A/N: Here's the next chapter folks! RP'd with the as ever amazing KATEA-NUI! *round of applause*

Disclaimer:…no…I don't own Transformers. I own 10 figurines, and that's it.

Warning: M! STICKY! Don't like, don't read. (I think that covers it).

Feeling Forgiveness – Chapter 2 – Feeling healed

As the door shut firmly on the discussing, serious voices behind him, the noble leaned on it and heaved a long, drawn out sigh of relief.

"I thought you'd never get out of there."

A slight smirk graced his face. "Well, I was the only one to have that information. I'm glad for it. Not the part about everyone knowing I'm dead, but for warning Ratchet. I'm glad I can prepare him just in case if the worst comes to pass."

"Aw, that's the secretly self-sacrificing Mirage I know and definitely love," Hound chortled affectionately, moving from where he had been leaning on the opposite wall to the war room door, and coming to sling an arm around his lover's shoulders. Mirage needed the silent strength. He had been in the war room with most of the day with all of the Autobot officers: Prime, Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet, Ironhide, Wheeljack, and Red Alert. He had passed on the stolen plans in the hope that Shockwave had not changed them since the time of retrieval. Even if they did, the targets would remain the same.

Shockwave wanted to 'examine' Ratchet and the Twin's triplets.

After the experiments, the plans indicated that Shockwave was aiming to program the sparklings to be perfect Decepticons while being raised on Cybertron.

They had to stop him.

But now, Mirage really needed to talk to Hound about the unspoken issues still hanging about their helms for the last few days while he had been recuperating.

Mirage sighed, wanting to push himself closer to Hound and just forget the subject had ever reared its ugly helm in the first place, but experience told him that the longer he let be, the uglier it got.

So, regrettably, he shrugged Hound's arm off and took hold of his servo instead, leading him down the hall and towards their quarters, dread curling in his tanks. He didn't want another fight, and he was positive it wouldn't come to that, but it was still a touchy subject.

Hound glanced at him curiously, but let instinct guide him and followed the spy to their quarters. They were silent, none brave enough to break it until they were inside. After inputting the code and palming the door open, they entered. Hound took that moment to be glad that Ratchet had sent a drone to clean up their rooms. It would have been embarrassing to bring Mirage back into filthy quarters. Still silent, they went through to their berthroom, sitting next to each other on it.

Mirage looked at their interwoven hands. Simple strength gave him courage from the gesture.

"I would like to talk about what we argued about. I don't want to fight about it, and I believe there are two sides of this story that need to be said," murmured the blue and white mech, graceful frame shifting so the he was now facing the green jeep.

"Okay. But...where do we start with such a subject?" Hound replied, voice just as soft as Mirage's had been. Just thinking about their argument made his spark ache with guilt.

The Ligier thought through his next words carefully, before saying, "For one thing, don't ever doubt that I love you, Hound. You have given me many things that not many other mechs or femmes has deigned to give me. You gave me your friendship and then your trust. You took a chance on me. You fell in love with me and have given me some of the best and most joyous times in my life. You are my strength. Please don't doubt that, no matter what may be said between us tonight."

Hound nodded and squeezed his lover's servo gently. "I understand. Same goes for me, Raj... So I suppose I'll start..." He trailed off uncertainly, glancing at his tense lover. "I - I want to apologize... for what I said. I never meant to imply that I thought of you as…not normal. You're everything to me 'Raj, and I don't want you to forget that. You didn't deserve to be told that, and I should never have even thought it..."

Mirage flinched, the hurt a little too raw, memories of previous lovers treating him like a collector's item, not a mech. Something that was a conquest with a price tag, not a well earned prize that was priceless. He vented deeply, pushing his own hurt away. It wasn't about him, this was about Hound.

"And I should not have insulted your pastimes, nor your habits. Because that is what makes you, you, as much as some of them annoy me," Mirage replied, allowing his own digits to squeeze Hound's back.

"Can I tell you why I think we should bond?" the tracker questioned warily, bringing his other hand over to encase Mirage's more delicate one.

Mirage nodded. It would be good to hear this.

