First Off

Time: Pre-Earth

Steel cables strained with the weight they were commanded to lift. Meter by meter the section of wall rose, accompanied by the whine of a surging vocalizer. Metal scrapped and dragged its way out from under the collapsed wall. Fingers clawed and grasped, pulling Sideswipe's substantial weight.

The red twin twisted, wincing and grunting as he forced his mangled legs over. They lay before him, spurting pink energon.

Prowl set the wall down as carefully as he lifted it, sliding himself down with his own twisted leg out in front of him.

The two mechs regarded each other, both unsure what exactly to make of the situation. Prowl reached over his shoulder to finger the crumpled metal of his doorwings. He winced, easing his doors back. His optics flickered with patterns. He frowned at the result. "Is your communicator working?"

Sideswipe focused on the Enforcer. "Wha-?" He shook his addled cranium clear. "My communicator?" He ran a quick diagnostic on the requested system. "No, it's slag."

Prowl nodded. "I thought as much." The tactician unsubspaced a beacon and activated it with stiff fingers.

Sideswipe moaned. "Great. How long do you think it'll take before they find us?"

Prowl shifted about, trying to get comfortable. "It'll take as long as it takes, I surmise."

"Slotted fragging prime," the warrior groaned.

Prowl's optics slid over the red frame, scrutinizing. "Do you have any other major damage besides your legs?"

Sideswipe pulled up a more intensive diagnostic. Well that's not going to cause a problem. Oh no, not at all. "Well, the good news is I don't have any major circuit damage."

Prowl tilted his head, his mangled chevron casting a disjointed shadow on his helm. "So what is damaged?"

Sideswipe frowned, trust Prowl to spoil any type of fun. "One of my intake's busted. Oh, and my internal repairs are having trouble stemming the flow of energon."

The tactician's optics flashed. "That is a problem. Here, see what you can do with this."

Sideswipe stared in disbelief as Prowl pulled out a redi medkit. "Do you have Prime's trailer in there, too?"

"It's called being prepare, Sideswipe. Perhaps it is a lesson you should learn." Prowl handed Sideswipe the medkit. "I'm sure you know what to do with that."

"Slag off," Sideswipe frowned, "sir."

Prowl cast his own glare at the warrior. Then he sat back and dimmed his optics.

Sideswipe grumbled into the ensuing silence. He quietly clamped the leaking lines in his legs, the flow automatically redirecting itself to avoid clogging his fuel lines. That took him all of a cycle and left him wheezing in pain. Trust pitspawn Prowl to make him tend his own injuries.

Sideswipe managed to stay still for another cycle, a cycle after his leg stopped throbbing. Prowl remained patiently quiet the entire time, contemplating whatever tacticians processed.

His fingers started first, twitching in a restless, rhythm-less beat. He shifted unable to find comfort in any position. He idly picked up one piece of debris after another, carelessly flinging them from him. His mood soured and darkened, his engine growling out his foul temper.

His fingers swept across the ground. He had cleared everything he could lift in the immediate area. His fingers clawed into the concrete floor, digging furrows into the stone. "Slaggit."

"Is there a problem?"

Sideswipe jerked his gaze to the unexpected voice. The tactician had been so quiet that Sideswipe had almost forgotten about him. Prowl regarded him with his ever-present frown in place.

"No." Sideswipe smacked the back of his helmet against the heavy rubble behind him. A sigh grated painfully out of his strained vent.

Rather than return to his quiet processing, Prowl shifted and dragged himself closer.

"Bored?"

Sideswipe glared at the second-in-command. "Amused I can't even pull a prank."

Prowl winced as his doorwings drew back. "Actually I hadn't even processed that thought." Prowl sat next to Sideswipe, with still a few meters between them. "I was wondering if you know how to play Firestorm?"

Sideswipe eyed the Enforcer. "Kinda, yeah. I've never played it by the rules though."

Prowl pulled a case out of subspace, its sides etched with complex mathematical designs. He balanced it on one leg and popped the case open.

"You're fragging sure you don't have Prime's trailer in there?"

"Yes Sideswipe," Prowl said with an edge of impatience. He pulled out and unfolded the board , then the second tier.

"You come prepared for a game in the middle of a battle?"

Prowl tilted his head, a smile turning the corners of his lips. "Well, I suppose I forgot to remove it from my subspace before we left." He plucked out and placed the little figures that represented the two armies.

