Chapter Text
The rain hastened it's downpour outside as Prowl took the pot he'd been stirring off of the oven hob and poured the glowing purple-pink substance into the little silicone candy mold mix he'd positioned ready on the side. He held the pot steady with both hands, making sure not to spill the liquid as it slowly settled into the contours of the little star shapes. Dinner was already on the table, and Tarantulas would have already been home by now were it not for the storm. They didn’t have much Energon, but that still didn’t mean Prowl couldn’t alter it in a way to be extra sweet to function as a treat.
Just as Prowl was transferring the silicone mold to the fridge to cool, he heard a distressed sequence of long, loud, whining beeps.
Sighing, he closed the door to the fridge with his ped, and crossed the kitchen and hallway to the bedroom.
Springer cried and wailed as the rain hit the window hard, flailing his little arms and legs in alarm even as Prowl picked him up. "Shhh, shhh," he tried rocking his sparkling back and forth. "Its okay, it's just the rain, nothing to be afraid of."
If anything the storm had come as a welcome respite from Tarantulas. It meant he would be delayed in coming home from work, and Prowl could have more time to himself and Springer. Ever since he’d made the decision to quit the Praxus Enforcer unit to try and make things work with Tarantulas, everything seemed to have spiraled into a slow, steady decline that no matter how hard Prowl tried, things just couldn’t seem to stop. Now, he was just trying to make things work for the sake of Springer. Even if his spark wasn’t in it anymore, compromising his comfort for his Sparkling’s was a worthy trade off. Tarantulas still loved Springer, and had loved him since the day of his emergence. Perhaps when he was ready for his adolescent upgrades, he would look into a potential separation, but for now, he was content to rock his little one back and forth.
“Beep…” Springer’s little face snuggled into the crook of his arm and Prowl couldn’t help but smile. Even in the worst of times, his happy little face was a ray of sunshine in darkness. He was sleepy, but not quite there yet.
Prowl knew just what to do.
Letting out a melodious beep to get the sparkling’s attention fixed on him, he sang softly “Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell? Let’s go little one, to the Well, Make a wish- just once, that’s all you have to do, and if you hear it echoing, your wish will soon come true, I’m wishing~” He rocked Springer back and forth as he shifted just a little to a sway gently “I’m wishing, for the one I love, to find me~” Springer smiled, stretching his arms up and out of their swaddle to touch his originator “To find me, today, I’m hoping~ and dreaming~ of the nice things they’ll say. Now that I’ve found you hear what I have to say, one son, I have but one song, only for you, one spark~” his finger gently tapped on the flat metal of Springer’s chest, the infant beeping with delight, his tiny hands coming to wrap around the circumference of his creator’s servo “Tenderly beaming, ever entreating, constant and true, one song, my spark keeps singing, of love, only for you~”
Gently placing the little one back down, Springer yawned loudly before shutting off his optics to go back into recharge. Breathing a soft sigh of relief, he exited the room, being as quiet as possible so as to not disturb his creation. At least the parental mods he had bought with his severance pay were paying off. The song was a lullabye he’d picked up from a book about Vector Sigma, the parental mod had been interacting well with his tactical unit in order to respond to Springer accordingly. It had been a huge learning curve, but once he had embraced for Springer’s sake. He just wished Tarantulas would have done the same, but he knew he could only do so much as the main breadwinner now. Even if he did go back to the Enforcers, the thought of Smokescreen or Streetwise or Chromedome having to come and deliver the worst possible news to Springer and Tarantulas made his spark pulse in fear.
Heading over to the bathroom, Prowl looked at himself in the mirror. His plating was dull and scratched in places, his armor that he used to fill out so well looked almost too heavy for him, and his face plates looked sunken in as a result. Idly, his hand drifted up to the jagged left edge of his broken chevron. He didn’t know what had stung more, the feeling of it being broken off, Tarantulas’ words the night it happened, or the sweet whispers that were almost insulting in how they poisoned his thoughts Tarantulas had told him afterwards as he held him. He’d almost called Smokescreen that night. Almost. It hadn’t been that serious.
Figuring he at least had time to hit the wash rack, he cranked the rusted tap until it creaked and the water sprayed from the spout above. Reaching for the solvent, he scrubbed between his joints, rinsed off, and then… stayed underneath the spray. The warm water was a welcome respite against his aching joints, especially his door wings, which always seemed to stay pricked up on high alert no matter how many breathing exercises he’d taught himself. They briefly relaxed with the scratchy sensation of the brush, but Prowl found he still couldn’t put them down. Tarantulas would be home soon-
“Prowl?!” A voice called from the hallway, and Prowl sighed.
Shutting off the faucet, he looked at himself in the mirror, then grabbed a tiny bottle of face polish. His other hand grabbed a little rag and dispensed a small amount onto it, rubbing his face plates to try and polish himself just a little before stepping out into the hallway.
“Yes, Tarantulas?”
