A.N: I didn't actually realise how long this chapter was until I separated it out to post it, whoops, hopefully it's not too long. My inner hippy may have gotten carried away with the crystals in this chapter, I apologise, but I think it works.
It's also one of few parts that had a provisional title, so with a warning for lots of interfacing that I hope you'll enjoy I give you 'Jazz and 'Jack's dirty weekend'. Enjoy.
Part 14
The two mechs stepped off the shuttle and quickly lost themselves in the crowd. As soon as they were out of the dock Wheeljack retracted his facemask and gave Jazz a pointed look. "There's no need to hide here," he said softly. "You're safe."
More than a little reluctantly Jazz retracted his visor, his golden optics shifting uneasily until Wheeljack touched his hand reassuringly. "I'm fine," Jazz smiled. "I'm just trying to get my bearings. It's been a long time since I was last in Praxus, and I never used this dock before." His smile widened. "There we are," he said with some relief.
"Where are we going?" Wheeljack asked as Jazz led him through the streets.
"I called in a favour before we left Nova Cronum," Jazz smiled, and Wheeljack couldn't help but notice that some of his usual swagger was back. They walked through the streets for some time. Jazz pointed out a few familiar landmarks, Wheeljack nodded and asked a few questions partly out of interest, but mostly because he knew that it was helping Jazz to feel at ease.
At length Jazz led him into a grand building with a vast, vaulted lobby.
"It's beautiful," Wheeljack observed.
"I always thought so," Jazz agreed.
"You've stayed here before?" the engineer asked conversationally.
"Only if you count me and one of the serving mechs borrowing a room while it's real tenant was at a ball," Jazz grinned.
Wheeljack stifled a laugh. "Always taking the chances."
"They were worth it," Jazz smiled, "I played here a few times, put up with the noble 'bots who thought that they were better than me, danced around the proud creators who wanted to introduce me to their offspring; I think they thought that having a musician in the fold would make them seem more interesting. Some of them knew my reputation and we had some fun, but that was all they ever were."
"I seem to remember you telling me that I was the same thing," Wheeljack said with a smirk.
"I meant it at the time," Jazz retorted with a disarming grin. "Can I help it if you got under my plating?"
"I intend to do more than that once we're alone," Wheeljack hissed as they approached the main desk.
"Yes gentlemechs, can I help you?" the femme behind it greeted them.
If Jazz noticed the hint of disdain in her voice he gave no outward sign, but he couldn't really blame her, neither of them were clean and both of their paint-jobs had gotten more than a little chipped in the line of duty. "We have a reservation, the name's Jazz."
The femme perked up slightly. "It's been a long time since you were last here. I have your pass-key here, do you have any luggage?"
"Not a thing," Jazz said brightly, "we kinda came here on a whim, didn't have time to pack."
"Then I'll show you up, and if you need anything just call the desk."
"I know where I'm going," Jazz assured her. He plucked the pass-key out of her hand, gave her a winning smile and led Wheeljack away. "I don't like 'bots like that much," he explained as they stepped into the lift. "But," he added with a sly grin, "I don't intend seeing much of anyone but you over the next few cycles." He stole a quick but passionate kiss and led the way out of the lift. "And this is us." He swiped the card with a flourish, and stepped back so that Wheeljack could get the first look.
"It's magnificent," Wheeljack gapped as his optics flickered around the palatial room. "It's too much."
"It's less than you deserve," Jazz told him. "You deserve to be treated like someone precious for the rest of your life."
"I'd be bored within cycles," Wheeljack chuckled, "I'll take this for now."
"I haven't even shown you the best parts yet," Jazz grinned and he threw open one of the doors that led off the main room.
"Is that...?"
"A hot oil bath," Jazz beamed. "The closest we can get to total bliss this side of the Matrix, baring the very best of overloads anyway." His fingers tapped the keypad. "It takes a while to heat up. Oh, I know what you haven't seen yet." He practically danced out of the room.
Wheeljack chuckled and followed him. On the other side of the main room was another door, and Jazz opened it to reveal a sumptuous double berth draped in a material that Wheeljack had never seen the like of. "Wow," he murmured as he ran his fingers through the strange cloth.
"You'll have the best recharge of your life on one of these things," Jazz promised.
