Transformers belongs to Hasbro
He onlines easily, sitting up in his berth. He isn't exactly sure how Sari managed to convince him this is what he should be doing, but he accepted it. She did look perfectly comfortable on top of that cushion she brought, and the thick blanket.
Even if she is in her organic frame at the moment.
He's glad he knows that's how she recharges, or he would have freaked out the first time they shared the berth. He's certain he can prepare for it now.
Getting up, he walks out of his berthroom, and cautiously walks over to the couch. Sitting down, he carefully runs his servo over Sari's recharging frame, unsure how she'll react.
She presses up into his servo, and . . her frame is so soft that Sentinel can't help but pet her like she was an expensive, exotic turbofox. Sari blinks and shifts under his fingers, her lips curving into a smile. "Hey," she says softly, rubbing at her organic optics. "Did you sleep . . recharge well?"
He keeps petting her, feeling her soft, smooth organic plating. "I did. I hope your recharge was as good as mine was."
She pushes into him, moving so he rubs her a little harder, "I dunno. I slept well." She takes his servo, touching it. "I like that you don't mind me like this."
Of course he doesn't, she's so much better than those terrible spiders or the tenctons. Sure, she freaks him out a bit, but she's slightly soft, and not slimy. "You're lovely." He hopes she doesn't kiss him and shove her gross glossa in his mouth again, though.
She lets out a happy sigh, "Thank you. You're incredibly handsome." She pets his helmet, "You were going to make me breakfast, weren't you?"
"I was. I assumed you would want to watch." He lifts her and places her on the countertop of his small kitchen area, spreading her soft, organic fiber blanket out under her, so she can stay in her organic frame if she likes. He hopes she does. She's intriguing this way. So very intriguing.
"I do." She lays back, her organic optics half-closed, as if she's tired. "What are you gonna make?"
He touches her frame, avoiding the lumps on her chest, "Whipped energon. Just for you."
She lays her head on her arm as she stretches out on the blanket, "Okay. I'd like that. Will you be using that high grade I like?"
"And the additive. You like how it tastes, and-"
"We can try it without the additive. It looked like you didn't really enjoy it. I want to see how well it tastes without it."
He's glad of that, since it will mean that he won't have to buy the expensive additive for her all the time if she likes it more like this. He can put in the extra effort for her.
It's not as if she's actually allergic to energon, after all.
He whips it slowly, steadily, the way a good whip is done. Not with the frenetic, wild energy that most bots prepare it with, but with a steady servo that gently coaxes the energon into soft, fluffy peaks. He works on it for a while, until Sari whines at him. "Hurry up. You've been mixing that forever now. Like, for an hour."
It's been less than a breem.
He continues to work on it, "If I hurry, it won't taste nearly as good. I had thought you wanted to taste what made Optimus want to bond with me."
She scowls, "You won't bond with him. You aren't giving him any of the whipped energon, either. He's not allowed to-"
He kisses her, a quick press of their mouths that he moves away from quickly so that she can't stick her glossa in. "He won't, Sari. He won't. Just don't be surprised if he tries to demand I make it for him because you told him he's no longer allowed to fuel at my family's energon shop."
"He can get it somewhere else."
A smile, "Not as good as this." He sets the cube in front of her when he's finished. "Try it."
She stares at it suspiciously, and then dips a finger into it, licking the whip straight from her organic plating. "Bleh." She makes a face and suddenly shifts into her armored body, and tries it again. "Mm. Oh, god. It's so much better this way."
He gives her a rightly smug look, "It is the best whipped energon you will get anywhere. I can't cook much else, but no one can match my whipped energon." He watches as her optics as they dim with pleasure while she eats. "Want me to get you some crystals?"
She makes a tiny, pleased sound, and nods. "Yeah. What would be good with this? I don't know these things, since I only just started eating these things with you here to show me. I haven't-"
He walks over to one of his cupboards, pulling down a single crystal that he thinks she'll like. "Try this. It is an Ember crystal. See how the red swirls in the center around the purple? That means that it is slightly spicy crystal of this type."