Sideswipe watched Prowl scatter the figurines several times before he moved to help the tactician. "What's wrong with your fingers?"

Prowl continued removing the pieces, and directing Sideswipe in their proper placement. "I suppose I landed on them wrong. I cannot bend them like I should."

"You're not going to yell at me for crashing Downpour into that ledge?"

"No. I believe that having to spend an uncertain amount of time with me is punishment enough."

The flash of Prowl's optics made Sideswipe stiffen. Did Rod-Up-His-Aft Prowl just tell a joke? "I guess it's better you than Red. He'd be panicking at every little noise, even ones I can't hear."

Prowl turned his face, hiding his amusement behind his cheek guard. "At least you wouldn't be bored."

"No… but it'd be either me or Red coming out of this, one of us wouldn't last."

The tactician's optics brightened, though he didn't respond to the threat to another officer. "Why don't you show me the way you play. I'm interested in seeing other ways besides normal regulations. Then I shall show you the proper way of play."

They played through one round, Prowl sweeping through Sideswipe's defense and claiming the Core. Sideswipe reset the board and Prowl taught the slower method of the game. Again he swept through Sideswipe's forces, taking out the Airbarge, although it cost him three of his Ultra Convoys. Sideswipe glared at the board and reset the pieces.

They played in silence, Prowl moving his soldiers to his tactical advantage. Sideswipe watched the pieces sweep around his main force. A few guns and an Airbarge sat elsewhere, seemingly ignored in lieu of the contingent that closed in on the Core. Prowl moved his Guardian one block away from where it guarded the Core and wiped out the warrior's main force. Sideswipe smirked and his Airbarge and guns laid waste to the Guardian and Prowl's surrounding troops. Sideswipe lifted the empty core, triumph written on his face.

"Pity there's no grade for the winner."

Prowl stared at the pieces Sideswipe had 'destroyed.' "That was foolhardy. You couldn't know that I would move the Guardian in such a manner."

Sideswipe set the victory container back down and set up the board for another round. "It's called a gamble, Prowl. Try it some time."

Prowl lifted his gaze to meet Sideswipe's. "It's no wonder you need repairs after every battle. You sacrificed all of your troops…"
It wasn't the last time Sideswipe won against the tactician, but Prowl held his own and countered the unexpected maneuvers a number of times. Ironhide's face, when he finally stumbled across them, would have its own file in Prowl's memory banks. The Security Officer obviously hadn't been expecting to find the Toughline and the Enforcer softly laughing as they countered one another's moves.

Prowl just wished the delinquent would better spend his excess energy in similar pursuits. Surely Hound or Smokescreen wouldn't be adverse to approaching the warrior about future matches. It would keep Sideswipe out of trouble however briefly.

Prowl dimmed his optics, phrasing the report on the battle in his cortex for when he had a chance to lay it out on a datapad.

The medbay doors opened and admitted two sets of noisy feet. Sunstreaker's less than pleasant voice called out to his brother.

"You're a fragging idiot, Sides. What the slag were you thinking taking out Downpour like that?"

Springer laughed, tugging down the fist Sunstreaker shook at the red twin. "Aw, don't you think he's gotten enough, having to spend nearly a megacycle alone with Prowl."

Prowl caught the glance the red warrior threw at him. His doorwings twitched in response. It didn't matter to him what was said. He knew all about the names they called him when they thought he couldn't hear. They failed to take Red Alert's ever watchful surveillance into account. The Security Director often came to him, demanding he take the offenders to task. Prowl didn't really care what was said about him, he was used to it.

He ignored them, only taking into account that Springer's presence meant Ultra Magnus had arrived. He looked forward to a game with the field commander.
Prowl stepped into Prime's office, wondering what had prompted the summons. Ultra Magnus had left only a few cycles ago, taking a few of Prime's soldiers with him.

Optimus turned from the tactical maps behind his desk. He held a hand out to the chair on the other side of his desk.

The tactician sat down, his doorwings brushing the back of the chair. "Is there a problem, Prime?"

"Care to explain the meaning of this?"

Optimus nodded at the monitor on the wall. He tapped a few commands in.

An image appeared. Prowl and Sideswipe faced one another across a Firestorm board. One by one they maneuvered the pieces the prescribed spaces.

