Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just the plot and OCs.
I have been waiting years for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.
Chapter 100
Shifting Tides
Cross-legged on the edge of their blanket piled berth, Jynx glared down at the cards in her hand. In her lap, Storm gnawed happily on the edge of a energon gummy. The sticky, wiggly, little yellow cube was more sulfur then it was anything else, but Wheeljack had told her the little cube needed more then just pure energon in his diet. Apparently, no matter that he was still a tiny ball of too short limbs and round softness, he would be eating more then just from his carrier by now.
The wild was no place for softness, after all. Had his carrier still had him, the Silver Saber would be bringing home prey as well as what her frame could have made for him. He would be gnawing on struts and the innards of giga-gazelles, circuit-deer, and whatever else she would hunt down.
So, apparently, he needed more than just liquid.
Ratchet and Optimus weren't all that big on her venturing outside the city walls in order to hunt down a deer though. So, here she was, with one of Sides' gel cubes melting all over her legs while Storm happily rolled back and forth.
She did not mind the sticky mess.
What she minded was the damn awful hand of cards she had to work with.
Silver optics narrowed behind her visor, she darted a look up over the top of the cards. Sideswipe's pleased smirk over the rim of his own cards made her sensors flutter atop her helm.
She glowered at him.
"You're cheating." She huffed at him. Claws drumming against the back of her cards with a soft tapping sound. She watched that smirk work its way up the right side of his lips. "I don't know how. But you are."
Sideswipe lowered his cards just enough for her to get a better look at that growing smirk. "Can you prove it, Wild Cat?"
In her lap Storm mewed happily, Jynx just glowered a little harder at the red mech sitting in front of her.
He smirked all the more. "I'm gonna take that as a no."
And with that, he laid down another card between them. "Got anything higher then an eight of stars?"
Her optic twitched behind her visor. He had played five eights' already! How the pit had he gotten over half!? He was so far ahead in points at this point she mind as well just toss her whole hand at him. In fact, that would be a whole pit of a lot more satisfying then drawing another card.
"No." She grumbled, reaching forward to pull another card off the deck to add to the ever-growing array of uselessness in her hands. At this point, the stupid things were getting hard to hold. "And you know that. Somehow."
Sides chuckled sounding all too pleased with himself. "Prove it."
Jynx hissed, but they both knew she didn't really mean it. Especially when all she did was hunch back down over her cards to rearrange them with what she had drawn. A whole pit of a lot of uselessness is what it was. She had three star cards and all them were below five. Which meant they were little use against the eights, nines, and tens he kept pulling. She had a lot of red crystals and a pit load of grey gear cards, but those were worth nothing in the face of the black pearl and gold stars he had.
She really would like to know how in the world he got so many of them though.
Cheater.
Grumbling under her breath she shifted through her cards in search of something she could match together in order to be worth some points. Darting a look to the side of the room where Sunstreaker sat at his drawing table, she huffed at him.
"Why didn't you tell me he cheats at this game?"
Sunstreaker—not once looking up from the rather large sheet of sketching paper he was working at—shrugged and shot back. "He cheats at every game. Some of them he's just actually decent at in the first place."
"Hey!" Sides barked at him.
Jynx couldn't help but giggle as the golden brother rolled his optics.
"You know it is true."
"I'm good at games!"
"Not most of them. Not that you don't recode in order to cheat."
"Lies and blasphemy!"
"Idiot."
Jynx couldn't help but giggle under her breath. Reshuffling her cards, shaking her helm back and forth. She knew what they were doing. They weren't exactly subtle about it for sure. However, she appreciated it all the same.
It had been a long few orns after the Spark Lights. Crying in their chests all night long hadn't seemed to make them all that keen on letting her out of their sight. Not that she really blamed them. It . . . hadn't been a good night after that. They had taken her to berth, snuggled her between them, and whispered nonsense into the wee breams of morning. She had proceeded to ball her optics out in the process.
And, well, she supposed she felt better now. The ache in her chest was not gone per say, but there was something about doing something that had helped. She had told the two of them that as well. They had had a hard time getting over the breams of hiccupped sobs into their necks though. So here they were. The two of them had spent the last three orns trying to come up with anything to keep her busy.
At this point, she figured they were pretty good at it.
She knew they itched to do something as much as she did, but Gambit wouldn't come out, Megatron wasn't back, and Prowl was still planning. Considering nothing else had been bombed or set on fire, there was little else they could do besides keep busy.
She wasn't thrilled about that, but well it was better then sitting there twiddling her thumbs.
If only she could figure out how he was cheating at cards!
The sound of her giggle pulled Sides' deep blue optics back to her. A light flashing in those deep blue pools that made her duck her helm back down to hide behind her cards. Her spark felt fuzzy when he looked at her like that.
Gathering up a handful of matching gear cards she smacked them down between them. The lot of them together were hardly worth fifteen points. It was nothing in the difference between them, but Sides smiled at her all the same.
"That's a good move. Gets rid of a lot."
"You have four cards left." She rolled her optics at him, shaking the twenty plus cards in her hand to prove her point. "I am not going to win this. And its because you cheat."