"You've used one before?" Wheeljack asked.
Jazz nodded. "An oil tub too. I wanted to spoil you, and this is the best way I know how." He touched another discrete console and music filled the rooms.
Wheeljack found himself swept into the slow rhythm, and for a while the two mechs lost themselves in the dance. Wheeljack had never considered himself a graceful mech, he could be light on his feet when he wished to be, his time in Jazz's unit had taught him that much, but in that moment, and in Jazz's arms he found it easy to flow with Jazz's lithe movements.
On a meandering path Jazz took them back to to the bath, and stepped easily into the pool.
"Sweet Primus," Wheeljack exclaimed as they sank into the hot oil. "This is amazing." He marvelled at the way the fluid undulated around him, taking away the weight of his cables, and soothing systems that had been pushed to their tolerance limits only a few cycles before.
For a while they just lay there exchanging smiles, and allowing their tensions to melt away.
"You said that you'd been in one of these before," Wheeljack mused lazily.
Jazz let out a short laugh. "I was wondering how long it would take you to come back to that. You seem to like hearing about my affairs."
"Well, I never had any," Wheeljack smiled, "and you always make them sound so much fun."
"Most of them were," Jazz admitted, "and if you want to know I had a brief, but passionate, affair with the first sparked of the governor of Uraya. His creators objected, called me a bad influence, he called me his 'little rebellion', the only one he ever had but he was determined to make the most of it. His creators eventually warmed to me after I introduced him to a lovely little femme, who later became his bond-mate."
Wheeljack chuckled. "Trailbreaker told me that you have a habit of doing that."
"He thinks that I see the patterns of love."
"Do you?"
Jazz chuckled again. "My instincts are good, but even I can't see things that aren't there. 'Breaker's an old romantic, he likes to believe that there's a plan, someone for everyone, maybe he's right, I have no idea. Only Primus can know for certain."
"You introduced him to Hound."
"That was an educated guess. I know 'Breaker well enough to know what he likes and needs. Hound ticked all the boxes."
"So Primus is the one with the plan, and you're just helping him out?"
"Can't hurt, can it?" Jazz muttered. "It might just keep me out of the smelting pit when my time comes."
"You're a good mech Jazz," Wheeljack assured him.
Jazz shrugged and settled into the hot oil again, trying to look relaxed and hoping that Wheeljack wouldn't push the matter. In his opinion Wheeljack saw the best in everyone and often failed to detect their faults.
Wheeljack let the silence last about a breem. He knew that if Jazz didn't pick up the conversation again in that time he never would. After that he slowly coaxed Jazz into his arms and felt the black and white lean into him, a sure sign that Jazz was starting to relax again.
Before long Jazz was running his hands across Wheeljack's plating, grazing them just hard enough to cause friction and force the engineer's sensory net to respond. He was rewarded by the sound of Wheeljack's coolant fans kicking up a gear.
Turning in the other mech's arms Jazz pressed harder, the slick oil changed the sensations, and as a result their processors took more notice of the information they were being supplied. The result was sublime.
As Wheeljack writhed in pleasure beneath him Jazz forced down his own arousal. He wanted to drive his lover wild, hear him call out, arch against his body, and he knew that if he succumbed to his own overload he would miss that precious moment when Wheeljack surrendered, and he wanted to see that more than anything.
"Jazz!" Wheeljack cried out, it was a sure sign that he was close.
Jazz grinned to himself and pushed harder. Wheeljack's vocal indicators flashed but he didn't make a sound until he overloaded in his lover's arms. Jazz watched and savoured the experience, such moments of joy and pleasure were so rare, and Jazz's enjoyment was heightened by the fact that Wheeljack hadn't even thought about the lights, so for the first time Jazz could truly see his lover's pleasure.
"I could get used to that," Wheeljack murmured as he became able to speak again.
Jazz kissed him. "I wish you could," he said sincerely, "but this can't last."
"We'd best make the most of it then," Wheeljack responded cheerfully.
At length the two mechs rose from their luxurious languor, and Wheeljack snatched up two of the specially engineered towels that were designed to soak up any residual oil. He wrapped one carefully around Jazz, threw the other over his own shoulders before he settled his attention on rubbing his lover down. He enjoyed his self-appointed task, and as Jazz didn't try to push him away he assumed that the feeling was mutual.
