"Yes, just a little tired." Red Alert murmured, optics slowly beginning to offline.
Inferno leaned back, taking Red Alert in. Red Alerts movements were slow, and his optics were slowly dimming into the off position. "Red, are you going to fall asleep here?'
"Why not?" Red Alert murmured. Inferno sat up straight. Red Alert would never, ever agree to fall into recharge in the middle of the cafeteria. Especially not with so many mechs around.
"Red, are you feeling alright?"
Red Alert shot an odd glance to Inferno, but he nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask Inferno?"
"It's just, normally you wouldn't-" Inferno said, gesturing around them.
Red Alert looked around, as if seeing where he was for the first time. Those closest to the table noticed this as well, and dead silence fell across the room as he asked, "Where am I anyways?"
"Red, the Ark. We're on the Ark."
Red Alerts brow furrowed as he said softly, "I don't remember the Ark. Are you sure this is a base?"
"No, it's not a base Red Alert!" Inferno said, in his agitation using Red Alerts full name. "We're not on Cybertron, we're on a spaceship."
Ratchet could be heard moving down the hallways fast, and more then one mech looked at the door, waiting for something to happen. Red Alert looked up. "Someone's coming. I wonder who it is?"
"Aren't you going to say anything about decepticons?"
Red Alert turned tired optics to Inferno, head tilting curiously. "And how would you suppose Decepticons could get onboard. After all, we are on a spaceship."
Ratchet came storming in, roaring, "What's going on here, I get nearly fifteen messages that Red Alert is acting odd-"
"He isn't paranoid anymore!" Inferno wailed, looking at Ratchet. "He doesn't worry about the decepticons, he's not worrying about anything!"
"I do wish you'd stop talking over me like I'm not here. I'm perfectly fine. Decepticons aren't everywhere-"
Ratchet flung a wrench at Red Alert, offlining him. "You're right. Red Alert must be on the fritz or something."
Ratchet dragged Red Alert out of the cafeteria, leaving behind several startled bots. "Huh, Red Alert normal. I never thought I'd see that time."
"Congratulations to us all, huh? We got to see Red Alert unparanoid."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Red Alert glared at Ratchet, "Why am I in the medbay?"
"Your glitch disappeared. Don't you remember?"
Red Alert frowned, shaking his head slowly. "No, I remember being exhausted. The twins had been going on a prank spree lately, and cleaning it all up was a horrible mess. So I had the twins do it, but they weren't obeying, and then-" Red Alerts optics offlined as he struggled to recall.
"I remember feeling happy. Like the world wasn't out to get me. And I felt it without Inferno being nearby. Well, no, I feel it even with Inferno, but Inferno's presence makes me forget about it a little. But, at that time, I really felt- normal."
Ratchets spark softened despite his stony exterior. Red Alert, for those few moments, had indeed been 'normal' as he was ever going to get. He hadn't had a glitch to tell him those small, horrible things or to throw a dark cast over Red Alerts life. Red Alert looked up at Ratchet, and shrugged. "Ah well, I suppose it was nothing."
Ratchet, however, begged to differ. Red Alerts little taste of normalcy could drive the bot into seeking for it some more, and that would cause some problems. Red Alert paused as he slowly climbed off the bunk. "Ratchet, I won't be able to feel that again, will I? Normal I mean?" There was a slight wistful tone to Red Alerts voice.
Ratchet shook his head. "Sorry Red Alert, but that was a one time deal no doubt. Inferno will probably be the closest to getting back that normalcy."
Red Alert was about to go out the door, but hesitated. "Ratchet, is that what being normal is like? Able to not worry about anything?"
Ratchet wondered how he was supposed to answer that. "Yes, I suppose, though us normal mechs have our own things to worry about."
"I see." Red Alert paused, thinking about it. "I can't remember if I ever was normal, and this time was no different really. It feels more like a dream that I woke up out of, rather then something that actually happened."
"I know Red Alert. I know."
"You don't, not really." Red Alert said softly. "No one except for those who are paranoid can understand what it's like."
Red Alert left at that, shoulders sagging. Inferno was quick to try to cheer up the mech, and Red Alert was willing top be cheered up. Only he knew when he woke up from a recharge crying because he dreamed of being normal.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Several vorns had passed since Red Alerts 'normalcy' had come and gone. Inferno was one time sitting down when Red Alert said, "Inferno, go away."
"What, Red, why?"
"I can't stand it anymore."
