Work Text:
A million years ago, Cybertron was in it's golden age.
Mechs and Femmes could do as they pleased, the Thirteen original primes ruled over the land with care, with gentleness.
But peace could not last forever, and so fourth broke out civil war, the low castes against the high and Cybertron was quickly plunged into chaos. For millions of years did the wretched Decepticons battle the valiant Autobots, who fought for peace and union. The two factions leaders, once friends were then sworn enemies, using any opportunity they could to try and vanquish the other. Cybertron was lost to the dead and graying, and the great war carried to another galaxy.
Finally, long after the original battle broke out, the autobots claimed victory, but at a cost. Optimus Prime, the last of the primes sacrificed himself to the planet, reviving Cybertron with his act of selflessness. Megatron ended his own life out of grief, his Decepticons disbanding without a leader.
With both factions dead and gone, the great civil war came to a close four million years later...
"That is fragging ridiculous."
Optimus sipped at his steaming energon, glancing up to find Megatron making faces at the halo screen. "You're welcome to turn it off."
He didn't. Just continued to stare as the actor interview went on.
"Alright next question! Umm, this one is, was there ever a time you got in trouble with the filming crew?"
The two actors glanced at each other before the blue one spoke up. "Well... okay, there was this one scene, we'd just started filming so I wasn't super engrossed in the role yet, apparently I was smiling to much-"
The other actor snorted, covering his intake to laugh at whatever memory came to processor.
The blue one's nasal ridge scrunched up and he smacked the grey mech. "Shut up- anyway I couldn't get over how real everything looked and-" he paused, shaking his helm. "Sorry to the audience but I just don't have years of war trauma so the entire thing was for some reason funny to me. And apparently it showed."
The interviewer nodded along, smile growing wider with each word. "And?"
The blue mech winced, "Well... there's a reason I have a battle mask. That was added to the whole look later. And... yeah I spent the next couple deca-cycles getting lectured on how to look mean."
The grey mech had almost fallen over laughing. "You could NOT concentrate. And then you'd get mad at them!"
Almost shamefully the blue mech folded his servos in his lap. "I... might have yelled at them a few times."
"More like ten."
"You, shush it."
Optimus could've sworn he saw Megatron's optic twitch.
"You know, I don't think that particular bot ever yelled at me again though." the blue mech mentioned, looking at the grey bot for confirmation.
The other actor smirked, looking back to the camera. "Yeah well I wouldn't want to be yelled at by Optimus Prime either, I think he's got his reasons."
Oh dear.
Optimus thought, glancing back to Megatron, who's entire frame went slack.
The halo screen didn't survive.
Optimus vented out, leaning against the door frame and watched his love throw the machine into the gorge. Then continue to have a sparring session with a tree.
From their small home in the Manganese Mountains nothing could hear the adult mech have an absolute crash out. So that was a bonus.
Optimus yawned, deciding it was too early for this.
"Love, please don't murder all the plants before mid-cycle!" he called over his shoulder, before going back inside.
He knew these things didn't please his conjinx. However he'd grown long used to it and didn't think it much mattered anymore. It hadn't in the first place. But Megatron had... other opinions. He always did, but they made it work.
The world had been treating the war as if it was some long distant memory. A time woven tale to scare sparklings, more than anything. So of course someone would find a way to blame one side, forget the details and make chips off it.
At first it had bothered Optimus, that they'd brushed aside the past so readily. But the longer it went on, the less he figured it mattered.
He was dead to the world. There was nothing he could do about it. Nor did he feel he wanted to do anything. He'd become perfectly content to live in their quiet haven with no one to bother them.
"The audacity of some mechs..." his conjinx seethed.
Optimus looked up from his cube, smiling as his beloved left the anger outside and immediately softened as he entered the small building. "I apologize, I don't believe we'll be needing that thing anymore."
He peeked out the front window. "Ah. I don't think we'll need those trees either."
