Chapter 5
Colors, Tables, and Boxes
While Starlight sleeps all tired in her new frame, I lie still, watching and listening to her. Auri and Prowl have muffled voices in the other room, but I mostly just listen to Starlight. The soft sounds that her cooling system makes are different now. They're not hugely differently, but they're different enough that I feel moments of worry when I stop watching her. Her wings shift a little differently, too. Her sleeping facial expressions are still the same, though, so that comforts me, but some part of me feels uneasy, probably the broken part. I reassure my broken side and think comforting thoughts.
I get some of my worries to go away, but then I find a worry that makes sense. One day, she's going to look up into my optics and ask why they are purple instead of blue like everyone else's optics. And maybe she'll ask why her optics aren't purple since she's my sister. She'll have so many questions, and each answered question will cause more questions. Will she still love and trust me after she knows the truth? It's one thing to have a brother who's looked after you all your life after your mutual parents died in some vague way. It's very different thing to have a brother who is a Decepticon experiment unnaturally created and conditioned to be a killing monster with very little sanity who stole you from your home during a rampage.
I'm scared of losing her.
I don't think I can lie to her. Prowl wouldn't lie to me.
I pull my security blanket from subspace and put it on my helm and press it against my face, hiding everything except one purple optic. I have to keep watching over her.
I don't know what I'll do.
My spark will break at least.
Prowl and Auri grow quieter in the other room, and I think about them and put a hand on the bed where Prowl sleeps. Prowl would never lose Starlight. He always has the right words. Starlight exaggerates and says he's bad at explaining things, but that's just because he doesn't always understand what exactly she wants him to explain. When he understands what she wants, he's so good at explaining. Even when he ends up explaining something above her, she always listens to him and tries to understand. I think it's because he always listens to her. I try to listen to her, but I fail lots of times.
I'm going to fail so badly.
I try not to cry.
I try not to cry very loudly.
Prowl comes into the room after that.
"Prax, what's wrong?" he asks gently. He climbs onto the bed, makes me sit up. Auri comes to sit beside me.
"I'm scared…" I whisper, putting my helm against Prowl.
Auri moves closer so I am safe between her frame and Prowl's, their arms encircling me. "What's scaring you?" she asks.
Words don't want to form. They're too scary to say out loud. I struggle. Auri holds my hand, and Prowl caresses my helm.
"M-my p-purple op-opt-tics," I whisper after they comfort me for a while.
"Your optics are beautiful, Prax... Why are they scaring you?" Auri asks softly, sounding a bit confused.
"S-Starlight…" I whisper.
Auri looks over her shoulder to where Starlight is. Maybe Prowl will figure it out. He pieces things together all the time.
"You're scared Starlight is going to notice that your optics don't match her optics," Prowl says softly.
I nod. I feel Auri's motion as she looks at Prowl. I feel Prowl's energy shift as he thinks through my problem. I feel less scared. Prowl can solve about any problem I have.
"That is something we will certainly have to address in the future," Prowl says after some thinking. "But we'll handle it together, Praxus. Let's talk with Ratchet and Uplink about it this week. We can't control when or how she'll ask about the difference, but we can prepare how to best answer her questions and explain things."
I'm not sure how we can do that, but I believe Prowl and trust Prowl.
"Okay." I think about asking how, but my helm hurts me, so I stay quiet. I stay quiet and just feel. Prowl is warm, and Auri is warm, but in different ways, and their energies are different, but both are good to me. I like how Auri's thumb brushes softly on my hand that she holds. I like the smell of Prowl and his armor polish. I like how closely together their sparks pulse.
"Are you still feeling scared?" Auri asks, and I blink my optics open.
"No," I murmur. I'm just sleepy now. They're a lullaby, their sparks. I try to tell them this, but I don't know if I make any sense, and Prowl says something to Auri as my optics start to close. Auri moves and Prowl moves, and they are putting my helm on a pillow, tucking blankets over me. Auri kisses my helm. Prowl kisses my temple. They are perfect.
OoO
Auri watches Ironhide's hands with a smile as he measures and mixes some spices into a cube of energon to make one of her favorite drinks for breakfast. He does the simple task with a smooth ease that makes it look well-practiced skill. Maybe he shows off a little. His optics twinkle as he hands her the cube.
"Thank you," she says, smiling up at his optics now, her optics twinkling in response.
"Always my pleasure," he answers, sprinkling a little spice into another cube for himself.
Auri swings a pede idly under the table and sips her energon. Her pedes have always dangled under the table in Ironhide and Chromia's quarters, a table made for bots much taller than herself. The table in Prowl's quarters is shorter, yet still a bit tall, but they're going to have a short table in their new quarters. It will be just their size, and only Starlight will have her pedes dangling. The sparklings will, too, when they come. Or maybe they'll have low table with cushions on the floor around it like they have in the Praxian clubhouse. That would be delightful and cozy.
