The Next Generation

C26: A Moment of Weakness

The official story was a lie. Only hours after the incident, UA had a press release to explain that Optimus Prime had never been missing in the first place. They'd discovered a man who had malicious intent toward him and decided to use a shapeshifting hero named Multiface as bait. Multiface also happened to owe Principal Nezu a favor. Some reporters questioned whether the favor was pretending to be Optimus or pretending to have pretended to be Optimus. The rumors stayed rumors, and UA was saved from having to deal with slander directed at themselves and Optimus.

Additionally, they needed an excuse to keep Optimus out of school in the aftermath of the fight. Aizawa was adamant that he wasn't ready to come back, and Present Mic had his back. The press wasn't a big deal here, but the students of class 1A were going to riot if they didn't get an explanation. They decided that they'd settle with a school-related excuse. Optimus ended up getting an internship with Kamui Woods, but he had to start early for confidential mission reasons.

Woods wasn't happy about it, but Principal Nezu explained that Optimus had a complicated past, and he'd be a lot to handle. That was part of the reason he wasn't on the request forms. He assured Woods that if Optimus recovered soon, they'd send him to do the internship. A mysterious two thousand dollars was donated to the library while Woods was thinking over the offer.

He accepted.

Unlike Optimus, Aizawa had no choice other than to return to school. They needed a sense of normalcy to return, and the students needed to be prepared for their internships. As much as he hated it, the only day he could take off was Tuesday. Present Mic and him did their best to cheer Optimus up, but there was only so much they could do in one short day.

That left only one person they could trust to watch over Optimus. Things came full circle as Detective Tsukauchi showed up on Aizawa's doorstep Wednesday morning.

"And make sure to clean the kitchen before he wakes up!" Aizawa called out as he walked to his car. "And don't try to wake him up! And call me if he stops breathing!"

Tsukauchi waved him goodbye and went into the apartment before Aizawa could add anything else.

Woah.

It was a complete disaster.

Tsukauchi had heard rumors that this place was incredibly dusty, as if no one had lived there in the last decade, but this was something else entirely. Parts of the apartment were completely clean while other parts were... completely covered in food and water. It looked as if someone had hastily moped the floors, but gave up and left the mop in the sink.

He went and explored the rest of the apartment, eventually finding Optimus in the one bedroom. His sleeping position hadn't changed much since he'd stayed with Detective Tsukauchi: he was ramrod straight, laying on his back. The only difference was that now Optimus had an arm pulled away from his side, holding onto the sheets on the empty side of the bed.

It reminded Tsukauchi of a child.

It was always so hard to comprehend, especially when he remembered the stories Optimus told of war. The deaths, the fighting, the loss of their planet and the fear as their people were scattered across the stars. It was the kind of thing you'd hear from a veteran, not a child. Optimus was so mature, so uptight. Tsukauchi had hoped UA would take some of the intensity away from his gaze.

Even on Earth, species aged at different rates. Many animals could walk within days or even hours of birth, and they quickly learned how to do complex maneuvers and think faster than human babies could. Compared to other species, humans aged incredibly slowly, and they tended to live much longer too.

Tsukauchi was under the impression that Cybertronians aged even slower than humans, and they also lived much longer. Optimus was incomprehensibly older than he was, but at the same time, much younger.