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“Congratulations are in order! First drink is on the house for everyone!” Swerve raised a glass, smiling brightly as cheers went up around the bar. The crew of the Lost Light was spilled out across the dance floor and at the seats and tables. In place of pride at the bar, beneath the banner that had been painted over again to say “Just Conjunxed”, sat Perceptor and Brainstorm.
Brainstorm was giddy, his optics bright and flicking back and forth across the crowd. Perceptor could feel the excitement in his field, and knew intimately exactly how much he was feeding off of the crew’s excitement and joy for them .
Perceptor unabashedly slid his arm around Brainstorm’s waist, leaning into his space and letting their thighs touch. Brainstorm’s wings flickered, smacking gently against Perceptor’s back before pressing in. Perceptor hid his smile behind the glass Swerve had pushed into his hand when they’d walked in for the reception. The casual touch and intimacy left him warm and sated, and he would have been content to sit there and wait out the appropriate amount of time before they could leave.
Brainstorm’s amicas had different opinions on that however. The reception had really only been going for half an hour, most of that time spent fielding congratulations and well wishes, when Nautica sidled up to their side.
“Can I steal my amica for a dance, Perceptor?” she asked with a pleased crinkle to her optics.
Perceptor swept his thumb up and over Brainstorm’s side, secretly delighting in how Brainstorm straightened up a little. “Feel free,” he answered. He gave Brainstorm’s side a squeeze and then let him go, leaving him to Nautica’s whims as she pulled Brainstorm off his seat and onto the dance floor.
Perceptor planned to dance with him before the night was over. Swerve had organized the playlist to give them plenty of time to field the crew before the expected “first dance” that he had taken from Earth culture. For now it was a joy to watch Brainstorm and Nautica spin across the dance floor before Brainstorm’s other amicas joined them.
He was glad Brainstorm had them. Just as he was grateful for his own.
Speaking of them, Ratchet and Drift made their way towards him, helms pressed together and fingers entwined. Drift was laughing at something Ratchet said, his optics a cheerful bright blue. Ratchet’s smile was softer, but no less fond, and it stayed on his face as he leveraged himself onto the bar stool next to Perceptor.
“Enjoyin’ your limelight, kid?” Ratchet asked, leaning back.
Perceptor hummed a non-answer and sipped his drink. “I’m enjoying Brainstorm in the limelight,” he said at length. He cut a gaze to Ratchet, his optics smiling where his mouth stayed the same.
"I don't believe I've ever seen your aura this relaxed," Drift said. He leaned into the space that Brainstorm had vacated. Perceptor noted his twitching finials and the soft press of Drift's field that read happy/proud. "You know how to pick them, Percy."
Perceptor let his gaze be drawn back to Brainstorm, following the graceful arcs and curves of his frame under the flashing lights. Brainstorm looked up at the same time, pulled out of a spin by Nautica, and shot Perceptor a wink. He was smiling bright and wide behind his mask. Perceptor knew the crinkle of Brainstorm's optics when he smiled; had taken the time to measure out the minute differences of all his expressions with and without his mask.
Perceptor wanted to always be able to understand Brainstorm. Sure his lover often said one thing and felt another, but after years on the Lost Light living in each other's pockets they truly were simpatico. In sync, never missing a beat or a step, and they had crafted brilliant things together. Least of which being their own relationship.
He smiled against the rim of his cup, recalling the first time Brainstorm stuttered through a haughty and yet put upon confession. Perceptor _might_ have reacted by breaking a few lab safety rules. And at least one project of Brainstorm’s, and his own research data pad.
"I'm glad you two figured it out," Ratchet said. His voice was gruff, but his field was pleased, and Perceptor relaxed under the familiarity of his amicas.
"Thank you," he said.
The song switched then, leading to Swerve pointedly clearing his intakes behind Perceptor. Ah. That would be his cue for the "First Dance". He set his drink down on the bar counter and stood from his seat, excusing himself from Drift and Ratchet politely. The crew parted for him on the dance floor and he was thankful, if amused. It meant he could get to Brainstorm faster at least.
He let his field herald him, brushing up against Brainstorm in affection and happiness. Brainstorm's wings flared in response, his biolights giving a glittering pulse in time to the music, and he turned to face Perceptor. His optics were nearly closed with the strength of his smile. Perceptor's spark gave a solid thump in its casing.
"Do you mind if I cut in, Nautica?" he asked, glancing at the engineer.
She grinned and gave Brainstorm's hand a squeeze before passing it to Perceptor. "Be my guest, Percy! Have fun boys!" She stepped back, seemingly melting away into the crowd, and Perceptor chuckled.
He shifted his hold on Brainstorm's hand, drawing him in close as they found the rhythm to the slow song together.
"You didn't tell me you knew how to dance, Perce," Brainstorm said. His voice was breathless, and his frame was warm. The exertion of keeping up with Nautica was clear.
Perceptor bent forward enough to gently tap their crests together for a moment. He paid no heed to the crew watching them. "I don't believe it ever came up," he answered. He straightened, catching Brainstorm's hand as he spun him out and then back in. "To be clear, I have not danced since before the war to my recollection. There were a few events in Iacon I attended. I might be a little rusty."
Brainstorm laughed. "If this is you rusty you must have been an eye catcher back in the day." He tipped his helm, nuzzling his blast mask against Perceptor's cheek. "Lucky for me," he teased.
Perceptor went warm and soft. With one arm around Brainstorm's waist and his other holding Brainstorm's hand, their fingers intertwined, he pulled his conjunx closer to just sway with him. Others were on the dance floor again, they weren't looking at them. "I assure you, I certainly was not."
"Mm. No. You were. On Kimia you were." Brainstorm nuzzled him again. "You've always been pretty, Percy."
Perceptor tightened his hold on Brainstorm imperceptibly. A silent thank you. He rested their crests together and let himself just look at Brainstorm, taking in the micro fissures around his optics and the way his vents fluttered with each cycle. Brainstorm certainly was the pretty one between the two of them. Perceptor knew he was objectively attractive, he had seen how others regarded him and Brainstorm always made sure to let him know, but that was nothing compared to Brainstorm.
