All's Fair
Chapter 52
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. They belong to Hasbro and Takara. I am merely taking them for a short spin.
Prowl regarded the obstinate mech in front of him with a steady gaze. The Autobot second in command fought back a sigh. Prime was staring at the floor. Prowl could feel how much his leader was hurting. His energy field was off the scale, as bad as it could possibly get. He had nothing but sympathy for his leader, but he really wanted to kick his aft.
"Prowl, I'm fine," Optimus insisted.
"My aft," Prowl said, arms crossed. "You're making my head hurt, so I can't imagine how you're feeling."
"I don't think you want to hear the words that would describe exactly how I'm feeling," Optimus said, meeting Prowl's optics.
"You know what you need," Prowl said. "So why haven't you let Hot Rod and Sideswipe help you take care of it? Or don't you want them both?"
"They asked me to form a trine," Optimus said. "I have my answer, I have not told Sideswipe and Hot Rod yet."
Prowl sat down by his leader.
"I hope you're telling them yes," Prowl he said. "I've seen you with them both. You're happy when you're with them. I'm not the only one that's noticed."
"Everyone's noticed, then?" Optimus asked.
"Anyone that's looking," Prowl said. "I don't want to keep you any longer. You should have those two here with you right now, so I'm going."
Optimus started to protest, but Prowl silenced him with a look.
"Don't make me pull rank," Prowl said. "Please. Give a me a reason to get Ratchet involved. A couple of days off would do you good, but then again, you're too stubborn for your own good. Get some rest."
"Good night, Prowl," was all Prime could muster as his second in command left his quarters. At the same time, Prowl commed Sideswipe and Hot Rod.
:Get your afts to Prime's quarters. Don't argue with me, just do it, and don't make me regret interfering. You have 60 seconds to get here, starting NOW:
Prowl started counting, waited patiently. Hot Rod arrived exactly 23.732 seconds later, but he had been on duty in ops; Sideswipe arrived exactly 10 seconds later.
"What the hell do you want?" Sideswipe asked, walking up, glancing between Prowl and Hot Rod, who shrugged.
"Go spend some time with Optimus," Prowl said. "I think you three need to. . .talk. And you didn't hear from me tonight, are we clear?"
Sideswipe and Hot Rod nodded, watched Prowl walk away. Hot Rod entered the access code to Prime's quarters, where they found their leader sitting on his berth.
"What are you two doing here?" he asked.
"We thought you could use some company," Sideswipe said.
Optimus frowned.
"Hot Rod, aren't you supposed to be on duty in ops?" Prime asked, suspicious.
"Optimus, does it really matter right now?" Sideswipe asked. "I think the watch isn't going to suffer because one mech isn't there."
"Don't think you can shirk duty just because you've been spending time with me," Optimus said, standing.
"I'm not shirking duty," Hot Rod said. "I'm here because *you* need us."
"Right now, all I want is some peace and quiet," Optimus said.
"You don't have to be alone to have peace and quiet," Sideswipe said.
"And you to are anything but quiet," Optimus said. "I am glad you're here, though, because there is something I need to tell you both--my decision, about forming a trine."
The Autobot leader watched the two younger mechs glance at each other.
"My answer is yes," he said.
-----
Sunstreaker was contentedly wrapped around Wheeljack, who was in recharge. They hadn't interfaced yet, but that wasn't a problem. They were taking things slowly, enjoying each other's company, and tonight, that meant sharing a berth with Wheeljack. Sunstreaker hadn't meant to stay so late, but who knew just talking could be so stimulating? Wheeljack's keen mind and wicked sense of humor kept the gold twin engaged all evening, so much so he lost all track of time. And Wheeljack offered to let him stay. How could he say no? And he had fallen into recharge for a while, but now he was awake, pondering the fact he was lucky to be where he was--close to the one he didn't think he would have.
Sunstreaker knew he was more than lucky to be there, and Primus, somebody somewhere had to be smiling down on him to have him find another being who he trusted to be this close to. Of all the mechs in the universe, up to now, Sunstreaker had only trusted his own twin enough for that. But now there was Wheeljack.
