Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The sound of the bell ringing echoed throughout the high school campus. Shortly after, students ranging from the ninth to the twelfth grade burst from the front entrance and began trickling out of Paris, Texas’ local high school. Happy chatter and laughter were heard from all over the school grounds as students emptied the halls and left to either be picked up by friends or parents, and those who were old enough were able to drive themselves home.

With it being a Friday, not many lingered in the halls, including teachers who were eager to go home and rest with their families for a well-deserved weekend. Happy to be away from the students who gave them headaches five days a week out of the entirety of the nine months school is in each year.

Cade and Lucas were some of the last to exit the school. While others rushed out with their large friend groups, Cade and Lucas kept to themselves and took their time stopping by each other’s lockers and picking up the textbooks they would need to complete their homework and projects due the following week. Finally, walking out of the doors that led to the outside, both boys quickly began to mourn the air-conditioned building. The mid-September air was sweltering and felt suffocating, and both boys groaned as they began slowly walking to Cade’s old truck, a Chevy that had once gleamed with new red paint and was now faded from the years. It was his dad’s car years ago, and when he finally turned sixteen around a year ago, it was finally his.

“I think I’m gonna melt,” Lucas complained as he walked to the truck and opened the passenger door of his friend’s car.

Cade nodded in agreement while entering the driver's side of his car and set the keys in the ignition, turning it on. “Well,” he said with a slight grin. “You're gonna owe me one since I fixed the air-conditioning in here.” Without hesitation, he cranked up the cool air and opened all the air vents he could reach.

Cade could hear Lucas’s excited gasp and followed Cade’s movements by opening up the vents on his side of the car.

“Dude, this feels so good,” he said with a sigh of relief. “You totally should have fixed it sooner, like I said you should.”

“I only fixed it because I was sick of your complaining.” Cade rolled his eyes and began to back out of the school parking lot. Driving through the small town quickly, they made it onto the open Texas roads. Cade watched the yellow and green fields filled with long rows of carrots, potatoes, beets, and many other crops ready to be harvested go by. The long, straight road ahead of him felt interminable — a never-ending stretch of land filled with farmland and the occasional house every few miles or so. Without much of a breeze to combat the intensity of the sun, it only made the summer heat feel worse, but despite it, Cade took it in stride. A small smile graced his face as he took in a deep breath, enjoying the peaceful tranquility around him, only occasionally broken by Lucas talking a mile a minute, completely unaware of Cade not listening.

With the new school year just starting, Cade reminisced on his and Lucas’s usual routine they shared every year after nearly every school day. Both would hop in each other’s cars, depending on who was driving that day, and would head to Cade’s house. At his house, they spent their time in his family’s barn, which was mostly unused save for storage. It eventually turned into Cade’s barn as he grew older, and it was filled with items and scrap that were to his liking. The large wooden barn was decorated with posters of cars and their makers' designations. Colorful neon lights were mounted on the walls and rafters, and most importantly, his inventions were splayed all over the tables and took up much of the floor space.

In the barn, Cade would work on creating inventions made from scrap metals, wires, and other trinkets he would take apart for their parts. He would work on them for hours at a time, getting lost in concentration and the anticipation of creating something new. Lucas, on the other hand, spent most of his time sleeping in the Yeager’s barn while Cade worked, but would occasionally help the boy when needed. When asked and handed a list, Lucas would agree to go out and buy equipment Cade needed as long as he was given some of the credit (Cade always chalked it up to Lucas being petty). Although not all of his inventions worked out very well, he still took pride in his work. He enjoyed what he created and liked having the company of Lucas while doing so.

Eventually, the car turned and stopped at the entrance of the dirt and gravel path that led to the Yeagers’ farm. Cade looked over at Lucas and gestured for him to get the mail that was sticking out of the multiple mailboxes lining part of the fencing. Next to the boxes was a small crate with damaged items from the neighbors, hoping to get them fixed at a lower price. Without looking over his shoulder while collecting the mail, Lucas shouted, “Want me to grab the box with broken shit?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“You got it,” Lucas yawned and headed back towards the car.

After Lucas settled in the car holding the crate and being nosy and looking through the mail, Cade began driving up the long dirt driveway and stopped right outside the old wooden barn. Both got out and opened the smaller-sized door that was adjacent to the large double barn doors.

Walking inside the center of the barn stayed mostly empty, but flanking all around the front of the barn were Cade’s inventions and tables full of alloys and other pieces of metal that were scattered along the tops. Lucas walked up to one of the few tables that were mostly clean from the metals, wires, and tools, and set Cade’s items on there. Cade, on the other hand, grabbed his apron and welding mask and began to work on his latest project. While Cade began to work, Lucas spent his time cleaning off an old, faded white couch that was left in the barn. He removed a white sheet that covered the couch and wiped away the dust that made him sneeze. When it was clean enough by his standards, he lay down and stared up at the ceiling. He debated taking a nap despite how loud the machinery was when Cade worked, but ended up with an idea that he knew he had to ask the boy.

Lucas looked over at Cade, who had a blowtorch and a mask on. “Cade,” he called With no answer, he shouted a little louder, “Cade!”

Still without an answer, Lucas grabbed a pebble from the floor and sat up so he could aim it at the ugly metal helmet adorning his friend’s head. When the pebble hit the mask, it quickly ricocheted, and Cade flinched and looked over at the other boy. Turning the torch off and flipping his mask up, he gave a look of annoyance, “The hell was that for?”

“I called your name, but you couldn’t hear me,” Lucas said without sympathy.

Cade shrugged, “Oh, sorry, it's hard to hear anything with it on.”

“Whatever, anyway, I have an idea for next weekend.”

Cade’s lips spread into a sardonic grin. “I’m supposed to hang out with you next weekend? I have other friends to hang out with too, you know.”

With a huff of annoyance and a roll of the eyes, he said, “Shut up, Cade. We both know we don’t have any other friends; it's just us.”

“ouch”

“Anyways,” he said with emphasis. “I overheard some of the girls in my history class talking about a county fair that's supposed to happen next Saturday, and apparently they’re going.”

“You want us to go?” Raising an eyebrow. “I’m not interested, but I’m sure you’ll have fun trying to get with one of them.” He said with a small laugh, turning back to his invention.

“Duh, and I'm sure you will want to go when I tell you who’s going,”

“I really doubt, but who?” He asked curiously.

“Emily”

Cade stopped what he was doing and looked back at his friend. “Is she really?”

“Yup, so we should go! You can be with her, and I can get with one of her friends. Besides, we hardly ever go outside of the barn to hang out, so a change in scenery could be fun.”

Cade thought on it, and with reluctance, he agreed. “Oh, and if you throw another rock at me, I will burn your long curly hair that you love so much.” To emphasize his threat, he grabbed and aimed his blowtorch at him and turned it on for a second. Turning away, Cade heard that he got the effect he desired since he heard his curly-haired friend gasp in feigned offense.

The afternoon faded into the evening with Lucas and Cade doing their own things while in each other’s company, and eventually Cade went with Lucas to see him off when it grew too late. Opening the barn door, the air was no longer as hot as it was during the decline of summer heat and was now almost cool. The sky was painted in purples and blues with white stars sprinkled above, and a crescent moon peeked out from behind a couple of clouds. Crickets and cicadas chirped wildly, and Cade was sure he could hear a nearby owl hooting into the night. Cade smiled at the tranquil atmosphere the evening brought, while Lucas walked by him while yawning and stretching his arms up to the sky. “No need to drop me off at home, my mom texted, and she’s at the end of the driveway.”

“Oh,” Cade said in surprise and continued, “Anyways, I’ll see you Monday. I have a physics project I’ve been procrastinating on.”

“See you then,” the other boy said with a wave and walked down to the car that was waiting for him at the end of the massive driveway.

Seeing his friend leave, Cade went back inside to the brown barn and walked over to his desk, which was covered with homework assignments he hadn’t finished. Moving them out of the way, he searched for his discarded calendar and marked the next weekend for the county fair. With that done, he grabbed his nearly forgotten assignments and began trying to finish them so he would have them done, freeing the weekend to work on more of his inventions.