She licks it, and then takes a bit into her mouth, crushing it up with her gears. "Mm. . . oh yeah, kinda spicy." She sips more of the whipped energon, "Frag. This is so good. I don't know why they didn't show me all these fuels. I've been working on organic fuels and sparkling energon when I can stand it for the past ten years. Stellar cycles." She moans softly, licking her lips before giving him a dim-opticked look. "My spark is hot."
He shakes his head, "I'm not 'facing you. I told you this. I want it to last."
She pouts at him, "But I want you now. I've never wanted anyone else. You feed me all these good things, and get me all hot, then you pull away and say no." She moves, rubbing against him, "Why won't you do something about it?"
He kisses her head, "Because it is better to wait." He rubs her side, "You have barely lived very long at all, and you want me to make a decision in an instant. I like to wait a vorn before we 'face. What if you suddenly decide I'm terrible, and hate that I decided to break my vorn and just use your spark? It is best to wait until we both know each other very well."
"People fuck all the time without permanently fucking things up." She shifts uncomfortably, and then makes a strange face, "Aw, frag. I'm gonna have to self-service, aren't I? I don't even know how to do that. I've never touched myself in this frame before. It's gonna be all weird."
Sentinel stares at her, his spark pounding with sudden want. His femme has not even . . touched her own spark? Oh, Primus. He wants to ease her onto a berth and show her what she's been missing. He stops himself.
Just barely.
She squirms, "I need to go to.."
He carefully picks her up, "I can take you to the washrack, and you can sit in the solvents to do this. You're small enough that I could fill up a small tub with the solvents from the spray."
She squirms in his arms, rubbing against him. "Could..." She turns her head, "Never mind. I'm sure you won't."
He holds her gently, walking to the washrack, "What?"
She shakes her head, blushing lightly, "You.. You won't-" She looks down, "You ... I'd like it if..." She sighs softly, "I'd want you to be with me as I do this, so I can look at you. But I know you won't. It's okay."
His venting hitches. "I . . . sometime. Not yet, Sari. It's too soon." He rubs her shoulder gently. "I'm sorry."
She shrugs, "It's okay. I'd like you to watch me rub my spark, but I don't expect it. I'll figure it out on my own." Sometimes he wishes he wasn't such an honorable mech. If he was truly the monster that her friends think he is, he would take advantage of her now. Instead, he's dropping her off for a self-service he will not witness.
That he desperately wishes he could witness.
He puts her down outside of the washrack, and she pauses at the door, "You said you'd put solvents in a tub for me?"
He did, and he so very wishes he wasn't doing this. It is like she's trying so hard to tempt him, and he has to force himself not to give in. He wants to pull her into his berth and show her just how wonderful a servo or glossa on the spark can be.
"Of course, Sari." He walks in, going to one of the shelves he has up, and pulls down the little tub he uses to do washing in other parts of his apartment. It is big enough for her to sit in comfortably, even if she won't be able to stretch out completely. "Would you like bubbles in it?"
"Yeah." She smiles at him. "That'd be nice." She's quiet as he fills it with solvent, adding a cleanser that makes lovely, sudsy bubbles. "I'm sorry for pushing you. I really don't mean to. You've got to remember that I'm part organic. I'm used to having to rush. Waiting so long is foreign to me."
He relaxes a bit, "It's alright. We both have to adapt. I . . may be willing to reconsider our relationship in less than a full vorn."
She rubs her sparkplates, fingers rubbing at the seams in a distracting way, "Are... Are you going to..." She bites her lower lip, unwilling to go on.
He kisses the top of her head, "I'll leave you be. You have fun." He pauses, then says, "I... I have a file on interfacing and self-service. Would you like that?"
