Off Center
Time: A few days after Jazz first blackmails Prowl.
Author's Notes: You might find some plot, if you're looking for it. I know it looks weird in the center, but I can't seem to get it to go to the left. Stupid thing.
Sideswipe shoved branches out of his way. He carried a sniping rifle, slung carelessly across his shoulder. The secluded little area he stepped into held a series of targets of varying sizes, set at different distances. A single black and white mech stood at the line marked in the scuffed ground. He held a rifle up to his optics, the butt cushioned against his shoulder tire. He fired off a round of bursts at one set, shifted and fired another burst at the next set.
A grin grew on the red warrior's face. He inched forward, as quietly as vorns of playing pranks had taught him. He reached out his hands, and slid his fingers into a tight grip on the door panels. He yanked the mech off his feet and against his chest. Sideswipe kissed down Prowl's helm, running his fingers over the patrol car's door wings.
Surprised, Prowl jerked away and turned. Sideswipe's grin faded as his lover seemed to shrink from him. Relief tumbled from Prowl's lips in the form of the Lamborghini's name.
"Expecting someone else, sparkles?" The grin returned.
The tactician considered Sideswipe without replying, his normal, guarded look in place. "No." Prowl turned and set the rifle against his shoulder.
Sideswipe stepped forward and nuzzled against Prowl's helm. "You didn't think I'd refuse this invitation did you? Even though you never said anything to me, I'm sure you knew Sunny would. Should we worry about flyers?" Sideswipe glanced skyward, pulling his hands away self-consciously.
"Skyfire and Slingshot are still in for repairs." Prowl opened fire on the targets again. "The Aerialbots and Powerglide are out on patrol until this evening. Blades is assisting with rescue efforts in Central City."
"And with Sunny on the monitors, he'll conveniently 'forget' to watch over here."
"You should know." Recalibrate the rifle, fire at the first target. "He's your brother."
"And you're mad, because…?"
Prowl paused, his doorwings shifting as he turned to glance at the twin. "What makes you think I'm mad?"
Sideswipe stepped up beside Prowl and settled the sniping rifle into shooting position. "Because, you only come out here when you're fragged about something." He selected his targets and fired. He made short work of the row. Sideswipe glanced at the tactician. "This wouldn't have anything to do with those broken fuel lines Ratchet was yelling at you about, would it?" The rifle lowered as Sideswipe's attention shifted to the tactician.
Prowl didn't answer Sideswipe for several klicks. "You've been in the med bay for several days." As if the warrior didn't know that. "I've been worried about you. It's… frustrating not being able to show that."
Sideswipe tilted his head. He laid the rifle on the ground and stepped closer to Prowl. "So how much frustration have you built up, considering how often Sunny and I get trashed."
The blue optics narrowed, never turned to the red twin. "Quite a bit."
Sideswipe forced Prowl to turn to him. He stared into the tactician's optics until Prowl averted his gaze.
"I thought we were over this, Prowl." He pulled the Datsun closer, stimulating his sensory net with gentle caresses. A moan rumbled through Prowl's frame as he leaned into the black hands. Sideswipe rested his helmet against his lover's. "Your duties stress you enough without self-recrimination." He lifted the tactician's chin and captured Prowl's lips in a passionate kiss. "Primus, I want you."
Prowl pulled away, turning around, and snapped the rifle up. Sideswipe dropped his hands with a growl of frustration. "Prowl…"
"I have never been 'over it,' Sideswipe. Never."
Sideswipe rubbed at his audio horns. "I feel like I'm missing something, Prowl. What's bothering you?"
Prowl squeezed the trigger and struck each target dead center. "Optimus," he finally offered.
Sideswipe repeated the name in confusion. He'd never heard the second-in-command say their commander's name with such loathing. "What about Prime?"
Prowl's doorwings drew back. "He asked me where I've been going."
"Aw, slag." Sideswipe sagged. He looked in the direction of the Ark, then back at the tactician.
Prowl changed the rifle's setting, his fingers pressing harder than they needed to.
The red twin drew down his brow ridges. "You figured something out though, right? Prime would have raked us both over the smelting pits otherwise."
Prowl subspaced the rifle and pulled out a different one. "Yes, Sideswipe," weariness dragged over his voice, "I thought of something."
"Anything I should know?" Sideswipe tried to turn the black and white mech to face him, but Prowl resisted.
"No."
