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Frankie Greene was alone in the Burns' firehouse basement in a bunny pajama onesie, eating from a comically large tub of frozen yogurt.
That was what greeted Kade when he entered the Burns' firehouse. He took a second to double take, looked around to see if there was anything else strange, and shook his head to see if maybe it was just an apparition brought on by too many late night sandwiches. But no, he turned his eyes back to the firehouse couch and she was still there.
"Hi!" she chirped in between huge spoonfuls of frozen confectionery. Even the spoon itself seemed comically large. Her voice sounded a bit off somehow. She wasn't even looking at him, her eyes instead glued to the television.
Kade hesitated before answering. "Uh... hi."
Frankie offered nothing else as introduction or explanation. Kade walked around the couch to stand behind her and eye what she was watching. Looked like some kind of daytime soap.
"So uh," he raised an eyebrow and leaned casually on the couch. "What exactly brings you here Frankie?"
She blinked, attention finally drawn away from the screen. "Oh. Oh!" She grinned up at him. "I'm not Frankie, I'm Blades."
"What?"
"I'm Blades!" She - actually he - repeated. "We did a body switch. Remember, like the whole thing with the crystal and the ion storm and the elevator and-"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Kade said, waving him off before he could go on any more. He took a second to absorb this. "What exactly do you mean "did" a body switch? Like you did it on purpose? Where's Blades? Or I guess I mean, where's Blades' body?" Kade scratched his head. Man, body-swapping never failed to confuse.
"Well, it was sort of what Frankie and Doc Greene were working on, so it was something they were going to do on purpose eventually, but we weren't planning to have it happen today. But by all their math it should wear off in a little bit! So I was having fun in the meantime." He picked up his tub of frozen yogurt and practically hugged it to his borrowed chest.
"Huh," was all Kade could say.
"Yeah! It's great, Frankie says her body will be able to withstand a lot more frozen yogurt than Dani's could. Something to do with age? Though I think Dani might get mad if I said so..." he trailed off and put a hand up to his borrowed chin, clearly talking more to himself now than Kade.
Kade cleared his throat and Blades startled.
"Right! Anyway, last I knew, Frankie was out back with my body at the racetrack with Heatwave."
Kade headed outside and sure enough, Heatwave stood at the head of the racetrack, watching while a familiar orange helicopter wobbled slightly in the air above. Kade walked up and leaned casually on Heatwave's leg, arms crossed. Heatwave looked down.
"That Frankie up there?" Kade asked.
"Yup. Trying to give her tips on flying but..." Kade could tell he was holding back a groan of frustration.
"What do you even know about flying anyway?" Kade grinned up at him cheekily. That earned him a glare.
"There isn't anybody else around right now, Dani is off somewhere else and I couldn't get ahold of her."
"So no pilot in there?"
"Nope. So I don't think she's doing too bad all things considered. Only been at it for a little over an hour."
"And Blades says the swap is supposed to just... wear off?" Kade was a bit skeptical.
"Yeah... it's actually supposed to happen soon. Doc Greene gave it two hours at most. He's still off tinkering with their machine though." Heatwave peered down and gave Kade a knowing look. "In case the switch back doesn't happen."
Kade nodded. Both of them were well familiar with the Greene's experiments and their unforeseen consequences after all.
In front of them, Frankie abruptly dropped; ending up close enough to the ground that her blades started to kick up gusts of wind and dust. Kade shielded his face with his arm while the copter jerked sharply, reigning for control. As abruptly as the copter had lost control, it suddenly steadied its hover above the ground, then smoothly transformed into robot mode.
"Hey!" said a voice that sounded exactly like Blades normally did. "I'm me again!" He stared at his own hands in amazement.
"Blades?" Heatwave asked. "That was pretty fast."
"Blades!" A shout from behind them. Frankie emerged from the firehouse, still in the onesie. "It worked! We're back!" She stopped in front of Blades and reached up a hand. He gleefully leaned down and hit it with his own for a high five.
Heatwave watched this unimpressed. "Okay, well, if everything is normal. I have better things to do," he grunted, transformed, and headed back into the firehouse.
After a moment, Kade followed. He wanted to see what Heatwave was doing now that he knew Heatwave was around, maybe watch something on the TV since now no one else was around to hog it. Blades and Frankie's body swap quickly left his mind.
It wasn’t much longer than a week before Kade heard about body swaps again. He was scheduled for a patrol soon with Heatwave, Boulder, and Graham. He sat at the firehouse kitchen, earlier having made lunch. He was just polishing off the last bits of his sandwich and a large glass of milk when Graham entered. His brother stood in front of the fridge, scoping out its contents.
“Boulder isn’t here to come out to supervise the festival with us today,” Graham said over his shoulder as he inspected a carton of milk. (One of Griffin Rock's seemingly endless rotation of festivals, Kade couldn't even remember what it was about and didn't care to ask.)
“Oh? Why’s that?” Kade asked absentmindedly. He filed a toothpick between his teeth as he spoke, only half listening for Graham’s answer.