He slid his thumb up and down Brainstorm's back as they swayed in a circle, delighting in the shiver it pulled from him.
"How long are we supposed to stay?" Brainstorm asked after a long moment. His plating had heated up a bit further, and Perceptor could almost hear the hum of his engine. It was still drowned out by the music but only just.
"If you asked our charming captains, all night," Perceptor said with an amused smile, "but if you wish to leave we can go at any time." Subtle touches often got a much more satisfying reaction out of Brainstorm, as evidenced by the twitch of his wings when Perceptor drew his hand close, kissing his knuckles slowly.
"I, uh, well, that is." Brainstorm cleared his intake sharply and cut a look away.
A comm request pinged at the corner of Perceptor's HUD. He was both surprised and wasn't to see that it was Brainstorm's frequency as he accepted.
::Percy, what's, ah, your opinion on spark merging?: :
Perceptor, for his credit, did not stumble over his own feet though it was a near thing. He cycled his optics, clearing a few haphazard decision trees that had disastrous outcomes for the rest of the crew. ::Why do you ask?::
Brainstorm's field bloomed with anxiety and longing. ::Cuz I was kinda hoping you might want to?::
Ah. Not anxiety. Nerves.
Perceptor stopped them as the music switched to a more upbeat tune. He let his mouth linger over the back of Brainstorm's hand, venting over his bent knuckles and watching as Brainstorm's optics cycled between bright and dim.
::Yes.::
Brainstorm’s next vent was shaky, but his field was awash in absolute joy. ::Now?::
Perceptor laughed and pressed a kiss to Brainstorm’s knuckles. ::Yes.:: There was the barest moment to breathe before Brainstorm dragged him off the dance floor and out the door. A series of whistles and calls went up behind them, and Perceptor only smiled as he watched Brainstorm’s wings twitch.
----
Gazing into the blinding light that leaked between cracked chest plates was not what he'd expected to come from this. Yes, logically, he'd been courting Brainstorm from the start with the intention of becoming conjunx but not every conjunx resulted in a spark bond, but there Brainstorm was. Offering himself. All of him. Every last guard and wall dropped and set aside to let Perceptor see into the truest parts of himself and Perceptor had never felt so honored .
Like this, seated in Brainstorm's lap while the jet drummed a nervous pattern on Perceptor's hips, he could see the jagged edge where the Decepticon brand had been carved out of his spark chamber. It had healed well enough, but the metal there was still scarred. The missing amount, perhaps only 3% of the total casing, was miniscule in comparison to what he'd expected, but it still showed a path that Brainstorm had taken. A path Brainstorm had chosen out of love and commitment, even when it had amounted to nothing. Loyal, steadfast, brilliant Brainstorm.
Perceptor lifted his gaze to catch Brainstorm's optics. "May I?" he asked, even as he reached past the open plates to let his fingers hover just before the spark chamber. The sound of a transformation sequence was the only answer he got, though Brainstorm's grip on his hips did tighten in jumpy increments.
As though Brainstorm didn't trust himself to speak.
Perceptor clicked his glossa gently and looked back down, adjusting the filter on his optics to see through the brilliant glare that was Brainstorm's spark. Primus, that was his spark . His fingers alighted on the edge of the casing, tracing over the missing edge and then up over the perfect transformed curve. Even with the missing piece, his chamber had transformed into a perfect sphere with a clean, even radius. Beautiful.
Brainstorm's field swirled around them, pressing at Perceptor's and retreating in turn. It was a wild mix of fear and joy and nerves and an overwhelming "yes" that threatened to bowl Perceptor over.
Perceptor pressed his fingers a little more firmly to the metal of the casing, watching in awe as Brainstorm's spark flared brighter in answer. The metal shivered under his touch, growing impossibly larger, and Perceptor had to take just a moment to vent, slow and steady. "You're stunning, Brainstorm," he said, glancing up again.
Brainstorm's optics were over bright and a little wobbly. His lower lip was caught hard between his dentae, a small bead of energon welling where he'd pierced the derma. Perceptor's field flared in concern as he drew his hands back, instead moving to cup Brainstorm's face.
"Brainstorm? Are you okay?"
"M'fine. Totally fine!" Brainstorm's wings flicked and the tips quivered. Perceptor brushed the pad of his thumb across Brainstorm's lip, cleaning the energon away from the small puncture. The surge of gratefulness was followed by a flare of Brainstorm's spark. "I just. Y'know. I never, uh, never thought I'd–we'd–get this? Or that you'd want me like this because I mean, yeah I'm the smartest in the room–present company notwithstanding–and obviously the hottest thing with wings but you're you and–"
Perceptor pressed their crests together for a moment, letting his thumb linger against Brainstorm's mouth. Then he pulled back and away, sitting up straight in the jet's lap as he transformed away his own chest panels and, for the first time in his functioning, activated the protocols to bring his spark chamber to the front as it opened. The light flared across Brainstorm's face, casting his awestruck expression in a sharp relief.
"Brainstorm, there is no one else I would rather share my spark with than you," he said. His vocals were a little hoarse and he reset them with a quiet click . He reached for one of Brainstorm's hands, guiding it up until Brainstorm curled his fingers over the edge of his chest. "I am not… well versed in words, but I know that my spark spins faster when you are near. You are never far from my thoughts, and when I asked you to be my conjunx I wanted this but did not dare to ask. You did me a great favor by bringing it up first."
Brainstorm's fingers twitched. Perceptor could hear how hard he swallowed. "Perce…" And oh, but Brainstorm sounded wrecked , like he'd never looked at something more wondrous. It made Perceptor's spark flare and spin faster right where Brainstorm could see it.
Brainstorm's optics filled with cleanser and he choked on a muffled half-sob. "Can–?"