She blushes brightly, "I.. Are you really? I mean, I..." She squirms, "Y-yes. Give it to me." She flashes him a grin filled with gear dente, "I'd like it with pictures of you, but..." She trails off, still grinning, but now he sees how predatory her optics are. Like she'd like little more than to shove him down and use him.
She is honest about wanting those pictures of him. Preferably ones of him with his spark exposed and him looking like he just wants her to climb on and use him.
He took images like that of himself for Elita, a long, long time ago. He adds a few of them to the file and sends it to her, cheeks flushed as he leaves the room. He'll work on reports while she . . entertains herself in the bath.
He tries not to think of her slick, yellow frame writhing, solvents washing over it, rushing into her sparkchamber to lap against her spark like an eager lover's glossa. His own spark pounds with want.
He grabs the reports from his subspace, forcing himself to focus.
He kisses Sari gently as they part ways at the Autobot Headquarters. He needs to hurry to that meeting that was scheduled to start about three breems ago. He had meant to hurry, but Sari had wanted to feed him energon, and she wanted to finish eating the crystal he gave her. He can't deny her something so simple. She always looks so happy when she eats crystals. Like she's never had something so delicious, and he is the one that helped her with it. No one else.
He wishes he could keep her with him as he did this, hold her in his lap and cuddle her to keep her safe, but that would be considered an abuse of power. He wouldn't make her stay there, unlike how some of the councilbots or other bots in the past have.
He wouldn't overload her like a lapbot. She'd just be with him so he knows where she is, and so very safe.
Well, he wouldn't overload her like a lapbot often. She seems like the kind of bot who'd like to be overloaded that way sometimes, during pretend games. He's all for the occasional role-play. Let no bot say that Sentinel Prime is a stick in the mud. He knows how to be exciting in the berth.
Sentinel's desk is heaped high with datapads, and he rubs at his optics. If the bots have been padding their reports with fluff again, he's going to have to bash a few helms in.
He considers just... skipping the meeting. Claim he never got the message, and just forgot. It isn't like Optimus hasn't done that. Repeatedly. He could claim that and get some work done. He knows it wouldn't be so bad if he had been able to do this last sol instead of escorting the Tenctons. He could have just done his work, and he'd be able to fix any problem before it started. But Optimus seems to think that trying to be with Sari means he needs to learn a lesson.
Even if that lesson is 'I'm the one in power, and not you. You will do what I say or else.' Which is a terrible lesson to give anyone at all. He never had that sort of power tripping done. It was just keeping the populous safe from Decepticons.
Though some claimed he abused his authority.
He'd only done everything to keep his people safe from harm. To keep the Decepticons from taking control from a weak, easily manipulated leader.
Like Optimus.
It was only a matter of time before he was in control again. Bots would realize that he deserved it more.
Sentinel sits at his desk and starts sorting through the pads, intent on making some dent in the mess, because he's already late for the meeting. There's no point in going halfway. The policy has always been that anything more than one breem late was too late to join.
He starts to work, glad that almost everyone seems to have realized he was completely serious when he said that he was fine with just a few bullet points of what they are doing. There are a few that don't, but those datapads are set to the side, and will be read when he's done with this mess. He will yell at them later. It is possible that one of them genuinely needs the several paragraphs to explain things.
He has had reports that were as concise as possible, but still needed several hundred screens to get through everything. It was frustrating, but absolutely needed for him to understand what was going on in that project.
He knows more about spacebridges and how they needed to be repaired than he had ever thought necessary, but it was better to know than to be ignorant when it comes falling down around everyone.
He also knows more about Perceptor and Wheeljack's pet projects than he'd really like to, and those still make no sense to him, despite megacycle-long lectures from both bots. Well, Wheeljack's 'lecture' had been more of a bouncing, rambling, leap from topic to topic, with only occasional mentions of incorporating flight technology into the next generation of Cybertronians. At one point, Sentinel was certain that Wheeljack was propositioning him for a 'face, but with the sciencebots, it was so very hard to tell sometimes. It was equally as likely that the bot was simply telling him how the mods would affect 'facing with other bots.