That smirk grew back full force and in one flourish of movement he smacked all four cards down between them. Four matching aces of stars.
For a moment, she blinked in disbelief down at the cards. Then, slowly, she lifted her gaze to stare at that blooming smile across his lips.
"I win." He smirked.
A klick rolled by in which she just stared at that teasing smirk. Then her optics narrowed into thin slits. Sucking in a hissing breath, she slowly placed her cards down to the side. Sides' optic ridges lifted when she then scooped up Storm—gel cube still latched between his front paws and mouth—and carefully set him down on the floor at the end of the berth. Straightening back up in her cross-legged perch, she glared at him for one more breath, then she flung herself at him with a shout.
"You fraggin' cheater!"
For all Sideswipe was a seasoned warrior, it was safe to say he did not see that coming. She nailed him right in the chest. The force of the impact sent them crashing down back on the berth behind him. Sides landed hard on his back as cards went flying and Jynx proceeded to playfully beating him in the face with a pillow.
Laughter exploded from the depths of his chest only to be muffled by a hard whack of pillow.
"You fragger! You cheated the whole damn time! That's not fair!"
Another three rapid smacks as Jynx's weight settled sprawled over his chest. Spitting against the mouthful of mesh cloth, Sides snapped his hands up to latch hold of her hips. Silver optics went wide in a rapid spark beat when she suddenly found herself tossed over into the pillow mound at the top of the berth.
She landed with a plop and a startled squeak. Optics spiraled behind her visor she kicked out with a bubbling laugh to catch Sides in the shoulder. He rolled with the motion of her kick, managing to make to his knees. Laughing a rich sound that made Jynx's spark hum he snatched up his own pillow and smacked at her with it.
"Who said I was going to play fair?" He smacked at her again, the pillow bouncing off her flailing arm, laughter rolling in his throat.
Squealing a high giggle, she yanked up her legs as a shield. Snatching up her own pillow again she wacked back at his blows.
"I did!"
"Did not!" Sides countered one of her smacks, sending the pillow flying across the room. It would have smacked right into Sunstreaker had the golden mech not shot up his free hand and caught it. Jynx would have marveled at that had she not taken Sides distraction to her advantage.
Rolling back up to her knees, she launched herself at him again. Laughing, they went spilling back over the berth behind him. Landing in a roll of pillow smacks and Sides failing limbs she tossing his way and that. Jynx straddling him for a few smacks only to end up shoved off with a blanket tossed over her helm. The momentary struggle of trying to get the blanket off bought Sideswipe enough time to pull up another pillow and go to smacking her over the helm with it.
Giggling, flailing her arms and kicking out with her peds, she managed to fend off most of his blows. The laughter made them both clumsy though so it was hard to tell if he was really trying all that hard or if Jynx was actually managing to keep the pillow from nailing her in the face. One way or another though she worked up a good enough swing to knock the pillow from his hand when he drew it back once more.
As he dove for it, she twisted herself around enough to kick him in the ribs. The knock sent him to his back again and this time she rolled with him. She landed square on his chest. Laughter still bubbling up her throat she smacked him twice more, no matter that his arms pulled up over his face meant it didn't do much good. That deep rumble of amusement through his chest nearly vibrating her where she was straddling the thick planes of his chest. Width wise he is much too large for her to properly sit with her legs sprawled on both sides—well anywhere but his hips—but that didn't mean she couldn't hook her knees down and balance herself well enough.
Giggling high in her throat, she smacked him a few more times for good measure until his chuckling turned into words.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." There was no plea in his words, nor any real remorse, but he does finally manage to get a hand on her pillow and yank it. The pull drew her with it, sending her sprawling forward all that little bit more until she is plastered down his front. She only saved them both from a splitting helm-ache by catching herself on her elbows on both sides of his helm.
Then, as suddenly as it had all started, it came to a halt.
Giggle still bubbling ever so slightly in her voice, she found herself panting, wide-opticed, inches from his face.
Jynx was not prepared for the oh so very up-close look at those blown wide dark blue optics. She was even less prepared for the way her spark kicked hard in her chest then started a dizzy kind of warm flowing through her whole frame.
She shivered with it.
Struck dumb by the warmth spreading through her lines to settle down low in her tanks she just blinked down at him. Settling down despite the tingling all over her frame, against his own. Elbows all that were keeping her up she blinked dumbly down at his shimmering optics trying to figure out why exactly she could do nothing else but stare at him. That fuzzy warm pulsing through her from toes to sensors winding up settling with a ping in her interface array.
Oh.
The realization swam through her processor with a surprising lack of panic.
That was a miracle in and of itself probably, but it paled in the face of what she realized next.
Silver optics finally slipped down from the lock on deep blue optics. Instead, they settled on his lips. Strange as that was.
Jynx had never stared at a bot's lips before.
What was the purpose after all?
They were just lips.
Somebots had plush ones, some had thin ones, some had—what Nook called at least—kissable lips.
Jynx had never seen lips she thought were kissable before.
But . . . well, she supposed the sudden excited tingle pulsing through her own might mean that was different now. Because, she supposed at least, that Sides' lips were rather kissable.
They were . . . nice lips, for sure.
