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Shadowstriker stood outside of her lab when she suddenly groaned, clutching the joint connecting her upper arm and her forearm, small sparks flying from her elbow. Almost every other day since she was rebuilt she had to deal with random sparks, a painful spasm in her fused joints.
She never asked to be rebuilt, especially not like this. Sometimes she felt as if it would've been better to die the skilled soldier she was rather than being rebuilt with only half the skill she once had. Being so disabled now felt embarrassing, almost as if she was kept alive solely to humiliate her for her failure.
A few cycles prior, she had brought Windblade into her lab to let her rest safely when she passed out after the battle of the titans, laying her gently on her table. She only woke up recently, within the last cycle. The atmosphere between them had been incredibly tense since then. Being alone together, not fighting. It was odd.
Windblade had stayed at her lab today, finding herself too physically tired to sneak out and fly all the way back to the now autobot territory the previous night. Shadowstriker didn’t care, as long as she was “gone by morning”. which, of course, she wasn’t.
She suddenly dropped her gun when her arm froze and malfunctioned, the blaster clattering loudly off the ground.
“Shadowstriker!?” Windblade called. It almost sounded like she'd been attacked by someone, but that thought was cut short when Striker replied with an aggravated tone. “I'm fine!!”
She held her arm close to her chassis, grunting quietly as she waited for the sharp pain to die down, Windblade stepped up behind her, standing in the doorway of the large sliding doors to her lab. Her optical ridges furrowed in thought as she watched her hurl from pain she was in. Shadowstriker perked up, turning over her shoulder sharply and letting go of her arm.
“w-what are you doing!? Go back and recharge! I have things to do!” she snarled, stepping forward with a scowl.
“Shadowstriker.. let me take a look. ” she offered, taking a calm half-step forward
Shadowstriker's optical ridges rose as she stepped forward, stumbling back. She quickly shot her functional servo out to pick her gun back up. “W-what— No! Stay back!” She shouted, pointing the laser gun towards the red femme, whirring steadily as it charged.
Without warning, her other shoulder sparked. “Agh!!” She grunted, her other servo convulsing painfully as her joints sparked.
Windblade narrowed her optics, stepping closer and placing a gentle servo one her chassis and on her gray, rounded shoulder. Shadowstriker visibly tensed, gripping the gun in her servo through the pain.
“Leave me alone!” She growled, lifting the gun to weakly press against her stomach plates. Windblade carefully lowered her shoulder to look between the plates, noticing how poor the wiring was. As she looked closer at the conditions of the wires she noticed Shadowstriker must've been neglecting any kind of self care for her pained joints.
“Your sparking has gotten worse, hasn’t it?”
“It's none of your business— why do you even care!” Striker snapped back, straightening her spinal strut and pushing Windblade away with the back of her servo, creating space between them.
Windblade shook her helm and stabilized herself after the light shove. “You helped me, now let me help you in return. You’ve neglected yourself to the point of near constant pain!"
“Its not that!! I-i just haven’t had the time- and I already told you, saving you wasn’t personal.”
“Right..” Windblade responded doubtfully, shifting her weight onto a leg as she crossed her arms. “Come on, it wont take long. Then I promise I’ll be out of your way.”
Shadowstriker looked her up and down skeptically, before groaning and stomping through the sliding doors back to her laboratory. “Fine! Come on.” She rasped, putting her gun back on its display hooks as she stepped inside.
Windblade turned over her shoulder as she walked past her, her optics following her figure as she returned to her lab. She followed behind with a small smile.
—————————————————
Shadowstriker laid stiffly on the berth Windblade had once rested on, tensing and relaxing her servos nervously.
“What are you even planning to do..?” She blurted, pushing herself up with her servos.
“I'm going to try to get in between those plates and try to massage those joints that keep hurting. Do you have any nanite gel here?” She glanced around the room, blinking curiously at the different weapons she had displayed.
When she mentioned massaging, Striker tensed anxiously. Touch wasn’t something she was a huge fan of, especially with someone she wasn’t close with. She began to kick her pedes off from the berth, waving a dismissive servo at her.
“T-that’s unnecessary. I-I can do this myself, I promise you I've-“
“You helped me. I'm going to help you. Even if i decided to not, you would still end up forgetting and letting yourself deteriorate. Now, where's your nanite gel? You must have had some when you were taking care of me.”
Striker opened her mouth as if she was going to make another smart comeback, but only growled as she slowly laid herself back down onto the berth.
“It's to the left of my display. By the corner.” She muttered stubbornly.
She glanced over to the left of the shelves, smiling when she spotted a half-used tube of nanite gel, lifting it off with a hum. “Thank you.” She taunted.
Shadowstriker narrowed her optics at her, groaning as she let her helm fall back against the berth with a small clank. “Just hurry up already.” She mumbled as Windblade stepped up to where she laid, opening the tube with ease and giving her a reassuring smile.
