Chapter Text
Thirteen years after Unicron almost devoured this world, the thing Optimus Prime had been fearing all this time finally happened: Decepticons had made their landfall on Earth.
“They’re searching for Energon.” Arcee informs them as they watch the hologram of two Cons, mere foot soldiers, pawing their way into a cave’s opening in some barren wasteland. The scene disappeared and another pops up showing another bot about to dive in an ocean. “For now, the Cons haven’t found an Energon-rich location yet, but it’s only a matter of time before they discover the likes of Peru.”
Bumblebee lets out a series of angry beeps, Wheeljack shakes his helm “Ay, ay, ay. I don’t like this.”
“And if Megatron makes his way here—!” Optimus rumbles like a raging thunderstorm. “He would use any means necessary to get his vile hands on what he wants. He wouldn’t hesitate killing the humans. We must intercept them before he and the rest of his army arrives!”
That got the whole team pumped up, Arcee slams a fist against her palm, Wheeljack still looked downright terrified but he nods, and Bumblebee unnecessarily deployed the blades in his arms then he started slicing the air aggressively. It’s been a while since they’ve been in a fight.
They may be a little rusty but it’s nothing a bit of training couldn’t solve. Admittedly, their time on Earth is the closest to a vacation they could have.
There were times when they’ve forgotten that they’re still in the middle of a war, or that while they go frolicking in this beautiful planet, their very own war-torn Cybertron is dying by the breem.
While most of them had stayed vigilant and remained on the lookout for news, one of them has fully integrated himself with the humans.
The familiar loud roar of Mirage’s engine cuts through their conversation. All helms turn to watch a silver Porsche approach the wide entrance. Out of nowhere, a silver and blue mech spins gracefully upwards from the floor and into an upright position before his servos immediately fly to his waist, looking very put out at the situation.
“Okay, I swear if this meeting could’ve been an email I won’t bother going the next time you call me. We’re in the middle of interface! I was gettin’ some, you guys, how could you spikeblock your bro like this?!” Mirage throws his hands in the air in annoyance. He’s walking with a funny gait, and the Autobots doesn’t appreciate living with the knowledge that Noah Diaz was in deep Mirage’s valve not even ten minutes ago. “I’M STILL WET BETWEEN MY LEGS! I CAN FEEL HIS FLUIDS SLOSHING INSIDE!” he wails dramatically.
“Ay dios mio, Mirage!” Wheeljack slaps a servo on his own face.
Mirage points at him, clicks his glossa and winks. “That’s what Noah said last night.”
“Eww! T.M.I!”
Bumblebee blasts some Black Eyed Peas. “Shut up, just shut up, shut up. Shut it up, just shut up, shut up”
“Mirage.” Optimus growls, either as a greeting or a warning.“Do not be late again next time. Remember, you still have your responsibilities as a soldier.” He repeats for the hundredth time, and he knows he’s gonna let their youngest roll away scot-free this time too. Oh Primus, he’s getting real soft.
“Sorry, Pops.” Mirage bows his helm, looking genuinely sorry (for now). He’ll try harder to be on time for the next meeting. Depends on what he’s doing. His optics travel to his friends one by one as he crosses his arms in front of his chest. “So, what did I miss? Apart from a nice, explosive overload.” He mutters the last part which the rest of the Autobots thankfully chose to ignore.
“Eh, nothing much.” Arcee shrugs. “Just Optimus declaring war on the Decepticons before they reach Earth.”
Mirage recoils, optics wide. “D-Decepticons?! The Decepticons are coming here?!”
Wheeljack pipes in. “Worse, mi amigo. Some of them already are. They’re scattered all over the planet to find Energon.”
“It’s as I have feared...the day their evil servos get a hold of Earth.” Optimus shakes his helm gravely. “They will certainly attack if they learn about our presence here. Worse, they’ll inform Megatron. We must eliminate them all in secret.”
The information rolled around Mirage’s processor for some time before he finally let it sink in. Fear rushed in his fuel lines, not for himself, not even for this planet but particularly for Noah and his family. He knew what Decepticons are capable of, having witnessed their brutality first hand.
