#...okay i would still do that now in my 30s

[uncuredturkeybacon]

𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚓𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐… || 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚎𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

in which you play a little prank on her

You’re already holding in your laughter when Paige picks up the FaceTime. She’s in the locker room—hair still wet from a post-practice shower, jersey swapped for a loose hoodie, earbuds in.

“Hey, babe,” she says, wiping under her eye with a towel. “What’s up?”

You clear your throat and do your best to look serious, even concerned. “Okay, so I did something…”

That’s always a great opener.

Paige pauses mid-motion, towel hanging over one shoulder now. “That’s never a good way to start a conversation. Especially coming from you.”

You shift the camera a bit so she sees your garage behind you, the hood of your car popped open. A few smudges of oil are streaked across your cheek. On purpose. Obviously. Needing to throw her off. 

“I changed the oil.”

Her face lights up with surprise. “Wait. Seriously?”

You nod with fake pride. “Yep. Took initiative. Did some reading, watched like half a video. I even had gloves.”

She squints at the screen. “I didn’t even know we had gloves in the garage.”

You ignore that. “Anyway, it was all going great until I realized oil is, like… expensive. Like so so expensive. Like, extreme highway robbery.”

Her eyebrows knit. “What kind of oil were you trying to buy?”

“I don’t know. The one in the yellow bottle. But it was, like, $30.”

Paige blinks. “Okay… yeah, that’s pretty normal—”

“So I got a better idea,” you interrupt, keeping your voice light. “I used the avocado oil from the kitchen.”

There’s silence.

On the screen, you see Paige freeze—like you just told her you filled the tank with bath water.

“…Come again?”

You nod and spin the camera toward your car’s open hood. Balanced carefully in the corner of the engine bay is the empty glass bottle of organic cold-pressed avocado oil, a faint green smear around the spout.

“See?” you say. “It even pours smoother than the regular stuff. And it’s heart healthy!”

Paige sits back on the bench in her locker room, staring at the screen like it’s cursed.

“You’re kidding.”

You bite your lip. “No, I really did it. I even used the funnel. I’m not an animal.”

There’s a crash in the background on her side—someone dropping a water bottle—and then Paige pinches the bridge of her nose like she’s fighting for patience.

“You… put avocado oil in the car.”

You nod solemnly.

Paige closes her eyes. “Babe.”

You look at her, wide-eyed. “What?”

She opens her eyes and stares. “You do know that’s not… how any of this works, right?”

“But it’s oil,” you say, deadpan. “It says extra virgin right on the label. That means it’s clean, right?”

“Jesus Christ,” she mutters, yanking her earbuds out and holding the phone closer. “That oil is for cooking. For food. For salads!”

“I mean,” you shrug, “the car’s basically just a big hot pan, right?”

She groans and stands up, pacing behind the lockers now. “You could’ve just used our shared card. Or called me. Or literally done nothing. We have a mechanic for a reason!”

“But I wanted to be independent,” you whine.

Paige turns back to the screen, hands flailing. “Independent doesn’t mean killing our car with guacamole oil!”

You burst out laughing, finally unable to hold it in anymore. Your whole body trembles as you drop the camera low and wipe the smudged streak from your cheek.

“Oh my god,” you wheeze. “Your face. I’ve never seen your soul leave your body that fast.”

She freezes mid-rant.

Her eyes narrow.

“…You’re joking.”

You nod, gasping. “Of course I’m joking. What do I look like? I’m not putting cooking ingredients in a damn engine.”

She stares at you.

And then she slowly lowers herself onto the bench, her jaw slack. “You—you—oh my god. You’re dead. I swear. I was about to transfer ten thousand to our mechanic with a ‘sorry in advance’ memo.”

You giggle harder. “That would have been so iconic.”

She rubs her face. “Do you know how fast I Googled ‘what happens when you put cooking oil in a car’? Do you know how terrifying those results were?”

You lean against the frame of the garage door, snorting. “I can imagine.”

Paige fixes her stare on you. “You’re lucky I love you.”

You smirk. “Lucky? Babe, I’m a blessing.”

She points at the screen. “No. You’re a menace. You’re a gremlin with a death wish for our car.”

You tilt your head. “I even staged the bottle, you know? Like I put a little paper towel under it so it wouldn’t spill.”

Paige rolls her eyes. “I’m telling your mom.”

“No! Don’t snitch!”

She grins, pulling her hoodie over her head and sitting crisscross on the bench. “Actually, I’m telling everyone. I’m posting this on my story.”

You gasp. “I’ll sue.”

“On what grounds?”

“Emotional distress.”

Paige laughs. “You’re the one who fake-filled a car with kitchen oils!”

You dramatically press a hand to your chest. “But your reaction—so much love. You didn’t even flinch about the money.”

That softens her just slightly. She sighs. “Because I don’t care about that. You know that. We’re good on money. I’d rather you not DIY our car and burn the garage down, though.”

You smile. “So what I’m hearing is… you’ll change the oil next time?”

“No. I’m just revoking your garage privileges.”

You pout. “But I was gonna wash the tires with bleach next week.”

She blinks. “That better be a joke.”

You wink and blow her a kiss. “Love you, Paigey.”

She groans but grins back. “Yeah, yeah. Love you too, gremlin. Just—stick to salads next time.”

You wave your phone toward the car. “I dunno… the engine did smell kinda good.”

“I swear to fucking god woma—”

And you end the call right as she lunges at the camera.

You’re still giggling as you wipe your hands and grab your actual bottle of motor oil and got back to work.

[kerryshifts]

hey, what do i do if it’s been so long and i still haven’t shifted? i’m losing faith in shifting… how do i even get it back? i really don’t know, and it’s making me sad :( i want to shift so badly...

faith means nothing. this is not a religion. this is how life works. you don’t have to believe in shifting to shift. you don’t have to believe in yourself to shift. you don’t have to believe others who talk about their experiences in their drs to shift. you can shift when you are in utter desperation. you are still shifting whatever you want it or not. and before you say "but for me shifting is only valid when it’s in my dr" well, then you are still shifting every second to your dr. even when you do not see it. even you are feeling like shit. even when you are about to lose it. it’s okay to be sad, and you can still shift. you don’t have to be all rainbows and unicorns.

and listen, you asked me. i will give you the answer i believe in. i will say to you what i think its the easiest way. i dont like to say “listen to 20 subliminals and affirm all day until you are going mad and meditate three hours and lay in bed for hours without moving or swallowing your own saliva” because i hate doing all that. it makes shifting feel like a performance, and that’s not what i stand for. so if you are tired to hear the same thing everytime, sorry. find someone else. (and because of a recent anon ask i got, i feel the need to say this: there's no point in asking if you are not going to do it anyway. so or you like what i say and do it or you just move on without complaining & hating on me in my asks).

you want to shift so badly? good. your desire is the thing that pushed you until now, not the time that has passed since the day you discovered shifting. the whole 'you want it so bad because you have already it in the future' saying? go by that. but your future is not far away, it's right here.

stop thinking about your past with shifting. what’s even the point in complaining and crying about it? ok. it happened. anyway, its going to be pointless when you're in your dr and you realize that time means absolutely nothing. really, all you do by complaining is just slapping yourself in the face over and over, but just mentally. let it go. think about now.

and now, again, your desire. you are here asking me how to do it after a long time, all because you want it so bad. so let me hold your hand while a say this, start with realizing that your desire, actually, worked. you did it. all of your emotions did you a favour, and you finally reached what you wanted so bad. you already shifted. you won the igaf battle. if the 3d is making you see your cr bedroom, it's just a delay. your mind already knows the truth, aka that you are in your dr now. your eyes are catching up. and even if it feels like a joke at first, persist. it doesn’t need to be 30 times for minute. you go through your day just knowing that your eyes are catching up with the rest of you.

saying that you still haven't shifted doesn’t do you any favours. by saying that you are feeding the delusional part of your mind that is making you think that you are not in your dr. which is, as i said, delusional, because you were always in your dr to begin with.

no because let’s be realistic here. what is 'fuck i still see my cr' doing for you?????

believing "nothing happens when i assume" is not helping you. the whole point of assumptions is that you make them. negative and positive. if you keep looking at the 3d as the final answer, then you didn’t assume shit in the first place.

you should not accept what you see. you are not accepting your cr. you decide what you want, you move on. if your 3d keeps showing you this cr, as i said, you just tell miss 3d that you don’t care and you do not accept her present. why would you think about it again again and again ??? that ain’t being secure of your assumptions. you say to your brain that its tricks are pointless because you are in your dr. and your dr is the one you accept and you see.

and honestly that’s it. shifting is not complicated. not when you don’t want it to be.

[elleaitch22]

Love on Fire

Chapter 3: Until You Tell Me to Leave

Pairing: Paige Bueckers x Azzi Fudd

A/N: This is the last prewritten chapter! Please live react or drop comments about what you liked or want, it literally means so much to me!!! I hope you love it as much as I do! xx Elle

Warnings: Fertility treatment discussion, mentions of medical procedures

Word Count: 3.6k words

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Paige had just finished a 48 hour shift; Angel, from B day, had gotten food poisoning, and Paie offered to take her spot. It was a relatively chill shift – only three car accidents, two of which didn’t need crazy extractions.

Even though it was only 7:30, and she was wiped, she took a shower and went over to Azzi’s.

After her long trek of fifteen feet, she was greeted by the smell of freshly baked pastries.

“Honey, I’m home!” She called. She walked to the kitchen and grinned at the sight.

There were plain vanilla cupcakes on the counter, some sort of brownie-chocolate bars cooling on a wire rack, and two different kinds of cinnamon rolls.

“Jesus, Azzi. Are you feeding a homeless shelter?” Paige chuckled.

The brunette’s head shot up. “Fuck. I’m supposed to bring baked goods to the homeless shelter tomorrow.”

“Okay, hold on,” Paige walked up behind her, placing her hands on her shoulders. “You need to breath, Az. You nervous?”

She sighed deeply, “I don’t know. I guess.” She paused, staring at her feet. “I still haven’t told my mom and dad.”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to tell anyone until you’re ready.”

Azzi’s back found Paige’s chest like muscle memory. The scent of shampoo, the rhythm of her breathing—anchoring her. “I just – I feel like I need to tell someone. Like someone who isn’t all the way in it with me like you are.”

At Paige’s nod continued. “Someone who will just be happy for me, not lecture me about everything that could go wrong.” She swallowed, “I don’t even have anyone to talk to about being pregnant. None of our friends even–”

Cool hands on tanned cheeks.

“Azzi, you’re panicking for real now.” Paige’s brows scrunched, like she was worried. “Breathe.”

A deep inhale.

“If you’re still bothered about everything after your appointment, I’m supposed to be going to my dad’s tonight. You can tell them; Katie’s had a kid before. You can talk to her.” The blonde’s tone was gentle, calming to Azzi.

“You don’t think they’re gonna judge me?” Her chin quivered.

Paige bit back a laugh, “These are the same people who didn’t even give me a reaction when I came out.”

“Paige,” Azzi started, spinning to face her, “The closet was made of the clearest glass.” She giggled.

“Yeah, but you know how church people feel about gay people. Do you not remember how much I was panicking? This’ll be the same.” A firm kiss landed on her forehead. “They’re going to be almost as happy as me, I promise.”

Azzi nodded, breathing deeply again. “Okay. I think I’m just freaking out because I’m so worried about this not working.”

“It’s going to work. Maybe not the first or second time, but straight people don’t always get it on the first try. Everything’s going to be fine.” Paige paused. “Go shower and get ready. I’ll get my comfiest sweats, then we can go to your appointment.”

Azzi blinked, turning towards the hall. Paige had no idea what she did to her when she said things like that. No idea how easy it would be to fall.

As Azzi went to the bathroom, Paige went back to her place and grabbed her most worn-in sweatpants and hoodie.

She was proud of herself. She went through that whole conversation lifting Azzi up, trying to comfort her. She didn’t even think about not being able to be the future baby’s other mom.

She could do this. She could keep smiling and comforting Azzi.

She could do it.

And she would.

Because she loved Azzi more than anything in the world.

-----------------------------------

Paige successfully distracted Azzi from her internal panic the entire way to the clinic.

She sang SZA and Drake loudly and very off key, and it dissolved Azzi into giggles for thirty minutes.

But when she checked in, she wanted to vomit. Because what if she was just wasting all her money? What if it didn’t work? What if she was going to be a bad mom?

“Azzi Fuud?” A nurse called, forcing Azzi to end her self-deprecating monologue.

A hand nudged her up, “Come on, Princess.”

After she got back there, everything was a blur. She assumed they took her vitals and took her to a room, but next thing she knew, she was wearing a medical gown.

“Okay, Ms. Fudd,” Dr. Caldwell started as soon as the door was opened. “This should only take about five minutes. I’ll insert the catheter, insert the sperm sample, and you will wait for ten to fifteen minutes before you go. You should have already picked up your progesterone prescription. You’ll take those twice daily for two weeks, then take a pregnancy test between day twelve and day fourteen.”

She gestured for Azzi to lay on the table. The sterile ceiling tile above her had a crack shaped like a heart. She stared at it and tried not to cry.

“You may feel some light cramping.”

A pale hand grasped a tanned one, bringing her out of her trance.

“You got this. Just squeeze my hand if it hurts.” Paige mumbled.

Azzi couldn’t focus on the procedure because of the blonde. The entire time, Paige was in her ear, telling her how strong she was, how amazing she was doing, how perfect her baby would be.

“Okay, that’s it. I’ve set a timer for fifteen minutes, and they you may get dressed and go.” Dr. Caldwell said on the way to the door.

Azzi nodded quietly.

“So, that didn’t seem too bad.” Paige broke the silence. “You didn’t even squeeze my hand once.”

The brunette smiled, “Yeah, I didn’t really feel much. I just have some cramping now.”

Paige’s fingers brushed slow circles across her skin. Azzi knew it didn’t help the cramps. But it helped something else entirely, something deeper and far more dangerous.

