Title: New Leaf
Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.
Warning(s): Slash, robot pronz, a teeny-weeny hint of dub-con
Author's Note: The last chapter was a bit short, but this one ran long, so it's all good. This is the final chapter, although I may at some point write a follow-up fic. Skywarp is a blast to write, and I think it'd be fun to explore the reactions of the humans and the other 'Bots…
It took him three Earth days to talk himself into confronting the Prime again.
He got as far as the door to the Autobot leader's hangar before he lost his nerve.
"C'mon, Skywarp," he muttered to himself, "Just ping him already! What are you, Starscream now? Gonna kiss aft an' grovel just because he's bigger than you? So what if he's big! So what if he's the slagging Prime! So what if you can't warp to the other side of the planet if you frag him off – wait, that's not helping..."
He huffed through his intakes. Maybe I should just go circle the perimeter again...
The door opened.
"Skywarp," the Prime greeted him calmly. He didn't question the Seeker's presence outside his quarters. Pit, he didn't even look surprised.
Tell him, Skywarp! Remember all that slag you planned to say? Say it!
When the former Decepticon just stared at him, Prime added, "Was there something you needed?"
"Um...no. Not really."
(It was at this point that Skywarp's inner voice threw up its hands and stormed out in disgust.)
The Autobot leader regarded the fidgeting Seeker thoughtfully. "Would you like to come in?"
Skywarp hesitated a moment, then shrugged and went in. At least this way he'd still have a chance to plead his case.
Just as soon as he got his vocalizer to function for more than five syllables.
Prime moved to take a seat on the boxcar while Skywarp glanced around uneasily. He'd half expected to find one of the other 'Bots here since he hadn't seen any of them wandering around the base, but Prime's quarters were empty of all but their primary occupant.
Plus himself, of course.
The Autobot leader was looking at him expectantly, so the Seeker said the first thing that popped into his CPU.
"Where's Ironhead and the grouch?"
Oh slag, did he just say that out loud?
Prime seemed amused. "Ironhide is currently visiting with the Lennox family. Ratchet is "on call" assisting the local humans with what they call "emergency services."
"Oh. Right."
A long, awkward silence stretched out between them, the Prime obnoxiously relaxed and at ease, the Seeker fidgeting restlessly, his optics flicking nervously about the room as if looking for handy escape routes.
That is, until they settled on something…unusual.
"Is that energon?" he asked, optics fixed upon the curious object. It looked like energon, scintillated and swirled and glowed like energon, but it was housed in an odd cylindrical container instead of the standard cube.
Prime followed the former Decepticon's gaze. "In a sense, yes. Ratchet has been working on synthesizing a useable form of energon from the fuel sources available here on Earth. That's from one of the latest test batches."
"Is it any good?" Skywarp asked.
"Difficult to say," the Autobot leader replied. "We can only test it on ourselves, and for the sake of safety we can only do so in small quantities. It's certainly…potent."
Skywarp dialed up his audials at that. "How potent?"
Prime still sounded amused. "You're welcome to try some if you like. Ratchet did say that as many of us as possible should sample it, to ensure it's compatible with all Cybertronian systems."
The Seeker deliberated for all of an astrosecond before sweeping up the container and taking a gulp of its contents.
It was foul. Skywarp didn't know what he'd been expecting, but that wasn't it. The substance – calling it energon was far too generous – had a heavy, organic flavor and a raw, unrefined quality that made the crudest low-grade seem smooth and decadent by comparison. The Seeker shuddered and grimaced at the aftertaste stubbornly clinging to his glossa.
"Well?" The Autobot was definitely amused.
"Tastes like slag," Skywarp replied, defiantly taking another swig.
Oh, but it had a kick to it! The taste was utterly vile, but the Seeker was pretty sure that he could get well and truly overcharged on the stuff – provided he could keep from purging his tanks long enough to do it.
"I'm glad you approve," Prime said, a hint of laughter in his vocalizer.
The former Decepticon slammed the container down, suddenly overtaken by a surge of irritation.
So I'm funny now, am I? he thought sulkily. Just who did the Prime think he was laughing at?
"I don't approve," he retorted with a snarl. "It sucks. Just like everything else on this slagging base. Like everything on this whole stupid planet."
