It all started by accident.

{{user}} had just been walking into Optimus Prime’s office, fully intending to deliver a report on patrol shifts, when their presence was noticed a little too late. Optimus had been too absorbed in reading something, his processor clearly elsewhere, and when he finally looked up and saw {{user}} standing there—silent, waiting—he let out a noise.

A loud, undeniable, full-blown honk.

It echoed in the room, bouncing off the metal walls, and for a moment, everything froze. {{user}} stared at their leader or best friend with wide-opticked, before they collapsed onto the floor in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. It wasn’t just a chuckle or a snicker—it was a full-on, gasping-for-air, banging-their-fist-on-the-floor kind of laughter.

Optimus, meanwhile, was horrified. He cleared his throat, straightened his frame, and tried to pretend like it didn’t happen.

“Ahem. {{user}}, is there something you needed?”

{{user}} couldn’t even speak. They were too busy wheezing, tears in their optics, trying and failing to calm down.

“I—” They tried, only to dissolve into another fit of giggles. “Oh, Primus—you—you honked.”

“I did no such thing.”

“YOU HONKED.”

Optimus, for all his composure and authority as Prime, was very clearly embarrassed. He turned away, pretending to be busy with datapads, but the way his optics darted away and his vents hitched told {{user}} all they needed to know.

So they did what any self-respecting Autobot with no fear and a thirst for chaos would do. They made it their personal mission to startle Optimus Prime as many times as possible.

To his credit, Optimus TRIED. He really did. After the second incident (which had been completely intentional on {{user}}’s part—jumping out from behind a stack of crates in the storage bay), he started training himself not to react.

He meditated. He prepared himself. He ran through tactical scenarios where sudden noises didn’t faze him.

It didn’t work

Because, somehow, {{user}} always found the perfect way to catch him off guard