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ajremixThought I posted this earlier. Guess not...
Title: You and I Collide: Change Up
Fandom: Transformers
Rating: PG-13 for talks of intimacy
Word Count: 3093
Characters: Fireflight, Topspin, Scoop
Summary: Repost co-write with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ianam1983. Things are going right where it usually goes left.
The comm beeped insistently. Skydive tilted his head to listen to the message, then sighed and glanced at his wingmate sitting next to him. "Flight, they need me for a quick fly-round, Raid's still out of it. You want me to walk you out of here?"
A little annoyed and yet touched that his brothers were always so protective of him in particular (especially with a certain romance that had started lately and had them all nervous), Fireflight shook his head. "Nah, I'll be alright. Hardly anyone here, I'll just finish my cube and go play a game or something." More likely, he'd end up staring at the patterns on the screen and paying little or no attention to an actual game, but neither of them mentioned that.
"Alright." Skydive stood up. "But comm us if you need-"
"Anything, I know. Bolt told me the same thing. Twice." Flight waved a hand as he reached for his cube again. "I'm good."
He seems mellow today, the air strategist couldn't help but note. Almost like his old self, really. The reconciliation with Slingshot seemed to have lifted a burden from his shoulders -- a bigger one, perhaps, than Sandstorm himself posed.
Skydive was just making to leave when he spied two of the Wreckers walking in. For a brief moment he hesitated, almost asked if Flight was sure he didn't want to go with him. But then he chided himself. Sandstorm's reputation aside, there was no reason to think that any of the Wreckers would hurt Flight -- especially at the risk of angering their teammate (not to mention four, no five, other Aerialbots). He forced himself to relax, and drop the overprotective-big-brother routine; he merely nodded politely to Topspin and Scoop as he made his way out.
They nodded in return, more out of reflex than anything else. It only took a nano-klik to realize it was Skydive and- with a quick mental tally –that made all Aerialbot accounted for indisposed except for-
Haha, speak of the mech!
The two Wreckers didn’t exchange any glances or signals, just smoothly altered their course towards where Fireflight was sitting, splitting up so they moved to either side of the jet. “Heya, Flight!” Topspin said, plopping himself down next to him.
“Mind if we join you?” Scoop asked, even as he already took his own seat. They’d been trying to figure out a way to get Fireflight on his own but they certainly didn’t think they’d get their chance so soon.
"Umm, yeah... I mean no... go ahead." A bit puzzled (but that was a familiar enough feeling not to give it a second thought), Fireflight scooted a bit to make room for Spin. He wondered if he ought to scoot further away, but like Skydive, he really couldn't think of a reason to see the Wreckers as a threat. Now he just had to get past his awkward people skills. "Um, what's up?"
The two gave Fireflight their biggest, friendliest smiles. And as Scoop and Topspin were the most personable of the Wreckers, it was far from difficult “Nothing, really. You just look like as good a place as any to spend our off-hours.”
“Besides, we never really get to hang out and since we’re here we might as well make friends.”
“Yeah. Air Raid can’t be the only fun one in your group- er, sorry ‘bout the other night. Me and Twist didn’t realize how strong that batch was.”
Sitting in between Topspin and Scoop was like being the ball in a tennis match. Fireflight’s attention kept bouncing from one side to the other. But at least the bit with Raid finally sunk in.
"Er, that's okay. Don't worry about it. He's gotten himself more messed up -- without help, I mean." Talking to these two was fairly easy, he noted with relief. They were much like Sandstorm in a lot of ways -- except that they didn't make his Spark flutter in that way that was both distracting and delicious. Just thinking about it made his systems warm up a little. "So what makes you want to hang out with me? Not that I mind, but I'm not as much fun as Raider is."
“Well, you are at the moment.” Scoop said with a wicked grin he directed at Topspin.
The medic looked indignant. “Yes- everyone knows, we got him way too overenergized, we apologize, won’t happen again, blahblahblah.”