He goes through the last of the bullet pointed datapads before picking up the longer ones. He sighs when he realizes that all of them are ones that went against what he told them to do. Standing up, he shoves them into his subspace. He's going to have words with these glitches.
He can also talk to Perceptor, Cliffjumper, and Rodimus about going out on a double date with him and Sari. In fact, he can make it a blind double date. He sends a text to Sari about it, and she sends one back telling him that it would mean that Optimus and them would be less likely to run off for it. Which makes this so much easier.
He can tell Cliffjumper first, since that seems like the best idea. He needs to talk to the bot and reassure him they're still friends, anyway.
Cliff is sitting outside Optimus's office, because the little glitch still thinks he needs to act like a secretarybot even though he's head of intelligence and has two secretaries of his own, though Sentinel has never seen either of them. He's not entirely sure they actually work there, except that both bots are still pulling salaries, so they must be doing something.
The red minibot offers him a wan little smile, "Sentinel. Come to pay a visit to the Magnus again?"
Sentinel shakes his head and rests a servo on Cliff's desk. "So, you want to tell me why you're acting like a secretarybot again?"
Cliffjumper scoffs at him, "I told you, I get-"
"Paid more to sit there, yes. But that doesn't mean that you should be sitting there. You are constantly harassed by bots that seem to think that it is their right to bother you just because you sit there. You'll get more done if you use your office."
The mech snorts, looking tired, "No. I can do this. I'm fine how I am. I don't need to be in a place that's less busy. You spend a lot of your time out of your office. On that desk you set up in the main area."
He nods, "But I also spend time in my own office if I need to be left alone to work. You should do the same thing. Just place one of your secretarybots-"
"No way. That means I'll be training them to replace me. I'm not taking a pay cut to give away my job."
Sentinel stares at him. "You're not being paid to do secretary duties. Any extra credits you're making are for overtime megacycles. Not because you're getting that overtime out here." He decides not to mention that 'Jumper was paid twice as much as other secretarybots because Longarm had insisted. Fragging traitor. Sentinel really should have realized what Longarm was when he'd asked for special rewards for Cliffjumper for doing tasks like 'picking 'pads up off the floor' and 'cleaning under my desk.'
If Cliffjumper wasn't so fanatical about the Autobot cause, he'd be more worried about the minibot working as head of intelligence. He knows he has nothing to worry about, since Perceptor himself ran several scans on Cliffjumper to make sure. The very fact that Cliff was willing to do it was what made Sentinel trust him so much, rather than the scan itself.
Anything he did himself was something that made Sentinel more willing to trust others for doing. He put himself under that scan so he could prove it was safe. To prove that he wasn't Decepticon scum. To show everyone that doing this would prove that there were no Decepticon sympathizers in the Autobot Headquarters.
He likes to think they appreciated that, but he has no way of knowing.
"I work here because the glitches headquarters keep giving me have no idea how to direct a call. They're pretty airheads with fluff for processors," Cliffjumper grumbles. "I need a bot that can transfer a call and keep my schedule done properly, and none of that slag can. So I do it myself. And I keep track of the Magnus's appointments and schedule. Take his calls for him. It's easy work. I could do it in my recharge." The mech frowns, "Probably have."
"There are plenty of intelligent bots who could do that work." His femme could, for instance. "Perhaps you would allow me to suggest several bots to serve under you?" He frowns, "Serve as your secretarybot. Not . . . under you."
Cliffjumper snorts, "I don't frag my staff."
Which means he is much more willing to let Sari see if she can do the work. "Do you want me to have a list of bots for you? I can make one up, and have it for you by lunch." Earlier, really. he doesn't want to cut into his time with Sari for lunch.
Cliffjumper frowns at him, then nods. "Fine. I'll see who I like, and deal with it as I go."
He smiles, "Now, I wanted to ask you something that has nothing to do with this or work or anything. Just... as a friend-"
"I'm not lending you any money, Sentinel."
