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Orion Pax was just minding his own business, getting ready to go into recharge, when he heard some pedesteps behind him. He paused, narrowing his eyes and keeping his back strut turned to face his pod, sneaking a glance at whoever was coming. Was it Arcee? Possibly Darkwing, coming back to beat his aft for escaping from the mines again? No, the pedesteps were unfamiliar. But they were definitely a miner, he could see that from the hole in the other’s silver chassis when he sneaked a glance.
And frag , he was beautiful.
“You must be new around here,” Orion said absent-mindedly, kneeling down and inspecting a corner of his pod. There was too much weight on this side, and it might topple over during the course of the night.
Great! He loved some excitement.
Seemingly satisfied, he turned back around to see bright, glittering yellow optics staring right back at his own.
The mech had a dome-shaped gray head, and was well-built. Limp arms were at his sides, not knowing what to do with them. He put them behind his back, crossing his arms, then stopped and basically gave up, the neutral facade sliding off and showing a nervous and curious expression. Orion had that same one when he first came to the mines. Like all other bots of his caste, he didn’t have a T-cog.
“Yeah? Yeah, I’m new here,” he answered, backing up and letting Orion have some space. “Is- is this Sector Omega, District B, Cubicle… Fifty-Seven?” He was reciting what he heard. Adorable.
Primus, Pax, YOU JUST MET HIM .
“Yep. I’m guessing you're the reason they added another pod?” Orion replied.
The mech nodded, shifting his weight uncomfortably from pede to pede. “Yeah. Are you Orio Rex?”
Orion bit back a laugh. “Orion Pax, but you can call me Orio if you want,” he teased, bowing melodramatically. “And what is your name, kind sir?” He tilted his helm up, giving one of his brightest grins he could’ve mustered at the moment.
“D-16,” he answered, energon tinting his cheeks. “ Please don’t do that-”
“Alright! Alright,” Orion laughed, standing up straight. Yeah, this D-16 was handsome for a mech. “I’m guessing you were just created?”
“No. I got transferred from Sector Delta,” D-16 said, twiddling his digits. Why was he scared?
“Why?”
“I…”
“You don’t gotta talk about it if ya don’t wanna,” Orion assured.
“No, no, it’s just…” D-16 hesitated. “Did you hear about District J of Sector Delta collapsing?”
“We don’t get much news from the other Sectors in Omega,” Orion admitted. “What about it?”
“I… may have caused it.”
“...”
“...”
“Holy slag,” he marveled. “You can do more damage than me! Takin’ down a whole District ? Thats an accomplishment!”
D-16 seemed surprised by the reaction he got. “I- guess?” A wan - really, it was as small as Darkwing’s spike, at least Orion thought it was - smile came onto his face. “I’m not really sure that’s a good thing, though, unless it is in your world.”
“But it is!” Orion pat his shoulder, now standing beside him. “I’m gonna tell that we’re gonna be the best of friends.”
“Or the worst of enemies.”
“We’ll see where the tide takes us. I’ll watch your back, you watch mine. Deal?”
“I just met you.”
“Do we have a deal?” he asked again.
“Fine.”
“Great!”
“Yeah, sure.”
Orion laughed. “Cheer up!”
D-16 seemed uncomfortable with the touch, and Orion immediately pulled back. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” D-16 shrugged, albeit back to being nervous again. “Well… can we talk in the morning?”
“If you want to.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”
“...Good night, Orion. It was nice to meet you.”
“Back ‘atcha.”
Orion knew he wasn’t getting any recharge.
D-16 was sitting cross-legged on the floor while leaning one of the outside sides of his pod, staring at the Megatronus poster in awe. “Where’d you manage to snag this?!” he asked incredulously, more happy than angry at Orion for sneaking off. Then again, he could never stay mad at his best friend.
He really didn’t understand why. It was just like that.
It’s been a few decacycles since he’s arrived. Despite it being not that long, he’s pretty much warmed up to his new brethren. The medic he used to know in District J, Gears, was much less cranky than the one in this District and Sector, but he also did the job better. D-16 also forgot his name, but oh well. The other miners were always there to remind him that they called him ‘slagger’, and he didn’t know why he always had to stop himself from smiling when they said that.
Especially when Orion said it to him, so casually as well.
Maybe it’s because language was strict and monitored every second in Sector Delta, but here the miners blabbered their intakes off like their life depended on it. Maybe it did for some of them so they had the motivation to keep on working without offlining of boredom.
That wasn’t a problem for D-16, though, because Orion always sneaked off and almost gets caught every single fragging time , and for some reason, he seemed to love the Iacon Hall of Records. Maybe because he was so insistent about knowing their history, or its because he just liked a better brush of danger than Darkwing, who in D-16’s opinion, was danger enough for himself. And then he got dragged along, and if they got caught, they’d both be in trouble ! But he had to admit, it was kind of fun, the exhilaration.
Besides getting a knuckle sandwich to the faceplate every solar cycle from Darkwing from the one time they got caught.
Overall, it was chaotic, and Orion lived for chaotic, while D-16 was just there.
