Five Firsts Challenge - Seaspray and Thundercracker
Title: Five Oceans, Five Skies
Continuity: Bayverse/movieverse
Rating: M (in one part)
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Seaspray/Thundercracker
Content Advice: Sparksex, mechs in love, posturing, and more fluffy smoosh than you can shake a Laserbeak at.
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me and I make no money from them. Unfortunately.
Summary: Written for the November Five Firsts challenge. Seaspray and Thundercracker have a lot of 'firsts' to get out of the way....
Notes: This fic is based off my Dawning continuity, particularly the Horizon part of it that deals with Thundercracker and Seaspray. More info about the ceasefire can be found in Dawning proper. Reading those'll give you the best background for this, but the short version is this: Post-RotF, Megatron shakes the remnants of the Fallen out of his processor, looks at the mess they're in, and sues for peace. Meanwhile, Seaspray and a Decepticon seeker form a wary, temporary alliance out in space, trading energon for repairs. The seeds of respect are sown, and only later does Seaspray realize that the mysterious seeker is second in the Decepticon Command Trine. Not that he lets that stop him. ;P
(can I have an author tag, please? Thanks!)
First Fight
::Star Treader,:: Thundercracker snapped, ::does not exist.::
::Of course he does.:: Seaspray's optics glowed softly in the water, his field saturated in that gentle, implacable certainty that was, Thundercracker was beginning to realize, both shield and weapon. ::He's part of you.::
::No...it's not.:: Slag the Autobot. Slag him and those optics that saw way too slagging much and then shoved it right back in his face. ::Star Treader was a mask. I needed something from you and being NICE was the easiest way to get it. He's me? You don't even KNOW me.::
He'd meant it to be hurtful. To push the enemy away, gain ground, gain space, gain time to think.
Instead, the idiot Autobot came CLOSER. ::You're right. I DON'T know you.::
The capitulation, the utter lack of offense taken, broke Thundercracker's concentration. As did the stubborn friendliness in his field.
::...But I want to.::
First Interface
Thundercracker was used to being one of the fastest things on any battlefield. It was a seeker's place: high above, streaking faster than the groundpounders below could even see.
In the ocean, he was as slow as a combiner. The current tugged constantly at the planes of his wings, and his engines' efficiency was slagged when dealing with the drag of the water.
Seaspray, on the other hand, was made for the ocean. Thundercracker couldn't watch him loop and spin for the sheer joy of it without seeing qualities that any seeker should have respected. Speed. Agility. Strength. Utter, inborn confidence.
He was unlike any seeker, any MECH that Thundercracker had ever known. There was no deceit in him. No spitefulness. Little selfishness. No constant grasping (gentle or not) for authority. No vanity or arrogance.
Thundercracker admired him. Quietly.
He admired the Autobot's joy in speed, his sharp turns and wide, exultant loops. He admired his dedication to duty and his sheer, affable stubbornness. He admired his attention to detail, his precision when interacting with the organic dolphins, cataloguing their rudimentary glyph-language for hours at a time. He admired the Autobot's ability to be open minded without being a fool, to ask without wheedling or commanding.
And he admired the lithe grace in Seaspray's frame. The smooth lines of him. The warm invitation of his field that offered but never pushed.
In the ocean, Thundercracker was slow, but Seaspray was never too fast to catch. Never too fast to caress, to ripple the ripe energy of desire over.
And Seaspray was made for the ocean. For pivoting in surprise, then laughing in delight. For sliding forward to exactly the right place, where small fingers could slip between loosened plates to reach primed and aching sensors. For being pulled closer as they sank, settling on his feet as Thundercracker's knees dug into the sand. For running clever hands over sensitive seams, drawing patterns of heat and charge over Thundercracker's plating.
