Claustrophobia.
Chapter Four.
A/N: Thanks to Shadow, Caz and Bolt of the International Nerd Herd for several of the ideas in this chapter.
1 orn equals about 13 human days.
Ratchet inwardly cursed as he felt Starscream beginning to stir under his ministrations. Usually when a medic put processors into a recharge loop, it generally took a medic to take them out of it, but cases where it had happened spontaneously had occured, albeit rare. Nobody was sure what caused it, and Ratchet had hoped never to be unlucky enough to have it happen to someone in his care, but Seekers were singular creatures as it was, and Ratchet's patient especially so. Once again inwardly cursing the Seeker's contrariness, he quickly finished the work on Starscream's wings.
Of course the wings were only the main problem, Starscream's thrusters and tail fins needed much work before the Decepticon would be ready to fly, but the problem was that once awake, Starscream's sky-hunger – which could have been the reason for the aborted loop in the first place – would be back, stronger than ever, and Ratchet was not at all confident that he could persuade the Seeker to wait till he had finished.
Starscream abruptly sat up, the mad light in his optics confirming Ratchet's worst fears. Unless Ratchet could find a way to calm him, or to occupy him with something else, Starscream would try to fly, and at best crash into the force-field over the base.
Inspiration struck Ratchet, although he had to wrestle with the question of how ethically questionable this would be if everything didn't work to plan, and he grabbed the Seeker by his wing-edges, pushing him back down onto the berth in a seated position. As the flier looked at him, Ratchet slipped behind him, sliding his hands in firm strokes down and across the Decepticon's newly-repaired wings, stroking flaps and caressing leading edges, then letting his fingers slide under the edges and then smooth up the other sides, pulling back on them so Starscream's back was pressed to Ratchet's chest. The Seeker relaxed, acquiescing to the touches, a tremor running through his frame. As he caressed, Ratchet spoke into the Seeker's audio.
"There, Starscream, feel my hands on your wings, feel how smoothly they glide over the surface. Your wings are repaired, you are almost ready, but not yet, for flight. Feel how much work I've put into them, I know a Seeker's wings have to be silky-smooth to cut into the air with a delicacy I cannot even imagine. There are no bends, no breaks, no cracks and no rough places. Feel how sleek they feel, no friction against my fingers, no catching or chafing. Your wings are almost ready, Starscream, but not quite yet."
Ratchet made sure he spoke the last word at the same moment as one hand slid up to caress the very tip of one wing, the other hand dipped briefly into a shoulder-vent, and he took the edge of the top of the wing not being touched between his dermaplating and gave it a brief suck. Starscream gave a short, stuttering cry as his vents hitched and he arched his back and threw his head back, forcing the wing edge further into Ratchet's mouth and pushing the shoulder-vent back towards the hand that had touched it.
The Seeker relaxed almost immediately after, but then twisted swiftly, hands reaching, and Ratchet suddenly found himself on his back on the berth, and in an optic-shutter the agile Seeker was astride the medic's waist, his hands pinning Ratchet's shoulders to the berth. His optics sought those of the medic, and Ratchet was pleased to see that both parts of his gamble had worked: not only would his seduction of the Seeker keep his sky-hunger at bay, but that lucidity was back in Starscream's optics. Starscream was very well aware of what he was doing, in fact seemed to be taking control of the situation, thus Ratchet could stop worrying about the ethics of his unorthodox treatment.
The Seeker atop him slid his hands down Ratchet's chest slowly, leaning forwards as he did so. Ratchet's vents clicked up a notch , and raised his hands to let his fingers gently touch and caress Starscream's face, as the Seeker leaned in close to the medic. His fingers twined about the bars holding the medic's lights to his chassis, and as Starscream gave them a gentle, experimental tug, a small cry escaped Ratchet's vocaliser.
Ratchet moved his own hands across, making for the shoulder vents again, caressing and stroking the insides of them teasingly, making the Seeker above him push against him. He then slid his hands down, playing with the edges of the vent casings in Starscream's body, drawing a mewl from Starscream before sliding the hands down further, rubbing at seams as his hands travelled down. Ratchet hazily reflected that it was a good thing much of Starscream's height was legs and shoulder-vents, for the Decepticon leader was a third again higher than he was.
