TITLE: (not so public) Displays of Affection
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13 to mild R (just in case, for Ironhide being a little frisky)
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
SUMMARY: Lennox and Ironhide don't behave like a couple. At least when it comes to open displays of affection. Annabelle wonders.



Las Vegas, the most populous city in Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World. Las Vegas, home of Annabelle Sheppard, student of Media Arts at the University of Las Vegas, daughter of Will and Sarah Lennox.

She had moved to Vegas three months ago and had jumped right into her studies. She finally had a goal, a deadline, a future and a job to look forward to. Her days as a drifter had ended. She wanted something and she knew how to get it. She had moved from Lincoln, Nebraska to Vegas to be closer to the Autobot base and still be able to finish her school time, to get a degree. She had an open spot with the military the moment she was done.

It was what she wanted, despite the to be expected protests from her mother. Sarah Sheppard, widow of Will Lennox, had no idea about her daughter’s career plans and Bella wasn’t looking forward to that particular conversation. She had to tell her one day, but not right now. Bella had about another year until finals and she wanted to drag out that talk as much as possible.

Bella came to the Autobot base as often as she could, with exams and the part-time job she had to get experience in her chosen field of interest: public relations. She squeezed whatever time she had into those visits. The trip to the base was usually accomplished by car. Bella had a really old one she called her own. It would have been more comfortable to get a ride by Autobot, but she didn’t expect them to be at her beck and call. Of course one of them would have picked her up, but she didn’t want to use her status as Will’s daughter. Or abuse it.

So she drove herself.

Until the day she found a ride in front her of her apartment complex, waiting patiently as she lugged down her bag for the two-weeks break she had had planned.

“Uhm, hi,” she greeted the silver sports car.

“Hi,” came the jovial reply. “Your taxi is here.”

“I got my own car, y’know.”

“I was in the area.”

“Right.” She frowned at him.

Looking around, Bella was looking for the silver mech’s shadow. In the few months of mech interaction Bella Sheppard had learned one thing: where there was a Jazz, there was a Barricade. She had no clue how to handle the former Decepticon, mainly because he had never talked to her and she nothing but what was on paper about Decepticons. Or what Ironhide had grumbled about. Her only other reference was Drift and he had been a really nice guy.

Jazz clicked open his door. “Get in. Hot out here.”

She sighed and did she had been told. Her bag landed in the trunk, then she got in on the driver’s side. Someone had to pretend that the car wasn’t driving on its own. That would be her.

“Did Will send you?” she asked when they were past the Strip and heading out of the city.

“What makes you say that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe because he kept telling me that my car’s an old rust bucket? But it’s my rust bucket! I have his cell number in case of emergencies.”

“It wasn’t Will,” Jazz told her. “I was really in the area.”

She didn’t believe him.

But Bella didn’t protest the smooth ride. She wanted to spend time with her Dad because the few weeks she had been at the base already couldn’t make up for the missed years. She also tried to get used to the idea of her Dad in a relationship with a mechanical being.

Since both never really interacted like a human couple would, she had a hard time with that plan.

x x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x

It happened one day, though. She was outside, studying. She had chosen a roof-top, one Sam had told her was a) a quiet place and b) gave her a good view. It was a nice day out, near sundown, and she sat under a sun-roof that allowed her to be outside without getting a bad sunburn.

Bella had learned to ignore the mechs around her or the soldiers coming and going. It was a more quiet place than somewhere else, but it still wasn’t completely deserted. When she caught sight of a black truck, her attention was no longer on her books. Ironhide was using his holoform. His almost-human holoform. Not the black, bipedal image that had scared the bejeezus out of her the first time she had seen it. No, this was the human one with the non-human eyes. Will was leaning against the truck and the hologram had his arm around her father’s waist.

Bella watched them breathlessly.

The contact was brief. And still so human. A caress, a look, and actually lips brushing over rune-covered skin. Will smiled and said something that had Ironhide frown, then smile briefly. Fingers played with the runes, tracing their outline, and her father closed his eyes, apparently enjoying it very much.

Bella’s mind fired question at her. Did Ironhide actually feel like a human? Could he sense contact? Was this like touching a human being? Was there a transfer? Did they…?

She ignored the questions and felt a blush creep up her neck when Ironhide pushed his hands under Will’s shirt, leaning forward. He whispered something into his partner’s ear, then pulled back, looking rather… mischievous, if Ironhide could ever portray that emotion. Will laughed.

And then the moment was gone.

But it had this relationship more human than anything else ever before. In that moment, Bella understood that what was alien to her, was normal to her father. And yet, it wasn’t all that alien at all. The basics were the same. It got more complicated the deeper someone looked and the more she tried to compare it to a human relationship.

Bella had no trouble with same-sex relationships. She had met several couples, male and female. One of her room-mates had been in a steady relationship with another woman. That it was her father wasn’t all that disconcerting. It was just… this wasn’t a gay relationship. Ironhide wasn’t male. At least not in human terms. Cybertronians had different… genders. Well, not genders. Arcee had tried to explain it to her and Bella’s head was still spinning.

