Work Text:
Perceptor awoke to find himself shaking, sat straight up in his berth.
His spark pulsed wildly in it's casing as his meta tried to process his recharge flux, tried to process the oppressive emotions holding a vice on his his very essence from out of seemingly nowhere.
A quick optical sweep of his hab-suite showed it wasn't the mess of his nightmare, full of datapads and silicone sheet notes of research that didn't belong to him tacked to every available surface. There were no empty energon cubes waiting to be dispersed, no packaging for energon gels and highgrade containers littering the area surrounding his berthing.
His room was spotless-just as he left it when he plugged in to recharge, but the cognitive disconnect remained.
Preternatural aches both mental and physical cloyed at seams and joints where they shouldn't as he tried to settle, and he hadn't felt this alone since he was balanced on the edge of deactivation, a hole the size of his helm blown right through his chest.
A part of him mourned unnaturally, yearned for something that felt like it was just out of his grasp. The aloneness morphed it's serpent's head into lonesomeness with fangs of betrayal-the constriction in his throat and the fresh hell of his dreaming memory told him it was meant to be there. That he deserved it. Only as the logical part of his mind began to soothe and fade out the fallacious data as it woke was he reminded that his dreams had no bearing on real life.
His dreams were logically fueled by what he had adsorbed in life and thought, and the stress of his fairly recent participation with his...offspring... likely didn't help in those matters. His bright little accident, with a full flight suite already installed and the promise already on the horizon of another bright Cybertronian mind- he had been able to grow passingly fond of the young mech. Fission was nearly attached to Brainstorm at the hip, even Perceptor could find some affection there...
Brainstorm.....
Perceptor's recent proximity to Brainstorm after such a long time away sent him into an acute withdrawl he was positive he had kicked in the time apart. But- Perceptor was finding his interface protocols priming at the delicate brush of a winglet across his pauldron, and he remembered manipulating the wings' attachments with his hands in haste, savoring the moan it drew out of his lover even as he devoured the generously offered gift of neck cabling. Optics of molten gold beckoned and begged and challenged all at once when they broke apart from that end- words of false superiority meant to spur him on tumbled from the flier's lips even as Perceptor was three digits deep int-
Perceptor snapped himself out of his reverie, his spark pulsed quicker in it's casing with desire for its partner.... it's most convenient partner of late- rather, despite the time apart. Fear and pain had been mostly replaced by a pervasive lust.
Were it the time before and Perceptor felt this way, he would've beat pede down to Brainstorm's habsuite and fragged him down into the nearest surface until the pair of them were sated and sore.
The wasn't an option, as despite what were now firmly considered dubious claims of affection having passed Brainstorm's lips, he'd not even given Perceptor a second passing glance since their more platonic reconciliation. He'd be a liar if he said that didn't bother him.
His primary interface system pinged him again, helpfully suggesting a spike overload to get the charge out and get him back to sleep. He scowled out into the darkness as he settled back down onto his back. He tried not to think about what a soft, well constructed mouth could do to him...
The ping came again, the scowl grew deeper.
He'd not debase himself- lower himself to that of level of a manual overload. He forced himself into recharge without another thought about it.
A few days later, he was reexamining his choices, as well as his priorities. Charge was a quiet variable that was persistent as it was annoying after that night, whispering cloying predictions of acceptance in the back of his mind. Proximity would drive him insane if he didn't act or find an outlet. He needed to act before it began to affect his work.
It was the most simple of gestures, unmistakable between the two of them- especially after as long day they had, constantly at a certain proximity. He was standing a little too close to be mistaken as friendly, observing as Brainstorm nattered on and on about whatever little thing it was that he had been trying to make better.
Animated and excited as he was, Brainstorm was a kinetic vision bursting with energy. Perceptor's hand was on him before he could talk himself out of the impulse, his expression turned thoughtful as his thumb steadily advanced down a seam near to his cockpit he had been known to favor.
All of Brainstorm's movement came to an abrupt stop with the fond stroke, voice cut off with the audible click of his jaw shutting behind his mask. Perceptor opted to watch the path of his touch for a few moments more before he lifted his gaze to meet Brainstorm's.
Brainstorm looked back at him, bright-optic'd and still. Want and apprehension warred nakedly in his expression, covered as it was. Perceptor expected him to turn and push against him, rise to the unspoken challenge issued and fall back into the swift steps of their old dance. He knew what he could do to his colleague and he expected that faceplate to come away and the distance between them closed in frantic kisses that the flier would be the one to initiate.
He did not expect Brainstorm to look at him all wild-eyed and with what seemed like all the lust he had himself contained in his gaze and then to step back away from him- to put that space between them- Enough space that Brainstorm could comfortably fold his arms over his cockpit.
