Chapter 2
Work and Play
Once the breakfast energon is finished off, the four Praxians scatter to tidy up Prowl's quarters. Praxus takes the tasks of wiping down the table, cleaning the energon cubes, and polishing the sink while Auri sweeps the floor and Prowl runs a dusting cloth over his desk and washes the windows. Not to be left out of the cleaning, Starlight wriggles her tiny body under the couch to chase out dust bunnies and find several misplaced toys, one of Prowl's styluses, and a few of Praxus's little paint containers.
"Oh, so that's where they were," Praxus says when Starlight shows him. "Thank you for finding them."
"Ya welcome!" she replies before scampering to return Prowl's lost stylus to him. She pauses at the pile of dirt and dust Auri has swept up. "Wow! That a lot! An we just cleaned two days ago!"
"This is a pretty dirty planet," Auri says, smiling at the sparkling's amazement. "But I like it."
Starlight crouches down to inspect the gritty debris. "Uh-huh. There sand in it, just yike I thought so."
Auri laughs with happy memories. "Now where do you suppose that came from?" she asks, teasing.
"Well, first the beach, but then Prowl's an ya's pedes," Starlight answers sensibly. "An the dirt came from Pwax's pedes 'cause he didn't wipe 'em at the door yesterday yike he was 'posed to."
"None of it came from your pedes?" Auri asks, curious to see what Starlight will say.
"None. I was muddy, an theren't any mud here."
"Ohhh…" Auri says, suppressing a chuckle.
"Yeah!" Starlight says, and then she scampers off to see what else she can find under the couch.
Auri resumes her sweeping with amusement and works her way over to Prowl at the window. She's about to swipe the broom across his after-plating to tease him when she realizes that he's slightly preoccupied with frowning up at where the wall meets the ceiling, so she looks up as well.
"Spiderweb?" she queries.
"Yes," he says with a sigh. "Quarters were never this hard to keep clean on Cybertron." He looks at her and halfway smiles. "I am glad we are here, though."
She kisses his cheek. "I'm glad, too." Then, flipping the broom upside down, she angles it up toward the offending cobweb. It doesn't reach, however. "We'll have to call in Optimus," she jokes, standing on tiptoe in vain. Even Praxus, who's slightly taller than Prowl wouldn't be able to reach it because, despite the Praxians being of relatively small stature, the quarters were designed to accommodate even a mech of the Prime's height.
"I've thought of an alternative," Prowl says.
"And that is…?"
"Teamwork. If you'll sit on my shoulders, you can reach that high."
Auri smiles up at him. "I like that idea," she says. "How will I get there, though? I'm not a little scrap you can just scoop up over your helm."
He leads her over to the couch and guides her to climb up onto the armrest facing the couch and away from him.
"Scoot your legs apart," he directs.
"What-!?" Praxus yelps, whirling away from his work and spattering soap on the floor.
Auri giggles. "Oh, Praxus. Not everything is… what you're thinking."
"It could be," he says warily, looking mildly alarmed.
Prowl bows and, putting steadying hands on Auri's legs, he moves forward to put her on his shoulders. Her wings shifting to help find her balance, she puts both hands on Prowl's helm and digs her pedes against his chest as he straightens.
Praxus, still looking mildly alarmed, hasn't taken his optics off them. "If you fall and hurt yourselves…" He pauses. "Ratchet will kill you," he decides.
"We'll be fine," Prowl assures him, rubbing a thumb against Auri's leg armor. She's well balanced on his shoulders, and he has a secure hold on her; his "Ratchet hand" may be clumsy, but it's reasonably strong. He isn't worried, and she's quite comfortable.
"How do I steer?" she teases.
"Um… I'll steer," he answers. Then he belatedly realizes that there had been an opening for an amusing quip of some sort and he'd missed it.
"Yip-yip, Prowl," Auri says, and he halfway smiles.
Carefully, not wanting to throw Auri off balance with any quick moments, he goes back to the wall, keeping a firm grip on both of her legs with each hand. Then he retrieves the broom to hand up to her. She keeps one hand on his helm and holds the broom with the other and pokes at the cobweb and tries to stay focused on the task at hand. Prowl's frame is warm under her thighs, and his hands, though gentle in holding her legs in place, feel strong and reassuring.
Once Auri's cleared out the cobwebs, Prowl turns slowly around so she can inspect the walls for any additional arachnids.
"I think that was the only one," Auri decides.
"You didn't check the berthroom," Praxus says, glancing over from his own work with a cheeky look.
"You're a pest," Prowl answers, but Praxus's teasing has struck a practical point: there could be cobwebs in his berthroom. With Auri still on his shoulders, he goes to his berthroom, and they look around.