“So Test Day is going to be on an A Day, but I can come over before work so you’re not alone.” She continued after Azzi nodded, “And I can help you with your homeless baking today before we go to my dad’s.”

“Oh, God no. It’s supposed to be low stress, and you burn everything, P.” Azzi giggled.

Blue eyes rolled dramatically, “I don’t know why you act like you were any better than me before you went to culinary school.”

“It doesn’t matter! I’ve never burned cup noodles in the microwave!” She laughed, a real one this time. “I wouldn’t mind you keeping me company though.”

A lazy grin spread across Paige’s face. “Perfect. I’ll turn on Grey’s. We don’t have to talk unless you want to either. You’ve been quiet today.”

Azzi frowned, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be. It’s a heavy day. I’m just letting you know we don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. We can just be together.”

This was the reason Azzi stood no chance at not falling deeper in love with Paige through this whole process. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought about how perfect she was.

-----------------------------------

Paige and Azzi walked into her dad’s house with their hands full. Azzi had made hamburger and hot dogs buns for the meats and a new apple pie cupcake recipe she was testing for the dessert.

“My pookie’s here!” She heard as she walked in the house.

Drew pulled her into a bear hug as soon as she set the cupcake carrier down. She was always his favorite sister.

“What are you still doing here, Drew Drew?” She started, “Why aren’t you at training camp?”

Drew pulled away and looked down at her with a brow raised. “Azzi, what are you talking about? I got drafted to the Wizards; I’m staying here. And besides, training camp doesn’t start til September.”

Paige nudged him in the back. “Don’t pay attention to her bro, she only pays attention when she’s watching you.”

“Is that my Paigey?” A sing-songy voice called down the hallway.

Katie Bueckers was one of Azzi’s favorite people. She had been since she met her almost twenty years ago. She was like a warm hug, and Azzi never got tired of her.

“Hey Katie.” Paige smiled, walking over to hug her stepmom.

“And ZZ! Paige didn’t tell me you were coming over!” She pulled the brunette into a tight hug. “I’ve missed you, girl!”

Azzi laughed, “I missed you too, Katie. Where’s Bob?”

“Oh, he’s finishing the burgers and chicken. And there’s corn on the grill too, I think.” She gestured to the backyard. “And what did you make, Azzi?”

“Hey!” Paige complained. “I brought some of it in! Why don’t you think I made anything?”

Three pairs of brown eyes darted to the blonde. “Paige, I look up to you for a lot of things, but I will never look up to you for cooking. You can’t cook, sis.”

“I made sourdough hotdog and burger buns. And cupcakes for dessert.” Azzi laughed at the pouty blonde slumped on the couch. She turned to Drew, “How’s Kamari? I haven’t seen her in weeks!”

His eyes widened, “Shit, I gotta go pick her up! She’s doing good though, Azzi. One of her nursing classes is kicking her ass.” He said, scrambling for his keys. “I told her she didn’t have to finish, now that I got drafted, and she threw a book at me.”

“Good.” Paige said, smiling.

Katie looked at him annoyed, “I told you to never say that to her. You deserved it.”

“I was tryna take some stress off her plate!” He exclaimed. “Whatever man, I’ll be back in ten.”

As the front door shut, the back door opened. “Paige!” A gasp. “And Azzi! I’ve missed you girls.” Bob said, carrying in the corn.

He walked over to peck Katie on the lips, and she took the tray. “Go say hi to your baby.”

Bob scooped Paige in a tight hug, “Missed ya, kiddo.”

“Me too, Dad.” Paige hugged back just as tightly.

He rounded the couch to embrace Azzi next, “How’s everything been? It’s been a few weeks since you’ve been by, and you haven’t been at the bakery as much.” Bob said, brows furrowed with concern.

Perfect segway, Azzi thought. “I’m doing alright. I haven’t been at the bakery as much because I’ve been at the doctor more.”

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Katie asked, stepping forward.

“Oh, yes. I’m fine. I just–” She paused. “I wanted to tell you guys something, I just don’t know how you’ll react.”

The crease in between Bob’s brows deepened. “Whatever it is, you have our support, Azzi.”

Tears welled in her big brown eyes. “I – Um, I’m going to have a baby.”

Katie gasped loudly.

“I mean, I don’t know when, but I was inseminated today, and I don’t know. I’m nervous, but I’m hoping soon, I’ll have a baby?” Azzi’s voice lifted at the end.

She was tackled into a hug.

“Aye, aye, aye! Be gentle!” Paige stood quickly. “I told you they’d be happy.” She smiled at Azzi. “She hasn’t told Tim and Katie yet, so don’t go blab it when you’re at the gym.”

Katie leaned back, beaming. “Oh, Azzi. I’m so happy for you girl! Can we tell Drew?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Azzi said, with a matching grin.

Bob’s eyes were filled with tears. “So what does that make us to the baby?”

Azzi’s heart almost exploded. She was so worried about what Bob and Katie would think, even though they had always been nothing but supporting and loving to her.

“Well, I think it would be cool for the baby to have two sets of grandparents, whenever he or she comes.”

Another round of cheers rang out through the living room. It was so loud that nobody heard the front door open again.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Drew questioned.

-----------------------------------

A while later, after food was devoured, Katie and Paige stood side by side at the sink. Katie handed Paige another plate to dry when she finally broke the silence.

“How are you feeling about all this?”

“What do you mean?” Paige evaded the question.

Katie huffed. “You’re not an idiot, Paige. You’ve loved her since you were a kid. Don’t act like this isn’t affecting you.”

“Sometimes I think she already has everything she needs… and I’m just the extra. The afterthought.” The blonde mumbled.

 “Paige, you’ve never been an afterthought in Azzi’s world. You’re the whole goddamn outline.” Her stepmother replied gently.

It was quiet again, just the sound of a sponge and dishcloth sliding across plates.

“I’m happy for her, I really am.” She paused. “But I’m jealous too.”

Katie looked at her quietly. “Jealous of who, Paige?”

The blonde shrugged, “Nobody I guess. I just thought I would be the one doing it with her.”

“But you are,” Katie chuckled.

Paige shook her head, “Yeah, I mean I took her to her appointments and gave her the shot. And I volunteered to do it all with her, like a fucking idiot. The 2 am snack runs, rubbing her feet, all of it. But as her best friend, not as her wife, or even her girlfriend.”

Katie wiped her hands on a cloth and pulled the tall girl into a tight hug. “You can’t help but do all of that for her. You love her.” She paused. “I know it’s going to be frustrating and confusing for your feelings, but I’m always here. Whenever you need, you can always call me.”

“Thanks, Katie.” Paige mumbled into her shoulder.

She pulled away, “Who knows. Maybe this will be what shows you she loves you just as much as you love her.”

Paige rolled her eyes, turning to wipe off the countertops. “I told you she doesn’t love me like that.”

“And I’ve been telling you she’s in love with you since she came out.” Katie sassed.

“Whatever man.” Paige said, cheeks pink.

The two walked out to the living room to the rest of the chaos.

“So, I’ll be Uncle Drew, right? I mean, y’all are practically married anyway.” Drew smirked.

Kamari smacked the back of his head before anyone could respond. “Shut up, Thomas.”

“Thank you, Mari.” Azzi giggled. “If this whole baby thing works out, you can be Auntie Mari if you want.”

Paige came behind her, hands on her shoulders. “I already told you it’s going to work out, Azzi. Maybe not the first time, but eventually.”

Azzi couldn’t let herself fall into all the optimism Paige was putting out. It was honestly possible that IUI wouldn’t even work, and she’d have to do IVF instead.

“Well,” she breathed, “When Baby Fudd comes, you can be Uncle Drew. Bob, Katie, be thinking of names. Grandma and grandpa are boring.”

Paige’s hands stilled on Azzi’s shoulders.

Baby Fudd.

This baby would be a Fudd.

Her breath hitched a bit.

This really wouldn’t be their baby, just Azzi’s.

Baby Fudd.

Paige’s throat tightened.

No part of her name in it. No part of her in it at all.

Baby Fudd.

Paige was a little quieter the rest of the night.

Still throwing in jokes, but not the life of the party.

She was too deep in her head, dreaming about a little Baby Bueckers with big brown eyes and light brown hair.

-----------------------------------

It was 4:30 am.

Azzi should have been asleep.

But it was day fourteen.

The day she was supposed to take the test.

She was supposed to wait for Paige. She didn’t promise that she would, but it was kind of understood.

But Paige didn’t get off her shift for another two and a half hours, and Azzi wasn’t sure if she could wait that long.

But if she took the test early, she’d be able to feel her feelings before Paige got here. She could cry in solitude if it was negative, and she could have a sweet treat set up if it was positive.

She rolled out of her bed and padded to her bathroom. Her hands clenched the sink as she stared at her reflection.

She pulled out three boxes.

Clearblue Early Detection. First Response. Early Result. Clearblue Digital.

Three of the best pregnancy tests she could find.

A couple minutes later, all three tests sat on top of their wrappers.

Her leg bounced as she sat on the toilet seat.

She paced the length of the bathroom.

She opened and closed TikTok twice.

Pulled up Paige’s contact.

Swiped out of it and pulled up her messages to Katie.

Then, the timer went off.

One line.

One line.

Not Pregnant.

This was why she needed to test without Paige here.

Her vision was cloudy with tears.

Azzi knew it probably wouldn’t happen the first time, but it didn’t hurt any less.

She slid down the wall and brought her knees close to her chest.

There was nothing to mourn really, just the possibility. The what if. The hope of a little boy with glasses doing a science experiment in the kitchen. Or a little girl with asthma winning math competitions. Azzi pushing her high on the swing so she felt like a superhero.

She wanted it. She wanted it so badly.

And that was why it hurt.

That was why it felt like she was mourning a life.

Because she was. She was mourning a life for herself and her unborn baby.

God, she needed to snap out of it.

It wasn’t like she was ever actually pregnant. She just tried, and it didn’t work.

It was only the first time; she didn’t really need to be like this. Some people try for ten years and still haven’t had any luck, and Azzi was crying after one month.

She cried herself into a nap on the cool tiles of her bathroom floor.

Azzi was so deep in sleep that she didn’t hear her front door open. Or her name being called. Or the heavy footsteps coming to her room.

Paige saw the tests before she saw Azzi. Her shoulders dropped in disappointment.

“Az,” Paige said, rubbing her shoulders.

Brown eyes blinked quickly. “Hey Princess,” She started, kneeling in front of her. “We knew this was a possibility. This doesn’t mean anything.”

Azzi looked up, surprised to see her best friend. “What? What are you doing here?”

“It’s 7:30, Az. I told you I was coming for the test.” She moved closer, foreheads touching.

“I just, I hoped that it would work this time, even though it was only the first time.” Azzi muttered.

Paige nodded, “I know. Me too, but it doesn’t mean anything. We’re just gonna keep going and try again.”

“You don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t want to. Who knows how long it’ll take.” She said sadly.

The blonde lifted her head. “I’ll be here until you tell me to leave, Azzi Fudd. You’re gonna be a mom, I promise.”

“I love you, Paige.”

“I love you too. You’re my favorite person, Azzi Jazlyn.”

-----------------------------------

Paige didn’t show it, not in front of Azzi, but she was sad.

She wanted this to work for Azzi. Maybe not with the same desperate ache Azzi carried, but close. Close enough that it twisted in her chest every time she remembered the tests. One line. One line. Not pregnant.

Azzi’s curls tickled her thigh, the brunette resting in her lap while Grey’s Anatomy played on low volume.

“Pick me. Choose me. Love me,” Meredith Grey begged from the screen.

Paige blinked, hard.

God, if that wasn’t poetic.

She just wanted Azzi to love her. The way she loved Azzi. The way Meredith loved Derek. Messy. Loud. All-consuming.

But she swallowed the burn in her throat and reached for something softer instead.

She pictured Azzi round with a baby, cheeks flushed, eyes glowing, radiant and powerful. Relaxed on a big couch, a toddler curled into her side, sleepy and safe. Paige always imagined Azzi with a lot of kids. Three, maybe four. Five if she was lucky.

They’d have Azzi’s eyes — wide, warm, bottomless. One with Paige’s light hair, maybe. Another with Azzi’s perfect curls. A full house. A full life.

It didn’t really matter. Two or ten. Paige just wanted Azzi to have everything she’d ever dreamed of. And she would make sure she got it, even if it broke her heart to do it from the sidelines.

-----------------------------------

Azzi wasn’t faring much better.

She hadn’t said anything since the test. Hadn’t needed to. Her body still leaned into Paige’s, legs tangled under the blanket, thumb grazing the seam of Paige’s hoodie absentmindedly.

She was picturing a different house.

Big and quiet and loud all at once. A wide, flat yard. A basketball hoop in the driveway. A pool for cannonballs. Kids — boys, girls, wild curls and bunny teeth — chasing each other while Paige grilled or fell asleep in a lawn chair with a popsicle stick in one hand and a baby in the other.

She imagined Paige walking in from a shift, sweaty and grinning, pulling her into a kiss while she pulled cookies from the oven. A kid groaning, “Ew, gross,” in the background.

She imagined Paige holding her in the middle of it all, chaos whirling around them, and the feeling of being perfectly still. Perfectly home.

It was loud. And messy. And chaotic. And it was everything Azzi wanted.

She closed her eyes, tuning out Meredith and Derek’s drama, and let the image root itself inside her like a prayer.

They’d get there. She’d try again. And again. As many times as it took. As long as Paige wanted that future with her.

