Lover 100 - Jealousy - "Inferior and Complex"
So this ended up being a bit of a personal favorite of mine, mainly because I got to play with the class distinctions between the Towers Iaconians (who'd be the rich, upper class nobility) and a Praxian (more of the working, middle-class). It was supposed to be a short little thing, but ended up being way too long, so looks like I'll have to split the tale between two prompts. This is the part of it that falls under the jealousy prompt
Title: Inferior and Complex
Fandom: Transformers G1
Characters/Pairings: Flattop and Pursuit
Table: A
Prompt: #054 Jealousy
Rating: PG
Genre: relationships - romance
Word Count: 2,265
“The Towers?” Pursuit asked, tilting her head as she looked at the mech she’d recently started a relationship with.
Flattop nodded eagerly. “One of my wingmates - Joyride, you remember him - is having a party there, and he’s invited his commander. He said I was free to bring someone along, and since you’ve never seen the place before, I figured… will you come with me?”
She hesitated. “I… I don’t know… the Towers. I’ve heard so much about them. They’re an icon of Iacon, and so upper-class. I’m… just a middle-class Praxian. I’m not cut out for a place like that.”
“Oh ‘Suit, you know I think more of you than where you came from,” Flattop tried not to look too crest-fallen that she’d declined. “But wont you let me show you a small part of my world? The Towers are beautiful, and I want to share them with you.”
Pursuit tried not to look at his disappointed expression. “And it’s your party, ‘Top - for you and your Wing.”
“Exactly! And I want them all to meet you! ‘Suit please, don’t make me go there alone.”
The femme sighed. How could she say no when he looked at her like an eager turbo-pup. “Alright,” she gave in. “If it’ll make you happy, love.”
Flattop swept her up in a hug and kissed her. “You’re going to love the place, I promise.” His optics shone. “Just think, I get to walk into the most beautiful place on the planet with the most beautiful femme on the planet.” He grinned widely. “I’ll be the most envied mech there.”
Pursuit looked down, a little embarrassed, though she did smile a bit. “Then you’d best release me so I can go make myself look a little presentable.”
“Can you possibly look more gorgeous than you already are?” he asked with a wink, but released her nonetheless.
The femme only laughed shyly as she moved away into one of the rooms….
… One solar cycle later, Pursuit stood at the base of the Towers and stared up at them in wonder. They truly were a highlight of Cybertronian architecture, and if she thought the Academy tower aparment she shared with Flattop was rather big and fancy, then a residence here had to be quite possibly palatial. The cost of being able to live in one could probably pay off the maintenance bill for a whole Praxian family for at least half a stellar cycle.
Flattop led her inside a moment later, an arm around her waist, and watching her fondly as she looked about the interior. He’d come here enough in the past for the awe to have worn off, but Pursuit looked amazed as her optics took in sight after sight. An engineer by trade, she could appreciate good design when she saw it, and he waited patiently as she stopped now and then to marvel at something on their way to the elevators.
“All this is so incredible,” she murmured as she followed him into the lift. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Oh, you get used to it after a while,” he replied, chuckling slightly at her wonder.
“Well, maybe you have, but this is all… there was nothing like this in Praxus.”
For his credit, Flattop didn’t gloat at that last remark and instead wrapped an arm around her, giving her shoulders an affectionate squeeze. “Still not as beautiful as you are though.” He nuzzled her.
“Flatterer,” she chuckled, faceplate warming slightly.
Thankfully, before he could continue with his rather over-the-top compliments, the elevator stopped at Joyride’s floor, and the door opened to let them out. Flattop took her hand and led her to the younger flier’s apartment, which apparently occupied the entire floor. A coded knock gained them access.
Pursuit stepped inside after Flattop and had to stop and do a double-take at the doorway itself. Palatial was an understatement. Not counting for Joyride’s taste in décor - he tended to favor the flamboyant, Flattop had said - the design in itself was something Pursuit could have only dreamed of, and she had never even heard of some of the technology and modern amnities available to the occupant.
“’Suit, c’mon love. The party’s this way,” Flattop murmured.
The engineer snapped her attention back to her mate, hoping she hadn’t embarrassed them both with her gaping, though for his part, the flier seemed to be taking her relative inexperience to all this in stride.
Focusing now on the company he was leading her into, she suddenly began to feel very plain. The femmes she happened to look at were all far more vibrant than she could ever hope to be. They had so much color on them, some with pretty combinations, others with flashy mixes. Some had a crystal or two here and there, others had chromed parts. The mechs, though less bright, were also similarly colored.
Flattop, with his blue and red combination, looked right at home amongst them, but Pursuit, in her simple - almost boring - black and grey was starting to feel very out of place. The strange bots looked at her in either pity, disdain, or confusion, probably wondering what an out-of-towner like her was doing in their exclusive Towers, and on the arm of one of their popular officers at that. For her part, she returned their stares with a bit of a smile here, or an acknowledging nod there.
“Here you go, beautiful.” Flattop pushed a small cube of what smelled like high-grade into her hand. “Best brew the Towers has to offer. Try it.”
She ignored the terminology, more focused on the liquid in her hand. It felt far too expensive for her comfort, and she nervously brought it up to her lips for a sip. The energon slid smoothly down her throat and she reeled slightly as it hit her storage banks. There was a definite kick in that brew, and she couldn’t decide yet if she liked it. Flattop was happily downing his, so she forced herself to take another mouthful.
“It’s… unique,” she said, hoping it wouldn’t offend anyone. “I’ve never tasted anything like it.”
“Well, not in Praxus, obviously,” a mech nearby said. “This is a Towers-only brew.”
A few other mechs nearby raised their cubes in a cheer. Pursuit tried to not bristle outwardly in indignation. Simple though Praxus may have been, it had been her home, and a lot of good, honest bots had been lost in its destruction. Did these bots even care, all cocooned in their wealth and privilege?
