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Orion was always the first one awake between D-16 and himself. It wasn’t because he wanted to be; he could sleep in or relax all day without a hitch. The problem was that he always awoke to a throbbing in his head, and the feeling of nausea. Orion moved as quickly as possible to ensure he didn’t throw up any energon in his charging station—not that he could, but the fear was still present nonetheless. Orion sat back to try and recollect himself as much as he could while others in his mining group began to stir. When D-16 started waking up, he noticed Orion sitting off to the side, helm in hand and looking down.
“Hey, Pax, how long have you been up for?” Dee asked, just to let Orion know that he wasn’t the only one awake anymore. He walked closer to Orion and rested his hand on Orion’s back shoulder piece, rubbing slow circles over the area.
Orion leaned into Dee’s touch, looking up at him, “Oh, you know, the usual; nothing new. Thinking about when to go break into the library again, how much work we're going to be doing, how much I adore you, and just other random stuff,” Orion said to Dee, almost in a whisper.
Dee chuckled at the response and sat down next to Orion, leaning on him and listening to his pistons move. After a couple seconds, a loud thud came from Orion and he held his chest plate, starting to breathe more heavily than before.
Dee jumped back, giving Orion a worried look. “That’s still happening? I thought I told you to go visit med-bay a while ago? Are you sure you’re alright to be in the mines?” Dee quickly fired off each question with the utmost urgency.
“I didn’t go because it hasn’t bothered me this bad in a long time, and I can in fact, handle the migraines. I can’t risk getting moved down to a lower level over something this small. I’ll be okay,” Orion replied coolly—as if it wasn’t that big of a deal—after his pistons went back to normal.
Dee rolled his optics as he stood up, offering a hand to Orion. Orion held onto Dee as he stood. Upon getting up, Orion intertwined his fingers with Dee’s, grinning widely at the other, who in turn squeezed Orion’s hand to show that he reciprocated the hand-holding. Dee led the way for the both of them to grab some energon before moving on to their respective mining areas. After a bit of walking, they arrived to get their energon. After they each received their respective shares, Dee took some of his and put it with the rest of Orion’s.
“I don’t know if it will help a lot or not, but I wanted you to have some more than we normally get to see if that will mellow out some of the migraines that you’ve been having,” Dee explained while making sure that Orion wouldn’t try to play off his pain and give back the energon. To Dee’s surprise, Orion ate them right up with no complaints, only a muttered thanks while eating.
“You know you could have told me thanks after eating right?” Dee, now somewhat disappointed, told Orion.
“Well, thank you my wonderful partner for the offering!” Orion retorted in a playful manner after he was done eating, holding back laughter.
As they both finished up, they started heading down to the area of the mines that they worked in. They checked in with Elita, who just glared at the both of them and offered an acknowledging head nod. Someone had already bothered her enough, so she did not want to deal with either of their hijinks. Orion and Dee just smiled awkwardly towards her and nodded in return. Orion was thankful for the extra energon, as it actually helped somewhat, but the dizziness he harbored remained the same. As the work continued on, Orion felt the misfires happen more strongly than ever before. Despite this, he was determined not to break. He didn’t want to make Dee work a longer shift because of him.
As time kept ticking forward, Dee noticed that Orion was starting to make more stops in between breaks, and decided to ask him, “Are you still sure you can be out here working? If you need to take a longer break you should.”
“Do ye have such little faith? Come on Dee, I can work the rest of my shift and then maybe go to the med-bay,” Orion quipped back, as if he already knew what Dee was going to tell him.
Dee sighed, knowing that he did, in fact, have little faith in Orion being okay, just as he said. Orion kept working even as his vision started fading out, and dizziness took over to the point that Orion was just vaguely aware of what he was doing. It wasn’t much longer before the loud knocking sound started up from his pistons, and a louder thud followed, from someone falling. As Dee turned around to check up on Orion, he was already on the floor, passed out. Panic started to set in horribly in Dee’s mind, as he didn’t know what was wrong or what he should do. So, he did what he thought was best and tried calling for Elita to help get Orion to the med-bay as quickly as possible. Elita, who never quite knew what the two of them were up to, did know that they were not messing around for once, and actually came as quickly as she could to help.
After Elita was able to help Dee bring Orion to the med-bay, Dee told her about the knocking sound, and Orion passing out. After that, it was as if he was on lockdown. When Ratchet showed up to figure out what happened, all Dee could do was sit there on one of the chairs and hope that Ratchet would be able to help Orion. Dee was overthinking every single possibility, and Elita knew that, so she took over, telling Ratchet everything that was told to her. Despite the med-bay being somewhat loud, Dee couldn’t focus on anything; not a sound, bot, or even a thought in his own head. What if Dee couldn’t save him this time? That thought got quickly dismissed, because he was at least able to bring Orion somewhere safer for now. Despite that, he could still hear the piston knocking as if it was his own making the sound.
Dee didn’t even notice when Ratchet left to go work on Orion, nor did he register the reassurance of Elita’s hand on his shoulder, trying to ground him back into reality. Elita was never the best at giving reassurance for other bots—she knew that as an absolute fact. But seeing Dee and Orion like this, she knew it was going to be a sink or swim moment for both of them. Elita knew that if one of them was confident in the other, then there would be no stopping what they could bounce right back from. The two of them were inseparable in her eyes. The love and care they gave each other was all too much.
So, Elita got up and faced Dee, hand still on his shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. She spoke with bluntness, though not without a caring tone. “I hope you understand that Ratchet knows what he is doing, and that Orion will be a lot better after this. Please, you need to not be as tensed up as you are, and you need to breathe.”
