Title: Cheer me up when I'm down
Characters: Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bluestreak
Universe: G1-AU (SoaL-verse, part 14)
Rating: T
A/N: this is the missing scene where the twins help Bluestreak to test his new upgrade - it's SoaL compliant, but should work okay as a one-shot. Written for femme4jack - happy birthday ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I'm just playing with them
Bluestreak trudged into the main rec room and entered his access code into the dispenser for a ration of energon. An error message flashed up, and he sighed heavily as he realised that it needed maintenance and could only issue oil.
He didn't mind a cube of oil now and then, but he had been really looking forward to a nice cube of mid-grade to cheer himself up with. Still, unless he could be bothered heading to the other dispenser at the far end of the deck he would have to make do, so he accepted the offer and wandered over to an empty table.
The orn had started out with a Decepticon alert and being roused out of recharge to rush to his duty station, but after a groon the alert was cancelled. No reason was given as to why, but that was common. A hazard of space battles: you could never tell whether or not the ship was moving unless you were on the command deck.
Or unless you patched in to the navigation network, but doing that during an alert was enough to get you thrown in the brig in case you were a spy.
His morning had improved a little when Prowl joined him just outside the repair bay two breems before his scheduled upgrade. It was a silly thing to do, to even ask the insanely busy SIC to hold his hand through a programming upload, but he had had bad uploads before and Prowl did not seem to mind.
New software uploads always made him feel slightly queasy, and the medic had offered to put him into light stasis, which he had happily accepted. But when he had come back online he had been alone, and his mood had dropped.
Prowl had left only a few clicks before, the medic had assured him, the tactician waiting until he was coming out of stasis even though he was late for a meeting with the Prime. The information was supposed to make him feel better, he was sure, but instead it just made him wish Prowl could have waited just those few clicks longer. If he was late already, then why not be just that tiny bit later?
It was selfish, but he could not shake the resentment. He had been looking forward to onlining his optics and seeing Prowl still there beside him.
"Primus, what happened to you?"
"What?" he asked dully, looking up to see the twins approaching, Sideswipe having spoken and now reaching him first.
"Why're you so down?"
"Oh. No reason, I guess."
"Not very convincing." Sideswipe declared, sliding into a chair. "Hey, weren't you having your upgrade this afternoon?"
"I did."
Sideswipe's head tilted to one side slightly as his brother joined them.
"So did it go wrong or something?"
"What? No. It's fine."
"Then why're you talking like me?" Sunstreaker demanded.
Bluestreak looked at him in startlement, then felt a faint smile twitching at his lips.
"Sorry, I guess I'm just a bit tired today. Oh, and before you try, the dispenser's broken."
"Yeah, we know." Sideswipe shrugged, unsubspacing a couple of cubes of energon and offering one. "Want some?"
Bluestreak accepted, but was confused.
"If you knew it was broken then why'd you come here? I mean, there's not much point at this time of the shift if you don't want to eat."
"We came to find you." Sunstreaker explained bluntly.
"Me?"
"Yeah." Sideswipe nodded. "Wanted to see if this upgrade really made any difference or if it was just a waste of time."
"It can't be a waste of time, it's the standard sniper upgrade and it's been used on hundreds of mechs, so why would they bother if it didn't work."
"Didn't say it wouldn't work, just that maybe you didn't need it. You were pretty good to start with, and you can't beat natural talent. Just look at us - there's nobody better, anywhere."
"True." Sunstreaker grunted.
"So. Drink up, and then we'll go test it out." Sideswipe suggested.
"Test...?"
"Sure. We've got a room booked in the hold and a simulation all set up. It'll be fun."
The energon turned out to be high grade and he protested that it wouldn't be a fair test of the programming if he was drunk, but somehow they talked him into drinking it anyway.
Well, what did it matter? He needed to relax a bit, to not worry for a while.
So he drank his energon, and let them talk him back into a good mood, and when they got down to the hold he switched his favourite rifle to its lowest setting, used only for training, and then took aim. But Sideswipe got in his way.
"Hey, what're you doing?" he complained, looking up.
"Gotta explain the rules first."
"Rules?"
"Yeah. See we looked up your average. Ninety-six percent at this range. So. Do better with this programming and you get a prize. Do worse, and you get a penalty."
"What kind of prize? And what penalty?"
"You'll find out." Sunstreaker assured him. "Now shoot."
"No pressure, now." Sideswipe carolled.
Activating the new programming he was pleased to see useful data appear on his HUD. Initiating the simulation, he set to work but the first couple of shots went wide as he learned to interpret the data scrolling across his vision. He recovered, but not quite enough and his score was lower than normal.
A little concerned about what the mischievous twins might have in store, he began talking quickly.
"Well that was just a test round, so now I'll do it for real and..."
He got no further as Sunstreaker kissed him hard, driving him back a few steps with the force of his advance. Bluestreak tottered a little, but then found himself stabilised by strong arms holding him up. Sideswipe.
The kiss was undeniably nice, and he was slightly disappointed when Sunstreaker pulled away.
"There. Your penalty."
He gaped.
"That was the penalty? Wow, I think maybe I should deliberately lose, then!"
"You haven't seen the prize, yet." Sideswipe reminded him. "Come on, give it another go."
Fumbling for the rifle that had almost dropped from his fingers, he tried to focus. He was hyperconscious of the two of them watching him, but engaged the programming and triggered the sequence for the second time. This time he was able to use the new data to his advantage, and did better.
"Perfect score!" Sideswipe cheered even as the last target fell.
"No it wasn't, see, it says that..."
"No arguing with the referee." Sideswipe mock-scolded him, sauntering forward. "Now come here for your prize."
"I thought this was the penalty?" Bluestreak pointed out absently as Sideswipe came close.
"He's the penalty. I'm the prize." Sideswipe leered, pressing tantalising kisses along Bluestreak's jaw.
"How's that fair?"
"Oh, next time we'll swap roles."
There would be a next time? The thought made him feel giddy.
"N-no, I mean fair on me?"
Sunstreaker chuckled, moving in from behind and possessively stroking Bluestreak's doorwings.
"I think we both look very fair on you. Right, Sides?"
"Mm. Look even better in you..."
Bluestreak pulled away quickly, moving so his back was against a wall, wishing his fans were not so obviously loud.
"I think we're going a bit fast. For me. I want to... to go a bit slower. And I don't want to do this somewhere public where anyone can just walk in and see! Or anywhere, just yet. It's not that I don't appreciate this, but I don't want to go that fast. I want to take it slow. I want my next lovers to be someone who wants to be serious. Someone who'll always be there for me, like Jazz is for Prowl."
"You mean like Prowl is for Jazz." Sunstreaker corrected him.
The correction confused him.
"Same thing isn't it?"
"Nope." Sideswipe shook his head, but did not elaborate. "Blue, we like you, but if you've got someone else in mind then just say so. We'll back off."
"Although you'll be sorry you missed out." Sunstreaker added.
Bluestreak smiled, feeling slightly nervous but not beyond teasing just a little.
"Well I do actually have someone in mind. You two. If you're interested."
"Then why stop?" Sunstreaker complained.
"I told you - I want to go slow and be sure."
Sideswipe regarded him thoughtfully.
"You know Prowl's trying to keep us away from you."
"He's just being protective. I doubt his mentor would ever approved of Jazz."
"So how slow is slow?" Sunstreaker asked, clearly focused.
"The kissing was nice."
Sideswipe grinned.
"Nice? Mech, you haven't seen anything yet!"