"There's a small one… at ten o-clock-ish," Auri says, so Prowl crosses the room, and she sweeps the web down. "There you go."
"Thank you. That would have annoyed me once I knew it was there."
Auri smiles. "I think you mean it would have bugged you."
Prowl tilts his helm.
Auri waits, optics twinkling.
"Oh…" Prowl says. He halfway laughs, and Auri feels the vibration from his chest more than hears the laugh. "I get… what you intended, but spiders are not bugs."
"I know. But they're closer to bugs than they are to elephants." It's a silly comparison, and she knows it; she chose it on purpose with a smile of anticipation.
Prowl's wings twitch and brush up against her armor, as she'd hoped they would, soft like a butterfly kiss. Prowl pauses at the contact, and then he settles his wings down. Gently, he rubs his thumb on her leg where it is as he starts back to the doorway.
"It is a good thing there is not a limit to the amount of mischievousness allowed in one household," he says. "Or I would have to pick between you and Praxus."
"Or you would have to move out once I moved in," Auri quips.
Prowl chuckles softly at that. Then he takes her back to the couch, helps her down from his shoulder and then hands her down from the couch. She can't help but give him a little kiss once she's standing before him. He smiles and looks like he's going to go for a second kiss, but Starlight crawls out from under the couch right at Auri's pedes.
"I all done cleanin," Starlight reports, a dust bunny hanging on one of her wings and dust smudged on her armor and face.
"You should probably clean yourself now," Auri says, repressing a fond giggle. "You're as dusty as the floor under the couch was."
Starlight inspects her armor. "Oh, wow…" She scampers off. "Pwax! I need a scrubby! –please!"
Auri slips her hand into Prowl's hand but holds him away from her and looks him over. "I'd better check you for dust, too," she says. "And cobwebs."
He turns for her, flaunts his wings a little, and she bats his aft with the broom.
"Okay, good to go," she says. "Now I'll finish the floor."
Once the cleaning is done –and everyone's armor is checked for dust and smudges, the four Praxians head out the door and shift their wings in the early morning sun, taking in the warm energy of the rosy rays.
"It a good mornin!" Starlight exclaims, flicking her wings. "I could fly!"
Laughing happily, Praxus scoops her up and dashes off, playing airplane with her and making her giggle.
Prowl and Auri, holding hands, walk at a normal pace and get left behind, but they are clearly content with that. Before long, Praxus and Starlight are a whole block ahead of them and turning a corner.
"Did you sleep well?" Auri asks softly, and she senses a momentary tensing of his hand once she says the words.
"Mostly," Prowl answers. "Praxus woke me up from a nightmare, but the rest of the night was good. And your night?"
"It was good. Ironhide or Chromia kicked all the blankets off the berth, though. Again." She smiles, not actually complaining.
"Well, you know, I don't kick the blankets off the berth."
Auri giggles. "Well, hurry up and propose so we can bond, and I will spend all the nights with you."
Prowl halfway laughs. "So many optics are going to twitch when we announce our engagement after so short a time of knowing each other as it is."
"True. So several weeks won't make that much difference."
Prowl's wings shift with approval, but he shakes his helm slightly. "We set a date. I'll keep to that date. Besides, Optimus needs…" He pauses and looks around and shifts his wings to scan the area. "Optimus needs those weeks to get our home finished up."
The two words "our home" fill Auri's spark with warmth and joy, and she squeezes his hand softly.
"Has he said how it's coming along recently?" she asks.
"He's been vague, but I reason to believe some bots are painting the walls now, and if so, that would mean it's nearing completion."
"Ooh!" Auri's wings flick with excitement. "So, next they'll finish the floors and put furniture in?"
"That is the usual order."
"And then we can decorate…!"
Prowl nods. "And hope Praxus doesn't have any crazy ideas about what style and sort of decorating we should do."
Auri giggles. "It couldn't be that bad."
"He spends far too much time with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe for me to wholly trust his judgment. You know what their quarters look like."
Auri shifts a wing in acknowledgement of his point. "Somewhat like an art museum storage room after an earthquake and two tornados."
He chuckles, turning a fond smile toward her. "Rather so, though I hadn't thought of it precisely that way."
"I guess if he wants to stick art everywhere, we'll limit that to just his room," Auri decides.
Prowl nods.
"Do you think Praxus suspects anything yet?" Auri asks with a little laugh.
"He doesn't. After we woke in the night, we started talking, and I discovered that he was under the impression that he and Starlight were going to be evicted when I bonded with you."
"Oh, no…" Auri's optics widen. "So he must have been thinking that all along- Poor mechling!"
"He did tear up a bit when he confessed what he was thinking. But he perked up entirely once I told him we'd all be together, and then his next concern was for how we would all fit. I had to prevaricate on that point, so then he worried about my processor because he thought I should have figured out how to house the lot of us quite some time ago."
