Work Text:
When he heard the door slide open, Brainstorm made sure to act nonchalant and engrossed with his work, humming cheerfully to himself; any second now Perceptor would ask why the entire contents of the room were on the ceiling, and then he’d take great pleasure in explaining his new breakthrough, and he’d finally get one up on him, and Perceptor would be forced to admit that he was the better scientist and-
And then the door opened again, and Perceptor walked out without a word, engrossed in the datapad he’d come in to pick up.
‘…Unobservant fragger…’ Brainstorm collapsed onto his stool, pouting while he absent-mindedly typed observations onto a datapad of his own. It wasn’t that he was upset, not really. He was just fed up with Perceptor not acknowledging his blatantly superior work.
He forcefully crushed down the tiny part of him that admired his fellow scientist’s achievements, because really now, anyone could theorise -okay,prove- about gamma radiation and navigation, but it took a special talent, it took him, to come up with a weapon that simultaneously sucked the spark from an enemy, and changed colour depending on the user’s mood.
He was still proud of that one, even if it did seem to always be stuck on red, and have a tendency to uh, stimulate the target’s spark rather than destroy it.
No, he was going to have to try harder, or at least keep pushing and poking at Percy until he had no other choice but to admire his work. He opened a new document and instantly started jotting out new ideas until he came up with something foolproof.
Yeah, this’d definitely catch his attention.
~~
Brainstorm stepped back from his work, admiring the invention whilst checking it over for errors; it wasn’t exactly pretty yet, but it’d do for the first trial. Though there was something… He traced a wire back to the main body, noticing it wasn’t quite soldered on properly, which would completely change the effects if he didn’t fix it before it was activated. He’d just turned to pick up the soldering iron, when the door opened again and Perceptor strode it at exactly the wrong moment, and the bomb, designed to activate when it sensed a foreign mech’s EM field, promptly started to shudder and making a hideous whining noise.
That, apparently, got Perceptor’s attention.
‘Brainstorm, what could you possibly have do-’ He was cut off when he was tackled to the floor, Brainstorm ignoring his complaints as he rolled them under a desk.
‘This is all your fault! You weren’t meant to co-’ A deafening explosion caused them both to hunch together, and when it had calmed down they tentatively looked out.
The majority of the lab was completely covered in a thick coat of black slag, presumably from where the device had melted through the table and reacted with something before it actually exploded. It was, Brainstorm thought, pretty neat and he was actually looking forward to finding out what caused the black stuff, though any curiosity disappeared at the look of pure anger on Perceptor’s face.
It was impressive how his faceplates didn’t shift an inch, yet he could still look so utterly fragged off.
‘Brainstorm.’ His voice was calm, though had an icy undercurrent, and it was actually difficult to hold back a flinch. ‘What, pray tell, was this supposed to achieve, and why exactly were you not utilising the regulated safety measures?’
‘I uh…’ Amazing how his famous arrogance and bravado could abandon him like this. ‘It’s, I mean it was a bomb. Explodes when it detects a non-safe EM field, and you walked in before I could fix it.’ He was glaring himself by the end, determined to match Perceptor and prove himself.
‘A bomb. Of course. So I repeat, why weren’t you using the safety room? Designed, unsurprisingly, so that incidents such as this cannot happen.’
‘Pfft, if I did it there you wouldn’t se- Wait I mean-!’ He tried to backtrack as fast as possible when Perceptor’s optics darkened menacingly at his slip.
‘Are you seriously telling me, that this was just another one of your ridiculous attempts to one-up me?’ He gestured widely to the room, though his optics never strayed and Brainstorm was well aware that he was pinned under his glare. He tried to grab at a normal reaction, rather than show his superior any weakness.
‘I don’t need to ‘one-up’ you, if you’d just recognise that I’m clearly the superior scientist, we wouldn’t even-‘
The next thing Brainstorm knew, he was being slammed into the wall, his back and flight panels stinging from the impact, and Perceptor was grabbing both of his shoulders, practically snarling with rage.