His scathing words were met with a long, pensive silence.
"I didn't realize you were so...unhappy here," the Autobot leader said finally.
He no longer sounded amused.
"Well what did you expect?" Skywarp snapped. "You had me stripped down to my base programming! What, am I supposed to thank you for that? Gee, I'm sorry! Thanks so much for turning me into a useless pile of walking scrap!"
"Skywarp..."
"Don't call me that! I don't deserve that designation anymore! I can't fly, I can't warp, so it's just – I'm just a big slagging joke! Why not cut off my arms while you're at it? Or my wings – it's not like I've got any use for them anymore – Pit, why didn't you just offline me from the start? It'd be better than this! Frag!"
Wow. That...didn't come out at all like he'd planned.
It seemed to have been effective, though. The Prime was staring at him with a satisfyingly guilty look in his optics. Skywarp resisted the urge to smirk in triumph.
"I'm sorry."
And just like that, the Seeker's victory was swept out from under him, toppling like that building he'd leveled a couple vorns back, the one he'd hit just right, so that it hadn't so much collapsed as disintegrated into a heap of rubble.
How the frag did Prime do that, anyway?
"I've already explained why we can't restore your weapons systems at this time," Prime informed him. "Regrettably, that position remains unchanged. However, I see no reason why your flight and warp capabilities can't be restored – provided you agree to use them responsibly."
Skywarp stared at the Autobot leader in amazed disbelief. Had he just...won?
"Well," he stammered. "...good."
"You're not alone, Skywarp," the Autobot said gently. "The details may differ, but we're all trying to find our paths again. We're all feeling…displaced. It's always easier, more comfortable for we Cybertronians when we have our core programs to fall back on."
Prime moved to stand beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder-strut, "But we're also more than the sum of our programming. We can learn new ways to function when the old ways no longer serve our purpose. We can adapt."
"Maybe you can," the Seeker muttered.
"The Autobots weren't originally programmed for combat, but when the war began we became warriors, because warriors were what was needed," Prime replied. "I see no reason why the reverse can't also be true. Just because you were originally programmed for war, doesn't mean you can't learn to function in a time of peace."
"What if you're wrong?" Skywarp asked.
"I don't think I am," the Prime assured him. "You've already begun. Would the old Skywarp have spared that human's life?"
The former Decepticon stiffened, startled. Attacking the intruding insect had been instinctive, automatic – but stopping before he squished the stupid thing had been almost reflexive, too.
"The humans have a saying," Prime continued. "They call it 'turning over a new leaf.' It means to begin again; peeling away the old layer to expose the new."
Skywarp couldn't help but smirk at that. "You saying you want to get under my plating?" he asked teasingly, turning to face the taller mech and shrinking the small distance remaining between them. "Thought you weren't interested."
The look on the Autobot's faceplate was priceless. It was almost worth all the slag he'd been through, just to see the Prime caught off-balance for once.
But he recovered all too quickly. It was kind of disappointing. "I'm saying that just because the war is over, doesn't mean you've lost all purpose. You can find new purpose, a new core directive, here on Earth, with us."
"What about you?" the Seeker asked suddenly.
"Me?" Prime seemed surprised by the question.
"Yeah," he replied. "War's over, Allspark's gone, Cybertron's in the smelter; so you're not really the Prime anymore, are you? I mean, Prime of what, right?" The former Decepticon edged just that tiny bit closer, so that his cockpit scraped against Prime's windshield. "So what are you now?" He smirked, shifting just slightly, glass grinding against glass. "What's under your plating?"
There's that look again. Primus, I think I love that look. The Seeker couldn't help grinning. Prime was so much more interesting when he was flustered!
If you thought about it, his gleeful reaction wasn't all that surprising. Underneath it all, it was who Skywarp was, what he was. Pranks, jokes, even warping – it all boiled down to the same thing – catching the other mech off-guard, taking him by surprise.
And the Prime was definitely caught.
Truth be told, Skywarp was feeling a little...off-balance himself. Maybe it was that experimental energon, or the prospect of getting his wings and warp generator back at long last, or maybe it was just that he hadn't overloaded in decacycles – but whatever the reason, the flirtation he'd initiated in jest didn't feel entirely like a joke anymore. His core temperature had risen a couple of degrees, and the Seeker found himself eyeing the Autobot in a decidedly speculative, appraising sort of way.