“He’s out with Mr. and Mrs. Rubio.” Graham made a face and for a second Kade wondered why he would do that at the thought of Boulder hanging out with the Rubio’s, but then he noticed he’d sniffed the carton of milk.
“Doing what?” asked Kade.
“He was talking to Doc Greene about it earlier. I’m pretty sure they’re going to use the bodyswapper.”
“The bodyswapper?”
Graham turned around and threw the milk into the trash can in a single motion. (A tiny part of Kade was impressed with his shot.)
“Yeah, I guess Frankie and Doc Greene ironed out all the kinks. The device can swap any two people or robots for up to eight hours at a time.”
“And Boulder is going to do that willingly? With one of the Rubios?”
“Yeah. Mr. Rubio I think. But since he’s not around Dad and Chase were going to go out with you today.”
Kade got up from his seat at the kitchen table and shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me.” He grabbed his empty sandwich plate and milk glass and threw them in the sink. He’d wash them later. Maybe. Graham leveled him a look only an admonishing sibling could.
“Alright then, catch you later!” He rushed out of the kitchen with a laugh and away from Graham’s glare.
In the firehouse garage, Chase, Heatwave, and his dad were getting ready to head out. Heatwave sat in vehicle mode and waiting. With a sheepish grin aimed at Heatwave to account for not quite being on time, Kade climbed into his cab. Inside, Heatwave appeared on the dashboard.
“What happened to Graham and Boulder?”
It was his dad that answered, already at Chase’s wheel.
“He’s out with Mr. and Mrs. Rubio.”
“Doing what?” asked Heatwave, unknowingly echoing Kade from five minutes ago. His tone was definitely curious, to Kade’s bemusement.
“Swapping bodies.”
“That’s. Huh.” Heatwave said.
Kade snorted. He waited for what he thought might be an actual pithy comment from Heatwave, but none came. Kade took advantage of having a sliver of knowledge over Heatwave and explained what he knew about the Bodyswapper in a knowing tone. Heatwave appeared on his view screen to roll his eyes at Kade's showboating, but didn't say anything else about it before they all took off.
Kade and Heatwave spent most of their time circling the festival park. Most festivals and town gatherings that they were made to attend that didn’t get interrupted by emergencies ended up with them dealing with something even worse – entertaining children. Continual driving helped them avoid something neither of them wanted to do. Kade sat leaned back in Heatwave’s cabin with his arms behind his head and his feet dangerously close to Heatwave’s dashboard (Heatwave had warned him off it more than once). On one of many loops around the perimeter, Kade thought he spotted a familiar green bulldozer out of the corner of his eye.
Kade sat up to attention and put his hands on Heatwave’s steering wheel. “Hey. Isn’t that Boulder over there?”
Heatwave turned the corner at the instruction of Kade’s hands. Sure enough there in the distance sat Boulder in vehicle mode on the park grass, soaking up the late autumn sun. Next to him, Mrs. and “Mr.” Rubio were crouched on the ground, a plot of overturned soil in front of them.
“They’re working the community garden,” Heatwave helpfully supplied. He came to a stop for whatever reason, allowing them to observe as Mrs. Rubio playfully slapped “Mr.” Rubio’s arm, then leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Kade could swear he could see the slight blush form on Mr. Rubio’s cheeks even from a distance. Mrs. Rubio leaned back and smiled at Mr. Rubio, before she leaned in again and cupped his jaw and planted a soft chaste kiss to his lips.
“You think that’s really Boulder in there? And Mr. Rubio in Boulder?” Kade asked.
It took a moment for Heatwave to respond. Heatwave’s avatar on the dashboard looked... thoughtful. “There was no reason for Graham to lie was there?”
“Guess not... Boulder’s not really the type to lie to play hooky.”
Heatwave's avatar disappeared off of the dashboard. He stayed parked there for what seemed like an exuberant amount of time but couldn't have been more than a minute or two. Kade cleared his throat and twisted his hands on Heatwave's wheel as a signal to get going, and with a start Heatwave revved his engine back up to continue their circle of the park.
They both stared at the garden and the three people in it until they disappeared from Heatwave’s rear view mirror.
The bodyswapper again left Kade’s mind until a week later. It was his and Hayley’s usual date night. They didn’t have anything in particular planned for tonight, but they always kept their date night on the calendar because they both tended to get busy and it was nice to know there was always an empty couch for them if they made sure their date nights weren’t the same as Dani’s.
He walked out of the firehouse garage to meet Hayley at the front and wasn’t surprised to see Heatwave parked there as well. More often than not he was their driver. Sometimes depending on what they were doing he’d even tag along, or watch something with them if they were staying in. That was definitely happening more and more often as of late.
As he walked up, he noticed Hayley was wearing… a fireman’s hat? Weird.
“Hey guys.” Kade greeted them both with a casual wave. “Hayley, got any thoughts on plans tonight?”
Heatwave transformed and grinned down at him. “Yeah. I definitely came up with something.”
His voice sounded… odd. A bit less gruff than usual maybe? Kade turned to Hayley to make a snarky comment on Heatwave’s boldness in assuming he had a say in their date night, but his eyes caught on the fireman’s hat again. Wait.
