Starcrossed 35: Courting in Praxus: Snapshots
Author's note: This chapter is, as the title suggests, a series of snapshots from throughout the courting. There is a back-in-time scene near the end, should be easy to spot. :)
"Surprised Mortar hasn't called you two yet," Jazz said as he stretched out on the berth before snuggling back in with his lovers, two mornings after they'd booted up after the painting ritual, and they still hadn't left Radiance's apartment.
"He knows what's going on," Radiance purred. "And we were due for some off orns with you. He pretends like he doesn't, but he schedules us overtime when you're underground on purpose so they match up better." He stretched and hummed. "But we should probably actually leave the apartment today. If my creators don't hear from us soon they're going to come over here and we don't want that."
Prowl chuckled lowly and kissed his neck. "Or maybe we do. A display of how good we are to you that we can distract you that much."
"Yes, but if we stay here, we will stay in berth, and if we stay in berth, you know what will happen, and before we know it, they will be breaking in and I-" He rolled over on top of Prowl, pressing a searing kiss, "I will be buried to the hilt in one of you and we'll have to stop halfway through and I know none of us want that."
"Right," Jazz said, sitting up. "So the sooner we visit them the sooner we can get back here."
Prowl hummed and moaned into another kiss as his leg slid up along Radiance's hip, his valve bared and slick with lubricant and transfluid. "Yes, we can get back sooner, and back to enjoying each other."
Radiance growled and shuddered as the heat and scent of his mate hit him, spike starting to nudge out and rub against his thigh. "Are you trying to make this difficult?"
Jazz's hands settled on Radiance's hips. "I'm sure we have enough time for one overload, right?"
"It's their normal off orn," Radiance sighed, slumping, face against Prowl's neck. "They could realistically be here any klik, and Brava enjoys giving no notice for a home invasion." He rolled his optics. "So I don't have time to hide anything."
"I hope you don't want to hide us," Prowl smiled with a lighter kiss, but closed his valve cover and shifted to get up. "We can wipe up, comm them that we're coming over and head to the washrack to clean up."
Radiance pulled him into a deeper kiss before he could get all the way off the berth. "I absolutely do not want to hide you. But I will survive if I don't have to endure the adoring teasing mixed in with recounting of embarrassing tales of my first attempts at interfacing while they compare my current appearance..." He glanced down at himself ruefully.
"We'd hate to have you expire from embarrassment before we bond," Jazz gave him a warm kiss and complied with getting up, and with the almost professional way Prowl helped them all clean up enough to make it to the resident washrack for the building. It took some doing, but a mixture of willpower and the strict no public interfacing rules managed to get the triad out and over to Radiance's creators' home.
Contact opened the door with a knowing smile. "Hello," he said warmly, looking over all of them with shining optics. "You look very freshly washed," he added with a chuckle, hugging Radiance tightly. "You didn't have to come over, you know, Brava and Mira were just getting ready to storm your place." He leaned back with a mischievous glimmer.
"Why do you think we're here?" Radiance grinned.
"I stalled them for you," Contact added in a conspiratorial whisper, then looked over to Jazz and Prowl. "All right, now let's have a look at you three."
They all spread their doorwings out for him to see.
A delighted, high-pitched trill from behind Contact announced the pastel-accented femme who had finally realized her creation was at the door, and was tackling him in a hug.
"Hello Mira," Prowl greeted her as she began checking out the work on her creation's doorwings and dragging him into the home all at the same time.
"Hiya," she grinned cheerful at him, looking back from where she was forcefully guiding Radiance along. "Hi Saxo! Brava's upstairs, she was just loading all her weapons."
"She was not loading her weapons," Radiance said, as dryly as he could manage as he was pushed into a sit and Mira held one of his doorwings out, examining more closely.
"You're right," Contact smirked. "She was sharpening her daggers."
Mira grinned at him, then looked over at the pair still leaning in the doorway. "Oh, and our Radiance is such an artist, isn't he?"
"I've always thought so," Brava said in her deep purr, arriving behind them. She gave Prowl a fond nuzzle, nodded to Jazz, and then joined Mira in looking at the multi-colored design on their creation.
"We thought you might be painting," Contact said with his normal quiet smile as Jazz and Prowl sat on either side of Radiance.
"It was time," Prowl purred, proud of his work and all that had gone into it. "It's very nice to no longer need to downplay how important he is to us."
"Those were fun orns," Mira sighed happily as she leaned against Brava. "You look so perfect together, all three of you."
"As perfect as his creators do," Jazz said, grinning at them, and obediently held his doorwings out as the attention shifted to his design.
"This is impressive work," Brava said, examining the playful lines that were so different from Prowl's. "You've been practicing."
"Diligently," Radiance affirmed, leaning back, one arm around each of his mates. "It had to be perfect."
"And well thought out," Mira added as she examined Prowl's design. "It suits them well."
Brava hummed, then looked at her creation. "All right, you, up. Come on, let's get a better look."
Radiance stood obediently and held still as Brava leaned in to look closely at the paint, touching all four colors, looking between the identical but flipped designs. "For having four colors, this is some of the highest quality paint I've seen," she finally announced, once she was through with her inspection, and looked at her mates. "You remember what just one mid range color cost?"
"Too well," Contact groaned as Mira giggled. He turned a mock glare on her. "I had to get twice as much as you two did on half the budget!"
"I'm impressed," Brava said simply, looking at Prowl.
"There is no better reason to spend the credits I earn than on my mates, and this is important," he said seriously. "The investments that provided for the home Saxo and I share, and soon Radiance will have the rights to, provided credits for this as well."
"I am glad to see you're taking it seriously," Brava complimented. "I would not stand for anything less."
"We know," Jazz said, leaning against Prowl, hand on his chest and head on his shoulder. "We all wanted to do this the right way." He grinned. "And now that we've painted, we can start being seen with him in public. And you."
Mira perked. "Saxo-"
Jazz grinned hugely. "Oh yes. We are going to have some fun."
"Dare I even ask doing what?" Prowl said warily.
"We have plans," Mira said cheerfully.
"Dancing plans," Jazz added.
"The coding is still strong?" Brava asked, refocusing back on the triad.
"It's still strong," Radiance said, settling his wings back down, and accepted the hug that Contact gave him, embracing him in return. "It's stronger."
"It's wonderful," Prowl added with a resonant purr and nuzzled Radiance as he sat down. "I never want to let this go."
"Primus save me, new triad mates in love," Brava said, tilting her head back with a groan while Contact tried to hide his smile.
"Oh, I've heard some stories about you courting Mira that put us to shame," Jazz said with a grin.
"Remember there are mecha who knew all of you as unbonded mecha," Prowl chuckled low in his chest. "Mecha who are happy to share stories."
"I dare them to try," Brava rumbled deeply.
"Don't forget one of those mecha is me," Mira trilled, grinning invitingly.
"Don't think you're immune," Brava purred, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her flush. "I just get to punish you in more interesting ways."
"Is that so?" Mira purred back, then looked past her mate at Jazz. "So Saxo, this one time, she-" Anything else she might have said was cut off by a muffled squeak when Brava kissed her full on the mouth and slipped their glossas together.
"Hush," Brava purred to her, and Mira trilled back, going a little limp.
"Darlings," Contact chuckled. "Sit down before you make a scene."
"Or don't," Prowl rumbled with a grin as Jazz leaned in to steal a kiss from Radiance. "It gives us grounds to make a scene ourselves."
"We can do both," Brava rumbled back and brought Mira down into her lap as she sat next to Contact, giving him an unrepentant grin.
Contact gave her an exasperated look that didn't hold up for very long before he smirked and then looked back at his creation and his mates. "You've been out of your berth, what, a groon or two now?"
"Something like," Radiance grinned, easily reading the mood that his creators were shifting into.
"That's pretty admirable for a new triad," Mira remarked, squirming playfully in Brava's grip, making the darker femme growl and hold tighter, hips shifting up.
