fooled around (text)

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

Oh, please.  As if I'm about to let that happen.  We're not younglings, you know.

    To:  Wheeljack

You do raise a fair point, Wheeljack.  As much as I would love to sit here and talk with you into the night's entirety, we both will need to recharge soon.

After all, you have a ship in need of repairs.

    To:  Wheeljack

I'm going to hold you to that, Wheeljack.  Recharge well and stay safe.

I love you.

Flushing hard as he sent his final message, Ratchet set the datapad aside before climbing onto his berth.  He stared up at the ceiling of the base for some time before recharge finally took him, wondering just what it was that he had gotten himself into.

He slept fairly well despite the limited amount of recharge he had received due to waiting up for Wheeljack to ensure he was alright.  Primus had that mech worried him sick!  He spent the morning working in the medical bay with Pharma, dealing with the shenanigans of the others around the base before getting flustered enough to go duck and hide out in his chambers for awhile to just relax.

Ratchet initially hadn't wanted to disturb Wheeljack, especially if he was in the middle of repairing the Jackhammer, or in the middle of flying somewhere if he had finished the repairs early enough in the day.  Maybe he could just leave a quick message in the event that he couldn't respond right away.


    To:  Wheeljack

This date night of ours can't get here soon enough.  I swear, if one more of my tools is broken by someone..

I'm sorry if I messaged you at a bad time.  Just get back to me whenever you're free to.

[Deleted]

His breath caught as he read those three words -- those three simple, tiny little words, which had for so long been little more than white noise to him, and then a noise that was cause for alarm bells and commitment issues to rear their ugly heads, but now... well, now they were incredibly important words. With a fond smile, he texted back. 

   To: Ratchet   

love you too, sunshine

Satisfied that Ratchet would at least get some recharging done tonight, Wheeljack spent one last moment just re-reading those three words, before powering down the datapad. He conked out shortly after, a gentle smile on his face.

---

The Wrecker spent the entire following day elbow-and-shoulder deep in the innards of The Jackhammer doing repairs and maintenance with a ridiculous bubbly feeling in spark chamber. Not twitterpated lovestruck younglings his skidplate, but he could hardly try to argue he wasn't a little bit love-addled when kept his datapad incredibly close by, waiting patiently for Ratchet to text. 

When he did, Wheeljack all but jumped on the datapad to read it. 

 To: Ratchet

well i stand by what i said before: you shouldnt leave tools like that lyin round when sparklings that age are gettin into trouble

   To: Ratchet

not a bad time, just doin some minor fixes. i can take a look at those broken tools too if u want, next time i see you

[Ratchet]

Ratchet smiled softly as he saw the final message from Wheeljack, his optics transfixed on those simple words.  Each time he read them, it only made it sink in that much further that Wheeljack loved him, and that was something that made him feel exultant.

He looked at that message once more as he prepared himself for the next morning, and once more when he ducked back into his quarters after losing his cool once another one of his tools he had needed had been broken.  Didn't they know that he needed that?

    To:  @wheeljack

By 'Sparkling' do you by chance mean Bulkhead?

Perhaps it isn't fair of me to speak of him like that to you.  He is your friend after all, and.. I'm sorry.

    To:  Wheeljack

Wheeljack, you don't have to do that for me.  I can handle it, unless of course you really want to fix it for me.  It was my welding torch.  While I have one built into my arm, sometimes I find it easier to use one that isn't.

Besides.. the one that I had built in is far more important to me than that one is.

[Deleted]

 To: Ratchet

nah, bulk's always been a clumsy dipstick and id be mad too if he smooshed some important tools. he doesnt mean to break things tho and he does feel awful when he does 

   To: Ratchet

nah i wanna fix it for you. if anything i can make it a bit more sturdy and bulkhead-proof. 

and yeah, that one built in is probably much more important considering it's, yknow, built in. dont break that one. i know what you mean when you say you like usin tools with your own hands instead of tools that are your hands tho

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

I know that he doesn't mean to.  I know.  It's just that.. it's exactly as you say.  I lose a lot of my tools that way, and it's not just Bulkhead that does it.

    To:  Wheeljack

You can do that?  I appreciate that.  I'm going to have to do something for you in return.

It's not just the fact that it's the one I have built in, but that that welding torch is special to me.  That's the one Pharma gave to me after I graduated from Delphi.  It was standard issue to all graduating medics, but I'd rather not lose it.  That's why I had it built in to begin with.

    To:  Wheeljack

Do you have anything like that?  Something so special to you that you couldn't bare to lose it in any way?

[Deleted]

 To: Ratchet

if its such a serious problem it sounds like ur stuff aint in the safest place to begin with. can u move it to a spare bay? maybe clear out one of those storage ones? or is medbay immovable?

   To: Ratchet

well thats even more reason not to break it. dont worry, sunshine, ill fix ur not-attached-to-you one. im sure ill think of somehting you can do in return. maybe save my life again? ;D

   To: Ratchet

i dunno if i have anything like that. i got my cannons, but those got put in when the war started. couldnt bear to lose you tho but that aint quite what you’re looking for is it?

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

We can't move it for a few reasons, but I appreciate the thought.  Truly I do.

    To:  Wheeljack

Wheeljack, I've already saved your life twice now.  I would hope that I would never have to do it again.  Not to spite you, but now?  I don't know if I could handle you almost dying again.

