Title: Not Cool
Continuity: G1
Warnings: gen, friendship, fluff
Characters: Brawl, Swindle, mentions of others
tf_rare_pairing Prompt: Brawl/Swindle, bromance
Rating: PG
Summary: After the Spare Parts Incident, Swindle tries to apologise to Brawl.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.
Beta: ultharkitty *glomps* :D
Note: Set a while after B.O.T.
Not Cool
Brawl growled quietly.
Swindle pinged him a second time to open his door, but again the tank ignored his team mate. He sipped his high grade, emptying his cube, and put it aside, his optics fixed on the screen of the computer console.
There was a moment of peace, until Swindle began knocking at the door. The sound of metal hammering against metal echoed through Brawl's room and made him wince.
He groaned, annoyed, but stood up nonetheless.
Brawl reluctantly opened the door. He had been in such a good mood, he didn't want to see Swindle of all mechs.
It was useless, though, because said mech was waiting for him, his expression expectant, and with a datapad in his hand.
"What do you want? I'm off duty," Brawl said without greeting.
"Not anymore." Swindle raised the datapad. "Onslaught has a mission for us."
"Great…" Brawl hadn't wanted to spend his evening with reading mission stuff; he'd looked forward to watching his shows and getting a bit drunk.
"Can I come in?"
"Why? Just gimme the pad."
Swindle puffed a sigh through his intakes, and tipped his head to a side. "We need to coordinate our actions, so, can I come in?"
A murmur; Brawl really didn't want Swindle in his room, but if Onslaught found out he was responsible for a mission failure, the result would be even worse. Still, if he explained the situation to Ons, he might understand, Brawl mused. It wasn't as though the others were really fond of Swindle either, after the… incident.
Brawl still pondered, watching Swindle shift his weight on his feet nervously, then he gave in. If it came to missions, Onslaught was beyond such things as holding a grudge, and all that mattered was the plan and succeeding.
"Yeah… whatever…" Brawl muttered eventually and stepped aside, letting the other in. He still hoped they could make it quick.
Swindle nodded and entered the room.
"So, what's this mission about?"
"Here." Swindle handed the pad to him, looking around in his room curiously. Brawl pretended not to see it, and just activated the data. "I see you got my high grade."
The tank didn't answer. Since the Combaticons had their own HQ, it was hard to get high grade, and even after what Swindle had done, there was no reason to waste it. His optics on the datapad, Brawl frowned, then rebooted it.
"What are you watching?"
"There is no mission stuff on the pad. There is nothing on it!" The tank's engine revved to a growl, completely ignoring the question. "You wanna make fun of me?"
Bad enough he had a mission tomorrow - with Swindle - but now the jeep was making fun of him?
"Hey, hey, calm down okay." The other backed away a little and raised his hands in defence. "I just needed a reason for you to you let me in. I didn't want to make fun of you, honestly."
Optics blinking in confusion for a few astroseconds - there was no mission? - Brawl then growled anew. "Out. Now!"
"Hey, wait, okay? Just hear me out."
"No, fraggin no!" Brawl was close to punching Swindle in the face, especially when he took another step backwards, but the tank suppressed his urge. He had damaged the other enough after that incident, and Onslaught wouldn't want to see the jeep needing medical treatment again.
Brawl's engine rumbled, and he carried on before Swindle could say anything. "You fragged us over! You sold us to squishies, you know! That was not cool."
"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry."
"Oh shut up! You said that already! Frag, I stopped counting how many times you said that!" Brawl spat angrily. "Your 'sorry' means slag! You fraggin' dismantled us and sold us out. That's not what team mates do, you know. I mean." He began to gesticulate wildly, and caused Swindle to wince. "Even Blast Off wouldn't do that. I mean, seriously, Blast Off - that guy has an other-people-allergy and he hasn't done anything like this." Stopping, Brawl glared at the jeep, and then huffed. "Really… really not cool, you know."
Venting air heavily, he took another cube of high grade, there were only three left, and sat down on the berth. He wasn't truly angry any more, just… disappointed maybe?
He cracked the cube open and sipped.
"Uhm…" Swindle still stood in the middle of the room, blocking the view to the screen. "Is it good? I mean the high grade?"
"Hmpf, it tasted better before you showed up."
A bitter grin and a brief nod, and Swindle shifted his weight again. "May I sit down?"
Brawl shrugged, and sat back, leaning against the wall, his legs bent on the berth. "Yeah, do what you want - but don't block the screen, I wanna watch this."
There was a single chair in the room, but Swindle didn't use it. Instead he sat down next to Brawl, and the tank bit back another growl.
The jeep took an energon cube from his subspace, sipping and keeping quiet; fortunately, so Brawl thought.
Almost a breem passed before Swindle broke the silence. "Is this show about an Autobot?"
Brawl's optics widened. "No!" he said in disgust. "Not an Autobot, that's not… Why do you think it's an Autobot?"
"Well, there is a talking car that has a squishy-friend, seems pretty Autobottish to me."
Brawl huffed, feeling offended, and muttered. "He's not an Autobot. That's KITT, and he's cool. Autobot's aren't cool… and you're also not cool!"
A soft chuckle from Swindle, but the tank decided not to react to it. He didn't feel like defending one of his favourite TV shows, not today, and certainly not to Swindle. Brawl liked human TV now and then, so what? It wasn't as though it was a crime. Wildrider also liked this show, and Blitzwing loved a weird animated show about mutated turtles. Brawl never really got the hang of that one, but the triple changer was sure that the show was based on true events… and considering all the weird organic things happening on this mudball, it wasn't that impossible.