“The best part was,” Scoop said mildly, cupping his chin in his hand, “when Springer made the two of you apologize for stealing from Whirl’s stash and then turned around and berated Whirl for bringing his heavy mixes with him.” Even if Springer had indulged in it himself (which, of course, leant for a fairly light scolding).
“At least a good time was had by all. Up until, ya know, when it stopped.” Topspin gave Fireflight a little nudge with his elbow. “I’m surprised Sandy missed you last night.”
"Huh... what do you mean?" The Aerialbot blinked.
“He was kinda miffed you didn’t stick around.” Topspin said with a shrug. “He left the party kinda early himself. Figured he went to find you except he spent the night in his own quarters.”
Scoop leaned against the table with a little leer. “He was probably jealous you and Twist had a jet to molest. There’s only so much a mech can stand watching you two tease someone before they wanna boot you into the closest room just so you can get it over with.”
Topspin put a hand to his chest, as if the very idea was offensive. “I protest that accusation on the grounds that Air Raid was not in the proper frame of mind to enjoy us! What’s the point in wooing- and the subsequent after-wooing fun –if they can’t remember it properly afterwards?”
Fireflight followed this exchange with only slightly less bewilderment than before. Oh, he knew what they were talking about -- he wasn't stupid, if frequently clueless. What bothered him more was that he couldn't figure out Sandstorm's behavior either. "Wait... guys, wait. Did he say anything? Sandstorm, I mean. About why he didn't, um, follow me?"
He got some shrugs in reply. “Don’t know, didn’t really talk to him.”
“Air Raid did say you were with Slingshot, though.” Scoop said. “Sandstorm probably didn’t want to bug you after what happened last time.” He leaned toward the Aerialbot a little with a curious expression. “Sandy isn’t hurting your friendship with Slingshot, is he?”
"Sandy isn't hurting anything!" he responded, perhaps a little too quickly. Hunching in embarrassment, he went on, "Not on purpose. Sling's... jealous, kinda. Possessive. I think he'll be okay now. We... sorta made up last night."
The little outburst had the two Wreckers pulling back slightly. They didn’t exchange glances, but they knew what the other was thinking. “That’s good to know.” Topspin commented, bracing his chin in hand. “So everything’s okay with Sandy, then? Don’t take this the wrong way, but we were kinda surprised he stayed with you two nights in a row like that.”
The jet was pretty sure he knew what they meant. "Well, I thought it was okay," he said, a little peeved and worried now. "But if he was mad because I left... I'd better talk to him." He looked plaintively at the other two. "Is he off duty?"
“Mad?” Scoop canted his head. “I wouldn’t say mad. Probably more disappointed.”
“Who wouldn’t be if they didn’t get to see that beautiful smile everyday?”
“Topspin. Off limits.”
“Aw, I wasn’t even trying! I’m just being honest!” Topspin grabbed Fireflight’s shoulders, making him turn more towards Scoop. “You can’t honestly tell me he doesn’t have a great smile.”
The shovel tried to force back his own grin, but there was no stopping it when the irrepressible medic was around. “Okay, he does. But still.”
“I’ll bet you,” Topspin continued draping his head on Fireflight’s shoulder, “Sandy’s always trying to get that big, bright smile out, isn’t he?”
If robots could blush, Fireflight's face would be as red as his body. As it was, he was too embarrassed to speak... but the smile broke out on its own. He was so mortified he actually tried to cover it with his hand. I'm beginning to see why Sandstorm wears a mask... he thought.
“See? Lookit that! Who wouldn’t want to see that all the time?”
“Alright, alright, stop that!” Scoop chided, leaning in to whap Topspin away. “You’re gonna overheat him if you keep that up!” He gave Fireflight a bright smile of his own. “Besides- if Sandstorm wasn’t taking care of him, we would’ve heard about it by now, right?”
The jet gave a nervous little laugh. "Well, my team takes care of me, actually. Sandstorm doesn't have to. But... he's good to me, if that's what you mean."
“Good? That’s it?” Topspin tutted. “And he always goes on about how amazing he is, too! C’mon, Flight.” Topspin nudged with a dirty grin. “If you don’t have any hot gossip about him, we don’t mind sharing some of our own.”