Orion, the prideful slagger, stood above him, looking as smug as… nothing came to mind.
Though if he used the word beautiful, then many things came to D-16’s processor.
Shut up, me.
“Don’t matter where,” Orion answered, plopping down next to him. Neither of them reacted when their sides touched - for all they’ve been through, just a tiny bit of touch didn’t really matter. “All that matters is that you love it, and we both know that.”
D-16 huffed. “If you stole this from a noble’s office, I swear-”
“Swear what? Swear your undying loyalty ?” Orion mocked, servo on where his spark would be if it weren’t covered in so much casing.
“Oh, I’ll swear to shove my pede up your aft,” D-16 grumbled.
“Ah, I’d rather it be your spi-”
“Shut up.”
Orion snorted and now placed his servos behind him, using them to support his weight. “Seriously, though, where’s my thank you?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
He rolled those pretty blue optics, though a tiny, adoring smile was still on his lip components. Honestly, D-16 could watch those for days and never grow bored. They were so expressive, like his little finials. Adorable. “Where ya gonna put it?”
“I have a few ideas,” D-16 murmured, idea growing and swelling like a sponge in liquid.
“Hm? Where?”
“Right here.” He smacked the poster onto Orion’s faceplate.
He could basically see his companion grinning.
“Oh, you little!-”
Unbridled laughter rang through the halls. It was worth it to ruin a piece of merchandise to see Pax smile.
Always.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Orion grumbled, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms over his chassis. “My spark beats faster around him, I keep on checking him out when I really shouldn’t be, and I give him little gifts at random times. Oh, and whenever I try to show off, I just end up embarrassing myself and get laughed at by him. It’s worth it, though, to see his smile.”
Yellow, sparkling orbs.
Gray plating.
Rage.
Happiness.
Friend.
Him.
The other miner pursed her lip components, taking her chin off her clasped servos. They had white and pink plating, optics a blinding admiral blue. Arcee, was her name. She was that one bot that had the best romantic-wise advice, here in the mines. Thankfully, she was in the cubicle across from Orion’s, so they’ve talked a few times, and has seen some of the things Orion was describing. “Mhm. I see. Do you have a guess on what you’re feeling?”
“Lust?”
“Eh. Close. Lust is more… intense, than that.” Arcee shrugged.
“Oh. Uhm,” Orion was lost. He’s not experienced lust, and had frankly never self-serviced or interfaced. That’s another thing that made him different than his brethren, down below the surface of Cybertron where all the T-cogless bots worked hard every solar cycle.
“Thankfully, I know what you have,” the femme declared, smile growing on her face. She jabbed a digit at him, “And I diagnose you with love.”
“W-” Orion had to retune his audials. “I’m in what?”
“You're in love. And let me guess, this bot, sorry, no, mech, is D-16.” Arcee looked as smug as a cybercat, watching the other’s expression carefully. She laughed in utter delight and surprised amusement at the stare she was met with. “Come on , don’t tell me you don’t recognize the signs!”
“I don’t love my best friend,” Orion argued. But in his processor, he was frantically trying to place his broken thoughts back together, all the pieces clicked, like a puzzle finally getting the missing part that had been hidden for so long, shoved behind countless threads of speculation of many other things.
Oh frag. He loved his best friend.
Primus slagging damnit-
“Oh, really?” Arcee was practically lounging now. “Where’s the evidence? Oh-ho-ho, I got you there, didn’t I? You, my friend are funny. I need more clients like you, I haven’t laughed this much in a while.”
“How is this laugh-worthy? I-”
“Woah, woah, woah! Don’t break down! It’s fine.”
“What do you mean by ‘it’s fine’!? I love someone I’m not supposed to! This changes everything.” Orion sank further into his seat, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him up. He’d take an offer to spar in the Pits and get chopped up at this point.
Arcee huffed. “Love can be platonic, romantic, sexual, whatever. But it isn’t bad. It’s just saying that you like your friend a bit more than your supposed to!” Her smile faltered, and she obviously cringed. “That just made it worse, didn’t it?”
“I’m leaving.”
“Ya sure you’re ready to face D again?” she called after Orion as soon as he stepped past the threshold of the door. They were both in Arcee’s habsuite, not that it really counted as one. A singular pod sat in one corner of the tiny room, about as dinged up as the owner of it. The paint on the walls were slowly peeling off, which was a shame, considering they were absolutely stunning. Little weeds grew in between the cracks on the misshapen floor, but overall, it was a pretty well-done cubicle. For a miner, of course.
“No, I’m not.”
“You probably never will be.”
“No slag.”
Arcee snorted. “Cheer up, frowny glitch. You want him to like you or not?”
No, I’m not sure I do.
That would change many things .
Orion walked back to his cubicle without saying another word.
D-16 was sitting against a wall, watching a holovid being projected from one of the few datapads Orion was able to steal. Something about two enemies harboring a love for each other because they used to date before the war started. Orion forgot and didn’t really care at the moment the only thing that sped through his processor at over ninety kliks an hour was: Love. Love. Love.
