#what is happening in blurrs family

[bumbleblurr]

g1 blurrs family tree is so questionable like there's the horses thing yeah but bc of his shattered glass counterpart there's like?? An implication that his cousin is Crasher??? like. The gobot

[withwritersblock]

I Was In Love

~I Was In Love by Born Without Bones~

Author's Note: I think this may actually be my favorite song and one shot I've done so far :) oh also italics as always are flashbacks Summary: Luke and Y/N have a complicated history: Quinn is stuck in the middle of it Warnings: implied smut, swearing, some other things I probably should add but I'm not sure Word Count: 5,485 Luke Hughes x fm!reader

He was only supposed to walk her back to her dorm building, but then it started raining. There was no way she was going to let him walk back to his dorm building with the pouring rain. So he stepped inside, it was innocent until it wasn’t. 

She wasn’t sure how it happened but his lips were sucking the skin right above her collarbone as his hands were massaging her breast through the lace of her bra. She panted hard as she pulled her fingers through the thickness of his curls. 

He lifted his head and looked down towards her, a smile on his lips as he kissed her urgently. “Is this okay?” he asked as he looked deeply into her eyes.

“Very,” she muttered before she sealed her lips over his once more. She tugged at the hem of his black button up. He stood up as he began unbuttoning it, a wide toothy grin on his lips as he looked over her gorgeous frame. She bit her lip excitedly as he leaned towards her again, the shirt completely unbuttoned, his muscles in full view. He kissed her lips briefly before he flung the shirt away from his body.

Her hands wrapped around the base of his neck, running her fingers through his curls as he kept one hand beside her head as he was holding himself up and his other hand was gripping her hip.  He slowly pulled his lips from hers, meeting her gaze for a brief second as he began to trail wet kisses from her jawline and lower and lower on her body. He wanted to taste every part of her and she wanted to feel his tongue on every single part of her body. 

The rest of the night went by in a blurr. She never thought that her longest friend, her best friend, would be in her bed doing things she could only allow her mind to go. But he did and it was the best sex she ever had.

She woke up to see him already awake and staring towards the ceiling. She smiled softly as she looked towards him, but the frown on his lips slipped the smile off of hers instantly.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she rubbed her hand across her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled as he stood up searching the room for his shirt and pants that he came into her room wearing. His boxers the only thing covering his frame, “We were drunk, we shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry,” 

“Well yeah but what if we could be-”

He pulled his jeans up his frame, quickly buttoning them as he avoided her gaze. “You’re the last person I wanted to have a drunken hookup with, I’m sorry.” he said while shaking his head. He picked his shirt up from the floor as he covered his frame, “Can we talk about this later? I’m running late for practice,” he offered as he quickly slipped on his shoes and left the dorm room.

She sat up straight, feeling her eyes well up in tears. It was as if her heart completely shattered at that moment. All she has ever wanted was to be something more with Luke. She was madly in love with him and maybe that was her turning point, last night. She thought maybe that meant he was in love with her too.

That was five months ago. They never spoke about it again, rarely saw each other again. Luke had moved to New Jersey to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL. They only briefly saw each other during passing at school before he left. She avoided him the entire time and it felt like he was avoiding her too.

Except today was the first day that she was going to see him again. A few years ago, the older Hughes brother’s bought the lakehouse that was directly next to their longest family friends growing up. Y/N and her family. She was driving her own car towards her lakehouse, like she’s done since she was sixteen. Except the entire time she was filled with dread as her boyfriend, Kyle, was sitting in the passenger seat beside her. 

They had only been together for three months but her parents agreed to let him join and she was excited to spend the time with Kyle but also hating the idea that she would have to see Luke and Kyle in the same room.

She nervously tapped her fingers against the steering wheel as they pulled into her spot in the garage as it was big enough to hold two spots. 

“So these guys that own the place next door, are we going to be seeing them a lot?” Kyle asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Y/N widened her eyes slightly as she forced a smile.

“They should be inside right now actually,” Y/N mumbled as she reluctantly unbuckled her seatbelt. She didn’t want to see Luke again, except every part of her body felt weak knowing he was only a few doors away. 

“Good, I mean it’s good to meet them now,” he muttered as he pushed the passenger door open and climbed out of the car. She followed in pursuit. He waited for her at the door to enter her house with a kind smile. She returned it as she wrapped her arms around his chest giving him a quick hug.

“I’m excited to spend the next few weeks with you,” she mumbled against her chest. He kissed the side of her head before he pulled away. They stepped inside the house, “Can you actually put our suitcases and stuff in my room, right over there?” she asked, suddenly wanting to see the brothers by herself first. 

Kyle nodded excitedly before he stepped out of the door towards the car again. Y/N took a deep breath as she walked through the hallway leading towards her kitchen. 

The three boys were hanging out around the kitchen island. Quinn was sitting on a barstool chair holding a seltzer against his lips. Jack was sitting on the countertop staring at his phone. Luke was leaning against the countertop as he was snacking on some of the chips her mother probably set up for them.

“You guys do realize your house is next door right?” she said as she walked towards the kitchen.

Quinn turned around and smiled widely when he saw her walking towards the three of them. Jack hopped off of the counter as he chuckled. Luke turned his gaze towards her and looked as if he saw a ghost. He stayed frozen as he watched her walk towards them.

“Your mom buys the best snacks,” Quinn said excitedly as he engulfed her in a tight hug. “How’ve you been?” he asked as he rested his hand onto her upper arm, surveying her features. Jack jogged towards her hugging her tightly, she laughed as she rocked back and forth with him.

“I’ve been doing good, how are you guys?” she said as Jack pulled away. She glanced towards Luke, who hasn’t taken his eyes off of her since she stepped inside the house.

“Off season started a bit early but otherwise we’re great, ready for some sun,” Quinn muttered as he pulled Y/N to his side again, Quinn looked towards Luke for a few seconds, “Lukey, are you going to say hi?” Quinn offered tilting his head to the side.

Luke shook his head slightly as he stood up from his leaning position and he took a deep breath as he began walking towards her and Quinn slowly.

“Well, actually I should go check on Kyle. Make sure he didn’t get lost,” she slipped from Quinn’s grasp as she started walking away from them.

“Kyle?” Luke let out. Y/N spun around to meet Luke’s gaze. She widened her eyes as she nodded.

“My boyfriend? Did my mom not tell you guys he was joining us for a few weeks out here?” she offered.

“Y/N?” Kyle called out from the back hallway. She forced a smile as she searched down the hall for him.

“Hey baby,” she said as she stepped into her bedroom, her voice echoing into the kitchen.

“Kyle?” Jack let out barely above a whisper, his face scrunched up in disgust. “Did you know she had a boyfriend?” Jack pointed his question to Luke. Luke crossed his arms over his chest as he shook his head. Jack stared towards him furrowing his eyebrows harshly, “Why are you acting weird?” 

“I’m not,” he mumbled before he started shoving more chips in his mouth. Quinn and Jack shared a look before they decided to drop it. 

Y/N and Kyle walked from the hallway together side by side. Hearing his heavy footsteps, Luke kept his gaze on the sour cream and onion chips in front of him as he continued to snack. Y/N nervously wrapped her arm around Kyle as she walked towards the kitchen.

“Kyle, these are the boys,” she muttered motioning towards them, “That’s Quinn, Jack, and that’s L-Luke,” she pointed out each of the guys individually. Quinn and Jack walked towards the pair, each of them forcing a smile. 

“Nice to meet you,” Quinn offered his hand and Kyle gladly took it. Kyle offered his hand towards Jack and he reluctantly took the handshake. 

Luke leaned upward from his leaning position as he slowly walked towards the small group. Y/N looked towards him, their eyes meeting for the first time in months. Her breath caught in her throat as she forced her gaze to meet Kyle. 

Kyle offers his hand to Luke and Luke shakes his hand with a polite smile. “You go to UMich?” Luke asked as he rested his hands on his hips. 

Kyle nodded, “Yeah, I’m on the wrestling team,” he smiled as he spoke. 

“That’s sick,” Quinn offered as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

The small group continued to talk to one another beside Luke. He kept watching Y/N, his longest friend, his best friend. The woman he loved, in a relationship with someone else. The last time they hung out crossed his mind, like it did a thousand times a day. 

He freaked out. He freaked out when he woke up with her back pressed against his chest and their legs entangled together. His heart swelled with so much happiness as he looked at her sleeping beside him that morning, except every other part of his body resorted to panic. 

His eyes meet Y/N’s gaze, scanning her features for any sign that she thinks about that night too. She clenched her jaw before she turned her gaze back to Quinn. Luke pulled his lips between his teeth as he dropped his gaze to the floor. 

“I’m going to go unpack my stuff,” Luke let out as his gaze met each person in the small room. Quinn pulled his head back as he let out a breathy chuckle. 

“You never unpack when we come here,” Quinn offered.

“Feel like using my dresser for once,” he said with a simple shrug before glancing towards Y/N one more time before he started walking out of the kitchen. 

“We should probably unpack too,” Kyle said as he rested his hand on her hip as he held her possessively to his side. Y/N nodded as the pair walked back towards her room, she spun her gaze around towards the back door that Luke walked out of.

Quinn and Jack looked towards each other awkwardly as they both started walking out of the back door. “They’re acting weird, right?” Jack asked.

“Very,” Quinn shot back as they walked out of the house back towards their own.

After another twenty minutes Quinn and Jack both barged into Luke’s room to see him actually unpacking his clothes and putting them into his dresser and closet. He had soft country music playing as he was pacing around the room putting things in random spots.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked as he watched his younger brother. Luke only hummed as a reply as he added his hoodies to a coat hanger. “Are you sure? You and Y/N never shut up when you two are together.” Jack observed. 

“We haven’t really talked these past few months,” he said as he walked towards his closet with the six hoodies he brought with him. 

“You guys used to never go a day without at least calling each other,” Quinn mumbled. 

Luke shrugged, “Things change,” he said keeping his gaze low and away from his brothers bombarding him with questions.

“What things?” Jack muttered. Luke shrugged his shoulders again.

Quinn furrowed his eyebrows harshly, “What, you guys hook up or something?” he asked teasingly, chuckling nervously.

Luke froze, his entire body stuck as he slowly met Quinn’s gaze for a few seconds before he shook his head. “No,” he let out barely above a whisper. He dropped his gaze again as his cheeks turned bright red. 

Jack’s eyes widened as his mouth dropped open as he shoved Quinn to the side. “When?!” Jack asked as he jumped up excitedly. 

“I said we didn’t,” Luke said as he nervously ran his hand across his chin. 

Quinn smiled widely, “Yeah but you're a horrible liar, Lukey. What happened? Was it bad or something?” 

It was the opposite. It was probably the best sex he’s ever had. It made him realize how much love he actually had for her as they didn’t just hook up. It felt like the start of something, a new chapter. A chapter where they were madly in love with one another.

“What? No,” he defended as he rolled his eyes.

“Then what happened?” Jack pressed.

Luke sighed as he shook his head, “I don’t know, I asked if we could talk about it later and we never did,” he took another deep breath.

“When did you guys-?” Quinn trailed off.

Luke threw his hands to the side, not wanting to talk about it any longer, “February, her sorority had some Valentine’s Day event we went to together. I walked her back to her dorm and we hooked up. Are you guys done asking questions?”

“No, dude, why didn’t you guys talk again?”

Luke clenched his jaw as he shook his head. His brothers were right, he was an awful liar. “I freaked out, okay?” he took a deep breath, “She’s my best friend and instead of telling her how I felt, I had sex with her while we were drunk. That’s a dickhead move. I just didn’t know what to say,”

“What’d you freak out about?” Jack asked.

“Everything was going to be different with her,” he let out while shaking his head, “I didn’t want to lose her, if I fucked things up and I fucked things up anyway. Can we please stop talking about it? I don’t want to be thinking about it while we all on the boat later,”

~~~

It was nine at night and the sun was already down but they were still hanging out on the boat. The music was loud to the point where you could only hear the person next to each other talk. Her parents were sitting and talking with Quinn and Jack as Ellen and Jim were talking with Luke. Y/N and Kyle were in their own world. 

Except every time Luke spoke, Y/N felt her heart flutter. She missed him, she missed him so much that it was physically painful. Her chest would ache hard at the idea of not talking with him.

Y/N kept her gaze on Luke, discreetly. “You okay?” Kyle whispered into her ear, pulling her gaze towards him. She nodded as she leaned towards him, kissing him briefly.

Luke was tuning out whatever his mom and dad were talking about as he saw Y/N kissing Kyle. He felt as though his heart shattered. He clenched his jaw as he dropped his gaze towards his lap. Quinn glanced towards Y/N briefly before he looked towards his youngest brother. He clenched his jaw as he shook his head. 

“You know,” her mother leaned towards Quinn, “I always thought Y/N and Luke would’ve ended up together.” Quinn's eyes widened as he looked towards her, “It just seems like they are growing apart. Breaks my heart,” she said as she tilted her head to the side.

“You don’t like Kyle?” Quinn asked, and she shrugged.

“He’s a sweet boy. He’s just not our Luke,” 

“I think we all thought they were going to end up together,” Quinn whispered towards her and she nodded. 

~~~

The next day, Y/N and Kyle stayed in bed for a few extra hours just basking in each other's company. “You know, I thought you and Luke were the closest? I mean being the same age at least,”

She was thrown off by the sudden subject change as her face scrunched up slightly. She cleared her throat as she nodded, “We were,” she started as she saw Kyle take in a sharp breath. “He was my best friend, but we had a falling out a few months ago,” she mumbled. 

