, I love you." she grinned, giving him a friendly squeeze.

As soon as she heard that Ironhide had a patrol with the twins, Estrella made a face of pain and shook her head with a little laugh;

"So that's the reason why you're so scrinchy." she grinned "They always wind you up don't they? Whatever did they end up doing today?"

Ironhide had been with the humans long enough to have surfed the internet a few times and he had discovered a lot about human culture. For example, most of them seemed to be obsessed with pornography. But seeing as they didn't spend 100% of their time on the internet, he guessed that the number of images was misleading. But one thing he had learnt from the internet was a dreaded experience that could befall any man who was trying to become something more than a friend with a female friend.

The friendzone.

It was said to be a cold and desolate place where a man could feel his desires being destroyed in front of his very eyes. Ironhide had just been friendzoned and although he wasn't that bad... it still felt like Megatron had just punched him in the gut. But he put on a good face and ignored how he felt about it,

"I love you too Es." he teased her, patting her head slightly before humming, "It must be my magnetic personality... no?"

He gritted his teeth a little bit before sighing when she laughed,

"Yeah I guess it is." He admitted before scowling, "We were in a 'ghetto' tracking down a Decepticon when the Twins saw a small group of humans doing something called 'freestyle rapping'. Without a thought that transform, in the middle of the street, and begin trying to 'lay down some fat beats'."

He closed his eyes in annoyance,

"I believe the young men were very offended by their display and opened fire using pistols. We lost the Decepticon... and the Twins level five apartment blocks."

Estrella was so happy that she could be herself with Ironhide, she was glad that someone was interested in learning who she was underneath the quiet exterior. She was still quiet with other people however she was learning to become more vocal, she wanted to be able to make more friends and become better as conversing with bots but, there was still a long way to go.

With Ironhide though she was already 100% comfortable.

"Oh yes I think that it must be the only reason." she smirked "Your completely magnetic personality, I can't help but be drawn in by it. I then take no responsibility for being your crazy little femme who hangs around you all the time, it's your own fault really." Estrella joked with a little wink.

As soon as she heard what the Twins had done, she wanted to do a 'face palm' after all it was something so completely stupid it was only capable of being done by the twins. Sighing softly she ran her fingers through her hair and tried to comfort him as best as she could by wrapping her arms around his larger one and hugging Ironhide softly.

"No no no..." she murmured "That is completely stupid. How could they think it was acceptable to transform in the middle of humans? In the middle of a secret assignment as well! Ugh sometimes I wonder why they are even allowed to leave the base."

Rolling her eyes slightly she gently squeezed Ironhide's arm; "I hope you didn't get into too much trouble for it."

He paused for a moment and just looked at Estrella.

She was a beautiful young femme with a very desirable figure and that would have been enough for most other bots to chase her. But what really hit home for Ironhide was what was inside. He had taken the time to talk to her, to get to know her, and he had found himself loving the bot behind the chassis as it were.

And for that reason alone he would break free from this friendzone!

"Or maybe it's because... deep down... you know that I understand you." he told her with a wistful voice, looking at the wall as he spoke, "Because you know that no matter how you feel, or what you think, you can tell me and I will accept you. Maybe that's why you can never turn me away eh?"

He had never seen so much destruction caused by one single fuck up but then again he had never been with the Twins on patrol before. When he had told Optimus the Prime had come very close to vaporising the two annoyances right then and there. Instead he had assigned Bumblebee to 'train them'.

Which meant Bumblebee had beaten them half to death in a training exercise no doubt.

"They don't think, that's why." he told her with a soft growl, "Their processors seem to be completely non-functional... it's the only way they can be this stupid surely!"

He shook his head with a small smile,

"Optimus knew it was them so they got the punishment."

Estrella blinked softly at Ironhide at the rather deep statement that he made, to be honest it shocked her a little bit because she was here having a teasing conversation and flirting a little bit and then...well...it got taken up a few notches leaving her thinking about what to say. Ironhide was right, because she wanted to be able to share herself with someone and Ironhide was that someone.

She could tell him anything, all her deepest desires and she knew that he wouldn't judge her and perhaps would be feeling the same way.

"I think that's part of the reason." she smiled softly "I know that we have similar views on things and, I enjoy sharing things with you, and knowing that you wont judge me. I hope you know that you can tell me things that are on your mind too." Estrella encouraged with a slightly wider gentle smile.

To be honest she was glad that she didn't spend a lot of time with the twins, she thought that they were stupid and they weren't the kind of people that she wanted to hang around with. Running her hand up and down her arm she watched as the film began to play, it was something nice to have in the background.

"Want to share a rust stick?" she asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows "It'll make you feel better."

Gently she placed a rust stick in her mouth and leant forwards in a motion which suggested he should bite the stick with it in her mouth.

