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“Not. One. Word.”
“Kade-”
“Not a single freaking word.”
“You got a little, uh…”
“Don’t even mention it!!!” A furious and extremely drenched Kade stands in the middle of a great puddle, easily comparable to a small lake.
With a cheshire-cat grin on his face, Heatwave pokes at his partner.
“You’re a little soggy.” Kade whirls round on him, furious, but his fists do nothing against Heatwave’s metal except hurt himself.
“This all your fault! You’re the one who pushed me into that tank of honey in the first place!”
“Oh, sorry, would you rather have been hit by the out of control wrecking ball that was swinging directly your way?” Kade splutters and tries to think of a retort, but is cut off by an apologetic wail.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I saw the honey and thought you’d want it washed off so I just-! Just dropped a load of water on you, I didn’t think the water butt was that full!” Kade sighs, crossing his arms in strop as he turns to a panicking helicopter.
“It’s not your fault, Blades. You wouldn’t have had to do it if Heatwave hadn’t pushed me!”
All in all, the farm rescue had gone pretty well. The rescue bots had managed to stop an out of control wrecking ball from knocking down the barn with cows inside, but in the process, a barrel of honey had been punted across the field from the bee fields to the main area.
And that, when the wrecking ball had swung towards Kade, was where Heatwave had pushed him.
Into a sticky, sweet, wasp-attracting honey puddle. An angry shout at Heatwave followed by a shriek as wasps started to converge on him was all Kade had time for. Blades had then picked up a water butt and turned it upside down over him.
Unfortunately, it had rained heavily the night before. Hence why the water butt was so full.
“If I hadn’t pushed you, you’d have ended up halfway across the farm followed by a trip to hospital!” A low growl in the back of Kade’s throat is swallowed back as Charlie puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Heatwave’s right, son. I know you’re upset, but that’s better than hurt.” With a sigh, Kade’s shoulders drop and he loses the tension. Even musters up a small smile!
“I know, Dad. I’m just… Frustrated. Angry. Humiliated.” Charlie squeezes his shoulder gently before giving him a heart pat on the back.
“How about we head back to the station and you challenge your old man to a spar, huh?” Calming down significantly at the warm tone, Kade shakes his head. Droplets fall from his fringe. He watches them start ripples in the mix of honey and water at his feet.
“Nah, I think I’m good now. Hey, Heatwave, you rusty bucket of bolts! Transform so we can get back and I get get some dry clothes!” Heatwave takes a step back, putting his servos up.
“Oh no, no. You’re not getting in my cab like that.”
“What?! This is your fault!” There’s a collective sigh from around them as Kade and Heatwave lapse into one of their usual arguments. Dani pretty much wrenches control away from Blades and starts them back to the firehouse. Pinching at the bridge of his nose, Charlie leans against Chase’s open door.
“Should we intervene, Chief Burns?”
“Not this time. They’ll sort it. Get over it. … I hope.” Charlie takes a moment to watch firefighter and firetruck yelling at each other before he slips into Chase’s front seat.
“Alright, let’s get home.”
“... May I bring up the unfortunate likeliness that Heatwave just leaves Kade to walk?” They pause to watch as the two continue shouting at each other. Heatwave transforms. And opens his cab door.
“Looks like we don’t have to worry about… That. Ah. You were right.” Heatwave speeds off, slamming his cab door shut as he does. Kade, left standing there, promptly throws his helmet into the ground and then boots it across the farm. Charlie goes to get up, but before he can, Graham waves Kade over and Boulder opens his own passenger door in invitation.
Kade pouts grumpily, arms crossed over his chest and chin pressed into it.
“Don’t worry about Heatwave, Kade. I can feel Chase’s disappointed field from here. He’ll make sure Heatwave never does this again.” Boulder’s soothing tone and amusing words make Kade huff, straightening up a little.
“Yeah? What’s he going to do, read a whole book on manners to him?” Boulder and Graham both laugh, Graham reaching over to nudge his brother in a friendly way.
“Oh yeah, we’ve both seen the manual. It’s a minimum 400 pages long.”
“... Seriously?”
“Yup~.”
“Seriously?!” Graham can’t help but snicker at the enthusiastic sparkle in Kade’s eyes. He holds up his thumb and forefinger about 5cms apart.
“At least this thick.” A grin as devious as it is devilish stretches on Kade’s face.
“Pedal to the medal, Boulder. This, I gotta see.”
Well, if Heatwave was going to push him into a puddle of honey and then abandon him, Kade was absolutely going to lounge nearby eating a massive bowl of popcorn as Heatwave got lectured by Chase.
At first, Heatwave keeps glancing over at him and scowling, but as time goes on, he looks more and more guilty, pride beaten down by Chase’s incredibly long lecture.
Chase eventually leaves to go on patrol with Chief Burns, though he warns Heatwave that if this ever happens again, he’ll be quizzed on the manual of ‘Maintaining good public relations and forming friendships with other species’.
Looking absolutely miserable, Heatwave reluctantly shuffles over to Kade. He’s sheepish, averting his optics and hunching in on himself.
“Hey… I’m- I’m sorry for pushing you into honey. Just thought you’d prefer it to broken ribs.” Kade raises an eyebrow.
“And?” Heatwave shutters his optics.
“And what?”
“You’re sorry for pushing me into honey and...?” Half sighing, half growling, Heatwave grinds his denta together and forces out;
“I’m sorry for pushing into honey and leaving you to walk.” He’s still avoiding optic-eye contact.
“Wow, totally a sincere apology. Not like you’re doing this for yourself, or anything. Definitely not because Chase told you to.” The heavy sarcasm has Heatwave snort, and he finally, finally, looks at his partner.
Only to find half a bowl of popcorn thrown at his faceplates.
Some of them drop into transformation seams, making a mess that’ll take days to get rid of.
“KADE!!!” Already having bolted, Kade just makes it up the human sized stairs and out of Heatwave’s reach.
“See if I ever give you a ride again! I’m gong to push you into honey, slime, tar, puddles at every opportunity I get!”
“Worth it.”