A/N: Written for FemFeb this year. Yet another ship I haven't done before, though this one I've been meaning to do for ages. Set fairly soon after the Combiner Hunters one-shot. I don't know whether what we find out about Dustup in the annual is actually meant to be what Jumpstream learned about her- and I'm not sure I want it to be either- but I got this idea and decided to roll with it.
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Dustup keeps her gaze just a little to the left of Jumpstream's face, not able to look at her but also unwilling to look any further away. Their fellow Torchbearers seem miles away in the shelter they've claimed, their conversation white noise. She suspects that Pyra Magna is keeping the rest away and isn't sure whether she's grateful for it.
"I'm angry," Jumpstream says at long last, quiet enough that Dustup could almost pretend that she hasn't heard if only her flinch hadn't given her away already. "I just- I can hardly believe that I can be this angry at you, Dustup."
"Of course you are," Dustup says, just as quietly. Her eyes drop to about the level of Jumpstream's hip, then lower still under the weight of the past all creeping back. "You should be. I-" The apology catches on her tongue; it tastes of rust. Does it really mean anything now, after she's let so much time go by?
Jumpstream shifts and Dustup shuts her optics down. Her circuits itch for want of doing something, anything, but what is there to do now?
"Hey," says Jumpstream, closer now, one hand coming up to nudge at Dustup's chin. She keeps her peace until Dustup brings her optics back online and, oh, the look on her face is even more painful than Dustup could've imagined. Her jaw works almost like she's tasting something, then she says, "I love you. I am so angry, and we're going to talk about this when I can bear talking to you, but- know that nothing could make me love you less."
It would be humiliating, being reminded how deeply combining bore into her, if she weren't so relieved. Dustup doesn't smile- this isn't the time- but she lets herself hope things will be alright.