___________________

The weekend passed a little too quickly for Cade’s liking, and with Monday, it brought the beginning of a new, tedious school week. To his dismay, the week passed slowly, and all of his classes felt as if they were a little longer than they truly were. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t eager for the week to end so that the upcoming fair would come quicker. Rather than dread the event as he had been after initially hearing about it from Lucas, he began to accept the outing as the opportunity it was – It would hopefully be a chance to talk to Emily, the girl he’s had a crush on since his freshman year. Now a senior, he only has the rest of the school year to finally confess his feelings he’s been harboring for so long. In order to confess his feelings, he had to make an effort to talk to her.

The day of the fair finally approached, and Cade got in his truck and nervously drove over to the fairgrounds and noticed how packed the parking lot was, which was just an empty field reserved for cars. Once he found a place, he opened his phone and sent a quick text to Lucas letting him know he was there.

When he got out of the car, the sound of upbeat music surrounded him in the distance, and the screams and shouts of laughter from children and adults riding the carnival rides that were brought in for the weekend. Before he had the chance to start walking towards the front to pay for tickets, Cade felt his phone vibrate with an incoming message. Lucas sent a text saying he was already at the front, so with nothing delaying his inevitable entrance into the fair, Cade began walking.

After passing rows of parked cars, he made his way to the front. It didn’t take long before he saw his friend waiting by a ticket booth and walked up to him with a small wave. “Is she here?”

“So much for a hi, how are you,” the other boy joked, “but yeah, I actually saw her by chance with a group of girls.”

Cade laughed, “Sorry, we seriously can just hang out if you’d rather. As you said, we don't get out much.”

“Nah, don’t sweat it. Besides, this is a chance to talk to some girls; it's not like we get the opportunity often. Oh yeah, I already got us both tickets. You’re welcome.”

Rolling his eyes, Cade said a quick thanks, and they both entered the fairgrounds. The open grassy field was covered in an array of food stalls, carnival games, and rides. Fried foods and other less-than-healthy meals permeated the hot Texan air. It was still before noon, but the temperature felt like it was already in the high eighties. Despite the uncomfortable heat, the county fair’s atmosphere was pleasant in a way, and it managed to relieve some of the tension Cade could feel in his shoulders. Walking alongside Lucas, he wondered aloud, “What do you wanna do first? I figure we have just about the rest of the day to hunt down Emily and her group.”

Lucas smiled at the opportunity to have some fun with his closest friend. “Rides definitely! Maybe check out some of the games as long as they aren’t rigged,” he shrugged.

Cade nodded, “We should do that blue roller coaster over there,” he pointed off in the direction of the coaster. A wooden rollercoaster that was small yet fairly sized by carnival standards.

“Sure looks fun,” he said, racing towards the line with Cade following shortly behind him.

Time passed quickly as Cade and Lucas rode the fair rides and played some of the games. Neither was expecting much from the fair, but both enjoyed the change of scenery from Cade’s barn. After a while, they genuinely began to have a fun time hanging out in each other's company.

After riding a few roller coasters and smaller carnival rides, they played a couple of games, and both lost at each one they played, despite shockingly finding none of them were rigged. One game in particular that was meant to be fairly easy still managed to end in disaster for both boys. The game was a standard carnival game – the participant was meant to throw a football into the slots on a wooden wall, all varying in size. Lucas went first, boasting about how the game would be easy. Every time Lucas threw the football, he missed horribly, resulting in Cade laughing to the point where tears were gathering in the corner of his eyes.

Lucas was completely red in the face from embarrassment and yelled at Cade defensively. “Shut up, it's not like you can do any better.”

When the other boy calmed down and wiped his eyes free of tears, he paid for his own turn at the carnival game. He wasn’t great at football, but he made a couple of shots into the slots, earning him a small stuffed animal from the selection the game provided. He won a small wolf plushie and handed it to Lucas, who stood there looking more pissed than embarrassed. “That's why you didn’t make varsity.” Cade teased with a nasty grin plastered to his face.

Lucas accepted the toy as an apology, and they began walking around the grounds once more. Both boys fell into relative ease by each other's side until Lucas glanced over at a set of booths. The booths were full of food vendors offering junk food that would surely send anyone into a food coma, and amidst the booths stood Emily with her friends. Remembering what their goal was, Lucas looked back at his friend and tried to discreetly point over to the girls. “I just saw Emily over there,” he whispered.

Cade quickly looked to where Lucas was pointing, but was soon tugged by his friend to look away. “Dude, be discreet,” he urged.

“Damn, I forgot we were supposed to get their attention earlier,” Cade sighed.

“Same,” the other groaned. “It’s now or never, I guess.”

Without either noticing, someone began to approach the panicking boys. The person tapped Cade’s shoulder. “Hey,” a female voice said, “you’re Cade, right? Don’t we share physics?” She said in a happy tone. “Oh! Hi Lucas, I didn't see you there.”

When Cade turned around, recognizing the voice, he looked at her with a nervous smile. Lucas, on the other hand, was far more laid back by comparison and decidedly spoke for them both, “Hey Emily, it’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too.” She gave a small smile and then continued, “I just came over to tell you that one of my friends… umm, Paige saw you and wanted to see if you wanted to hang out?” She finished with a timid grin.

Lucas looked at her with surprise. “Yeah, sounds great,” he nearly stuttered and tried not to walk over too quickly to the girl who called him over. Lucas quickly turned to give Cade a thumbs-up before beginning to talk with the girl who called him over.

Cade watched his friend go, and while happy for him, he was feeling a little betrayed since he was alone with the girl he had been crushing on for all of high school. Turning back to Emily, he nervously smiled, “I uh… if you don’t need to go back to your other friends just yet, would you wanna go and do something here? Looks like Lucas left me behind.” Cade cursed himself for how lame he sounded, but was pleasantly surprised by her answer.

She smiled at his nervousness and agreed. They walked around the fairgrounds making small talk, which mostly consisted of school and shared classes they had never actually spoken to each other in. “I can't believe we haven’t really talked until now,” Cade said.

“Yeah, but I’m glad we’re talking now,” she laughed meekly. “Oh, and sorry if I interrupted you and Lucas, Paige really wanted an excuse to be around him, so she asked me an-“

“You don’t need to explain yourself. Lucas also wanted an excuse to be around your friends. He never told me who, but I’m guessing it was Paige,” He smiled.

“She’d be glad to hear that.”

Settling into a comfortable silence, they both walked side by side away from the booths filled with junk food and back towards the section where they kept the rides. They spent their time together going on a variety of rides and trying to get to know each other a little better. As the sun slowly began its descent toward the west and down below the Texan plains, both lost track of time.

Before the fair was to close, there was a large flea market that allowed any locals who signed up to sell produce or items they no longer wanted, and so others could make use of their items. With the food, games, and rides starting to shut down for the night, Cade and Emily walked over to where the sale was. Neither would admit to the other that they were just looking around the sale in order to hang out longer, but both had fun seeing the strange or weird-looking things people owned and were trying to sell. People had mostly small setups with little tables displaying their things, while a few others had many things, from clothing on racks to even machinery that was kept in relatively good condition. Machinery was mainly what Cade gravitated to, while Emily was more interested in the jewelry and clothes. Cade looked through stalls holding an assortment of tools ranging from small wrenches, pliers, wire cutters, larger drills, and saws. He was delighted to find that nearly anything he could think of, he could find.

Cade examined what people had to offer with mild interest, but what really caught his attention was an old, battered semi that stood near the back, where there was more room on the field. As he neared it, Cade could tell it was an older model by the front’s boxy shape, but what really caught his attention was a large hole in the radiator.

Slowly walking up to the truck, he bent down to look through the radiator since it was nearly the size of his head. With it getting dark outside, the inside of the truck was equally dark, doing nothing to give him an idea of what condition the rundown semi was in. He would need a flashlight to see anything for a closer examination. Standing back up, he put his hand on the truck for support, which left dust all over his palm. He quickly wiped it off on his pants and, out of curiosity, looked around for the owner. When he spotted the owner, he walked over to the older man.

Cade tried to reason with himself that he was only curious when he asked the man how much the truck was. The man stated the obvious that it was beat up, but has a good chance at getting the engine to start, or otherwise the truck would be great for parts. In the end, the man said he only wanted about two hundred dollars for it.