"Yes," Perceptor answered. He shifted his knees, getting more comfortable, and covered Brainstorm's hand with his own. Then slowly, carefully, he guided Brainstorm's hand further into his own chest. The first brush of fingers against his spark chamber made Perceptor's fuel tanks flip, and his chamber quivered as Brainstorm brushed against it again.
"You're so pretty, Perce," Brainstorm whispered.
“As are you, Brainstorm,” he answered.
Brainstorm’s wings flicked again, up and down and then back. His ailerons tilted. His touch against Perceptor’s spark chamber was light and fleeting. Nervous.
“You won’t hurt me,” Perceptor said gently. He leaned forward, pushing Brainstorm’s hand a little closer to his spark, and Brainstorm’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Brainstorm,” Perceptor said. He let go of his hand, cupping the jet’s face in his hands instead. “ I want this. ”
Brainstorm looked up, his optics almost brighter than their sparks. The first bead of cleanser spilled over the edge, his vocalizer clicking uselessly with reset after reset. His shoulders were starting to draw up, wing tips quivering, and Perceptor bent down to press their crests together again.
“I want you ,” he whispered.
Static was the only verbal response he got, but there was the first brush of fingers against the corona of his spark. It was a strange feeling, almost ticklish while somehow feeling so intimate that it left him flushed and heated from just that brief contact. Perceptor’s fans clicked on at their lowest setting, whirring gently inside his chassis. It was like a direct line to his interface array, kicking on his lubrication protocols and leaving an ache to build behind his modesty panels.
Perceptor cycled a deep vent, swallowing hard. Brainstorm caressed the edge of the photonic crystal and Perceptor’s visual feed glitched in a hard reset. “Brainstorm,” he breathed.
“You’re perfect, Percy,” Brainstorm said, just as quiet. Perceptor almost didn’t hear him over the rush of his own fuel lines. “I wish you could see yourself here. You’re mathematically perfect , and the cleavage of your crystal… Perce , it’s beautiful.”
Perceptor didn’t know what Brainstorm did next, but the touch was soft and lingering against the crystal and heat flushed through his systems fast enough that a warning popped up on the corner of his HUD. Perceptor whined, shuffling his plating to vent the hot air easier. It was like dumping an overheated component into coolant with how the steam slipped out of him.
“Wow,” Brainstorm whispered, “that good, Perce?”
Perceptor laughed breathlessly and let one hand trail down past the open plates of Brainstorm’s chest. He opened one optic so he could watch himself touch the edge of Brainstorm’s spark, his fingers floating through the corona as the tendrils of it curled around him. It was like Brainstorm’s very spark wanted to keep him close.
“ Oh ,” was the broken answer Brainstorm had to his own question. His fingers twitched and Perceptor closed his optic again with a low moan.
Perceptor twisted his hand slightly, the pads of his fingers brushing up against the blossomed photonic crystal and then touching the proper charge of Brainstorm’s spark. He could feel how it flared, heat flashing out of it and warming his hand and chassis. His own spark spun in a sharp loop, lurching forward into Brainstorm’s touch.
His very core wanted to be close, closer, until there was nothing left between him and Brainstorm. Until it was just them and nothing else. A part of him was terrified of that feeling; of that complete lack of control that came with a total spark merge. Terrified of letting someone else that close to him. But… Who else would he ever want besides Brainstorm? Brainstorm who knew all of his quirks and habits, Brainstorm who asked for his opinion on experiments when before he would have squirreled them all away, Brainstorm who had blossomed under Perceptor’s gentle affection into someone secure in themselves.
Beautiful, wondrous, extraordinary Brainstorm.
He held the very soul of his love in his hand, the very thing that made Brainstorm who he was. It was so small compared to the exuberant energy Brainstorm put off. Small and fragile and Brainstorm trusted him with it just like he trusted Perceptor to have his back in the lab when experiments went sideways. Brainstorm trusted Perceptor in spite of everything that had been thrown at them on this ship.
Perceptor could never be sure he deserved it, but he would make every moment count.
He tipped his helm, slotting their mouths together like a perfect match in a puzzle. They’d kissed hundreds of times by now, thousands even, and while Perceptor had each kiss mapped out to a science, it never got tiring. If he tipped his helm just so, brushed their noses against each other like that, and curled his hand just a little more firmly around the curve of Brainstorm’s helm, then he got a pleasured sigh and a slow stroke over whatever part of his body Brainstorm was touching. That it was his spark chamber this time didn’t go unnoticed, though Perceptor did his level best not to melt into a puddle too soon.
With a flick of his glossa over the pout of Brainstorm’s lower lip, Perceptor drew a moan from him. He curled his fingers over the heat of Brainstorm’s spark in time with the push-pull of their mouths and felt the moment Brainstorm’s fans whirled to life with a rumbling roar. A soft click gave away that fact Brainstorm’s modesty panels had folded away, though Perceptor almost missed it in the clatter of Brainstorm flaring the rest of his cladding out to dump heat.
Just the slightest touch to the photonic crystal, a scant two degrees of twisted motion, and Brainstorm swore against Perceptor’s mouth. Perceptor smiled, petting over the corona again, and delighted in how Brainstorm shivered with a drawn out moan. He answered it with his own when the backs of Brainstorm’s fingers brushed across the edge of his spark casing.
Brainstorm arched, his back bowing as he pressed himself closer to Perceptor. “Percy,” he gasped, “Percy, please.” His mouth caught on Perceptor’s, his lips dragging with each syllable of his whispered prayer.
“I’ve got you, Brainstorm,” he whispered back. He drew his hand, mournfully, away from Brainstorm’s spark. “Lay back for me, sweetspark.” He drew his hands down Brainstorm’s frame as the jet listened. When Perceptor opened his optics again, he was met with the brilliant glare of Brainstorm’s spark lighting up their hab suite. It looked like it was dancing, reaching for him. His own spark felt much the same.
Perceptor dragged his thumb across Brainstorm’s spike housing, tapping gently at the iris. It spiraled open immediately for him, pressuring Brainstorm’s spike into his waiting palm. Brainstorm’s moan was unbridled and loud, his hips lifting off the berth and taking Perceptor with them. Heat throbbed inside his valve and Perceptor vented sharply as he felt himself start to leak. He held steady though and gave a few firm strokes to Brainstorm’s spike, just to make sure it was completely pressurized.
