Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After Mirage had woken up in the garage, springing into his root form a little too early for Noah’s liking, shocking Reek into silence; he’d taken to staying around.

Noah had half expected Mirage to drive into the sunset with the other Autobots and he’d never see him again, he’d promised himself that he’d restored Mirage simply to pay him back for saving his own life. But as the months of repairs creeped on, he was simply lying to himself when he said it aloud. Mirage was one of the only things keeping him going. The letters from G.I. Joe had piled up and then stopped coming in the time the robot had been out, Kris’s condition had been stable. His mom was still struggling to keep the household afloat and keep up with her night classes. And Noah still hadn’t landed a job to help out. It seemed the only aspect in his life that had been progressing was Mirage’s condition. It had been touch and go in the beginning, but with Optimus’s anatomy volunteering and his steady supply of parts from Reek’s illegal activities, it continued to get easier for Noah to figure out repairs, and better for Mirage’s health.

The Autobot had gone to see the others soon after he awoke, though Noah insisted he not transform until his parts were fully settled. Mirage was inclined to listen, after being back in his alt form he could feel the ache of twisted metal after pushing his body too hard too fast. But that night, while Noah was packing up any Cybertronian tools he’d borrowed for the procedure to return to Optimus, Mirage came screeching back into the garage.

“Hey, is everything alright?” Noah asked as the Porsche came to a stop next to his work bench.

“Yeah, just thought I might spend my recharge here, I’m used to it more than the old warehouse.” Noah couldn’t argue with that, so he did one last checkup on Mirage and turned the lights out and locked the door behind him.

It had been weeks since Mirage awoke and he still returned to the garage every night to recharge. Although Cybertronians only needed to recharge after significant strain or after several Earth days, with Mirage still recovering and reintegrating the foreign motor pieces into his system, he still needed to recharge every night to keep his energy up. He was put on “Light Duty” by Optimus until further notice, which usually consisted of meeting everyday to inform Optimus of how he was feeling and driving around the city to keep himself active while he healed. Arcee and Bumblebee had been covering Mirage’s patrols for months now, a few more weeks wouldn’t hurt them.

So, a lot of Mirage’s days were spent with Noah. Noah still didn’t know why Mirage stuck around, but he was forever grateful. His close proximity meant Noah could keep track of his healing progress, and it also meant he had a ride around the city to pick up applications and drop them off and he was never late to an interview when Mirage was around.

“Where to today boss! Some fancy tower on the island?” Mirage asked as he popped the driver side door open when Noah exited his apartment building.

“Sorta, I’ll give you directions.” Noah was buzzing with nerves.He’d gotten a call early that morning, while he was getting Kris ready for school. It was from G.I. Joe, they’d like a follow up meeting after his lack of communication about their offer. The agent on the phone had made it very clear the meeting was not optional. Noah had chosen to not rope Mirage in on the meeting, because he didn’t want to set him off or anything, hell he’d not even told Mirage of their first offer. As soon as he’d declined the Joe’s original offer he’d gone straight to Optimus to let him know that, to a secret government agency, their cover had been blown. But that had been put on the back burner when nothing really came of it, and he’d neglected to inform Mirage.

They pulled up to the building in the city, a skyscraper that clearly did not only hide the G.I. Joe’s eastern headquarters, but several other government agencies.

“So what’s this job for?” Mirage asked as he parked on the curb, he’d circle around the block for a while until Noah exited, just like he did anytime Noah had to go in somewhere. (“Hey man, why pay for parking when I can just cruise around for a bit, besides, if I had to sit idle that long I might combust!”)

“The application wasn’t clear” Noah was obviously distracted by the building and Mirage chalked it up to interview jitters, Noah was always nervous right before one.

“Ok, well, don’t be too long, you know how I like to get into trouble.” Mirage twisted his tires in what would have been a wink in his root form. The joke fell on deaf ears however and mirage snapped his door shut after Noah exited the car and headed straight for the entrance.

The lobby was large, containing many waiting rooms and two front desks with receptionists at both. Noah headed for the one that only had one woman at it and set his I.D. on the counter when he got there.

“Noah Diaz. Here to talk with agent Burke?” The woman typed on the computer for a moment before nodding. “He’s waiting for you on the 30th floor, it’ll be the last office down the right hall.” Noah nodded and headed for the elevator.

When he arrived at the door Noah gave a little knock to the frame to announce himself. The office was not the same conference room he’d spoken with agent Burke in the first time. It was small, with two seats on his side of the L shaped desk and a few diplomas hanging on the wall and a filing cabinet behind Burke.

“Mr. Diaz.” Burke motioned for the seat in front of Noah and he quickly sat himself down.

“I’ve brought you here to speak about our offer again. I was expecting a call by now.” Noah swallowed hard to clear his throat before speaking.

“I declined your offer to begin with, and I’ve read the letters you sent me, but I didn't know you were gonna need me to say ‘no’ again.” Agent Burke’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Noah didn’t mean to come off so harsh, but frankly Optimus had been very clear not to take the position, and Noah was in no position to defy him. The Joe’s only wanted him because he was affiliated with the Autobots, but if he accepted the offer the Autobots would surely cut off contact. And a selfishly scared part of Noah was terrified to work for the government again.

“Well, I’m going to be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting such a harsh rejection. Your alien friends are going to need to align themselves with someone soon, the knowledge of their existence if bound to get out, it already has in the right circles, and there are governments and organizations out there that are not going to think twice about eliminating anything they see as a threat.” Noah sighed and looked down at the floor for a moment to gather his thoughts. That’s what he’d been thinking when he’d first brought this to Optimus. But Optimus insisted that the Autobot cause could not be under Human government control. Noah tended to agree with him, but as someone who had been a part of the whole military thing, he knew it was unsustainable.

“Sir, I’d have to say I agree with you, but the leader of the… aliens is pretty insistent on not aligning with any Humans, he’s barely letting me hang around.” Noah hated how honest he was, he knew it was risky coming back into the belly of the beast, he wasn’t the best at keeping secrets, and this organization was the best of the best at sniffing them out. He was so scared of accidentally giving something away that could be detrimental to Mirage, or the rest of the Autobots.