When their optics met again Jazz's were aglow with desire, gently but firmly he pushed Wheeljack up against the nearest wall, kissed him fiercely and pinned him.
Wheeljack's cooling fans whirred in delight. "I need to feel you," he pleaded as Jazz nipped at the wiring in his neck. "I need you."
Jazz obliged by connecting their interface cables, and glorious responses coursed through the connection. Perfect, Wheeljack thought. Jazz's relentless desire seemed to fuel their systems and seemed to burn thoughts of anything else from his processor.
As the first flickers of Wheeljack's impending overload sizzled through their uplink Jazz slammed his firewalls up to their highest setting, and as the energy had nowhere else to go it bounced back into Wheeljack.
"Holy Primus," Wheeljack rasped as he regained his equilibrium. "No one has ever done that to me before."
"The timing's tricky," Jazz admitted, "but the results are amazing if you get it right."
Wheeljack shook his head fondly, is there nothing he can't do perfectly? he thought.
Jazz released his lover, stepped back and stumbled.
"Easy," Wheeljack murmured as he caught him. "Are you alright?" he asked as he ran a scan over the saboteur, just in case he decided to lie. "Your energy levels are low, when did you last refuel?"
"Before we got on the shuttle."
Wheeljack didn't ask how long before they'd travelled, instead he scooped him up easily and carried him out. "You're still healing Jazz," he said sternly, "you need to keep your energy levels up so that your self-repair systems can work properly. Now, you're going to rest for a while, we're going to have some energon and I'm going to take care of you."
Jazz smiled weakly, his lack of protest gave Wheeljack a fair idea of just how delicate he was feeling, but he resisted the temptation to make a big deal out of it. To do so would only bring out Jazz's stubborn streak. Instead the engineer laid him out carefully on the berth, dropped a kiss on to the top of his helm and left again to find the much needed fuel.
It took him almost half a breem to locate an elaborately decorated panel that slid effortlessly to the side and revealed several ornate pumps that dispensed various types of energon; high, low and mid-grade, as well as some with a few additives in them. All of them were well refined. Wheeljack selected a good high-grade for himself, a less potent mixture for Jazz, and after investigating the canisters that rested at either end of the compartment and discovering a selection of energon goodies, he added a few of those to the tray too.
He'd half expected Jazz to be in recharge when he returned to the adjacent chamber, but although Jazz's optics were a little dimmer than usual he was still online.
"How are you feeling?" Wheeljack asked as he set down the tray.
"Pathetic," Jazz answered with a slightly forced smile.
"Are you hurting?"
"No, just a little feeble."
Wheeljack slipped into the berth, made himself comfortable and pulled Jazz into his arms to help him drink.
"Thank you," Jazz said sincerely when he had finished.
"My pleasure," Wheeljack assured him. "Relax a while." He reached out, selected one of the energon goodies and offered it to Jazz, who ate it out of his hand. "I think I could stand this for half a cycle or so," he teased.
For a while they chatted, fed each other, teased and cuddled. Both of them agreed that it was a wonderful way of spending time.
Eventually Jazz did drift into recharge, Wheeljack watched him for a breem or so noticing the contented look on his lover's handsome faceplates, and the ease with which he lay curled against him. You could have your pick of any 'bot on this planet, he mused, so why did you pick me? He'd asked himself the same question more than once, but he'd never arrived at a satisfactory answer. He doubted he ever would.
Jazz was the first to come back online the next morning. He stretched out the cables in his shoulders lazily and looked over at Wheeljack, who was still recharging, but the speed of his intake vents told Jazz that he wouldn't be for much longer. Less than a breem later Wheeljack's optics flickered and met his. Jazz greeted him with a kiss. "Morning," he said softly.
"How are you feeling?" Wheeljack asked.
"Wonderful," Jazz grinned. "Best recharge I've had in vorns, and my self-repair systems finished their work while I was under. Everything's running perfectly."
Wheeljack ran a quick scan over him to make sure he was telling the truth.
"You want proof?" Jazz asked slyly. "You've got it." He pounced.
Taken by surprise Wheeljack didn't have time to resist, not that he really wanted to.
"I could do this all cycle," Jazz whispered softly as his fingers found the gaps in Wheeljack's armour and he teased the delicate wiring underneath.