"We are playing Firestorm, sir," Prowl ventured. Prime tilted his masked chin down, waiting. Prowl stiffened at the unexpected scrutiny at what he considered an innocuous act. "I am testing a new disciplinary measure." Prime tapped his fingers in the desk. "It's considered a form of punishment by some of our more delinquent individuals to be forced to spend time with myself."

Optimus glanced at the monitor, just in time to catch Sideswipe chortling at some move Prowl had tried. "This is punishment?"

"Testing, sir."

The Autobot Commander turned from the screen. He sighed. "You understand where the problem lies?"

Prowl's door panels squeezed the back of the seat. "Yes, but-"

Prime slapped his hand down on the desk. "There has to be a line, Prowl." Optimus' tone softened. "For your sake, if not the unit's. How can you order a good friend into a dangerous situation? How can you maintain discipline when you are buddies with the offenders?"

Prowl held himself from sagging. Once Prime got started he was as unstoppable as a chain reaction. Prowl waited patiently through prime's lecture.

He knew it was illogical, but there was an intelligent spark underneath that mischievous core. He wanted to draw that potential out. It would make Sideswipe a much better soldier if he could plan out his moves to everyone's advantage.

"I understand, Prime," he said when Optimus finished speaking. "Like I said it was a test, I will not continue with that method."

Prowl didn't use Firestorm as a punishment again. Still Sideswipe continued to get into trouble and Prowl would linger while the warrior did one of many menial tasks. They spoke, mostly teasing each other for previous games, then for maneuvers out on the battlefield. Sideswipe became a good source for feeling out the morale of some of the quieter troops, like Bluestreak and Tracks, who, despite their rather vociferous personalities, never really voiced their opinion on the status of the war.

It took a while for Prowl to peel away the protective layers of the warrior's spark.

"Sideswipe."

The red warrior looked up, his mouth set in a frown. "What?"

"How did your spark become twinned?"

Sometimes when asked for one spark, Vector Sigma would instead give two. It happened so rarely, Prowl was surprised he hadn't found any mention of the Toughlines in any database.

Sideswipe stared ahead, his frown deepening. Prowl turned to leave, certain the secretive twin wouldn't be willing to divulge such personal information, especially when it involved his brother.

"We weren't…"

Prowl paused to look back. "We weren't twinned." His optics brightened and narrowed. "We were split. They were trying to make more units at a faster, more cost-effective rate." Sideswipe paused, his optics focused on distant, by all appearances, unpleasant, memories. "They decided the method was neither quicker, nor cheaper." His gaze dropped to the hand he flexed before him. "They decided the results were unstable," Sideswipe snapped the last word out, his dental plates clicking together.

"You were told this?" Prowl asked, surprised.

"Like we weren't even there," Sideswipe growled.

The tactician frowned, following what he knew of the twins to its logical conclusion. "What did you do?"

"Ever heard of Lab 328?"

He had, actually. "Ah, I see. Well, thank you." Prowl was aware of the warrior's gaze on him as he left.
Sideswipe wasn't quite sure what to make of Prowl's unexpected attention. It made him uncomfortable, but it was not wholly unwelcome. That surprised him. He did not hate or really like any of the officers, they were there, and told him what to do, pointed him and said 'have at it.'

They didn't converse with him. They didn't ask to play rounds of Firestorm or Blind Core. They didn't ask him personal questions.

And he didn't answer them.

Sideswipe found the tactician entering his processor at the most unusual times. It distracted him from whatever task he was currently attending.

Time spent with Smokescreen made him wonder how Prowl would feel against him….

Where'd that come from?

He didn't… Did he?

No. He didn't.

He didn't just want to feel the joints of…

Argh, stop it!

Sideswipe glared up at the bottom of Sunstreaker's bunk. What was going on? This was Prowl , for Primus ' sake. Prowl. Prime would have both their heads if he knew there was the smallest trace of feelings between them.

…

There weren't any feelings though right?

"Sideswipe stop banging your head against the berth."

The Enforcer next to him added a half-growled, half-muttered agreement. Smokescreen winked on optic on. A frown crossed his silver face, and his blue and white door panel twitched just the slightest. "You should be recharging, Sideswipe. Mandatory, remember."

The red twin frowned back at the other mech. It wasn't like he hadn't tried. But his shut down stalled with thoughts of Prowl. The sound of his voice reaching audios…

Sideswipe turned and kissed the blue and red mech. Anything to distract him from these disturbing thoughts.

