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It had been a normal scouting mission, up until the rain started.
Dinobot and Ratabite were making their rounds, in a rocky area of land, occasionally stopping as Ratabite would want to look at something that caught their little rat eyes, sometimes something shiny, sometimes just a rock or plant that they liked.
When it started sprinkling neither thought anything about it, they were going to be a little wet by the end but that was fine, nothing a towel couldn’t fix, but as time passed it got heavier.
And then the thunder started.
Ratabite could handle a lot, being soaked with rain was one thing, and thunder was another entirely.
When the first rumble of it trembled through the sky Ratabite stopped dead in their tracks, they never liked storms, especially loud and obnoxious ones. It was also in part their beast-mode instincts, telling them to run and hide from the big noise that was out to get them.
It took Dinobot a second to realize Ratabite wasn’t moving along with him anymore, when he did he turned back to look at them, Ratabite was stopped mid-step, eyes wide and frightened. Dinobot walked up to the petrified rat and leaned down to them.
“Ratabite… “
They didn’t reply.
“Do you wish to go back to the base?”
Again Ratabite didn’t reply, but they seemed to ease out of their stance and nodded.
That was all Dinobot needed, he started back the way they came, Ratabite very quickly following close behind, nearly under his feet, but Dinobot didn’t mind. Dinobot activated his comm link to message the Axalon.
.: Dinobot to Maximal Command :.
.: I’m readin’ ya Choppaface, watcha need? :.
.: Ratabite and I are heading back, the weather has turned foul :.
.: Alright, see ya in a few :.
The rain continued to pour as they walked back, and it became harder to see as it got worse, not to mention the thunder was getting louder and louder until-
CRACK- BOOM
A bright and quick light flashed across the landscape, followed by the loudest the thunder had been yet. A lightning strike, a close one at that.
Dinobot looked back at Ratabite, they were curled up around themself, trembling. More lightning struck down, getting more violent. Thinking fast Dinobot leaned down and grabbed Ratabite by the fur of their neck with his teeth, gently to not cause harm, and looked around quickly, looking for some form of temporary shelter.
He spotted a cave entrance, not very far away, and made a dash for it, running as fast as he could with a rat in his jaws. He made it to the cave opening and slowed down, finally being free from the rain for the time being. Dinobot set Ratabite down gently, making sure not to drop them to the stone floor of the cave.
Ratabite uncurled and looked out at the storm, and then up at Dinobot.
“Th-thank you…” they squeaked, still coming down from the fear that was coursing through them, they got up on their little paws and shook themself off a little bit, not enjoying being soaking wet. Ratabite looked around the cave, nothing much to it, a decent amount of space with stone walls and a floor with some sand that had blown inside of it.
Dinobot had tromped off towards the back of the cave and transformed up into his robot mode, not bothered by his wet lizard skin at all. He sat with his back against the cave wall, optics shut, still breathing a little heavy from his run. Without opening his optics he tried to comm the Axalon again.
.: Dinobot to Maximal Command, the weather is impeding our return, we are safe but confined to a cave for now:.
A reply came but it was drowned out by static, likely due to the storm messing with the signal, Dinobot couldn’t understand the response. He sighed and forgot about it, they weren’t going to be able to message the Axalon effectively until the storm was over.
Something suddenly nudged his hand, making him crack his optics open a bit, it was Ratabite’s still-damp little nose. They put their little paws on top of his hand, wanting to get up onto his lap.
“No,” Dinobot said sternly, moving to grab them and move them away. “You’re wet.”
Ratabite frowned as they were grabbed.
“Hey!! Come on!! You’re also wet!!” they kicked their little back legs in anger as they were set down a little ways away from him.
“I’m not covered in soaked fur , rodent,” he growled as he leaned back against the wall again, giving them a little smirk. Ratabite huffed and put their little rat hands on their hips.
CRACK- CRACK- BOOM
This time Dinobot couldn’t stop them, at the loud sound of more thunder Ratabite’s hide instinct kicked in harder than it had earlier, and they squealed loudly and jumped directly into his lap, hands over their eyes, their rat instincts taking over for a hot moment.
