Streaking across the dark sky, all of his sensors are trained on his surroundings while his systems are primed to react when he detects his target.
::Seems like you lose.:: Thundercracker goads over the communications line, and Skywarp pushes his thrusters further. The blue seeker has a head start and is faster with his slighter build, but the moment he can get a visual of Thundercracker, the chase is on, and it is only a matter of calculating his target's movements before he can get the drop on him.
Detecting a faint vapor trail, he banks to his left and follows it and soon identifies Thundercracker cruising relaxed in the far distance.
Calculating his possibilities, he engages his warp-gate to reappear above the blue seeker.
Thundercracker veers into a steep dive before he banks to the right to escape, forcing Skywarp to correct his course and follow. They zigzag across the sky, Thundercracker fighting to get out of reach, Skywarp intent on steering the blue seeker towards a set point.
Every time Thundercracker tries to veer off, Skywarp is there to block the attempt at escape. A few times the blue seeker manages to take him by surprise and almost succeeds in escaping, but he teleports and herds the carrier back into the trajectory he has chosen.
It slowly forces Thundercracker to the ground, and they both transform when they are hundred meters above ground.
He embraces the blue seeker affectionately, nuzzling into neck cables and humming appreciatively at the heated frame flush against his.
"Got you." He states.
He wakes from the dream right as Thundercracker leans in to kiss him passionately, and when he onlines his optics, he smiles fondly at the sight that greets him.
Thundercracker is recharging on a berth placed close alongside his, and his spark swells at the sight. It fills him with emotions to know, that the blue seeker had stayed by his side while he had been in coma.
After what had happened between them, Thundercracker should have been afraid of him and not want to be near him, but he had. And after Nacelle has kept them separated for so long, he no longer knows how he should react to Thundercracker suddenly being there and staying with him.
The unsettling lucid dreams during his coma haunts him.
Is he truly perceiving the blue seeker like that or is it a freak reaction from his subconscious mind to Thundercracker's closeness while he was in coma?
A twisted version of what he feels for the blue seeker?
Regardless the reason, it forces him to reflect upon what he wants with his life.
He can't forget the pleasant dreamscape of Thundercracker carrying his sparkling. It stirs emotions he hasn't felt before and a longing for something, that he knows never is going to happen.
Thundercracker is too damaged to ever want to be sparked again.
And is he ever even going to be a good sire?
"I love you." He murmurs affectionately to the unaware blue seeker, his spark filled with a deep want he can't fulfill. He lies there and looks silently at Thundercracker while he recalls their moment together after he had woken.
They didn't get much time to talk together and it had mostly been a silent communication through their fields filled with longing to be together. He hadn't dared show any of his stronger feelings and had kept it on a friendly basis.
And then the physicians had descended upon him, demanding everyone out of the room.
They had examined every part of his system to make sure nothing had been permanently damaged, and had conducted in-depth medical examinations where they located a deviation. When they finally allowed him to rest, he had been exhausted.
He had been released from the ICU and had been moved into a recovery room, where Thundercracker already was in deep recharge on a berth.
Nacelle had been by shortly and then they had been left alone.
He had regrettably been too tired to do anything else than look at Thundercracker, and had slowly entered recharge to the feeling of the blue seeker's pleasant field close by.
Thundercracker begins to stir, and Skywarp studies the shifting facial expressions on the blue seeker's face with fondness.
"Hey there." He murmurs softly, and it takes a moment for Thundercracker to realize that he actually is there. A multitude of confused expressions flicker across the blue seeker's face, and Skywarp relishes the feeling of the exploring hand that gently touches along his cheek and down to his chestplates.
"You're here." Thundercracker whispers.
"Yes." He answers with a small smile and places his own hand on Thundercracker's, that lingers on his chestplates right above his spark chamber. It feels like his spark is about to burst, ignited by the passionate fire the blue seeker's touch fills him with, and he is steadily moving towards the breaking point where he can't take anymore.
"I love you."
Nearly every single one of his systems stop functioning for a second as his processor abruptly stalls, and his spark pulse increases erratically at the three words from Thundercracker.
"You..." He doesn't dare finish the sentence and the loaded question hangs in the air between them.
What if his processor is playing with him?
What if he has misunderstood...
What if...
Thundercracker nods, and it feels like the air has been knocked out of him.
"You love me?" He asks breathless, still unable to believe that it is true.
A blush spreads on Thundercracker's cheeks.
"Yes."
He doesn't know how to react, shocked at the fact that Thundercracker reciprocates his feelings. There is so much he would like to say or do, but he is paralyzed by fear at the thought of doing something foolish, that is going to scare the blue seeker away.
"I love you too." He finally manages to stutter, horrified at his voice's feebleness.