[Fic] Story of a Lifetime, part 17.2
Part 17 - Time passes (when you're having fun)
Chapter 2 of 4
"A fully functional fort?" Grapple mused.
"Say that three times fast." Blaster murmured from his workstation in the command centre, and Jazz, lounging in a chair nearby, chuckled, not at all perturbed by the quelling glare Prowl cast in his direction, waving happily at his disgruntled mate who now clearly chose to ignore him.
"Can it be done with the resources here?"
"Well of course it can." Grapple said stiffly. "But if we start to try to build it, the Decepticons will simply attack and destroy it."
"Red Alert and I will find a way to manage that." Prowl assured him. "How long will you need to produce a draft of the structural plans?"
"You're rushing me already? These things shouldn't be rushed. I need more details..."
Prowl patiently pointed him back to the outline.
"If you need anything further, you can come back to me. Can I expect a response in two orns?"
"Well I'll do my best. I'll have to read this carefully... plan... so much to consider..."
Grapple wandered away muttering to himself, and Prowl turned back towards his office.
Jazz nodded a casual farewell to Blaster and followed, noting that Prowl had not noticed him and that his doorwings were shaking faintly with fatigue. As Prowl reached his office door Jazz reached out and stroked one of those panels, stilling it and not impressed that the move took his partner entirely by surprise.
"Jazz?" Prowl yelped, pulling away and hurrying inside. "Keep your hands to yourself."
"There ain't no humans here right now." Jazz drawled, closing the door behind himself. "An' you're so tense they're actually vibratin'. You even notice you just gave that timeframe in our time units, not human?"
"Did I?" Prowl faltered.
Jazz nudged him down into his chair, rubbing soothingly at his back.
"You need to take a proper break, Prowler. Not just these little naps. You're the only one of us still runnin' on Cybertron time: you're puttin' in six shifts straight for every one you put the rest of us on."
"There is much to be done. And we do not require such frequent rest periods."
"Nah we don't. But if you're workin' full shifts then you should be takin' full shift breaks too. Only you're not."
"I cannot be absent for days at a time without valid reason. It will make the humans suspicious."
"Then you're just gonna have to move to human time, like the rest of us."
Prowl shook his head stubbornly, and Jazz decided to change tack.
"Look, why don't you at least take a break right now? It's late afternoon, we're not expectin' any visitors, you'll have clear through to dawn."
"I need to get this done first."
"Can't it wait?"
"No. After this, Jazz, I will. But I must do this first."
"Well lemme give you a hand, then. What is it?"
Prowl sighed heavily.
"Room allocations."
"Again? I thought Hoist was almost done converting those broken washracks for the Protectobots?"
"They're not the problem, it's Trailbreaker I need to move. It seems Perceptor and Smokescreen are going to persist in exploring their new relationship in public areas unless something is done to put them together; I can only pray that once they have some privacy they will have the decency to use it and cease this foolishness altogether. The only reason they did not get caught by the visiting scientists today was that Red Alert caught them first."
Jazz snickered.
"Red sure was mad. I think even Cybertron might've picked up on that rant."
"What worries me is what we'll say if the humans ever do. If we can at least keep them in their own quarters when the urge strikes, we can avoid both."
"That, or we could set up a special room just for a bit o'private time." Jazz suggested lightly, then raised his hands defensively. "Okay, okay, not a good idea. It'd get a lot o'use, though."
Prowl grunted, rubbing at his helm.
"Even if that were a viable option we have no such available space, and if we did I would simply shift Trailbreaker into it."
"What if you put Breaker in with Beachcomber?" Jazz suggested, electing not to tease any more for now, concerned at the signs of genuine fatigue in his mate's behaviour. "They get on okay, and it'd be better for Breaker to not feel like he's bein' shuffled just cause he ain't in a relationship right now."
"And put Bluestreak where?" Prowl asked tiredly. "That room is simply not large enough for three berths."
Jazz leaned forward, bringing the data up on a convenient screen.
"Gimme a go. You take a break."
Prowl sighed, rising.
"Energon?"
"Yeah, go on. You know you use that thing too much, though, right? It keeps you in this office long past when you should've left."
"You were the one who asked Hoist to install it, not me." Prowl pointed out, returning and setting a cube down on the desk while peering at the display. "You can't do that. Wheeljack..."
"Hey lemme finish before you pick it apart, will ya?"
Prowl subsided, returning to his chair and sipping at his energon.
"I got that dispenser approved cause I got tired o'findin' ya in here goin' offline from not fuellin' at all, not as an excuse to lock yourself in here even longer." Jazz reminded him.