Memories of the night in question flashed in her mind. His lips against her own as they were breathing heavily and grinding against each other's bodies. She recalled feeling her body fill with butterflies as he kissed her in the most dream-like way.

“What happened?” he asked. She looked into his dark brown eyes as she tried to figure out if she should tell the truth. Kyle nodded slightly as he took in a deep breath, “Let me guess,” he mumbled, “You guys had sex?” 

She clenched her jaw as she nodded slightly. “How’d you know?” she muttered as she met his gaze.

“I don’t know, it’s the way he looks at you; like he’s seen you naked or something,” he mumbled, a dry chuckle leaving his throat. She smiled softly as she rolled her eyes playfully. 

“It just made things awkward between us, we haven’t spoken since it happened,” she let out. He remained silent as he processed, “Are you mad that I didn’t tell you?” she asked.

“No, I mean as long as it was just sex. Like you didn’t have feelings for him, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, no-no feelings,” she mumbled.

~~~

She sat on the bathroom counter, his legs between her own. She adjusted the red heart around his neck that had her name written in cursive across it. “I never thought you would join a sorority,” he let out as he rested one of his hands on her thigh. She smiled as a chuckle fell from her lips. 

“It looks good on a resume,” she mumbled as she took a hold of a spray bottle and started spraying it onto his curls. His face scrunched up together as some of the mist hit his face. 

“This is tacky,” he continued, holding up the heart around his neck. She smirked as she took a hold of some of her own hair product and ran her fingers through his hair. “Do we have to wear these the whole night?” 

“Yes, Lukey,” she mumbled as she tilted her head to the side as she admired the work she did on his hair. “And until I get a boyfriend, you have to be my date to these things,” she said as she pushed him backwards slightly so she could hop off the bathroom counter. 

She adjusted the short black dress on her frame as she looked towards the mirror. She straightened out the red heart with Luke’s name. “What are we even going to do there?” he asked as he ran his fingers through his own hair. 

“Drink, dance, and take lots of photos,” she mumbled as she applied lip gloss to her lips. Luke eyed her lips as she added the clear gloss. “It’ll be fun,” she mumbled as she turned to meet his gaze. 

He huffed as he smiled, “You and I have different definitions of fun,” he mumbled. She rolled her eyes playfully as she took a hold of her phone and pulled out her camera. “Oh awesome, fun’s starting now,” he said sarcastically.

“You can be unbearable sometimes, you know that?” she let out teasingly as she wrapped her arm around the center of his back as he draped his arm around her lowerback. He pulled her tightly towards him. 

“Yeah, you too,” he shot back as he turned his head towards her with a teasing smile. She rolled her eyes as she snapped the photo of them at that moment.

“Smile,” she mumbled as she turned her gaze towards the mirror and snapped a few photos of them. Most of them are Luke glancing towards her the entire time. 

~~~

Later that night, Y/N stepped foot inside her own lakehouse, getting another drink from the fridge inside when she saw Luke sitting on the barstool beside her kitchen island. He lifted his gaze as he tossed a few chips into his mouth. His eyes scanned her body. Taking note of every single curve of her frame and how the two piece swimsuit showed every perfect part of her body. 

“Hi,” she let out as she smiled softly. He returned the soft smile as he sat up straight as she walked past the kitchen island.

“Hey,” he mumbled as he nervously ran his fingers through his hair. They remained silent as she took a Truly from the fridge and cracked it open. She spun around and met his gaze. “Kyle seems nice,” he mumbled. She smiled.

“Yeah, he is,” she muttered as she brought the can to her lips. 

Their eyes remained connected as they remained silent for a few seconds. His eyes were soft and welcoming; he looked like he knew what she was thinking. All of things that have been left unsaid between them, it was as if their eyes were doing all the talking. Her heart went into overdrive.

Her eyes tried not to admire his body. His abs were prominent as well as the strong arm muscles. She took a deep breath as she rested her hands onto the counter. 

“How’s the NHL?” she asked. His eyes widened as he smiled softly.

“It’s amazing,” he mumbled, his eyes squinting slightly.

“You were fun to watch,” she let out as she met his gaze. He tilted his head to the side, a toothy grin on his lips.

“You watched the games?” he asked, genuinely shocked. She nodded dramatically. 

“You are still my best friend, Luke, Of course I was going to watch,” she mumbled as she met his gaze as she walked closer to him. He blinked his eyes rapidly as he looked away from her. 

“You seem happy,” he mumbled, unable to maintain eye contact with her. 

“Yeah, yeah.” she let out while shaking her head, “You too. I mean you’re living the dream, right?”

All he could do was hum as a reply as she was only a foot away from him and his chest was aching as he felt a magnet pulling her towards him but he tried to refuse the feeling and the desperation. 

“Why are you all alone inside? We’ve got an amazing bonfire going,” she asked as she leaned against the countertop. 

He couldn’t tell her the real answer. The real answer was that he had spent twenty-four hours watching Y/N and Kyle snuggle together and he was getting tired of it. He couldn’t breathe watching them because he wanted to kiss her cheek. He wanted to be the one holding her tightly. He wanted to be the one who loved her. He had to walk away and collect his thoughts.

While outside, Quinn was laughing at something Jack said when Kyle walked up to him. “Hey man, can I talk to you about something?” Kyle asked. Quinn’s smile slowly faded as he glanced towards Jack before he stood up and followed Kyle towards a secluded part of the backyard. Quinn nervously crossed his arms over his chest as he met Kyle’s gaze. “I’m gonna ask you a question and you’re going to not sugar coat anything,” Kyle asked. Quinn nodded.

“I’m not blind, alright? I know that your little brother has feelings for Y/N. She told me about what happened between them a few months back but she said that she didn’t have feelings for him. Is she telling the truth?” Kyle asked. 

Quinn took a deep breath as he licked his lips nervously. “We’re all close with Y/N. Jack and I have always treated her like she’s our little sister. Luke-” 

Quinn took in a sharp breath, “Luke’s been in love with her since he was eleven. He never wanted to act on it because he was terrified of losing her. Y/N was harder to see if she felt the same. Well, until they were like fifteen and they started cuddling all of the time. It was as if they constantly had to be near each other or the other one would implode. She dragged him to all of the school dances and sorority events.” he explained as Kyle was getting impatient.

“Look, they're avoiding each other because they are afraid of getting hurt. Which is causing them to get hurt anyway. You seem like a great guy, who would’ve been perfect for her. But there’s a lot of history between them that can’t be ignored,” 

Kyle remained silent as he took a deep breath. If he was being honest, he knew she wasn’t all in. He wasn’t even all in on the relationship either, it didn’t hurt to hear as much as he thought it was going to be. 

“I appreciate it, man.” Kyle mumbled as his gaze looked past Quinn to see Luke and Y/N walking out of the house together. Kyle let out a dry chuckle, “Can you tell her why I left? I’m going to pack my stuff and call an Uber.” Kyle mumbled. 

“What? You sure?” Quinn asked.

“Like you said, they’ve got history. I’m not stepping between that,” he said as he looked towards Y/N and Luke again. “Make sure they end up together, alright?” he said before he walked towards the house discreetly. 

Quinn stood still, his gaze on the dirt beneath his feet. “What the fuck just happened?” he asked himself as he walked back towards the bonfire. 

After another hour, Kyle was long gone and Y/N still had no idea. “Alright, you guys we’re going to go to bed, see you guys in the morning,” Her father expressed to everyone, the parents all went to their own lakehouse leaving the boys and Y/N alone. 

“Where’d Kyle go? Have you guys seen him?” she asked the three of them as she was starting to get a little worried. 

Quinn’s eyes widened as he cleared his throat, “He left,” is all he said. Luke perked upward at the mention. 

“What?” she let out.

“He-uh-he’s not as comfortable as he thought with you and Luke’s history. So he left,” Quinn said as his voice progressively got quieter. Luke kept shifting his gaze between Quinn and Y/N. She furrowed her eyebrows harshly as she leaned forward. 

“Did he tell you this history exactly?” she questioned, glancing at Luke for a second. 

“He might’ve,” he mumbled, glancing towards Luke, “Kinda already knew about it, though.” 

Y/N eyes flashed red as she turned her gaze towards Luke. “Can I talk to you?” she asked, standing up and walking towards Hughes's lakehouse. Luke’s room was on the second floor and his parents room was on the first. In her lakehouse her room was directly next to her parents. 

Luke slowly stood up from his seat, “Thanks,” he said sarcastically as he followed Y/N. Jack and Quinn shared a glance before they looked back towards the dying flame. 

Once Luke stepped into the house, he saw her already storming up the stairs towards his room. He took a deep breath as he skipped several steps to follow her faster. She walked into his room and began to pace back and forth. Luke shut the door behind him.

“You told Quinn!?” she called out. 

“An-and Jack, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to! You know I’m a bad liar,”

“What did you tell them exactly?!” she questioned.

He stayed quiet for a second as his heart was loud in his ear, “Quinn made a joke about us hooking up and I-I didn’t deny it that good so they found out. I told them that we just didn’t talk afterwards, we were just avoiding each other,” he explained.

Her mouth fell open as she nodded slowly. Her tongue pushed to the side of her mouth as she spun around to look away from him for a brief second. 

“Do you remember what you told me the next morning?” she asked, her voice quieter.

He met her gaze and squinted his eyes slightly, “That I was running late to practice and if we could talk about it later?” 

“Before that,”

He thought about it for a second, he replayed every second of that morning in his mind but the words were not coming to his mind. She took a deep breath as she clenched her fist and unclenched it. “You said that I was the last person you’d ever want to have a hookup with. Like-like it was embarrassing to have sex with me,” 

His eyes widened as he felt like punching himself in the chest. “Oh my god-no that’s not-”

“You hurt me, Luke!” she shouted towards him, her eyes welling up in tears.

 “I thought-I thought,” she shook her head again, “I don’t know what I thought but that was horrible to hear. Especially from you! You were supposed to be my best friend.” she shouted towards him. 

“That’s not what I meant!” he said loudly, “That not what I meant,” he let out softer as he stepped towards her, almost reaching out to touch her. 

“You know, I cared a lot about Kyle! We could’ve been something great. He was sweet and charming and he would’ve never said that to me but you-you ruined that!” she shouted as she stared deeply into his eyes. The tension was rising between them as they were only a foot apart.

“Well, if you care about the guy so much why aren’t you going after him?! Huh? Why are you standing here, shouting at me?!” he countered, getting closer to her face. She clenched her jaw as her heart was beating hard against her chest. Her skin felt hot as if steam was leaving her body. 

“I don’t know!” she shouted back as her eyes looked deeply into his eyes. His eyes were staring hard back towards her. 

“You didn’t deserve our first time together to be a drunken hook up,” he expressed, taking another step towards her. “You deserved roses and candles and all that sappy romantic shit not some dorm bed we barely fit on,” he continued as he scanned her softening features.

“Luke-”

“I couldn’t tell you I loved you, I couldn’t tell you because I was scared I was going to lose my best friend. And then I fucked up and lost you anyway,” he explained as they were mere inches apart now. “You deserved better than that and I couldn’t face it,” he mumbled. 

She leaned towards him, urgently kissing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she felt her body jump against him. 

He quickly took a hold of her lower back pulling her towards him. The tension between them only increased as their lips remained connected sloppily.

She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her bare thighs against his body rushed goosebumps against her skin. 

He delicately laid her down onto his bed as his lips pulled away from hers briefly, admiring her features from the very short distance.

“I love you too,” she mumbled as she ran her fingers through the ends of his curls. He pecked her lips briefly before he leaned fully away from her. “Where are you going?” she asked barely above a whisper.

“We’re not doing this now,” he muttered as shook his head. He stood up from the bed and walked towards his closet to give her some clothes to sleep in. Instead of the swimwear still covering her frame.

“Why not?” she asked, pouting slightly. He smiled widely as he tossed her one of his hoodies and a pair of shorts she left at his dorm several months back. 

“Candles and roses,” he mumbled as he covered his frame in one of his hoodies. She smiled widely as she began to put on the clothes he handed her.

[in1-nutshell]

Bot Buddy being Rodimus's older sister and having a crush on Swerve

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Hinted Romance, Cybertronain reader

Buddy is a near carbon copy of Rodimus.

Key word ‘almost’.

Instead of sporting the red and oranges being her main color on her frame, Buddy has more blue tones with some yellow around.

That is where all similarities end.

Buddy being related to Ultra Magnus makes more sense than her being related to Rodimus.

“Hey Buddy! Watch this!”--Rodimus

Rodimus on the top of a tall shelf.

“Rodimus No!”—Buddy and Magnus

Buddy and Magnus look at each other in surprise.

“… I hate when you two do that.”--Rodimus

“Don’t care, get down here before you break something or hurt yourself.”--Buddy

“But—”--Rodimus

“Rodimus.”--Magnus

“…”--Rodimus

She was in fact close to him though.

Being a part of the Elite Guard for most of the war can do that.

The other part was stationed around communications and message relay for the Guard or the Wreckers.

That was where she first met Swerve.

It was purely by accident.

Swerve had been given the wrong number and connected her instead.

