AN: So I made a spotify playlist for BxM because why not. FF is still weird about links so I'm honestly not sure the best way to share it on here if someone was interested, by the title on spotify is just 'BxM' and it has like eleven songs at the moment. You can find a proper link on the archive of our own version of this story under the name 'Catalyst', username energonbunny in the chapter 8 end notes. I'll probably have it posted on the chapter update on my tumblr, too, and that has the same username as ao3 (and usually has appropriate tags of The Change/Catalyst).
I have no idea how interesting this might be to others, but there are certain songs that even way back in 2013/2014 I associated with them, like Cemetery by Say Anything. Some are definitely more Barricade thinking about Miles (one of them being Borderline hilariously enough), while others are Miles thinking of Barricade, and others are both.
In regards to the Sweet Home song, that will actually come into play in the story a little bit later on, at least humming wise. Barricade will share a precious memory with Miles that involves the humming and Miles will pick it up as a sort of ear-worm type thing that then helps comfort him later on during some... trying... times.
Anyway, if there's any song that anyone else ever went "yeah, that fits the story/BxM!" or that you just listened to a lot while reading this then go ahead and share, I love music recs.
7/3/23 Edit: a lovely follower reminded me that Barricade's alt mode is a two door, and the story has been edited to reflect that.
"What is that?"
Barricade watched as Miles took something off of his back that he didn't recognize. He could have just scoured the internet for the answer, but he instead waited as Miles laid the object out on the grass near him.
"A sleeping bag," Miles said after a moment of maneuvering the object.
"Why?" was all Barricade could think to ask.
"We're having a sleepover," Miles' tone made it clear he thought the implication should have been obvious.
"I don't get a say in this?"
"Nope," Miles said cheerfully. "Mom 'n Dad have gone to spend a night in Vegas with Sam's parents."
"And you're not spending time with him because…?"
Barricade trailed off, but that was just because he had decided to play nice and not voice his assumption that Sam had ditched Miles for Mikaela. But he watched as Miles' eyes went down to the sleeping bag and there was an expression on his face he didn't quite recognize—he just knew it pissed him off.
Miles shrugged, "I feel like I'm neglecting you."
He was right to be pissed off. Miles and his feelings never failed to infuriate him. It was true that since he and Sam had made up he'd had a lot less of the human's time, but that hardly mattered.
"I'm fine on my own, fleshling." Barricade scoffed.
"I'm not fine with it," Miles declared, as if that made any kind of sense.
Barricade glared at his stupidly earnest face, "You realize that I could—"
"And," Miles talked right over him, "I have something to sweeten the pot!"
Miles held his phone aloft, and Barricade bent down so he could get a better look at the tiny screen. There was a video up already just waiting for a thumb to hit play.
"And what is that?"
"Bumblebee's first attempt at skateboarding," Miles smirked. "Guess he's not quite used to how moving like that in a holoform can feel just yet, so…"
Barricade made a grab for the phone, but Miles anticipated it and danced out of his reach. He considered bringing out his holoform to just wrestle it off of the teen, but he could tell from the look on Miles' face that it would be playing right into his hands.
"Bribery," Barricade realized. He felt a small sense of pride, but promptly squashed it. "You're learning, at least. And what is this bribe for?"
"My parents want to meet you," Miles made a face. "So it would be good to make sure we get our stories straight and teach you how to play nice."
"I know how to be nice."
Barricade decided to ignore the look of disbelief Miles sent him. Just because he hadn't deigned to do it with an unimportant organic didn't mean he didn't know how—he just knew to save the aft kissing for those who really deserved it.
Miles took in the sight before him and spent a moment reevaluating every choice that had gotten him to this moment.
Everything had been going great the last couple of weeks. He had his best friend back, and while things weren't perfect between them by any means it was certainly better than it had been. He found out at some point that Mikaela had actively been trying to get Sam to pull his head out of his ass and that the meeting in the bookstore had been staged, and when he did he hugged her.
Overall, his relationship with Barricade had improved drastically. The only really scary moment they'd had was when Sam had caught them unawares, and Miles had avoided having Barricade over at his house as much as possible because of it. He wanted Barricade to lay low, but it seemed being able to fool Sam had instilled in him a sense of confidence he didn't deserve to have. And to make matters worse, he had been more stir crazy lately.
