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He kisses her head, "It was just having your creator contribute DNA to the protoform. It didn't even touch him."
"So you say, but I know it was more than that." She lies against his chest, petting his armor. "But I don't wanna think about it anymore. Let's talk about. . a crystal shop. I want you to take me to a crystal shop and show me which kit I need to buy to get started. I want to grow you some crystals."
Sentinel feels himself smile, his femme warming his frame with hers. "We'll get you something simple. But we need to clean up first."
She nods, leaning her head against his chest, "Is there a public washrack around here?"
He walks in the direction they need to go, "Yes. You will not be going into the same area of me, of course, but you-"
"We could. I know there are the three separate types, mech, femme, and family. We could do the family one."
He taps her faceplate lightly, "No. It is better to do that after we've been together for several vorns and are planning on having a sparkling. No sooner."
"Some places have neutral washracks we could share." She smiles at him, "No family-connections at all in those. Just a neutral place to clean up. You-"
"I would rather we clean ourselves separately." It would give her a chance to speak with other femmes for a klik. The washracks he intends to go to are always very busy at this time of sol.
She pouts at him, but nods reluctantly. "Okay. I guess it would be too imitate for us to do that. It was okay at headquarters since we were in a much more private place." Her little fingers rub his chest, "But... we could clean up at your place if you take me there sometime?"
He smiles, "If that's what you want to do, we can. It will have to be innocent, like earlier. I'm not going to let you get at my spark." He's glad she's a shy femme; the pushier ones would just force him open.
Nearly all of his dating experiences when he was younger had ended that way. The femme had tried to force him, and he'd broken up with them. Only Elita-1 had been willing to wait a full vorn, and she had been his first.
His first and his last. He's had no lovers since her. He dated a few more femmes, but hadn't fragged them.
Sari is the first he's considering trying with. He knew the others wouldn't last.
She kisses him softly, "Innocent is okay." She smiles, leaning against him, "Besides, I want my first time to be on a berth."
He... had not realized she was a virgin. It makes sense, though. She is a techno-organic that has been dodging all advances for the last decade, and is only twenty-two. She is so very young, and is only considered an adult because of her techno-organic status. If he had gone after her if she was a full bot ... he would be disgusted with himself.
A sparkling still held in arms, and only with a cube for an altmode. That is a violation and disgusting. He would never do such a thing.
While Sari... Sari is an adult, and very wonderful.
He's always been disgusted by the fact that some planets allow arranged bonds with sparklings. Even if the bots do not get into a relationship until they are adults, it is disgusting. The worst is when adult bots bond to sparklings, and help raise them up to serve as their berthwarmers and ideal mates. It happens far too often on the distant planets where Autobot control is lax.
She interrupts his thoughts with a kiss to his cheek. "Those are the washracks, right?" she points to a large building with a mural of sparklings splashing in a solvent pool.
He smiles, "Yes." He moves next to the doors, setting her down, "You are to the right, and I'm-"
She touches his face as he's leaning down, "I haven't been to one of these before. Do I pay for polish, or what?"
He smiles, pulling out a small bottle to give to her, "There. Use this. It is better than using the public polish. That always leaves streaks."
She smiles at him, then puts up her facemask, "I'll go get cleaned up, then. You'll com me when you're done, right?"
He nods, "Of course."
She vanishes into the femme side of the washrack, and he watches her go. She's so beautiful. He sighs and steps into the mech side, which is always more crowded. Elita-1 had dragged him into the femme side several times to show him off. Once to 'face there, when the other femmes hadn't believed that she was actually fragging him. Apparently, dating femmes without fragging them for several vorns worth of a femme every other stellar had left him with something of a reputation.
He walks onto the mech's side of the washracks, and gets to work cleaning the energon off of him. It has dried and gone sticky, but is still so much better than the slime that covered him all this sol. He is not as filthy or uncomfortable as he was. Now he isn't burning or itching because of it, just feeling a little sticky. He knows that it could be so much worse.
He is glad that Sari cleaned the energon off of his optics, though. He would be severely hindered if she hadn't.
He washes semi-quickly, but not so fast that Sari can't have several conversations with all the femmes there. He wants her to be happy, and he knows that femmes like being with femmes, just like how mechs like being with mechs.