He looked back up at Heatwave.
"Surprise!" said the robot who Kade was rapidly realizing wasn't actually Heatwave. "It's me, Hayley!" She did a little gesture between her and her body. "We did a little switcheroo."
Heatwave-in-Hayley's body stood there with hands clasped at his front and avoiding both of their gazes.
"You did this on our date night?" Kade crossed his arms, some frustration threatening to build. "Why exactly would you do that?" It was less a question more an accusation. Hayley reached out with her now large robot hand and plucked Kade off the ground.
“Aww come on babe, don’t be like that!”
Kade sputtered indignantly as he tried to wrestle out of Hayley’s metal grasp. “Don’t call me babe with Heatwave’s voice Hayley! That’s weird!”
Hayley laughed, her borrowed voice still fairly deep and throaty despite her influence giving it a slightly higher inflection than normal. “Alright....” She paused, stared at him with exaggerated lidded eyes, and took a moment to purposefully try to lower her voice down to Heatwave’s normal cadence. “Kade.”
Somehow it seemed even lower than Heatwave’s actually, and Kade squirmed uncomfortably in her hold while his face got hot. She lowered him back to the ground. Heatwave was still pointedly not looking at either of them, his borrowed face blushing furiously and facing the wall behind them. His hands remained clasped in front of him and the brim of his fireman’s hat hid his eyes.
“It’s not like Heatwave wasn’t going to come for a bit anyway! He was going to be our driver!’
Kade crossed his arms again and glared up at her, saying nothing.
“Not to mention we didn’t have any solid plans! No dinner reservations, no movie showing!”
Kade continued to glare up at her and say nothing.
Hayley’s robotic face crumpled. “Sorry Kade…” She poked her two pointer fingers together in a show of timidness. “The machine takes a long time to charge you know, and it has to be used in a certain window… and I just really wanted to try being a robot. You got to try it!”
Kade sighed and uncrossed his arms.
“Fine.”
“Eeeeee!” She scoped Kade back up and hugged him to her chassis. “This is gonna be so much fun!” The squeal she let out and all the pep she was exuding was extremely out of place coming out of Heatwave’s mouth.
“But Heatwave’s not coming!”
“What! That doesn't seem fair does it." Hayley pouted.
Bafflingly, Heatwave still stood there saying nothing. Kade looked to him to make some sort of argument, or petty comment, or anything, but he remained staring ahead and silent.
"Come on Kade, leaving Heatwave alone would be no fun for him. And he did this for me!"
Kade blinked. He'd done it for her, huh? He could only imagine how she'd convinced him, considering how much Heatwave complained about being human last time. Kade again looked to Heatwave-in-Hayley to see if he had anything to add. All he did was nod, still not meeting any of their eyes.
"Fine. Fine." Kade said. If Heatwave had done this for Hayley, he could at least go along with her wishes for the day. Didn't want a robot showing him up in the art of making his girlfriend happy after all. "But maybe take off the fireman's hat? Looks a little odd when you're just in an everyday getup, doesn't it?"
Hayley reached into her front compartment and pulled out a sunhat that Heatwave had probably swapped for the fireman's hat, since it clearly matched the outfit that he was already wearing.
"But I like the fireman's hat..." Heatwave mumbled, finally speaking. He didn't move to take the sun hat offered but Hayley stubbornly refused to stop offering it. After a bit of a stare down, Heatwave snatched the sun hat with a grumble. Hayley giggled.
“So…” Kade hesitated, almost afraid of asking. “What are we doing then?”
Hayley grinned, transformed into truck mode, and popped open both cab doors. Kade somewhat reluctantly climbed into the driver’s side and slammed the door. Heatwave slipped in next to him, looking at the dashboard instead of at Kade.
“Don’t slam my doors like that.”
It was funny how it almost sounded like something that Hayley would say. Heatwave’s borrowed voice sounded exactly like Hayley’s right before they were about to get in a fight.
“Hey! Don’t get mad at me! This whole thing was your idea!” Kade waved his arms wildly, gesturing to the cab and everyone in it. “I don’t know how she managed to convince you, but don’t act like you were some unwilling victim.”
Before Heatwave had a chance to say anything else, Hayley blared her sirens.
Hayley sped down the road faster than Heatwave ever did, even during most emergencies.
"Hayley!" Heatwave shouted over the sirens and the breeze; she was keeping the windows down. "How about slowing it down a little bit?"
"Where exactly are we going?" shouted Kade. He actually didn't really have many protests about their speed. He was often egging on Heatwave to drive a little faster.
"We're going on a romantic beach drive," Hayley cooed, choosing to ignore Heatwave's question in favor of Kade's.
"Okay, well, maybe I don't understand humans as well as I thought, because I don't understand what’s so romantic about it being so loud you can barely hear yourself think," Heatwave griped, still shouting over her blare. He gripped his sunhat tightly with one hand as he yelled, the wind threatening to send it flying off.
"I'll slow down when we get there! We don't have a lot of time today you know!"
