Code of Honour
Chapter Eight
Misunderstandings and Maintenance
'Crap!' thought Sam as Barricade stopped and turned off his engine. 'Now I've really offended him and I don't even know how or why!'
Sam cringed, fully expecting that Barricade would at lest dump him out of his door, and might even forget he was supposed to be protecting Sam, and stomp him flat. None of this happened, however, and Sam opened one eye cautiously, to see the holoform regarding him impassively. Then Barricade spoke, and it's voice conveyed the emotion Barricade was unable to reproduce in the holoform's face at that time.
"You-you want me-to teach you?' he said, disgust, disbelief and amazement all conveyed in his vocal tones. Sam was confused. Why was a simple request to be taught where else on a mech was sensitive causing such a reaction? Sam figured he had best explain.
"Look, I want to be able to make Bumblebee happy I want to be able to stroke and caress him in a manner he finds enjoyable. He's been so good to me, and I want to show my appreciation of him by giving him some form of pleasure. Do you find my request for more information offensive, somehow? I'm sorry if I've inadvertently broken some sort of taboo."
Sam actually felt Barricade relax beneath him, the seat softening, the seatbelt loosening slightly over his chest.
"You-are asking for a verbal explanation of some sort? I explained the difficulties with the non-comparable body parts." Barricade said.
"Than can't you point to the requisite part on your own body, and tell me what you call it? If I learn from you what parts are what, then you can tell me "touch the so-and-so" and I'll know what you mean."
Barricade relaxed further. "I am sorry, Sam, my reaction to your request is merely my response to something you asked. It is a cultural misunderstanding. In Cybertronian society, a request from a younger or inexperienced mech or femme to an older or more experienced one to be 'taught' or to 'teach them' about physical intimacy is a request for a…..hands-on, practical demonstration by the teacher to the student."
Sam grimaced, feeling a bit queasy at the scene that evoked in his mind.
"Oh nonononono!" he said, feeling slightly panicked. "I take it you're not talking about using a hologram, so the size difference alone would be a major problem!" Personally, Sam didn't want to get that intimate with Barricade in robot form or holoform, but didn't want to risk offending Barricade by saying so. He sweated, hoping that Barricade wasn't going to say his honour code made him obligated to 'teach' Sam, for Sam had not understood what that phrasing meant to a Cybertronian. He looked up, to see the holoform still regarding him dispassionately. A blue beam leaped from under Barricade's steering column, playing over Sam for a few seconds.
"Scans show that your blood pressure is rising, the capillaries in your skin are narrowing, there is adrenaline being released into your system, you are sweating, your pupils are dilating and your heart rate has doubled. I surmise from this that you are as disturbed by the idea of such intimate contact as I." Barricade stated. Then, Barricade spoke again.
"As you are requesting information relating to stroking only, that level of physical contact would be tolerable. If you wish, you can…experiment with certain levels of pressure and types of touch on me. After all, your Autobot guardian and I are of a very similar pattern. It is likely that where I enjoy being touched would also be where he would enjoy being touched. In a similar way, I can tell you how much pressure to apply, tell you if you are being too light with your touch." he chuckled. "I do not think it likely that your touch would be too firm, at least not on the hide." Barricade started his engine again, pulling back onto the highway.
"So-I could touch or stroke you somewhere, and you could tell me if it felt nice, huh?" asked Sam. Somehow, thinking of it in terms of learning how to delight Bumblebee - and knowing Barricade neither expected nor wanted to do anything more intimate - was acceptable, reassuring and a little exciting to Sam.
"Yes, that is it exactly." said Barricade. He pulled off at the next turning. "In fact, I know a place where we can go now, to begin, if that is what you want to do. It is sufficiently isolated so that we would not be observed."
"Why not?" said Sam, taking a deep breath and leaning back, closing his eyes.
Barricade reached the, as promised, isolated place, let Sam out, and transformed into robot form.
"It would be best to do this in bipedal mode only. In car mode, the hood is full of sensors, and so is much of the interior, but you would not want to distract your guardian while he is driving you around." Barricade chuckled again. Then he lay down.
An hour later, Sam was sat on Barricade's chest, running his hands, fingers together, in firm, sweeping strokes down the hide. Barricade stretched, and chuckled.
"That's better, I can actually feel it properly now, you were tickling me last time. That's why I jerked and you fell off." Sam grinned sheepishly, and repeated the caress at the firm level Barricade had approved of; the black-and-white Decepticon sighed and shuttered his optics As Sam continued to practice the stroking.
If the truth was to be known-and Barricade had no intention of telling Sam-he was actually enjoying the contact. Over the week or so that he had been with Sam, Barricade had, to his surprise, found the boy's fleshiness and even his sweaty secretions, to be bearable. It helped that Sam knew he sweated a lot at times, and he usually showered every day, and changed his T-shirt every other day, or every day if he'd exerted himself more than usual. For a squishy, Barricade reflected - no, he mustn't risk calling Sam that out loud, so he should try and think of Sam in less offensive terms - for a human, Sam was quite fastidious and was at least concerned enough for Barricade's comfort that he tried to avoid getting his sweat on Barricade.
