A/N: Deadlines at work are closing in so if the next couple of chapters get a bit delayed, you know why. I hope to update on the normal schedule but figured I might as well put up a warning in advance :)
As expected, he had spent the rest of the day on terra firma after he had finally relented and returned to base. It wasn't as much an order as it had been a matter of circumstances – by the time debriefings and various other meetings were over, it was well into evening, and while Will would never turn down an opportunity to fly, the fact remained that they were in the middle of the Indian Ocean, it was pitch black and the view would be boring to say the least. There was a stray thought of chasing the sunset or flying ahead to greet the dawn, but it was gone again as quickly as it had arrived. It would take him out of the safe range of Diego Garcia and he knew just as well that the stray temptation was nothing more than the Seeker wanting to prove its independence and how very much it did not need its fellow Autobots after the thing with Sideswipe.
The Seeker was still annoyed about that and there had been more than a flicker of anger directed at their Prime during the debriefing as well. It hadn't been much that had caused it – a slight frown about Will's taunts to Starscream was all – but it had been enough to make the Seeker snarl silently and Will instinctively raise every mental defence in response. It had been their afts out there, Seeker to Seeker, and he had slagging well heard Ironhide and Sideswipe and the Twins mock the 'Cons often enough in battle.
What do pathetic ground-pounders know about our kind? the alien presence in his mind had snarled in agreement and watched their Prime's every move suspiciously for the rest of the debriefing.
Will could understand Optimus on a level – Ironhide and Sideswipe had long since proven that they could back up those taunts when attacked – but he was a Seeker and this was none of their fragging business, and while he knew perfectly well that at least part of it was Seeker programming influencing his mind, he didn't try to block it. The annoyance was Seeker-based but the insults had been purely human, and he was oddly touched that even when he got the clear impression that he had broken more than a few Seeker protocols during that talk, the Seeker in his mind still backed him in it. It didn't matter that he ignored parts of it and that he stubbornly kept as much of his human side as he could – a week ago the Seeker would probably have snarled at him for doing it, but now it backed him as a fellow Seeker, and that more than anything told Will that the truce might actually work.
Still, even that debriefing couldn't ruin Will's good mood. They had gotten back at Starscream, stretched their wings, and if the 'Cons decided to take insult, well, then frag them, too.
To make up for being stuck indoors for half a day, they were up before the break of dawn and greeted the first rays of sunshine a hundred miles above the infinitely tiny island they called home. Hours later, when they showed up for Ironhide's daily lesson, even the Seeker's stubborn annoyance with the mech couldn't quite stop the silent purr from the pleasure of it all – it was dry, it was sunshine, and it was good.
The annoyance was fading, too, Will could tell as much. Three days after the training session gone wrong, the Seeker was slowly starting to relent enough to be able to admire Ironhide again, scarred black and cannons that could take down just about anything short of a combiner, and Will was silently relieved that things were getting somewhat back to normal. The peace and quiet had been a nice change but the bird-brain's insistence of looking at other mechs, however obvious of a ruse it was, had been more than a bit unnerving. All in all, the devil you knew was probably to be preferred, and after another moment, he inclined his head slightly in greeting; a thing the Seeker had stubbornly refused to do for the past couple of days.
The Seeker offered a feeling of sulking annoyance in the back of his head, still offended that it hadn't been given Sideswipe, and Will sighed mentally in return. He understood the sulking and it wasn't really its fault that it had been programmed like that but it was still getting annoying fast.
He did what I told him to. It's not his fault.
Another faint feeling of sulking followed at that, not that Will had expected anything else. Will had never been the type to hold much of a grudge but waking up with an alien presence in his head, he had gotten more lessons in holding grudges than he had ever wanted. He had hoped it was just the young age of the thing being an issue and that it would grow out of it again – and hopefully sooner rather than later – but a talk with Ratchet had gotten rid of that delusion pretty fast. Seekers had strong emotions and grudges were right up there near the top of the list. At most, it would learn to take less offence over the years and simply hold on to those fewer grudges that much longer instead.
Which, come to think of it, probably explained some of Starscream's behaviour around Megatron, too, since Will didn't doubt there was a history of grudges between those two that made Ironhide's issues with the slaggers look normal in comparison.