"A cycle of overloads," Wheeljack murmured as he arched into the touches. "Sounds perfect. Will you join me?"
"Later," Jazz assured him. He cut off any further conversation with a searing kiss.
Wheeljack's energy-field flared beyond his control causing Jazz to cry out in ecstasy, but the black and white retaliated quickly razing Wheeljack's circuits with his own field, until he drove him over the edge.
Much later Wheeljack reclined lazily while Jazz fetched them some energon. "When was the last time you just went for a walk?" Jazz asked curiously as he walked back in.
"No idea," Wheeljack answered.
"Then that is something we shall have to rectify," Jazz said mysteriously.
With their energon consumed Jazz chivvied Wheeljack out of the berth, and led him out into the busy streets.
Grand buildings rose up on all sides, well maintained mechs and femmes mingled gracefully, Jazz watched them and could almost feel the rhythm that they moved to.
"I've never seen anything like this," Wheeljack said quietly after a few breems, "even before the war."
"You're about to see why," Jazz grinned.
They turned a corner, stepped through a wide arch and Wheeljack stopped dead. "By Primus," he murmured.
"Welcome to one of the true wonders of our world," Jazz said cheerfully.
Before them the Crystal Gardens of Praxus stretched out and glittered in a thousand hues of refracted light.
"The crystals were a gift from Crystal City," Jazz explained, "The creations of the two governors chose to bond, their union brought about an alliance and within a few vorns the first Golden Age of Cybertron began. There have been wars over the thousands of vorns since then, but not one of them has ever touched Praxus. If there is a chance for peace on our planet it's here."
"Maybe all the great cities should have these crystals," Wheeljack said in a hushed, awed tone.
"They should," Jazz agreed, "but unfortunately there are only two sets like this. The other is in Crystal City itself, but this is the larger, and the more powerful."
"Did one of your flings include a history student?" Wheeljack asked with a grin.
Jazz laughed. "He was a professor actually, from the Research Institute of Iacon."
"You glaze over when I start talking about technical things," Wheeljack said indignantly, "last time I told you about one of my inventions you went into recharge."
"I was exhausted," Jazz protested, "and I did try to listen. I try to learn something from everyone I meet."
"What did you learn from me?" Wheeljack asked curiously.
Jazz turned to look his lover in the optics and leaned in close. "Faith," he said simply, "and a few tricks that will serve me well further down the line," he added cheekily. "Do you want to see what I learned from the professor?"
Wheeljack looked a little doubtful, but Jazz took him by the hand and pulled him along anyway. Once they were deep inside the crystal labyrinth Jazz stepped off the path and touched one of the gems.
"Are you supposed to do that?" Wheeljack asked.
Jazz shrugged. "No one has ever told me that I shouldn't."
"I happen to know from experience that it's very hard to tell you not to do something," Wheeljack said dryly, "but you've known that for a long time, haven't you?"
"A mech has to get by with what he has," Jazz said with a smile. "Your turn."
"Jazz!" Wheeljack protested as the black and white pushed him closer to one of the crystals.
"No one's around, and I was taught this by a professor," Jazz assured him. "He wouldn't have taught me if it could damage anything, would he?"
"I guess not," Wheeljack muttered. He stepped forward and reached out, the smooth surface of the crystal was surprisingly warm and welcoming.
"There are over three hundred crystals in this garden," Jazz told him in a soft but serious tone, "all perfectly harmonised. When the wind blows through here they seem to sing, almost as if they are alive, but on a calm cycle like this one they just resonate with positive emotions; happiness, peace..." with a grin Jazz leaned in and kissed his lover until Wheeljack's knees buckled. "Pleasure," he whispered.
"I see," Wheeljack mumbled as he tried to steady himself. "You and your professor must have had some fun."
"Oh, we did," Jazz grinned, "but this isn't about him. It's about you and me." He pressed closer, his fingers grazing across Wheeljack's armour just hard enough to set off his pressure sensors.
"This is a public place," Wheeljack protested as his cooling systems kicked up a gear.
"Relax," Jazz instructed. "I can guarantee that you're not the first."
"And I won't be the last if you have anything to do with it," Wheeljack teased. He kept his tone light, but he couldn't help wondering just how many mechs and femmes Jazz had treated in the same manner.
