Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Their lab was a busy place, therefore it was always noisy. Someone tinkering with a device or test tubes could be heard on a regular basis, as well as the sound of bubbling chemicals in the background, datapads being tossed around, explosions—for Perceptor's dismay—the energetic chatter of the only two residents (and whoever was brave enough—or nonchalant enough—to enter), and a large list of etceteras.

All those sounds were part of a routine that both scientists were more than happy to follow. After all, their laboratory was like a safe haven for them, a comfort zone where they could mutually indulge each other's ideas and let themselves go with the flow of time.

So, when Perceptor came in one day telling Brainstorm that he had been selected for a research expedition to another planet with a bunch of other scientists from Cybertron, the deafening silence that followed was unnerving, for saying the least.

The jet had suddenly stopped what he was doing and gone very stiff, resembling the likes of a statue, disconcertingly quiet. Perceptor had already resolved that he never wanted to see his conjunx like that ever again.

"Brainstorm? Is everything alright?"

Those words seemed to pull the teal bot out of his trance and he reflexively took on a defensive posture. "Yes! I mean—yes, why wouldn't something be alright? Amirite?" His EM field was tightly retracted, but it didn't take a genius to sense that he was buzzing with anxiety. "Haha! Yeah, I mean, how awesome it is that you can go to another planet! Imagine the possibilities! All the new lifeforms you would get to see! The endless tests you could run! Better bring me a souvenir, 'cause y'know how much I-"

The microscope frowned with concern. "Hey," Brainstorm's rambling stopped to a halt, "What's wrong?"

The jet was baffled for a second, "I…" he surrendered with an ex-vent. "What gave it away?"

Perceptor stepped closer to his lover and gave him a sad smile."Your wings twitch when you're distressed."

Brainstorm puffed in defeat. He eyed his partner for a moment before he embraced him, burying his face on the red bot's neck. It was no secret that his conjunx was a very clingy mech, especially while looking for comfort, so the microscope returned the embrace warmly. He began to rub his wings in a soothing manner. Brainstorm's engine purred at the touch.

The jet huffed a laugh. "Betrayed by none other than myself. Who would have thought?" 

Perceptor pulled him closer to him and hummed in amusement, "I suppose only a genius can outmatch another genius." 

Brainstorm let out a snort and nuzzled the microscope's neck affectionately. His EM field was once again displayed, he was relaxed. Although, the anxious feeling still lingered on the background if ever so slightly. 

Perceptor raised the jet's chin carefully so they were making eye contact. "You're upset, Storm. Please, tell me what's the matter." He spoke softly and then cupped his masked cheek with his palm.

Brainstorm closed his optics and leaned on the touch. "I didn't mean to worry you, Percy. I was just taken off guard, that's all." 

Perceptor ex-vented. Admittedly, they were conjunxed just recently, less than 2 months ago, in fact. So maybe his partner just needed a bit more time to get used to opening up. Perceptor himself could also use a little bit of that. "That's not all there's to it, Brainstorm. You know you can trust me, right?"

The teal bot opened his optics with a frown. "Of course I do! With my life!" He protested. "It's just—just… I don't know if you want to hear it."

Perceptor snorted. "Dear, I would want to hear you talk about anything if it means I could get to hear your voice." He smirked when Brainstorm groaned and offlined his optics, his field filled with embarrassment.

"You're such a sap, did you know that? Perceptor, The Legendary Scientist, Cold and Calculator Sniper, and a Monumental Sap,” he teased him.

“Look who's talking, Ship's Most Clingy Bot,” he teased back.

"You wouldn't want me any other way." His eyes were narrowed in a smile. 

"You're right. I wouldn't..." He smiled., "...But you are also avoiding the topic." 

Brainstorm groaned. "I hate it when you don't let me dance around the topic." His conjunx was smirking smugly at him. "Ugh, fine." he let out a deep ex-vent. "It's—heh—unsurprisingly, it's about Quark…" he averted his gaze, ashamed, like he just told his partner that he killed someone or something like that. 

Perceptor's optics widened slightly, as if falling in realization. " Oh ." What other answer could he have given, honestly?

"See my point now?" He grumbled and hid his helm on Perceptor's chest. The microscope was analyzing the situation. He focused on the bundle of a jet he was embracing, he looked distressed again, clearly his partner was reluctant to speak about the subject. Brainstorm had a bit of a problem with self-consciousness, he was just recently aware of that. That fact just didn't sit well with Perceptor, so he always made sure his conjunx was reassured in any way he could. He wrapped Brainstorm even closer, putting a hand at the back of his helm and stroking lighty.

