Work Text:
He was alone when he woke up, realizing it when he reached out to grab Dinobot's servo and nuzzle into him and there was only empty space there. Primal opened his optics and sighed.
He knew where Dinobot had gone. His mate was off getting some more energon with Rhinox, away from the attention of Rattrap and Cheetor, both of whom didn’t know yet about their impending addition. It was still a secret, as Primal had feared something going wrong and Rhinox had suggested waiting until he was in the clear.
It was a necessity for them to do their early-morning runs for energon stocking when the others were still in recharge. Still, he missed his mate very much, and his spark yearned to have the velociraptor close by him.
In place of Dinobot was a small flower that he’d left for him. Primal smiled and picked it up, putting it to his olfactory sensors and breathing in the scent, curling into himself for a few minutes more. He was so tired, and wanted nothing more than to continue sleeping in the nest that Dinobot had built for him, but he was the one in charge of the Maximals on this planet, so he had no choice but to try and power through even with a second spark draining his power reserves.
The flower had a light smell, like the way the world smelled a few days after a rainstorm. It made him remember the storm that had come around a few days after they’d taken in Dinobot, and how he had sat outside underneath the landing gears of the Axalon and taken in the sight of water falling to the ground, the gray skies, and felt the rumbles of distant thunder.
Cheetor, Rattrap, and Rhinox had elected to stay inside. Dinobot, however, had come out with him and sat next to him, experiencing the rain for the first time as well. There was a soft wonder in the depths of Dinobot’s optics that drew Primal even further to him.
Enough decacycles had passed between them discovering his carriage and now that if Primal focused his sensors hard enough, he could feel the minute pulses of the little one’s spark. He did so now, and smiled as he felt the sparkling also reach out for him.
He then felt himself wake up again. The sun was now a little higher in the sky, and Dinobot was next to him, gently stroking his faceplates.
“I… I went into recharge again, didn’t I?” Primal said tiredly, sitting up and putting the flower to the closest edge of the nest. He put his helm in his servos and sighed. “Sorry.”
Dinobot gave a gentle purr of his engine and kissed the side of his helm, presenting Optimus with a freshly purified cube of energon. “Drink. You and our little one need it.”
He couldn’t argue with that. Primal felt even more drained than was normal. Well, what was normal for him, when he was not carrying. Carrying was a whole situation altogether, and not particularly one he looked forward to dealing with for some time. But, it was done and they were here.
He laid back against mesh cushions so he was still slightly propped up and sighed before he took a small sip of the cube, waiting for the energon to settle before drinking more from it. At his side, Dinobot curled up in the nest with him, one of his servos placed gently over his abdominal plating, where his forge was, and laid his helm on Primal’s chassis.
“They feel strong,” Dinobot said after a few moments of quiet. “Imagine how much stronger they’ll be as time goes on.”
Primal thought about the kicks and flips within the forging chamber he would have to look forward to and laughed. “A sparkling from both of us? I’m sure they’ll be unstoppable.”
Dinobot had such a proud look on his faceplates.
“You know at some point,” Primal mused as he slowly drained the cube of the rest of the energon, feeling his strength return somewhat as the energon settled into his systems, “I’m going to have to tell Cheetor and Rattrap about this. It’s not fair that only us and Rhinox have known for a few decacycles already. I’m sure they probably have questions about why I slept in so much today.”
“Hmph. As far as Cheetor and Rattrap seem to think, your duties are just weighing on you heavily, and your frame is finally commanding you to rest.”
Primal gently swirled the leftover liquid in the energon cube and gave a low chuckle. “Well, they’re right about one of those things.” He drank the last of the energon and then slowly sat up again. “This helped. Did you and Rhinox fix this for me after you both got back from harvesting energon?”
Dinobot’s engine purred as he also sat up and pressed himself closer to Primal. “Rhinox did the purifying. I simply stood guard over him and fought off Waspinator as we were extracting-”
“Wait, when did Waspinator come into the picture?”
Baring his dentae in a smile, Dinobot replied, “We extracted energon from a place nearer to the Decepticon base than near to ours.”
Primal gave his mate a look and blinked his optics. “Why… why would you not go to extract energon from one of the caches nearer to our base?”
“It is due to the Predacons that we are unable to return to Cybertron and ensure that you and our sparkling get the care you both need. The Predacons have a larger cache of energon. They can sacrifice it to ensure that you and our sparkling survive, and therefore,” he looked out the window almost wistfully, “ensure that I won’t tear their helms from their necks.”
Primal couldn’t exactly argue with that. He let out a short laugh and then made to get up from the nest, but then he felt Dinobot’s electromagnetic field flare out to envelop him, and one of the velociraptor’s servos gripped his arm.
“You’re quite tired and very alluring, my beloved,” Dinobot murmured as he gently guided him to lie back, his engine rumbling low and his optics dimmed in an expression that Primal knew well enough by now. “I can’t keep my servos off of you. Stay here.”
