Work Text:
“Prowl.”
“Yes?”
Jazz stared with a dumbfounded look at the state of Prowl’s apartment, a place usually relaxed and lived in, but now was… baby proofed? Every corner padded, drawers locked, even the TV stand was secured.
He gazed at it all incredulously. “What is this?”
“My apartment.” Prowl answered swiftly as he reached to take Jazz’s bag. “I’ll take this to the guest room, make yourself comfortable,” he nodded to the couch. “Preferably there.”
“Prowl-”
“I’ve made sure to puff up all the cushions, and the remote is on the table if you want to watch something.”
And off he went, scurrying to the guest room to take Jazz’s belongings. Jazz blinked wildly under his visor, and somewhere in the back of his mind he’d been sure they’d decided to sleep together- as in, in the same bed, but maybe Prowl changed that last minute? Misunderstood?
He looked around the place awkwardly. He’d been here plenty of times to not feel like a stranger, even if actually getting to Praxus itself was still as big of a pain as it always was, but this was just weird. His thoughts continued as he sat on the couch, a frown on his face.
The first time he visited Prowl had gone above and beyond to make a good first impression, everything spotless and clean, as Jazz would’ve expected, but gradually as time passed the little imperfections began to show themselves - and Jazz learned a crucial thing about Prowl.
He was NOT good at taking care of his home.
Working day in and day out, Prowl hardly had time to worry about loading the dishwasher, or fixing his bed, or tidying the scattered energon cubes the moment they were finished with. He wasn’t sloppy, he didn’t exactly live in a junkyard or anything, but it definitely surprised Jazz. He always figured the guy was on top of everything- no, he was pretty sure everyone assumed Prowl was always on top of everything. But it seemed that schedule management extended only to work and work alone.
Which was honestly the realest thing he’d ever seen from his new junxie, who had time for cleaning in this economy?
He was kinda glad to be privy to it, but this was… different. Things were clean which was great, clearly Prowl didn’t want Jazz to stay the night in a place that wasn’t ‘perfect’, but this was a different kind of clean. It was weirdly off-putting?
He gave himself a little shrug, shaking off the bizarre decision as he reached for the remote on the coffee table- only to pause as it stayed firmly stuck on the table. He looked down at it more closely, and quickly noted the protective tape keeping it from budging.
“...Prowl?” He called out, and he heard Prowl’s voice from his temporary room.
“Yes?”
“Why’s the remote taped?”
“For safety.”
Right, uh huh. Jazz pulled his hand from the remote and stood up, moving around the couch to start his way towards the bedroom- but Prowl re-appeared immediately after, wiping off his hands as a ‘job well done’ motion. They both looked at each other, and Prowl frowned.
“Did nothing catch your eye?”
“Oh, things have caught my eye for sure.” Jazz crossed his arms. “Mech, what did you do?”
“I’ve minimised any potential outcome that could lead to injury, of course,” he said with a hint of pride, his wings fluttering behind him in some kinda motion. “So there is absolutely no way for you to get hurt during your stay here.”
“Mech.”
“Yes?”
“It’s for a single night,” he reminded him as he stepped closer, his hands moving to his hips. “I’d like to think I know how to survive in an apartment.”
“You never know- well, I do,” Prowl corrected himself as he brushed past him. “But you don’t, and since you don’t I have to be absolutely sure this night is the most memorable, most perfect and safe night you’ve ever shared with another bot.”
Jazz slightly twisted his body as his gaze followed Prowl’s body. “Well, you’ve definitely hit the ‘memorable’.”
“Which means now I just need to make sure it’s perfect, and safe.” Prowl nodded to himself in thought, moving to the open kitchen, only slightly separated by a half wall that doubled as a semi island. Awfully fancy in Jazz’s eyes, but apparently just a normal inclusion in most Praxian apartments.
He walked after him, going to sit on one of the stools and pull them out a bit- only to find it was stuck to the ground. And these weren’t even the same stools Prowl typically had, these had a backrest on them to lean on.
“Mech,” his audial twitched at the sight as he voiced this fact in an accusing tone. “The stools are stuck.”
“Only so they don’t topple.”
“Uh huh, and what happened to your old stools?” He mumbled as he shifted to awkwardly sit, the fact that he couldn’t adjust the distance was sending weird signals through his processor and muscle memory.
