Title: Surrender
Warnings: gen, poss. dark, implied violence
Continuity: G1
Characters/Pairings: Vortex, Blast Off, mentions of others
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It would be easier to like Vortex if he would stop making it so hard for everyone…
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.
Beta: The awesome ultharkitty! Thanks again! *hugs* :)
Note: When I began writing this, I intended to write some comedy… Somehow it didn't work. *drop*
Surrender
Boring.
It was so utterly boring, Vortex thought, and kicked the wall beside the berth. One day was over, eight to go, that was what you got for taking "shove it up your tailpipe" literally. He'd probably have got a few days less if he hadn't used Drag Strip's, but Vortex didn't have a real tailpipe himself.
And it had been entirely worth it. Wildrider's face when he saw Drag Strip had been hilarious and Drag Strip… Well, Vortex mused, he'd gone offline much too soon.
The door of the brig complex opened with a loud rattle, and Vortex almost jumped from the berth. Finally, company.
He sat up, looking expectantly into the corridor, until the mech came into view.
Blast Off, and he was alone, which meant he was not about to stay with him. This was a bit disappointing.
The bigger mech nodded in his direction, and disabled the energon bars.
"Catch."
Surprised, Vortex took the energon cube, it was only filled up to a quarter, his daily ration.
"Uhm, thanks…" The 'copter mumbled, and put the cube next to him onto the berth.
"So, you're leaving again?" He asked and actually meant if Blast Off might stay.
"No, I won't." The shuttle answered, his voice slightly annoyed, but that was a tone Vortex was used to hearing. "You managed to activate the alarm twice yesterday."
"Oh, yeah… that was fun. Hehehe." Vortex laughed proudly, but it just earned him a low growl from Blast Off.
"Honestly, I have no idea how you did that, but please, I don't need a demonstration. I'm here to take care that it doesn't happen again. It's probably my punishment for the oilrig mission…"
For a moment Blast Off vanished out of Vortex' view only to come back with the chair and a small table, which usually stood near the entrance. He sat down and took out a datapad.
"What do we do now?"
Blast Off shook his head in a gesture of annoyance.
"I will read, and you will let me."
"This is boring."
"This is not my problem."
For a moment there was silence, but Vortex didn't accept it, now that he finally had company.
"Ah, come on…. Hey, is Motormaster back from his mission? What did he say about the incident?"
Blast Off kept quiet.
"Do you think he'll take measures when I'm out? I hope so. I bet", he continued casually, "this will be entertaining." Blast Off would react if he kept it up; this was what Vortex worked for. And even if Blast Off's only response was irritation, it was far better than the silence and boredom.
"Hey, could you ask Soundwave if he has a record of the incident? I just saw Wildrider's face, obviously, but I'd like to see Drag Strip's, too."
And there it was, the slight change of Blast Off's engine. Vortex knew the sound, it was almost inaudible, and an indication of further reactions. Only one more question…
"Is Drag Strip out of medbay already, or…"
"Shut up!"
Vortex' mask hid his triumphant grin.
"Why do you do this?" Blast Off asked. He put the datapad on the table and stood up. He walked towards the cell, staring down at Vortex. "Why do you always have to do this?"
"Uhm…" Vortex shifted on his berth as he recognised that it wasn't Blast Off's usual annoyance. He wasn't annoyed, he was angry, and that was new…
"What do you mean?"
Heaving air through his intakes, Blast Off's voice became blank once more. "Do you know what happened after you were put in the brig? Yes, Motormaster is back from his mission, and no, Drag Strip is still in medbay, and so is Swindle."
"Swindle?" Vortex asked curiously. As long as he was only in medbay it couldn't be that bad, in Vortex's opinion Swindle deserved worse.
"Yes, Swindle, because Motormaster shoved something up his tailpipe. Does it sound familiar?"
This time, Vortex couldn't hide his amusement and chuckled, but he stopped when he saw Blast Off's expression.
"So, why do you do this?" the shuttle asked anew, and there was a faint frustration beneath the indifference.
"I don't know what you mean? You mean that with the Stunticons?" Vortex's voice didn't sound as steady as he wished.
"You know what I mean. Why do you always have to cross that line? It's not that you don't know what you're doing… And that makes it even worse."
Vortex opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, and he didn't have the time to think about it. Shaking his head, Blast Off carried on.
"Look around. How many Decepticons have you seen in the last few joors?"
"Uhm, I saw you…"
"Only, because I have to be here. Do you expect anyone to visit you in the next few days?"
Again, Vortex shifted uncomfortably on the berth. This conversation was headed in a direction he didn't like, and he didn't want to think about the answer to Blast Off's question, which was a plain 'no'.
Even the seekers or triple changers visited each other in the brig… Brawl visited Swindle if the businesses mech was locked up for a few days…
The 'copter could guess what Blast Off was trying to tell him, but he wasn't in the mood to be chastened, and it only encouraged his antics.
"How many mechs would visit you in the brig?" Vortex asked acidly.
"Not many", Blast Off admitted calmly, "but unlike you, I don't need or want company."
"I would visit you."
"I know."
"So, you really wouldn't visit me if you didn't have to?" Vortex said. He was grinning, but he didn't truly feel like it.
"No."
It was only one word, and even though Vortex would never confess it, it felt like a sting in his processor.
"Well… probably." Blast Off added after a moment of silence, and it drained some of Vortex' tension, which had built up without him noticing.
"It could be more than just me if you didn't make it so hard for everyone to like you."
"Oh, my apologies that I am like I am. I should change completely and acting like a sappy Autobot, then."
"Sigma forbid." Blast Off mumbled and it sounded almost amused. "That's not what I meant."
"And what did you mean?"
"Stop crossing that line."
Vortex snorted. "So, that is like becoming an Autobot!"
Blast Off shook his head, and this time it only seemed to be of fatigue.
"You don't get it… It doesn't matter what you do, but there is a point where it matters. You know this point, and you reach and cross it every time. And that's the reason most of us don't want to have anything to do with you."
Vortex just stared at Blast Off; he didn't know how he could reply to that. He hadn't even wanted to hear it, because it was too close to the truth.
"It's your own fault." Blast Off spoke again. "You always destroy the slightest possibility that someone even wants to try to find out if he might like you. And that is why no one is here."
Tensing again, Vortex forced himself to keep his gaze steady. He had to reset his vocaliser to be sure that the strain wasn't audible in his voice.
"Uhm… and you?"
Blast Off gave him a long glance, before he turned, venting a sigh.
It wasn't the annoyed sigh which Blast Off exhaled when one of them messed up a mission or did other stupid things. It also wasn't the kind of sigh which he used to elude a conversation or stupid questions, and which just went away after he expressed it. And neither it was this angry, almost-growl sigh, which Blast Off directed towards Vortex, and only him, when he didn't stop poking and touching.
It was the sigh Blast Off vented when a mission went wrong, and Megatron needed someone to blame, and his choice fell on the Combaticons. It was the sigh which Vortex always heard when he was dragged to medbay, and when he came back afterwards. It was the sigh Blast Off involuntarily made when he came back to the Nemesis after a long stay in space…
It was a sigh of exhaustion and defeat.
The kind which said more than words ever could, and Vortex wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to his question.
"I've been trying…" Blast Off gave it anyway, his voice as blank as before. He walked to the small table and sat down again, grabbing the datapad. He didn't look at Vortex when he continued.
"But I'm tired… And I'm about to give up."