Small Problems Fanart

Transformers are copyright of Hasbro. "Small Problems is copyright of I'm...drawing fanart of fanart?

This picture is from 's story "Small Problems" I'm including the bit of the story this drawing inspired. I'm not entirely satisfied it (I forgot about Prowl's wings when I originally drew it and had to add them in) but the perspective's pretty good. And it took me FOREVER to color the carpet

In a nutshell, the Autobots have been shrunk by a Decepticon ray which didn't work exactly the way it was supposed to. Now they're hiding out with a human friend they've found named Crystal.

***

Grimlock showed up sometime later, caked in filth and smelling foul. He insisted it helped him hide, but Crystal rushed him to the tub nonetheless.
Long after that, there was still no sign of Prowl. Crystal wandered around her apartment in agitation which was, Wheeljack informed Jazz, what she had been doing the entire time he and Grimlock were missing, too. Jazz attempted to talk to her and persuade her that Prowl could take care of himself and that pacing around wasn't going to bring him back sooner.

So Crystal then resigned to sitting out on the balcony with a blanket and watched the city lights in the distance. Thought it was summer, the rain had significantly reduced the temperature and it was now after 10 o'clock. The Autobots were starting to worry about the human sitting outside in the cold chill but weren't certain what to do about it.

Finally, Ironhide popped his head out the door.

"Alright, yer're done out here," he informed her with his usual gruff voice. "Get yer can back inside before ya freeze it off!"

At first, Crystal looked surprised at the tone that was being used on her. But she quickly seemed to understand that it was Ironhide's way and allowed him to pull her inside. She opted to curl up on the couch next to Jazz who was in the middle of his nightly movie marathon.

Ironhide and Wheeljack, who were not as interested in movies, sat around Blaster and discussed in low tones what their next course of action would be if Prowl didn't come back.

Grimlock wandered to the couch and looked up at Crystal. "You not watch movie?"

Crystal tore her gaze from the window. "Huh?"

Though in dinosaur mode, Grimlock attempted to climb up on the couch with his small forearms. Crystal helped him up as he settled in her lap.

"Prowl not lose to stupid Decepticons," Grimlock told her. "Him smart. Him strong. Not strong like me Grimlock, but him Prowl know what he doing. Him come back."

Crystal smiled at him. "If you say so, Grim."

"Me Grimlock say so!"

Crystal pulled her blanket tighter around the two of them and settled in.

"Hey, I want in, too," Jazz pleaded, tugging on the blanket. He burrowed under it and came up on the other side to snuggle against the human body and contentedly continue to watch his movies.

"That girls' gonna sissify all of us if we're not careful," Ironhide mumbled as he watched Jazz and Grimlock with disapproval.

"We won't be here much longer," Wheeljack assured him. "Plus I think this has been good for Grimlock. Crystal constantly interacts with him. It's making him more social. I've also noticed he's been easier to deal with while Prowl's been calling the shots."

Ironhide scratched his chin in thought. "Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen the Dinobots give Prowl any lip. They sure don't listen ta Prime and I've even seen them chase off Jazz a couple a times. But they kinda seem to listen ta Prowl, don't they? I wonder how he pulls that off."

"I'm sure he has his ways."

"Dude, Prowl's one scary motha' when he wants to be," Blaster informed them. "I wouldn't be surprised if they just don't want to be on his bad side."

"Maybe," was all Wheeljack said. He picked up a screwdriver.

"Where ya goin' with that?" Ironhide asked.

"I promised Crystal I would fix her dryer."

Ironhide huffed. "Shoot. Ya'll gonna be doin' her hair and paintin' her nails before ya know it."

It was so late that the birds were chirping right before the dawn. The apartment door was quietly unlocked and eased open as Prowl came in.
"Hey Prowl, what's doin'?" Blaster, who was stationed near the couch, asked.

Up on the couch, Crystal was sleeping, laying on her side. On top of her was Grimlock on his stomach, tail by her shoulder and nose on her hip. He looked something akin to a large lizard sunning himself on a rock as he rested.

"She tried to stay up for you."

Prowl jumped as Jazz seemed to come out of nowhere when he said that.

"I see. And where are Wheeljack and...?"

"Ironhide? They're somewhere else. Didn't want to watch Pretty in Pink with me."

"Ah. So we still need to locate Optimus Prime." Prowl paused as he noticed an unmarked video tape in Jazz's hand. "What's that?"

Jazz grinned. "We're going to find out."

He had just finished hooking up the VCR and popped the tape in. The screen was instantly filled with a fuzzy amateur picture and faded sound. It was someone's back yard in which a largely built man was play fighting a girl wearing boxing gloves impossibly too big for her. Her hair was an unusual shade of coppery red.

"Come on, Crys. Go for the knock out!" the man on the tape encouraged. He stuck out his chin and the girl awkwardly bumped it with her large glove and he pretended to fall over in a dead faint.

"Ha ha. Did you beat up Daddy?" came a feminine voice from the person holding the camera.

"Yeah, I beat Daddy!" the little girl cheered.

Jazz looked at Prowl. "Must be her parents."

"I wonder where they are," Prowl mused.

Jazz shook his head as Prowl gave him a questioning look.

"Children don't keep the home movies if their parents are still around, Prowl," Jazz told him quietly.

A hand reached out and clapped itself on Prowl's helmet. He turned around to see Crystal was awake.

"Hey, glad you came back," she said softly.

Prowl gave her a tight smile. Crystal's gaze wandered over to the TV. "They went skiing and the roads were bad. They took a turn too tight and slid off the road into a tree. I was nineteen when it happened so I knew how to take care of myself. Still, it's hard sometimes going at it when it's just you."

She sat up carefully as not to disturb Grimlock.

"So we've almost got everyone now."

Prowl nodded. "Yes. And if we hadn't come back to see you, we may not have found him."

Crystal just shrugged. "It happens. There's been stranger coincidences."

Prowl looked suspicious. "I suppose."

Crystal grinned at him and he looked even more suspicious.

"What?"

"I'm going to hug you," she warned.

Prowl took a step back but Crystal had already pounced.

As he heard Prowl struggle against more affection than he was used to, Jazz went to turn off the movie.

"I'm gonna be a fighter like Daddy!" announced the little girl on the screen.

"Are you sure?" asked her mother's voice. "There are so many other things you could do, too. Don't you want to look around and see what else there is?"

"Nu uh! I'm gonna fight!"

Jazz pushed stop on the VCR and looked back at the group. Prowl was trying to squirm out of Crystal's embrace while Grimlock had rousted himself and was clamoring over both of them saying "Me Grimlock tell you so!"

It was countless years before Jazz could remember a time when he was not surrounded by others. Especially after he had joined the Autobots and even more so when they had crashed in the Ark. That crew had become practically his family. What would it feel like to have family suddenly taken away and have to start all over again? How lonely those walls would feel if it only heard the sound of his own voice every day.

He ran and jumped into the midst of his friends earning laughter and protests from everyone. Their stay here was coming to an end but Jazz wanted to fill these walls with noise just a little bit longer.

You can find the whole story here: [link]