"If you thought I would be mad about you mentioning Quark, you should be glad you're abysmally wrong,” he said quietly.

The teal bot seemed surprised by that statement, judging by the way his wings hitched upwards. "Really? You're not even slightly uncomfortable?" He said dubiously.

"Are you?"

"I— well now that you mentioned it…"

"Storm. Look at me." 

The jet raised his helm and found two warm, blue optics looking back at him. "I did mention you can tell me anything, didn't I?" Brainstorm nodded. "Anything, Brainstorm. Alright? That includes Quark. How can I possibly get mad at you for having memories with other people?" He stated.

Brainstorm remained quiet for a bit, perplexed, then he laughed awkwardly. "Well, when you put it that way… guess I may have… moderately overreacted." He frowned. "Still. I don't know. I would've guessed that ‘junxed couples wouldn't want to hear about their partner’s exes. Or well, not-exes. ” 

"Except when said exes are such an important part of the life of the other party to the point of him creating the single most greatest invention of all realities and almost erasing himself from the brim of existence." He said with a gruff. 

Brainstorm fidgeted with his fingers and just eyed him like a cyber-puppy who was being scolded. Perceptor's spark contracted at the sight and he cleared his throat, "forgive me, I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

Brainstorm ex-vented and relaxed in his partner's hold. "Nah, it was fair, I guess." 

"Then would you tell me? Please? Who knows, maybe it’ll make you feel better." He said softly.

Brainstorm grumbled. "Okay, okay! I'll spill the beans! But only because you’re you, so I would feel pretty honored in your place." He nuzzled Perceptor gently and the microscope chuckled in return. "We might want to sit down though, there's a long story coming..." 

His conjunx nodded. “Alright.” They both sat down on the floor. Perceptor embraced Brainstorm with one arm. 

The teal bot let out a long, deep ex-vent as he leaned against his partner. "Right. Before the real deal, I think some context is needed first… So, back during my MTO days I wasn't the brimming sexy genius you know today. I was assigned to be in a research facility—not to do research per-ce, but to organize documents and all that dull, boring stuff." 

Brainstorm hummed to himself. "Funnily enough, that was kind of a punishment for disobeying orders—but that's not important right now." He made a pause, "It was in that facility where I met Quark. He was one of the few people who actually treated me like a living being, you see," he put on a sad smile. "In retrospect, I think that's why I fell so hard for him, I was utterly perplexed by that stupid microscope—uh, no offense, Percy." He displayed a tiny smile.

Perceptor smiled back. "None taken. Please, go on."

The jet cleared his voice, "Right—So, upon seeing that his job was far cooler than mine, I said to myself, 'fuck this' and abandoned my duties to stick with Quark like an astro tick."

"I was worried by his reaction though, maybe he'll kick me out or tell me off to our superiors. But to my surprise, he didn't really seem to mind my presence. Guess we both enjoyed each other's company, ‘cuz he would get very enthusiastic when teaching me stuff and whatnot." 

Perceptor thought that made sense, Quark used to be a teacher back in the day. He personally never attended one of his classes, but Perceptor heard he was quite good at his job. What a shame.

"Anyway, by the time our superiors found out that I wasn't doing my "proper" job, I was already Quark's unofficial lab assistant," Brainstorm smirked to himself, "They decided to let me be, only 'cause I was so damn good at what I did—and, um, because Quark told them to," he waved his hand.

Perceptor chuckled lightly. Some things never change , he mused.

Brainstorm went on. "Time passed and I became my own scientist. I remember Quark telling me that I should've looked forward to something greater, but I refused to leave the post of assistant with the excuse that I wasn't ready yet. Just to be close to him," the jet let out a dry laugh, "I was so dumb back then… but guess I was happy that way."

Brainstorm made a long pause. Perceptor just remained quiet, ever the patient bot, he sent waves of reassurance through his EM field, never rushing his conjunx to go on with the story, only waiting at his side for him to continue at his own time.

Then, the jet spoke again, "Anyhow, now comes the part you've been waiting for…" 

Subconsciously, Perceptor embraced his conjunx more tightly. 

"As you already should know, K'th Kinsere was attacked by the Decepticons, so High Command wanted all the resources they could get to muster a counter-attack. One of those resources was scientists, guess they wanted them to develop more weapons, who knows—the bottom line here is that they recruited a lot of the bots working in my facility." He ex-vented. "And yeah, Quark was amongst them." 