Clearing his intakes, Hound said, "I think that you are the One for me. I think I've known it for a while. When I'd watch Prowl and Jazz in their office working in perfect yet opposite synch, or Ratchet and the Twins bantering around in the rec, I'd get a little jealous. Because I wanted to have that level of oneness with you. Even when they have their spats, they all made up so quick. I want this with you because I love you for you. I don't believe I love you for how you look, or your grace, or your fine frame. Those are just bonuses really. I love you, for you. Even in war, I think we should be bonded. I would rather live one day bonded to you, than live a thousand not."

"Hound, you're going to make me cry again," the noble teased, smiling at his love.

Hound grinned back. "But..." he continued, before Mirage had a chance to speak. "I do see your side of things too, even if just a little bit. I know now, that maybe discussing it would have been better than simply springing it on you as I did... But, I need to hear your own reasons."

Mirage nodded, turning his gaze to stare at the far wall and gathered his thoughts and what he wanted to say. After a few moments of silence, he felt - not entirely ready, but more composed. "Hound, I have many reasons for not wanting to bond at this moment in time... One of the biggest being that we are at war. I know you just said that you believe that we should still be bonded, but hear me out first." Hound, who had just been about to point that out, quieted again. "Another big reason is my role in this war, Hound. I'm a spy. I am constantly sent into enemy territory. Whether it be for just a week, or undercover, or a stake out, the point remains that I am always at risk of being captured. Just as anyone else in this army, but they are more likely to keep me alive than you..." His vents suddenly hitched and he choked back a sob at the mere thought of what they could do to Hound through him if they were bonded. "If... If I were to be captured," he continued quietly, "I would face torture. Torture that you would feel every nanoklik of..."

His grip on Hound's servo had become uncomfortably tight. Desperate, as he shook his head in denial. "I can't... I don't want you to go through that."

"And I don't want you to go through that alone," the green mech cut in briefly, raising a hand to place it on the other's cheek, tilting it so his optics met usually guarded, although now open golden ones.

"Hound..." whispered Mirage in protest, "you said that you would listen."

"Go on, please."

"Not only that, but how can you be so sure you want me Hound? The things that lay spark deep may shock you. I've tried to tell you everything as a matter of trust, but some things...I just can't say them. The words choke me whenever I've tried to bring up things with you about how I...I...fear," mumbled Mirage, feeling his inner walls slowly crumbling under that soft, loving gaze.

Hound leaned forward to press a soft, reassuring kiss on Mirage lips, before pulling back and murmuring in reply, "Whatever it is, when the time comes, I'll be able to handle it. I just..." He sighed, emotions running through him rapidly. Protectiveness, love, frustration, need. "I don't like the idea of you just going through all of these things alone. I know we're grown mechs and that we can handle ourselves, but I still want to have you in my spark, no matter what the risks of it. I don't want you to be lonely. I don't want to be lonely when you're not here."

Mirage felt his spark skip a pulse. Like it constantly did when Hound was saying something that was overly sweet. It was a heady feeling. "You are what the humans call 'a sap'," the noble informed him with quiet amusement.

"That's me." Hound replied cheekily. "Being serious here though, Raj."

Mirage felt his small smile falter at the edges. "I know. But, Hound, it's not just them torturing me... If they were to ever know – that I may be bonded – they may come after you. I couldn't bear it if you were hurt because of me. Because I wasn't careful enough."

Hound turned it over in his helm, and then realised something. "Hey, Jazz's is your commander and he's bonded, and he goes deeper than you into enemy lines sometimes. I wonder if he and Prowl somehow block each other off. Besides, they've protected each other for millennia! It's something to think about...right?"

Mirage's optics widened at the realisation. Maybe...maybe them bonding wouldn't be so impossible after all.

"It is," the blue mech agreed after a few moments. "But I'd still worry for your safety just in case it was something I did."

"Then I'd get everyone, storm the Con base and rescue you like I've always wanted to before they torture you and find out," Hound joked a little. It roused a chuckle out of Mirage.

"I'll...I will think on it. It's not an outright no. Just not right now," the noble said.

Hound nodded. It was the best he was going to get, he supposed. And that was okay with him because that meant that there was a chance. "Good. Now..." His tone turned suggestive. "About making up..."

Mirage had time to yelp before he was grabbed around the middle in a strut breaking hug and Hound's lips were on his.

'Oh, not this time, lover,' Mirage thought with a pulse of lust shooting through him. He lay back, pretending to be compliant, letting Hound follow, before wrapping his legs around Hound's waist and flipping them over, making it Hound's turn to yelp.

Breaking their lip-lock, Hound gasped, "No fair."