Speaking of 'Sides, wonder where he is now, Sunstreaker mused. He hadn't seen his twin since coming off duty because they had patrol together, but at least they were half-way getting along again. Sideswipe had been on edge lately, a role reversal for them both. Usually he was the crazy, volatile one. But he pushed it from his mind.
And he was almost offline when he felt a strong burst of emotion from Sideswipe through their bond. . .and something else. . .Sunstreaker concentrated, picking up an awareness of another consciousness, no, not just one, but two. . .Optimus? And Hot Rod?
Oh frag. . .he could feel the pressure building in his own spark, offlined his optics, concentrating hard on shutting out his twin, but Sunstreaker was too late. His grip on Wheeljack tightened as he fought the overload that ripped through his body.
Seconds later, he onlined his optics, looked up, finding Wheeljack staring down at him. "I suppose because you're a twin, this is something I'm going to have to get used to?" Wheeljack asked.
"Yeah," Sunstreaker said. "'Jack, can we talk about this later? I need to go have a word with my twin."
"Sure," Wheeljack said. "Just don't take too long."
Sunstreaker caressed the engineer's face fins, which flashed blue. "I'll be back in a few."
-----
:Hot Rod, you better have a good reason for not being at your post, because if you're not back here in ops in five minutes. . .: Hot Rod came online quickly. Oh frag. Ironhide. Just how long had he been gone? He ignored his internal chronometer. Too long, obviously. He did have a reason, just not one he was going to share with Ironhide. He couldn't just walk into ops and say 'oh I haven't been up to anything, just overloading our leader senseless.'
He didn't want to move, didn't want to go anywhere, just wanted to stay where he was. Hot Rod's frame was still buzzing from his last overload with Optimus, who was resting beside him. Reluctantly, Hot Rod went to pull himself free from the big frame recharging next to him. But as he stood, he felt a hand run down his arm, catching him by the wrist.
"Where. . ."
"I have to be back on duty in five minutes, four now," Hot Rod said. "And Sideswipe is with Sunstreaker. But he'll be back. I promise."
He left out that the red twin was having it out with his brother. Sideswipe had been reluctant to leave Prime, as was Hot Rod now. The hand slid to his own, giving it a quick squeeze before Optimus let go. Hot Rod watched him settle back onto the berth, dropping quickly back into recharge.
As the young bot walked to ops, he shook his head in frustration. He knew if he tried getting out of duty, arguing with Ironhide he had something he needed to take care of, leaving out that "something" was actually someone, and if Ironhide knew who. . .let alone finding out just how Prime had spent the night, and with who, there would be hell to pay. He just hoped Sideswipe was faring better.
-----
Cohabitating with Red Alert meant Ultra Magnus no longer had to deal with living near his fellow officers. Though Red was an officer, he chose quarters among the Ark's general population for two reasons--so he could be near his best friend, Inferno, and it was quieter. Although sometimes, like now, Ultra Magnus had to question that logic because their quarters were right across the corridor from the twins and it sounded like they were having a bigger row than normal. The big mech sighed, slid out of the berth, trying not to wake Red, stepped outside their quarters, only to find the twins weren't arguing in their own quarters, but out in the corridor.
". . .then what the hell were you doing with *him* too?" Sunstreaker asked.
"It's none of your damn business," Sideswipe said. "I told you I had something to tell you, and I was going to, but you never gave me a chance, always jumping to conclusions, but now you know."
"Both of them? Prime I can understand but. . ." Sunstreaker said. Noting the change in his twin's expression, Sunstreaker decided an apology was in order. "'Sides, I am so sorry, if I'd known you felt that way, I never would've acted the way I did, but. . ."
"Sunny, no buts. It happened, and I'm not going to apologize for it," Sideswipe said.
"If it's what you want. . ." Sunstreaker said.
"I do," Sideswipe said.
"Then what are you standing here for?" Sunstreaker asked, grinning.
Sideswipe grinned back, turned to go, and found himself staring into the face of Ultra Magnus.
"Would you mind explaining why you're out here arguing instead of recharging like civilized Autobots?" Ultra Magnus said. He'd heard the entire argument, but chose to let it slide, for the moment. He would deal with all of the named mechs in the morning.