He had a handsome face. Anybot could see that. His optics were a rich, deep blue that complimented the strength in his square jaw, and the sharp angle of his cheek struts.
He had a kind face. She wasn't sure everybot could see that.
She did though.
She saw it in the soft curve of his smile and the wrinkles that bunched up around his optics when he was happy.
That smile.
She paid too much attention to that smile; she supposed.
She liked to look at it. Both his teasing smirks, and the kind curve he offered when he was being nice to her. It stretched wide when he laughed, beaming and bright.
She stared at it all the time. Though up until that moment, she hadn't really noticed.
She noticed now though.
A breath away from it, all she could do was stare at that smirk that had shifted into a carefully neutral curve.
It was no frown by any means. However, it was not that laughing smirk he had before.
In truth, all of him had gone rather stiff. The arms that had been raised up to guard his face from her pillow attacks had fallen down to the berth beside her.
A shift of her knee brushed against the warm plating of his arm, but she hardly realized she'd felt it. Just as she didn't realize he had balled his fingers into the fabric of the sheets below them. The tight hold to keep himself from reaching up. To keep his hands away from the swell of her hips.
She was too busy staring at the contrast between his upper and lower lips to notice.
She'd called his lips thin before, but she had also called them full.
It was a contrast she hadn't much paid attention to before. Now, it was all she could notice. The way his upper lip held all the sternness he was capable of in the slim line of it, but his lower lip held all the playfulness in its fullness.
It was strange.
She hadn't the faintest idea why she was paying any attention to it. Nor why she couldn't stop staring at it.
Well, okay, maybe she had some idea.
She had realized that warm tingle deep in her tanks had less to do with her tanks and much more to do with the equipment housed under them.
Her interface equipment had never pinged her like that before though. It had never warmed and tingled behind its protective paneling. It had never made her shift just the slightest bit against the strong plating she was sprawled against.
It was now though.
Just as her lips tingled with the notion of a memory. The memory of what it had felt like to be kissed by those lips she was staring at. Even if it had only happened once.
Suddenly, it was all she could think about.
Her tongue darted out without her thinking about it. Tracing over the tingling surface of her bottom lip in an echo of the way Sides' tongue had lightly touched it when he'd kissed her in the washracks.
Below her, Sideswipe swallowed hard, breath puffing out around her through his external vents.
For a moment, the movement startled her. Making her lean back just the slightest bit on her elbows only for her to freeze when Sides' tongue mimicked the slow slide against his bottom lip.
Her mouth moved before she could think better of it.
"I think I wanna kiss you."
It was little more then a whisper through the air between them. It might as well have been shouted from the roof tops. For the way it made Sides' optics widen was quite something to watch.
Jynx didn't have the faintest idea why she grew warm when that deep blue turning darker with—want. That was what that was.
She felt foolish all of a sudden for not having figured it out before. But there it was. She had seen that darkened glow in enough bot's optics to know what it was.
However, there was something different in this want. She had seen it once before in those deep blue optics—though never to this degree—but never anywhere else.
Most bots looked at her with lust. That primal need to possess that made Jynx's plating crawl and her insides cold.
That was not what was in Sides' optics though. It was want; for sure. It was lust as well. However, it was also something else.
Love.
That was what it was.
That was what made her frame warm and her lips tingle.
Sideswipe wanted her, laying there under her she could see that very well. He also loved her, though. And he loved her first.
What a strange thing to come to terms with.
What a strange reason for her to want to try that . . . kiss again.
Another hard swallow rolled down Sides' throat, his tongue sliding across his lips once more, before he whispered. "You can do whatever you want, Jynx."
Well now, that was a dangerous statement, wasn't it?
Whatever she wanted?
That was the problem.
She didn't have the faintest idea what she wanted.
Her spark kicked hard in her chest again, whirling through its chamber in a frantic arch. It wanted to open.
She knew that all too well.
It wanted her to slide open her chest plates and give it over for all that it was.
That notion terrified her, and she promptly told it to shut up.
Her valve—well it wanted something she didn't dare think about just yet. So, she kept dismissing the pings of her equipment. She could worry about that later.
Her processor . . . it was not so terrified of the kiss. It didn't have the faintest idea how to go about it, but well, Jynx always had been a learn-as-you-go kind of bot.
Sucking in a deep breath she let herself drop back down from her elbows. The movement drawing up short just a blink from Sides' own face. Their faces so close she could feel the breath of her own parted lips bounce back when it touched his.
Right. Her spark purred happily in her chest.
Her optics slipped closed.
Between one breath and the next she slowly let herself close that last little distance.
The first brush was nothing but that. The slightest of touches of her lips against his. The sharp zip of static that ran up her back strut came with the next one. The first brush was little more then her pressing her lips to his for a nano. The second came with an exhale rattling through her chest and a warm tingle through her spark.
The zing that tingled through her at that second tentative brush in which she pressed all that little bit harder. Trying desperately to remember what she had done when they kissed her before. How to slowly work her lips against his own in a way that made her spark sing in her chest and charge roll through her frame.
A few short moments in which she fumbled with the motion of not really knowing what she was doing, nerves growing with it, when suddenly Sides' hand trailed up her neck. She jerked back in shock at the touch. A slight gasp leaving her when she pulled back to blink stupidly down at him.