Smokescreen shoved him away. "Sideswipe, recharge."

The Toughline scowled and slid off the berth instead. He tromped out of the room, earning another snarl from Sunstreaker, and also drawing one from Springer. He wandered the empty halls, aware of the cameras that traced his every move. He was certain he'd be reprimanded for it, if Red Alert didn't hunt him down. No, that would mean leaving his monitors. He wouldn't do that.

Sideswipe stopped by one of the few windows still unbarred. It looked down into what used to be a sculpted courtyard. Now, it served as one of the training areas. He leaned against the window sill, arms crossed over his chest.

The steady sound of footsteps drew him to his feet. Prowl turned a corner, heading directly for him. His doorwings angled back to mirror the irritation on his face.

"Sideswipe, you're scheduled for recharge, right now."

The warrior scowled at the other mech.

"If you don't return to your quarters and log off for the appropriate amount of time, I will be forced to reprimand you."

Sideswipe stepped up to the smaller mech, looming over him. "Then you'll have to reprimand me, sir."

Prowl stared up at him, arms crossed over his chestplate, although he didn't move back. His stern lips turned down. "Come to my office, Sideswipe."

The Enforcer brushed past the Toughline, his stride purposeful. Sideswipe glared after him, but followed. Great, now you just got yourself in trouble, idiot. That wasn't what he'd intended to do.

Sideswipe plopped into the chair in front of Prowl's desk.

"Why do you insist on testing me, Sideswipe?" Rather than sit in his chair, Prowl stood at Sideswipe's elbow.

The warrior shrugged, looking anywhere but at the tactician.

Prowl's doorwings drooped and he walked around his desk, brushing his fingers against the console. He resumed standing next to Sideswipe, though on his other side. "Sideswipe…"

The warrior looked up when the tactician trailed off. The corners of Prowl's mouth quirked as though he still argued with himself over what he wanted to say. Sideswipe realized that before this strange relationship started, Prowl would always carefully school his expression to stern neutrality.

Prowl's distant optics refocused on the warrior and his lips twitched one last time. "Sideswipe'" he started again, "I believe we are creating a problem, you and I."

Sideswipe frowned then set his expression to careful neutrality. "I-" the smart retort died on his lips. "Are you saying we're going to stop?"

Prowl's doorwings shuddered. "We should stop. We need to stop."

Sideswipe stared at Prowl from under his helmet, the frown finding its way back to his face.

"But I find myself unwilling to give this up," the tactician admitted. "I find you entering my processing at unexpected times." His engine rumbled with amusement.

Sideswipe stiffened. Prowl never showed his amusement, even when a smile touched his lips.

"You have been the cause of more than one shut down of my battle computer. I cannot continue to operate like this, Sideswipe."

"So… are we going to stop?" Sideswipe paused as a thought occurred to him. "Wait, why are we talking about this here?" He stiffened, glancing in alarm at the cameras.

Prowl tilted his gaze toward one camera. "A power surge knocked the cameras offline. The circuits will repair themselves in approximately ten breems."

Sieswipe leaned toward Prowl, wondering if some imposter had taken the tactician's place. "You taking lessons from me?" he whispered, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Prowl smiled, his optics glowing. "When Jazz is here, it's something he does. He hates Red Alert watching him."

"Ah, Jazz. He still stationed here?" Sideswipe leaned back to grin up at Prowl now that he didn't have to worry about suspicious optics.

Prowl's doorwings trembled in amusement. "Occasionally. Currently, he is training Bumblebee, fresh out of the academy. He will be back within the next few decacycles."

"Great, another rookie."

"You were a rookie once, as well, if you recall." Prowl replied. "I would need a sizeable amount of memory space to list your rookie mistakes. And that's without going into any details."

Sideswipe made a face at the tactician's reminder of a time when he'd crashed just as many Autobot fliers as Decepticons. Among so many other errors.

"We have, however, gone off on a tangent, and our time is limited." Prowl paused, a frown of concentration on his face, "I cannot continue to work when unexpected thoughts of you interrupt me so thoroughly. Now the logical conclusion would be to cease our conversations, no matter how pleasant they might be. The best solution would be reassignment, if we could convince Prime that one or the other of us would server better in another unit." Prowl tilted his head, his doorwings drooping. "Perhaps you could seek assignment with Ultra Magnus' unit. That way Sunstreaker would not be so constantly separated from Springer."