“ Perce ,” Brainstorm moaned. Desperation was beginning to color his voice, lending it grit and static. He opened his optics, meeting Perceptor’s own. Cleanser was starting to pool beneath the lenses again, beading up but not falling yet. “I want this. I want you,” he echoed.
Perceptor swallowed hard, his spark giving a firm thump inside its casing. It caught Brainstorm’s gaze. Brainstorm’s mouth opened in shock, a flush dusting across the bridge of his nose and deepening the gold of his derma.
“I want you,” Brainstorm repeated, and Perceptor’s spark did the same thing.
It pulsed brighter, flaring and spinning and Brainstorm’s hand was still inside his chest. Perceptor could feel his spark reach for Brainstorm, the very edges of it wrapping around Brainstorm’s hand like a lover’s caress. It made his optics flicker, a quiet sound pulled from his voxcoder without his permission.
“You want me,” Brainstorm whispered, “you really want me.”
Perceptor laughed, disbelief coloring his tone just a little. "Brainstorm, I have never lied to you." He paused his strokes on Brainstorm's spike to make sure the jet was focusing on him. "I want you, processor, frame, and spark. All of you for all of me."
Brainstorm shuddered with a broken little noise. His spark flared ever brighter, and he was fully crying as he turned his optics back to Perceptor's spark, cleanser leaking down the sides of his face as he smiled wide and bright.
Perceptor could see it reflected in Brainstorm's optics. The wisp of blue and core of white, the stretched out planes of the crystal that reached for the hand touching them. His spark gave another hard thump and this time Brainstorm curled his fingers around the sphere, letting it nestle between his fingers.
Perceptor vented steam, shuttering his optics for just a moment before he managed to rein himself back in. His paneling was hot, the pressure of lubricants growing. It wouldn't be long before he started to paint Brainstorm's thighs with his arousal. But it could wait a moment longer. With Brainstorm's hand cradling his spark, Perceptor had never felt so safe. This was safety in a different way than from when he rebuilt himself to be stronger, tougher. This safety wasn't about keeping everyone out. It was letting someone in, and trusting implicitly that Brainstorm would catch him if he fell.
"I love you, Perce," Brainstorm said, static lacing the edges of his voice. He cleared his intakes, and Perceptor smiled down at him as affection buoyed his lines.
"I love you too, Storm."
While not the first time they had confessed to each other, this still felt… special. More so than usual. Perhaps that was just the spark light shining on each other’s plating speaking however. Perceptor could spend hours thinking about it, teasing apart these emotions that swept over him like waves, but why bother with that when Brainstorm was beneath him, optics open and trusting and his field blooming in delighted love. There would be time enough for introspection later.
Brainstorm’s answering smile was brilliant, his mouth stretched wide as Perceptor’s own spark lit him up and cast the mandibular tubing on his cheeks in sharp relief. Perceptor wanted to bend down and kiss him, wanted to trail his mouth across that cabling until Brainstorm giggled and went soft and pliant underneath him. He wanted to make Brainstorm’s field radiate with joy and pleasure and happiness. Unbridled, unadulterated happiness. Brainstorm deserved it.
The realization that he could, if he wanted, simply bend down and do that, settled in his lines slow and warm like a tall glass of high grade. Brainstorm delighted in Perceptor doing things like that, and even in their vows had given Perceptor explicit permission to touch him when he pleased, as he pleased. Because Brainstorm trusted Perceptor to not abuse that trust.
Perceptor cycled his optics slowly, venting deep and steady despite how his spark fluttered and his fans whined. The absolute trust Brainstorm put in him–trust Perceptor was still struggling to wrap his processor around–was astonishing. He only hoped one day he could make Brainstorm feel the same; secure in the knowledge that Perceptor trusted him as he had trusted no other before.
He slid his finger tips up the bottom of Brainstorm’s spike, tracing gently over the bumps of the biolights there. It flexed at the touch, and Brainstorm’s optics shuttered half way as a low moan spilled from his vocalizer. Perceptor took him properly in hand, stroking him firmly, and bent down to give into that earlier urge. He pressed fleeting kisses to Brainstorm’s jaw, up over the pout of his lower lip, and then to the cool cabling of his cheeks. He wasn’t quite close enough yet for their sparks to touch, but he could still feel how they strained towards each other. Their sparks had known long before their processors had, of that Perceptor was certain.
He mouthed across Brainstorm’s cabling, paying special attention to where it dipped back inside the hollows of his cheeks. He grazed the edges of the hollow with his glossa, licking a hot, wet line up it.
Brainstorm's fingers juddered around Perceptor's spark. Perceptor felt more than heard his moan, and he made a pleased sound in return. It deepened into a full moan as Brainstorm's free hand landed on Perceptor's hip, groping into the edges of his plating and holding firm. His fingertips were brushing against the curve of his hip cables, transferring sparks of charge between the two of them.
Perceptor dragged the edge of his dentae over one mandibular tube and Brainstorm keened, lifting his hips sharply into Perceptor's hand and drawing them both into a roll. Brainstorm's thighs were warm where they pressed up against Perceptor's modesty panels. Perceptor's optics flickered, fizzing out on the edges before coming completely back. Another request to open his panels danced at the edge of his vision and he denied it.
Not yet.
With a final, lewd suck to one of the cables, Perceptor turned his attention back to Brainstorm's mouth. It was plush against his lips, the derma soft and forgiving under the teasing nips he placed. He swept his glossa over the dried energon and delighted in Brainstorm's plaintive whines. Like this he could push his field forward, covering Brainstorm's in his own so that they meshed together.
Want and love and desire swirled between them in a messy whirlwind but above all else they echoed "yes, please, more" to each other.