And if possible, her sirens got even louder, and her gas pedal got even lower as she continued to speed on her way.
True to her word, once the shore was in view Hayley slowed herself down considerably.
Once the sirens were off and the wind was only that of the light ocean breeze coming in from the sea, Kade almost missed all the noise. With nothing but silence in the cabin the mood was quickly shifting to awkward.
The passenger side was the one that was alongside the ocean, and Heatwave leaned his borrowed arm on the window's edge and rested his face on his hand, staring out the window in a way that might have been thoughtful but also may have just been avoiding Kade. Kade stared and wondered exactly what he was thinking about, until Heatwave's eyes darted quickly toward the driver's side, then just as quickly averted them back to the window. Right. Definitely avoiding then.
With nothing else to do, Kade turned and looked ahead down the road rather than choose to stare at Heatwave. At that moment, Hayley decided to pop her borrowed face onto the view screen.
"Wow, you guys are no fun."
"Hayley, you're just driving. There's not much fun to be had here," Kade said.
Hayley sighed deeply. "You never do appreciate much romance do you Kade..."
"Hey, I'm plenty romantic. What's the point of looking at the beach from the road? You're supposed to walk by the shore anyway."
The face on the view screen perked up. "Oh! Is that what you want to do? Right now?" She raised her robotic brow suggestively.
"No!" Kade said, flustered. He didn't know if that would include Hayley in Heatwave's body but it didn't matter.
"You're right, maybe that's a little too boring. I think I want to get my sirens going again."
Kade groaned.
"Oh! Wait! I have an idea." Hayley said - and with no fanfare, transformed into robot mode with them still inside.
Kade and Heatwave both dove out of the passenger doors in record time, in between the transformation. Kade landed painfully and ungracefully on his butt. Heatwave looked to be a little more fortunate but still stumbled his way onto the ground and onto his knees.
"Oh shoot!!" Hayley said as she took in their prone forms on the ground in her wake. "That wasn't the idea."
"Gee whiz, I never would have guessed," Kade retorted as he stood up and rubbed his now sore behind.
"Please Hayley, enlighten us to the actual idea," came Heatwave's disgruntled borrowed voice. He stood up and brushed dirt off his skirt.
"Heatwave! You have to teach me how to become a dinosaur."
"Oh." Heatwave blinked. Whatever he expected her to say, it probably wasn't that. "You can't do it huh?"
Hayley closed her robotic eyes for a second and made a face like she was concentrating. After a moment she opened her eyes. "No."
"Okay," Heatwave said, now stern and no nonsense, "Well Optimus taught us about how to change into additional modes. It requires a different type of focus than changing into your original forms. First, you have to center here-" Heatwave started gesturing with his arms as he spoke and it was then that Kade started to drift off. It was weird to hear how Heatwave had shifted into using Hayley's "teaching voice", probably without even realizing it. Rather than listen closely to his words, Kade focused on Heatwave's borrowed face as he relayed instructions, directing Hayley to sit on the ground and gesturing to where in the robotic body she should try to evoke feeling.
Every time Heatwave motioned as he talked, he also brushed his borrowed hair out of his face and behind his ears, only for it to loosen up a few moments later and fall back into his face. After having done this several times, Hayley spoke up in the middle of his lecturing.
"Heatwave, you know I have a ribbon in my bag, if you want to tie your hair back and get it out of your face." Heatwave nodded, rifled through Hayley's tiny purse hanging at his side, and pulled out a pink length of ribbon.
He stared at it in his hand.
"Kade," Hayley said, "Would you braid Heatwave's hair quick please?"
Kade swallowed but made his way behind Heatwave. He ran his hands through his hair once, twice, before bringing his hands toward his borrowed scalp and cupping the hair there to begin gently braiding it down its length. He moved slowly, his fingers feeling fat and clumsy and his face getting hotter all the while. At the end of the braid, he smoothed it down along Heatwave's back with one hand while wordlessly reaching for the ribbon with the other. He tied the bottom into an uneven bow and smoothed it down with his hand again. Then he ran both his hands down his back for good measure.
He cleared his throat. "All done."
Heatwave turned back to face him. His borrowed face was also a slight pink. "Thank you Kade," he said, quieter than strictly necessary. He took the braid in his hand and fiddled with it, taking his eyes off Kade as he did so. Kade gave a small, short, almost jerky nod.
"Heatwave! Me! Dinosaur!"
"Right," Heatwave said, turning to her. Moment over.
After a few more transformations Hayley seemed to get the hang of it.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, still in dinosaur mode now. "You know who would love this? My kids! I don't think they've ever seen your dinosaur form Heatwave. Could we go to the park and see if there are any children around?"
Kade and Heatwave both groaned. Heatwave spoke first.
"It's bad enough I let their grubby and sticky paws all over me as a firetruck. Now I'd have to make nice with them as their teacher? I can't handle kids!"
Kade nodded, a little weirded out how he was siding with Heatwave. Once again he wondered how exactly Hayley had managed to convince Heatwave to agree to the body swap in the first place.
"And you know how I am with kids too Hayley," Kade added, "There's no reason to go."
