~O~

Beso

There was a festival that night in Iacon City.

It allowed femmes and mechs a chance to celebrate the anniversary of the Birth of Primus. It was a perfect time for mechs from higher status and lower class to meet once in a cycle. To Red Alert, it was the one night where social status didn't matter.

Soundwave wandered the streets and was taken aside by a femme from the miner class. She was known as Timbre and a Demolition's Expert. Red Alert found her antics amusing, especially when she had thrown her High Grade at Knock Out during one of his races.

Rodimus sat with Hot Shot.

"Hey, is she still not speaking to you?" Hot Shot laughed.

Rodimus gave him a dirty look.

"That's a yes, then." Hot Shot teased, elbowing his friend.

Chromia walked by them with Ironhide by her side. "Have you two seen Red anywhere?" she asked, over the roar of music playing behind them.

"I thought she was with you!" Hot Shot yelled.

Sill and Phaeton were dancing in the crowd. "Sill, dear, we are to move like a well-oiled machine!" he yelled.

"The oil drained out of my crankcase years ago, Phaeton!"

"Sweet spark, just apologize!"

"I didn't do anything wrong!"

"WHAT?!"

Phaeton tried to hear her, craning his helm.

"I said, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"

"What? No thanks! I already emptied my tank before we got here!"

Sill rolled her optics, giving up on the idea.

Meanwhile, Red Alert had taken Shockwave to the festival. She offered to dance with him, much to his uncertainty. He wasn't familiar with such a practice.

"Well, hold your hand out like this," she instructed, guiding his left hand outward. "And your other around my waist. See? Yeah, that's good!"

Shockwave seemed to get the hang of dancing with her, but constantly stepped on her pedes. Red Alert winced and decided to stand on his to prevent that from happening again. She laughed with delight.

"Don't think, just move." she told him.

Shockwave stared down at her, watching her happy expression. She was pleased with him. That much was definitely true. He found himself able to relax, despite the stares they were getting from others around them. Especially Rodimus, who had been consuming far too many Energon drinks.

He scowled and set his drink down, walking toward the scene. Hot Shot saw this and quickly addressed the vendor.

"Hold on," he said, "My friend is about to do something stupid. I gotta stop him."

Rodimus walked right up to Shockwave and punched him in the face. That caused chaos around them and the music abruptly died down. Several mechs and femmes scattered when Shockwave staggered back, holding his helm with one hand. Red Alert looked stunned.

"Rodimus, what the frag are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

Rodimus raised his fists. "Red, I'm doing this for your own good!" he slurred. "This...freak isn't good for you!"

"Just stop!" she ordered. "You're overcharged! Don't do this in front of everyone!"

Rodimus ignored her and swung again, punching Shockwave in the face once more. The larger mech was thrown backwards and several cheers erupted from the crowds. Others didn't seem so thrilled. In fact, they looked rather piteous for Shockwave.

"Come on, big guy!" Rodimus taunted, drunkenly.

Shockwave let out a low hiss, the side of his helm leaking bright blue fluid. He charged and swung, punching Rodimus hard in the face. The sound of startled cries erupted from the crowd. Rodimus tried to recover, but the larger bot moved faster than he expected.

"I was trained by the great Jhiaxus, fool!" Shockwave whispered. "Did you think me weak as you?"

That did it.

Rodimus let out a shout of fury and charged, but his movements were sloppy, ungraceful and clumsy from his consumption of Energon.

"Both of you, stop!" Red Alert tried to restore order.

Shockwave grabbed Rodimus' fist when the bot charged and began to squeeze. Others tried to pull him from the smaller bot, but Shockwave's strength was slowly crushing the younger bot's hand. Rodimus beat and clawed at him, kicking him a few times, but Shockwave would not let go.

Another hiss escaped him and Red Alert tried to pry his claws from Rodimus' soaked hand as they sliced through the protoflesh.

"Shockwave, stop!" she shouted.

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded and the chaos died down. All bots and femmes turned to see Barricade standing there with a laser pistol smoking above him; he stood with several fellow officers, including his brother Prowl.