[rhisturn]

dare i say, this is getting a bit ridiculous now.

the no video after tour was enough tbh, if you think about it from the other way around, people, including myself, paid thousands of dollars/pounds to be at tour, travelled 16 hours in my case, and then we couldn’t even get a vid.. i completely understand in that case they needed to rest, but wasn’t it like 2 whole weeks since tour ended at that point.

but what’s the excuse now, this isn’t the first time in the past couple months they’ve done this either. the stalking situation cannot be used as reasoning either because matt especially has been the most active he’s been in months this past week, and if that was the issue they would have gone completely silent. if they were to have been silent all week, and not post today because of the situation. i would have 100% understood, i’m sure we all would. but that hasn’t been the case

i get nervous saying this shit because people lick their arses so bad in this fandom. like i love them so much, but it’s okay to call them out. they’ve one ‘public’ obligation a week, to post a 20 minute video on a friday at 2:30. that’s it. they don’t do anything else anymore. it’s not like we’re getting hours of twitch streams, wednesday videos, podcasts or anything. one video is all they gotta do. bare in mind it pays their rent, is their source of income, is the reason they are where they are. like how are we struggling with ts.

of course it’s also okay to be late with things, it happens. but again, this is their job. haven’t they been doing this long enough for this to be a non existent problem anymore. schedule videos if you know your gonna be busy or if there’s a chance your gonna miss a post. but the thing that bothers me if the lack of communication, being almost an hour late at this point is one thing, but for there to also be complete radio silence, is ridiculous. if your running late or even if you aren’t gonna post. it takes a second to tell us. they’ve got no communication skills with us anymore

i understand not wanting to talk to us like they used to, especially after the past week. but it’s still, again, their fucking job to do this shit. i feel like it’s not a lot to expect. this is probaly at this point the most hate they’ve ever gotten in their career with the ‘their falling off’ and ‘their gonna quit soon’ shit, so if that isn’t the case wouldn’t you go out of the way to improve your content and do the absolute most to ensure people stop talking. not to make it worse, again.

i feel like it this point it’s starting to piss everyone off. at the end of the day, their 21 year old men and this is their only job. when they do stuff wrong, we don’t have to baby them and act like the lack of accountability or communication is okay. in their line of work, that is quite literally their only responsibility. and even amongst everything going on with the hate at the minute. they clearly still don’t care.

this obviously isn’t just about not posting today, cs that would be slightly dramatic lol. but this has been a problem for months and months. even before tour. there’s no excuses anymore.

edit:

well chris has just posted a pic on instagram and nick is liking posts so clearly their all fine and there’s nothing wrong for all the people using that as an excuse. they just don’t even have the decency to tell us anymore, love this dynamic we’ve got going on with them now. 10/10 communication

don’t rip me to shreds please and thanks :)

[gdinthehouseee]

Storm Shelter: KWON JIYONG x READER

summary: after getting caught in the rain, you have your first sleepover at your new boyfriend's place.

word count: 1639

tags: tooth-rotting fluff

ao3 link

You weren’t sure what tonight would be, not exactly. Just dinner, he’d said. Something low-key. Nothing fancy. But being around Jiyong always came with this quiet unpredictability; something about the way he carried himself made even the smallest things feel a little larger than life. Still, when he showed up outside the restaurant with his hood up and a soft grin playing at the corners of his mouth, you felt your nerves settle.

“Hey,” he said like he hadn’t been thinking about you all day. Like his heart hadn’t skipped a beat when he spotted you under the glow of the awning, playing with the strap of your bag like you weren’t sure what to do with your hands.

“Hi,” you answered, voice gentler than you meant.

He held the door for you. You had dinner tucked into the far corner of a cozy place where no one really paid attention to who sat across from whom. He let you talk. He made you laugh. When you brushed hands reaching for your drink, he didn’t pull away.

You’d only been seeing each other for a few weeks—carefully, quietly. A few texts turned into long phone calls, which turned into late night meetups where the rest of the world blurred at the edges. You hadn’t kissed yet, not really. A forehead press outside your apartment. A glance that lingered a little too long. The feeling of his fingers brushing yours, tentative but magnetic.

He was soft tonight. Much softer than the stage persona, quieter than the headlines. In the middle of talking about some ridiculous backstage moment from his trainee days, he leaned in, chin resting on one hand as his eyes locked on yours.

“You’re easy to talk to,” he said, like it surprised him.

You tilted your head, smiling. “That a good thing?”

“It’s… dangerous,” he teased with a playful edge in his voice, then softened. “But yeah. Definitely good.”

It was past 9:30 when you stepped out into the evening, only to realize the temperature had dropped and the clouds were thick above the streetlights. You were still laughing about something he said when the first drop of rain landed on the back of your hand.

“Is that—?”

Another drop. Then two.

“Oh no.”

Jiyong followed your gaze up towards the dark sky, then looked down the street. “My place is maybe five minutes if we cut through the alley.”

You hesitated, glancing toward the subway entrance.

“I mean… if you don’t mind.” His voice turned a little sheepish. “We can wait it out under the bus stop or—”

“No,” you interrupted, smiling now. “I don’t mind.”

He reached out—hesitant—and took your hand. It wasn’t the first time, but it was still new enough to make your chest flutter. His fingers curled gently around yours like he was still testing the shape of this thing between you.

“Then run with me,” he said, smiling that boyish grin you were already starting to crave.

And so you ran.

The rain came down harder, fatter drops splattering the sidewalk as you weaved through the alley, splashing through puddles. You nearly slipped on the curb and Jiyong caught you by the waist, laughing as you clung to him for balance.

You were both soaked by the time you reached the front of his building—shivering and breathless, laughing and damp, your clothes clinging to you in the worst way. He swiped wet hair out of his eyes, panting lightly, looking at you like you were the only thing keeping the moment upright.

“I swear I wasn’t planning to kidnap you,” he said, grinning as he unlocked the main door.

“Could’ve fooled me,” you replied, grinning back.

Inside the lobby, it was warm and hushed. Jiyong kept his hand on your lower back as you walked toward the elevator, glancing over at you in that quiet way he did sometimes, like he was still making sure this wasn’t just a dream.

“Sorry if this is… sudden,” he murmured. “I didn’t expect the sky to betray us.”

“It’s okay… unexpected’s kind of your brand.”

He laughed, soft and warm.

The elevator was slow, humming as you both stood side-by-side. You caught your reflection in the mirrored wall—wet hair, soaked shirt, flushed cheeks—and turned your face toward him.

“You’re really bringing me over looking like this?”

He looked you up and down, playful, but then his voice turned soft. “You could look like a drowned stray cat and I’d still want you here.”

You didn’t know what to say to that, but your heart said everything.

His penthouse was warm, shadowed in soft lighting and the scent of clean linen and something uniquely him. Not showy—just lived in. Just his. You stood in the entryway dripping water while he kicked off his sneakers and gestured toward the bathroom.

“I’ll grab you a towel and… some dry clothes, probably a hoodie or something.”

You nodded, toes curling on the hardwood. He disappeared for a moment, leaving you alone with the sudden awareness that this was real. You were in Kwon Jiyong’s apartment, and you’d probably be staying here tonight.

You were still wringing out the ends of your hair when Jiyong returned with a towel draped over his arm and a bundle of folded clothes. He looked at you like he wanted to say something, then just gave you a little smile and handed you everything.

“They might be… roomy,” he offered, rubbing the back of his neck again.

You took the towel gratefully and smiled back at him. “Roomy’s better than soaked. Thank you.”

You ducked into the bathroom and peeled yourself out of your soggy layers, sighing at the feel of the towel against your chilled skin. Jiyong had given you a pair of sweatpants—far too long, so you rolled them at the ankles—and an old t-shirt with faint faded lettering on the front. The cotton was soft and well-worn, like it had been slept in a hundred times. The hoodie smelled like laundry detergent and a faint trace of his cologne. 

When you emerged, toweling your hair a little and barefoot, he was setting two mugs of tea on the coffee table. He looked up at the sound of your steps and froze.

“I know I probably look like a pile of laundry,” you mumbled, tugging the hem of the oversized shirt.

But he shook his head slowly, eyes scanning you like he was trying to memorize something.

“No,” he said. “You look… like you belong here.”

Your throat tightened at that—maybe more than it should’ve. But there was something about the way he said it. Like it surprised him. Like it meant more than he wanted to admit.

“I mean—not to sound creepy. I just… you look comfortable. That’s all. In a good way.”

You smiled as you made your way to the couch, accepting the tea he passed you with a quiet “thanks.” The warmth seeped into your fingers instantly, and your body relaxed into the cushions. Outside, the rain was pouring even harder now, wind whipping against the windows.

“I checked the alerts again,” Jiyong said, settling beside you with his own mug. “Definitely not safe to head back tonight. They’re saying even taxis won’t run some routes.”

You nodded slowly, watching the storm blur the city lights through the glass. “Guess I’m crashing.”

“You okay with that?”

“As long as you’re okay with it.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t… kinda happy about it.” He scratched the back of his neck. 

You bit your lip, cheeks warming. “Yeah?”

“I mean, it’s our first sleepover, right?” He raised his brows, teasing but gentle. “Guess that makes this a milestone.”

You laughed softly, curling your legs up under you. “You’re oddly cute when you’re not trying.”

“Who said I was trying?” He asked with mock offense, then nudged your sock-covered foot with his own. “Seriously though... you being here, like this feels nice.”

You looked down at your mug, then up at him. “It feels… safe.” 

His eyes softened.

He set his tea down, then leaned his head back against the couch, watching you for a moment with something unreadable in his expression—quiet, thoughtful.

“I know we’ve only just started this,” he said, voice lower, more tentative. “But I want to make you feel safe. Always.”

Your heart did something complicated and fluttery in your chest. You tucked the blanket around your lap and leaned slightly into him, your shoulder brushing his arm.

“Then you’re off to a good start.”

A quiet beat passed between you. The sound of rain filled the room. Thunder echoed softly in the distance.

“Can I…?” He asked suddenly, lifting his hand halfway toward your hair. “Your hair’s still a little damp.”

You nodded. His fingers threaded gently into the strands, drying a section with the towel. His movements were careful, reverent almost—nothing rushed or playful. Just thoughtful. When he was finished, he set the towel aside and rested his arm along the back of the couch, not quite touching you—but close. You leaned into the space, closing the distance just a little more.

Eventually, he grabbed the remote and queued up a quiet movie. You didn’t even register what it was. You barely glanced at the screen. The tea warmed your fingers, but his presence warmed everything else. At some point, when the movie had blurred into background sound, you felt his hand slide gently into yours beneath the blanket.

You looked over.

Jiyong was already watching you.

“I’m really glad it was you tonight,” he said. “Out of all the people who could’ve been stuck with me in a rainstorm… I’m glad it was you.”

Your fingers squeezed his instinctively.

“I’m glad it was you too.”

taglist: @emmiesoverthemoon @mirahyun @riddlerloveb0t @onyxmango @sherrayyyyy @seunghyunwifey @mattsturniolosbabymama @redhoodedtoad @bettelaboure @cinnamonbear22 @xxxicddbr88 @infinetlyforgotten @babygirlewis @loveesiren @tulentiy @babyrvis @ldydeath @wcnderlands @eru-vande @breakmeoff @petersasteria @aizshallnotbefound @sevendaysummer @ttturnitup @mashtatosworld @ilovethe141 @heartubeatusalon @ninnys @allthoughtsmindfull 

[nurse-floyd]

Looking Out

Request by my lovely @vroomvroomcircuit <3 "I demand some Max Verstappen whump fluff with reader being the whumpee, please 🥺👉🏻👈🏻"

@vivwritesfics @scuderia-piastri @ladyliberty6 @ice-man-goes-bwoah

It wasn’t uncommon for your old karting injury to flare up, especially when it was rainy or when you were travelling to and from races with Max. The triple header had been killer and you had only just survived 2 out of 3 of the races. Still, no matter how hard it hurt you weren’t going to let it ruin Max’s focus. 

Max however, knew just how much you were struggling and how stubborn you were. He knew you had probably not even admitted to yourself how much pain you were in. Instead you chose to just ignore it and continue on. Max decided to stay quiet, he knew you’d come to him when you needed and until then he just decided to watch from afar and be ready for the eventual breakdown. 

By the time you’d spent the day with him in the paddock while he fulfilled his media duties he could see the way you were limping. Still, you had a smile on your face as you spoke to his engineers and joked with Yuki. 

Max came over to where you were standing, pulling you into his side for a hug. “You okay, schatje?” He placed a kiss on the top of your head and you found yourself leaning into him a bit more to take pressure off your leg.  

“Just tired,” you replied. 

He looked at you a little longer, giving you space if you wanted to tell him what you both knew was wrong but you stayed silent. 

“Why don’t you sit? Me and Yuki need to do some filming for socials then we can go back to the hotel.” 

You smiled and agreed, waving goodbye to the pair as someone hauled them off to do some weird or funny challenge you no doubt would find on TikTok the next morning. 

By the time he was done you were in agony. Max led you to the car, silently opening the door for you to climb in. You loved his sports cars but with how low to the ground this car was, you weren’t sure how you were ever going to get out. That was a later problem though. Max climbed in and you set off towards the hotel, the only noise being the quiet hum of the radio playing softly in the background. 

Max was first out of the car. He waited a moment for you to follow. Maybe when you realised you couldn’t get out of the car you’d finally admit something was wrong. He didn’t want to play it this way, but it was the only way he was going to get it out of you. After about 30 seconds the passenger side door opened and Max leaned his head in. 

“You going to admit your legs been hurting all day now?” 

You didn’t turn your head to look at him, instead your top lip wobbled and you turned to him with tears in your eyes. You turned the rest of your body to him, holding your arms out and making a grabby motion with your hands. 

You looked pathetic. 

Max thought you looked adorable. 

He let out a small laugh before bending down, “put your arms around my neck.” With your arm looped over his neck, you allowed him to easily pull you to your feet. “Let’s get you inside.” 

With your arm around his neck and his arm around your back you let him take your weight as you hobbled into the hotel. 

“Let’s get you sat down, I’ll order us room service,” Max says as he guides you towards the plush sofa. He helped take off your shoe and propped your foot up on a pillow on the coffee table. 

Max wished he could take away your pain more than anything. He made the phone call, putting in both your orders for dinner before he made his way into the bathroom. He grabbed the bottle of painkillers from your toiletry bag and came over with a bottle of water. 

“Here, I know you’ve been in pain all day. You don’t have to hide it anymore.” 

Almost as if he’d given you permission, you sagged into the cushions and let out a shaky breath, “thank you, Max.” 