If her mate noticed her discomfort, he didn’t show it. “Just help yourself to the stock if you’d like another alright,” he said, smiling at her.
She nodded, wishing partly that she could be elsewhere. A nice workshop, banging out some plating seemed ideal right about now. The Towers were beautiful, sure, but some of that beauty was starting to get a little marred by the attitude of the bots who lived within.
“Hey Topper! Finally out of the Academy huh?” another mech called from across the room. One of his Wingmates. “Get over here!”
“Be right there!” Flattop called back. He turned to her. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”
“Oh, no it’s alright. You should go catch up with them first, they’re your Wing. They obviously want to talk to you.” Truth be told, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet these other Iaconians if they were going to be as stuck-up as the one who’d made that comment about Praxus.
“If you’re sure about this,” he said.
She nodded. “I am. I’ll be fine.”
“Alright.” He kissed her forehead. “I wont be long, I promise.” With that, he hurried away to greet his Wing.
Pursuit watched him as he was fondly accepted into the circle of mechs, while trying not to draw too much attention to herself. She was so pre-occupied with watching Flattop and trying to keep the high-grade down, that she jumped slightly when someone spoke from behind her.
“So you’re Flattop’s latest femme, hmm?”
The speaker was a femme, quite a pretty femme Pursuit noted as she turned to face her. A light purple in color, broken up with a softer pale yellow. Her optics were a darker shade of purple, and dainty crystals adorned her mid-section and arms. Her build seemed perfect - slender and curvy in all the right places - and her armor seemed to almost glow in the room’s lighting. She gave Pursuit a once-over and quirked an optic ridge.
“His taste in femmes has gotten stranger, it seems,” she said.
“I’m sorry, but you are…?” Pursuit eyed the femme warily.
“Crystalfire. Named after my powers. I can use my crystals to create a fiery net around an enemy and trap him or her within,” she said. “Flattop and I know each other.” She smiled coyly at the flier’s back.
“That’s… uh… nice,” Pursuit replied.
“Oh yes. We’re quite close, you know,” she went on. “We used to go out quite a lot, but well, Flattop being Flattop…. He can never seem to stick to one femme for too long. We still keep in touch with each other though.”
The black-and-grey rubbed her arm, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t understand.”
“Maybe it’s different for you Praxians,” Crystalfire said, with a slight condescending sigh. “But Flattop has a bit of a reputation for dropping a femme as soon as someone new catches his fancy. Right now, you’re his fancy - he probably finds you exotic, seeing as how you’re not Iaconian, someone different for him to sample.”
Pursuit looked over at Flattop, who seemed to be sharing a joke with one of his friends. She frowned a bit. “I think you may be mistaken. He doesn’t seem like the type to do that kind of thing.”
Crystalfire looked at her sympathetically. “Of course, you would think that. I thought the same thing when I was with him. He liked to sweet-talk me. Ten solar cycles later, he was with another femme. I just thought I should warn you, femme-to-femme, its only going to be a matter of time before he tires of you and loses interest once the novelty of being with a Praxian wears off.”
“Why should I believe you?” Pursuit asked.
“That’s up to you, if you’re alright with rejection and false promises.” She gave the other femme another once-over. “You’re not bad for a Praxian, and I heard a few mechs say they thought you quite fanciable. You should chat some of them up, just in case.” She smiled a bit, then moved off.
Pursuit watched her go, doors drooping just that little bit, both her pride and feelings hurt. She glanced over at Flattop again, who was still talking to his Wing, and felt a twinge of pain inside her. Was he really keeping her around because she was a novelty, someone different that he would leave as soon as he bored of her. It was possible. Besides her place of origin, she had nothing to offer this flier who seemingly had everything.
She felt her optics burn just a little, and clenched her hands around the cube of energon to keep them from trembling. It was just so confusing right now. She loved the mech, he’d saved her life, but she had her pride. She didn’t want to be another one of his conquests if what Crystalfire said about him was true. True, she had no reason to trust the femme, but what if she was right? He did seem to like sweet-talking her. Was it all just for show?
The sip of high-grade only made her head hurt more, and just served to remind her how much she didn’t fit in there. She set the still-half-full cube on the counter, trying to focus. Flattop had a lifestyle she didn’t think she would ever be comfortable with, especially if it involved attending parties with ignorant mechs and jealous femmes. She could never fit in with all these rich, carefree bots, and she didn’t think she even wanted to try.
Pursuit was moving to the door before she even realized it. She couldn’t think in here, and part of her didn’t want to stick around to see if one of those pretty Towers femmes would catch his optics. She recalled some of the stories she’d heard about Iaconian mechs - it wasn’t uncommon for them to arrive somewhere with one femme and then leave with another, and she couldn’t compete with those beautiful Iaconians.
As she rode the elevator down to the base of the Towers, she brushed away a tear with her palm. She would NOT cry. She had to think. Getting from the Towers back to the Academy was not a problem, she could find her way, but what then? Did she still want to stay with Flattop? Yesterday she would have said yes. Now, she wasn’t certain. Perhaps what she needed was to get away, and sort out her feelings for him.
Yes, that was it. Maybe she’d try to go back to Praxus and see if there was anything there she could salvage, or if any of the neighboring districts had work for an engineer. She’d find a way to support herself first, and then come back. Besides, if Flattop truly did love her, then he would understand and wait for her. She’d wait for him at the Academy and talk to him there, explain what she needed, and see if he was willing to let her go for a while.
Her own mind made up, she transformed and drove off for the Academy.
~END.
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Some other completed prompts include:
He
Work (features Prowl and Jazz)
Nightmare
Hands
Addicted