Fandom: Transformers G1/Bayverse
Author: gatekat and starshield on LJ
Pairing: Jazz/Prowl, Prowl/Soundwave, Ratchet/Skyfire/Wheeljack
Rating: PG-13
Codes: Slash, Mechpreg talk
Summary:
Disclaimer: The authors are only playing with their own twisted muses. Transformers belong to Hasbro. Fandom-side, check the inspirations page (gatekat-fics .livejournal .com/290 .html ) We draw from a ton of amazing stories and authors you should read.
Notes: klik = 1 minute; breem = 8.3 minutes; joor = 6.3 hours; orn = day/32 joor; metacycle = 6 (5.9285) years; vorn = 83 years/14 metacycles
~text~ bond/hardline talk
::text:: comm chatter
At All Costs 44: Escaping the Insanity
Prowl wasn't sure that he had ever been more thankful for the familiar route to the home of a friend. It seemed that Jazz and Soundwave had been talking between themselves more than Prowl had known, or they had wanted him to know, since Soundwave had known exactly why Jazz had wanted Prowl all to himself that orn Prowl had returned from Kaon. Not that knowing had lessened the host's delight when Prowl had broached the subject by any means.
For the first time he could remember Prowl wished for times past, when things were simpler. When he had bonded to Jazz there had only been the official paperwork and the announcement to Optimus. Not the ceremony and celebration expected now, when there was time and energy to spare on such things and his intended bonded's rank demanded a pubic ceremony.
It was not every vorn that the First High Priest of Iacon took a bondmate.
All of which added up to the fact that Prowl needed someone to talk to and convince him that this was the way things were supposed to be even though his battle and tactical computers were at odds with the rest of his processor. And that meant a visit to see Ratchet and his bondmates.
He pulled up to the large, heavily reinforced structure on the outer edge of Iacon's rebuilt neighborhoods and transformed. While insanely expensive to own an entire building, the three made good use of it. Wheeljack was the main reason they'd spent so much, of course. Or rather, keeping the population safe from both scientists that Ratchet was bonded to. Yet Ratchet made good use of it as well, teaching and researching his own pet projects in a separate level well shielded from Wheeljack and Skyfire.
It was Wheeljack that greeted Prowl, his finials flashing brightly in greeting. "Good to see you. It's been too long."
"I apologize." Prowl said with a smile as he was ushered in. "It has been a long time since my last visit. I trust that everyone is doing well?"
"Oh yes," Wheeljack flashed excitedly. "Though it had been difficult to get Skyfire to shut up about you. Seems he's fascinating by the decorative choices being made."
Prowl vented softly. "I occasionally question the wisdom of allowing others to plan this, but I fear anything I planned would not be satisfactory."
"They'd love it anyway, but it'd never pass muster," Wheeljack chuckled as they walked through the entry level of the six story building, though with every ceiling tall enough for Skyfire to stretch comfortably, it always seemed much larger. "You're both far too important to get away with the quiet ways we had during the war. But from what I'm hearing, both your mates are enjoying it greatly."
"It's good for them," Ratchet grinned as they joined him on the lift to the top floor and the living quarters. "Gives them something to connect over that you aren't in the middle of."
"A very good thing, and something I am thankful for." Prowl agreed. Anything that had Soundwave and Jazz working together and happy made Prowl's spark sing, and as much as he was dreading the entire process of the public ceremony, this was one of those things.
"But how are the three of you doing?" They would get back around to him soon enough, Prowl was sure, but for a moment he wanted to talk about someone else and something else.
"Trying to talk Skyfire out of going generative and all broody on us," Ratchet cycled his optics in exasperation. "I've got enough work keeping the pair of them repaired. I don't need any self-combusting little fliers darting around the city."
"Aww, but they'd be so cute," Wheeljack teased him.
Prowl hummed in amusement. "And how well is that working for you?" From what he understood, once Seekers and Seeker-kin got that sort of notion in their processor it was very difficult to talk them out of it.