Perceptor was no master at field play, but he was a quick study and Brainstorm had shown him once before. As he pushed his glossa into Brainstorm's mouth, curling along the edges of his dentae and alighting on the sharpened tips of his canines, Perceptor bore down with his field until he could feel the sensors firing in Brainstorm's sensor net.
The jet jerked his hand out of Perceptor's chest, knocking into his spark casing on the way, and grabbed onto Perceptor's shoulder instead with a sharp cry that Perceptor swallowed down. Brainstorm's spike jerked in his palm, the tip beading with transfluid. Brainstorm was shaking, venting heavily as condensation began to pool on his cladding.
Pride swelled inside Perceptor, warming his lines and making his quiet engine rev just a little harder. He pressed it down into Brainstorm's sensor net again, activating the nodes in a wave from Brainstorm's knees up to his wing tips.
Brainstorm broke the kiss with another cry, warbling a broken version of Perceptor's name. His fingers scrabbled at Perceptor's frame, catching on the edges of his plating and dragging down the barrel of his scope. His thighs jerked, grinding up against Perceptor’s modesty panels. Perceptor's vision whited out in static snow, his own moan broken against Brainstorm's jaw.
"Oh god, Perce, just fuck me ," Brainstorm pleaded.
Perceptor's panels snapped open, lubricant dripping from him instantly. He could feel it start to spill over Brainstorm's thighs and the jet responded by lifting a leg. Perceptor didn't even try to stop himself from grinding down against it, the motion slick and sticky from his lubricants. "Brainstorm," he gasped.
"C'mon, c'mon," Brainstorm hissed. He planted both hands on Perceptor's hips, dragging him into another grind that made Perceptor's optics offline entirely. As he moaned, Brainstorm did it again, and again. "That's it, Perce, that's it. No patience tonight, c'mon baby."
Perceptor wrestled with his processor through the haze of pleasure. Each drag of his valve over Brainstorm's thigh meant his anterior node caught the edge of a plate, and the stimulation was almost too much. In the brief moments he could get his optics functioning, he could see the jerk and flare of his own spark lighting up Brainstorm's face. Brainstorm's awestruck, open-mouthed, panting face. Steam curled from his mouth with each fast ventilation.
Perceptor swore and offlined his optics again, shuttering them for good measure. Looking at Brainstorm like that was dangerous for his stamina. Getting himself back under control was a lesson in patience he almost failed. But he slowed the mindless grind of his hips, whining tightly in the back of his throat. Brainstorm was still pawing at him, trying to get him to move, but Perceptor stayed stubbornly still.
" Percy ," Brainstorm whined, pressing his fingers into Perceptor's hip joint and caressing the sliver of protoform there. "Percy, c'mon, let me have your overload. I want to watch your spark while you do."
Perceptor had to shut down a few different decision trees in rapid succession. His thighs quivered. "You–" His voice crackled, more static than sound, and he cleared his intake as he reset it. "Next time." The thought of doing this again, baring himself to Brainstorm like this again, sent a thrill through him. Charge licked up his spinal strut and grounded somewhere in his chassis.
"Next time you can watch. This time…" Perceptor straightened up with some difficulty, his stabilizers wobbly and weak already, and rose onto his knees. "This time I want to ride you, and I want to merge before completion so we can feel it together." Perceptor settled on hand on Brainstorm's abdomen as he shifted his hips up, dragging the wet heat of his valve across Brainstorm's spike.
Brainstorm's field lashed at him, lighting up nodes that had gone previously untouched. The sheer want in his field made Perceptor clench down on nothing; a small gush of lubricant slipping down his thighs and painting across Brainstorm's spike.
Perceptor dropped his head back with an overwhelmed moan. His calipers fluttered and spiraled wider. He ached to be filled, but it was so fun to tease Brainstorm with what they both wanted. So he rocked his hips again slowly, dragging the soaked mesh over Brainstorm's spike in tight, controlled circles. " Stormy ," he moaned.
"Percy," came the answering moan. A tentative touch floated across his spark casing and Perceptor flashed hot, dumping a wave of heat out as coolant flushed through his lines. He could feel as Brainstorm tangled his fingers in the corona, petting and coaxing and making Perceptor quake above him. "Percy," Brainstorm repeated, reverent. "Primus, Perce, you're gorgeous. C'mon, Percy, give in, c'mon. You want this, I can feel it. Just give in. I want you. Fuck, Perce, I want you."
He did. Perceptor could feel it. Between Brainstorm’s rapidly cycling field and the fingers that quivered around his spark, there was no way Perceptor didn’t know that Brainstorm wanted this, wanted him . Brainstorm’s field kept stroking over his and his frame, pressing down on his sensornet until it lit up like fireworks. Perceptor swore, his valve calipers fluttering, and he curled his fingers into the glass casing of Brainstorm’s cockpit.
“Please, Perce, please, please.” Brainstorm rolled his hips up, his spike catching on the rim of Perceptor’s valve. “ Perceptor , c’mon sweetspark, Percy please .”
“S-stay still for just—ah—just a moment, Storm,” Perceptor said, somehow managing the words between his gasping ventilations. “ Patience .”
“Perceptor, I love you , but if you don’t fuck yourself on me right now I’m going to roll us over and fuck you .”
Brainstorm’s field lashed at him again, violent in speed but gentle in touch, and lit up sensations all across Perceptor’s frame. His optics fritzed, white noise dancing on the edges of his vision, and Perceptor hunched slightly as he moaned. “ Storm ,” he admonished.
Brainstorm’s response was to pet over Perceptor’s crystal and curl his fingers through his spark.
Charge tore through Perceptor’s systems, sparking lightning across his cladding until it grounded near his spark chamber. His vocalizer clicked useless under a hard reboot. Perceptor’s hips jumped of their own accord, grinding him down on Brainstorm’s spike. His anterior node caught on the tip of it and the sharp stab of pleasure was overwhelming. He reset his optics quickly, catching the dying flare of his spark on Brainstorm’s face.
That was enough patience.