Mirage thought of his fellow mechs and femmes who had been on the other end—their limbs torn off, bodies blasted and stepped on, sparks ripped away. The distress caused his processor to malfunction for a few seconds and the memory of the war shifts into another scenario, one could happen should he fail.
In his vision, it was Noah, Kris, Breanna and even Elena and Reek who suffered on the merciless hands of the Decepticons. Reek’s body crushed under the vehicle he thought was his—the Decepticon insignia splattered with the man’s blood. Elena, captured and tortured for her knowledge that would be too important to the Decepticon’s cause. Breanna’s broken body slumped against the wall of their home as she futilely tries to protect her youngest son. Kris dangling upside down clutched between the unforgiving digits of a laughing Starscream.
And Noah...Mirage’s spark trembled in it’s chamber, remembering how close he was to being blown to bits by Scourge. This vision felt the rawest, as he had witnessed it before. This time, it would be Megatron’s cannon on Noah’s face. His sparkmate, his beloved in the entire universe, would no doubt stand bravely against the warlord. But to Megatron, this noble act would only be an annoying distraction and Noah would be nothing more than a fly he’d be itching to swat.
If Noah didn’t manage to piss him off first then he could just tear him in half like nothing.
“Noah.” He whispers to himself, terrified. Before he knew it, Mirage was already tearing out of the warehouse in frantic haste.
“Hey! Where are you going?!” Arcee yells.
“I—Noah...his family, somewhere safe—I need to get them somewhere safe...W-We...we have to go..”
“Mirage!” Optimus steps forward in worry. He had never seen Mirage act like this in the millions of years they had known each other. Even he is quite disturbed at the panic on the young bot’s face. “Calm down, Mirage.”
Arcee huffs. “There’s no ‘somewhere safe’, Mirage! We don’t know what the Decepticons are planning or where they’d go next! Our best bet is to finish off the ones who are already here and head back to Cybertron!”
At that, Mirage whirls around, fury burning bright in his optics. He started advancing on the smaller femme who stood her ground.
“Well, I can’t just leave them to die, they need me and Noah is my conjunx as far as I’m concerned! You said those bastard Cons are harvesting Energon but mark my words, an invasion is coming next!” Mirage’s optics settles on Optimus’ face with a pleading look. “Please, Optimus, you gotta let me go. I just want to keep him safe. I have a life and family here, I can’t—”
Bumblebee makes a sharp whirring noise before Optimus could respond. “We didn’t come here to settle down!” He scolds Mirage in that annoying patchwork of words. “Bumblebee—” came the voice of Charlie Watson “—had to let her go. Let her go.”
Mirage’s long legs carried him to the yellow Autobot next. In that moment, he didn’t care how adorable those huge round optics are, now wet with coolant because he was dumb as frag to replay his first love’s voice. Mirage prods Bumblebee’s chest hard with a digit. “I know you still listen to her some nights, Bee. Heh, whining like a sparkling. But unlike you, I’m not stupid enough to give Noah up so I’m sorry that you couldn’t have what I have!”
“Mirage!” Arcee stomps a pede.
“Ooh, maybe a bit too far, brother?” Wheeljack grimaces.
Bumblebee lowers his helm with a sad noise, and something had gripped Mirage’s spark when he noticed coolant stains dripping down to the floor. Mirage wanted to smack himself for that.
How could he say those harsh things to Bee? Of all bots, he should’ve understood the pain of loving a human. He would rather crush his spark than imagine a life without Noah, what’s it like for Bee who actually had to let Charlie Watson go?
“No. B-Bee...” he starts, one servo reaching out, but the scout already transformed in his alt mode and floored it out of there, the screeching of his tires sharp in their audials. “Slag. Why did I say that, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Because you’re a reckless glitch.” Arcee snaps, arms crossed in front of her chest. “And you’re not the biggest fan of using your processors right.”
Ouch. But it was nice to see Optimus glare to silence her for once.
“Mirage.” The Autobot leader drops on one knee, putting a gentle servo on his shoulder. Optimus himself never envisioned that he would be one day having a spark-to-spark conversation with Mirage. He doesn’t want to coddle his subordinates as much as he could, but right now, Mirage needed a father figure to ground him back, not a general.