"I'm winning, for the moment," Ratchet grumbled. "Have you talked to your nut-jobs about having some little ones? You've got so much more going on for variables."
"We know ours'll be kindled and Skyfire'll carry, but all three of you are sparked mechs," Wheeljack happily jumped on the topic. "You know I've done a lot of design work for sparked sparklings."
"No." Prowl admitted quietly. "During the war Jazz and I had too much to concentrate on to even worry about sparklings, and then for so long it has been Jazz being able to accept Soundwave..."
He paused, considering all of that before looking at Ratchet again. "Though since the two of them seem set on conspiring when I am not around I cannot say for sure that they have not discussed the possibility between themselves without my knowledge."
Ratchet and Wheeljack shared a look over Prowl's shoulder, and the inventor broke down in snickers.
"Right. So they haven't talked to Jack yet, but Soundwave is a host," Ratchet explained with an exasperated sound. "But I think the real issue is that Jazz and Soundwave are both Ops mechs, and even before that they were both inclined to collect and keep secrets. As long as none of their surprises have been unpleasant, I wouldn't worry about it. It's just them being them."
"I'm not." Prowl assured him. There was no doubt in his spark that either of them would do anything with the intent to hurt or upset him, and even if he eventually might not agree with something they decided regarding him, it hadn't happened yet. "And I would hope that something as serious as creating and raising sparklings is a topic I would be involved with once it passed beyond the realm of casual discussion."
"If they don't I'm going to reintroduce both of them to my wrench collection," Ratchet promised with full fervor as the lift stopped. "Though knowing you as well as I do, I wouldn't be surprised if they came to some agreement before broaching it with you."
"So you won't feel torn between opposing desires," Wheeljack added.
"They do go out of their way to take care of me." Prowl murmured, love for his mates clear in his voice. "I am sure that it will come up eventually."
"What will come up?" Skyfire asked, looking down from the half-floor of the second story that was the berthroom of the triad. "Welcome, Prowl. Feel free to hide here as long as you want."
"Hiding? Is that what I am doing?" Prowl repeated, having to smile at the accurate and blunt description of his actions made by the Seeker-kin. "It is good to see you again Skyfire."
"Yes, you're hiding, and I can't blame you for wanting some time away from the insanity that the preparations must be," Ratchet chuckled and guided them to the living room where Skyfire joined them.
"Mid or highgrade?" Wheeljack called from his way to the kitchen.
"High grade, if you are offering to share." Prowl had no intention of getting overcharged, but relaxed was a state he would rather like to enjoy for a while.
"My own formula," Wheeljack's finials flashed brightly before he disappeared.
"So what else has been going on in your existence?" Ratchet asked as he settled into a comfortable chair next to Prowl.
"Besides attempting to escape the planning for a ceremony and a celebration?" Prowl asked, his tone light. "I have the approval to begin the next stage of reconstruction in Kaon. The improvements will hopefully bring it to a more level existence than with the rest of Cybertron."
"That will go a long way in defusing any efforts to reignite the rebellion," Skyfire nodded agreeably. "How long before it's complete, do you think?"
"The next stage or the entire plan?" Prowl asked, then went ahead and gave him estimates for both anyway. "The next stage may well take three quarters of a century, but it is the foundation for the new city and the entire plan. There are several stages after this one is finished, but the entire project is projected to take less than two centuries to complete."
"Not too bad," Ratchet nodded as Wheeljack joined them with cubes of a shimmering emerald green energon.
"How much improvement has orn to orn existence so far?" Skyfire asked.
"Enough that things are still peaceful, and hopeful." Prowl commented, studying the energon and allowing Ratchet to take a sip of his before Prowl dared try it.
"Which is more than could be said there in a very long time," Skyfire hummed thoughtfully as he enjoyed a small sip of the brew he knew could knock him out in two or three cubes.