Perceptor couldn’t help but cringe internally. He supposed he could relate, even if just a little bit. But to think that one day you could be doing research on minerals and the next you’re dying in a prison camp… it was a terrifying possibility back in the war. He suddenly felt the need to look at Brainstorm, because from time to time, Perceptor too needed reassurance. 

"Wanna know the worst part? He wasn't even considered to join in the first place, it was a last minute decision. Some other scientist died or something, and they needed a remplacement." His voice had a sad, melancholic tone attached to it. 

Perceptor did not overlook the way his partner was getting gradually more and more mournful as he told his story. He enveloped him even more with his EM field, casting reassurement and affection, hoping it would make him feel better. 

Brainstorm continued, "I overheard some colleague talking about it, that’s how I found out he was leaving. I think I may have stopped venting for a minute before I immediately rushed straight to our lab, wishing with all my spark that he was still there."

The engineer leaned against his conjunx. "Turned out he was. He apologized for having to leave all of a sudden, but he promised to come back soon..." He went quiet. 

Perceptor too, remained quiet. Unfortunately, they both knew the outcome of that tale. The jet spoke quietly, "I guess everyone knows what happened then—K'th Kinsere fell at the hands of the Decepticons, the survivors were sent to Grindcore and…" Brainstorm was tapping his thigh with his finger, as if looking for the correct phrasing. 

"...Quark never came back,” he said at last, while his wings sank down in sadness. Even though Brainstorm didn't feel any romantic attraction to Quark anymore, he still remembered him fondly as one of his firsts, genuine friends, the weight of his loss persevered to this day.

“That’s why I reacted the way I did when you told me you were leaving. I momentarily got dragged right back to that day.” He nuzzled his conjunx’s neck. “I never got the chance to reveal my feelings to him, not even when I watched him leaving forever...”

When it was evident Brainstorm wasn’t going to continue, finally, Perceptor talked, “Oh, Storm. Come here, sweetspark.” He embraced his conjunx tightly. Perceptor was stroking his back softly. “I had no idea, I can't imagine what it was like for you to experience that. I'm sorry.” he murmured softly.

The jet buried his face into his partner's neck cables, feeling that if he let go, he'd lose Perceptor forever, just like he lost Quark. He knew it was a silly thought, he wouldn't just magically disappear the moment they stopped hugging, but Brainstorm couldn't help it, his processor was still trying to cope with the grief. 

“I can stay, I’m sure they’ll find someone else to go with them,” he reassured his lover.

Brainstorm perked up from Perceptor’s arms. “What? No! You really don’t have to stay only because of my silly antics,” he protested.

“Your feelings are anything but silly. And they're not antics either. I don’t want you to stay here all alone panicking over self-constructed scenarios. I would always put your wellbeing over anything else, especially some outer-planet expedition.” 

“I wouldn't be alone though, I have friends…” 

“That wouldn't stop you from worrying at all. I know you.” He huffed. “I mean it, Storm. I don’t mind not going.” 

Brainstorm was looking at him with those gorgeous golden eyes of his. “You sure?”

“One hundred percent.” The microscope smirked. “Besides, I don’t feel confident in leaving you in charge of the lab. You would probably blow it up into smithereens if I left you unsupervised.” 

Brainstorm didn’t even fight that statement, instead he burst out laughing and nuzzled his conjunx. "Well, I can't argue with that." The pair fell silent for a while, just content in holding each other. EM fields entangled and buzzed with love and affection.

Suddenly, the jet straightened, feeling mischievous. “Or…” He was grinning under his mask, Perceptor could easily tell. Oh Primus, he knew that look.

Perceptor raised an optic ridge. “Or…?” He mimicked, suspicious. 

“Or, we could go together!” He beamed. “It's brilliant! That way neither of us would worry for the other! I’m sure they have some space left for this hot piece of art to join in,” he signaled himself, "And I bet you can persuade them too! Plus, we get to grab all the souvenirs we'd like,” he stated enthusiastically.   

Perceptor was genuinely baffled for a minute. “That’s… actually not a crazy idea at all. Hm.” He grabbed his chin, pensive, “I must say, I was expecting something unhinged, like suggesting to fabricate our own planet to go explore or some ridiculous deed like that.” He smirked. 

Brainstorm snickered, “Careful, Percy. Don’t start giving me ideas, you might get entangled with an ingenious project, it may be too much for you to handle,” he purred. 

The red bot snorted and cupped his partner with his two hands. He was reaching for the locks that held the jet’s mask in place. “May I…?” 

Brainstorm giggled. “You may.” 