"What do you think, has he fulfilled his creatorial obligations?" Contact asked, running a finger up along Mira's side, making her giggle and twist, getting an engine rev from Brava.
Brava snorted, looking up and down Mira's frame as her mate began moving with ever more mischievous and seductive intent in her lap. "He got himself clean and out of berth, I'm pretty damn impressed."
"So I can go?" Radiance asked, perking, his mates along with him.
"Yeah, go on," Contact chuckled. "Or stay if you like, you're always welcome to the guest room."
"I think we need to finish exploring his home," Jazz purred with unrepentant glee as he stood, pulling a very unresisting Radiance with him, Prowl smoothly in synch with the motion.
Brava snickered. "His place has three rooms and less than half a dozen surfaces and I'm sure you've 'faced on all of them by now."
Jazz grinned at her. "To be fair, we've only used the berth in the last three orns, so maybe we need to refresh our memory of the others."
"And one wall, and the berthroom floor," Prowl added.
"Oh yeah, and those," Jazz agreed. "Um... and maybe you could count that one time up against the dispenser, though I'm not sure if it counts since-"
"Go!" all three of Radiance's creators said in unison, and Radiance laughed, all too gladly letting his mates drag him back home.
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Whiplash had gotten far easier to get an audience with since Jazz had started working for him, Radiance mused as he waited, reclining on a lounge, for the Ops Commander to show up. In the past he'd had to keep tabs on a potential recruit for metacycles at a time while waiting for the matte black mech to make it to this city, but first training and now apparently mentoring Jazz seemed to have based him more solidly in Praxus than ever before.
That being said, Radiance frowned as he checked his chronometer. He was still late.
The door slid open silently, only the barest whoosh warning of the event and the small, lithe mech stepped inside. "Did you really need to make my interrogator look so pretty?"
Radiance tilted his head back to look at him with a huge grin, making no effort to rise for the other mech. "He does look pretty, doesn't he?"
"He looks utterly unintimidating," Whiplash grumbled, his arms crossed as he glared down at his recruiter. "Interrogators should look the part."
"You're not telling me that you can't teach him how to be intimidating even with pretty wings?" Radiance asked innocently.
"I shouldn't have to," Whiplash scowled. "Why'd you have to make it look so whimsical?"
"Because he is," Radiance said, sitting up and turning so he could face Whiplash directly. "That's part of what makes him so good, you try telling me it isn't."
The commander of SpecOps snorted. "It is. So is his unrepentant sadism and work ethic. I assume there's a reason you're here? I'm sure it wasn't to listen to me grumble about your artwork."
"Artwork?" Radiance grinned as he pulled out a drive with the potential recruit's personal-and criminal-file on it. "You think it's artwork?"
"You know it is," Whiplash huffed and took the drive, making quick work of scanning it.
"He's in precinct holding," Radiance said, gesturing to the drive. "Mech can talk his way out of anything, damn near almost got Mortar to let him out, figure you could use that for something. And you know, I think that's the first time you've ever said anything nice to me," he added with a flashing grin to match his visor.
"Is not," Whiplash countered. "I'll send Tango to check him out. One grifter to another."
"All right, maybe it's not," Radiance said, flopping back down and cocking his head up at the other mech. "But you only started saying them after I started fragging your protégé."
"You do a lot more than frag him and we both know it," Whiplash corrected him, annoyed with the truth but just as willing to take advantage of it. "Valuable as he is, he's unstable. You and his mate keep him level enough to work here."
Radiance hummed and nodded, also willing to concede that truth. "I notice you didn't deny that he is your protégé."
"I haven't denied that in a long time," Whiplash shrugged. "I don't train that many myself anymore. He has astounding potential and is finally gaining the self assurance he needs to become an officer around here."
"Well good," Radiance said, still grinning as he relaxed back to wait for the escort that would lead him back to the surface. "Hopefully you can come to forgive me for making him look so pretty then."
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In the warmth of late morning with little traffic to slow mecha down, Prowl settled himself near the end of a long stretch of straight, downhill road. It was just the kind of place that mecha tended to build up too much speed. He'd already had a profitable joor with three stops resulting in tickets when he clocked his next target going almost half again the posted limits. Lights flashing he pulled into traffic, calling it in as mecha scattered before him, most dutifully moving right, then continuing on their way when Prowl didn't stop behind them.
The speeder, though, immediately realized who he was and brake lights came on right away as he slowed down and signaled that he would pull over in the next available turn off. He transformed immediately once he had, looking incredibly embarrassed as he turned to face the Enforcer coming up behind him. "Hey, officer," he greeted when Prowl transformed, sounding chagrined.
"Do you know why I pulled you over?" Prowl asked formally, though he was privately grateful at once more encountering a well-mannered citizen. These stops continued to remind him that no matter how many criminals he encountered, the majority of citizens intended to be law abiding.
"Random safety awareness stops?" the mech asked hopefully, and when Prowl's expression didn't change, drooped a little. "Yeah, I was goin' pretty fast."
"Thirty-eight over the limit," Prowl confirmed, running the ID ping he got through the system. He felt a flicker of genuine surprise when he realized that this was the first time the mech, Azure, had been pulled over, and he wasn't all that young. "Is there a reason you were moving so fast?"
Azure scuffed his pede on the ground. "Ah, no, um, it's just, you get goin' real fast on that hill, y'know? Fun to fly through here once you've picked up speed." He offered Prowl a rueful grin.
"Yes, and that is why we have so many race tracks in Praxus," Prowl reminded him and began to fill out the ticket on a datapad.
Azure just sighed and nodded, not protesting the ticket in the slightest in field or frame even though some officers might have been inclined to let him skirt by.
"You may contest the ticket or the fine at the listed date and time at the municipal courthouse," Prowl said by rote. "As a first time offender, you may be granted leniency by the judge."
Azure nodded and held his hand out to accept the citation, then cleared his vocalizer out as Prowl turned to leave. "Officer?"
"Yes?" Prowl turned back, part of him tense as that setup had more than once gotten an officer shot.
"Didn't want you to think I was tryin' t'get out of a ticket or anything or I woulda said so right off, but congratulations," the mech said with a warm smile reading through his field as he gestured at Prowl's doorwings. "Those are beautiful paintings, I mean really beautiful paintings."
Prowl's stern features softened with a small smile. "Thank you," he flared his doorwings to show them off a bit more, honestly very proud to have been painted so well, before he transformed to show off one door that much better and then entered the traffic stream to set up for another speeder.
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Jazz raised a mental optic ridge when he picked up the file for the next room on his docket and glanced over the build of the mech inside. Big, much bigger than he was. Another quick look over the objectives-break the mech down until he cried like a youngling, essentially; he was too prideful to be of any use right now, but there was potential-and Jazz palmed the door open and walked in, facing his strung-up subject silently, calm and relaxed.
"Here with my energon?" the mech rumbled, dark orange optics locked on Jazz, taking the Praxian's measure.
Jazz grinned, cocking his head and letting his visor catch the light with a flash across it. "Nah, but by the time we're done here I might be considerin' sendin' you ta go fetch me some. If you're not crying too hard by then, dunno, ya don't strike me as much."
"You? You're my interrogator?" The big mech laughed. "A mech who's painted all pretty in love. How can you possibly be worth anything in here?"
Jazz brightened, ignoring the last question as he lifted his wings to better display them, turning a little so the mech could see the full display of the paint shimmering in the light. "They are rather pretty, aren't they?" he asked, before turning once in a classical dance spin and ending in a low, graceful bow. "I like the sparklin' effect, myself."
The mech simply stared at him, bewildered to the point of showing it.
"Aww, sunshine," Jazz said, pouting with mock disappointment. "Holdin' out on me, come on, normally I get cat called for that move. Guess you just wanna get down to it?" He pulled out his most elegant dagger, the one Radiance had given him, resting it against one fingertip and spinning. "I'm s'posed ta teach ya some humility, how d'ya think that's gonna go?"