"Making plans or dreaming dreams?" Ironhide asks with a gentle fondness in his expression.
Auri giggles softly and blushes as she realizes that she must have a romantic look on her face over a rather mundane bit of furniture. "Thinking about tables," she confesses, and she loves how understanding his optics are and how he smiles at her.
"That's good a subject." He taps the table lightly with his knuckles as his optics trace over the polished surface not without a few scars.
Auri looks at the table and then at him, wings tilting with interest. "Why?" she asks with respect and curiosity.
A gentle grin nudges at his lips. "Breakfast and dinner," he says. "That's the short answer."
"Tell me the long answer, Ironhide," she prompts with chuckle, knowing that he doesn't actually have to be asked but loves it when he is.
"Here is where you gather with your family in the morning," he says. "Usually," he adds, smiling toward the door to the berthroom where Chromia is still asleep. "You check on your sparklings, big and small, 'did you sleep well?' 'How are you feeling this morning?' 'You look a little grumpy; what can I do to help?' This table is the foundation for your family's day."
Auri studies the table and then looks to Ironhide for more.
"If I'm cross at the table, it will affect you," he says. "You might leave the table feeling hurt or resentful, and that can put a shadow over your entire day. And maybe you'll get worried and stressed out about coming home; 'is he going to be even crosser at dinner? I don't want to go home to that.'" He tilts his energon cube a little. "On the other hand, if I'm loving at the table, you'll leave with a positive feeling, and maybe that will light your whole day, and you won't be worried about dinnertime. Maybe you'll even be looking forward to it; 'I can hardly wait to tell him what happened today. I wonder what new things he has to tell me.'"
"I always look forward to dinners with you," Auri tells him fondly, but she knows that his example has a broader implication.
"I'm glad of that," he says. He reaches across the table so they can touch fingers softly. "Dinner is the other part of why your table is important," he goes on. "Here's where you catch up after the day. You're checking on your family again. 'How was your day?' 'I think someone has a fun story to tell.' 'You look like you had a rough day; do you want to tell me about it?' You fix the dents and scuffs of the day and celebrate the good things. You make your table the haven at the end of the day. Every family and their schedule is different, but that's my basic belief on tables."
Auri nods. "Since Prowl and I work together, we'll see each other more than just when we're at home, and Praxus and Starlight visit us a bit throughout the day, too."
"You'll figure your schedule." He studies her, contemplating. "You're going to be taking on quite a responsibility," he says softly after a little bit.
She meets his optics, wondering.
"I think you'll handle it well," he says. "And I'm proud of you for all you've already done for Praxus and Starlight and Prowl and for how good you are to them."
She looks down shyly but smiles at being praised. "I couldn't imagine not… I love them each so much."
"I know you do."
"And I love you, too."
"I'm a lot less work, though," he teases.
"That's only what you think!" she teases back, making a face as Ironhide takes a sip. He chuckles and chokes a little on his energon then chuckles again.
"I love you, too, my Auri-spark," he says fondly, reaching for a napkin.
"Wipe your mouth," she orders, optics twinkling.
Chuckling, he does so, and then he dips a finger in his energon and quickly swipes Auri's nose with it.
"Oh-!" She's giggling now. "You know, you're not helpful."
"Mechs never are," Chromia grumbles, wandering in looking like she slept the wrong way.
"I object to that statement," Ironhide says, his optics quickly assessing Chromia's mood even as he wipes Auri face. "Come here."
The blue femme makes a muttering sound, but she goes over to Ironhide and lets him draw her onto his lap sideways and snuggle her, putting her shoulder against his chest, her helm against his shoulder.
"What's bothering you?" he asks, tracing his fingers gently across her back in a soothing pattern with gentle pressure.
"Bad dream," she murmurs.
"Those are rough," Ironhide sympathizes. He locates a place on her back and focuses on it, pressing more firmly. "Is there something in particular I can do to make things better?"
Chromia shifts a little. "Nah… You're already doing it," she answers, and her tone conveys that her mood has shifted already, in a more positive direction.
Ironhide looks to Auri and smiles.
"I didn't mean what I said when I came in here," Chromia says after a few moments.
"It's okay," Ironhide answers. "I didn't take it personally."
Chromia chuckles softly. "You do know better than that by now."
"Uh-huh," Ironhide says.
"You can take the next thing I say personally, though."
"And what's that?" he asks.
She shifts so she can meet his optics. "I love you."