So, yeah, Brawl didn't need to justify watching human TV at all.
"So, you watch this often?"
"Hm," Brawl mumbled. He wanted Swindle to be quiet, or go away.
"Maybe I can get you the complete series," Swindle suggested, causing Brawl to frown. "I'm good at this, you know."
"Yeah, I know. You really good at selling and buying things." Brawl's tone was cold, and he lost again track of what was happening on screen. Great, first it was Swindle knocking at his door that interrupted his TV evening, and now it was his talking.
Next to him, Swindle sighed. "I said I'm sorry. And I want that things to be better again. You could hear me out, then..."
"No!" Brawl spat, but his tone quickly changed and sounded rather uncertain. "You're… you think you get in here and start talking, because, yeah, that's something that you can do, and… and I know that. And when you begin talking, I'm listening and somehow it'll all make sense. But I don't want that, okay." He took a sip from the energon. "You're just here because you think I'm stupid enough to buy your sweet talk. So… just shut up!"
Brawl slumped and his optics lost focus for a few moments.
"I don't think you're stupid."
Brawl puffed a dry snort from his vents. "Yeah, sure. You all think I'm stupid."
He didn't look at Swindle, but he saw from the corner of his optics the jeep shifting on the berth.
"How do you hit on that?"
"I just know," Brawl mumbled, and didn't feel the need to explain that he actually saw how the others sometimes looked at him, even if they hardly called him dumb. Except for Blast Off, but the shuttle didn't count, he called even Onslaught dumb now and then when their commander wasn't nearby. "I'm not, you know. I'm not Skywarp. I do get things…"
"I've never argued the converse," Swindle said, with that reassuring tone which he used on customers, or Onslaught when something went wrong and it was his mistake. Brawl's fingers itched, and he had that urge again to punch him.
"You did," he muttered instead, and kept looking at the screen without truly paying attention. "When you got our pieces back, you missed my personality component, because, yeah, apparently it wasn't important, right?"
"Wha…"
"The 'copter told me."
This time it was Swindle's engine which revved angrily. "Yeah, the 'copter. You do realise that he is still pissed off about that, don't you. Sure that he…"
"Blast Off said the same," the tank interrupted, and Swindle went quiet.
He didn't speak for a few kliks, and Brawl guessed that he had to search for new words or a new strategy or… something to convince him that everything was alright.
"It was only an excuse. Megatron was…"
"Shut up! Just shut the frag up!" Brawl growled. He didn't want to hear it.
He emptied his cube, but the high grade tasted bitter. To his surprise, Swindle didn't say anything more, and only looked at the screen, biting his lower lip.
On the monitor, the end credits were showing, and Brawl cursed that he'd missed almost all of the episodes. He might get a chance to comm Wildrider later. The Stunticon usually saved all the episodes for a while…
Then the beginning of the next show aired, and the music made Brawl grin briefly. He liked the A-Team, too. Perhaps he could at least enjoy this show without interruptions, because he really didn't want to talk about that incident anymore.
Somehow, the Combaticons were a little like the A-Team, Brawl thought, amused. Onslaught clearly was Hannibal; with all the plans and strategies and so on. The tank tilted his head. He might be able to goad Onslaught into saying 'I love it when a plan comes together'. That would be truly epic.
Swindle was like Face… the jeep could get stuff from nowhere, and you better not ask where it came from. If he was honest, Brawl kind of admired this talent, but he'd never say it aloud. Murdock and the 'copter were pretty even, except for Murdock not being such a sadistic glitch - if he was, Brawl mused, he probably wouldn't like this show so much.
And Blast Off was BA. The tank didn't realise his minute nod at that realisation. Big, strong and grumpy - and taking care of the ride back, or away from, wherever. Even the always annoyed attitude towards Murdock - or Vortex - was the same.
Brawl grinned for a moment; he really liked this comparison. Until, that was, he noticed that there was no character left for him - not in the A-Team, and probably not in his own. He really didn't want to be the woman…
Suddenly, his good mood vanished once more, and he slumped down a little further, pinging his computer and changing the channel.
He missed Swindle's confused glance.
Staring at the empty energon cube, Brawl tapped at it with his finger.
"Why did you say that, then?" he mumbled, and totally forgot that he didn't want Swindle to talk. The other's mouth opened, but closed again, and Brawl shrugged. "Because I'm slow in alt-mode? I mean I'm a tank, tanks aren't fast…"
He wanted to mention that Blitzwing was also slow, but the triple changer's third mode was a supersonic jet, and so he kept quiet. Brawl would've liked to have been a triple changer with a really fast third mode. Then he actually would be a four changer, because he was also Bruticus' leg.
He frowned. But saying he was Bruticus' leg as an alt-mode description wasn't really cool. He imagined a conversation including this being pretty pathetic. 'And, what's your alt-mode?' - 'A tank - and a leg.'
Nope, really not cool…
"I can be useful for the team, too, you know," he murmured, continuing tapping the empty cube.
Swindle nodded, and this time his voice lacked the annoying reassuring tone. "Yeah, I know."
"Then you shouldn't have said that."
"I'm sorry." It sounded genuine, and it was the first time that Brawl thought Swindle truly meant it.