The sounds of the Human base at dawn were- well, welcoming. Ratchet was all for solitude, but recently he could barely part from his little makeshift family.
Even if they were little slaggers, the lot of them.
Amused, Ratchet let out an embarrassingly loud bark; he swore on his creators graves that was supposed to be a laugh!
Ahem… moving on.
Shifting back to his place at the computer console, he began typing algorithms and equations, all seemingly blending into one another to make a rather irritating mess of calculations. They made no sense and thus only seemed to deepen Ratchets bad mood.
His mood had worsened over night after one fateful encounter with the charming, young Miko. She had the nerve to call his body mass- well, er… fat.
The others had been in hysterics; laughing so hard coolant had formed in their optics.
Ratchet took immediate offense but no matter how many times he stuttered indignantly, they only laughed harder. His flustered appearance only encouraged their tirade.
"…traitors…" He grumbled to himself. "I'm bulky! Not fat-"
He nearly jumped out of his armor at the sudden weight of a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, coming face to face with a wide, familiar expanse of abdominal plating. Titling his head back, he grimaced internally as his neck twinged at the awkward angle.
"Optimus. You're up… early."
Optimus' smile caused Ratchets spark to feel as though it were melting; it was quite uncomfortable. "Then I suppose this is good morning?"
Snorting, Ratchet glanced between the hand on his shoulder to his leaders faceplates. "If that's how you see it, then I suppose it is…" He bit his glossa once he realized how curt his response had been. Optimus didn't deserve his grouchiness. All of this fuss over a simple joke about his build- er… 'weight'.
Optimus' smile dimmed the slightest bit, his mouth opening to most likely ask what was wrong. However, the computers alarm went off, causing Ratchet to mentally sigh in relief.
Ratchet twisted out of Optimus' grasp, pulling up the wide range alert window on the console. A map, along with several different coordinates, appeared on screen. Each location holding small traces of…
"Energon," Ratchet breathed, his optics brightening to an almost white.
Energon had been hard to come by as of late, the stormy weather only just passing through Nevada. The storms had caused several of their scanners to short out; making their lives even more strained. Although… Ratchet felt uneasy. That many at once? It was suspicious, to say the least. But this was a risk they were going to have to take.
Ratchet snapped out of his daze as the rest of Team Prime rushed into the room. Optimus sent Bumblebee and Smokescreen to one area, Bulkhead and Arcee to the next, and Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack to another.
That left one last set of coordinates.
"Ratchet, you're with me."
"Yes, Optimus…"
The bridge sent them to a rocky hillside, the forest surrounding it dense and filled with thick foliage. The area would have been considered calming if it weren't for the easily loosened rocks breaking underneath his peds. Glancing at Optimus, he noticed the rocks under the Primes frame were practically reduced to sand.
Instead of feeling better about someone being heavier than him, he couldn't stop the frown from attaching itself to his faceplates.
Optimus may be heavier but that was from added bulk. His strong, yet slim frame now altered to look as though he were pure 'muscle'; like a slagging Adonis.
Whoever said they hadn't checked out Optimus Prime's frame in appraisal at least once was lying.
They were lying so hard.
"Ratchet," Optimus called, snapping the medic out of his thoughts. "Scan the immediate area for-" He cut off as the ground quaked; the sudden shaking caused Ratchet to lose his footing on the already loose terrain. Optimus, being the selfless bot that he was, reached over to steady him- with one hand, the slagger!
The sound of gunfire assaulted their position, Eradicons running out from their hiding places to greet them with laser fire.
Fantastic.
He felt Optimus' hand tighten on his shoulder, the power coiling beneath armor and tension cables giving Ratchet a slight hiccup in his sensor net. Hopefully, Optimus wouldn't notice Ratchets sensory field suddenly disappearing for a while…
The strong hand suddenly yanked, pulling him out of range and behind a rather large rock formation. His armor scratched along the rock as he was firmly pressed against it, Optimus' body covering him from additional fire.