"I don't bring just anyone here, you know?" Jazz said as if he could hear Wheeljack's thoughts. "A couple of servings of high-grade and the right words usually get me what I want. I know I can be flippant, and that my past speaks for itself, but you are special 'Jack."
"Thank you," Wheeljack said in a grateful tone. "Now, how about we head back to our room and we can finish what you started," he added with a glint in his optics.
"Sounds like a plan," Jazz agreed, and as he let Wheeljack lead the way he started to make his own plans.
Back at their room Jazz barely allowed Wheeljack to step through the door before he deftly pinned his lover to the nearest wall and kissed him thoroughly. "I knew I was going to enjoy this cycle," he murmured as his fingers worked their way down Wheeljack's chest-plate.
He caught one of Wheeljack's hands and Wheeljack felt something being pressed into his palm, he looked down just in time to see a tiny shard of crystal gleam before Jazz closed his fingers around it for him, and he felt the same sense of peace and warmth flow through him as he had a few breems earlier in the gardens.
"Jazz," he whispered as his cooling fans started to whir again.
"Don't fight it lover," Jazz whispered. "You have to surrender or it doesn't work."
"What about you?" Wheeljack asked.
"I'm having a fantastic time."
"But..."
"Don't argue with me 'Jack," Jazz said in a close approximation of what he called his commanders voice. Wheeljack found himself powerless to resist. The overload that followed soon after felt somehow gentler than usual, and the difference in the sensation left Wheeljack helpless in his lover's arms.
"You're spoiling me," he whispered as his systems returned to normal.
"I did tell you that I intended to," Jazz responded lazily. He was as at-ease as Wheeljack had ever seen him, a contented smile played on his lips, and his optics shone with happiness.
They rested a while longer, took their energon in the oil bath and started again. This time their love-making was slow and gentle, Jazz seemed to want the session to go on forever, maybe he was aware that their time together was growing short and was reluctant to go back to Nova Cronum, Wheeljack teased himself with the fantasy that Jazz wanted to stay, that maybe they could stay together, entwined, as they currently were.
Tenderly, lovingly he connected their interface cables and felt Jazz's hot plating press harder against his, as well as the thrill of being linked with his lover. Jazz's desire raced through Wheeljack's circuits, there was such need emanating through the link that Wheeljack almost succumbed to his overload immediately, but he held on by sheer determination. He needed Jazz to overload first. Jazz had a habit of holding back so that he could watch, a trait that Wheeljack found incredibly arousing most of the time, but occasionally frustrating.
Wheeljack gently but firmly pushed his energy-field into the black and white, and smiled to himself as Jazz writhed in ecstasy, then bucked as Jazz shoved that energy through their interface cable. For over a breem their battle of wills continued, Wheeljack deployed every trick he had learned, but Jazz countered each of them, hovering on the brink of overloading, but still clinging on somehow.
With every caress, or kiss and their effects being forced back into his own sensor-net Wheeljack's systems were soon pushed to their limits, but he refused to give up. He had one last idea that could help him. Jazz's audio's; he'd used them against his lover before, Jazz had teased him afterwards and called it a dirty tactic, but playing fair just wasn't working. All he had to do was think of something to say, which wasn't easy while his processor was barely managing to keep up with the flow of sensory information that Jazz was streaming in. He bent his neck so that his mouth was as close to Jazz's audio as it could be, and whispered the words he never thought he would say. "I love you."
The reaction he got was only partly what he had expected. The overload was planet shaking, the whole world seemed to tremble, but there was more. Jazz's control snapped, his firewalls crumbled as if turned to ash, Wheeljack felt his interface-cable slide deep into Jazz's systems, and suddenly he was lost in maelstrom of memories. Each one was filled with joy, or pain, or other spark-wrenching emotions that Wheeljack couldn't define, and there was nothing he could do but watch, as he had no idea how to stop Jazz's memories flashing through his processor.
A crowded bar almost deafened him, but as a gorgeous femme stepped in front of him the rest of the world seemed to melt away. They danced. Jazz wrote songs for her, some of which would be heard all over the world and become as famous as he would, others were for her audios alone. They were his gift to her; the first of many they would share.