What was under that plating?
It was as if their roles had suddenly been reversed. Now it was the Prime who was resetting his vocalizer and shifting his components in a discomfited way, while Skywarp stood at ease, relaxed and confident.
"I will always be Prime," the Autobot said. "No matter what happens, that will never change."
The resignation in his tone surprised the former Decepticon.
"Even if you don't want to be?" Skywarp asked.
"It is an honor to be Prime," the Autobot replied. "But yes, even then."
He wasn't sure what made him do it. The decision to extend his energy field to brush and flicker against the Prime's was almost…instinctive.
The Autobot leader noticed immediately, backing quickly out of range, but in the astrosecond before he did so, Skywarp felt the way Prime's energy field reached for him, and suddenly it all made sense. Resistant as he might be, some part of Prime wanted what the Seeker was offering…and Skywarp had a good idea why.
"I thought I made it clear to you, Skywarp," the Prime said. "That sort of…payment is neither expected, nor desired."
"Who said anything about payment?" the former Decepticon asked, closing in on him once more. "I'm not doing this because I owe you, Prime."
Blue optics met crimson. "Then why are you doing it?"
Skywarp shrugged, smirking. "Maybe I'm bored," he replied coyly. "Maybe I'm overcharged. Maybe I just wanna find out what kind of noise the Prime makes when he overloads. Who knows?"
The Autobot stiffened as the Seeker pressed into him once more, energy field tickling at his external sensors, light and teasing.
"Skywarp," he warned. "This is not appropriate."
"Oh, come on," the former Decepticon retorted impatiently. "Your 'Bots might buy into that whole 'untouchable Prime' act, but don't try to con a 'Con. You need this more than I do."
"What?" the Prime sounded truly startled.
"You didn't think I'd notice? I know all about your type, Prime. It's easy; you're the complete opposite of me." Skywarp grinned, trailing a clawtip over the Autobot's chestplate.
"See, I'm a selfish mech," the Seeker explained. "I take what I want; I don't give a frag about anyone but myself." He paused a moment, then amended, "Well...mostly."
Waving the thought away, he continued, "You, you're the opposite. You're always thinking about everyone else, about what they want, instead of what you want."
The former Decepticon sent another pulse through his energy field, this one hot and heavy and full of promise. Skywarp smirked at the telltale hitch the other mech's intakes gave in response, at the rise in heat emanating from Prime's chassis.
I knew it, he thought triumphantly.
"So I figure, maybe we can learn a little something from each other. Peel back our plating and see if we can't find this 'new leaf' of yours," he concluded, optics shifting upward to meet the Prime's. "You game?"
The Autobot leader pushed his hands away, once more retreating a few steps. "I have no intention of taking advantage of you in that way, Skywarp."
Autobots.
"What advantage?" the Seeker demanded. "I'm offering, Prime! I'm offering because you're wound so tight you're ready to snap, and none of your stupid 'Bots even seems to notice! Too busy playing with their squishes to realize their leader hasn't had a decent overload in Primus-knows-how-long!"
"I don't–"
"Please," Skywarp scoffed, advancing on the larger mech again. "Leave the lying to the Decepticons, Prime. You Autobots suck at it."
The Prime tensed at his approach, looking more wary than aroused.
Slag. This isn't working.
The former Decepticon halted, deciding to change his tactics.
"Look, I get it, alright?" he said in a softer, less scornful tone. "I get why you don't ask them for what you need. You want to be perfect for them, so they'll keep on believing in you." The Seeker made a derisive noise, expressing his opinion of that notion. "It's like you said: Autobots weren't built for combat. They need that slag to convince 'em to fight."
"But I don't need it," the Seeker persisted. "I'm not like them, Prime – I'm a warrior, I was programmed to take orders from whoever's giving 'em, good, bad, or insane. So you don't need to pretend you're slagging Primus incarnate with me, okay?"
He looked up at him then, meeting the Autobot's startled blue optics with a look that was uncharacteristically sincere. "You're not perfect, and I don't care. You're a mech, just like me. I'm fine with that. Besides, I –" he cut himself off abruptly, realizing he'd let his vocalizer get ahead of his processor.
