Noahs been released from the hospital for a month and Mirage still hasn't talked to Optimus. the young bot understands it was an accident, claiming he'd ignore any of the other Autobots if they'd hurt Noah, but standing firm on ignoring the Prime.

Noah hasn't been allowed to leave the house in weeks, but finally gets to leave today. Kris had a day of doctors appointments and his mother was going, so Mirage had sneaked him out and taken him to the warehouse. Ratchet had been attempting to get a couple of parts for Mirage and had finally managed to get his servos on some, so they were heading to get his parts replaced.

Noah winces slightly, leaning against Mirages driverside door when they hit a bump.

"sorry. sorry. are you okay? I'm trying to be careful." Mirage says quickly.

"n-no, no. I'm good 'Raj, m'good." Noah assures gently. his face is still bruised up but his eyes are no longer swollen shut. his ribs are still swollen and sore and there are still bruises up his back. he's still in rough shape, but he's able to get around again.

"I'm so sorry." Mirage apologies as they pull into the warehouse.

"m'good 'Raj, I promise." Noah assures gently.

Mirage stays silent as he pulls further from the door than normal. he pulls in and over to a wall, carefully opening his door. he's paranoid now and carefully traps Noah between himself and the wall as he gets out, to keep the man safer.

"'Raj, I'm okay." Noah assures, chuckling softly as he attempts to get out. Mirage shifts his seat, to help Noah out. "thanks." Noah murmurs. Mirage transforms and scoops Noah up, carefully putting the man up on his shoulders. "Mirage, m'not five." Noah huffs, face flushing.

"don't care. you're safer up there. he's here." Mirage growls.

"you can't stay mad at Optimus forever." Noah frowns. Mirage frowns, carrying him off towards the others.

"Mirage." Arcee chides. "you can't carry Noah around when Ratchet is supposed to work on you." she frowns.

"he's safer." Mirage snaps, glaring at her as he walks past. Noah sighs, but smiles a little.

"hey Arcee." Noah waves.

"hey Noah, glad to see you again." Arcee waves. she hadn't seen him since he was released. "be careful taking him to meet Ratchet. he doesn't like humans. he's like Optimus." Arcee frowns.

"Ratchets a medic. he won't hurt Noah, even if he doesn't like him." Mirage argues, heading further into the warehouse. "hey Ratch." Mirage waves, walking over to him. the medic looks up from Bumblebee's throat, unamused.

"you're late." Ratchet snaps.

"sorry, didn't realize how much slower I'd need to drive to keep from hurting Noah." Mirage shrugs. he grabs the man, carefully, from his shoulders and sits him in one servo. he immediately wraps his other servo around Noah, holding him like he's a small and injured animal. Noah rests his arms over Mirages servo, smiling slightly. Mirages servo is just barely big enough to sit in. Ratchet glances down at Noah, staring at him for a few minutes.

"this is the human Optimus hit? I can still see the imprint from his arm on its face." Ratchet says.

"his." Mirage growls.

"its okay." Noah assures.

"what?" Ratchet glares.

"his face." Mirage corrects firmly.

"fine his face." Ratchet mutters, rolling his optics.

"Mirage just put me down. I can go talk with Arcee." Noah assures.

"no. Arcee isn't big enough to hold you." Mirage huffs. he carefully sets his human down on a stack of boxes. Noah sighs softly, nodding.

"Primus kid, just put him on the ground. Optimus is walking around out back with Wheeljack anyway." Ratchet mutters, stepping away from Bumblebee. Bumblebee gets up happily, walking over to Noah as Mirage walks over to Ratchet. Bumblebee smiles at him.

"hey Bee." Noah waves. Bumblebee whirs and reaches for him slowly. he wants to give Noah a chance to say no. "you're cool if I go with Bumblebee right?" Noah teases, grinning at Mirage.

"yeah, if he's careful with you and you want to go." Mirage mumbles. Noah nods.

"sure if its a choice between sitting up here or being carried, I'd rather be carried." Noah snorts, letting Bumblebee pick him up. Mirages optics are focused carefully on them for a moment while Bumblebee scoops up Noah, before his attentions turn back to Ratchet.

"you can't be over protective forever." Ratchet mutters.

"I got comfortable and Noah got hurt." Mirage argues.

"treating him like a sparkling doesn't help." Ratchet glares.

"well if Optimus had been more careful, it wouldn't be an issue." Mirage glares back.

"I have already apologized to Noah. he doesn't seem as upset about it as you are." Optimus frowns, walking over.

"you told me he was outside." Mirage glares.

"how else was I supposed to get you to sit the fuck down and let me work on you?" Ratchet huffs, prying part of his leg armor off, basically ensuring Mirage can't get up and leave.

"Mirage we should talk about this." Optimus frowns.

"whats there to talk about? you're always telling everyone else to be careful Prime. 'don't speed into the base' or 'watch where you step' and even 'watch where you're transforming'. you're always pushing safety, always." Mirage glares.

"yes and we're careful Mirage, as careful as we can be. we try to pay attention-" Optimus starts.

"but you didn't!" Mirage snaps. Optimus frowns. "you didn't pay attention! you weren't careful! you put Noah in the hospital! you didn't watch your speed coming into the base, Noah had to step out of your way. you didn't watch what you were doing when you transformed, Noah didn't even have a chance to get out of the way for that one! you almost ran Noah over and you could've fucking killed him and you think a simple sorry, I didn't see him there, is really gonna fix this? its not! its not gonna fix this! you can't fix this! you almost killed Noah! you put him in the hospital with broken bones! you needlessly worried his family who already have Kris to worry about!" Mirage snaps. Ratchet smacks him hard and Mirage looks over at him briefly.

