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It had all started after he met Inferno. The mech always instilled something in Red Alert. It was a strange mix of fear (which was normal), curiosity, and hunger (which was definitely not normal). Sometimes when he looked at those broad shoulders or listened to that gruff voice, Red Alert would lose himself a little in a fantasy.
Then one night it wasn’t a fantasy. It had started as a simple invite for energon. It morphed into an all night frag session that left both of their processors reeling from the intensity of it all. Primus it was like he could barely control himself! All he could think of was more, more! Just one more.
Part of him had expected Inferno to be gone when he awoke, and all of him had been delighted to wake up in Infernos arms instead.
What came after was a whirlwind of passion and romance—the likes of which had never happened to him before. It had lasted a total of four cycles.
Then he disappeared.
Well not just Inferno. In fact multiple bots had disappeared with nary a trace left behind. No one knew where they had gone, and many of the other Autobots were certain that no one would be coming back either.
Initially Red Alert had done the only logical course of action; he panicked. He’d panicked and fretted until he started to purge his tanks everytime he came online. He’d panicked until he started to over eat and started to gain extra plating around his abdomen.
He had panicked until he realized that it wasn’t his fault that he was gaining extra plating and having odd cravings at night.
Red Alert sat on his berth and wondered for the millionth time if he should tell someone. The others had surely noticed his swollen belly by now. Perhaps they were too polite to say anything?
For that he was kind of thankful. It was already hard enough being sparked with a missing mechs’ sparkling. He didn’t need any odd rumors spreading, but on the other hand he wanted to tell people. Get his anxiety off his chassis so he could recharge at night and move on with his life.
He had decided long ago that he was going to keep it. It was what Optimus would have wanted and encouraged. They were far away from home and in the middle of a war, but a sparklings life should not be taken lightly. It would be difficult, but Red Alert was willing to try.
As he stroked his swollen belly he couldn’t help but let his processor wander. Would it look like Inferno? He smiled at the thought. Inferno was always so intense. Surely his genes would be more potent than Red Alert’s.
A sudden knock on his berthroom door made his yelp.
A familiar voice filtered through the think metal, “Red Alert? You awake?”
“I-I am now Mirage. Primus’ sake,” he whined and clutched his racing spark. “W-What is it?”
Mirage sounded eager as he said, “I have great news! They're back. Everyones back!”
At first Red Alert wasn’t sure what Mirage meant, and then it slowly sunk in. Back? If everyone was back then that meant—
“Inferno’s among them,” Mirage added and Red Alert moved so fast he almost gave himself vertigo.
He flew open the door and started incredulously at Mirages grinning face.
“You're…not lying?” No this was too good to be true. They had all come back?
Mirage gave him a kind look and nodded, “Yeah. They all just arrived in the main hanger.”
He didn’t know what he was going to do when he saw Inferno again, but that didn’t stop him from waddling to the hanger as quick as possible with Mirage at his heels.
Commotion greeted them as they entered the hanger. It seemed that everyone had been notified of the missing mechs arrival, and despite feeling selfconscious about being in a crowd, Red Alert brushed past the groups of mechs as he looked for Inferno.
From behind him, he heard his name and it made his spark throb.
There he was. It was really Inferno. He looked a little tired, maybe a bit hungry, but other than that he was perfectly intact and not offlined. It was better than Red Alert could have ever hoped!
Red turned as Inferno opened his arms. A hug sounded so great in that moment he had forgotten about his current—and very obvious—condition. It stopped Inferno dead in his tracks.
The look of shock on his face was to be expected, but it still filled Red Alert with waves of anxiety and nausea. Was he ashamed? Would he be angry? What if this wasn’t what Inferno wanted out of their relationship and decided to leave?
Inferno slowly lowered his arms and gently approached Red Alert with his optics still trained on his straining abdomen. He licked his lips, and he seemed to be having trouble finding his words.
“You,” he paused to reset his vocalizer, “are you?...”
Red Alert couldn’t look Inferno in the optic, but he nodded. The soft gasp he heard said it all. Inferno was mortified. He would leave any second now, calling him some terrible name and—
“Is it mine?”
The suddenness of the question caught him off guard and he nodded without thinking.
“I’m…..I’m a sire?”
That tone wasn’t one someone would use when disgusted, right? It sounded too….not unhappy? Red Alert cast his eyes back up to Infernos face. It had morphed from shock to something akin to awe?
“I’m a sire,” Inferno stated as if mostly for himself. Then he broke out into a grin and repeated, “I’m a sire!”
Red Alert yelped as he was suddenly wrapped into a fierce hug and given a sloppy kiss. The suddenly affection made him embarrassed, but the shock of not being rejected was even more surprising.
He broke their kiss just enough to get a word in edge-wise. “You, mpph, aren’t mad?” he said in between kisses.
Inferno pulled away to smile down at him and said, “Mad? Pit no! Surprised? Er, extremely, but no never angry!”
Inferno looked between them and gently placed a hand on Red Alerts bump, and Red suddenly felt shy. He stared as he tried to remember the details of Infernos face in this moment. The gleam in his optics, the barely contained excitement in his smile. It was like they were looking at each other for the first time in millennia.
Infernos smile proved to be contagious, and Red Alert gave a smile too.
“You're…okay with this?” he asked.
Inferno looked into his optics but kept his hand on Red’s belly and said, “Yes. I always wanted sparklings, and I know we just got together, so I know this’ll be weird, but I’m willing to try if you are?”
And Inferno kissed him again and Red felt even more shy, mostly because he was about to cry in front of all of these other mechs.