Primal laughed and wrapped his arms around Dinobot’s neck, pulling him close for a kiss even as he murmured against the other mech’s lipplates, “I have to get up.”
“Mmm,” Dinobot hummed, his servos roaming over Primal’s chassis and then trailed downward. “They’ve waited quite some time for you to leave this nest. We can make them wait a bit longer.”
Primal couldn’t find it in himself to counter, not when he felt the longing deep in his struts and spark, and he began to part his legs to let Dinobot slot between them-
-and then a loud explosion outside the ship immediately killed the mood and sent both mechs scrambling to their pedes and racing outside.
It was just three Predacons this time. Unfortunately, it also included their leader.
“Did you think you could get away with taking energon from our claimed caches?!” Megatron roared as he, Blackarachnia, and Waspinator aimed for the Maximal Commander, only for Cheetor and Rattrap to knock him and Blackarachnia aside. Dinobot took on a protective stance and put himself in front of Primal.
“Optimus!” Rhinox yelled as he aimed his weapons at Waspinator, distracting him from his aim on Optimus. “Get to safety!”
“I’m in command-” Optimus began to yell at Rhinox, until his mate bodily shoved him out of the aim of a recovered-Megatron’s blaster.
“Not while you’re carrying, you’re not!” Dinobot hissed in undertone. “Now stand back before you get harmed!”
Quite thankfully, it didn’t seem like the rampaging Predacons had heard Dinobot’s comment, but he saw Cheetor’s helm whip around to stare at them. Primal felt a knot form in his throat tubing, rendering him unable to speak. He prayed that Cheetor didn’t hear and that he wouldn’t have to explain himself to the young mech here, in the middle of battle.
Then Cheetor threw himself at Blackarachnia, who had been trying to sneak up on them, and Primal felt himself able to speak again.
Dinobot snarled and launched himself at Megatron. The Predacon leader roared and brought his own weapons up to try and deflect the impact from the former Predacon, but he failed as Dinobot managed to knock the weapons aside and began to beat him.
Everyone was doing close-up battle, but Optimus was still able to use his distance weapons. He put his back up to the ship and made sure that the three Predacons were all in his field of view, and started aiming his shoulder-mounted weapons at them.
.-.-.
The Predacons were now gone, thoroughly beaten back by the other Maximals. Primal had admittedly been especially impressed (and aroused ) by how Dinobot had taken on Megatron himself and had savagely beat his former leader into temporary submission, hissing and spitting the entire time. It was only when Dinobot was in a position where he had the very real upper-servo and could have cleaved Megatron’s helm from his shoulders, that the Predacon leader had called for a retreat.
The sun was starting to set and bathed their room in fading light as Primal helped clean the Predacons’ spilled energon off of Dinobot, going over his armor with deft swipes. Dinobot’s systems were still running on a high, as his intake cycle was still ragged like he was still fighting others off. His optics were wide, and he huffed. “The audacity of Megatron,” Dinobot muttered. “To strike us when you are not in a position to fight back as well as you could have.”
Optimus gave a quiet sigh and chucked the second cleaning cloth to the floor, alongside the second one, and pulled out a third one to get at the streaks of energon on his beloved’s face. “It’s not like he could know. Last Rattrap checked, he got rid of the one listening device they put on the ship. And I’d like to keep it a secret from them as long as we can. I know we can’t hide a sparkling, and they could catch a glimpse of me when I’m closer to emergence and I can’t explain it away, but secrecy should be our priority.”
Before Dinobot could reply, another voice cut in. “Did that include keeping it a secret from us?”
Cheetor and Rattrap were in the doorway of Primal and Dinobot’s quarters, with Rhinox looming behind them with a slightly guilty expression on his face. Cheetor had a slightly hurt look on his own face, and Rattrap looked suspicious about whatever he’d been told.
Rhinox put his servo to the back of his neck, looking at Primal, and followed up Cheetor’s question with, “He heard Dinobot drop that you were carrying. He told Rattrap, and they came to me. I didn’t tell them anything and brought them here.” He shuffled his pedes. “Sorry.”
Primal felt his tank sink to his pedes. So Cheetor had reacted to both Dinobot revealing his carriage, and to Blackarachnia about to attack them. He took a deep in-vent and then looked at Dinobot.
“Were you ever going to tell us, Big Bot?” Cheetor asked, his voice sounding so defeated, his optics wide and pleading. “That we’re going to have another bot with us and they won’t be from the pods?”
The tone in the younger mech’s voice stirred something in Primal’s spark as he looked away from Dinobot and somewhere to the wall, choosing his words as carefully as possible. “It… it seemed like it was the best option at the time. I didn’t want to reveal that I’m carrying, only to lose it. I wanted to wait until I was in the clear,” Primal said in as steady a voice as he could muster. He felt the gentle nudge of Dinobot’s servo against his, and he took the other mech’s servo into his, smiling as he felt his spark steady.
“How long?” Rattrap asked, his arms crossed over his chassis.