"I'm quite happy to take that personally," he answers, and she gives him a kiss before turning back to lean against him again. "I love you, too,"
"And I love you as well, Auri," Chromia says, smiling over at her.
"I love you always," Auri says.
"That's a very long time that I'm perfectly happy with," Chromia comments, taking Ironhide's energon cube. "Though I'm sure I'll be getting much less attention from you before too long," she teases.
Auri looks amused but thoughtful. Her optics flick down to her energon cube and then back to her guardians with a twinkle. "Maybe so, but I'm thinking with me out of your quarters, you'll get more attention from Ironhide."
Ironhide thinks this over, and Chromia chuckles.
Auri sips her energon. "At least, you won't have to try to be sneaky about certain things anyway."
Chromia chokes on her own sip of energon, and Ironhide gives her a tap on the back.
"There is that," Chromia says once she stops coughing. "You and Prowl will be the ones having to be sneaky."
Auri giggles. "We'll have bigger quarters, though, better laid out for a family. I don't think it'll be that hard for us to be alone at home."
"You have noticed that Praxus is Prowl's complete shadow, haven't you?" Chromia queries.
"A shadow that vanishes quickly when the light of romance twinkles in Prowl's optics," Auri quips.
"Mmm… I have no answer to that," Chromia says, but a small smirk shows her amusement.
"They'll get their boundaries and schedules figured out," Ironhide says, gently reclaiming his energon cube. "They'll be all settled in before we realize it."
Chromia smiles but shakes her helm slightly. "I don't think it will be that quick and easy," she says.
"No?" Ironhide asks, and Auri studies her energon cube with the premonition that Chromia is probably right.
"Praxus is almost more attached to Prowl than any sparkling is their parents," Chromia explains. "It's going to be rough on him not having every spare moment at home with Prowl."
Ironhide tilts his helm a little with a slightly skeptical look.
"I'm hardly exaggerating, mech," Chromia says, reading the motion. Ironhide thinks she is; he doesn't voice the thought, but she knows. "You know Praxus sleeps beside Prowl about every night, don't you?"
He didn't. "That's news…" he says slowly, considering the implications. "I guess it is going to be rougher than I thought."
"But not as rough as Chromia thinks," Auri puts in with a soft smile. "Most of the time, Praxus sleeps with Prowl just because Praxus is still worried about Prowl. Once I'm there to look after Prowl and comfort him from his nightmares, I think Praxus will be okay sleeping in his own bed."
"You said 'most of the time'?" Ironhide says.
Auri nods. "Sometimes it's because of his own nightmares or because he needs to feel safe and looked after that Praxus sleeps by Prowl. And I understand that. I mean, I end up climbing into your bed now and then. There's no reason why Prowl and I can't let Praxus come snuggle in with us. He's still very much a sparkling after all, and we'll be letting our own sparklings snuggle in with us in time." She pauses. "We'd better have a large berth," she muses. "Starlight will probably want in, too, if the three of us are together."
"Three adults, one youngling, two sparklings," Chromia tallies. "You're not gonna just fit that all on a regular berth?" she teases.
"We could try," Auri teases back. "But when sparklings three and four come along and the first two upgrade, we will certainly need to upsize our sleeping arrangements."
"You're gonna find time and space to conceive sparklings three and four?" Chromia half-teases.
"Prowl and I have plenty of time and space in the office," Auri quips playfully. Then she pauses. "Though, I don't know if Prowl… hmm… well, we can sneak home during a lunch hour while everyone's out and about."
Chromia chuckles. "Guess you'll find out."
"That's true." Auri smiles. Then she realizes that the day is getting on. "Speaking of the office, I'd better polish up and go."
"Need a hand with your wings?" Chromia offers.
"Yes, thank you!" Auri says, getting down from her stool. She stows the energon cube and goes back to hug Ironhide. "It was a good breakfast," she tells him, meaning more than just the energon. He rests his hand fondly on her helm.
"I'm glad," he says.
Then she scoots to check her armor for scuffs and adds a little polish here and there. She buffs her hand armor while Chromia tends her wings.
"Are you excited to see your new quarters this evening?" Chromia asks.
"Very much so!" Auri answers. "This is such a big week- Starlight upgrading, new quarters, Sunny's art show. And next week –oh!"
"Next week what?"
"It's a secret what's happening next week," Auri says, her cheeks warming up.
"Are you getting engaged?" Chromia asks, halfway teasing.
"Chromia- I- It's a secret!"
"Look at that blush," Chromia comments as she peeks at Auri's face, but she doesn't pry, completely certain that she has guessed the secret. "Don't worry," she reassures Auri, patting her. "Hey, tilt your helm a little so I can make sure that's not a scuff there."