"Oh, Primus." Flight buried his face in his hands. "I don't mean like that. I meant he's nice to me." This is worse than talking to Air Raid.
“I’m sure what Topspin means,” Scoop shot a look at the other Wrecker, “is that we’re glad others see that Sandstorm isn’t just what all the rumors say. Sure, he’s far from perfect, but he hasn’t done any of us wrong. He’s a lot of fun, has a knack of finding the neatest stuff anywhere, is just really attentive and he’s always trying to get the best for us. Just to keep us at ease.”
“In short- he spoils us rotten.” Topspin shook his head. “I can’t recall how we got through the day without half the stuff he managed to secure for us. He’s made life a lot easier on the Wreckers, I tell ya.”
Fireflight's face lit up, and one could see his relief that someone else saw a friend in Sandstorm. "Yeah, he's really great to talk to. You guys are lucky to work with him. Just being around him makes me feel... amazing."
Ah, this was what they were looking for. “Yeah? Well, we won’t deny that. We don’t really get why he tries to put up this tough front all the time. He’s a big softie at spark.” The blue and white mech smiled encouragingly. “It’s nice to know he can’t fool everyone. What’s he do? I know he’s got an affectionate streak he tries to hide.”
"Really? He didn't try to hide it from me. He was flirting, but he was... sweet about it." A faint, dreamy smile found its way to his face. "Like he was trying not to hurt me. Which was kind of odd, because I wasn't afraid of him, but it was almost like he expected me to be. I've been thinking about it a lot since. He honestly seemed more nervous than me, but I'm sure he's more experienced, so I don't know why." He gave them a half-questioning look, wondering if they had any insight.
This time Scoop and Topspin actually did exchange glances. They knew this wasn’t Sandstorm’s standard modus operandi, but that was a lot different than what they were expecting. They’d seen Sandstorm pull off a variety of roles to get into someone’s berth for a night, but never vulnerable. He didn’t do vulnerable. He didn’t even do vulnerable when he was and it took some reading between the lines for the other Wreckers to recognize those moments.
“Really?” Scoop couldn’t help blurting out. “That’s…” ‘unexpected’ or ‘new’ probably wouldn’t be what Fireflight wanted to hear and as he floundered, he looked to Topspin for help.
“Well, you know how rumors are.” Topspin injected smoothly. “A lot of the ones surrounding him are hardly flattering. I wouldn’t blame him from worrying how much of that you might believe.” Not that Sandstorm didn’t deserve a lot of the things said about him, but that was a different matter. And Topspin would bet, given the chance, Fireflight could see as well as any Wrecker how much of that Sandstorm forced on himself.
Sure enough, the jet nodded. "Oh, I don't believe it much. At least, not for the reasons I've heard. He might've done some things, made some dumb mistakes, but he's not a bad person." Again -- for the hundredth time -- he found himself going over the events of their time together, analyzing them. "He doesn't want to hurt anybody. Actually, he acts like he's more worried about being hurt. Like when Slingshot gets mad, it's usually because he's protecting himself from something. I think that's why he was so nervous at first."
This… was not what they were expecting and the two were exchanging significant looks and flustered hand signals without Fireflight noticing, trying to figure out what the hell they were supposed to do now. Springer had wanted them to gauge how Sandstorm was treating Fireflight, how Fireflight felt being in this situation. They sure as hell didn’t expect Fireflight to recognize the heavily guarded weaknesses in the triplechanger in a few scant days. Especially when it took them a damn lot longer to understand those quirks themselves.
So what were they supposed to do? Obviously Fireflight wasn’t in need of any reassurance or was being mistreated in any way. Should they share their speculations on why Sandstorm was the way he was? Even if he didn’t care about the random mudslinging about him, thoughts about his past and how he acts always got him in a volatile mood.