“Quality comes with time, Shadowstriker. Maybe that's the reason you hurt like this.” she poked back, but as stubborn as Shadowstriker was, she knew it was true.
“Now, relax your arm.” She ordered, Shadowstriker couldn’t tell if her soft voice was easing or worsening her nerves.
She did as told, slightly bending her arm. The angle allowed Windblade to see the connection wires between her arm and chassis. She applied a bit of nanite gel to two digits, before easing them between the two parts, her other servo gently resting on her upper arm. Gentle servos worked it into the area while Shadowstriker's helm tilted the opposite way, closing her optics to avoid meeting Windblade's own- and maybe in a halfsparked attempt to relax.
Windblade's servos were nimble enough to carefully massage the gel into the joint, causing Shadowstriker to gasp as she applied a slight pressure to the area.
Windblade pulled her servo away almost immediately, watching Striker's face twist with pain.
“You alright!? That doesn’t hurt too much, does it?” She worried, instead holding her shoulder in concern.
“I-I'm fine, just sensitive. Keep going.” She muttered firmly, peeking her optics open to look at Windblade's concerned expression. She quickly shut her optics afterwards.
She would later curse herself for allowing herself to be so vulnerable to the hands of an autobot, but it was hard to resist Windblade; something about her was so… comforting. She provided the comfort and reassurance she needed a long long time ago.
Lost in thought, she hadn’t noticed that Windblade had started to apply gel to the joint on the inside of her elbow, one of the areas that sparked most often. She started to massage in an upwards motion with her thumbs.
“Ah!—” She cried, tugging her arm away by instinct. Windblade frowned, lifting her servos from her entirely to give her space.
“Sorry.. I-I should’ve known that part was sensitive..”
“S-shut up! It's not your fault!” She snapped in frustration, slowly letting go of her arm when the stinging died down.
“Just- be careful.”
Windblade nodded and eased the pressure, working the gel around the area once again until she was satisfied. The pain slowly ebbed away the more she worked her servos over her frame.
She then stepped around the berth to the other side, getting better access to her right side. Shadowstriker’s optics opened weakly, watching her settle and handle her other arm carefully.
She was so gentle, so considerate with her movements. Windblade started with her elbow first, getting the uncomfortable part done so she could relax afterwards. Shadowstriker blinked up at her, optics flickering around her porcelain face.
Her face was flawless, something she noticed when she had taken care of her. Her facial designs looked as if they were perfectly painted patterns on ceramics (not like she knew what that was), her dark red lips complimenting their shape while also matching her eye designs.
She blinked at her concentrated face, feeling almost captivated by her until Windblade glanced up at her, her lips curling into a gentle smile when she caught her stare. Strikers optics widened in shock, quickly turning her helm away.
“Can't look away, huh?” She said with a soft laugh, returning her focus to the task at hand.
“I-I'm just making sure you aren’t doing it all wrong.”
“Yeah, and my servos are definitely up by my face.” She replied playfully.
The rest of the time that she massaged her upper body was filled with a comfortable silence. Shadowstriker now kept her optics closed, only gasping softly when her digits worked into extra painful areas. Once she was done, she rested a servo on her shoulder before stepping back.
“How does that feel?” She said with a smile, sealing the tube of nanite gel once again.
Shadowstriker pushed herself up with a grunt, bending her arms and rolling her shoulders to test how they felt. Her optics widened slightly when she felt that the pressure and pain had began to reside greatly.
“I-it's-.. I feel.. good.” She said, almost unsure of her own words as she spoke. She glanced over to Windblade. “It's hard for me to properly take care of myself with servos like… these.” She gestured to her servos, emphasizing how one servo was noticeably larger and bulkier than the other. “So… I guess its appreciated. Thanks.”
She kept her optics on her elbows, tensing and relaxing her servos to test how they felt.
Windblade smiled, shaking her helm as she put the tube of gel back where she found it. “It's no issue. Just- try not to let it get this bad next time?” She teased with a lighthearted chuckle, crossing her arms and turning towards Striker.
“I'm still not completely sure why you even care, but fine.” She kicked her legs off of the berth and got to her pedes, turning to where Windblade stood.
“I'll be going now, I still have things to attend to. rest here as long as you need to, but if you get caught while sneaking out of this place, I never kept you here.”
She explained sternly, grabbing for one of her guns off from its display hooks.
Windblade smiled and walked around the berth to sit on its ledge.
“Good, because I'm still exhausted.”
Shadowstriker smirked and turned away, stepping towards the lab's door when Windblade called her name.
“Striker!”
She turned around curiously, lowering her gun and furrowing her optical ridges at her nickname.
“Go easy on yourself today, the gel still needs time to set in completely.”
Shadowstriker scoffed and turned around with a smile “Sure.” She stepped through the sliding doors, resting her gun on her shoulder “See ya’ around..”
The doors closed, and Windblade now had time to herself to recharge peacefully.
She swore she saw Shadowstriker blush when she left.