The big mech snorted. "Ain't no one's done it yet."
"Excellent," Jazz purred. "Guess that makes me the first, I love being the first." He stepped up to the convoy class that was nearly twice his size, tilting his head back to look up at him. "They cry harder that way."
He got another derisive snort in response. "You are way too pretty and tiny for that."
"And that," Jazz said, his ornately painted doorwings lifting eagerly, "Is where you are wrong."
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Prowl slammed on his breaks, lights and sirens going live as he transformed, skidded and tumbled to bleed off momentum in the middle of traffic before transforming again and breaking almost every traffic law known to Cybertronian kind as he rushed towards a shady part of town and the explosive firefight underway. The emergency call had been broadcast over the entire precinct network and Prowl logged the ID of the source, immediately matching it up to Charade, Radiance's SIC.
Not Radiance himself.
::Officers down, pinned down, number and location unknown, approach with extreme caution!:: came the next message along with an underlying transmission asking for medical transit and emergency responders.
It was Prowl's second worst nightmare, coming right after being captured by Vortex. Though no ID was given of who was down, it didn't take a processor as fine as his to know that the only reason the SIC would make the call was if the CO was out of commission.
Prowl's engine redlined, his speed too high for many to get out of his way. He simply dodged around them, even into oncoming traffic lanes, or transformed to run through traffic that was too thick. He could see the IR signature of his destination long before he got close. The sounds of blaster fire and thick comm chatter blanketed his awareness as he processed it all, creating a mental map of what was going on.
Three blocks away he forced himself to stop and really assess that map. Service blaster in hand, he moved more carefully towards the nearest target he calculated was an enemy, got a visual on him, and fired a single shot. He was moving again before the frame even fell.
More Enforcers were coming in to the growing net that was shrinking in around the abandoned warehouse, each of them calling in sightings and kills that were starting to show a fairly large number of gang mecha that had surrounded the SWAT team trapped inside.
It took a painfully long time for any of them to get close enough to even see, but the first who came even with the barrier they were slowly taking out broadcasted what he could see from his vantage point, a mostly collapsed building with smoke and what looked like chemical fire, and the IR of four mecha huddled inside, barely discernable from the surrounding heat, and a clearer fifth form that was much cooler than the rest. Weaponfire became audible from there in, both coming in and out of the building. Engagement protocol forbade comming any mecha possibly under fire, so that left the ten or so Enforcers on the outside to guess about what was happening.
::Down, down!:: came the sudden call from one of the closer Enforcers as a flurry of activity broke out, Prowl just barely dodging blasterfire from one of the fleeing gangmecha before returning his own, making a direct hit. ::They've seen us, they're scattering!::
In less than three kliks, a time that felt like an eternity to the officers in and outside the warehouse, the gangmecha were gone. Most were being chased by multiple officers, but Prowl hung back. He was good at the chase, good at catching what he hunted, but he was far too worried about Radiance to care about those fleeing. If they weren't between him and his mate, he no longer cared about them. On a level he knew it was wrong for an Enforcer to react that was, but he was a mech too, and becoming more normal by the vorn when it came to his reactions towards his mates.
::Where the FRAG is my medical transport!:: came Charade's enraged comm, still broadcast over the entire net even as he signaled an all clear, safe to approach.
Prowl reached the building in less than a klik, still hearing the sirens of the chasing Enforcers in the background, but also the distinguishable sound of a medic en route. A battered pair, two of Radiance's crew, stood outside, each of them with injuries and scorch marks but nothing spark-threatening. They saw Prowl and silently pointed inside, through the doorway that was still billowing smoke.
He almost tripped over the graying frame, or what was left of it, his spark clenching painfully in his chest before he looked into the rest of the destroyed room and saw two mecha, Charade the only one upright, and the black and gold one that Prowl was looking for in the SIC's arms. He looked like he'd been dragged there from the doorway, if the energon trail was any indication. The visor was flickering and Radiance was gripping his officer's arm, face set in an agonized grimace.
Prowl was on them in a sparkbeat, a combination of Enforcer and Seneschal coding roaring to take over the first aid of the badly damaged mech. "Stay with us," he kept his voice level, his field calm as he worked, not even thinking about what his hands were doing as his mind focused on keeping his mate functioning. "Medic's on the way. What happened?" He glanced at either, trying to keep them from going into shock.
"Not even sure," Charade grunted, shifting Radiance's rigid frame as carefully as he could. "S'posed to be routine seizure, soon as we got in there was an explosion. These two caught the worst of it..." His optics flickered over to the frame that was more or less in pieces. "Then we were being fired on from every direction. Oh, yeah..." he muttered as Prowl came up against a shoulder that had no arm attached to it. "'S back by the door."
Prowl nodded and quickly slipped away to retrieve it. Often a limb could be reattached rather than rebuilt. It saved time, cost and recovery stress. When he knelt back down in front of the pair, hearing the medics outside talking to the waiting pair, Radiance's hand shifted over from Charade to grab his wrist, painfully tight and shaking, and there was a crackling noise, laced with static, the sound of a vocalizer embedded with shrapnel trying to speak.
"Medic's here," Charade muttered to his CO, the gentlest voice Prowl had ever heard the mech use, and it was still rough. "Just another klik and they'll get you in stasis."
::Move it!.:: Prowl snarled at the medics across the comm. ::Critical injury in here.::
"Cool your jets," came the calm reply of the emergency-responder marked medic who entered a moment later. "Have to make sure those others didn't have criticals and not realize it due to shock. Yeah, you took a good hit, didn't you," he hummed, kneeling down next to Radiance, hand already transformed and working on cauterizing the open wounds that were leaking the most energon. "Transport's outside, we'll move on three," he got his arms around under Radiance's legs, met Charade's optics and got a nod. "All right, one, two, three!" They rose smoothly, Charade hardly paying attention to the second medic who came in and started scanning him as the entire group moved outside. Prowl moved with them, Radiance never letting go of his wrist.
"Probability of survival?" Prowl asked, forcing himself to settle and respond as a rational officer rather than the terrified mate that he also was.
"At this point it depends on what got hit, how much energon he's lost, and how well his systems adjust to it," the medic said as they made it to the transport and started to load him in. "Fifty one way, fifty the other."
"Understood," Prowl suppressed his shudder and put the amputated arm in with Radiance. "I want to come." He looked rather pointedly at the hand still clinging to his wrist.
The medic glanced from wrist, to Prowl's doorwings, to what remained of the paintings on Radiance's, and nodded, gesturing in with his head. "Not exactly regulation, but I've seen a familiar field do wonders. I can even write you off as kin and give a pass that way if you all have courting forms in."
"Twenty vorns ago," Prowl's harmonics included his gratitude as he settled next to his mate. He was carefully out of their way, but as close to Radiance as he could manage as he extended his field and meshed with the agonized one as best he could. It might have been the most pain Radiance had ever been in, but for Prowl, it was nothing at all and he siphoned off as much as he could.
It got a response - a barely cognizant one, emergency protocols already having kicked in to stop most of the higher processor functions and anything else nonessential - as recognition and relief flickered back to him, followed by a sharp, confused engine whine when the medic began cauterizing again while his partner hooked a line into the medical access port in Radiance's neck. Prowl pulsed back soothingly, promising safety with his field, and the engine calmed again.
"All right, he's safe to go into stasis, let me know when you're ready," he told his partner, who nodded silently, focusing on his work for another few kliks before he leaned back.
"Right, drop him down," he said, and the visor immediately went dark, the grip around Prowl's wrist going slack. The medic looked up at Prowl and gave him the most comforting smile possible for the situation he was in. "So here comes the hard part."
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Mortar was more familiar with the end of visiting hours at the hospital than he ever would have wanted to be, but at least this was a case of him greeting kin on the way out, instead of being the one being kicked out. Many Enforcers were unable to keep up functional families or relationships-just a few centuries ago, it would have been him visiting this particular mech when his creators and SIC couldn't.
