Another fic
Title: Acrophophia
Rating: T for Profanities
Universe: Pre Movie 07
Pairings: Prowl x Jazz
Characters: Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Mentions of Skyfire, Blackout and Omega Supreme
Summary: Prowl discovers something that he never knew about a certain saboteur until now.
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to its associated appropriates and not me.
A little something I stumbled upon whilst reading Jazz's profile on Wikipedia. And I blame this fic on my younger sister who suggested I should write it. Hope you enjoy this little fic.
Vorns - year
Clicks - mile
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"No slaggin' way am I climbin' that." The exclamation from Jazz completely startled Prowl, the tactician turned to face his lover not quite understanding why the saboteur was refusing to scale the last object in their way to freedom. The pair of them had been separated from the main group during a skirmish with the Decepticons and now with no way to contact the others since their comm. links had been damaged in a concussive blast delivered to them by Blackout, the pair were having to make their own way back to the Autobot encampment several clicks from their position.
"Jazz its the only route we can take back to the encampment several clicks from us." Prowl replied, he watched as the saboteur anxiously glanced at the several hundred meters of rock that stood between them and safety. He had already checked his GPS several times already and any other route would simply take them too far out and possibly deliver them into Decepticon hands and that was something he would not allow. He had already calculated the many possibilities that they could be ambushed by seekers on their climb upwards or them falling and either severely injuring themselves or worse terminating themselves.
The silver mech glanced at him "Surely there's gotta be another way round?"
"I've checked several times, this appears to be the only direct route." The tactician responded. He frowned at the saboteur as he had never known Jazz to stall like this before let alone show fear "Jazz?"
"It's nothin'." The saboteur mumbled as he tried not to look at the wall of rock.
Prowl folded his arms across his chest and settled a stern gaze on his lover, every astro-second they spent standing here debating whether to climb to safety or take an alternative route round allowed Decepticon scouts the possibilities of locating and ambushing them not to mention giving their team the opportunity to move on without them "Jazz what has you so apprehensive all of a sudden?"
"I don't like heights." The silver mech murmured more to himself as he wrapped his arms about himself and took a step away from the wall.
Prowl stared at him dumbfounded, his arms dropped to his sides as he considered the little fact that had just left his companion’s lip components. It had never been an issue until now and Prowl couldn't for the spark of him understand where this fear had come from, as in the thousands of vorns he had known Jazz he had never played witnessed to the saboteur not liking heights. In fact he had never seen Jazz show an open display of disliking them but being special ops that he was, the silver mech had been trained to mask his emotions during missions and in the event that he was captured by the enemy. He for one was having trouble comprehending that a top class saboteur and assassin who wasn't afraid to go up against mechanoids three times bigger than him or head into the heart of Decepticon territory where he was likely to get captured, tortured and killed; hated heights.
"You've never mentioned this before?" The black and white asked.
"It's never come up before." Jazz responded as he glanced at the black and white mech and saw the confused frown that was currently marring his lover's usually calm and collected facial plates "can we not go around?"
Prowl vented a sigh through his intakes feeling as though he was about to talk to a dim witted youngling “Jazz as I have told you repeatedly that there is no way around and with our energy levels and injuries being the way that they are, this is the quickest route possible.” The saboteur looked dejected and glanced up at the wall that stood in their way. It looked too treacherous and the height? The height of it was enough to churn his fuel tanks and make him light headed, he glanced in the tactician’s direction when he felt a gentle touch on his elbow joint and the black and white mech smiled at him reassuringly “I’ll be with you every step of the way I promise.” He guided the silver mech closer to the wall, he felt Jazz’s frame begin to tremble and wandered whether he was making the right decision but decided to stand firm by the choice he made as 1: it was really the quickest way to the Autobot's presumed camp several clicks from them and 2: allow Jazz to get over his fear of heights.
“Alright fine.” The saboteur said somewhat shakily “but you owe me big time for this.”
“For which I'm sure you'll make me pay up the moment we get back to Iacon.” Prowl replied with a smile.
“You bet your aft I will.” Jazz said appearing somewhat braver about the situation in front of them but Prowl knew even with the silver mech's visor down, that it was all a façade “so up then?”
