10 Snuggles - Snowfall - Fighting the Cold
Yes, I signed Jazz/Bee up over at the 10_snuggles community, and here's the first of the lot. Warnings apply for the usual and obligatory Jazz/Bee slash, rated a mild PG-13.
Prompt #3 Snowfall
Fighting the Cold
The first thing Jazz noticed as they left the city to head back to the base in the late afternoon on that late-November day, was that the sky had grown considerably overcast and it had gotten a lot colder atmospherically. The temperature had to have dropped a good few degrees since that morning and a check with one of his gauges confirmed this. He put it down another of Earth’s strange weather phenomena and went back to focusing on driving, keeping his scanners on Bumblebee’s rear lights.
That was when he noticed a small collection of white flakes starting to amass on his windshield. Frowning to himself, he ran an analysis before activating his wipers to get rid of it. Frozen water? A type of rain perhaps? He ran the keywords through a search engine and came up with the word ‘snow’.
“Everything alright, Jazz?” Bumblebee asked through the radio.
“What is all this white stuff, Bee?” Jazz asked, working his wipers harder to rid himself of the accumulating flakes that were determined to settle on his windshield and scanners. “Kinda makes it hard to see anything through them.”
“Configure your headlights to emit both heat and light, the heat will melt the snow and help you see better. Looks like we’re heading into a bit of a heavy snowfall. Don’t worry, Jazz,” Bumblebee assured, sensing his companion’s discomfort. “It’s a natural weather occurrence.”
Jazz did as Bumblebee said, but while the heat helped clear his visual sensors, the overall chill still left him uneasy. It was a wet chill that crept into all the folds and crevices of his armor and stole whatever heat was there, forcing his systems to work all the harder to keep his body temperature constant. To add to that, there was the whole matter of the road becoming a lot more slippery, making traction all the more harder to maintain. Much as he hated to do it, he started to reduce speed.
“I don’t like this,” he grumbled.
“Oh you’ll get used to it,” Bumblebee replied. “It freaked me out the first time I experienced it, but it can be a lot of fun, too, when its not beating down on you in a blizzard.”
“Do I want to know what that is?”
“You can look it up when we get home.”
“Wish we were home now.”
Jazz wobbled on the slippery road and cursed. It seemed that the farther they went from the city, the heavier the snow fell. A quick glance around revealed parts of the landscape that were covered in a thick layer of this… snow. He shuddered, not wanting to imagine what it would be like to be under something that cold. At least he was glad that Bumblebee seemed to be having no problems with such conditions.
They started up a slightly steep slope and crested it without any problems. On the way down, one of Jazz’s tyres hit a particularly slippery patch, and caught by surprise, he panicked slightly, before flooring his brakes and trying to steer correctly. His tyres screamed for purchase as he skidded, his momentum throwing him off the road and pitching him onto his side in a shallow bank of snow.
“JAZZ!”
Bumblebee slammed on his own brakes, his advanced traction tyres enabling him to have much more control of his movements. Trusting that there would be no humans driving in this kind of weather, he transformed to his robot form and ran back to where Jazz was. The white mech was transforming with a groan when Bumblebee slid down the small embankment and went over to him.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, kneeling beside where he sat and running worried hands over his frame, as Jazz ran a diagnostic scan.
“Nothing major,” the Solstice replied. “Probably a few dents I’ll need Ratchet to hammer out when we get back.”
He put an arm around Bumblebee’s neck as the Camaro helped him stand, shivering a little as some of the snow he had landed in worked its way into his body. Bumblebee wrapped an arm around his torso to support him and felt him tremble. Instinctively, he held Jazz close to him.
“Easy Jazz,” he said. “It’s alright. You’re okay.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Bee.”
“Do you need a moment before we go on again?”
“I think that’d be good.”
Bumblebee nodded and helped Jazz out of the snow, walking him over to a tall tree with broad enough branches to shelter them for a while, Jazz leaning on him and trying to keep from staggering too much.
Once underneath, Bumblebee made to release him, only to find Jazz’s arms locked securely around him. He turned his head to look at the other mech and was met with Jazz’s mouth pressed firmly to his cheek - similar to a human-like kiss. He nuzzled Jazz in return, wrapping his arms around him again and hugging him close, sharing the warmth as Jazz snuggled back.
“You know I wont let anything happen to you, right?” Bumblebee asked him.
“Of course I do, Bee. Not gonna let anything happen to you either.”
“I know.”
Jazz smiled. “Hell, you’re nice to hold on to.”
Bumblebee chuckled. “You’re just saying that because you’re feeling cold and I’m nice and warm to you.”
“Mmhmm.”
The yellow mech shook his head fondly and proceded to gently run his hands along Jazz’s armor, trying to warm his companion up to a comfortable level. Jazz returned the touches, though his were designed to gently stimulate his companion rather than for warmth purposes. Bumblebee shivered under his hands, and not from the cold.
“Jazz…” he murmured.
“Hmm?” came the equally soft reply.
“Should head back.”
“Don’t feel like driving in the snow.”
“The others…”
“… will come for us.”
“It’ll get colder out here.”
“We’ll keep each other warm.”
Bumblebee wanted to argue a little more, but all protest died on his vocalizer when Jazz sent a delicious magnetic pulse into his door-joints, and all that ended up being emitted was a soft keening for more. Well, if Jazz wanted to play in the snow a little, who was he to stop him? After all, he did say snow could be fun. He started to charge up his solar agitator. The white mech did need a little warming up.
… The blaring of a familiar horn pulled both mechs out of the hazy funk they’d fallen into immediately following a link-up and overload, and they staggered back to the side of the road in time to see the flame-adorned alt-mode of their Commander coming towards them, hauling a fairly large trailer behind him. Just in time, too, as both mechs noticed the snowfall getting slightly heavier. The truck came to a stop beside the two of them.
“You two alright?” Optimus Prime asked. “We were getting a little worried about you when it started snowing. So I thought I’d come out here and see if you needed a lift.”
“Well, Jazz had a bit of an accident,” Bumblebee said. “He’s alright, but I don’t think it’s safe for him to drive at the moment, and it’s getting darker, too.”
“That’s why I brought the trailer. Figured it wouldn’t be particularly pleasant for both of you to drive in these conditions.” He opened the back of the trailer. “Hop in, Jazz. You, too, Bumblebee.”
“Thanks Optimus,” Jazz said as he transformed and rolled up into the trailer, Bumblebee doing the same and following him in.
“Anytime, you two.” He shut the two younger Autobots inside. “Just save the kinky business for when we get home, alright?”
Chuckling at the splutters and sounds of shock from inside the trailer, Optimus Prime fired up his engine again and continued down the road towards the base.
~END.