Miles couldn't blame him too much; all Barricade really had to do was drive around and browse the internet. He tried to spend more time with him to combat his boredom, but between his reinstated friendship with Sam, his burgeoning friendship with Bumblebee and Mikaela, making sure his parents didn't look too hard at what he was doing, and schoolwork, he had less and less time to spend with him.
Which was a shame, because Barricade was becoming more comfortable with having casual conversations. Serious discussions were few and far in between, but Miles figured it was better that way. Their lives were so utterly different that it was hard finding common ground, and the few fights they did have usually came about because Barricade believed him to be a naive idiot when Miles just wanted him to try and do better for himself.
Miles could happily claim Barricade as a friend, now. In fact, they had gotten so close that Barricade had finally been officially invited over so that he could meet Miles' parents, Elizabeth and Bob. His biggest concern had been how Barricade would act around them, but he had obviously understood that it was important to Miles that he pull off something approaching a normal, functioning human adult, and so he had been on his best behavior.
It was what came after the dinner that made Miles question everything. He'd followed Barricade out to the garage, but he had to be hallucinating somehow. There was no way he was actually seeing Barricade's holoform climbing in their trash can, right?
"Oh my God," Miles muttered faintly as he watched. "Are you being serious right now?"
Barricade gave him a look and the holoform disappeared. Miles was left to watch as what had been sitting inside the holoform—apparently somewhat chewed up spaghetti and some water—fell neatly into the trash can. The mech had explained to Miles that while he could theoretically perform the actions of eating he would need somewhere to dispose of the food not long after dinner, but he hadn't been expecting something like this.
"That's so gross," Miles said as he peered inside the trash can.
Barricade's holoform reappeared beside him and he, too, peered into the trash can. "You are correct."
"Well, the upside is my mom adores you."
"How wonderful for me."
"Why don't you just tell the Autobots that you, like… claim neutrality or something?" Miles asked, not even bothering to look up at Barricade from where he was sprawled out on his stomach on the grass.
"And how would you suggest I do that?" Barricade scoffed. "I have no idea where their base is and if I went up to the only one that's nearby, he'd shoot me before I said anything."
"You have to be able to communicate somehow," Miles looked up at him, rolling his eyes when he realized that Barricade was purposefully focusing on whatever he was doing to a knee strut. "What about email? I bet you could email the leader or something."
"I cannot just email Optimus Prime."
Miles grimaced, "Alright, that was a bit of a reach, but you know where Sam lives. You could send Bumblebee a letter through the actual mail."
"And then I would get laughed at and ignored." Barricade paused in his tinkering, red optics coming to rest on Miles. "Or worse, they would try to track me down to kill me with confirmation that I was alive."
"I think you're overthinking this," Miles told him truthfully. "Especially if you bring up what happened with Sam a bit ago. Besides, why would they bother to kill you? There's only so many of you left and it's not like you were anyone of importance in the Decepticon ranks, so it's not like they'd make an example out of you."
"I don't know whether I should appreciate your summation of my importance or consider killing you once more," Barricade responded dryly. "And they could see that thing with Sam as a threat, or me just trying to survive."
"If you consider killing me every time I'm right you must hardly think about anything else," Miles grinned at the dirty look that got him. "And you can't just keep thinking of all the bad things that could happen. What if they decide to work with you, or at least help you out a little? I mean you might get tagged with a tracker or something, but at least you would know you weren't going to have to fear being murdered. Or maybe you could set aside your differences and be friends!"
"Primus," Barricade muttered as he gave up tinkering in his knee and he gave Miles the most horrified face he had ever seen from him. "You're an optimist, aren't you?"
Miles outright laughed, "That's not a bad thing!"
"Yes it is," Barricade responded without missing a beat.
Miles stifled his laughter and gave Barricade the most earnest look he could muster, "Everything will be alright, Barry. You just have to believe!"
"This is an actual character flaw, you shouldn't be joking like that."
Barricade had put up with Miles running his mouth about some stupid book for about fifteen minutes before he turned his auditory intake off. He'd not bothered to tell the teen he could do so and didn't take advantage of it often, but sometimes it was nice not to hear anything but the thoughts in his processor. It was especially handy for the cases where Miles was yet again trying to play therapist for some Primus forsaken reason.
His hearing had already been off for about half an hour and most of his attention was on his ped. Even with Miles' help, and the tool kit that he had never bothered to give back, he was still having issues with it. He doubted he would truly be able to fix what he needed to, but he could do temporary patches well enough. The pit forsaken thing always opened up and started to leak after a short amount of time, though.
