Review Response: Dear SunnySides, hey there! I have no idea. Maybe because humans don't have soul bonds that can help convey just what the other person is feeling? Thereby reducing the possibility for misunderstandings? I'm still working on the next chapter, but I'll get there.
Dear 3, greetings! (grins) Glad you think so!
Dear TFAN Override-Dragon Light, hello there! Ditto. Those kinds of arguments are NOT fun. It was no problem, keep up the good work!
Dear ohmygiddyaunt, hi! Thank you. By all means, remain a Hardwire fangirl! He needs them! Also, enjoy this new Hardwire/Arcee-centric one-shot!
Dear TransformersGeek, hello! Well, it is -technically- my job as a FanFiction writer to do so. (reads rest of post, facepalms and cackles hysterically) You know, I'm almost, ALMOST, tempted to do that just so I can write the reactions of the humans when Ironhide gets to Earth and says that, but I won't. It would be just too embarrassing for poor Hardwire.
Dear StormRaven333, hi there! Well, Sunstreaker is said to get really scary-looking when he's angry, and who's scarier than Megatron in the Transformers-verse? I loved writing that moment, where he knows its a stupid thing to feel but he's just can't help himself. (hides under the berth with you) Yeah, me too. Never tick off the good guys. Especially the ones who follow so many rules. I didn't mean to end on angst actually, it just ... happened. Oh well, at least you enjoyed it. Hope you enjoy this too!
Dear KHandFF7fanforever, greetings! Maybe someday. I wouldn't mind writing that one-shot, but for now I have to work on the next AMOSC chapter. I can tell you it that the meeting probably involved a lot of cursing, looming, and a grudging respect born from the fact that someone so tiny didn't even bat an optic about nailing Grimlock on the helm with a wrench to make him sit still.
Dear ME, hello! Well, Harmonies doesn't get updated as often, so it's not really a surprise that you missed it. Glad you enjoyed it so much! Amica Endura is a canon phrase from the IDW comics which basically entails the exposing of one's spark to another that you trust. In my head-canon (since I don't actually read the comics, I just found the term off the wiki) The sparks don't make physical contact, so the bond that forms isn't near as intensive as a sparkmate bond, but the energy the sparks give off when exposed do merge just enough to make something of an artificial sibling bond. Sorta the cybertronian version of a blood brother ritual. It isn't as strong as a real sibling bond, not enough to, for example, speak to one another over it, but basic impressions and very strong emotions can be conveyed. It's more a ritual to indicate extreme (even total) trust and friendship with another individual. Ah, okay. The reason I never really mentioned the twinlings backstory is because there isn't much of one to mention. They were the kids of neighbors who were really close to Hardwire's and Starwish's guardians. When they were infants, their house accidentally got set on fire (electrical failure or something) and their parents were unfortunately killed. Because of their close relationship to the deceased couple, Hardwire's guardians also gained custody of the twinlings and the rest is history. Fun Fact, the scar on Hardwire's left shoulder-plate is one he acquired as a human by running into that very same fire to save the twinlings.
Author's Note: Okay! So, several of you here on FanFiction requested that I write a one-shot of how Hardwire and Arcee started to court. I wasn't particularly inspired to write it, but I was inspired just enough to give it a shot and so here you are, the story of how Hardwire asked Arcee to court him. I hope you like it, it was all my muses would give me.
Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, Cybertronian terms, or any references made in this story. The only things I own are my OCs who have run off with my plot.
Courted
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Arcee scowled as she stalked down the corridors of the Iacon main base. Her expression was dark enough to make even mechs twice her size step cautiously out of her way.
Hardwire was avoiding her.
She couldn't really believe that she had missed it for as long as she had, but there it was. When they were on mission, Hardwire was the same reckless idiot he always was. However, once they were back on base, he would disappear and refuse to actually stand and talk to her for more than a breem on the excuse that he had an extra shift or was running an errand or was just "busy".
At first she'd taken him seriously. He was her partner, and he had never lied to her before. But then as the cycles had turned to meta-cycles, then turned into an entire orn of the odd behavior, she had started to get some serious doubts. Now, a metacycle and an orn into Hardwire's steady avoidance of her, Arcee had had enough.