“Why didn’t you tell someone? Or me? We could have got you a ride back to the hotel. Before it got to this point,” he asked softly. 

You shrugged. If you were being honest with yourself, you didn’t know why you waited so long. Maybe you didn’t want to feel like a burden, didn’t want to admit it and bring up the feelings the crash still had hold of you all these years later. 

“You’re not a burden, schat.” Max could tell exactly what you were thinking just by the look on your face. “You shouldn’t hide this from me. Let me help.” 

Your top lip began to wobble again. Max wasted no time in pulling you into his arms and the damn broke. After a while your sobs turned to quiet sniffles and Max stood up, offering you a hand. “Come on.” 

He led you towards the large king size bed, pausing at the side as he unbuckled your belt and pulled down your jeans slowly. You sat on the edge of the bed as Max helped to swivel your legs around, stopping to quickly fluff the pillows before easing you back. 

“Let those pain killers work. I’ll be back in a second.” 

Max returned with a tube of warming lotion, one you knew he and his physio swore by after a tough session in the gym or a tough race that left his muscles aching. He squeezed a small blob onto the palm of his hand before he began to gently rub it into your knee. 

You groaned in response as you felt his thumbs dig into the tender muscle surrounding the area. The combination of pain medicine, warm gel and Max’s touch all help to ease the pain. 

“Maxie?” 

Max looked up, a small hum coming from his lips. 

“Thank you, baby.” You sank further into the pillows and let out a sigh, finally allowing yourself to relax for the first time all day.

[nonsscrapheap]

TFP: Universal Obversations

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE! first update of pride month and it's UO! because the brainrot is extremely real and i just cannot stop my motivation in writing this story despite my want to do Twice The Primes and Dance of the Fire Bot. i won't argue with my motivations, i just write what i feel like writing and it's mostly Universal Observations.

yeah this chapter beat out last chapter, again. it is... 12.9k words long, literally less than 30 words more and i would've hit 13k. was tempted to do so, but decided- yeah let's just go. i wanna update. so here we are!

i hope you all enjoy!

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

Omega Outpost One

[ Megatron glared down at him, before sighing deeply. Reaching down to grab Optimus' servo in his, grunting as he pulled the mech up from his precarious position and into his arms. One arm around his chassis and the other underneath Optimus' knees, holding him bridal style. "What have I said about leaving my side, my Prime?" He growled, leaning in to glare directly into Optimus' optics before smirking. "I can't leave you for even a klik, can I?"

Optimus' battlemask snapped open, revealing a small, fond smile on his faceplate. "I would apologize, but it was not my fault this time my Protector. I am entirely blameless in this endeavor."

Megatron's smirk turned into a charmed smile, "We'll see about that, but for now…" He raised his helm, letting Optimus down from his hold as they stood back-to-back. Surrounded by all sides by large, monstrous creatures with Soldier Quintessons riding atop them. "Let's deal with these mongrels, shall we?" His fusion cannon hummed to life, charging.

Optimus' battlemask snapped close as he readied his axe. "We shall." ]

"PAUSE! PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE—"

The last couple of hours have been... strange to say the least. Bulkhead hadn’t exactly gotten out of berth expecting to watch Alternate Universes today after all, his expectations were the usual; patrol a bit, pick Miko up from her host parent’s place and head back to base, hang out with Miko at base, patrol some more when it was his turn. Maybe dent a few con faceplates if given the chance.

But no, instead, a weird orb thing (now known as an Observer apparently) gets found in their storage and it was a weird path from there. That weird world where Optimus was uh, and then the Actor world, and now this?

Don’t get him wrong! Bulkhead was all for giant robots fighting- ignoring the weird feeling of watching something that looked Cybertronian (even if empurata-like), didn’t sound Cybertronian, moved somewhat like a Cybertronian but wrong that threatened to set off all his warning programs in his processor- it was great! Especially considering one of the robots was being piloted by Miko! His charge and best little buddy and human best friend!

She was even called Wrecker, how cool was that? He’d been so excited to tell Jackie all about it in his next message to him.

But then it dawned on him how fragged Earth’s situation kind of was with the Quintessons- clued in by Miko- err, Wrecker’s reaction to Ra-Senscript’s fifth port. Given to him by human Shockwave of all me- uh, humans? (Human Shockwave’s name was Waltz Stein, could you believe it?? He still couldn’t!)

And then there was that- flashback scene? That moment, that picture. At first, he could’ve sworn that mecha suit looked familiar until-

“WHEELJACK!”

Wrecker had screamed his name as she was taken through that Quintesson spacebridge and Bulkhead’s spark dropped to his tanks. On one servo, Wheeljack was human- that was pretty cool! Plus, he was a pilot! On the other hand, whatever happened to him... Bulkhead hoped that human Jackie was okay, was alive. For Wrecker’s sake, with how she screamed, she must’ve cared for him a lot...

Did that mean Bulkhead was human here too?

Seemed like all Cybertronians were human here, or so Bulkhead had thought until the Observer suddenly showed... Cybertron.

Alive.

Hanging in there with Praxus being attacked, but Praxus was being attacked; it had been standing! Cybertron was alive here! His home planet was still kicking!

Only, well; Praxus was being attacked. No doubt by cons.

Optimus wasn’t a human, that was a relief- not that Bulkhead had anything against humans or the thought of his leader being a human in another universe! It was just a weird thought y’know? Shockwave was already one thing, Wheeljack, another. But Optimus? He’d need to get used to the idea first.

So seeing Optimus as a normal Cybertronian was nice- less nice was the fact his leader was in a familiar war zone. Although it was cool to see him with his axe again, Optimus was a beast with that thing. Miko was right to be disappointed at the fact Optimus didn’t have it anymore or couldn’t get another one like it, the cons would’ve been dealt with a bit easier if Optimus still had that axe.

‘Course all good things must come to an end... something he really hoped wouldn’t happen when Other Optimus almost got knocked off into a canyon-sized fissure. Primus.

And then he appeared.

Other Megatron.

Bulkhead felt rage in his spark at the sight of the damned warlord, of course he wasn’t the only one to be angry. They all were, they shouted at the screen, as if their insults and threats would breach through universes and negatively affect the silver tin can and prevent him from even daring to think of laying a single scummy servo on Optimus.

Ratchet had certainly been going at it like as if that would happen, Primus that medic knew swears that Bulkhead didn’t know of! And he grew up in the slums and worked alongside some surly mechs when he was a construction bot! Not to mention the way he was weaving Earth insults into Cybertronian too? Bulkhead kept those in mind, feeling kinda awed by Ratchet’s storm of curses and threats. Another thing to tell Wheeljack later, heh.

Then something happened that came completely out of left field, if that was the right way to use that human phrase; Megatron did lay a scummy servo on Optimus but he... pulled him up? What?

And then he was saying stuff like ‘not leaving his side’ and ‘My Prime’? What??

And the way he was acting, the way Other Optimus was acting, bantering? ‘My Protector’ what?? Megatron had his servos on Optimus but he wasn’t- Bulkhead’s optics had to glance down to Megatron’s chestplate just to make sure that symbol was purple and y’know, a Decepticon symbol- the other world with the nice Megatron (fragging weird as pit) had the Decepticon symbol red after all but nope. Still purple.

And the symbol on Other Optimus’ shoulder was an Autobot and red, so the factions clearly existed but—

Why the frag did they seem so chummy?

No, chummy wasn't the right word. Not with the way Other Megatron had been smirking at Other Optimus. It was almost like they were- were they?? No. No. Right? But. Uh. Wait—

Just as Other Optimus and Megatron were about to duke it out with the Quintessons (the Quintessons were attacking Praxus?!) Ratchet had called frantically for an immediate pause.

He doesn't know which one of the kids paused the screen, too busy gawking at said screen as it paused in a kinda cinematic way- with both other versions of his leader and the Decepticon leader back to back, surrounded by the largest and ugliest Quintessons they've seen yet being ridden by those Solider unit Quintessons earlier on with the Other kids.

For a moment, there's a tense silence- mostly upheld by the disbelief as no one could tear their optics away from the screen right now. The question still stood in Bulkhead's processor.

"Was Megatron flirting with Optimus?" The question slips out of his intake before he could stop it, or the next one. "And was Optimus flirting back?"

He couldn't even imagine Optimus flirting in the first place, the Prime was too stoic and focused on the war to do so. And yet he couldn't help but think that was the case when Other Optimus was speaking to- Other Megatron of all mechs!

"No! Impossible!" Ratchet retorted fiercely, the medic searing his optics at Bulkhead in a glare and usually it would make Bulkhead flinch back, sheepish but the Wrecker was too focused on the screen with bewilderment to even do that. "They were not flirting!"

"Uh, I dunno Ratch, he seems kinda close to King Con there." Miko pointed out, looking extremely fascinated by the screen, human eyes wide with a considering look on her face. Considering? Considering? Just what was she considering about? Bulkhead didn't know, and maybe he didn't want to know. "They're fighting together. Literally back to back on screen right there."

Ratchet spluttered, glancing back to the screen and scowling. "It's because they're working against a common foe! Clearly the Quintessons are of a greater threat than we realize there if Optimus is working with Megatron. Otherwise, the two would be at each other's energon tubing!" He reasoned, and- yeah that made sense.

Because if there's going to be a threat against Cybertron bigger than even each other, then the only logical thing to do was to team up against it. Still pretty jarring to see Optimus and Megatron together like that though, the Actor world had been the same but this was different. These weren't actors, they weren't mechs pretending to be leaders in a world of fiction, these were actual alternate counterparts to the leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons.

"Okay. Okay." Jack said, glancing back and forth between screen Optimus and- well, their Optimus. Optimus himself was looking at the screen with an incomprehensible look, even more than usual than his usual stoic look. Bulkhead can't even imagine how Optimus was feeling right now. "So… Quintessons made Optimus and Megatron team up since the enemy of my enemy is an ally, and Cybertron is alive."

The phrase Cybertron is alive hit Bulkhead harder than he'd expect it to. Because, it was wasn't it? In that world where the Quintessons attacked, Cybertron was alive, the cons actually called for a ceasefire and decided to work together with them to keep those things from taking over their planet.

.: Um… it still doesn't explain why Megatron called Optimus 'My Prime' or Optimus calling Megatron 'My Protector'? :. Bumblebee hesitantly said, and no one could reply or even try to explain that because… well, it's absurd. Megatron would never call Optimus 'My Prime', and Optimus calling Megatron his protector? Not a chance in the world…

In their world.

But in this 'Mecha' world?

"I'm starting to see why that mech warned us about whatever the frag we'd see with the Observer." Arcee muttered aloud, tense in her seat as she eyed the floating screen warily. A complicated expression on her faceplate.

That mech?

"You mean Rung?" Jack asked, finally reminding Bulkhead of who Arcee was talking about, giving Arcee a confused look. Rung, right, the orange mech with the other Observer. That gave them all the warnings and slag. Shouldn't have been hard to remember, considering that weird moment with his optics and all that, yet his name had slipped Bulkhead's processor there for a moment. "Guess so, best to keep in mind what he said. Whatever we see isn't exactly something we can apply here- not really? Just… try not to let it get to you guys. Seems like Megatron is an ally in that world, and is uh- close to Optimus."

It's an absurd thing to think of, after millennia of war, eons of conflict, years of battle… But Jack was right, and the proof was right there in front of them. The Autobots and Decepticons existed in another world, and that clearly meant the war was going on, but with the Quintessons around and Cybertron in danger from them…

"Jack is right." Optimus said, finally speaking and gaining the attention of everyone. "I cannot speak for the decisions of my other selves in these alternate universes that we see, especially the first world we saw-" Ah right, that world, Bulkhead shivered, "-as the differences between our worlds becomes clear. Although similar, like Jack said, we must keep in mind what Rung has warned us about, to not let the contents of each world deeply affect us in a manner that would prevent us from doing our duty of protecting Earth from Megatron and his Decepticons."

Unknown to almost all, with the exception of perhaps Ratchet, behind his stoic facade, underneath the emotional suppression that helped keep him calm, Optimus was rather happy at the sight of him and Megatron fighting side by side in what seemed to be an actual, amicable (?) relationship. The part of him that regretted trying to kill Megatron from the spacebridge explosion, the same part that still cherished the moments of Orion Pax and Megatronus, was overjoyed in fact.

( An ex-gladiator stood in stunned silence, optics trained on the screen. He's been like that for a few kliks now, frozen, quiet. It was unnerving, perhaps if one was opportunistic enough, they could have attempted to attack him right this moment yet no one in the room could do so as they too, were stunned into silence.

The silence was only broken by a single seeker's shriek, "What the frag?!" )

Raf, who was back in Bumblebee's servos rather than Ratchet after the medic had returned the boy to the scout's custody just so he could freely swear at the screen, spoke up. "I'm actually curious as to what's happening in that world- Optimus said that the Quintessons were wiped out here a long, long time ago. But there, they're not. Did they end up finding Cybertron late here? Did they still attack Cybertron during the era of the Thirteen Primes but retreated just in time to avoid going extinct and were just, biding their time? Also, since Shockwave and Wheeljack and um, whoever else is human- how did that effect the war between you Autobots and the Decepticons? Did it lead to Optimus and Megatron becoming, uh, allies, or was it really the Quintessons that forced them to band together?"

The kids were certainly something, Bulkhead hadn't expected to become so attached to them when they first showed up. No one in the team probably expected it either, but the moment they saw Other Raf, Senscript, bleeding from the nose from overextending himself in testing that damned cortical psychic patch link, they had worried.

Bumblebee and Ratchet especially, Raf had given up trying to reassure them verbally and let the scout scoop him into his hold once more. Offering the yellow mech all the physical comfort he could give in his small size, it had made Bulkhead's spark clench in his spark chamber.

And oh, when Senscript got hurt by the Quintessons? Bumblebee had nearly lost it, reminding Bulkhead of that unfortunate clip of future Bee buzzing angrily at Megatron in the Actor universe. The one where they predicted Raf's near-death… It really cemented just how much the humans meant to them. ( And how fragile they could be. )

And now here they were, listening to his questions and considering it for themselves. It certainly helped calm them down a bit as they considered them.