Auri tilts her helm, and Chromia rubs her crest with a cloth.
"Okay. You're good to go."
"Thank you." Auri hugs Chromia. "See you this evening if I don't see you before then."
OoO
Everybody has to stop and talk to Starlight as we go to med-bay. Literally. Everybody. Not counting humans, of course, but some of them have to stop as well. Everybody is excited about her upgrade.
"Oh, wow!" they say. "Look at you! You're so much taller now!" "Are you excited about having a vehicle mode now? I remember how excited I was when I upgraded!" "It feels kind of different being taller, doesn't it?" "Do you know what kind of alt mode you want?" "I got stuck in car mode a few times when I was new to it as well, so don't worry about that. You'll always have someone who can help you."
Starlight thinks it's great having everyone talk to her, but I don't even know some of these bots. I mean, I've seen them and I know what their names are, but who are they? How do they even know Starlight well enough to talk to her?
I wish Prowl were here to ward them off, but he went ahead, so I just have to smile like I'm nice, just enough smile to look friendly while exposing my fangs. I'm not above biting bots if necessary. Starlight is holding my hand for physical stability, and I don't let go for emotional stability.
Eventually, we get to a clear bit of road and nobody bothers us.
Starlight giggles, and her weight pulls against my arm as she turns and looks back over her shoulder.
"That kina like I were famous," she comments with another giggle. "I didn' even know that other mech."
I feel less bothered now.
"I guess everybody is just excited about upgrades," I say.
"I fink so," she agrees. Her weight pulls against my arm again as her legs go unsteady and make her wobble. I keep her up and help her regain her balance. "Legs," she sighs, shifting from pede to pede. "We upgraded, sillies. Act yike it."
"I can still carry you," I say.
She looks up the road and then up at me, and her optics melt my spark like they always do. "I jus' kina wanted t' walk th' whole way my first time upgraded," she says. "We almost there. But you can carry me th nex places we go."
"Okay," I say. "Sounds like a plan. But how do you know we're almost there?"
"Cause I see that building there, an we have dangly lights insteada hex-o-gone signs."
"Hex…? Oh, those ones are octagons, actually. But hexagons are really close to octagons. You're clever to have figured that out."
She giggles. "Yeah. I knew it weren' a twiangle."
"Triangles are pretty distinct."
"An the twiangle signs usually a different color."
"Uh… huh…"
"What color they? I don' know any colors, Pwax, ya know? I jus' paint an' draw an' don' know color I usin."
"Um… I think you'll learn that a little later," I say nonchalantly even though I feel a sudden panicky feeling. We haven't had time to prepare for the talk about colors.
Starlight grins up at me. "Jus' whisper," she says in a conspiratorial tone. "I won' tell anybody that I learned a color yet."
"Um…" My wings twitch a bit with worry. I glance around, but nobody is coming to interrupt this and congratulate Starlight on being taller. I hate to disappoint her. I'm afraid. Then I think of something. She seems to think learning colors at her age is some kind of taboo, so I can use that. "Okay. But just one color," I say.
She beams and dances a little happy dance.
I kneel down, and she puts her little hands on my face, her optics glowing with delight.
"What color the oct-o-mum signs?" she asks.
Her joy makes me smile even thought my spark aches. "Those signs are the color red," I say.
"Red…" she whispers with a grin. "An that one th' colors on th' dangly lights, too, right?"
"It is," I say, standing up.
When we get to med-bay, everybody there is all excited about Starlight's upgrade, too, but at least I know these bots.
Prowl comes toward me. "You're a little behind time-" he starts to observe, and I take him by the arm and drag him away. He looks startled at this treatment, but he goes with me, his optics wide.
"Everybody had to talk to us!" I whisper so Starlight won't hear over everybody's attention. "Bots we didn't even know were stopping to say 'wow, look at you all upgraded'! Don't ever leave me to walk somewhere with a newly upgraded sparkling again, Prowl. It was awful."
Prowl says "oh…" slowly as he processes this.
I flick my wings for emphasis.
"I'm sorry, Prax. I should have thought of that. Was Starlight bothered?" he asks with concern.
"She was greatly amused," I say with a sigh. "I guess it wasn't that awful. I just didn't like it."
"I understand." Prowl rubs my arm.
"Prowl…"
"What is it, mechling?" he asks gently, sensing that another thing is troubling me.
"She asked what color the stop signs are," I say. Then I tell him exactly what happened.
"That was some quick thinking to let her know one color so she wouldn't feel squelched," Prowl says. Good job."
I feel a bit comforted. Only a tiny bit. "But, she'll want to know more," I say.