Prowl was coming out into the waiting area looking, predictably, like a cyberpuppy that had just been kicked. Mortar caught his lost-looking gaze and waved him over. "Drinks, you and me."
The golden visor slid up and Prowl nodded, moving towards Mortar before his processor had even fully caught up with the statement. Mortar waited, watching the blank, rote expression before waving a hand in front of Prowl's face. "You with me here?"
"Yes, sir," Prowl nodded, his features not changing but his optics clearly following the movement. His field was tightly held, but his frame still betrayed his physical and emotional exhaustion. "Drinks sound good. I'm not sure I'm ready to go home to an empty berth yet."
Mortar rumbled in agreement. "Tried to check in on Saxo for you and got pretty well shut out. Radiance is my main line underground. Come on, we'll talk and drive," he said as Prowl followed him out and they stepped into the transformation lane. ::You heard anything about the investigation yet, or have you been sitting up there the whole time?::
::I kept up on what went through open channels, which wasn't much,:: Prowl admitted as he followed smoothly. ::I was too focused on trying to provide a comforting field,:: he admitted like it was the failure he felt it was.
::Which is exactly what you should have been doing,:: Mortar said firmly. ::Woulda told you not to listen at all if I'd known you were. Shoulda thought of that,:: he grumbled.
::I was still on duty until half a joor ago,:: Prowl countered, uncertain whether to be relieved or aghast at the approval.
::Courting rights, mech. You have the equivalent of kin trauma rights for Radiance in non-emergency situations,:: Mortar said. ::As soon as I determined that the incident today was isolated, you were off the hook.:: There was a heavy pause. ::So, it looks like he was set up for this, him and his crew, at least.::
The deep, violent growl from Prowl's engine promised much pain for those responsible. ::Don't be surprised if you don't catch many of them.::
Mortar wisely didn't ask why. ::Set-up was pretty simple, tripwire set off the explosives, placed to get as much of the group as possible but poor Lightshy took the most of it, then Radiance. He usually enters first in a situation like that, that's probably what they were counting on. Frames we collected were all from the same gang, one that's been squeezed pretty tight from search and seizure lately. Running theory is that they've been working on this setup for a while, or possibly they found out about the seizure and then set the whole thing up. Almost without doubt he was the target.::
::I can understand why,:: Prowl's voice was tight, torn between the logic of the reasoning and the personal response to having his mate hurt. ::He's very good at his job.::
::He is,:: Mortar grumbled, pulling off to the side of the road at the first bar they passed. He transformed, wearing a scowl to match his tone as they walked in. "Both of you are very good at your jobs," he said in a disapproving voice.
Prowl froze mid-step, his doorwings going almost flat to his back with a field that rippled between bewilderment and shame-distress.
It took Mortar another step to realize that Prowl wasn't following him before he turned, saw the expression on his subordinate's face, and his own doorwings drooped. "Ah-frag, no, I'm sorry, Pantera, I didn't mean it like that," he said, coming back over and putting one large hand on Prowl's shoulder, trying his best to offer his very uncomfortable apology. "You're both to be commended for your work, it's just..." He shifted awkwardly. "Get hurt when you're good," he mumbled.
It was enough to let Prowl relax and put everything in the correct context. "Get hurt when you aren't good too," he said softly. "Or innocent. I'll take my chances being good."
Mortar grumbled for a moment, still scowling, before huffing. "I would like a stiff cube of jet fuel, come on."
Prowl followed him inside and through the crowd as the large Praxian worked his way over to a table in the back that his knees could fit under.
"What's his prognosis like?" Mortar asked once they had placed their orders. "Heard he lost an arm, but you only look like the world is kind of ending instead of completely ending, so that gives me hope."
"The last update I was given listed him as 'critical' and they are 'hopeful', which I take to mean as better than before," Prowl sighed deeply. "Something better than fifty-fifty."
"Hopeful is a good word, those medics don't like to give that one out much," Mortar said. He covered Prowl's hand with his own and squeezed. "Not the first time he's been banged up, he'll pull through."
"He has good reason too," Prowl tried to smile when their drinks arrived. He willingly fell silent as the first cube of potent high grade went down, leaving him decidedly fuzzy and far less stressed. "He wouldn't abandon us."
"He's a good mech like that," Mortar agreed after his own cube went down and he signaled for another. "Couldn't have asked for a better SWAT chief. Even if he did only learn where to file his reports after you started working here." He chuckled deeply. "Never seen anyone change his mind on the value of doing reports so fast in my life."
Prowl let out a rumbling rev of his engine that was more snicker than anything else. "Any excuse to see a lover is a good one. He even manages to keep his processors on work. Mostly."
Mortar grinned. "Mostly, is it, now?"
"Mostly," Prowl's optics glittered with overcharged amusement. "Though the most entertaining times were when we commed him on duty, not exactly realizing he was on duty at the time. Our first real, proper triad 'face. Still one of the hottest I've ever had. I needed it too, bad."
"Comm 'facing while on duty," Mortar rumbled, shaking his head, but unable to quite hide how tickled he was at the idea of two of his most diligent mecha acting like mechlings. "Good thing the precinct chief didn't find out about that," he added, chuckling, as their second round was set on the table and was promptly lifted for a swallow. "Radiance always did have that reputation for being a good 'face," he mused, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
"Oh he very much is," Prowl didn't even try to hide the shiver of raw pleasure that made his plating click in an erotic sequence loud enough to briefly catch attention before he downed half the cube in a single drink. "One of his best kept secrets though. Hardly ever went through with it. It's actually what drew us to him." He downed another long gulp. "When I was away to settle the sparklings, he took care of Saxo and didn't accept any advances."
"Good of him," Mortar said, genuinely surprised to hear that, and it showed through his field. He leaned back, sipping and pondering for a moment. "Especially knowing how much Saxo is his type." He hummed, then grinned, and decided to take a little advantage of Prowl's increasingly overcharged state. "Ever do anything more than comm 'face him on duty?"
Prowl shook his helm. "Never intentionally did more than flirt on duty. Just sometimes one of us would be on duty when the other commed for fun. It can be difficult keeping track of overtime when you're out of town. Didn't always time it right." His voice grew more slurred with every mouthful, but also his accent shifted by degrees to something decidedly unusual for him, something much closer to his noble-language origins.
Mortar cocked his head as he listened, familiar with the tone from his few encounters with it. "You grow up near the noble quarters?" he asked. "Don't usually hear that in the lower districts."
The question was enough to snap Prowl out of his half-delirious and very overcharged stupor with a ripple of tension that clamped his armor down tight and turned optics that were entirely too bright on Mortar.
For a brief moment, Mortar wondered if he'd just stepped into something he wasn't prepared for. Prowl looked like he was contemplating whether to fight or bolt.
Then the cube came up and Prowl finished it off, wavering seriously as he did so. "Carrier thought it important I speak well," he mumbled. "Got me into a few places I shouldn't have gotten into."
"Ahh," Mortar said, nodding. "Yeah, I can see why you'd slough off that accent, doesn't do anyone good to sound like that around here anymore." He rumbled contemplatively. "Know I'm not s'posed to care, but nobles," he shook his head. "Set my armor on edge."
Prowl chuckled darkly and waved for a third round with every intention of passing out from overclocking his systems so severely. His fuzzy processor suggested another cube and a half would do it, while it absently commented that he'd downed enough already to drop a normal mech his size. "Maybe one orn I'll tell you what I've seen up there. It'd do a lot more'n that."
"I've no doubt," Mortar huffed, wavering a little himself as he took another gulp. His optics unfocused suddenly, a clear sign that the charge had just hit him hard, and he spent a few moments staring at the table while they refocused. "You three'd better take care'a each other, you hear?" he rumbled suddenly, pinning Prowl with a hard, if slightly distant, gaze. "Once Rad'nce is out 'n all. No more injuries. I forbid it. I'll fire you on th'spot."