Auri chuckles, anticipation making her grin. "Won't he be surprised!"
"We all will be to some degree," Prowl says with reason. He'd planned out some modest renovations to his quarters that involved putting a doorway between them and the quarters next to them and adding a few things, but Optimus had looked at the request and made a request of his own: let him, Optimus, take care of housing for their family-to-be. Prowl had hesitated, and the Prime had said, "I would like to do something better than this for you." Prowl had still hesitated, thinking about himself, but then he'd thought of Auri and Praxus and Starlight and the sparklings who would eventually join them, and then he'd dipped his helm and said "thank you."
"Are you worried about it?" Auri asks.
Prowl shakes his helm. "I trust Optimus."
"I trust him, too," Auri says. Then they slip into a companionable silence, each thinking their future home in different ways: Prowl wondering what sort of schedule they will work out as a non-traditional family, and Auri musing about how different it will be to share a home with a mech –her mech- instead of other femmes or couples.
When they finally reach med-bay, they find Praxus and Starlight are waiting in front of med-bay for them; Praxus is sitting on the steps, and Starlight is walking along a crack in the sidewalk, trying to keep one pede on either side of the crack.
"Did you get lost?" Praxus asks pertly.
Prowl pats him on the helm. "Only in thought," he answers. Then he and Auri walk up the ramp to the front door of med-bay, and Praxus, who scooped up Starlight scampered up the steps, holds the door open for them.
"Ya lost ya's thoughts?" Starlight asks Prowl as Praxus follows him into med-bay.
"He meant he was thinking so much that he sort of got lost," Praxus explains simply before Prowl can explain in encyclopedic form.
"Ohhh…" Starlight says.
Then Ratchet is there, saying "Good morning" in a way that implies he could have done with a little more sleep but still cares for them greatly.
"Good morning," Auri answers, slipping up to hug him fondly and get cuddled by one of her favorite bots.
"Me too," Starlight says, reaching for Ratchet, so Ratchet picks Auri up and holds her on his hip with one arm and then takes Starlight with his other hand, hugging her gently against his chest armor. He plants a kiss on her little helm, and then she wriggles and climbs to his shoulder. She's about to kiss him back when she pauses. "Aren't you a mech?" she asks, craning back a little to look him over.
Ratchet pauses because he wasn't expecting this question, but then he nods. "I am."
"Oh." Starlight looks mildly inconvenienced. "May you put me down, please?"
A baffled expression crosses the old medic's face, but he complies with the tiny femme's request, lowering both her and Auri to the floor, and she scampers away instantly while Auri watches her with a curious look.
"Do you have a problem with mechs now?" Ratchet asks the sparkling when a glance at Prowl and Praxus shows him that her behavior is mysterious to them as well.
"No," Starlight answers, starting to climb up the drawer handles on a cabinet. "I just told Pwaxus that I wouldn' –" She grunts as she pulls herself onto the countertop. "-kiss any mechs wi' lip gloss on me," she finishes as she crawls toward the sink.
"Oh…" Ratchet says, smiling now that he understands. "That's good of you to honor your word," he tells her.
Starlight nods as she pushes the sink handle forward, starting a trickle of water. "Yeah, I'm honorable sparkling," she states as she starts to climb down into the sink to wash her face. "An not a pwetentious-" She loses her balance and disappears from sight with a tiny surprised yelp. Then a little giggle echoes up from the sink. "I'm gonna need a bigger towel than I thought," she says.
"That's certain," a husky yet feminine voice says from a doorway.
"Uplink!" Starlight's face peeks over the edge of the sink to grin at the blue and gold and white-accented femme. "Good morning!"
"Good morning, little one," the older Praxian says, coming over to the sink.
"I was pwannin to wash mine face, but I falled," Starlight explains.
"You could have gotten a cleansing cloth from your brother or Prowl or Auri, though this way works, too," Uplink says, her blue optics twinkling in fondness and amusement.
Starlight peeks over at the other Praxians. "Why not you give me a cleansin cloth?" she asks them.
"We didn't know what you were doing until you were almost to the sink," Praxus answers.
"Oh. That fair," Starlight says. Then she scrubs her mouth and face, and once she's satisfied with her washing, she looks to Uplink for assistance. Uplink puts her right hand down and gently boosts Starlight up from behind, and Starlight climbs onto the counter.
"Stay seated so you won't slip in your puddles," Uplink directs her, retrieving a towel.
"Yes'm," Starlight answers. She rubs her face vigorously in the towel, and then Uplink gently dries her little wings and back. "How's yo Watchet arm an hand?" she asks, peeking at Uplink's left arm and motionless hand.
"They're doing well," Uplink answers, lifting the hand in question and flexing its fingers a hint to show the sparkling.