Wide silver optics gleamed behind the curve of her visor for a pounding spark beat. Staring into that darkened blue below her. He rumbled softly at her startled look—the sound shaking through her in a way that made her insides pulse—as he carefully slid his hand up to cup the back of her helm.
"Alright?" He whispered the word at her, tightening his grip ever so slightly before letting go.
For a moment, she hadn't the faintest idea what the slag he was talking about. Then—suddenly—it clicked.
Oh.
"Yeah," She whispered back, shivering ever so slightly as that purring rumble deep in his chest kept up. "I don't really know what I'm—"
"Easy," He murmured back at her. "It's okay, I know. You're a little too tense, Kitten. Not really going to feel good if you're stiff as a strut. You need to relax."
"Easy for you to say." She grumbled at him, shifting ever so slightly atop his chest when she ducked her helm. Giving him a look from under the rim of her visors even as she made no move to get away from him.
She didn't want loose.
Not at all.
The purr rumbling through his frame made that same tingle zing up her back, and the slight touches of lips had felt good, even if she knew she wasn't doing it right. She was just . . . embarrassed she supposed.
It shouldn't be this hard.
She shouldn't be so tense.
She wasn't scared of him. Not really. Not . . . like she had been about this before. Jynx just didn't know what she was doing.
Her whole life this had been an act. Or something taken from her.
She had never meant any physical touch such as this before. Let alone wanted it.
Now, she did.
She wanted Sides' frame—warm, strong, and rumbling—under her.
It . . . felt good.
Even if she didn't understand that. She wanted to kiss him. Even if she didn't have the slightest idea what she was doing. Let alone why she wanted it.
Maybe . . . maybe because she had never given it to any other before. Like she had told them before. Kissing was the thing she had kept. It was the one thing she had held on to. So, she didn't have the faintest idea how to do it.
But she knew it meant something to them. She knew it meant something for them.
It meant something to her too.
She wanted to try.
She knew he would let her too. Her spark hummed happily away in her chest at the very thought of it.
"I don't have the slightest idea how the frag this is suppose to work." She went on with a huff. Balanced there on her elbow's half a breath away from his lips. "You'd think kissing would be easier than fraggin' right? I know how to do that. Its simple. This is—"
"Hey," He cut her off, thumb sliding around in his hold of the back of her helm to swipe against the arch of her cheek. "Don't go there. Nothing about this is like that. Be easy. Let me? You wanna stop you just knock the slag out of me, okay?"
She couldn't help but giggle a little under her breath at the ruthful smile that he added on to that. Cupping her cheek as he was, she leaned a little bit further into the touch when he tugged on her just a bit. Sinking back down over him she let him tug her that last little bit closer. The warmth of his breath puffing against her lips while she blinked down into those wide blue pools.
He smiled that tilted smirk, optics darting over her face when he whispered. "This alright?"
Optics sliding shut, she nodded. "Yeah,"
There lips meshed back together. Sides' palm sliding up the back of her neck, he guided her to tilt her helm ever so slightly.
Their lips slid, that zing seared back up her struts, and she melted against his front.
The awkward pressing she had been doing earlier faded under him tilting her and leading her along. She followed along with the leading his hand did at the back of her neck. Leaning into the dance of his lips against her own. She couldn't help the gasp that left her when he slowly caught her bottom lip between his own.
The sudden light suction drew a low sound up in her chest she had only ever faked. The sound echoed through his own frame. That hand at her neck sliding back up to cup the back of her helm. His fingers brushed just under the edge of her sensors. The tickle of touch to the sensitive wires found there making her frame surge with charge.
Jynx found herself pressing back into it even while she groaned at the tug on her lips. Sides sucked a bit harder on her lip for a moment longer before letting it go. The pop of release meant she gasped against the sudden freedom.
Sides surged back in before she could do much more then suck in another breath. This time however, the kiss went deeper. Between that gasping breath and the press of their lips once again he darted his tongue in to deepen the kiss.
Brushing up against her own in a way that made fire surge through her gut she whimpered with the strange sensation.
Then, suddenly, it was all too much. The hot bubble in her tanks and the insistent pinging through interface equipment too much for her to cope with. Somehow, Sideswipe knew it too. Just when she was about to jerk herself back, he pulled away. His hand dropping to fall back down to the berth beside her knee. His helm knocked back to rest against the sheets under them once more.
She pulled away with a jerk of motion, but she didn't go far. The overwhelmed feeling fading a bit when she was no longer held tight.
Jynx leaned away all the same though. Panting hard through her mouth while she leant up to sit upright on his chest. Hands planted on both sides of his audio horns she panted in a full frame shake. Optics wide behind her visor she found herself just staring down at him.
Spark hammering in her chest she flexed her fingers against the sheets. Panting slowing down ever so slightly, she blinked in the face of that pleased grin that slowly curled up his lips.
"Alright?" He breathed up at her.
Spark swirling in a pleased loop in her chest she nodded slowly. It was only when that smirk on his lips grew just a bit more that she finally heard the slight rumble echoing from the other side of the room.
