Hello my loves! My winter break is upon me, and I'm hoping to use it to write plenty of chapters :D Here is the next chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy it! Don't forget to review!
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Lacey."
Her shoulders heaved as she struggled to fill her lungs with air. She was hot - like, about to overheat kind of hot. Her cooling fans worked overtime to make up for the lack of cool air that she was bringing in. She couldn't really explain the feeling running through her veins with any other words besides good. Like, amazingly good. Good beyond comprehension.
"Please." she begged, her whisper thick in her throat. "Please."
Somebody touched her sides, their hands hot against her - or maybe that was just how hot she was right now.
There was a groan at the same time that something vibrated against her throat and it took her a few seconds to realize that she felt the vibration because someone's mouth was pressed against her neck hotly. She tightened her grip on their shoulders, and her eyes, although already closed, clenched shut tighter when one of their hands moved around from her sides to trace all the way down her spinal strut with a finger, and a shiver rippled down her back and causing her to arch closer to their body. If they could, her eyes probably would have rolled into the back of her head.
"Ngh, Primus." whoever it was groaned
She whimpered out another plea, partially hoping the whimper would convinvce them to do whatever it was she wanted.
"Mm, not yet." their voice was rough and husky.
She made a sound similar to a keen, pushing her chest further towards their's in an attempt to regain their focus, or maybe divert it.
"Please." she tried again. Her own words surprised her as she let her mouth hang open in a silent scream when one of their hands came up to grasp her chest before continuing on their mission, unable to find any other way to deal with what she was feeling right now.
His hands tightened where they stopped on her waist, and then suddenly he was moving, one hand supporting her back as he laid her down on whatever they had been sitting on, his elbows moving to support his weight instead of crushing her, and he moved one hand to trace little details into her back, placing hot, wet, opened mouth kisses down her neck that travelled closer and closer to passing her chest.
She arched her back again, this time pressing herself against him. He groaned, pushing his hips down closer towards hers out of innate reaction.
She moaned suddenly, raising her hands to rake her fingers down his back, needing some kind of way to ground herself, and whoever it was groaned over top of her; his hips rocked into hers without thinking, and she almost sobbed from it.
"Oh God, please."
He moaned along with his kisses that went all the way down her chest and back up, but made no movements to give her whatever it was she wanted. The words coming from her mouth - the ones that registered with her brain, anyways - were barely recognized by herself.
"Please." she sang out needily. "Sideswipe. Sideswipe, please."
Laceburner shot up with a gasp, her visor lit up with night vision to help her see.
She was in the rec room. Not the small one she was normally in, the big one. She was laying in front of Mirage, who had one arm behind his head, while the other hand was on her hip. Hot Rod and Arcee were in almost the exact same position as them on another couch, Flare Up was stretched out on one of the recliners, Bluestreak on another one, and Cliffjumper was sprawled along the floor, despite there being one more couch he could use and two more recliners. The main menu to some movie they had been watching only a few hours earlier played on the screen over and over.
She rubbed her eyes with the ball of hands to clear away the fuzziness as she sat up, reached over to grab the remote off the coffee table and hit play as to not burn the screen. Mirage made a groaning sound, and reached out as if the check if she was still there, but once his fingers made contact with her back he seemed to simmer down.
She would have gone back to sleep, had she not felt an extreme amount of pressure on her waste tanks. She rubbed her temples one more time, then stood off the couch and towards the door. The halls were empty and dark, and the clock that she passed on the wall said it was about two-ten (02:10) in the morning. The public bathroom that everybot used was only dimly lit. She entered the first stall available in order to release all the liquid in her tanks, and it must have taken a whole three minutes before she finished, and she almost laughed at that mere fact. Maybe she should pee before she goes to sleep more often.
When she finished and left the bathroom, something down the hall crashed, followed by a boom. Her head whipped in that direction. The voice, who had been fairly quiet up until now, woke up with a purpose.
Blades, the ones Mirage gave you. Take them out.
She complied, taking the spring blades - identical to Mirage's except smaller - out of their compartments, and began creeping closer. Another bang sounded, and she jumped.
Relax, you won't be able to do this if you're on edge.
She nodded and took a deep breath in, releasing it through her mouth slowly to help calm down, before taking a scan of the building with her radar.
Good idea.
There wasn't any unusual life signals within the distance possible for the noise to have come from, so she continued on walking.
Suddenly, the door to the private rec room, the one she always chose to hang in, only a few feet in front of her slid open and Mythic came storming out. She turned around to look back in to the room she just came out of.
"Go frag yourself." she hissed out, then reached forward and slid the door shut with a slam.
