Title: A Bond of Necessity (Part 7)
Verse: G1 AU
Rating: PG
Characters: Mirage, Hound, Wheeljack, minor unnamed nobles
Warnings: confrontation, cursing
Summary: Hound attends his first party as Mirage's bondmate
Time Reference:
astrosecond ~ one second
klick ~ one minute
joor ~ one hour
cycle ~ one day
deca-cycle ~ one week
orn ~ one month
vorn ~ one year
(I do not own Transformers.)
Special A/N: I have been carefully reading the reviews. I appreciate them all, including the ones with constructive criticism (they really do help me become a better writer). One question that has appeared frequently is: why does Mirage behave differently from other nobles? Originally, I had not planned to address that but the comments showed me that it really is important to you, the reader. As a result, I expanded this chapter (and the next two as well) which will hopefully help explain this issue. If it still doesn't make sense or needs further elaboration, don't hesitate to let me know and I can expand some of the later chapters as well (those chapters have been written but still need editing – they will be ready for their weekly post). Most of the explanation will take place in the next chapter but this chapter is necessary to set up the proper scene. (I'm so sorry, Hound. I promise I'll make it up to you.)
Again, special thanks to the following taking the time to review: Darkeyes17, Sounddrive, BoredTech, Shadoshard, Crazygrrl XD, Blip-chan, bRamble Girl, steelcrash, naggingfishwife, and mmouse15.
The cycle that Hound dreaded had arrived. Mirage had been invited to a party for a noble couple celebrating their bonding anniversary and Hound would have to attend as well.
The party was lavish with an abundance of high grade and the finest energon confections. Hound had developed quite a taste for the treats but took care not to be greedy. Instead he enjoyed every single one that he was able to have and thought about how different his life was now that he was bonded to a noble. They had greeted the couple who had been bonded for many vorns but it seemed to Hound that they did not care for one another in the least. As a courier he had seen many such bonded couples among the nobility and it always made him sad. Yet here he was, in an arranged bond of his own with a mech he hadn't met until moments before the bonding ceremony. The difference was that he had fallen in love with Mirage but was too afraid to express his feelings. He glanced down at his plating just below his shoulder and then considered that maybe he didn't really need to say anything at all.
Hound shifted slightly in a corner of the room holding his cube of high grade. His bondmate had wandered off to get another cube of high grade for himself and more energon confections for Hound. He assured his nervous bondmate he would return shortly. Hound watched as the graceful blue and white noble easily made his way across the room talking with other nobles and clearly in his element. Hound was not. He shifted again, uncomfortable with his appearance and being a guest at a party instead of a servant.
Mirage had insisted on a thorough washing and then applied high quality wax to his bondmate. Hound had, of course, kept a decent coat of wax on his frame but he was not used to the expensive wax generously applied to his plating. Furthermore, he was embarrassed that Mirage applied the wax himself and then took care to buff his frame to a glossy shine. Once that was done, the noble removed a small box from a drawer and gently placed it in Hound's servos. He was curious about the contents and gasped when he raised the lid. A single ornament crafted from pure rhodium was nestled in the box. It was fashioned into the glyph which represented "bondmate" and the silvery edges caught the light enhancing the curves of the ornament. Mirage carefully removed it from the box and attached it to Hound just below his left shoulder. The glyph stood out against the smooth green plating. It was small enough to be tasteful but large enough to clearly spell out that Hound was a claimed mech.
There had not been any time to discuss why Mirage decided to mark his bondmate for all to see since they had to leave to get to the party on time. Now Hound stood quietly at the party and wondered about it. No one else had spoken to him but that just gave him time to think. The other nobles treated him as something beneath their notice and the servants that were there knew that he was now elevated in status above them and thus were not permitted to speak with him.
Mirage returned with two other nobles trailing behind. He introduced them to Hound but they continued their conversation as though the green mech was not there. He was not going to say anything about it but Mirage looked at Hound and then shocked the former slave by firmly stating, "This is my bondmate Hound. I would appreciate it if you showed proper respect."
One of the nobles looked properly chastised but the second glared at Mirage and said a little too loudly, "Mirage, you were required to bond to this former slave but you are all too aware that he will never be accepted among the nobility." His expression changed into a leer as he leaned forward and said in a low and suggestive tone, "Come to my berth, Mirage, and I'll help you forget all about your contractual bondmate." He glared at Hound, daring him to speak, but the green mech remained silent. He could certainly think of many responses to the challenge but his conditioning as a slave demanded that he stay quiet and draw as little attention to himself as possible. "You see, Mirage? Your submissive little glitch won't even say anything. He probably isn't even a decent frag in the berth."
Affairs among the nobility were common and Hound fixed his optics on his pedes. He couldn't stop Mirage from accepting the invitation but the public humiliation would be awful. He had the fleeting thought that with his bondmate elsewhere he would be free to leave the party and return to their residence acting as though nothing had happened. At least the other noble could give Mirage something he could not; a night of pleasure with one of his own kind. The other mech was probably right; Mirage would never want to interface with him.
The words of the other noble drew the attention of the surrounding guests and they fell silent while staring at the bonded couple waiting to see what would happen next. No matter what, they would be the topic of gossip the next cycle which was almost as bad as what was happening now. Hound offlined his optics wishing he could turn invisible and listened as he heard mechs walking away laughing. The others nearby resumed their insignificant conversations. Hound onlined his optics and looked up expecting to be alone but was surprised to see Mirage's golden optics meeting his own. No one else paid them any attention and he was horrified that he had caused Mirage such humiliation simply by existing. He hadn't even said anything. He was shocked when Mirage stayed by his side for the rest of the party declaring without words that he did take their bond seriously.
"Thank you," Hound said meekly once he was able to work his vocalizer again.
"You are my bondmate," Mirage replied as though that were all the reason he needed.
After that, only one other mech approached to speak to them. A curious mech introduced himself as Wheeljack. Hound and Mirage were fascinated with him and discovered that he was an engineer. They thought that was an unusual profession for a noble until they realized Wheeljack was not a noble. They learned that he had been involved with some of the construction of frames for noble sparklings. He had come to the party as a guest of one of the other nobles but that noble found Wheeljack's talk of inventions to be boring and left the engineer to fend for himself while he sought high grade and gossip.
The engineer was thrilled to find other guests that were interested in speaking with him about his inventions. Hound was especially fascinated and seemed to relax a bit while Mirage watched with relief that his bondmate was finally able to enjoy himself for a little while. They discussed sparklings a bit as well and the noble was surprised to see Hound's optics light up with delight. He wondered if it meant that his bondmate liked sparklings.
After the engineer left to find his companion, Hound quietly asked if they might be able to invite Wheeljack to visit them sometime. Mirage liked the engineer but even if he hadn't he would have agreed in order to please his bondmate. He knew the former slave felt isolated and he was not so egotistical to think that his company alone would be enough for Hound. Having company visit would be good for both of them.
They returned to their home and Mirage removed the ornaments from their frames taking special care to place Hound's in its box to keep it safe. Mirage guided them to the berth and pulled the green mech into his arms while Hound sobbed himself into recharge. He had been surprised that the noble stood up for him and he should have felt pleased but found that he felt even lower than ever because it had come at a high price to his bondmate. Hound knew that this was another blow to the noble's social standing. Mirage said nothing as he had been embarrassed by the experience earlier but was proud that this time, he had not left his bondmate alone.
