Work Text:
Nights with the Maximals compared to the Predacons were, well, night and day. Here, he could actually attempt to recharge, and more often than not, he could.
Not tonight, though. Not tonight, when his processor was going a thousand miles a klik.
Primal’s quarters felt only just big enough for the both of them. Dinobot curled around the other mech further, resting his helm atop Primal’s as the Maximal leader lay on his back. A rumble emanated from deep within his chassis, and it made Dinobot’s spark full when he felt Primal shift so he could be closer to him, taking comfort in the steady vibrations.
Dinobot’s servos came to Primal’s front, stroking over the chassis plates that protected his spark, before sliding down to the gentle curve of his leader’s belly.
He felt a surge of protectiveness in his frame. His mate, and their sparkling. Their sparkling, that his mate carried.
Never in millennia did he think he would be here. It seemed so long ago, even though it was not, that he was fighting this mech for leadership of the Maximals after deserting his old faction. Now? He could scarcely believe his own luck.
Primal stirred, and one of his servos came to cover Dinobot’s own. “You should recharge,” Optimus said, exhaustion in his voice. He didn’t open his optics.
Dinobot leaned in and kissed Primal’s faceplate, as much as he was able to. “I could say the same for you. Treasure your recharge, before she arrives.”
Primal hummed, and smiled. He did open his optics this time, and Dinobot felt his spark soar at the sight of those beautiful crimson optics looking at him. “I’m used to not recharging much. Besides,” he shifted so he lay on his side, facing Dinobot, and gave him a kiss on his lipplates. “She’ll be your sparkling before the sun rises. So it’s best that you get your recharge while you can.”
Dinobot couldn’t argue with that. He returned the kiss in kind, and watched as Primal’s red optics dimmed and slowly powered off for recharge. He rested his chin atop Primal’s helm and closed his optics, placing his servo on the other mech’s side.
How lucky he was. How much he loved this mech, and how much he loved this little spark that already had them both wrapped around her digits.
.-.-.
The world was quiet and calm as the moon rose over the horizon, full and bright, just as his spark was.
When Rhinox had delivered her from Primal’s frame, joy on everyone’s faceplates, Dinobot’s world had stopped and narrowed to that tiny, squeaking little frame. How perfect and precious she was, irrefutable love of both his and Primal’s life, the littlest newcomer.
For a bit after the emergence, there had been a burst of energy in the captain of the Axalon and he couldn’t bring himself to get some recharge. Dinobot had ventured out and gathered not just one, not just two, but a bouquet of various flowers from around the immediate area, placing them at Primal’s berthside in yet another show of his undying love and affection for his mate and their brand new, wonderful little sparkling.
Now, here at night, exhaustion had finally reacquainted itself with Optimus, and he was now deep in recharge while Dinobot helpfully took the little one into his arms. He stood at the window, right by Primal’s berth, and looked between the rising moon and the shining stars, and the tiny face peeping from the folds of the soft blanket she was swaddled in.
She stirred and opened wide crimson optics to blink up at him. One of her small servos peeped out from the blanket and she opened and closed it into a fist, repeatedly, and then yawned.
“So tired already, and you’ve only been here for less than a solar cycle,” Dinobot chuckled. He looked over at Primal, smiling at the peaceful expression on his faceplates. “So new are you, so small, yet how you loom larger than your carrier and I.”
The sparkling chirped and yawned again, bringing her servo to her mouth. She stuck her digits in her mouth and then removed them, chirping and blinking slowly and sleepily before falling into recharge once more.
More and more stars revealed themselves, and Dinobot had the thought that he would go outside with the little one. He made to move from the window, but then reconsidered. Moving further from Primal would wake him, and he would be stressed at his sparkling being far from him. Stress was the last thing he needed more of. So, Dinobot stayed, only pulling up a stool for him to take a brief respite and sit on.
The femme cooed softly in recharge and curled in towards his spark, her servo resting on his chassis. He gently prodded the little servo with one of his digits, and couldn’t help the wide smile that crossed his faceplate when the little fist unfurled and her digits wrapped around his, so small that they couldn’t even make it all the way around.
He thought about the circumstances of, well, everything. His defection, the uneasy alliances made on the way here. Yet all it had taken was a few times of sparring with Primal turning into something more, and then here she was, all in her glory.
They hadn’t known about it for a while. She was so small and Primal was so busy, pushing through the odd readings that his frame gave off. Dinobot couldn’t ignore the activation of his extremely protective and possessive sire coding. That had been the first sign, even if he hadn’t noticed it himself for a while.
He sat and watched her, watched how her optic covers fluttered in recharge, watched her little servo curl into a fist. He looked up at Primal, then down at her again, before looking at the stars once more.
It had been a strange road to where he wound up now, and it would be a stranger road with various twists and turns from here on. At the very least, the stars were a constant, and he could look at them in contemplation of the choices he’d made to get here.
How he wouldn’t have it any other way.