Perhaps he should have paid a bit more attention to the teen. Miles was suddenly climbing up on the leg Barricade wasn't actively working on just as Barricade stretched it out, causing him to slip. Miles flailed his arms a bit as he lost his footing and slid backwards, coming down hard on one knee as his other foot slipped off and onto the grass. He scraped his knee against some of the sharper metal plating on Barricade's ped and he could see the way Miles' face scrunched up with the pain of it.
Miles' mouth was moving as he said something, one hand covering the injured knee as he looked up at Barricade. The mech quickly turned his auditory intake back on.
"—rry, are you okay?" Miles asked. His brow furrowed in an unusual manner, "What's wrong?"
Barricade shuttered his optics in surprise. Miles had just hurt himself and he was asking if he was okay?
"You are leaking," Barricade pointed out, wondering if he was stupid enough to have missed it. "Are you okay?"
Miles huffed, "Are you? You've been out of it for the past fifteen minutes!"
It took a second for Barricade to realize what he meant. Miles had most likely tried to get his attention before climbing on him and with his hearing turned off he had never noticed.
"I had my hearing turned off," Barricade admitted.
He watched with amusement as Miles' face went from disbelief to anger, turning a faint shade of red as he opened and closed his mouth without saying anything. He always enjoyed it when Miles reached that particular color, be it because of embarrassment or anger. Miles straightened up and took his hand off his knee, glancing down at it and grimacing.
"I thought there was something wrong with you!" Miles fumed. "Like, processor wise!"
"You were being annoying."
Miles groaned, "I was encouraging you to figure out what to do next! I was worried about you!"
It still threw him for a loop whenever he realized just how much Miles cared for him. He was unused to such obvious displays of affection.
"Why would you be worried about me?"
"Because I have a heart?" Miles responded dryly.
"You should listen to your brain instead." Barricade reached over to the teen's backpack and picked it up, handing it to him. "Clean yourself off."
"Yes, Mom." Miles rolled his eyes, taking the backpack.
Barricade decided that ignoring him was the best option. He left his hearing on this time but went back to working on his ped. Occasionally he would glance up and see that Miles had sat down and that his knee had been cleaned off with some water, though blood would still occasionally drip from the scrape on his knee. The teen mostly ignored it in favor of texting someone. From this position he could see what was being said easily, though he was fairly positive Miles hadn't thought about that at all.
From Sam 3: Wut r u doing right now? Can I get a ride?
Bothering Barry, Miles responded.
From Sam 3: Crp… thnk hed be willin to help me out? My tire blu n car had 2 be twd. Im at the lib
Barricade could see as Miles was already starting to type in the word 'no', but he reached over his shoulder and quickly plucked the phone out of his grasp. He ignored Miles' protests and contemplated the tiny keyboard for a moment, deciding that using his holoform would be the best idea so he wouldn't accidentally puncture the new cellular device.
Things could have ended badly a few weeks ago, Barricade was all too aware of that. He had allowed himself to grow lax in his surveillance and it almost bit him in the aft. It was tiring to be constantly aware and running scans and sorting through the feedback, so he only saved it for when he thought he absolutely had to do so. He and Miles had gotten lucky, and that was it. Sam had walked up none the wiser to the fact that he was actually the Decepticon Barricade, and had been far more focused on Miles than 'Barry'.
Things had worked out pretty well, and Barricade had even remembered to play nice after Miles and Sam had made up. Knowing that he could fool Sam gave him more confidence than was probably wise, but Barricade knew he had to take a chance while he could.
If he could show he had no intention of hurting the favored organic of Bumblebee and the other Autobots then that would have to impress their bleeding sparks. Optimus Prime was sure to eat slag like that up. As long as he didn't immediately rub it in their faces that he had been around Sam without their knowing, he could bring it up later as something to add to his "reasons not to murder me on sight" list.
And he was pretty sure an adult giving a younger human a ride was a pretty standard, socially expected thing to do. If they refused he didn't want to get looked at just because he hadn't wanted to drive Sam five miles and it raised questions. He was sure Miles would say it would be fine, but he was also starting to pick up on the fact that Miles was an overly nice fool and that he would be offended by very little in comparison to most other humans.
This is Officer Ticon. We can pick you up, he sent.
"Barry!" Miles waved his arms in the air. "What are you doing?"
"I told LadiesMan217 that we will give him a ride."
Miles laughed, "Yeah, sure. Let's go pick Sam up in your cop car form which he can recognize!"