"Of course she will. It's in her code to want to know." His optics flick toward the other bots. "Let's discuss the issue tomorrow since today is going to busy, and if she wants to know more colors, tell her she'll get to learn them all next week."
My spark hurts. "That's so soon, Prowl."
"It's a very long time for her."
"Say two weeks, please, please?"
He looks at me and my tear-blurry optics. "Two weeks" he says, and he holds me when I hug him. "I think it will fine, Praxus. She loves you very much."
He gives me a cloth so I can dry my tears, and I use it quickly before anyone can see and ask why I was crying. Then I make me cheer up.
We do physical therapy for a bit, and then Prowl and Auri go off to work, and I stay here to help Ratchet and bother Jolt and First Aid. Starlight does her kindergarten with Uplink. Although, kindergarten today involves a bunch of napping, which is okay by me. She'll have less time to ask dangerous questions if she sleeps a lot. All the questions I overhear are pretty safe, though. Mostly she wants to work on shapes and figure out the difference between an octagon and a hexagon.
But I can tell she's still thinking about colors when we head over to Sunny's studio. I'm carrying her, and she whispers "red circle stop" when we come to a traffic light.
"What's the color in the middle?" she asks.
"I already told you one color today, remember?" I say. "Let's work on shapes and numbers instead for now."
She looks at me tolerantly. "Okay," she says cheerfully a moment later, but I can tell she is a bit skeptical about something.
We count things and point out circles and other shapes until we reach the studio, and then Starlight wants to walk. I get the door, and we go in to the wonderful art-filled paint-smelling room.
Sunny looks up from shaking a small paint can and then looks surprised at Starlight.
"Well, hello!" he says, coming over. "Praxus didn't say he was bringing a new tallish little femme with him." He makes an elegant bow. "Enchanted to meet you, and welcome to my art studio and gallery."
"You ridiculous full nonsense, Sunny," Starlight says, flicking her small wings in contempt and crossing her arms. "You know it me, an I always come with Pwaxus on Tuesday."
"Starrrrlight," I say, exasperated. I've been trying forever to get her to be nice to Sunny, and it never happens.
"At least I say words t' him now," she argues, which is valid. She used to completely snub him.
I don't know what to say, and she wanders off with her nose in the air to get her art supplies.
I stand there.
Sunny chuckles. He never seems to mind how Starlight acts toward him. Honestly, he probably deserves worse after how he treated me when I first came here, but he's nice now, and I forgave him ages ago. I just wish Starlight would, too. I could bring her here more if she didn't dislike him.
"No worries, Praxling," Sunny says. "It's good practice for when she'd older and the mechlings start turning their optics at her. They'll go 'heyyy' and she'll know how to just crush'em like that."
I didn't need this thought. I look at him appalled. "Don't talk about mechlings and Starlight…"
"She's gonna grow up one day, Prax. It happens." He shrugs and goes back to his paint.
"Don't tell me that kind of thing," I say, following after him a little upset. I know how bad mechs can be. "Don't give me worries!"
He smirks but tries to hide it by looking at his paint. "Okay."
"I mean it," I say, flicking my wings.
He dabs his paintbrush in the paint a little, thinks a moment, and then looks at me again without his smirk. His optics as serious now. "I know," he says, being sincere actually. "No worries, Praxus." He gives me a smile then. "It'll be a real long time before that even starts to happen. Come on and get started on with your paints."
OoO
"You're extra quiet this morning," Auri notes to Prowl once they're in the privacy of his office. "It there something…?" She trails off as he smiles at her.
He checks that the door is locked and then draws her gently close. "As Praxus says, 'I have lots of thoughts in my helm,'" he says.
"Are there some you want to share with me?" she asks, leaning against him and tilting her face up toward him. "I'll be your fiancé next week, you know," she adds, flirting just a hint.
"Something I look forward to." His optics twinkle softly before sobering again. "Prax told me that Starlight wanted to start learning colors today, so I have been a somewhat preoccupied in sorting out how we're going to explain Praxus to her once she realizes that his optics are different. I believe she loves him enough that she won't be bothered, but there is a chance, and as we've seen with Sunstreaker, our little femme can hold a grudge for a very long time where she sees fit."
Auri nods. Then she tilts her helm musingly. "But she's also a compassionate sparkling… I think if she saw that Praxus was suffering, she would forgive him. Sunny… while he's apologized, Starlight has never seen him grieved over what he did to Praxus or made sorrowful by her treatment."
"That is true…"
"And remember how she was pretty indifferent toward Chromia until Chromia got sick, and then she was all worried about her?"
Prowl smiles at this memory. "I do remember. And I remember how she would like you and dislike you by turns for no apparent reason."