"Prowl's Watchet hand keeps ticklin me," Starlight says.
Uplink smiles. "I'm sure mine will start doing that, too, once it gets well enough."
"Is the Cwosion twyin to still get it?" Starlight asks softly, gently rubbing Uplink's forefinger.
"Yes… but Ratchet's medications are still beating the Corrosion." Uplink's right wing shifts. "There now, you're all dry. Scoot down and go give Ratchet his kiss."
"Thank-you!" Starlight climbs down the drawer handles and scampers back to Ratchet, Uplink following her over to the other bots. Auri hugs Uplink as Ratchet picks Starlight up again.
"How's my Auri?" Uplink asks.
Auri smiles up at her, snuggling. "Doing well."
"Good."
Uplink starts to say something else, but she pauses as she hears Starlight telling Ratchet about the upgrade party she is going to have.
"Evewybody gonna be inbited! An we all gonna wear sparkles and jools!"
"That sounds like it will be fun," Ratchet says.
"An we'll have food an dancin, an Pwax gonna excort me 'cause Pruddle gotta excort Auri."
"Naturally," Ratchet says with a smile. "We should start this morning's therapy now so everybody will be fit for this party."
Starlight giggles. "Yeah! It gettin late."
The therapy room has padded mats on the floor for yoga and other gentle workouts, comfy ergonomic chairs, and a couple massage tables, among a few other things. Auri loves it. While the therapy can be a bit of work, the atmosphere of the room is so healing and friendly that she doesn't mind if her leg aches or her wing twinges. She likes the freeness, too, of not wearing all her armor. She slips her thigh armoring off and tucks it in subspace, and does the same with some of her back armor. The air is cool where she is bare, and it seems to caress her. She glances toward Prowl. His wings are twitching because Praxus is helping him get his back armor off and he doesn't like it. Once Prowl's armor is off, he seems to accept it, but getting it off always puts a small scowl on his face.
Auri settles down on a mat to start her warm up stretches, and Uplink sits on the adjacent mat, legs lightly crossed, hands resting on her knees. Starlight plops down facing Uplink and crosses her own legs.
Cycling air through her system, Auri sinks into a stretch, gently reaching, making her muscles wake up. She closes her optics lightly and focuses on her frame as she holds the stretch. Then, pulling out of the stretch, she opens her optics and peeks toward Prowl again. Ratchet has him lying on a massage table now, chin on a pillow, and is explaining something about muscle groups to Praxus as he motions while directing the purple optics toward Prowl's lower back.
"How is your wing doing today?" When Uplink asks, it's a genuinely caring question, not a chit-chat inducing query.
Auri shifts the wing in question. "It's still a bit sore," she answers. "I guess I'll know for next time to get out of the wind when Prowl suggests it," she adds. "Even if we're having a good time."
Uplink smiles. "Fun does have its consequences now and then, and the beach does seem to draw one in."
"Yeah…" Auri looks mischievous. "How many times has Ratchet had to scold you and Chromia for walking too far on it and wearing you out?"
"We quit counting," Uplink answers with a slight smirk. "Though I'm sure Ratchet has a tally."
"It'll be nice when we can all just go out of the beach for hours and hours and hours and not come in feeling beat up," Auri muses, leaning back on the palms of her hands. She arches her back, tilting her helm back, pinning her wings back. The stretch feels good but causes a little twinge at the same time. She straightens out of it slowly, her cooling systems sighing.
Ratchet comes over after a few minutes to see how she is doing and to remind her gently about things she hasn't done yet but also hasn't forgotten. She listens and nods. He will always do this, always look after her carefully and closely. Some bots find him too protective and think he is micromanaging them, but Auri knows it's his way of expressing how much he cares.
Once Auri's progress is checked, Ratchet picks Starlight up and sits down cross-legged before Uplink where Starlight had been sitting, his knees almost brushing against Uplink's. He settles Starlight in the nest of his leg armor and then his hands gently go to Uplink's hands. Her left hand and arm, carefully and painstakingly created from synthetic material and donor material, severely lack the skill and mobility that her right hand and arm, fortunately original, have. Ratchet was able to recreate the limb almost perfectly, but the Corrosion had taken its toll on her system in many ways, and manually integrating the new arm and hand fully with her relays and various hardware had been unachievable. Still, what he had been able to do was medically significant as well as personally encouraging to Uplink, who'd previously been told that amputation was her only option. He'd given her hope with this new arm, and now they just have to work on therapy and see if her system will integrate the arm on its own.
Ratchet's fingers guide and direct Uplink's to fold one by one to her palm on both her right hand and her left hand simultaneously, mirroring each other. Her left hand must learn from her right hand.