They were both obviously built for this. For shivering with long-denied want as they let their spark's energies flood their fields, spilling across and over and between. For being held close, their frames mismatched but all the more delicious for it as energy pulsed between them in a slow circuit, cycling faster and faster. For pressing each other into the sand. For writhing helplessly into each surge, each touch. For holding back the overload as long as physically possible until claws large and small rent the seafloor. For sending every organic thing for miles scurrying at the thunder and lightning of their pleasure.
First Meeting With Skywarp
Seaspray had gotten used to seekers plunging down into the ocean around him. So used to it that he didn't even turn around right away, absorbed as he was in his cataloguing of the microfauna in this particular lagoon. So it was a good klik or five before he looked up and realized that the approaching seeker was black, not blue, and watching him with a rather unnerving intensity.
It occurred to Seaspray to be alarmed. He shunted the instinct aside. The Decepticon brands on the seeker's wings were no longer cause for hostility, after all.
Seaspray sent a polite greeting and an identifying burst. ::Can I help you?::
The seeker came forward slowly, wings combing the water. ::How can he stand this? Feels like flying through mud.::
Seaspray stood his ground, even as it became clear that this seeker would, perhaps even more than Thundercracker, tower over him. ::It takes some getting used to, or so I'm told.::
The seeker peered down at him, red optics flicking up and down to take him in. ::You are a tiny thing, aren't you?:: He sounded more amused than threatening.
Seaspray, with a burst of thrust, shot up to the seeker's eye level and hovered there. ::Size isn't everything.::
The seeker cycled his optics once, then laughed. ::Mouthy, too. I can see what he sees in you.:: He sent an identifying ping: Decepticon, Third-In-Flight, Skywarp. Thundercracker's wingmate.
Skywarp circled, and Seaspray let him. Here in the water, where he could swim circles around the seeker, the maneuver was less intimidating than Skywarp was probably going for.
::Is there something you wanted?:: Seaspray asked politely.
::Wanted to see what's got Thunder sneaking off alone and coming back with sand and seaweed in his thrusters.:: Skywarp settled in front of Seaspray again. He shook his head slowly. ::An Autobot. And a mini. And an AQUATIC. Triple kinky.::
If the seeker wanted to pick a fight, he was looking at the wrong mech. ::Is that a problem?::
::I don't know. ARE you?:: Skywarp smiled not entirely pleasantly at him, and Seaspray didn't have time to reply before the bigger mech disappeared. Not left, but DISAPPEARED, water crashing into the space he had been occupying.
The push of displaced water behind him was Seaspray's only warning before a large hand appeared around his waist. ::Gotcha.::
Skywarp's field radiated gleeful amusement more than anything. It was annoying but not particularly threatening, and Seaspray merely froze as he was lifted to eye level. ::Don't underestimate me just because of my size, either, little one.::
Seaspray relaxed, just a bit. This was familiar. Pushing, intimidating, jockeying for dominance and respect.
The Autobot sighed internally. Seekers,, he thought. Fine.
Seaspray pulled in his plating in a partial transformation at the same time he hit his thrusters, shooting him up out of the encircling hand and into a flipping arc that landed him on the seeker's head. He tapped Skywarp's helm with the barrel of his (completely powered down) laser. ::I won't if you won't.::
Skywarp laughed again, in approval this time. ::Fast, too. Good.:: Seaspray flipped down, and by the time he got his optics around, the seeker was watching him again, head cocked. ::ARE you a problem? You going to try to take him away? Make him an Autobot?::
Seaspray almost laughed, almost said, I already tried that, and he said no. Instead he deliberately floated closer, opening his field wide enough that there would be no mistaking his sincerity. ::No. He cares for you and Starscream. What would asking him to leave possibly accomplish? I already have what I want.::
Skywarp's red optics narrowed. ::And what's that?::
Seaspray pulsed his answer in glyphs of joy and modifiers of steadfastness. ::I want to be happy.::
First Time Calling It What It Is
"Star. I need a favor."