“Hello? How may I help you?”--Buddy

“You’re not Blurr. Who are you?”--Swerve

“You have the help line for the Wrecker’s and Elite Guard, do you require any assistance?”--Buddy

“Oh, no not really. I thought I had Blurr’s number. You know Blurr?”--Swerve

“Yes, I am familiar with the racer.”--Buddy

“Isn’t he the best! We were going to hatch a plan to build and run a bar when the war ended.”--Swerve

“Really? Blurr agreed to that?”--Buddy

“Absolutely! He even gave me his number, but I must have punched in the wrong digits and contacted you instead. Not that you haven’t been nice and all!”--Swerve

Buddy laughing a little bit.

“Its all right… umm… what is your designation?”--Buddy

“The names Swerve! And who might I be speaking with if you don’t mind?”--Swerve

“I’m Buddy—”--Buddy

“You’re THE Buddy!? Wow! This is just my day! I’ve heard so much about you and your work with the Elite Guard, The Wrecker’s…”--Swerve

Buddy gets a bit more comfortable on her end ready to continue this pleasant conversation with Swerve.

It was a slow day anyways… it felt nice.

That started a slow friendship between the two.

The chats had to happen on scheduled days since Swerve had a habit of talking too much and Buddy didn’t like to stop him.

Buddy refused to talk to Hot Rod about this.

Swerve was her friend.

Finally, someone that hadn’t been friends with Hot Rod before knowing her.

She was going to protect her friend’s identity as long as she could.

But of course, Hot Rod had a feeling his sister was hiding something from him and was going to get to the bottom of it.

Hot Rod dramatically draping his frame on Buddy’s berth.

“Why won’t you tell me!”—Hot Rod

Buddy rolling her optics.

“I’m not telling you squat Roddy.”--Buddy

Hot Rod suddenly sitting up.

“What if its… someone?”—Hot Rod

Buddy frame stiffens a bit.

“It is someone!”—Hot Rod

Hot Rod flopping on her back and starts popping her side annoyingly.

“Who’s the lucky bot who’s got my stuck up of a sister like this?”—Hot Rod

Buddy grabs his digit and slightly bends it backwards.

“Hey! OWW!”-Hot Rod

“Keep it up and I’ll bend more than your digit Hot Rod. Got that?”--Buddy

Buddy lets go of his digit and crosses her arms glaring at him.

“Fine, fine, I wont start talking about your secret—”—Hot Rod

Buddy judo flips her brother to the floor.

Hot Rod was over the moon hearing that there might be someone out there for his stuck-up sis.

Maybe it would help loosen her up.

Primus knows she needs to stop stressing so much.

Buddy just wishes that Hot Rod would drop the subject… but is secretly pleased to hear that he is happy that she found someone she likes.

…then came Rodimus Prime.

Buddy felt their sibling bond significantly weakened thanks to the matrix bonding.

Rodimus didn’t seem to notice but Buddy did.

But she refused to acknowledge it to him.

He was a Prime now, he had other things to worry about than her.

Just pushing through trying to get her work done.

Timeskip to the Lost Light…

Buddy was not aware that Swerve was on the ship until she got wind of the bar.

She walked in and zeroed in on the minibot.

Buddy walking over to the bar where Swerve had his back to her.

“Welcome to Swerve’s you see anything you like?”--Swerve

Buddy smiles a bit.

“Hmm… I don’t know you recommend anything Swerve?”--Buddy

Swerve stops cleaning the glass in his servo and turns around, wide eyed.

Buddy smiles a bit more seeing Swerve’s own face light up.

“Buddy!”--Swerve

Swerve reaches over the bar to hug his friend.

Several bots at the bar stop seeing the small bartender hugging one of the most strict bots on bourd.

“… 20 shanix that Buddy tells Swerve off.”--Skids

“Deal.”--Chromedome

“Domey--”--Rewind

“Wrong. 50 and she throws him out.”--Whirl

“She wouldn’t do that… right?”--Tailgate

Buddy hugs Swerve back while silent chaos ensues behind them.

So many bots thought that Swerve was going to die that day.

Rodimus had so many com pings within that hour.

He brushes the pings off like a rumor.

Especially when he hears about something potentially happening between Buddy and Swerve.

… That changes when Rodimus starts to notice Buddy hanging out more and more at Swerve’s.

This was the first flag to be raised.

Buddy doesn’t ‘do’ crowded bars.

But he brushes it off as Buddy finally letting loose.

Rodimus is talking with Drift when he notices Buddy at the bar.

“Isn’t it nice seeing Buddy happy?”--Drift

“Hmm? Yeah… but it’s a bit weird seeing her out here.”--Rodimus

Drift raises an optic.

“She doesn’t like big, crowded places, it’s ‘Too loud and too much engex being spilled all over’.”--Rodimus

Drift looking at Buddy happily talking with Swerve at the counter.

“Maybe she’s here for someone?”--Drift

Rodimus downing the rest of his drink laughing at the end.

“Ha! That’ll be the day.”--Rodimus

One time a rather rude bot had come to the bar and demanded to know why he was cut off from the drinks.

All while he was slowly tipping to the side.

Buddy tried to de-escalate the situation.

“Listen, we are all civilized bots here. Lets just get you back to your habsuite or the med bay if—”--Buddy

The bot looks at Buddy and spits in their face.

“Can it! Your nothing more of a has been-washout-guards-bot who is only good for a pretty paperweight!”—Random Bot

Buddy wipes the spit infused engex from her optics, glares at the bot harshly, about to unleash the Pits when she gets interrupted.

“HEY!”--Swerve

Swerve stands on the bar counter gaining some height, his servos shaking at his sides.

“Don’t you EVER talk to her like that! Now. Get. Out. Of. MY! BAR!”—Swerve

Buddy feels her spark skip a pulse looking at the mini bartender.

The bot tries to take a swing at him, but Buddy grabs the fist in her’s.

Buddy’s optics blazing in fury.

“You heard the minibot.”--Buddy

Buddy kicks the bot in the back of the knee and throws the frame across her shoulder.

Marching outside and kicking the bot several feet away from the entrance.

“Get. Out.”—Buddy

“… She gonna be my Amica.”--Whirl

“Whirl, not the time.”--Cyclonus

“Well, I can’t be her Conjunx. Swerve has that covered; this is the next best thing.”--Whirl

“Swerve does not—”--Tailgate

Whirl points at Swerve still standing on the counter with a lovesick smile on his face.

“…Maybe your right.”--Tailgate

“Tailgate, Whirl no.”--Cyclonus

“Hold on Cyclonus, they might have a point.”--Rewind

“Rewind—”--Chromedome

Cylcnous puts a servo on Chromedome’s shoulder shaking his helm.

Chromedome sighs giving in as Whirl, Tailgate, and Rewind scheming in silence.

Buddy managed to cuff the bot and send him to Magnus.

The bot never came back to Swerve’s.

Swerve has heart shaped optics behind his visor.

You’d have to be blind not to see his clear ‘admiration’ for the former member of the Elite Guard.

But he is convinced that all of this will pass.

It’s not like Buddy would actually have feelings for him.

Meanwhile Buddy has started creating Swerve/Love playlists in secret.

A secret that she is taking with her until she goes offline.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Wouldn't it be twisted if, even after Yubei is born, Macaque still didn't realize the reasoning he lost his eye was because he himself had been a threat to his mate's unborn child until they were in the Scroll of Memory? If he still felt some resentment towards Wukong for that and wad jsut willing to put it aside for the sake of the cub up until he and MK see the battle where Macaque lost his eye, and with rage and anger clouding his senses, Macaque could clearly see how Wukong was trying to tell him something and remained on the defensive until Macaque's younger self made a move towards Wukong's stomach? If he only just then noticed the fact there was a baby bump on Wukong even back then and how Wukong's pilgrim brithers tried several times to step in only to be pushed back by either an angered Mac or Wukong himself (because as far as Wukong is concerned this is a private matter between Him and His Mate and also said mate is his equal in battle and pissed off so please just STAY BACK WHERE YOU CAN'T GET HURT YA IDIOTS!!)

I feel like it would be the point where Macaque really has it sink in that; "Oh gods, he was terrified of me in that moment." Since after a point, he knows Wukong has been pregnant since the start of the Journey through Wukong himself and/or MK.

Cus whilst him and Wukong are sorta back together, they still have "hey remember when you took my eye?" "remember when you tried to kill my master?"-type arguments. To the point that Macaque was relieved that Wukong had "only" gotten himself trapped in an artifact and not walked out on him and had taken the baby with him.

And when he and MK stumble across a fight that he really didn't want the kid seeing? Mac pauses.

Mac sees how his cudgel nearly struck Wukong's stomach.

He sees how his King's eyes flash with rage and how he instinctually slashed Macaque across the right side of his face to disorrient him.

Mac sees how his younger self's vision blurrs with blood and hate and how he ignored a plea from the King that his many ears failed to hear;

"Plums, please! I'm-"

The scene flashes back to the beginning just before they see Wukong move to swing the Ruyi Jingu Bang towards Macaque's frenzied strike.

Macaque in the present day falls to his knees. He watches the scene replay multiple times before MK shakes him from his catatonia. All he can feel around him is the wind of that final encounter.

MK: "...Thats what happened between you two, right? Not just under mountain." Macaque: "Yeah." MK: "You really didn't know at the time, did you?" Macaque: "I should have. If I had just... listened." MK: *conflicted cus he's wanting to comfort Mac, but still needs to find Wukong* *kneels down to join Mac on the ground* MK: "Well, you can start by maybe hearing the Monkey King out a little more on stuff. Stuff you guys fight about." Macaque, wincing: "You know about the fight?" MK: "He was telling me about it while we were cleaning. Before we... found the Scroll... You really think I can't handle what life is gonna throw at me?" Macaque: "I... I don't want you to make the same mistakes I've made. You saw what that leads to." MK: "I'm gonna make mistakes. No matter how well you guys prepare me for it. I'm gonna run into stuff I'l never see coming. I definitely didn't expect a magic scroll to eat my family, or expect a Lion dude you guys used to know taking over the universe... but I know we can fix it together. We just need to believe we can." Macaque: "Just a smidge, right?" MK, smiling wide: "Yeah. Just a smidge." *they share a fatherly-son-like hug* MK: "Now lets go find our King." Macaque: "Agreed."

This is about the point in their wander that they find memories relating to Wukong's relationships after the Journey. How he mourned for centuries under all those friends he held dear.

And how he had to make a hard decision on whether or not to keep a certain brown-furred monkey cub...

[somuchbetterthanthat]

There are several posts I want to do about the office dynamics in Protocol, but I think as a summary, beyond "fascinating", i'd say that I'm amazed that three episodes in, we've already got such a nuanced idea of how they all navigate with one another.

The first impression we get from Episode 1, for example, is that Alice and Colin get along, possibly that Colin actually genuinely likes Alice ("Ha. Tell Alice it's funny."), and in contrast to how Alice and Gwen snip at each other, you want to immediately make them a "pair" (not at all in a romantic sense, just in a "oh they're the Friends" here).

But episode 3 shows that it is more nuanced that that -- yes, maybe Alice and Colin like each other on the surface, but Alice is ready to go behind Colin's back for the work, which shows us they're colleagues who are friendly, and not friends per say. Doesn't mean Alice wants the friendly relationship to disappear, since she asked Sam to go on about it rather than do it herself, because she doesn't want to antagonize Colin, or loose that connection between them, but it's obviously a very different relationship that Sam and Alice, who are friends who happen to be colleagues now, where Sam can casually tell Alice /nope, not going along with that/ and Alice readily goes /fine/ and doesn't push the matter.

I think Teddy amplifies the idea of the difference between a friendly colleague you like and a friend pretty well in ep 1. Teddy says even though he leaves they can all still hang out together, and Alice is hesistant when she agrees, the conversation trailing off. And like. Yeah. That often what happens, isn't it? You are at a job and you really like your colleagues, you guys do friendly stuff together, but when one of them leave the job, or you leave the job, you might catch up a couple of times with them at the beginning, but then, well, they've got a new colleague, you've got a new job, life changes, and suddenly the link is... Broken. Not because you didn't like each other! But because work was keeping you glue together. (Kinda the same thing that happens with a lot of school friendships).

I was initially taken aback by Alice asking Sam about 'her favour', but now I'm like. Yes. This is how it works in office spaces sometimes, isn't it? There are people that you like, but there is also work, and the line constantly blurr on what you think is best and the genuine connections you might want with the people you work with. Also, admitedly, Colin DOES Behave wildly enough that it's not like Alice could really talked to him about central IT. Or, rather, presumably she tried several times and it's clearly not happening so you need something to shake the status quo.

BUT ALL OF THIS TO SAY, I'm fascinated by Alice "Oh we're all a big family here" Dyer, by Alice "Just Do the Job and Do Not Care About the Cases" Dyer, about Alice "Yes yes I was born here and i'll die here" Dyer, about Alice "Oh It's Not So Bad Here" Dyer. She makes a big show of being unbothered by everything that happens, breezing through and just doing the 'bare minimum' to get paid at the end of the night, but I'm getting the feeling she's actually extremely attached to this job, the same way Gwen is, and even the people here too.

[thelov3lybookworm]

You Deserve Better (part one)

Summary: Althea is Rhysand's second sister who escaped Tamlins father and returned home, somehow escaping the fate of her mother and younger sister. She has healed from the wounds,mental and physical, with the help of her brother, father and the inner circle. But how would anyone help her when a spymaster breaks her heart and inflicts new wounds —mental, not physical– upon her?