He leaned to one side, feeling the piping supporting his lights tug at their attachment points as the Seeker kept hold of them, and Ratchet reached his glossa out to lick along one smooth wing-surface. The flier above him shuddered and cried out, transferring one hand to one of Ratchet's own side-seams, digits digging in.
Ratchet's vents stuttered at the abrupt invasion, and he keened, working his own fingers further down until they were curling around and caressing the Seeker's aft, making Starscream wiggle in pleasure. "Oh, you are good, Autobot!" he gasped, whining as Ratchet's fingers scrabbled for purchase on the shiny red paintwork of his aft-plating. As Ratchet finally managed to secure a grip, he used the strength of his chest and arms to pull the Seeker further up his body, till Starscream's cockpit was right in front of his face. Grinning wickedly, Ratchet extended his glossa and gave the shiny canopy a long but swift lick.
Starscream lived up to his name at that, screeching in pleasure, the unexpected stimulation making the fingers in Ratchet's seams push deeper and the hands on Ratchet's light fittings jerk so hard that Ratchet felt a couple of the attachments tear free. Oh well, they could always be replaced, he supposed, it didn't hurt that much, and the energon loss would be minimal.
Ratchet felt the Seeker's long legs reflexively squeeze against his own, and Ratchet moved his hands back up to Starscream's body, up to where he could reach the neck, and began stroking the exposed cabling and wiring there that he knew was sensitive on all mechs and femmes. Being a medic had several advantages, and knowing common sensitive spots was just one of them!
Starscream bucked, all his limbs tensed, and Ratchet felt the last of the weakened attachments for his lights tear free. He wasn't bothered, he'd had worse in both love and war, he was used to Ironhide forgetting his own strength at times like this. As he dug his fingers under the Seeker's chest plating to caress the sensitive lines below, his dermaplates and glossa licked, mouthed and nuzzled at the sensitive canopy so temptingly close. Starscream squealed, his hand finally abandoning the lights, moving to Ratchet's shoulders, gripping and fondling a wing mirror they found. It happened to be one of Ratchet's own more unusual sensitive spots, and he mewled at the touch, writhing beneath the Seeker.
Starscream shifted his weight, sliding himself back down Ratchet, abrading the small injuries where the lights had been attached but keeping his one hand on the wing mirror as the other burrowed a little deeper into Ratchet's side seam. Starscream's questing digits found wires to tweak and intriguing cable bundles and bumps to fondle, which made Ratchet squeal and wriggle beneath Starscream. His vents hitched up another notch, and Ratchet managed to reach his suddenly trembling hands down to Starscream's chest vent edges again, stroking them lightly, as he found that by inclining his head he could still lick the top of the Seeker's canopy.
Starscream screeched again, hand releasing the wing mirror to grip at Ratchet's shoulder plating, as his optics began to flicker on and off. Ratchet himself was close to overload, but it seemed the Seeker was eager for more than that, for the medic heard a click from somewhere inside Starscream's canopy, then he felt it beginning to split down the middle and draw apart, at the same time as he felt Starscream's hand slide down from his shoulder to fumble at Ratchet's own chest-catches.
Starscream's hands were none too steady by this point, and Ratchet happily released his own catches internally as the Seeker slid down a little further to align their chests correctly, something that was more instinctive than consciously decided.
As Starscream used his free arm to crush the medic's chest to his own, the Seeker's Spark flared, and then the two Sparks came together, touching and flaring, the light they generated impossible to look at directly. This bothered neither Starscream nor Ratchet, as they both overloaded within a Sparkbeat of each other, the mingled cries of medic and patient combined carrying across the courtyard of the Autobot base and beyond.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
For Ironhide, it was turning into a frustrating day.
First of all he was missing time he would usually spend with Ratchet, something he was unable to do becauseRatchet was having to spend all of his time tending to Starscream. Ironhide didn't mind that, he honestly didn't. It was one of the things he had learned early on. If you took a medic as a partner, sometimes the patients had to come before you. Ironhide fully understood that, after all if he had guard duty or they went on high alert, duty came first, that was natural.