When the former CMO sighed appreciatively, Prowl took a chance and sipped cautiously. He vented in appreciation and nodded at Wheeljack. "Excellent, and impressive."
The engineer beamed, his finials flashing bright blue in pleasure.
"There are perks to having a master engineer in the house," Ratchet grinned. "You can't get high grade like this anywhere else."
While Prowl secretly wondered how many mixtures had exploded before Wheeljack settled on this one, and how explosive what he was consuming might be potentially be in the hands of a normal mech, he had to agree. This put all of the homemade highbrew he had tried before to shame.
He might have to see if Wheeljack was willing to trade him some the next time his lovers planned a special evening. Soundwave would certainly appreciate it, at least.
"No, you cannot. And I hope you guard this formula closely," Prowl said.
"Oh, I do," Wheeljack assured him, settling in on Skyfire's lap. "The only mech who's getting it will be my apprentice when they make master engineer."
"As it should be." Prowl agreed, smiling at how content they all were and truly happy for his friends. It was a pleasure to see mechs he knew had all been traumatized by the war apparently healed from much of it by time and each other. It gave him so much more hope for Jazz and Soundwave. Both still had deep psychological scars, that while mending, were a long way from healed.
"So what plans have been set for the ceremony?" Skyfire asked. "Have you done the deed yet?"
Sensor wings twitched, a strange mix of excitement and concern. "Not yet... There were, are, arrangements that need to be made for Jazz. Though it will need to be soon, if we are going to before the ceremony."
He looked at them all in turn. "You are planning to come?"
Ratchet snorted. "Of course. I intend to be front and center."
"You need to be there in case anyone faints," Skyfire snickered playfully.
"Oh no, I am not on call that orn!" Ratchet blustered, even though they all knew he'd help anyone in distress.
"Everyone is invited." Prowl clarified, wanting to be sure they understood. Ratchet might be his oldest friend among them, but Ratchet was now Wheeljack and Skyfire as well, and Prowl wished them all to share in the festivities. "And I will make sure there is another medic present, in the small chance that someone does suffer a glitch."
Prowl anticipated no such problem, but teasing the medic was fun, and Prowl made sure he was looking right at Ratchet when he made the comment.
A playful growl, reminiscent of the real ones once uttered, came as a reply.
"What ceremony base will you be using?" Skyfire asked, his wings twitching in eagerness.
Prowl laughed softly, shaking his helm and taking another sip of his energon before answering. "That would be a question for Jazz or Soundwave, seeing as how they are planning this. I know that Prime is presiding, has to, since he is the only one who ranks Soundwave, but I have not yet been let in on most of what they are planning."
Prowl was sure whatever they were planning would still be too much for him, but it would please the mechs he loved, so he would do whatever they asked of him. "I do trust them to not torture me too much."
"Do yourself a favor and don't ask," Wheeljack suggested with a chuckle. "Between the three of you and Prime presiding, it's bound to be the event of the vorn at least."
"Is Jazz going to be standing with you?" Ratchet suddenly asked.
"No. He will be present, but in the audience. By his own choice." Not by Prowl's, but he understood and appreciated how difficult the whole situation was for Jazz. For Prowl, it was enough that Jazz was going to be present at all, even if not at Prowl's side.
Skyfire's wings flickered in shock, but he quickly settled himself. "It is still that difficult for him?" he asked gently.
"Yes." Prowl murmured, wings pulling in closer to his frame as he sank in his seat. "There are times even now when I feel the flickers of doubt from him, but I fear to ask him again after he has said yes."
Flickers that raised doubt in Prowl, concern that what he was doing was right for his mates. Made him question if more time would help, even if his tactical computer informed him that the potential for the situation to be much better than it was rated very small.
"Prowl, everyone has doubts when they're making this big a change," Ratchet pointed out with a sigh. "Trust Jazz to not be willing to hurt you by suggesting what he's not prepared for. I know you've run helm-on into his stubborn side. I'm fairly sure I know you well enough to say that you haven't asked him about you bonding to Soundwave in a very long time."