Helm snapping up she darted a look over to where Sunstreaker sat at his sketching table. He had twisted away from the large surface of his desk. Twisting in his chair to face the berth where they were. It wasn't that that Jynx paid a lick of attention to though.
As soon as she caught them, she couldn't look away from those darkened blue optics. That smoldering heat she found there made the sticky warmth in her gut surge back up. The easing off of her panting faded into the back of her mind as she found herself lost in those deep blue depths.
Under her, Sides purred a sound like warm thunder. Helm tilting to the side to take in his brother's form.
"Well now, isn't that a face I love to look at?" He chuckled deeply in his chest. "Like what you see, Sunny?"
Sunstreaker didn't speak.
Instead, he leant ever so slightly forward in his chair. Optics set on the pair of them with a fire burning inside them that set one off in her gut. Long golden fingers slid down his thighs back and forth in a rolling twitch that spoke of wanting to touch but not allowing himself too.
"Look at that look you've gotten on him, Wild Cat." Sideswipe went on, voice dripping down into a raspy purr that made her sensors twitch. She couldn't help but shift back and forth on his frame at the sticky warmth pulsing through her. Her valve pulsed behind its panel. She dismissed the pings for it to open. "He likes looking at the two of us. Don't you, Sunny?"
Deep in his chest, Sunstreaker let out a frame shaking rumble.
Jynx's spark pulsed hard in response.
"Na-uh, Sunny." Sides purred at him. "You gotta tell her. She's not me. She can't feel what you want her too. You think she's gorgeous and you want to hold her? You tell her. She needs you to tell her. It would help. Talking about it will make it less scary. Wouldn't it, Kitten?"
"Yeah," She nodded ever so slightly. Leaning a bit off of Sides toward the golden twin staring at them with that smoldering heat in those dark blue orbs.
Shifting just a bit forward in his chair, Sunstreaker clenched his fingers around his knees. Optics set on her, he swallowed hard with a puff through his vents.
Voice deeper then then the Sea's abysses he rumbled. "Can I kiss you?"
Jynx's spark shivered in a warm roll at the rich tone echoing deep in his chest. She had always thought their voices smooth and deep. Before was nothing compared to that roll in his chest now.
Her sensors fluttered, her spark arched in a bounce through her chest, and with a liquid roll of plating and frame she slid off of Sides. Landing on her peds without even thinking about it, she slid the distance between them. Coming to a stop just short of his knees she blinked at the deep blue of Sunstreaker's gaze staring back at her.
Swallowing hard against the pounding in her chest she let her optics dart down to his lips before returning to his optics. Those deep blue optics following the motion of her own, but those flexing fingers did not reach. Even when he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth for a moment before letting it go. He still did not reach even when that glow in his optics so clearly wanted to.
That was when she realized; she hadn't answered.
Helm tilting to the side, sensors fluttering atop her helm, she whispered. "Yes,"
Sunstreaker leaned a little bit further forward in his chair only to come to a stop. His fingers drummed against his knees once, optics darting over her, then he straightened up. Letting his knees fall further apart he opened up the space before him. Hands still holding their place on his knees, he dipped his helm down ever so slightly, tipping it to the side.
The invitation was clear in both his optics and his frame, and before she could think too much about it, Jynx let herself step forward. Sliding into the open space between his thighs she didn't allow herself the moment of panic that should have built. Because here she was, willingly sliding herself up between a oh so very powerful mech's thighs.
And she was not afraid.
She had not been afraid sprawled out onto of Sides either. However, there was quite a bit of difference in the position of that powerful mech allowing her to put him on his back and keep him there, and this.
There sheer size of Sunstreaker was on display all around her. Even sitting as he was, he could bend his helm over the top of her. His powerful thighs bracketed her on both sides. Strong arms lay over the top of his legs, fingers gripping his knees with a pressure she wasn't sure was comfortable, but it was the thick expanse of his chest that drew her in.
The sheer power that lived in the size of this mech was in display all over him, but the thick armor of his wide chest proved it in another way. Maybe it was because on the other side of that plating beat a spark she swore she could almost hear.
A spark her own sang for. Spinning away in her chest, it pounded hard against her chamber. Beating hard enough that she was almost dizzy with it, she couldn't help but reach out. Claws latching hold along the grooves of his chest. Hooking in and tugging at him until that wall of mech leaned further into her.
Panting, open mouthed, at the pounding of her spark and the heat racing up and down her frame, Jynx tilted her helm ever so slightly up to him. Asking for something she wasn't sure she even knew what was.
Sunny knew.
The gleam in those deep blue optics spoke well enough of that.
But still, the big golden mech stopped just short of letting his lips fall against her own. So close, the glow of his optics lit the angles of her cheeks, their breath ghosting against each other's lips. Jynx's optics fell shut before she knew what she was doing, claws holding tight to his chest, waiting with her spark pounding.
A breath.
Another.
Her optics cracked open ever so slightly. Sunstreaker swallowed hard with a rumbled deep in his chest, then he closed the distance.
Jynx's sensors net came alive.
Charge that had already been rolling through her frame, kicked up once again. Throwing alerts and pings up through her systems; she dismissed them in favor of tilting her helm. Lips desperately trying to match the skilled slide of Sunstreaker's against her own.