"After this," Prowl raised his fresh cube in a toast to no one and took a drink, "I don't think anybody'll think it's a bright idea to mess with us. Saxo'll get real busy when he finds out. Mech even scares me sometimes, and I love him all the more for it. He'll do anything for us. I'll do anything for them. If he doesn't catch them, I will."
"Good," Mortar said. "Shouldn condone som'thn like that, but good, I say. 'Cause you three are really wonderful, good to see mecha still carin' like that. 'Specially Radiance." He shook himself a little, optics coming back into focus. "Really good to see him not so off like he was for a while, that mech just shines with those paintings. Oh..." He trailed off for a moment, thinking hard. "Guess you'll hafta do 'em again now."
"This time with glyphs of protection and warning," Prowl rumbled drunkenly. "No one hurts him without paying for it." He bared his denta in a vicious grin. "And no one'll wanta pay my price."
"You fright'n me sometimes, Pantera," Mortar chuckled deeply, happily settling into a bit of a dazed stupor.
"Good, I should," Prowl grinned at him, his mood shifting from stressed and vengeful towards drunkenly playful. "Are Branch and Gearshaft picking you up tonight?"
Mortar made a very un-Mortar-like sound that coming from anyone else might be called a giggle. "They are too little to pick me up," he informed Prowl seriously, then made the same sound again and nodded. "Yeah. But not, not like that," he chuckled, seeing the look on Prowl's face before sobering. "Jus' dun like t'be alone nights after losing mecha."
"Same here, same way," Prowl nodded, understanding all too well. "Just want to be held, feel warmth and fields and no demands. Radiance's really good at that. Can't tell you how much it meant to have someone to hold me after a day with the sparklings. No demands, no 'facing to make me feel better. Just holding and warmth and calm field. He's really, really good at that."
"'S good," Mortar said. "Yeah, 'zactly like that. Just a big pile. Mecha pile. Pile o'mechs." He frowned, concentrating hard for a moment as he looked at Prowl. "No one to stay with the night?"
Prowl shook his helm. "Saxo's in deep, won't get a comm for orns yet, maybe a lot longer. 'Less Whiplash tells him. Not happening." He looked at his cube. "Planning on drinking to knock out."
Mortar nodded. "Done a few a those myself. How're you gettin' home, anyone to take you?"
Prowl stared at him for a moment, working to correlate the question with why he was being asked. Eventually his buzzing, scattered processors informed him that he was already well past the ability to drive, likely past the ability to walk, and if he shut down he couldn't call for a transport. With an annoyed grunt he shook his helm. "Didn't think it out that far. Wasn't planning to drink when I left."
Mortar rumbled and nodded. "Why don' you come back with us? They won't mind, not a long walk an' you can crash there, more'n enough to put you under in their place." He chuckled. "They keep it stocked for my size."
Shakily Prowl nodded. "If no one minds," his field flickered with how important that was to him, followed and mingled with a deep warmth that it was even offered. "It'd be nice. Really nice." He tossed back the last of his third cube. "Maybe another half cube I'll be down."
Mortar clumsily patted his back. "If you don' mind th'indignity, go 'head 'n pass out an' I'll carry you. I'm still plenty good for walking." He paused. "Long as they keep on either side of me and keep me in a straight line."
Prowl chuckled. "Rather walk. Gonna boot up confused enough already."
"Then you'd better stop until we get there," Mortar said with a deep laugh. "Should be good to walk by the time they get here. 'Nother little bit. Di' I tell you no more injuries allowed for you three?"
"Yes," Prowl nodded and struggled to his pedes, wobbling significantly and needing the table to stay upright.
Mortar slipped a credit stick onto the table before they made their very clumsy way outside to slump against the side of the building and wait for the pair of minibots to arrive.
Branch and Gearshaft got there not long afterwards, grinning as they walked up. "Hey, big guy," Gearshaft greeted, patting Mortar's shoulder. "Guessing this is your friend?"
Mortar nodded and pointed. "Pantera."
"You told us," Branch chuckled, and gestured with his head for them to follow. "Happy to have you, Pantera. We've got a cube and a berth with your designation on it."
"Thank you," Prowl managed to slur, most of his focus needed to get one pede in front of the other and correctly on the ground. His field flickered thanks when a supporting shoulder appeared under his hand.
"Yup," one of the minibots-he wasn't quite sure which one-answered. "Don't worry, it's not far from here, and we've gotten bigger and more overcharged afts than yours home before!"
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Jazz was laying on his front in their hotel room in Vos, head resting on one arm with the other stretched out, fingers flexing into the berth as he purred with calm contentment, otherwise completely still. Radiance was straddling his lower back, partially resting over him as he painted small designs onto the backs of Jazz's doorwings, the fronts having been completely filled long ago.
They'd come back from witnessing the Rite of the Storm Flight energized and impassioned, leading to a dizzying, blissful haze of interfacing, and had finally calmed down enough to settle on the berth, painting as they cooled.
"That was amazing," Jazz murmured, drifting pleasantly from the light touch of the brush and the warmth of Radiance's frame. "I've never seen anything look so savage and beautiful at the same time."
"I have," Radiance smiled down at his lover, his mate, half of his triad. "You, fully impassioned at work is very much like that."
Jazz hummed, quirking his own smile, and there was no hiding the warmth that brought to his field. "Never would have thought of it that way. Like to imagine the look on 'Lash's face if you described that."
"I'd be happy to arrange that," Radiance purred deeply and leaned in for a partial kiss. "I don't get to tease him nearly often enough."
Jazz chuckled, turning his head to accept more fully, nipping at Radiance's lower lip as he pulled away. "You drive him nuts sometimes, you know, even if he doesn't let on. He can't figure out how someone as 'soft' as you are got so good at SWAT. Calls it SpecOps for sparklings."
Radiance laughed as he put the paint and brush away. "It's more SpecOps lite. It's where Enforcers go when they need regular action, but don't want the action much more rough that it is in the ranks."
Jazz purred deeply. "The needing regular action part sounds right," he rumbled as Radiance started rubbing up and down along his back strut, magnets clicking in.
"You're the one who needs that," Radiance teased back as he continued to work along Jazz's back. "It takes both of us old mechs to keep you satisfied. How he did it alone is beyond me."
Jazz grinned. "Old, please. You're practically ancient." He got a sharp, playfully reprimanding tweak on one of his joints that made him jump and yelp. "Fine, well-aged." He settled back down, optics dimming contentedly. "He had centuries of fantasies to play out, and besides, how d'you even resist this aft?"
"I did once," Radiance reminded him. "A lot of practice, but mostly wanting more than a quick tumble with you, even then," he leaned forward to kiss Jazz's neck. "If I hadn't resisted, I wouldn't have had a chance at you."
"So glad you did," Jazz sighed, utterly relaxed, field thrumming with the gentle bliss of the moment. "Nap with me and then I'll work on your wings, got some ideas today that I think will look beautiful."
"My pleasure," Radiance smiled, turned his magnets off and settled against Jazz's side with a contented sound.
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"Right," Radiance said, standing and dusting his hands off, looking around at the organized chaos that surrounded them. "Nothing left here but cleanup, which means you lot are free to go once you finish tagging. Pickup's backed up for joors, I'll wait here for 'em."
His crew looked at him, then around at each other, and quickly reached a silent understanding.
"We'll wait with you," Charade said, while the others grinned and nodded. "And unless I'm mistaken, we've got more than a few flasks among us." He grinned somewhat savagely. "What good SWAT doesn't wait with his chief?"
Radiance huffed, pretending to be displeased with them but not doing a very good job of it. "Well, I'm not going to stop you from wasting your free time around here if you really want," he said, then grinned and kicked a gangster who was being held in a forced stasis off of one of the lounges. "Looks like he doesn't need this spot anymore."