"Awwww." Hayley transformed back into robot mode. "Pleeease?" She made puppy dog eyes with Heatwave's face, which was the most bizarre thing Kade had seen from this whole thing thus far. Every time he thought it couldn't get weirder...
"I could just drive there on my own, you know. Don't need you guys." She pouted and crossed her arms.
Suddenly her face lit up. "Could leave and maybe... give you guy some alone time? Eh?" She raised her metallic brow.
Kade groaned even louder. "Fine, we'll go."
An excited squeal and they were off, sirens blasting so loud there was no chance to speak.
It wasn't until much later that Kade realized Heatwave hadn't objected to Hayley's proposition.
The park didn't end up being that bad. There were plenty of kids there, but none from Hayley's class so none of the kids had any interest in talking to Kade or Heatwave in Hayley's borrowed body. Hayley quickly garnered a crowd of kids and parents as she thrilled with dinosaur roars and dinosaur water breath. Kade and Heatwave hung in the back of the crowd and watched as kids tried with varying levels of success to ride on her back.
Before long though, she had transformed into robot mode and was attempting to wave the kids off, telling them that she had important rescue work she had to get to.
Next to him, Heatwave smirked. "Not as easy as it looks, having all those kids swarm and climb all over you is it?" he said to her as she approached.
"It's..." she hesitated. "Not quite as fun as I'd imagined."
Heatwave laughed. It was a full belly laugh, where he gripped his stomach as he did it. It was very distinctly Heatwave. Kade had never seen Hayley laugh like that.
"I do have something else I need to be doing though!" Hayley protested. "I didn't just make that up!"
"Oh?" Kade turned away from watching Heatwave and thinking too deeply about his laugh; he pulled one of his hands out of his pocket and looked at his watch. "Isn't there at least a couple hours before you guys switch back?"
"Yeah, but I promised I'd meet someone as a robot, and I lost track of time. Come on!" She transformed into vehicle mode and popped her doors. "We have to get back to the coast!"
Kade looked to Heatwave, who only shrugged in answer.
Hayley drove fast with the sirens on once again leaving them all no chance to talk even if they wanted to. Rather than protest, they rolled down the windows and laughed helplessly as the town whizzed by. Heatwave hung his head out the window, one hand high on his head to secure his sunhat as the wind threatened to whip it off. As they approached the shore, they could hear the loud blaring of a boat horn. Hayley slowed as they reached the docks, and none other than Blades and High Tide were there to greet them.
Hayley popped her doors before she even came to a complete stop, seemingly eager to get her passengers out. Kade clambered out of the vehicle quickly lest he get tossed around again and on the passenger side Heatwave did the same. In his haste Heatwave’s sun hat flew off, catching the breeze and fluttering towards Kade.
Kade bent over and carefully picked it up. He brushed off the dirt and wordlessly handed it back to Heatwave.
They both looked down at the hat instead of each other, and as it passed between their hands their fingers just barely brushed. They lingered a little longer than may have been strictly necessary before Heatwave broke the spell and snatched the hat from his hands.
Some of Heatwave's blonde hair had come loose from its braid, and Kade watched him tuck it behind his ear before securing the sunhat onto his head, avoiding Kade’s gaze.
In front of them, Hayley let out an excited shriek.
Kade almost jumped, and quickly averted his eyes from Heatwave like he’d been caught. It turned out though that the shriek wasn’t aimed at them.
In Hayley’s hands was what could only be described as a robot-sized wave board. It was bright red with accents at the bottom that glowed an even brighter translucent red, like they were powered by something. A sail was folded down on the top but Kade could see similar accents on it as well. It screamed Greene family original.
Blades was rambling about it at length, gesturing at the board while Hayley nodded enthusiastically and clutched the board close. It was all technical jargon, talk about power consumption and aerodynamics, and it flew right over Kade’s head.
Kade squinted at them suspiciously. He may have had no mind for the technical, but neither did Blades.
“Frankie?”
Blades’ face grinned back at him. “You got it.”
Kade turned to Hayley and pointed an accusing finger. “You two planned this!”
“Well duh. Frankie and her dad own the swapping device. Frankie wanted someone to try out her new boards with.”
High Tide, who until this point had been watching all them with mild curiosity, turned to the sky. It was getting overcast, with the clouds getting progressively darker the farther you looked out to sea.
“Folks, if you want us to get going, now would be the time. A storm is gonna be rolling in later today and we ought to be getting ahead of it.” He gestured to his mobile ship unit that sat farther down the docks.
Kade sighed, and him and Heatwave simultaneously started to walk towards the ship. High Tide stuck out a hand.
“Whoa there little folks. Wasn’t talking to you.”
“What.” Heatwave growled. With Hayley’s voice Kade would have thought the growl would be less intimidating, but honestly it made is hair stand up on end all the same.
“Too turbulent out there for human folk. I think it best that you all stay on shore.”
It was Heatwave’s turn for the accusing finger. “Hayley! Leaving us behind wasn’t part of the plan!”