"I'm trying to decide what to arrest all of you for - obstruction of peace, public disturbance or just being a collection of pains in my aft!"

Rodimus let out a groan when Shockwave released him before gripping his wounded arm. He pointed coldly at the larger mech.

"Arrest him! He attacked me!" he shouted.

"That's a load of slag!" a bot in the crowd piped up.

Barricade glanced at him, and then to Shockwave, who stared back, wondering what the Chief of Security was going to do.

"Really?" the bot snorted. "Big Bad Rodimus got beat up by Shockwave? That can't be true. I thought for sure you were the toughest of the tough."

Rodimus grumbled lowly, still gripping his hand.

"I think you need to take a night in the tank to relax, tough guy," Barricade sneered, "And the rest of us will have a moment of silence for your dignity."

Rodimus was led away by Prowl and Barricade approached Shockwave.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Shockwave nodded. "Yes."

"He's been acting like a lunatic for a while." Barricade murmured with dismay. "I saw him attack you before I stepped in."

Red Alert frowned. "Why didn't you do it sooner?"

Barricade smiled and shrugged. "He needed a good aft beating to knock some sense into him."

Red Alert would have been thankful to avoid a conflict all together. Instead, she decided to forget about it and just take Shockwave elsewhere to have him repaired.

O

Red Alert took him to her office later and worked on cleaning the cracks in his helm before applying sealant. She looked troubled by Shockwave's silence.

"I'm sorry." she said. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

Shockwave was still silent.

Red Alert pursed her lips, touching up the final cracks around his optic. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I wish I could say anything else to make it better."

"I should have stayed silent."

Red Alert blinked once. Twice. She was stunned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It is my doing for making the effort." Shockwave said, quietly. "If I had simply just ignored my pathetic yearnings, this would not have happened. They would have left you alone and I would have been alone."

Red Alert couldn't believe what she had just heard. Did he regret ever coming to her? For some reason, that actually hurt a little. But instead of letting him see it, she let out a small sigh and nodded her head. Her vocals fought to maintain themselves from breaking a little.

"Would you...like to stop seeing me?" she asked, softly. "Would it be easier that way?"

"No." Shockwave suddenly said. His vocals were still stoic, but he spoke more quick than usual. "That is not what I meant. Perhaps I should have clarified. You seemed more suitable when I had not spoken to you. I considered the absence of us the most logical course of action."

Red Alert relaxed now. She actually smiled.

"So you're saying you think it would be easy for me if you just didn't see me anymore?"

Shockwave nodded.

"Luckily for you, I can handle myself." Red Alert laughed. "And from the looks of things, you can do. I've never seen anyone hit hard like that. Jhiaxus certainly trained you well."

"He had taught me all the ways of the warrior, not just the scientist." Shockwave replied, internally glad to have changed the subject, "It is most unfortunate that my ability to maintain my logical way of thinking was nearly diminished."

Red Alert's smile disappeared. That was concerning.

"It'll be okay," she assured him, "I won't let that happen."

She reached up, holding his helm in both hands before closing her optics and placing a gentle kiss on the place above his optic.

Shockwave stared at her when she parted and this was the one time she wished she knew what he was thinking when she kissed him. His optic flickered with soft red light and when she looked closer, she could see a faint swirl of violet in the center.

Shockwave reached up with one clawed hand and rested it against her cheek. He leaned forward and despite not having a mouth, rubbed his helm against her cheek, as if he had. But Red Alert didn't care. The gesture was tender no matter what.

A smile touched her face.

"I feel cursed for being incapable of returning the gesture." Shockwave murmured, mild dismay in his vocals.

Red Alert chuckled gently and shook her head. "You are you, Shockwave." she assured him. "Don't be anything less than who you are."

Shockwave's antenna flicked once as he studied her.

"That is most logical." he replied.

Red Alert smiled once more. "Most logical indeed."

She gave him another kiss.

O

Note - Beso is Spanish for "Kiss". Hey, I had Timbre mentioned in this. Go figure. LOL.