Was it weird that Optimus and Megatron were… allies in another world? Certainly, but that was just it. Another world. Another universe. It was weird, and unlikely, but it happened there.

Didn't mean it had to happen here. Or could.

The likelihood of Megatron deciding to work with Optimus was low, and him considering peace was even lower. Not without a common enemy, which they didn't have here.

"Good questions, Raf. Questions that will hopefully be answered as we continue watching. I, too, am curious as to what happened in this world. And the ramifications and side effects to some of our people no longer being involved in the war." Optimus said with a small smile.

Bulkhead tried to imagine not having Jackie around during the war, imagined not having Shockwave around for the war. "I can't imagine not having Wheeljack be part of the Wreckers, but at least he was with you Miko." He said, grinning at his charge who whooped and grinned back. They didn't say anything about Wheeljack's disappearance, trusting and hoping that the mech… man? Was okay and alive.

.: Well… I am kinda wondering who else is human and who stayed Cybertronian. :. Bumblebee whirred, glancing between them all.

"Yeah! That too! I wanna know who's human now- I kinda hope you're human Bee, I wanna know what you look like as one." Raf beamed, something Bee mirrored as they all began to wonder what they would look like as human.

"We didn't really see what Shockwave or Wheeljack looked like as human, Shockwave had that weird mask over his face and Wheeljack uh- he was in his mecha." Miko said as she lounged back against the couch. "Wonder if Bulk's human here too."

Jack, in contrast, sat on the edge, leaning forward to look at Arcee. "Yeah, I mean- you got that hologram of yours Arcee but I don't think it has a face? I'm wondering what you'd look like as human."

"Yeah, doesn't have a face, can't move that well either. I just use that hologram to make sure no one knows I can drive by myself." Arcee replied dryly but was smiling as she too, wondered.

Ratchet was grumbling, still glaring slightly at the screen before sighing. "I suppose we should continue viewing if we really want to know… Primus, the thought of Megatron working with you Optimus is…" He didn't finish, shaking his helm instead. "Let's just get this over with, children?"

"On it Ratch! Observer, continue!" Miko exclaimed grandly, excited to see what came next.

[ Megatron and Optimus fought well together, extremely well. They covered each other's weakspots and wordlessly assisted the other with no sign other than a simple glance. Together, even the monstrous Quintesson beasts were having trouble in trying to take them both down.

Optimus mostly using his axe and limbs, occasionally shifting a servo into a blaster but mostly swinging his axe, while Megatron used his signature cannon and blade. ]

"Woah… King Con and Optimus fight absurdly well together." Miko breathed, awed by the flawless, almost elegant teamwork between the leaders of the Autobots and the Decepticons. Bulkhead had to admit, it was quite the sight.

Ratchet huffed, eyeing the battle as it continued on. "I'm not surprised, though its been eons since they fought together side by side—"

"Optimus and Megatron fought together before?" Raf interrupted, wincing before sending an apologetic look at Ratchet who waved it off.

"Yes, though it was before Autobots and Decepticons existed. In the golden age of Cybertron."

Jack glanced over to Optimus, "You mentioned it before, when we first met. You called Megatron your brother, or well, you once considered him a brother? You were close…"

"Indeed." Optimus answered softly, a look of nostalgia on his faceplate, in his optics as he watched them both fight so well together against the attacking Quintesson soldiers and their beastly mounts. "Megatron, Megatronus then, was actually the one who inspired and taught me how to fight…"

Miko snorted, "Wonder if he regrets teaching you now, since you can take him head on!"

Did he? Bulkhead had known that there was history between Optimus and Megatron but he hadn't exactly known how far it went…

Optimus didn't answer, optics watching the screen intently.

( A warlord finally sits down, ignoring the clamor of his subordinates as he watched the fight. His optics taking in the sight of his nemesis and his other fighting together side-by-side once more. It brought up memories that he thought he long buried, brought up emotions that he thought completely discarded, brought up thoughts he had pushed aside for millennia.

Usually it would send him into a rage, make him scowl, glower and sneer. But right now… watching the effortless team work… Seeing Other Optimus completely trust his alternate self in battle, that fond smile from before…

He stayed silent.

Watching. )

[ .: This is Lord Megatron to Prowl, lock onto my coordinates- I have found our missing Prime. We are currently dealing with a squadron of Quintesson drones and soldiers, Optimus Prime has sustained injuries, his helm is dented which is why no one's comms were able to reach him. :. Megatron grunted as he took a small dull moment during the battle to contact reinforcements, flicking away Quintesson gore off his blade.

Optimus was doing the same, taking in a brief vent as the Quintessons backed away warily, giving them a moment of reprieve.

Prowl's voice came in immediately, .: Coordinates locked on and confirmed Lord High Protector, reinforcements incoming in 8 kliks and counting. Evacuation of Praxus at 79% percent with minimal casualties but several major injuries from all factions. Fatalities will be counted after the evacuation, but estimations lie in the hundreds amongst the civilians Lord High Protector and are likely to grow. :. Megatron didn't look happy at that, yet quietly confirmed it all the same. ]

"Prowl? Aw man! I haven't heard Prowl's voice print in so long!" Bulkhead laughed, a bit delighted in hearing the mech's voice from the screen. Though his joy was dampened slightly by Prowl's words, torn from the information they were getting.

They were at the point of the war where civilians were still a thing, non-combatants that were living in cities. And Praxus was falling right before their optics, again.

"Who's Prowl?"

Arcee answered Miko, "The Autobot's best tactician, used to be Optimus' right hand mech when it came to tactics and plans but we lost contact with him shortly after the Exodus from Cybertron." She grimaced with a sigh.

.: He and a few other Autobots were supposed to come with Bulkhead, Ratchet, Optimus and I to Earth but there was too little time and they had to get on another ship instead. :. Bumblebee whirred sadly, causing Bulkhead and Arcee to nod as Raf relayed what Bee said to Miko and Jack.

"We could've had more bots here? Dang! Would've really evened the odds with the cons." Miko grumbled, making Bulkhead to nod again. So far, they'd been doing fairly well against Megatron and the Decepticons, they were vastly outnumbered, sure most of the cons were vehicons but underestimating those guys would be a rookie mistake.

Just look at Cliffjumper.

Not that he'll ever say it aloud, or within Arcee's audial vicinity, he liked living. Thanks.

Ratchet squinted at the screen, "'Lord High Protector?'" He repeated incredulously with a hint of curiosity.

"That supposed to mean anything?" Jack asked the medic who shared looks with Optimus. "Sounds like it should."

"No, it does not." Optimus denied, shaking his helm with a muted but curious look on his faceplate. "It is not a title that Ratchet nor even I, know of." Which is something considering Optimus usually knew esoteric and obscure information- probably because of the Matrix considering it was said to the repository of knowledge from Primes of Old.

( "Soundwave, search for the term, 'Lord High Protector.'"

A visored mech sat in silence (the room finally back in order after a warlord snapped at them to stop making so much noise) but on the screens of a warship, multiple databases, articles, information banks were flipped through in rapidly quick succession before a big red X appeared both on the screens and the mech's visor.

"Hm…" )

[ "Megatron!" Optimus suddenly called out, tense as the Quintessons let out a startling noise. Loud, abrupt, yet commanding. Megatron tensed as well, bracing himself for whatever was about to happen. Only for him and Optimus to reel back in shock as the Quintessons suddenly retreated, roaring overhead, and heading towards another direction.

.: Prowl! The Quintessons are— :. Megatron was suddenly interrupted, he was disgruntled by it but grew serious as Prowl exclaimed.

.: They're not retreating! I'm getting reports from all over Praxus, they're converging to a single spot in the city! An unknown Quintesson spacebridge just opened! :.

"Optimus!" Megatron barked, alarmed by the sudden change of events. ]

"That doesn't seem good." Raf gulped, seeing the remaining Quintessons, the horrible gigantic beasts and the soldier units, suddenly- not retreat as Prowl said, but head elsewhere in the city.

"Quintesson spacebridge?" Jack repeated with a click of realization, he shared a look with the rest of his friends and the bots. "You don't think…"

"Oh, I do think." Ratchet replied with a grimace.

[ The screen changed to a familiar mechanical hand slamming into the ground, an earthquake following afterwards as the ground vibrated hard underneath its palm. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!" Wrecker screamed, panicked and enraged at the sight of incoming XTRs.

Besides her, Tailbreaker was carving into a gigantic beast with his blades, mechanical hands tugging at incoming tentacles to tear them apart. .: No idea! But we need to protect Senscript until he can wake up and tell us where we are! :.

They were both stationed in front of Senscript's unmoving mecha that was slumped in a little alcove to some gigantic building neither of them recognized. The 'Apex Armor' disk was tucked into Senscript's smaller hands, both his cortical cord and sensory crown were thankfully retracted back into his helm though he wasn't moving at all. A look into the mecha revealed Senscript still unconscious in his cockpit chair, blood still dripping off his chin. ]

.: Raf! :. Bumblebee whirred with concern, whining against the boy's small hands that pressed against his faceplate in reassurance. .: He's still unconscious, still has blood coming out of his nose. :.

"Aw c'mon Bee, calm down. I-I'm sure I'm fine." Raf tried to tell him, smiling at his best friend and guardian only to droop when Ratchet began muttering a bit too loudly.

"Who knows what damage there could be to the human brain from such a direct connection to the processor of something like a Quintesson. The blood flow has at least lessened, but the fact it's still bleeding from his nasal area is not good. Not to mention the technology necessary to facilitate such a thing—"

Raf sent him a weak glare, "Ratchet!" He exclaimed as the yellow scout let out a high-pitched noise of worry. The medic let out a disgruntled apologetic noise, a hint of worry and guilt on his expression as he glanced between them both and the unconscious Senscript on screen. He focuses back to his datapad, typing into it.

Optimus Prime glanced over and his derma tilted upwards slightly as he sees glimpses of human biology being brought up on the datapad.

( A medic who loved racing discretely pulled up certain information on his datapad, squinting down at it and looking at the screen with a thoughtful hum. A seeker notices and leans over, only to see a website about human biology on the datapad, the seeker pulls a face but keeps quiet, optics reading line by line and glancing at the screen as well.

The medic notices and adjusts slightly so the seeker could read a bit more comfortably. This gesture went unnoticed by most of the cons in the room, unnoticed except by the seeker himself and the medic's conjunx. )

"Dudes, we're on Cybertron!" Miko exclaimed excitedly, batting at Jack's shoulder.

Jack grunted but looked up in wonder, "We really are." His wonder takes a hit when he sees the sad look on Arcee's face. "Arcee?"

"Wish this wasn't your first look at Cybertron, or Praxus." Arcee said, gesturing back to the screen with a grimace as Tailbreaker was slammed into a stray building but was holding on to the Quintesson beast stubbornly. "This isn't how I wanted to show you our home."

The kids share a look as their respective cybertronian guardian similarly shared a sad sigh. Even Optimus and Ratchet gave the kids a regretful and sad look.

"Well, hey! I'm sure you guys will show us tons of cool places on Cybertron! I mean, we're there now! Other us- and it's still alive, so like, there's got to be good places still standing to show!" Miko determinedly, wanting to cheer the bots up.

On one hand, their Cybertron was dead, which was definitely a bummer. And seeing it alive was- hard, but at the same time, it filled Bulkhead with a renewed sense of vigor somehow. And hey, Miko was right! Other Miko, Wrecker, would get the chance to experience Cybertron's wonders herself- and through the screen, they could show her and the kids too! So it wasn't all that bad!

"Yeah, seeing Cyber—" Jack was about to support Miko's words before he flinched as more Quintessons arrived on screen, roaring in intimidation at the two mecha pilots. There was a lot of Quintessons, the big hulking beast mounts and the smaller yet still hulking soldier units riding atop them. "Oh no."

[ "Fucking hell, that's a lot of Class 7 Soldiers and Levis." Tailbreaker gritted out, standing on the corpse of one such 'Levi' after dealing with its rider. In his cockpit, he rapidly flipped several switches and turned a few dials, steam and hot air escaping his mecha's joints as he optimized his systems. "Wrecker! Siege optimization! We're here with no back-up, no signal to base- do not let your levels drop too fast, too soon!"

.: You don't have to tell me twice! :. Came Wrecker's urgent yet annoyed reply, the screen switching to show she was doing the same before switching back to Tailbreaker.

"Priority one; keep Senscript and that Apex thing safe at all cost! They want that thing then it's in our best interest to make sure they don't get it! Cut down the numbers till we can get him out of this clusterfuck!" Tailbreaker barked just as the XTRs descended upon them. ]

Bulkhead's never seen Jack so authoritative before, as the oldest of the human kids, he did try to reign them in or keep them safe and stuff but this? This was older Jack doing his best to keep his teammates alive in a dangerous combat situation.

Still trying to keep them safe but in a situation that Bulkhead would have never imagined to happen, nor did he ever want to ever again. Because as cool as it is seeing them pilot those admittedly unsettling mechas, seeing them in such danger was terrifying.

"You don't know why the Quintessons want the Apex Armor, don't even know what it is or what it does but just knowing they want it, you- ahem, Tailbreaker makes the decision to keep it away from them. Astute observation and a good choice, not only that, you're optimizing your gear to last for as long as possible.." Ratchet notes aloud, glancing over to Jack who grinned at him.

The teenage boy shrugged, "Well, the longer we last, the better right? And I mean, it seems obvious? They tried to get it in secret, did their best to get it and when they couldn't but had it in reach- they triggered a spacebridge that sent other us from one place to another? It's important, real important, so yeah. Keep away."

The rest of the team gave Jack a proud look, Arcee in particular having a slightly smug expression on her faceplate.

.: And you're protecting Senscript too, planning to make an escape when given the opportunity. :. Bumblebee beeped, had his mouthguard been down, Bulkhead would definitely see a smile there. Raf relayed what he said to Jack whose grin grew a bit.