Agent Burke leaned forward and placed his arms on the table.

“And why is it that they are allowing you to stick around?” Noah’s palms began to sweat. He couldn’t tell them that Mirage had been injured, that’d be putting a target on his back. He couldn’t explain that they were without a medic, and had required Noah’s human-material-requiring-abilities to get him back online.

“To be honest, I think it’s because one of them has taken a liking to me. He keeps coming around, and I think their leader would rather just cut off contact, but this one bot wants me around.” Noah let his voice trail off awkwardly, he didn’t know what else to say. Now that Mirage was rebuilt, he was sure Optimus wanted nothing more than to get rid of Noah, but Mirage wouldn’t let him, and despite Mirage and Optimus often not seeing eye to eye, Optimus’s small band of Autobots were his first priority, and he must have felt something regarding Noah after he helped bring the speedster back from the dead.

“Well. I must say that doesn’t sound good for our attempt at creating an alliance, however, the G.I. Joe's offer still stands, to you, Noah.” Noah’s eyebrows creased.

“To me? I can’t offer you much more, I mean their leader made it very clear that he didn’t want or need an alliance.” Noah was leaning forward, ready for this meeting to end, it just seemed to be going in circles anyway.

“Although that was the basis for our original offer, and if there is any possibility of the statis of the alliance changing, I’d like you to let me know, you have plenty to offer yourself. A communications expert from the military, you made it through basic training and served just under two years before being discharged, and with all due respect you helped save the world. Although the details of your involvement in Peru are fuzzy at best, I have doubt you were completely useless if the aliens have allowed you to go about your life while knowing their secret.” Agent Burke looked open, he sat back in his chair with his arms comfortably set on the armrests of his chair. Noah leaned back too, looking for any ulterior motives on the agent’s face.

“I’ll admit that keeping you around would statistically help our chances of eventually getting in contact with the aliens, but you being amongst our ranks would not be solely for that purpose. You could be of use to us as a regular operative. You have military training and significant talent with electronics.” Noah nodded along. This offer didn’t seem so bad anymore. He hated to admit it, because it could just be another trick, but it would be a good job that would pay well, and it would help him be in touch with the only other people that seemed to know the Autobot’s secret.

“Well, sir, that does sound more promising.” Noah hated that he was interested, but maybe, if he joined their ranks, he could investigate more and convince Optimus it was a good idea.

“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll give you some paperwork to fill out and you call me back in a few days to let me know your decision. How about by next Monday you actually let me know if it’s a no or a yes.” Agent Burke pulled a heavy envelope out of his desk and handed it to Noah. Noah took them and shook his hand.

As he was headed out the door Agent Burke stopped him.

“And Noah,” Noah turned to him.

“I do want to inform you that if the answer is no, we will find other methods to contact your aliens.” Noah’s blood ran cold through his veins and he nodded before rushing out of the room.

A phone rang in Agent Burke’s office and he answered it quickly.

“It went well. I believe we will have our answer within the week.” The person on the other end of the phone spoke for a moment before Burke answered again.

“And if Mr. Diaz doesn’t turn out to be a reliable connection, I think I’ve found other methods to find the robots.”

Chapter Text

Noah was quiet when he got back to Mirage.

“Should I even ask how it went?” Mirage asks quietly as he pulls back into Manhattan traffic. Noah was usually pretty casual after interviews, sometimes a little sad if he was rejected immediately, but usually he was decently hopeful and talked on end about what the position would be like if he got the job. He wasn’t usually this quiet.

“Much better than expected. But, I need to speak with Optimus.” Mirage startled and swerved a bit on the road before righting himself.

“What do you need to talk to Optimus about?” Noah sighed.

“Honestly, it’ll be easier if I just explain when we see him.” Noah looked out his window into the city. Noah never kept things from Mirage, why was he suddenly so closed off? Mirage let his thoughts consume him all the way to the Autobot warehouse. He’d sent a comm to Optimus that Noah needed to talk to him. Optimus had asked if it was about Mirage’s condition. Mirage had said no, and that's where the communication ended.

By the time they arrived at the warehouse, Mirage was practically buzzing with anger, something was going on under his nose and he didn’t like it. Mirage spit Noah out onto the concrete and transformed quickly, pacing around angrily. Noah picked himself off the concrete, he’d certainly have new bruises after this. Optimus was waiting for them.

“Noah Diaz, Mirage said you needed to meet with me?” Optimus asked, he wasn’t angry or particularly happy to see Noah. Noah took a breath and prepared himself for a long story.

“Well, you know how I was contacted by the Joe’s while Mirage was still in stasis?” Noah asked, more for Mirage’s sake that Optimus’s. The giant leader of the Autobots nodded, the ridges above his optics creasing in worry. Mirage swiveled around quickly and knelt down to be closer to the human that had everyone’s attention.

“Well they called me this morning for another meeting. They’ve kinda stopped calling me and sending me letters, so I thought I was rid of them, but Agent Burke called again this morning and told me it’d be “in my best interest” to show up.” Optimus hummed in worry, pacing a bit as he listened. Mirage stood up and watched the interaction with rapt attention. He’d not heard anything of this before. Why had Noah not told him?

“I went in there, and he offered me the contract to work for them again, and when I told him you weren’t interested in an alliance, again, he told me they were also looking for just regular recruits, and he said my work in the army made me uniquely qualified. So I told him I’d think about it, because it’s a good job, and it’d give me an opportunity to get an inside look on how much they know about you. But as I left, he stopped me and told me that if I refused, they’d find other ways to get in contact with you.” Noah was pulling at his hair in the end. On one hand, he felt like he couldn’t say no for many reasons. It was a good opportunity for him, and then if he didn’t say yes it might be putting the Autobots in danger, but along with that, if he said yes it’d just be another thing Optimus had to worry about.

“I see.” Optimus said finally, turning away from Noah and Mirage to look out of the high warehouse windows. Mirage came back over to Noah and crouched to be on his level again.