He makes sure to clean every bit of him, wanting to look good for her. By the time he's done, several breems have passed and he's feeling much better, and looking better too. He slips out of the washrack to wait for Sari, only to find her sitting in front of the building, arms crossed over her chest, expression petulant. Before he can ask what's wrong, she glares at him, "The femmes say you used to date a new femme every stellar cycle. Is that true?"
He sighs softly, wishing this hadn't happened. "Yes." He holds up a finger before she can start yelling, "But that does not mean I 'faced them all. They all broke up with me since I held firm on not 'facing the bot I'm dating before that first vorn."
She points at him, "Every stellar cycle? Really? Every single femme said that!"
He blinks, slightly confused why she's upset about that. It isn't unusual to have a new bot every stellar cycle if you are trying to find a bot you actually like. It is just a matter of working through who you want. It is most likely her wondering why femmes.
He kneels down, holding out his servos carefully next to hers, "I would not have gone out with them if they had not wanted me, Sari. I was not just using and leaving them. I am not Volks, for Primus's sake."
She just stares at him, and then sighs, "Yeah. I guess." She looks away, her cheeks flushed pink, "I . . I'm just sorta jealous, I guess. You know. They got you, and . . well, I wish they hadn't. I kinda want you all for myself."
It's sweet that she feels that way for him. He's never had a bot like that before. Even Elita-1 was mostly interested in him for other reasons, and if he'd been willing, she would have shared him with other bots. Other femmes.
He hadn't wanted that at all.
He kisses Sari on her facemask, "Well, you have me all to yourself. I won't go after anyone else as long as I have you. You won't have to worry about that at all. No one else will draw my optics away from you."
She laughs softly, moving into his servos, "If you say so."
He picks her up, holding her in his arms, "Shall I drop you back at your place after we get the crystals?"
She leans against him as he starts to walk, "I don't know. I'll see if I think I'll need your help." Her fingers brush against his sides, "Or I could spend the night with you? Just recharging in the same berth?"
Heat rushes to his spark at the thought of her beside him, and he knows he cannot be chaste with her, not when he hasn't even adapted to her touch yet. "Not yet." In a stellar cycle or so, he'd be used to her, and they could share a berth without him worrying about accidental nightly charges.
Sari makes a sad sound, "Maybe I could recharge on your couch or something? I'd like to see where you live. I bet you've got a nice crystal growing in there or something."
He pets her side, "I live in an apartment, Sari. I don't even have crystal in a pot." He taps her facemask, "And if anyone was going to recharge on the couch while you were at my apartment, it would be me." He is a gentlemech, and he would not force her to recharge on something so very uncomfortable.
She leans on him, "We can both use a crystal kit, then. I want to have us do this together."
He is so happy she wants them to have something that will grow with their relationship, something that will show how time has passed. "If that's what you want, I am more than willing."
"I do." She points forwards, "Onwards, noble steed. You have to take me to the crystal shop so we can pick out kits for each other. I'll pick a crystal for you to grow, and you pick one for me. Maybe they have stuff that can be transplanted later on, so we can put them in a pot together some day."
His spark tingles a bit, "I'd like that." It was something bots did when they got bonded. He likes the idea that she's thinking of a bond, even if he's not sure she's aware that is what it means.
She giggles happily, kissing him just above his sparkplates, "Good, since I wasn't giving you the option of saying no."
His spark heats a little at that, since she will certainly be bonding with him because of this. He has been wanting a bond for a very long time, and now he's pretty sure he's finally found a femme willing. Elita-1 was willing to bond, but then everything happened.
He won't let that happen to her. He's promised to keep her safe, and that is exactly what he'll do. He won't pay attention to Optimus and his mistakes again. She'll never be left to offline alone and in pain just because Optimus was too much of a coward to let him save her.
He pushes that thought aside and carries Sari into the crystal garden shop, cradling her protectively in his arms. The shop is nicely decorated, with potted crystals and hanging crystals decorating the shelves. There are a few very expensive examples of Vosian floating crystals behind the counter, out of reach of customers. They hover over their pots, rotating slowly as a gentle breeze blows through the shop, sending a batch of singing crystals into a soft chiming song.
Sari gasps in amazement at it all, and he smiles, "Let's start with something simple." He sees how she is looking at the harder to grow ones, and realizes how terrible of an idea it is to use them for something they are just starting out on. "Let's get a yellow crystal."