Dinobot made a very indignant sound at the feeling of a cold wet furry lump hitting his thighs, he almost removed them again, but feeling them tremble against him made him think twice about it. He sighed and simply got comfy, knowing it was best to just leave Ratabite where they were while they were scared.
Dinobot absentmindedly stared out the cave mouth at the storm and watched the rain and the lightning strikes as they fell, as he watched he brought one of his long claws up to Ratabite's head and softly began to scratch the top of it.
Ratabite in turn squeaked a little bit and began to relax they had their head scratched, no longer shaking and uncovering their eyes, they bruxed happily and their tail swished around. Dinobot's face softened at the sight and he smiled at the little rat as they enjoyed themselves.
grrrmmblllll
Dinobot tensed at the noise his tank made, how long had it been since he last refuelled himself? a few hours? he couldn't remember, and he was hoping Ratabite hadn't heard that-
“Dinobot?” their small voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you hungry? Do you need some energon?” Ratabite asked ears perked up in an inquisitive manner. Dinobot blushed a little, slightly embarrassed.
“No little one I- I'm fine thank you-”
GRRRRRMMMMMMBlll
It was louder and harder to deny this time, Dinobot put a hand over his tank and looked away.
“You are hungry!” Ratabite said, giving Dinobot a little disappointed frown, but it quickly was replaced by a little smile. “No worries though! I have someth’n to help!” they hopped out of Dinobot’s lap and transformed into their robot mode, they then opened up a panel on their side, reaching in and grabbing something. “I always gotta cube on me, just in case of someth’n,” they pulled out the cube and closed their panel up, they sat down in front of Dinobot and held out the cube to him. “I know it’s a more me-sized than you-sized cube, but if it’ll help ya you can have it!”
Dinobot looked at the cube, his tank gurgled under his hand at the sight of it, even if it wasn’t very much it would probably hold him over until the storm was finished so then he could find a portion more made for him. But as he thought about it, he held out a hand and pushed it back towards Ratabite.
“Thank you little one, but it is yours, you keep it for yourself.”
Ratabite seemed to frown and pout at the same time.
“But you need it! I’ll be fine, I’m not even hungry right now-”
Gllurrglll
Their own tank betrayed their words, making them blush and wrap their tail around their middle. Ratabite laughed nervously.
“Okay w-well I am now. But you were hungry first! You can have it!” their reasoning was a little silly and they knew it, but they insisted.
Dinobot shook his head.
“Don’t be foolish Ratabite, again, it is yours, you can have it.”
Ratabite opened their mouth to argue back when a bright flash and loud BOOM rang out through the sky again, making the both of them look out the cave mouth in response, this time Ratabite didn’t seem as bothered by it, although it could just be from being in their robot mode instead of beast mode.
Ratabite looked down at the cube in their hands, and then back at Dinobot, they had an idea, a bit of a ridiculous idea, but an idea.
“Alright, I’ve thought of something, hear me out here,” Ratabite said seriously, they sat up on their knees, looking right at Dinobot. “I’ll drink the cube, that way I’m not hungry and then you can,” they paused, seemingly nervous about what they were going to say next.
“And then you can eat me .”
Dinobot looked at Ratabite a bit shocked, did they know what they were saying?
“ Excuse me? ”
Ratabite flinched a bit at his tone, knowing they sounded a little out of it by proposing such an idea.
“I know it sounds ridiculous b-but I mean it,” they said, fiddling with the cube. “We don’t know when the storm will end and we can get back to the base, could be hours, and I don’t want you to be hungry the entire time we wait.”
Dinobot was still confused as to why Ratabite would suggest this, to let him devour them whole just so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable for a few hours. But the more he thought about it the hungrier he seemed to get, his tank grumbled at the thought of having something as big as Ratabite in it instead of a tiny cube. He sighed defeatedly.
“Alright.”
Ratabite looked up at him surprised.
“What?”
“I said alright, rodent, we’ll go through with your plan.”
Ratabite smiled and their ears wiggled happily.
“Alright, cool! I’ll drink this real fast and then we can get to it!” Ratabite quickly cracked open their cube and began to drink it down, Dinobot watched a little envious as they drank, but knew it would be his turn soon enough.