(This is an eventual reader x someone else because az hurts her and we do not tolerate that here. Dont get me wrong, i love our original books azzy, but I've read a couple of fics which made me want to make azzy the ribbon and chop him into pieces. Also, i do not know why i have an obsession with the name Althea.)

•○🌑○•

Sunlight filtered through the halfway closed curtains as Althea groaned and stretched, which she was pretty sure were open last night. Snippets of last nights outing at Rita's and the things that came after were returning to her in bouts of throbbing headaches.

Partying and dancing at Rita's with her family. Gossiping and looking at males with her cousin, who was desperately trying to get Althea to pick one she liked. Althea pointing out females to Mor, who blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl. Feeling someone's heated gaze on her. Trying to find the source of it and realising it was the male that she always pined over. One of her brother's best friend. She'd looked away, and then the night had been a blurr before she and the Shadowsinger had stumbled into her room.

Shit.

It was the first time she let anyone into her bedroom after what happened with Tamlin's father, her sister and mother. Her father had been extremely relieved when he found out that she had made it out alive. He refused to leave her side and most of the people were shocked at his behaviour because he was known to be heartless. And then, after a couple weeks of helping her cope with the pain of everything, he and Rhysand went to spring to get revenge for the people they had lost. It had hurt her when only Rhys returned, but she had decided she'll get better. She'll get stronger and more confident. If not for not giving Tamlin's father, wherever he was, the satisfaction of knowing he had won and made her cower in darkness, then for her family who gave their lives for saving her.

But where was Azriel now? She was sure he had fallen asleep next to her. She felt a tiny stab of pain but it was gone the next moment as her head gave a hard throb. And as the headache momentarily subsided, she told herself it was for the best. It wouldn't have done them any good if Rhys or Cassian had found them together.And so she dragged herself to the bath and scrubbed herself raw before she was sure no one would smell Azriel on her. Then got dressed and hurried to training where she was sure cassian would give her a lot of shit for being late.She reached the top of the stairs and Cassian started rambling about how he will make her train extra as a punishment. She ignored him and started stretching.

•○🌑○•

It was Starfall.

It had been almost six months since she and Azriel had been having this little secret of theirs. They would be together whenever they could. But it always left Althea wondering. What were they? Friends? More?

So as she got ready for the celebrations, Althea made up her mind. She'd ask azriel today. As she finished readying, Mor waltzed in. "Would you look at that. Oh mother, you look amazing Thea! He wont be able to look away, you know?" Mor smirked. She was the only one who knew about their little fling.

"We'll see about that. Mor, I..." And Althea let it all out. Her confusion, her need to know and what she was going to do today.

Mor nodded, "Do what needs to be done sweetheart, and if it doesn't go well, make him regret it."Althea smiled at Mor and linked their elbows and pulled mor after her. As soon as they entered the party, Althea immediately started searching for Az. There. She made her way over to him when she found him lurking in the far corner of the room and looking like he would kill anyone who dared to even look at him.

"Hey." Althea said and he gave her a nod. She took a deep breath before continuing. "We need to talk." He stayed silent so she went on. "Somewhere private. Away from the house if possible. Please."

"Alright." He led her toward a nearby balcony. Pulling her into his arms, he flew out of the spell that prevented anyone from winnowing into or out of the house before darkness consumed them. When her vision cleared, Althea realised they were in the daisy field that she loved to visit.

He let her down and stood quietly behind her. She stared at the flowers, wonderin took a deep breath before turning to him.

She'd just opened her mouth to speak when he kissed her. She stood there, frozen in shock, but then she felt his hand on her hip, and she pushed him away. He furrowed his brows, as if confused.

"We need to have a conversation, Azriel, but not that type of conversation."

"Oh. Sorry."

She nodded. "I'll cut to the chase Azriel, as people might notice if we stay away for too long. So, what are we? Are we friends?"

"Of course we are friends Althea."

"Friends don't the things we do Az."

"What are you trying to say? Why would you ask me this? Did something happen?"

"I need to know." She shook her head. "I cant be your dirty little secret anymore Azriel. I want more."

"What do you mean more? You were never more than my friend's sister who wanted me to–" He sighed before continuing. "Althea, this was never meant to be more. This was just for fun."

"What? Then why'd you start this in the first place? You should have clarified that it wasn't meant to be more in the begging. Why—"

"Wait wait– I wasn't the one to approach you. You made the first move."

"But you were staring at me at Rita's... you weren't staring at me, were you?" When he didn't answer, she started laughing. "You were looking at Mor. And I was foolish enough to think you probably liked me back. Everyone knew you liked her."

They stood in silence for a time as Althea felt her heart breaking in her chest. He made no move to do anything as he stood studying the flowers. She shook her head and told him to leave.

"Are you not coming? Rhys will be angry. Come on. You can cry after the party."

She gaped at him. "How could you be so Heartless? Leave, Azriel. I'll see what to do with my brother."

"You're being difficult."

"I'm not. Leave."

"Fine. Whatever." And he winnowed away.

•○🌑○•

It had been an hour since Azriel had left. Althea had collapsed between the flowers and had let the tears flow. They had long since stopped.

How could he use her like that with no intention of letting her know that he had no feelings for her?

The air changed. She sighed and continued staring at the sky, not bothering to acknowledge him. A few moments passed by as he came and sat down next to her. Starfall hadn't begun yet.

"I royally fucked up, didn't I?"

"I don't think you're the one who fucked up."

She smiled. "Of course you'd say that. You're my brother. You'd always think I'm the nice one." She turned to her head to meet his violet stare, which was already fixed on her.

"Will you tell me what happened?"

She studied him. "You already know, don't you?"

"I think I've figured it out, but not everything."

She sighed. After a couple of moments, she felt his talons brushing against her mind. She let him in and showed him everything, from that fateful night at Rita's, till an hour ago, only leaving out the private moments. When he retreated from her mind, she could feel him fuming. "Don't say or do anything to him. It was all my fault. I was delusional. I'll eventually move on."

"But–"

"Please. This is my fight, Rhysie. Let me fight it."

He stared at her for a moment before turning his attention to the sky, where Starfall had started. "He had no right to hurt you like that. I still want to kill him. But because you said so, i will pretend everything is alright. He will never even suspect that i know about this." He forced out through gritted teeth. "But know this, Thea, you deserve so much better than him. You deserve someone who loves you a lot, maybe even a little too much for their own good."She grinned, pressing a kiss to his cheek and giving him a tight hug before tackling him to the ground and laying her head on his arm.

They stayed there all night, pointing at stars and giggling and laughing at the stupidest of things.And as Althea lay there with her brother, she couldn't help but feel lighter.

•○🌑○•

(I was really confused as whether to make it azriel x reader or not so I went with an original character but please let me know what ya'll think.❣️)

[bearhugsandshrugs]

Dammon/F!Tav: Hurt/Comfort

Secret santa gift for @aurasyn <3 I picked the prompt that had me go out of my hatefuck-writing comfort zone and tried filling the hurt/comfort that she craved. Hope you enjoy!

Mend What's Broken Read on AO3

The sun was already setting when Tav made her way through the Lower City. Feeling giddy as much as nervous, she kept practicing the few lines she had previously thought about saying: I was nearby and starving. I thought of you and was wondering if you wanted to get dinner with me?

Two short sentences, one white lie: She had absolutely not been nearby. In fact, she’d been home the entire day, talking herself up to doing this, gathering the courage. Then, she’d picked an outfit that she’d changed four times, redoing her hair each time, desperate to find a version of her that looked good, but effortlessly good, but still sexy good, but still without any expectations good, and well, that had taken time. 

Asking out Dammon was the boldest thing she’d ever done, and she’d fought gods and vampire lords. Still, to her this was scarier, more immediate, than anything that had happened over the past months. So when Tav arrived at the smithy Dammon was running, she nearly didn’t make it in. 

What if he said no?

Gale had told her he’d be a fool to reject her, and that there was no need for her to worry. Lae’zel had offered to come with, to “tear the skin off the tiefling’s skull”, if needed. And Wyll had helped write down the lines, then rehearsed them with her. 

Memories of her friends’ support gave her the confidence boost she needed to walk in. Now or never. 

“Oh hi”, Dammon exhaled when he spotted her across the room, hammer still in hand. “One second–” 

He put his tools away, quickly wiped off his hands on a rag, and made his way over to her. “It’s always a pleasure to see you”, he nodded, a smile teasing around the corners of his mouth. 

Tav’s heartbeat quickened, I can’t do this, but this was the fourth time she was trying to ask him, and the last time she hadn’t even greeted him back, had just said she’d forgotten something at home and left. She couldn’t use another excuse like that again. Not without looking like a fool.

“Do you need anything?”, Dammon asked her, trying to break up the awkward silence that had started to settle between them, with Tav not really knowing what to say. Or rather: not knowing how to get the courage to say it. 

“I, uh-”, she shifted from one foot to the other, and the smith gave her a smile, eyes softening at the sound of her voice. “I was in the neighborhood, and I wanted to ask you if you were hungry?” 

Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that she’d deviated from the rehearsed words. That wasn’t what she had written down, was it? But how did it go again? Tav couldn’t remember, for the life of hers. 

“Uh…” Dammon fumbled with the scarf he wore around his neck, looking awkward, “not really, I just ate, but I got some bread and cheese in the back if you like?”

Oh no. 

No, she didn’t want his pity bread. Or pity cheese. She wanted to spend time with him. 

He must think I’m pathetic–

“No thanks”, Tav mumbled so quickly Dammon barely understood her, “anyway, it was good seeing you!”

Not even waiting for a reply, she practically ran out of the store, hurrying down the cobblestone, back to the tavern, back to her room, straight to her bed. She passed the people on the streets, random faces all mixed up in a blurr: someone who tried selling her a newspaper, a young boy begging for gold, a family laughing together; and then, in the tavern, the usual suspects and guests and strangers and whoever was mixed up in the brimming atmosphere of the Elfsong. 

Tav wasn’t sure how she made it back, most part of the way home a black gap beyond the few people who’d burnt themselves into the back of her eyelids. Everything was heightened and dulled at the same time, with just one constant, drumming up in her chest: The pain. 

Oh, the way he’d turned her down hurt her. But it shouldn’t be surprising: Why would he ever consider going out with her? Spending time with her? What a ridiculous thought. Why would he… like her, beyond the most basic, mutual respect founded on trauma-bonding in the Grove and then the Shadowlands?

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she curled up on the bed, staring at the wall with her back towards the door, too distraught to even take off her boots, or to crawl under the comfort of her sheets. Small sobs shook her body while she desperately tried to muffle the sounds, crying into her balled up fists, stifling the hurt that wanted to free itself from her chest. 

There was a small knock on the door, Gale most likely, she thought, and Tav choked out a “I’m fine” before he would try talking to her. While she was usually grateful for the gentle way her friends tried to comfort her, the shame still burnt too hot for her to even attempt to explain what had happened. 

Worse, Gale knew about her plan. He would probably ask how it went…

“That’s a relief”, came a familiar voice from the other side, and Tav’s eyes went wide when she realized who was standing outside. “Can I come in?”

No. No he could absolutely not come in. 

But she couldn’t say that now, could she?

Paralyzed from the horror of maneuvering herself into a corner, Tav just laid on the bed, tears still silently spilling from her eyes, praying he’d go away by himself. 

But then the door opened. And closed. And someone walked in, pulled up her chair, and moved it close to the bed.

“So, uhm, Shadowheart let me through”, Dammon said from behind her, his voice mellow and gentle. 

Great. Now that he saw her, he’d likely never want to spend time with her again. And he would be right–

“It seems that I’ve been a bit out of practice”, he continued, “because I should have realized what you were trying to do so much sooner.” 

He chuckled nervously, and a new wave of embarrassment washed over her, shaking her body like a rag doll, with her chest heaving so blatantly obvious that the thought of him seeing her like this sent her into a spiral. More tears started to flow, more pain started to build, and soon she was sobbing again, despite her best efforts to bring that damned body of hers under control.  

“I’m so sorry”, Dammon whispered from behind her, and she didn’t need to see his face to know it was full of pity. 

“It’s okay. You can go”, Tav croaked out, desperate to cut this encounter short as much as possible. 

“I can go?” His voice sounded confused. “Tav, I… I’d love to spend time with you. That’s why I offered you dinner.”

That didn’t make sense. 

A small sob flew out of her throat, and she shook her head. 

“Oh gods”, she cried, burying her face in her hands. “I’m so… You must…”

The calm breaths from behind her revealed no stress, no bother; only patience.

“I don’t mind you crying. This is nothing I can’t handle.”

Another headshake from Tav as she tried to express her helplessness. There was nothing he could do. Nothing that she could think of, at least. Worse: Nothing she could do either, as her mind came back again and again to the fact how bad this looked. 

Shuffling behind her revealed he was not going anywhere, as the added weight of his body sank down on the bed beside her. Then his hand appeared into her field of vision, outstretched and open, hovering before her without making contact with her body. 

“Here”, Dammon said quietly, “you can hold it. If… you like.”

Tav stared at his hand for a full minute, considering if this was some sort of cruel joke, a misunderstanding, or whatever else life could have in store for her. But then his scent settled into her nostrils: Fiery smoke, warm leather, pines, and… oats?

Instead of taking his hand, she decided to sit up and look at him. Wiping at her burning face, she sniffled when she met his gaze: Patient and concerned, Dammon slowly pulled his hand away, settling it down next to her, palm still open for her to hold on to, should she want to. 