"He didn't recognize me when I was in your garage," Barricade dismissed. "I doubt he bothered to memorize every little dent that his little pet Autobot gave me, and I removed that enslave phrase ages ago. He has no reason to think I'm anything other than a Tranquility police officer."
From the look Miles gave him, it was obvious he believed Barricade was just joking. Barricade dissolved his holoform and placed the teen's phone in the same chest compartment that he stored the tool kit in, shifting down into his alt mode.
It was only then that Miles seemed to realize he was being serious, and the dumbfounded look he adopted paired with him crossing his arms was almost as funny as the face he made when he had realized Barricade had his hearing off.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! There's absolutely no way!"
"You are the one who said I should become more proactive," Barricade pointed out.
"Proactive, not suicidal!" Miles hissed. "This is a whole new level of moronic, even for you!"
Instead of answering, Barricade brought out his holoform once more and moved it over to Miles. Miles watched him warily, but he obviously wasn't prepared for Barricade to just grab him around the waist and sling him over his shoulder, because he didn't do more than hang there.
"Barry, what the-"
Miles must have caught sight of Barricade's open passenger side door as he turned around because he started to struggle. It didn't make a difference, of course, and Barricade almost felt a little bad for the way Miles struggled so ineffectively. He ignored that feeling completely and bent down and shoved Miles into his passenger seat; Miles was instantly using his feet to try and push himself out of it but Barricade used the driver's side seatbelt to his advantage, wrapping it around one of Miles' arms and dragging him in. He shoved Miles' feet in and shut the door, locking it for good measure.
"This is awfully kinky," Miles tried.
Barricade snorted, "Human weirdness will not make me stop this time. I can tell you're not turned on."
Realizing that tactic hadn't worked, Miles instead started to cuss him out and squirmed for all he was worth. Barricade strapped him into the passenger seat before letting him go with the other seatbelt. He let Miles try to unbuckle himself and then outright attempt to pry the seatbelt off, amused by how much he was willing to struggle even when it was obviously no use.
"This is totally not cool," Miles sank down in his seat as much as he could and kicked at the bottom of Barricade's foot well. "I'm pretty sure this constitutes kidnapping."
"Big word," Barricade complimented.
"Here's two more: fuck you!" Miles snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Would you prefer I go alone?"
"I'd prefer you suck my dick," Miles muttered mulishly.
Angry Miles was always funny, but Barricade knew better than to say as much. So he let Miles stew while he drove out of the woods, simply enjoying the creative insults Miles came up with on the drive to Sam.
Sam looked up as a cop car pulled to a stop just in front of the bench he was sitting on. Through the windshield he could see Barry in the driver's seat with Miles riding shotgun. He hadn't actually realized that Miles had been annoying Barry when he had texted him, expecting to get a ride from either Bob or Liz, and he wasn't exactly thrilled to be forced to deal with him again but he was resolved to play nice.
He stood up and Miles looked over in his direction, but then his friend's eyes widened and he was suddenly leaning over the center console practically into Barry's lap with a hand on the steering wheel. Miles' face turned until he and Barry were practically touching noses.
Sam couldn't hear what Miles said but he could tell from his face that Miles was angry. His first instinct would have been to climb in the back and pretend like nothing odd had just happened, but Barry's ride only had two doors. While he could see the empty backseat from where he was standing he knew one of them would have to get out and put their seat forward so he could climb in the back.
Barry's door started to open as he placed his other hand in Miles' face and physically pushed him back to his seat.
"It's fine," he snapped as he adjusted the seat so Sam could get in. Miles responded with something, but Sam couldn't quite hear it, and Barry turned an irritated look on him. "Get in."
"Right," Sam was very proud of himself for not squeaking, but then again that irritated look was all due to Miles and himself so he reassured himself that he had nothing to be nervous about.
He squeezed past Barry and slipped his backpack off, tossing it into the backseat before following in after it. Barry fixed the seat after him and got back in it, buckling up and then raising brown eyes to stare at him in the rear-view mirror.
"Buckle up."
"Right," Sam said again and he did just that, deciding to pretend like it wasn't obvious that his friend and the strange cop who hung out with teens were furious with each other. It seemed the best option, really. "Nice to meet you again."
"And you." Barry responded shortly as he pulled away from the curb.
"I see you've been working on this baby some more! It's looking pretty good, there's way less dents. Must have finally got that dildo to help," Sam joked, referencing the conversation he had intruded on when he had first met Barry.