Megatron shook his helm, taking up his own cube. "Nope."
The silence was filled with tension, so obviously the larger mech hadn't left all the anger outside.
Optimus sighed. "There's nothing you can do-"
Cutting him off Megatron turned, bitter annoyance in his optics. "I am just tired, Optimus. Of it all. Of the lack of respect or memory- that they can't even spare some dignity for their last Prime. For you."
Ah, that's what this was about.
Optimus swirled his cube, leaning on the counter between them. "If it consoles you at all, I don't care."
"But I do!" The large mech almost throws his cube, then thinks better of it and sets it down. "These bumbling idiots have turned our war, something that both of us have to live with for the rest of our existence as well as every other life lost, into a source of entertainment! I-just-" he stopped, turning away.
Optimus reached across the island to grab the others servo, rubbing his digits over the back. "You feel mocked. I know. You just have to understand, my love, that everyone thinks we're dead."
Crimson optics fell on him, a loud vent exiting the others frame. "Yes... I know."
Optimus waited for the rest of the sentence and came around the island to hug the other when there wasn't any. "Do you?"
A small silence passed.
"I do. And I'd do it a dozen times over if it meant I would get you like this for eternity."
The red and blue mech squeezed him harder then. "Good. Now stop pouting about it you big sparkling."
Megatron gasped, looking down at him. "I- that was unnecessary."
His conjinx didn't meet his optics in turn for looking out the door. "Mmm, those trees wouldn't agree."
The silver mech pulled Optimus closer with a smirk. "You really are upset about those trees, aren't you?"
He was. It'd taken Optimus a long time to find a place to retire that had plant life like on earth. He'd missed seeing the foliage upon their return to Cybertron.
The red and blue mech huffed a laugh as the other kissed his closed optics. "Yes. I'd be very happy if you refrained from killing the plant life."
"Right right, it's scarce in these areas."
Optimus frowned, looking up at him. "How about scarce on Cybertron?" he asked, incredulous.
Megatron wrapped his arms around the others frame, humming. "If I do happen to kill it all, I'm sure earth wouldn't miss a few trees."
He leaned into the silver chassis. "I don't believe I'd survive a trip to earth. To be honest I would most likely die in the middle of space for no reason."
The ex-warlord scoffed, but continued to rest his servos on the others waist, swaying back and forth. "Nonsense. I wouldn't let you."
"I'm old as the pits, Megatron. As are you. I don't think your will itself can save my frame." Optimus laughed, savoring the moment.
Megatron didn't argue. They didn't move from their spot for a long time. Just swaying to a rhythm that only existed in their audial's and ignoring the world outside.
There were moments when Optimus regretted abandoning Cybertron. Regretted being selfish enough to abandon Iacon and his people to follow Megatron into the mountains. To disappear forever.
But it was moments like these, that reminded him why he had. Why he'd chosen loving arms and passionate nights over arguing with councilmen and paperwork.
Sometimes he could almost hear the other primes criticizing his choices, telling him he was disappointing them all and putting shame on Primus himself. But the Matrix had left him to relight the Well. The voices weren't actually there, they just haunted his conscience.
His beloved would never let him think that for long, always cradling him close and letting kisses trail, murmuring about how 'fragged up' the primes actually were. Handling Optimus like he was something delicately holy.
That was the farthest thing from true in his personal opinion. But after spending so long listening to those thoughts and belittling himself for the other Primes and the sake of others, it felt almost foreign to be praised. A sweet sort of foreign he'd come to enjoy.
"You know what would be funny?"
And... other times Megatron could be an absolute fragging idiot.
Optimus vented softly, looking up to meet the other's optics. "No, tell me."
The silver mech seemed to think, his claws moving to rub the old prime's spinal strut. "If we just randomly decided to appear one cycle. And acting like nothing was wrong."
Optimus stared at him. "Really?" he deadpanned.