She felt so messy: her cheeks were wet from the tears and her hands couldn’t dry them quickly enough, and her nose was running, the constant sniffling making her head hurt on top of everything else.  Fumbling nervously, Tav was of half a mind to send him away again, but he looked so soft, so steady, she couldn’t help herself but cling to the fact that he’d come to see her. 

He was here, wasn’t he?

“Here”, Dammon’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts as he took off his blacksmith’s scarf, offering it to her. “I don’t have a handkerchief, but this might do.”

Parts of her didn’t want to accept the help, but her face stung from the tears, and she really could use the cloth to clean herself up. 

“Thanks”, she mumbled, reaching for the scarf. But her sense of coordination was still numbed, and she clumsily grabbed half of his hand when she wanted to take it from him. Blushing, she quickly dabbed at her cheeks to dry them, hiding herself from view behind the fabric. 

It smelled so nice. 

“Are you still hungry?”, Dammon asked her as if they were just having a normal conversation and she hadn’t been hysterically crying just a moment ago. Unsure how she deserved him, she nodded. 

“Yes.” Her voice was shaky and quiet, and when she dropped her hands to her lap, face finally dried, he was still sitting there, warmly smiling at the sight of her. 

“I’m an idiot, Tav”, he repeated once more, and this time, it registered. “I was overwhelmed because… I like you. And you caught me off guard–” Dammon scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. “But I like it. Like that you asked me. Like you.” 

Her mouth fell open as her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Why are you here?” It was the first question from a series of things that didn’t make sense to her at that moment, things she only now started to unravel.

“You stormed off so quickly, I cursed myself for a few minutes before I closed down the shop and followed you”, he shrugged. “Your friends let me in. Said you could use the company.”

Tav made a short note to kill them later. Or thank them. She hadn’t decided. 

“Besides…”, Dammon continued, and she followed his eyes to their hands. He swallowed two times before he cautiously took them in his, “I’ll just keep saying it in case you’re not understanding me… I really. Really. Like you.”

Oh.

OH.

He liked her and she was behaving like a fool, unable to control herself… Another set of tears welled in her eyes and she breathed out a quiet curse, followed by a small sob. Down where her hands were entangled in Dammon’s, the tiefling gave them a short squeeze. 

“It’s okay”, he offered gently. “Or would you rather I leave?”

“No”, something in her burst out the word before she could think, and that was good, because she already regretted it the next moment. “I’m sorry that I’m… like this.”

“Emotional?”, he asked, but there was no judgment in his voice, only genuine curiosity. 

“Weak”, Tav sighed, and her reply was met with a hearty laughter. 

“Come on”, Dammon smiled, “You’re the strongest person I know. Which, if I may, makes you so goddamn impressive.” He chuckled, and Tav spotted the slightest blush on his cheeks. “That, and many other things.”

“Are you serious?”, Tav asked weakly, still in disbelief about it all. 

“Oh, yes.” Nodding, Dammon held her gaze, his thumbs stroking over the back of her hands in steady, calming motions. 

They sat like that for a while, enough for Tav’s body to quiet down. When she felt ready, she gave his hands a light squeeze, then looked up at him. 

“Thank you for coming”, she said nervously, and the smile that spread on his face was wider than any she’d ever seen. 

Dammon beamed. “Are you ready to head out? Or would you rather stay in?” 

It was still early, but she wasn’t really in the mood to leave now. “Honestly… if we could stay here…”

“I got it”, he nodded and stood up from the bed, Tav letting go of his hands reluctantly. “I’ll order you some food, and us some drinks, and we can spend some time talking. Or…” His eyes fell onto the bed, but he dragged them away, forcing himself to look over to the table by the window. “Or play some cards.” 

She knew her cheeks were likely flushed, but she didn’t care. Not when he was this charming and self-assured, unbothered by her crying or needing to be in a familiar place. So when she replied, it was heartfelt: “I’d like that.”

He smiled at her, holding her gaze with an earnest expression that peeked behind the mask she usually put on. Oh well. He’d already seen more than most anyway… But there was more to it, something promising, and when he spoke again, his firm and gentle tone sent her heart into a stutter. 

“Good. Me too.”

[cosmics-beings]

genuinely hate that the writers gave starscream such shoddy writing in idw and made sure he nuked all his relationships. like i genuinely hate that they were opposed to writing him healing and finding happiness and a found family like megatron got to.

i guess i feel starscream deserved his own type of lost light? idk. it's just can you imagine how genuinely interesting it would be if he was able to make friends and be close to those around him. like getting over is own trauma and pain and eventually forming genuine relationships with windblade and bee and optimus and blurr and wheeljack and and.. that he didn't just ruin at the end or that didn't have ulterior motives. and i don't mean snippets where he opens up to them and is "friendly" toward them and they try to get deeper and it just falls off--because that's what we got. i mean actual, genuine friendships where there was love and care. like starscream is actually their friend, they love him and vice versa. like we get to see the crazy shenanigans they get into and silly, terrifying, fun things happen in their little group and starscream is actually apart of that, in a positive way.

like i just wish he had that. I saw so much good content of him being close to people when he became chancellor and disvoered 90% of that was fan material and then it dawned upon me that he fans cared about his healing and happiness more than the idw writers.

this also isn't to excuse how shitty, manipulative and toxic he acts toward these people in canon. especially windblade. but i mean to say is that, i wish the writers cared about him having a happy ending and life just a bit more than they did others and starscream was able to get that.

like imagine cute office parties and shit like that. or even serious moments where starscream and optimus get to talk about perspectives on the war and get closer because of shared trauma, or blurr inviting starscream to his bar to dance and it's the first time anyone's danced with starscream and blurr starts to catch feelings and starscream never notices is, or starscream and wheeljack to science experiments together, or some weird shit like a ghost or whatever gets lost in a transport or something and bee, windblade and starscream are stuck and starscfream has to actually be the responsible adult of the situation and and and - idk he just gets to have fun and be loved and happy.

and fuck me im writing these ideas into fics now

[crying-fantasies]

Terraformers AU: Parental coding/protocol

Masterlist

Parental coding is something new for many mechs in my tf AU! in the sense that they already have something called mentor coding.

Mentor coding is the information makes activate when they are in charge of a young bot or a protoform, like in the new version of IDW tf comics where older bots adopted recently forged bots when they get out of Vector Sigma, any bot could've mentor coding but how they use it or what they do with it varies from one another, like Codexa (OP's mentor/mother) that loved OP so, so much, or Starscream's mom, who used her coding to use SC to her own benefit.

It's something similar in my AU! Most mechs have the normal mentor coding (the one above) and the mechs that spark bounded with an organic (specially humans) tend to have a derivative of the original mentor coding, called parental coding that was discovered by Perceptor (Percy scanned and Brainstorm almost dissected Rodimus) when he first noticed his strange behavior.

Parental coding is almost the same that the original one, but what makes it start is not the willing act of the mech downloading it or initiating it, they just get it and it's still debatable whether it happens when the spark makes contact with the organic partner or with the Terraformer sparkling.

When Rodimus had Sunset many just thought that he was being overreacting, like okay the kid is way more like a organic now but his derma will get harder with time, for Rodimus is a big no, he will protect his kidand and his conjunx, and it's normal to some point for a normal mentor but thinking that Rodimus can be quite exaggerated everyone passed it as normal before one human said that Rodimus looked like a first time father, apparently Rodimus is denominated as a sire since his parental coding (instincts) takes over him to protect his family as a whole.

Then there was Jazz, whose coding didn't hit him as hard as others in his relationship with his sparklings, it happened with his conjunx, when Mariah was old enough to ingest energon by herself he was... trying to impress his partner more times than ever, the very same Jazz admitted his desire to have another bity soon and that desire was showed by his natural cool and suave behavior multiplied by 5, the strange idea of reproduction engraved in his processor even when he knew it was impossible and what he needed to do was go with his conjunx to a hot spot, still, he and his conjunx enjoyed the outcome of his parental coding.

When Blurr had his first sparkling, a human baby, he goes with the flow of it, normal mentor coding kicking in his processor, guiding him alongside the videos about human parenthood, but when Ferventi Typhoon was forged? Every sense was thrown out of the window, even his own conjunx for a few years was almost ignored, his list of importance going from his sparklings in the very top, then his conjunx, then their necessities, then him and so on, many of his friends laugh when they remember this since he was the most self-centered mech they had ever meet, and now they see him carrying the little beans and acting like those kiddos are his whole world, he's been hit hard by his coding once again when Ripley and Ty were old enough to be out of the house and then his list changed again to center on his conjunx, he knew they couldn't conceive with sex/interface but couldn't take off the idea of his processor much like with Jazz.

Prowl, well, it's something that he will forever keep in a corner of his mind and deny to the very end, his coding seem to have activated since he meet his future conjunx, developing a sense, or urgency, to provide, did he found supplies or consumibles? He gets those for later, did you mention to be in need of something? The very same thing appears and oh surprise, Prowl has it in his servos and doesn't have a necessity for it, you can have it, he wasn't exactly subtle even if he believed that he was, this gets worse when you are finally his conjunx and it escalated when Chainbreaker was forged, he didn't develop that "need to sex/interface" ("sexy times" like Brainstorm called it) to try to proliferate but it could also have relation to be in charge of CB and be in alert all the time by his own past or whatever organic being CB created.

With Bumblebee it was more or less kind of mild, when he started to take care of Rosalinde everything was fine and his mentor coding was working as usual, no changes when he married you or when he spark bounded, when Blood Horn was forged Bee did notice the need to keep his family more safe, but that was normal right? Indeed, but it wasn't normal to storage so much organic food or make something similar to a nest in his resident area (he did a mess of blankets and pillows) where you couldn't even move with the little sparkling I your arms while Rosalinde tried to escape such a mortal trap (she kept on sleeping every second since it was so comfy), getting food there and overall being quite a good conjunx.

[sgt-scottymoreau]

No title for this one as it's 3 small short fics I wanted to share just for fun and a little bit out of the main series. The short stories were written after I finished MWIII back then. It has a lot of mix feelings in them and maybe some OCC. I really needed to get some stuff out of the system. Also mostly posting them because I finally got the courage to write my own fic about the game with a lot of changes lol Ain't no way Soap remain dead nope! He will be save in my version! So technically these short are not canon for me (had tem with the note Fake Canon in my files)

Enjoy!

Goodbye Soap (Words: 975 / Warning: Mention of death)

She rushed through the crossover with Gaz and Ghost. The urgency was high. The police agents with Price and Soap were KIA, Makarov's bomb was still armed and the Russian was on his way to the two men. Never in her life did she feel out of breath like she did right now. It wasn't the running or constant shooting at Konnis. No, it was something different. A bad feeling that had her by the throat. When they finally reached the bomb site, Scotty's mind went on auto-pilot at soon as she saw him. The corner of her eyes catched Malarov fleeing with his Konnis, the other saw Price to the bomb. Gaz shouted at the captain to get on the bomb. "Soap said we need to cut the red wire. Only red!"

The rest of the conversation went into a blurr. She kneeled next to Soap, Ghost also by. He called out his name. "Johnny!" Her eyes trailed on the pool of blood, the injury on his head. Her hands let go of her gun, instinctively rested on his shoulder and her fingers clenched on his jacket. 

"Soap…" The knot in her throat gew thighter. Her hand clenched till her knuckles went white. Her eyes meet Ghost's. They both saw it in each other; the pain. The sadness. Scotty barely paid attention to what was being said from Gaz or Price. They were probably telling Laswell about the one KIA and how Makarov escaped. Her breathing got heavier, her vision blurred. It wasn't the first time she lost a friend on the field. It happened in the army. But it has been a while since. And after all they went through together, she never expected it to happen. 

"Scotty! Hey! Camille!" Ghost's voice finally reached her and brought her back to reality. But her mind only had Makarov. Without a word, she grabbed her gun back, ran to the door he had escaped and threw the weapon at it. Pointless as the door was massive and made of metal, it was made to resist in case of flood in the tunnel.

"Fucking Makarov! You fucking bastard!" She screamed followed by another scream of pure rage and pain that echoed in the tunnels. It was chilling. She took back the gun and banged on the door with it. Scotty still had enough clarity to know bullets would only ricochets. Till Gaz came to stop her. He looked at her with as much sadness as she was filled with. The rage in her eyes slowly died down. "He killed him… he killed Soap." Her voice was weak. 

"I know. We know." Gaz whispered. Her gun fell to the ground. "Come here." He opened his arms and she buried herself in them. Ghost watched in the distance, Price standing next to him. None of them ever saw her like this before but they all understood her pain. Ghost also lost a friend, one of the very few people he trusted. They all knew the risks, yet… they couldn't shake off those feelings. Ghost looked at Soap. His friend… family was gone. Again, he had lost his family. 

"I'm sorry Johnny." He whispered, emotion taking him by the throat as well. 

****

A few days later, the four of them were standing on the edge of the hill. Sunset in the distance. Somewhere on the coast of Scotland. They knew Soap would have agreed with this place. They stood in silence for a moment. Even Gaz had removed his cap. Scotty held Ghost's hand. Her fingers softly squeezed it from time to time. Her eyes kept looking forwards, she heard Price's voice in the wind. Ghost's fingers gently slipped away from hers. From the corner, she watched as he bent to pick up the urn in the bag. One by one the men said something. When her turn came, her eyes filled with tears again. She couldn't stand seeing the urn. But she had to say something. "My best friend, the brother I never had." Her lips quivered, her voice cracked on a few words. Ghost opened the urn and the ashes scattered in the wind. The four of them stood there to watch. Scotty felt the emotions grow bigger and bigger, but she didn't want to break down in front of Gaz and Price. Not again. She did enough on the day itself and at the funeral. Her eyes remained glued to the horizon, till Gaz and Price left leaving only her and Ghost. 

