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“So, what exactly did you want us alone for?”
Anode hummed as she poured Lug a drink, noncommittally proposing the question.
On their latest trek, Lug and Anode had found themselves in a wiry, run down inter-planetary motel. Anode had wanted to go out on their next adventure as soon as the sun rose.
Lug insisted otherwise.
“The new pronoun thing. Being a she. You said you’re planning on changing your frame too, yeah?” Lug picked up the glass.
Anode nodded, and grabbed the pitcher to pour her own engex.
“...Think I’d like that too.” Lug lifted her head towards her partner in crime.
It fell silent for a moment.
“Not the shape change,” She clarified, “But everything else-Anode? Are you listening?”
“ LUG! ” Anode squealed, nearly jumping to pull Lug into her arms, and in the process knocking all the energon on the table over, “I am so proud of you!”
She was stiff for a moment, but Lug returned the hug with great enthusiasm. Her fingers traced down Anode’s back, appreciating the fairly bulky metal.
Anode pulled back when Lug cleared her throat, “Yes, Lug, of course. Anything you need, I’ll be here for you.”
“When’s the procedure for a new frame?”
“Two weeks. It’s a pretty nice city, too.” Anode smiled, “While I’m under you can walk around, see all the markets-”
“I won’t go anywhere.” Lug leaned forward, taking Anode’s hands in hers, “If they won’t let me stay in there with you, I’ll be in the waiting room.”
Anode blinked. Her wings twitched, and Lug flinched and let go.
“Unless, uh, you don’t want me to.” She backtracked quickly.
“What the hell’s gotten into you tonight?” Anode finally cracked a smile, resting her head in her hand, “What happened to, ‘Don’t tap into your reconstruction fund, Anode’, and ‘Don’t be such a dumbass, Anode’, or even ‘Don’t DARE lick that rock, Anode’? You sick or something?”
“Sick of your attitude, maybe.” Lug quipped, “What’s wrong with wanting to be nice to my best fri-uh, my. Uh. What’s the word.”
Anode’s face fell.
“No no no! I don’t mean-We’re not friends-No, no, we are, we’re friends, but we’re like-No-GAH!” Lug grabbed her helm.
“Woah, woah, Lug.” Anode rose from her seat, stepping over to Lug’s side, “It’s okay. Slip of the tongue. Primus, you’re really on your own nerves today, huh?”
Lug released her hands, and looked softly up to the other Cybertronian. Gently, she rose, and rested her head on Anode’s chassis. Anode’s engine purred softly, and Lug closed her eyes. A hand was lifted and rested itself on the back of Lug’s helm. They remained that day for several minutes, lost in the feeling of the other’s presence.
It was Lug who broke the embrace, quickly turning to root in her chest cavity, “I have something to give you.”
When she turned, Lug was holding a crystallized skull of a three eyed organic creature.
Anode tilted her head, and took the skull. Lug’s hand was covered in markings, but she quickly pulled it behind her back when she realized, smiling sheepishly.
Anode studied the skull. The cranium popped open as she traced it, and a pleasant melody filled the air. The inside had been resculpted, and a music box’s workings were fashioned into the long-past-bone crystal.
“Is this-” Anode suddenly jerked her head up as the music played.
“Earth music.”
“Lug, this is Funeral March. This is my favorite organic song!” A giddy grin broke her bewilderment.
“It’s a pretty recent song, last few years, so it wasn’t that hard to find a-” Lug began.
Anode grabbed Lug, swinging her in the air before squeezing her closer to her chest.
“What’s on your hand, poppet?” Anode finally asked, making Lug freeze.
She tenderly lifted the smaller bot’s hand up to read.
PROPOSAL:
- DISCLOSURE: PRONOUNS
- GIFT: MUSIC BOX
- DEVOTION: STAY WITH HER
- INTIMACY: SHE’S GONNA HUG YOU ANYWAYS IT’LL BE FINE
Anode blinked, and let Lug’s hand down. She blankly stared down at the minibot in her arms. Lug turned her head bashfully, smiling the way you do when you’re caught red handed. Literally, since her hands were painted red.
Lug pulled back, squeezing her own hand like she had nothing to lose.
“Oh.” Anode said.
“Yeah.” Lug shrank down.
“Oh!” Anode’s eyes widened.
“I mean, if it’s too sudden-”
“OH!”
Anode practically fell to her knees, engulfing Lug with what was probably the millionth embrace that trip alone.
“Oh, Lug…” She was practically sobbing as she held on, “You didn’t have to be afraid!”
“...Is that a yes?”
“You already know.”
Lug’s face brightened, and she tapped at Anode’s shoulder, “I need to-Anode, Anode, Anode. Anode, we need to sparkbond. Anode, stop crying.”
A bright blue glow filled the dingy bedroom as Lug’s chest opened. Anode let go, and fiddled to open her own casing.
“How does the speech go again? ‘I bid you stand in the glow of my spark something something…?’” Lug asked.
“That’s the Oath of Constancy, dear. For Amicas.” Anode giggled.
“Okay, listen-”
“Who cares. Are the sparkmate police going to burst in and arrest us for doing this wrong?” Anode took Lug’s hand, the glow of her own spark brightening the room.
“...I suppose not.” Lug smiled.
They both smiled, and Anode leaned down further. Their sparks flared, letting off flashes of charge as they inched closer and closer.
“I love you.” Lug whispered.
“You’re everything, Lug.” Anode replied.
They drifted into a kiss as their sparks touched. In a silent profession of an unspeakably strong love, the waves of their sparks melded together and for a moment, they were one. Existing perfectly together in one moment, being nothing more and nothing less than bonded eternally.
No fanfare, no crying friends, nothing but Lug and Anode, and their devotion to each other. That could come later, at any time, but not now.
They didn’t need it to be perfect, they didn’t need a special moment, or a big ceremony.
All they needed was each other.
And that was more than okay.