Topspin decided it would probably be best switching out the subject all together. And Topspin, being Topspin, took it in a decidedly more risqué direction. “You just need to loosen him up some. He’s not the most experimental, sure,” but when you’re Topspin, it’s hard to find anyone willing to be just as adventurous, “but all you need to know are a couple key weak points.” Topspin leered from under his visor. “Once you get him riled up enough, there’s no stopping him until he wears himself out.”
Scoop groaned out loud. Flight, however, was getting used to the jumpstarter now and slowly smiled back. He leaned forward a little, his shyness slipping away under the pressure of an Aerialbot's thirst for gossip and his own curiosity. "I, uh, don't suppose you could help me out with that? I wasn't sure I was doing things right, you know, that first time."
Topspin slapped his hands together and rubbed them in excitement, a grin nearly covering up the bottom half of his face. On Fireflight’s other side, Scoop couldn’t help but shake his head with a chuckle. “Oh boy. Here we go.”
“If you really want to know all of Sandy’s little weaknesses, you should ask RB. He has this wonderful little hobby about going over every inch on a mech with various strokes and pressures just to see how we react.” Topspin gave a little involuntary shiver at the memory. “But some of his major hot spots are around the hinges on his back. It’s a lot easier to access when he’s in altmode, but I think your hands are small enough to really get up in there.”
“The back of the neck.” Scoop piped in. “Also really sensitive.”
“Oh yes. Run a hand over his neck like this and he’ll be crawling in your lap like a giant metal cat.” Topspin said as he scrapped two fingers up Fireflight’s neck from under the neck ring all the way up to the base of his helmet.
“The wings and stabilizers, of course. The joints on his arms and legs tend to be more ticklish for him then a turn on, so you’ll want to be careful.”
“Yeah. He’s crushed some unsuspecting fingers by accident that way.”
Scoop snapped his fingers, expression twisted in an attempt to remember something just beyond recall. “What was it Broadside did last time that got him to whine?”
“Oh, right! That was a hot little noise- what was it he did, no one gets to do it that much…” Topspin slapped the table victoriously. “His undercarriage. That’s it.”
Fireflight looked back and forth, absorbing it all wide-eyed. "Okay, wait," he blurted finally. "Slow down a second. Ah, wingjoints, back of the neck," he looked pointedly at Topspin, "undercarriage... what else? Something on his back?"
“The hinges where his fore section attaches to his back.” The medic explained. “Hard to get to when he’s in biped mode, but still real sensitive. Of course, mess around in that general area when he’s transformed and you get all the delicate sensor panels on top of the hypersensitive hinge joint. Drives him wild.”
The jet nodded, still looking a bit dazzled, trying to concentrate. "Okay. Where his fore joins his back... I'll have to try to remember. Anything else I should know about?" He had never asked a stranger for intimate advice before, nor listened so intently, but he wanted to be sure to give Sandstorm everything he could.
“I think that’s pretty much it, right?”
“More or less.”
“He’s kinda sensitive ‘bout removing his battlemask for whatever reason, though. So I guess so long as you don’t bring that up or try to press him on his past, you’re in the clear.”
“We don’t really care what he used to do so we never ask, but we know he doesn’t like to talk about it. He’s,” Scoop cut himself off before he could say ‘kicked others to the curb over it’, “kinda defensive about it.”
Fireflight frowned, started to say something, then decided against it. Sandstorm's particular concession in his case was something he wanted to keep to himself. It was sort of a cozy little secret, and besides, he didn't think Sandy wanted it advertised to the other Wreckers. He nodded complacently. "Alright. I'll... leave him alone about that." He smiled. "Thanks, guys."
They smiled in return. Primus, they really hoped Sandstorm wouldn’t ruin such a sweet mech. “No problem. Always ready to help out a fellow Autobot in need.”
“Especially one of our own. Trust us, Sandstorm could use some relaxation. Oh and- just between us,” Topspin looked around behind leaning in close to whisper to Fireflight, “try to get him to sing sometime. He only does it when he thinks we can’t hear him but believe me. You don’t wanna miss out on it.”