Laceburner subspaced her blades, then took note of the tears running down Mythic's face as she began storming away from the room.
"Mythi - whoa, Mythic are you okay?" Laceburner asked.
"I'm fine." she sobbed.
Laceburner reached out to touch her arm, but Mythic swatted it away. "I said, I'm fine."
Laceburner immediately felt bad for her, and whatever had happened. "Mythic-"
"Holy Primus, kid, leave me alone. Do you not know what that means? Is your fragging amnesia really that bad? Leave. Me. Alone." she yelled, slapping her forearm when Laceburner went to stop her again, and Laceburner hissed when something sharp pierced through the armor and cut into her protoform. Mythic transformed down to her motorcycle and sped off, leaving Laceburner standing there, stunned, hurt, and tears filling her eyes, her arm throbbing from the hit Mythic left her with.
Fragging bitch. the voice hissed as Laceburner checked the cut. It wasn't deep, but it seemed to draw a lot of Energon. She covered the cut with her armor quickly, dismissing it. She could swing by the Med Bay later and ask whoever was on night watch for some cream and gauze. What did cut deep was the remark she made about Laceburner's lack of memories. It was her touchiest subject, her one weakness because she was just so tired of not remembering anything.
Laceburner took a deep breath in, then walked over to the door as she wiped the tears away before they could fall, knocking on the door.
"What?!" came from inside, obviously angry.
She slid it open slowly and only slightly, peeking in but keeping her body hidden behind the majority of the door. "Uh..."
"Holy frag, get lost Mythic."
Sideswipe was sitting on the floor, the majority of his armor discarded around the room, except for over his pelvis (which Laceburner thanked every diety known for). His hands lay limp in his lap, and he was staring at the floor intently, so intently you would think it was showing him something. Sunstreaker was standing in front of him, to the side slightly. He too had most of his armor off, showing the muscles that resided on his back, however he still had his leg armour on. After her dream, seeing them like this was... she couldn't decide if it was the last thing she wanted or needed to see, or the first.
"Um, I'm not Mythic." she said quietly.
Both of their heads snapped up automatically, locking on her visor as she opened the door all the way.
"Lacey?" Sideswipe asked.
"What are you doing here, Laceburner?" Sunstreaker asked roughly.
"Um..." she trailed off to swallow the spit in her mouth.
"Well?" Sunstreaker snapped angrily, and she jumped in fear, averting her gaze to the floor to her left.
He noticed that he scared her and turned around to run his hands over his head, taking a deep breath in that made the muscles of his back flex and catch her attention.
Sideswipe noticed her get distracted by his twin and smirked.
Sunstreaker turned back around. "What is it, Laceburner?"
She opened the door all the way and walked in, letting it slide shut quietly behind her. "Are you guys okay? I was going pee when I heard something loud and -"
"We're fine," Sunstreaker answered.
She flinched only slightly at his tone again, then nodded. "Uh... okay. Um, do you n-need anything?"
This time she managed to catch Sideswipe's smile as he looked away from her, and automatically assumed she'd offended them - of course they didn't anything, not from her anyway. God, she wished her relationship with them could stop being so complicated and all over the place. One day, they probably hated her, the next she'd wake up to them in her bed with her.
"S-Sorry." she said before they could answer, then opened the door again and went to walk out.
"Wait, Lacey-" Sideswipe called, and she looked over her shoulder to see him stand up and jog over to her, his muscles constricting and moving with him. He grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving, and she hid the hiss that wanted to escape her mouth when he grabbed right where Mythic sliced. "I- I didn't mean for you to take it that way."
She would never admit it, but it took all of her willpower not to glance down at the abdomen muscles he had.
"I-It's okay. I'll leave you guys alone, it's fine."
"La-"
"Seriously, Sideswipe. I-I didn't mean to interuppt anything."
Didn't mean to run into that petty slag face who thinks she can -
"I don't want to be rude or impose." she finished, turning to leave again as tears began filling up in her eyes.
Her plan failed, however, because his grip tightened on her arm. It throbbed harder. "Laceburner-"
"Please, just let me go." she said, her voice small.
Hurt him.
I can't!
Make him let go!
He did the exact opposite of that; his grip tightened again, and he pulled her towards him, forcing her to turn around to face, allowing the two of them to see the tears that were rapidly filling to the brim.
"Laceburner?" Sunstreaker asked, but her gaze stayed locked on Sideswipe.
"Please let my arm go, Sideswipe." she whimpered. The pain was starting to become unbearable the longer he touched it
He furrowed a brow. "Why?"