The rest of his crew-Charade, Honor's Gate, Rebound, Fastshot, and Rollover-chuckled and joined him, each of them settling down to lounge in a formerly occupied spot, and before long, the cubes were being passed around.
"So tell the truth," Rebound said, grinning at their CO. "Were you really gonna wait here all alone or were you gonna have some company?"
"If company was coming, it wouldn't be for two and a half joors when Panterna gets off duty," Radiance shook his helm at their expected question.
"'If', please," Fastshot cackled. "We all know he'd'a been here."
"And how many kliks?" Honor's Gate asked. "And don't bother lying and saying you don't keep track of that, I can tell when you are."
Radiance scowled at his team's negotiator. "Twenty-three and a half."
Fastshot grinned. "You have got it so bad, boss," he said, shaking his head. He gestured at the painted doorwings. "And those are coming along again."
"Lightshy would have approved," Honor's Gate said with a melancholic smile.
Radiance mirrored the look and lifted his cube. "To Lightshy," he said, and his team echoed him, each of them taking deep swallow at the end. Radiance exhaled heavily and leaned his head back.
"What're you doin' with your next off cycle?" Rollover asked after a silent klik. "We're all gonna hang around here and hope for work, but bet you have plans."
"I'm taking Pantera to the archives in Iacon," Radiance smiled softly. "It's his turn for some time alone with me. He's wanted to go back for a long time but never did. I'm going to make sure that this time he can explore to his spark's content. Within visiting joors at least."
Everyone but Charade immediately started ribbing at him, all with incredibly fond subharmonics, but there were exasperated groans mixed in with their laughter.
"Archives, boss?" Fastshot practically giggled. "You even know what archives are for?"
"You're not telling us you're spending an entire off cycle walking around dusty old records!"
"Come on, at least promise you'll go out and get yourself thoroughly 'charged at a club!"
Honor's Gate just held a hand up over his mouth after the others had finished, trying unsuccessfully to hide his own grin at the idea of Radiance wandering around the Iacon archives, and Charade's expression didn't change at all.
"I intend to get him overcharged too, and drag him to the interesting places after the archives kick him out for the orn," Radiance grinned at them. "Remember that taking an Intended on vacation is for them, not you. It's what will thrill him. It doesn't matter if I'm bored into stasis. I'm doing this to show how much I care about his interests and that I pay attention even when it isn't an interesting subject."
"So, so bad," Fastshot whispered loudly to the others, pointing his thumb at Radiance.
"Load a few processor games," Rollover recommended, and the others all backed up their agreement with that statement.
"Remember where you took Nimbus?" Charade asked suddenly, cutting everyone else off into a startled, and very tense, silence.
"Yes," Radiance leveled his gaze on his SIC, silently asking what the point of the question was.
Charade looked back steadily. "Turned out well, right?"
"'Rade..."
"I'm just saying, I've seen you like this before," Charade said, sitting up straight. "More than once. And I believe that you believe it when you say these two are different, and the ones, but I've heard that before, too. You get like this, Radiance, every couple of centuries, what's going to keep this from repeating like everything else?"
Radiance sighed, understanding exactly why this was happening. The mech was like a brother to him, had been an occasional lover for centuries, and was very protective of the mech he'd had to piece back together every time a romance went wrong. "I appreciate the concern, but 'Rade... if I don't risk it I'm never have anything but my work. I love my work, but I want something to go home to. I have to try."
Charade just shook his head and looked away, doorwings high and agitated, downing the rest of his cube in a single swallow. It left the room in an uncomfortable silence, no one wanting to speak out in favor of either of their superiors, before Honor's Gate sat up a little straighter.
"Well, no matter what happens, we'll still be here, grinding our pedes down," he said, smiling. "Your work certainly isn't going anywhere, that is for sure."
"What if all the criminals had a sudden mass change of spark?" Rebound mused, and Fastshot snickered in response.
"We'd be poor, is what," he said, and the mood shifted lighter again.
"We'd all be reduced to traffic patrol and municipal court," Radiance chuckled. "Fortunately there's no risk of that."
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Radiance waited until the rest of his crew had cleared out, promising to keep them updated with his Iacon trip and in turn making them promise to keep him informed of any and everything going on in Praxus while he was away, before going back inside to find Charade in the same position, unmoving, having stayed in a silent mood that was not terribly uncharacteristic for him on the surface.
Radiance could tell the difference between them, though, and this was definitely one of his darker moods.
"What's going on?" he put a firm hand on his SIC's shoulder.
Charade scowled, glared at nothing in particular, and muttered something too low to hear before shaking the hand and standing, getting right in Radiance's face, the two of them almost perfectly matched for height, red and gold visors reflecting off each other. "I thought after Nimbus you'd learned your lesson finally, but here you are doing the same stupid slag all over again!" he snarled, shoving his CO.
Radiance allowed the push, stepping back a bit before settling on his pedes. "I'm not." He hesitated, then decided that if he couldn't trust his SIC with this, he was in trouble. "It's not like any of the others, 'Rade. It's not proper, but all three of us felt the triad coding kick in hard over a hundred vorns ago, and it only gets stronger. We'd have bonded and filed a long time ago if it was at all acceptable. This is real, as real as it gets, and they feel the same way. We've shared hardline and sparks, they've let me in fully. The triad code is already as strong for us as it is for my creators after all their time together."
There was something very akin to shock on Charade's face as he processed that for a long moment, before cocking his head with a frown. "That means there was triad coding before the courting was even public," he said. "Rad, that's..." He shifted a little uncomfortably at the incredible impropriety of that fact. "It just, started, just like that? No one triggered it on purpose?"
"It's pretty arguable that this started when Pantera had to take the sparklings to Polyhex. We knew by the time they disappeared," Radiance said softly. "No, no one triggered it on purpose. We fought it for a long time, trying to give everyone the time they were supposed to have. But it's there, and it's strong. We were settled long before the first courting gift. It's only tradition that's kept us from saying so."
"Well that explains why you got so hot on them so fast," Charade said, then shrugged and flopped back down onto the lounge, sprawling out. "Seriously, it was bad even for you." He blew out a gust of air. "You realize this just means it's going to be impossible to put you back together after this one blows up," he muttered, with a tone and teek that Radiance knew well. Embarrassment, and there was an apology in there alongside it.
"I know," Radiance's tone held an apology for all the times it had blown up and Charade had been the one to piece the mangled mess into something that resembled Radiance enough to work. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "And I'll thank you now for being there for me, through all of it."
Charade snorted, even as he tilted his head to rub against Radiance's hand. "Please, I'm like a bad case of space rust, just try getting rid of me." He patted the lounge, silently asking Radiance to sit in front of him, and then wrapped arms around him and pulled him back once he had, chin against his CO's shoulder. "Guess I should be nice to them next time we're in the same room."
"It would mean a lot to me if you would try," Radiance smiled and tipped his helm back to rest on his best friend's shoulder. "They're good mecha, and they're good for me."
Charade rumbled. "They'd better be perfect for you or I don't approve."
"They are. Just watch and see," Radiance chuckled, content to relax in his friend's arms.
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Jazz flew over the terrain at top speed, reveling in the utter freedom of going anywhere. There were no roads here, just vast stretches of open land to drive on and no one within a thousand hics, minimum.
They were on Mesa-3, an off-world destination that specifically catered to Cybertronians and other biomechanoids with a vast oasis resort in the middle of all that nothing, with aerial pick-ups on demand for anyone who might not feel like making it back on their own power. This was their vacation gift to Radiance, an entire world to drive as fast as he wanted, in whatever direction he wanted, not bound to a track.
Not that it wasn't thrilling for both Jazz and Prowl, as well.
The two Praxian Enforcers were both in front of him, each of them equipped with more powerful pursuit engines than his, but he had the advantage of having been trained to take greater risks with the chance of greater rewards, as well as greater failure.