For the first time since they arrived at the med-bay, Dee was not stuck in his helm, overthinking the whole situation. He was focusing on Elita, right in front of him. All Dee could do in response was give a light nod, which was better than nothing in Elita’s opinion.
“Ratchet says that Orion's ignition timing is off. He can’t say for sure if it's advanced or not, but he is fixing it right now. Orion did not blow a piston, or anything else of that nature. If we didn’t bring Orion in, he could’ve possibly blown a piston or bearing, but we did bring him before anything truly bad could happen,” Elita said quietly, understanding that Dee was now paying attention to what was happening around him.
The tension in Dee’s hydraulics released as he listened to Elita talk about how Orion would be alright. Elita excused both of them from mining for enough time to recoup due to the medical emergency, but Dee knew Elita had to go back to work. No one who had achieved a higher rank wanted to risk getting put back at the starting point.
“Thank you, Elita. Hopefully Ratchet won’t need much longer to help Orion get better,” Dee forced out of his mouth. It was barely heard by Elita, but acknowledged nonetheless.
Elita nodded, patted his shoulder and started heading out, wishing nothing but the best for Orion's recovery. Now Dee was left alone in the med-bay by himself. This time, however, he felt a lot calmer about how things would turn out. After this, he definitely wanted Orion to go to the library, or at least wanted to help him get into the guarded library. For now, Dee just laid back, wishing time would move faster than it currently was. It was difficult being separated from Orion for any long period of time. In spite of the fact that Dee knew he would see Orion later, it didn’t help the quietness that was now in the place that Orion should’ve been. Dee hated it. He couldn’t stand the quiet without Orion. So, he rested his eyes to ignore it.
When Orion finally awoke, he noticed Dee’s absence before anything else. After readjusting to the light difference, however, he noticed a certain freedom within his body. The pain that once plagued him day and night was nulled; his chest felt lighter, and he felt more energetic than before too. It was refreshing. He couldn’t wait to tell Dee all about it. Orion quickly noticed Ratchet and tried to remember what even happened in the first place.
Before Orion could get a word in, Ratchet began speaking plainly. “It wasn’t developed enough to be a dire issue, but it was an ignition issue nonetheless. Some of your pistons would be ignited before reaching top dead center, which was what was causing your piston knock—that thudding sound. It wasn’t that hard of a fix, just don’t procrastinate with stuff like that again,” Ratchet finalized while handing Orion the information on what had happened to him.
“So, was that causing my migraines and fatigue too? How long will I have to stay out of the mines? Do I even have to stay out of the mines?” Orion asked, rapid-fire style, just so he could leave faster. However, the question of whether or not Dee was in the med-bay waiting for him went unsaid.
“Firstly, yes it was. Secondly, a solar cycle or two of bedrest is preferable just in case I missed something with the diagnostic. You shouldn’t need any more than that. Thirdly, you will check in with me before returning to the mines. It doesn't matter if you take one or two solar cycles off. Everything else you will need should be in the information I gave you. You can take your leave now and enjoy your time taking it slow,” Ratchet said blankly. He himself was worn from the work and it showed.
Orion quickly departed to the lobby section of the med-bay to find Dee sitting there, arms crossed and leaning his head against the wall. Orion chuckled as he walked up to the relaxing bot. When he got close enough, he poked Dee on the helm. Dee quickly woke up to see Orion fine right in front of him. He was stunned for a second before getting up and wrapping his arms around Orion to make sure that it really was him. Orion returned the hug with a gentler approach, both of them happy to be with each other once again.
“I’m so glad you're okay, Pax. Don’t ever do that to me again, I swear on Primus!” Dee happily exclaimed, laughing afterwards. Neither of them could bring themselves to break the contact of the hug.
“I feel so much better, Dee—it's truly an amazing feeling to have. Let's go home and relax. I can't be back to the mines for at least a solar cycle anyways,” Orion declared, rubbing circles on Dee’s back.
They broke the hug at last and intertwined their fingers as they walked back to their home. It was peaceful. Every once in a while Dee would steal a look at Orion, and Orion would glance back to Dee after the fact. They didn’t talk much on the way, just happy that they were both okay—that they would make it. With the sun setting, it cast wonderful lighting on Orion; Dee wished this moment of stability would last forever.
When they got back to their resting quarters, Dee went to clean off while Orion was already laying down on his side, waiting for Dee to join him. When Dee eventually did join him, Dee wrapped himself around Orion, admiring his partner's relaxed face as Dee knew the pain that Orion was now free from, and trying to match his piston movements with his. Orion grinned with so much fondness looking back at Dee.
“I love you a lot, you know that right? I was so scared and worried that Ratchet wouldn’t be able to help; that I wasn’t able to save you in time,” Dee whispered lovingly, moving the other closer to himself.
“I’ll never go down without a fight, you know that!” Orion exclaimed with a giggle. “And I do, I love you too. You’re perfect—how did I get so lucky with a bot like you?” Orion responded back with the same amount of love and care that Dee gave him.
Dee laughed and relaxed fully, and so did Orion. They stayed close to each other for a long time. Nothing could make them get up and leave the comfort of one another’s arms and presence. Orion, noticing that Dee was falling asleep before him, moved closer and gave Dee a kiss on his helm before wrapping himself around the other. They both fell asleep, knowing that they were each other's place of comfort, and contentment. They did not have a single ounce of fear or worry for what would happen in the long run; all they knew and wanted was in the moment. Without saying a word, they agreed that they could stay like this forever.