Hayley smirked. It looked right at home on her borrowed face. “Heatwave, you know I can’t control the weather! If the captain says it’s not safe for you to come, you’ll just have to stay on shore!” Her metal eyes sparkled with mirth.
Before Kade even had a chance to accuse Hayley of planning this part too, regardless of weather, Hayley was dashing towards the shore.
"Byeee," she cooed over her shoulder. "Try not to have too much fun!"
Kade groaned as he watched her transform into boat mode and High Tide's ship head out to sea.
“Okay, well.” He gestured to a bench that wasn’t far off, overlooking the ocean. “Guess we’re waiting it out.”
Heatwave went ahead and took note, walked over to the bench and sat down. Kade did the same. There was a comfortable distance between them.
For a minute they just sat there, looking at the ocean and not speaking. There really did look to be a storm coming in; the clouds on the horizon were getting darker by the minute, now almost pitch gray.
“So… Hayley seems really excited to be a robot huh.”
Heatwave turned to him and grunted. “Of course. You said it yourself didn’t you? 'If I were this powerful I'd be arrogant too'? Admit it, you had fun being me.”
Kade laughed. “Surprised you remember that.” He paused for a second before he veered the topic. “Are you excited to be a human again? I don’t remember you having much fun last time.”
“That’s because I had your stupid toothache! Barely did anything except go to the human dentist…” He shuddered. “Not something I would look forward to repeating.”
Kade laughed again. He was doing that a lot today it seemed, despite the day’s strange circumstances. “I hear you on that one.”
“Never even got to eat anything… Blades still doesn’t shut up about all the things he got to eat. I’m pretty sure that was at least fifty percent of the reason he got the Greene’s to start working on the Bodyswapper. That and getting to wear clothes.”
Heatwave shuddered again, but upon further inspection it was more like shivering. The wind from the ocean ripped across the shore and Heatwave clutched his arms around himself.
"Cold?" Kade asked. Heatwave glared, but rather than Kade making some type of snappy comment he wordlessly took off his own jacket. Heatwave's face morphed into surprise as Kade moved closer to help him into it. Before he could get very far, Heatwave snatched the jacket and put it on himself.
“Hey.” Kade smiled at Heatwave when he was done, all bundled up in his jacket, his borrowed face looking far grumpier than Hayley typically made it. Kade had been going for a smirk but it came out a little softer than expected. “We’ve got a little time. We could stop for a snack?”
They ended up going, where else - a frozen yogurt shop.
Heatwave had almost scoffed at the idea but Kade knew he was curious and just wouldn't admit it.
Kade tried explaining all the flavors once they arrived, unable to really describe them to someone who had never tasted things before. Despite Kade's recommendation of all the sweet and chocolatey flavors and his distaste for most of the fruit ones, Heatwave ended up choosing a blueberry frozen yogurt. Kade's was a mishmash of chocolate, cheesecake, and mint chocolate.
They stood in line idly. Kade looked at Heatwave and followed his line of sight as he took in the scene of the frozen yogurt shop. Cheery fruit with faces were painted along the pastel blue walls and there was an old white piano in one corner, which had three kids crowded on its bench and occasionally smacking its keys.
Kade stopped looking around the shop and stared at Heatwave instead. Under Kade's borrowed jacket he was clearly wearing a date night blouse and skirt and Kade couldn’t help but wonder if Heatwave was the one that put it on his borrowed body, because it was something that he’d never seen Hayley wear before. He looked good.
Kade sputtered at his own thought and quickly turned it into a cough. Hayley’s body looked good. Which was the same as Hayley looking good. She was the one who looked good. Thoughts of Heatwave's bright red face after he'd done his braid flashed through his mind and he quickly banished them.
Heatwave pulled his gaze away from the gaudy paintings on the walls and looked at Kade quizzically, an eyebrow raised at his coughing fit.
Kade felt his face heating up and was about to say something to play it off when the line in front of them moved forward and they arrived at the topping counter. He started to shove an unhealthy amount of candy pieces onto his yogurt in lieu of saying something stupid.
Behind him Heatwave carefully considered the array of toppings. The display didn't even have any of them labeled, just bins of gummies and butter cups and berries alone in their tubs.
"Since you got a got fruity flavor you probably only want fruity toppings." Kade made a face. " Though you could probably get some dark chocolate ones. Definitely not peanut butter chocolate ones though, that would be gross."
Heatwave looked at him like he had two heads.
"Here, try some of these." He pointed out the raspberries and strawberries. Heatwave gave him a skeptical look but loaded up his yogurt nonetheless.
Kade stayed behind to pay at the cashier, while Heatwave took both frozen yogurts after they were weighed so that they could keep the line moving and Kade could fish out his wallet. Heatwave stood at the door holding the two frozen yogurts expectantly after Kade finished. Kade leaned in to grab his, and without thinking, kissed Heatwave on the cheek.
He froze. "Uh. Thanks." Kade said, gesturing with the frozen yogurt now in his hand. His could feel his face getting red but he steadfast ignored it. It was fine. He'd just done it absentmindedly because Heatwave was in Hayley's body. It was nothing.