This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.
The silver mech had a confused look on his faceplate, like he was trying to follow the story but kept on trailing off the path. He perked his helm up when Orion came into the cubicle, the holovid still playing. “Hey, Pax. You alright?-”
Orion just stormed into his pod and forced himself into recharge. Maybe he was overreacting, but he was scared, for the first time in his life, of when D-16 discovered that he liked him and rejected him.
Stupid, fragging processor.
Stupid, fragging everything.
Stupid, fragging sad faceplate was the only thing Orion saw before he drifted off into la-la land.
D-16 sat on the roof of the cubicles, swinging his legs over the side and staring at the blinding lights below. Look at him, usually so fearfully staying off the edge, now acting like Orion whenever he was up on this stupid, good-for-nothing tin rooftop.
He didn’t know… what he overheard yesterday.
But he did know that Orion liked him, more as friends.
He had to scramble to pretend like he was watching the stupid holovid as Orion came back in and went to recharge without a word. Honestly, D-16 couldn’t blame him. The information drained himself as well. Orion was lucky he could catch more than a klik of recharge - D-16 had to say a sad goodbye to it the whole end of the solar cycle, with one thought running through his mind.
Did he like Orion Pax back?
It was complicated.
For one, he left a lover back in Sector Delta. But that lover wasn’t really a lover - really just two friends who agreed to frag only for stress relief. To be fair wasn’t even sure if that bot was still alive and didn’t offline in the accidental destruction that D-16 caused in District J (which he was still surprised that he wasn’t turned into scrap for doing so). And two, he wasn’t sure relationships were allowed in the mines. Sure, he’s had to listen to some interesting noises throughout the decacycles of being here, but that wasn’t new. And the known, like officially-dating couples acted more like friends when the guards were around. Which was coming to point three; he wasn’t sure what love was.
He felt extreme affection towards Orion, sure, and would be fine with holding him forever-
Yeah, he just answered his question.
He loved Orion Pax back.
“Now, how to tell him?” D-16 muttered to himself, picking up a nearby pebble and chucking it as far as he could, watching it fall into the chaos below. “Do I just tell him the next time I see him? No, that would be taken as a joke. Leave him a note? Could look like a prank pulled by another miner. Start a rumor?
“…No.”
He groaned. Why was this so difficult?
“Mind if I join you?”
And here came Orion. Like a cheesy romance story.
Frag you, Primus.
“Yeah,” D-16 answered, tilting his helm to the side and patting the place next to him with one servo. “Come on.”
Orion hesitantly came over, the confident air around him was now replaced with a nervous, stale fatigue that D-16 seemed to be getting. The red mech sat down rather awkwardly on the edge, inches of space noticeable between them.
Quiet was evident, suffocating both of them.
“So,” D-16 interrupted, because he would’ve offlined himself if the deafening, thick silence continued for any longer. “We need to talk.”
“‘bout what?”
If D-16 died here, during this solar cycle might as well make his offlining go quick and easy.
“I overheard you and Arcee last cycle.” Orion immediately stilled at that, staring intensely at anywhere but his friend, and D-16 kept on blabbering like the idiot he was. “You like me. And I like you. I mean, I’m not presuming, but- uh- what I mean is that I know how you feel, and I feel it to and you’re pretty and smart and even though you scare the Primus out of me every cycle when you sneak out and risk being caught I still forgive you no matter what and I’m just going to circle back to the original point that-”
“D?”
“Y- yeah?”
“Kindly shut up.”
D-16 blinked. “Did I say something wrong? I-”
And that’s when Orion kissed him.
The lip components against his own were warm and tangy, scarred and melding against his own perfectly. Every movement, every hitch in either of their vents, sent joy and fear through D-16 struts. It was like molten lava, but it was more comforting and fuzzy, like a deep oath. He felt he was going to collapse and go join with Primus early, right then and there.
Orion kept it brief, and pulled back after a few astroseconds, but for both of them, it felt like many happy vorns.
D-16 opened optics he didn’t know he closed.
“Apologies,” Orion said, joining his gaze with the roof near D-16’s left thigh - the one closest to his frame. “I got carried away.”
“No! Wait, don’t be sorry,” D-16 said quickly, placing one of his servos over Orion’s. “Don’t say you’re sorry.
“...Please don’t be sorry.”
“I’m not if you liked it,” Orion said quietly.
“I did.”
“Oh.” He paused. “That’s good.”
D-16 let out a ex-vent he didn’t know he was holding. “Did you like it?”
“Yes.”
Bliss and desire ran wild in his spark. “Great.”
“Great.”
Yes, they were both mechs of many words.
“Can we do that again?”
Orion snapped his helm up. “What?”
D-16 carefully repeated, “Can we do it again?” Wow, he was brave.
Orion stared at him, searching for something, possibly horror on D-16’s faceplate. When he found none, he slowly nodded his helm.
That was all the comformation D-16 needed.
They would work. They’d make it work.
And slag Arcee’s yells about how she was right, the only thing that mattered at that moment was the precious thing he held in his arms right then.