Title: Blank Canvas
Fandom: Transformers G1
Series: n/a
Author: FuziPenguin
Characters: Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker
Pairing: Sideswipe/Sunstreaker
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 1439
Summary: The Twins approach Wheeljack with a proposition
Warnings: Some suggestive language, but nothing explicit
Notes: It is now headcanon that Wheeljack likes romantic ballads. Thanks, dracoqueen22, that's all your fault! :) Self-beta'd.
Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. No harm was intended in the creation of this work. All rights belong to the original creators.

"I hope you don't mind… I hope you don't mind…" Wheeljack sang softly to himself. He bent his head, magnifying his visual feed on the small, delicate resonance coil he held between two fingers. Gently, he pressed it against the trigger mechanism lying on the table surface. "That I put down in words…"

"All right now… steady…" he murmured, picking up the soldering iron with his other hand. With slow and careful motions he proceeded to weld the two components together, his entire focus pinpointed on the two objects.

"…how wonderful life is… while you're in the world…"

"Awww, 'Jack, ya really mean it?"

Yelping in fright at the unexpected voice practically in his audial, Wheeljack jumped several feet in the air. The soldering iron leapt out of his hand and landed several feet away, sending spatters of solder across the floor. The resonance coil flew upwards above his head, but Wheeljack had the presence of processor to fling his hands out and catch it before it made its way back down to shatter against the work bench.

His project safe, Wheeljack turned to look behind him to see Sideswipe, the warrior bent in a half crouch and arms protecting his head. He stood frozen for a moment before one violet blue optic peeked out from behind an elbow. "Is it safe?"

"I wasn't working on anything explosive. Although I would have been all kinds of fragged off if you had made me drop this. I only have one left," Wheeljack explained crossly. To be honest, he was a little fragged off anyway. Everyone knew not to creep up on him while he was in the lab. He worked with dangerous materials and was easily startled when focused on his work.

"Sorry, 'Jack," Sideswipe said, slowly straightening and warily looking at Wheeljack. He immediately felt bad; Sideswipe didn't mean any harm. Perhaps Wheeljack had spoken a little bit more harshly than he'd needed to. "Your comms are blocked, and I called your name from the door at least twice."

"Oh," Wheeljack replied, realizing his comms were indeed offline. Huh. He thought he had opened them back up after he had put away the acids. Now he felt even worse. "Guess you didn't have much choice then," he commented, some of his righteous irritation fading away.

"Yeah. It was either that or throw things at you from the hallway," Sideswipe remarked. "Thought that might have been worse."

"Depends on what you were throwing. What can I do for you?" Wheeljack asked, getting up to retrieve the soldering iron. Out of the corner of one optic, he noticed Sideswipe standing carefully in the same position, although his gaze was roaming the room. All the dangerous things were locked away, but Sideswipe didn't know that. Wouldn't hurt the mech to exhibit some caution every now and then anyway.

"Well… we got a proposition for you," Sideswipe replied.

"We? You and your brother, I assume?" Wheeljack inquired, sitting back down and replacing the tool on the workbench. "Where is he anyway?"

Sideswipe gestured to the still open lab door. "Waiting out in the hall. I'm the brave one."

"And I'm the prudent one!" Sunstreaker exclaimed, suddenly poking his head through the doorway. "I told you to just toss something at him! You startled him, and he made a mess!" he said, wrinkling his nasal ridge at the splatters of solder. A moment later, he disappeared behind the safety of the wall.

"Well, to be fair, it's not exactly the cleanest in here…" Wheeljack interjected, taking a good look at the random piles of components and metal shavings scattered across the floor.

Sideswipe waved a hand through the air. "It's fine. So… wanna hear it?"

"What? Oh! The proposition. Is this going to turn into a prank? Cuz I'm a bit busy," Wheeljack asked, holding up the resonance coil.

He'd been roped into the twins' pranks before. They never pranked him anymore, not after one particularly disastrous attempt when they'd first joined the crew. But Wheeljack liked seeing others laugh and he had a lot of cool toys, so they came to him often for supplies and assistance.