“Up.” The tactician replied as he dug his fingers into his first crevice and glanced at the saboteur, he could see his lover fighting himself internally and knew he would have to give him the first push. The black and white mech let go of the wall and stepped behind his silver counterpart who was just staring at the rock face, he pressed himself against the warm plating of the saboteur's back whilst making sure not to apply too much pressure to the numerous dings and dents in the usual pristine silver of Jazz's armoured plating. Prowl then trailed the tips of his fingers down the saboteur's arms and gently grasped his wrists, he snagged Jazz's clawed fingers into a couple of holds a little higher up from his head then traced his fingers back down until they were sitting upon hip armour. The tactician could feel the silver mech's frame trembling and smiled before dipping his head and pressed his right cheek against the special ops agent's left audio delighting in the way a breathy gasp escaped his lover's lip components, he knew that if they weren't in such a dire situation that they would interface the slag out of each other until either their own comrades or the Decepticons found them. But for now he was giving Jazz something else to concentrate on other than the impending climb in front of them.
“You can do this.” He murmured next to the saboteur's audio and instantly he felt his lover's frame relax against his, Jazz dipped his head in acknowledgement but it quickly dissolved into a moan of protest when Prowl stepped away and made his way back to the wall, he caught the saboteur's dimly lit gaze and smirked before hauling himself upwards on the wall as if challenging the silver mech to catch him. The tactician was somewhat surprised when he heard the grating of metal against rock and glanced down to see Jazz shakily pull himself upwards, he waited until the special ops officer was level with him before starting his climb a new.
Every now and again Prowl heard his lover curse whenever his armour scraped against the rock face or when one of his feet slipped out of the footholds he had managed to locate which was exactly what he heard for the 596th time followed by a panicked wheeze, the tactician halted in his progress and glanced down. He felt his fingers clench the handholds, his entire frame go rigid and his fuel tanks gave a slight churn when a wave of vertigo hit him, they were already 2/3 of the way up and Prowl refused to be beaten.
“I slaggin' can't do this.” Jazz said loud enough to be heard over the wind that had suddenly picked up which automatically had the black and white on alert but thankfully neither his functioning sensors or predictive programming detected the presence of a Decepticon.
“Yes you can, we're almost there.” Prowl replied as he slowly and carefully made his way down and across to the saboteur whose optics were focused upon the ground beneath him “Jazz look at me.” There was a slight hesitation before a blue visor focused upon him, Prowl could tell Jazz was absolutely terrified in that single moment and briefly cursed his stubbornness for not allowing them to bond so he could reassure and comfort his lover without the use of words. But as logic dictated that it wouldn't be the smartest of moves to make in the height of war especially with the high percentage of either one of them being captured or worse killed. The tactician let go with one hand and gently gripped the silver mech's left shoulder in a reassuring squeeze “ready to try again?” Jazz nodded and shakily reached for a crack in the rock above him to start his climb anew, Prowl waited a couple of astro-seconds before starting his own climb upwards. He was glad for the small miracle Primus had granted them that there were no Decepticons in their vicinity as they were wide open to attack however he did not want to rush Jazz either in case one false move proved to be fatal. Suddenly the tactician discovered there were no more discernible hand or foot holds in front of him and the only ones he could see were where Jazz was climbing. He remained where he was and allowed the silver mech to bypass him.
The saboteur glanced at him as he passed “Ya know ya can take a break when we reach the top right?”
“I know but I thought I'd be a gentlemech and let you go first.” Prowl responded with a small smirk pulling at his lip components, Jazz stared at him wandering if the black and white mech was hiding anything but knew from many past experiences that the military strategist wouldn't say anything until he was ready to drop into stasis lock. He scrutinised his lover for a few astro-seconds before pulling himself upwards again with trembling and aching arms, he couldn't wait to get over the top of the rock face so he could put this experience behind him. The saboteur had never been too fond of heights even when he was a sparkling although he probably had his older brother Ricochet to thank for that, the front line warrior had once told the little silver mech what would happen to his frame is he fell from a certain height at a particular velocity in gruesome detail. And Jazz as adventurous and undeterred by almost anything could never look at heights the same again especially if they were any taller than Skyfire (Omega Supreme just intimidated him because he was so small).
The special ops officer breathed a sigh of relief through his vents when he saw the lip of the rock face and quickened his pace however he quickly discovered when he reached the top that he couldn't get a grip on anything to pull himself up and over, he cursed loudly as his claws dug furrows into the hard rock and he quickly kicked up a fuss about it, vocally and physically. He whined for the seventh time only to hear Prowl chuckle at his expense.