"All's fair. I want you...I want to treat you so right. Bit more of the forgiving, hmm?" teased the noble, swooping down to steal another kiss, their mouths fitting like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

"Well, when you put it like THAT," murmured the tracker, reaching up and running his fingers over his lover's spoiler, feeling him lean into the touch.

"Mmmm... tease." Mirage smirked, leaning in to graze his denta along a cable in his lover's neck.

The grin on Hound's faceplates looked ready to split them in half. "Only for you, 'Raj." He gasped suddenly, when something was tugged in his hip and he realized that Mirage had wriggled his digits into a seam on his hip and was now tugging on a wire.

Hound groaned and shifted, pressing more firmly into the contact.

Mirage smirked. "I do so love to see you squirm."

The tracker's next words were lost in a groan as tapered digits stroked the wire and rolled it around. He was sure that wire was directly wired to his interface systems. Another hand came and stroked over his grille, a place they had lovingly stroked over so many times before. Their actions were so familiar, and yet it was if they were experiencing each other for the first time.

Mirage kept smirking. It turned him on to see Hound deriving pleasure from his skilled touch. Each and every time. He slid the fingers from the grille to the headlights, caressing them briefly before trailing them down to embed them in some nodes in his lover's bumper.

"Raj," whispered Hound hoarsely. His own hands struggled not to be idle under his own mind-numbing pleasure, and he dug his fingers into the race-driver cockpit on Mirage's back, stroking the inner plating, while his other hand made its way to the spy's thighs and was sliding up and down the pristine white metal. Oh how Hound loved those lovely curved thighs.

Mirage purred at the touches, leaning down to run his glossa sensually over the tracker's hologram projector.

"Ah!" Hound gasped as sensation flooded him.

Mirage hid his grin against the warming metal, pressing his face to it and nipping along the curve.

"Primus!" Hound cried.

The amusement was thick in Mirage's voice when he quipped, "No, I do believe I am called Mirage."

"Oh, you are in a good mood if you're...ahh...teasing me," Hound breathed, feeling a svelte glossa twirl around the end of the projector, in the sensor laden end.

"I'm with you, forgiven. Of course I am," retorted the slimmer noble, moving down to press a kiss to the tip of the tracker's nasal ridge.

"That tickles."

Mirage's golden optics glowed brightly with arousal. "I know, lover."

At the low, purred tone, Hound felt his circuits sing with need, and he ground his pelvic region up into the pristine blue hips, lightly scraping them together. His panel was hot, and he could feel that Mirage's was just as warm. He panted, writing, under his lover's knowing smirk. He wanted and needed, and yet Mirage was seeking to draw this out.

He was going to be tortured so divinely. He just knew it.

"Am I still allowed to touch?" Hound teased, trailing his digits down his lover's side, loving the shiver.

Mirage pretended to think about it, drawing off the holoprojector, his optics glinting dangerously. "I don't see why not," he teased, servos sliding feather light down Hound's shoulders, tracing every seam they came across.

Hound swore that those hands were magic. They ignited arousal wherever they touched and were so tender and yet teasing, and then yet again, firmly placing pleasure. His spark beat roared in his audials and he gasped as those fingers delved once more into hip seams and stroked those sensitive wires. Thumbs swept down to stroke near the seams to his interface panel, Mirage moving back for easier access.

"Open, Hound. Show me how hot you are for me," whispered the spy, tone husky and rich with arousal.

Wordlessly, the green mech did, sliding back the lower panel to reveal his valve.

"Mmm," Mirage hummed in appreciation, moving one hand to trace a finger over the slickening slit that was the entrance to tight heat. He shivered at the thought of it clenching around his member.

Hound groaned, hips canting upwards, craving more of that sinful touch. "Raj." he whimpered.

Mirage shivered, his spike hardening in its housing. Hound was so handsome like this, so open and wanting. Sliding down even further, the spy smirked up at the blue opticed mech and nuzzled a knee joint.

"Mmm..." Mirage hummed, his lips trailing across a thigh.

The tracker couldn't speak, as pleasure washed over him from the touch of lips on his thighs. They moved closer and closer to his centre, and he swore a line of fire was drawn from those lips as they finally caressed over his valve. He shuddered, valve clenching inward on itself at the soft, pleasant touch. He felt as a coy smile curved those sinfully wonderful lips before a glossa did a broad lick over the quivering platelets of the rim.