"Camille?" Ghost worried. Her face was turning red, she was holding her breath and the silent tears rolled down. "It's alright, love. You can let go."

No scream. Only sobbing as she crouched. Standing felt like too much. Ghost kneeled to her height and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The past days had been hard for both, but at least they still had each other. "Why. Why him!" She sobbed loudly. "Motherfucker like Graves fucking lives, but life as to take good guys like Soap! Fuck! Fuck everything! Simon… it fucking hurts and it won't stop… I want it to stop." 

"I know, love. We all want it, trust me." He pulled her closer into his arms. His grip tightened as he also felt some tears on the back of his eyes. She always reminded him of Soap, these two were so much alike. Seeing her like this, broken, it only made it worse for him. He wanted to see her back to her old self. Hear laugh and smile. But this would only come with time. For now, they had to grief their best friend. They stayed in each other arms till she calmed down, till their body ached from remaining in the same position for so long and when Price came to tell them it was time to go home. 

Revenge (Words: 1k / Warning: Violence)

This was the last stretch. After another long game of cat and mouse, after having Makarov slipping away so many times, they had him pinned. The 141 finally got the upper hand, they were two steps ahead of him. Even if they were running after him right now. 

"Ghost, Scotty, take the left! Gaz with me on the right!" Price shouted. 

They will corner him. Makarov found himself running in the old building's hallway, alone with no back up, only a pistol with no mag left. He wasn't the kind of man to be afraid, far from it, but he knew when he was about to be beaten. That enraged him. They ruined his plan back then in London, and they did again here. He swore that if he could make it, Price and his task force would win again. The russian quickly found himself in a dead end. He cursed. 

"Drop your fucking weapon!" Ghost shouted, his own gun pointed at him. 

Makarov did not. He didn't back down, instead firing what was left of ammo to the lieutenant. Ghost fell back, as a few bullets hit him. Scotty grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back to cover. "You good?" Panic was obvious in her tone. There was no denying that this brought back unpleasant memories. 

"I'm good, plate stopped most of them." Most as one did graze his upper arm and he was bleeding. More unpleasant memories, that one time in Las Almas. Scotty felt all emotions boiling up. She had to keep them in control. She leaned from cover and pressed the trigger. Nothing. She kept pulling it but no firing. She let out a curse. The worst moment for a stuck gun. If they didn't do anything now Makarov would escape. She looked for her side gun, forgetting she lost it earlier when they took down all the remaining Konnis protecting their boss. She turned to Ghost to use his, however he had dropped it when the bullets hit him. The sergeant leaned out of cover to see it, just as Makarov did. Their eyes met. In a fraction of second both jumped towards it. Scotty slid on the ground, actually kicking the gun out of reach for both. Makarov turned on his heel to attempt a second time to get it, but her feet locked around his leg and he tripped. He flipped on his back, kicking her on time before she could jump on him. Scotty stepped back holding her stomach. It did hurt. Makarov pushed himself up ready to make a run for it. She quickly reacted by throwing herself at him. They struggled again, till she eventually had him pinned down under her. 

"What now, Moreau?" He taunted. 

"Don't say my name you fucking son of a bitch!" She raged between her teeth. A feeling she thought she had buried long ago, seemed to surface again. 

"Why jump on me, when you could have used your knife?" She realized almost too late what he meant, when his hand reached for her throwing knife. Scotty grabbed his wrist, flipped his arm away, swiftly took her knife and stabbed him in the palm. Makarov groaned in pain. 

"No… No, that would be too easy." The light in her eyes grew darker. "A bullet or a knife in the heart? Too easy. Choking you would be the same… You are a monster for what you did. Sacrificing your own people for a war? Disgusting."

"Lecture me as you want, we both know it won't change a thing."

"Indeed. It won't bring them back. It won't bring back Soap..."

"MacTavish?" Pain jolted in his jaw as she punched him.

"Don't say his name!" She shouted. "Don't you dare! You killed him! You killed my best friend!" Another hit on the opposite side. "And just now you almost killed Ghost!" 

Makarov spat blood, a cocky smile on his face. "Afraid to lose Riley? I wonder why. You are close, right."

She yelled at him to shut up. Rage boiled in every inch of her body. Then, her mind snapped. The memories of Soap lying down in a puddle of blood, motionless, glassy eyes, all while Makarov was running away. "You killed my best friend…" She said softly. But the look she had in her eyes sent chills down his spine. There was no emotion, no life in them. 

Ghost watched in the distance. He saw it all. How her back straightened, how the atmosphere felt heavy and then the noises of punches. The cry from the russian as his bones broke under the impact. Her ragged breath, her cries as the pain from a few months prior resurfaced. He saw the blood tainting her first, splattering everywhere. Price and Gaz finally joined up. The sergeant made sure he was ok, the captain went to check on her. "Scotty? Scotty! Hey!" He tried to approach, but he risked getting hurt. "Camille!"

Hearing her name seems to snap her out of her trance. Scotty's fist lowered down and she slowly turned to face her captain. Price's eyes widened, so did Gaz and Ghost's. They knew she was capable of many things. Just like Soap, she did fight the whole world if needed. But none ever saw such a display. Her face was covered with blood splatter, knuckles were red, her clothes were also tainted. Tears mixed with the red on her cheeks. Under her, Makarov lay still, motionless, in a very bad shape. Price placed two fingers on his neck to find no pulse. He turned back to Scotty who was shaking. He put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to look at him, to have her anchored to reality. "It's alright, lass, it's all over. Take a deep breath." He was surprised that she was capable of killing a man with her bare hands. It was a mess. 

Ghost, with the help of Gaz, lowered himself to her height. What she just did was horrifying, at least in the eyes of a commoner. He was still unsure, but… "Johnny would like that." He said with a smile behind his mask. Despite the injured arm, the blood covering her, he pulled her into a hug. Makarov was dead, but it would never change what he did. 

Dumb move (Words: 938 / Warning: None)

Scotty, Gaz and Ghost were casually talking. Joking around, remembering their lost friend. It took them a while to be able to talk of him without feeling an atrocious pain. It still left them with a bitter feeling, but it was bearable. Price joined their table. "What are you talking about, lads?"

"We were talking about Soap." Gaz said with a faint smile. 

"He would have loved to kick Graves." Scotty added. 

"I guess we have to do it for him now." Ghost finished. "And Shepherd as well."

"That won't be a problem." Price muttered. Or he thought so, he swore he said it softly enough but the look on the three operatives made him realize. They heard him. 

"What do you mean boss?" Gaz wondered. Price knew that he wouldn't be able to keep the secret from them. Not for long anyway. So he explained to them what he did. Gaz and Ghost didn't react too much. This was not surprising coming from their captain and Scotty knew that as well. But something didn't quite sit right with her. The execution of his plan. 

"So you put a target on all of us then?" Her tone was dry. Her face was serious and she glared at the Captain. 

"He put a target on himself the moment he sent Graves after my team." He replied in the same tone. 

"Sure. But isn't entering the pentagon or whenever Shepherd was, walking, shooting him and walking out was a brilliant idea? I don't fucking think so."

"Camille?" Ghost frowned behind his mask. That was unusual from her. 

"Oh please Simon! For fuck sake! Never crossed your brain that they will investigate? That they will check who's the last person who had access to his office? They will check camera footage. Fingerprint even! He was a fucking 4 star general for fuck sake!"

"I had to do it." Price growled. He leaned against the table, his hand clenching in a fist. "He betrayed us, lied to save his ass in front of the congress. He got his fucking job back like nothing happened. Nothing would have been done about what he did! He could have done whatever shady thing he wanted again. We don't play by the rules anymore."

"Then we are not so different from our enemies." This sent a cold around the table. Ghost and Gaz glanced at each other unsure where to put themselves. 

"Don't you fucking dare say this." Price stood from his seat. Scotty did the same, not afraid of him. "We don't kill innocents! We don't go for civilians like most of them."

"But killing people just because you feel like it, is as disgusting. Make me wonder if you are not gonna kill one of us because we don't agree with you."

Price inhaled loudly. Ghost had stood by then, a hand carefully pressed on Scotty's shoulder. "Ok take it easy you two. That's enough."

"It's a little hypocrite coming from you. If I recall you were willing to kill your own commander back then."

"It was fucking self defense Price! He would have killed me! He almost did! If I had killed him I was in all my right! You and Laswell were there, you saw it!"

"And you were there when Graves and Shepherd betrayed all of us. Fuck, you kno-"

"Yes I was in Las Almas!" She cut him in a shout. "I was there with Soap and Ghost as we were running for our life to fucking make it to the next day! It still doesn't give the right to shoot the man in his office, to risk the team being tracked like war criminals!" 

"Then you didn't truly care for Soap." This washed over Scotty like ice cold water. Even Gaz and Ghost looked at the captain in disbelief. The captain was now a few inches away from her. Gaz placed his hand on his shoulder, applying just enough pressure to tell the captain he wouldn't hesitate to push him away. "You know he would have agreed with me. He would have even helped if I had asked!"

"You take that back… You take what you just said back, Price." 

"What? You didn't care about Soap? Call yourself his best friend and yet you let him down even after death." 

"Shut your fucking mouth!" She screamed at him, tears of rage rolling down her cheeks. Ghost pushed her backwards and so did Gaz with Price.

"Come on Price, this way out of line." Ghost warned. 

"She is the one out of line! No respect for her superior."

"If Soap died because of you! You should have let him kill Makarov back then! His death is one you and killing Shepherd and Graves won't change that! You didn't care about him! And now you don't care about any of us! You are willing to target us as war criminals and I won't have this! This is not what I signed for!"

"Then quit. Like I care! If you can’t get your precious hands dirty then maybe you are not fit for the 141!"

Scotty glared at him, not saying a word. She was beyond hurt at this point. But what would happen if they connected Shepherd's death to Price was not something she wanted to see. "I can do the dirty work, but you captain. Can you take one for the team? Can you own up to your mistake if they catch you? Or will everyone drag one of us with you to the death row?" 

She moved away from Ghost grip, leaving the conversation here, before blood would spill.

[legacyshenanigans]

Recognition🐍

Ominis's past comes flooding back to him, mentions of torture.

Sebastian and Ominis wandered around a muggle town on a visit, with Ominis holding onto Sebastians arm for him to help him navigate, as of course he couldn't use his wand in such a place.

Sebastian: I just need to go into this store, are you alright waiting outside here for a moment?

Ominis: *smiles* of course.

Sebastian entered the store, as Ominis leant against a wall waiting on him, taking in the noises and smells around him of the town, he brought a leg out to stretch out his muscles when he suddenly heard a female exclaim "Oof!" And felt her trip over his leg, he packed slightly.

Ominis: Oh gosh I do apologise, I'm so sorry.

He tried to feel out for her, giving out his hand to help her up, the women hadn't looked at him at this point as she gathered herself from the shock of tripping, before turning her head to the side seeing the hand held out to her, she took it in her own before looking up at Ominis, he stood over her with a sweet grin on his face, her eyes widened as she gasped loudly, pulling her hand away from his, Ominis's face showing a confused and panicked expression at hearing her clear fright.

Women: I-Its you..

Ominis: I'm sorry Madame, but, I'm afraid I don't know who you are, I don't recognise your voice, perhaps you are mistaken?

He reached his hand out again towards her to help, she shuffled backwards on the pavement

Women: D-Dont touch me!!

She cried out, drawing the attention of a few people around as they looked over. Ominis yet again showed panic and confusion, he had no idea who this women was, after hearing the commotion Sebastian appeared coming out of the shop, a look of confusion himself.

Sebastian: What's going on?

Ominis: This young lady tripped over my leg, I was trying to help her up but she seems worried and scared of me.

Ominis looked towards her again.

Ominis: You're alright miss..I'm not going to hurt you.

The women stood to her feet, not taking her eyes off of Ominis, she glared at him, half angry, half frightened, her breath shaking. Sebastian looked around, the towns people seeming going on about their day now, he wanted to make sure no trouble was going to happen to them.

Women: You were there..That night, that night in the strange house years ago me and my family woke up in..I..I remember you..You WERE THERE! You were but a child.

Ominis's face instantly dropped to a blank stare, this strange not so pleasant nostalgia washing over him like a dark cloud.

Women: I watched on...Held back by someone as my father was tortured.. You..You tortured him too.

Ominis: Please..S-Stop.

Women: *a tear running down her face* I could do nothing..And then we suddenly woke up in our home, my father has never been the same since, it's all a blurr, but those eye's...I remember your eye's.

Ominis: I didn't want to miss! I was forced, you MUST believe me, I'm.. I'm not like the others.

The women scoffed through her upset.

Women: I dont know WHO you are or WHAT you are..But If I EVER see you in these parts again, I WILL get the authorities!

With that she ran away from him..Ominis stood there, shaking, panicked, upset himself, Sebastian gently put an arm on his shoulder making him flinch slightly.

Sebastian: ...Are you ok?

Ominis: .....

Sebastian: ...Ominis?

Ominis: I want to leave, we need to leave, now..

He gripped hold of Sebastian, beginning to cry, as Sebastian took hold him giving him a hug.