"Mm." Prowl murmured, finishing his cube, then focused sharply as the energy boost took effect. "Have you spoken with Powerglide yet?"
"Yeah, he got the message. He's bein' careful."
"By whose definition? The last thing we need is for there to be some truth to the rumours the more fanatical humans have already claimed about his relationship with Astoria."
"He knows that. He doesn't want to make it worse for her either."
"He rarely shows any forethought for consequence." Prowl stated darkly.
"It won't last, Sparkles. It can't, we all know that. Astoria's got two thirds of a vorn left at most, an' just as likely less. Why shouldn't he be silly for a while? Primus knows things've been bleak for long enough, an' they'll probably get that way again before we're ready. It ain't like he's fraggin' her."
"Oh please don't even suggest that." Prowl moaned, dropping his head in his hands. "Him courting her and following her around like a symbiote to a host is bad enough. I've seen some of the things Red Alert has found on the internet - we do not want to encourage this."
"I think Red actually likes it, y'know." Jazz considered. "They're so far off-base with their guesses, it gives him some security. If they ever figure out how we could share with a human, he'll glitch so hard we'll have t'scrape him off the ceilin'. Right. There. Whaddaya think?"
He flicked the screen back around to face Prowl who raised his head then gave a tired laugh.
"I think you're more help when you're not helping me."
"Hey, it's practical. It'd give us the space we need."
"And if you used the rec room as barracks, where would you suggest we hold gatherings or use as recreational space? You'd start a riot."
"Who says that's a bad thing?" Jazz asked, rising and scooping up Prowl's cube.
"I don't need another."
"Yeah y'do." Jazz countered. "An' you also need to charge. You can't keep doin' normal workshifts with only a coupla groons charge."
"The humans worry if we're not available during their active hours."
"Exactly." Jazz agreed, handing over the refilled cube. "So the rest of us've adjusted our active hours to match..."
"Wait." Prowl interrupted him. "We had this conversation already."
"Several times." Jazz reminded him, making a more serious attempt at resolving the room allocation problem. "Since you're not listenin' when I try t'be reasonable, I thought I might just try to program it into you through repetition."
"I am hearing you."
"Sure you are, y'just ain't listenin'. Okay. Seriously, how about this: we put Breaker in with Comber. Blue shifts out, an' goes in wit' the twins."
"No."
"Drink your energon an' listen. I know y'don't think it's a good thing for them t'be gettin' too serious wit'him..."
"They had better not be!"
"...but I ain't quite sure I get why it bothers ya." Jazz finished. "Blue's old enough t'make up his own mind about who he's sharin' with. Now so far he's been turnin'em down because he knows you ain't keen on it, but honestly, Sparkles, who with half a processor would ever've let me court you if they'd known even half the truth? Hmm?"
Prowl had been about to argue, but now subsided unhappily.
"I just don't want to see him hurt."
"An' neither do they." Jazz pointed out. "Look, you were the one who told me vorns ago that they could be trusted. You were right. An' maybe they'll even realise it ain't gonna work out an' that'll be that, but I'm tellin' ya now: no-one else is gonna wanna share a room with'em an' they ain't gonna agree t'share space wit' anyone else either."
"Bluestreak could move in with you and I could move in with the twins." Prowl considered.
Jazz gave him a reproachful look.
"Sparkles, I ain't been fightin' ya on this whole martyr complex ya got goin' jus' cause the two of us ended up here together when others got separated, but you got a whole lot more thinkin' t'do if ya think I'm gonna put up wit'ya movin' out over it. You're barely gettin' any charge as it is, an' besides we only just got the bunks replaced wit' a bigger berth. Much as I like Blue I ain't intendin' t' share my berth wit'him an' I doubt he would be happy wit'it either. He wants them just as much as they want him. An' if they didn't respect ya as much as they do they wouldn't be hesitatin' over it."
"I'll think about it." Prowl sighed.
"Which is another sign that y'need t'get some charge." Jazz pointed out. "Otherwise you'd make a decision here an' now. In the meantime, are you gonna drink that or just stare at it?"
Prowl looked at the cube Jazz had given him, then shook his head.
"What did you put in it?"
"Say what?"
"You've drugged it, to make me charge. I said I would go when this was done, I'd prefer you trusted me to keep my word."
"Oh for the love of Primus! You think I even need to? You're half offline on your pedes, Sparkles, you're gonna keel over any click now no matter what I do. You want proof? Fine. Watch."
He picked up the cube and drank half of it.
"See? It's just energon. Come on, Prowler, please. I'm worried about you."