Auri watches for a little while, studying how the fingers work; she knows how they work already, but she still likes to watch. Later in the therapy session, she'll be helping Prowl with his fingers in the same way. Since Praxus is training to be a physical therapist, he should be the one working with Prowl's fingers, but Ratchet found that Prowl cooperated better with Auri, so he compromised and settled on having Praxus and Auri take turns working with Prowl's fingers. Today is Auri's day.
Once Auri's stretches are done and Uplink's fingers have had their work, Prowl comes over and Auri goes to the massage table. As their paths cross, they brush fingers and smile at each other and glance where armor is missing. A little thrill runs up through Auri at the thought of soon being able to run her fingers up and along the lovely sculpting of his muscular thighs. The sparkle in Prowl's optics when they meet hers again tell her he has similar thoughts, and her cooling system kicks on. She scoots to the massage table then and settles down on it.
"How is your back feeling this morning?" Praxus asks as if he is a seasoned professional masseuse instead of her adopted brother who constantly acts grossed out by her "mushy-facing" with Prowl.
"It's doing pretty well," she answers. "It's a little tight in here, though," she adds, rubbing an area.
"Okay. We'll focus there a bit then. And how's your leg?"
"Still kinda sore from the other day we spent too long on the beach."
He asks a few more questions like he's supposed to, and then, after rubbing sweet oil on his hands, he begins to gently work on her back, teasing out the sore areas and carefully accessing pressure points to release tension elsewhere in her body.
Completely relaxed, Auri smiles with contentment and pride. Praxus is so good at this, and she's so proud of him for pursuing a healing practice. The scientists who created him had meant for him to be a very destructive little creature, but that wasn't his primary nature. He wanted to look after other bots. He'd tried to look after his lab-brothers. He'd looked after Starlight after he'd found her. He'd been afraid that bots wouldn't want him working in a med-bay given his forced history of violence, but Ratchet has supported and encouraged him. He belongs here, in med-bay, healing. It makes him happy, Auri knows, and he has a knack for it.
"How is this feeling?" he asks, and Auri murmurs that it feels very good. Then they hear Starlight giggle.
"Yeah, battle of the Watchet hands!" she chirps.
Auri and Praxus both look over and find Prowl and Uplink smiling at each other with wings lightly flicking with mock tension.
"Yas can arm wrestle!" Starlight says.
"Ah, no," Ratchet says firmly. "They're just teasing," he says deliberately, telling the older Praxians as much as he is telling Starlight. "No arm wrestling."
But he didn't say, "No wrestling," so Uplink is quickly yet carefully pinning Prowl on his back the next moment and putting her left elbow against his cheek. Prowl twists, bare leg muscles flexing as he works to find a way to reverse the situation without injuring Uplink in any way.
Ratchet, making a scolding sound, pulls Uplink back. "I fixed you two; I don't need you breaking each other."
Uplink and Prowl smile, knowing they wouldn't, but they shift their wings in submission to Ratchet.
Auri reflects on the fact that Prowl has now wrestled with two bots this morning. He used to wrestle with her a little when he was teaching her and Praxus self defense classes, but they haven't had those since they were injured. She'd enjoyed the gentle tension between their bodies and the physical contact and feeling how strong and warm Prowl was.
She still thinking about it when it's time to get off the table and work with Prowl. She goes over to him, a gentle reminiscent smile still hinting around her lips, and he smiles up at her from where he is seated on the mat. She settles in front of him, knees brushing.
"What are the thoughts of my femme?" he asks in the Praxian language, yielding his hands to her ministrations.
"I was remembering when I was the one you wrestled with," she answers in Praxian fairly well. She hasn't fully mastered what should have been her natural tongue, but she's getting close.
"Oh…" He smiles. He stiffens a finger against her hand, resisting her direction. "Shall I be difficult so you can try to make me behave?"
"And get scolded by Ratchet?" she asks with twinkling optics.
Praxus leans over. "You know Uplink and I know every word of Praxian you're saying," he whispers in Praxian. "In case you hadn't thought of that."
Prowl looks mildly exasperated, and Auri suppresses a giggle. Praxus scampers off to wipe down the massage table, but Uplink is still there.
"A good tussle is fun," Uplink says with a sympathetic chuckle. "But Auri does have a point. Ratchet will scold."
"Later then," Prowl says, and he seals this word with a kiss on Auri's finger.
When therapy is over and armor is back in place and they've all gone back to the main room of med-bay, Prowl collects a report data-pad from Ratchet and hugs Starlight and Praxus.
"Have fun learning many things," he tells them as Auri hugs them as well.
"I will!" Starlight chirps, and Praxus grins as he echoes her words.
Then Prowl hesitates as he meets Uplink's optics, and they both open their mouths to say something. Uplink dips her wings to him in deference to his rank as second in command, but he shifts his wings in deference to her as eldest Praxian.