His palm skidded across Brainstorm’s cockpit, landing on the edges where he dug his fingers into the seam. He caressed over the raw edge there as he tipped his hips, dragging his valve over Brainstorm’s spike again. Brainstorm’s hand twitched and Perceptor gritted his dentae with a labored vent.
“Hand off my spark, Brainstorm,” he said, and far more coherently than he’d expected. “Help line yourself up.” He was quite pleased with how steady his voice was despite the static crackling through it.
Brainstorm’s response was to whine and not pull his hand away from Perceptor’s spark. Instead he caressed the corona again, swiping his thumb across the blossomed planes of the crystal. He lifted his hips at the same time Perceptor rocked down, a static-y moan half swallowed in his throat.
Perceptor tipped his hips just enough to slide the tip of Brainstorm’s spike into his valve, and Brainstorm grabbed his hip with his free hand to pull Perceptor down the rest of the way. Perceptor shuttered his optics with an overwhelmed sound, letting the motion roll through his frame. Sitting flush against Brainstorm’s hips, with his anterior node pressing down on Brainstorm’s spike housing, Perceptor had to take just a moment to keep his composure.
It was a lot harder to take a moment when Brainstorm was writhing underneath him, his hips bucking and his hands petting over every part of Perceptor he could reach. No patience for the slower things.
Perceptor vented slowly, wrangling control back over his frame and processor, and then sat back firmly to pin Brainstorm’s legs. He rolled his hips in a firm grind, his optics flickering as his ceiling node was teased. Brainstorm, on the other hand, let his helm fall back with a sharp, loud moan.
“I told you,” Perceptor started, giving another roll of his hips, “that I wanted to ride you, Brainstorm. That means you stay still .”
Brainstorm’s hands twitched, pressing into the seams at Perceptor’s waist. He had pulled his hand out of Perceptor’s spark like he’d been told to at some point. Probably when Perceptor had been weighing the decision tree of giving into Brainstorm’s whims versus sticking to his plan. Call him old fashioned, but Perceptor wanted this to be… special. A slow but satisfying experience for the both of them.
Brainstorm made it difficult to stay on task with how his optics went dim, his mouth open as he vented steam. His lips were shiny with oral solvent. He was stunning to look at and Perceptor often indulged in it. Perhaps too much so when he was supposed to be paying attention to his own work, or, indeed, pleasuring his partner. At least this time Perceptor could use the excuse of getting Brainstorm to listen .
"Percy," Brainstorm whined. His hips flexed and Perceptor shifted his weight so that Brainstorm couldn't get any leverage. " Perceptor ."
That was a pout. It just barely pulled down the corners of Brainstorm's mouth, but it was there. Perceptor smiled and held Brainstorm in place until his hips hit the berth again. All at once the fight left Brainstorm's frame and he curled his fingers against Perceptor’s thighs.
"Good boy," Perceptor said gently. Brainstorm's spark lurched inside his chassis. Perceptor paused for a moment, flicking his gaze between Brainstorm's face and his bright spark. "Are you going to listen now?" he asked. Slowly, carefully, he settled one hand on the edge of Brainstorm's open chest plates, his fingertips grazing the corona.
Brainstorm's laugh sent a thrill up Perceptor's spinal strut. It was warm and… sweet. Like energon goodies dusted with copper and zinc. Or that engex they'd picked up at Theta 9 a few cycles ago. Sweet on the glossa and warm in the lines. Perceptor could listen to Brainstorm laugh for hours, even if it was at his own expense.
Affection bloomed warm and heady, softening the edges of his spark. He rolled his hips a little, just to work some of that energy out, and delighted in the wispy moan it pulled from his conjunx.
His conjunx .
His fuel pump stuttered for a moment, his spark spinning faster as it lurched in its casing, reaching for Brainstorm. He'd missed Brainstorm's response outside of the laugh. That wouldn't do. He needed to pay attention.
He cycled his optics, centering himself quickly. Brainstorm was looking up at him, smiling bright and open with his optics half shuttered. Brainstorm's hands tightened on Perceptor's thighs and he shifted his legs. It drew Perceptor's attention back to his valve and the lubricant that slicked their thighs.
He rippled his calipers. Brainstorm's optics went fuzzy, the light dimming and diffusing into something gentle. They still cast a golden haze on his cheeks and the slope of his nose. Perceptor gave into the urge to bend down and kiss the tip of Brainstorm's nose.
It wrinkled under his touch, but Brainstorm's bewildered giggle made the whole experience extravagant. Preceptor kissed the tip one more time and then sat up. He gave Brainstorm the first true rock of his hips, rising up and then back down in a smooth undulation.
"Fuck, Perce ," Brainstorm groaned.
Perceptor felt Brainstorm’s field go loose and languid, tangling in his own like syrup and pulsing satisfied waves. Waves that matched the pitch and intensity of Perceptor’s rolling hips. Perceptor found himself smiling, something small but apparently no less dazzling if Brainstorm’s look was anything to go by. He settled his hands over Brainstorm’s, using them to help balance as he picked up the pace.
Perceptor trailed his fingers along the biolights on Brainstorm’s wrists, dipping into the seam and rubbing over the flexible, glowing tubing. They pulsed under his touch, casting yet more shadows across their frames. He was always fascinated by how sensitive they were to Brainstorm as Perceptor had no biolights of his own on the outside of his frame. Just the right amount of pressure on the ones on his arms and Brainstorm’s hands would quiver and shake with charge nipping at his fingers. Say nothing of the ones on his wings. Those elicited all sorts of… delicious sounds, for lack of a better phrase.
Not that Perceptor could blame himself for the lack of words. Brainstorm was very distracting with the way his fingers curled and relaxed against his thigh plating. In retribution, Perceptor pointedly cycled down on Brainstorm’s spike.
“Perce,” Brainstorm gasped with an involuntary arch of his spinal strut. His fingers dug into the seams on the sides of his thighs and dragged back up, catching on delicate cables and wires until they landed on his hips. Brainstorm’s vocalizer spat static before clicking with a reset.
Perceptor tipped his helm down to catch his optics. “Yes?” he asked, knowing full well what Brainstorm wanted to say and unable to help his growing smirk.