The warrior snarled and smacked Prowl's gun down. "Primus scrape it Prowl, talk to me. We're in this together. Remember" Prowl sighed and turned his full attention to Sideswipe. "Thank you. Now what's the cover?" Sideswipe couldn't believe his lover was being so evasive.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"What?" It took all of the Lamborghini's self-control not to pulverize the Datsun.
"Please, just trust me, Sides."
"Fine, but only if you promise that you will tell me before too long."
"I will." They stared at each other until Prowl shifted. "Can I finish this set?"
Sideswipe looked askance. "Yeah, sure. Nice to know I'm such a distraction."
The tactician pulled the rifle up and sighted along its barrel. "You should fire a few more rounds as well."
Sideswipe picked his gun off the ground, grinning. All suspicions lifted at Prowl's promise. They'd had many arguments in their millennia together, some very heated. Back on Cybertron, there were times where they didn't speak for stellar cycles until they cooled their emotion chips. They had too little time together as it was to waste it on harsh words. Trust Prowl to think logically rather than emotionally. Still, Sideswipe had never had to worry about his lover lying to him, and that knowledge put him at ease as he worked through his set.
Fire. Recalibrate. Fire. Mind-numbingly boring. How did Mirage and Bluestreak stand this job. He wasn't a bad shot: his rocket launcher's targeting systems let him pinpoint targets with devastating accuracy, going so far as displaying the approximate blast radius in his optical HUD.
Today he found the black and white mech beside him too distracting. His shots strayed far off center, some missing the target completely. By all appearances Prowl was oblivious to Sideswipe's wanderings. When he kept missing the targets, because he was paying too much attention to the Datsun, he stopped trying.
Prowl remained intent on the targets, lowering the gun only to change the settings. Sideswipe frowned at his lover. He slid up behind Prowl, slipping an arm around the black waist.
"Don't you think you've done enough," he whispered into the tactician's audio receiver.
"If I did, don't you think I would have stopped."
Sideswipe rested his chin on one of Prowl's doorwings. He reached up and began suggestively spinning Prowl's tire back and forth. "Can't I distract you?" he whined playfully.
The tactician didn't even look at the warrior, though his doorwing shrugged. "I don't know. Can you?"
Sideswipe straightened. A challenge? He grinned down at the mech who was pointedly ignoring him. Prowl felt like playing? What a rare occurrence.
First he ghosted his black fingers along the tactician's back, seeking sensitive areas along the top of his car form. He drew whorls along Prowl's windshield, bending to trace his lips carefully along the glass. He slipped his fingers underneath the shell, fondling the roof light on and off. The interior light reflected off the pair of tempting doors sticking out of Prowl's side. Sideswipe turned his attention on Prowl's shoulder tires, ignoring those perfect, shining panels. He traced the tread on first one, than the other tire, reaching around Prowl's doorwings.
Prowl continued his motions, each shot carefully placed. He moved his doorwings out of Sideswipe's way, the only concession he gave the warrior's attentions.
Sideswipe draped an arm over Prowl's shoulder, to reach the tire on the other side. He nibbled at the plain tire rims and moved to attend the tactician's silver neck.
"You're getting in my way," Prowl said in his no-nonsense voice. The light shining on his doorwings flicked off.
"So, it's working." The cheeky twin grinned at the tactician.
Prowl huffed. "No, you're just getting in my way." His optics flashed in a playful wink. "Pest." He pushed Sideswipe out of the way and resumed firing.
Slag you Prowl, I'm going to win this.
Black fingers squealed their way up to grip the edges of the black and white door panels. He plucked at the door handles, enjoying the sound of them slamming back into place. Prowl's doorwings twitched. The Lamborghini rubbed the panel backs, the leather padding soft on his hands.
"Sideswipe…" The muzzle of Prowl's gun wavered.
The red twin slid his hands down into the joints on Prowl's side. "What?"
Though Prowl squeezed the trigger, Sideswipe knew his cortex wasn't on the target as the shot hit the ground a few yards to the left. "That's cheating."
"So?" Sideswipe stroked the hinges, fingering wires. "It works."
Prowl glanced over his shoulder, lowering the gun with a mock-resigned sigh. "Fine. You win." The rifle vanished into a subspace pocket.
Sideswipe leaned closer to kiss Prowl's lips, his fingers curling over the tactician's neck. His voice rumbled with the sound of his engine. "Good it's about time."