One hand came up to cup the back of her helm. Tilting her ever so slightly along the line of her jaw. His fingers wrapped themselves around the back of her neck. It was when he let them have the slightest of squeeze that she gasped against his lips.
He deepened the kiss with that gasp. Slipping his tongue into her mouth she couldn't help the startled groan that worked up her chest when it darted across her fangs before teasing against her own.
The deep sound he let out in response to it made her knees week and her ped claws curl against the floor. She found herself nearly falling into him then. Her weight pitching forward against his chest, he suddenly had her firmly against his plating.
His arm that had still laid against his leg, came up to wrap tightly around her waist. Pulling her deeper into his middle even while his legs pulled tighter around her own. She hardly noticed any of it though.
She was too lost in the hot surge rolling through her chest down into her gut. Claws tightening in the grooves along his chest she hardly noticed she was pressing her own into his. Spark doing a happy twist of right, right, right, right, mine! She dared to try and mimic the teasing his tongue was doing against her own.
Just as she felt like her vents were about to start screaming, he pulled back. Gasping in a breath at the sudden lack of contact, her optics blinked back open to stare up at the handsome grey faceplate so close to her own.
Sunstreaker panted there around her.
Pulling back just enough to remove his lips from her own, but not going much further than that. For a blink, they panted there in each other's breath. Then slowly the arm around her back tightened. Tugging her closer to him just a bit, she wasn't sure what he was doing when instead of dipping back down to her lips, he pressed his own firmly against her helm—once, twice—before resting his chin between her sensors.
Spark pounding in her chest, panting hard against the heat swirling around in her tanks, she let herself be tucked up against his plating. Dipping her helm to hide the slowly growing blush in her cheeks in the soft cabling of his neck.
Together, they simply stayed there like that. Sunstreaker wrapping her up in his space, pulling her into his frame—she tingled all over as his energy field danced with her own—and keeping her there. Jynx couldn't say she minded.
It was warm, safe, right while she nuzzled her nose into the cabling along the side of his neck. She found herself purring without even realizing it. Pleased beyond all belief when he started purring back at her. His own a much deeper, richer sound then the high note she could make, but her spark sang with it all the same.
She had no idea how long she might have stood snuggled there in his space. Pleased at the tingle in her lips and the warmth in her chest. However, apparently, Storm had been ignored long enough.
A load yowl jerked her from the warmth of Sunny's space. Yanking her back and step, she twisted to find a tiny ball of silver and black striped plating glaring up at her from her peds.
On the berth—Sideswipe started cackling.
Sunstreaker loosened his hold with a laugh rumbling in his own chest. She darted a look up at him, blushed at the pleased glow in his optics, and bent to retrieve her cub.
"Aww," Sliding himself around on the berth so that he was sitting up on the side with his legs hanging off, Sideswipe grinned at the tiny saber cub as Jynx brought him up to rest against her chest. "Little mechling feeling neglected?"
Jynx stuck her tongue out at him, trying not to think too hard about the fact that a moment ago it had been in his mouth. By how hot her cheeks felt she didn't think she was doing all that good a job at it.
The all too pleased smirk that he offered her said much the same.
A sudden flush of—she wouldn't call it embarrassment, maybe something more along the lines of realization—surged up her frame. Tucking her face down around the mewing ball of plating in her hand, she darted a look between the two of them.
Her lips still tingled with the memory of their touch. Her insides still pulsing faintly with slowly fading warmth. Her spark, well it was still spinning away happily in her chest.
Her field pulling back made the two of them straighten up ever so slightly. A look passing over her helm between those mirrored blue optics before returning to her. Sides smirk did not fall away fully, but he did soften that gleam in his optics. Sunstreaker simply rumbled a note deep in his chest at her. The sound pulling her focus to him.
When elegant golden fingers lifted an offer to her, she didn't think too hard about letting go of Storm with one hand. Tangling their fingers together, she pretended her cheeks didn't heat with another blush when he squeezed.
This smile he offered was less heated but still warm. Those dark blue optics twinkling with a happy light as he quietly murmured at her.
"Okay?"
She nodded; faceplate still warm with the blue blush. Her claws tightened around his ticker, blunter fingers, as she whispered. "It was nice."
"Yeah," Sides breathed out behind her. The sound twisting her just enough that she could watch the pair of them from behind her clear visor. "It was."
"Not too much?" Sunstreaker pressed ever so slightly, fingers holding tight to her own.
At that, Jynx had to ponder for a moment.
Because, no, it hadn't been too much. Not really, at least. It had been strange, for sure. She understood a bit now what her frame was feeling, but she wasn't necessarily comfortable with its reactions.
It still . . . scared her to a degree.
This feeling and wanting.
When their hands ran over her frame, she longed for more of it. The heat that filled her when their tongues had slipped into her mouth to try and coax her to dance was strange.
It was very strange.
But . . . it was . . . nice.
She didn't want to open her valve cover for damn sure. She would like it very much to stop pinging her, but . . . the touch, the kiss, the heat was something she actually kind of liked.
Explaining that though was a task in and of itself. She tried though.
Because they were trying with her.