In front of them, Ironhide watched them for long seconds and Will raised his head in a silent challenge and let him. Ironhide had presence, Ironhide had power – not as much as their Prime, but still enough to be felt, and it was a testament to the Seeker's displeasure that it would openly defy him like that. Will didn't move as seconds stretched on, knew that the other mech could probably tell that he wasn't quite as self-confident as he let on but still not about to back down... and then Ironhide nodded slightly in return and it was all that Will could do not to release the tension in his body in one relieved sigh. Instead it remained for a little while longer, wings released from their unnatural stillness first, then the slow relaxing of shoulders and clawed hands, and there was no amusement in Ironhide's voice when he spoke.
"Still in a slag-aft mood?"
"It's a Seeker-thing," Will responded in a carefully neutral voice. "We don't handle long meetings well."
Ironhide did snort at that; the first genuine emotion Will had seen from him since he had landed again that morning. "Or being told no. I'm not stupid, Lennox," he continued before Will could object. "You've been avoiding me so I talked with Ratchet. I would have asked you but it turns out that cornering a Seeker when it doesn't want to be is about as easy as getting a target-lock on Skywarp."
So Ironhide knew what was going on, which neatly reminded Will that cannon-fetish and all aside, his friend was definitely not stupid. He hadn't survived for so long just by virtue of strong armour and a brilliant field medic. It also saved Will from having to find a way to explain the whole thing to the other mech – he had considered several approaches before he had dismissed them all and settled for hoping that the mech just simply wouldn't notice. That plan, obviously, had just been scrapped... not that he had held much hope in the first place. The Seeker was being blatantly obvious about its actions, which wasn't that much of a surprise considering it was all being done for Ironhide's benefit in the first place.
Since they were already moving into 'uncomfortable topic' territory, Will sighed mentally and decided he might as well get rid of another question that had nagged him since the meeting.
"So how much did you pick up?" he asked, honestly curious about the answer. He had shielded their bond to the best of his ability and there hadn't been anything really disgustingly graphic in nature, so it wasn't likely to be too embarrassing, either.
Unreadable optics watched him for a long second.
"Some. Emotions, no images. You're getting better," Ironhide finally replied, and there was something in his voice that Will couldn't quite decipher.
Relief-regret? the Seeker sent questioning in response and Will blinked. It should have sounded off – with the sort of images they had given Ironhide, he should be grateful for some peace and quiet – but it felt somehow right, and if nothing else, it would probably make the weapon specialist twitch a little if he got it wrong.
"So tell me I'm nuts and hearing things, but was that disappointment?"
Ironhide snorted again. "As a human, you had the longest medical file of any human NEST personnel save for Samuel. You do not just attract trouble; you actively seek it out when it fails to show up fast enough. Do you expect me to believe that's changed with that new personality in your head?"
Good point, that, and Will didn't even bother to argue, even if there was a renewed wave of huffy sulking from the Seeker at that. He'd worked at the mech's side for entirely too long to be able to talk his way out of it and the Seeker's sulking only served to confirm Ironhide's words... not that there had been any doubt in the first place.
"So?" Lack of argument or not, Will still couldn't quite keep out the slight challenge in his words. He hadn't been that bad – someone had to put their aft on the line sometimes, and he preferred it to be him rather than his men whenever possible. They'd all known what they had signed up for, too, for that matter, and a sudden flare of anger made him continue even when some faint whisper of common sense told him to stop and shut up. He knew a good part of it was the Seeker's emotions he was getting, but he also knew just as well that it could have been much worse, and their whole situation was based on a give-and-take partnership. He could deal with having a few more issues than normal and if nothing else, it was still better than having the damn thing ignore Ironhide completely like the past couple of days. "You want a nice little leash on me? Keep track of the sparkling so he doesn't do anything stupid like pulling his own weight in battle? Newsflash, Ironhide – I'm a weapon. You may have the cannons but I'm bigger, faster, and heavier than you are. I'm not something to be coddled because you think I'm too weak to tell Megatron and Starscream to frag themselves."