"Not only because he was like- his protection was a priority of the original mission but he's a teammate. A friend. 'Course I'd protect him." Raf beamed at his words.

( "Who knew Jack could be such a leader?" An arachnoid femme commented sardonically with a small smirk, amused by how authoritative the little human was on screen. It didn't matter that he was older on screen, or that this Jack was in another world, to her, he was still a target she oh, so dearly wanted to hunt. Not only to hurt Arcee, but to pay him back for what he'd done to her ship and herself.

Shame she could only hunt her world's Jack, Tailbreaker would have made another fine trophy in her personal opinion. She hopes her counterpart meets him, regardless of species. Though of course, she does hope she stayed Cybertronian. )

[ .: Wrecker, fall back! They're heading towards Senscript! :. Immediately Wrecker's mecha pulled itself away from the Levi she was wrestling, forcefully dragging the creature with her as her sonic weapons turned the Levi's cranial organs and technology into mush, the liquid dripping out of its orifices as Wrecker used its body to slam into the incoming XTRs that tried to make their way to her fallen teammate.

"You're not getting him assholes!" Wrecker growled, briefly cranking her damage output to 70% and releasing a high-pitch sonic wave from her subwoofers, it made the XTRs reel back in pain. "Tailbreaker!" A glance to her fuel levels revealed it took quite a bit of power to do so.

Lithely, Tailbreaker's mecha came in for quick kills while the XTRs were still reeling, aiming for weak spots that either killed them or brought them down to be killed soon enough. ]

"There's too many of them." Arcee said tensely, worry starting to seep into her spark as more and more Quintessons gathered around the three mecha pilots with only two performing combat, protecting their downed third.

Bulkhead's servos clenched and unclenched, feeling the need to having something in his servos as he watched Wrecker and Tailbreaker do their damned best in defending Senscript and the Apex Armor. Their original plan of carving a way out was quickly falling fast as there were too many Quintessons to properly chart an escape.

A sense of concern and worry began to settle over the base, even Miko was looking a bit worried for herself on the screen but was ultimately still cheering their counterparts on. "C'mon you guys! You got this! Go other me! LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME! WRECK AND RUIN!" She hollered, as if the force of her shouts alone would help across universes.

Not even Ratchet was going to scold her shouting, now when he was analyzing the situation at hand.

( "They'll be overwhelmed at this point." An ex-wrecker muttered, trying to hide his slight disappointment. It was only because he didn't want those Quintesson-things to win on Cybertron, or so he would insist if asked about it.

"Normally I would agree with you however you've forgotten some crucial details; they're on Cybertron." A seeker replied lowly, as out of nowhere, a familiar beam shot through multiple Quintessons at once. "And the Quintessons were not exactly subtle in their rendezvous." )

[ A bright violet beam shot through multiple XTRs, briefly gaining everyone's attention as from over the incline, a familiar canon whined down- the barrel smoking and gleaming hotly from going halfway towards full power. The owner of the canon, a mecha of silver with flashes of purple, snarled something unintelligible, to the humans at least.

.: Reinforcements? No fair, who let that mecha get a giant fuck off laser cannon?! :. Wrecker complained but was grinning in clear relief as she panted in her cockpit, sweat going down her face.

Tailbreaker took in a deep breath, "Seems like it- don't recognize the mecha design. Not government for certain though, too personal with all those spikes and sharp edges." He replied, though he was just as relieved. "Whoever they are though, as long as they're aiming that cannon at the XTRs, I'm not complaining." ]

"Oh! Ohh! What'd King Con say in Cybertronian?!" Miko exclaimed before pausing, "Never thought I'd be happy to see Megatron but there he is! Saving our afts!"

Raf rubbed his neck as he sat on Bumblebee's shoulder, "He pretty much just said 'Get off my planet' Miko, and uh, yeah. Same… Do you think he'll hurt other us?"

"Normally I would say yes, however considering several factors in this situation…" Ratchet trailed off, giving the screen an inscrutable expression. "No, there's a chance however with how you are clearly fighting against the Quintessons, an established enemy- he'll be cautious but he won't outright injure or attack you unless provoked. Especially considering… his alliance with Optimus."

.: Not to mention he… probably doesn't know you guys are human. :. Bumblebee realized as Megatron dove into the fight with determined anger. .: If I didn't know you were humans piloting big suits, I'd say you're one of us only- you all look like empurata'd bots. :.

"What's empurata?"

All the Autobots froze at Raf's innocuous question, an uncomfortable look on their expressions.

"That… is a question we will answer later, Raf. Perhaps, they might even provide the answer to it." Optimus said gravely, and the children exchanged confused looks but nodded all the same.

( "I take it back, these Quintessons are hardy creatures." A deadly femme muttered, seeing several survivors from the warlord's fusion cannon. It wasn't at full power but even that was usually enough to kill many mechs at the same time without any survivors.

Said warlord growled lowly at the sight but reluctantly nodded, feeling the phantom sensation of a burning ache on his arm- he usually refrained from going that strong for good reason. And the very rare times he went full power… He can't help but wonder just how many times his counterpart had gone to full power against the Quintessons. Certainly more often than he did with his arch enemy. )

[ "There's another pilot!" Wrecker exclaimed as a mecha of red, blue and silver appeared with a gigantic axe. "Okay, who's giving all these pilots cool shit?! I wanna talk with them!" She cackled, approving the sight of the axe being swung around with surprising finesse. "God, I haven't seen someone lug around a mecha-sized melee weapon since Wheeljack!"

.: Focus Wrecker! Gawk and talk later, protect Senscript and the Apex Armor! :. Tailbreaker snapped at her before he was grabbed solidly by a Levi's tentacles. .: Shit! :.

"Shit, TAILBREAKER!" Wrecker was torn, she was still acting as Senscript's major defense against the Quintessons and she was a bit too far away from her teammate and leader to do anything about it. ]

"Jack!" "Slag."

The joy of seeing Optimus again, seeing him join the battle and assist the kids was quickly overtaken with worry as Tailbreaker's mecha was grabbed by the tentacles- those things were wrapped around dangerously tight around the mecha's torso- right where Tailbreaker's actual body was.

Bulkhead had seen, by chance, of an organic lifeform being crushed in a metal compactor before during the war. It had been a wild animal from the planet he'd been stationed on that got stuck in machine, and it had left him nauseated the entire time he'd been on the planet afterwards.

He doesn't think he could bear the thought of watching a human, especially one of the kids going- squish. It was one of the many reasons why he'd been a little hesitant on going around on Earth. That accident with the powerlines was another, more light hearted reason that he actually wished was happening right now.

He'd take electricity forcing him to dance over the possible death of the kids any day.

( "Ugh, squished human. Disgusting." A medic shuddered, having seen many horror films as well as the rare actual footage- he'd been curious after all. Certainly strayed him away from seeing human media again… for a while anyway.

"Sounds disgusting, but it looks like it's not happening this time." The ship's second in command commented with a sniff, snorting at the sight of the warlord on screen coming to the human's rescue. Using his sword to cut the massive tentacle that captured the mecha. "He must not know he's saving an organic. These mecha look far too much like cybertronians- empurata'd ones, but still. It's uncanny and disturbing." Though the thought of his 'master' unknowingly saving humans was quite amusing, of course, he kept it to himself. Eyeing the interested warlord who had gone silent. )

[ Tailbreaker hadn't been prepared for the save from the stranger pilot but looked up as he was hauled on to his feet. "Thanks-" His gratitude was cut short as he finally saw the 'mecha' up close. "You have a face." He blurts out in confusion, watching that scarred metal face contort and change like an actual face. With red eyes, lips, sharp teeth?

.: He has a what? :. Wrecker commed in as the silver, spiky mecha gave him a scrutinizing look on his face.

'Who makes a mecha with an expressive face? Not even a digital one, but a fully articulated one!?' Tailbreaker thought somewhat hysterically before shaking his head in his cockpit and focusing in. "Nevermind, look out!" He bodily tackled the mecha down as a barrage of tentacles tried to spear through both of them. Ignoring the surprised look the mecha gave him. ]

"He has a face!" Miko laughed, leaning against the couch from the hilarious moment. Bulkhead chuckled with her, it was kinda funny.

Jack rolled his eyes, "From what I can tell, all the mechas we made don't have faces- just like, screens, visors or something. Seeing a 'mecha' with a face would definitely be surprising… Guess we've got no idea that we're on another planet just yet." He reasoned, smiling at the agreeing nods he got from Optimus and Arcee.

"You guys are a bit too busy with the Quintessons to notice the strange architecture." Raf chimed in before blinking. "You saved Megatron!"

"In any other situation I'd be angry but considering its not you, and Tailbreaker has no idea who Megatron even is, I'll let this slide." Arcee half-joked, somewhat disgruntled over the fact her human charge and partner had saved the tyrant that she and her team had been fighting for so long.

Jack winced, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat guiltily as he nodded. "Yeah…" He'd yet to tell anyone what happened at the cave in, about how he had the chance to take Megatron's life, to end the war for them… and he didn't take it. He'd put it in the back of his mind the entire time, but seeing his other self save Megatron…

( A warlord snorted, a smile, small yet terrible, perched on his derma as he sees his counterpart being saved by the same human that had the chance to end him yet didn't. He wonders if the Autobots knew of that moment, if the human had told them he had the chance to end things permanently and didn't.

Or did he keep it to himself out of shame? Either way, it truly seemed like that little human was far more interesting than he first thought he was. )

Maybe he should finally talk with Optimus about it.

[ Tailbreaker was quick to get back on his feet, this time hauling the silver mecha in turn and giving the strange mecha a slight nod before throwing himself back into the fray with a determined cry.

It didn't take long for the mecha to join him, countless of XTRs fell from blades, axe, fists and both cannon and sonic blast.

There had been a few close calls with Senscript's safety, a Soldier managing to slip through, a Levi's tentacle shooting out towards him, several attempts from above. Yet they managed to protect the youngest pilot successfully.

Not without damage however, it was a rare moment that a mecha would ever come back unscathed. Wrecker's left subwoofer on her shoulder had been crushed inwards, making her arm barely usable. Her plating had cracks and scratches, and she lost a few panels of heavy armor. XTR gore covered a vast majority of her mecha, especially her arms.

Tailbreaker's visor had cracked after being hit in the head, his right leg was sparking as a few cables had been cut forcing his mecha to limp awkwardly and keep his balance. His blades were caked in XTR blood, although he wasn't missing any panels, multiple armor platings were cracked and scratched- less so than Wreckers at least.

The silver mecha's cannon was steaming, wisps of smoke was wafting off of it as the heated metal glowed. They were favoring their right side, pressing a hand over a gash across their chestplating.

The blue and red mecha was leaning on his axe, but surprisingly looked the least damaged aside from Senscript. Most of the time, the silver mecha had stuck to the their side, protecting them to the best of their abilities. ]

It was tense, watching both the humans and the two leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons fight against the Quintessons- there were far too many close calls. Wrecker and Tailbreaker didn't seem used to fighting side by side for long periods of time, nor protecting a third party. Sometimes they were too hyper focused on Senscript to notice an enemy coming in when they should have.

Meanwhile Optimus and Megatron continued to fight like a well-oiled machine, with Megatron tanking a lot of hits for Optimus. Which was insane to think of considering normal circumstances, but in that world, in this 'Alien Mecha' universe, it really seemed like the leader of the Decepticons was dedicated in protecting the Prime.

Whatever this title of 'Lord High Protector' seemed accurate so far. Which made them all the more curious as to what it was exactly.

"Oh thank frag." Bulkhead sighed when he saw reinforcements finally coming in to help, he'd been starting to worry at how long they'd been fighting- the screen showed it in bits and pieces, seeming to accelerate through certain moments but even quick combat could be exhausting in such heavy circumstances.

The mecha suits didn't look too good, he'd been worried that Mik-Wrecker's mecha's arm would fall off after that bad hit to the shoulder-subwoofer. But thankfully, and honestly to be expected, Wrecker's mecha was made of literally tough stuff.

Ratchet made a disgruntled noise, optics looking over the injuries of not only Other Optimus but Megatron as well- something he didn't think he'd be doing but after watching the mech fight alongside and protect the Prime there… He still didn't exactly trust the Decepticon tyrant of that world but it wasn't like he could do anything else. Besides, he was still a medic. He had to assess what injuries were in front of him…

He couldn't help but do the same to the mecha suits as well, they were cybertronian-like enough that some techniques would work the same- welding, cable cauterization and mending, plating replacement, glass mending or full on visor replacement… it was the humans inside that he was really worried about though.

( "Quintessons are definitely a persistent enemy, they seem to have the numbers to willingly sacrifice their own troops without care- none of them ever seemed to consider the option of retreat." A seeker muttered with disgust and slight fascination, "Then again, these 'Soldiers' and 'Levis' seem little else but bio-created drone shock troops and muscle, smart enough to wield weapons, ride mounts and attack but not enough to consider other strategic or tactical moves."

"No responses of fear, not really. They kept attacking Lord Megatron without any regard to their own safety and lives." A medic commented, "Even our vehicons have basic intelligence at first with the chance of growing more into their processors if given time and experience but I doubt that the Quintessons would let anything else other than their 'commanders' to have a shred of competent intellectual thinking or sapience."

"Pretty sturdy." An ex-wrecker added, "A few of them survived a point blank blast from Lord Megatron's fusion cannon, it wasn't at full power but still." Both mechs nodded in agreement, glancing over to their still silent leader who watched with an unsettlingly neutral expression on his faceplate.

"Reinforcements." An arachnoid femme noted with a hum of interest, snorting at the sight of both red and purple symbols arriving together on screen. "It truly seems like Autobots and Decepticons have decided to band together in face of this Quintesson threat… Impressive with the numbers indeed, but for both sides to ally together? For Lord Megatron to side and protect Optimus Prime? My… The Quintessons may truly be a bigger threat than I originally thought."