"You're hurting me." she whimpered, and he automatically let it go, a horrified look crossing his face.
She went to leave, but Sunstreaker was faster. He grabbed higher up on her arm, and removed the armor there. Her protoform had begun to swell, and there was a Energon leaking down the sides now. Once the armor had been taken off, the Energon fell free to the ground, and splashed against the floor and onto their calves and feet.
"Who did this?" he asked.
She whimpered, but didn't say anything, instead dropping her head.
"Laceburner," he started, stepping in front of her and raised her bleeding arm. "Who did this?"
She bit her lip to stop a sob, and he finally let go of her arm. She gasped in some air now that her arm stopped throbbing from their touch. She crossed her arm in front of her, holding it lightly with her other hand to keep it out of their reach.
"Lacey..." Sideswipe trailed off, his voice dark.
"I did i-it to myself."
"Bull slag." Sideswipe said. "Who?"
"Don't worry. I'll just swing by the Med Bay and get it cleaned up."
Sunstreaker growled, his engine revving, and she lowered her head. When Sunstreaker got mad, he'd do whatever it took to get what he wanted. She knew that. He knew that. Everybody knew that.
She sighed, looking down at their feet. "Mythic. I went to see if she was okay, and she-"
Sideswipe reached out to touch the cut, and Laceburner bit her lip and cut herself off to stop the hiss that tried to come out.
"Fragging glitch." Sunstreaker growled.
That's what I said.
A thumb wiped away the tears on her face, and she looked over to gaze at Sideswipe, who offered her a soft smile. "You want someone to come with you to the Med Bay?"
She took a deep breath in to help recenter herself, then shook her head and adjusted her stance. "No, I'll be fine. Thanks."
"You sure you're okay?"
She nodded at him. "Yeah, I'll be fine."
"I swear, next time I see that over-glossed little glitch, I'm gonna-"
"Leave her alone," Laceburner cut Sunstreaker off, and he looked at her in surprised. "I did this to myself. She told me to leave her alone - I should have left her alone, but I kept pressing. I deserve it."
"Yeah, but is that all she did?" Sunstreaker asked. "She's a glitch when she's angry, she'll do whatever comes first to her mind, the meaner it is the better."
Sideswipe looked over at him; they both knew how petty Mythic could get when she wanted to, and there was no doubt in their minds that Laceburner was her number one target right now.
"D-Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. Good night guys." Laceburner finished, before she pulled her arm free and left the room.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"What did you do?!"
Sideswipe turned around to see Arcee and Flare Up coming storming through the doorway to the training room, their sights set on him and Sunstreaker. Ironhide and Jazz weren't even in the room to them.
"What's goin' on?" Jazz asked.
"What is this, some femme intervention?" Ironhide asked sarcastically.
"Shut it, you rusted bucket of bolts." Flare Up snapped.
Ironhide's optics narrowed his eyes, his cannon activated to show his anger at that statement. "Excuse you?"
"What did you do?" Arcee yelled at Sideswipe. "Mythic came in our room last night bawling her optics out. Said you two fragged everything up, and there was no chance the three of you would ever get together again. Her spark was broken, so what the frag did you two do?!" she yelled.
Sunstreaker clenched his jaw, and Sideswipe sighed, his shoulders dropping.
"So you did do something!" Flare Up pointed her finger at them.
Ironhide glanced over at Sunstreaker. "What-"
"It's my fault." Sideswipe cut him off.
"Don't make me repeat my question." Arcee growled, her fists clenching.
Sideswipe sighed. "Look, it was just an accident, alright? I, I didn't mean to, but we were... fooling around last night, and stuff started getting... hot, and I-" he cut himself off with a sigh.
"And you what?" Flare Up spat.
Nobody said anything for a long twenty seconds or so.
"He said Laceburner's name instead." Sunstreaker finished for his twin.
Arcee's eyes widened. "You what?"
"I didn't mean to." Sideswipe defended, "It just sort of... came out."
Arcee, flabbergasted, turned around with wide optics, her mouth agape. Flare Up took her spot.
"Well congrats, you broke Mythic's spark."
He sighed, but didn't answer in any other way.
When the femmes noticed that he had no intention of responding, Arcee let out a laugh of disbelief, they looked at each other and turned to leave, but something stopped the smaller sharpshooter. One question nagged at the back of her processor.
"Why Laceburner? Primus, she's not even eighteen yet, why is she even on your mind when you were with Mythic."
Sideswipe sighed. "We don't know."
Arcee seemed to fill with rage even more - if that was possible - before she turned and stormed out with Flare Up on her tail.