Prowl had to smile. "You know me far to well. Not since we bonded. Every time the subject has been raised since then, Jazz has initiated the discussion."
"And you've been reasonably content to have Soundwave as a lover and part of your home," Ratchet pressed forward.
"I-yes?" Prowl sat up, smile gone and slightly confused as to where Ratchet was going with this.
"Then there is no reason for Jazz to have offered to let you and Soundwave bond if he wasn't ready," Ratchet pointed out.
Wings flicked again and settled. "I know. It is just hard to remember when I can still feel the doubts in him."
"It's hard to let go," Ratchet's tone softened. "It's only after that you realize you weren't actually giving anything up."
Another sip of the high grade, longer and deeper, before Prowl settled. "I hope you are right."
"I am," Ratchet said firmly. "You will see."
"Are you going to go somewhere for the bond to settle?" Wheeljack asked.
"The initial plan is to stay here. Jazz...is going to stay somewhere else. Nothing is set yet though." Prowl replied, brightening a little at the subject.
"With Prime would be a good choice," Ratchet suggested. "He can deal with anything Jazz ends up facing, including Jazz's other selves. I know they couldn't be completely wiped, for all we tried. He was too adaptable, incorporated too much of them into his own memories and coding."
"That is what we were thinking. What is left is determining a time when Optimus can keep an optic on him." Prowl flinched. It hurt, the idea that his bonded needed a keeper and that Prowl was the reason. Best to be safe instead of sorry though, instead of Jazz alone, or worse with someone who could not contain him.
"The other reason we are not planning to go too far is because we are not sure how I am going to react," Prowl admitted.
That raised Ratchet's optic ridge. "That I wasn't expecting, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The first hub bond is always the most uncertain. It's always a little risky with how the existing bondmates might react," he murmured before sipping his energon and pulling up a few more relevant files. "It's extremely rare for it to go badly, especially not when the three are as close as the three of you are. I'd be much more concerned if your mates weren't lovers too, even if it's largely casual."
"So we concluded as well. And led us to decide that Jazz should be close. In case I need him, if nothing else." Prowl had long ago adjusted to Jazz being absent for long periods of time, but never when such critical changes were happening in his spark.
As the center of the bonds, the last thing Prowl wanted was one of the bonds to become unstable, as small as the chance was.
Pushing that aside he smiled. "We are not really worried, but we all like to be prepared. And I function much better when I have a plan to work with, as you have often pointed out."
"You and Soundwave both," he chuckled. "It's Jazz that likes to improvise. Times like this I wish Jazz liked me better. It's odd being so disconnected with one of your mates. He's not going to forgive me though. Can't really blame him either."
"Give him some time and he might come around to being at least social." Prowl commented, well aware of his mate's continual dislike of the medic. It was one of the few things that he and Jazz did not see optic to optic on, and the silver mech simply tolerated the friendship that Prowl relied so heavily on.
Ratchet nodded. "I'm not expecting it. Mech's got every right to hate me, even if I was doing it for his own good. His existence was miserable every time he saw me," he vented and shook his helm. "But you know all that from his point of view. He's a proud mech and he has every right to be, even if some of what he did to himself as a matter of course drove me ballistic."
"I know." Prowl agreed softly. Ratchet was right, his mate was a proud mech, and he had every right to be, rising from what he had been sparked as into what he was now.
"You know, you do too Prowl," Skyfire said. "All three of you have made something very impressive of yourselves from beginnings that no one would have thought possible for you to come from."
An embarrassed flutter of his wings, and quiet pride for his lovers. "I know. And hopefully others will be able to realize a future such as we have been given."
"Many will," Wheeljack's finials flashed in pleasure. "I'm already training mechs who had been sparked or kindled to castes that could never become an engineer or inventor before the war. A couple are truly gifted at it too. They're be a great asset in the future, and would have been a great loss if the laws hadn't been changed."