“I couldn’t very well let them stay, what if you fell backwards? You’d hit your head.”
Alright, that was a little unintentionally condescending.
“I know how to sit, Prowl.”
“I don’t doubt that,” He clarified, just in case Jazz misunderstood the intention, y’know? “But there’s a million different possibilities, all it takes is one mistake and you could bash your head against the floor.”
“Mech-”
“What would you like for lunch? I have many options.”
Jazz let out a loud huff and dropped his cheek squished up against his open palm. “Can I take a guess that you don’t want me helping with that?”
“Primus, no.” Prowl curled his nose with a shake of his head. “Safety aside, you’re a guest, you don’t need to concern yourself with that.”
Jazz hunched over the table with a grunt. This was gonna be a long night.
He begrudgingly shoved the remaining piece of the tasty toasted energon in his mouth, and nothing was worse than eating good food when in a bad mood. Both him and Prowl were sitting next to each other on the stools, and he could tell the Praxian was trying his best to subtly watch him. He had no doubts as to what was on his mind.
“I’m not going to choke, Prowl.”
Prowl’s wings fluttered as he straightened up suddenly, embarrassment over his EM field. “I wasn’t-”
His brows were hidden, but just turning his head to look at Prowl was enough to let him know one of them was raised. He’d take off his visor just to emphasise how not impressed his brow was if he really wanted.
Prowl cleared his throat, before standing from his seat and taking the paper plates, because of course he couldn’t allow Jazz to have a normal plate tonight. What if it broke and pieces cut into his leg? Jazz almost snorted at the thought.
“Lunch aside,” he said quietly as he also stood up from the stool, following Prowl as he threw away the plates in the trash. “I think we’ve spent enough time apart, don’t you?”
“We have been within proximity,” Prowl frowned at him, that confused puppy look he always had on his face when he thought he was doing a good job but wasn’t. “Haven’t we?”
Jazz rolled his eyes, before stepping closer to smoothly clasp Prowl’s hand and lean against his side. Prowl’s wings fluttered behind him in what he could only assume to be surprise. “I mean we should do more us things.” And forced him to walk backwards in order to cage him against the counter, slyly grinning up at his taller partner. “Y’know, junxie things?”
Prowl’s eyes shot wide, a weak ‘um’ leaving his lips as he looked around the room frantically, before he suddenly broke past him and sent Jazz in a half, confused spin from the dash as Prowl hurried to the living room. “We haven’t even watched a film! That’s a must, we can’t call this an accomplished shared night if we don’t watch a film.”
Jazz watched him leave, suspicion rumbling in his spark as he walked after him. A picture was already forming in his mind from that interaction alone, but he couldn’t jump to it yet. Maybe test it a little more.
He reached Prowl’s side again, sitting next to him as the other fumbled with the remote on the table, and each button press looked jumpy.
“Got any ideas then?” He stared at his junxie’s awkward button presses as the TV switched on and played a random show.
“Well, this is supposed to be perfect, so I was thinking you could pick something.”
Jazz sat at the couch and continued to stare at him, before holding out his arm. “Sure, pass the remote.”
Prowl looked at his hand, then the remote, then at Jazz.
“...I can’t-”
“You can’t pass the remote,” he filled in helpfully. “Cause it’s stuck?”
“I’ll pick the film.” Prowl quickly reverted his attention to the screen, selecting the rotation wheel on the remote as the downloaded choices appeared in a holographic screen from the remote directly, and he swiped through the choices anxiously.
Hm. Okay.
Watching all the films scroll through, he was reminded of one of the other things he’d learned about Prowl. The mech hated mystery films, any sort of investigation or detective like genre would rather quickly lose his interest. It was one of the more surprising facts, given his entire job was about solving things and catching the ‘bad guy’.
But then, if someone was doing something as a job, maybe it was tiring to see it at home, too. Jazz always appreciated music and any film that had a good score would surely get his approval, but music was his life, his hobby, the thing he loved above anything else. It could be the crappiest film known to man, but so long as the soundtrack slapped, he was more than happy to watch. So he couldn’t say he completely understood the concept.
Maybe Prowl didn’t see it as something to love.
Or maybe it was just unbearably predictable to the point of being unable to enjoy it. He could see that, too.
Once the movie was picked and frantically put on, the two sat next to each other as strangers would, the opening sequence starting up with all the company logos that worked on the film, and he recognised a few of them. Must’ve been an animated one. Prowl always was intrigued by how far reality could bend in the world of art.