So, no male and female genders like humans knew it. Her father wasn’t in a gay relationship. He was in an alien relationship with a mechanoid being from another planet. Will Lennox happened to be no longer human either; he was a hybrid. So the whole thing was way out of her realm of understanding, but wanted to know more. This was her father, who she had thought was dead for fifteen years! It was her second chance.

So it was from that moment on that Bella looked more closely at the interaction of Lennoxr and Ironhide. She had done it before, but now that she did, it was like she was Indiana Jones and was discovering a treasure.

Will patted Ironhide’s hood affectionately when he stepped out of the truck or walked past.. He leaned casually against him when they were standing together. They weren’t attached by the hip. Will didn’t swoon or make goo-goo eyes. He didn’t smile like an idiot or made a fool of himself. Okay, so their relationship wasn’t that young any more, but it was clear to Bella that it was a developing matter.

When Ironhide was in his holographic form – and he rarely was and always looked like he rather wouldn’t interact like that – her father’s expression sometimes softened. As did Ironhide’s.

And the rare moments of touch were the real treasure.

When Will walked into the kitchen to get himself a coffee, Bella gave her father a warm smile and he frowned.

“Something on my nose other than the usual?”

Bella felt herself blush. “Uh, no.”

He frowned at her and filled his coffee mug. Runes flitted over his bare forearms and one cheek.

“Spill it.”

Bella put on her best innocent face. “It’s nothing, Will. Really.”

“Uh-huh. You know I was an Army Ranger before all that happened.” He made a general gesture. “I know when something’s up. And you’ve been staring at Ironhide or me or the two of us a lot lately.” The frown was back.

Bella turned beet red. He had known? Both had known?

Will smirked a little. He smirked!

“I thought you were more comfortable with me and Ironhide.”

“I am! I really am! It’s just…” She searched for words. “You never act… human.” She fidgeted, knowing it wasn’t what she wanted to express. “Mom and Eric… they touch and kiss and they’re couply.”

“Couply?” he echoed.

She shrugged. “You know, showing that they’re together. Normal stuff.”

Her father looked at her with an expression she couldn’t really read.

“It was so weird knowing that you and him are bonded, but it doesn’t show. Jazz touches Barricade more often than you do Ironhide!”

And what did that say about her that she knew that?

“A bond isn’t anything human, Bella.”

“I know, I know. But you’re human, Dad. You act human. And then I saw it.” Another heatwave hit her face. “Uhm, well, not that. I mean, it was accidental. You were standing there and Ironhide was using his holo-form and you touched like a couple. And I found that you do it all the time.”

She knew she was blabbering, but she wanted her father to know she wasn’t a peeping tom or some stalkerish freak.

“And suddenly it was so normal, so human.”

Will smiled a little. “Human?”

“I know Ironhide’s an alien, but you’re human. And you two… it’s weird sometimes, but then you do something I can relate to. And that sounds really, really weird.” Bella fell silent.

Her father closed the distance and suddenly took her into his arms, kissing her temple.

“It means a lot to me that you make this effort, Bella. Really. I don’t want to creep you out.”

“You’re not. It’s kinda… reassuring to know that it’s this normal sometimes. That you’re a couple.”

Will smiled more and stepped back. “I taught an old Autobot new tricks,” he joked. “Seriously, Ironhide is making an effort. I’m glad he has right from the start or I would probably have started running.”

Bella chuckled. “Take it from a girl, Dad, you and him, you look good together. Kinda cute. Really. Even if he mostly looks really annoyed or grumpy.”

Will laughed out loud, for the moment ignoring the ‘cute’, which had part of him cry in outrage.

“So you’re okay?” he finally asked.

“Very. Don’t worry about me. If you want to hold hands, do so. If you want to kiss, why not? If Ironhide was a human woman you wouldn’t stop either, right?”

“He isn’t human, Bella. He isn’t a woman. What he does, how he behaves and reacts, it’s mostly alien.”

“I noticed. But I also noticed that he tends to be rather human now and then.”

Will chuckled. “He tries to help me to adjust. In the beginning it freaked me out more than what I felt when we… connected. I didn’t know why I reacted to him and with every new change in me, it got worse. The holoform helped, but it wasn’t like a relationship with a human woman or a man.”

“He’s alien; he can never be human,” Bella summed it up. “But you like him.”

He nodded.

“And you’re bonded, which is not married.”

Another nod.

“I’m getting the hang of things,” Bella told him. She suddenly smiled mischievously. “And you do kiss.”

Her father stared at her and she saw a faint blush creep over his skin, covered by very agitated runes.

“Which is good,” she added. “Dad.”

“Uhm. Okay.”

“I’m a grown-up girl, okay? I can take my father kissing someone else. My proclaimed-dead father. Even if the other person is an alien mechanoid using a hardlight holoform.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And now you owe me some ice-cream.”

“I do?” he asked, sounding a bit thunderstruck.

