Chapter Text
Sam did not have the energy to deal with a douchbag of a roommate. Leaving behind Kaela and Bee was rough enough for his first day. Leo Spitz, however, was shaping up to be a whole different kind of draining.
The homemade conspiracy nut bachelor pad was already giving him a headache. The video was the final nail in the coffin.
“Nope. That has to be fake. Props to the CGI though,” Sam deadpanned, staring Leo straight on.
Leo’s face scrunched up before he started waving his hands around, “oh come on, don’t be a shill, Sam! It’s Aliens!”
Sam pretended to ponder over the video for another second before reaffirming his stance. He so did not want to deal with this all year.
“Leo where did you find this guy?” Someone at a computer pipes in.
“Craigslist,” says Sam, “Look, I’m gonna go back out there, I think I hear my mom.”
He made a hasty retreat out into the main room, ignoring the way Leo followed him out. His dad was bent over, recovering from the stairs, however his mom was gesturing wildly, barely missing people in the crowded hallway.
Sam sighed, “Ma, why don’t you come meet my roommate, real swell guy.”
“Oh! Hello, young man! I’m Judy,” his mom said, far brighter and bubblier than she had been all week.
His dad came up behind her to shake Leo’s hand, “Ron.”
Leo just smiled, “Uh, yea, Leo Spitz, nice to meet you.”
“Oh, look at how adorable he is,” Judy gasped, reaching up one hand to pinch Leo’s cheek. The boy tried to lean away but couldn’t shake Judy’s hold.
Oh, how tempting it would be to leave Leo to fend for himself. Instead, Sam pushed the impulse down.
“Ma, I said meet my roommate, not harass him,” he said, extracting Leo’s face, “Wait, what’s that in your hand?” he asked.
“Oh! I saw the cutest environmental bake sale downstairs,” she giggled, before waving a bag in Sam’s face, “100 percent Hawaiian green!”
Making a face, he looked to his dad, “Dad, how many did she eat.” Please be just the one. Please be just the one.
Ron shook his head, sighing, “More than one. Judy, come on, give me that.”
“No! It’s my cheat day,” she argued, holding the brownie close to her chest.
“Okay, okay, Ma, how about I give you a hug, and you give me the brownie?” Sam proposed, arms held loosely open.
Slowly, his mother’s eyes welled up with tears again as she drew him tightly into a hug. He let her cry on him for a solid few minutes. To be totally honest he was going to miss her too.
“Okay Judes, come on, we have tissues in the car,” said Ron, gently pulling at Judy’s elbow.
“Alright, I’m going,” she sniffled, “Sam, be good okay.”
“I will, have a safe trip back,” he smiled, waving them out the door.
“Be good,” Leo snorted from behind him, for some reason having stayed to watch the whole thing, “What are you? Twelve?”
“Says the guy who couldn’t escape a cheek pinch,” Sam snorted, going to set up his side of the room. Opening up his suitcase, the D-Day jacket was right up front. That definitely goes on a bed post.
“Okay, I get it, chilling out,” said Leo, “How about a peace offering? First night frat party?”
He paused, thinking about it. If nothing goes wrong, he can pop in and out before his date with Kaela.
“Yea, I could go,” Sam shrugs, before pointing at his roommate, “but no more aliens.”
Leo grinned, snapping before finger gun pointing back with a wink, “You mind your business, I’ll mind mine.”
Almost immediately, a ringing tune drowned out his surroundings as his vision fuzzed. Before Sam could process it all, everything snapped back into reality. He shook his head, going back to setting up his stuff. Weird.
By the time he finished, dusk had set in. Party time. He got ready to go out and set up his computer for his web date when he got back.
“Alright Leo, where to?” Sam asked as they walked.
“Delta Fraternity, aka Babe Oasis,” said Leo.
“Nothin’ but crop tops and miniskirts,” said another guy.
“Okay… good luck with that pal,” he said, patting the guy on the shoulder as they walked into the frat house, “I’m gonna get a drink first.”
The place was huge, and the guys weren’t wrong. A lot of crop tops. Sam quickly beelined his way over to claim a spot by the drink table. Was that cake? He grabbed a plate and cut two slices off. Kaela couldn’t eat it, but she would find it cute.
He could barely contain his jump when hands wrapped around his arm and a voice whispered in his ear, “Hey, I’m Alice.”
“Uh, hi?” He replied, shrinking from her touch.
“Not many people go for cake first, nervous drinker?” She asked, blue eyes boring into him.
“Oh, well, you know how it is,” he stuttered, slowly trying to push her hands away, “pre-gamed.”
“Really? How cute. Why don’t we go sit down somewhere. Enjoy the cake,” she said pointedly, tugging him towards some stairs.
He dug his heels in, chuckling nervously, “Actually, I need to use the bathroom, why don’t you go up first?”
She stared at him, eyes squinted, for an uncomfortably long time. Then she let him go.
“Enjoy the cake,” she said primly, before walking away.
Okay. Yea. It was definitely time to go. He turned around to leave only to be grabbed, again.
“Dude, did you seriously just turn down Alice? AKA, hottest girl on campus. AKA, my walking dream girl?” Asked Leo who was basically tracking Alice’s movements.
Sam didn’t even get to respond before the guy grabbed his other shoulder to look him in the eyes.
“Actually, never mind, how did you even get her attention? Please, man, I’m not above begging,” he demanded.
Sam just shrugged, “Uh, I just got some cake. Speaking of, I am leaving. Now. Bye!”
This time, he sped out of the house. He was so close to freedom.
“HEY!” Yelled some guy in a white shirt with the collar popped,” WHO THE HELL DROVE THEIR CAMARO INTO THE BUSHES?”
Oh no.