The familiar sound of a two-wheelers engine filled his audios; soon followed by the additional back up cover fire of their team. Ratchet heaved a sigh of relief as the attention was diverted from them.
"Was this planned?!"
"It seems like it, old friend."
"Optimus," Ratchet pressed his servo to Optimus' hip, unable to reach much else without looking weird and no, he was not heating up to his leader, and oldest friends, close proximity. "What are we going to do?"
Optimus glanced over one broad shoulder, his mask sliding into place to cover his dermal plating. "You will stay here-" "But Opti-" "No, Ratchet. That's an order."
Ratchet stuttered, trying to come up with a better protest. But Optimus was hearing none of it, crouching to be optic level with the ambulance. "Please, Ratchet. Losing our medic- losing you, would be devastating."
Slag, he couldn't refuse when Optimus gave him that genuine, meaningful look.
"…fine."
The heavily built Prime nodded, giving Ratchets shoulder a gentle squeeze before charging into battle. The sounds of his joining making an obvious difference- if the shouting and sudden hailing for retreat was anything to go by.
Heaving a long suffering sigh, Ratchet rubbed at his optics. Whenever he was told to 'sit and wait' he couldn't help but feel useless. As if he was a liability! He understands why Optimus does so; he is the only medic on their team after all. But that doesn't make it any easier to watch his teammates be sent out to risk their lives on a daily basis, leaving him alone to wonder who is injured and who they will lose, permanently.
Settling against the rock, Ratchet began making a list of what he'd have to do back at base. Not as much as he had to in the old outpost, but still enough to keep him busy.
It felt as though he was going through the motions almost mechanically- well, of course. He's a fragging giant metal being.
Sighing for the umpteenth time, he resigned himself to his fate and began counting the nanoklicks.
Episode: Evolution (very few spoilers)
The days passed in an interwoven mess, their makeshift family getting by with barely any energon and several patrols. Ultra Magnus kept to protocol, checking up on everyone's work. He had yet to realize his place amongst Team Prime.
So when the time came to finally harvest energon, the team discovered Shockwaves secret laboratory and destroyed his creations. Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus seemed to tolerate each other now; apparently, getting the scrap kicked out of them was some sort of weird friend ceremony. Tch, weirdbots.
Ratchat was able to fix Ultra Magnus' hand (well, he tried anyway) and couldn't help but smile when the giant blue semi finally began to ease into their 'family'.
Optimus seemed fond of that word. Family.
Shaking his helm, Ratchet made his way to the storage unit behind the base, grunting as the worn out hinges of the garage stuck a few times. The humans clearly needed better maintenance of their- well, everything! Things were always falling apart or just not functional anymore. Such primitive materials only made it harder for him to complete the synthetic energon formula.
Grumbling to himself, he made his way into the large storage space, optics glowing a bright blue in the dark. "Now where is… ah! Here we go." Optics locking onto the high tool shelves, he went through a few boxes, some labeled and some not.
Looking for another drill bit might take longer than he thought if this place was as disorganized as he knew it was. And so far, his theory was correct.
Tilting his helm back with an agitated sigh, Ratchet shuttered his optics for a moment.
Suddenly, he did not want to do anything at all. To bask in his failure and lack of proper tools. To stop having to go on some unnecessary adventure for an insignificant piece of equipment for his research. It seemed pointless, but he knew he had no choice.
Cycling hard through his vents, he onlined his optics. Once the top of the shelves came into focus, he couldn't help but gape in shock.
The piece he needed was on the highest shelf, which he couldn't reach alone.
Pinching the bridge of his chevron, he surveyed his options. Get help and laughed at, risk injury by climbing the shelves, or just shove the entire fragging shelf to the ground and explain to Ultra Magnus and Optimus why he had destroyed half of the storage unit.
…climb the shelf and risk injury it is, then.