She knew they were.
They were ever so careful with her. Touching only when she knew, only when she didn't balk at it. And they ended it far before she started getting completely overwhelmed. They didn't push her, even when she could tell they wanted to touch her more.
They never did.
She was pretty sure she loved them for that.
"Strange," She finally answered. Silver optics slowly slipping between the two of them while she pet at Storm's soft audios. "But not too much. I . . . like it . . . when you touch me."
Sides' helm tilted; audio horns catch the low light of their room. "You okay with the kissing?"
The blush burned hotter against her cheeks.
Sunstreaker chuckled warmly under his breath. "Yeah, I think you were okay with it."
She offered him the slightest of grins even while she shifted on her ped claws. "I'm not really sure what I'm doing."
"We know." Sides went on, optics warm when they met her own. "But that's okay. We taught each other to kiss. We can teach you no problem."
The blush burned all the brighter when his smirk curled further up his cheeks. Dimples coming to life alongside that smile. She had the sudden urge to nuzzle them, or maybe press her lips against them, but she pushed it down. That notion was a little too confusing.
Instead, she just stared at them while she shrugged. "I . . . like it . . . ."
Sunstreaker squeezed her fingers once more while he spoke again. "We do to. But you tell us if you get overwhelmed or something, okay? This is about your speed. What you are comfortable with."
"We're doing our very best not to push you." Sides added on.
"I know." She told them softly. Because she did, and she wasn't sure if they knew how very much that meant to her.
"But we do like being able to . . . well, you see—" The red twin suddenly seemed to be rather tongue tied. His smile twisting a bit while he tired to figure out how to word the desire to touch her. Because for ever loving pit they wanted to touch her.
For pit's sake just look at her!
Their spark pounded for her. Their frames pulsed for her.
She was so fraggin' cute. Standing there with her fingers tangled with his brother's. Holding that cub to her chest. Cheeks bright blue with the force of her blush.
Primus, he ached for her.
Sunny did as well.
Even this little bit. This knew curiosity she had for their touch made them both want to shout from the rooftops.
Okay, well, Sunny wasn't really one for loud public declarations or anything like that. He felt it though. He felt just as alive as Sides did when she leaned into their space. When she wanted them to hold her. When that curious spark shown in her optics and she dared do something she'd never thought she wanted to.
The red twin swallowed hard against the tingling in his mouth. The taste of her on his tongue. He'd wanted to bury himself in her field and never leave when she landed there on his chest.
Fisting his fingers in the blankets had been the only way he knew to keep from reaching. Because he'd wanted to so badly. He'd ached for it.
But he'd never dare.
He'd never reach until she did.
And when she'd curiously closed the distance between them his spark had shouted with it.
Primus it felt good.
The feel of her against him. The way her field mingled with his own. The ease in which she was letting them in.
She was still scared; they knew it well. And it hurt them both to watch her retreat. However, they were also all too aware how far they had come in a relatively short time. She didn't run from them anymore. More often then not if she got upset, she took a few steps back and thought about it.
Sides wasn't about to complain about not having to worry about chasing her all over anymore. He in no way comfortable with the fear that mingled in her field now and again, but he was also very aware of the change in the rest of it.
She made his spark warm and she knew it. She wasn't terrified of it anymore.
He wanted to fraggin' sing about it.
And wasn't that strange?
"You love me." She cut him off before he could ramble on anymore. And wasn't that a wonder that she could say that and not have a panic attack now.
He snorted at the matter-of-fact way she said it, but he nodded all the same.
"Yeah, we do. So, punch me if I annoy you."
She giggled at it, but he was going to keep saying it. She had to know she had the power here.
She did know that. She really did, but that didn't make it any less strange to her.
"I don't want to punch you." She rolled her optics at his smile, turning her attention back to the mewing cub in her hand.
"Really?" Sunstreaker huffed. "Because I want to all the time and I'm his fraggin' twin."
Now that got her laughing. Hand falling away from his in favor of trying to stifle the laugh against her lips. She gave him a look that he couldn't help but smile in return to when Sides let out a 'Hey!' of indignation.
Sunstreaker didn't care.
He wasn't lying.
He did want to punch his brother on a regular basis. He had to live with over emotional idiot in his spark.
Did he love him? Yes, of course he loved him. He loved him more then he had ever loved anything else in his life—apart from the little bright white femme in front of him. Did he also find him endlessly annoying? Also, yes.
The difference between him and those that thought Sideswipe was some times a 'bit too much' was that Sunny wouldn't change him for the world. For Sides was his world. His world had expanded, yes, but the core of it would always be the red mech.
They were different as light and dark, that was just how twins worked, but they worked all the same.
Never one without the other.
As sure as the tides, the sun, and the moons.
Even if now they were become a bit different.
Neither brother had anymore idea what to truly make of the fact that their spark picked another then their adopted creators did. They just didn't care to question it anymore.
They loved this bright little femme with as much of them as they did each other.
They were going to keep her too. She would be with there spark eventually. Neither were willing to push her though. It was just nice to watch her ease into them. To watch her trust them and learn to be curious about her own feelings.
That and Sunstreaker really liked to watch her blush.