She looks at him, smiling, "And blue?"
It warms his spark to think that she wants to match him, too. "If that's what you want."
She nuzzles him, "I do."
The bot behind the counter smiles at them warmly, "Looking for compatible crystals?" At Sentinel's almost shy nod, the bot points to a shelf, "The ones there will grow alone and with each other, when you're ready to plant them together. They're good for beginners as well."
Sari climbs up on the countertop and studies the large boxes, which claim to have all a bot needs to grow various crystals in decorative pots. "They're pretty." She tugs a box forward that has a long, slender blue crystal on the cover picture, in a pot painted green and yellow. "I like this one."
He looks at it, not surprised that the crystals match his paint. "Should I choose the one I'm giving to you next, then?"
She nods, moving a bit to kiss his faceplates, "Yes. Then we can set them up together."
He looks through the boxes, settling on one that is yellow, and has tiny little blue dots on them. He can tell they aren't very popular since there seem to be about twice as many boxes of this than the others. Which is understandable. The blue dots are exactly the same color as Sari's blue paint.
Like a spark.
It's a filthy sort of gift, but also very beautiful, and very much suited to her. She looks at it, "I like that one too. Looks like my armor." She touches the box, "But the pot is kinda ugly. I think I might have to paint it myself."
He has to admit that the container for it is a rather strange, mottled pink and purple not really suited to the yellow crystal within. "We can get some paint for you."
The bot behind the counter nods, "We have paints that are suited for them over there, next to the crystal mulch."
He picks Sari up, carrying her to the paints as he murmurs a soft thanks to the bot. He sets her carefully down, and lets her pick through the paints. She hums softly, and pulls out a few various colors. "I think these."
He smiles at the blue paint, several shades, "If that is what you think is best. I am more than willing to get it. How about a little yellow, as well? To draw out the yellow of the crystals."
She nods, picking out that as well. "There?"
He rubs her side, "Anything else?"
"No. I think this is good for now." They take the boxes and paints to the counter, and Sentinel pays for them, trying not to blush at the knowing looks of the bot working there.
"You know," the mech says casually, "they say that a couple that chooses their crystals in their partner's armor colors is more likely to have blessed sparklings some sol." The mech tucks something into each kit. "I wish you both the best of luck."
Sentinel flushes and mumbles something in thanks, adding a tip to the mech's pad before rushing out.
Sari pokes into one of the kits and pulls out a smooth, blue stone that has Sentinel stuttering more when she asks what it is. How is he supposed to explain that the old bot just gave them fertility charms?
He blushes brightly when she touches it to his chest, "What is it?"
He moves it gently away, "It... it.. It helps with... Sparklings. With-"
She blinks, "... Are you supposed to put it in your sparkchamber?"
He wants to take off, run from the uncomfortable conversation, but he realizes this is sort of something he would need to answer. Better than asking the team she considers uncles. "N-no. Not unless you're really desperate to have sparklings. You... You are the Allspark's sparkling. We... if we... if we want sparklings, we would not have to do that. If worst comes to worst, I am high enough up that we can just go to see the Allspark to get a blessing. Not have to deal with long, formal inquiries to get near it."
"It shouldn't take that much work to see it. I bet the stupid rock gets lonely."
It was not a 'stupid rock' and there were bots whose entire purpose was to keep it polished and warm, ready to offer its blessings to those bots ruled worthy of seeing it. Even as it is now, jagged and incomplete. Kept in a matrix to keep it stable.
"We are not to judge, Sari. It is how it has always been done. If the Allspark did not like it, then I suspect it would let us all know in some catastrophic way."
She moves up, kissing him, "Well, we won't have to go visit it anytime soon." Her fingers brush his faceplates, "Take me to your place so that we can make the kits. I want to set them up."
He smiles, transforming down, and putting her in as he does so. "You won't be recharging at my place-"
She rubs his steering wheel, "We'll see. I have my cushions and blankets with me. I can sleep on your couch and not be uncomfortable. I'd like to wake up to you there." She looks down, leaning against his door, "I won't feel so lonely, then."
"You live in a ninjabot neighborhood, but you feel lonely? I would have thought you were used to bots popping in and sharing your berth with you. Even platonically. They're known for . . . cuddling."