Another thing that Barricade would not be telling Sam was that he was lonely. With Starscream gone into space, and Scorponok (as fare as he knew) still in Qatar, he had, before Sam had saved his life, been alone. It had not been so bad in the earlier days,. For at lest then he still had Frenzy, but Frenzy was dead, and the loneliness had began to make Barricade wish that he had perished too. Being with Sam also had the benefit of having Bumblebee around some of the time, too. As an Autobot, Bumblebee was still an enemy, but he was also one of his own kind, someone he could talk about Cybertron too, and Cybertronian issues, someone with a common frame of reference.
That didn't mean, Barricade reflected, that he couldn't talk of similar issues to Sam and his mate, in fact for a backwards form of life with a comparatively low level of technological achievement, Sam someti8mes came up with insightful comments, and the complexity of some of these sometimes surprised the Decepticon. No, the only problem with talking to Sam about Cybertron was that Sam had not experienced it, so could not talk about it the way he and Bumblebee could. Barricade may dislike flesh-creatures and Autobots, but he hated being alone more so. Contact with Sam and Bumblebee was preferable to no contact at all.
"Ask your Autobot guardian if he would mind you sliding your hands under his plating, and stroking the cables and wires you would find there." Barricade said. "Be sure to ask, because some find allowing access to delicate systems that could be damaged by rough handling difficult. If he allows it, run your hands along the wires and straighten out any kinks. Kinking of wires happens, and without regular correction, could become a problem over time. Pinched cables are another problem that small and dexterous hands such as yours could locate and correct. If he allows you to do so, he will be thankful for your attentions."
Sam sat up. "I would appreciate the chance to practice it first, if I may." he said. "May I go under your plating and straighten your wires, Barricade? I promise to be gentle and careful."
Perhaps if Frenzy, who had regularly performed this service for Barricade, had still been alive, Barricade would have refused Sam's request. However, Frenzy was dead, and Barricade had not had his wires unkinked for months.
"Yes, you may." he said, and relaxed his chest plating as Sam slid down onto Barricade's stomach and slid his hands under his chest plating.
He sighed and stretched as he felt the boy's dextrous fingers slide long his cables and wires, very gently, as promised, straightening kinks and bends, carefully freeing anything that seemed wedged or tightly compressed. The boy's flesh-and-bone organic digits were nimble, and so good at finding, and rectifying, his wire problems. As Sam stretched his arms under to reach further, Barricade could not resist the tremor that ran through his frame, and he carefully used one hand to hold Sam gently against his stomach lest it shake him off, quickly removing it when the boy stiffened. Barricade surmised that his size was probably of concern to Sam.
When Sam offered to do the same on his back, Barricade allowed Sam to slide off, and shifted to lie on his front. Sam climbed onto Barricade's back, and began to perform the same service under his back plates, and Barricade shuddered again as Sam's fingers ran up a particularly sensitive cable. His engine purred, revved, and then he spoke.
"Samuel." he whispered.
Sam started as Barricade spoke his name. He pulled his hands back. He was unused to being addressed by his full name, when his parents did, it usually meant he was in trouble.
"Uh-Barricade?" he asked. "Sorry-have I done something wrong?"
"No, I apologise, please do not stop." Barricade said.
Tentatively, Sam reached under again, this time stroking the wires he had already straightened, caressing them teasingly. Barricade could not control his reaction, bending his fingers and digging them into the dirt as his back arched - Sam managed to keep his balance - and he cried out wordlessly in pleasure.
"You like that, huh?" asked Sam, his hands lingering and backtracking the way they had come.
"Yesss!" hissed Barricade, neither noticing nor caring that this could be seen and exploited as a weakness at a later time. Sam's hands slid back and forth until Barricade was limply lying on the grass, only the odd quiver telling Sam that barricade was still online. Then he allowed his hands to continue unlinking and straightening, as Barricade recovered.
Sam stood up, and waited for Barricade to do the same, which, after a while, he did. He stood, and then stooped, carefully picking Sam up in one hand to lift him up to look at him. Sam, to his credit, didn't flinch.
"Thank you, Sam, that was most enjoyable, I am certain that Bumblebee will find your clever hands very enjoyable." said barricade, suppressing the pang of jealousy the thought of Sam working on Bumblebee's wires evoked. As a plane began flying overhead, Barricade had to raise his voice to be heard.
"I am grateful to you for doing this routine, essential, but low-level maintenance for me. Perhaps I could ask you to keep it up while we can still be friends?"
"Barricade!" Sam cried, which was the only warning he received as a shadow passed over them, and then the F-22 that had just passed over flipped and changed, landing directly in front of them.
"Well done, Barricade, you have captured the filthy little fleshling who lost us the AllSpark." Starscream said to Barricade. He reached out his hand.
"Give him to me, I shall destroy him myself for humiliating us, and personally deliver his body to that Autobot who is supposed to be his protector. However, I shall make his death as slow and painful as possible." He reached out."Hand over the fleshling child, Barricade, no-one humiliates Starscream and goes unpunished."