If Kade's face was getting red it was probably nothing compared to Heatwave's, who at this point was almost as red as his firetruck. He actually went and brought his whole hand to his cheek and then turned it away, bashful like some Victorian maiden from some TV drama of Blade's.
It was weird because Hayley didn't do that demure type stuff, especially now that they had settled into their relationship. Seeing Heatwave do that was... well.
Kade swallowed and left the yogurt shop, leaving Heatwave to follow.
Heatwave's reaction to the frozen yogurt ended up being very understated, which was kind of disappointing. Kade thought it might have just been not wanting to give Blades the time of day (which Kade thought was a little unfair since frozen yogurt tended to be pretty good) and the brain freeze (which was probably fair). Kade laughed at Heatwave's expense when he clutched his hand to his head and complained of pain, only to be hoisted by his own petard moments later when he got a brain freeze as well. Heatwave had a laugh at his expense right back.
They were back at the bench by the shore. Kade watched as Heatwave took tiny little spoonfuls of his blue yogurt and hmm'd thoughtfully each time, dragging the spoon across the back of his mouth, concave side down on his tongue. He took well over twice the time to finish his yogurt than Kade, who scarfed his down in a few minutes flat. Heatwave had made comments about his etiquette that Kade studiously ignored.
“So," Heatwave said as he finally finished his last bite of frozen yogurt and placed the spoon delicately into the empty container with a plastic clatter. "We drove along the beach. We went to the park. We got frozen yogurt. What’s left on the human dating agenda?”
Kade snorted. “That’s it dude. Dessert is always last.”
“Huh.” Heatwave said. “You sure?”
“Man, you act like you’ve never seen me and Hayley on a date before, or been forced to watch a romcom with Blades.” Kade leaned back on the bench and stretched an arm loosely on the bench behind Heatwave’s back. It was a natural motion and he normally would have turned into pulling Hayley close on an actual date. As it was he just let the arm sit on the top of the bench, like a kid on his first date unsure of how to seal the deal.
Heatwave turned to look at him. “I seem to recall you referring to something "even sweeter than desert" for you and Hayley after dates. More than once.”
Kade could tell Heatwave was barely resisting making air quotes. He was playing it off as a joke, teasing, but his eyes were. Well.
“I mean I guess… that sometimes we go home together…” Kade swallowed. The implication…
“Oh?”
Kade’s arm found itself around Heatwave’s shoulders. Heatwave’s borrowed face was very close now, and his eyes bored into Kade’s.
“Sometimes we even… on this bench…”
Heatwave was close, impossibly close. Despite his earlier claims of being cold, Heatwave’s body felt like a furnace going off next to him, running hotter than Hayley normally did.
They stared at each other for what felt like an impossibly long time. Just when Kade was about to break it off, just when he was about to pull away, cough awkwardly and play it off… Heatwave surged forward and closed the small gap between them, slamming their lips together.
If Kade hadn’t known that Heatwave was a robot that had never kissed a human before, this kiss would have given it away. Fumbling and awkward, Kade had to guide Heatwave’s jaw and put a hand on his waist to steady him.
Heatwave quickly picked up on the rhythm though. Muscle memory maybe? Kade didn’t want to think about it too deeply. Heatwave let out a sound that was very un-Hayley like, and rather than breaking the spell like he would have thought it would, it only urged Kade forward. He snaked a hand around his back and pulled Heatwave even closer.
Kade and Hayley didn’t make a habit of full-on making out in public, but the thought of doing what they would usually do at this point, which would be to take themselves somewhere more private, was taking Kade’s mind places it wasn’t equipped to deal with right now. As it was his brain was already full-on stopped short on the train tracks.
Distantly, Kade registered a loud shout and splash not too far away in water.
Heatwave jerked away from him suddenly, holding Kade at arm’s length with a hand on each bicep. A wide eyed look of surprise on his borrowed face as he looked Kade up and down.
A little closer now, Kade registered the coughing and sputtering of a robot emerging from down at the shore. It sounded… exactly like Heatwave.
“Hayley?” Kade whispered mortified to the person still holding him at arm’s length.
Just like that, the wide eyed look of surprise vanished; only to be replaced by a look that could best be described as smug.
“I’m back!” she giggled and reached back to pull Kade into a bear hug. Kade did his best to squirm his way out of it, only barely more successful then when she was clutching him in Heatwave’s body not a few hours before. Heat rose to his face.
“Did you have fun?” Hayley asked during a brief lull of Kade’s struggle and with a knowing lit to her tone. Kade wanted to melt into the ground.
Before Kade could fully wiggle his way out of her arms and into an escape, Heatwave along with High Tide and Blades approached them at their bench. Heatwave was covered in a number of large clumps of seaweed, which he picked and flung off of himself in a huff as they approached. Hayley let Kade go and they stood up to greet them.
“Made it back in one piece!” said High Tide jovially. He slapped Heatwave on the back, dislodging some of the seaweed and causing Heatwave to sputter up a bit more seawater. “This one almost didn’t make it though. Wiped out when you switched back.”
