Airachnophobia (Airachnid X Male Reader)

10. Denied

     "Are you sure I can't see her?" The man pestered the Autobot medic for the fifth time.

     "Please, it's hard enough just to keep Arcee from offlining her. I don't even want to do this to begin with, just leave me alone." The white and red mech had sounded exhausted and frustrated. With his reasoning sound, Y/N decided it would be better to just leave him on his own as he worked on Airachnid.

     The memory replayed itself in Y/N's head as he sat across from his parents. They had taken him to a local restaurant for lunch, but he couldn't focus on the conversation.

     "I can tell your mind is wandering, son, what're you thinking about?" Y/N's father tapped the table in front of him.

     "Sorry, I just recently found out that one of my -- um..." he paused, trying to think of the right word, "buddies -- is in the hospital in a really bad state." Y/N looked down as he took another bite of his sandwich.

     "Oh, I see." The older man sat back in the booth as he crossed his arms, staring off in thought. Y/N felt it best to reassure them.

     "I apologize for being so out of it recently, it's just a lot has happened in my personal life." His father nodded in understanding. His mother, however, had her vision fixated on something. She stared at Y/N's left hand for a while before speaking.

     "Do I even want to know what happened to your finger?" She asked. He had entirely forgotten about the burn on his left hand. When he had first seen the state Airachnid was in the other day, he had accidentally touched some leaking Energon in his panic, which had caused a pretty severe burn on his left ring finger.

     "Probably not." Y/N responded honestly. He knew his parents were getting suspicious of him, but there was no way they'd figure anything out without actually seeing one of the bots with their own eyes. He would have to just do his best to hide it for the time being.

~~~~~

     "How is the patient?" The Autobot leader stood next to his old friend and trusted medic as he worked. It was bizarre to both of them that a psychopath they both considered an enemy was lying in their medical bay, receiving treatment. The old bot just sighed in response.

     "As much as I hate to say it, I think she'll pull through. The only positive we'll get out of this is we can get the story out of her when she wakes up. I would be interested to know how she got in such a state." Ratchet fiddled with the tools on his stand. The Prime couldn't help but share his friend's sentiment.

     "I understand your position. Airachnid has caused us much harm over the vorns. However, I doubt the Decepticons will be interested in taking her back after this. Besides, she owes our newest human friend a favor." At that Ratchet scoffed, throwing up his hands in both frustration and defeat.

     "A favor isn't worth our time and Energon," Optimus couldn't help but agree as the medic spoke, "and besides, it's even more exhausting keeping Arcee out of the medbay. Remind me why we're doing this again." Ratchet looked up at his superior. The bigger bot vented, thinking of an adequate response, but couldn't find any.

     "I'm not sure, old friend. We shall see in time whether we made the right choice or not."

~~~~~

     "So are you going to tell me why we're taking the long way back to the base?" Arcee was racing through the desert to keep her mind away from what was happening. She tried to ignore her charge, Jack, as they rode. "Not in a talkative mood today?" He continued.

     "Not particularly." She monotonously responded. "Besides, this isn't the long way. We're not going to the base." Arcee hoped that would ease the boy's curiosity, but he only had more questions.

     "What? Why not? Is something wrong? Am I missing out on something?" Arcee had had enough. She skidded to a stop on the dirt, almost causing Jack to lose his grip on her handlebars as she spoke angrily.

     "Because, Airachnid is at the base. For some bizarre reason, Optimus made the decision to take her in and treat her injuries instead of letting her leak to death." If she weren't a motorcycle at that moment, she would have been gritting her denta. Her comment had left Jack speechless, something she had been trying to accomplish for the prior fifteen minutes. Through the silence, she let her thoughts bounce freely around her processor as she began to drive again.

     Arcee kept reliving the memories of her partners Tailgate and Cliffjumper. The memories of Airachnid's crimes during the war. Her crimes against humanity. She even tried to recall anything Airachnid had done for the better of either species. After coming up dry, she let her thoughts escape.

     "What does Prime see that made him choose this?" She asked no one in particular. Jack took it as an opportunity to inject his thoughts.

     "Is the new guy involved in this?" The boy asked from his seat atop Arcee's alt form. She rolled her absent optics.

     "Y/N? He's the lunatic that found her injured in the forest. Why he didn't just let her die is beyond me. Didn't she threaten his life?" Something seemed to click in Jack's mind as he received all the pieces of information he had been missing.

     "I bet Optimus is just doing it out of respect for Y/N. If the guy called "mister leader of the free world" about an injured Airachnid, wouldn't it be a little out of character for him to just tell Y/N to let her die?" As much as Arcee hated to admit it, the boy had a good point.

     "Still doesn't explain why he called in the first place." She followed up.

     "It's a dying alien, what's the guy supposed to do?"