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It had been a brisk, frosty morning. The kind where the grass and leaves were white at the edges and fractals spiraled into beautiful patterns on the outside of the viewports, where a mech’s ventilations billowed into steam around them shrouding them in clouds for a moment before dissipating into the atmosphere.
Mirage had looked charming and ethereal before he left, and Jazz had been sorry to send him off even though they desperately needed the intel he was gathering.
The afternoon hadn’t brought much more warmth, though the frost had melted and taken the soft crystals and beautiful fractals with it. Jazz was having to keep his vents closed in the lookout post so that no spying Decepticons would spot him that easily, and there wasn’t much charm in the brilliant afternoon sunlight.
It was hard as frag to see if Buzzsaw was overhead with all that glare, and Laserbeak was only barely more noticeable.
Still, though, he smiled when he saw Mirage coming up the road. A same day return meant good things, though possibly not good intelligence. His mech was coming home safe and sound, and without a tail--unless Shockwave had finally managed to duplicate Mirage’s invisibility cloak--and that was good. Anything else was a toss-up in their business.
He activated his comm and sent the other mech a message. Debrief in the Ops lounge at 1600.
Mirage replied without even slowing down. Nothing was that top secret today, I’m afraid.
That’s not why we’re meeting in the lounge.
You know I hate surprises, Jazz.
You’ll like this, promise. 1600, don’t be late.
Mirage sent an affirmative ping and continued down the road. When he turned around a bend that took him out of Jazz’s line of sight, the visored mech pinged his replacement and climbed down from his perch.
He had a date at sixteen hundred.
-_-_-_-
Jazz was pouring mineral infused hot energon into a pair of mugs--recently made by Sunstreaker and beautiful enough for even Mirage’s refined tastes--when Mirage stepped into the lounge. The slender mech was shivering and rubbing his arms to generate friction.
“Damn, I didn’t think it was that cold in the city.” Jazz set the infusion pot down on the table and reached for the blanket he had prepped for Mirage’s return. He’d known that Mirage would be uncomfortable, but he hadn’t expected cold-cold.
“It wasn’t. I suspect something has gone wrong with my thermoregulation system.” Mirage stepped happily into the blanket when Jazz held it out to him, and then smiled with delight when he realized it had holes for him to put his hands through. “Oh! I can still hold a mug this way!”
“Yeah, I remember how much you hated it when I had to hold your cubes that time you lost your hands.” Jazz wrapped him in a hug and revved his engine to provide a bit more heat. “There’s a little pocket inside for whatever book you’re reading, too.”
“Thank you, darling. But I don’t think this is part of my debriefing.”
“Nah, this is just for you and me. Optimus’ll be in to debrief you in an hour.”
“Oh. How lovely, then.” Mirage snuggled against Jazz for several kliks. “Are there biscuits to go with the tea?”
“Nah, Cosmos tried something new today. Says it’s like one of those scones the Humans make.”
“How very interesting.” Mirage lingered in Jazz’s embrace for a moment longer, before stepping away. He grabbed Jazz’s hands as he moved, though, and pulled the visored mech onto the lounge sofa with him. “We will try them together and send him an appropriate review.”
“Yeah, but reviews later.” Jazz pulled Mirage against his side and revved his engine again, trying to sooth the shivering he could still feel in the slender mech’s plating. “Cuddles and warm drinks now.”
“Agreed.” Mirage melted into his side, and some of Jazz’s worry dissipated when the blue and white mech relaxed and his shivering slowed. “Thank you. I could get used to being so pampered when I return home.”
“Well, Decepticons willing,” Jazz pressed a soft kiss to the top of Mirage’s head, “I could get used to pampering you when you get home, too.”