Title: You and I Collide: Change Up
Fandom: Transformers
Rating: PG-13 for talks of intimacy
Word Count: 3093
Characters: Fireflight, Topspin, Scoop
Summary: Repost co-write with
ianam1983. Things are going right where it usually goes left.The comm beeped insistently. Skydive tilted his head to listen to the message, then sighed and glanced at his wingmate sitting next to him. "Flight, they need me for a quick fly-round, Raid's still out of it. You want me to walk you out of here?"
A little annoyed and yet touched that his brothers were always so protective of him in particular (especially with a certain romance that had started lately and had them all nervous), Fireflight shook his head. "Nah, I'll be alright. Hardly anyone here, I'll just finish my cube and go play a game or something." More likely, he'd end up staring at the patterns on the screen and paying little or no attention to an actual game, but neither of them mentioned that.
"Alright." Skydive stood up. "But comm us if you need-"
"Anything, I know. Bolt told me the same thing. Twice." Flight waved a hand as he reached for his cube again. "I'm good."
He seems mellow today, the air strategist couldn't help but note. Almost like his old self, really. The reconciliation with Slingshot seemed to have lifted a burden from his shoulders -- a bigger one, perhaps, than Sandstorm himself posed.
Skydive was just making to leave when he spied two of the Wreckers walking in. For a brief moment he hesitated, almost asked if Flight was sure he didn't want to go with him. But then he chided himself. Sandstorm's reputation aside, there was no reason to think that any of the Wreckers would hurt Flight -- especially at the risk of angering their teammate (not to mention four, no five, other Aerialbots). He forced himself to relax, and drop the overprotective-big-brother routine; he merely nodded politely to Topspin and Scoop as he made his way out.
They nodded in return, more out of reflex than anything else. It only took a nano-klik to realize it was Skydive and- with a quick mental tally –that made all Aerialbot accounted for indisposed except for-
Haha, speak of the mech!
The two Wreckers didn’t exchange any glances or signals, just smoothly altered their course towards where Fireflight was sitting, splitting up so they moved to either side of the jet. “Heya, Flight!” Topspin said, plopping himself down next to him.
“Mind if we join you?” Scoop asked, even as he already took his own seat. They’d been trying to figure out a way to get Fireflight on his own but they certainly didn’t think they’d get their chance so soon.
"Umm, yeah... I mean no... go ahead." A bit puzzled (but that was a familiar enough feeling not to give it a second thought), Fireflight scooted a bit to make room for Spin. He wondered if he ought to scoot further away, but like Skydive, he really couldn't think of a reason to see the Wreckers as a threat. Now he just had to get past his awkward people skills. "Um, what's up?"
The two gave Fireflight their biggest, friendliest smiles. And as Scoop and Topspin were the most personable of the Wreckers, it was far from difficult “Nothing, really. You just look like as good a place as any to spend our off-hours.”
“Besides, we never really get to hang out and since we’re here we might as well make friends.”
“Yeah. Air Raid can’t be the only fun one in your group- er, sorry ‘bout the other night. Me and Twist didn’t realize how strong that batch was.”
Sitting in between Topspin and Scoop was like being the ball in a tennis match. Fireflight’s attention kept bouncing from one side to the other. But at least the bit with Raid finally sunk in.
"Er, that's okay. Don't worry about it. He's gotten himself more messed up -- without help, I mean." Talking to these two was fairly easy, he noted with relief. They were much like Sandstorm in a lot of ways -- except that they didn't make his Spark flutter in that way that was both distracting and delicious. Just thinking about it made his systems warm up a little. "So what makes you want to hang out with me? Not that I mind, but I'm not as much fun as Raider is."
“Well, you are at the moment.” Scoop said with a wicked grin he directed at Topspin.
The medic looked indignant. “Yes- everyone knows, we got him way too overenergized, we apologize, won’t happen again, blahblahblah.”
“The best part was,” Scoop said mildly, cupping his chin in his hand, “when Springer made the two of you apologize for stealing from Whirl’s stash and then turned around and berated Whirl for bringing his heavy mixes with him.” Even if Springer had indulged in it himself (which, of course, leant for a fairly light scolding).
