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Chromedome and Rewind. Cyclonus and Tailgate. It seemed even Ratchet and Drift were an item, or maybe it was Rodimus and Drift; Megatron was hardly good at determining who was and wasn’t in a relationship, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that the couples Megatron knew of had normal relationships, as opposed to what he had with you.
Somehow, Megatron felt it was impossible to have a normal relationship with you. First of all, you were human, which affected how he interacted with you greatly; you were so delicate and small compared to him, he didn’t want to hurt you. Second, he was Megatron, ex-warlord and leader of the Decepticons; he’d tried to destroy your race, several times, yet for some reason unbeknownst to him, you accepted this like it was a mere trifle of the past. Third, as an ex-warlord, he was hardly popular, which meant going out in public could be dangerous for you; what if somebody decided to get to him by hurting you? Most of all however, what held Megatron back from taking you on a real date now that you were in an established relationship, was because he was scared. He’d barely learned to talk with you on a normal basis before, then you’d made the first move, asking him out, and things had moved quickly from there.
When you’d shown your interest in him, Megatron couldn’t believe it, he wasn’t able to think straight, and now only five months into the relationship, he didn’t know what was or wasn’t appropriate to do or say. Would it be too much to compare you to the beauty of an Earth Rose, or not enough? Was hand holding appropriate? Kissing in public? Primus forbid he even think about interfacing with you. Megatron had no clue what he was doing, and he knew it was starting to show, but for the first time in his life, he’d been led by his spark rather than his processor.
Now, the two of you were walking down the halls of the ship together, heading to Megatron’s hab-suite to go over some paperwork, and it was obvious Megatron didn’t know what to say. You watched him carefully, somewhat enjoying the way his face contorted in worry, but not saying much to comfort him, lest you embarrass him instead. you knew this was Megatron’s first real relationship in millennia; he had to learn what to do in a safe, exploratory manner, and you didn’t mind if that took a little extra time.
Megatron avoided your warm gaze, instead staring across the corridor at Swerve’s where many a bot were spending a lively evening. He could see Rewind and Chromedome from the doorway, holding servos while looking into each-others visors and talking animatedly. If only he could have such confidence to hold you in such an intimate manner. You followed his gaze, deciding that this was going to have to be one of the times when you took the lead, setting the speed that Megatron longed for.
“Hey, I was thinking,” You started casually, drawing Megatron’s attention to you, “do you want to drop by Swerve’s tonight? On a date?”
Megatron had to concentrate to keep his vocaliser from crackling, “I… Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“I think it’d be nice, that is, if you’re comfortable doing so,” You looked to the floor, appearing downcast to lead Megatron into the answer you knew he wanted; he’d only agree to this if he thought you wanted it more than him so playing the role was important.
“I- I shall pick you up from your hab-suite in an hour.”
“Great,” You beamed. “See you then sweet-spark.”
Megatron revelled in your pet-name for him; how he longed to call you something with as much ease, but for the life of him, it seemed he was too serious for his own good. If that was the case, how was he to prepare for a casual date? Now that it was about to happen, he wondered why he wanted it in the first place. Still, it was too late to back out now; he had only an hour to prepare adequate topics of conversation and he’d be damned if he wasted even a minute of that time.
Megatron shuffled outside your door, building up the nerve to knock. He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so nervous, acting like a sparkling with a crush. He was already in a relationship with you and knew he should start acting like it instead of being overcome by emotion. With a heavy servo, he knocked hard enough to rattle the door.
You opened it with a smile, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear as you came out in your best clothes. Megatron knew he should say something about your apparel, but he couldn’t think of what. Was it too much to say you were lovely? Would you take that the wrong way?
“Acceptable,” he managed.
“Oh,” You glanced down at your outfit, wondering if there was perhaps something wrong with it, “Thank you?”
Megatron mentally bashed himself, it was obviously a bad choice of phrase, any idiot could see that. He should have went for radiant, dazzling, spectacular; anything but ‘acceptable.’
All the same, you smiled graciously, “Shall we go?”
“Wait,” Megatron held out a datapad for you.
“What’s this?” You beamed, hoping for some of the wonderous poetry that made you fall for him in the first place.