Auri giggles. "I still wonder what was going on in her little processor then. I was always nice to Praxus and her, so she didn't have reason to dislike me the way she did Sunny."
"We could ask her now that she's older. She might not remember, but it's also possible that she would."
"What if she decides that her dislike was a valid dislike, though? I'd be back on her 'nawww' list."
Prowl halfway chuckles at her word choice, but he answers quite seriously. "I'm sure her early dislike was something small and varying that could never outweigh the love she has for you now."
This warms Auri's spark, and she cuddles against him. "I love how you put things."
He takes the opportunity to kiss her softly on the helm. "And I love you."
"We shouldn't get distracted," she says, but the look in her optics tells him that she wouldn't mind if they did.
"I do not see why," he answers as he caresses her back. She gives in and nuzzles his neck. "I've scheduled a meeting for tomorrow with Ratchet and Uplink to discuss how to address…. Mmmm…." He purrs as Auri kisses a sensitive area on his neck. A quiet growl of pleasure vibrates up from his chest, and his fingers tighten slightly against Auri's back.
"To address what?" Auri asks, keeping a little more focus even as she savors the anticipation of completely distracting him with more than just a little kiss on his neck.
"Umm… to address how to explain to Starlight… why Praxus's optics are a different color… and… matters relating to that." He nuzzles her helm. "Since that's our only worry, and it will be taken care of, we are free to get as distracted as we please until 9:00am."
Auri chuckles softly at that. "We have a bit of work to do before then, though…. The dusting and window wiping and printing out papers for the humans and…" She relaxes against him and wonders if the place his fingers have found on her back is the place Ironhide was rubbing Chromia's back earlier that morning. "Did Ironhide ever tell his philosophy on tables…?"
"I don't know that he ever directly told me, but I believe I know it," Prowl answers.
"We talked about it this morning, and it was good."
Prowl nods. "He's a wise mech we're very fortunate to have in our lives." He shifts a slightly. "There's a spiderweb on the window…" he starts, and Auri can't help but giggle at his aggrieved tone. "Laugh at my misery, will you?" he teases gently.
Auri tilts her helm to smile up at him. "I'm happy to comfort you, but that was just funny."
He kisses her and then steps back. "Well, the sunlight is hitting the web and making it very obvious, and it's going to bother me."
"Go tend to it then," Auri says, smiling. He starts away, and she reaches to give him a light push from behind, her hand on the upper region of his after-plating.
He looks back surprised and pleased, and Auri gives him a cheeky smile. He opens but fails to think of anything flirtatious to say.
"You get the spiders and the windows, and I'll get dust?" Auri suggests with a fond twinkle in her optics.
"Agreed," Prowl says with a small formal nod and then heads toward the storage closet, wondering at himself. Auri scampers to catch up with him, and then she makes sure to reach the closet a step before him, putting her hand over the doorknob.
"What's the password?" she asks, shifting her frame a little to block the door more effectively as she smiles in anticipation, eager to see what he'll come up with.
He pauses, thinking, and he purrs with a soft chuckle. "Very funny, trying to trick me. It is not password protected. It is a combination lock," he says, moving up closer to her.
She grins at this improvising. "And the combination is…?" she prompts.
"A kiss here," he says, shifting to kiss her neck softly. "And a touch here," he adds, caressing her cheek. "And… this…" He kisses her opposite cheek. "Then little rub here." He moves closer to slip a hand behind her to softly massage the place on her back that had relaxed her so pleasantly. His other hand caresses her side as he bends his helm to kiss her softly again. Auri can't help but touch him in return, her fingers caressing the sleek armor of his arms up to his shoulders and on to his neck so she can cradle his helm and kiss him in return. She follows him as he sways slightly, moving her pedes after his. He chuckles contentedly and takes one hand from her back to open the unguarded closet door.
"Very clever," Auri says, smiling up at him.
"Do I get a reward…?"
"First pick of the cleaning supplies," she teases.
"That is…" His wings shift. "…fair."
She giggles at his expression of doubtful acceptance and then snuggles him. "I think I can do better than that." She releases him with a nudge to his shoulder. "Turn around."
He hesitates but then complies, and she runs her hands up his back and carefully slips them under his shoulder armor to massage the muscle groups there. She's not done this before, touching him bare under his armor, but she doesn't feel too shy about it. She feels ready to become more intimate with him, ready to start exploring his body. Most of him it still off limits, but she knows his shoulders are a good and safe place to start, and he loosens his shoulder armor to give her more ready access. She works with her fingers, pressing against tight places in his muscles and guiding energy gently through his sensors. His wings shift not so subtly at this pleasure, and she feels him lean involuntarily her hands, pressing back. She likes this, the feel of him and ability to make him happy. A small purr vibrates from his throat and tingles against her fingers.