"Raj," Hound groaned, half in protest as sure hands grasped his hips to hold them down.

"So sweet, Hound. Such a sap, such a sweetie for me," Mirage cooed, licking again.

Inwardly, the slimmer mech was so pleased. He loved servicing his mech. It made them both feel special. He licked harder, delving into the opening teasingly before feathering kisses over the outside components, intentionally bypassing the opening for a few moments.

"Tease!" gasped the tracker.

"I believe we've been over that," purred Mirage.

"Uhn..." Hound bit down on a moan, gripping the edges of the berth.

Mirage smirked before he kissed the opening again and then placed his mouth firmly on it, glossa delving deep,, delighting in the sharp tang of his lover.

"You taste so good, Hound."

Said mech ventilated hard when the tip of Mirage's glossa delved back in, pressing firmly to the upper walls of his valve, compressing a sensor. "N-not as goo-oh!- good as you, lover!"

"Mmm..." Mirage hummed as before, the vibrations travelling up Hounds spine struts and he overloaded with a shout, lubricant trickling out onto the waiting glossa.

Mirage licked up all he could before sliding lithely along Hounds body to press another kiss to the tracker's lips.

The green mech pressed up, glossa penetrating the other's mouth and tasting himself, foreign among the usual taste of Mirage. The spy pressed back just as firmly, relishing in the tastes on their glossas, sharing so delightfully. It was heaven.

"Desperate yet?" grinned Mirage, pulling back slightly.

"You bet I am. Want you inside," purred Hound back, indicating his eagerness by bucking his hips up.

"Easy, lover. I want you to just enjoy," the noble murmured, taking the opportunity to nibble on a full bottom lip while Hound ran his hands below his own bumper, trailing along the sensitive connections of his suspension and sending anticipation zooming through his body like an electric shock. With a shift of his hips, he clicked open his panel, allowing his member to slid out, erect and ready. He was a noble and finely made, and his size was also proof of that. Not big, but nicely proportioned with a slightly longer spike than most mechs would have. Right now it throbbed as it yearned to be buried inside of the valve waiting for him.

"Let me touch..." Hound panted, sliding a hand out from his lover's bumper and trailing down.

"Not too much. I want to be inside when I overload," Mirage murmured, hissing as a knowing hand gripped him and pumped slowly. Hound's hands may not be the most delicate, and were slightly roughened, but pit if it didn't always feel fantastic on his length.

Hound was groaning himself, imagining all the other times that Mirage had played dominant. It wasn't often, but when he did, it left Hound aching pleasantly for days afterwards.

And this side to the spy was all for himself.

"Hound, HOUND! Stop!" Mirage cried breathlessly, pulling his lover's hands away from his spike. If he let Hound continue to tease him like that, he would overload before he even had a chance to sink himself into the silky depths of the tracker's valve.

"Aw," pouted Hound, but couldn't maintain it and grinned at the light-hearted scowl directed his way. Lust pulsed through him at the sight of Mirage's graceful, finely made body shifting. To ease the movement, the green mech moved his legs, spreading them wider, displaying the wet valve. He saw it as Mirage's optics glowed as they looked down at him, and the spy took his length in hand and slowly guided it to the entrance, which rippled in anticipatory movement.

"Please," Hound whispered, his hands grasping the other mechs arms planted either side of his hips.

Bending down to lay a light kiss over the handsome faceplates of Hound, Mirage slowly sank in, hissing at the immediate squeeze of the lining around him.

Hound bit his lip, shuttering his optics just to focus on sensation. Oh how he thought he would never feel this again in those dark days of thinking Mirage was gone forever. It made this moment sweeter than it could have been. The penetration was gentle, and yet he felt like his nodes were burning out from the sheer pleasure feeding to them.

"Raj," he breathed unsteadily as the noble filled him completely.

"Hound," Mirage replied just as breathlessly, giving them both a moment to adjust.

Placing his hands under the bulker knees of his lover, Mirage gently brought them up so that they rested on his shoulders. He moaned at the tighter feel and delighted in the wonderful expression on Hound's faceplates.

Oh, how close he had come to losing this. To seeing the pleasure on the tracker's faceplates, to hear his name spoken with such love and want. Shockwave would definitely be getting a few choice explosives in his faceplates for nearly taking the away.