She pinged Hardwire's private com again, a low snarl slipping from her engine when he didn't answer. Of all the stupid, inconsiderate- Arcee stopped in the corridor to close her optics and vent deeply in an effort to contain her temper. She couldn't jump to conclusions and she couldn't let the bubbling feeling of hurt control her thoughts. She had to find Hardwire, corner him so that he couldn't get away, and then demand to know why he was really avoiding her.
She just hoped that it wasn't because he had grown tired of being her partner.
A familiar green helm, though not quite the one she was looking for, bobbed along down the corridor ahead of her and Arcee broke into a jog to catch up to it, "Hey, Bulkhead!"
Bulkhead stopped and turned around, a surprised look on his faceplates, "Oh, uh, hey, Arcee. Something you need?"
Arcee padded to stop in front of Bulkhead and propped her servos on her hips, exasperation and anger leaking into her tone, "Yeah, the location of, and a genuine conversation with, your roommate."
Bulkhead's faceplate's twisted in an expression of guilt and Arcee felt worry and hurt pang her spark, "I, uh, sorry Arcee, I don't really … know where he is right now."
"Really." Arcee subtly flared her armor in a show of dominance that had the already guilty mech cringing.
Bulkhead glanced around nervously, not meeting her gaze, "Uh, yeah, really."
Arcee shifted her arms to cross over her chest-plates, "You're a horrible liar, Bulkhead. Now where is he?"
Bulkhead groaned, shifting from pede to pede as he clearly struggled with what was more important, the trust of his roommate, or avoiding the wrath of Arcee? Finally his shoulder plates sagged and he said, "He headed down to level five…"
Arcee narrowed her optics in confusion, "Do you know why?"
A guilty look flashed across his faceplates again, "I … no. Not really."
Arcee leveled a dark glare on him, "Bulkhead…"
"I promised I wouldn't tell!" The large green mech blurted in distress. He glanced down at the floor unhappily, "Sorry, Arcee, but I promised so I just … can't."
Arcee reluctantly conceded, Bulkhead might be blunt and obvious as a smoking blaster, but he was honest and kept his promises as best he could. She wouldn't force him to tell her what her partner was up to. Forcing her partner on the other servo… "You said he went down to level five? Do you know what address specifically?"
Bulkhead shuffled a bit more before he bit out reluctantly, "Housing unit 209. It's on the first side road once you get off the exit." Arcee grunted an acknowledgement before she spun on her pede and hurried for the nearest exit, leaving a very guilty-looking Bulkhead behind. Finally. Now I'll see just what Hardwire's doing.
It was a several breem drive down to level five, during which Arcee continued to brood over Hardwire's avoidance of her outside of missions. By the time she had found the correct housing unit, Arcee was ready to pin Hardwire to the floor if that's what it took to get answers. Transforming out of her alt mode, Arcee marched up to the door and smacked the door buzzer far harder than was necessary. The thing obediently buzzed away as Arcee hit it twice more before she detected Hardwire's familiar pedesteps coming closer from within.
The door slid open to reveal her partner, who's optics immediately widened upon seeing her, "A-arcee-? What are you-?"
Arcee cut him off, "Oh no, you aren't the one asking the questions here, Hardwire, I am. I'm done with your excuses. Why have you been avoiding me?"
Hardwire's optic ridges pulled together in a frown that looked both worried and puzzled, "Avoiding you? I haven't been avoiding you, I told you I've been-"
"Busy. That excuse isn't going to work anymore Hardwire. It's been an orn and a metacycle now partner. I've tried to be patient and wait for you to stop being 'busy', but now I'm done. You're going to tell me what's really going on or so help me Primus I will-"
"Hardwire? Is everything alright?" The voice that came from farther down the hallway, soft, feminine and mostly unfamiliar, stopped Arcee mid-sentence. Something in Arcee's spark twisted and went cold as a very tall, delicate-looking femme with purple armor and soft pink highlights peaked out curiously from behind Hardwire.
Everything clicked into place in Arcee's processor and she distantly heard her voice go flat as she said, "Oh. I see."
