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He forgot what Orion did this time. It doesn't matter. Well, it probably does. But he can't concentrate on that when Orion's pouting face is right there, in front of him.
"You can't stay mad at me forever! Come on, Dee," Orion begs. "I said I was sorry!"
They've played this before. They're playing it right now. The whole run and chase game.
D-16 keeps his optic ridge furrowed. He keeps them perfectly in place, not too exaggerated and not too subtle.
"I can stay mad pretty long. Wanna see?" He turns away and heads for the roof.
Orion follows. "Please, there has to be something I can do to make it up to you. Half my energon? A favor, redeemable forever and for anything?"
D-16 already forgave him. But it was worth it to pretend, just for now. They turn into a dimly lit hallway and he stops abruptly, slowly turning around to face Orion.
Orion vents. D-16 squints in thought.
"Now that I think about it..." D-16 takes a step toward Orion, and the red and blue mech's optics widen just so. "Nope. Nothing comes to mind." He turns back around and continues striding down the empty hallway.
Orion groans and follows him. "Please, Dee, I'm sorry! I'll do anything, come on."
'Anything' isn't much. D-16 isn't the type of mech to take advantage of his friend with a favor, either. But kissing, well, that's fair game. They play this game almost every couple of cycles. Boredom reigns down in the mines, so the miners get creative.
They finally get to the roof, and D-16 slows down. He sits on the ledge (even though he hates heights—what if he fell down from the building?) Orion joins him.
The colored mech wrings his servos nervously. He avoids D-16's gaze.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I might’ve taken it too far." Orion looks sincere. D-16 thinks it looks better on him than those smug smiles. "We almost got demoted this time because of me." His voice is small, and that just won't do.
"What? Orion, look at me. Darkwing can go frag himself with his own tiny spike, because you were not in the wrong about this, for once. That mech you saved would've been destroyed if not for you. I'm proud of what you did, not mad." D-16 sputters out words and he finds he can't stop. Everything spills. All it took was one sincere comment from Orion, a drop of the charades for a second, and he breaks.
"And the thing we do, this game we play, where you get us in trouble and I pretend to get mad and you chase me and we kiss, that's what went too far. You know speeches aren't really my thing, but I care about you. I just want us to be able to kiss without getting in trouble first. I'm sorry."
Yep, he talked too much. D-16 cringes and gets up to leave, not looking at Orion. The rejection would hurt too much. He needs to escape, he needs to recharge, yes, he isn't thinking clearly.
"Dee, wait-" Orion tries to catch up to him. He doesn't give him the chance. His pedes lead him down the hallway.
Orion starts running. D-16 turns around to look at him, and before he realizes what's happening, he gets tackled. He lands on his aft with a grunt.
"Orion, what the frag? Just let me mope in peace!" D-16 is too surprised to keep ignoring him. He tries to get up, to push Pax off, and it works.
Until his friend punches him. Square in his faceplate. He winces in pain, his mouthplate agape in shock.
"ORION!" D-16 screams angrily.
"DEE!" Orion responds in kind. "You are not LISTENING to me! You didn't even let me speak!"
"That's because you PUNCHED me!" 'Valid reason!' He thinks.
"I only did that because you weren't listening to me! You just ran away!" Point to Orion, he isn't very good with emotions.
"What more is there to say?!" A rejection is imminent, for sure.
"Primus, you're hard-helmed!" Orion groaned.
"Wow, tackled me to say that? Really, Pax-"
Orion kisses him. It sucks the air out of his intakes just as hard as the punch. It's rough and he doesn't react at first, too surprised to do so. He stays there, eyes open and mouthplate pinned against Orion's in shock. Orion's optics are squeezed shut. He breaks the kiss and slowly relaxes, opening his sparkling blue optics.
"There. Get it through your thick circuit."
Orion starts to get up from D-16, and the gray mech misses the contact he was so desperate to get away from just a few minutes ago.
"Might need a couple reminders." D-16 grins and takes Orion's splayed servo to get up from the hallway floor. They walk in tandem to their recharge room, still holding hands.
"You'll get as many reminders as you want, tomorrow." Orion yawns to prove his point. The day had exhausted both of them.
"By reminders I wasn't talking about that hit back there. I'll feel that for so many cycles, Primus." D-16 moves his jaw side to side.
"You weren't listening to me! What else was I supposed to do? I knew you'd close up and end up ignoring me or something and I didn't want it to end like that. Sorry if it hurts. Not sorry for hitting some sense into you." Orion smiles. D-16 fake-frowns. They laugh. It's nice. The air feels different, somehow. Things have changed between them.
They walk in comfortable silence like that for a while. They enter the recharge room, and everyone is offline.
"Well, I guess this is it. Goodnight, Dee." Orion turns away. D-16 catches his arm, and spins him back around.
"Goodnight, Pax." He whispers, then kisses Orion. It's the opposite of the other kiss. It's sweet and chaste and gentle. They let go and smile, walking into their charging pods.
The last thing D-16 sees is Orion's smug face, and for once, it doesn't annoy him one bit.