“And why didn’t either of you tell me about this?” Mirage finally said angrily. Noah backed up a bit, though Mirage was far smaller than Optimus, a twelve foot tall alien looming over you was still a bit intimidating.

“By the time you woke up I’d stopped receiving letters and calls, and Optimus had already said no. I thought it was all over, and it kinda wasn’t on my mind. And then when I got the call this morning, it seemed like too much to explain before I had to go into the meeting, and I didn’t wanna worry you before I had to go inside.” Noah shrugged, it wasn’t a great excuse, but Mirage had become so aggressively protective of him over the last few weeks he was scared that Mirage might not let him go in. The consequences of him not attending the meeting were too great.

Optimus interrupted them.

“Do you believe taking the position is a good idea, Noah?” Optimus broke the silence when he turned back toward the small human. Noah looked down at his sneakers for a moment before responding.

“Yes. I don’t mean to make myself seem more important than I am, but by joining I could sniff out if they are trustworthy. And if I join it’ll keep them off your backs until we make a decision about trusting them or not. If they think I’m not on board they might automatically assume you’re dangerous and attack. You don’t need the military on your asses while you're already fighting the Decepticons.” Noah tried his best to keep eye contact with Optimus while he spoke, but the giant robot’s stare was just a little too piercing to keep looking at while he negotiated.

Noah knew Optimus only kept him around for Mirage’s sake. The old Autobot was worried sick while Mirage was in stasis. He couldn’t afford to lose another soldier, and Noah had noticed a fondness for the speedster during his research of Optimus’s anatomy to better understand how to put Mirage together. Optumus seemed to care for each member of his team deeply, whether he admitted it or not. Now that Mirage was better, he’d kinda assumed Optimus only let Mirage keep seeing him because the blue bot was so clearly attached, no matter how confusing that was for Noah.

“Noah Diaz, you have been a key player in keeping your planet safe, and helping to repair one of my team members. You’ve fought alongside the Autobots with great valor, I trust your judgement on these human matters. Though it worries me to have a member with great knowledge of our operations working for an agency we don’t yet trust, I understand your stance on the matter.” Mirage and Noah both looked up to Optimus dumbfounded. Mirage wasn’t aware of the Autobot leader’s fondness of his human either.

“Oh. Ok, well, I’ll get to reading through this packet, and I’ll let you know when I make more contact.” Noah said awkwardly. Optimus had always been this hulking figure of mistrust. Although all they’d been through in Peru, Noah was kinda convinced Optimus still didn’t trust him. But now his mind was reeling by how much fondness Optimus was showing him. He’d kinda assumed all the help and kindness he got from the bot while he was repairing Mirage was to just assure his soldier would get adequate care.

“Well, we’ll be headed out then, boss- I mean sir.” Mirage awkwardly stepped away from his leader and turned back in his Porsche mode to drive Noah home.

The car ride was silent for a while before Noah spoke up.

“That was really weird right? It’s not just me?” Noah had his hands resting on the wheel to pretend he was driving.

“Yeah! Like, no offence but I was under the impression Optimus didn’t really like you around, I mean, he doesn’t ask about you when I visit the warehouse. I kinda figured he was waiting for me to make a full recovery and then he was gonna tell me to not see you anymore!”

“Me too!” They both laughed for a moment before Noah sobered up and spoke again.

“So I wouldn’t have seen you again?” Mirage grew very quiet.

“I don't know. I knew Optimus was going to ask me to cut off contact with you, or at least I thought he was going to. But I didn’t know if I could do it. I was waiting for it, but I kinda knew it was going to be another fight. We’re boys! You’re the best part about this planet. You saved my life! I don’t want to go back to just doing mindless patrols and hiding. I like the garage, it feels more like home than that warehouse ever did.” Noah smiled fondly at the radio.

“I would have missed you a lot. You’re kind of the best thing that’s ever happened to me. This is a little selfish, but I’ve never really let myself want anything because Kris or my ma always needed something from me. And I don’t blame them, because I should have stepped up more than I did after my dad left. I wanted to protect them and take care of them, but I’m kinda a screw up. I failed at the military and I’ve failed at getting a job to help my mom out, but I didn’t fail at saving the world. And I didn’t fail at repairing you. You are kinda the only part of my life that I feel like I’ve succeeded in.” Noah looked out the window solemnly. He’d never admitted how much he depended on Mirage for his own happiness. His whole life he’d given so much for everyone else and it seemed like it would never work out, and now he had a sense of accomplishment accompanying the Autobot.

“Noah, my life on Cybertron wasn’t much to look at either. Getting sent to Earth and doing nothing for the last seven years really highlighted how little my life meant. I’ve never really been accepted by the Autobots and I never had any close relationships with any of them, I was seen as a loose cannon that no one wanted to be near when it went off. But when I met you we just instantly clicked in a way I’ve never had with another Cybertronian. You fixing me up made me feel so..” Mirage trailed off and Noah waited patiently for him to continue.

“You made me feel so loved. It must have been so hard, learning to repair me, but you did it and you let me stick around after. I’ve never had anyone fight so hard for me.” Noah was blushing hard. Mirage had said it. Noah had been trying for a while to think of Mirage as nothing more than a partner, a friend at most, but he knew deep down it was more than that. The Cybertronian had made himself the center of Noah’s world in just a few short months.

They arrived at the garage and Noah got out to open the garage for Mirage to come inside. Once the door was shut and locked, Mirage transformed into his regular twelve foot tall form.

“You mean that, when you said I made you feel loved?” Noah asked, turned toward the workbench and away from Mirage. It was getting late, and there was no point in working on any projects when he felt this tired.

“Yeah, man. I hope you can tell how much I appreciate you for what you’ve done for me.” Mirage seated himself at the back of the garage, against one of the sturdy concrete walls. Noah made his way over, he’d tried not to get too close to the robot over the last several months unless it was for repairs.

“What, need me to tuck you in?” Noah joked as Mirage got comfy. Mirage laughed a little too.

“No, I just don’t feel as tired around this time anymore. I think the parts are integrating enough that it doesn’t take up all my energy anymore. I think I’ll still recharge again tonight, but not for a little while.” Mirage looked up at the ceiling and let his engine quiet in the safety of the garage.