The scientist sauntered up to him, embracing him with his many arms which caused Prowl to tense “I missed you today.”
Prowl relaxed. He was in a good mood.
“I… missed you too,” he breathed, leaning in to kiss him softly with best he could. Their kisses were always wet and sloppy, but they had always managed.
“Is Springer asleep?” Tarantulas asked as he let him go “I don’t hear him.”
“He was a little fussy today, but otherwise okay, he woke up not too long ago but he’s asleep now,” Prowl reported, going to walk with Springer when Tarantulas suddenly turned to cage Prowl against the wall with his huge body.
“Good,” Tarantulas rumbled lowly as he touched Prowl’s headlights, tracing their sockets with a sharp claw. The danger, the knife’s edge of a tease, made Prowl shiver. “I was thinking, perhaps, since it has been such a long day, after dinner we could have some… fun.”
Prowl nodded “Th-That would be nice,” he smiled nervously. He wasn’t exactly in the mood, but he wasn’t going to turn his partner down.
“Come then, darling, let’s have ourselves something to eat,” Tarantulas let Prowl go in favor of heading to the kitchen, whilst the ex-enforcer stood there, gulping in a shaky breath as he steadied his trembling peds.
It was okay, even if he wasn’t in the mood, maybe he would be after some food. If not… then he was sure his tac unit could make the situation into some sort of a math equation that he could solve to take his thoughts elsewhere.
He had been waiting to hear Tarantulas move a chair to sit down in, except the tell-tale screech of metal upon metal never came. Frowning, he headed into the kitchen to see his partner grasping the fridge door in one mighty metal claw, another holding the little silicone mold for the candied Energon.
“Prowl.” Tarantulas’ tone made him snap to attention, the look in his optics had completely changed. It was a look Prowl knew all too well, one that had his tac unit getting ready to fire up, and his t-cog waiting to spin. Yet all his frame could seem to do was lock up. “What is this?” Tarantulas asked “Where did you get this? Who have you had over?”
He did the only thing he could do, tell the truth “It’s candied Energon, I-I made it, I thought-”
“Who have you had over?” Tarantulas demanded, rising up higher onto his legs as his voice rose with him in volume “Was it Smokescreen? Streetwise? Barricade?! Tell me!”
“Wha- Barricade? Why would I have-? Tarantulas there’s been nobody here, just me and Springer!” Prowl’s voice rose in pitch, trying to appeal to his partner’s reasoning “You know I don’t talk to anyone else! It’s just you, me and Springer here! I just wanted to follow a new recipe because I was bored and-”
“You were bored, Prowl? Bored?! Here?! Even though I provide you with everything you could possibly want or need, you got bored? Is that why you called one of your little Enforcer-buddies over?!” Tarantulas bellowed and Prowl backed up to the doorway.
“I swear on my spark Tarantulas, there has been nobody else here!”
“Liar!”
With one swing of a long leg, Tarantulas swept everything on the table aside, the energon splattering to the floor and on the wall while the glass cubes shattered into a rain of razor thin shards that refracted the fractured couple’s reflections.
“Tarantulas, please, nobody has been here! I don’t talk to anyone you don’t want me to, you know that!” Prowl found his voice, stepping up to his lover as the glass crunched between his worn out peds.
For all his bravery and advanced tactical unit, his frame’s fragility betrayed him as it didn’t have time to predict the punch Tarantulas threw at him. Prowl cried out in pain, hearing the crunch as Tarantulas’ claws met his left optic. His vision fritzed out, and the praxian fell to the floor on his knees, panting as he tried to reboot it to no avail. “Haah-aahh…” He gasped, trying to breathe through the pain.
“Tell me the truth Prowl! Who was here?!”
“Nobody! Nobody was here!” Coolant stung the wound as his tears seeped through the cracks of the broken glass “Nobody was here! I-It’s just me!” He hated how pathetic he sounded, but he wasn’t about to bend to Tarantulas’ excessive paranoia when it already compromised his morality coding enough. “I’m alone here, Tarantulas, I’m so… so alone, I don’t talk to anyone! I only have you, and Springer! That’s it! Both of you are my world!” he hissed, getting to his feet, taking away from his battered optic so Tarantulas could see the damage he had done “Don’t you dare accuse me of being disloyal! Not when you disappear all day! How do I know you’re not seeing somebody else on the side while I’m left here to take care of our sparkling?!”
Tarantulas moved fast, but with the energon rush his rage was pumping through him, Prowl was able to anticipate his next attack. He was able to sidestep his next swing but was slammed against the wall in a countermove. It winded Prowl, and he pounded on Tarantulas’ back with his fist. Tarantulas caught it, and pinned him against the wall again “I haven’t forgotten how you behaved before I took you in, Prowl,” his mandibles hissed, drool landing on Prowl’s bumper as his face came so close he could practically taste his breath. Prowl could hear Springer crying from the next room. “You were so… perfect, but now? Look at you, ungrateful and using your sparkling as an excuse for everything!”
