Optimus was not a sarcastic mech. He was always calm and level headed, always the voice of reason on the team. But even he had limits.

After a long, long decacycle where he barely got any recharge because they were out of energon and had to go mine and process it, he was exhausted and incredibly irritated.

Optimus looked like a storm about to wreck something as he stood in the main hanger, leaning against the wall with one arm crossed over his chassis and the other held a cube of high-grade. He rumbled irritated lyy, optic twitching as Miko arrived with Bulkhead.

Before the human could start to ask questions, Bulkhead picked her up. “Boss-bot isn’t feeling that great right now, Miko. We should leave him alone for now.”

“The rest of the decacycle would be great.” Optimus grumbled, making Miko gawk at the tone of his voice. Miko blinked, her mouth opening a little as she tried to process what she’d just heard. Optimus Prime, the ever-stoic, calm, impossibly patient leader of the Autobots, had just sounded… grumpy.

Like, really grumpy.

“Uh… right,” she mumbled as Bulkhead turned on his heel, still holding her securely in one large servo. “Is he sick or something?” she whispered.

Bulkhead shook his head, careful to keep his voice down. “Nah, not sick. Just… running on fumes. We’ve been outta energon for two cycles, and he’s been workin’ double shifts makin’ sure the rest of us could keep running. He barely recharged last night.”

“Yikes,” Miko muttered, glancing over Bulkhead’s shoulder at the Prime. Optimus hadn’t moved — still leaned against the wall, optics dim and half-lidded, the lines of his frame tense. His helm tilted slightly as if even the base’s faint hum was irritating. He took a slow sip from the energon cube, vents cycling a heavy sigh.

The sound rumbled through the hangar, deep and tired.

Arcee entered just then, pausing mid-step when she saw him. “…Primus,” she whispered, optics widening. “He’s really done.”

Optimus gave her a sidelong look that was more weary than sharp. “If one more mech asks me for a status update,” he said, tone low and gravelly, “I will personally escort them to the mines and have them find their own energon.”

For a long moment, no one said anything. The only sound was the faint hum of the base’s machinery and the soft clink of energon in Optimus’s cube. The prime looked entirely done with everything.