He frowns, "I... I've never asked you for money. Why would you-"
Cliffjumper rubs his optics, "Sorry. I'm just used to bots coming up and acting buddy-buddy before trying to get me to lend them credits. What was it you wanted?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing." He taps his fingers on his thigh plating nervously, "And ask you out on-"
"Frag no, Sentinel. I know you're dating that little femme. I'm not getting in on that. If you want to break up with her already, you're gonna use some other bot to do it. I'm not pissing the Magnus's daughter off."
He blinks. "She's not his daughter."
Cliffjumper snorts, "Have you seen the way he acts with her? She's his adopted daughter at least."
He nods, "Yes, that I can accept." He taps his fingers on the desk, "But that isn't what I was going to say. I'm very happy with her, and wouldn't think of doing that to her." He smiles a bit, "I was going to ask you if you wanted to go on a double-date with me and her. We have a bot in mind for you to be with, but we still need ask him if he wants to."
Cliffjumper's optics narrow, "If this is a blind date with Bumblebee since he's a minibot, I'm not going to be happy."
He shakes his head, "I promise it isn't with Bumblebee. He wasn't who we were planning at all." They're going to be having him with Bulkhead, after all. He's fairly sure they'll get along. It won't hurt them to try a single date, anyway.
He's not entirely certain. He doesn't know much about Optimus's team, other than that they're all glitchheads to some extent or another. They'd lost their teammate and drawn closer together over it, but they're still glitches. And pains in the aft who don't want him dating Sari.
"Fine. I'll agree to one double-date with this mystery bot. But you are paying for the energon. I'm not wasting credits on something that might turn out to be awful."
He smiles widely, "I'm willing to do that. I'll tell Sari that you-"
He's cut off by the sudden stomping coming from behind him, and when he turns to look, Optimus is there like an angry storm cloud. The mech bears down on him, glaring, "What is this about picking out crystals with Sari?" The mech glares up at him, "What do you think you're doing with her?"
He blinks at Optimus, wondering why this is happening in the lobby. This is something you keep behind closed doors, since it rarely looks good. Unless Optimus's aim is to humiliate him, there is no reason for this at all. "I'm... dating her, Optimus Magnus," he says slowly, as if to a particularly dim sparkling.
"Yes. And you purchased matching crystals with her and then took her to your apartment where you refused all com attempts for the night. And you missed your meeting this morning." Optimus looks dangerously close to shoving Sentinel down and beating him to offline for daring to do this with his adopted sparkling. "I want an explanation, Sentinel."
Sentinel Prime stiffens, "I do not have to give you one, sir. What goes on between Sari and I is private, and as it does not threaten Autobot security, it is none of your business."
Optimus presses closer, optics ablaze, "This is not about that. It is about you being with Sari, and being ready to break her spark just because you want to use her. You are acting like you want to bond with her and-"
"Did it occur to you that I am acting like I want to bond to her because I do? We got a blessing from Primus, and I-"
"What?" It is said in stereo, and it takes a moment for him to realize that it came from Optimus and several other bots that have come to watch this happening.
He rubs his optics tiredly, "Yes, blessing from Primus. There is an altar, and we went to it. The blessing only happens if you find it first try, and we did. We're supposed to be able to stay together forever because of it."
"You took her to a temple of Primus?" Optimus asks, sounding completely strangled, like some bot is stepping on his vocal processor.
"No. There was a maze. In a crystal garden. We found our way to the center of it together and got a blessing from the statue and altar there. She did not seem as impressed with it as I think she would have been, if she'd been raised with Primus as her god."
Optimus crosses his arms over his chest, "I taught her about Primus. And the Allspark." He hunches in on himself, "It was hard teaching her. She has little common reference with us."
He reaches over cautiously, patting his side, "It isn't your fault. She wasn't found by you or the others until she was older. She is a proper bot, though. She tries very hard, and does very well." He read some reports of how she does at work, and she could easily do harder things. She would do better as more than a glorified datapad runner, and he's certain Optimus knows it but isn't willing to let her go.