‘You arrogant, pathetic fool! Your witless thinking could have killed us, and for what? Because I’m not giving you enough attention? Are you so deprived of praise that you need me to coddle and fawn over you?’ The rest of Perceptor’s tirade faded out as Brainstorm’s processor latched onto the idea of the other scientist ‘praising and fawning over him’. It was needed, certainly not, but he found himself thinking he wouldn’t say no to some positive attention…
He noticed Perceptor had stopped talking at the same time he realised his vents had clicked on. Oh, and of course his panel was heating up too, that was exactly was this situation needed. And then Perceptor’s mouth was moving, and it took Brainstorm a moment to actually realise he was talking again.
‘-this what you were after? An immature attempt to impress me, because you couldn’t lower yourself to actually talking about your desires?’ It dawned on Brainstorm that the other’s optics were no longer glaring, instead slightly dimmed and wandering over his frame. No, no this wasn’t happening.
‘G-get off me!’ He wriggled a bit, and was actually surprised when Perceptor took a step back and let go of him, even if he did seem a little reluctant.
‘I suggest you work out your feelings before our next coinciding shift.’ He turned and started to walk away, though looked back before he left through the door. ‘And I also suggest that you have this mess cleared before then as well.’ And then the door was sliding shut, Brainstorm left to deal with the trashed room, as well as his own over-heating frame.
~~
‘He’s just such a stubborn, stuck up aft!’ Brainstorm was complaining into his drink, Chromedome sitting back next to him while his friend vented.
‘To be honest though, so are you.’
‘Yeah, but at least I do it with style.’ He downed the rest of his cube, and waved over at Swerve to deliver another one. Under normal circumstances, he’d never let himself get this overcharged, but after spending ages cleaning the lab, thoughts of Perceptor festering in his mind, he was about ready to drink until he forgot the entire episode ever happened.
‘So, why don’t you try talking with him?’ At Brainstorm’s blank, look Chromedome shook his head and sat up straighter. ‘Me and Rewind yeah? We’ve had loads of troubles, and if you don’t well, talk about them, then it’s just going to eat you up until you explode.’ Brainstorm seemed to contemplate this for a moment, snatching the drink from Swerve when it was brought, ignoring the minibot’s indignant huffs.
‘So what you’re saying is, I need to go and tell Perceptor exactly what I think of him.’
‘Ye-wait, no not like that-’ Brainstorm was standing now, cube forgotten as he picked up his briefcase and edged around the table.
‘I need to go and tell him exactly where he can shove his ‘better-than-you’ attitude.’
‘It’s you who has that attitude, not him!’
Brainstorm was vaguely aware of Chromedome reaching for him, but he managed to twist before he was grabbed, racing out of the room and down the hall to Perceptor’s habitation suite.
Upon arriving at his co-worker’s door, he hesitated barely a nanosecond before he started pounding on it with his fist. He was about to open his mouth and start yelling for the mech inside, though thankfully for Perceptor’s neighbours said mech opened the door, catching Brainstorm’s fist before it could hit him.
Now that the mech he was after was actually in front of him, Brainstorm could barely remember what it was he was actually supposed to be doing, and just gaped at his caught fist for a moment.
‘I-uh…’
‘Come inside.’ It was less a request, and more a demand as Perceptor pulled him in by the servo, the door sliding shut behind them. ‘Well?’ Apparently the other had lost any patience he might’ve had for Brainstorm, arms moving to cross in front of him while he waited for an answer.
‘I need to-to talk, yeah. You’re an aft, and too, too stuck up?’ Brainstorm’s determination wilted when he realised he wasn’t entirely sure what he was talking about.
‘Is that all?’ When perceptor moved to show him out again, Brainstorm was quick to stumble in front of him, grabbing at the other’s arm.
‘No! No because, you’re an aft, but you’re really amazing, and I just-’ He wasn’t sure this was what he was meant to be saying. ‘And I just want… I try hard y’know… But you don’t notice…’ He trailed off, optics downcast as he struggled to recall if he’d just said something he shouldn’t have. He was surprised when a servo brushed under his chin, and his hem was tilted up until he was looking at Perceptor straight in the optics.