"We're almost the odd ones out," Ratchet chuckled and motioned to his mates and himself. "Prime was sparked a dock worker. You a low level city planner. Jazz a mid-level pleasurebot. Soundwave a host. Red Alert was a glitch begging on the street. So much of the upper command and VIPs of the new government came from beginnings that are still hard to wrap my processors around."
"Even more odd, perhaps, since you are all free of the prejudices that many seem to have. I still am met with surprise and distrust by some when they find out my original function." Prowl considered. "But there are some who have managed to move on."
"Being close to Prime helps," Ratchet said. "Being a medic and knowing programming the way I do helps too. I know, medically, that there is nothing inherently limited in pre-programmed or caste mechs."
"Just blame Seeker coding here," Skyfire chuckled. "We come from a system that simply doesn't have caste or sparked mechs. Only real prejudice you'll find in most fliers is towards anything that can't fly, or fly as well as you can. We've never cared how or why a grounder came to exist. They're still a grounder, condemned to never know the freedom of flight."
"I may have been kindled by respected engineers, but neither were creative," Wheeljack shrugged. "That I'm more inventor than maintenance engineer came as a surprise to most."
"If there are enough that think like you, or that can overcome the fact that not everyone has wings," Prowl actually smiled at Skyfire, "Then Prime's vision will be easier to bring into reality."
"Unfortunately it's still a stretch for most to view the rotors as equals, much less grounders," Skyfire vented. "The line between pride and prejudice is a fine one and a difficult one to overcome."
"The most effective solution is the one that will never be accepted, fortunately and unfortunately," Ratchet murmured. "So we'll just have to do things the hard way. As long as the next Prime upholds Optimus' ways, it'll happen."
"We can only hope, and do what we can." Prowl murmured, agreeing with Ratchet on both parts. There was no way to justify the banning of the creation of sparked mechs, not when they were fighting for equality. And to ban kindling would never be accepted.
"Does it cause you problems with the fliers? Having grounders as mates?"
"Some," Skyfire acknowledged. "Other Shuttles are fairly accepting. They understand that we have a stronger bond with grounders from our original function of carrying them about. Others are less so, but I'm more likely to be dismissed for being a Shuttle than I am for who I've bonded with. Now, if one of them became a carrier it would be an entirely different situation, but if it happens, it happens," he hugged Wheeljack and cast a loving look at Ratchet.
"Why would that cause a problem?" Prowl frowned, confused and concerned. The happy scene before him was something he treasured. Something he had fought for, similar to what he hoped for himself.
"I'm the Seeker-kin, and by Seeker views I'm the Vision too," Skyfire tried to explain something that wasn't even completely natural to him. "It's simply expected by other fliers, Seeker or not, that I'll be the one to carry."
Prowl hummed, working on making sense of that as well. "Tradition, and coding that you do not have in full?"
The Praxian still did not understand all of the implications of someone besides Skyfire carrying, but he was not going to push the issue when it seemed that the Seeker-kin might not be able to explain. Especially not when both Ratchet and Wheeljack seemed to be fine with the idea of Skyfire being the one to carry.
"Largely tradition, but there is likely some coding since it's unheard of for a non-Vision to carry, or for anything short of a full trine to kindle," he nodded. "I'm sure it's happened, but it would take some serious digging to find it."
The talk drifted into smaller things, Prowl working his way through half the cube of high grade before setting it aside. He needed to quit now, if he wanted to be able to make it back on his own.
And he needed to leave soon, or his mates would be looking for him. A quiet trill from the ceiling, ignored by the others, drew his attention to Laserbeak perched on a beam there.
Scrap that, they'd already come looking for him.
"Does that mean you need to head home soon?" Skyfire chuckled, well aware that Laserbeak had been there almost the entire time Prowl had been.
A small smile from Prowl. "Yes, that means I am expected home soon, but I am sure I have a few more joor to spare."