“I know how much Noah means to you, and I assure you that we all care about him too. But you’re a soldier, Mirage. Always have and always will, as is Noah. Do you think he would be happy if you kept him from fighting his own battles? You know him better than I do, young one. You’ve been conjunxes for twelve orbital cycles. Do you think he’d appreciate it if you go into hiding while a war rages on?” By some miracle, Mirage actually listens to him. Optimus could almost hear the smaller bot’s fans whirring from thinking too hard. He makes a fist then taps it on Mirage’s chest as gently as he could. “Make Noah proud, Mirage. Go back with us to Cybertron and help us end the war once and for all.”
“I—” Mirage starts after thinking for long. “You’re right, Prime. He would be disappointed in me and I can’t have that, can I? He’ll get pissed at me for trying to dip and man, I don’t want to recharge on Breanna’s couch! It’s so soft like it’s swallowing me whole!” Mirage shrugs his shoulders and Optimus almost smiles when his usual upbeat energy returns. This is the Mirage they knew. This is the norm. He’s still a dumbaft, it’s not the end of the world yet.
“I want you to promise me something, Mirage.”
“Dang, you still want me to do more?”
“When we go back to Cybertron and rejoin the fight, think of Noah...and all the humans you have come to love on this planet.” Optimus goes back upright to his pedes. This time, his optics land on Arcee and Wheeljack too. “Because if I have learned something during my time here, it’s that this ‘love’ is a force that shouldn’t be underestimated. Let it be the strongest weapon in your arsenal, let it be your motivation to continue fighting. Mirage, promise me that you’ll do your best, that you’ll fight to the best of your abilities. Only then can we save Cybertron together and in turn, keep Earth safe.”
There was a dumb smile on Mirage’s face by the time Optimus finished. If not for his optics sparkling with unshed coolant, he would think that Mirage wasn’t taking it all in, word for word.
“Boss, what kind of scrapping cheesy telenovela were you watching?” An ugly snort follows. “Or are you watching anime? Because your speech was so power of friendship coded.” Mirage turns his back to them, and when he thought no one could see it, he quickly brushed the tears away with a digit.
Optimus huffs indignantly.
“But seriously,” Mirage looks up at his leader, optics full of gratitude. “I promise I won’t let you all down. If the survival of Earth and Cybertron depends on my badass battle skills plus my passionate, undying love for my shawty, then rest assured, I’ll go in fighting until my spark gets snuffed out. Or I hope not, I still want to come back home to Noah.”
“Eh, you won’t be fighting alone, you know.” Arcee reminds him, Mirage smiles back. It’s the closest thing they can do as an apology.
Mirage turns back to Prime. “When are we leaving?”
“In two megacycles.” Optimus rumbles, Mirage had to stop himself from asking for more. He has only two weeks left to be with Noah.. “Take care of your unfinished businesses. Spend some time with Noah, Mirage... and as for you Arcee, Wheeljack...you may do whatever you want but keep monitoring Decepticon activities, inform Stratosphere and the Maximals of our impending departure, do I make myself clear?”
“What will you do, Optimus?”
“I would have to meet with the Joes. They may be able to lend us a ship that could carry us out of Earth.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it easier for you, Prime. Boyfriend privileges, remember?” The Autobot leader shoots him a disapproving look. “Come on, don’t look at me like that. He loves me! Noah might be able to pull something for us in the name of love...or keeping the world safe.”
“Mirage, you’re dismissed.” Optimus finally takes pity on him. “But I suggest you make up with Bee before you go home.”
Hours later, Mirage is cruising under the twilight sky on his way home. The spark-to-spark talk with Bee was awkward at first, since he never had any of those ‘making up’ conversations with anyone before except Noah. It’s not like he could give Bee an apology kiss or something so they sat with each other in their root mode, the only thing breaking the silence was Mirage struggling for words.
So he challenged Bee to a race, or two...or maybe twenty, to burn off the tension. He let the yellow Autobot hit him as much as he liked and by the fifth round, it’s as if they never had a small falling out at all. Whoops and happy screams filled the empty track until Mirage’s intakes almost got worn out from too much laughing.
“Bee, listen, I—” the excess energy in his fuel lines prompted him to go on. “I’m sorry about today, I shouldn’t have said those things to you, I was being a slagging glitch. You know, I imagined if it was me and I...I wouldn’t have been as brave as you.”
