MTMTE Issue 12 just released and a little prodding from my darling girlfriend got me to write up this little thing. Apparently, it's cute as hell, so I figured I'd post it up. What can I say? I was a happy ass little man~ Beta'd by the lovely goddamnitriot and kusu-kitty, who caught a rather embarrassing typo that would've lead to an inadvertent menage-a-trois.

So beware! There's a couple of things in here which count as ~*SPOILERS*~, so don't read unless you've obtained your copy. Aforementioned spoilers are somewhat required to understand the content, so read at your own risk if you haven't picked up MTMTE #12 yet!

Summary: Chromedome returns home after a long day to find Rewind waiting for him with a gift.
Rating: M for touching bonding crap, but otherwise it's not so bad.
Pairings: Chromedome/Rewind
Universe: More Than Meets The Eye, pre-comic
Disclaimer: I really wish I could lay claim to Roberts' and Milne's brilliance. Alas, I cannot.

He had promised. He had promised to do it less, promised he'd make less new nightmares, promised that he'd learn less faces to haunt him in the dark. He had promised he'd come back home the same way he left it, without the waver in his step or the dull flicker in his visor. He had promised Rewind, for both of their sakes.

Sometimes though, it became necessary. Sometimes the pressure became too much, the need became too strong, any number of reasons presented themselves in a logical pattern to demand his interference. Sometimes Rewind was there with him, a small servo slipping into his to steady him as he tried to remember that he was Chromedome, and not whoever's mind he'd just been invading.

And sometimes, Rewind wasn't there to pick him back up onsite. Those days, Chromedome found, were probably some of the worst he'd had to deal with since he'd hit rock bottom at the relinquishment clinic. It was those days, like today, that he liked the least. His frame felt like lead, each of his fingers tingling as if he'd jammed the digits into a power outlet, and the headache pounded and throbbed with every slight noise. The scuff of his pedes echoed and reverberated inside his helm until it felt like it'd been cleaved open by an axe, the only sanity kept in the ticking numbers in his processor.

Twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one more steps until he reached his room. Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen more until he could lie down and take painkillers until he couldn't remember his own name. Twelve, eleven, ten steps left between him and—if Femme Luck had decided to give him a break—Rewind's soothing voice and tender presence massaging his temples. Three, two, one and there was the access panel, his numb fingers crossing over the code even as his processor fell five seconds behind his actions. The door slid open with a hiss and he stumbled into the quiet square of heaven, his knees threatening to give out now that he'd achieved his haven.

"Rewind?" he called out, voice as low as he could manage. It still pierced like knives in his audios and he dropped onto a berth, ducking his helm in between his servos and knees to alleviate the pressure. His optics offlined, a mistake: the visage of the mech he'd just "examined" shot across his blank optical input and the pain returned, the phantom ache in his thighs and in his chest and the slashing, leaking agony burning across his throat like a brand—

"Chromedome…"

The mnemosurgeon forced his optics back online and the pain ebbed a little, his helm tilting up enough to catch Rewind emerging from the washracks with his servos behind his back. The smaller mech's visor flashed as he approached, the ever-present camera light recognizing the symptoms of his partner. There was no real judgment, not from Rewind. A flash of pity, of sympathy, of an all-encompassing irritation that Chromedome had been forced to perform his macabre dance once again, and Rewind was hopped up next to him on the berth. Whatever he'd been carrying had been tucked away into subspace and the small mech's servos were at Chromedome's temples, coaxing his helm into his lap.

"C'mon, just rest now," he murmured, fingers dancing over his helm finials and at the edges of his visor. He felt the tension easing, the distant screaming retreating from his audios and receding just enough. He buried his face into his partner's lap, vents heaving to cycle air through systems he couldn't recall stopping. His frame started to cool, the phantom burns melting into numb plating as Rewind hummed above him aimlessly. The tune meandered, rose and fell, and the fingers kept dancing over his helm, each easing him in ways he wasn't sure he could verbalize.

"…thank you," he croaked after a time, his headache nearly completely gone even if his vocals still felt strained from screaming not his own. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, his chronometer dutifully ignored in favor of focusing on the soothing massage Rewind had granted him with.

"Like I'd leave you hanging with that?" Rewind replied, a thin layer of sarcasm veiling his genuine concern. He bent down, nuzzling the edge of his mask against the back of Chromedome's helm. "I'm sorry I wasn't there today."

"Not your fault," Chromedome said, tilting his helm enough to return the affectionate gesture. "You said you were busy. It's not like we knew I was going to—"Rewind clicked over him and Chromedome silenced himself, taking the hint for what it was and turning until he was on his back, helm still tucked in Rewind's lap.

"I was busy," Rewind said, his visor pulsing as nervousness overtook him, "because I was preparing something for you. I needed to get some research done to do it right, so…" He sighed, fingers petting over Chromedome's forehead. "I'm sorry. I should've been there today. I could've scheduled the research for some other time." Chromedome smiled under his mask, a servo coming up to nudge against Rewind's mask.

"Hey. I said we couldn't have known. It's alright…I'm just glad you were here when I got back." He shifted a little, spreading out further over the berth as he felt the tension in his frame sift off his plating. "You were preparing something for me? You know you don't need to do something like that."

"I wanted to!" Rewind protested, his servos finally falling still as he started rummaging in his subspace. "It's…it's really important to me. I wanted you to know just how much you mean to me. This...it felt appropriate."

Before Chromedome could reply, Rewind shoved a shimmering vial into his face, the swirl of luminous pink catching his optics and narrowing his focus down to the space the vial took in Rewind's servo. His servo clasped the vial as he sat up, Rewind scooting to the side to give him room to maneuver, his optics never once leaving the fragile object in his fingers. It could be anything, really. A dose of medicine or a shot of highgrade, but the context…

"Rewind, is this…?"