“That’s good news. And you just coming around everyday makes me feel appreciated Mirage, I didn’t really expect you to come back that first day, after you woke up. You’re probably my best friend, besides maybe Reek, I know that if you wanted to get rid of me I’d have no way to get in contact with you.” Noah shrugged and sat down on the concrete next to one of Mirage’s outstretched legs. Mirage moved it over so his leg was pressed right against Noah’s relaxed form. The top of his resting leg came up to Noah’s shoulder as he sat, and he threw his arm up over the top.

“Of course man, I’d miss my boy too much.” They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Mirage’s fans started making a different noise. Noah looked up to check on him to find his optics powered down, a much duller blue showing he was alive, but in recharge. Noah laughed a bit, he’d never seen Mirage sleep in his root mode. He was slumped against the wall, his arms limp at his sides and his legs splayed out across the garage floor. His helm was lolled to the side, resting on his shoulder plate and his intake was open. Noah wished he had his polaroid to take a picture. He patted Mirage’s leg as he got up to leave.

Chapter Text

Noah had taken the paperwork home that night to read over some of it before he went to bed. He’d gotten up a little earlier that morning, before Kris would get up, to read over some more of it while he made his family breakfast. He was still an awful cook, but with a renewed sense of hope, he managed to pay a bit more attention to the food and almost none of it burned this morning. His mom walked into the kitchen, grabbing a few things from the kitchen counter to put in her purse while she was getting ready for work.

“Noah! I didn’t expect you to be up this early.” She smiled warmly at him and he smiled back. He could tell his mother was worried for him, like she always was. He’d been hiding a lot of things from her lately, Peru, the Autobots, the offer from the Joe’s, but he was determined to turn things around for himself.

“Well, I wanted to have more time to get breakfast right, and I’ve got some stuff to look over before I go to the garage.” He pointed to the papers on the table. She leaned over the table to take a peak. He’d hidden the papers that mentioned aliens or treaties in the packet in his room, but he was looking over the contract papers that were just for him when she’d entered the kitchen. The paper on top, that she read, was the first page of the information sheets.

“Noah, the military again?” She looked up at him worriedly. He shook his head.

“Sorta, but not exactly. It’s more of an FBI sort of organization. My radio work with the army caught the eye of one of the G.I. recruiters, and when he saw me apply for a security position at their headquarters building, he offered me a contract.” She nodded along but she still didn’t look very happy.

“What will you be doing?” He was going to try to be as transparent as possible with his mom about his job, he really didn’t want to be keeping anything else from her.

“Well, technology research for one, but it kind of depends on my aptitude test during basic training, or their equivalent of it. With my military experience they want me to train as a military operative but if I show talent with the experimental technology they're working on, I’ll be working in that department.” Noah was nervous but excited for the opportunity. The info packet had said he’d have the opportunity to work with alien materials acquired by the agency, he’d be able to really help out the Autobots this way. His mother didn’t seem to be so excited, her mouth was a thin line as she looked up at him.

“Will you be working out of New York or…” He shook his head.

“The training won’t be here, I’m not sure where it will be until I sign up, but when I’m done and if I make the technologies position I’ll be working at the Manhattan headquarters.”

“And if not?” Noah shook his head again.

“I don’t know mama, but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had in a long time.” She finally smiled at him.

“Ok, sweetheart, if you’re sure. Let me know more about it when I get home.” She kissed him on the cheek and took the packed lunch he’d made for her.

Noah decided not to tell Kris about the G.I. Joes from the beginning and he didn’t tell him about it that morning either. He didn’t wanna get his hopes up, and there was too much alien stuff to explain for the walk to school.

Noah got to the garage a little earlier than normal that morning, he had no finished electronics to deliver and he had something he’d need Mirage’s help to transport to the garage anyway.

He unlocked the door and came inside, the lights were still out and the garage lacked the windows to have any daylight come in, so he flipped on the light directly over his workbench, hoping that if Mirage was still asleep he wouldn’t wake him up. The warm light of the small bulb over his workbench lit up the high ceilings of the garage ominously. Mirage was still slumped in the corner, in root mode. Noah stifled a laugh at his slack form and pulled a car radio off the shelf behind him. If he was going to have to wait for Mirage to wake up to get anything done he might as well work on a smaller project. The part for the radio had come in the mail yesterday, but with how busy they had been Noah didn’t have a chance to fix it, so he took the time to take the radio apart and take out the broken piece to put the new one in. The wires were giving him trouble, they weren’t wanting to connect right, so Noah was completely engrossed in his task when Mirage woke up.

Mirage exited recharge slowly, taking a moment to reset his optics several times before he was getting a clear signal from the organs. The first thing he noticed was the light over the workbench, then the small human working underneath it. His human, His Noah.

He let a small smile play on his faceplate while he sat up from his slouched position. He twisted his helm around to release the tight feeling in his neck. Noah jumped as the sound of metal scraping against metal and hydraulics going off broke out into the garage. The human looked up to find Mirage twisting around before standing up and stretching further.

“‘Morning” Was all Noah said before looking back down at the radio, trying to hide his smile. His concentration on the project was completely broken, but Mirage didn’t need to know that.

“Noah! My boy! What’re you doing here so early?” He outstretched his arms as he walked toward the bench. He sat down in front of the bench to get a better look at what Noah was doing.

“I didn’t have any projects to pick up or drop off, and all of the ones I’m working on are already here. But I’ve got a surprise to bring to the garage but I can’t carry it the three blocks from my place by myself.” Mirage smiled down at him. He rolled over away from the bench and made a smooth transition back into his alt mode, the hood slamming shut and the door opening. Noah took that as his cue to abandon the awful little wires that were giving him so much trouble.

The drive to his apartment was quick, carrying the large TV down the stairs by himself took significantly longer, but Mirage popped open the back door and transformed the back seat up so the TV could fit, so at least he was finally able to put it down.

“What is that?” Mirage asked as Noah got in the driver’s seat.

“A TV, that way you can watch movies at the garage. Some guy from my building told me if I could fix it I could have it.” Mirage rumbled in excitement before taking off toward the garage again.