"Not a prank. On my spark. And Sunny's too, of course," Sideswipe said, some of the humor falling from his expression. He took a couple of steps closer, looking earnest.

"All right. What's up?" Wheeljack asked, a little intrigued. They weren't really in the same social circles so other than prankings and testing out weapons, they didn't interact all that much. Wheeljack wondered what they needed him for.

"Well… you're very white."

Wheeljack cycled his optics in surprise, looking down at himself and then up at Sideswipe. "Yeah. I am. What of it?"

Sideswipe's expression turned sly, and he took another step forward, now within touching distance. "Sunny's a bit of an artist, you know. He just can't stand to see a blank canvas, and I have to agree with him. I think we need to add a bit more color to your frame.

"Say a little red here," Sideswipe said nonchalantly, reaching out and stroking down Wheeljack's shoulder. "And a little yellow here…" the fingers moved across Wheeljack's chestplate in a light caress. "Maybe some touches of black…"

Wheeljack jumped, looking up at Sideswipe with wide optics as realization set in. The other mech's hand fell away. "You're actually propositioning me!"

"Mmmm," Sideswipe purred, grin turning predatory as he raised an orbital ridge. "What do you say?"

"I… you… I don't…" Wheeljack spluttered, utterly astounded. He hadn't even caught the twins looking in his direction. Where had all this come from?

"You don't interface?" Sideswipe inquired, playfully cocking his head to the side.

"No! I mean, yes, of course I do. Been a while, but you never really forget how," Wheeljack babbled, still shocked. And just as intrigued as before. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were definitely easy on the optics. And he didn't put much stock in rumors, but he'd heard they were damn good in the berth.

"That's encouraging. So are you interested?"

"I… are you sure this isn't a prank?" Wheeljack pressed, not able to believe such handsome warriors would be interested in him, even if it was only for a quick tumble.

"Promise. Don't be so surprised 'Jack. You're smart, funny, nice to look at, and best of all… you're sturdy," Sideswipe explained, reaching out and squeezing Wheeljack's shoulder. "All that reinforced plating… I've seen you take some hits. I'm betting you could keep up with us, easy."

Wheeljack wasn't so sure about that. But he might be willing to try.

"Just one question, though. This come off?" Sideswipe asked, flicking Wheeljack's blast mask with a finger. Wheeljack recoiled slightly, trying to look down at the mask before realizing it wasn't physically possible. His optics just didn't roll that way.

"Yes. Have to drink energon, don't I?" Wheeljack replied, feeling a little defensive.

"Never seen you drink before. Everything work ok under there?"

"Work… oh! Yes, all parts accounted for," Wheeljack said, optics darting to the side. "There's… there are some scars though…"

He reached up and touched the left side of the mask. When he had sustained the wounds, circumstances hadn't allowed for them to be medically treated. The damage was deep enough that now, centuries after, the plating could no longer be repaired, only replaced. It wasn't important enough to use up valuable resources and the protective mask covered up the defects anyway.

Sideswipe's smile softened. "Scars don't bother us, 'Jack. We got plenty of our own. But it's good to know everything's functional."

"Why do you ask?" Wheeljack inquired, curious. Then he nearly facepalmed. Of course they would want to know if Wheelhack was capable of oral interfacing.

"Mmmm. I've been thinking about rubbing myself off against your faceplates. Now I get the choice to do it with your mask on… or off," Sideswipe explained, optics gleaming. "Which would you prefer?"

Sweet Primus.

Wheeljack's entire frame lit up at Sideswipe's suggestive words, and his ringing audials heard a distant metallic crunch.

"Uh… 'Jack?" Sideswipe asked in alarm, staring down at Wheeljack's hand. "Is your little doohickey all right?"

Wheeljack looked down as well, uncurling his clenched fingers to see that he had crushed the resonance coil. He brushed the debris off onto the workbench and stood so quickly his stool wobbled behind him.

"It's fine," he said dismissively. "Are we going to my room, or am I coming to yours?"

Sideswipe's expression turned into a leer, darkened optics promising all kinds of Very Bad Things. "Oh, you'll be coming, all right. But I bet our berth is bigger… follow me."

~ End