“A report that Ultra Magnus needs you to sign, though I suppose it can wait till after tonight.”
“I see… I’ll just put this on the desk.”
Megatron cursed silently, having seen the disappointment in your eyes. Judging by your negative reaction, work wasn’t going to be a viable subject for this ‘date’; now all his planned topics of conversation would go to waste, what on Cybertron was he going to say to you for the next two hours?
As predicted, once at Swerve’s the two of you sat in awkward silence. You kept trying to ease Megatron into gentle conversations, but each time he’d say the wrong thing and kill the atmosphere; evidently, he wasn’t good at small talk. After that, he’d attempted to show you the warmth in his heart with his optics, but instead he ended up staring at you menacingly to the point you had to ask if there was something on your face; how could Tailgate do that so easily? Hell, it seemed even Cyclonus managed it, and he was one of the most menacing bots on the ship. Once Megatron stopped glaring at you intensely, he went to grab drinks for you both, but when he moved to pass yours to you, he squeezed to bottle too hard, drenching you instead.
Megatron didn’t know what could possibly make the evening worse. All he’d wanted was one normal night with you, to show that he cared, but it seemed that a normal relationship was impossible for him after all.
Finally, he sighed, giving in to what fate was clearly telling him, “(Y/N), I’m sorry that this has been a terrible evening. It seems I’m not cut out for this lifestyle you’ve deigned to give me. Please forgive this social blunder.”
His spark ached as he waited for you to realise your mistake and leave him; not that he didn’t deserve it, for you were much too good for him. Instead, you reached out, placing your hand on his much larger one, “Megatron, what are you talking about? Tonight was perfect.”
Megatron’s optics widened in surprise, “What? But I- I ruined the entire evening. I said your outfit was 'acceptable’.”
“You paid me a compliment,” You countered with a smile.
“I brought you work.”
“You were thoughtful enough to make sure I didn’t forget something important.”
“We didn’t talk.”
“We enjoyed each other’s company.”
“But I- I spilt your drink. On you!” Megatron gestured to your outfit incredulously.
“You gave us something to laugh about later.”
Megatron shook his head, he didn’t understand what was happening. Everything had went horrifically wrong, yet you were still as optimistic as ever, turning things around. You should have been storming out, telling him you never wanted to see him again, and finding someone better; why weren’t you?
You caught some of the fear Megatron was silently expressing and, reaching for him again, you stroked his arm gently. “Sweet-spark,” You murmured, “tonight, you made an effort to do something that made you nervous. We can laugh about this later and know that we both did our best and that things’ll be even better next time. I’ll always love tonight because you tried. What kind of person would I be if I gave up after one date? I love that you did all this for me - for us.”
Megatron put his servo over yours, caressing your knuckles carefully with one finger, and finding the courage to hold your gaze, “(Y/N), I need to tell you something about us. Being in a relationship with you frightens me. I’m an old mech who’s known only war and destruction, and for the first time ever, I’ve been given something worth loving and protecting; you.”
You didn’t respond, sensing that Megatron wasn’t finished.
“You may have noticed that I’ve been moving slowly in this relationship. That’s because I was sure at any moment, you’d regret your decision to be with me and want to leave, but it’s becoming glaringly obvious that you’re here to stay. In everything we do, you set the pace. You know exactly what to say to waylay my fears and my doubts, and you always make time to understand me.” He took a breath, as if steadying his nerves before continuing, his optics never leaving your face, “Just for once, I’d like to try doing something… something spontaneous. You can say no if you’d like and I will not take any offense but (Y/N), it would be my greatest honour if you would like to stay in my hab-suite.”
“Tonight?” You asked, your heart racing apprehensively.
“Forever.”
“You- You’re asking me to move in with you?”
Megatron nodded, feeling that now was the time for actions, not words.
You jumped up with a squeal, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”
Megatron barely managed to catch you before you fell off the table giggling. He smiled gleefully, holding you to his chassis. It seemed to him that ever since coming aboard the Lost Light, he’d never smiled so much, and now with you by his side and in the nights to come, he doubted he’d ever do anything but smile again.