They parted long enough for Prowl to turn without hitting Sideswipe with his doorwings. Then they pressed against one another, metal squealing together in a rapturous orchestra. Engines purred in anticipation. Sideswipe dragged his hands over the black and white body, panting as Prowl pried at sensitive seams. Percussive bangs rang in his audios as metal bent under the tactician's careful fingers.
Sideswipe moaned, scraping up and down Prowl's waist, pulling along hypersensitive ridges that tracked balance and pressure. He grabbed Prowl's shoulder tires, squeezing the soft rubber. He pushed Prowl toward the trees, further out of sight of the Ark.
Prowl went along, unresisting, and picked right back up where he left off when Sideswipe finally stopped. He briefly thought of reminding the tactician that they were still close to the Ark, but that thought died as Prowl wrapped his fingers around the latch that held his launcher in place.
The two lovers wrapped each other up, caressing and kissing. They stood, precariously balanced, legs entangled. Fingers scraped and screeched in desperation.
Sideswipe reached up, splaying his hands against the police car's doorwings. He ranged his fingers down to the vulnerable hinges, digging deeper, into wire and tubing.
Prowl whined, and his legs gave out, toppling them both over.
Sideswipe yelped, yanking his hands away and shaking his fingers. "Primus slaggit! Ow!" He flexed his dented digits, wondering how he could explain this to Ratchet. Somehow saying that he jammed them in Prowl's doors didn't seem like a good idea.
White fingers grabbed Sideswipe's hands and Prowl examined the injured fingers with gentle strokes. "Sorry."
"I know they're sensitive, but Primus-ow! Watch it." Sideswipe winced and took his hands back, rubbing along his joints.
Prowl scooted out from under Sideswipe, an uneasy expression on his face.
Sideswipe regarded the tactician with a frown. "Something wrong?"
The black and white mech shrugged, turning to glance toward the Ark. "I guess they're still a little sore from repairs."
"Should Ratchet look at them, and make sure everything's okay?" Sideswipe looked his fingers over, as though he expected them to be covered with energon.
"No… it's fine. Just leave them alone." Prowl kissed the red twin, effectively shutting him up.
The Datsun pushed Sideswipe down, straddling the warrior's hips. He leaned down, tracing a finger along the edges of Sideswipe's pop up headlights. "This way I won't land on your fingers, again."
Sideswipe chuckled, gyrating his hips in a distinctly human fashion. Just to irritate Prowl. The Datsun leaned forward, one finger on Sideswipe's chassis. "Stop that."
The red twin pulled Prowl down for a kiss. "Or else what, Prowl?" he murmured, grinning.
"Or else," Prowl paused and tilted his head in thought, "I'll restrict you from watching any television for a month."
Sideswipe chuckled and nuzzled Prowl's cheek. His hands roamed the black and white body, pausing to attend responsive areas. "How will you manage that? My quarters have a monitor, and so does the rec room."
The tactician's lips pressed against Sideswipe's chest, fingers digging into abdominal plating. "Mine doesn't."
"Aw, but Sunny won't let me sleep over at anyone else's quarters. He needs me there or he can't recharge."
"You're incorrigible, Sides." Prowl's engine revved. He caressed Sideswipe's horns, sending a pleasurable feedback into his receptors.
Sideswipe leaned his head back into the white hands, inviting them to stroke his helmet. He kissed the black arms, panting with desire. His hands traveled up to fondle Prowl's doorwings and finger the joints.
Prowl grabbed Sideswipe's wrists and shoved his hands to the ground. "If you do that again, I'm going to slap handcuffs on you."
Sideswipe couldn't help the grin that broke across his face. "Gonna chain me to the trees, too?"
"Why do I even bother?"
Sideswipe wanted more than caresses and sensory stimulation. He longed for the exchange that interfacing allowed: knowing just what his caresses were doing to the black and white mech, reliving memories. But they couldn't afford to let their guard down that much, it would be too easy for someone to walk up and catch them. Autobot or Decepticon, it would be very bad for them.
Systems overloaded, leaving them both limp. Sideswipe shook the static out of his vision, and ran a finger down Prowl's cheek. The tactician jumped, jerking away. Sideswipe's brow furrowed until Prowl settled himself back down. The red twin cradled an arm around the Datsun and wondered what had his lover so disturbed.
Author's Notes II: They deserved this after last chapter, or at least Prowl did. Next chapter will begin The Reckoning(as dubbed by VAWitch XD)