Her name was Symphony, and Jazz's love for her was overwhelming, often driving him to distraction, giving him a sense of purpose and belonging that he would never find anywhere else.
Images of a mech flickered in. He had made Jazz feel free. He didn't want Jazz's love, he wanted passion. He would call Jazz 'his little rebellion', and sometimes Jazz would tease him by saying that he should have a nick-name too, but Jazz only ever called him Akron.
Jazz knew that he didn't love the mech, but his desires were too strong. He told Symphony that he was leaving her and she didn't seem surprised, but she asked Jazz for a parting gift. A sparking. Jazz was happy to oblige, even though he knew he wasn't ready. It seemed right somehow, although Jazz wasn't much more than a youngling himself.
Magical, was how Jazz thought of their bonding, a union beyond all others. He cherished the moment, and hoped that when the time was right Symphony would be waiting for him, she promised him that she would be, and he left.
His fling with Akron was brief but glorious, everything Jazz had wanted and imagined.
The sparkling was carried to term and Jazz was there for the separation. He had looked into a pair of tiny blue optics, and discovered a new type of love. One that wasn't based on passion, but an unconditional love that would never fade.
Jazz had felt that he was living a charmed life. He was famous, he performed for everyone who was anyone, and found more than his fair share of lovers in the crowds. The images flickered quickly. Different nights, different 'bots. Wheeljack barely had time to recognise Trailbreaker. Jazz gave each one all he could in the time they shared, and in the times when he hadn't wanted a lover he returned to Symphony and their sparkling.
Things shifted. Jazz was travelling, he wasn't even sure where too, but that wasn't unusual...
NO! Jazz's thought ripped through the uplink, shattering the images and dragging them both back into the present.
Wheeljack found himself lying sprawled next to Jazz, the last flares of his overload still flickering through his body and processor. It was an effort for him to control his limbs, but he managed to get his arms around his lover and pull him close. Jazz's only movement was to rest his head on Wheeljack's shoulder. He seemed completely drained, and it took him nearly a breem to get his vents working properly.
"What happened there Jazz?" Wheeljack asked softly. He was exhausted, but he needed answers before he could relax.
"My firewalls crashed," Jazz replied with an uneasy shrug. "I've been overtaxing them."
"You've been holding back too much you mean?" Wheeljack asked pointedly.
Jazz shifted in his arms, pulling away slightly, and looking more uncomfortable by the micron. "Did you mean what you said?" he asked.
Wheeljack wasn't surprised. Jazz had never liked being on the defensive side. "I did," he admitted, "I hadn't really thought about it, and I certainly never intended to tell you, I'm happy with the way things are, but my vocaliser got away from me because my processor was so full of you I couldn't think straight. Not that I'm complaining of course. I'll leave if you want me to." He tried to rise, and it was a huge effort, but Jazz pulled him back down before he got halfway to sitting up.
"I doubt you'd make it off the berth anyway," Jazz said matter of factly. He was struggling to stay online himself, and decided to address the situation practically. "Rest a while," he murmured, "we'll work the rest out later."
Wheeljack didn't have the energy to suggest anything else, he flopped back down, and let recharge claim him.
When Wheeljack came back online he didn't feel alone, but there was no one else on the berth. He looked around and saw Jazz standing by the window, an untouched serving of high-grade in one hand, and a far away look in his golden optics.
Wheeljack had always known that Jazz was considerably younger than he was, it wasn't something he thought of often, they were both mature mechs and in some ways Jazz was far more experienced than he was, but in that moment, with that look, Jazz seemed ancient. A thousand life-times of sorrow seemed to look out across the city without seeing it.
Wheeljack slipped off the berth and wrapped his arms around his lover in a gentle embrace. Jazz didn't look up, but he did lean into the contact.
"I hoped that when the time came I could tell you that I loved you back," Jazz said in a near whisper. "I wanted to, sometimes I even dreamed that I would, but the truth is that I was in love a long time ago. I treasured her, worshipped her, gave her everything that was mine to give, and losing her nearly destroyed me. I can't go through all that again."
"Symphony," Wheeljack surmised. "I saw a bit about her when your firewalls went down. I didn't want to, but I didn't know how to stop it, nothing like that has ever happened to me before."