Starscream looked up, optics narrowing. His Second NEVER called in his favors. Mostly because, as far as Starscream could tell, Thundercracker never really WANTED anything. He was a mech of modest desires, most of them involving a competent medic, a cube or three, a few mechs around he could trust, and no one currently trying to kill him. The only time he'd had even close to that feel in his field had been--
Starscream vented a sigh. "This has to do with that thing we agreed not to talk about, doesn't it?"
Thundercracker met his optics. "I know how this is going to work. I know that Lord Megatron is going to want everyone he can stuff into the Nemesis for the trip back to Cybertron. I know this is asking a lot, and if you can't make it happen, that's...fine. But. If there is...anything that needs done on Earth in the meantime. Anything...."
Starscream shook his head wonderingly. "You really are sparkwhipped, aren't you? Have some bearings! You're my SECOND." He snorted. "Lord Megatron thinks more highly of you than me most days. He's getting around to promoting you, you know. And you'd throw that away? Strand yourself on this mudball so you can play house with your little fish?"
For a moment Starscream thought he'd hit the right sensor cluster as anger flashed through Thundercracker's optics, but it died a klik later. Thundercracker just looked at him, his field almost SAD. He shook his head. "I've served everyone else for hundreds of vorns, Star. When Megatron needed a soldier, I was a soldier. When he needed an officer, I upped for it. When everyone else was going for your back, I was the one who helped take them down. I've followed orders, done whatever anyone asked of me, and I'm GOOD at it. I'm trustworthy and loyal and I've never asked you or HIM for anything in return." He leaned forward, hand bracing on the desk as he leaned in. "I want this. I want my MATE. I want something for ME. Not for you. Not for Megatron. Not for the faction. For ME."
First and Second stared at each other, close enough their fields touched, tense and familiar.
Starscream huffed. "It's about slagging time."
First Visit to Cybertron
The waters of Cybertron were not "water" as the humans would define it, but they flowed over Seaspray's plating just right anyway.
It surprised him, as he carried out his survey, how much Cybertron felt like home. Not like the ocean colony on Hypos where he'd been built, not like any other Autobot station he'd served on, certainly not like Earth, but more like recharging next to Thundercracker. Home.
It was something in the feel of it, some subsensory harmonic that resonated subtly with his spark as he dove deeper, inspecting the ancient submerged conversion engines. It got stronger the further down he went, until he'd reached the bottom, silty with thousands of years of munitions dust and the wreckage of war.
His spotlights shining through the murk, Seaspray laid a hand on one of the engines, on the very root where it connected to the planetary infrastructure below. And there it was again. That hum, pulsing through him in a great wave his sensors could almost identify, almost recognize....
Seaspray thought of the huge, newly-repaired solar array fields above. The great engines before him, humming slowly to life. The waters he floated in, surrounding hundreds of such engines. The energon veins, long since mined dry but each still connected to an engine, still running through the entirety of the planet.
Collectors. Converters. Cooling systems. Tanks. Circulatory systems.
And the hum beneath his hand, laying against his sensors like a great, slumbering EM field.
Seaspray bowed his helm, his spark surging, and knew that he was never going back to Earth. Not for long. Not to stay.
Later, he reported back to the Prime and the Lord Protector. Yes, the conversion engines were structurally sound. Yes, the nanite populations in the oceans were reviving and repairing the damage. Yes, he saw evidence of the aquatic ecosystems returning.
Yes, he was sure.
Yes, he would stay and monitor them. Yes, it would be a big job and he would need the aid of as many aquatic frames as could be tempted into the position. Yes, Lord Protector, he would get RIGHT ON breeding some more.
Later, he returned to their temporary quarters. Thundercracker was on the balcony, looking up at the hundreds of seekers crisscrossing the night sky.
Seaspray leaned against his mate's hip. "Let's stay."
Thundercracker looked down at him, field flaring with poorly-concealed interest.
Seaspray smiled, his own field abashed and slightly apologetic. "I didn't understand what the big deal was. Now I do. Let's stay."
