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The strong winds and thundering ocean waves called many seekers that day, a storm unlike any they knew approaching the oceanic city of Xenogen. Humans regarded hurricanes as the most deadly natural weather phenomenon and Wing could feel why, whipped around like a sparkling’s toy batted across a freshly polished floor. All he could do: correct and stabilize.
Optimus Prime kept on standby with a team to rescue any of the seekers that may plunge into the churning sea. Wing appreciated the protection, but it made many seekers reckless and already Optimus pulled three from the waves just before delicate wings were smashed among rocks. The good leader didn’t understand the need for this, but knew better than to deny a fleet of excited seekers their pleasures.
Wing swooped just a bit lower, angling to get a better catch on the next gust, stalling engines to ride it before dropping into a spiral. A pang of worry struck him in the spark and he pulled up sooner than he liked, but the worry originated outside his own mind. The strange connection they experienced leached into each other on occasion. As of late it grew stronger and stronger.
Drift looked on his dancing with fear he would lose Wing. He didn’t show it, looked irked Optimus even asked him to be there, but that bot would dive into the sea himself to help any of these seekers. Especially with the last few days of constantly more dangerous aerial stunts Wing had been pulling in front of him. Drift hated when he showed off like that; he already knew Wing’s skill.
Wing outlasted the last swell of wind and spiraled down to catch the edge of the great walls surrounding the city and felt two familiar dark grey hands take his and pull him up with ease. Wing offered a smile and gripped his hands with an affectionate squeeze before letting go. Drift disliked public affection, stating he didn’t want to share their love with the world, but Wing found he couldn’t help himself. His wings rattled together, a soft affection that Drift never caught onto.
Drift pulled away a bit and glared at Wing, wondering why the clingy nature of his decided to show itself in front of Optimus of all bots. And there was that wing rattling again. He’d never understand that wing rattling, but crossed his arms and snorted softly.
Optimus, no fool to the small affections between the two swordsmechs, came over and patted their shoulders. “Why don’t you both go back to the Nest and make sure all the lower shutters are secure? Then hole up.” Optimus paused as Wing stepped away and leaned to whisper to Drift. “Good luck, Drift.” With a pat on the shoulder and a curiously bright smile, Drift nodded numbly and went off to follow his partner.
Wing transforming on the inside of the wall and flying along the edge. Drift ran along the edge and once they hit the closest portion to the Seeker’s Nest, he jumped feet forward and fell. Wing came up under him and caught his partner. A ‘jet judo’ of sorts, but more just Wing giving him a ride home. Flying always unnerved him, but Drift trusted Wing.
“That’s the last panel.” Drift called, Wing running over to hug him under the arms from behind and flying them into the building before spiraling up the column. Drift clung to the white arms around his torso, stunned by the sudden take off and wondering what got into Wing.
When they got to their room Drift found himself slung over Wing’s back and being hauled off to Wing’s berthroom like a hunted deer. “Wing! What the Pit?!” Wing offered no explanation and Drift growled, starting to actually fight him off. Despite him even going so far as to grab at sensitive wings and winglets, Wing just grunted pain and continued to walk.
The fighting stopped when Wing deposited Drift onto a pile of what he could only describe as clouds. The soft fluff looked like the inside of the stuffed animals Whirl tore apart as stress relief. He picked up a handful of the stuff, trying to decide what the fibers consisted of but a heavy seeker tackled into him.
“I’m sorry it’s not done yet.” Wing hummed, flitting his winglets and making quiet trills against Drift’s neck. “I didn’t have time with the storm coming.”
Drift allowed the nuzzling for a bit before pushing the seeker back into the fluff, a poof of it floating up. “What is it that you’ve made? Because it looks like a mess.” As he felt around in the fluff, he found pieces of fabric and a berth pad much larger than Wing’s and even Wing’s berth padding against the corner the nest was constructed in. Nest?! Drift startled, glancing at Wing who preened at the edges, clearly discontented with the… ‘Nest’ as a whole.
Wing came over to nuzzle into his side and trilled again, mouthing at the edge of his chest armor just the way Drift liked, squeaking in surprise as grey hands shoved him away. Hurt flashed in golden eyes and Wing’s winglets sagged. “Do you not like it? I couldn’t find the fluff in grey or black.” He looked down with such guilt and sorrow Drift couldn’t just get up and walk away. This was something Wing put time into, and now he set determination to getting out of the crazy seeker’s grasp to figuring out what was prompting the crazy behavior.
“I’m not even sure what it is, Wing. I get the feeling this is some seeker thing, but remember: I’m not a seeker.” Drift pointed out, voice dryer than he desired to sound but patience ran thin with Wing occasionally. Especially with the stunts he pulled lately.
“I… Oh. Oh my Primus.” Wing put a hand to his face and embarrassment rose sharply into his optics and before Drift could say another word Wing was up and backing toward the door, embarrassment fading to pain and disappointment. “I… I’m sorry I’ll just… Sorry!” He called, their quarters’ door shutting.
Drift’s bewilderment skyrocketed, and spotting Wing’s datapad moved to grab it and cue up Soundwave’s database searching module. He put in ‘seeker, nest’ and instantly several medical articles and a few romance stories came up under the database header ‘Seeker Behavior.’ Scrolling through and selecting a few articles to skim, Drift realized he just stabbed Wing in the spark with his simple clarification that he was not a seeker.
It was a nest, and Wing intended for them to share that nest. Wing also probably intended them to bond. The idea made Drift’s spark jump in its casing, happy with the idea and elated Wing finally decided Drift changed enough for them to stay together.
“Idiot!” Drift snapped, smacking himself in the forehead and leaving the datapad in the fluff, carefully picking his way out of it before running after Wing. This wasn’t the first time their difference in cultures led them to conflict, but it was the most jeopardizing so far.