“At least a good time was had by all. Up until, ya know, when it stopped.” Topspin gave Fireflight a little nudge with his elbow. “I’m surprised Sandy missed you last night.”
"Huh... what do you mean?" The Aerialbot blinked.
“He was kinda miffed you didn’t stick around.” Topspin said with a shrug. “He left the party kinda early himself. Figured he went to find you except he spent the night in his own quarters.”
Scoop leaned against the table with a little leer. “He was probably jealous you and Twist had a jet to molest. There’s only so much a mech can stand watching you two tease someone before they wanna boot you into the closest room just so you can get it over with.”
Topspin put a hand to his chest, as if the very idea was offensive. “I protest that accusation on the grounds that Air Raid was not in the proper frame of mind to enjoy us! What’s the point in wooing- and the subsequent after-wooing fun –if they can’t remember it properly afterwards?”
Fireflight followed this exchange with only slightly less bewilderment than before. Oh, he knew what they were talking about -- he wasn't stupid, if frequently clueless. What bothered him more was that he couldn't figure out Sandstorm's behavior either. "Wait... guys, wait. Did he say anything? Sandstorm, I mean. About why he didn't, um, follow me?"
He got some shrugs in reply. “Don’t know, didn’t really talk to him.”
“Air Raid did say you were with Slingshot, though.” Scoop said. “Sandstorm probably didn’t want to bug you after what happened last time.” He leaned toward the Aerialbot a little with a curious expression. “Sandy isn’t hurting your friendship with Slingshot, is he?”
"Sandy isn't hurting anything!" he responded, perhaps a little too quickly. Hunching in embarrassment, he went on, "Not on purpose. Sling's... jealous, kinda. Possessive. I think he'll be okay now. We... sorta made up last night."
The little outburst had the two Wreckers pulling back slightly. They didn’t exchange glances, but they knew what the other was thinking. “That’s good to know.” Topspin commented, bracing his chin in hand. “So everything’s okay with Sandy, then? Don’t take this the wrong way, but we were kinda surprised he stayed with you two nights in a row like that.”
The jet was pretty sure he knew what they meant. "Well, I thought it was okay," he said, a little peeved and worried now. "But if he was mad because I left... I'd better talk to him." He looked plaintively at the other two. "Is he off duty?"
“Mad?” Scoop canted his head. “I wouldn’t say mad. Probably more disappointed.”
“Who wouldn’t be if they didn’t get to see that beautiful smile everyday?”
“Topspin. Off limits.”
“Aw, I wasn’t even trying! I’m just being honest!” Topspin grabbed Fireflight’s shoulders, making him turn more towards Scoop. “You can’t honestly tell me he doesn’t have a great smile.”
The shovel tried to force back his own grin, but there was no stopping it when the irrepressible medic was around. “Okay, he does. But still.”
“I’ll bet you,” Topspin continued draping his head on Fireflight’s shoulder, “Sandy’s always trying to get that big, bright smile out, isn’t he?”
If robots could blush, Fireflight's face would be as red as his body. As it was, he was too embarrassed to speak... but the smile broke out on its own. He was so mortified he actually tried to cover it with his hand. I'm beginning to see why Sandstorm wears a mask... he thought.
“See? Lookit that! Who wouldn’t want to see that all the time?”
“Alright, alright, stop that!” Scoop chided, leaning in to whap Topspin away. “You’re gonna overheat him if you keep that up!” He gave Fireflight a bright smile of his own. “Besides- if Sandstorm wasn’t taking care of him, we would’ve heard about it by now, right?”
The jet gave a nervous little laugh. "Well, my team takes care of me, actually. Sandstorm doesn't have to. But... he's good to me, if that's what you mean."
“Good? That’s it?” Topspin tutted. “And he always goes on about how amazing he is, too! C’mon, Flight.” Topspin nudged with a dirty grin. “If you don’t have any hot gossip about him, we don’t mind sharing some of our own.”