“He’s your Sparkling too!” Prowl rasped as Tarantulas slammed him against the wall again, using his claw to squeeze his neck. He pawed at the hand on his throat, feeling the air slowly start to be cut off from his systems, his frame overtaxed and overheating.
“Is he, Prowl?” Tarantulas’ eyes became beady “Is he?”
Tarantulas let him go and Prowl caught himself before he could sink to the floor, his tac unit already conjuring horrible scenarios and outcomes as Tarantulas stalked out the kitchen as Springer cried.
“Don’t you dare hurt him!” Prowl bolted after his partner, only stopping to yank open the drawer nearest the sink, grabbing one of the sharp, steel skewers on the inside. He caught up to Tarantulas as he was already in the bedroom, heading for Springer’s crib.
Launching himself into action, he threw himself at Tarantulas’ back, grabbing hold of his wiry fur as the two of them spun. It was difficult to locate the area with just one optic, and he nearly fell off when Tarantulas threw himself back into the dresser, crushing Prowl between it and him, but it gave him the opening he needed to find the one wire his tac unit told him to locate. Forming a fist around the end of the skewer, Prowl drove the sharp end into Tarantulas’ connection line, after which he dropped to the floor like a screeching rag doll.
Knowing time was of the essence, he ran to his creation’s crib, picking up Springer as Tarantulas called his name. Prowl would not, could not, look back as he ran to the front door. Undoing all the locks, latches, and slipping out into the storm outside.
Springer’s cries and Tarantulas’ screams all blended into the symphony of thunder as lightning lit up the sky.
Run away. Far away.
He wasn’t functioning as a normal bot anymore, he was a being purely driven by his powerful tactical processor and his spark. The dirt path had become muddy, and even when he changed forms to drive faster and protect Springer, it didn’t even cross his processor. That one action burned more energon than he’d consumed in the past three days. He kept his sirens off, along with his lights. He could hear Springer crying still inside his cabin and all he could do was turn on his internal heating hoping at least that his sparkling would be warm.
The storm was relentless, the wind throwing Prowl to and from, nearly making him spin off the road were it not for latent enforcer interceptor instincts kicking in. The bushes scratched and tore at his paint, and he braked sharply as a tree blew down in front of him, making him change on instinct to come to a full stop, Springer in his arms once again.
The sparkling was shrieking now in fear, and all Prowl could do was hold him close, clutching him to his spark while turning his back to the storm. There had to be shelter somewhere, he and Tarantulas had moved to be pretty remote, but he knew that they weren’t entirely alone out here. There were loggers, farmers, a town- albeit the latter being too far for him to travel now. He needed to find shelter, and fast. Walking down the road, he whispered “I’m sorry, Springer, I’m so, so sorry…” over and over “We’ll be okay, I promise, we’ll be okay.”
He thought it was a glitch in his optic when he saw the little break in the road, a small dirt path lit with a lantern lured Prowl over to its light, followed by the next, and the next, until he came upon a cottage. The lights inside were out, meaning they were either out or asleep, and Prowl knew it was either this, or nothing. His fuel tanks were too low, his frame felt on the brink of breakdown, his engine clogged and his oil felt like it was scraping against his insides.
I’m going to die.
It was inevitable. He was too far gone. There was no way to reverse the years of neglect of always putting Tarantulas first, sometimes over his bitlet. All he could do now was get Springer to safety, away from that monster.
Springer wept and Prowl shushed him “You’re going to be okay, Springer, my little spring flower…” everything in his frame felt like pure pain, yet he pushed on. He had one last mission to complete. He had to get Springer inside this cottage. He’d be throwing him at the mercy of strangers, but compared to Tarantulas? It was the greatest mercy Primus could give them.
He had just enough energy to activate the lockpicks concealed in his servos, supporting his own weight against the door to hold himself up and shield Springer from the storm.
Springer sniffed up at Prowl with big optics, and Prowl was transfixed. Tarantulas might have claimed sparklings remained largely unintelligent and oblivious until their first set of upgrades, but Prowl knew otherwise. He knew that look. Springer wasn’t crying because of the storm, he was distressed seeing his creator in distress.
Slowly, a peaceful smile came over Prowl’s energon stained lips “Things are going to be okay from now on, Springer, you’re going to be okay, you’re going to be okay,” those words became his mantra as he placed his picks into the door, trying once, twice, three times-
Click.
The door swung open and Prowl collapsed onto a cold, hard floor. Red warnings on his display blinded him as his optics glitched in and out of static. His frame was starting to lock up, but he fought it to curl around his sparkling. Audio became a mix of static, thunder, wind, the door slamming, Springer’s screams.
“I love you, Springer…” Prowl murmured over the encroaching chaos "Ori loves you, Mama loves you…”
Springer’s tearful little face was the last thing he saw before his consciousness faded, but Prowl slipped offline with a smile. He’d gotten away. Springer was safe. His mission was complete.