Shiny

"She saved him, Primus. You and she are the only ones he trusted after what happened to him."

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"


"Steve stays with me."

"I'm staying with Fixit."

"I'm not having both of you stay in my medbay!" Ratchet snapped.

"Don't care. We're staying together," the modified ex-Deception drones replied in unison, causing the medic to growl in frustration. Prowl frowned slightly, even as Jazz, Wheeljack, and First Aid looked sympathetic.

"You need to be here so I can monitor you-!" Ratchet started, only to be cut off by Fixit.

"No, I just need to be close enough nearby so that you can be there almost immediately if there's any issues. I'm not staying in a strange place with people I don't fully trust without my only ally nearby," she added since the medic was about to protest more. "That'll just stress me out unnecessarily."

Ratchet snarled, recognizing the manipulation, but also realizing that she was telling the truth. "…fine. But you-" he turned on Prowl, "-ensure their quarters are as close as fragging possible to medbay, understand?!"

Prowl lifted a brow slightly. "I have already assigned shared quarters for them two corridors over."

Ratchet huffed. "Good. Now everyone who doesn't need to be here, GET OUT OF MY MEDBAY!"

Jazz and Wheeljack beat a hasty retreat, whilst Prowl followed at a more dignified pace. Steve stubbornly stayed sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Fixit on a berth.

Just before leaving, Prowl turned to address the two ex-Cons. "Once a formal announcement about your presence has been made, and the Ark's personnel have been given time to adjust, I shall send someone to escort you around the Ark. Until then, please remain here."

Both kidnappeés recognized the unstated order behind the politely-phrased request. Fixit just raised a brow at the Praxian as Steve tossed the mech as sloppy salute. "Understood, sir," the Vehicon drawled with an edge of sarcasm.

Fixit looked at her companion in amusement as Prowl gave the other mech a Look. "I've corrupted you," she commented before sniffing dramatically. "I'm so proud!"

"You would be," Steve retorted as Prowl finally turned and left.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it means-"

Wisely, Ratchet cut them off before they could resume bickering. "Fixit, get over here and teach me about your anatomy."

The Eradicon pouted, but obeyed as First Aid walked over as well.

Steve just shrugged and settled down for a nap.


"What are they like?" Sideswipe asked as most of the Ark's personnel gathered around Wheeljack and Jazz. Prowl had finished briefing everyone only moments before and then- with a barely-noticeable smirk that only Jazz seemed to notice- calmly informed the Ark that any further questions about the dimensional travelers should be directed to Jazz, Wheeljack, or Ratchet if their questions couldn't wait till meeting the actual bots tomorrow. And since Ratchet was currently holed up in medbay with First Aid and the travelers, that left only Jazz and Wheeljack to interro- sorry, question.

"Steve reminds me of Beachcomber, only more sarcastic and easily exasperated," Wheeljack offered first.

"Steve's the mech, right?" someone called out from the crowd. "What about the femme?"

Jazz and Wheeljack shared a glance. "Well…" the saboteur drawled, purposefully drawing out the tension. The mechs surrounding the two leaned in unconsciously. "…Ah haven' known Fixit very lon', bu'…so fa', 'e seems like an unholy combination o' Ratchet an' t' Twins."

"Seriously!?" Sideswipe exclaimed, Sunstreaker sharing his incredulity. Along with pretty much everyone else in the room.

"Yup."

"…well, that's…terrifying," someone commented, voicing what everyone was thinking.

"Makes fo' some amusin' fights wi' Ratchet, though."

That gained the saboteur some snickers.


Ratchet woke up, and groaned silently. Because Fixit and Steve's quarters hadn't been set up yet, they had spent the night cycle in medbay, and Ratchet had decided to recharge in the chair in his office, shooing First Aid off to be interrogated by the mechs milling about outside his medbay. (The crowd quickly dispelled once he threatened them, though- the grumpy old medic had to repress a satisfied smirk at the memory.)

The red-and-white mech got up and stretched, joints and cables popping, before making his way out of his office…

…only to freeze at the sight of a pristinely-clean, gleaming, and completely organized medbay.

Ratchet gaped for a few moments more, until a snort off to the side of him drew his attention. He glanced over to see a spotless, shiny, and repainted Steve leaning against the wall next to his office door. The mech offered him an amused smirk and nodded at the medic's almost unnaturally-clean medbay.

"This is why everyone's both scared and in awe of Fixit. He's a workaholic who gets even more done than fragging Soundwave."

"…you two got all this done in one recharge cycle!?" Ratchet questioned incredulously. Frag, even the walls and ceiling had been repainted and buffed. Buffed. Who buffed walls?! Or the fragging ceiling!?

"Nope."

"What?"

"We didn't get it done. Fixit got it done. I only woke up when he started working on me after finishing with everything else," Steve said calmly, smirking slightly at the medic's stunned faceplates. "I told you he's terrifyingly efficient."

"Morning, Ratchet!" Fixit chirped, popping up in front of the two from out of nowhere. They both yelped, jumping back in surprise.

Ratchet cursed, even as Steve scowled at the Eradicon bouncing slightly on her pedes. "Fraggit, femme-!"

"I'm really really really really bored right now. Please give me something to do?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MEDBAY!?"

"I checked out your organization system then put everything back in its proper places first. Well, no, actually, I cleaned and repaired everything first before I put it away. Then I cleaned the rest of the room. After finishing that, I pulled out one of my puzzles to work on, but I finished that really quickly, so then I started repainting everything. Once the paint dried, I started buffing it for lack of anything else to do. Then I got nosy and went back to check over your supplies, and I noticed that some of the things you were low on I actually had on me, so I added some of my supplies to yours and updated your inventory lists. But the inventory was actually slightly dirty, so I cleaned that next. After that, I officially ran out of things to do, so I went to work on Steve, and after he was done I just kind of sprawled on the floor for lack of anything better to do. Then you woke up and here we are!"

Ratchet just…stared.

"Told you so," Steve muttered, leaning against the wall again.

"Told him what?"

"Nothing…"

"Steve…"

The doors to the medbay slid open, admitting Jazz and saving Steve from Fixit's glare.

"Mornin'- wha' t' frag happened in here?" the saboteur gaped at the brand-new looking medbay.

"Fixit happened," Steve informed him. "Fixit always happens."

"Oy! I resemble that remark!"


A/N: So, Megatron and Knock Out…will probably both be coming eventually. KO'll show up earlier than Megs, though.

Ah, the dangers of a bored Fixit. Ratchet should just be happy she chose to clean instead of pulling a prank… XD