Swindle & Wasp – The Difficulty in Finding What They Call "Beautiful"
Chapter 11

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Wasp left a few cycles later to retrieve the energon, leaving Swindle once again alone with his thoughts. Thoughts which were, at the moment, regarding nothing so deep as his own or Wasp's background, or the difficult feelings of having been raped, but of how much pain he was in and, consequently, how much he would really like to kill Lockdown for causing it.

He was still very stiff, and even after another dose of Nebulon medicine — from the blue-labeled bottle, of course — the pain still dogged him in the form of a dull, throbbing ache. His entire body felt sore, the scars from Lockdown's hook present across his plating, but nothing felt worse than his torn and battered port.

Like any creature in pain, the merchant felt the incessant urge to rub or scratch at his wounds and the itchy, chaffing bandages Wasp had applied. Lifting his arm caused a dull pain to resonate in his body, and touching the wounds hurt even more, so in the long run making the effort just wasn't worth it. Somehow, he'd have to overcome that overwhelming natural urge to just scratch.

Just what the hell was he thinking, pulling a stunt like that? Swindle thought bitterly, trying to redirect his attention away from his need to mess with his hurts. Oh man, if I ever get my hands on that double-crossing bastard, I swear to Primus and God and Money and all those other deities I'm gonna…

He paused.

Wait. Just why had Lockdown gone and done that? Well, certainly he was a sadistic, bloodthirsty fellow whose idea of a good time typically involved alcohol, bondage, disembowelment, or some combination of the three, and, knowing Lockdown, it was entirely possible that he'd just done it on a whim. After all, he wasn't too sharp when it came to business, considering that he valued his stupid upgrade 'trophies' more than things like money and his own business partners (something Swindle could never understand, personally). It probably wouldn't matter to him if Swindle stopped doing business with him altogether, seeing as he could just nab upgrades from his victims.

But then again, he had never really thought the bounty hunter to be quite so spontaneous. Really, he would've thought that if Lockdown had intended to rape him, he would've made some preparations first, brought him onto his ship and chained him up or something. On the other hand, maybe he'd been thinking about this for a while and figured it would be better raw.

Swindle sighed. Okay, now he was just over-thinking things. That was a little on the side of ridiculous.

Besides, he could wonder all day and all night and never be able to understand the baffling workings of the black mech's processor. Lockdown would act suave and calm one moment and, well, do things like that the next.

Swindle lifted his helm, hearing the sound of quiet footsteps heading down the stairs towards him.

"Ah, there you are." Swindle greeted, grinning. "I was beginning to get worried."

"Pfft." Wasp snorted. "Swindle-bot cut the crap, Wasp was only gone couple of cycles."

He sat down on the floor next to Swindle and handed him his energon. Then, the striped ex-Autobot set himself to greedily downing a cube of his own, apparently trying to see if he could consume all of it in fifteen kliks or less.

"You know, nobody's gonna take it if you don't finish it right away," Swindle said.

Wasp snorted at him again, but otherwise didn't respond. The two finished the rest of their energon in silence, each preoccupied thinking about the other and the mysteries he so carefully concealed.

It was Wasp who finally broke that silence, but he didn't mention what was really on his mind, instead simply asking, "So, how long 'til ship reaches doctor?"

"Oh, it shouldn't be too long." Swindle answered nonchalantly. "We'll probably get there by this evening."

"Who is this doctor, anyhow?" Wasp asked. "Friend of Swindle-bot's?"

"Yeah, an old pal of mine from way back when." Swindle replied, setting his half-empty cube aside. "Autobot, actually. Owes me a favor."

"Of course," Wasp said. "Everybody owes Swindle-bot something."

Swindle laughed. "It's better than things being the other way around!"

"True enough," Wasp answered, shrugging.

Swindle settled back into his cushion, looking intently over at Wasp. The ex-Autobot's optics focused on his, unblinking, just as they had done earlier. There was something strange about this sort of optical sensor contact, and whatever it was, Swindle didn't like it.

"So, what happens after we leave the doctor's?" Wasp asked.

"Well, I have a few more clients lined up, and then I think I mentioned before that we'll be heading through some backwoods galaxy on the way to the next stop." Swindle explained, his voice slightly distant. "We'll be visiting a few planets here and there, and I guess somewhere along the way, I'll drop you off."

"Wasp understands." Wasp answered, giving a nod. He still didn't break that optic contact, and Swindle was beginning to grow strangely unnerved by it. What the hell was this?

"What kind of place should I leave you at?" Swindle asked. Not that it mattered; whatever planet he chose, he'd be sold and gone long before the ship ever came within its orbit.

"Wasp doesn't really care." Wasp said, shrugging. "Wasp has only one goal: find Bumble-bot. And maybe Sarge-bot too, if he get the chance."

Swindle looked at him with a lopsided smirk. "So, you really don't have any plans past that? You can't very well go through life with such an empty goal."

Wasp glared at him. "Oh yeah? Then what's Swindle-bot's goal, if he's so smart?"

"I'm gonna retire young and rich as hell." Swindle answered, a smooth grin on his face and in his flowing voice. "Can't you just picture it, livin' easy on the beaches of Nebulos or off on some out-of-the-way aquatic moon? Or maybe even Earth; you'd be pretty well out of the way there, and they've got plenty of nice property available."

Wasp shuddered. Too much water for his taste. Swindle ignored it and continued all the same.

"I'll have more femmes and servants than you can even count," he went on, as proudly as if he already had this stuff in the bag, "and all the luxuries money can buy. It's gonna be my own little piece of paradise."

"So, that's what all Swindle-bot's money is for?" Wasp asked.

"Pretty much." Swindle answered.

"But doesn't Swindle-bot already have enough credits for all that?"

"Wasp, my friend, I won't have enough money until I can never run out."

"Ah." Wasp nodded to show that he understood. "But won't Swindle-bot get lonely with all that money and no company?"

Swindle looked a bit confused by the question. "I won't get but so lonely with all those servants and whatnot." He said. "Besides that, I already spend my days on an empty ship."

"No you don't."

"Don't I?"

"No," Wasp said, his expression serious, "you have a passenger."

Swindle fell silent as he considered this. It was a strange answer, to be sure. What did Wasp care, one way or the other? Why the hell would it matter if he was just going to be dropping him off soon? While it was true that they had spent the past several lunar cycles together, it wasn't as if this was a permanent arrangement or anything. In fact, he would probably meet with the buyer just as soon as he was out of the hospital, and after that…

The strangest thing happened then.

Swindle was no longer lying on the ground. In fact, he was sitting up, hunched forward, his pain dulled away by the medicine. His treacherous servo was cupping Wasp's cheek, the other cradling the small of his back. His lips were pressed to Wasp's, his helm pushing lightly into the contact.

Wasp's optics went bright, and he gave a quiet sound something like a yip. He dropped the empty cube with a soft clatter to the ground. Then, slowly, he reached up, placing his servos on Swindle's sides as far back as he could reach, and leaned forward, pressing into the kiss.

When finally they parted, they hovered just inches from one another, staring into one another's optics, air rushing through their vents, emotions a tangle in their minds and sparks.

"Swindle-bot?" Wasp whispered breathlessly.

Something had changed irrevocably. Those feelings had not just been a passing fancy. Something was terribly wrong, and there was nothing Swindle could possibly do to fix that. He had succumbed to something even stronger than his greed, and it was something he could not even hope to name. But how, how had this happened? How could he continue? Was this something his doctor friend could give him a pill for?

Swindle pressed his lips against Wasp's once again, holding him close. Even if he could not name it, he could at least enjoy it, for now.