Nah. It can’t be. Nope.
He kept walking until he was outside.
Ah hell.
That was definitely Bee. Definitely inside the shrubs.
“Bee, what the hell are you doing here,” he hissed as he walked up to the car.
Bee just honked at him impatiently.
Sam took a deep breath. This cannot be happening.
“Hey, freshman!” Yelled the same guy from earlier, “What the hell are you doing with your car?”
“Oh this?” Sam replied, “Not mine. A buddy’s, actually! He, uh, went to find you a tighter shirt.”
A shorter guy standing in front of the other guy replied instead, “There isn’t a tighter shirt! We checked.”
He watched as they both first bumped still looking straight at him.
“Now, why don’t you come over here so we can teach you a lesson about messing up our lawn,” said the taller one.
Sam was never going to another frat party.
“Nope, no thanks, I am done,” he said, getting into the driving seat.
“Oh, I absolutely love Camaros,” Alice said, appearing at the window of Bee’s passenger side. This night could not get any worse.
Sam locked the doors, “Thanks, but I have a girlfriend.”
Bee took the hint and sped off. He made sure the cake was still intact before fixing the console with a look.
“Okay Bee, why the hell are you here?” He asked.
All he got in response was a few chirps.
“Come on, Bee, what is going on?” Sam continued to press.
At that the radio came to life, “Houston, we have a problem!”
Great.
“Optimus is here, isn’t he?”
A gentle buzz and then another clip, “Rodger Rodger.”
With that, Sam let the rest of the drive pass by in silence. Their destination was a graveyard.
He reached up the pat the dashboard, “Alright Bee, let me out.”
Bee chirped as he opened the door, letting him out, before rolling back.
About a foot away, Optimus stood, gazing at the stars.
“So, fancy meeting you here, about 14 hours into college,” Sam said, strolling up beside the giant bot.
He listened to the way Optimus’ internal mechanisms shifted and vented air like a sigh.
“Samuel,” the mech greeted, voice just as grave as he remembered.
“You gonna tell me what the deal is, big guy? Bee was being pretty cagey too,” He ventured.
“The AllSpark fragment was stolen,” Optimus revealed, “as was Megatron’s body.”
Sam blanked out, rocking back onto his heels. The shocked silence spoke more than words needed to. In that moment, Optimus kneeled down, as if to make the difference between them as small as possible.
“I know you want to return to your life, to normalcy, but I need your help.”
When Sam finally found the presence to look the prime in the face, Optimus began.
“Your human government is starting to find trust hard to give after this,” explained Optimus, “and that will only cause a vulnerability that the Deceptions will take advantage of.”
“Optimus, I am 19. I- I can’t make this my life,” Sam refuted, “This isn’t my war.”
“Fate is rarely kind when it calls upon us, Samuel,” the prime said, voice heavy with resignation.
Sam reached out to pat one of the mech’s servos, “Like I said, I am 19. You don’t need me to fight your battles. If shit truly hits the fan, then Lennox and the guys will have your back. The government will see reason one way or another.”
Optimus chuckled, “If only things were so simple. I am glad to see you so optimistic, however. Cherish it.”
“Yea, I know,” Sam sighed, “I’ll catch you around big guy.”
With that said, he walked back to Bee, “Okay bud, I have a date to catch now.”
The scout let out a trill before once again speeding off. Thankfully, he made it back to campus only a little late for his date.
Switching on the call, he saw Kaela facing away from the camera, petting her dog.
“Hey Kaela,” he said, “Sorry I’m late. Crazy frat party. Then the big guy said hello. I got us some cake though! I thought it would be nice to treat this as a celebration. This is your piece.”
She had jumped, clearly thinking he was going to miss their first web date but had just settled in with a small grin as he rambled on.
“Well, that is rather sweet of you,” she said, carefully poised and relaxed, “but what did the big guy need?”
Neither of them had actually moved that far from Mission City, had they? He thought for a split second about not telling her. He could gloss right over it all.
She deserved better than that.
He chewed on his lip a bit, thinking about how to phrase it over the internet, “Said some things went missing. Signs of serious activity and planning. Hopefully, it stays far away from us.”
Kaela looked off to the side, and scratched her dog’s ears, mouth in a thin line. The news hit her about as well as it did Sam, but she looked back and continued.
“How was the party?”
He scrunched his nose almost involuntarily.
“Oh, you won’t believe this,” he started, rambling on and on about the events, trying to play up the sass just a little bit.
She seemed to think most of it funny, since she tends to find humor in mildly torturing him. The brief mention of Alice irked her, but she laughed at how he sped off in Bee.
“Seems like you had a long night,” she giggled.
“I know,” he huffed, throwing his hands up, loosely knocking into the D-day jacket. He felt a faint jolt through his arm. Once again, a ringing tune deafened all other sounds around him, his vision contorting.
“Sam?” Mikaela asked, voice harder than it had been in a while.
He blinked a bit, she was still staring at him, eyes scanning his face over and over.
He rubbed his hand a bit, shaking his head, “Sorry. I’m probably just tired, did I tell you my roommate is also a conspiracy nut?”
She hummed, scanning his face once last time, before cooing at him, “You have just been dealing with some absolute characters all day, haven’t you?”
“Yup, it’s going to be interesting, I guess,” he replied.
“Get some sleep then, I’ll call you tomorrow?” She asked.
Sam smiled, “Yea, 'night Kaela.”
They both logged off the call. He really did feel bone tired. Today had been a lot. After a long overdue shower, Sam dove right into his bed, and passed out. Beside him, his jacket let out a soft glow, before letting the dorm be encased in darkness.
Thousands of kilometers above Earth, red optics glinted, catching a third pulse of energy.