Sari makes a face, "They leave me alone, mostly. Something about the cover story Optimus and the bots have for me. Something about Decepticon experiments with the Allspark shards. I don't mind privacy, but . . frag, it gets lonely there. I'm not used to living on my own. Not really. There's always been someone a room away."
He rubs her back, "Well, if you truly want to, yes. Just realize that it is better not to do this all the time. I am more than willing to have you with me, but we shouldn't be rushing this." He squeezes the seatbelt around her, "I want it to last. I want us to be together for a very long time."
She gives him a shy look, "I... I'd like that." Her fingers toy with the armrest on his door, flicking the switch to lock and unlock him, "So... will... will you make me breakfast when I wake up?"
He flicks his windshield wipers, revving his engine a bit "Yes. You'll like it quite a bit." He can make her whipped energon, and she should love it.
It will be even better than what his cousins had created. Sentinel's always had the knack for it. When he's made it for other bots in the past, several had offered immediate bonding requests. Optimus had declared his glossa eternally worshipped him and had promised devotion if he agreed to make it every sol for him. Of course, Optimus was a liarbot and Sentinel didn't want a mech's devotion. He's already tried to bribe Optimus into stepping down as Magnus.
It did not work.
She rubs her delicate fingers over his door, "I wish that the date at your family's restaurant had turned out better. They shouldn't treat you like that. It isn't right."
He laughs softly, "It doesn't matter, Sari. I'm used to-"
She taps him sharply, "You'll be bringing up charges against them. The only reason I'm not saying do it right now is because it will be more effective if we have it come from Autobot Headquarters, rather than just the Autotroopers."
Sentinel has no real intention of drawing the public optic to his family drama. Bad enough that he's hated by the bots that should care about him. He does not want the media reporting on it, and they will if he files. But Sari will forget about it eventually. He'll go about it the longest, slowest way possible, with files going through all the correct agencies until she forgets and he can drop the charges. His family will hate him even more for it, but there's not much he can do. If he's lucky, they'll at least act a bit more cordial to him.
She rubs his lockswitch on his door, "They should know better than to do what they did. I'll be telling Optimus not to fuel there, as well."
He shudders, "Please don't. I don't want to have him demand I make him whipped energon all the time. There's a reason he goes there."
She frowns at him, optics narrowing to show that, "He can make his own damn whipped energon. He's not going to make you do it."
He wonders if jealousy is prompting that as well. He decides to test it, "You know, Optimus promised to bond with me once, if I made him whipped energon every sol."
Sari hisses, digging claws into his steering wheel, "Well, you won't have to worry about that, will you? He's obviously not going to fuel on energon from you ever again. I mean," she relaxes her grip, but her voice is tight, "you can make it for me instead."
He smiles to himself, "Of course. I was planning on doing that in the morning already. If you want, I can start making it in my office, and we can fuel together during lunch." That way she won't keep trying to have a date every sol, but they will still have time together with no one else. It would be a good time to get to know each other.
She rubs his window, "Yes. I'd like that a lot."
Sentinel used to frown on office lunch gatherings, or bots with their significant others at work, but he supposes he can learn to let it slide. Now that he has Sari to entertain. He'll still be very professional, of course. No goofing off after the lunch break is over. He won't take Sari over his desk until she's tired and her spark is sore, frame covered in his paint. Not like some of the bots he's walked in on.
She presses her facemask to his window, a faux kiss, "How much longer?"
He feels warm from the kiss still, even if it isn't nearly as ... involved as some of their earlier ones. "Not very much. we're almost there. I'll have to carry you up, since it doesn't actually have a ramp to my apartment. Only stairs."
She tilts her head, "Any reason why?"
He smiles, "It is a smaller building. I had it before I was Magnus, and now I'm back to it. I'm just.. used to it, I guess."
"Cool." She says no more on the subject, reaching over to pet various parts of his interior. He shivers, enjoying the way her servos feel on him. Her tiny fingers, which have points only if she angles them the right way, and then they feel like the sharpest little blades.
"You said you had energy blade weapons?" he asks, trying to distract himself from the thought of those servos on his spark. "Will you show me later?"
"Yeah," she sighs, "I'm still not great at using them, though." She perks up, "But I can use a keyboard really well. I'll show you." She spreads her fingers, and it segments out, "See?"
He feels more than a little ill, "Those... Sari, those are hacking cables in your fingers." He feels faint. "How.. how long have you had them?"
