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Hound sped up around the bend, crushing a mud puddle, slapping the mix of dirt and water off the trail edge and back onto Breaker. Laughing, Breaker waited until the trail widened to speed up next to Hound, giving a little back with a smaller puddle before he moved past the Jeep with a thunder of his engine, fuel pump hammering hard. It didn’t take long to find another puddle to smash through. More laughs, more mud for the both of them.
It had rained hard last night and this morning, and now was the time for he and Hound to have a little fun before it all dried up. Hound got ahead of him on the next curve, and if they weren’t getting muddy enough by ‘helping’ each other, it’d be from aiming for every puddle they saw. It was the kind of fun they rarely had on Cybertron.
Hours passed as they played on the trails in the muddy dirt. By the time they made it back to the Ark and transformed into root mode they were caked from top to pede. Trailbreaker and Hound headed to the entrance together, Trailbreaker whistling and Hound humming a few bars to go along with it.
“And where do you two think you’re going?” A familiar voice rang out. Mirage. As he was prone to sometimes, the mech was nowhere to be seen.
Breaker paused where he was, reaching out to put a hand on Hound’s shoulder as he looked around. “We were going back to the suite to get ourselves washed off,” he offered.
“I can’t walk around the Ark looking like this,” Hound tacked on with a grin.
“Oh I don’t think so,” Mirage snapped as he appeared from one side of the Ark’s entrance, Hoist in tow. “Do you see this? This is what I was talking about! They do this every time it rains and while I appreciate the visual appeal of mud-splotched, filthy mechs I cannot have our wash racks getting clogged up a second time,” he said. “Talk some sense into them, will you?”
The two off-roaders looked at Hoist, who shuffled at little. “Guys, when you come back like this and use the wash racks immediately it, well, it clogs the drain, which I am guessing by the looks on your faces that Mirage may not have expressed to you after the last time it happened. But uh. It did,” Hoist explained. “And I had to unclog it. And I’m fairly certain something in that mud was still alive when I pulled it out,” he cringed. “So if you could, I don’t know, wash off before you come in? Wait for it to dry and flake it off first? I would appreciate it.”
Hound held up his hands, “Sorry, Hoist, we didn’t know.” That was going to be a conversation with Mirage later. “We’ll figure it out, okay? It won’t be a problem again.”
Mirage ex-vented. “Good. Because next I would have had to bring it up to Sideswipe.” Breaker winced. That would have been an immediate stand-off between the mechs involved. There was one thing you didn’t do and that was track mud into Sideswipe’s ship. Since there weren’t other ships, Sideswipe considered the Ark his and kept it nice as possible.
“You know,” Hound pointed out, “talking to us before you brought it up to other mechs would be thoughtful.” Okay, maybe that conversation was going to happen right now. “If we do things that frustrate you, we should be the first ones to hear it about it. Otherwise we won’t know we’ve done something.”
“I see your point, Mirage,” Trailbreaker chimed in. “And Hound is right too. We didn’t realize we’d caused a problem.” The hand on Hound’s shoulder squeezed and he started pulling the mech away with him, smiling. “We’ll take care of this, and be more mindful in the future.” Breaker didn’t know what had pinched Mirage’s circuits today, but sometimes the mech snapped about one thing and took it out on something else. They’d sort it later.
“Yeah,” Hound agreed, turning to follow wherever Trailbreaker led him. It was only a moment before he asked, “Where are we headed, anyways?”
Glancing at him, Breaker winked. “I found a waterfall not far from the Ark. If they want us to wash off before we go back in that’s got to be the perfect place to go, right?”
Optics brightening, Hound picked up his pace. “Well why didn’t you say so! Let’s go!”
In truth Trailbreaker hadn’t found it that long ago, and it wasn’t a simple hike as they had to climb down a few rock faces and trek beside a rocky river. Soon they heard the thundering roar of the falls. When they were close enough to feel the mists rolling off the water’s surface over them, Trailbreaker looked over with a proud grin at the awe in Hound’s faceplates.
“I was going to save it for a surprise, but this is as good a time as any,” Breaker shrugged and walked into the falls, letting the water wash over him with a laugh. “It’s cold too! No scrub brushes, but I’m sure we can manage.” He started by reaching to rub some of the mud off his widest panels, before Hound moved close enough to catch his hand with a smile. “What? Did you bring a scrub brush?”
“No,” Hound laughed, before moving his hands over Trailbreaker’s panels slower, going for the thickest swaths of mud first. “But neither of us have duty today, so why not take our time?” Hound’s optics locked with Trailbreaker’s, still rubbing away the mud as the water helped wash it downstream. Breaker thought he might be delusional, until Hound’s fingers starting to explore the seams on the SUV’s frame.
Shivering at the touch, Trailbreaker found himself gripping Hound for balance before he caught on and started wiping mud away from green panels with the falls’ assistance. “Better than the wash racks anyways,” his engine revved with a chuckle, fingertips pressing under panels in spots he knew Hound liked.
Humming softly, Hound pressed his forehelm to Trailbreaker’s. “Next time we bring a scrub brush with us, that’s all,” his engine caught when Breaker moaned, and Hound laughed softly. “And until the next big rain, we’ll just make this worth the detour,” he nuzzled against the side of Trailbreaker’s face. “Get my hip seams next would you?”
“Anything for you,” Trailbreaker paused and reset his vocalizer, pressing close to rub the mud away from Hound’s hip paneling. When he didn’t feel any more gritty mud, Breaker’s fingers pressed the seam between Hound’s hips and leg, earning a moan in return. His fuel pump hammered harder, and Breaker ex-vented. “Primus you’re incredible. Here, let me help you feel as good as you look.”