"Oh, Primus." Flight buried his face in his hands. "I don't mean like that. I meant he's nice to me." This is worse than talking to Air Raid.
“I’m sure what Topspin means,” Scoop shot a look at the other Wrecker, “is that we’re glad others see that Sandstorm isn’t just what all the rumors say. Sure, he’s far from perfect, but he hasn’t done any of us wrong. He’s a lot of fun, has a knack of finding the neatest stuff anywhere, is just really attentive and he’s always trying to get the best for us. Just to keep us at ease.”
“In short- he spoils us rotten.” Topspin shook his head. “I can’t recall how we got through the day without half the stuff he managed to secure for us. He’s made life a lot easier on the Wreckers, I tell ya.”
Fireflight's face lit up, and one could see his relief that someone else saw a friend in Sandstorm. "Yeah, he's really great to talk to. You guys are lucky to work with him. Just being around him makes me feel... amazing."
Ah, this was what they were looking for. “Yeah? Well, we won’t deny that. We don’t really get why he tries to put up this tough front all the time. He’s a big softie at spark.” The blue and white mech smiled encouragingly. “It’s nice to know he can’t fool everyone. What’s he do? I know he’s got an affectionate streak he tries to hide.”
"Really? He didn't try to hide it from me. He was flirting, but he was... sweet about it." A faint, dreamy smile found its way to his face. "Like he was trying not to hurt me. Which was kind of odd, because I wasn't afraid of him, but it was almost like he expected me to be. I've been thinking about it a lot since. He honestly seemed more nervous than me, but I'm sure he's more experienced, so I don't know why." He gave them a half-questioning look, wondering if they had any insight.
This time Scoop and Topspin actually did exchange glances. They knew this wasn’t Sandstorm’s standard modus operandi, but that was a lot different than what they were expecting. They’d seen Sandstorm pull off a variety of roles to get into someone’s berth for a night, but never vulnerable. He didn’t do vulnerable. He didn’t even do vulnerable when he was and it took some reading between the lines for the other Wreckers to recognize those moments.
“Really?” Scoop couldn’t help blurting out. “That’s…” ‘unexpected’ or ‘new’ probably wouldn’t be what Fireflight wanted to hear and as he floundered, he looked to Topspin for help.
“Well, you know how rumors are.” Topspin injected smoothly. “A lot of the ones surrounding him are hardly flattering. I wouldn’t blame him from worrying how much of that you might believe.” Not that Sandstorm didn’t deserve a lot of the things said about him, but that was a different matter. And Topspin would bet, given the chance, Fireflight could see as well as any Wrecker how much of that Sandstorm forced on himself.
Sure enough, the jet nodded. "Oh, I don't believe it much. At least, not for the reasons I've heard. He might've done some things, made some dumb mistakes, but he's not a bad person." Again -- for the hundredth time -- he found himself going over the events of their time together, analyzing them. "He doesn't want to hurt anybody. Actually, he acts like he's more worried about being hurt. Like when Slingshot gets mad, it's usually because he's protecting himself from something. I think that's why he was so nervous at first."
This… was not what they were expecting and the two were exchanging significant looks and flustered hand signals without Fireflight noticing, trying to figure out what the hell they were supposed to do now. Springer had wanted them to gauge how Sandstorm was treating Fireflight, how Fireflight felt being in this situation. They sure as hell didn’t expect Fireflight to recognize the heavily guarded weaknesses in the triplechanger in a few scant days. Especially when it took them a damn lot longer to understand those quirks themselves.
So what were they supposed to do? Obviously Fireflight wasn’t in need of any reassurance or was being mistreated in any way. Should they share their speculations on why Sandstorm was the way he was? Even if he didn’t care about the random mudslinging about him, thoughts about his past and how he acts always got him in a volatile mood.
Topspin decided it would probably be best switching out the subject all together. And Topspin, being Topspin, took it in a decidedly more risqué direction. “You just need to loosen him up some. He’s not the most experimental, sure,” but when you’re Topspin, it’s hard to find anyone willing to be just as adventurous, “but all you need to know are a couple key weak points.” Topspin leered from under his visor. “Once you get him riled up enough, there’s no stopping him until he wears himself out.”