Heatwave pointedly kept his eyes up and away from Hayley and Kade’s line of sight. He grumbled something about it being unexpected but Kade couldn’t quite catch it.
Blades choose that moment to chime in. “I managed to ride it out and turn it into a sweet kickflip!” Heatwave glared at him but he went on, earnest and oblivious. “Takes some practice to get right… I’ve been surprised by the switch before.”
Blades looked down at Kade. “Did you guys have fun?”
Now it was Kade’s turn to glare. “Yeah, it was all swell," he gritted out. "Heatwave had frozen yogurt and everything.” He grabbed Hayley’s hand and made a move to turn around and leave, just as Blades turned to look happily at Heatwave.
“Oh you did? Isn’t eating fun?”
Hayley let Kade lead her by the hand for a second but then quickly let his hand go and stopped walking. “Kade, where do you think we’re going?”
“Home.” Kade grumbled. He needed out of there right this minute.
Hayley just laughed in the face of his irritation. “We need a ride back,” she pointed out.
Kade turned to her, indignant. Before he could argue for them doing anything else, Heatwave transformed, pulled up to them, and opened his cabin doors in a way that almost felt foreboding. Kade might have been imagining the doors opening slower than their usual pop.
Refusing to look at anyone, Kade climbed into the nearest door and slammed it shut. He didn't realize until he sat down that he'd actually gotten in the passenger seat rather than his usual driver's side, but it seemed somewhat fitting. He slouched into the seat as low as he possibly could, arms crossed. Hayley practically bounced into her seat on the driver's side. She grinned at him as Heatwave drove off, face both smug and delighted.
"You had a good time today didn't you Kade?" she asked, just a little sing-song. It was barely a question, more a confident statement of fact. Kade sunk into his seat further. Hayley saw this and laughed. Kade's face remained perpetually hot, and if possible he slumped and retreated even further into his seat. Any smaller and he might vanish entirely. (As if he'd be that lucky, he could only hope.)
"Can you just. Stop making fun?" Kade's voice sounded small and embarrassed to his own ears, and he hated it. Embarrassment scorched through his entire body, and not just because of the obvious. "Besides, shouldn't you be, you know. Mad?"
Hayley blinked. "Mad?"
"You know!" Kade threw up his arms in frustration, "How I..." He turned his head into the side of the door and his words came out muffled. "Kissed somebody else or whatever." He shrunk his arms back to cross them under his armpits. Maybe if he wished hard enough he could shrink into the earth.
Hayley said nothing for so long that Kade had to risk turning his head back to look at her. To his surprise, she herself had a slight blush to her face. She also looked thoughtful, her brow scrunched up and her face puckered in a way Kade always thought was really cute. She looked like she was considering her next words very carefully.
"It's... okay. Heatwave is a nice guy you know? I like him." The blush on her face got more pronounced. Kade stared at her dumbly, on the cusp of realization. He risked a quick glance to Heatwave's face dash, but it remained disquietly empty of Heatwave's face.
"You like him," he said flatly.
"And you don't?" Hayley challenged.
Kade couldn't stand Heatwave's silence any longer. He kicked at the dashboard from his slouched seat, "Any thoughts on all this, big guy?"
Heatwave slowed down, and it was only then that Kade realized they'd already arrived back at the firehouse and that he was pulling inside. Heatwave parked and cut his engine. Kade sat up in his seat.
Heatwave finally appeared on his view screen, his eyes downcast towards the cabin floor. “Being human wasn’t so bad. This time...” He turned his face on the view screen away.
Kade blinked, unsure of how to process. “Well. Okay. Great. Glad we all had fun.” And he turned to open the passenger side door and leave.
“Kade!” Hayley grabbed his sleeve. Kade stopped moving.
"You don't have to go," she said from inside Heatwave's cabin, low and quiet. Kade had managed to get himself only halfway out the door. "We could stay here." She stared, unblinking and imploring.
Kade was like a deer caught in the headlights. He looked from Hayley to Heatwave and back again, his eyes widening in realization and expectation. Memories of a time that felt forever ago, when Hayley would try and make moves inside Heatwave's cabin before she knew he was sentient only for Kade to have to hurriedly shuffle them along to somewhere else, flashed through his mind. Nothing like that had happened once the bots had revealed their secret to the island. Obviously. Because why would it.
Kade swallowed once, then slowly backed his way back into the cabin. He faced Hayley and she let her arms drape onto Kade's shoulders.
Hayley said, low and husky, "You don't mind, do you Heatwave."
Kade just barely saw Heatwave's head on the view screen shake back and forth in a silent "no" before Hayley was leaning forward, arms sliding further down Kade's shoulders.
"That's what I thought," Hayley whispered.
Hayley's face was a hair's breadth away from his, their lips almost touching, but she didn't move the final bit forward. She was waiting for him, Kade realized. A shaky but genuine smile found its way onto his face. Okay, he thought to himself. He let his hands travel up Hayley's back, keeping her close in his grip. "Okay." Kade whispered.
With one final glance at Heatwave, Kade leaned in that final bit forward.