Sebastian: Shhhhh shhhh it's OK, we'll go ok? We'll leave right now, we need to get somewhere more private.

Ominis nodded his head aggressively mid panic attack.

Ominis: P-Please..Take me home.

~

[kaycode1999]

Hi KayCode, since that season one of earthspark is over and i don't know if we are ever going to get a second season for the show. I want to hear your thoughts of what would a earthspark season 2 will be like and how will the story go?

Actually there will be a second season. It’s already been renewed 😊

But as far as what I think will happen/ what I want to happen

1. More bots will be introduced (maybe from cybertron or ones that were already on earth) namely: Hot Rod, Ironhide, Ratchet, Drift, Cheetor, Cliffjumper, and Jazz (also Blurr voiced by Ben Schwartz)

2. Hopefully the Energon pollution by GHOST will be discussed

3. Agent Schloder will create his own organization that will actually do what GHOST was intended for (not what his sister corrupted it for) (maybe call it NEST?)

4. He and Alex will have a Bumblebee fanboy off and become best friends

5. The bots will try to use the space bridge GHOST made to contact/get to Cybertron

6. MORE OF BUMBLEBEE’S BACKSTORY PLEASE!!

7. Alex’s family visits from the Philippines and dote on the Terrans and Robby and Mo (and Bee)

8. Jeffery Combs as Ratchet

9. We find out the Allspark isn’t destroyed and made it to Cybertron ( Hot Rod discovered it and become a leader in Optimus’ absence and restored Cybertron)

10. CAN WE PLEASE HAVE ONE FREAKING SHOW WHERE CLIFFJUMPER IS INVOLVED SOMETIMES AND ISNT KILLED OFF HORRIBLY?! Please?!?

11. If they can’t get the space bridge to work I think it would be cool to have Hot Rod and a bunch of other bots show up in the lost light ship

12. Quintessons

13. Optimus actually uses the matrix of leadership

14. Although I think it’s unlikely I would really enjoy a multiverse ark where they go through the different iterations of transformers

That’s all I can think of right now but I’ll come back and add more if I think of anything

[signanothername]

Something that I noticed recently about HW and that I absolutely love is how he lets sleeping dogs lay. Whenever he has a conflict with any member of the family, the moment that conflict seems to be resolved, he lets it go. For example, with Chase in Rules and Regulations. This is one of the few, if not straight up only times HW and Chase get heated (I don’t really count the time Chase got hurt, since it wasn’t really interpersonal), but after the episode, HW always puts the extra effort to meet Chase in the middle (All characters do, and considering Chase is neurodivergent coded/ heavily autistic implied, that’s such an amazing thing to show kids 💙) Blades is another good example, after the video game incident he doesn’t give Blades grief over being scared. Even when before it was more low key, after it almost stops. It’s so interesting considering the type of character HW is supposed to be. The only character he seems to keep beating with the stick is Blurr, and let’s face it, he needs it. Damn, Rescue Bots character writing really is something else.

Anon you fucking get itttttt!!!!!

Like I wholeheartedly agree, I even touched a bit upon how different he is as a hotheaded character before

And y’know, that’s the thing I love most about HW as a character

When I first started the show, I genuinely thought that the direction of HW’s character is gonna be the usual hotheaded character that never apologizes, never takes responsibility for their actions, goes against orders, and so on, and I for one genuinely thought HW is gonna be a character I’d hate cause of it, but as I watch more and more episodes i’m genuinely baffled (in a good way) by how Heatwave is written

Yes at the beginning of the show you see these usual traits of what Hotheaded characters are like in HW, (and it makes sense to see them as HW IS a hothead), in ep3 he blames Boulder and Chase when Cody gets upset with him for making fun of Blades, in ep10 he ignores Charlie’s words about thinking of people first and takes matters into his own hands, etc

But what’s baffling (again in a good way) about these traits is the fact their occurrence is very far in between each time it happens, like i want you to let it sink in that these traits are not even the norm for Heatwave, the norm for HW is to take responsibility and accountability for his actions, actually try and learn from his mistakes, is very serious about his job, is protective of those he loves, and it genuinely made me question my sanity, like AYO? What the fuck is even HW’s character

But the answer is simple, he is a hothead yes, just not what you’d usually expect a hothead to act like, and I for one think it’s amazing

I love when shows actually take character tropes and twist them and put in their own touches on them, not only does it give a refreshing take, but also gives a lot more depth to the character

You’d think HW is the type to hold a grudge, or be so into proving he’s right while others are wrong, but nope, this boi actually takes a step back when he makes a mistake and admits he was wrong, HW learns from his mistakes and tries to improve himself, and doesn’t that make a lot more sense for a hothead like him?

Hotheaded characters usually try to be the best at everything, and wouldn’t he be become better and better if he actually admitted his mistakes rather than live in a fantasy that he’s just right all the time?

That aside, speaking of meeting Chase in the middle, you’re so right, and it’s really beautiful, not only that, but for a heavily implied autistic character like Chase, he’s always shown to be competent and more than capable on his own, and I actually think that’s pretty important to show, the world needs more autistic characters like Chase

The thing is with HW, is the fact while opinionated, he still tries to put the comfort of his friends first and that’s such a wholesome thing about him

During the argument, HW actually tries to do what Chase asks him to do, HW could’ve easily used his authority as the leader to simply order Chase to follow without attempting to contact Kade, and the thing is, Chase would’ve followed the order even tho he doesn’t like it, and HW knows it

But HW relents and actually does what puts Chase’s mind at ease and does try to call Kade, and I love it so much

HW tends to do that a lot, he doesn’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do, the only times he does is when their saftey is a priority

A lil something I want to bring attention to is HW’s tendency to use the phrase “that’s an order” around Chase, HW knows Chase is obsessed with following orders, especially when it’s directly stated with an emphasis like that, but what i love oh so much is the fact HW never abuses that kind of authority and especially not with Chase, he RARELY uses it, and of the few times he did? He used it to make sure Chase doesn’t put himself in danger

The greatest example of this is ep5 of S3 “unfinished business”, HW uses “that’s an order” 3 times in that episode, the first is when they need to go to stasis cause of the energon eater and Chase protests cause he wants to help the people of the damaged ship, HW says “into the stasis pods, now!” then adresses Chase specifically saying “Chase, that’s an order!”

The second time is when Chase hears the message again and tells HW they need to get back, HW is rightfully suspicious and thinks that, hell na, nobody’s going anywhere and especially not stubborn Chase so he says “no Chase, and that’s an order” only for Cody to convince HW to let Chase go

The third time is when Chase and Boulder are about to take the Sigma and are saying goodbye, Charlie tells Chase to “be careful, come back soon” and HW follows that by saying “that’s an order, Chase”

See the pattern? Every time HW uses his authority it’s when he’s worried and wants to keep Chase safe and oh my god does it melt my heart

Of course, Hw still sometimes misuse his authority like when he tells everyone they’re not allowed to celebrate Allspark day, but what I also love is the fact he never truly tries to force them, he just tends to voice his displeasures and grievances

Same with Blades, but in Blades’ case HW is never worried about his saftey cause he knows Blades’ values it, but as you said he does get a tiny bit harsh when it comes to Blades’ anxiety/fear, but then by that point of the video game episode, he realizes he misjudged Blades’ bravery and even goes as far as telling everyone what happened, and you can tell by his tone how proud he is of Blades, HW never says “I’m sorry” outright, but he does show regret and tries his best to fix his mistakes, and repair any damage they caused, he even calls Blades “the bravest of them all”

And just as you said, he lets sleeping dogs lie, he never tries bringing it up again or giving anyone a hard time for something that happened before, he just moves on

Hw taking a step or two back to genuinely consider his approach with things is what makes him a great leader, and an even greater friend, and that’s why you can see his growth so clearly in the show, i’d easily say that by S4 he’s a lot more gentle, considerate and patient than when the show started

As for Blurr?? Damn I actually feel bad for both him and HW, but Blurr makes it really hard to deal with him, and HW might’ve become a lot more patient but he’s still not that patient wheeze

Y’know in a way I feel like HW sees himself in Blurr, at least to an extent, so he does give him chances to get better, but Blurr keeps fucking up due to his reckless nature, but it’s obvious Blurr thinks highly of HW and genuinely wants to make him proud and HW seems to want to actually train Blurr to be a great rescue bot cause he sees that potential in him

The only problem is that these two are too hotheaded to effectively communicate, one wants to be carefree and not to be bound by rules, the other wants this carefree spirit to watch out and actually look at the world around him

Blurr has the “everything is against me” mindset and rarely takes the blame for his actions, and I think that’s what angers HW the most, HW wants Blurr to slow down and actually take in the situation and understand where he fucked up, but Blurr is really bad at seeing the problem and I believe to some extent, is cause Blurr thinks a bit less of himself

But my favorite thing is actually seeing Blurr getting better at taking responsibility for his actions and slowly becoming a better rescuer

The thing is, HW is a bit harsh on Blurr, but does give him credit where its due, when Blurr took the Sigma only to turn back to save GR, HW admits he misjudged him and even seems to genuinely regret being so harsh on him, when Blurr gets on the ground HW is conflicted about whether to yell at him or hug him and i find that really adorable hchcchch

But you can tell how HW is way gentler while dealing with Blurr afterwards, the frustration is still there but he’s become more patient with him and is a lot less demanding and it’s nice to see how their relationship develops from there, hell, even when Blurr fucks up time and again afterwards HW simply asks wtf he’d been thinking but the way he controls his voice and tone, it’s amazing

Anyway, you’re so right the character writing in this show is fucking fantastic, it’s honestly its greatest strength and I’d literally die for every one of them, they’re my beloved <33333

[thenamesblurrito]

I’m not sure if this has already been touched on, but I noticed that blackarachnia/blurr/predaking is listed as an Amica pairing, and was curious about it? Like is it a post canon thing or something that happens before their identities are revealed :] and basically what their relationship dynamic is like

you're right i did list them and yet i've BARELY talked about them AUGH i haven't decided everything exactly, there's more i want to work in but don't know when/how, but this is most of it. they're so important to me... i've sort of infodumped. everything here. um. long post, including post canon spoilers

(friendly reminder that this AU uses Amica Endurae as platonic life partners/spouses, just as culturally significant and legally recognized as romantic Conjunx Endurae)

Predaking and Blackarachnia happen to be roommates (along with notable problem-causer Deadlock) and end up clicking pretty well. Blackarachnia's biting sarcasm and droll defensive wit plays well with Predaking's stubborn independence and thoughtful deliberation. more importantly, Predaking is, down to his core, a protector, and subconsciously took on the role of being stalwart for Blackarachnia when she clearly has some uhhhhh not great family history that's given her baggage. the two of them are the edgy, aloof kids that stand in the corner, arms crossed, visibly judging everyone else in the room together while trading muttered comments about how stupid the adults' arbitrary rules are, and their weaponized back-and-forth has been known to make would-be bullies cry. they settle into a friendship pretty easily and make a great homework team.

enter Blurr, local dweeb, nerd, dork, or whatever assortment of other insults springs to mind. i wouldn't say he's quite a magnet for bullies, but he gets picked on more than his fair share, either for his stutter or his intelligence, depending on who's targeting him. it's not good, obviously, but he brushes this off easily most of the time unless cornered. so when Sentinel, irritated that the skinny little off-planet racer is skimming through textbooks in the library in half the time it's taking himself, starts mocking Blurr with the most cliche and boring bullying possible (calling him four-optics because of his glasses), Blurr just rolls his eyes and doesn't stop reading.

a voice from the back of the study area drawls, shouldn't you be saying that to me?

this is, of course, Predaking, looking at Sentinel with the most unimpressed expression and gesturing to his actual four optics: two in his face, two in the beast head currently on his chest. sitting next to him, Blackarachnia doesn't even look up from her work with any of her four facial optics or eight beast optics as she says, acidly, don't let him get a look at me, i'm not sure he can even count to twelve.

Sentinel, having been verbally eviscerated by these two before, multiple times (he's bad about learning his lesson), sputters and glares and ultimately leaves. Blurr blinks at his retreating back, then at the two who have gone back to their own homework with no further comment, and goes. Huh.

it's not so much an introduction as it is just a quiet, spontaneous moment of solidarity. and it sort of keeps happening, little instances around school. Blurr will hand Blackarachnia her dropped stylus when it rolls over to his table, Predaking will sit a table down from him and glare at an idiot being mean, they'll comment constructively on each other's projects in class, the three of them pass in the hall and sort of do that wordless chin-raise acknowledgement at one another. Blurr is pretty sure they don't know his name, and don't care enough to find out. it's that weird threshold of not-quite-acquaintance but still friendly, not-quite-stranger but i really don't know you. and yet. it's like an unspoken routine. it feels like having allies.

when given the choice to take up relics, Predaking and Blackarachnia go into it together, knowing exactly what kind of risks they're taking, but knowing each other and their priorities well enough to realize that they both want to defend themselves and other hurting people with more than just the witticisms of an angry teenager. they're very good at teamwork and slide right into cooperating with Sixshot very well too. and, extremely importantly, Predaking knows Blackarachnia well enough to spot that her behavior is, um, getting concerning as Airachnid. there's something different about her when she's powered up, and it might not be her calling the shots all the time.