"You are very good at this," he murmurs, his tone drowsy with contentment.
She smiles at the compliment, answering, "Thank you," as her optics trace down a little to the bases of his wings and his wing connectors. Fascinating, she reflects, how close a perfectly safe zone can be to a no-go area. Rubbing his shoulders is good and feels good, but fondling the bases of his wings… she feels her frame warm with the anticipation of delight, even as she blushes at the thought of crossing propriety. Praxian standards of conduct must be kept; she's always been pretty careful about that.
She feels him chuckle softly.
"Within a few months, sweet spark," he says; she hears the smile in his tone and realizes that he must have sensed either the warmth of her frame or a shift in her energy.
She feels herself blushing even harder now.
"A few months…?" she says as if she doesn't know. She knows, though, and he knows. He savors saying the words, and she loves hearing them. They play this game, and it doesn't grow old.
"A few months until we are bonded, our vows made to each other before our friends, the ceremony performed, our restraints removed… our sparks and bodies united."
Auri slips her hands up his shoulders and then down his arms, guiding them away from temptation. Prowl turns, and his left hand slips into her right hand, fingers clasping and intertwining. He cradles her jaw with his right hand, his thumb caressing. As she leans against him, moving in for a kiss, she realizes that he's rather warm himself, and a new sense of self-consciousness tints her cheeks.
Softly, he kisses her. Then he steps back. "We should get on with our tasks," he says tenderly, his wings shifting as an outward show of self-control. She holds his gaze, admiring the love and fondness in his optics.
"Yes, sir," she answers with a playful smile.
While his smile answers hers, he gives his helm a small shake of his helm in an effort to focus on work. Auri points into the closet, and he looks at the supplies.
"Wh… what were we going to clean?" he asks.
"You were going to clean the windows, specifically the one with a grievous spider web on it. And I was going to dust.
He glances back at the windows, spotting the offending web quickly. Then he nods, remembering now.
They nudge each other gently as they get their respective tools for their chores, but they stay on task and focus on their less delightful responsibilities. Showing love to one's partner is a responsibility, but it's generally an easy one for them. Cleaning, that's less easy. Prowl finds a satisfaction in it, but Auri finds cleaning a bit of a pest. And Earth being comprised of so much dirt and dust doesn't help much.
Once the dusting and window cleaning are done, Auri sweeps, and Prowl turns on the computers at their desks and gets started on some updates. Once the sweeping is done, Auri settles into her chair and starts looking over reports, a stylus in hand ready to mark down questions for whoever wrote the report. She works on that for a while, the office quiet aside for tiny machine noises and the soft patter of Prowl's fingertips on his keyboard.
"When you have a moment," Prowl says presently.
"Yes?" Auri smiles over at him.
"Please print out the 9253-07 document; it's in the Beta-3 folder under 'Section 34.'"
"Right away," she answers, her fingers already swiping to seek out the desired content. "What do the humans want with this?" she asks with curiosity when she sees the fairly unremarkable geological report on a smallish moon in a far-flung galaxy.
Prowl looks blank. "Um… not a clue," he says. "Errr…"
She giggles at his abashed look and shakes her helm. "You should focus on your work, Prowl," she teases, and a blush warms his face.
"I should," he says, lowering his optics to his desk. He realizes he's blushing and reflexively brushes a hand across one of his cheeks, as if that would dispel the betraying heat.
"Silly mech," Auri giggles fondly. She clicks the "Print" button, checks the settings, and then sends the job to be printed, tilting her helm expectantly toward the small machine, listening for it to kick on and start whirring and printing. It does so and spits out the first few pages before jamming.
"Again…" Prowl murmurs, rubbing above his lip.
"Oy, printer," Auri scolds at the device, though she knows that the human-created machine doesn't have the sentience to care. Going over to it, she looks at the tiny digital screen. "Paper jam in Tray 4."
"At least it isn't Tray 3," Prowl says, pretending to be funny.
Auri smirks and shakes her helm at him. "I can handle it," she says as he gets up and starts to come over. He stands by his desk, and she carefully wriggles the tray open. "Oooh…!"
"What?" He comes over.
"More like, 'Sabotage in Tray 4,'" she says, pulling out a twisted piece of cardstock with a ribbon attached to it.
"Hmm…" Prowl fingers the ribbon, which trails down, tucks under the edge of the printer, and then disappears into the cabinet on which the printer sits.
Auri follows the ribbon with her optics and then reaches for the handle on the cabinet door. "Whom do you suspect?" she asks, her fingers hesitating.