"I would like a word with you in private, please," she says.
Prowl's wings don't move, and Auri reads that as a little apprehension. "I was going to say the same thing," he says.
"Oooh, you're both in trouble with each other," Praxus teases.
Uplink's wings shift at him. "Prowl is not in trouble with me."
Praxus dips his wings respectfully, reading in her silent "but you could be if you're going to be impertinent," and then scoots away with Starlight. He knows Uplink is full of fun, but he also knows not to cross the alpha female of their tiny Praxian community.
Auri wonders what Prowl and Uplink have to say, but she doesn't ask; she smiles up reassuringly at Prowl and then follows after Praxus.
The two older Praxians seek the privacy of a side room, and Prowl shuts the door with his right hand because his left hand feels shaky. He knows he's not in trouble; Uplink said he wasn't in trouble. But Megatron ploughed deep into his spark and sowed a heavy crop of fear. Anxiety rises with little call.
"Peace, Prowl," Uplink says. "I merely wanted to say I noticed that you did away with the traditional sparkling upgrade party-"
Prowl wings shift in sudden distress. "I'm not trying to spoil her," he says swiftly. "I just have little else to give her-!"
"Oh, Prowl," Uplink says gently, taken aback at his response. "I'm not faulting you. I'm not faulting you at all."
He cycles some air through his system. Her wings are at a non-threatening tilt, and that helps calm him.
She rubs his arm soothingly. "I simply wanted say, I was wondering if this might indicate that you might be interested in dispensing with another Praxian tradition."
He hesitates. "Which…?"
"The traditional length of time Praxians are supposed to wait before bonding," she says.
His wings twitch up in surprise and relief. "Oh-?"
She chuckles softly. "I do hold with many of our Praxian ways, but there are others that I shake my helm at."
"I… I have noticed that on a couple occasions," Prowl manages to say. Then his wings shift up in curiosity. "You would not frown on us if we… bonded much sooner?"
"I wouldn't." Uplink smiles. "And I think most of the non-Praxians aren't that privy to our customs, and the other few Praxian on base probably wouldn't take issue. You and Auri are clearly a match and clearly love each other and clearly know each other's ways. The traditional waiting time has or had its purposes, but it's not fit for every pair. If you're holding off because of custom, I want you to know I don't think it is necessary."
Prowl meets her optics with a shy smile. "I am glad," he says. "We were going to risk making you frown, but now there is more joy in my spark knowing that you approve."
"I see now you're way ahead of me," Uplink says with a twinkle in her optics. "Shall we expect the engagement next week?" she teases.
"No, no," Prowl says, laughing now. "It's still several weeks away. Though Praxus thinks we're secretly engaged."
Uplink's wings shift in wonder. "Oh… that never crossed my processor. I simply thought it was unfair that you two felt you had to wait because of some dusty custom our ancestors thought up."
"I am fairly good at breaking rules when I see fit," Prowl says, one wing tilting.
Uplink smirks lightly. "I'm sure Optimus can vouch for that." Then she motions and changes the subject. "Now, what words did you want with me?"
Prowl's wings become still, even a little stiff. "You have been kindly generous is not faulting me for my lenience with Starlight…" he says. "But… I cannot help but find fault with you for telling her about the fate our city. 'Bad bots killed it' –She did not need to know that."
"I tried to keep it from her," Uplink answers quietly, her good wing lowering. "She saw a picture of the Praxian Crystal Gardens in one of the little study books, and she wanted to know everything… Where is that? Why are they all Praxian? Can we go there? Why can't we go? But it can't be too far away, no? Why would the travel be dangerous and long? But we came from there, so why can't we go back? She asked so many more questions. I tried to change the subject every time, but she persisted, so I told her flat out that we were staying here on earth and not going back, that the topic was closed."
Prowl feels mildly at fault, having encouraged Starlight's many questions.
"She got upset," Uplink murmured. "My spark was aching for our city, and when she slammed her data-pad down and yelled that she wanted to know, something broke in me and I told her, 'It's gone; we can't go back!'"
"Oh," Prowl says softly.
"I am sorry, Prowl."
Prowl is at a loss for which words to say.
"I didn't tell her anything specific," Uplink adds. "When she asked how it was gone, I told her that bad bots took it down, and that it made me upset, and I didn't want to talk about it more."
"You're… you're not to be blamed," Prowl says, sighing. "I… I should have taught Starlight to accept not having every last question answered."
"I share in that fault." Uplink shifts her wings. "I have spoiled her a bit."
"I have, too." Prowl steps away from her and paces a little. "I just didn't want her to feel the lack of… everything she doesn't have. I think of my sparkling-hood and everything I had in our city, and she…" He falters.