Bee turned his helm at him, with that familiar whirring noise. “Sorry too.” Two different voices pieced together. “Mirage and Noah together more than Bumblebee and Charlie. Understandable.”
“You can still see her, Bee.” Mirage sat upright from the ground they were laying on. “How about this, after the war, I will help you find her again?”
Bee sat straight at that before his radio let out a thunderous round of applause. “I LIKE THAT!”
Mirage grinned back, dentas exposed and all. “So let’s stay alive together until the end, okay?”
His spark warmed even further as he finally rolls up into the Diaz’s driveway. The garage door slides up upon his arrival and Mirage didn’t waste time transforming into the exosuit-sized version of his root mode. (Fuel-efficient and the perfect size for interfacing! Plus, how else would he walk around the house?).
Something pleasant hit his olfactories on the way upstairs. Breanna’s in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot. Mirage wished that the aroma had the same effect on him as humans do. He made sure to compliment her anyway.
“Smells good, Bree.”
“Oh, you know you can always have some, Mirage!” She takes a sip from a separate spoon to taste it. “Turn into Miles or something, I miss Miles.” He couldn’t blame her, his holoform is still a very charming lad after all these years.
Mirage ponders on the invitation. He needed to sit down and talk with them anyway. “Know, what? Miles will join you guys for dinner. Please bring out an extra bowl for me?”
“Yeah, whatever, lover boy. Noah’s in your room!”
He didn’t need to be told twice, Mirage bounds up the stairs in a hurry, desperate to pull Noah close and kiss him, and just feel his soft flesh all over.
Forgetting to knock due to his haste, Mirage barges inside their bedroom with his optics frantically searching for his conjunx. It zeroes in on the man lounging on the bed, watching an F1 race on the flatscreen.
“Mirage! What did I tell you about—hey!” Mirage dived straight into the bed. Several springs might’ve snapped and the side of the bed Mirage’s legs was on was practically pressed to the floor. As careful as he could, he wraps his arms around Noah’s waist before shoving his faceplate on the man’s stomach. “Mi amor, what’s wrong? What happened? Have you made up with Bee? ” Noah’s tone was gentle, so are the hands stroking the back of his helm.
Mirage couldn’t take it. Twelve years of being bonded and his love for Noah is just getting stronger and stronger by the breem. Now he had to leave it all behind to go to war, not knowing when he would return...not knowing if he would return. Why did nobody warn him that love was gonna hurt this much?
When Noah called his name again in that sweet, achingly tender voice, Mirage sits up, servos cupping his conjunx’s beautiful, star-studded face.
It was a testament of how strong their bond is when Noah wordlessly crashed their lips together in a slow but deep, searing kiss. Somehow, he just knew that this is what Mirage needed right now. His touch, his taste...
The size of the bot’s mouth, even in this mode, always made him feel like he’s going to be devoured. Noah wouldn’t have it any other way. If only there was a way for him and Mirage to completely merge together, man and machine, soul and spark as one creature.
“Mirage...” Noah had to pull away to breathe, a string of his own saliva and Mirage’s fluid mixed together stretched between them. “Talk to me, mi corazon.”
Mirage can’t take a breath, or swallow nerves to stall for time. But he can plaster a bittersweet smile on his dermas and look Noah in his eyes for as long as he could before he drops the news. “Noah, we have to go back.”
“Go back? Back where, who?” And Noah may pretend he didn’t know, but he had been thinking about this ever since he had laid down his heart in Mirage’s servos. It was one of those nagging thoughts that kept him up at night. Will a relationship between an alien and human work? How do they become intimate with their size difference? How would Noah introduce Mirage as a significant other to his loved ones? What would happen to their bond when Noah dies of old age?
What if one day Mirage had to leave and rejoin the war?
“Back to Cybertron.” Mirage confirms, Noah isn’t less shocked. “Listen babe, Decepticons have been sighted all over the world. They’re not seeking conflict yet but that doesn’t mean they’re not gonna go hostile. We’ll have to kill off those buggers in a week before we leave. Doing so would alert the rest of them. We can’t let Megatron himself reach Earth, Noah..we can’t.”