“You absolute—“ Brainstorm cut off with a choked moan, a direct response to Perceptor rolling his calipers and grinding down. “ Fuck .” Brainstorm dragged a hand up, pressing against the exposed tubing on Perceptor’s side. He squeezed and Perceptor rolled his hips more firmly with a low moan.
Perceptor got his first look of the charge building under Brainstorm’s cladding with that one. It sparked between his protoform and plating, snapping at the air with a crackle. Perceptor found his attention drawn to the sparks that danced along the edge of Brainstorm’s spark casing though. Dance surely was the right term for it. They leapt in arcs from one side to the other, and Brainstorm’s spark pulsed in time to it.
“You’re beautiful,” Perceptor found himself saying. “I love you.”
Brainstorm jerked underneath him, energon flushing his face. His laugh was strangled but no less delighted. “I won’t last if you talk to me like that, Perce.” His voice went tight at the end, like despite everything he still couldn’t believe that Perceptor meant every word he said.
The flash of irritation was irrational, Perceptor knew, but he couldn’t help himself. Everyone who had hurt Brainstorm like this before, every single bot that had ever made Brainstorm feel like he wasn’t worth it, they were all wrong. Brainstorm was wild and foolhardy and yes, dangerous, but he also cared so much . He cared about people and things so much that he would throw away his own life just to save everyone from the pain of war. To save a mech that had never even looked his way.
Quark had been a fool .
“Come here,” he said, purposefully keeping his voice soft and his field open. He bent down enough to grab Brainstorm by his shoulders, pulling him up until he was sitting as well. The change of angle forced a gasp from Perceptor but he didn’t let up, simply adjusting the position of his knees.
Brainstorm ended up with his hands at Perceptor’s waist, holding him steady. They were optic to optic like this. The head of Brainstorm’s spike kissed Perceptor’s ceiling node and Perceptor held himself still with the discipline of a mech that had rebuilt himself from the ground up.
“Percy?” Brainstorm asked, his voice thready. He cleared his intakes and his hands twitched against his sides.
Perceptor cupped Brainstorm’s face between his palms, stroking his thumbs gently across his cheeks. It did wonders to ease the anxiety he could feel bubbling in Brainstorm’s field. “I love you.”
Brainstorm’s hands jerked again. “Well yeah of course, me too obviously, I mean—“
“ Brainstorm .” Perceptor pressed their crests together, and Brainstorm’s optics zeroed in on his own. “ I love you .”
Brainstorm shuddered, a full frame rattle. His hands tightened on Perceptor’s waist, his fingertips sinking into the flared seams of Perceptor’s plating and alighting on the delicate cabling underneath. “ Percy .”
“I will say it as many times as it takes for you to believe me,” Perceptor whispered. “I love you. We are conjunxed, and I love you .”
Cleanser welled in Brainstorm’s optics and his shoulders jerked slightly. His wings shifted, up and back, then swinging down. His ailerons quivered. “I know,” he whispered back. He blinked and Perceptor caught the tear with his thumb. “I know you do,” Brainstorm repeated. He swallowed hard and cleared his intake again, shuttering his optics as he pressed his face into Perceptor’s hands. “I know.”
“Knowing and believing are not the same,” Perceptor said gently. He tipped his helm, kissing Brainstorm’s crest softly. “We have the rest of our lives for you to start believing. But I will still tell you, because you deserve to hear it, and I like saying it.” He nosed at Brainstorm’s cheek, then nuzzled Brainstorm’s nose in turn. “Right now, let me give you quantifiable evidence. Beyond you seeing how my spark reacts to you.”
Brainstorm’s vents hitched. Their tangled fields broadcast their anxieties, their sureties, and their shared affection. Like this, Perceptor let his field show exactly how sure he was about this. He let his desire show. That sticky sweet feeling that swelled inside of him every time he was close to Brainstorm like this.
“Percy.” Brainstorm’s mouth quivered. Perceptor could feel it against his own as clearly as he could feel Brainstorm’s unending well of love for him.
Perceptor looped his arms behind Brainstorm’s neck and leaned in the rest of the way.
Nothing he had read could have prepared him for the sensation of a complete spark merge. He unraveled and was remade, parts of him forever changed with the addition of Brainstorm to his core self. It was warm. It was love. It was home .
He caught Brainstorm’s gasp in a kiss, holding him close. His spark was singing, their crystals resonating with each other. Each spin of Brainstorm’s spark was echoed by his own. Brainstorm was crying, he could feel each tear on his own face. Affection, sweet and bolstered by the burning fire of their love, swelled between the two of them. Like this, this close, bonded together, there was no way Brainstorm could deny how much Perceptor loved him. Or… Perceptor couldn’t deny that Brainstorm loved him ?
There were no separate identities in this space. They simply were. Brainstorm acknowledged him, Perceptor acknowledged him in turn. Their hips moved in tandem. The rhythm perfect, keeping them pressed as tight together as possible, and pleasure looped back on itself in a perfect circle. It was in his lines, it was in Brainstorm’s lines, it was in their lines.
A hand landed on Perceptor’s lower back, holding him firmly. Securely. There was a nudge against his spark chamber, old scars caressed and inspected. The inside of his chest still showed weld lines from when he’d been shot through. Perceptor did not shy away from the memories that welled up, from the fear and the fury that rolled through them. It was tempered with reassurance. He was fine, they were fine. They were alive and together.
The inspection moved, sweeping through his frame, and then back through Brainstorm’s. Brainstorm’s spark casing got the same gentle touch and care, tracing over the smoothed down edges that were missing and then petting over the photonic crystal. They understood why Brainstorm did what he did. They understood why Brainstorm had made his decisions.
They loved each other, wholly and completely.
Brainstorm hiccuped a sob against his mouth. Perceptor drew him closer with a flex of his arms. Their mouths slid together, meeting and parting and so sweet. Between the rhythm of their hips and the overwhelming sensation of being merged, it was no wonder their first overload surprised them. Static jumped from Perceptor’s mouth to Brainstorm’s and they both moaned. Perceptor reflexively tightened his hold on Brainstorm again, keeping him close as he cycled down on his spike.