“Ooooh, it’ll be so exciting to get to watch movies at home instead of having to sneak away from Optimus to go to the drive-in theater.” Noah smiled, the present gave the same reaction he was hoping for. He spent the rest of the morning repairing the TV, then the rest of the afternoon leaning against Mirage’s leg as they watched all the action movies Noah had to offer.

At about three Noah got up and told Mirage it was time for him to check up on his systems before he got back to work. Mirage grumbled and whined but transformed into his alt mode so Noah could check that first. Then after about thirty minutes of Noah looking him over he was told to transform back. Mirage was instructed to transform different parts of his body and make certain moves while Noah was up close so he could watch everything move. Noah was studying his digits when a beep from mirage’s arm drew both of their attention. Mirage had been watching the movie Noah put on to distract him and Noah had a pair of needle nose pliers in between Mirage’s digit plating.

“What’s that?” Noah asked. Mirage sheepishly shrugged and opened a panel on his arm that revealed a walkie talkie. It buzzed to life.

“Knuckles? Come in Knuckles?” Noah rolled his eyes, of course Kris had given Mirage another walkie to keep in contact.

“Right here Tails, what’s up?” Mirage spoke before Noah could get onto him.

“Is Sonic with you?” Mirage laughed a bit at Noah’s face before responding.

“Yeah he’s right here Tails.” Mirage held his arm down to where Noah could reach to talk into the walkie.

“Whatsup?”

“HQ wants you back, there’s food on the table.” Noah laughed at Kris calling his mom “HQ” but turned to put his tools away.

“Alright Knuckles, I gotta head out, we’ll finish this tomorrow.” Mirage waved him goodbye and continued to speak with Kris through the walkie, excitedly telling him about the new TV.

They sat around the dinner table with the warm dinner his mom had made. It was one of the few nights his mom got home early enough to make dinner and spend time with her boys before they all needed to head to bed. Kris told an animated tale of a game his friends played at recess at school today, and Noah and his mom listened with rapt attention, laughing and asking questions at the right times. Noah felt so warm, it had been a long time since he slowed down and actually enjoyed his family for a long time.

“So, what did you decide about your new job?” Noah’s mom finally asked, turning all the attention at the table on him.

“I’m gonna take it, I sent the paperwork off today. Now I’m just waiting to hear something back.”

“You got a new job!” Kris asked excitedly.

“Yeah man, I wanted to make sure it was all set in stone before I told you, I’ll tell you more about it later.” He winked at his brother before turning back to his mom, and let her talk about what went on at the hospital today.

Chapter Text

“Hey Sonic, what do you have planned for the day?” Noah jumped at the Walkie talkie on his desk buzzing to life with Mirage’s voice. Noah had already taken Kris to school, and now he’d come home to take a shower before he grabbed his new project and headed out to the garage.

Noah picked up the walkie to respond.

“Just an old walkman that needs fixing and then I’ve got to deliver some finished stuff from the garage, why?” Mirage didn’t often contact him through the walkies, usually he just waited for Noah to get to the garage in the morning to talk.

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to a food truck festival with me.” Noah smiled a little as he got dressed. Mirage had been so excited to try out some festivals and parades lately, he’d completely missed the macy’s parade for thanksgiving and all the lights around the city for christmas because he’d been in stasis the whole time, and now that Optimus was letting him out of that parking garage, Mirage wanted to enjoy all the fun human festivals.

“Sure man, though, I’m not sure you'll be able to appreciate it too much, it’s for food, and you can’t eat, and most likely you’ll have to park for me to actually go up and order the food.” Noah said over the walkie before going back to getting dressed

“It’s all good, as long as you think you’ll have fun, and I might have something else planned after the festival” Noah raised his eyebrow at that. What could Mirage have planned? And why was he planning things? Was it a special occasion? Some sort of holiday on Cybertron? Mirage hadn’t mentioned anything. Noah shrugged it off. He’d find out soon enough.

When Noah arrived at the garage Mirage was already up and about, moving the TV around?

“Hey ‘Raj, whatcha doin’?” Noah asked as he dropped his newest project off at the workbench.

“Just moving stuff around, I know you rent this place but I thought I’d see what it looked like over here.” Mirage stood up to his full height to see the whole room. The TV had originally been set up toward the middle of the room, but now Mirage had it off toward the side of the workbench.

“Reek and I split it actually, I don’t wanna know what he uses it for, probably something illegal, but he said he was thinking of getting rid of it because it’s not as “active” as it used to be, whatever that means, so I asked if I could go halfies so I could fix you up in here. But yeah man, you basically live here, so as long as you don’t move my workbench or the shelves I guess I don’t care what you do with the rest. I was thinking about starting to offer to fix up small car stuff in here since I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but it seems I won’t need to, if the whole Joe’s thing works out.” Noah turned to put his new project on the shelf and took the radio he was working on off the shelf so he could finish it before starting anything new.

“Oh, I didn’t know it was Reek’s place too. I never see him around.” Mirage looked a little caught off guard by that fact, but Noah shrugged, Mirage hadn’t asked, and he was right, Reek was never around anymore, ever since Mirage scared the shit out of him right after waking up.

“Well, the festival starts at noon, so I’ll just hang out over here until then, then we can head out?” Mirage asked, attempting to plug the TV into the extension cord that wasn’t even plugged into the wall. Noah put his things down and walked around the work bench to go help. There was no way Mirage was going to get the thing plugged in on both ends with his giant hands.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure it lasts until like seven tonight, so I was thinking about heading out a little later, maybe closer to four? That way we have plenty of time to get there with traffic, and I can eat dinner there instead of lunch. Ma’s working late again tonight, so we can get something to bring home for Kris.” Mirage nodded along as he watched Noah plug the TV cord in, then follow the extension cord to the wall to plug that end in too.

“Oh yea sure, whatever’s going to work better for you.” Noah looked over his shoulder from where he was squatted on the floor at the outlet. Mirage was standing a little nervously over by the TV, his hands clasped together instead of on his hips like usual.