"What are you doing?" His tone was two parts interrogative to one perturbed, and Perceptor went to single-mindedly pursue when he realized the question was actually serious and required an answer. He gathered himself for a microklik before he spoke, resetting his vocalizer with a clear of the throat. He straightened his already nearly perfect posture just so.
" I mean to- that is.... I wish to inquire on a possible return to our.... prior arrangement."
Brainstorm goggled at him silently for a moment before his expression closed off some, eyes narrowed.
"Our arrangement." Brainstorm scrutinized him close for a moment before pointedly looking over to the blast-shielded play-pen, where his son.... their son lay on whatever little project he had been working away on, peaceful in his sleep. He looked back to Perceptor who looked back at him in turn, his posture remained the same- stiff and unsure.
"...What about Drift?" It wasn't any sort of question Perceptor was expecting, and the fact that he was taken aback must have been apparent in his expression, for Brainstorm's expression shifted imperceptibly in kind. His confusion cleared as quickly as it had come on though, and Perceptor allowed the words to tumble out.
" Drift and I... are not involved. Were not involved ." Perceptor debated a microklik on continuing his train of thought, but decided for it before his brain module could really catch up to him. "We entertained the notion, but he ended up spurning... my.... advances...." His words slowed as Brainstorm's expression quickly became thunderous before soothing down into a bland annoyance at another glance across the room at Fission's sleeping form. The masked mech turned back to his workbench.
"We talked about this, Perce." Brainstorm regarded his tools with optics cast down, he sounded like for all the world that he was considering tossing one of them at his head. "I'm not going to be anyone's second choice- not even yours."
To Perceptor's credit, he did not refute or sputter, but took a long moment to regroup and reanalyze. He took another step closer and observed as Brainstorm's winglets pressed in closer to his already tense frame. Perceptor was no behaviorist-- his forte would always remain in the harder sciences. He was also no stranger to social upset however; but to have been the reason the focus of his current.... fascination was thrown into a state of discomfiture by him was upsetting in it's own right. Somewhere back in his mind he realized this was a similar uncomfortable sensation to their parting before Fission's unexpected emergence.
He resolved a last try, deciding to back off for good should Brainstorm's continued response be unfavorable. He removed his sighting eyepiece and worried it for a moment before setting it on the workbench and using the motion to lean his weight on the surface. It allowed him to lean just that much closer, to assess Brainstorm's expressions as he spoke.
"It's not Drift that I want." Optics lit brighter, plainly showed disbelief-hurt-suspicion. Perceptor held Brainstorm's gaze and softened his tone. "It's not thoughts of Drift keeping me up at night, Brainstorm." His voice modulated further into a sensual purr, and he put on a small smile.
" It's not Drift that's been plaguing my thoughts at all hours, with whom mere thoughts of can nigh overheat my circuitry." He came closer, watching as Brainstorm's posture slowly opened up towards him. Realization clicked into place just as Brainstorm's fans clicked on to their lowest setting and the jet pretended they didn't.
Perceptor reached out again; slowly, fluidly stroking down a sensor laden wing-edge. "You've most successfully driven me to...." He tweaked an aileron between his thumb and forefinger. Brainstorm's vocalizer muted before his moan could let out, but his body let out the familiar tremor that always accompanied such stimulation. "...Distraction."
He was in - or rather, he soon would be.
Brainstorm moved at the direction of his touch, optics nearly white and locked onto his movements.
Perceptor moved his hands to rest on the small of Brainstorm's waist over the armor of his hips and considered the workbench's weight capacity for a moment before fingertips skirting the edge of his adamant breastplate drew his attention up again.
Brainstorm's expression was no longer any sort of unsure and a thrill ran up Perceptor's backstrut at the intensity in his gaze. "Not in front of Fission." He jerked his helm towards the stockroom door. "There. It'll be close enough." The pair shuffled in, not bothering with the lock when the one still engaged on the outer door of the lab would suffice; with as late as it was, it'd be unlikely they would be interrupted.
The door had barely clicked shut before the were all over each other with a vengeance, touching and groping as if they had just discovered their respective sets of interface equipment. They only split apart when Brainstorm asked how he was wanted.
Kliks later and Perceptor had a most enticing clip of Brainstorm moving to his elbows and knees saved in a personal folder, the sight of the flier arching his back and flaring his wings to get a better look back at him was enough to nearly get him to pop his panel. Not to say he wasn't on him like pink on energon, all hands and scorching black modesty paneling grinding into blue.