“I'm glad ya find this funny.” Jazz snapped at him as he doubled his efforts to get over the lip kicking up dirt and dust and several more dents in his armoured plating as he did so. He heard a groan of effort beside him and stopped in his struggles to watch the tactician pull himself over the edge and shakily get to hi own tow feet before turning his attention to the special operations officer “uh Prowl any time ya feel like handin' a servo.” The black and white mech shook his head in amusement at the ridiculous but dangerous position his lover had managed to get himself into before crouching down and grasping the saboteur's upper arms and pulling despite aching muscle cables in his arms and shoulders and a couple of injuries that protested the strenuous movements. With a couple of harsh tugs, Jazz came up and over the top of the cliff and the pair of them collapsed upon the hard, dry and dusty ground. Both of them were panting in order to assist the cooling of their systems, neither of them were concerned with the position they had landed in either although Prowl's sensory panels were beginning to voice their opinion about being crushed beneath the bulk of two mechs. The saboteur pushed himself up onto his elbows and glanced down at his lover meeting his gaze before his attention shifted slightly when he felt the tactician rest his hands upon the small of his back.
“You have got to be slaggin' me, we come all this way to locate you only to find the pair of you fraggin' each other.” Came a vehement protest that sounded like Sunstreaker, both mechs on the ground whipped their heads round in the direction they heard his voice to find both twins, Ironhide and Ratchet. The aforementioned three had their arms folded across their chests with a single optic ridge raised whilst the CMO simply scowled disapprovingly at them. Prowl gently pushed Jazz backwards and the silver mech took it as his cue to get up, the saboteur offered to help the tactician up which inevitably took him towards the edge of the cliff. He let out a rather indignant shriek before clinging to Prowl like an anxious youngling would do to its creator, both Ratchet and Ironhide shared a look between them whilst Sideswipe cursed lowly and his twin curled his hands into fists as he aimed a heated glare at the red front-liner.
Prowl turned to the set of twins when he saw their expressions “I believe you both owe me a cycle of good behaviour.” Jazz pulled away from his lover slightly and glanced at him curiously wandering exactly what the tactician had bet on and subsequently won.
“You're a fraggin' idiot you know that.” Sunstreaker scolded his twin “I kept on tellin' you that Prowl would get Jazz up a slaggin' rock face.”
“Wait! What?” The saboteur demanded as he glanced over at the twins before snapping his gaze round to glare at his lover “you mean to tell me that you.” He poked Prowl none too gently in the chest plates “purposely took the wrong turnin' so you could get me to climb a fraggin' rock face?!” The normally calm and collected special ops officer stepped away from the military strategist.
“Jazz it was essential that we attempt to get rid of this fear of heights that you had with the high probability that it could hamper your future performance.” The black and white mech tried to explain to his rather upset companion.
“I was doin' fine so far without havin' to do somethin' as suicidally reckless as that!” The saboteur snapped as he clenched his hands into fists and his entire posture went rigid.
“Jazz . . . .” Prowl began.
The saboteur pointed an accusatory digit in the tactician’s direction “No I ain't slaggin' talkin' ta ya, in fact as far as I'm concerned ya can go an' frag yaself!” And with that he stormed off growling to himself. The twins, Ironhide and Ratchet watched him go before glancing at Prowl whose sensory panels drooped so they were almost resting flat against his back.
“I suggest you go after him.” Ratchet suggested as he critically scanned the black and white for any serious damage.
Prowl settled his gaze upon the medic “I think it'll be best if I gave him some time to cool off.”
“Ya sure?” Ironhide asked sincerely, he had been ready to make a snarky comment but soon thought differently when he saw how much this little altercation with the silver mech had affected the tactician, part of him wanted to shake Prowl to make him come to his senses and chase after his lover to make amends even if it did break out into a scuffle. But a voice at the back of his CPU told him not to get involved and he was inclined to agree.
“The thing with Jazz is that he does not stay angry for long and tends to forgive easily.” Prowl responded as he sighed deeply before a loud clap of thunder rumbled overhead and the wind picked up once again “we should head back before the storm moves in.” The others nodded in agreement and took off, Prowl took one last look back at the lip of the rock face cursing his stupidity and hoping he could make amends with Jazz before finally moving out.
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Yes the whole bit between Ricochet and Jazz is an experience of mine where one of my older siblings told me in graphic detail what would happen to the human body if it smashed into the ground but it hasn't deterred me from scaling up into high places. And originally I had intended for a sappy ending but I though bugger to it and complicate things for my favourite pairing, makes life more interesting.
Anyway Read & Review