Hearing the decently fair price made Cade’s voice of reason come back. He tried to talk him out of it, but it was futile. While his head said no, his heart said yes because he truly wanted to try and fix the truck up, and like the man had said, if it doesn’t work, then it would be great for parts. Cade agreed he would buy the truck, but didn’t have nearly enough money on hand, especially after having already spent a great deal of what he had on games and food.

The man and Cade talked until they came to an agreement: the man would use his tow truck and bring the semi to the boy’s house since it was nearby, and once there, Cade would be able to pay him. Cade smiled at the man as he left to find Emily. He found her looking through a clothing rack, examining the colorful dresses on it. She was holding a short-sleeved V-necked dress that was soft yellow in color with patterns of white flowers on it.

She heard Cade approach and turned around to give him a soft smile. She grabbed the hanger the yellow dress was on and held it in front of herself. She looked down at the dress and grabbed the lower material to fan out the bottom to one side. “What do you think?” She asked.

Cade gave an honest opinion, “It's cute. I’m sure it would look even better with you wearing it.” He cringed internally, but luckily got a good response.

“That's cheesy,” She giggled and dragged Cade over to where the owner stood behind her stall and paid for the dress. She was given a reusable bag to put it in, and she took Cade by the arm as they headed to their respective cars. “So did you buy anything?” She asked. Cade nodded his head. “Found an old truck that I can hopefully repair or use for parts if I can’t.”

“Wow, I’m sure you’ll be able to fix it.” She hugged Cade’s arm a little tighter.

“You’ll be the first to get a ride when I’ve finished all the repairs. Maybe even let you pick a paint color since it’s pretty faded.”

She tucked a stand of hair behind her ear, “I’ll hold you to it.”

Approaching the field used as the parking lot, Emily seemed to lose the confidence that had kept her going the entire day. Her body language turned from secure to fidgety and nervous, but she smiled demurely at the boy despite the sudden change, “See you later, Cade Yeager… I had a lot of fun. I’ll see you at school.” Before Cade could say anything, she quickly walked off to the opposite side of the field, most likely in the direction of her car. Left a little speechless from her sudden leave, Cade walked over to his Chevy with a smile plastered on his face.

Turning the Chevy on, he maneuvered past the rows of cars to the road adjacent to where the sale was set up. He spotted the owner of the truck, who already had the beaten semi hooked to his tow truck. Cade waved him down and got his attention, and with Cade leading the way, they made it to the Yeager’s farm. Opening the large barn door, he helped the man unhook the truck and gave him his money and his gratitude.

With the sun having set some hours ago, Cade walked over to the barn doors and opted to work on the truck first thing tomorrow morning. He had other projects he was working on, but he already felt the urge to work on the semi; he was excited to see if he could truly fix it or not. The inventor didn’t feel rushed to begin his work since it was only Saturday, and he figured tomorrow would be the best time to begin.

Cade locked up the doors and took his time walking up to the farmhouse, where he would spend the rest of his night. Eager for the next day, he quickly changed into pajamas and got ready for the night. He flopped down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the semi in his barn and what he should work on first, until the feeling of sleep crept in and pulled him into his first of many dreams for the night.

The first thing Cade Yeager did when he got up the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise, was call his friend Lucas. As he quickly walked down the steps into the living room, he struggled with putting on a shirt and holding his phone to his ear, waiting for the ringer of the phone to turn into his friend’s voice. When the boy picked up Cade was met with a groggy greeting. Ignoring the boy, Cade quickly told his friend, “I know it’s early, but when you get the chance, you gotta come over.” he paused as he walked into the kitchen and saw his mother at the small table. “I have to go, but I have something important to show you, so come over.” He quickly hung up and greeted his mother.

With a huff, she watched her son walk to the pantry and pull out a loaf of bread, then to the refrigerator for butter. “You look frantic, what’s up?” she tried.

Cade stopped spreading butter on a couple of pieces of bread and glanced at his mother, “I just have a project I’m working on in the barn.” The boy had forgotten to mention any word about the truck to his mom since he bought it simply as an impulse. The opportunity had presented itself to tell his mom the night before, but instead, he felt guilty and went straight to bed. Money was tight, and buying the damaged semi probably wasn’t smart, but he felt a particular pull to the truck but he wasn’t sure why.

She gave a quiet hum and interrogated further, feeling something more was up, “Your thinking is loud.”

Feeling the obvious pressure and the need to be honest, Cade relented, “I bought something kinda impulsive yesterday at the fair.”

“And what’s that?” She narrowed her eyes.

“A run-down semi. I was hoping I’d be able to fix it, or if I can’t, then use it for parts.” He held his breath anxiously.

“How much was it?”

Feeling uncomfortable under his mom’s gaze, he looked down at his feet. “Two hundred dollars,” he mumbled. Then spoke with a little more confidence, “It was a really good deal, and I have a feeling I can get the truck up and running.”

Seeing his mom’s firm expression, he looked back down, staring at his socked feet until he heard her sigh, “I’m not mad, but you know money has been tight.”

“I just wasn’t thinking, and I’m sorry, honestly, but I’m feeling really good about this.” His tone was laced with sincerity.

She nodded and narrowed her eyes at her foolish son. “You do something like this again without asking me, and I promise there will be retribution.” Seeing the slight uptick of his mom’s otherwise pressed lips, Cade couldn’t help but break out into a smile, trying to conceal his laugh. As a result, his mom gave a small laugh as well. “So that you know, I expect you to do most of the chores for the next two months.” Cade shrugged, “Sounds fair."

Feeling better, Cade quickly finished making his small breakfast and bid his mom goodbye, then made a beeline for the barn.

Entering his barn, he was greeted with the sight of the poor semi resting in the middle of the barn. The boy walked up to the semi to try and assess the damage at least on a surface level that he had yet to take notice of. Getting a better look at the truck with lights on, opposed to the previous night's lack thereof, there were more dents and holes than he originally thought.

Frowning, he looked from the front of the truck to the doors on both sides. The exterior was littered with dents and what looked to be bullet holes. Cade’s eyebrows shot up from the shock, and he muttered in a hushed voice, “What the hell happened to you?”

Doing a three-sixty around the semi, he concluded it was in pretty good condition despite the obvious wear and tear it’s seen. Although the wheels were a little deflated, it was nothing he couldn’t fix by filling them up with a little air since none of the tires seemed to suffer from any holes. He would know pretty quickly if any of the tires began to lose air again, and he would have to spare the expense of buying a bunch of tires. Although he most likely would have to wait a while because there was no chance of his mom allowing him to buy said tires.

The paint color was also going to be a hassle to deal with. The truck was a mess of faded reds, blues, and greys, coupled with the design of flames on its sides. Definitely a custom design, and it had Cade wondering what the truck was previously meant for. Surely not transporting or shipping of any sort.

Getting back on track, he concluded that despite the exterior being marred and scuffed, nothing couldn’t be fixed with his equipment and some additional metal to patch up the larger array of wounds, and overall, everything looked pretty okay in Cade’s eyes. Making his way back to the front, Cade bent down to look at the gaping hole in the radiator. Peering inside, he was met with darkness and wasn’t able to make out anything in the seemingly large cavity. Getting back up, he grabbed a flashlight and a pair of thick gloves and looked through the hole one more time. This time, with light guiding his way, Cade was met with frayed wires and burnt metals and alloys surrounding the engine that took up most of the space. The hole appeared round in shape, but he couldn’t think of anything that was quite large or strong enough to puncture the metal that cleanly. Looking deeper, he carefully unlogged stray pieces of metal and wires until he saw something silver, long, and round that looked out of place in the truck’s radiator. Reaching in, he carefully grasped the strange and surprisingly heavy object and pulled it out. Now able to see the strange piece of metal, it was the size of the large hole in the front of the semi, and suddenly, it clicked. Cade's eyes widened, and he gasped in terror. ‘I’m holding a fucking missile’ was the only thought playing in his head.

Now panicking while still holding the missile, he slowly, carefully made his way to a nearby table and took his arm in a large sweep, shoving everything off the table. Pieces of scrap and tools clattered against the floor with a series of bangs while Cade delicately placed the missile down. In complete and utter distress, he slowly backed away from the table until his back hit a support beam and leaned against it, feeling his legs were going to give out. He took in a rough intake of air, trying to calm himself. He had no idea if it was live or not, and truly, he had no intention of finding out.