Thundercracker nodded, field singing with a silent, scintillating happiness. "Yes."
Continuity: Bayverse/movieverse
Rating: M (in one part)
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Seaspray/Thundercracker
Content Advice: Sparksex, mechs in love, posturing, and more fluffy smoosh than you can shake a Laserbeak at.
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me and I make no money from them. Unfortunately.
Summary: Written for the November Five Firsts challenge. Seaspray and Thundercracker have a lot of 'firsts' to get out of the way....
Notes: This fic is based off my Dawning continuity, particularly the Horizon part of it that deals with Thundercracker and Seaspray. More info about the ceasefire can be found in Dawning proper. Reading those'll give you the best background for this, but the short version is this: Post-RotF, Megatron shakes the remnants of the Fallen out of his processor, looks at the mess they're in, and sues for peace. Meanwhile, Seaspray and a Decepticon seeker form a wary, temporary alliance out in space, trading energon for repairs. The seeds of respect are sown, and only later does Seaspray realize that the mysterious seeker is second in the Decepticon Command Trine. Not that he lets that stop him. ;P
(can I have an author tag, please? Thanks!)
First Fight
::Star Treader,:: Thundercracker snapped, ::does not exist.::
::Of course he does.:: Seaspray's optics glowed softly in the water, his field saturated in that gentle, implacable certainty that was, Thundercracker was beginning to realize, both shield and weapon. ::He's part of you.::
::No...it's not.:: Slag the Autobot. Slag him and those optics that saw way too slagging much and then shoved it right back in his face. ::Star Treader was a mask. I needed something from you and being NICE was the easiest way to get it. He's me? You don't even KNOW me.::
He'd meant it to be hurtful. To push the enemy away, gain ground, gain space, gain time to think.
Instead, the idiot Autobot came CLOSER. ::You're right. I DON'T know you.::
The capitulation, the utter lack of offense taken, broke Thundercracker's concentration. As did the stubborn friendliness in his field.
::...But I want to.::
First Interface
Thundercracker was used to being one of the fastest things on any battlefield. It was a seeker's place: high above, streaking faster than the groundpounders below could even see.
In the ocean, he was as slow as a combiner. The current tugged constantly at the planes of his wings, and his engines' efficiency was slagged when dealing with the drag of the water.
Seaspray, on the other hand, was made for the ocean. Thundercracker couldn't watch him loop and spin for the sheer joy of it without seeing qualities that any seeker should have respected. Speed. Agility. Strength. Utter, inborn confidence.
He was unlike any seeker, any MECH that Thundercracker had ever known. There was no deceit in him. No spitefulness. Little selfishness. No constant grasping (gentle or not) for authority. No vanity or arrogance.
Thundercracker admired him. Quietly.
He admired the Autobot's joy in speed, his sharp turns and wide, exultant loops. He admired his dedication to duty and his sheer, affable stubbornness. He admired his attention to detail, his precision when interacting with the organic dolphins, cataloguing their rudimentary glyph-language for hours at a time. He admired the Autobot's ability to be open minded without being a fool, to ask without wheedling or commanding.
And he admired the lithe grace in Seaspray's frame. The smooth lines of him. The warm invitation of his field that offered but never pushed.
In the ocean, Thundercracker was slow, but Seaspray was never too fast to catch. Never too fast to caress, to ripple the ripe energy of desire over.
And Seaspray was made for the ocean. For pivoting in surprise, then laughing in delight. For sliding forward to exactly the right place, where small fingers could slip between loosened plates to reach primed and aching sensors. For being pulled closer as they sank, settling on his feet as Thundercracker's knees dug into the sand. For running clever hands over sensitive seams, drawing patterns of heat and charge over Thundercracker's plating.
They were both obviously built for this. For shivering with long-denied want as they let their spark's energies flood their fields, spilling across and over and between. For being held close, their frames mismatched but all the more delicious for it as energy pulsed between them in a slow circuit, cycling faster and faster. For pressing each other into the sand. For writhing helplessly into each surge, each touch. For holding back the overload as long as physically possible until claws large and small rent the seafloor. For sending every organic thing for miles scurrying at the thunder and lightning of their pleasure.