No one laughed, and so Sam just sat back in his seat and decided to shut up. There was an odd lapse of silence that Miles normally would have filled, but he was sitting slumped in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest in a very obvious sulk. Sam got the feeling that he'd walked into the middle of a fight and didn't know what he should be doing or saying because of it.
Sam was starting to feel more and more awkward by the second and decided that keeping quiet was probably his best bet. He was relieved when they finally pulled away from the curb and started driving in the direction of his house. He took out his phone to text Bee.
This is super awkward. I think they got into a fight, Sam sent.
From Bumblebee: :-(
Sam smiled a bit to himself. It had taken ages to get Bumblebee to use emoticons, but now they were his favorite thing. When he looked up from his phone he could see that Miles had pulled his own phone out and was just now sending a text of his own.
"This shows that I can play nice," Barry snapped, evidently apropos of nothing.
Even from the backseat, Sam could tell that the man was glaring at his friend. He knew he wasn't overly brave by nature, but he felt like most normal people should look at Barry, see the size and the muscles, and decide pissing him off was the exact opposite of what they should do. He had no idea how Miles could just sit there and roll his eyes in response like that. Then again, Miles had always been weird.
Miles snorted, "Right. Mr. Anger Problems learning how to be a nice little boy."
"What is it you told me earlier?" Barry asked, and Sam could tell it was entirely rhetorical. "Ah, yes… 'For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.' Maybe you should take your own advice."
"God, you actually think you're funny, don't you?" Miles' tone was one of pure disgust.
"I am hilarious," Barry smirked. "It's not my fault you can't take a joke."
"I can take a joke just fine!"
"Oh, please," Barry snorted. "You're being dramatic and acting like a child."
"I'm the child?!" Miles repeated incredulously, gesturing between them almost violently. "What does that make you then, huh? Cuz I don't think a wise adult would pull crap like this!"
"Uh…" Sam spoke up carefully, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly when two sets of eyes looked at him in the rear view mirror. "I get the feeling I'm interrupting something? So if you want you could just drop me off here and I could walk home?"
"Shut up, Sam!"
"Shut up."
Sam blinked in surprise as both Miles and Barry told him to shut up in unison. He was just deciding if he should be offended or not when the two turned to glare at each other again. Miles won the staring contest only because Barry had to turn his attention back to the road. Sam sighed and pulled out his phone again, cursing Bumblebee for abandoning him.
They both just told me 2 shut up in unison!, Sam texted Bee.
From Bumblebee: LOL
Sam slipped his phone back into his pocket. Now that they had been called out on their behavior, both Miles and Barry fell silent. Occasionally one would shoot the other a dirty look but for the most part nothing at all happened in the remaining five minute drive to his house.
"So, are you off work right now or something?" Sam questioned.
There was a long pause before Barry responded, "Yes. Miles and I were working on getting some more of the scratches and dents out of this damaged model."
"My girlfriend's dad has an auto repair shop and they do good work," Sam mentioned. "I could get her to take a look and do some repairs."
"I will… consider that," Barry said.
"He's just being polite," Miles turned in his seat to give Sam a grin. "He's determined to do all the repairs himself."
"Well, if you ever need advice, then." Sam offered.
"…thank you," Barry responded after a moment.
Barry pulled into Sam's driveway and Sam unbuckled himself, just waiting to be let out. To his surprise, and clearly Barry's as well as he just started to open up his door, it was Miles who got out and moved his seat forward so that Sam could get out. Sam slid across the backseat to get over to Miles' side of the car, handing Miles his backpack before climbing out after him. Miles didn't get back in.
"Where are you going?" Barry demanded, "We have plans today."
"I think we could both use some alone time today," Miles responded, slamming his door closed.
Sam looked through the windshield and it was obvious to see that Barry was less than happy with Miles' decision.
Barry rolled down the window so he could be heard clearly, "And I will respect that decision and not question you on it. Unlike some."
"Oh, you self-righteous little…" Miles grumbled under his breath. Sam was fairly sure his friend would have had more to say but Barry was already backing out of the driveway. Miles raised one hand to flick the reversing cop off, "Have a nice night, Barry!"
Sam stood beside his friend as they watched Barry drive away.
"Next time you two are in the middle of a lover's quarrel please tell me ahead of time so I know not to come anywhere near," Sam said.
Miles shot him a dirty look, "Shut up and get inside before I decide to beat you senseless in his place."
"I'm too cute to be bruised up!" Sam protested with a laugh.