She shrugs, "When I got my upgrade? I mean, it feels like they've always been there." She frowns, "And what do you mean hacking? I just use them to type really fast."
He is glad they're at his apartment building. He opens his door for her to get out, "They have little hookups in them to connect to another bot, Sari. That isn't something you want to show off."
"Why not? Ratchet and the other bots never said there was anything weird about them, and they saw me use them a lot." She wiggles them again, and rubs them over his paneling. "I take it that hacking is a bad thing?"
He feels gentle sparks of charge crackle against his plating, "Yes. Mostly. There are a few bots known to enjoy being force-hacked. Shockwave is the most notable of them." The mech apparently loved having Megatron hack him into submission. Not that Megatron ever needed to.
He picks her up after transforming, cradling her in his arms. She nuzzles him lovingly, "I don't plan on hacking anyone." Her fingers start to go back to normal, only to pause while he starts to walk, "Unless... you want me to-"
"No. Absolutely not." Maybe if they have been together for long enough, but not anytime soon. He is not willing to deal with the violation that hacking is. Taking apart his defenses and showing him how badly he's put together. He won't do it.
"Alright, that's cool. No hacking." Her fingers shift completely back to normal. "I can dig that, as Jazz would say." She pats his chest, "It's not like I'd have any idea what I was doing anyways."
Sentinel was not prepared to be hacked. It had . . it had been one of the optional classes at the Academy, and he'd turned it down. Optimus had gone, and Sentinel still remembers how broken up the mech had been each night he'd come back from class. From having his defenses hacked apart so he could learn to withstand it better. It was barbaric, but . . in war time, necessary. They hadn't been at war then.
She nuzzles against him, then looks up at him shyly, "I know you saw me looking at the crystals. Will we add more to our pots later? I'd like one of the pretty twirly ones to be put in."
He tries to think of what she means, then he widens his optics when he realizes, "Oh, yes. The spiral miribalis. I suppose that would work. We could put them on later, when you know how to do the current crystals."
She tilts her head, "How long does it take to grow a crystal?"
He rubs her back, "About a vorn for a normal one to get firmly established. The kits will have it done in a decade, since they are meant to go faster. The ones you want to add need a decavorn."
"Oh." She scuffs a ped on the ground when he lets go of her for a moment, trying to get his security pad to recognize him and let him inside. It's been glitching lately, and he has to enter a manual override code to get in. He'll have to have a bot come repair it later.
He carries Sari in and frowns at the readouts on his console near the door. Twenty unauthorized access attempts while he was away. Who the frag had tried to break into his home?
She kisses him, distracting him wonderfully, since she has her facemask down again. "Let's go make the crystal kits?"
He smiles, kissing her with his glossa flicking against hers. "Yes, of course. Is there anything else you think we should do?" He heads up the stairs, fingers pressed against her seams to encourage her to say what he wants.
She blushes prettily, moving into his touch, "I... I think you know what I'll suggest." She catches his fingers, kissing them, "I'd like it if you were laying under me, though. Is that okay?"
"It will be difficult to work on the kits that way," he points out, and Sari sticks her glossa out at him.
"Oh, frag off. I want you sprawled out under me. I can use your big, strong chest like a table." She pats the plates, "Nice working area for me here. So broad." Her servos slip over his plating and he groans softly, her touch igniting pleasure in him, spark pulsing.
He moves faster, venting harsh as she teases him. "If you want to, I suppose you could. It would be easier if we actually use a ta-"
She rubs her little chestplates against his, optics dim, "I like the idea of you laying under me. You won't let me 'face you, but I want to be able to just lay on top of you and kiss you whenever I want." Her fingers toy with his sparkplate seams, "You'll let me do that, won't you?"
He blushes, glad that he's at his apartment, and heads in, locking it up again, "Y-yes."
There are fifty messages on his console, all from Optimus and Sari's team-he only reads the one sent from Optimus's Magnus frequency, and ignores the rest. When it's just a note warning him to be on time for the meeting tomorrow, he safely sets it aside. The rest are likely threats. Warnings. Stay away from Sari type warnings.
He sighs.
Sari kisses him, glossa flicking in before pulling away, "Let's set up."
He smiles, setting her down. "Of course." He has all night with her, and it is only going to get better. She wants him, and it doesn't matter if Optimus and his team hate him. She's all that matters.
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