First Meeting With Skywarp
Seaspray had gotten used to seekers plunging down into the ocean around him. So used to it that he didn't even turn around right away, absorbed as he was in his cataloguing of the microfauna in this particular lagoon. So it was a good klik or five before he looked up and realized that the approaching seeker was black, not blue, and watching him with a rather unnerving intensity.
It occurred to Seaspray to be alarmed. He shunted the instinct aside. The Decepticon brands on the seeker's wings were no longer cause for hostility, after all.
Seaspray sent a polite greeting and an identifying burst. ::Can I help you?::
The seeker came forward slowly, wings combing the water. ::How can he stand this? Feels like flying through mud.::
Seaspray stood his ground, even as it became clear that this seeker would, perhaps even more than Thundercracker, tower over him. ::It takes some getting used to, or so I'm told.::
The seeker peered down at him, red optics flicking up and down to take him in. ::You are a tiny thing, aren't you?:: He sounded more amused than threatening.
Seaspray, with a burst of thrust, shot up to the seeker's eye level and hovered there. ::Size isn't everything.::
The seeker cycled his optics once, then laughed. ::Mouthy, too. I can see what he sees in you.:: He sent an identifying ping: Decepticon, Third-In-Flight, Skywarp. Thundercracker's wingmate.
Skywarp circled, and Seaspray let him. Here in the water, where he could swim circles around the seeker, the maneuver was less intimidating than Skywarp was probably going for.
::Is there something you wanted?:: Seaspray asked politely.
::Wanted to see what's got Thunder sneaking off alone and coming back with sand and seaweed in his thrusters.:: Skywarp settled in front of Seaspray again. He shook his head slowly. ::An Autobot. And a mini. And an AQUATIC. Triple kinky.::
If the seeker wanted to pick a fight, he was looking at the wrong mech. ::Is that a problem?::
::I don't know. ARE you?:: Skywarp smiled not entirely pleasantly at him, and Seaspray didn't have time to reply before the bigger mech disappeared. Not left, but DISAPPEARED, water crashing into the space he had been occupying.
The push of displaced water behind him was Seaspray's only warning before a large hand appeared around his waist. ::Gotcha.::
Skywarp's field radiated gleeful amusement more than anything. It was annoying but not particularly threatening, and Seaspray merely froze as he was lifted to eye level. ::Don't underestimate me just because of my size, either, little one.::
Seaspray relaxed, just a bit. This was familiar. Pushing, intimidating, jockeying for dominance and respect.
The Autobot sighed internally. Seekers,, he thought. Fine.
Seaspray pulled in his plating in a partial transformation at the same time he hit his thrusters, shooting him up out of the encircling hand and into a flipping arc that landed him on the seeker's head. He tapped Skywarp's helm with the barrel of his (completely powered down) laser. ::I won't if you won't.::
Skywarp laughed again, in approval this time. ::Fast, too. Good.:: Seaspray flipped down, and by the time he got his optics around, the seeker was watching him again, head cocked. ::ARE you a problem? You going to try to take him away? Make him an Autobot?::
Seaspray almost laughed, almost said, I already tried that, and he said no. Instead he deliberately floated closer, opening his field wide enough that there would be no mistaking his sincerity. ::No. He cares for you and Starscream. What would asking him to leave possibly accomplish? I already have what I want.::
Skywarp's red optics narrowed. ::And what's that?::
Seaspray pulsed his answer in glyphs of joy and modifiers of steadfastness. ::I want to be happy.::
First Time Calling It What It Is
"Star. I need a favor."