The warlord twitched at her words, his neutral expression twisting to a scowl though he kept silent. Still watching the screen with narrowed optics as both Autobots and Decepticons descended to deal with the remaining Quintessons. )

[ .: … These aren't pilots. :. Tailbreaker suddenly said in a private comm between him and Wrecker, and Senscript, had he been awake but the poor guy was still unconscious for now.

"What?" Wrecker replied a bit confusedly, panting to herself as she adjusted her mecha's settings while trying to calm herself down from the adrenaline of the battle.

.: None of these guys are pilots. Wrecker, look at them. They have faces, fully articulated and emotional and- there's too many of them. No government would fund all these mecha and- look! That one just transformed into some sort of futuristic jet! :.Tailbreaker exclaimed, gesturing to a mecha who had jumped into the air and turned into a flying aircraft. .: And these buildings… are way too big for humans. :.

Wrecker finally noticed her surroundings, stiffening in her cockpit as she sees the giant buildings that were her mecha's size. The mechas around her were gesticulating, most of them had faces that moved lips, frowned, smiled, blinked. "Holy shit." She muttered as it finally hit her. She and Tailbreaker subconsciously stood close before Senscript, like sentries, keeping separate from the not-pilots around them. ]

"There's the realization!" Miko snickered, grinning at the way her older, other self was looking stunned. Honestly she was expecting a more explosive reaction considering she was, y'know, her. But hey, that's fine. Miko was a little stunned herself when she first saw Arcee transform in that alleyway, only snapping out of it when Jack made the absurd move of rejecting Arcee's offer.

Like seriously, who wouldn't want to go with a giant alien robot? She sent a look to Jack who caught it and rolled his eyes.

"I see Hound, Red Alert, Remedy, Velocity- Primus, they're all there..." Ratchet said quietly, a bit disbelieving at seeing so many familiar faces in the background of the screen. Prowl was rallying both Autobots and Decepticons, instructing them from one place to another.

"Ironhide, Chromia, Jazz…" Optimus hummed quietly, a small soft yet sad smile on his faceplate as he saw his other self talk with old friends he hadn't seen since the Exodus, unfortunately. Not to mention a few faceplates that were… no longer with them. He took in a deep vent, at the sight of Kup and Impactor.

.: Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Blaster… :. Bumblebee whirred, doorwings drooping low. More and more names came to mind as he saw faceplate after faceplate, he felt Raf's hand and saw his concern, .: I-I'm okay Raf, just… missing old friends. :.

Bulkhead laughed, it was something happy and sad as he saw himself on the screen. Not alone of course. "Broadside, Springer, Roadbuster… Even Seaspray's there!" Primus, he hoped old barnacle butt was alright, he was alive during the Exodus. He could feel coolant gather in his optics at the sight of faceplates long gone, even before the Exodus.

"Nautica, Firestar- Cliffjumper!" Arcee abruptly exclaimed, standing up at the sight of both herself and Cliffjumper on the screen! "He's alive! Oh thank Primus, he's… he's alive." There. He was alive there, with her in that world. That was good. That was… frag, never thought she'd feel this jealous over herself in another world.

"That's Cliffjumper?" Jack asked, curious and careful. He smiled though when Arcee gave him a nod and a smile, shaky but there, and he said nothing about how unusually shiny her eyes were. Still, he furrowed his brows before calling out. "Pause!"

Several eyes, human and cybertronian, turned to him in confusion and question. "You guys look like you need a minute." He told the Autobots, seeming more than one of them taken-aback and eagerly looking at the screen. It was one thing to see your planet alive and healthy, but seeing old comrades, ones that you haven't seen one way or another…

Optimus Prime nodded slightly at him. "Thank you Jack, that is very kind." No one commented the slight sniffles that came from certain bots,

( "Skywarp… Thundercracker." No one commented the seeker's voice breaking slightly, not even the tyrant who looked at multiple Decepticon faceplates in the screen. Ones he has not seen in a long, long while.

A medic hesitates, but stays silent and does nothing. Merely looks away when he caught the sharp glare of the flier who was quickly recomposing himself, silently berating that tiny show of weakness.

"So many bots and cons still alive." A femme whispered lowly, optics narrowing as she sees a few past prey alive in the background. A sign that the war had stopped rather early, or perhaps she was not a cybertronian. Neither was an option she liked, one especially more than the other. At any rate though, she sneered when she caught the sight of a certain blue femme, snorting at the red mech that was beside her. "Ah, so she does keep a partner, a cybertronian partner, alive in another world… How long will she keep him?" )

It took a few minutes before the team unanimously decided to continue again.

[ .: So, to recap; our mission goes FUBAR at the end because that XTR Commander- I don't know, fucking warped us to some alien planet that has living mechas? We're surrounded on all sides by aliens! Aliens like the XTR- no, shit, that's an unfair comparison. They're not like the XTRs, they're- they helped us. They fought against the shits, and by the looks of it, the XTRs were fighting them too. Just look at this place. :. Wrecker commented and Tailbreaker nodded in agreement.

The mecha-sized city they were in was burning. Crumbling down. They recognized a city being attacked by the XTRs just fine… "I don't think they're hostile to us yeah, we might actually have found an alien race that doesn't want to attack us- that might help us with the XTRs." He was a bit relieved by that, and he straightened in his seat when he saw the two mechas- mecha aliens? Alien Mechas? That helped him and Wrecker before. "Incoming."

Much to his and Wrecker's surprise though, as soon as they were near, the red and blue alien-mecha began to speak English. "You are… humans?" ]

That certainly surprised them.

"He knows about humans?" Raf blinked, "Have they been to Earth yet?"

Optimus' expression furrowed slightly, "Perhaps? To know about humans despite being on Cybertron—" A sharp gasp interrupted him as Miko suddenly stood up.

"What if Wheeljack's here?! He disappeared into a spacebridge right?! He's gotta be here!"

Bulkhead's hopes began to rise, "If anyone managed to get on Cybertron before Miko, Jack and Raf, it's gotta be Jackie." He agreed immediately. The chance of Wheeljack being alive and on Cybertron? He'll take it! But Primus! It was going to be weird seeing Wheeljack as a human!

"Then let us hope it is Wheeljack." Optimus replied with a nod.

( "They already know of humans?" )

[ .: It knows English!? :. Wrecker gawped into their comm, Tailbreaker made an admonishing hissing sound at her before activating his external speakers to speak with the alien mecha.

"I- yes, we are humans." Tailbreaker confirmed considering what else could they do? They were outnumbered, by the looks of the transforming weaponry- outgunned as well. Trying to fight only one race of aliens was hard enough, fighting a similar species to the suits they were piloting definitely wouldn't be ideal. "How did you... Pardon, but- how do you know about us? Speak our language?"

The cracked mask the mecha was wearing slid away, revealing another face that was giving him a welcoming expression. "You are not the first of your kind that we've spoken too, he has become a friend of ours as he helps us in our war against the Quintesson. Do you recognize the name, Wheeljack?"

Almost immediately Wrecker's mecha lurched forward, her external speakers activating to exclaim. "Wheeljack?! He's here!? You have him?!" She reached out with her least damaged arm to try and grab the alien but was stopped firmly by the silver mecha who growled in warning.

Tailbreaker was quick to get between him and Wrecker, holding Wrecker back from doing something reckless or impulsive. ]

"He's there! Ahahaha! That's Wheeljack for ya!" Bulkhead cheered the moment Other Optimus said Wheeljack's name, he couldn't wait to tell Jackie all about this! "'Course Jackie survived! He made it to Cybertron too! No matter the species, he's always gonna find his way back to us Autobots!"

Miko was squealing, cheering with him. "Yes! He's alive! Man, Wrecker must be so stoked!"

Jack shared an amused but relieved look with Arcee, glad that the other Wheeljack was still alive. "Still, just what were the chances that Wheeljack managed to get to Cybertron with a spacebridge? Really makes me wonder just what happened." He commented, crossing his arms and leaning back against the couch.

"From the brief flashback, Wheeljack got ambushed by the spacebridge by the looks of it. Something pulled him in." Arcee recalled with a frown and Bulkhead's mood darkened at the reminder. He growled, hating the fact that Wheeljack had been hurt- kind of? His mecha had been damaged, but there was a real chance that human Wheeljack got hurt too.

.: Well, whatever happened. He survived and he's with the Autobots now. ;. Bumblebee chirped before tilting his helm. .: So far we've seen almost everyone from the team there on Cybertron with the exception of me and Ratchet. Do you think we're human? :.

"I hope not!" Ratchet grumbled, frowning at the thought of being human. He was very content with being a cybertronian! "I would not know how to deal with being so small, and fragile."

"Aw c'mon Ratchet, I think you'd do fine! You wouldn't know anything different since you'd be born a human anyway." Raf grinned, now wanting to see whether or not Bee or Ratchet were humans like Shockwave and Wheeljack.

( "It was too much to hope that the Autobot, human or not, had perished I suppose." A seeker grumbled, annoyed by the Wrecker's continued survival.

"Though it is impressive that he's managed to make it all the way to Cybertron. Considering how we last saw him." A medic chimed in.

His conjunx grunted, "Something had him, speared through his mecha. Wonder what happened… Knowing Wheeljack though, explosions were involved." The SIC seeker shuddered, remembering the demise of a certain plateshifter after their attempt of infiltrating the Autobot base. )

[ "You know him."

Tailbreaker nodded towards the red and blue mech, "Yes, he was- is, a good friend of ours. Wrecker especially… We didn't know what happened to him, he just disappeared during one attack. He was eventually labeled MIA and—"

"They considered him dead! But no! Not Jackie!" Wrecker exclaimed, shoving Tailbreaker away who wobbled with his damaged leg. She laughed, it was a touch bit hysterical but mostly relieved, "I knew it! I knew he was alive! Didn't think he was on a whole different planet! Where is he?! Is he here? Is he nearby?! WHEELJACK!" She called out, looking around, hoping to see her old friend.

"Wrecker, Wrecker pull yourself together." Tailbreaker said sharply, they were speaking with what seemed to be the leader of the aliens here. All the other aliens seemed to answer to them earlier on. "I'm sure we'll see him at some point, but right now, we need to focus. Senscript is still down, we're on another planet and- I'm sorry, we're being rude. My callsign's Tailbreaker, MECH pilot 05."

Wrecker had calmed down, nodding, "Wrecker, MECH pilot 00. Our third's Senscript, MECH pilot 013." She gestured to the unmoving Senscript.

The robotic alien frowned before offering a welcoming smile, "I am Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobot Faction of Cybertron. Cybertron being the planet you are on, of course. And this," He motioned to the silver not-mecha beside him, "Is Megatron, Leader of the Decepticon Faction and Lord High Protector of Cybertron." ]

"There's that title again." Ratchet muttered, optics narrowed at the alternate version of their enemy. "Just what does it mean?"

"Something obviously important if it's part of Optimus' introduction to the kids." Arcee said, arms crossed as she too wondered just what 'Lord High Protector' meant. By description, it should be obvious but it was actually pretty vague, did that mean protecting Optimus since was Prime? Seemed like it.

But even if this was an alternate Megatron, he was still a Megatron who was the Leader of the Decepticons, Autobots and Decepticons still existed as different factions and knowing the power-hungry mech. Being Optimus' protector wasn't the only reason why he was Lord High Protector, he wouldn't be satisfied with just that.

( Speculation ran through the war room, they, too, were wondering what Lord High Protector meant.

Their leader's expression was looking more displeased yet he kept calm, kept sat down as they all continued to watch the screen. )

[ .: Alright, so we are talking to the leaders of their race. And the planet we're on is called Cybertron. :. Tailbreaker muttered into their private comms before replying, "It's nice to meet you both, wish it was under better circumstances."

"Yeah…" Wrecker trailed off, scowling at the silver… cybertron guy? Megatron. Not that he would know, unlike the aliens, her mecha didn't have a face. Anyway, he didn't seem too happy to see them. "What's his deal?"

"Wrecker!" She ignored Tailbreaker's hiss to asses the other leader.

Optimus frowned and turned to Megatron, speaking in their language. ]

"Ugh, what are they saying? What gives? Earlier on, we understood Optimus just fine but now we can't?" Miko complained, gesturing to the screen.

"It's a perspective shift, thing." Raf sighed, shifting on Bumblebee's shoulder. "I couldn't understand a lot of things within the Observer but depending on perspectives, languages can be translated automatically to be understood by the users. Since we're in um, our other selves' perspective, who don't understand Cybertronian- it doesn't translate it until we shift to someone who understands Cybertronian."

Ratchet grunted, "It should be automatically translating no matter what perspective but, again, damaged systems within. As for what Megatron's saying he's complaining about there being more humans. To be expected, honestly."

Arcee's faceplate furrowed as she tilted her helm, "Doesn't really sound like complaining though, he seems… concerned? Optimus is trying to reassure him but Megatron's… not happy with how the humans are being treated? That they sound young? The frag?"

Jack and Miko blinked, "What."

Bulkhead had to agree, what. "Since when did buckethead care for young human huh? Or humans in general?!"

"'Their government is less to be desired Megatron, but your displeasure is being mistaken to be aimed at them, specifically.' That's what Optimus just said." Raf frowned with confusion on his face. "Now Megatron's sighing and saying he should have made more effort in learning the human language so he could apologize himself and… and Optimus is teasing him?"

Bulkhead needed Ratchet to check on his processor because he's pretty sure a few fuses blew as he hears Optimus tease Megatron about not learning English, even smiling at Megatron- unfortunately the grumpy medic seemed to have blown a few fuses himself, gawping at the screen for the very same reasons.

Megatron wanting to apologize to the human kids? Optimus full on teasing Megatron?

Forget the Quintessons, the mecha suits, and the change of species for some people, this was the most shocking thing they've seen in this world yet!

Meanwhile, Optimus was watching with not exactly wide-optics, but he had yet to look away. Seemingly entranced by the comradery he saw between his other self and the other Megatron. It… reminded him too much of Orion and Megatronus, far more than the actor universe ever did.