With a shudder, he combed his hair back with his fingers out of nerves and returned to his truck after taking a moment to calm his breathing and fast beating heart. When he felt as calm as possible with a missile in the room, he placed a shaky hand over a large collection of bullet holes. Dust instantly gathered on his sweaty palm as he felt the divots. Giving a huff, he once again had to wipe the dust off his pants and decided a wash was in order before working on the semi. While he wasn’t afraid in the least of getting dirty, he didn’t want to deal with dust and dirt all over his skin and clothing.

Since there was no way to push the truck outside, he would have to make do with washing the vehicle inside the barn. Luckily, there were a few drains in the floor due to water leaks that used to occasionally cascade from the wooden roof during rainstorms. Although that was no longer an issue after obtaining enough money to fix the slowly rotting ceiling, the drains once again came in handy, albeit for the wrong reason, such as washing a run-down semi.

Considering the truck was quite large, it took Cade close to two hours to wash the truck’s exterior and even interior with water and a sponge with strong soap. While the outside appeared rather filthy, the inside was much cleaner but still needed work. Dust collected on the old seats and the windows, but other than that, nothing looked out of place or even damaged. Once the outside was done, he went back into the cabin, and Cade only had to clean one last section of the windshield. He sat on the now clean seats and leaned over the dashboard to clean the still dirty window when suddenly the hand holding him up on the dashboard suddenly slipped. He put too much pressure on his palm and slipped with his arm, getting trapped under his chest, which fell atop the wheel’s horn. His sudden crash against the horn caused it to make a prolonged blaring beep until he quickly pushed himself upright. Rubbing his hurt arm and chest, he glanced at the wheel to see if it was damaged. While it looked just fine as before, it was the insignia engraved in the center of the horn that caught his gaze. Shuffling forward, he put his good hand over the marking and lightly grazed it. With a feather-light touch, he traced the design he didn’t recognize - it appeared to be a robotic face. Most vehicle companies tended to put their logos on the center of the wheel, but whatever company this was, he truly didn’t recognize it. His confused gaze lingered on the unknown marking until he decided it was time to finish the cleaning he had been working on.

Once he finished and was satisfied with the clean truck already starting to look in better shape, he began grabbing his tools and dragging them atop the nearest table. Not long after, the sound of a car pulling up could be heard from outside the barn. Although Cade heard the car, he made no move to investigate, and he didn’t need to since Lucas let himself in. “Hey, Cade— what is that?” Lucas stared at the semi that stood in the middle of the barn.

“This is what I wanted to show you!” Cade announced excitedly, “Bought it yesterday when that flea market started up towards the end of the fair.”

Lucas took a moment to look at the battered semi. “Does the engine even work? Looks like this thing has seen better days… hopefully.”

“That’s what I’m gonna start working on,” the young engineer said. “Tried turning the old thing on earlier, and the engine didn’t start, so hopefully I’ll be able to figure out the problem.”

Lucas sighed at Cade’s new passion project and walked over to the boy’s couch, which had become his whenever he stayed in the barn. Flopping down on the old couch, he closed his eyes and listened to the rustling and clanking that came from Cade opening up the truck and looking down at the engine.

Just as Lucas began to succumb to his need for sleep, Cade called out to him, “This engine is wild. For an old truck, this thing sure looks advanced.”

“Sounds great, Cade,” the boy responded sleepily.

Hearing his friend’s obvious disinterest, he got to work for real. He tried turning on the truck again, but the engine didn’t start. Next, he tried jump-starting the engine with wires and clamps that were long enough to reach Lucas’s car since it was closest to the barn. Once again, it didn’t work. Scratching his head in confusion, he went to examine the engine. It truly was something he had never seen before. It consisted of strong and sleek-looking metals, pumps, and wires that Cade couldn’t even wrap his head around. He began to feel discouraged, but while looking, he found certain components that seemed damaged and needed replacing. Making a note of the components he needed on a sticky note, he felt like his pride hadn’t been too damaged yet.

“Alright, Lucas, get up! We got some shopping to do,” he yelled across the barn to his sleeping friend.

Lucas woke up with a surprised yelp and groaned when he learned of the errands he would have to run with his annoyingly determined friend. Both boys made their way out of the barn and piled into Cade’s Chevy and made their way to auto-repair stores that either carried or could order the parts Cade wanted.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, Cade was forced to order most of the parts he would need, as opposed to buying most at the several stores he went to. Even more unfortunate was that the delivery dates of all the engine components he had ordered were due for delivery at different times. Some were due to come in for pick up within the week, while others were harder to secure and wouldn’t come for multiple weeks. It was a bit discouraging, but Cade was just thankful he could get hold of the parts that he needed in the first place.

Before placing any of the orders, he made sure his mom was aware and was okay with the purchases, since some were rather expensive. He was well aware of his mom’s power and was certainly not in the mood to test it. 

To make up for the money, he was stuck getting two summer jobs and doing the majority of the house chores for the next half a year. While extremely tedious and frankly a little annoying, he was pretty lucky that was all he had to do or face his mom pulling the plug on his project. Thankfully, that was no longer a worry, and the worst thing was having to simply wait for the parts to arrive.

While the days faded into each other throughout the week, Cade went through his usual routine of school and hanging out with Lucas. Time went by too slow and too fast at the same time. Soon, he was able to get a hold of a few specific components he would need to fix the engine. 

While the engine was still busted, the outside of the truck looked tremendously better even within the short time he had put into it. A good number of the holes on the exterior were welded and shut with spare metal, and Cade was soon going to work on the radiator being replaced. The inside of the truck was cleaned up nicely and luckily none of the tires needed replacing...yet. He was making progress, but he still longed to get behind the wheel of the large truck, and the young inventor knew it would take time and patience. 

Getting home from school with Lucas in tow, they made their way to the barn. Cade began grabbing the tools he would need to remove the engine so he could work on it without anything getting in his way or risking further damage. Lucas, for once, felt like helping, and he helped Cade open up the heavy hood of the truck. Looking at the busted engine for the first time, the boy was shocked to see its complexity. “You weren’t kidding, Cade. This thing looks advanced.” All the boy got was a hum in response and continued. “You sure you can fix this thing?” 

Cade looked over his shoulder at his friend with an uncharacteristic, unsure look. “I’m at least going to try. If these pieces I bought don’t work…”

“Forget I asked. You’re really smart. If anyone can fix it, it’s you.” He said genuinely. 

Giving an amused smile at his friend’s compassion, Cade grabbed one last tool and moved the rest closer to the truck. While he got to work, Cade remembered the evening he spent with Emily nearly a week ago. Since that night, they had talked in school often, and he even got her number. He eventually thought about the small deal he had made with her and wondered if she truly had any interest in seeing the semi now that there was visible progress, and he supposed it was a good excuse to show at least a little initiative.

Externally, the semi still looked rough, but the lack of holes was starting to help bring the old truck back to life. The truck was still in need of a desperate paint job, but as he had mentioned, he wouldn’t mind letting Emily pick out the colors as long as it wasn’t too obnoxious or flashy - he be damned if he ended up driving a bright purple or neon green truck. 

Slowing down while working on the engine now outside of the truck, but still connected through sturdy wires, he glanced at Lucas next to him and decided just to ask him for his opinion. “Emily and I made a deal at that county fair a while ago. She said in return, she wanted to see the truck when it was finished. Since I’m making progress, do you think she would want to see it? Might work as an excuse to hang out outside of school.” Cade grimaced at the insecurity bleeding into his voice.

Lucas listened to his troubled friend and thought for a minute, and tried to figure out how to respond. “Well, she seems to really like you; you guys hang out in school a lot, so probably.” Pausing, he then added, “Ask her over, and if she declines, she declines, but if she accepts, which she probably will, then you guys get to spend time together.” 

Cade nodded, a little embarrassed, “fair point.” He sighed, “I’ll send her a text in a bit.”

Lucas smiled and nodded back, and both got back to work disassembling the damaged parts and working the new components into the engine. After wrenching in a particularly troublesome piece, Cade wiped the sweat from his forehead and decided to call it a day. Lucas felt the same after spending his day learning far too much about the mechanics behind truck engines from Cade. Cade, like usual, bid Lucas a farewell and waved until the boy’s car disappeared down his driveway and turned onto the main road. 