"She has bots who love her and look after her, but she doesn't have other sparklings to play with or the Crystal Gardens or everything our city had that filled our sparks with joy."
"She's the sole sparkling on a military base on a mud planet," Prowl says with some frustration.
"We have Sunstreaker's art gallery, the pub, the beach, the rec rooms and our parties, and we have the Praxian clubhouse. Those count more than you might think. And you and Praxus both are excellent guardians to Starlight, for she knows that she is loved, and you've brought her up to be respectful and obedient without being afraid or cowed, and she has a good sense of honor and honesty. And she's not a 'pretentious bane,'" she adds, coaxing a smile from Prowl.
Prowl halfway smiles. "Now you sound like Auri, finding the good things in a situation." He comes to stand before her. "And you are right."
She tilts her helm in acknowledgement.
Another half-smile touches Prowl's expression. "Here I came to fault you, and I end up faulting myself and you end up encouraging me." He meets Uplink's optics and is reassured by her smile. "Thank you," he says.
"You are welcome," she answers.
He cycles air through his system and looks at the door.
"Any more words?" Uplink asks.
"No," Prowl answers. "Though… I will say, I am glad to have you among us."
"I'm glad as well," Uplink says as she heads toward the door. Once back in the main room, she bids him farewell, and Auri rejoins him, slipping her hand into his.
The two wingers exit med-bay and start for Prowl's office.
They walk a block and a half, and Auri is still wondering what Prowl and Uplink had to say, but she doesn't ask a thing. She knows Prowl will tell her if it's something she may know. She almost asks, but she doesn't. She trusts him.
"Are you very curious?" Prowl asks presently, having watched Auri's wings out of the corner of one optic.
She glances up at him, sees his optics twinkling. "Prowl!" She pretends to be mad. "You bad mech…" she says, shaking her helm, but his chuckle always makes her smile.
"It was too fun watching your wings," he explains.
"You tell me now, or… I'll think of something."
"Bribes are nicer than threats, you know," he banters.
She smiles up at him. "Okay. Tell me, and I'll kiss you when we get to the office."
So he tells her about what Uplink said about dispensing with tradition, which makes Auri happy. Then, with less joy, he tells her about the subject he brought to Uplink.
"I thought that might be what you wanted to talk to her about," Auri says softly once he's finished. "I could tell you were pretty upset this morning when Starlight said she learned about… that."
"I know we can't keep her from knowing about the war forever, but… I wish…" He trails off because there are so many things he wishes.
Auri rubs her thumb on his hand gently. "I know," she says softly. "I wish she was growing up in a better time, one without war and threats and missing cities." She shifts her wings. "She has it a lot better than I did, though. And even though she went through some extremely hard times with Praxus, she was so very young that she doesn't remember it now. I… I'm always going to remember the bombs and the hunger pains and the fear and… being so alone. Starlight is going to grow up with you and Praxus and me and Uplink, and…" Her wings tremble a little, as does her voice.
Prowl stops and hugs her.
"She's so lucky, even if she's been unfortunate," Auri says with her face hidden against Prowl's armor.
"She is," Prowl says.
Auri sniffles and then smiles up at him. "And I'm lucky, too. I got here eventually."
"Yes," Prowl says softly. He caresses her back, and then they slip out of the hug and resume walking.
They reach Prowl's office not long after that, and Auri darts in ahead of Prowl without turning on the lights.
He halts, his wings growing still. "Is there a surprise in there?" he calls warily.
"I don't think so," she calls back. "Though there are a lot of data-pads on your desk…"
He tilts his wings with doubt and stands in the doorway to turn on the lights.
Auri's perched cutely on the edge of his desk with stacks of data-pads behind her, but what draws Prowl's optics is the clear plastic bag of confetti sitting on the floor. Then he notices the banner on the wall. It reads "Welcome Back to Work Full Time!" and he knows the artist. Praxus.
He looks back at the bag of confetti warily, expecting some sort of booby trap, but Auri hops off his desk to investigate it.
"There's a note from Praxus on it," she says. Then she reads, "Dear Prowl and Darling Auri, Sideswipe said to throw this confetti in your office when Ultra Magnus let me in to put up my banner, but I knew you wouldn't like that, so I left it in the bag when I threw it. I also didn't do any pranks. Love you both! Have a good day! P.S. I think it would be funny to throw the confetti all over Sideswipe's room instead."
"Oh…" Prowl says.
"It seems safe," Auri tells him, so he ventures into his office, his wings shifting as he tests the area for any anomalies.
"I think it is…" he says tentatively, looking around slowly.
"BOO!" Auri shouts at him, and he shies away from her, wings flicking, but then in the next second, he lunges back toward her with a "RAH!"