Ratabite finished, put the now empty cube back into their side panel, and then looked up at Dinobot.
“I’m all ready.”
Dinobot got onto his knees as well, even kneeling he towered over Ratabite’s small frame, took their small hands into his large ones, and then paused.
“Are you sure about this little one? How will I explain this to the others?”
Ratabite smiled gently.
“I’ll be okay, in a few hours I’ll be just fine like nothing happened at all! I trust you, and right now you gotta trust me on this, I’ll be fine,” they assured him.
Dinobot, while not fully understanding what that meant, nodded and carefully took Ratabite’s hands into his jaws, pushing them to the back of his maw and then taking them further in with a glurk!
Dinobot purred a little at their taste, it was mostly metallic but something about them was sweet to him, as he steadily swallowed their hands and arms into his throat, he grabbed their sides to prepare to lift them to get them in easier. He got to their head and opened his mouth as wide as he could, squeezing them inside and swallowing hard to get them to go down.
Ratabite meanwhile was having a fine time going in and down into Dinobot’s core, rhythmically being squeezed and swallowed by his muscles, it got them wet all over again, but Ratabite would take this over the rain any day.
Dinobot was at their legs now, and he could feel part of their upper half enter his tank, as he tilted his head back to get their legs down he put his hands on his tank and felt it swell out as it filled with Ratabite’s form. As their pedes slipped down his throat and into his tank with the rest of them, Dinobot sighed in relief as his tank was filled right to the brink of being overly full, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, it was actually quite a unique and pleasant feeling.
He leaned back against the cave wall once more and purred happily as he rubbed over his gut, optics half opened as he enjoyed the feeling of having such a big meal all to himself.
“Mmm, little one you tasted simply incredible,” he hummed. “And quite filling, I think I’ll need to lay down to accommodate you fully.” he teased, he heard a little giggle come from with him.
“Aww, you’re welcome big guy.”
Ratabite had landed in a little puddle of liquid when they arrived in the raptor’s tank, but they didn’t mind, however, what they did mind was the uncomfortable position they were currently in, a bit of a tangle of limbs they were at the moment; they began to squirm around to get into a more comfortable position.
Outside Dinobot’s face heated up as he felt Ratabite move around within him, it wasn’t unpleasant but it was an unfamiliar feeling to him, to have something this big moving around inside him.
Just as Ratabite finished getting comfy, Dinobot’s tank rumbled lowly and lurched, something was stirring up in the pit of his tank.
‘What’s going on-’
Before Dinobot could even finish his thought, his tank squeezed around Ratabite and a thunderous belch escaped him.
oo OOOUUURAAA aaoou AARRRAAP
Once it was over Dinobot covered his mouth, lightly shocked that it had been that loud, he heard another giggle come from his gut.
“Find that amusing, did you little one?”
Inside his tank, Ratabite had been squeezed and shaken by the long and loud eructation, it hadn’t hurt at all, but did feel rather funny, and the fact such a refined bot like Dinobot had made a noise like that was enough to make them laugh.
“Just a little big guy, hehehe , never thought you could make a sound like that!”
As they stopped their little laughing fest, Ratabite reached a hand up and touched the tank wall. It was soft, and glowing a dim blue from the biolights just below the flesh, Ratabite found it interesting the way they moved under their hand.
Dinobot purred at the feeling of having his innards rubbed gently, it was quite soothing, to be honest. He felt his body quickly begin to relax more and more, most of his energy going towards processing his large meal, he stretched a bit and let out a yawn.
“Ya gett’n sleepy there big guy?”
“Mmm… perhaps…” Dinobot shifted his position, moving to lay down fully instead of being reclined against the wall. “Would you mind if I were to rest for a bit?”
“Not at all big guy, when you wake up I should be right out there with ya!”
Dinobot hummed in response, he glanced over at the cave mouth, the rain was still coming down hard, but the thunder had died off a bit. He idly rubbed over his gut as he powered down for a rest.
~
Over the next couple of hours, Dinobot’s tank worked on Ratabite, softening them up and processing them into fuel for the rest of the body. This didn’t hurt Ratabite at all, it felt to them like falling asleep. Dinobot’s tank gurgled and grumbled, satisfied with its meal.