Prowl turns the paper over and inspects how the ribbon is looped and tied through a couple holes perfectly cut in the paper. "Mm… the usual… Sideswipe or perhaps Praxus."
"Prax really is starting to get led astray by those twins," Auri states, opening the door. "First Sunny and art, and now Sides and pranks. We'll have to have a talk with them…" She trails off as she sees that the ribbon has been strung through to the next section of the cabinet. "This is probably a trap. Scoot over."
He scoots, and she moves over to the next section of the cabinet, opening its door, finding the continuation of the ribbon. It goes behind a box of paper, so she carefully pulls the box out to reveal another box of paper with the ribbon disappearing under its lid.
"It's not super heavy," she says as she pulls this second box out and sits with it at her knees. "If it's a glitter bomb…"
Prowl's system makes a soft choking sound, and she looks up at him. She's surprised to find him biting back a grin, his optics glowing and sparkling with delight. It's not his usual expression when confronted with a prank or trick. She suspects something now and raises an optic ridge even as she finds herself starting to smile back, his suppressed grin infectious.
"Do you know what this is?" she asks, almost giggling.
He sits down before her, the box between them. "It's not a glitter bomb," he says, his tone underlined with a deep intensity that makes her pause.
She finds her spark pulsing faster. Her optics seek out his, and his expression is calm now but somehow stirring, his optics deep and resolute. She knows beyond a doubt now that neither Sideswipe nor Praxus did this. And the humans probably didn't even want the report that jammed in the printer.
She slips the lid off the paper box and watches a smile of anticipation hint into Prowl's expression. She doesn't want to stop looking at him, but she lowers her optics to the contents of the paper box.
"Oh, Prowl…" she whispers with amazed delight, staring at the beautifully ornate case overlaid with gold and accented with crystals. It's too exquisite to be an ordinary gift. It must be an engagement gift. "Is it-!? A-are you-" She's too excited to figure out what she's trying to ask. Prowl is a solid week ahead of planned if this gift is what she thinks it must be.
Prowl chuckles softly. "It is, and I am," he answers tenderly. "I know it's early, but it has been a long year, and I know you like surprises… so…"
She meets his loving face with a smile and puts her hand behind his helm, drawing him in to kiss. "I love it," she says after the kiss. "This is the best surprise!"
He puts a hand on the cardboard box to steady it as Auri gently lifts the golden case, and then he puts the cardboard box aside.
"This is so beautiful," Auri murmurs, tracing the inlaid crystals with a reverent finger. She can tell it's old, highly valued, perhaps an heirloom. "Where did it come from?"
Prowl falters. Auri looks up at him and finds him looking abashed with his mouth silently but partially open.
"What, sweet Prowl?" she asks, curious to know what's tripped him up.
"I… I… didn't even… think…"
"Think of what?" she prompts with a loving smile when he falters again.
He looks down with shame as his cheeks heat up. "I told you about hundreds of Praxians customs and things, and I… forgot this one."
Optics twinkling, Auri presses her free fingers over her lips to hold back a sympathetic giggle. Her poor mech! Abashed by traditions and customs, again. Praxian tradition and custom were completely missing from Auri's life until Prowl, and he always took his duties so seriously, feeling required to pass on the knowledge of every Praxian thing. Forgetting to enlighten on the custom of so significant a thing as a betrothal… must feel like quite a failing to Prowl.
Auri realizes this in a moment and tucks her mirth away.
"Sweet Prowl," she says, leaning forward to kiss his bowed helm. "What better time to tell me about this custom than now? You know I love learning things as I go."
"I should have told you beforehand…" he says, his voice quiet as he halfway lifts his helm, coaxed by her nuzzles.
"It's okay, Prowl," she encourages, putting her hand to his cheek. He meets her optics.
"I wanted to make this perfect for you… and I overlooked… that," he says softly, still looking ashamed but determined to go on.
Auri sets the box aside and cuddles her mech, giving him a gentle kiss. "I couldn't think of anything more perfect that finding a surprise box and having you tell me something delightful about it. If something involves you, sweet spark, I will be happy with it. I don't need things all fancy or traditions met to the very letter. I just want you, my sweet silly perfectionist."
This elicits a soft rueful chuckle from Prowl's chest, and he shifts a wing as he forgives himself.
"That's better," Auri says, smiling up at him. An answering smile touches his face, and his optics sparkle softly again, comforted by her reassuring acceptance and devotion. He hasn't failed. She kisses him again. "Now tell me about this box," she prompts with a twinkling optics, taking up the box and cuddling against Prowl's side. "And then we can do the custom things, and I can kiss you as much as we like."