Groaning, Mirage pulled almost completely out of the slick valve, Hounds grasp on the berth tightening so much that the noble mech heard the metal begin to creak. With a small chuckle, Mirage pushed back in, just as slowly as the first time, still teasing.

"Miraaage!" Hound pleaded, needing the heated friction of a hard interface, his hips canting up, knees locking on his spy's shoulders.

The slimmer mech wanted so badly to just thrust back in like Hound wanted, but kept his pace steady. It would draw out their interfacing nicely. After all, Hound deserved whatever he could give. The heat encasing him tempted him to abandon this plan and to rut to completion. With excruciation slowness, he pulled out, and then pushed in once more. Hound's legs trembled against his shoulders, so he tilted his helm to the side and kissed a knee joint.

"Sweetspark, please," the tracker gasped, letting his walls ripple around the throbbing spike. It felt divine.

Mirage lost his passion filled haze for a moment at those words. Hound have never called him that affectionate nickname before. Putting this out of his processor, he granted his lover's wish.

"Nngh," the noble groaned as he slowly sped up his pace, receiving a reactionary, passion filled whine from Hound, writhing beneath him.

Stars burst from behind Hound's optics as Mirage went faster, hot metal sliding and rubbing along hot sensor nodes buried deep within him. He gripped his lover's arms tighter. It was so good. Better than good. It was phenomenal.

Hound panted, his systems heating and trying to cool down all at the same time. It felt good, the new pace, steady, hard, but he wanted more. Softly, he reached shaking hand up to trace over Mirage's cheek, the noble's optics onlining and looking at him in passion dazed love. Hound shot him his own smouldering smirk.

"Zap me hard, gorgeous," he purred.

Mirage whined, losing the last of his carefully constructed control. He allowed one knee to drop from his shoulder as he leaned up, gaining a new angle to thrust into which he used to his advantage. The next thrust was hard, his steady pace from before now becoming erratic and desperate.

"Oh yeah!" the bulkier mech cried out. If he thought that the pace before had been phenomenal, then this was just out of this world. How much passion had Mirage repressed? It was streaming out now in his actions as his hips pumped and jerked in that erratic rhythm, his golden optics flickered and his vents, like Hounds, whirring at high speeds to cool him down.

"Hound...oh!...my handsome Hound," Mirage gasped, teetering on the edge of overload. He wanted Hound to go first, wanted his lover to be satisfied before he did to watch the myriad of pleasure spread over his face.

Lubricant slicked their thighs, and the free leg not held up against the nobles shoulder was now curled around his back, pulling him closer for more intimate contact. Hands trembling with the building pressure within, Hound grabbed his lover's neck and pulled them in for a fierce kiss, mouths pliant and hot with desire. The green mech whimpered, valve tightening with impeding overload, and breathed into their kiss, "Close, sweetspark, so close."

Whining, pretty faceplates contorted in the bliss one could only get from making love, Mirage desperately bucked in, crying out in elation as Hound overloaded just before he did.

He hilted himself, stilling and tensed, jets of transfluid pumping into Hound and mixing with the overload of lubricant in a hot, sticky mess.

Mirage stayed tensed, waiting for the aftershocks to dissipate before he could release the grip he had on Hound's leg, allowing that to drop the side as well. His lover has panting, tears slowly etching down his face. Tears of elation. He was shaking and only after Hound had pulled him down and wiped at his face did he realize he was crying too. Slag. He didn't mean to. He shouldn't be crying. That was amazing. It was so much better than the last time they'd coupled.

But it also drove home the realization that it could have been gone.

"Never again," Mirage whispered, clinging to his scout as he felt the last of the charge ebb away.

He didn't need to clarify what he was talking about. "Never again," Hound agreed.

They wouldn't argue with such hurtful words anymore. Mirage wouldn't be so stubborn as to ignore the reasons behind Hound's spontaneity. Hound wouldn't do things without thinking them through first. And neither would hurt the other consciously. Those were the promises held in those two small words.

Reassured and grateful to be online, both the spy and the tracker fell into an exhausted recharge, the coming challenges being held off for tomorrow, when they would each pick up their different weapons and defend what was theirs. Shockwave would never know what hit him.

A/N: Whew! I can't tell whether to 'aw' at our efforts or run for a fan. PLEASE REVIEW! We'll love you!

Next: Does Mirage have a change of spark?