‘Your work is of a different skill set than mine, and though I hold no real regard for such… Unusual weapons, I have never refuted that your work is admirable in it’s quality, if not for it’s uniqueness.’ He paused when Brainstorm’s optics began to wander, bringing his attention back with a soft brush of a digit against his chin. ‘You portray yourself as an incredibly confident mech, and I have never felt any reason to inflate your already considerable ego, particularly when you act out purposely to annoy me.’ If it wasn’t for the light smirk, Brainstorm was vaguely aware he’d be offended. As it was, he was focussing much more on the touch of the other’s digits, and of his frame heating from both the overcharge, as well as their close proximity.
‘So…’ He tried to recall what was said. ‘So you’re agreeing with me, that I’m a genius?’ Perceptor merely shook his head lightly, his smirk growling a little.
‘Your work has it’s place, and you are good at it. That is all I said.’ Brainstorm smiled dazedly beneath his mask, leaning forwards slightly as he tried to concentrate on the other’s face.
‘Yeah, I’m a genius alright, ‘bout time you admitted it.’ He leaned forward until his helm was resting against Perceptor’s chest, all rational thought out the window while he basked in the warmth of another frame, processor nicely drifting with the overcharge. He hadn’t realised he’d offlined his optics until he was aware they were back on again, his view taken up by Perceptor’s narrow waist and hips. Huh, he’d always wondered about those cables…
He brought his free hand up to stroke along one of the thick cables adorning the other’s chassis, and nearly didn’t catch the hitch of Perceptor’s vents as he left it to stroke down to the hip joint. He made an effort to concentrate, and was pleased when he realised that the other was heating up a little, and he was grinning widely when he found that touching just under there, would cause the other to flinch and stifle a moan.
His fun was brought to a halt though when Perceptor placed a firm servo over his.
‘You are incredibly overcharged, and as such I suggest we part ways now, before anything regrettable can happen.’ Perceptor stepped back, and Brainstorm was left pouting because of the sudden coldness. Unthinkingly, he reached back and tried to cling to the other, determined to have some fun.
‘Come on, it’ll be good for us-‘
‘Stop this, now.’ Perceptor had managed to grab both of his servos in one of his, the other holding onto the forgotten briefcase less it pull on his wrist-joint. Still, he was determined, and pressed as close as he could, rubbing up Perceptor’s frame in some vague attempt arouse him.
And hey it actually looked like it was working; the larger mech dragged them both over to the berth, and Brainstorm was about to make some quip when he was picked up and arranged on the berth. He didn’t struggle, perfectly sure this was what he wanted, and smirked deviously when his arms were raised above his head.
Shnick.
‘Huh…?’ He tried to move his arms, and succeeded in bringing them partly down before he felt a tug at both his wrists. ‘What…?’
‘You need to recharge, and get rid of this overcharge.’ Perceptor placed the briefcase on the berth next to his helm, and Brainstorm looked up to notice that he was still cuffed to it, but was also wearing an extra set of cuffs which were threaded through a rather sturdy looking loop at the head of the berth. Huh, kinky fragger.
‘But, I want…’ he trailed off when he noticed how unbelievably comfortable the berth was, and he experimentally shuffled up and rolled to his side, lying with his arms relaxed and bent in front of him. Well, now that he thought about it, perhaps recharge wasn’t such a terrible idea.
His mind was made up for him when Perceptor crawled into the berth behind him, maintaining a respectful distance, and dragged up a high quality berth-sheet to cover them. Brainstorm found himself torn between wondering about the extra padded berth, or the ridiculous luxury of a ‘blanket’, and it was to those disjointed thoughts that he eventually managed to shut down and recharge.
~~
Onlining was… interesting to say the least, and though the overcharge thankfully hadn’t shorted anything, he was aware that his recollection of the night before was spotty at best. Which would, he mused, probably explain why he was in an unfamiliar berth, covered with some sort of luxury sheet he’d never have expected to see outside of the old Towers. He grumbled lowly to himself, trying to shift out from under the blanket, and barely contained a burst of static when he was surprised by a servo reaching over to remove it for him.
Black servo, teal forearm. So Perceptor then. And just like that, everythingclicked into place and the evening before flooded back to him.
‘Oh frag…’ He didn’t even realise he’d mumbled aloud until Perceptor replied.