Ironhide realised that this conversation had gotten heavy quickly but he wanted her to know and now she did. When so agreed with him that made him smile. That was all he wanted her to know after all. Of course when she told him that he could tell her things about what he was thinking about he smiled at her,

"Of course, I know I can tell you anything that's on my mind." he told her before frowning slightly and adding, "Actually... there is something that's on my mind... it's been troubling me all day..."

He looked very serious for a moment before wiping out the DVD cover for Love Actually with a raised eyebrow and a joking smirk,

"Seriously Es? Seriously?!" He joked, "What made you think of this?"

The twins... well the less said about the Twins the better. They seemed to know when people were talking about them and tended to show up when said talk was going on. When she suggested sharing a rust stick he was about to tell her that he didn't really like them that much when he saw the way she was suggesting it. Smirking, he nodded,

"I could go for one about now." he admitted with a smirk, "50/50 split?"

He bit into the other end of the rust stick but didn't bite it off, so he was attached to it like Estrella was.

Estrella smiled comfortingly when she heard that there was something on Ironhide's mind, she could sense that something was troubling him but she hoped that he was just troubled by the twins. There seemed however to be something else underneath that now, and whatever it was sounded serious. Pausing the film, Estrella turned to Ironhide and attentively looked up at him;

"Whatever it is Ironhide you can tell me. I promise I won't share it with another spark without your permission." she said again, wanting him to be able to open up to her "I want to be able to help you with your issue that's troubling your CPU."

Pouting softly when she was teased by Ironhide for wanting to watch the film, it did seem cheesy and it was also festive but she liked the sound of it. She hardly watched any human films; "I just thought that it seemed like a good film from which to learn about the very different interactions and relations between humans."

As she gave Ironhide a cheeky wink, Estrella bit the rust stick and ate her half with a happy little sigh, she loved those treats and she was glad she got to share it in that way. It gave her an opportune moment to check out Ironhide's facial plating close up, it was rugged and a little scratched but lovely all the same.

"Mmmmmm." she sighed softly "I love rust sticks!"

Ironhide felt a little bit bad that she had been so serious in helping him... only for him to tell her that it had been a bit of a joke. But at the same time it was funny how the conversation went from serious back to joking and teasing within one or two sentences. Grinning a little bit, he winked at her, his optics bright and happy,

"Oh don't worry, I won't tell anyone how you're getting into human romance and festive seasons." he teased her before shrugging a little bit and looking back at the film, "And I suppose it isn't so bad... shows that human relationships aren't as strange as I thought they were."

He smirked slightly,

"Then again I did get that information from the internet."

He chuckled a little bit at her actions with the rust stick before finishing off his own half. And he successfully managed to hold back the grimace at the taste... success! Was it really his fault that the rust stick tasted bad? He smirked a little bit and held one up in his hand,

"Really?" he smirked a little bit, "Well then allow me madam!"

He held the rust stick out to her, hovering just in front of her plump lips.

Estrella pouted softly when Ironhide just seemed to ignore what she had said. It made her feel a little wounded that she had invested herself in trying to help him for him to turn that help down. She tried not to think on it too much however as she knew that she was going to turn the mood bad if she did so, she wanted to have fun with Ironhide!

Hoping that the film would pick her up slightly she couldn't help but laugh at the odd dancing that the man was performing and she snuggled up against Ironhide again.

"Well seeing as we are living on earth now it seemed only proper to understand and celebrate what they celebrate. Christmas is an important season for everyone and we should at least try and show an understanding, but also because its cute."

With a little shake of her head Estrella poked his nose; "Never trust the internet."

As Ironhide held out another rust stick for her, she raised an eyebrow but decided that she would go along with his little thing of feeding her. It was...nice actually. Nobody had fed her anything before, in a romantic nature or otherwise, so she was glad to take this as her first experience. Smiling softly, she bit off some of the stick and enjoyed the treat.

"Thank you very much dear Ironhide!" she grinned "You'll get my circuits clogged though if you feed me too many though."

Ironhide could see that Estrella was... upset that he had decided not to share what he had been worried about all day. But the fact of the matter was that when he was here with Estrella like this... what he had been upset by didn't matter anymore! He didn't care so much about how the war was going when he was just here, relaxing, with Estrella.

He chuckled a little bit at her explanation as to why she was watching films about the human holiday of Christmas. The first reason he could understand and respect but the last reason just amused him it had to be said,

"Well it may be cute but you're right, it's important. So is the romance aspect." he admitted, "It's good to see how the humans interact when in a relationship... and we need something better than Sam's attempts to bed women out of his league."

He rolled his optics and pretended to pout,

"But I can still play my online poker right?"

He smiled happily as she accepted the rust stick he had offered for her. Although she was way off if she believed that she would get her circuits clogged up. She was a precision machine of awesome power and grace and they both knew it! Smirking a little bit, he shook his head,

"Nonsense, you're more graceful than any femme or bot I've ever seen." he told her happily before smiling, "Some rust sticks won't change that!"