"You what?" the Prime asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"Pit, do I really have to say it?" Skywarp scowled, fidgeting awkwardly. A glance in the other mech's direction revealed a puzzled, inquiring expression. The Seeker huffed through his intakes, and muttered in a tone almost too low to register, "Iwnntto."
"Excuse me?"
Frag, this is embarrassing.
"I want to, alright? I didn't think I would again, maybe not ever, but..." Skywarp cycled his vents in a sigh, muttering, "I guess I just kinda have a thing for the big, quiet ones who worry too much."
This time it was Prime who closed the distance between them.
The Autobot's energy field was almost tentative as it brushed against his, but after a surprised astrosecond the Seeker welcomed it, echoing the subtle, inquiring pulse with one of his own.
From there, things progressed rather quickly.
The Seeker soon discovered that despite being long denied, the Prime had stamina. Skywarp was quite sure he was better at 'facing than any pathetic Autobot – they had those short, blunt fingers that weren't nearly as effective as slim, tapering claws when it came to delving into narrow gaps in armor plating to stimulate sensitive circuitry – but Prime didn't surrender to a quick overload, oh no.
No, in spite of his best efforts, after a few breems it was Skywarp who found himself gasping cooling air through his intakes in an attempt to keep his circuits from overheating, who had warnings of imminent overload flashing in his HUD, and he was beginning to think he might have to revise his opinion of blunt Autobot fingers based on what the Prime's were doing to his wings – sweet Primus, how did he even know how to do that?!
This wouldn't do at all.
Dampening his own sensory grid to buy himself some time and a clearer CPU, Skywarp resumed his efforts with renewed determination. Claws designed to be swift and deadly, to rend and pierce the thickest of plating, now trailed along narrow seams in the Prime's armor plating with surprising delicacy, probing gaps to trace the contours of sensitive joints and circuitry, seeking out hidden hot spots.
The Seeker was relentless. He left no inch of the Prime's chassis unexplored, untouched, or uncaressed. From smokestacks and helm crests to the wheels lining his thighs, no part of the Autobot escaped the former Decepticon's passionate assault.
By the time Skywarp had circled 'round again, Prime was shuddering on the verge of overload. A sensual barrage from the Seeker's energy field pushed him over the edge.
The stalwart Autobot leader did indeed make some interesting noises as he overloaded; his rumbles of pleasure were only the second-deepest Skywarp had ever heard, and they vibrated right to the core of the Seeker's spark. He chose that precise moment to reactivate his sensory grid, just in time to feel the explosive rush of the Prime's release wash over him in a tidal surge, overwhelming his circuitry.
The overload made Skywarp stagger, clinging to the larger mech for support when the servos in his legs threatened to give way in the face of a seemingly endless torrent of electric ecstasy.
"Primus," the Seeker breathed, mildly embarrassed by how slagging impressed he sounded, but too sated to really care, "How long have you been holding that in?"
The Prime just laughed. "Too long, it seems."
Skywarp smirked. "Glad to be of service."
So what if it's not the most noble function in the universe.
"Thank you," the Autobot said sincerely.
At least I'm needed for something. At least I won't be completely useless.
"Anytime, Prime," the former Decepticon replied lightly, pulling himself upright and pushing off the larger mech.
As he turned to leave, Prime called out to him, hesitation in his vocalizer. "Skywarp...wait."
The former Decepticon paused, but didn't turn around.
"Don't worry, I won't tell them," the Seeker assured him, anticipating the Autobot's request. "Your secret is safe. I won't say anything to anyone."
The undertone of bitterness in his own vocalizer surprised him.
"That wasn't what I was going to ask," the Prime said.
The Seeker turned, intrigued in spite of himself. "Yeah? What did you want, then?"
"I'd like...that is, if you're willing, I'd prefer..."
"Spit it out, Prime," Skywarp said impatiently.
"I wonder...if you would mind calling me 'Optimus'?"
Scarlet optics widened in surprise.
"...sure," the Seeker replied, feeling suddenly flustered, a strange surge of elation shooting through his spark. "Sure, uh...Optimus."
The Pri– , no, Optimus – smiled.
New leaf, huh? Skywarp thought, ducking his head to hide a smile of his own.
Yeah. New leaf.
*fin*