The only thing that revealed Ironhide's annoyance in turn was the way his fists clenched and a slight edge to his words, but it was all Will needed to feel his own defensive systems prepare for a possible attack even as the weapon specialist answered. "You're not a sparkling but you're untrained and you have a reckless, delusional Seeker in your head that spends more time thinking about interfacing than war. Like it or not, Lennox, it's a fragging miracle that you haven't gone off and done something stupid yet, and since I know it's going to happen sooner or later, having some idea of where you are and what you're doing might be a good idea for all of us."
And even as the Seeker snarled in their mind, Will realised that this was exactly the sort of thing he could work with. It wasn't that different from the situation with Optimus. The Seeker was less pissy, less serious about it all, but the base instinct was the same – beat the slag out of the offending mech until it learned its place or proved that it could handle whatever got dished out.
Whatever faint voice of common sense he had left vanished completely at that as he let Seeker instincts take insult and the human side bristled at the words as well, however much he might know there was some measure of truth in it, deep, deep down. "You're the one who told me to learn to shield myself," Will snapped. "First you want me to stop broadcasting, now you think it's a shame I learned? Make up you mind, before I tell Ratchet to check your processors for memory decay."
He heard the distinctive whine of a cannon charging but not actually moving into combat mode – the sure-fire way to know when Ironhide was well and truly pissed – and then the sound stopped abruptly as the darker mech just stared at him.
"Are you asking to have your aft whipped?"
The Seeker snarled silently at the implication that anyone would even think of besting it, especially a mate who was too ignorant to know proper behaviour at all, but Will just raised his head slightly in a silent challenge. "Worked with Optimus, didn't it?"
Ironhide kept staring at him with a look that clearly said he was wondering what sort of expenses he could put a Cybertronian-sized straight-jacket under, and Will snorted in return. "You don't seem to mind when we train and I know you're holding back there. You can either get the first shot, or I'll do it myself. Either way, one of us will get our aft kicked."
The only warning Will got was the sudden, intense glow in Ironhide's optics, the same gleeful love of a good fight he had seen in battle when he had still been human, and then there was nothing but tarmac and the sound of metal against metal as the weapon specialist let cannons be cannons and sent Will into the ground with one hard strike. Seeker reflexes were stunned for fractions of a second and then the fight was on, and even as the Energon sang in their veins and he could already imagine Ratchet's glare, it didn't matter how one-sided that fight might be.
The Seeker was snarling in the back of his mind but there was reluctant approval there as well, the lust of war that came natural to any one of the breed, and it didn't help that Will had never been one to shy away from hand-to-hand combat, either. Sure, he was big and clumsy and had to learn a whole new set of reactions and moves, but it didn't change the fact that he was fast and strong and could actually take on Ironhide in a one on one fight without having the mech hold back. And sure, he didn't stand a chance in the Pit of actually winning, but that had never been the point of it, either.
Wings struck tarmac, sent warnings flaring in his processors before he dismissed them an instant later, and then he struck out as well with bird-like legs that he still hadn't gotten properly used to, and it was all he could do to keep the glee off of his face when Ironhide went down only slightly less gracelessly than Will had done.
Of course, that didn't help him much when Ironhide hit the ground already in motion and he found himself slammed painfully back against the tarmac, and judging from the glow in the mech's optics, he wasn't the only one to enjoy the impromptu battle.
"Faster than usual," Ironhide growled and got a grip between two large plates that made the Seeker snarl and tear claw-marks into Ironhide's own heavy armour. "Getting better or just getting pissier?"
And Ratchet was going to have their sparks for this but Will just offered a toothy grin in response. "Let's say both."
The roar of twin jet engines as they ignited for less than an instant tore Will free but the intended turn that would have landed him on Ironhide was ruined as the weight of the mech on him made it impossible to predict where he would end up. All it got him was another hard landing on the tarmac as the engines cut out again, and then Ironhide was back, one massive arm slamming against his throat to pin him to the ground even as he felt the weight of the mech settle on his body.
"Still got the common sense of a malfunctioning drone," Ironhide snorted and perhaps for that reason didn't release his hold just yet.
Will snorted in return but didn't fight and forced his body to relax, silently accepting defeat. "Frag you, too," he said and couldn't quite keep a satisfied smugness from his voice. He may have lost but he wasn't the only one with injuries to fix.