Hardwire's expression twisted, "Arcee, I can explain-"
Arcee's lips twisted bitterly without her consent, "No, I already understand perfectly. I should have realized it sooner, in fact. I'll just leave you two alone now."
"Arcee-!"
"See you next assignment, Hardwire." With those parting words, Arcee whirled away, transforming and speeding off without waiting for Hardwire's reply. She drove without paying attention to where in the city she was going, her spark clenching in its chamber as she berated herself the entire time. Stupid femme. Glitching stupid femme. Of course he's courting someone else. It's not like he has any obligation to court you just because you're partners. Don't be glitched. You should be happy for him, if he's found his One in the middle of this Primus-forsaken war.
Her thoughts didn't change the feeling in her spark. If anything, the thought of Hardwire finding his One without telling her, without it being her, make something inside Arcee feel like it was offlining. She pulled off at a random exit, not caring about the disused and broken-down look of her surroundings as she transformed and started to walk. It shouldn't matter. You always knew something like this could happen, what with the rest of the Femme Contingent and the few remaining femme neutrals trickling in over the vorns. Why do you even care? He's just your mission partner, nothing more.
But it was something more. Something a lot more, in Arcee's mind. Up until the past orn, they had spent the majority of their off-duty time together. Training, talking, or just … being together. She didn't really know when it had happened, but at some point she had let Hardwire into her life. Even farther than she had let Tailgate in back before he'd offlined.
She had never said anything aloud, perhaps not even consciously realized it until just then, but at some point in her partnership with Hardwire, she'd come to assume that they were Ones. They just … they'd clicked so well. They had not been without their fair share of arguments, but they had always moved past those and with each resolved argument had just gotten closer. They'd … they'd clicked together like fitted pieces.
Or that had been what she'd thought at least. But it turned out she was wrong.
That realization hurt. A lot more than she'd ever believed it could. So much that she couldn't hold her usual tough facade, even to herself.
Tears pricked at her optics and she struggled vainly to not let them fall as she finally sat down on a piece of rubble and tried to get her raging spark under control. Why am I crying? Stop it. No crying. You're better than this. Tougher than this. Don't. Cry.
Arcee was unaware of just how much time had passed wrestling with herself until a sickeningly familiar engine rumbled up behind her and she heard the rattle of transformation. Arcee wiped a servo across her optics as she rasped, "Go away, Hardwire. Go back to your femme."
A low growl and pointedly loud pedesteps approaching was the only response to her order. Arcee's armor bristled defensively, but she didn't look up as Hardwire came to a stop in front of her. "Arcee-"
Arcee revved her engine, "I said go away, Hardwire."
"Well suck it up, because I'm not leaving until you've listened to what I have to say."
Arcee lifted her helm enough to shoot him a half-sparked glare, "Say what? That you found your One and that's why you've been too busy to talk to me? I understood that the klik I saw that femme. I'll leave you alone when you're off duty from now on so you'll have plenty of time to court her. Now just go away."
Hardwire crouched down in front of her and ran a servo over his helm, "Primus, 'Cee. Is that what you-? This isn't- It's not-." Hardwire hung his helm for a moment before he gave a broken-sounding bark of laughter, "This is not how this conversation was supposed to go."
Reaching out, Hardwire clasped one of Arcee's unresponsive servos, his firm grip keeping her from leaving as he gathered his thoughts. His voice was low and soft in a way that physically hurt Arcee now as he spoke, "You're right. I did find my One, and she is the reason I've been too busy to talk to you outside missions. For that, I am so, so sorry." Arcee's spark twisted again and she tried to pull away only for Hardwire to yank her back by the servo, "No, Arcee, listen to me. Listen to all my words. The femme you saw is called Amethyst Rose, she was a professional metalworker and jeweler before the war. She works as a blacksmith for the Autobots now."
Arcee didn't want to hear what he was saying, didn't want to know about the femme who had just wandered in and taken the position that Arcee had thought was hers. But Hardwire's grip on her servo was unbreakable short of actually attacking him, so she was forced to stand there and listen.