Starscream looked up, optics narrowing. His Second NEVER called in his favors. Mostly because, as far as Starscream could tell, Thundercracker never really WANTED anything. He was a mech of modest desires, most of them involving a competent medic, a cube or three, a few mechs around he could trust, and no one currently trying to kill him. The only time he'd had even close to that feel in his field had been--
Starscream vented a sigh. "This has to do with that thing we agreed not to talk about, doesn't it?"
Thundercracker met his optics. "I know how this is going to work. I know that Lord Megatron is going to want everyone he can stuff into the Nemesis for the trip back to Cybertron. I know this is asking a lot, and if you can't make it happen, that's...fine. But. If there is...anything that needs done on Earth in the meantime. Anything...."
Starscream shook his head wonderingly. "You really are sparkwhipped, aren't you? Have some bearings! You're my SECOND." He snorted. "Lord Megatron thinks more highly of you than me most days. He's getting around to promoting you, you know. And you'd throw that away? Strand yourself on this mudball so you can play house with your little fish?"
For a moment Starscream thought he'd hit the right sensor cluster as anger flashed through Thundercracker's optics, but it died a klik later. Thundercracker just looked at him, his field almost SAD. He shook his head. "I've served everyone else for hundreds of vorns, Star. When Megatron needed a soldier, I was a soldier. When he needed an officer, I upped for it. When everyone else was going for your back, I was the one who helped take them down. I've followed orders, done whatever anyone asked of me, and I'm GOOD at it. I'm trustworthy and loyal and I've never asked you or HIM for anything in return." He leaned forward, hand bracing on the desk as he leaned in. "I want this. I want my MATE. I want something for ME. Not for you. Not for Megatron. Not for the faction. For ME."
First and Second stared at each other, close enough their fields touched, tense and familiar.
Starscream huffed. "It's about slagging time."
First Visit to Cybertron
The waters of Cybertron were not "water" as the humans would define it, but they flowed over Seaspray's plating just right anyway.
It surprised him, as he carried out his survey, how much Cybertron felt like home. Not like the ocean colony on Hypos where he'd been built, not like any other Autobot station he'd served on, certainly not like Earth, but more like recharging next to Thundercracker. Home.
It was something in the feel of it, some subsensory harmonic that resonated subtly with his spark as he dove deeper, inspecting the ancient submerged conversion engines. It got stronger the further down he went, until he'd reached the bottom, silty with thousands of years of munitions dust and the wreckage of war.
His spotlights shining through the murk, Seaspray laid a hand on one of the engines, on the very root where it connected to the planetary infrastructure below. And there it was again. That hum, pulsing through him in a great wave his sensors could almost identify, almost recognize....
Seaspray thought of the huge, newly-repaired solar array fields above. The great engines before him, humming slowly to life. The waters he floated in, surrounding hundreds of such engines. The energon veins, long since mined dry but each still connected to an engine, still running through the entirety of the planet.
Collectors. Converters. Cooling systems. Tanks. Circulatory systems.
And the hum beneath his hand, laying against his sensors like a great, slumbering EM field.
Seaspray bowed his helm, his spark surging, and knew that he was never going back to Earth. Not for long. Not to stay.
Later, he reported back to the Prime and the Lord Protector. Yes, the conversion engines were structurally sound. Yes, the nanite populations in the oceans were reviving and repairing the damage. Yes, he saw evidence of the aquatic ecosystems returning.
Yes, he was sure.
Yes, he would stay and monitor them. Yes, it would be a big job and he would need the aid of as many aquatic frames as could be tempted into the position. Yes, Lord Protector, he would get RIGHT ON breeding some more.
Later, he returned to their temporary quarters. Thundercracker was on the balcony, looking up at the hundreds of seekers crisscrossing the night sky.
Seaspray leaned against his mate's hip. "Let's stay."
Thundercracker looked down at him, field flaring with poorly-concealed interest.
Seaspray smiled, his own field abashed and slightly apologetic. "I didn't understand what the big deal was. Now I do. Let's stay."
Thundercracker nodded, field singing with a silent, scintillating happiness. "Yes."