And as quickly as the battle as started it was over again and only then did Will notice the strange stillness of the alien presence in his mind. The frustration and annoyance and anger was gone, and Will suspected the feeling from it was confusion but it was gone before he could be sure, replaced by a surge of respect and pleased purring as the graphic images that had stayed away for days returned in full force.
Grey against black, metal against metal and hands against wings, and the heating fans that Will had almost blissfully forgotten about kicked in an instant later as the full weight of Ironhide pinning him registered in his mind, and with it came the realisation of what had just happened. Three ways to deal with a sulking Seeker – ignore it, grovel, or put it in its place – and it wasn't until now the Seeker had stopped sulking for long enough to remember that putting it in its place meant that Ironhide had proven his dominance and that every instinct in the Seeker's processor told it to submit to its mate in turn.
Ironhide startled almost imperceptibly at the sound, probably as unfamiliar with the situation as Will himself was, and Will had enough of the Seeker's perspective to recognise the glow in his optics. Ironhide was attracted to them – to him or the Seeker, the difference wasn't that big anymore, and Will could live with that, too – and he reacted on instinct before the mech could ever move.
One clawed hand dug hard into the crack between two bits of plating on Ironhide's shoulder and gripped the delicate wires and lines with almost enough force to damage them, felt the hum of energy and the pulse of a spark that was probably older than humanity itself, and Ironhide stilled before he could do anything more than shift his weight and prepare to let his captive go.
"Lennox..." A low growl, part threatening, part warning, part... something else, and Will tightened his grip slightly and offered another toothy smirk in response.
"That feels like a main Energon line. How long would we have to get Ratchet here if it snapped?" One fingers traced lightly against the line in emphasis, tugged and let go and repeated it all again, and he could feel the pulse of it pick up and a surge of heat as the body above him responded.
"Long enough to beat the slag out of you if you tried," Ironhide growled back, the high-pitched whine of a charging cannon mingling with the sound of venting intakes, but he didn't even shift as Will tugged on the Energon line again, slightly gentler and more curious this time.
There was something to be said for power and control, however much the Seeker might like to have a partner prove its dominance, and Will was acutely aware of the fact that this time the heating fans could not be blamed on the alien part of his mind.
Another gentle tug, tracing the side of his finger against the lines and wires to feel the charge build under Ironhide's plating, and this time he was rewarded with a slight shudder and creaking metal as Ironhide's arm against his throat pushed down to keep a firm hold of his opponent, even if they both knew that unless the cannons came into play or Will withdrew his hand, that Seeker grip could cause serious damage a lot faster than Ironhide could. It was the first time Will had truly had the upper hand when it came to Ironhide and the low rumble of a half-purr, half-growl that broke the silence was far more human than Seeker.
Ironhide was a mech, an alien, something so long-lived and powerful that it was almost incomprehensible to a human mind; a good friend and ally and attractive for his own qualities, but right now all Will could focus on was the raw power he held in his hand, the utter stillness of the darker mech and the knowledge that if he pulled back on those lines and wires, Ironhide would follow, and only at the sharp hiss that followed did he realise that he had tightened his grip on the Energon line again.
He held his grip for a second, blue optics meeting equally blue optics as neither was willing to yield, and then he loosened his grip but still didn't let go.
"Lennox." A firm, quiet warning, giving him a chance to back out before something went wrong, and the Seeker was confused and attracted and bewildered by the whole thing, and Will pushed it all firmly aside with only a word at that alien presence.
Truce, he murmured silently and the surge of heat that followed was all the confirmation he needed to know that the Seeker understood.
He caressed the Energon line again, lingered on the feel of the pulse against his hand and the heat and the still-building charge and he kept his voice deliberately casual as he spoke.
"The Seeker part would have gone submissive on you the moment you put it in its place." An almost vicious tug on the heated line followed by a sharp sound from Ironhide at the pain, and the smirk Will offered in response was pure challenge. "The Seeker would have submitted. I'm going to make you work for it."
He could see the moment the penny dropped, darkened optics and an expression that he had definitely never been on the receiving end of as a human, and then there was nothing but searing heat and metal and the gleeful thrill of the fight as Ironhide struck and their world descended into the sort of flirting that would land them both in the infirmary; tired, bruised, and disgustingly smug about it all.