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“Percy. Percy. Percy. Hey. Hey. Percy.”
Perceptor sighs heavily and looks up from his complex equations that absolutely require his full processing power to see what it is that Brainstorm is so eager to show him.
“Yes, Brainstorm. What is it?”
“Look! I finished adapting this human game for Cybertronians!” Brainstorm holds up some items for inspection.
A ball. It looks simple enough, but Brainstorm has never made anything simple in his entire existence, so Perceptor gives it a wary look. In his other hand, Brainstorm has a pair of nets on sticks. Or something like that? Some kind of mesh is stretched taut in an ovular shape and it has a handle attached.
“What kind of game is this?” Perceptor asks cautiously.
“You stand on either side of a net and hit a ball back and forth with the racquets!” Brainstorm brandishes the objects in question.
“What about that required adaptation?”
“It seemed too simple!”
Which was the answer that Perceptor had been fearing. “So what changes did you decide to make?” He doesn’t know much of anything about the game, but Brainstorm seems excited, for one, and also Perceptor is concerned about Brainstorm’s potential to cause serious structural damage.
“Well, I thought we could better than just hitting a plain ball back and forth. So I started with the ball!” Brainstorm’s optics are positively manic.
“And what did you do to it?” Perceptor gingerly accepts the ball he’s handed. It’s a small and bright colored ball. Totally innocuous, or it would be if anyone but Brainstorm had handed it to him.
“Well, if you look at it closely you’ll see I built it out of a special plating that can absorb kinetic energy.” Brainstorm gestures to the very thin seams of the ball.
Perceptor has to use his eye piece and zoom in to fully be able to see what Brainstorm is gesturing to. It’s very fine and delicate work that had to be done to make this ball. “I would imagine that it could only absorb so much energy.”
“Well yes, but that just adds to the game! Once the ball has absorbed enough energy, it’ll glow bright red in warning and then release a blast that will disorient the players if they aren’t ready for it!” Brainstorm’s wings are twitching in satisfaction. “And if the ball is hit outside of the bounds of the game, it’ll shoot itself back at whoever hit at twice the speed!”
“Brainstorm, that’s dangerous!” Perceptor protests.
“It’s not big enough to cause real damage, Percy. Just a couple dents at worst.” Brainstorm waves a hand dismissively. “Now, the racquets on the other hand...”
“Primus.”
“So, they have the same energy-absorbing capabilities as the balls.”
“Please don’t tell me these also explode,” Perceptor regards the racquets distrustfully.
“Of course not! That would be unsafe!”
“Of course. My mistake.” Perceptor gives his most put-upon sigh.
“So, as I was saying, the racquets also absorb energy. When they are sufficiently charged, the grip changes color! And then it can discharge a laser that will stun your opponent if correctly aimed! Oh, but if you let it stay fully charged for too long, it’ll shock your hand.”
“Brainstorm, this game is getting increasingly dangerous.”
“Just wait until you hear what I’ve done to the net!”
That’s it. Perceptor can’t take it for one more moment. He drops the ball, which is probably a terrible idea, and reaches to catch the edge of Brainstorm’s mask. While the other mech is still blinking in surprise, Perceptor removes his mask, tosses it aside, and leans in to kiss Brainstorm soundly.
Brainstorm squeaks audibly into the kiss for a moment before he relaxes, wings fluttering. Perceptor can even catch the little breeze around his feet from the flapping of Brainstorm’s ankle wings.
“Wow,” Brainstorm breathes when Perceptor finally breaks the kiss, “you liked my game ideas that much?”
“Primus, Brainstorm.” Perceptor rolls his eye and delights in the giggle it gets him.
“So what’ll you do when I tell you about my alterations to the scoring system?” Brainstorm waggles his wings flirtatiously.
“Brainstorm. Shut up.”
Brainstorm’s objections devolve into happy sounds as Perceptor kisses him again.