The locks were released by Perceptor, revealing Brainstorm’s yellow face. The microscope adored it. He could watch that enchanting face for all eternity. 

“Primus, you’re gorgeous,” the red bot breathed as he engulfed his conjunx on a tender kiss. The jet was more than happy to reciprocate. Then, they rested their foreheads together. The hum of their engines was the only sound in the room. 

“Do you feel better?” Perceptor inquired gently.

Brainstorm thought about it and realized that he was in fact feeling a lot better. Huh, guess his conjunx was right after all, but then again, when wasn’t he right about something? “You know what? Yes, yes I do. Thanks a lot, light of my spark.” He gave him a quick peck on the lips.

Perceptor's laugh rumbled through the jet's body. “There is really no need to thank me, but I certainly won't stop you if you want to." He chuckled. 

Brainstorm smirked, “Well, in that case, let me oblige.” He kissed him again, for a prolonged time. “I love you, Percy,” he murmured against his lips.

“I love you too, Storm. And I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah,” he agreed in a dreamy ex-vent. “Me too.”

Chapter Text

Perceptor was methodically analyzing a sample of a specimen out of the many plants endemic to the newly discovered organic planet. Ragak-11, a relatively small but dense planet with a considerable variety of lifeforms. With the help of his microscope mode, he could take notes of all the fascinating details found within the molecular structure of the plant. 

His work, however, was interrupted by a sudden ping from his communication system. He eyed the message lingering at the edge of his HUD. It came from the leader of their expedition trip. 

.:Attention to all researchers: our take off is due in T-40 minutes. Everyone is expected to return to the meeting point as per scheduled. Punctuality is very much encouraged so please try to reach the point on time. Thank you:.

Having read that, he hurried to finish his work and saved the data he’d collected into a special folder inside his personal database, he then transformed back into root mode and looked at his surroundings, trying to decipher the location of his conjunx. About fifteen minutes ago, the slippery engineer said that he was going to investigate further in the forest. But now he was nowhere to be seen, and the microscope was certain his partner either hadn't seen the message or decided to ignore it. Perceptor predicted a 99% possibility it was the latter. He opened their special comm channel. 

.:Brainstorm? Where are you? It's time for us to leave:. 

The reply took only a little while to arrive.

.:Give me a hot minute! I'm coming!:.

A bit suspicious but ultimately satisfied enough with the reply, Perceptor started to pack his belongings while he waited for his conjunx's arrival. It wasn't long until he heard movement from within the forest. 

At last, Brainstorm came out of the dense exotic flora. He was carrying various items in his arms. 

A lot of items. 

Tons of items.

Was his cockpit full as well…? Perceptor zoomed in with his eye reticle.

...It was. 

Perceptor pinched the bridge of his nose upon the view, already feeling like the strings of a headache wanted to make their way through his processor. "Brainstorm…" he ex-vented heavily. He almost forgot how unruled his conjunx could get sometimes.

"Yes, Percy? Something the matter?" Cooed the weapons engineer. He looked so damn innocent, almost as if he didn't realize what he was doing. Perceptor couldn't tell if that was indeed the case.

"Care to explain what you are holding?" He inquired, with a remarkable patience he had learned to possess over the years he’d worked alongside the sneaky weapons engineer.

Brainstorm crooked his helm a little as if he didn't know what Perceptor was talking about, but then he looked down, like he just remembered he was carrying a planet-worth of trinkets. Some of them even emanated a concerning glow. "Oh! You mean these?" He giggled, "isn’t it obvious? These are just my souvenirs! You told me I could pick up some!" 

Perceptor refrained from smacking his face. Instead he just inhaled and slowly began, "Yes, Brainstorm, precisely. Some . All of those —?" he gestured to all the junk in his conjunx's arms, "—are far from 'some'!" 

"Semantics, semantics." Replied the jet nonchalantly with a dismissive flick of his wings.

The microscope huffed, "besides, that is just half the truth. I told you that you were allowed to grab ‘souvenirs’ on the condition that you’d let me run safety tests onto them. Primus knows what kind of dangerous stuff you managed to scoop from—from who knows where!"

The jet rolled his optics and scoffed, "oh, please, give me a break, would you?" his wings hitched upwards,"nothing you leave at my hands is ever going to comply with 'safety standards'.” He emphasized his point by making quotation marks with his fingers. Some of the items fell to the ground in the process. “Give me a simple, mundane pebble and I will find a way to weaponize it by the end of the hour!" 

