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Coming out of the med bay after the surgery was a surreal experience. Although surgery was a loose term to use for it. Surgery implied stitching two pieces together or finding a faulty piece and replacing it. He'd had his head rebuilt nearly from scratch and just thinking about it made him want to lock himself in his hab suite for at least a week straight. Honestly it was probably a good idea for him to do that just so he'd be able to work through the aftermath of the ordeal.
Walking down the hallway, he looked up when a familiar presence came close to him. Red Alert looked like he was straining to keep it together and Rung paused as he waited for him to gather himself.
"You're alright?" Red's vocals were thin, like he was restraining himself.
"I will be, I'm sure." The lithe orange mech nodded. "Could I trouble you to walk with me to my suite?"
He watched as the others frame slowly relaxed, telling him that this was probably just why the security director had come down to the medical area that he would normally stay away from. He stepped forward and allowed Red to put a hand on the small of his back, well aware that Red's cannon was heating up and humming in preparation of blasting anyone that got too close.
"Thank you, for coming to visit me. I know you aren't fond of the med suite." Rung looked up at him, a soft smile on his face.
"I didn't think anyone saw me there." Red responded in a soft voice.
"I'm not certain that they did. But, I noticed. At times, I was aware of what was happening around me."
Red looked at him and he could feel the tint of alarm in the EM field that was flickering against his own. He had no idea why that would startle Red so much, and when he looked up to the burly bot, he had to stop himself from reaching out physically to Red. The fact that Red was touching him at all was a large step forward.
"I couldn't hear things being said, but I could feel it in my spark." Rung smiled at him, feeling a little awkward. "Not all the time, but I suppose we've spent so much time together that your resonance has become familiar to me. Almost everything else was such a blur to me, but your presence was... Well, like a bastion for me. So thank you."
Red Alert had to take a moment to clear his vocalizer, sensors feeling out the general area so he could lead Rung the long way around to his hab suite. He didn't want the therapist to be near any others right then and Rung didn't chide him when he realized what was going on. Rung was the only one who understood him and all the little things that made him tick. His chin lifted higher at the acknowledgment that he was a safeguard for Rung. He hadn't been there for him when Max snapped, but he intended on doubling his efforts from that point on.
"Red Alert, would you mind filling me in on what happened when you visited me?" Rung kept his gaze ahead of them, his spinal struts pulling up properly when he felt firm fingers rub across his lower back when Red Alert pulled his hand away.
"It was nothing important. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"I respectfully disagree. You saw fit to visit with me when I was incapacitated, I think that was important. It was to me at least."
Red looked at him from the corner of his optic and then nodded briefly. He could accept that Rung thought it was important at least. The doctor had a different set of priorities, his emotional and mental balance was set different. But for every way that he and Rung differed, the smaller mech could peer into his thoughts unobtrusively, helping him to deal with his copious amounts of issues.
"Nothing happened. I came to talk to you... To your body, when no one else was there." Red Alert spoke quietly. "I left a data slug with you, tucked it into the compartment along your left abdominal side."
Rung put a servo there but he didn't need to open it in order to know what was there. He could feel the small presence and it surprised him that Red Alert had managed to slip it in so unobtrusively.
"Should we discuss the contents when we're in my hab suite?" Rung suggested quietly.
"Only as long as it does not tax you." Red continued to frown in disapproval.
Rung couldn't help but smile at this, touched by Red Alert's desires to see him safe and healthy. He never wanted to assume his relationship with Red was anything more than professional, but the little things like this would make his spark flutter pleasantly.
"I trust that you won't push me beyond my limits my first day out of the med bay." Rung chuckled quietly, feeling the slight twitch of Red's digits against his back.
"I think you trust too easily."
Rung looked up at him then, seeing the troubled frown on Red's features. There was a flicker of anger in the other's field, but Rung wasn't sure who it was directed at. He kept his servos folded in front of him, projecting calm as always and feeling as Red let his ire ebb and then dissipate. Red was nothing like Fortress Maximus, he didn't hold onto his anger. And although his way of thinking was different, he always saw things through to a logical (if negative and often morose) conclusion.
"Has anyone been watching Fortress?" Rung looked up worriedly, tensing when he saw that his question made Red glower.
"He's been kept under watch since we pulled him out of your office."
The lithe therapist felt his frame being pulled in closer to Red's and the thick fingers curled around his hip. An unfamiliar warmth brushed against his EM field and Rung slowed their pace, putting a servo to Red's arm.
"Red Alert?"