    To:  Wheeljack

No.  A part of me actually hoped that that was what you would say.  I can't lose you, either.  I just can't.  You're becoming a big part of my life now, and the closer we get, the more it will hurt for me if I lose you.

Although, I suppose this means that you would save my life if you can't afford to lose me either?

[Deleted]

 To: Ratchet

well ill try not to almost die again, sunshine, for your sake. I mean those two times were definitely flukes? I usually dont almost die on a regular basis, i promise.

   To: Ratchet

Im scared of losing you too. Part of me even wants to bolt for the stars rn, and cut this off, cause if i lost u or if u lost me it would hurt so bad. less complicated if we arent attached, yknow?

   To: Ratchet

But i wont. I cant. dont wanna leave you now. So uh. Lets make a promise to each other not to die on each other, yeah?

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

Wheeljack, don't.  That isn't fair, and don't you dare give me that life isn't fair spiel.  Doing something like that, as much as you feel it may be simpler, will only hurt more in the end.

    To:  Wheeljack

Good.  I don't want you to leave.

I'm not certain I can promise not to die on you.. because I know that one day our times will come, but I'll do everything I can to keep the both of us alive so that we can have all the time in the world together.

    To:  Wheeljack

Wheeljack?

I want to thank you for helping me calm down.  I needed that.

[Deleted]

 To: Ratchet

im not going to, dont worry, wouldnt do that to you

   To: Ratchet

i mean, not gonna lie, id rather go out in a blaze of glory than flicker out, but i also very much like not dying so i dont have any plans of that, i promise.


yknow, i like the idea of having all the time in the world to ourselves

   To: Ratchet

im glad i helped, sunshine <3 anytime you need to talk im here, ok?

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

Just as I have no plans to make any sudden trips to the Well of Allsparks.  Not.. without you, anyway.

One day we will.  As soon as this war is over.  If that's something you want, of course.

    To:  Wheeljack

I thank you for that, and I'm going to leave that option open for you, as well.  I can't promise that I'll be able to respond to you right away, but I will the moment an opportunity presents itself to me.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I won't be looking for an excuse to check messages.

    To:  Wheeljack

The more I think about it, the more I realize how much I love you.

I'm not distracting you from your repair work, am I?

[Deleted]

 To: Ratchet

im the world's best excuse to check messages, let's face it ;D

And there was the 'L' word again, that set his spark fluttering in his spark casing as if he were some twitterpated youngling. Still, he smiled a bit goofily down at the message, before typing back:

   To: Ratchet

love you too, sunshine. dunno if i ever felt like this for anyone else but you tbh

im glad it's you

Wheeljack looked down at his datapad then -- streaked with grease and coolant, which had come from his engine-filthy hands -- and let out a bit of a sheepish noise. Perhaps it was lucky Ratchet wasn't there in person, for he would have probably scolded him for it.

   To: Ratchet

i mean, my hands are kinda, uh, dirty, but i was mostly doin tune ups. got the engines fixed earlier, and that's the big thing, anyways. nothin a quick wipedown wont fix

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

To be honest, I'm glad that it's you, too.  I never imagined what my ideal love life would be like, especially with this war going on, but maybe that will change now that you've come into my life.

I'm not sure I could go back to the way things were if I wanted to.

Ratchet couldn't help but smile at those words, entranced by those small, simple words.  He didn't think he'd ever get enough of it, both seeing it on the datapad and hearing it come from Wheeljack's own mouth.


    To:  Wheeljack

I suppose that's a good thing.  It means that you won't be stuck in Australia for too much longer, unless you plan on making a vacation out of this.  You certainly get around, don't you?

Lucky for the Wrecker, the medic couldn't see his disgustingly dirtied datapad and wouldn't have to until the next time they decided to have a movie night together.  It was one of the few things that had grown on Ratchet since their relationship began to bud.  The more he thought on it, however, the more he realized that Wheeljack really had gotten around on that ship of his.  He didn't always stay at that base, which meant that he was free to go wherever he wanted, whenever he felt like it.


    To:  Wheeljack

If you don't mind my asking, what is it like being able to travel anywhere you want?

[Deleted]

 To: Ratchet

honestly i never imaged a love life at all. had a few hookups, some crazy nights, yadda yadda, but… nothing serious. nothin like you

   To: Ratchet

you could say i’ve gotten around ;D

   To: Ratchet

nah, seriously though, i’ll probably be droppin by in a day or two. The engines are all fixed and im just doing tuneups now, i dont plan on stayin round here. there are weird hopping organic things with little hopping organic things in pouches. Kinda weird here

   To: Ratchet

what’s it like? Well its nice to just put metal to the pedal and just. Go. no orders, no commanding officers, and the only rules you got are the ones you have for yourself. I’ve seen some pretty neat stuff on this mudball, not gonna deny it

[Ratchet]

    To:  @wheeljack

I can't say that this is the first time I've even had feelings for someone, but I can say with 100% certainty that you are the first one to have ever reciprocated those feelings.

We'll figure this out together.  I know we can.

    To:  Wheeljack

I eagerly await your arrival, Wheeljack.  I can't wait to see you.

Hopping organic creatures with pouches?  Are you certain that you're still on this planet, Wheeljack?  I've never heard of such a being before.

    To:  Wheeljack

So that's what it's like.

I never could imagine what it's like.  I'm used to being stuck at all times, though I've wondered.  It sounds wonderful.