I need to actually write these chapters before it's the day to upload them -.-

Enjoy!

:D

Chapter 4: Should Have Known Better

A huge, burly bouncer was stood outside the door. Gearshift gestured to Mercury to wait where she was, and then sauntered up towards him. The bouncer looked at him as if he was an idiot, clearly recognising him and not being at all impressed by his sudden appearance.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. Gearshift just smiled.

"Here for a night out with a lovely femme," he replied, nodding his cranial unit in mercury's direction. "Pretty, isn't she? You're not going to turn her away, surely?"

"Do you know this mech?" the bouncer called to Mercury.

"Vaguely," Mercury replied, stepping closer. "He's been working at Club Venus these past few stellar cycles."

"So that's where you've been, Shifty?" the bouncer replied. He had a gruff voice and clearly didn't like Gearshift. "You been stealing oil from there, too?"

"What?" Mercury demanded. Gearshift tried to regain control of the situation.

"Uh- haha! You joker, you always were the funny one!" he said, trying to act natural. "Did you ever get that comedy gig?"

"Get out of here, Gearshift," the bouncer spat. "Boss won't be happy you're here..."

"What's this about stealing oil?" Mercury demanded again.

"We kicked him out for two reasons," the bouncer said before Gearshift could reply. "He didn't do his job, and he stole oil from the storeroom."

"You're a thief?" Mercury hissed, turning to Gearshift. "I knew you were a lazy good for nothing, but a thief too?"

"No, Mercury-"

"I knew you were a waste of time!" she shrieked. She turned around and stormed off down the street. Gearshift was left confused for a moment, but then turned back to the bouncer.

"Thanks, slagger!" he yelled. He turned and followed after Mercury.

The purple femme didn't look back as she stalked down the street, ignoring Gearshift's cries as he followed after her. She should have known better than to go to The Circle, as if he could have got her in. But it was true that he had worked there, it seemed. Not that she cared right then.

"Mercury, please, will you just... stop?" Gearshift yelled. She continued to blank him, but found herself at her own front door. He'd followed her all the way home. He knew where she lived.

"I'm sorry," he said, coming up to her. He hadn't realised they'd arrived at her home; he thought she'd stopped because he'd asked her to. "That bouncer, he's a real joker. He didn't mean a word of what he said – all jokes and tell tales, you know? Seriously, come back to The Circle with me and -"

Before he could say another word, she turned around and backhanded him across the faceplate. "If you have any sense of respect, you'll frag off and leave me alone." Gearshift looked at her, stunned and with a servo to his faceplate. He didn't seem to understand what had just happened. "You're a pathetic little liar, Gearshift. Frag off and don't talk to me ever again!"

Gearshift turned and ran back down the street, not wanting to anger the femme further. She wasn't sure if he'd do as she demanded, but his seemingly fearful running suggested he would. She stood there, watching him flee, her servos balled into fists so hard that it hurt her digits. Once he was gone, she turned and entered her home.

"You've been looking lately down, Merc," the bartender said suddenly. A decacycle had passed, with Gearshift not turning up for his shift. The bartender was cleaning glasses as usual, most of the evening's rabble having gone. Mercury was tired and wanted to call it a night, having danced again and spent the rest of the evening running around after the customers. An unusually lively bunch had come in that night – racers by the look of them. They drank and drank and didn't stop, but they didn't ever become energised – they burned through the Energon so quickly that it had no lasting effect! Mercury had to serve them and do little else for the best part of three megacycles. But for the entire night, nothing she'd done had been with her usual attitude, and everyone had noticed.

"What's wrong?" the bartender added when Mercury didn't reply. She was wiping down the bar, not looking at anything in particular. But at the bartender's prompt, she spoke.

"Nothing's wrong," she lied. "I'm just exhausted."

"You look a little more than exhausted to me," he replied. "What did that mech Gearshift say to you?"

Mercury threw down her cloth, rested her elbows on the bar and held her cranial unit. "He said he could get me into The Circle and... uhg! I was an idiot and believed him."

The bartender put a servo on her shoulder. "You don't learn if you don't make mistakes, understand?"

"I know that," Mercury replied. "But it doesn't stop me from feeling like an idiot."

"Well, I wouldn't say you are," the bartender said, not in a way that was meant to comfort her, but in a way that was to make a point. "You've wanted to go The Circle for as long as I've known you, and you saw a chance. Just because it did end badly, doesn't mean that it almost certainly would have. If someone other than Gearshift was to offer to take you, you may have got in. Take Gearshift out of the equation and you've got endless possibilities in regards to what could have happened."

"You're either speaking nonsense or just pointing out that Gearshift is a liar," Mercury replied.

"Or both." They laughed and Mercury finally smiled, a little happier, having vented to a friend. One of the other waitresses came bounding up to them then, her tray hander her arm and a slightly puzzled look on her faceplate.

"Some mech's here to see you," she began. Mercury picked her cloth back up just so she could throw it down again.

"Green and white?"

"No, green and black," the waitress said, "and coveredin spikes. I've never seen anything like him before!"

"Green and black?" Mercury repeated, looking at the bartender.

"Sounds like Gearshift's friend – the one who beat him up over Twirl," he said. Mercury frowned slightly. What was he doing at the club?

"Where is he?" she asked. The waitress led the way to him.

Lockdown was stood in the same place that Gearshift usually occupied – leant against the wall by the club's back door. He was looking bored as he stared off into the distance, but as soon as Mercury stepped out, he became more alert, albeit still seemingly bored.

"And you're here because...?" Mercury asked. Lockdown angled himself to face her.

"Gearshift wants ter apologise," he began. "He's been real depressed since the other night, mopin' about and not sayin' much at all."

"Well, that's a shame," Mercury hissed. "Not that I care. Tell him to glitch out and rust in pieces."

"'Ere, I know ya don't like 'im, but Gearshift is mah friend and as unusual as it is for me to give a frag, I hate ter see 'im in this way," Lockdown said, his voice thick with resentment at having to admit to actually caring. "He wants ter apologise, but he knew ya wouldn't come out if he came alone."

"Alone?"

Gearshift appeared then, coming out from around a corner. He was looking at his support servos, not wanting to look at her but at the same time finding it hard not to. Mercury narrowed her optics at him, but then he spoke.

"Mercury, I'm really sorry," he began. "I shouldn't have told you that I could get you into The Circle. It was stupid of me, and all I really wanted to do was impress you. You really want to go there, don't you? And I just dashed your hopes. I'm beyond an idiot, and I'm sorry. I should have told you about the oil, too. But I didn't want you to hate me. Although I guess I can't avoid that now."

Well recited, Mercury thought, but behind the rehearsed feel to his apology, he did seem sincere, as if he'd practised in order to get what he had wanted to say across perfectly. Gearshift didn't seem the type to improvise well. Mercury looked at him, her optics looking him over for any sign to suggest he was lying. Either Sol's lessons weren't working, or there was nothing to see.

"It's... okay, Gearshift," Mercury replied. "I'm not happy with you, but... you've apologised, and that's all I can ask of you."

Gearshift smiled, a little warily at first, but then with much more certainty when he saw the kindly expression on her faceplate.

"I want to make it up to you, properly," Gearshift said. "There's this amazing little restaurant near the Stellar Galleries. It's wonderful – you'll love it. And we won't get turned down because of me. I've not been since I was with my creators."

"Okay then," Mercury replied. "I finish in a megacycle."

He's nice really :3

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:D