Cade quickly checked the time on his old phone, reading 7:03pm at the bottom of the small screen, and realized he most likely missed dinner. He wiped his hands on a nearby hand towel and tried to clean up the area at least a little. He quickly gave up and made his way out of the barn whilst desperately wishing for a shower to wash away the grease staining his old shirt and shorts. 

He walked back into the farmhouse, greeting his mom, and was told to pull out the leftovers she had recently put away. While eating the leftover meatloaf she had made, Cade brought out his phone again and decided to text Emily about coming over. 

Before sending the message, he read it over and over until he felt confident enough to send it to the girl. A few minutes later, she responded simply with ‘yes! Sounds great. When are you free?’ With a relieved exhale, he gave her the date and time set for the following Friday, a week away, giving him a little more time to make as much progress as possible. She once again responded quickly, saying she was free and was excited to see how the semi looked. Smiling, he pocketed his phone and finished the rest of his dinner quickly so he could get the shower he had been craving. 

The weekend passed too fast, like how it always felt, but thankfully, the week seemed to pass by nearly as quick, and soon it was the day Emily would visit his home. Cade was excited during the entirety of the school day to have Emily come home with him to the barn. He struggled to pay attention to his teachers and would zone out during their lessons. When the bell rang after an eternity, Cade quickly went to his locker to retrieve and put away textbooks, and soon, he was walking out the doors to meet Emily. When he saw her by the flagpole by the front of the school, he waved her down, and they walked to their respective cars. Emily followed Cade out of the school lot all the way to Cade’s farm.

Upon seeing the large plot of land covered in lush green grass with the occasional trees spread far apart, she made sure to tell him how pretty the land was and how cute the farmhouse was, despite its obvious age. Then they entered the barn with Cade holding the door open for her. When she walked inside, no lights were on yet until Cade followed behind her and reached for the light switch on the wall. It took a moment for the girl's eyes to adjust, and when they did, she spotted the old truck. “Wow, I can envision it, looking new and as fancy as semis can get.” She joked good-naturedly.

Cade smiled at her with a slight blush dusting his cheeks. “I can try,” he said sheepishly. “It's been a lot of work, but the truck is starting to look pretty good. There's a lot I still need to do, but I think it will be worth it.” His passion for metalwork was abundant in his voice.

Emily nodded her head and began to walk up to the now nicer-looking semi. She ran her hand over the hood, feeling the mostly smooth metal rather than deep dents or rigid scratches. Admittedly, the more minor holes, dents, and the paint job needed some help, but otherwise, the old truck really did look like it was being revived. After walking around the whole truck, she made her way back to Cade. “I can’t wait to go for a ride at some point.”

“Same, sadly, I still don’t have the engine working yet. Been working on it for only a few days.” He pointed to the engine sitting on a table close to the truck.

“That’s alright,” she smiled.

Trying to hide his nervousness and feigning confidence, he asked, “Would you like to go inside the house? We could watch a movie?” 

The girl smiled at him, “Sounds great, I’m picking though.” 

At that, Cade held the door open for her again and glanced back at the old semi with a soft smile before shutting the lights off.

Emily and Cade spent the evening watching some chick flick that he had never heard of, and she claimed it to be one of her favorites. While Cade found it funny, it wasn’t his kind of movie, but some sacrifices had to be made. The girl stayed over for pizza, and when that was done, Cade walked her to her car parked outside on the long dirt driveway. Before Emily got in, she quickly leaned closer to Cade and gave him a quick chaste kiss on the cheek, and quickly wished him goodbye. She hopped in the car and backed out with a deep red blush covering her face.

Cade was stunned to say the least, but he was happy and smiled like an idiot as he walked back inside the house to turn in for the night.

___________________

Soon enough, Cade had received a few more components needed for the engine and was ready to fix them into place. Lucas was over as per usual and helped Cade with what he could handle since he had no experience with truck engines or any machinery for that matter.

While working carefully around the wires and delicate pieces of metal connected to the engine, the boys attached a few new parts, hopefully stabilizing the engine enough so that it would turn on with the help of a battery.

The inventor was done screwing in the last attachment, and he wiped his grimy hands on a cloth next to him. Although a battery would probably be the only way to hopefully get the engine running, he was curious to see if he could just jump-start it. He was running his own little experiment since he didn’t have much knowledge in this area of expertise. He worked with different alloys and similar materials, but he had hardly ever worked with engines beyond his own car’s when he needed to. That had been his dad’s profession, a mechanic, and Cade’s already meager knowledge was solely based on the little he was taught. 

Stretching his arms and back out after being hunched over the large engine, he went around to the driver's side of the truck and hopped in the seat, and tried to start up the engine. Turning the key, he was met with nothing other than the revving of the engine, but he pretty much predicted that and moved to find the correct wires and clamps to hook up to the powerful battery. 

He made his way to one of the nearby tables that the said battery sat atop. He figured he’d need it at some point, so it was already out waiting to be used. He hooked up a few clamps to the battery and carefully trailed the wires and the other end of the clamps back to the engine and hooked them up one by one. 

Satisfied, he grabbed a small remote with a button that would turn on the engine, and before clicking it, looked to Lucas. The boy stood nearby, standing in front of the truck. “Turn it on already,” he called.

“I’m nervous, what if I mess something up and I don’t know…” he trailed off, “Fry the engine or something?”

“Don’t be a wuss, flick it on. I left the fire extinguisher in the corner.” He pointed to where said extinguisher was propped up against one of the walls.

Feeling excited and scared all at the same time, Cade nodded and clicked the button, turning the battery on. Both boys waited with bated breath for any signs of the truck turning on. At first, all Cade could hear was the thrum coming from the high voltage battery until the semi’s lights began a stuttering blink and sparks began to fly from the opened hood. 

Seeing the truck react in such a strange way, Cade panicked and quickly turned off the battery, but it didn't change the semi’s condition. He was messing with the controller and didn’t see Lucas sprint towards the opened barn doors. “Cade, run!” The boy shouted when he looked back to see the inventor still close to the malfunctioning truck.

Cade jumped, hearing the other’s voice, and dropped the controller to the battery without a care. He dashed towards his friend. “What the hell!” The curly-haired boy shouted, staring straight at the rumbling and stuttering semi.

“I-I don’t know! I’ve never seen this happen before.” Cade said frantically. 

“Is it going to explode or what!?” 

“thats reliculou—“ the inventor was cut off by a voice coming from the malfunctioning truck. “Calling—” it spoke in a faint static voice and just as quickly spoke again, “Calling all autobots.” It said in a louder, deeper, more distinguishable voice. Then suddenly the lights stopped blinking, and the sparks lessened until there were no more. Both shocked boys were left in total silence, staring at the truck that looked as if nothing had happened to it. 

Cade, with a perplexed expression, turned to look at his friend. “What,” he breathed out. “What… the fuck was that!?” He squeaked.

“Why would I know!”

Before either could speak again, the door to the farmhouse opened with Cade’s mom walking towards them with an exasperated expression. “Why are both of you yelling! You’re lucky we don’t live directly next door to anyone because they would be calling the cops with all that girly screaming.” Now, next to her son, she lightly slapped the back of his head. 

Still stunned, he looked at his mom, “The t-truck it… it—“ 

“It’s a truck, Cade. What's it going to do? Run you over? Just quiet down, you hear me? and make sure to clean up, it smells like oil, gasoline, and sweat,” She said, shaking her head, and began walking towards the house. She was worried something had happened to the boys, but both were fine, and she couldn’t care less as to what excuse either of them had for their boyish behavior. 

Lucas’s gaze shifted from the boy's mom to Cade next to him and laughed, “Your mom hit you.” He said with a shit eating grin. Cade, still flustered from the truck’s malfunction, looked away from his friend. “Don’t be an idiot, Lucas,” he mumbled with annoyance laced in his voice. He lightly punched the curly-haired boy's shoulder and walked away from the still cackling boy. Cautiously, Cade went to check on the abnormal truck. He had never seen any vehicle react like that — in such a violent manner. Let alone, he had never seen any kind of car, truck, or whatever actually speak, not just gibberish, but speak words. It sounded like a recording, a message of sorts, but Cade didn't have the capacity to think any harder about it; he was just baffled by whatever the hell he had just witnessed. 