“Y’allright ‘Raj?” Noah asked as he stood up. Mirage nodded a little too quickly.

“‘Course man, just wanted to make sure my boy got some good street tacos today!” He gave one of his signature blinding smiles. Noah nodded and headed back to his workbench.

“Besides, it’ll give me more time to get all this done, I haven’t really sat down and worked on anything for anyone else in a couple days. First we had that Joe meeting and then I worked on the TV for you. I wanna try to get all this out by the end of the week” Noah motioned toward the tall metal shelves full of random electronics and small car parts he had stacked all over the place. There were close to twenty things stacked on the shelves, usually Noah fixed things faster than he got them, but with him spending so much time with Mirage lately, he was running behind.

“Is there a deadline? Like will these people get angry if they don’t get their stuff back?” Mirage asked as he attempted to load another VHS into the VCR.

“No, not really, I usually tell people I’ll call them when I’m done, but since Reek’s been spreadin’ the word around that I fix stuff people have heard I have a fast turnaround time from him. And on top of that I wanna have it done for when I hear back from the Joe’s, I don’t wanna have to pick up and go to training and leave anything behind, or have to return things not finished.” Noah got out the rest of his tools and sat at his shop chair. Noah looked up at the sound of the VHS Mirage had been working on clattering to the floor.

“You’re, uh, really excited about this whole “Joe” thing, huh?” Mirage asked awkwardly, not looking at Noah. Instead he was attempting to pick up the tape by its two ends without crushing it.

“Yeah man, it’s a great opportunity for my family, and the Autobots, it’ll help you guys get better information on what they know, and what they can be trusted with. And it kinda makes me feel like I’m doing stuff with my life again, y’know?” The last part was said quieter, with Noah looking up without really looking at anything. Mirage slumped a little at that.

“I don’t know man, it seems dangerous. I mean, when will I get to see you? What will you be doing? What if you get shot at!” Mirage had given up on the tape, now all his attention was focused on Noah.

“Well, I’ve been shot at before, ‘Raj. I was in the army, and I was in Peru, if anything I’m uniquely qualified.” Mirage shook his head and looked at Noah with distress.

“Yeah but you shouldn’t have to go seeking it out again. The world’s not in danger, and you’ve already got a job fixing up your human technology for money, why not make that a bigger thing?” Mirage asked, Noah shrugged.

“The world’s not in danger, but the Autobots might be, and if anything, I’ll be protecting you, I’ll get in and find out exactly what they know, and what they plan on doing with that information. And fixing random stuff doesn’t bring in nearly the money you think it does ‘Raj, I don’t make enough money in a month to cover any bills back home. It’s pretty much just to pay for my part of the garage. The Joe’s are gonna pay good, really good, and it’s way more stable than relying on people’s stuff breaking around my neighborhood.” Mirage slumped back and began fiddling with the tape again.

“And besides, I might not even be seeing combat if they make an alliance with the Autobots, I’d be a liaison, or I might qualify for their science division, then I’ll be able to study alien technology all day, and there won’t be much danger in that.” Noah didn’t see the way Mirage’s face lit up with an idea at that, but if he had he’d be terrified to literally see the cogs turned in the back of Mirage’s helm.

Noah worked from nine in the morning until one, when he got his packed lunch out of his cooler and sat to eat the sandwich he’d made himself. He’d finished three projects in that time, and he was really hoping he’d make better progress after lunch. He’d really been hoping to finish all of the radios today so he could start on some more interesting stuff tomorrow. Fixing car radios usually entailed going down to the hardware store and buying or ordering parts, then putting them in. Not super hard work but he wasn’t very good at them yet, and he had several given to him after he’d fixed one up in a stolen car for Reek. And, in Reek fashion, he’d told everyone around the neighborhood to go to Noah if they had problems. They were boring and slow, and Noah wanted to work on stuff he knew more about so the work would go faster.

“That thing looks sad.” Mirage commented, motioning toward the cold little sandwich Noah was holding.

“It’s whatever man, I’m holding out for those street tacos.” Noah finished off his sorry little sandwich and got back to work.

By three thirty he had all the radios finished and packed away to be delivered, and he was about to pull out a walkman that needed a new headphone cord when he noticed the time.

“Hey man, I’m pretty much done with everything I’m gonna get finished today, I’m ready to head out when you are.” Noah threw his less delicate tools in a drawer and stood up to stretch. Mirage had been pretty quiet most of the day, watching movies and only occasionally requiring Noah’s help to take them out and put a new one in. At the sound of Noah’s voice though, he snapped to attention, gently turning off the tv to get up and join Noah on his way out the door.

Mirage transformed and waited for Noah to open the garage door for the outside, before rolling through so Noah could lock things up. The ride to the food truck festival was relatively fast since they left a little early and it was filled with a comfortable conversation about some of Noah’s favorite places to get food around the city.

When they arrived the road was blocked off to keep cars away from the lines of people around the area. Mirage managed to squeeze into a parking spot where he’d have a decent view of the festival. There weren’t just food trucks, there was a live band on a stage that was playing music Mirage didn’t recognize and a booth where a woman was painting sparkling’s faces.

“I’m really sorry Mirage, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to one of these, I forgot they closed the road off.” Noah didn’t wanna get out of the car, he felt so bad that Mirage had made all these plans and he didn’t even get to enjoy it.

“It’s no biggie, Noah. You go in and get some tacos, get your little face painted and bring me back one of those funky balloons and then we’ll go somewhere so you can eat.” Noah looked over at the radio sceptically.

“Are you sure, ‘Raj” Noah looked out at Mirage’s view of the festival, it wasn’t great. They’d gotten there pretty late if they’d planned on getting a good parking spot.

“I’m sure, I had something planned for after this anyway.” Noah shrugged, he was really hungry, and he could be quick.

Noah awkwardly got out of the car and passed the blockade and wandered around a bit to find the street taco truck he’d had in mind. Noah laughed a bit to himself as he saw the face painting booth Mirage had mentioned. There was a line of kids getting their faces painted with rainbows and animals. While in line for his tacos he got a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey man, you look like you need a balloon!” Noah turned to find a clown standing behind him. Noah laughed a bit at the unblown blue balloon he was holding. Mirage must have seen the balloon animals from the street and wanted one.