Optimus gives him a dirty look, "Her creator-"
"Yes, he did very well with what he could, but he wasn't..." He doesn't want to say any more, not knowing what he is allowed to say in such a public place. "We should talk in private."
Optimus stiffens and gestures at his office, "Be my guest. There is much for us to discuss, Sentinel Prime. We can start with why you never showed up at the meeting this morning. It was important that you be there. We are starting negotiations with a previously Decepticon-allied planet, and you chose to . . to . . ," he vents harshly, "do unspeakable things with Sari instead."
He rolls his optics as they walk to the office, "I did no such thing. You know my rule about 'facing a bot I'm dating, Optimus. Besides, I remember you asking to bond to me more than a few times, and me turning you down repeatedly."
Optimus closes the door, giving him a dirty look, "That was because you made whipped energon, and you know it. It has nothing to do with the fact that you... you..."
"I did nothing to Sari. She told me she was lonely when she goes home to the ninjabot neighborhood, and wanted to recharge at my place. She had a cushion and an organic fiber blanket that she used for the night on the couch."
"You expect me to believe that, Sentinel? You allowed her to recharge like an organic on your couch? Your feelings about organics and Decepticons are well-known. I do not believe that-"
"She's not a 'Con, and she's decent for an organic." Sentinel cuts Optimus off before he can begin again, "I like her, Optimus. She's sweet. I'm not trying to break her spark, but if you keep trying to separate us, you might manage it. Were you ever planning on letting her date?" He drops his voice into something colder, "Did you know she didn't even know how to fuel on crystals?"
"She broke an entire gear off when she tried. We decided it was best to-"
"She said she was fueling on the fuels from Earth and sparkling energon." He gives Optimus a dark look, "She has been starving for the last ten stellar cycles, and you never bothered to teach her to eat slower or to use crushed crystals. She could have starved to offlining, and you wouldn't have been able to keep her safe."
Optimus stares at him, "She's actually eating the crystals now?"
"Yes. She had a few this morning, when I made breakfast for her." Sentinel is smug, because he's helped Sari learn this when her companions failed her. He deserves her. The fragging Magnus couldn't figure out how to get her to fuel, but Sentinel did in a single evening.
"Oh." Optimus sits at his desk and stares at his servos for a klik, and then scowls once more, "You will not have her spend the night at your apartment. It is scandalous."
"Spending the night with a femme is scandalous? When I am well known to not 'face anyone before a vorn is up? I don't see what-"
"You will not have her over at your apartment overnight again. Do you want me to make this into an order as your Magnus? I am more than willing t-"
"That is an abuse of your power, and you know it. I don't have to do this. It-"
"I could order you to stay completely away from her as a matter of security. You were dangerously close to exposing her secret, and I can have you yanked from her for it."
"I was not," he protests, because he won't put his femme at risk. He knows how most bots will react if they know she's part organic. Organics are not treated well here, although fraggin' Alpha Trion will still try to get her in the berth. Pervbot. He's terrible. "I would never expose her secrets. When she is unhappy, I feel unhappy as well."
Optimus gives him a flat look, "I doubt it." The mech points at him, "You will not have her recharge at your place again. And I'll be talking to her about blocking our com calls." The bot gives him an angry look, "And you may start being called as well. We will not allow this to happen ever again. Do you understand me?"
He glares, "Is this an order, then? You won't allow me to let her spend the night, even if nothing harmful is going on?"
Optimus glares back, "If you want it to be an order, then yes, it is. You won't be having her recharge at your place ever again."
Sentinel narrows his optics, "You have never interfered in your Prime's lives like this before, Optimus. Is this some sign that you'll be instituting some of the older rules? Refusing your Primes the ability to have relationships with other bots so they can serve you better? I would have never expected that of you of all mechs."
Optimus flushes with indignant heat, "I never! How dare you accuse me of that? I would never abuse my position that way you, you aft!"