He made sure to look over the semi, but thankfully, the truck itself looked unharmed despite its previous rattling. The sparks narrowly caused a fire — he was lucky nothing actually caught on fire; he knew that’d be a bitch to put out with flammable objects everywhere in a wooden barn. Now checking on the engine itself, it looked fine, so all Cade had left to do was be confused as to what he did wrong to cause such a reaction. 

Once Lucas collected himself, he returned to the young inventor’s side. “Figure out what’s wrong with it?” 

Sighing, he glanced at his friend. “No, I don’t understand… The truck looks completely fine, like that weird episode never even happened. I-I expected there to be some sort of damage, but there’s nothing.” He ran an unsteady hand through his shaggy hair in frustration. 

Lucas absently nodded his head. “That scared the absolute shit out of me.” 

“Jesus, you’re telling me.”

“Is the truck fried?” He said worriedly, hoping the boy didn’t have an answer yet for his sake.

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll try again. I have to at some point, so lemme check now.” Cade said with a frown as he grabbed the discarded controller. The boy hesitated a minute before finally clicking it on again.

Nothing happened.

Sighing, he made his way to the truck’s flank and opened the driver's door. He tried starting up the truck himself, but it didn’t start as either boy had hopped. Frustrated, he jumped out of the car, slamming the door. 

“Cade, Cade, calm down,” the curly-haired boy called out. He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder to try and comfort him. Thankfully, the comforting touch seemed to work a little, and the boy’s breathing began to slow to an even tempo. He ran his hand through his hair again and was led by his friend to his desk to take a break. He slumped in his swivel chair with a frown plastered to his face. Nearly a childish pout, but Cade would absolutely refuse to call it that.

“I was really hoping it would work, ya know? I put in so much effort and…” he couldn’t finish the sentence and leaned back on his desk chair, scooting down so his head rested on the top of the chair’s back. Slumped down in his chair, he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Cade,” he said, exasperated. “Just try one more time.”

“What if the truck does that freak-out thing again?” He looked away with tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. “I don’t want to accidentally damage it, especially after trying to fix it. I just tried it but I think I was lucky this time but if it happens again… I’m not so sure.”

“Okay, but you tried again, and nothing happened. But if something were to happen, I’m just being hypothetical, you could still use it for parts. That was part of your plan. That engine has plenty of expensive parts you could sell, including the ones you just bought.” 

Cade, still upset, shrugged and sighed, “I know, but now that I’m actually trying, I don’t just want to sell it for spare parts or just use them for other projects. I feel like the truck deserves better than that.” 

“It’s your call, dude,” he shrugged, “But I’m just saying you should try again at some point.” 

Cade nodded slowly and pushed the light brown wisps of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes and grabbed the white baseball cap on his desk, and placed it backwards on his head. He realized his hair was getting longer, and the front-most locks were close to covering his eyes. Not wanting to deal with that, the hat would work in keeping the hair out of his face. He refused to even think about potentially tying his hair up like his mom had previously teased. 

Standing up, he made a hand gesture for Lucas to follow, and they both walked over to the engine, and Cade once again was holding the remote to the battery. He pointed the controller at the center of Lucas’s chest and narrowed his eyes. “If this truck becomes unfixable, I blame you fully.” Lucas put his hands up in surrender, “Whatever makes you sleep at night, I guess."

The inventor’s eyes were burning holes into Lucas’s, and the curly-haired boy rolled his eyes and watched as Cade retracted the remote. He gave an indecisive look at the engine, then looked at the truck. Eventually, he sighed and pressed the on button and waited for the truck to do anything. It took a moment, but both boys were excited when the lights blinked back on, and the engine roared to life. When the truck seemed stable, Cade went around closer to the front of the truck with Lucas following close behind. The boy gave Cade a light smile. “See, I told you it would be fi-” Before Lucas could finish, the truck made a noise that could only be described as gears scraping against each other.  

Before either could react, the semi suddenly began to shake and shift, followed by the grating sound of metal against metal permeating throughout the confines of the cluttered barn. Before their eyes, the truck began to move swiftly, strong alloys twisting and smashing into each other to create something new. The engine connected to the truck was pulled from its spot by cables and reattached itself to the mess of moving wires and metals that were building and shifting up to tower over both boys. The truck, now in the shape of a large humanoid-looking figure, looked down on them. 

Time moved by in what felt like slow-motion for Cade; everything slowed, including sound, and among the chaos, he eyed the metal figure. There was metal plating completely covering the creature with blue eyes — its deep blue eyes boring down on them with not only rage, but Cade could've sworn he saw fear. Its eyes were glowing brightly in the poorly lit barn, painting the scene before them in a sadden blue that didn't fit the red-hot panic bubbling up in Cade's throat. From a quick glance, he could see the anguish and distrust in its eyes. fully transformed into its humanoid form — its bipedal mode, the titan got its bearings, and it quickly began to move as it began to understand its new surroundings. “Humans, I will kill you!” A gruff baritone voice roared as it moved into a defensive stance and was ready to attack if provoked.

Cade trance broke upon hearing the terrifying words. The boy could only gasp loudly in response and felt time speed back up to its normal pace. Understanding the sight before him – a large mechanical creature ready to tear him apart, he promptly fell backwards out of shock and mostly terror. He landed harshly on his back, with the wind being knocked out of him, and his head hitting the ground with a harsh crack. He quickly tried to catch his breath. Once recovered enough with the ringing in his ears dissipating, he sat up. Before he could get the chance to stand up and run, he heard Lucas cry out and scream, “What the fuck!” And the curly-haired boy began to back up away from the metal figure and ran into one of Cade’s tables, knocking its contents to the ground in a loud clatter, drawing the metallic giant’s attention. 

It was just the boy’s luck that it was the table that held the dead missile on it. When Lucas knocked into the table, the missile was nudged out of its presumably secure perch between a set of two clamps and fell to the ground with a large clatter. As soon as it hit the floor, the missile activated with sparks flying from it. It quickly tore off and flew into the side of the barn and ricocheted, leaving a large dent in its wake – Cade wasn't even sure how he was going to explain that to his mom if asked. On its new trajectory, the missile was now aimed towards the open barn doors near where Cade sat. Cade ducked to lie flat on his back again as it zoomed above him and flew past the farmhouse in a matter of seconds. Cade gave a small sigh of relief at seeing the house intact. He wasn’t sure what to do about the loose missile, but under his current circumstances, he figured it was the least of his concerns. 

Lucas had jerked back away from the table, seeing the activated missile, and began to run to the open barn doors once it was out of the barn. Not even thinking Cade yelled at the other boy, “Lucas, stop!”

The metal figure snarled, believing the missile was part of an attack, before Lucas could even get close to the exit, the titan’s metal hand shifted into a gun and struck the boy in the head with the side of it. On heavy impact, Lucas was knocked off his feet, falling backwards, slamming into the ground, pulling a pained groan from his lips. He lay on the floor with a hand to the large red spot growing on his head. When he recovered enough, he began to try and sit up. Now, both boys were on the ground, somewhat injured and certainly petrified.  

Seeing both humans down, the metal figure backed up to the other end of the barn and grunted to itself, “Weapons system damaged…” Momentarily taking its glowing eyes off the boys, it checked over the hand that had become a gun and dislodged a litany of bullet shells and casings, making them clatter to the ground. It fiddled with its damaged cartridge, checking for the ammunition inside, and was displeased to see that what remained was too damaged for proper usage.

Seeing the metal figure distracted by the gun and frayed wires sticking out of its arm, Cade slowly crawled over to his injured friend. Lucas didn’t see him coming, so he lightly tapped his friend on the shoulder to get his attention. In reaction, the boy nearly screamed, thinking it was the metal figure, but Cade covered his mouth with his hand. He waited for the curly-haired boy to calm down and recognize it was only Cade. When Lucas calmed down, the other boy  whispered, “Are you ok?” His voice dripped with worry and panic as he checked out the large bruise forming and covering most of the boy’s forehead. Lucas groaned at the prodding along his injury, “I’m fine, just really hurts. Gonna have to go to the doctors or something.” He said in a hushed but nearly slurred voice. Cade frowned. Lucas seemed slightly delirious. He patted his shoulder in a quick offer of comfort and stood up. One of them had to be the brave and possibly foolish diplomat in the situation, and clearly it wasn't going to be Lucas.