( Unwanted memories come to a warlord's processor, old ones that depict of an Iaconian archivist smiling at a Kaoni gladiator during a time that seemed more simple than the present. Of late cycles with messages shared across the planet, of a relationship building from the same interests, and a potential for more.

The room tenses at the loud growl their leader let out, dark and irritable. Only one other mech in the room recognizes the slight hint of conflicting jealousy hidden beneath the building anger, and like always, keeps silent about it and everything else. )

[ "His displeasure isn't aimed at you, this cycle- hm, day? Has been stressful for everyone involved." Optimus finally said in English to them, "For now, let us retire to somewhere safer so your comrade can be overseen by a medic. Wheeljack is on his way."

At the mention that Wheeljack was one his way, Wrecker was immediately going over to Senscript. "Lead the way bossman!"

"Wrecker!" ]

"No matter the universe, Miko is Miko… the actor doesn't really count." Jack sighed, palming his face at Wrecker's casual attitude to someone who was suppose to be one of the leaders of an entire planet. For some reason, he thought being a bit older, Miko would have learned to be a bit more… he doesn't know, restrained? Respectful? To figures of authority, but nope. She could follow orders at least… Mostly?

"Jackie must mean a lot to you Miko." Bulkhead said with a smile, happy at the fact that even though he and Wheeljack hadn't known each other as long and were different species, at least he still had a good close friend like Miko worrying over his human butt.

Miko grinned, "Looks like it! Aw man, aw man! I can't wait to see human Wheeljack!" She cheered, excited to see the Wrecker as her own species- he was already cool as an alien robot space cowboy samurai, he would no doubt be just as cool as a human! It was Wheeljack they were talking about after all!

Despite the short meeting, and the whole 'Makeshift' thing that happened before it, Miko had a great impression on the real Wheeljack. She'd been pretty disappointed when he decided not to stay, making him promise to visit Earth again in the future. And hey! Considering what they were doing, maybe as soon as Bulkhead told him what was going on, Wheeljack would totally have to come back to Earth and check it out for himself!

[ "There's nothing there?!"

Abruptly, the scene cuts back to Earth. Silas hunched over intimidatingly over a table with a glowering look on his face, the poor soldier reporting to him shook his head. "N-No sir, nothing aside from the remains of the XTRs."

"And the trackers?!" Silas snapped towards a man sitting by a console.

The man flinched but answered, motioning to a screen. The pilot pictures of Wrecker, Tailbreaker and Senscript were dim with all their statuses being labeled 'N/A'. "Out of range sir, possibly offline."

Silas growled while Shockwave, who was by another monitor, stood by in silence. Finally speaking, "Play it again." He ordered the woman controlling the computer. She did as ordered and played Wrecker and Tailbreaker's last messages.

. JD-05 : W-What the— :.

. MN-00 : No- n—o! —AY! MAYDAY! Wr—ECH HQ! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! It's the th—ing that took Ja—:.

Shockwave hummed, "… Vortex… portal… Senscript did not say anything, he must have sustained damage or was knocked offline." He said mostly to himself with interest, but the screen suddenly flashed over his hands behind his back. They trembled and clenched tightly. "Hmph." ]

"We're back on Earth!" Raf declared, surprised at the sudden shift from Cybertron to Earth.

Miko glared mulishly at the screen as she pouted, she wanted to see Wheeljack! She wanted to be back on Cybertron! "Back with MECH."

"Back with Silas and Shockwave." Jack sighed, though he looked confused at the sudden switch to Shockwave's hands. Not seeing the importance of it.

The Autobots on the other hand seemed slightly dumbfounded. "Is that…"

.: Emotion? Is Shockwave experiencing emotions? Like- as a human? Humans… don't have emotion suppressors do they?? :. Bumblebee whirred, turning to Raf who shook his head.

"Not… really? I guess there's medicine that can help calm people down I think, and some people can't feel emotions correctly like other people but…" He trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

"Question is, just what is he feeling? Annoyance that he didn't get results over his prototype testing? Anger? Disappointment?" Arcee scoffed, the initial thought of Shockwave having emotions was absurd but paused as she thought it over a bit more. She shuddered, it was bad enough that the cycloptic scientist was emotionless, if he actually had access to emotions like anger again…

Optimus spied Ratchet on his datapad once more, this time on a different website pertaining human emotions and medicine related to it. The medic catches his glance and his faceplate tints, grumbling with a cough as he abruptly closed the website. Optimus hummed yet said nothing about it.

( A seeker perked up, delighted, "My, my, is that frustration I see a hint of from Shockwave of all mechs?" He needled to nobody but himself. Unsettling as it was to see Shockwave even portray a silver of emotion, it was quite the sight for someone who'd been at odds with the scientist before hand.

"Well, he is human. From my… information gathering, I find that humans, even those who claim to be emotionless, do seem to have emotions of sorts." A medic said, tapping at his datapad. "Humans can't exactly permanently render themselves emotionless, not without severe repercussions that a cybertronian could easily ignore."

Unnoticed by all but one, a silent mech bowed his head slightly. The warlord, initially displeased by the return to the planet they were currently on, paused for just a moment before returned to being displeased. )

[ "Three pilots, three of our top pilots are gone and that's all you have to say?" Silas questioned, annoyed by Shockwave's perceived unaffectedness. "Billions of money, years of investment, in training, gone."

Shockwave didn't bother turning to him, "You knew that was a possibility the moment they started piloting mechas. All it takes is one bad battle to lose everything, as is usually the fate of all pilots."

A flash of a towering extremely damaged purple mecha standing in front of something small, something dented, something mostly covered in XTR blood but underneath was a hint of yellow.

Silas narrowed his eyes at him, "The fate of all pilots is dying in their mechas for the sake of humanity, as they were trained to do. Not inexplicably disappearing all at the same time! No one left behind, not even a single component left from their mechas— Especially from the Ambus set! We even lost the prototype invention you made!" He seethed, scowling at the man who stood in place with his hands behind his back as if nothing had happened and they hadn't suffered a huge loss. ]

"Woah, woah, what was that?!" Bulkhead gawped at the very brief moment of what looked to be a familiar-ish purple mecha and something else on the ground.

A chill ran up most of the Autobots, a bad feeling at the brief flash they saw. It'd been too fast, too much in a too short of time. But it had been a flash of human Shockwave's past- hadn't other Miko said he'd been a pilot before? That that was the reason why he even had the callsign of 'Shockwave'?

Whatever it was, it was swept away by Silas' infuriating words.

"Excuse me?!" Arcee hissed, plates bristling at the screen.

Bumblebee growled, .: He's not even concerned about the kids! :. He exclaimed indignantly with anger, his engine growling with him from how angry he was.

"Money? Investment?! Ain't worth scrap to the lives that you actually 'lost' you tiny coward of a man! If you're so incensed and annoyed, go pilot your own mecha!" Bulkhead snapped at the screen, servos slamming on his knees.

Ratchet hissed something vulgar in cybertronian, not to the extent of much earlier when other Optimus had been dangling off a cliff with Megatron above him but the promise of pain was just as intense.

Even Optimus was sporting a dark expression as he stared dispassionately at Silas.

The kids glanced at their Autobot guardians with concern, but were all a bit touched by their reactions. Still, they did their best to calm them down.

( The words investment, training and dying reminded two ex-gladiators too much of their pasts for reasons unknown, even to them. Of patrons and battles, beneath the glory and fame, invisible shackles at their limbs, Tight and chafing. Having to fight for even the privilege to live.

A seeker, a medic, an ex-Wrecker, and an arachnoid flinch at the sudden dual noises of engines rumbling dark and low. One was expected as his faceplate darkened significantly, the other was a complete surprise considering his reputation and full-faceplated visor. )

[ "You are pointing out the obvious, Silas." Shockwave drawled, much to Silas' growing annoyance. "But I understand your frustration, the losses we've suffered outweigh what we've gained."

"Oh? And what exactly have we gained?" Silas questioned through gritted teeth.

Shockwave typed into the woman's console, replaying a segment of Wrecker's last message over and over again a few times. "Information. Information that may be crucial."

. MN-00 : We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! :.

"I believe what Wrecker is saying is 'vortex portal'. There's been an ongoing theory of how the XTRs have been appearing stealthily on Earth, they don't always appear within a ship in our atmosphere after all and pilots have been known to disappear inexplicably in the past with little to no signs of pilot or mecha." Shockwave's red mask glowed a bit brighter, "I believe we just found the answer." ]

"The Quintessons must have been hiding the fact they were using bridging technology from the humans." Ratchet theorized with a huff, glaring darkly at both humans on the screen. One human he was already expecting to dislike considering who his counterpart was, but the other? MECH had originally just been a human nuisance, an unfortunate organization that found out about Cybertronians. Soon afterwards though, they became something dangerous with their kidnapping of Breakdown, then even willing to ally with Arachnid and kidnapping Ms. Darby, Jack's mother.

But now? In that world at least, he earned even more ire from the Autobots from his callous words alone. He could only imagine what treatment and training the mecha world children had been underneath the thumb of that man, not to mention Shockwave himself… And he didn't like it, not one bit.

[ A red, white and green mecha suit was striding through a cybertronian hallway. Obvious from the other mechs and femmes that were going about in the large space. The suit was barely patched, its size was smaller than Wrecker's and even Tailbreaker but it was wider with two swords attached to its back. "Better keep up Maggie 'cause this cowboy ain't slowin' down for nothin'!" He called back to the larger mech that was attempting to follow after him. "I got a friend waitin' for me!"

"Wheeljack." 'Maggie' said with exasperation as he avoided a mech, apologizing for nearly bumping into them. The mostly blue mech sighed but gave a slight smile at how excited the human sounded. "Refrain from calling me that, Wheeljack." ]

"Maggie?!" Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee were definitely gawking now, Bulkhead especially considering he knew the relationship between his Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack hadn't been… the most agreeable in the last moments before the Exodus.

"Who's that? Who's Maggie?" Miko asked, watching Wheeljack and 'Maggie' weave through other bots and- yep, those were cons. Autobots and Decepticons really were working together.

"Ultra Magnus." Ratchet corrected, though he couldn't help the amused look on his faceplate. "He used to leader of the Cybertron's own Elite Guard before he later became the commander of the Wreckers."

"Oooh, he's a Wrecker? NICE!"

"Kinda? He's- well, he's uh… kinda rigid compared to most other Wreckers Miko. Much more by the books kind of mech, if you get what I'm saying." Bulkhead told herand frowned, "Man, can't believe Jackie's calling Ultra Magnus Maggie- and he only had a light reprimand! Something's up!"

( "Finally back on Cybertron… if only to witness the Autobots again… Hm, his mecha suit is quite different from his cybertronian self but I do see some similarities." A seeker mused, deadpanning unamusedly at the banter that was said between the Wrecker and the other Autobot. He recognized that one as well.

"So far the board's even, Shockwave's a human and so is an Autobot. Who knows who else is human here." A medic chuckled. )

[ Finally, Wheeljack arrived at a certain room. Throwing the door open without a care, "Wrecker!" He called out joyously and almost immediately he was grabbed from the doorway much to Ultra Magnus' immediate concern- just as he was aiming a blaster at Wheeljack's assailant, he heard a warbled; "Jaaackiiiieeee!"

He hesitated as he sees a giant Quintesson gore-stained mecha hugging Wheeljack. "You're alive! I knew it! I knew it, I knew, I knew it!"

Wheeljack laughed, patting the mecha's shoulder. "Damn straight I am! Gonna take more than that to… get me…" He trailed off, Ultra Magnus's optics blinked as he peered behind them both. Another human mecha sat awkwardly within the room on a medbay berth, another was laying, supposedly unconscious. He straightened at the sight of Optimus Prime and Megatron.

However just before he could say anything, Wheeljack's clearly horrified voice spoke once more. "… Miko, why do you sound so young?"

"… Shit…" ]

It started out as such a tearful reunion, Wheeljack was alive! Wrecker got to see him alive!

That was, until Wheeljack's horrified question came.

They were all pretty confused by it, but two veterans could only feel dread for the upcoming conversation that was about to happen.

( On a warship, things just seemed to be getting a bit more interesting on screen. )

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

glad to have updated in the first week of june! unfortunately updates may or may not slow or just continue on, the new house needs a room (my room) built so its a bit hard to concentrate sometimes when construction goes on and other stuff is happening

BUT HEY WHEELJACK IS ALIVE! AND LOOK HERE'S ULTRA MAGNUS! WE LOVE THESE TWO!

[PREV]

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[goodluckeddie]

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[wrathful-reptile]

Some dragons I've drawn recently! (in order of drawing them, left to right) They are Lazarus, Hurim, Zahara, and Cloud Chaser!

These dragons are from the discontinued interactive novel/game series "Riders of Abauruth" by @13leaguestories

Click the images for better quality!

[cranberrymoons]

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[cuteniarose]

The consequences of my poor financial decisions are here!!

[ambersky0319]

I am. So fucking annoyed.

[thecomet-and-themeteor]

I don't know how much sense this makes but I need a Langelique Cinderella AU, I think it'd work pretty well

[widevibratobitch]

moments like this when im really glad im a sad little cynic who always considers the worst possible outcome and never lets herself truly get comfortable and trust the good things in her life to stay there and builds her life around trying to soften the blows of the eventual disappointments just waiting around the corner lol never leaving my edgy teenager era peace and love

[autistic-shaiapouf]

Okay okay so. Thinking.

I've mapped out how I want to pay off my credit cards, which means I'll only be getting new stuff pretty sporadically, which means I need to appreciate the zero cost things in my life, like:

- the 2.5 foot tall stack of unread books I have

- the violin I might finally actually pick up again

- the 500+ drawing prompts I've been hoarding

- the list of anime I still need to watch

- the 3000+ songs in my watch later playlist

- the stickers I've been neglecting to cut

- yarn??? I have a lot of yarn

- all the pink fabric leftover from moth cosplay

- the candles and incense I also already have

In short, time to actually use the stuff that I have 😭

[gachaparadise]

ahhh the Penacony leaks are really coming in now.

*chuckles* I'm in danger.