"I want to increase security in your office and your hab suite so this doesn't happen again."
"In my hab suite as well? But I don't see my patients there." Rung's brow furrowed a tiny bit.
"I was thinking of adding an optic scanner in addition to the numeric lock you have." Red continued, a note of stress in his vocals.
"Red Alert, please, listen to me."
"And lazer trip wires in the vents along with a silent alarm."
"Red Alert, what happened was just an unfortunate accident. I had the situation well in hand until the shot went astray." Rung explained in a calm, cool voice.
The security director looked at him incredulously, his vocalizer seizing up at the statement. A flash of anger passing through his dark blue optics as he shook his head. "And when that maniac ripped your thumb off, was that well in hand?"
"Please, don't call Fortress Maximus a maniac. There's nothing wrong with him, he just needs help."
"Is he going to need help strangling you too?"
"If he does, that will be my issue to deal with." Rung replied, adjusting his glasses.
Red Alert looked pained and he reached for Rung, settling his other servo on the therapists hip and simply holding onto him. Rung was always so calm despite any situation presented and Red found himself continuously astonished by it. His perpetual calm was the exact reason why Red wanted to look out for him like this.
"You shouldn't have to deal with that though." Red pleaded with him quietly, servos pulling Rung in a step closer to him. "You should be safe from mech's like that."
Rung put his servos on Red Alert's wrists and firmly started to press down. The security director wetted his lip plates and pulled his servos away, guiltily looking away from Rung.
"Red Alert, this isn't the first time I've been in danger. My job isn't without its troubles. No two mech's are the same and a good many that have come to me have had violent tendencies that they have needed to work past."
"I can do something to the berth so it can magnetize your patients to it." Red offered, his vocals breaking up with static.
"I'll consider it." Rung promised with an enigmatic smile. "But those precautions won't be necessary in my hab suite."
"What if you invite someone in and they.... Rung I want you to be safe."
Red Alert looked down at Rung, his dark blue optics focusing on the soft metal mesh that covered his abdomen and the gentle warmth of the biolights that framed his chest. He heard Rung's voice like a soft bell, calling him out of his reverie and pulling his attention up to the pliant lips forming a firm reprisal.
"I know that it's difficult for you, but please understand that I won't stop my practice just because of a small set back." Rung shook his helm a little.
"This isn't a small set back, Rung, you could have died!" Red Alert started to reach for him but stopped, his fingers clenching on naked air. "He was going to kill you."
"No, he wasn't." Rung stated it so simply, so quietly that Red felt himself rock back in shock. "He was angry and lashing out, but I know that Fort Max wouldn't have killed me."
The familiar shortening of the mech's name made Red frown and he rubbed his thighs as jealousy wavered in his thoughts. Rung was explaining that he was going to continue to see the same mech that hurt him, seemingly heedless of the fact that Fortress Maximus could easily make an attempt on his life again.
"Red Alert, I'm getting a bit of a helmache... Could you please help me the rest of the way to my hab suite?"
Numbly, he nodded and started to walk beside Rung, feeling his processor swimming as he tried to understand the lithe mech. His thoughts were interrupted by a delicate servo taking his own and he looked at Rung as it was led around Rung's waist so his palm could cradle the sweet swell of his hip.
"I do appreciate everything you do for me, I want you to know that." Rung said in a quiet tone. "Even if we disagree on certain points, I'm glad that we can be friends..."
The last was said in a questioning tone, as if Rung wasn't entirely sure of it himself. It wasn't the word that Red wanted to use, but it was a start, so he nodded. The slight nod was all it took for Rung's features to brighten and the smile on his face took Red's words away from him. The slight nod was all it took for Rung's features to brighten and the smile on his face took Red's words away from him. That smile and those softly spoken words were just for him and he cursed silently, wishing he'd been recording it all for later.
When they reached Rung's hab suite, they simply stood together for a minute longer, watching one another as if they were both waiting for something. They were close enough that Red's thoughts were spinning around the fact that he was still gently squeezing that delicate hip, fingers absently stroking every once in a while.
"Could I call you if I need to leave my hab suite later?" Rung asked, his smile welcoming.
"Yes." Red nodded, relief making its way through him like a tidal wave. "I'll take you wherever you need to be."
"Including to see Fort Max?" Rung asked cautiously.
There was no hiding his scowl now but Red nodded. If he didn't agree then Rung would just go there alone, and he wouldn't allow that to happen. At least this time around he could be with Rung, or at least near him of anything did go wrong. He wouldn't allow himself to fail again.