Sideswipe winced at the image of those two noisily fighting, and then making up.

Even louder.

Nearly every single metacycle.

"Why can't we just continue on?"

Prowl's optics flashed and his doorwings lifted, belying the frown on his face. "You… would want to?" His doorpanels relaxed and the glow of his optics softened. "I'm relieved."

Sideswipe stood and faced the tactician. "Yeah, well, I've never been much for rules, you know." He smirked down at the black and white mech. "You on the other hand, I'm surprised you've even ran the possibility through your processor."

Prowl tilted his head in a nod. "Like I said, I am loathe to give this up. I deduce that if we suddenly halt this relationship, it will only escalate the problem. " Blue optics flashed in irritation. "I cannot work like that."

"What are you suggesting, then?"

"I cannot think of a more delicate way to put this." Prowl's fingers brushed against the warrior's arms, running lightly up the red plating. "I'm suggesting we escalate the relationship."

Sideswipe jerked away, surprised by the intimate contact.

Prowl's fingers winced away and his arms dropped to his side. "I see. I can understand."

The red twin stared down at the tactician, as Prowl moved to take a seat. He didn't sag in defeat like so many others had when Sideswipe had brushed them to the side.

The warrior had always looked forward to Prowl's conversations. He admitted that a few pranks were pulled just for that. Smokescreen… aw slag… he was using the other tactician because he resembled Prowl. He hadn't noticed the blue and red Enforcer before Prowl.

He really did want to feel the second-in-command against him.

Primus.

"Prowl... I'm sorry, but you caught me by surprise." He cocked a grin at the black and white mech. "Try that again?"

Prowl 's chevron tilted and the Enforcer walked back over to the warrior. Prowl rested his fingers on the armored plating along Sideswipe's arms. He slid his hands up the twin's shoulders and to Sideswipe's helmet. With a gentle tug, he pulled the red twin nearer.

Lips touched, sliding along each other with a pleasant squeal. Prowl's hands slid down the warrior's chassis, light enough to barely register on Sideswipe's sensory net.

Sideswipe's own hands were anything but still. He ran light caresses along the Enforcer's frame, exploring the contours of the tactician's exterior plating.

They pulled away from each other, engines purring with contentment. They stared at one another for a brief silent moment.

"So, how exactly are we going to work this?"

Prowl pressed closer, pushing Sideswipe back into the chair. "I'll think of something." With more confidence this time, Prowl kissed Sideswipe, leaning over him. He braced his hands on the back of the chair, caging the warrior with his limbs.

Sideswipe reached up and tentatively stroked the Enforcer's tempting doorwing. The tactician's engine revved in response, inviting further exploration of the black and white appendage. The warrior took a firm grip of Prowl's doorwings and pulled the officer completely into his lap.

They explored one another frames, lingering on areas that churned a response from the other's engine, or elicited a moan from a vocalizer.

All too soon, Prowl pulled away, leaving Sideswipe panting and tingling with the vibrations of his engine.

"Time's almost up." The tactician leaned down to once more nuzzle the warrior's neck and kiss his lips.

"You were able to track the time through that?" Sideswipe gasped.

Prowl stepped away, leaning against the edge of his desk. His doorwings trembled and his engine continued its aroused purr. "If we do not wish to be caught, then I must."

Sideswipe pressed himself back into the chair, still panting and his engine nearly roaring. "And you can just stop like that?" His voice held a plaintive whine.

Prowl's optics flashed, and his hands gripped the desk with the sound of twisting metal. "Have to." He chuckled, softly. "Perhaps I should have started sooner." He straightened, and walked around his desk, sitting down. "Now, I still have to discipline you for not recharging when you're scheduled."

Sideswipe gaped at the tactician. Calculated, nearly everything he did was calculated.

The slagger.

Because, by Primus, he wanted more.

Author's Note: I never intended to write this, merely make allusions to it throughout the fic. Of course, there were those who asked for the beginning... and made me think about it.../wink/ The sad thing is that this only took me a week to write, and I'm still working on the next 'storyline' piece about two weeks after starting it. /sigh/ Hopefully I can finish that within the week so I can move onto the next two sections.

Also! I would like to thank everyone who's reviewed or even just read this fic. I appreciate each and every one of you.

... Sorry for the weird first paragraph, ffnet's giving me trouble about the justification again. --;;