"Yee-!" she squeaks, jumping back, startled. Then he grabs her arm to keep her from falling as she trips over the bag of confetti, and the plastic bag catches on one of her pedes and rips.
Confetti scatters on the floor as Auri finds her footing with one pede in the torn bag.
"Oops…" Auri says with suppressed giggles. Steadied by both Prowl's hands now, she looks at the floor and then at his face.
"What have you done?" he says, pretending to be full of disapproval.
"You're the one who startled me into tripping on the bag," she says, optics twinkling up at him.
"You startled me first," he answers, keeping a steadying hand on her arm as she steps out of the confetti.
She shakes a pede, and confetti sprinkles onto the floor. "Well… um… guilty as charged, I guess." She smiles up at him. "What's the punishment?"
"Not so fast," he chuckles softly. "I'm sure I could be persuaded to drop the charges."
Auri moves a few steps toward his desk. "Are you saying you'd accept a bribe?" she asks, pretending to be amazed.
"Possibly…" He follows.
She widens her optics at him as she continues to make her way toward his desk. "Isn't that unscrupulous?"
"Also possibly," he answers with a smile. She seats herself on his desk, and he stands before her.
"So… the bad cop wants a good kiss?"
He nods, unable to quite find a verbal answer to that.
"Get your face closer, then," she says, beckoning with a finger. He complies, and she kisses him on the jaw and then the cheek. He smiles at her, and she caresses his lips with her thumb, her fingers and hand cradling his chin and jaw. He kisses her thumb and palm. "I'm so glad we don't have to wait too long," she murmurs, forgetting their game as she pulls him closer, moving her knees apart and capturing Prowl's legs gently with her own, drawing him up with her pedes.
He purrs an agreement, but she can tell he's a little startled at where she's put him. A little startled but still pleased. His hands are gentle on her back, and his optics are warm and loving. His cooling system runs a soft gust of air through him.
They cuddle a little bit there, leaning against each other.
Auri tilts her helm in curiosity as a thought comes to her. "When we're bonded…" she starts and then pauses.
"Yes…?" he prompts gently.
"Will… do you think you'll be interesting in… doing it …here?"
A smile touches Prowl's lips as his optics twinkle. He kisses her helm. "I certainly think so. This is one of the main places where we grew to know and love each other; committing the physical act of love here wouldn't be unsuitable."
She cuddles some more.
"We'd lock the doors and double check them, of course," Prowl says. "And pause the security camera's functions."
"Eew, yeah."
"Then… whatever we please, we may do. We can take the lunch hour…" He smiles and looks at her, and she feels her whole system grow warm. "I'll introduce you to the pleasure of having sweet energon licked from y-"
The phone rings, and they both jump, Auri's knees reflexively jerking Prowl even closer. Both halfway laughing, they meet each other's others.
"-your doorwings," Prowl finishes his sentence doggedly. "We'll have to remember to silence the phone," he adds drily.
Auri composes herself and reaches back and picks up the phone before it can ring a third time.
"Prowl's office, Auri speaking. How may I be of service?" she says, having not craned around to check the caller ID.
"Good morning, Auri," Optimus Prime's voices says. "How are you doing?"
Prowl's optics twinkle as Auri's face flames with a blush.
"I'm doing well, sir," she answers, nudging Prowl from his place. Having him warm between her legs while talking with Optimus on the phone just doesn't seem right.
"That is good to hear," the Prime says. "I have something I would like to go over with you and Prowl this morning when you have time. It should only take about half an hour, and it is not a serious or pressing matter."
Auri digitally checks their schedule. "Would in a few minutes work for you?" she asks Optimus while watching Prowl's face and wings.
"It would," Optimus answers.
"Our schedule is free, but let me check with Prowl," she says. Prowl nods; he's gathered that she's talking with Optimus, and he knows their schedule is free, and he trusts her judgment. "Okay. He's fine with it. Do you want us to come over, or are you coming over here?"
"I would have you come over."
"We will be over shortly then, sir."
"Thank you. And tell Prowl it is not something to be apprehensive of."
"Yes, sir."
She hangs up the phone after his farewell and then hops off Prowl's desk. "Duty calls," she says. "Optimus wants to see us for about half an hour, and he said to tell you it's not something to be apprehensive of."
Prowl checks his armor for scuffs, and Auri knows he's apprehensive anyway. He didn't used to be like this, anxious at being summoned. Megatron did that to him.
"I'm sure it will be fine," Auri says, slipping her hand into his as they head for the door. "Maybe he wants to update on our home," she suggests with a smile.
Prowl looks at her, and she sees the worry ebb from his expression. "Actually, that is highly probable."
She beams.
He kisses her lightly at the door. "Thank you for thinking of that, my sweet spark."
"You're welcome, my Prowl."