Chapter Text
“Fantastic.” Prowl hung his head as he checked the flight tracker on his desktop. The storm predicted to hit the city that evening had blown in just after lunch, darkening the window beside his desk hours before the early winter night turned the heavy gray skies pitch black. He’d watched his flight be pushed back and pushed back all afternoon and now, right as he was getting ready to leave for the airport, it had been cancelled. “So much for the weatherman.”
“Hey now, that ain’t very nice. What’d he ever do to you?”
Prowl looked up tiredly, really not in the mood to deal with his annoying coworker. “Nothing,” he sighed, starting the process of shutting down his applications to power down his computer for the long holiday weekend. A holiday weekend he would now be stuck spending here, instead of with his family. “Could you just… not, right now?”
“Not… what?” Jazz asked. He sounded confused, and the expression on his face when Prowl looked up again matched.
“Not bother me,” Prowl answered without venom. “Look, it’s been a long day, and I just want to go home.”
“Home, huh?” Jazz glanced at the suitcase beside Prowl’s chair, then at the flight tracker on the computer. “Doesn’t look like you’re gonna be able to get home, with your flight cancelled.”
“I meant,” Prowl ground out, irritation beginning to burn away at his exhaustion, “my apartment.”
“Right. Your apartment across town, which’ll take three times longer than normal to reach with the trains runnin’ as bad as the planes. Not to mention havin’ to walk home in the snow from the station.” Jazz stared at the monitor for a few more seconds, then turned to Prowl. “Come home with me.”
Prowl blinked stupidly, not sure he’d heard him correctly. “I beg your pardon?”
“Come home with me,” Jazz repeated. “I know you hate me, but it’s Christmas Eve. You shouldn’t have to spend it out in this mess, and then have Christmas by yourself.”
“I don’t hate you,” Prowl protested quickly, hoping that wasn’t what Jazz really thought about him. “I just–”
“–just don’t have the patience to deal with my shenanigans at work, I know.” Jazz grinned. “I promise I’m less annoying when I’m not gettin’ in the way of your deadlines. C’mon, what do you say? Come over, relax, hang out someplace warm and not-lonely. You’ve already got your suitcase with you, and I’m only a few blocks away.”
Not-lonely… “Won’t I be an inconvenience to your other guests?”
“Don’t have any.” Jazz shrugged, eyeing the flight tracker again. “My brother’s flight in got cancelled too.”
Meaning Jazz would be spending the holiday alone as well, unless Prowl said yes. And, surprisingly, he found himself wanting to do just that. He didn’t like being alone on Christmas, and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jazz not being able to see his family either. Why not? It was only one night, after all, and Jazz was right. Maybe they would get along better outside the office.
“Well,” he began slowly, somewhat amazed at what he was about to say, “as long as you’re not throwing a party then.”
It took a minute for his meaning to sink in, but when it did, Jazz broke out into a huge smile. “You mean it? Awesome! You almost finished here? I’ll go get my coat; meet you in the lobby!” He was already dancing away as he spoke, calling the last words over his shoulder before disappearing around a corner.
Prowl hung his head again, but this time, he was laughing.