Inferno's puzzled expression grew. "Red-"
"Inferno, just go away!" Red Alert snarled, back to him. Inferno didn't see the energon tears trickling down, nor could he hear it in Red Alerts voice. "Just go away Inferno."
Inferno scowled darkly. He had just bribed the twins into behaving for the next five orns so that way he could get Red Alert to himself. He was not going to leave- Inferno watched as a splot of energon fell to the floor. Is Red Alert crying? He wondered, and looked beyond Red Alert into the monitors. Reflected off of the screen, it was easy to see Red Alerts tears pour hot and fast.
Inferno gulped. Red Alert didn't cry easily, unless he was glitching, and it was clear that Red Alert wasn't glitching. "Red Alert, what's the matter?" Inferno asked softly, coming up right behind Red Alert.
Red Alert scrubbed at his optics, in a vain attempt to wipe the tears away. "It's nothing. Just go away."
Infernos optics narrowed as he glared at Red Alert. "no."
"In-"
"Red, yopu're crying. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't worry."
Red Alert's hands slowed as they wiped at the energon. Inferno shook his head, and looked around for something to soak up the energon Then he remembered how about five orns ago he had managed to win a bet, and gotten the cloth to wrap up several of the items that some had used instead of money-
Inferno gently wiped Red Alerts face, making the smaller bot flinch away. "Red, hold still. How do you expect me to get it all off if you don't?"
Red Alert turned his back to Inferno. "I told you to go!"
Inferno's arms crossed, as he stared at Red Alert, frustrated beyond belief. "Not until you give me a good reason why. And I mean a good reason, none of your conspiracy theories Red alert."
Red Alert said softly, "You make me feel almost normal Inferno."
"What?" Anger faded to confusion, and Red Alert groaned.
"You make me feel almost normal Inferno. Like I don't have to worry. But I still do, and that near normalacy is driving me crazy! It's there, right there in front of me, and I can't take it Inferno! It's just outside of my grasp, I can't be normal!"
Inferno looked at Red Alerts back, wondering what to say. "What's it like then. To be normal?"
"I don't know Inferno. You're the one who's normal. Why don't you tell me?" The heavy sarcasm was impossible to miss. Even for Inferno.
"Well red, I'd have to say that normal isn't what you'd think. No one on this Ark is normal. We're all very much unusual. The twins, Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide, even Prime is an unordinary mech. You can't really say that we're normal. Normal mechs don't last very long here on the Ark, remember."
Red alert was silent, but as far as inferno could tell, the tears had stopped. That was a good sighn, right? "Red, if you were normal, we never would've met. You probably wouldn't of given me a second glance, and you'd never would've come onto the Ark. Could you imagine that."
"…No. The Ark is a rather big part of my life. If I hadn't been on it-" Red Alert sighed. "But it seems like a very uneven bargain. Normalcy for the Ark."
"Which would you choose red?"
"The Ark." Came back the firm reply. "The Ark's crew never would've survived if I hadn't been baby-sitting them, and poor Prowl couldn't of handled it alone.
A heavy sigh escaped Red Alert. "But, still, I can't stop the dreams."
"The dreams of what?"
"Being normal."
Inferno sat down next to Red, and deftly spun the chair so that way the two were looking at each other. Inferno leaned foreword, until foreheads were nearly touching. "You said that I reminded you of being normal, right?"
"Yes-"
"Good. Let's pretend to be normal together." Inferno asked, optics sparkling.
Red Alert watched the sparkles, and made his own, slight, almost shy smile. "Maybe. I'm sorry Inferno, for ordering you out earlier."
Inferno laughed, an easy sound that Red Alert knew was going to start haunting his dreams for sure instead of the normalcy. "Anything for you Red." Inferno said, optics glinting in the light.
Red Alert leaned foreword all of an inch, refusing to think about what he was doing, his lips brushing against Inferno's. Infernos happy, laughing face froze, as his optics widened, and Red Alert waited for a reaction-
"Umph!" Inferno nearly leapt on the security director to get another kiss.
"You know Red, I was planning on initiating the first kiss." Inferno said, when they broke off nearly a breem later.
Red Alert could feel his systems working overtime. He wasn't worried about whatever was to come, as long as Inferno was nearby, he was all right. "Well Inferno, you were too slow."
"Slow! I'll show you slow!"
SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsssSsSsSs
Yes, I had to put in a little Red Alert/Inferno fluff, despite this being mostly angst, and a look into Red Alerts CPU. After all, who wouldn't dream about normalacy? Though, to say that the Ark's crew is normal is like saying a candle is an ocean. It doesn't work out.