“You do. Double-chocolate and coffee caramel vanilla, chocolate sauce topping. Sprinkles, too.”

Lennox laughed. “Okay, where do you want to get that special kind of ice cream combination?”

“There’s this little parlor in Vegas. I’ll show you when you visit.”

“I can’t show up in public like this, Bella,” he cautioned her.

“I’ll get the ice-cream and we go somewhere you won’t be seen. Or we can eat inside Ironhide.”

“Oh, you don’t wanna do that, Bella. He’s picky when it comes to food inside him.”

Bella smiled. “Deal?” she only asked.

“Deal.”

She hugged him. “Thanks, Dad. And just remember: you can be yourselves around me, too. I don’t freak.”

“Okay. Love you, kid.”

“Love you, too.”

She gave him a kiss and then walked out of the room, feeling the smile on her face grow bigger.

x x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x

Lennox sank into the couch and pressed his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose. Of course he should have expected something like this, but not now! Not right away! Bella was still getting used to the fact that there were alien robots on Earth and had been for quite a while. Now she was asking The Questions.

“Damn.”

His kid. Sarah’s kid. There was no denying where Bella came from. Sarah had been just as straight-forward and he wouldn’t have let something like this just sit either. He would have asked.

“She asked,” a deep, gravelly sounding voice said.

Will cracked an eye open and glared at the hardlight holoform of his partner. Ironhide walked over and grinned unrepentantly.

“She called you cute,” Lennox muttered.

“I think she called us doing ‘couply’ things cute. And that we look good together.”

Will groaned and slid deeper into the couch. “My teenage daughter is thinking about me and you!”

Ironhide grinned down on him. “She’s a young woman, Will. She also shows her acceptance with it.”

“She can’t possibly understand what this is,” the former Army Ranger muttered.

“Because you never did either?” The holoform sank down onto the couch.

“I had a hard time and I’m still very much human,” Will confessed. “But I know that this… between us… it’s something that I need and that I want. It’s something I don’t want to have not any more. It’s part of me. You’re part of me.” He smiled a little.

Ironhide regarded him calmly. He reached out and touched a wandering rune, tracing it back to the fixed tattoo of his own name around Will’s wrist. The rune seemed to toy with him, dance around his finger tip, and was joined by more Cosmic Code. Lennox caught the playful finger and pulled Ironhide closer. The mech’s arm slid easily around the slender waist, allowing more contact.

“I think this is one of those ‘couply’ things,” Lennox murmured, enjoying the friction of hardlight against Allspark code.

Ironhide chuckled, pressing a kiss against his partner’s temple before pulling back. Amusement dominated his expression.

“Don’t you have a date?” he teased. “Ice cream?”

“Don’t you have a no-food-inside-me policy?”

“I can make an exception.”

“As if.”

“You know Ratchet’s experimental holo-cover might work for an hour or two,” Ironhide suggested. “It would give you the time you need, be with Bella among others outside the base.”

Lennox shrugged. Ironhide watched the runes rise and disappear, only a few of them readable. They gave nothing away. Just gibberish.

“I’m free this afternoon,” the mech added almost like in an afterthought.

“You just want to hang out with my daughter.”

“She thinks I’m grumpy.”

“You are. But you like her,” Will told him with a grin.

“She comes after you in many regards. Stubborn, headstrong, annoying…”

Lennox placed a hand over the hardlight lips, knowing full well that this wouldn’t really silence his partner.

“Not helping you in getting any, Hide. Not helping.”

“I don’t depend on sharing,” Ironhide said, sounding amused.

“But you like it.”

“As do you.”

Lennox smirked. “I’m human. It’s in my genes.”

Ironhide snorted. “Right.”

“You’re just into the runes and glyphs. I feel so used. You only like me for my Allspark tattoos.”

Ironhide smiled, inhuman blue eyes glowing with amusement. He pulled Will up with him, caressing the very much visible Prime glyph at one temple.

“Ow, public PDA!”

Will turned around, dislodging Ironhide’s hold, and found Bella grinning widely at him.

“I’m not your parent, Annabelle Lennox,” Ironhide grumbled.

Lennox was close to face-palming. He just shot his daughter an exasperated look.

She smiled brightly. “Ready to go?” she asked.

“W-what?”

“Ice cream. You and me. This afternoon?”

Will checked the time and found that he and Ironhide had spent two hours together! He shot his partner a look and got a shrug.

“Your turn, taxi,” the hybrid teased.

Ironhide stared hard at Bella, then the hardlight hologram popped out of existence. From outside the rumble of an engine told them that the mech had arrived in person.

“He likes you,” Will told his daughter with a smile.

“And he must really like you to put up with me,” she countered.

“You’re not bad. Just my kid.”

“So he’s got you he’s used to and me he needs to adapt to?” she concluded.

Lennox always knew his kid would be a bright and sharp one. Bella was.

“In a way,” he agreed. “C’mon. Ironhide’s bad at waiting, and I owe you ice-cream.”

They walked out to where the Topkick was idling almost impatiently.