Blurr's talent for snooping gets him the opportunity to take up a relic himself, and it's an extremely disorienting experience at first. he's never been a beastformer, he's not even from a planet that produces beastformers, and it's a whole new host of senses and feelings to deal with! and while he's a staunch Autobot who pretty immediately steps up to be Abominus's default battlefield rival, he has no real enmity for the Predacons and targets him mostly because he knows he's fast enough to mitigate any damage. in fact the two are pretty cordial to one another, that is when Cheetor isn't taking advantage of physics to send Abominus careening several blocks with transferred momentum. so when he discovers he can speak with mechanimals, it's both confusing and exciting, and naturally he wants to ask the only other beastformer heroes around about this. he doesn't know this is something of an offensive stereotype and is chewed out pretty soundly by them, shocked and angered that a fellow beastformer would so pettily play into framist nonsense.

that, he realizes, is something he sorely needs to be educated on. so while as Cheetor he shuts up about speaking to mechanimals and takes a new, delicate, sensitive approach to the media and general publicity where it concerns his frametype, Blurr starts doing research about beastformer experiences in a way he couldn't have learned back home on Velocitron. and perhaps, just maybe, he could screw up his courage to ask his fellow students? one of the first real conversations he has with Blackarachnia and Predaking is one day asking them haltingly, anxiously, if they could clarify something in this article about beastformer statistics he's reading, or if that would be offensive to assume they'd be willing to talk about it just because of their frametype.

it's a gradual acquaintance, one Predaking still latches on to quickly with that same protector's instinct as soon as he realizes how painfully earnest Blurr is. Blackarachnia is kind of amused by the way he nervously self-edits over and over to not say anything wrong, but still calls him out on overcorrecting from ignorance to hyperawareness. she's a person, not a checklist of morally correct conversation choices, at least treat her with the basic decency to act like it. just being around them is extremely valuable to Blurr, but he gets so caught up cataloguing the experience as learning how to not reinforce bad stereotypes as Cheetor that he sort of misses the fact that Predaking and Blackarachnia have come to think of him as something of a friend instead of their local curious nuisance. they notice when he's gone, when he's tired or preoccupied, when he's grappling with something that he never explains. clearly, they think, he's skittish, but could be coaxed over time.

they don't just pass each other in the hall anymore. Blurr asks them nervously if they're alright after the Shockblast debacle. Blackarachnia beelines to safety speaking with Blurr instead of engaging with Tarantulas when he stops by for a visit. Predaking gives his condolences to Blurr when he hears that strange shattered universe had left behind the corpse of a bot who might be his counterpart (Blurr doesn't tell him he killed his doppelganger with his bare hands. he's dealing with it, okay?) at the same time, Cheetor is noticeably more cautious when speaking to the media, subtly steering away from framist assumptions, vocally speaking up about beastformer equity. Abominus doesn't necessarily agree with the Autobots, but he at least feels like one of them is listening. Airachnid spends more and more time ignoring some suspicious changes that occur when she powers up.

and then Airachnid murders someone.

it wasn't premeditated. probably. she dreamed about it for years. they had it coming. no one would believe her. it's sickening. it's liberating. she didn't want to do it. Blackarachnia didn't want to do it. something else decided otherwise.

it's bad. bad enough she doesn't even tell Predaking, her best friend now, instead electing to find a quiet corner somewhere and fall apart. alone. this doesn't quite work out since ever-curious Blurr comes sleuthing into her spot, of course startled and concerned and asking if she's okay, and Blackarachnia snaps at him quite meanly. even so, somehow she still thinks of Blurr as safe enough for her to cry to. she's been emotionally fending for herself for so long, is it wrong to be weak?? to want to be taken care of instead of doing the dirty work herself?? and Blurr, sweet overwhelmed Blurr, does his best to be comforting, but says she should probably be having this conversation with someone she trusts. it's unexpectedly exactly the kind of respect for boundaries that Blackarachnia needs to go tell Predaking everything.

as heroes, the factions are starting to be less standoffish, working (slightly) better with one another when needed. on one of these occasions, Cheetor gets a few tidbits of vital information from, of all sources, a handful of scraplets. try as he might to speak to them surreptitiously, Abominus and Airachnid notice, and are dumbfounded to see he wasn't lying. it's one more small cross-faction bridge of trust.

while things might be improving interpersonally, everything else is worsening near the end of season 4. after a horrific and terrifying event that makes it unsafe for them to be in hero form, the factions retreat, gathering amongst themselves as kids, some meeting without the masks of their relics for the first time. poor Blurr, always the one to feel inferior and alone, has already figured out who most of the other Autobots are as kids, but somehow can't bear to reveal his own identity to them. standing among heroes, not as Cheetor but just as himself? he runs before they even turn to ask him. this time, it's Blurr having a breakdown in a quiet corner and Blackarachnia who finds him. she's not exactly a nice person, but she can still repay the favor and comfort him when he needs it.

in the middle of [finale spoilers] when everyone's identities are revealed to everyone, the only thing keeping everybody working together is an impending apocalypse. in the middle of so many revelations and personalities and high emotions, Predaking and Blackarachnia are actually doing pretty okay. they're unfazed by the surrounding drama and already solidly work well together outside of hero form. so when Blurr, almost cringing away from everyone else in a poor attempt to hide, nervously tries speaking up about something he's figured out, Predaking is the first to notice and step in to support his ideas. there's not exactly a lot of time to talk during the end of the world, but they come to an understanding. it feels like having allies again, except tangible and backed up with skill and force. there's steady certainty there in the midst of so much chaos.

it doesn't get super deep or "official relationship" in SNAP itself, mostly because their high school years aren't actually the most important period of their relationship. but it sets up an extremely important foundation for them that continues post-SNAP. Blurr still gets anxious and skittish and feels like he can't say anything right, what is he doing here he should just slink away and hide—but Predaking picks him up by the scruff of the neck and shakes some sense and affection back into him. Blackarachnia struggles with depression and self hatred for a long time, but Predaking and Blurr staunchly refuse to leave her lonely, sticking with her even in her dark times. there are times when Predaking prioritizes doing work over developing relationships, thinking that his work will of course help those he loves, but Blurr and Blackarachnia don't let him get away with it. not to mention how devastatingly effective the three of them are at Judging anyone trying to be an idiot in their vicinity, lots of would-be Karens get shut down by nothing more than their triplicate unimpressed glares .

of the three of them, Predaking is the one who first and most easily thinks of the other two as his partners, even if he doesn't say it out loud. he doesn't want to scare Blurr off, nor put pressure on Blackarachnia when she can barely stand herself, but he knows what he wants. he is quietly and enduringly devoted to them. Blackarachnia has felt like she's had to be strong, be clever, be quick and defensive and biting for herself her whole life, and yet these two consistently do that for her. she feels safe to be weak around them, and she knows she's taken care of. anxious Blurr still feels kind of like an outsider sometimes, an imposter third wheel on their already solid partnership, but then Predaking will wordlessly shuffle over to invite him to sit, or Blackarachnia will drop a snack in his lap exactly as he's getting hungry, or the two of them will be discussing something and automatically turn to ask his opinion. he doesn't need to be invited in to a relationship he's already part of.

as is pretty typical for him honestly, Predaking says something first, and does so by (as is also pretty typical) jumping right in with no warmup. it's during a conversation they've had many times over, an exercise in hope Rung recommended they try to help Blackarachnia. instead of letting her sit in the dark alone and spiraling, Predaking and Blurr sit with her, speaking aloud a good future, practice for envisioning a world that isn't under fire and themselves happy, healthy, and safe. Predaking's imagined futures have never not included them. with Blurr curled up in one of his wings and an arm over Blackarachnia's shoulders, he muses about a nice simple job rebuilding shelled cities, surely raising roofs only takes a little practice. he wants to see the sunrise over his hometown Helex again, with his favorite den siblings there. of course he'd take Blurr and Blackarachnia along, it wouldn't be right without the people he would have as his Amicae. Blackarachnia scoffs, but her spark isn't in it. Blurr freezes, anxiety already trying to convince him that he wasn't included in that statement. but Predaking just keeps talking, gently stitching together a future where they're okay.

on a practical level this is more of a proposal than simply asking them out, but it's also low pressure. nothing needs to change until they're all comfortable with it. they're already life partners in many ways, it's easy to slip a little further into it once acknowledged. the day Blurr's feeling of exclusion ends for good is when Blackarachnia casually muses about opening a clinic on Velocitron so the three of them can have a home on Blurr's planet, and he's struck by how she's doing good enough to plan for the future again, specifically a future where they even leave Cybertron to follow him.

their marriage is quiet. Blurr squares away the paperwork, double checking every detail is correct with Minimus. they let their friends take them out to a nice dinner in lieu of any ceremony, where Arcee generously only tries stabbing Blackarachnia once before giving her congratulations. Frenzy tries arranging a gag honeymoon trip for them but is too drunk to do it right and accidentally books himself a week at the spa instead. Hot Rod brings fireworks, which would have been a nice touch if he'd known he was coming to a wedding, but really he just wanted a party where he'd have the opportunity to set off colorful explosions around large numbers of people. Wheelie may have picked the pockets of everyone in attendance but he refuses to admit it. Skywarp and Predaking are the last ones who haven't swanned off or fallen asleep and in their exhausted drunken camaraderie, when bad ideas seem just brilliant, they end up going on a time travel heist to get Predaking some sick tattoos (and they're lucky it goes off without a hitch).

it's an absolutely perfect wedding.

it's not a flawless happily ever after, of course. Predaking grapples with being the only survivor of dozens of tragedies. Blackarachnia is permanently changed by a monster, and struggles with alcoholism for a long time. Blurr is personally targeted by a terrifying creature with a grudge and enough wit to outsmart him, in a rivalry that would cost many more lives than just his own. it's hard, and they live in dark times. but they support one another through thick and thin. after awhile, when they're more stable, they actually end up adopting Dragonicus, a little dragonformer like Predaking, and then later Lightspeed, a tiny thing almost as fast as Blurr.

they live. they love each other. they're good.

[eldritch-araneae]

Can you make a list of Bumblebee's best friend (bot) in all versions such as animated, Cyberserve or prime?🥺

Hi, I was a bit confused ( like you want me only list bots, not humans?), especially if you want only the continuities you listed or all of them? Anyway, I'll do all bc as I was thinking about the answer I got some interesting thoughts. So prepare your tea and sit comfortably ~

Generation 1

In G1 cartoon they made it seem like Bumblebee just gets along with everyone. But I can't remember if Bee had someone among bot who we could consider his best friend. This title really went to Spike exclusively and I know you said to list bots only, bear with me here.

This fits into Bumblebee's struggles, because he's weak, but humans weak too so he feel he belong with them more than his own people. And Bumblebee still friends with Spike even after the human grows up and has a family (and the fact its the only time they show passage of time like this with a human character?)! We don't see Bee a lot on later seasons so I like to assume he just hangs out with Spike's family most of the time.

It would be so dope if they actually explored the idea of human mortality and how cybertronians would handle the invertible. But it never happens in canon even in "serious" continuities. And same even in fandom spaces. I only once stumbled upon the fic where Bee gets super anxious because Spike is getting older, really long time ago. Of course I wrote a story about this, but still, I can't be the only one thinking about this. In G1 based comics it's kinda the same thing, except IDW where Bumblebee has NO FRIENDS ( nor bot or human). Like he had some pals in the past, but he lost them all. In IDW2 there is Windblade who was established as Bumblebee's bestie but they way it was written... it was very cold friendship judging by panels I saw. Not a fan. Ah yes, I didn't watched the Netflix version, so idk, but considering how writers decided to deconstruct the character for no reason I can assume he has no friends at all.

Bayverse

I can's really say anything, I watched only first and second movies and again, Bee was bonded with a human. Same with Bee-movie, I know it's not technically bayverse, but sadly, Bee has the same the design and I still can't watch the movie bc of it xD

Animated

This is very clear that Bumblebee bot bestie is Bulkhead. And if both Bumblebee and Bulkhead were written better we would have a really dope character dynamic. Tho their dynamic is fun even as it is ( Bee crawling all over Bulkhead like a spider is Halloween episode cracks me up), but sadly Bee just never develops as a character.

Prime

I can't say anything about because I didn't really watched the show. I started, didn't liked it and dropped it. The entire aligned continuity isnt really for me, so I skipped Rescue Bots and RiD15. Though, I did like "War for Cybertron" game a lot, and maybe I would watch Prime if character designs were from that game. In the game Bee didn't had any besties.

Cyberverse

Here Bumblebee has bonds with few bots. First one is Windblade and I absolutely loved it. Their relationship was amazing and warm and physically tactile, and that's how I started ship them. Then we see Hot Rod and, now deceased, Blurr and later Bumblebee bonds with Cheetor.

This show had so much potential, like the buildup in S1 was nice and well established dynamic between Bumblebee and Windblade, but then it was all thrown out the window. Windblade was sidelined entirely in S2 as Bee hands out with Hot Rod and Cheetor ( as it's the typical all boys gang no girls allowed) after all this demonstration how close those two are in S1?? Meh.

And when Cheetor sacrifices himself? Bee looks sad at this moment, and then moves on like thing happened and it didn't affect him? What is this?? Ugh.

Earthspark

Right it's too early to say, but we can already see that Bee has a very sibling-like bond with Arcee. And from the trailer it looks like Bee is good friends with Breakdown which is interesting. Maybe he was the reason why Bee picked the racer car after his VW Beetle mode? We will see~

I think it's all? There is Shattered Glass too, but I have no idea, cant say anything. I hope it was enough)