Their sparks spun in the same rhythm, matching each other as another wave crested. They couldn’t keep up with the sensations. Each overload, for surely there had been more than one, layered on the last and built stronger and stronger. Even with their optics offline, they knew the light between them had to be intense.
It was Brainstorm who broke first. He retreated from the kiss, from the bond, pressing his face into Perceptor’s throat as he cried out from the strength of the last overload. It knocked him into a hard reboot and Perceptor felt the loss of the connection intimately as their sparks separated. But it hardly mattered as the charge that leapt from Brainstorm to him made his own systems crash in a brilliant, internal light show.
----
Coming back online was a slow process. It started with physical sensations. A hand on his spinal strut, his scope gently caressed, a cloth running between his thighs. He made a soft sound, a low murmur that was nothing but syllables and phonemes. The hand petting over him paused and there was a whisper of amusement from deep within him, followed by a wave of deep affection.
Hm. Those weren’t his emotions. He puzzled over that even as the petting started back up. Perhaps it wasn’t important. Certainly not as important as relaxing under the gentle affection and tender care for his frame.
Was that his engine purring or someone else’s?
Warmth draped across his legs, his limbs nudged gently into a more comfortable position before he was swallowed by another body, tucked tight into a cuddle that made him melt. Ah. Brainstorm. He recognized the lines of his lover’s chassis and the neat way they fit together. From deep within himself he pulled up the energy to roll a little, pressing himself more firmly against Brainstorm and tucking his face into the jet’s neck.
Brainstorm’s hand swept up and down his spinal strut and Perceptor sighed quietly, pleased. He loved this casual easy affection. The warmth he felt was echoed faintly, deep in his spark, and Perceptor hid his smile against Brainstorm’s neck.
“I love you too, Perce,” Brainstorm whispered against his audial. His hand came up to cradle the back of Perceptor’s helm. Perceptor shuffled closer, nosing at the fuel line at the side of Brainstorm’s throat.
“D’you believe me now?” he asked, slurred and quiet from how heavy his glossa felt. He tucked his arm around Brainstorm’s waist, trailing his fingertips up and down his back slowly. Touching just to touch. Just because he could.
Brainstorm laughed.
Perceptor smiled.
“Don’t know, Percy. I think it needs further testing.” Brainstorm’s lips were a spot of warmth against the top of Perceptor’s helm. “Gotta get more evidence. Asking me for an opinion after just one trial run? That’s not very scientist of you.”
Perceptor huffed and tweaked the edge of Brainstorm’s wing. “Hush.”
Brainstorm squawked, his wing jerking out of Perceptor’s touch before swooping back in to press against his hand insistently. “Rude,” he chastised, but Perceptor could hear his smile. His frame was practically vibrating with energy.
How. That last overload had fried a couple of circuits, surely. Perceptor wanted to stay tucked away in Brainstorm’s arms for at least the next ten hours, preferably sleeping for seven to eight of them.
“We can run more tests later, since you’re having issues taking it at face value.” Perceptor settled himself down, content with that, only to yelp in a very undignified way when he found himself rolled onto his back. He onlined his optics to see Brainstorm looking down at him, smiling in that way that made his optics crinkle and his cheeks dimple around the mandibular tubing.
“Do you always feel like this?” Brainstorm asked. He hovered over Perceptor, holding himself up on his forearms.
“Mm?” Perceptor hummed back, very intelligently. This was good too. Brainstorm was still wrapped around him, this was good too.
“This… this in love .” Brainstorm pressed their crests together with a gentle tap and his awe was hard not to pick up on through their bond.
Perceptor cycled his optics slowly, humming once more. Was the depths of his emotion strange after all? He’d barely had the thought before reassurance washed over him and Perceptor smiled reflexively, a little lopsided and a lot lovestruck. “Yes,” he answered, honest and open.
Brainstorm buried his face against Perceptor’s shoulder with a strangled sound. There was a sharp pang in Perceptor’s spark, but with a nudge he could tease out that Brainstorm was simply overwhelmed. Smug satisfaction suffused through him. There was no way Brainstorm could doubt him now.
“For someone that doesn’t emote a lot you sure feel real strongly,” Brainstorm mumbled.
Perceptor shuttered his optics and lazily dragged his hand down Brainstorm’s spinal strut, then back up to pet over his wings. They twitched beneath his fingers before settling again. “I find it best to not do things by halves,” he murmured. “I did not initially choose to love you, but I have chosen it every day since. Why would I not feel strongly about this?”
“Oh my God , you sap .” Brainstorm tucked his face in harder and Perceptor chuckled lowly. “I love you.”
Perceptor hummed and petted Brainstorm’s wings once more. Brainstorm’s love was there, hovering at the corner of his attention. A warmth that emanated from his spark and continued to pulse through him in time to Brainstorm’s spark. Yes, there was little doubt that Brainstorm loved him. He tipped his helm and pressed a kiss to the top of Brainstorm’s helm. “I love you too.”
“We’re still going to do this again. For science reasons.”
“Mmhmm.”
“I have to know if it’s possible to make you overload just from spark play. You really liked it when I touched your chamber. Your spark didn’t want to let me go.” It was Brainstorm’s turn to sound and feel smug.
Perceptor smiled and cracked open one optic again. He dug his fingertips into the glowing biolights on Brainstorm’s wing and was rewarded when the jet jolted and let out a startled moan. The sight was worth it. “ I didn’t want to let you go,” he said as an amendment to Brainstorm’s statement.
Brainstorm flushed, the wave of heat registering as his plating flared out.
Perceptor laughed, letting his helm hit the pillow. “In sa tiable,” he drawled. Brainstorm’s fingers were already tracing heated paths along his sides and hips.
“For science , Percy.”
Perceptor hummed and arched up into Brainstorm’s touch. For science indeed.
Fin.