Scoop groaned out loud. Flight, however, was getting used to the jumpstarter now and slowly smiled back. He leaned forward a little, his shyness slipping away under the pressure of an Aerialbot's thirst for gossip and his own curiosity. "I, uh, don't suppose you could help me out with that? I wasn't sure I was doing things right, you know, that first time."
Topspin slapped his hands together and rubbed them in excitement, a grin nearly covering up the bottom half of his face. On Fireflight’s other side, Scoop couldn’t help but shake his head with a chuckle. “Oh boy. Here we go.”
“If you really want to know all of Sandy’s little weaknesses, you should ask RB. He has this wonderful little hobby about going over every inch on a mech with various strokes and pressures just to see how we react.” Topspin gave a little involuntary shiver at the memory. “But some of his major hot spots are around the hinges on his back. It’s a lot easier to access when he’s in altmode, but I think your hands are small enough to really get up in there.”
“The back of the neck.” Scoop piped in. “Also really sensitive.”
“Oh yes. Run a hand over his neck like this and he’ll be crawling in your lap like a giant metal cat.” Topspin said as he scrapped two fingers up Fireflight’s neck from under the neck ring all the way up to the base of his helmet.
“The wings and stabilizers, of course. The joints on his arms and legs tend to be more ticklish for him then a turn on, so you’ll want to be careful.”
“Yeah. He’s crushed some unsuspecting fingers by accident that way.”
Scoop snapped his fingers, expression twisted in an attempt to remember something just beyond recall. “What was it Broadside did last time that got him to whine?”
“Oh, right! That was a hot little noise- what was it he did, no one gets to do it that much…” Topspin slapped the table victoriously. “His undercarriage. That’s it.”
Fireflight looked back and forth, absorbing it all wide-eyed. "Okay, wait," he blurted finally. "Slow down a second. Ah, wingjoints, back of the neck," he looked pointedly at Topspin, "undercarriage... what else? Something on his back?"
“The hinges where his fore section attaches to his back.” The medic explained. “Hard to get to when he’s in biped mode, but still real sensitive. Of course, mess around in that general area when he’s transformed and you get all the delicate sensor panels on top of the hypersensitive hinge joint. Drives him wild.”
The jet nodded, still looking a bit dazzled, trying to concentrate. "Okay. Where his fore joins his back... I'll have to try to remember. Anything else I should know about?" He had never asked a stranger for intimate advice before, nor listened so intently, but he wanted to be sure to give Sandstorm everything he could.
“I think that’s pretty much it, right?”
“More or less.”
“He’s kinda sensitive ‘bout removing his battlemask for whatever reason, though. So I guess so long as you don’t bring that up or try to press him on his past, you’re in the clear.”
“We don’t really care what he used to do so we never ask, but we know he doesn’t like to talk about it. He’s,” Scoop cut himself off before he could say ‘kicked others to the curb over it’, “kinda defensive about it.”
Fireflight frowned, started to say something, then decided against it. Sandstorm's particular concession in his case was something he wanted to keep to himself. It was sort of a cozy little secret, and besides, he didn't think Sandy wanted it advertised to the other Wreckers. He nodded complacently. "Alright. I'll... leave him alone about that." He smiled. "Thanks, guys."
They smiled in return. Primus, they really hoped Sandstorm wouldn’t ruin such a sweet mech. “No problem. Always ready to help out a fellow Autobot in need.”
“Especially one of our own. Trust us, Sandstorm could use some relaxation. Oh and- just between us,” Topspin looked around behind leaning in close to whisper to Fireflight, “try to get him to sing sometime. He only does it when he thinks we can’t hear him but believe me. You don’t wanna miss out on it.”
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Date: 2011-10-16 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-29 01:51 pm (UTC)Also kinda glad that Sandy can really sing (and not just in my own head-canon); hope Flight gets to hear him soon!