“Yeah man, what can you make?” The clown shrugged.

“Y’want a dog?” Noah nodded and the clown began blowing up the balloon. After a moment he was twisting and pinching it into shape. Then he handed Noah the finished blue dog.

“How much?” Noah asked.

“Nothin’ just give it to your girl.” The clown went to turn away but Noah stopped him.

“Girl? What’re you talking about?” The clown shrugged.

“You keep smilin’ at that car you got out of, figured your girl is waiting for you to come back with food.” The clown left Noah alone in line with the little blue dog. Noah pursed his lips and turned back to the line as it moved up. Making a point not to look at Mirage for the rest of the time he was at the festival. He got a big bag of tacos to take back home once he and Mirage got done with whatever Mirage had planned next.

When he approached the Porsche the driver’s door popped open for him.

“Is that one of them balloon animals!” Mirage asked. Noah nodded and laughed.

“I don’t know if you wanna hold it, they’re kinda fragile, but you can look at it later.” Noah didn’t eat for the whole car ride, it just felt weird to eat inside Mirage, but he was hoping he’d get to eat wherever they were going. Mirage drove for almost an hour outside the city before he stopped. They were somewhere off the beaten path. Noah got out with his bag and balloon animal and Mirage transformed. It was getting dark now. Mirage had taken him to some sort of park outside the city, there were picnic benches scattered around a lake, and the stars that were coming out reflected on the water in glittering little dots.

“Wow, ‘Raj, this is nice.” Noah commented as he set his bag of cooling tacos on a bench.

“Yeah, well, I wanted my boy to have a nice dinner, even if I can’t take you to a nice restaurant.” Noah quirked an eyebrow at that, but instead of responding he held up the balloon for Mirage to see.

“Cool, what is it?” Mirage touched it, featherlight, with his digit.

“It’s supposed to be a dog, the clown at the festival made it for me while I was waiting in line for the tacos.” Mirage nodded and attempted to pick it up, with two digits.

“Yeah I saw.” The balloon popped loudly in his servo. Both of them flinched back from the noise of the explosion. The poor little dog was just pieces of blown apart rubber covering Mirage’s palm now.

“Aw, I’m sorry ‘Raj.” Noah said, grabbing onto one of Mirage’s digits and pulling the servo closer to himself, to see over the large digits. Mirage carefully closed his servo loosely over Noah’s hand.

“It’s alright Noah.” Noah looked from their hands to Mirage’s face. The sky had gotten quite dark, and with no moon to be seen, the only light in the area was Mirage’s bright optics, lighting his face and the space between them.

“Mirage I-

“Noah-”

They spoke at the same time. Noah snapped his mouth shut and stared up at Mirage. His hand felt so warm. Noah felt his neck start to prickle with the tell tale signs of a blush.

“Noah, I just, I appreciate you getting this for me, and I’m really sorry I broke it.” Mirage was looking everywhere but at Noah.

“Don’t worry about it, ‘Raj. Balloons don’t last long anyway.” Noah looked back down at their hands. Mirage went to let go, but Noah grabbed his servo with his other hand.

“I’m reading this wrong, I’m so sorry-” Mirage slipped his servo away from Noah’s hands and stood back up and stepped away, his back was to Noah now and it was so dark. He could see Mirage’s hulking figure against the stars, a blacked out shadow against the universe behind him.

“Reading what, wrong?” Noah’s voice was quiet and confused, but he wasn’t even sure if he was confused at this point. Sometimes he didn’t feel like there was that much of a difference between him and Mirage, but moments like this, when he wanted nothing more than to have his hand in Mirage’s, the distance felt like lightyears. While Mirage was standing there was no hope for Noah to reach his servos, let alone his face, without help.

“I just, I know human courting is different than Cybertronian courting, and to be honest I’m not even sure how much of that I know since it’s been so long since I’ve been interested in someone, and even longer since I’ve seen a Cybertronian attempt a relationship-”

“This was a date.” Mirage stops himself short at Noah’s words and he looks over his shoulder at the little human standing in the dark behind him.

“Yeah. I’m sorry if that’s not what you wanted, I was afraid that if I waited any longer to tell you how I felt then you’d go off to that G. I. Joe camp and forget about me.” Mirage turned all the way around to look at Noah finally.

Noah laughed and slid a hand down his face.

“Mirage, there’s no way in this world that I’d forget about you.”

Chapter Text

“Mirage, there’s no way in this world that I’d forget about you.” Mirage smiled a bit, he couldn’t even muster a confident smirk with how relieved he felt.

“So you, like me?” Noah asked. Mirage nodded hesitantly.

“More than like you, Noah. All that stuff about how loved you make me feel? I’ve not had someone care for me like you do in a long ass time, like maybe ever. You put me back together when I was dying. You work tirelessly to pay for a garage for me to recharge in so I don’t have to go back to the warehouse every night. You make me feel taken care of. Every time you do little repairs on me I just want- You saved me. And all I want to do for the rest of your life is protect you, but if you’ll have me. I’d love to be more than just friends.” Noah smiled.

“C’mere.” Mirage knelt down and Noah put his hands on either side of Mirage’s helm.

“I love you too.” Noah said. Mirage put his servos gently on Noah’s shoulders, his thumbs resting over his chest and his other digits crossing over on his upper back. He brought his helm close and rested his forehead on Noah’s.

“This is what Cybertronian’s do to show affection.” Mirage said quietly. Noah smiled and brought his head away from Mirage’s just a bit.

“Can I show you what we do to show affection?” Mirage also lifted his head away from Noah, but Noah grabbed the side of his helm and brought him back. He gently pressed his lips to Mirage’s intake. Mirage made a startled noise, but brought his thumbs up to rest on Noah’s cheeks. Mirage’s lips were cold, and hard, something one wouldn’t usually be looking for in a kissing partner, but Noah couldn't find it in himself to not like it. Though he’d tried to suppress the thoughts, he’d been wanting to kiss Mirage for weeks, and now he had free range.