He leans on the desk, holding himself up with his servos, "Then why are you ordering this? We did nothing wrong! Nothing! I like her far too much to rush it, and you know this! Have I ever broken my one vorn rule? We spent forever as roommates, and now you're acting like I brought femmes home every night to use their sparks!"
Optimus stands up, chair pushed away, "And none of those were Sari! You won't be doing this! She's only twenty-two! A sparkling! And you do this!"
"She's an adult by organic standards! She tried to-" he cuts himself off, not willing to betray his femme by putting her . . behavior on record. She may have tried to seduce him, but he won't fault her for that. He's a handsome mech. All femmes try to seduce him at some point. The good ones-Elita and Sari-back off when he rejects their advances. "She is an adult, Optimus. Let her make her own decisions. You can't keep demanding she stay a sparkling forever when she so clearly isn't."
"She should be with a bot that won't break her spark. You always broke up with all those femmes. The only one that you didn't was Elita-1, and you still ended badly with her. You saw her, and said-"
"Elita died on that planet, and what took her place was nothing but a dirty Decepticon. If she had been Elita, I would have accepted her." It would have taken a bit, but he's getting used to Sari's organic part, he could have done the same to Elita if she had still been Elita. "Blackarachnia is nothing but a Decepticon that stole her protoform and changed her armor."
"Elita is still there. She's just badly wounded." Optimus rubs his optics, "I can see her there. I still want to save her, if she is ever willing to take my servo and come back to our side. I expect you to accept her if she does, Sentinel. If you are rude, I will have you exiled."
Of course he would. Optimus was a soft-spark that way, inviting Decepticons into his home without any concern about them turning traitor at the slightest chance.
"She won't accept your servo. She's nothing more than a 'Con, Optimus. You'll see." He feels tired, knowing that nothing he says will change Optimus's mind. At least he's willing to see reason, even if Optimus isn't. "You should talk to Sari about how she feels about you banning her from spending the night with me. If you get her to agree to it, I will stop taking her to spend the night, but no sooner."
Optimus glares, but nods. "Fine."
He leans on the desk, "And what was the meeting I missed about?"
"You can read up on it yourself," Optimus says stiffly, his words a reprimand. "If you miss another meeting you are scheduled to attend without notifying me in advance, I will dock your pay and have you working a punishment detail for the next stellar cycle."
"I see." He nods and stands at attention, "If you are going to be this way, so be it, Optimus. I will not let you win if you make this into a competition."
"It isn't a competition. This is me telling you to do your job. You will-"
"Just like forcing me to escort organics that are nothing like Sari to punish me is just part of my job? I have not had that in my description for vorns. I did it to show you I am more than willing to put aside any prejudice to be with her. You pulling rank does not make you look better, sir." He does hate how Optimus is Magnus now. Him doing petty slag like this just shows how bad of a leader he can be. Ultra Magnus never would have forced him to deal with Tenctons.
Optimus's optics narrow dangerously, "Are you angry about being the bot that is to serve as the communication link between us and them? It is an honored position."
And one that is nothing but an embarrassment for the bot holding it. There are no end of jokes being made when the bot doing this is working. He is highly tempted to do something drastic, like quit, but he knows that he can make it through this. He can take anything Optimus dishes out.
And a Prime cannot quit without his Magnus's permission, and he knows Optimus would not give it to him. Leaving him no choice but to become a traitor, and Sentinel is no traitor. "I am honored to be considered such a good ambassador for organic species," he grits out instead, before turning away, "If that is all, sir, I have work to get back to. You can discuss your demands with Sari."
He does not hear any orders to stay, so he leaves before Optimus can make any other outrageous demands of him.
He closes the door, and offlines his optics to take a soothing in-vet that he releases slowly. There is no need to take this anger out on bots that don't need yelling at. He can save it up for the glitches that screwed up the reports of what they were doing.
Waving sharply at Cliffjumper, he stalks off.
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