"sit still or I'm wielding you down!" Ratchet snaps. Mirage glares at the Prime, who sighs. he's trying not to snap at Mirage. he knows the mech is upset and worried.

"you didn't listen to Noah when he brought up the bad lightening and you didn't pay attention when you came into the base. you put Noah, a soft and squishy and breakable being, into the hospital. you hurt him, you could've killed him." Mirage snaps.

"you are correct Mirage. I could have killed Noah. I didn't watch my speed nor what I was doing when I transformed. I could've hurt him, I could've killed him. we are working to remedy this." Optimus assures.

"COULD have hurt him?! YOU PUT HIM IN THE HOSPITAL YOU DID HURT HIM!" Mirage snaps.

"Mirage-" Optimus tries.

"and remedy? Primus, you aren't listening! you came closer to running over Noah and killing him than Bumblebee did to death, and he was fragging offlined for like 48 hours! your big ass tires would've fraggin crushed him! do you not understand that? if he hadn't been paying attention to you, he'd be dead! what if it was Kris? hm? he's just a kid! and he's already a weak kid. he's sick. he would've died if you hit him instead of Noah." Mirage glares.

"Kris was not here Mirage and has nothing to do with this." Optimus frowns.

"that doesn't matter!" Mirage snaps. "you hit him so hard he cam off the ground and literally flew! you broke two ribs and nearly cracked a bone in his neck. you could've killed him!" Mirage snaps.

"I understand that Mirage, mistakes were made and accidents happened, but we are trying to ensure it doesn't happen again." Optimus assures.

"accidents happen? accidents happen? ACCIDENTS HAPPEN!? ARE YOU HEARING YOURSELF?" Mirage growls. "if the roles were reversed and I had done this instead of you, you'd be chewing my aft to Cybertron and back until I rusted over and died! this isn't going away! this will never go away! you can't just brush this off so stop trying because if I had hit someone you wouldn't be acting like this!" Mirage snaps. Optimus steps back, frowning. he knows Mirage is correct, but doesn't make him any less annoyed. he sighs, trying to keep his temper.

"you're correct. I would be more upset if it was you and not me, but that is because you're more reckless. you have a habit-" Optimus starts.

"stop. just stop." Mirage scoffs. he jumps up the moment he can and storms towards Optimus. "you can't bullshit your way through this. you don't care you could've killed him. you don't care you hurt him. you just don't care. if Noah had died, you'd be relieved, because you wouldn't have to worry about me missing meetings to be with Noah." Mirage snaps. he storms away. "I bet it wasn't even an accident." Mirage scoffs.

"you stop right there Mirage." Optimus growls lowly. Mirage stops, turns and glares at Optimus. "you do not get to get away with accusing me of purposefully hitting Noah." Optimus snaps, stomping towards the smaller mech. Mirage balks, stance wavering slightly. "nor will I allow you to accuse me of wanting Noah dead." Optimus adds.

"you-" Mirage starts.

"what happened was an accident. you need to get over it." Optimus snaps.

"leave him alone!" a voice shouts. Optimus and Mirage turn at the strange voice. Bumblebee is standing there glaring. that explains the weird little girl voice they'd heard. Noah is standing next him, frowning.

"Bumblebee's right. you don't get to be angry at Mirage for pointing out the truth." Noah huffs. he winces. "'Raj are you done? I-I didn't bring my meds and I'm hurting man." Noah asks, looking at Mirage. the mech nods and walks over to him, scooping him up gently.

"yeah c'mon." Mirage soothes him.

"Mirage we aren't done here." Optimus says firmly.

"yes, actually, we are." Mirage glares. he carefully transforms around Noah and speeds out of the base without a second glance back.

the ride home is quiet, so is Mirage carrying Noah up to his room with his shrunken form, through the fire escape. its quiet until Mirage lays Noah on his bed gently.

"'Raj?" Noah asks.

"hmmm?" Mirage asks, climbing onto the bed to lay with him carefully. he pulls the man closer.

"you don't have to be so hard on Optimus, it was an accident." Noah says softly.

"I don't care. I didn't almost die protecting you from Scourge, so Prime could kill you, even by accident." Mirage glares, hugging him just a little tighter. Noah nuzzles his chest, cuddling up to him.

"I'm sorry, I know its hard... he didn't mean to hurt me." Noah says softly.

"he didn't pay attention. Noah if it was me and I had hurt you, Optimus would never allow me to see you again. he'd berate me and scream at me about it forever. I'm not forgiving him on this." Mirage mutters. Noah nods slightly, cuddling closer.

"I know... but I hate that you're making a fuss...you and Optimus don't get along anyway." Noah mutters. Mirage sighs and curls up.

"I know." Mirage mutters. "and I don't care anymore. Prime hates me and I won't let him get away with hurting the most handsome human on the planet." Mirage grins, cuddling him. Noah flushes, but mirage can't really see it under his bruises. he knows its there anyway and chuckles, kissing his temple. "don't worry about any of that Noah, you just need to worry about getting better, okay?" Mirage asks.

"okay." Noah mumbles, cuddling closer. "will you stay?" Noah murmurs.

"as long as I can, Noah. you know I always stay as long as I can, but I'll come back with my holoform as soon as I can." Mirage smiles at him. he kisses his head and holds tighter. Noah smiles and yawns, curling up against him.

"m'gonna get some rest them." Noah mumbles. Mirage nods cuddling him.

"alright." Mirage murmurs softly. he'd protect Noah as he slept.