Chastened, Prowl picked it up and finished it. Within clicks the light in his optics flickered and faded.
"Sorry, Sparkles, turns out I was lyin' an' you were right." Jazz murmured, spitting the tainted energon out of his backup tank and back into the cube. "But you need the charge, an' if I left you to it you'd set an alarm t'make sure you didn't get enough before you were back in here."
"Jazz, have you seen Prowl today? I had a meeting with him and he didn't turn up."
"He's takin' some down time, boss. Anythin' I can help with?"
Optimus joined Jazz at the rec room table, considering his third in command.
"You drugged him?"
"Like I even needed to." Jazz snorted. "He was runnin' on fumes."
"But you did."
"Well, yeah. Was for his own good. Is he missin' anythin' important?"
"Nothing that can't wait."
"See, that's what I keep tryin' t'tell him. Stuff can wait for a bit. He doesn't listen."
"Who doesn't listen, Jazz?" a small voice asked brightly.
They both looked across to see Bumblebee entering the room with Spike.
"Prowl." Jazz responded casually.
"Oh man, don't tell me he's frozen up again." Spike laughed.
Jazz stiffened fractionally at the joke even as he laughed along, Optimus noticed. Prowl's freezes were in fact quite rare, and never amusing, but they had provided a useful excuse for the tactician to be indisposed at times. Optimus still wondered whose idea it had been to feign the first one in front of the humans, but he doubted it had come from Jazz. Much more likely Prowl's own idea.
Jazz continued the easy banter with the young human until Spike and Bumblebee left, then TIC slumped back in his chair.
"It seems perhaps Prowl is not the only one who could do with some more rest." Optimus suggested gently.
Jazz grunted sourly.
"I don't need the lecture if he wakes up an' finds me there. He's workin' so slaggin' hard on makin' sure we don't have any shared downtime."
~Why is that?~ Optimus asked, shifting to a comm line for privacy. ~Have you two been arguing?~
~Nah, nothin' like that. He's still feelin' a bit guilty that we ended up comin' through together when so many others got left behind or didn't make it. He'll come round, he jus' needs a bit o'time t'make his penance.~
~I see. In that case I am ordering you to go and take a break. And you can tell him from me that he's to schedule you both at least one shift off together a month or I'll start rearranging the schedules myself.~
Jazz had sat up to stare at him and now chuckled.
"I dunno that it's that serious. But sure, I'll go an' I'll tell him. See you in the morning?"
"Indeed. Have a good night."
"Oh we will. No doubt about that."
Prowl onlined in Jazz's arms and admitted to himself that a few hours in his mate's company had done him a great deal of good. He never relaxed on his own in quite the same way as when Jazz was with him.
He snuggled in a little closer to Jazz, still tired but not nearly as tense as he had been.
"Thank you."
"Silly mech." Jazz teased gently, kissing the centre of his chevron. "Always have t'do it all the hard way, don't ya?"
Prowl did not respond to that, content to just lie there until he drifted back into recharge, but it seemed Jazz had other ideas.
"Hey Prowler?"
"Mm?"
"Why are ya so hard against Blue hookin' up wit' the twins?"
Prowl sighed.
"There are several reasons..."
"I got the time."
Prowl onlined his optics and stared across Jazz's chest to the room beyond, not really seeing it.
"At first I was concerned that they would not take him seriously. Sideswipe has had many lovers and always moved on. Many of them have been Praxians. I did not want to see Bluestreak treated that way."
Jazz took a moment to consider that, one hand trailing absently up and down Prowl's arm.
"Would it've been such a bad thing?" he asked finally.
Prowl was startled and shifted so he could see Jazz's expression.
"To see Bluestreak harmed? Of course!"
"But would he've been harmed?" Jazz persisted seriously. "Sparkles, not everyone's gonna find their lifemate jus' like that. There ain't nothin' wrong wit'havin' a bit o'fun while you're lookin', an' from what I've heard Sides's always been upfront about his intentions."
Prowl looked away.
"You're right. I was hoping he would have what I have with you, and it was unreasonable."
"What makes ya think he ain't found it?"
"Well it wasn't initially clear..."
"Nah, that ain't it." Jazz cut him off. "There's somethin' else you ain't sayin'. Tell me."
Prowl grimaced. Jazz knew him all too well.
"I wanted him to have what I have with you." he repeated softly. "All of it."
Now it was Jazz's turn to be startled, the emotion coming clearly through the muffled bond.
"Y'mean bondin'? Prowler, that's a big step!"
"I know."