One of those risks was coming up, a sloped, hard rock face off to the north that if he timed it just right-
A hard gunning of his engines, burning through fuel to get the momentum up, and Jazz flew up and over, coming out right in front of the Enforcer pair, taking their momentary, automatic braking to zoom ahead.
::Saxo, you are crazy!:: Radiance laughed over their open comm line even as his and Prowl's engines roared to catch up on the gentle slope.
::I think we need to burn off some of his extra energy,:: Prowl added with a deep rumbling purr.
::Pff, you have to catch me for that!:: Jazz taunted and cut hard to the right.
::As if you've ever been a match for me,:: Prowl chuckled deeply and set his full processor strength to the task of catching his mate as they all raced across the low hills, powerful pursuit engines against a lighter frame taking more daring risks. If it was anyone but Prowl, Jazz may well have gotten away, but against Prowl's processors guiding both him and Radiance in full pursuit mode, he had no chance. In almost no time he found himself being tackled under two strong Praxian frames as they tumbled into a shallow gorge.
Jazz rolled as they landed, and a second later there were strong hands on his shoulders, pushing him down, rumbling, revving engines covering him completely.
"You should know what happens to mecha who run from Enforcers," Radiance growled near his audial.
"Tell me they get punished," Jazz purred back.
"Severely," Prowl growled as he pawed at Jazz's valve cover. "Pleasure us both well enough, and just maybe we'll keep you as a pet instead of turning you in."
Jazz pushed his hips up and back into the touch. "That's abuse of authority," he moaned as soon as fingers hit his valve, pushing in roughly. "You can't-"
Hands grabbed his helm and jerked his head up. "Hey, shareware," Radiance rumbled, spike nudging against Jazz's lower lip as Prowl's fingers pulled out. "Who said you could talk, huh? Come on, sure you've sucked a thousand of these, open up."
"Do a good job and maybe we'll go easy on you," Prowl growled deeply, lust saturating every syllable as he drove his spike into Jazz in a single thrust. "Oh, he's a tight one. You'll want a turn at this, Rad."
"Nn-" Radiance moaned, fingers clenching around the helm as Jazz opened his mouth and he shoved in, intentionally rough, hitting the intake and pushing further until he felt lips against his housing. "You'll wanna feel this, too, little slut knows how to swallow!" He held Jazz's helm in place and rocked his hips, shuddering with a mix of lust from the chase, the rippling in his mate's intake, and the thrill-bliss that was rolling off of Jazz. "Oh let's take him home, please, 'Tera, tie him up and pound his aft until he learns to beg for it!"
"Aft, mouth, use his hands, his ports and spark," Prowl keened as he thrust, deep, hard and fast. "Tie him up until he doesn't want to leave."
"Make him our whore," Radiance gasped, pushing and pulling Jazz between them. "Ours, ours!"
"You want that, shareware? Do you want to be owned by only us? For our pleasure and no other?" Prowl gasped and growled out, the charge already rising to crackle under his plating.
Jazz answered by squeezing his valve and increasing the cycle speed, bowing his back to force his aft up, legs shifting apart while he swallowed and sucked, moaning.
"Think that means yes," Radiance groaned, head tossing back. "Eager little thing, feel how much he loves it?"
"Yes, yes I do," Prowl groaned, shuddering as he pounded into the eager frame under him. "Never felt anything like him. Want to keep him, never let anyone else touch him."
"No one but us," Radiance purred. "Ah frag yes, yes! Shareware got me all worked up from the chase, so close, want to hear you screaming with me, my love!"
Prowl groaned and sped up, shuddering, his plating crackling. "Three. Two. One..." he counted down to a roar that carried for hics as he pumped hot, charged transfluid deep into Jazz's valve, splashing and rushing against sensors set beyond the reach of a spike.
Jazz seized between them, his own cry drowned out by his lovers' screams as they filled him from either side, releasing the energy of the chase to rush through their frames and crackle into blissful release into the air.
Without pausing, Radiance pulled out and they had Jazz turned around between them, roaring as they pushed in, going until they couldn't move anymore, until they were all in a tangled pile on the ground, spent and panting.
"Best traffic stop I ever made," Radiance mumbled drowsily.
"Definitely," Prowl agreed from where he was sprawled half on top of Jazz. "Going to keep this one forever."
Jazz purred contentedly from his place among the warm frames. "You'd better," he said, and nuzzled Radiance. "So did we pick the best place or what?"
Radiance laughed. "Racing for joors on end in whatever direction we happen to want to go in? Absolutely yes." He lifted his head for a moment to glance at the planet's red sun, most of the way beyond the horizon. "I think pick-up, I do not want to drive all the way back. Mm," he laid his head back down. "Even if I did know which way was up."
Prowl chuckled and obediently commed the resort with their coordinates and request, content to remain still until they heard the jet coming.
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"He is going to be so embarrassed by you two," Contact said, chuckling from behind his hand as Mira thanked the officer who pointed them towards Radiance's office.
"Two!" Mira said, catching up with them, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "I think I count three of us here!"
"I would like to state for the record that I am here under duress," Contact said. "I'm sure he'd be over to tell us. Eventually."
"Eventually is not good enough," Brava huffed. "We're supposed to be told these things."
"You are secretly glad you have us to go frisk him down for information, because you'd never do it yourself," Mira giggled. "Admit it."
Contact hummed. "I suppose it would be nice to know, since I'm sure they've already decided amongst themselves. The more time to plan the better."
"Exactly!" Mira said brightly. "We'll need to know what to cook, that takes metacycles!"
"Mm, true," Contact agreed, as all three came up to the door that led into SWAT's surveillance and resource center that also doubled as Radiance's office, since he used his official one as nothing more than a place to recharge. "So do we knock?"
"Since when do creators need to knock," Brava smirked and tapped in the security code, neither of her mates daring to ask where she'd gotten it from. "Creation!" her voiced carried into the room before she stalked in, doorwings held high, and took in the bright-opticked look of a mech that was only staring at them.
"Uh, oh," Charade said. "Hi. He's, uh..." He pointed towards the back, and then held a hand up over his mouth to hide his snicker, ineffectively.
Radiance was sitting with Honor's Gate, datapads spread out in front of them, a few others of his crew scattered about for what was apparently a filing and research orn, all of them staring at the three mecha who had just walked in.
"Creators," Radiance stood to greet them after a moment of surprise. "What brings you here?" he moved to guide them out of the room they weren't supposed to have access to.
Mira ducked past him, looking around. "Kind of drab in here, sweetspark," she said, and sat down next to Honor's Gate. "You haven't been around lately so we had to come down here and find you. He hasn't told any of you when the bonding ceremony is yet, has he? We're sure they've set one."
Contact gave his creation an apologetic smile. "It's true we haven't seen you in a while."
Radiance sighed and rubbed the center of his chevron. "You both also know that yesterday was the first orn I could say anything about it and I haven't been off duty yet."
"Aw, come on, sweetspark," Fastshot said, grinning at his CO. "Tellin' us you don't have time to comm your folks? For shame."
"He didn't comm you at all?" Honor's Gate asked Mira, faking shock.
"Not once," Mira said, pouting back at him. "And we're prepared to take drastic measures to get him to tell."
"Come on, it's not like it's even this vorn!" Radiance said with exasperation, arms across his chest and scowling, not that anyone was intimidated or even fooled. "You know there is at least a three vorn waiting period. There was time to get off duty, clean up and come over. All three of us."
Brava huffed. "This is only the most important orn of your entire existence, short of when you bring a creation home. You make time for it."
Charade got up and stood next to Brava. "Seriously Rad, a little pre-planning would do you some good. Now we all wanna hear, you three pick a date yet?"
The black mech huffed, sounding remarkably like his dark-colored creator as he did. "As if everything hasn't been planned down to the klik with Pantera around. Yes, we set a date, and location, and if you want any say it in, take it up with him, please. Or Saxo. He can sometimes get a glyph in edgewise." He sank down in a chair. "A mech shouldn't look that happy to sit still and think."