Cade turned to the metal creature that had retreated further in what he assumed was weariness. It seemed to be trying to fix the metal plating and wires that had come loose during its transformation. Cade slowly approached the large figure despite every instinct in him telling him to run around, help Lucas up, and run as far away as possible. 

When the metal titan noticed the slowly approaching boy, it tried moving back into a defensive pose, but the sudden movement tore a series of gruff coughs from its metal throat instead. At least Cade figured it was a cough by the hand coming near its mouth to cover it – he found the gesture oddly human, and he wasn’t sure if he should be comforted by it or disturbed. The coughs sounded deep, rumbly, and most of all sounded painful. The boy could tell the figure before him was definitely injured.

Gathering his courage, he spoke in a soft voice, he conjured as much strength as he could muster since he was honestly scared shitless, “My… my name is Cade Yeager.” he cringed at his stuttering, so much for showing no fear.

Before he could say more, he was staring down the barrel of the titan’s gun. “Please,” he quickly said, putting his hands up in a show of being defenseless – he just prayed that gesture was universal enough. “You look injured. Let me help you. I know my way around metal, so I’m sure I can help.” He pleaded, not just for his life but strangely out of sincerity too. 

The giant must have sensed his genuine effort through his terror, and after a few tense seconds, the barrel of the gun began to lower, staggering until it fell away completely. The gun shifted back into a hand, and the metal creature made another deep cough. He looked down on the human and shook his head, “No… I need to go— I need to go. My autobots…” he said in sudden distress, “They will surely die without me.” 

“If you leave, you won't make it far.” Cade tried to reason. He wasn’t even sure why he wanted to help, but he just felt he should. He had never seen anything like the large metal figure standing in front of him, never knew anything like that even existed. If anything, he guessed his will to help was based on the opportunity presented in front of him. He could learn the machinery, the anatomy of such a non-organic being. As far as Cade could tell, the opportunity was a pretty rare one. 

The giant spent a minute probably weighing out his options, and then he exhaled sharply in what appeared to be defeat — steam puffing out from its nostrils similar to a bull. It slowly lowered its body onto one knee to be closer to Cade’s level. It leaned in closer and softly spoke in a strained voice, “Cade Yeager,” drawing out the name with a rumble. “I am in your debt.” Blue eyes bore into his own.

Cade should have been scared or worried about the situation he had just created. He should have run away at this moment and maybe moved to another country while he was at it, but he couldn’t; he stayed right where he was. The inventor was frozen in place. He was in awe of the giant that stood before him, willingly accepting his help. To add to his distress, the boy was even embarrassed by this metal being kneeling before him just to be at a somewhat similar height. Cade was a mere five-eight, while this metal creature must have been around twenty feet; truthfully, it was probably taller. 

The boy was suddenly broken from his train of thought by the titan speaking to him once more. “My name is Optimus Prime, I am what my people call an Autobot, and I am the leader of a resistance in an intergalactic war against the Decepticons.” There was pain in it-his voice (he corrected), and the downcast look on his face was telling that whatever war he was a part of, it had been long and grueling. 

Keeping his voice calm not to startle the creature — Optimus, he remembered, he asked him, “What are you exactly? Where are you from? Surely not Earth?” Cade quickly asked his questions, trying to suppress his awe in favor of gaining information. He felt almost entranced by the metal figure. 

Although he was at least multiple times Cade’s size and on top of that injured, he seemed to move with grace and ease, whether it be getting ready to attack or simply just kneeling. He realized his torrent of questions was probably rude, and he scratched the back of his neck while saying a quick apology.

Optimus nodded his head in what thankfully seemed like understanding and opened his mouth to speak when one of the two large metal horns framing the top of his head detached and fell. It hit the ground in front of Cade with a large clatter, making him gasp in surprise and look up at the Autobot. Optimus quickly covered the new wound opening in his metal plating with his hand, and from Cade could tell, a green liquid quickly gushed from the wound covered between the Autobot’s fingers. 

Cade walked over to the large metal piece and began to pick it up, but misjudged how heavy it would be. He nearly toppled over but caught his balance. He picked up the semi-rusted horn and gazed up into large, blue mechanic eyes, “Guess we should fix you up first?” He said apologetically. 

Optimus gave a sad smile; it was barely there, but Cade was able to tell because of their proximity. The titan hummed and nodded his head once more, this time carefully due to the wound.

Throughout the whole encounter, Lucas stayed towards the front of the barn, still on the floor, away from Optimus and Cade. When he didn’t feel as dizzy, he finally got up and slowly made his way to the couch that Cade kept in the barn. At some point, he must have fallen asleep since Cade eventually went to check on him. 

With a tap to the boy’s shoulder, Cade worriedly asked: “Hey, Lucas, you okay?” 

Lucas woke with a small jolt and groaned, which seemed like the only thing he had been doing recently. “I don’t know, I think I have a concussion or something.” He mumbled.

“Your head does look pretty banged up; it's all red and purple.” 

Lucas closed his eyes again and rolled onto his side so his face (not his forehead) was pressed towards the back of the couch. Cade rolled his eyes and began walking to retrieve a nearby blanket. “You seem okay enough, but if you need me to, I'll take you to a doctor later.” He said, draping the scratchy dark blue blanket over his friend. While the barn wasn’t very well air-conditioned, typically leaving it uncomfortably warm, he hoped the blanket would at least help bring some comfort. 

Without hearing a reply, Cade walked over to his workbench and grabbed an assortment of tools he guessed he would need, and walked over and climbed up the scaffolding that he had rushed to set up around the Autobot before checking on Lucas.

It was a lazy setup he put together so he could quickly and efficiently reach the higher-up parts of Optimus that were damaged, like the detached horn. Cade worked quietly while standing on the scaffolding he set up near the giant’s shoulder and head. Although he was a decent engineer and could invent just about whatever came to mind, he had no idea how to fix a metal alien’s wound, let alone what other damages were external and internal in his systems. 

By accident, while rewiring, he would pull too harshly on a cable, pulling a grunt of pain from the Autobot. Or he, occasionally, with permission, would step on Optimus’s sore shoulder in order to reach where he needed to.

After a few hours of Cade fumbling around the new technology, putting the horn back in place as well as he could. He was frustrated at how long it took to do that one task compared to all the other damages that were inflicted on Optimus. Additionally, he felt even worse from accidentally hurting the bot in the repair process. Once he collected his tools spread out on the floor board, he patted the reinstalled metal to show his sympathy.

“Sorry that took so long, I would’ve thought I could be of better help,” Cade said while gazing up at Optimus. So high up from the ground they were nearly eye level with the Autobot sitting in front of him, but he was still taller. The thought of his height and strength easily made Cade nervous – one screw up and he was dead.

The bot frowned lightly, “What you have done for me is noble. While you may think you haven’t helped, you truly have. A human has never thought once to help me without gaining anything in return. I will remember your aid and generosity.”

Too tired to fight the compliment, he acquiesced and began the descent to stable ground. There were still many hours left until sunset, so the boy figured he should at least attempt to clean up and then take Lucas to get checked on by a doctor. He was starting to feel pretty bad about neglecting him.

He woke Lucas up again, and this time his friend seemed more lucid. He helped him to the door, and before exiting, he quickly turned around to face Optimus, who sat towards the back of the barn, propped up against the back wall, one of the few spots where it was spacious enough to house him comfortably. “I uh I’m taking Lucas to a doctor for his head. Do you mind staying here until I get back?” 

The leader leaned further back against the wall and seemed to relax, if only a little. “I will be fine. I do hope he is alright.”

“Lucas will be fine. I should be back in like an hour, give or take.” Cade waved awkwardly, then helped his friend outside and closed the door behind him. 

___________________

Truly, a single Earth hour — sixty minutes, three thousand six hundred seconds was a short amount of time, but Optimus figured he might as well use it to his advantage. There was nothing to do besides wait for Cade to return, and he needed to fix some of his internal systems — the ones he was able to. His systems were left either glitching or not working at all due to his extended stasis. While most of his internal circuits just needed resetting or recalibrating, his more important ones like communications and mapping would need actual fixing. 