‘I will assume that you remember the previous night? Good, we have much to discuss.’ He tugged on Brainstorm’s arm until the mech managed to adjust himself and lie on his back,looking up at a kneeling Perceptor with his servos still suspiciously cuffed above his helm. ‘From your ramblings, I can surmise that whilst you feel I do not appreciate you, you still find me at least physically desirable, is that a correct analysis?’
Brainstorm had to look away, mumbling a vague answer into his shoulder, though his attention was instantly brought back by a firm servo on his knee-joint. Perceptor looked annoyingly expectant.
‘Yeah, yeah that’d be… a pretty good summary.’ The servo began to stroke, lightly and slowly.
‘I find I would also be interested in interfacing with you.’ That had to be the most unsexy proposition Brainstorm had ever heard. ‘Is there anything you are opposed to in the berth?’ What the frag sort of question was that?
‘Uh, I’ll let you know if I don’t like something?’ Perceptor nodded in acknowledgement, and moved to slip between Brainstorm’s thighs. He tugged lightly on the cuffs above him, drawing the other mech’s attention to them. ‘You gonna unchain me?’ The darkening of Perceptor’s optics, and ever so slight quirk of his lips was almost alarming.
‘No.’ He ground his panel down onto Brainstorm’s, eliciting a strangled cry from the cuffed mech. ‘What could possibly possess me to do such a thing, when I have you exactly where I want you.’ It was obviously a rhetorical question, not that Brainstorm would have been able to answer anyway, too caught up with the sensations of digits in his knee-joints, tweaking and rubbing at wires and protoform.
It was almost embarrassing how quickly Perceptor managed to bring up his charge with a few touches and some simple grinding, and the knowing glint to the other’s optics suggested he knew exactly how long it must have been for Brainstorm.
‘Ah, hey this isn’t even fair-‘ Another exact touch, this time along his hips caused him to break off, hips twitching up into the touch against his will.
‘Hmm, that’s rather the point.’ Slender digits slipped into the joint, again teasing and manipulating the sensors within to bring Brainstorm’s charge up. He could feel his panel burning, though he was adamant that he wouldn’t release it until he absolutely had to, wanting to at least make Perceptor work for it.
Unfortunately, that plan failed the second Perceptor decided to trail his touches down, down past his knee until he was thumbing lightly at Brainstorm’s ankle-joint, before moving on to rub and pinch along the flight sensors adorning his lower legs. The strangled keen he couldn’t stop was embarrassing enough, so was the way he arched and kicked lightly, but the true mortification was when his panels snapped open of their own accord, spike rising while his valve visibly clenched on air.
He was trying so hard to glare at Perceptor, servos clutching at the chains in at attempt to ground himself, but he wasn’t fooling anybody with the way his frame twitched into the touches, hips thrusting up to try and get anystimulation. His efforts were rewarded with one servo leaving his leg to brush lightly and trace the rim of his valve, spreading the fluids over his array before moving up to brush along the underside of his spike. The lack of any real relief was agonising, and he couldn’t stop the static-laced groan if he wanted to.
‘Tell me, what do you want?’ It was a cruel question, and Perceptor knew it judging by the amused expression he wore. It was hard enough to think, let alone put what he wanted into some semblance of a sentence. ‘Or perhaps you’d be happy with whatever I choose to give you, hmm?’ He tried to glare at the mech harder, but it was spoiled by low hitching moan when Perceptor decided to dip shallowly into his valve.
‘F-fragger, I want-‘ Honestly he wanted everything, to spike Perceptor, to bespiked, it was really quite hard to decide when his frame was being played with like this.
‘Can’t decide?’ The other mech drew back, much to Brainstorm’s displeasure. ‘I think I might know how to solve your little problem.’ And with that he climbed off the bed, and wandered over to a drawer on the other side of the room.
‘What? N-get back here!’ He started to writhe and tug on his cuffs, unable to believe that he was being left like that. Perceptor though was quick in getting what he wanted, and came back soon enough, petting up Brainstorm’s legs while he slipped back between them. Once he had Brainstorm’s attention he held up an object in his hand, causing the other to go completely still in shock.
‘I propose, we use this.’ This, just happened to be a surprising large false spike, and if the dial on the bottom was any indicator, a vibrating one at that. ‘Will this satisfy your needs do you think?’ The teasing tone just made him scoff and nod once, legs spreading minutely in acceptance.
