A/N: This takes place between chapters 11 and 12 of my Jazzprowl fic Iridescent but you don't have to read that for this to make sense. BTW I made Red Alert non-binary and Bluestreak a transgirl. Xxxxxx


As their alarm wailed, Red Alert felt a rise of panic as they woke up without the familiar feeling of Inferno's strong arms wrapped around them. Before they could allow their thoughts to spiral, Red checked the calendar that they had mounted to the wall.

Usually on this day of the week, Inferno would be finishing the nightshift monitor duty, giving the pair a moment to appreciate each other's company before Red Alert took over for the day shift.

But as the calendar reminded them, this morning they were meeting up with Prowl the first session of Inferno's new Chess Club.

The fire truck could deny it all he liked, but Red Alert knew that he had come up with the ideas as a way to help them make friends.

Unfortunately Red Alert would have to admit, that they were a bit lacking in the friends department.

Sure they had their mandatory check ins with Rung and Ratchet but that wasn't the same. Inferno was the sweetest bot on the planet so of course he had plenty of friends. And Red wanted him to enjoy spending time with those friends without having to worry about them being left on their own. Plus It wasn't fair to Inferno to put all their emotional baggage onto him. Therefore as much as changing their routine could freak them out, Red Alert knew that making some friends would be the best for the both of them.

Or he's finally fed up of dealing with your glitch and is trying to pawn you on to someone else.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Red Alert mumbled, ignoring their reflection in the mirror, as they walked past it to grab their morning medication.

If they could go to their therapy sessions for Inferno and take their medication for Inferno and be willing to die for Inferno, then they could try going to at least one of his chess club games for him.

Red Alert cringed at the wave of nausea as they uploaded the medication directly into their wrist port. They hated having to be reliant on the stupid things but as Inferno liked to remind them, everyone also had to clean their denta every day just as everyone had to eat a morning meal every day and got to bed every night too. So it was just another step to their daily routine to take the medication as well. No matter the momentary discomfort.

Plus the last time they'd been off their meds, the voices in their head convinced them that everyone had betrayed them, even Inferno, causing them to nearly team up with Starscream! So they were willing to put up with anything to avoid a repeat of that.

Checking the time on their internal clock, they filled up a cube of energon from their personal stash and headed for the recreational room.

Now Red Alert knew that it was near impossible that the energon in the rec room was poisoned, especially with all the security checks they had personally put in place. But as all their personal supply had been pre-checked they knew that their own was one hundred percent safe. Therefore it was one less thing for their glitch to worry about, so hopefully they could focus on trying to enjoy the game.

Red Alert had ensured that only them and Prowl would free right now. With the morning shift not due to start for another hour, everyone else was either working the night shift or still in recharge. So as they entered the rec room, they were momentarily panicked to see that Prowl was not alone. Before Red's glitch could spiral, they recognised the other person as Bluestreak.

Now Red Alert had made sure to review every last detail about everyone in the Autobot army, so they knew all about how Prowl had become guardian of the young bot after the destruction of Praxus.

Red had theorised why the head of tactics had agreed to join the club considering that Prowl the only person in the army more anti-social than themselves, with theories ranging from him secretly being a Deception spy to alternative universe doppelganger. But now all the pieces fell into place.

Prowl was doing this for Bluestreak. Just like how Red Alert was doing this for Inferno.

Although they if they really felt like being honest, then they were both also doing it for themselves.

"See you later!" Bluestreak called out as she raced off to their post with far too much energy for this time in the morning.

Red Alert gave them a polite nod in return before setting up the chess board that they'd brought with them on the table.

Again, Red Alert knew that it was highly unlikely that Prowl would not have tampered with the communal set. But with them trying something new, Red felt the need to be as in control as possible to stop them from spiralling about the situation. Sure It was an overly paranoid precaution. But it was also a mechanism that helped them cope and right now, keeping themselves calm was the most important thing.

After exchanging good morning greetings, the pair got straight into the match.

Red Alert was pleasantly surprised to find that Prowl was actually a challenge.

Inferno had improved a lot over the many years that they had been playing chess together, but unless Red Alert lost on purpose then they would always win. So it was a little exhilarating to play an equal opponent.

The pair exchanged little small talk, instead preferring to focus on the game. But that in of itself told Red Alert that the two of them probably had more in common than they initially realised. Maybe one day, after many more games, Red would hopefully feel comfortable enough to share these thoughts.

They played for the hour that they had allotted when people started to shuffle into the recreation room still half asleep for their morning shift or trying to catch an extra bit of socialisation before turning in for the night.

Red Alert knew that they would both prefer to continue their match next week then to keep playing when surrounded by a crowd.

Red took note of the positions of all the peices. They then asked Prowl if he wanted a copy but he shook his head.

"I trust you." The head tactician stated.

Red Alert couldn't begin to describe how happy that simple statement made them. As head of security, people trusted them to protect them all from Decepticon attacks. But nobody ever trusted them with anything personal.

Red headed off to the monitor room with a skip in their step, for once the voice in their head kept from making any snide remarks.

They opened the door to find Inferno already standing to attention.

They knew that the fire truck wanted to rush over to welcome them with a hug, but as ever he remained the picture of professionalism whilst on duty. Which was on the many reasons Red fell in love with him all those years ago, back when the pair were simple firefighters working at the same station, before the war turned them into soldiers.

"Nothing to report Commander." Inferno stated.

"Thank you Officer. You are dismissed." Red Alert told him.

No longer on duty, Inferno squeezed their elbow as he slipped through the door.

"I'm glad you had a good time." Inferno smiled, having no doubt felt the joy radiating through their conjunx bond.

Red Alert allowed themselves a smile in return before heading over to the console.

As soon as they logged on, they started checking through all of the Ark's security cameras, already coming up with new ideas of how to best cover any potential blind spots.

Because for as much as their glitch often made it difficult, all Red Alert ever wanted to do was help people. It was why they became a firefighter and then an Autobot and then a Commander as the Head of Security. And although sometimes they found it hard to help themselves, there was nothing that they wouldn't do to help others. So if meeting up to play chess once a week helped Inferno and Prowl, then Red would gladly do it.

The fact that it made them happy too was just a bonus.


A/N: As I mentioned, I had originally intended this to be the next chapter of Iridescent, but in the end I didn't want this to be the only chapter not from Jazz or Prowl's POV so I decided to make it, it's own thing. I hope you guys enjoyed it and let me know if you'd like any more side stories from other character's POV in this story! Xxxxxxx