"I figured, y'know, we could make it official," Rewind muttered, his voice low and shaded with worry, the tint of hope bursting like a star under the cloud. "We've been together for a long time and…well, it seemed right." Chromedome fell quiet, an oppressive silence consuming them as he stared at the hypnotic slosh and slide of the energon in the vial, the innermost energon phantom siren call filling his audios with promise, a promise deeper than the ones already tying him and Rewind together like tangled strings. It swelled in his spark and he felt a pulse, emotions consuming him as he tried to force his vocals to work.

"I…Rewind, you know I can't…" He struggled over his words, trying to find a way to express everything running rampant in his processor. "You know I can't return this sort of gesture…not the right way." Rewind's frame sunk, anxiety draining from him in the span of a second.

"No, I know that. But…" He scooted next to Chromedome, pressing his side against the larger mech with a quiet hum. "But I can. I want this to be official, even if you can't give that back to me." Chromedome's visor flickered and the emotions muted his vocalizer again. Caging the vial in his servo, his arm snaked around Rewind's waist, tugging the small mech closer as if to absorb him into his side.

"Thank you," he managed, helm bending to brush against the top of Rewind's. "I…Rewind, I don't know how to say it, but…" Rewind's servo flew up and a finger pressed against Chromedome's mask.

"You don't need to," he said, vocals teeming with a nearly violent happiness. "I get it. I've got the forms on a datapad too…already have my half filled out." The smile under Chromedome's mask was not enormous or beaming, but it was genuine and he felt that Rewind could sense it even without the visual.

"I'll fill it out later," he replied, slipping the precious vial into his subspace. "But first things first." He twisted in his seat, drawing his knee onto the berth and leaning over Rewind. The mech under him flickered his visor, the pleased feelings cascading off him in wave. "I think we should celebrate becoming legally official."

"Yeah?" Rewind said, his fingers rising again from latency to caress the seams in Chromedome's chest. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Chromedome's response was physical, a shudder trailing down his spinal struts as he shifted the armor of his chest, the glow of his sparks escaping from under the seams. Rewind responded just as swiftly, his armor unlocking and drifting apart to expose the pulsing energy of his lifeforce, the same lifeforce that Chromedome now had a sample of, glowing with ephemeral warmth in his subspace.

The trials of his day, the crashing interruption of memories not his own were cast aside as his armor opened to greet Rewind's exposure, his own spark pulsing in excitement to feel its mate uncovered and close by. The mnemosurgeon's servo lifted from its supportive position, reaching out to brush against the swirling field of Rewind tucked in the smaller mech's chest. The amateur archivist's servos were quick to respond, dancing their ballet over the edges of his essence.

The charge built between them, each shivering and arching into the other's skilled touch. Whatever the day had brought, whatever the next days would bring, the moment they were in was the only that mattered. And, if Rewind's consistent light in his camera was any clue, it would be a moment they would continue to revisit time and time again. Rewind's quiet whimper sent an erratic burst of energy into his spark and Chromedome's servo abandoned its curling examination as he sat back, his grip coming under Rewind's arms to tug him into his lap.

"Can't wait," was the breathy explanation and Rewind wasted no time in repositioning himself, his servos resting on Chromedome's hips as the mnemosurgeon pressed his back against the wall. "Ready?"

"Always." Neither felt the urge to wait longer and Rewind lowered himself into Chromedome with a hushed cry of satisfaction. It was intense, would never stop being intense, and Chromedome felt everything as if he had hacked his way directly into Rewind's processor. His own emotions felt second-hand, their impact dimmed as Rewind filled his spark and mind.

—excitement, the length of planning this event settling into him, the ache of worry, of rejection unexpected but still planned for, the hope and cascade of want and need of companionship and desire, the overwhelming, all-consuming breadth of love and affection, warm and tight and sitting over his spark like a heated blanket—

Rewind's servos, so small and so helpful, gripped into his hips just like the first time—just like all the times that had followed it, just like all the times sure to come after this one—and anchored him still against Chromedome's frame. They shuddered in tandem, their sparks synching and beating as one as the merge drew them closer. Their emotions poured together, the burning intensity of the reunion of their bond flooding over their circuits in palpable waves, sentiment repurposed into sensation as they tried to push closer than physically able.

"Love you," Rewind hissed out, his fingers flexing on their death grip as a groan escaped Chromedome's vocals. "Loveyouloveyouloveyou—"The words fell from under Rewind's mask as a mantra, Chromedome's servos tensing at his back as the mnemosurgeon's own murmured epithet of affection was lost to the air past Rewind's audios.

The overload crashed around them with ground-shattering intensity, catching both by surprise as the charge and synchronization of life overwhelmed their circuits with ecstasy. Rewind went limp against his chest with a muted cry, Chromedome's own overload marked by his grip strengthening before dissolving completely as they slipped to the side, falling onto the berth in a tangle of steaming and satiated limbs.

Rewinds vents worked in overdrive, the hum lulling Chromedome's hazy processor as the smaller mech nuzzled his helm against his neck cables. It took him a long moment to force his arms to move, but Chromedome managed to tug Rewind back to him as their armor slid back into place and latched their sparks away from the emptiness of the room. The historian mumbled something unintelligible into his plating, Chromedome rumbling back in kind. Sense was not required, their sparks still pulsing in time.

The nightmares would return, the screaming faces and ghostly agony of injuries not his own would revisit him again. Right now, however, Chromedome could rest easy, wrapping himself in the newest promise he and Rewind had forged between them. The vaporous warmth in his subspace was a balm to his nerves, reminding him of the coiling heat pressed into his chest was real. His optics dimmed until they were offline, the room's emptiness filled with indistinct mutterings and whirring fans lulling him into a sound recharge.