Primal had to actually think about it. The decacycles had passed so quickly and also so slowly that his grasp on time had become quite muddled. “It’s been a few decacycles already. Not quite enough for me to really, uh… show it, but probably close to it. I was close to being in the clear.”
Cheetor’s hurt expression changed to something like cautious optimism. “So, you were going to tell us? Just… when it was safer to tell us about it?” He seemed to perk up. “I haven’t been around a sparkling in such a long time. I’m so excited,” he said with a bright smile on his faceplates. If he were in his beast form, he would have been excitedly swaying his tail.
Optimus gave a small chuckle. “Even if I didn’t want to tell you, I would have to. Dinobot and I couldn’t hide a sparkling from you and Rattrap.”
“Hmph,” Rattrap said, finally speaking up. “You may not have wanted to hide a sparkling from us, but I’m pretty sure chopper-face here would have. Not that I’d want to see a spawn of his anyway.”
Chaos immediately broke loose as Primal had to hold Dinobot back from tackling Rattrap and Rhinox and Cheetor shielded Rattrap behind them. Dinobot hissed and spit, his clawed servos swiping towards Rattrap but falling short by a few inches.
“Dinobot!” Primal said, holding his mate close and reaching out with his electromagnetic field to try and calm him. “You don’t need to attack Rattrap!”
“He insulted our sparkling, Optimus!” Dinobot growled, not tearing his glare away from Rattrap, who was now also giving him the stink-eye. “He must pay-”
“Rattrap will know better than to say something like that in the future,” Primal said firmly before he turned his optics to Rattrap and gave the smallest of the gathered mechs a very stern look. “Even if he means it as a joke to get under your armor. Right , Rattrap?”
It took a moment, but Rattrap caught on to what his commander was trying to do. He lifted his servos into the air, palms facing Dinobot and Primal, and replied, “Yeah, fearless leader’s right. I meant it as a joke, but I know better now.” Then, with an expression on his faceplates like he was having his dentae pulled, Rattrap looked at Dinobot and forced out an apology. “Sorry, chopper-face. I won’t do that again.”
There was a tense stare-off between both mechs for a few moments more, before Dinobot pulled back and Primal was able to release his grip on his mate without fear of him attacking Rattrap. “And I know it’s a tall order for this crew,” he said quietly, “but the less infighting there is between us, the better, especially since I’m in a not-optimal state. Learn to handle yourselves.” He gave his mate a pointed look, which made Dinobot bow his helm towards him.
“Right. Sorry, boss monkey,” came Rattrap’s apology. It at least sounded much more genuine than his apology to Dinobot, which Primal was grateful for.
“Can I, Optimus?” Cheetor asked after a few moments of quiet, a bright smile on his face as his servos twitched, reaching out for Primal’s middle.
He knew what Cheetor wanted immediately. Optimus gave Dinobot a look, silently telling the velociraptor bot to mind his still roaring possessive-protective sire code, and then looked back at Cheetor. “There’s nothing to really feel there, but if you want to-”
Cheetor didn’t wait for Primal to finish his sentence, as he immediately closed the space between them and slid to his knees, placing one of his audios over Primal’s middle and wrapping his arms around his commander’s waist. “Can they hear me?” he asked eagerly, looking up at Primal with large and happy optics. “Will they know my voice if I talk to them enough before they arrive?”
Rhinox answered this time. “All noises are muffled, but they should be able to hear everyone’s voices.” He smiled and looked up at Primal and Dinobot. “In the scans I’ve done so far for checkups, their spark flares the most when they hear Dinobot and Optimus talking. That’s them recognizing their voices and reacting to them.”
Primal hadn’t known about this at all. Then again, he supposed that there hadn’t been a reason yet for Rhinox to say anything.
There were tears streaming down his faceplates before he realized it was happening. Everyone realized it and started trying to calm him down, Cheetor pulling back from him and his optics wide in apology while Rhinox said it was okay, before he laughed and wiped the fluid off of his faceplates. “Sorry. I didn’t know that. They… it strikes me funny that this is what got me.” In lieu of speaking at his normal volume but with a shaky voice, he lowered his voice to whisper, “They know mine and Dinobot’s voices.”
The sparkling knew them.
He looked at Dinobot and saw the same realization in the other mech’s optics. Dinobot gently laid his helm on Primal’s shoulder strut and wrapped his arms around the smaller mech’s frame. Primal tenderly pressed himself closer to his mate, his processor imagining their sparkling in their arms.
Dinobot then aggressively began to try and burrow his faceplates into Primal’s helm, and his electromagnetic field got a little bit… frisky . Primal cleared his vocalizer and looked at the other mechs in the room, giving them as innocent a smile as he could. “If you don’t mind, Dinobot and I need to go to berth.”
A look of comprehension dawned on all their faceplates, and it gave Primal a tiny bit of amusement to see how quickly they all turned to shuffle out of his and Dinobot’s quarters.
As the other three walked out of the room, Primal’s audio receptors picked up on the sound of Cheetor telling Rattrap, “You owe me five credits.”