Noah’s face is miserable but he nods in understanding. He bows, and Mirage meets his forehead with his forehelm halfway. Mirage doesn’t need oxygen to live, yet he’s drinking in Noah’s every breath like a famished mortal.
“That means we only have about two weeks together.” Noah mutters on Mirage’s malleable dermas.
“Nope, hun. We still have an eternity together.”
That sent Noah into fits of giggles. Mirage stored it well in his audials and then passed it to his memory core, joining the thousands that came before. “Okay, drama queen. No more staying up late with Mami to watch TV.”
“No! Anything but that! We haven’t even started Gossip Girl yet!” Mirage cries out, aghast. Noah’s laugh picks up in volume and not for long, there are two voices making a racket. One a natural—a human’s, and the other, mechanical and reverberating. But despite the difference in sound, the feelings they share in that moment is very much real. When the laughter subsides, Mirage casts his optics down again. It dims slightly, as if something dark loomed over his helm. “You...you’re not asking me to stay?”
“I know you, ‘Raj. I know you want to stay and protect us.” Noah takes the bot’s servos in his own, his fingers sliding between Mirage’s digits. “But there’s a bigger part of you that wanted to end the war, right? We’re both soldiers, Bebé. I hate that you have to go, but I ain’t gonna tell you to run away.”
“Wow.” Mirage mouths in amusement, his optical ridges jumping up. “Optimus said the exact same thing but somehow you make it sexy and romantic.”
Noah huffs out a laugh, his eyes rolling fondly at his partner. Mirage and his fluctuating moods. He’s gonna miss it so much. He’s gonna miss him so much.“Well, you’re in love with me, dude, not with the Big Man.”
“Eugh, don’t make me imagine it. He’s like my grandpops.”
“He’s not that older than you. You just act like a five year old.”
The rumbling of a new engine cuts their banter short. Both Mirage and Noah scramble to the window just in time to see a Honda Accord gliding along the driveway and into the garage.
“Ooh, Tails is home.”
Noah is overjoyed to see his baby brother come home for the weekend, but Mirage’s face contorts into disgust at the prospect of renting out his crib to whatever four-wheeled aft Kris is driving.
It doesn’t help that Noah and Kris usually spend some time together tuning that scrap up. Love to see the brothers bond and all, but they should’ve been fussing over his titillatingly sexier, more sophisticated self instead, not some hideous mobile tin can.
Downstairs, Breanna calls them down for dinner.
“Need to talk to Bree and Kris about me leaving, by the way.” Noah turns back from the window to see Miles’s solid form on the bed. He swoops down to give the holoform a kiss, which quickly escalated into a heated makeout session when a whiff of Mirage’s more organic smell made him instantly go rabid on the spot.
The arrival of Kris and Breanna’s Pollo Guisado were momentarily forgotten as they both succumb to pleasure.
They weren’t sure how long it went—the obscene noises of tongues swapping and lips meeting, the lewd groans coming from both men, Noah desperately grinding between Mirage’s parted legs.—but apparently, they did go at it long enough for Kris to force his way through their bedroom door.
“Hey! Mom said—” Now Kris had walked in on them canoodling several times before, but seeing his dearest big brother basically tongue fuck the mouth of his robot boyfriend through the pillow is where he draws the line. “Shit. I’m gonna throw the fuck up!” He bolts to the en suite bathroom.
“K-KRIS!” All the colors in Noah’s face drains at the sight of his brother fake-retching in the bathroom. “Language, little man!”
There was the sound of water running before Kris makes his re-appearance. “I’m twenty four, Noah. I can cuss.”
“Don’t worry about it, kiddo.” Mirage says breathlessly, lips swollen. He lazily lifts up a hand to greet Kris. Noah openly swoons at his boyfriend looking totally blissed out from his kisses. Then Mirage had to drop the next line, “That’s a whole lot tame compared to what your brother says when he’s feeling kinky.”
“MIRAGE!”
“CHRIST! I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT!”
The Diaz brothers yelled at the same time. The commotion attracted their mother’s attention and she hollers from downstairs, “Kris! Noah! Mirage! Dinner’s getting cold, the hell are you three still doing up there?!”
Kris casts the two one last glare before running back down.. “Noah and Mirage don’t need no food, Ma, they’re already eating each other’s faces!”