He didn't even mind that the patient in question was Starscream, he had been there and had SEEN the state the Seeker had been left in after four orns underground. He sympathised, he really did, he honestly hoped Ratchet could nurse the sky-starved Seeker back to something approaching sanity, and not just because it meant he'd get Ratchet back with him.
He didn't even really mind Ratchet's unusual treatment, oh envious perhaps but not jealous, he knew Ratchet sometimes had other lovers, why, so did he at times.
No, what was getting Ironhide frustrated at that moment was the fact that he could both see and hear what the two were doing, and it was getting him charged. There wasn't really much he could do about it except try to keep a handle on it and distract himself by checking the force-field readings, which were pretty dull compared to the enticing sights and sounds of the activity on the berth in the courtyard.
Of course he could pull rank, put someone else on the gate and go and find someone like Optimus or Bluestreak who would probably be happy to help him out. The problem with that was that said replacement would probably end up with the same problem, and quite frankly, Ironhide wouldn't wish his situation on his worst enemy, let alone one of his comrades in arms.
As the sounds from the berth got louder and Starscream let out a loud screech, Ironhide tore his optics from the sight of Starscream arching in reaction to something Ratchet was doing, and tried to focus on the force-field readings again.
A spike in the readings had his immediate attention, and he knew that the readings indicated that something was on the top dome part of the field, It didn't seem to be straining the force-field any, but it warranted investigation.
Walking out into the courtyard, Ironhide tilted his head back to see what had caused the spike, and stared.
Above him, half-kneeling and half-lying on the highest point of the force-field bubble, were Thundercracker and Skywarp. Their optics were glued to the activity on the berth below, and it was quite obviously having the same effect on them as it was on him. The main difference was that they were not on duty and they had each other, and were taking full advantage of the second fact.
Black and purple hands were grabbing and stroking at wings and vent edges, legs were twining and derma were locking, and as they broke another kiss, Ironhide saw their glossas darting and twining about each other. He suppressed a needy groan, torn between going back to looking at something that wouldn't increase his charge, and the need to watch the two on the force-field in case it was a cover for something else, a ploy to try and breach the field.
As another loud cry sounded, this composed of two voices, Ironhide's optics were drawn to the two figures on the berth, their linked chests obscured by a barely-contained glow like the brilliance of a dozen suns. Forced to avert his eues from the brilliance, this time, Ironhide was unable to suppress a groan, and it drew the attention of the two above him, who had also been forced to look away.
"Let us in, we're his wing brothers, we need to see him." Skywarp said.
"We'll promise on anything you want that we will not betray your trust, but we need to see him and find out what happened." that was Thundercracker and his concern sounded genuine.
"I can tell yeh what happened." he said, moving to the gatehouse, for he was pretty sure they were sincere, though he readied his cannons just in case. As he manipulated the controls to relax the force field enough to allow them to slowly sink through it, he explained in brief about what the Twins had done and why.
"They didn't know it would affect him so badly. None of us did except Ratchet." he explained as he walked with them over to where Ratchet and Starscream were collapsed in a heap. "And the Twins didn't see fit to inform Ratchet 'til four orns had gone by, an' that was only because he caught them smirkin' about it."
Thundercracker and Skywarp were checking the two over. "They're both rebooting, and then probably recharging." said Skywarp.
"Well, we should probably leave them to it, if what Ironhide here has told us is true, Starscream has probably had little enough recharge as it is." Thundercracker said.
"Which gives us a chance to finish off what we started." Skywarp said with a sexy grin at Thundercracker. He turned towards the black and blue Seeker, then turned back to look at Ironhide. "You can join in if you like."
"Out th' back, please, outta sight?" he asked, as he commed for someone to take over the gate. As they looked at him with puzzlement, he explained. "Or young Mirage is gonna end up joinin' us, an' when he overloads, he goes invisible. Most disconcertin'." Ironhide said, not willing to admit his own need out loud even though he knew that they knew anyway.
Chuckling, the two Seekers went with Ironhide around the corner as Mirage went to man the gate.
The young blue and white mech was startled from his perusal of the screens five minutes later by a chorus of overload, in three parts.