"An' none o'your slaggin' business, neither." Jazz continued firmly. "Y'can't play matchmaker over that - they mighta been incompatible."
"Which is why I was hesitant."
Jazz shook his head, clearly struggling with the concept.
"There're plenty o'couples an' groups who're happy enough wit'out this. Look at Prime an' Lita. Or Hide an' Chromia. Bondin' wasn't even all that common before the war; I wouldn't go expectin' everyone t'leap into it no jus' cause things are a bit quieter, or even if the war ended tomorrow, it's just too much."
Prowl splayed his hand over Jazz's chest, trying to articulate what he was feeling.
"I can't imagine how my life would have been if I were not bonded to you, and I don't want to try. And if Bluestreak does not want it, then there is no problem. But he is so scarred by his past, and if he does want that security, that certainty, then how can he even dream of having it with the twins? They're already bonded."
The truth sounded pitiful spoken aloud, but there it was.
Jazz remained silent and still for a worrying moment, then curled one hand around the back of Prowl's helm to draw him down and press their foreheads together.
"Primus bless, you've got such a soft spark." the visored mech murmured. "This is why you're keepin'em apart, hmm? So they don't get so attached they can't pull away? Sparkles, they passed that point a long time ago an' they're doin' jus' fine. I dunno if the twins can bring another into their bond or not, twin bonds aren't the same as love ones, but that's up t'them to find out if they wanna try. For now all they want is t'be together. So let'em. Please?"
Prowl sighed and snuggled back down beside his partner.
"I suppose it would not be fair to do anything less. However it turns out."
Prowl walked into the rec room, wanting some energon and having removed the convenient dispenser in his office as proof to Jazz that he had truly changed his ways and would take regular breaks. Nevertheless, he still had work to do and he had a datapad in hand and was focused on that too much to notice anything until someone rushed right up to him and hugged him tightly.
Startled into dropping his datapad, he nearly activated his defensive protocols but then recognised his so-called attacker.
"Bluestreak?"
The Praxian hugged him more tightly, uncommonly quiet.
His spark clenched. Had Jazz been wrong? Had the twins not been serious after all?
"Bluestreak, please. Tell me what is wrong."
Bluestreak choked, sounding close to sobbing, but then finally began to speak before Prowl could become more concerned.
"Thank you. I know they're not Praxians, I know they've got bad reputations and I know everyone thinks the worst of them, but they love me, they really do, and I love them back, I do, I just couldn't... couldn't enjoy it unless you were okay with it..."
"The accommodation reallocations." Prowl relaxed, realising finally what this was about.
"It means so much that you trust me, trust them, trust us. Thank you."
Prowl shook his head faintly, awkwardly returning the hug.
"Bluestreak, I'm not truly your caretaker. The choice was always yours."
"But I didn't want to disappoint you. I never want that."
"You have never disappointed me." Prowl said firmly, extricating himself finally and meeting Bluestreak's gaze. "Nor do I expect you will now, no matter how this turns out."
"They do love me." Bluestreak assured him.
"Yes." Prowl nodded, then gestured ahead to where the twins were standing, watching anxiously. "It appears that they do."
Bluestreak looked, then looked back at Prowl, who gave him a little push.
"Go." he prompted. "You can speak with me later. Go and be with them."
Bluestreak gave him a dazzling smile in gratitude, then ran to his lovers, drawing them both into a hug and talking rapidly, head bobbing up and down in response to their questions. A moment later, Sideswipe pulled him into a deep kiss that got many others in the rec room applauding and cheering, and yet Prowl felt slightly distant, almost disconnected from the emotional storm around him. Not quite like a processor crash, but something else. Almost lonely?
~Nicely done, love.~ Jazz called on a private channel. ~Better that they're happy, eh?~
~They do seem happy.~ Prowl allowed, trying to shake off the strange feeling.
Jazz put down his cube and moved across the room to him, sliding one arm around his waist.
~It's hard when a sparklin's done wit' his mentorin', eh? Good, but hard.~
~Bluestreak is considerably older than me, as you so often remind me.~
~Yeah but you adopted the three of'em as sure as Prime an' Hide watched over li'l Bumblebee.~
~Perhaps so.~ Prowl mused, then tore his gaze away from where Sunstreaker was now claiming his frie... his mate?... in a kiss just as searing as the one Sideswipe had just bestowed. ~Though it's you they should be thanking, not me.~
Jazz shrugged.
~We come as a set. Same as them, now. Right?~
~Right.~
"Good." Jazz nodded, smiling, raising his voice. "Mechs, I think this calls for a celebration. Break out the high grade an' lets get this party started!"