Carefully stepping onto the first shelf, he pulled his bulky aft up and began to climb. He didn't stop till he was in reach of the desired tool, only stopping a few times when the shelf creaked ominously under his- er, weight.
Reaching up with his free hand, the other clinging tightly to the steel ledge in front of him, he felt his fingers graze the side of the drill, causing it to roll back a few inches.
Growling, Ratchet stretched his arm as far as it could go- only to freeze as the shelf gave a hard shudder. Trying to formulate a way to get down and not bring the giant shelf with him, he yelped when a pair of large, warm hands grabbed on to his sides. "W-What?"
"Hold still." Optimus rumbled, keeping a firm grip on the medics hips. He carefully lifted Ratchet from his high position, placing him down gently.
Ratchet felt his faceplates heat up at how strong Optimus was. Lifting a heavy mech like Ratchet without breaking your spinal strut was impressive (by his standards, anyway). The thought left the medic feeling breathless. As embarrassing as it sounded.
"Ratchet?"
Stuttering, Ratchet's optics snapped up to Optimus' worried faceplates, his processor still reeling. "Y-Yes, Optimus?"
Optimus stared down at him for a moment, an unreadable look in his optics that caused Ratchet to curse as his fans clicked on.
"Are you well, old friend?" He murmured, his large hand sliding over red and white shoulder plating. The metal of said plating radiating a fair amount of heat, no doubt.
Ratchet swallowed past the lump in his throat, nodding his helm.
GET A HOLD OF YOUR SELF, YOU FOOL!
"O-Optimus?"
"Yes, Ratchet?" Oh Primus, that voice-
Pointing towards the drill, he thanked all deity's out there for how steady his hand was.
"Could you help me get that drill bit? The blue one?"
Optimus hesitated for only a moment, before reaching up and plucking the small tool off of the shelf with ease. Looking it over for a moment, he murmured, "Why did you not come to me for help?"
Scoffing, Ratchet narrowed his optics in irritation. "You were all busy. Primus forbid I couldn't get something from the storage unit by myself. I don't need anyone to hold my hand."
His words were met with silence; the words hanging over their heads.
"…I am your friend, Ratchet. There is nothing wrong with," Optimus reached out with his free hand, his large servo engulfing Ratchet's smaller one. "Admitting that you need help."
Ratchet tried to think of a proper response, but his mind drew a blank. All he could focus on were the large fingers closing over his servo. It made Ratchet's look so small and fragile… not at all as heavy and bulky as he usually felt.
The thought made his vocalizer click, his fans working overtime to cool his overheated frame down.
"I-I… You were busy." Ratchet finally forced out, cursing at his awkward train of thought.
Optimus hummed, lightly tugging on Ratchet's hand to bring him closer. "I am not busy now…"
Ratchets spark whirred at their close proximity. His optics cycled wide as the Primes large servos rubbed his own finely tuned pair. Surely, Optimus had to know what he was doing… that a medics hands were sensitive for medical purposes and-
Oh Primus, that felt-
"Ratchet…," Optimus murmured, in that deep, glorious voice of his. The sound sending a rush through his circuitry he would have found embarrassing if it weren't for the large fingers caressing the sculpted plating of his hands, distracting him from his right state of mind.
Locking his legs in place, Ratchet tried to hide the quivering of his thighs. He could barely hold himself up, let alone keep his optics online!
"O-Optimus, I…"
The sudden sound of familiar children yelling and fooling around close to the storage unit snapped Ratchet out of his pleasured daze. He yanked his hands out from between his leaders, trying to cool his rapidly heating plating before it got too out of hand.
"Hey, I found them!"
"Hello, Miko." Optimus stepped passed Ratchet, towering over both medic and human without even trying.
"Hey Boss-bot! Jack and I were just wondering if you could help us with a little project…"
Ratchet calmed down enough to send the female a wary, suspicious frown, "If it involves anything dangerous or harmful in anyway, count him out."
"Awww come on Ratchet! It's for science!"
"Oh puh-lease!"
TBC...?