Jynx looked between the two of them with a shake of her helm, smile curling her lips, claws stroking carefully up and down Storm's back. "That's because you're twins."
"Probably." He chuckled.
"And because he cheats at games."
Sideswipe fell over on the berth laughing.
Drumming his claws against the edge of his desk, Jazz stared at the file glowing on the datapad before him. He'd read it something like six times now at this point.
None of those extra times changed any of the words in it.
No matter how bad he wanted them too.
Besides him, Prowl shifted through the files looking for a difference. For something they might have missed.
They hadn't.
Even if they wanted to.
"It doesn't make sense." Prowl sighed, laying the datapad down on the desk before them.
"If it made sense our lives would be easy." Jazz huffed back. "When have our lives ever been easy?"
"How does a whole surface town vanish?"
"Maybe you should ask Megatron."
The pair of mates jerked upright from the desk. Two different shades of blue snapping up to find the long, lean, silver form of Soundwave at their office door.
"Soundwave," Prowl greeted, though it was with a bit of a bite in his tone. No bot had had any idea where Megatron had gone off to for the last orns. No bot but Soundwave, that is.
Optimus and Rodimus had been getting more and more fidgety the longer their eldest brother was gone, but Soundwave had said nothing. He'd simply given them bot a long, slow blink and turned away.
The frustration they all had at the situation was starting to show.
"Decide to tell us where it was he went to pout?" Jazz huffed at him. Arms crossing to lean against his desk, the visor across his optics flashed with the force of his glare.
"No." Soundwave responded easily. Walking into the office and allowing the door to shut behind him, he took a seat across the desk from them. Leaning back he crossed his arms against his chest. Those bright red optics of his shining in that way they did. The one that seemed to imply that he knew something you didn't.
Usually, he did.
Especially when it came to Megatron.
"It doesn't matter now. He's almost back."
Both Jazz and Prowl set up straighter at that.
"He is?" Prowl pressed.
Soundwave nodded. "He'll be back by the morning. He will be able to tell us what happened to Fritzron. He wasn't there the whole time, but he did end up there."
"So he will know what happened?" Jazz tilted his helm. That was something at least.
"Somewhat." Soundwave nodded. "But I figure the bots he's got trailing after him will be of more help to us."
The mated pair stilled. "What?"
"He's got what is left of the surface town's population with him. They'll be able to tell us what happened. Though I doubt we will like it."
No.
No, Jazz didn't think any of them were going to like it.
Blue optics darting back down to the file before him he swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. They didn't know what the Ground had done, but a whole surface town completely disappearing wasn't likely to be a good thing.
Jazz wasn't looking forward to figuring it out.
Tucked away in a room not in any way forgotten inside the compound, but for now left alone, Gambit's deep red optics blazed to life.
Massive black frame nearly invisible in the darkness of his dark room. The only spot of color were the glow of red from his optics, and the sheen of dripping blue energon seeping from his nose.
Engine rumbling in annoyance deep in his chest, the huge mech lifted a claw to swipe at the annoyance dripping down his lip. Pulling his hand back, he shifted just enough to get a look at the glimmering liquid slipping slowly down the curve of his claw. It hadn't stopped in over two joor.
That was . . . not good.
It had been getting much more frequent. He could no longer deny that. It wasn't only when he pushed himself or used his gift anymore. Over the last few orns it had started to just happen.
A growl built in his chest, but for what, he didn't know.
What was the point of even getting angry now?
Getting angry wasn't going to change it.
Nothing was going to change it.
The simple truth of the matter was it was only going to keep getting worse.
Hand falling back down to his side, he tried to pretend he couldn't feel the ache through his chest and his back strut. It didn't do much good, but well, Gambit had made a life out of ignoring pain.
He could do it for a while longer.
For however long that while might be.
Not very, not at this rate.
He knew that.
He was very much aware he was running out of time. He'd been living on barrowed time now since he got dumbed through that space bridge. It was a wonder he had survived this long.
He just had to keep it up for a little while longer though. Just long enough.
Jynx would help him get his claws on that monster. They would kill him.
And then . . . then Gambit could rest.
Then he could be done.
Deep red optics slipping back closed, he swallowed the energon bubbling up into his mouth. Sniffing to try and get some of it to stop dripping down his lips.
All he had to do was work with his fragger of a sire, the so called Prime of this planet, and his tiny little sister.
Yeah.
No issue there.
Sucking a deep breath in through his vents he spit the next mouthful of energon out. Swallowing it back down wasn't doing him much good at this point. There was no point if it didn't help.
Time.
He just needed a little bit more time.
He had to keep this mess of a fragged up frame together for a little bit longer. Just until he could rip Rashact to tiny little pieces. Just until he could be . . . done with it.
Then he could rest.
Finally . . . he would be able to rest.
Helm falling back to the wall behind him, he let his optics slide back open to stare listlessly at the ceiling.
He was so tired.
He just wanted to rest.
*dances* The three of them are figuring it out! I love it so much.
I hope you guys enjoyed the fluff, because we're about to get back into the action. Hold on to your hats, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
I can't wait to see what you guys thought about this one! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I adore you all.
See you next chapter!
- Jaycee