Hardwire's free servo came up and brushed away the few tears that had slipped free despite her efforts, "The reason I've been so busy is because I've been taking some of Amethyst Rose's work shifts, and gathering materials for her which I usually buy off other mechs by either giving them my energon, running errands for them, or covering some of their shifts too."
Arcee risked a glance at him as her spark-break shifted steadily to anger and she spat acidly, "So?"
Hardwire rolled his optics at her tone, "So, the reason I've been doing all of that is because I commissioned Amethyst Rose to make me a courting gift to present to my One. I was picking it up this cycle, actually."
Arcee frowned at him, an optic ridge going up as she drawled, "You commissioned her to make her own courting gift? Not very romantic, Hardwire."
Hardwire hung his helm for a moment in pure exasperation, "You really don't get it do you? Of course not. Stubborn femme, thinking you know everything…" Hardwire let go of her servo and took a step back, with the warning of, "Don't make me chase you down again or so help me 'Cee, I'll tell Moonracer who really stole her stash of energon goodies two orns ago."
Warning given, Hardwire unsubspaced a large package, opened it, and began laying out the contents piece by piece on the ground in front of Arcee. It took a few moments to realize what he was laying out, but when she did, Arcee felt her vents hitch at the sheer expense that something of such beauty and quality must have cost.
It was a complete set of femme armor. Its color was a bright, light blue with silver engravings that wound up and down each piece like some kind of intricate puzzle she couldn't quite unravel the meaning of no matter how hard she stared.
Silver lines wound and curled and spiked across the gauntlets, rising up to tangle themselves into strangely shaped knots on the shoulder plates. The strange knots were mirrored on the hip plating before separating at the leg pieces and resuming the incomprehensible curls, spikes, and crisscrosses that had been on the gauntlets and upper arm pieces.
It was entrancing to look at, but even more eye-catching than the winding silver patterns was the strange engraving in deep emerald over the chest plates and down the center of the stomach plating. It was like nothing that Arcee had ever seen before.
Huge emerald wings flared out across the breast plates and on either side of the collar armor. Attached to the wings was some kind of fierce creature, it's elongated helm and long neck arched over where the spark of the wearer would reside. Its silver teeth were bared in silent warning while silver flames gushed from its jaws. Two back legs extended out from its body, each pede equipped with four talons that, despite being a mere engraving, looked as if they were outstretched in preparation to rip apart whoever was unwary enough to approach without permission.
Below the legs snaked a long emerald tail, so long that it curled around the back plating before coming to rest its curled tip on the center of the stomach plating. Arcee trailed her fingertips across the emerald creature, optics wide as she took in the intricate craftsmanship of the set. "It's called a dragon."
Hardwire's low voice broke Arcee out of her reverie and she looked up at him sharply, "What?"
Hardwire tapped a single finger on the engraving of the creature, "This. It's called a dragon. It is said to fiercely guard treasure, destroying any that try to steal or damage its treasures. There are all kinds of different stories about dragons, but that is one of the universal traits dragon stories share."
Curiosity got the better of Arcee and she asked, "So why put it on the armor?"
Hardwire rubbed the back of his helm, a sheepish expression flickering over his faceplates as he answered, "Because my One is my treasure, and I want her to be well-protected."
Arcee felt her spark swell, then twist as she remembered Amethyst Rose, "I see…"
Hardwire's expression turned to one of exasperation, "You still don't get it do you? By the AllSpark." Picking up the breastplate, he held it up for her inspection and said pointedly, "Amethyst Rose is taller than you, Arcee. This set wouldn't fit her."
Arcee gave Hardwire a long look, not daring to voice the idea, the hope, that surged into her processor. With a low noise of fond irritation, Hardwire said flatly, "They're for you, Arcee."
Arcee felt her mouth flop open without her consent, trying desperately to say something but unable to say anything coherent past the flood of joy, embarrassment, and shock flooding her spark, "You- It- I-?"
Hardwire huffed faintly and held out the breastplate to her, his expression somehow fond, hopeful, and wary all at the same time, "Arcee, would you consent to my courtship?"
Arcee stared at the breastplate, then at Hardwire, then at the other pieces of armor on the ground, then back at Hardwire, words failing her completely. Finally, she reached out and took the offered breastplate, holding it close with one servo while the other traced reverent fingers over the engraved dragon. Hardwire's shoulder sagged with relief and a huge grin bloomed over his faceplates at her silent acceptance, "Thank you."