Perceptor draped over him, reacquainting himself with old favorite spots on Brainstorm's frame with hasty tribute to several places; his hips, closed interface paneling, the slope of his cockpit, his thighs, opening interface paneling-
A moan sung in duet tore from their vocalizers as Perceptor's already tenuous control snapped- hip met aft-plates in a single fluid motion of withdrawal and hilting. He hadn't even realized he had pressurized for a microklik.
This was the feeling Perceptor was chasing- the hot squeeze of Brainstorm's soaked valve on his spike, the tremor of plating flush to his own. The triumph of the pure empirical fact that his lover reaffirmed had been left just as wanting as he was... He ran his hands from Brainstorm's hips to cockpit in some facsimile of a soothing motion, giving him a moment to adjust to his girth. The only downside to this position was the lack of spark to spark contact- but that would be easily remedied, should the tide turn thus.
If not- there would always be next time.
As of the present moment, Perceptor was contented with the momentary satisfaction of having chased down his dragon- things were right in the universe. He ground his hips in a short series of circle to announce his intent to move before withdrawing, watching with satisfaction how Brainstorm's hands attempted to grasp at the floor. Each liaison they'd had up to this point had been characterized with some raw characteristic- a roughness he had come to crave.
He'd not want to disappoint by breaking his streak. The pain was just as integral to their joining as the pleasure, in his opinion.
Perceptor tightened his grip on Brainstorm's chassis and surged forwards, the force of his thrust moved his flier bodily and tore a gasping plea from his vocalizer. Perceptor was off like a shot, ramming into the pliant, slick valve before him over and over with a ferality they'd both be feeling strut-deep for days.
The pulse of Brainstorm's valve about his spike, the screech of cooling systems trying desperately to dump heat paired with the rhythmic clank of movement and counter-movement, even the thick scent of their interfacing appealed to and delighted the deepest of Perceptor's base coding. Charge grew and pursued close at his heels and Primus he wished for that moment he had opted for face to face, the feel of a spark against his would-
"Puh-Perce!!" the drawn out moan of his nickname was all the advance he had of Brainstorom's overload, the burning clench and release of his hot port and pulses of charge battered at him as he came to a shaky stop within him. The sensation was an acute and rapturous and felt like it lasted an eternity plus, but it wasn't enough. A solution was within reach though; with a clench of his denta he adjusted and flipped Brainstorm's lax frame onto his back. The ungainly task was achieved with the ease that accompanied practice; it was in short order that Perceptor was re-seated in Brainstorm's valve and running his thumbs at the central seam of his chestplates.
"Open for me." Perceptor's voice was a whispered rasp "I want your spark."
Brainstorm's blissfully fucked out expression barely shifted with the exertion that baring his spark caused, but his optics met Perceptor's as the icy blue light burst into the small area. "Take it."
Perceptor couldn't shift open his modified chestplate fast enough, he brought his pace back up from abortive not-thrusts into full, impatient and rolling strokes. He couldn't outrun the soft tones of the complicated transformation sequence, but the moment the path was clear found him lurching forwards to initiate the merge. He pressed his forehelm to Brainstorm's and offlined his optics as the very essence of his being came forth to entangle with it's preferred lover.
Conscious blew away with the first simultaneous pulse of their sparks. Lust prevailed over the whole of the merge, but as it grew deeper it was the addicting euphoria of reunion that knit their energies closer into synchronicity. Relief pulsed and echoed back in turn and rocketed the shared charge higher.
An obscured feeling from one end drove the desire to share pleasure between the two-made-one up, and the last the other end felt before the charge surged to an explosive climax was an irrational longing for some measure of possession.
Coming down and re-calibrating, Perceptor couldn't help but just bask in the pleasant hum of his sated systems and the pleasant- if a little strange- overfull sensation in his spark chamber. Brainstorm hadn't spoken yet, but from the identical hum his own frame was giving off (snuggled close to Perceptor's, of course), he was sure it would be apparent if something was amiss- or if there were any regrets. He could predict with confidence that Brainstorm probably experienced the same sensations in that moment that he did.
Homeostasis had returned, and Perceptor welcomed it (and would allow for the post-coital affection, he supposed) with open arms.... or it had returned in bursts, at least; for far sooner than he had been accustomed before, Brainstorm stole his customary kiss and slowly got to his pedes with a soft murmur about checking on Fission.
Perceptor sat up on his elbows to watch him go, unable to resist the flash of interest his array gave at the light that caught on the attractive downward trickle of lubricants and transfluid on Brainstorm's inner thighs as he entered the main area.
He decided he may as well relax a few moments more before coming out, perhaps to discuss the, ah... less physical aspects of the return of their arrangements. The physical aspects had worked out just fine.
Equilibrium indeed.