When they finally pulled away Mirage laughed.

“Did you think I’d never heard of kissing before?” Mirage had his dazzling smile on and Noah looked away, blushing.

“What! You said your’s all sweet, I wanted to too.” Mirage shook his head. And Noah laughed with him for a moment before sitting down at the cold picnic bench.

“I’m gonna eat my damn tacos now ‘cause I’m hungry as hell.” Mirage laughed but sat himself down on the ground next to the bench while Noah ate.

“Does this mean we’re boyfriends now?” Mirage asked idly as he looked up at the stars. Noah laughed a little before taking another bite of his taco. It really was the best taco place in the city, besides maybe his mom’s. He chewed and swallowed his bite before responding.

“If you want to be boyfriends, then I’m down to be boyfriends.” Mirage gave Noah another blinding smile. Noah smiled back just as brightly.

“I’m gonna plan so many fun dates, and I’m gonna tell you I love you everyday. I’m gonna be the best boyfriend you’ve ever had.” Mirage said excitedly, crossing his arms proudly.

“Sure, ‘Raj, you’ll be my only boyfriend ever.” Noah said in between bites.

“What! No way no one else has ever tried to get a bite out of that fine ass before me!” Mirage asked incredulously. Noah laughed and almost choked on the hard shell of his taco.

“What does that even mean? Nevermind. You forget I’m a hermit.” Noah was quoting something Kris had called him recently to Mirage.

“Oh c’mon, not even in your education, isn’t that where all those romance movies happen, High School?” Mirage asked. He knocked his elbow gently into Noah’s shoulder as he looked down at him. He wasn’t sure why he was pushing the issue, but he was very curious as to why Noah kept himself locked away so often.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly what anyone was looking for in highschool. Girls didn’t really give me a second glance in highschool, and I wasn’t giving them the time of day when I had to go home and watch Kris. And there was no way I’d be caught dead looking too long at a guy.” Mirage quirked his eyebrow at what Noah said.

“What do you mean, “looking too long at a guy”?” Noah shrugged.

“It’s nice they don’t have homophobia on Cybertron, but here, if you date the same sex, people don’t like that.” Mirage looked horrified back at Noah.

“I knew it was more common for your kind to date the opposite sex because that’s the only way you could reproduce, but I didn’t know that not doing that was like, bad.” Mirage flipped it around in his head. He was a lot luckier than he thought to find a human that would be okay with dating a ‘male’ alien robot, even if gender didn’t work the same for them.

“Oh yeah, it’s bad. People die for it, they lose their jobs and their family over it. So I just kept it to myself in highschool, I was too busy for a partner anyway, so it wasn’t that weird that I never had any girlfriends, I didn’t really even have any friends either, just Reek, kinda, but back then he was a few grades above me and we only talked here and there. He looked out for me sometimes, honestly we’re closer now than we were then.” Mirage squinted down at the little human. He’d miscalculated how difficult this was going to be for Noah. Sure, the alien-robot-twice-his-size thing had been the main issue Mirage could see, but he hadn’t considered that his gender would be dangerous.

“Back on Cybertron, gender isn’t really the issue. Usually the only relationships that are frowned upon are the ones outside of your class. Gender works differently on Cybertron anyway. Most of us are mechs, there are some femmes, like Arcee, but it’s usually just frames and preference that separates a mech from a femme. Some Cybertronians that look like femmes aren’t, and some that look like mechs are femmes, there's no way to tell and it’s not really what you're born, but what you decide to be called. The classes though, those are a much harder barrier to get around.” Mirage commented looking down at his human companion.

“I guess I never really thought about your gender, I just assumed you were a guy, I didn’t know it was a choice. And the class thing is relatable, my family’s always been poor, my mom’s a first generation immigrant, and there’s no generational wealth that comes with that.” Noah commented as he folded up the tin foil from his last taco and tossed it in the bag with the rest of the tacos for his family.

“On Cybertron, class is more than wealth, it’s what you’re born as. Like, what you were born to transform into. Whatever your alt mode is, that’s your job in life, no matter what passions you may find in life. That’s how the whole war started to begin with.” Noah folded the bag down to keep the tacos safe and set it aside.

“So the Decepticons are what, the rich and powerful from before the war?” Mirage laughed.

“No. Not even close.” Mirage looked up at the stars again for a moment before looking back down at Noah.

“The Decepticons were actually the ones rising up against the caste system from before. They were a noble cause to begin with, they wanted to overthrow the government and enact a new system, but along the way they lost their way, started bombing populated areas to get their point across. Eventually there were no neutral areas, either you were with them or against them, and if you were against them you had to fight. There were no civilians anymore, if you didn’t want to be a casualty you fought.” Mirage remembered the last race he participated in on Cybertron. How the track and the stands were bombed and the Decepticons descended from the sky like rockets, killing anything that moved.

“I was a Tower’s Mech. I was born to race, a speedster alt mode, I was given anything I ever wanted in life, I watched the Decepticon cause unfold from up in the towers, I thought it was a good cause but I didn’t have much thought to it beyond that. I figured they’d fight it out and then maybe the lower mech’s would have a better life and we’d move on. But then the boombings started, and people I knew started being amongst the ranks of the fallen. And then at my last race, all of my friends were gone. I was mad, and went to join the Autobots. But they wouldn’t have me at first. They were against the caste system too, but by that time they were just there to try to stop the Decepticons from killing everyone. They were still wary of tower mechs and I was pretty well known for my racing by then, so I did whatever I could to survive, but I didn’t have anyone left. Optimus took me up on my offer, finally, and let me in, but it was for spy work. I went undercover with the Decepticons under the guise of wanting to be on the winning team. That was the worst time in my life.” Mirage stopped abruptly and looked away from Noah. Noah put his hand on Mirage’s thigh and rubbed there for a moment.

“I’m really sorry, ‘Raj.” Mirage shook his head.

“Maybe I’ll tell you more another time. What matters is that I’m here now, and although I should care more, I’m happy I don’t have to fight so much right now. I get to spend my days with you.”

Noah smiled and pulled Mirage’s helm close again, and kissed him.