Arcee felt energon rush to her faceplates at the sheer happiness in his voice, "I- thank you. When I saw Amethyst Rose after you'd spent so long ignoring me I was so sure that-" her voice trailed off and she internally cursed herself. She could manage flawless battlefield banter, had known the mech in front of her for vorns, yet was now suddenly unable to put more than two sentences together?
Cycling her vents, Arcee gathered herself and said sternly, "No more keeping long-term secrets or avoiding me without an explanation -a real explanation- like that, partner."
Hardwire dipped his helm in agreement, the ecstatic smile never leaving his faceplates, "I promise." They both fell silent for several kliks, an oddly awkward atmosphere hanging over them as they tried to figure out what to do with their new status as Courter and Courted.
Then Hardwire growled softly and shook his helm, "This is fragging ridiculous. Here." Leaning forward, Hardwire suddenly pressed his lips against Arcee's cheek.
Arcee froze, her processor stuttering before it abruptly lurched back into motion and she snapped, "What the frag, Hardwire?"
Hardwire leaned back, utterly unrepentant, "Needed to break the tension somehow."
"So you decided to just up and kiss a femme without even asking whether or not she wanted one?"
His helm tilted to one side with false innocence, "So you didn't like it?"
Arcee flung her servos into the air, "That's not the point, 'Wire!"
"If I had asked you, would you have said no?"
"Well, no, but- you can't just- less than a breem after- you don't just-" She finally trailed off with a low growl and a pinch to her nasal ridge, "What happened to the timid, self-conscious gentlemech I met vorns ago?"
Hardwire rocked back on his heels, "He got partnered with a fierce, reckless femme with a tendency to jump off high buildings while in her alt mode. He also fell in love."
Arcee lowered the servo that had been pinching her nasal ridge, "You're the one with the tendency to jump off high buildings, 'Wire. I'm the one stuck with keeping your sorry aft alive after the fact."
Hardwire pointed at her with a finger, "There we go." Arcee blinked and shot him a puzzled look which Hardwire easily interpreted and answered, "The awkward tension is gone now." His expression briefly sobered, "I haven't spontaneously changed in the last three breems, Arcee, and neither have you. Our partnership- our relationship- is still the same as it ever was, as it should be, there's just … a new element to it."
Arcee felt something inside her relax as they began picking up the armor pieces so she could subspace them, "I thought becoming Courted was supposed to change everything and you were supposed to make my spark skip with romantic gestures."
Hardwire's expression flashed melancholy for the briefest nano-klik before his smile returned, "Why should everything change? Our friendship is why I fell in love with you in the first place. I might still try the spark-skipping gestures of romance though, just to make up for how off-track my courtship proposal went." He glanced to the side ruefully, "I had a romantic speech and setting all picked out too…"
Arcee snorted a laugh to cover up her flush, "You. Romantic? That would have been something to see."
Hardwire gave a half-sparked protest, "Oi. I'm not that incompetent. You liked the kiss well enough, didn't you?"
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They continued on in that manner all the way back to the base, laughing and teasing the entire time, easy in their relationship despite the abrupt change. Most of the Autobots on base didn't even notice that there had been a change between them. Well, except for Starwish, who gave Hardwire a knowing smile within breems of seeing them together the next cycle. She gave both of them well wishes for their happiness together, but once, only once, when Hardwire and Starwish were alone, she had hugged him tightly and whispered, "Nadine would have been so happy for you…"
Hardwire had hugged her back, but said nothing in return. He already knew that. He already knew that Nadine would have loved Arcee. If they had ever met, he was sure they would have become immediate and close friends. But that wasn't why he had chosen to court Arcee, that wasn't why he had fallen in love with Arcee.
Hardwire loved Arcee for Arcee, and while he would always cherish Nadine's memory, living in the Great War had taught Hardwire that the future may not be as long as you expect and clinging to the past would only rob you of the present you might have had. So while Hardwire would always remember … he would move on.
And he would do it with his partner by his side every step of the way.