"I think it's admirable," Contact said, smiling indulgently as Mira bounded up and pulled Radiance back up to his pedes and into a hug.
"At least tell us when and where!" she pleaded, quivering with excitement. "Oh, darling, you'll look so stunning!"
"The precinct temple, his concession to me, Orn one of Metacycle one," Radiance indulged her.
Mira trilled her joy and gratitude and his entire team cheered, Contact stepping forward to brush their helms together fondly.
"We're so happy for you, dearest," he murmured, smiling. "That was all they wanted, would you like me to corral them out before they think of more ways to embarrass you?"
"No please stay!" Fastshot piped up, perking. "Sweetspark here won't mind a bit, promise."
"You are neither my creator nor my mate, you are not authorized to call me that," Radiance growled at his officer. "And we have work to do." He turned his helm to nuzzle his creator. "Yes, please go torment Pantera. He's about to get off duty."
"All right," Contact chuckled, and waved, then slipped his hand around Mira's arm and tugged, Brava turning to follow. She nodded to Charade, who nodded back, then paused and leaned in.
"You keeping him out of trouble?"
"Always, ma'am," Charade said, expression as serious as hers.
She nodded once. "Good. He needs someone sensible about."
"Good seeing you, Charade!" Mira said. "Bye darling!" she called to Radiance, who gave her a pained smile in return, and then turned a glare on his team the moment the door was shut. They all looked back innocently.
"The next one who calls me sweetspark gets stakeout duty for the next vorn," he informed them.
"How about darling?" Honor's Gate asked.
"Or dearest?" Rollover asked, trying not to snicker.
"Any term any of them used," Radiance growled. "It is not for you."
"Spoilsport," Fastshot muttered fondly, as they all settled back into their work.
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Contact lay nestled between his mates, three frames all purring and contented together, three parts of one spark, all of them happy to just be.
"Can't believe our creation is actually bonding," Contact murmured, face against Brava's neck, Mira's arm around his waist, the two of them holding each other's hands.
"I was starting to think it would never happen," Brava said with a snort. "Mech's practically allergic to commitment."
"Oh, he is not!" Mira said, smacking her mate's aft and getting a mock warning growl in response. "He commits to everything!"
"Allergic to committed partners," Brava amended.
"I think we made him too beautiful," Contact hummed. "Mecha just saw that, ignored who he is."
"Not Saxo and Pantera," Mira said cheerfully, cuddling up against Contact's back.
Brava's lips turned up in a rare smile. "Not Saxo and Pantera," she agreed.
"Part of me is still just ... waiting, all the same," Contact sighed. "It was so hard last time, I don't know what another rejection would do to him."
"They wouldn't do that," Mira said.
"Can you be sure?" Contact asked, and both femmes were suddenly watching him with intense focus.
"We'd know," Brava said. "If they were like that. We knew Nimbus was no good."
"...Not like that, though," Contact said. "Not that bad. We thought that was going to be his first mate."
Silence, and agreement.
Brava nuzzled him, holding him suddenly tight. "I know how hard that was for you," she rumbled softly.
"Harder for him," Contact said.
"Still hard for you," Mira agreed. "I'm sorry we weren't there to help."
Contact just curled into their embrace, taking comfort in it against old, buried memories. One of the great anticipations in any Praxian creator's life was the ceremonial washing of courting paint, and to listen to his creation sobbing in sparkbreak in a washrack hadn't been how he'd imagined it.
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Contact didn't even chastise him when he rang at the door, simply unlocked it to let Radiance in, waiting just inside for his creation.
Radiance all but collapsed into his creator's embrace, making a quiet sound, burying his face against Contact's neck like he had as a sparkling, desperately seeking the comfort that had once come from this.
"Shh, there," Contact murmured, holding him tightly. "Come on, let's go sit down."
Radiance nodded and let go after a moment, following Contact through the home, sitting down once they'd reached the interior lounge room and finding high grade pressed into his hands a moment later.
Contact sat next to him and Radiance leaned, taking a deep swallow.
"Want to talk about it?" Contact asked softly, and Radiance just shook his head. Contact nodded and they sat in familiar silence for a while until Radiance had finished the cube.
"It's just," Radiance said suddenly, then made the same quiet sound, and within nanokliks his creator's arms were around him, bringing him into his chest while he started sobbing.
Contact held him tightly and stroked his helm, waiting as long as he had to for Radiance to quiet, then kissed the top of his head.
Radiance sighed a moment later, the tension gone from his frame. "What did you hear?"
Contact hummed softly. "I heard that Nimbus was seen without his paintings."
Radiance's own paint-covered wings dipped sharply.
Contact nuzzled him. "And...a lot more about another he was with."
Radiance just nodded.
Contact waited a little while, rubbing his back. "I have some solvent," he finally said. "Do you feel up to washing?"
A sharp distress flicker went through Radiance's field, but it was quickly overwhelmed by heavy resignation. "Yeah," he sighed, and let Contact guide him upstairs into the small washrack. He wrapped his arms around himself and stood under the rinse, listening to his creator rummaging for a few moments before he reappeared holding a bottle and a cloth.
"I'm so sorry," Contact murmured, and Radiance tried not to flinch away when he began gently rubbing the solvent into his doorwings, dissolving away the protective sealant and exposing the painted marks to the spray.
The paint started running as soon as the cleaner solution hit it, dripping down his doorwings, streaking them with color. Radiance stared at the white paint being washed down the drain, took a shuddering intake, then brought his hands over his face and sank down onto his knees, doubled over and crying out.
Contact was there immediately, arms around his creation, holding him tight, rocking, petting, soothing under the rise. They were there until long after the paint was completely washed away and the cleaner ran clear, Contact waiting until Radiance finally roused and reached up to turn off the washrack.
"Do you want to stay here the night?" Contact asked almost hopefully, neither one of them moving. "You know you're always welcome, sweetspark."
Radiance sighed, leaning against him. "Can't. I called in and volunteered to pick up the extra night patrol shifts."
Contact pulled away to stare at him. "You massively overworked yourself last decaorn, you need to rest!"
Radiance scowled. "I overworked myself so I could get time off for-" He broke off and shook his head. "S'posed to be a surprise, guess that worked out well."
"Why don't you go anyway?" Contact suggested. "Take some time just for yourself?"
"I wouldn't enjoy it," Radiance said, shaking his head, leaning back against him. "I just want to work."
Contact could only nod.
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Radiance booted to find himself alone in their berth, an unusual occurrence, and sat up, looking around. The berth room was empty, the washrack wasn't running, and he couldn't see anyone out on the balcony.
He stretched, arms over his head and wings fluttering out before getting up and making his way over to the grand staircase. He spotted his mates right away, stretched out on a lounge and rocking together. He could hear their soft moans and smiled, making his way to the bottom of the steps. He leaned against the banister, arms crossed over his chest, purring at the sight.
The motion caught Jazz's attention and he tilted his head back, grinning when he saw their mate. "Hey, you're up," he said, panting, then groaned deeply as Prowl thrust forward. "Mmm, join us?"
Radiance cocked his head, considering it, but then he smiled, hummed, and shook his head. "It would ruin my perfect view," he said, and walked over to stretch out on the opposite facing lounge, visor bright as he watched, completely satisfied to enjoy his mates' pleasure. There was something vibrant and intoxicating about watching them make love that he would never tire of, something that was joyful and soothing all the way into his spark. Jazz's pleasure-bright optics, the way Prowl's face smoothed and his doorwings
relaxed, the scent and teek of their arousal, the way they moved as one being. "You two have no idea how beautiful you are when you're together."
Jazz managed to grin at him, Prowl smiled as he leaned in to mouth at Jazz's neck, and Radiance relaxed in to enjoy the morning pleasure.