Drift carefully reached out with the strange pseudo-bond they had when in close enough range and found a distant ping on the roof. He ran to the elevator in the Atrium of the nest and just about tapped a hole in the floor waiting for it to crest the top. A whole two minute ride; it felt like two eons.
When it finally got to the peak of the Seeker Nest, he instinctively flattened down as wind battered his plating with stinging drops of rain. Magnetizing his feet to the metal struts of the roof supports, he picked his way out and screamed Wing’s name. No answer. Panic, worry, guilt surged through him and he turned to look around the back side of the elevator tower, figuring he’d hide. Sure enough in the little service room there was a white figure with wings pinned in complete show of despair.
Upon spotting Drift, Wing began to panic and scrabble along the bottom of the rain-slicked space, made more for smaller bots to service the elevator than to shelter from a storm but Drift shot him a freezing stare before squeezing in with him.
“Wing.”
“I’m sorry! I said sorry! What else do you want, Drift!” Wing wasn’t in tears but his eyes were glassy, holding them back.
“Wing…” Drift said more gently, grey hands taking white ones and squeezing just as Wing did earlier. “Wing, I just didn’t understand.” A sharp crack of thunder made them press together. “Look, we need to talk about this. Now. But not here.”
Wing stared suspiciously for a moment before relenting and leaving the shelter, both mechs fighting the wind to the elevator. Once inside, Drift took out a slightly-less-damp polishing cloth and used it for a substitute towel. He dried up Wing’s face, then went over his arms.
Drift took Wing’s hand and led him back home, shutting the door and pointedly putting an end table with a silly flower arrangement on it in front. “No running off.” Drift demanded, and Wing just nodded and shuffled over.
“I forgot.”
“I know.”
“You’re just… Your spirit is like a seeker’s.”
Drift paused. “My spark reflects your own.” Wing glanced up as Drift carefully picked him up, carrying him back to the nest.
Wing looked at the data pad and quizzically picked it up with a tilt of his head. Even upset, that curiosity couldn’t behave. He flushed with warmth and shrunk away. “So you figured it out?”
“If you wanted to bond you could have said something.”
“Seekers show more than say.” Wing mustered the courage to raise his wings and flutter them together, making the soft clattering sound. “I’ve been trying to tell you. I guess I should have just said something.”
“I should have picked up on it too, Wing.” Drift brought him closer letting the mech lean into his chest. Wing nestled right up into him and Drift chuckled softly. “I take it that you forgive me?”
“Mhmm.” Wing purred and began nibbling at his chest plates again. “It’s partly code. We have food and shelter and good space. And partly because I noticed you so happy here, and I’m so happy here. It just felt like the right time.”
Drift shifted to pull wing onto his lap, chest to chest. Both mechs felt their sparks call to each other, as they had for so long but both denied the final step in this pseudo-bond. “I love you so much Wing.” He leaned to kiss Wing’s forehead and carefully rubbed wings in places he pinched earlier. “And I do love the nest. It’s very soft. But one thing concerns me.”
Wing felt the question, or perhaps expected it and looked down. “I’ve removed my spark’s inhibitor crystal.” Almost a whisper, Wing refused to look at shocked blue eyes. “If you don’t want to risk it then keep your inhibitor in but I wouldn’t mind.” A coy smile crossed his face. “You expressed to me a few times the idea of a sparkling running around would be fun.”
Drift just stared for several moments before letting out a long sigh. “Wing, you’d be the best creator a sparkling could ask for, but am I ready for that? Am I good enough a role model for a little one?”
Wing grunted stubbornly and nodded. “Stop selling yourself short! You’d be a wonderful sire.” Sire? So Wing wants to… Drift concluded, chuckling softly at the idea. “What?” Wing smiled and poked his side.
“You. Seekers have a hard time flying after so far into a carrying cycle. I can’t see you dealing well with that.” Drift was poked again and he caught Wing’s hands, leaning in to kiss him before Wing could contest a reason why he’d be fine. “I’m joking, Wing.”
Wing paused and smiled. With soft clicking his chest plates folded back, wings raising to show off the blue glow of his spark on their polished surfaces. More beautiful than Drift could imagine.
Drift followed suit, chest splitting over with a soft groan of gears. So long since he bared his spark to another, refusing even medical checkups. Not nearly as bright and pure as Wing’s, but Wing seemed equally enraptured by Drift’s spark.
He waited for Wing to make the first move, letting the white seeker lean to finally let the outer edge of spark energy meet. A different kind of pleasure than interfacing like usual, another layer of intimacy into this, and a whole new way for Drift to feel closer to Wing. The closer his partner leaned in the more energy was passed between them. It hit them both like a punch, a sudden wash of strong emotions from both. Drift passed a need-love-bond-caring-nervous-unsure wave while Wing pushed a need-love-bond-caring-safe-wanted wave back. Drift relaxed under him, a sort of submission in Wing’s reassurance.
The soft brush of spark casing to spark casing sent rivulets of raw emotion, stronger than the close bond but as Wing hesitated, Drift managed to wrap his arms around his partner’s back, pulling him close and together they held on as primal euphoria stripped them down to just their deepest inner emotions, baring more than their weakest physical points but their mental ones as well. Drift’s secret raging guilt, Wing’s nagging fear that Drift would still try to run, but Drift’s spark was much darker. Secrets of his past he never spoke about flew through Wing’s processor. Drift waited for the feeling of disappointment or anger, maybe even fear.
Wing saw that as well, and felt nothing but sympathy for Drift, washing over him with a love that made his own rise up. There was a tidal wave of powerful energy from the combined identical emotions, swelling the feeling of warm pleasure up to an inferno that should have blown circuits. The wave crashed over them, and they slipped to a forced recharge to weather the storm of energy.