"What the frag are you two doing with Lacey?" Jazz asked, any evidence of his accent gone - Optimus Prime's TIC was angry, and it showed.
"We aren't doing anything."
Sunstreaker looked over at him. "Don't worry too much because even we don't know, okay?"
"What?" he asked, popping the 't'.
"Ask Ratchet if you want to, because we don't know. Ratchet's thinking, but we don't have any solid theories yet." Sideswipe answered.
Jazz huffed angrily, his fists clenching. "You two better get outta my face, or I'm gonna regret my next actions." he ordered.
"Yes sir." Sideswipe nodded, and the twins walked out of the training room together.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Somebody knocked on the door, pulling both Laceburner and Prowl's attention from their respective work.
"Enter." Prowl said, and Ratchet walked in soon after.
He smiled tightly at the SIC, handing him a stack of data pads.
"Thank you, they can go right there."
Ratchet nodded, placing the stack of data pads on Prowl's massive desk, then in lifted the pile that he held in his other hand, "And I assume the dinobots' reports go to..."
"Laceburner." Prowl finished as Ratchet nodded with a slight smile, and the CMO placed it on her desk.
She gave him a genuine smile, "Thanks."
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Meet me in the Med Bay on your next break, please."
She nodded to him, keeping her eyes locked on her screen. He straightened his back, his hip servos whirring tiredly as he stood up, and with one final nod and "thank you", he walked out of the room. Prowl didn't didn't bother to ask, and seemed to busy to care anyways.
The two continued on with their work, but when her break rolled around, she nearly forgot about her visit with Ratchet. Prowl simply wished her fun on her exit, which she said thanks for, then she left to the Med Bay that she'd come to hate visiting so much. Thankfully for her, this time it wasn't because she managed to screw up and hurt herself, it was simply because she had been told to come.
She knocked on the door lightly, and opened it slightly to poke her head inside. "Ratchet?"
"Come in, Laceburner."
She pushed it open the whole way, smiling over at Ratchet. "Hey Ratchet, what did you need me for?"
He gave her a smile back, albeit a brief, tight, closed smile, and beckoned her to enter further. "Close the door behind you."
She did just that, and walked over to sit on a medical berth. "What's up?"
He turned to look at her seriously, and held a hand out. "Let me see."
She gave him a confused look. "See what?"
He gave her a look, The Look, and motioned with his fingers for her to hand whatever it was over. "Your arm, the cut. Lemme see it."
She gulped. "How did you-"
"Jolt debriefs me on what happens over night whenever he's on shift. And the twins came in here earlier, rather... worried, about your arm. Sideswipe was fairly adamant when I told them you were most likely fine."
She sighed. "I told them I was fine." she grumbled as she handed him her arm, and he undid the bandage that Jolt had wrapped neatly around the wound. "It isn't that bad anymore, anyways."
He looked at the slice, cleaning the gunk that had collected on her arm, before spraying it with a blue spray that seeped into the cut. Unlike the stuff Jolt had put on her, it didn't sting when it made contact with her cut. She placed a fresh piece of gauze over it, taped both sides of it down, then wrapped it with a smaller gauze that way the wrap didn't take up her entire forearm.
"There. It'll heal soon, just be careful." he explained.
She nodded in understanding.
"Care to tell me who did this to you?" he asked.
She huffed. "The twins didn't tell you already?" she asked.
"They did, but I need your confirmation of it before reporting to Optimus about the incident."
Laceburner shook her head right away. "No, it isn't her fault. She told me to leave her alone, I shouldn't have pushed it."
He furrowed his brow. "What happened exactly with Mythic."
She huffed. "From what I can remember, she was really upset about something that happened between her and the twins. I asked her what was wrong, she told me to leave her alone. But she was crying and seemed really hurt by what they did to her, so I reached out to grab her and she slapped me. I think she might have had something sharp in her hand or something because it cut right through my armour too."
Ratchet nodded, but picked up on the way she moved back and forth on her feet uncomfortably, and even avoided his gaze. "What else did she do?"
"N-Nothing. She didn't do anything else. I swear."
He narrowed his eyes. "Laceburner, what did she do?"
Laceburner gulped her spit down. "N-Noth-"
"Laceburner." he cut her off harshly, looking down at her seriously.
She huffed, and her eyes moved down to the floor. "S-She got angry and when she told me to leave her alone but I didn't, she asked me if my-y... if my amnesia was that bad."
He didn't move, nor he did say anything for a full five seconds before he sighed deeply. "Thank you, Laceburner. You may return to work."
She nodded stiffly, turned, and left the room, throwing a "thank you" over her shoulder.