"Me neither. Everything was just so intense and... I couldn't..." he broke off, his body shaking with pent up emotion.
"Easy there dear-spark," Wheeljack soothed him. "Don't push it, take your time."
"The last moment you saw was the worst of my life," Jazz said quietly, "Trailbreaker and I were travelling, I don't even remember where we were, I was just watching the world go by, fiddling with a stylus as I tried to write a song, I didn't know what had hit me at first, I thought that the shuttle had crashed, or the world had ended, but eventually I realised that the bond had been broken, Symphony was dead. She burned, along with hundreds of others, in the fires of Uraya."
"Oh Jazz," Wheeljack said sympathetically. There wasn't much he could say, 'sorry' would sound patronising, 'it's alright' was out as it clearly wasn't, and everything else Wheeljack could come up with was just wrong. He let his actions speak instead, he wrapped Jazz in a loose, comforting embrace and let him take what he needed.
As his processor finally managed to make sense of all information received a lot of Jazz's traits and hang-ups suddenly seemed logical. Losing a bond-mate often killed the surviving 'bot, but Jazz's bond had never been re-enforced. It had been made to create the sparkling, and then Jazz had moved on, which he had always known was the wrong way of doing it, but he also knew that if he had stayed with Symphony he would have died, either in Uraya or as a result of the bond.
"'Breaker is the only other mech who knows what happened," Jazz said after a brief silence. "he was with me, I must have scared the bolts out of him when I collapsed, but he looked after me, kept me going until I was strong enough, actually I don't think he ever stopped."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me Jazz," Wheeljack murmured. "I already know more about you than you're comfortable with."
"I know how your processor works 'Jack," Jazz said firmly. "If you have questions you need answers, without them you just keep thinking it over, and I don't want you to do that." He took a sip of the high-grade he had been clinging to for breems and pressed the rest of the goblet into Wheeljack's hand. "You've been keeping me sane since we started out together, and I thought it was about time I told you why I need you," he reached up and caressed Wheeljack's cheek. "And I do need you 'Jack, I'd be lost without you."
Wheeljack smiled fondly, and nuzzled into the touch. "I guess that'll just have to do," he said graciously, "not many 'bots have that accolade after all."
"I'm glad you see it that way," Jazz nodded. "So, one last night here, what would you like to do?"
"You know this city better than I do," Wheeljack pointed out. "Take me somewhere nice."
Jazz smiled. "I know just the place." He cast a critical optic over Wheeljack's appearance and then his own. "I hate to sound like Sunstreaker, but they won't even let us in the door looking like this, give me a moment."
He called down to the desk and ordered up a couple of cans of their best polish. His order arrived a few breems later, along with a complimentary selection of paints that matched their colours perfectly. Apparently the femme at the desk had decided that polish alone wouldn't be enough. Jazz smiled to himself as he unwrapped the package, and made a mental note to tip her well for her thoughtfulness.
They spent a long time helping each other to get ready, chatting companionably and occasionally giggling like younglings as the chips and scuffs that their jobs had caused slowly disappeared. At length Jazz declared them both fit to be seen in public and led Wheeljack out.
The femme at the desk gave them approving nods as they passed through the lobby. Jazz paused in his usual swagger and bowed deeply before they left, and walked down the street to a high class bar.
It wasn't the sort of place that Wheeljack usually frequented, but it was quiet and cheerful, and once Jazz had greeted a few old acquaintances they settled down to a leisurely evening of conversation and smiles. About halfway through the evening Wheeljack realised that somehow they had gone back to being just good friends again, he couldn't say that he wasn't disappointed, but he wasn't overly upset either. All he really wanted was to have Jazz in his life, it didn't really matter to him how their relationship was defined, so long as they had one.
They did share a berth that night, but no advances were made and in the morning after one last treat in the oil bath they headed back to the docks, where the shuttle was waiting to take them home.
P.S: I've been trying to keep my ramblings to a minimum on this story, but if I could beg a moment of your time, last Saturday my only son was rushed into hospital with an abscess under his milk-teeth, he's fine now and came home earlier today, I've been writing to keep myself sane, reading reviews to cheer myself up, and I just wanted to say thank you. I am in your debt, if there is one thing I have learned this week it is that a smile is such a simple and easy thing to give, but completely priceless to receive. Take care. FB.