~
It was a slight warm breeze that finally woke Dinobot up from his rest, mostly because it kicked some sand against his face. He shook his head to get any of the grainy stuff off of him and looked out the cave entrance and saw that the rain had stopped and the sun was out again, although things were still damp and there were puddles around.
Dinobot sat up and glanced around the cave itself, nothing in there with him but rocks and sand.
Wait. nothing in there with him.
Nothing.
Where was Ratabite?
Dinobot jolted up to his pedes, panicked, where were they? They said they’d be fine! Had something gone wrong? Had he done something wrong? Dinobot wracked his processor for a reasonable explanation as to where they were, and if they weren’t anywhere, how he’d have to explain to the rest of the Maximals what had happened to Ratabite in the first place to not be with him when he would inevitably have to go back to the Axalon without them. What was he going to-
“Oh hey, you’re up!”
Dinobot spun around to the source of the voice.
And there was Ratabite, in their beast mode, perfectly fine.
“You weren’t up when I got back, so I figured I’d just let ya sleep for a bit longer,” they said, trotting up to him and transforming. “I commed the base when I got back since it wasn’t raining anymore, and then I went out for just a little walk, didn’t want to be in this cave anymore, ya know?”
Dinobot didn’t say anything, still a little dumbfounded that Ratabite was standing in front of him right then. He realized he was staring, and moved his hand out and placed it on Ratabite’s shoulder.
“Are you… alright?” He said in a hushed tone. Ratabite smiled up at him.
“course I am! came back in one piece, just like I told ya I would!” they put a hand on the one on their shoulder. “why?”
Dinobot looked away from Ratabite’s eyes.
“When I awoke and you weren't here I… I feared the worst.” He raised his hand and turned it around so he was holding Ratabite's hand instead of their shoulder. “But, I am glad to see you are alright, you had me worried.”
Ratabite hadn’t really thought about that.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” they said, genuinely concerned, grabbing Dinobot’s hand with both of theirs. “I-I didn’t think about it when I left, I didn’t mean to make you worry! I should have stayed…” Ratabite trailed off and then squeezed his hand, making a determined face. “I promise I won’t disappear on ya again, at least without tell’n ya!”
Dinobot chuckled.
“That would be best, little one, I don’t like worrying about you.”
It was Ratabite’s turn to laugh.
“Awww it’s sweet of ya to worry about me though,” their face fell again. “Sorry again that I made ya worry though.”
“It is alright Ratabite, but I do not want to send the Axalon a false report about you is all.”
Ratabite smiled, but then gasped.
“Oh right! The Axalon! We gotta get back I commed ‘em like an hour or two ago tell’n ‘em we’d be back soon!” they pulled on Dinobot's hand, tugging him towards the cave entrance. “Come on! We can get there soon if we set off now!” Ratabite let go of his hand, transformed down into their beast mode and looked up at Dinobot with their big rat eyes.
Dinobot smiled down at them endearingly, and then also transformed into his beast mode.
The two set off from the cave, back towards the Axalon. For the first couple of minutes, things were silent between the two, but then Dinobot spoke up.
“Perhaps…” he started, Ratabite looked up at him. “When we are alone again… I would not be, averse to doing, that, again.”
Ratabite smirked a little.
“I’m down for it any time Botsy! You just gotta ask.”
Dinobot growled at the nickname, he never did like it, but let it slide this time.
“I’ll… keep that in mind then.”
Ratabite smiled up at him, then looked back in front of themself, all happy with themself. The two of them came over a hill and the Axalon came into view, the two of them stopped for a moment.
“We should not tell the others about it, however,” Dinobot said. “I do not think they would take it, well.”
Ratabite nodded.
“That makes sense, this is between the two of us then!” they then smirked, all cheeky. “But most of it is on you, ain’t it Botsy ?”
Dinobot stood and watched shocked as Ratabite then scampered off quickly toward the Axalon, giggling to themself. Dinobot scoffed and rolled his eyes, and tromped off towards the Axalon, following behind Ratabite at his own pace.
Perhaps the little rat would be visiting his tank sooner than they thought.