Chapter Text
Today has been a lot for Stargazer, she knows that, and it's only a few hours past noon. She's used to the dark lighting of the Nemesis- not the bright lights of the Autobot base- so everything is very bright. It doesn't help that the people here also talk more than she expected.
They greeted her with open, welcoming arms, something she's always believed in.
She had never seen that before. And now here she is, sitting on the couch, zoned out while Bumblebee beeps happily and is telling her about everything.
Ratchet reminds Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee of the time- almost three pm- and they all get up to go somewhere.
She doesn't dare ask where they're going as she doesn't want to cross boundaries.
When the three get back to the base, they have three little humans with them. Stargazer immediately perks up in curiosity, sitting a bit straighter on the couch. She's never seen a human before.
A little one, built like a femme, buns, and pink streaks in her hair immediately walks over to Stargazer and starts asking a million questions.
"Are you a new Autobot? Can you fight people? What are the wings for? What about the glasses? Why do you have a staff? Why's your glasses big, round, and gold? Can you fight people with your staff-"
Stargazer just lets the tiny creature mumble, one she later finds out is named Miko.
Stargazer has completely zoned out to her talking until one part, "You look like a fairy!"
"That's nic- wait, what? What's a fairy?"
"They're like little humans with wings that cause chaos and sometimes kidnap people."
"I'm sorry, what," Stargazer is now staring at Miko like she's gone insane.
Miko then goes into a long discussion about things along the lines of cryptids, failing to mention every time that they're not necessarily real. It's when Bulkhead sees Stargazer's face and starts laughing that it finally gets explained.
"They're not really real, some people believe in them but most don't. It's a weird human thing," Bulkhead says, struggling to speak between his laughter and Arcee is smirking.
Stargazer looks down at the ground, slightly ashamed but more embarrassed than anything about the fact that she believed a fake human tale, "Oh."
Optimus puts a servo on Stargazer's shoulder that makes her flinch and jump, something not missed by the others based on the way they're all looking at her.
Optimus speaks in a seemingly level tone, but there's a slight hint of concern behind it at Stargazer's behavior after he merely touched her shoulder, "Perhaps you would bond with Rafael more than you do Miko. You're a chemist and he has a passion for science."
She can hear the other bots whispering about her, how she holds herself, how tense she is, and the way she jumps. She's got big audials, she can hear what they're all saying.
Stargazer looks over at the quiet little human that Optimus is motioning to. He hasn't said a word to her yet. She relaxes marginally at the idea of talking with him since he's quiet so she goes over to speak with him.
"Hi," she says quietly, so quiet he almost doesn't hear but he does and looks up.
"Hey, I'm Raf," he's typing on a small device, one that looks like the big computers that the bots use.
"What are you doing?"
That one, simple, small question leads Raf into fifteen minutes of talking about coding and science. When he's done talking he looks incredibly shy, like he just did something wrong, but Stargazer is significantly more relaxed, her optics are brighter, and she's got a soft smile on her faceplates.
She turns to Bumblebee and Optimus, "I love him so much."
Bumblebee beeps out a laugh and Optimus just gives her a bit of a small smile. Raf looks up at her in shock from the very direct attention after having just rambled about science for a while.
Stargazer looks back at Raf and holds her servo out which he climbs onto, "I love you so much. You're adorable and you remind me of a sparkling. You're mine now, I'm adopting you, you have no choice."
She takes Raf to her desk and that's how the rest of her day is spent; listening to the little human ramble about all the science and random facts he knows.