He had no chance to sulk for long though, as as soon as he’d inched his legs open more, Perceptor’s digits were tracing the rim again before plunging two straight in, crooking and scissoring to check he was ready, and sending overwhelming shoots of pleasure straight to his spark. He found himself thrusting mindlessly into the touch, moaning when another digit slipped in to stretch the walls slightly. Suddenly though, the digits were removed, though before he could utter a whine of frustration, the hard, rounded head of the false spike was pushing in, igniting every sensor along its path, leaving him staring blindly at the ceiling while he gasped and moaned at the unrelenting pressure.
Soon enough, he was entirely full and twitching while his valve callipers relaxed themselves, and then before he could really get used to it, Perceptor rotated and twitched his wrist, the toy rubbing against a new collection of nodes which had him groaning and thrusting back.
‘P-Percy, I need-nng!’ The toy sharply hit his ceiling node again, another wave of pleasure ripping through his array, and he knew that if Perceptor kept this up, then he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
Apparently, the other mech realised that as well, as he sharply pushed the false spike in again, and then left it there, moving instead to straddle Brainstorm’s hips. Brainstorm was barely aware of Perceptor finally opening his own panel, and then he couldn’t think at all, crying out and tugging at his cuffs when his aching spike was finally enveloped in slick, wet heat. Perceptor didn’t even give either of them time to adjust, crushing their hips together and instantly rising up again, sliding back down at a different angle to chase his own pleasure, all while Brainstorm moaned and jerked under him.
With the constant, jarring sensations he could feel his overload rapidly approaching, and he managed a half-strangled shout as warning before he was about to tip over the edge. Except that the second he thought he was going to go over, all sensation stopped, and he was left reeling with confusion and the sudden ache of an overcharged frame.
‘H-huh?’ He barely managed to focus his optics enough to look at Perceptor’s own strained features. ‘The frag’s y-your pro-ahHH!’
Apparently, Perceptor had been waiting for Brainstorm’s charge to reduce just slightly, before he reached around and back to click on the vibration setting for the false spike, the sudden overwhelming pleasure driving him into a hard overload, vision fritzing at the edges while he convulsed under the other mech. He didn’t even register Perceptor grinding down and taking his own pleasure, too caught up in the bliss pouring through him, though he did absently notice the other’s own strangled cry of completion a few moments later.
With the constant vibrations running through his array, his overload was dragged out mercilessly, until by the end he was merely twitching with aftershocks, vocaliser unable to produce much more than faint, garbled static. Thankfully, Perceptor managed to drag himself up and turn the vibrator off before it got unpleasant, though he didn’t seem inclined to move from where he was slumped over Brainstorm’s frame.
Eventually though, Brainstorm started to fidget and thankfully Perceptor took the hint and eased off, slumping to the side before reaching up to undo the cuffs. Hands free, he flexed and rotated his joints, then grabbed his briefcase, ritualistically checking it over for any damage. Satisfied, he lay back, still slightly dazed and enjoying the warmth of a frame next to him. Wait…
‘Hey Percy, aren’t we on shift in a few breems?’ The way Perceptor suddenly shot up suggested that he too had forgotten, and Brainstorm watched as he hastily grabbed a rag and cleaned himself off, easily grabbing a clean rag when it was thrown at him. Wincing, he removed the toy from his valve, and carelessly dropped it to the berth for Perceptor to sort out later, cleaning himself up in record time and chucking the cloth next to the toy, pointedly ignoring Perceptor’s frosty look.
All too soon they were both clean, and standing somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the room staring at each other.
‘So uh…’ As fun as this had been, Brainstorm had no idea where they now stood, though that seemingly wasn’t a problem for Perceptor who immediately decided for them.
‘After our shift today, you may join me for energon if you would like, and then perhaps a repeat of this morning if it is something you wish to continue with.’ Blunt, though surprisingly to the point for Perceptor at least.
‘That sounds pretty good, sure.’ Nodding, Perceptor lead the way as they walked out in a comfortable silence, making the short trip to the lab, where at least now perhaps the atmosphere might not be quite so tense.