The red bot frowned and raised his hand in objection, "I—well, yes, but that is not—it doesn't—hm." Perceptor closed his mouth in a thin line, finding himself with no retaliation whatsoever to Brainstorm's argument. He crossed his arms in annoyance. No point in denying the undeniable; nothing within his range of grasp was even remotely close to being safe. The microscope even entertained the thought of Brainstorm being capable of  making a weapon out of the sheer particles in the air. Not that he would ever admit that, his conjunx probably wouldn't stop bothering him about it for months, or more. Unfortunately for Perceptor, he needn't say a word for the jet to tease him anyway.

Brainstorm snickered triumphantly at Perceptor's loss of words, " haha! Gotcha real good there, Perce!" His wings fluttered with glee. "Oh! How the mightiest has fallen! That only confirms that there is no match for the Greatest Genius ever conceived!" He proclaimed loudly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find a nice pretty crate to put all this fancy—" the jet began walking towards the small shuttle they were assigned to, but was stopped by the firm hand of his conjunx.

"You are not going anywhere, Brainstorm." Interrupted the microscope, "I'm not letting you on board with all of that scrap." He stated, unyielding.

The jet whined loudly, "aww come on, Percy! Don't be like that!" He looked at him with the most pleading cyber-puppy optics the engineer could muster. 

Perceptor remained unimpressed. "Three things, Brainstorm. And that is final." 

The jet whined in defeat, "aw shucks," his wings sank with exaggerated sadness for a moment, but they were quick to lift up once again, "make it five and we have ourselves a deal." His puppy eyes prevailed now stronger than before. "Pretty please? Wouldn't you do it for me?" He begged.

The red bot narrowed his optics and considered his conjunx's words. Well, he supposed that was a fair arrangement, he could indulge his partner from time to time, too. Besides—and this was quite possibly the most important reason—he couldn't say no to those precious golden optics even if his life depended on it. Damn it. He ex-vented deeply, defeated once again, "very well, you may pick five things." 

Brainstorm raised his arms happily with an enthusiastic 'yay' sending all the stuff he was holding straight to the ground. He mimicked the same process with his cockpit. "Sweet! Thank you, light of my spark, you're the best! Did you know you're the best, because you are!" Beamed the jet. 

Perceptor just shook his helm with fond exasperation and let out a small laugh. "You're insufferable, did you know that?"  

Brainstorm's optics narrowed in a smile. "You better believe it~" He winked and sank to his knees to start tinkering with the pile of stuff on the ground. He seemed to be in though for a moment. Then he glanced at his conjunx from where he was seated. "Would you like to help me choose? I actually didn't think you'd allow me to pick more than one thing." He chuckled. 

Perceptor shook his helm and smiled fondly, he sank to his knees too, facing his conjunx, and started looking for something that didn't seem potentially harmful to their physical integrity. "Come now, I'm not that bad, am I? You make it sound like I'm at the same level as Prowl."

Brainstorm snorted, "Primus spare my spark the day you reach it! It'll be like being 'junxed to him!" He shuddered, "Eww! Nevermind! Delete that though, delete that though!" He made some exaggerated gagging noises.

The microscope couldn't help but burst out laughing at his partner's theatrics, he adored that aspect of his personality, those little displays of silliness never failed to brighten him up.

Brainstorm joined him in, his laughter a precious, uplifting thing. Perceptor couldn’t help but stare at him in awe and adoration, alongside the most goofy smile his features allowed him. “God, I love you so much…”

Brainstorm eventually stopped laughing and mimicked Perceptor's expression upon hearing him with a flutter of his wings. His spark bloomed and ran laps all over his casing. "I love you too, Percy." He almost whispered. 

It occurred to Perceptor to take a glance at his internal chronometer. 35 minutes left until takeoff. “We’re going to arrive late again, right?” 

Brainstorm smiled widely. They both knew that smile already answered his query, but the jet decided to humor him with a reply nonetheless. “Well, what are they gonna do? Arrest you?” 

Fair enough.  

The pair kept looking for the perfect five items they could take as a souvenirs, followed by a series of “nuh-uh’s” and “yep that seems alright's” coming from both scientists. When they finally agreed on what to take and what not, they got up to their peds and started walking towards the small shuttle, chatting chipperly and leaving the pile of trinkets behind.

"I forgot to ask, by the way, where did you even find these?” Perceptor was holding one of the souvenirs, inspecting it, “I don't recall seeing anything of the like in the surroundings."

"Well— heh —do you really want to know…?”

Perceptor was about to open his mouth to say ‘yes’ but then he almost immediately closed it. Upon better inspection… "Actually, you know what? Let's just leave it a mystery."