He hummed, then slowly leaned on his side to rest his weight against Prowl, who immediately stiffened up.
“Jazz?”
“Mhm?”
“I am not a cushion.”
“Nope,” he popped the ‘p’ as he smushed himself further against Prowl’s side, and he could feel the frame heating up immediately. “You’re way better.”
“You should pay attention to the film!” Prowl choked out, trying to lean away from him, and Jazz snorted.
“The logos ain’t done yet, mech, I think I can survive the mysteries of legal crediting.” He leaned closer, purring his engine at his junxie as his digits ‘walked’ up Prowl’s frame. “In fact, I’d say this is the perfect opportunity for us to spend more intimate time-”
“NO!” The squeak was about the unmanliest he’d ever heard, and Prowl had been so desperate to scramble he threw himself off the side of the couch, landing painfully on his head. The shout and groan that followed after the thud made Jazz wince, and he crawled over to the armrest where Prowl’s legs were dangling, peering over the edge to look at his partner.
“...seems like you should’ve baby proofed the floor too, huh?”
And after looking up at him with a wide pair of optics, Prowl let out another groan as he slumped against the ground.
“Ow- hs, ow-!”
“It’s just a dent, stay still…!”
“It hurts!”
Jazz scoffed, rolling his eyes as he gently attempted to pop out the dent on his shoulder. He’d already gotten the bigger one on his head. It was truly a miracle his wings came out undamaged.
“Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so adamant ‘bout making this perfect.”
Prowl curled in on himself, both of them were sitting on his bed. Jazz had laid him there while he went to get the tools in the medical cabinet for dents, but thankfully it was minor so it wasn’t difficult to fix, and he was right back to sitting up in no time.
“Which, by the way,” Jazz continued and leaned over Prowl’s side to look at him. “You wanna tell me what’s gotten into you? You’ve been acting weird this whole time.”
When Prowl didn’t answer, Jazz breathed out a sigh as his audials drew down. “Are you just not ready, mech?”
“I thought I was…!” Prowl quickly lifted his head to defend himself. “I thought- It was fine when we first made the plan, but then the day was getting closer and I was starting to think more, and then I was thinking about all the details that go into these sorts of things, and I was looking at my apartment and realising how messy it all was so I cleaned it, but then I started realising how much of a safety hazard anything is and to have you get injured under my care is unacceptable and-!”
“Prowl,” he reached forward and pressed a single digit against Prowl’s lips, shutting him up immediately as the Praxian stared at it, his face going slightly pink as he glanced towards Jazz, who had a half amused and half exasperated expression. “Mech, you are a menace to yourself the moment you go past two consecutive thoughts.”
Prowl frowned at him, and Jazz used the chance to pop the final dent out, which sent Prowl into a cursing fit.
“AGH-! Shit! Ow! Jazz!”
“You were distracted.”
“Motherf-! Mmm!!” He leaned over as he held his shoulder, and Jazz shook his head before he crawled in front of his partner and sat on his knees.
“Prowl, if you were starting to get nervous or having second thoughts, you should’ve told me.”
“Tickets to Praxus are expensive, Jazz,” Prowl curled his nose as he looked up at him. “I didn’t want you to waste money simply because I started having second thoughts.”
“Is that why you compensated with the guest room?”
“...No?” Now he looked confused. “I just figured that was the preference when you suggested we try out a night together.”
“Snrrk- Prowl, mech,” Jazz reached up to hold his not sore arm. “When junxies say they wanna try a night together, it usually means the same bed.”
Prowl’s slightly pink face went even pinker, and he cleared his throat as he turned his head to the side.
“...I see.”
“Look,” Jazz turned his body to stand up from the bed. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, so how about the next time we plan this stuff, you come to my place instead? I can take care of all the planning, and it’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper to come to Polyhex- you get a discount on your tickets back to Praxus, right?”
“Yes,” a frown on his lips as he slumped over a little, looking embarrassed. “I… apologise for all the overcomplicating, Jazz, I shouldn’t have-”
“Hey,” His voice softened, grabbing the Praxian’s attention quickly. “So long as you never babyproof anything around me again, we’re fine, okay?”
Prowl paused, then cleared his throat. “Right, of course, never again.”
Jazz smiled to himself. Classic Prowl.