With a lack of communication and geographical mapping systems, Optimus was, in a sense, stranded. He had no idea where he was, and he had no way of contacting and regrouping with the other autobots. For that matter, he wasn't sure if any of them were even alive. It disheartened him to think about it, but it was very plausible.  

He guessed a few years had passed since the last attack he faced that ended with his shutdown. It was an ambush organized by humans to eradicate him, and as a result, it would slow down and disorganize other autobots ever since the clandestine announcement linked solely between autobots and the United States government, Optimus and his kind were no longer welcomed on Earth. After everything they had done for the humans, high-ranked officials still cast him and his autobots out. They had stopped deceptions from harming Earth and had done humans the favor of staying hidden and helping the government to cover up their existence from the general public. 

The memory brought displeasure that coursed through his spark – a dull ache on top of the pains he already was experiencing from his forced stasis. He needed to get in contact and find any remaining Autobots that were, and still are, his soldiers. They had been hiding, running, and fighting without a leader, and it was time for Optimus to return. 

He hadn’t realized he had succumbed to a light stasis until he heard the barn door open and close. With the banging, he opened his optics and waited for his still damaged and sluggish systems to focus as well as possible. 

Looking around, he caught sight of the human boy he had interacted with earlier sitting down at his desk. He noticed the other curly-haired boy was not at his side and resumed his attention on Cade.

Cade was a little upset, to say the least. Lucas had a mild concussion, and despite it being mild, he looked to be in pretty bad condition so far. His friend was stuck in bed rest, and now Cade had an alien robot to hide in his barn because he stupidly believed he could help him. He knew he was in over his head, but he couldn’t back out now, at least not without making Optimus angry or building a sense of distrust between them, which would only result in Cade probably losing his life. He shuddered at the thought. 

Refocusing back on the current problem at hand, hiding the giant robo— Optimus, in his barn was going to be tricky. There was no way he could hide this from his mom for long, and surely the big guy would grow tired of constantly sitting inside a rundown barn.

Cade’s brain felt overcrowded by worries and concerns, and he slumped his upper half on top of his desk. He sat face down on the hard desk with his hands covering his shaggy brown hair, and he groaned. 

Optimus saw the young human's distress and could sense that his own plight was the reason behind it. He felt a little guilty, but Cade kindly offered his assistance, and the leader was in need of the help. Although still skeptical of the boy, he still feels he has been genuine. He eventually attempted to proverbially “break the ice,” as humans seem to say. “How is your friend doing?” 

Surprise took over Cade momentarily, distracting him from his pity party. He lifted his head to meet the bot's gaze. “He’s got a mild concussion, and he’s on bed rest right now, but he will be fine.” He shrugged. 

“That is good to hear.”

Cade smiled forlornly then began to walk over to the leader. Wanting to distract himself, he asked, “Does anything hurt or need adjusting?” He then stopped only a foot away from the bot’s stretched-out legs. 

“If it is not too much trouble, I believe a wire or two is being slightly pinched where you reconnected the plating attached to my horn.” 

“No worries, umm,” he said with embarrassment seeping into his tone. “Do you mind if you let me up? Or… never mind, I can just move the scaffolding back—”

Cade was cut off by the movement of Optimus’s hand being placed only inches in front of him. Cade looked into the leader's eyes for certainty, and he was met with an encouraging expression for him to climb on. 

Cade quickly grabbed his toolbox and carefully crawled onto the extended hand, mindful of the healing metal, and sat in the middle of the large palm. Once settled, Optimus slowly moved his hand up towards his right horn. 

Feeling stable enough, Cade quickly got to work detaching the metal connected to the horn so he could reach where the wires began. Working around an assortment of alloys, he rooted through wires of all sizes until he found the pinched wires and set them free. Almost immediately, Cade felt Optimus’s posture relax a little. The inventor smiled at being able to help the leader, but before he fixed the metal plating back into place, he noticed something in the way the large horn was shaped. 

He hadn't noticed until now, and he lifted his hand to gingerly glide up the metal that must have once been a royal blue — judging by the current faded look. His hand felt towards the point where the metal bent at an odd angle that must have been uncomfortable. Curious, his gaze shifted to Optimus’s one visible eye from his position, “I hadn't really noticed before, but is it damaged?” He said, carefully tapping where the metal was crooked. 

Optimus glanced at the boy, whose hands were now back to reinstalling the detached metal, at the boy’s face. “Yes, unfortunately, it happens to connect to my communications system. While it is mostly in my hard drive, where my receiver is, that metal point acts similar to an antenna to pick up a signal. Without it, which is my current plight, I cannot contact any of my autobots.” 

The boy's expression turned from curious to determined, “I’ll try my best to fix it for you soon.” Looking at the bent metal, he added, “That can’t be very comfortable.”

“I am grateful, Cade Yeager,” he said with a nearly fond drawl to the boy's name. Cade hadn't really noticed before, being too scared to pick up on it, but Optimus had a deep voice that rumbled riotously. It wasn’t that Optimus had an accent or lilt to his voice, but it was unique, something purely otherworldly. He had a pleasant timbre when saying his name that made the boy shiver; it made his name sound more important than he thought it was.

 Finished with fixing the metal into place, Optimus brought his hand and, by extension, Cade, near the front of his face.

Cade hadn’t had the chance to get a good look at his face, but now he had an up close view, nearly eye to eye. His face was intricately laced with metals and steels, articulating his humanoid features. While Optimus’s paint job was still lacking due to copious amounts of rust and faded paint from lack of care during stasis, he could still tell he had a sleek facial structure. 

Cade took in his face, committing it to memory — it was fascinating to see its complexity, from his pressed metal lips to a strong Roman nose and to luminous blue eyes staring down at him, bathing the room in what is starting to feel like a familiar blue glow. His eyes showed a hint of fondness beyond the uncertainty for the boy, and he broke the silence between them. “A human has never thought once to give me aid, even after bestowing it on your kind. So why do you, a human boy, wish to help me?”

Cade collected his thoughts and tried to piece together a decent answer. “Well, you didn’t try to kill Lucas or me, even though you acted like it at first. You seem fair in that way. You gave me the chance to explain myself when you could easily crush me. I guess that already swayed my opinion, but I don’t know. I just have a feeling that I should help you. You’re a leader who cares for his people, and you’re doing everything you can to get back to them.” He cast his eyes down, then just as quickly looked up with a determined glint in his eyes, “It's… commendable. I want to help your autobots.” 

Optimus' eyes seemed to almost dim with sadness in their deep blue, lighting fading with the reminder of his Autobots. To show comfort, Cade patted the metal hand he sat on, and Optimus seemed to appreciate the gesture.

He began to lower Cade to the ground, and the boy hopped off. He looked back up at Optimus, and before he could say anything, a yawn forced its way into his system. “I’m gonna head off to bed. Anything else you need for the night?” 

Optimus nodded. “I must ask, I am unsure as to where exactly we are.” 

Cade’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t even think about that. We’re in Paris, Texas. It’s a small town, but it’s where I was born and raised.”

Optimus stilled at the response and rigidly nodded. “There is nothing more I require. Have a good night.” 

Cade nodded, wanting to give the Autobot his time to accept the situation, and said his own “Goodnight” in return, and quickly added. “I’ll be back first thing in the morning,” and made his way to the front of the barn. Before he turned the lights off, he felt blue eyes tracking his movement and glanced back once more, seeing the leader lean more comfortably against the barn wall. Content with seeing him at as much ease as possible with his situation: being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, on top of that, humans whom he deeply mistrusts. He turned the lights off and closed the door. 

It was pitch black with only the moon and the porch lights of the farmhouse illuminating his path. He yawned again and made his way inside to quickly get ready for bed. Finished with his routine, he lay in bed, and he felt his back pop from all the standing and bending he had to do in order to fix Optimus. Finally relaxing and feeling comfortable, his eyes began to flutter closed. He felt sleep come to him and immediately woke back up when suddenly he had a realization. “Shit,” he cussed and remembered the weekend was over, and he had school in the morning. He tossed onto his side and muttered, “God, I hate Mondays.” 

Although his mood was soured, he eventually drifted off to sleep so he could hopefully be rested enough for the morning and what his day would bring.