Megatron shrugged. "I get a sort of sadistic satisfaction in watching mechs break their processors trying to untangle information."
The red and blue mech shook his helm, reaching under the arms around him to grab his lukewarm cube from the other side of the counter. "Mmm yes, I suppose I've known that for a while, haven't I?"
Since before the war, Megatronus had loved asking questions or saying something that just didn't make sense and watching the bot in front of him fumble for however long they decided to waste their dignity for.
"Mmm you have." he drawled.
After that, they both slipped into their own thoughts, standing together for comfort more than for support.
Optimus knew Megatron was always on edge, still waiting for an attack that wouldn't come. He too felt it at times, his frame remembering more than himself and reacting to any sudden noise or movement. They'd both had nights where the memories were too strong, or one would get lost in a nightmare that seemed to never end.
It wasn't comfortable. But they had learned to manage it.
Megatron suddenly took his left servo, laying his helm on Optimus's shoulder. "You know I only do it for you."
Optimus hummed, letting themselves drift into a slow dance, rubbing small circles in the others back. "I do know, but I think you forget often that some things just aren't worth your attention, beloved."
No glyphs answered him, but the silver mech held him a little closer, nuzzling at his neck cables.
The two old mechs danced in slow circles around the small kitchen space, their steps long memorized as their EM fields mingled with each other.
"My attention belongs to you, my love."
It was soft, and barely audible but Optimus heard it. He did not answer, laying his helm on Megatron's chassis.
"But I can not come to terms with the idea of the world forgetting what we- what you sacrificed for them." his conjinx gently pulled away, both servos coming to rest on either of Optimus's shoulders. "Sometimes I regret being the offending side of the war, however there were many things I did to deserve the hate Cybertronians harbor for me. But for those insolent beings down there to just... ignore what you've personally sacrificed. To laugh over it like they would even be alive if you hadn't done everything you did. That is unforgivable."
Optimus looked down, unable to meet the crimson optics simmering with burning hate and sorrow.
There was nothing he could do to change Megatron's mind. Nothing he could say that would sway his partners opinion. so he didn't.
"Okay." he slowly nodded, leaving the conversation there.
"Thank you." Megatron murmured, sliding his servos back to the others back and pulling him into a soft embrace. "I treasure you more than anything in this universe or the next, my light. Do not forget that."
Optimus nodded again against his shoulder, staring at nothing while he let the words sink into his spark.
After a long pause, Megatron took his servo with the finished cube still in it. He took the cube, placing a light kiss on Optimus's digits before moving to grab his own as well.
"Well, there is an entire cycle ahead of us, beloved. Have any ideas on what you would like to do?" he asked, stepping around the island to the sink.
Optimus let out a vent, reorienting himself with the room. "Ah... no. No particular plans. Any particularly thrilling weather out? Or... we could go find that lake I found last deca-cycle."
His conjinx thought about it as he rinsed the two cubes with solvent, washing the additional few in the sink. "Mm I have not seen anything peculiar as of late. Where was that lake?"
Optimus moved to sit on the chair at the table just behind the counter. "Oh... a few clicks east from here, maybe a joor's walk?"
Megatron squinted, then turned to look over his shoulder. "Was that the one with the weird little flowers around it?"
"And the waterfall, yes." Optimus answered, picking up the discarded datapad off the table.
A low hum followed his answer, and again they both settled into a comfortable silence.
Or rather, the small creatures of Cybertron had come to frolic and eat outside the kitchen window, and Megatron was distracted.
Optimus remembered him personally scoffing at the idea when they'd built the home, patting the old prime's helm condescendingly and telling him he could enjoy the wildlife.
Mm. Figures.
So Optimus clicked the datapad on and picked up where he'd left off on the earthen novel.
They weren't blessed with peaceful helmspaces or a perfectly comfortable living. But just about everything else they'd ever wanted was either already theirs, or within their grasp.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was theirs.