escape (with no pina colada)

[Deleted]

Honestly, he wasn’t fixing up Ultra Magnus’s to try and suck up, or make himself look good. It certainly wasn’t an apology, mostly because he didn’t do apologies (though apparently Ratchet was exempt from the rule, though it still stung his pride) and also because he wasn’t at all sorry if he had offended the commander. It was more of a… reluctant peace offering, even though Wheeljack was still furious that Ultra Magnus hadn’t done the universe a favor and gotten himself stranded on some far off planet so he wouldn’t utterly inconvenience anyone else. A peace offering that was no guarantee of peace, really, because the Wrecker couldn’t even promise he wouldn’t go at it again with Ultra Magnus.

He ultimately wasn’t even sure what he meant by it, really, but he liked the work that fixing the ship’s engines up provided. Keeping his hands busy helped him to think and mull things over, and maybe it would help keep the commander off his tailpipe. He did feel guilty at leaving Ratchet without much explanation, though, and resolved to drop him a message later.

Eventually, after time had passed and Wheeljack had gotten himself thoroughly dirty, he clued in that he was being watched. The Wrecker turned to find Ratchet himself standing and watching him. How long the medic had been there he had no clue, but Wheeljack figured it probably looked pretty incriminating for him to be tinkering around with The Iron Will after the explosive confrontation they’d had earlier.

“I recalibrated his engines. Should see a ten percent boost in vector thrust,” Wheeljack said by way of explanation. “I ain’t sabotaging anything, I promise. Ain’t that stupid.” Well. Arguably he was, if he’d picked the fight in the first place, but he didn’t want to think about that. “... Didn’ mean t’run out on you like that, but… Yeah..”

[Ratchet]

Ratchet kept his watch on Wheeljack, not for a nanosecond believing that he was maliciously trying to damage Ultra Magnus' ship. There had to be some reasoning that he wasn't aware of, and in that thought process of his, he hadn't noticed right away that Wheeljack had noticed him watching. The medic only took notice when the Wrecker spoke up.

Indeed it seemed that he hadn't been wrecking the ship at all, but rather fixing it up. At first it hadn't made any sense, but then he thought that perhaps it was a way of trying to make peace over their little spat earlier on in the day without the exchange of words. Would Magnus even notice the difference in the performance of his ship?

"So that's what you were doing.. optimizing the engineering. You don't know how glad I am to hear that you were fixing it and not damaging it. I don't think I would have been able to forgive you had that been the case."

He frowned a little, glancing aside, at the mention of Wheeljack suddenly running out on their private Earth movie time. "I.. I know. You needed the time to calm yourself back down. I'm not upset with you for that. I'm sure after that whole argument, you probably weren't in the mood to talk to me either.. what with me stepping in to try to break it up before things escalated to a point of someone getting hurt. I worry about these things."

[Deleted]

Now that he was forced to think about it, Wheeljack wasn’t quite sure if what he was doing was a peace offering for Magnus, or proof to Ratchet that he was capable of trying to play nice. It was a bit weird and more than a little overwhelming, considering that he’d never wanted to prove anything to anyone like this before. Either way, The Iron Will’s vector thrust had been improved, and her internal hardware had had some long overdue maintenance from someone who was likely overqualified to do it.

His fuel tanks felt as if he’d dropped a thousand feet at Ratchet’s words, and at knowing that if he had indeed sabotaged the Commander’s ship, the medic would not have forgiven him. “I ain’t that stupid,” he repeated… but he’d been in a hell of a mood, and it would have been easy to wreck the ship’s engine and then hightail it out of the system before anyone even knew. It did not make him happy to know that once he might have actually considered it, but Wheeljack knew that he didn’t want to be that bot.

The Wrecker could not contain his look of open surprise at Ratchet’s willingness to accept what others would have deemed an unacceptable outburst. THe other bot’s analysis was also spot-on. When had he become so good at reading him like a datapad? “I was kinda mad,” Wheeljack admitted awkwardly, “But I also knew y’didn’t mean… well. You were doin’ what y’thought would fix it. Can’t blame y’for it, now, can I?” Whether or not it could have come to blows, he did not know, but perhaps it had been a good thing that Ratchet had stepped in and helped put an end to it. He rubbed at the back of his neck, before realizing too late how bad of an idea that was; he pulled his grimy hand away with a grimace. “... Are you up for finishin’ that show, if y’still wanna be ‘round me?”

[Ratchet]

Ratchet couldn't have been more relieved to know that Wheeljack hadn't been so stupid after all. While he swore that he wouldn't have forgiven him if that had truly been the case, he honestly wasn't sure if he could force himself to do it at the same time. He loved Wheeljack, and he didn't know if he could let him go so easily. With downcast optics, he looked away from the Wrecker at the mere thought alone.

Not only did he have to contend with the notion that he didn't know if he could truly let him go or not, he'd also had the idea of Wheeljack being mad at the medic for attempting to break up the argument. As Wheeljack spoke, telling him that he couldn't blame him for his actions, Ratchet looked back up and directly into his optics. "I'm glad to hear that as well. I just wanted to keep you safe. I know you can take care of yourself, and I know you don't need me to 'babysit you', but.." The elder mech sighed. "I'm just happy to know you aren't angry with me."

Ratchet watched as the Wrecker rubbed the back of his neck, only to put his servo back down. Had he really thought that the medic didn't want to be around him? Ratchet merely chuckled lightly, stepping forward and taking Wheeljack's grimy hand into his own. There was a small cringe on the medics face, but it lasted for the briefest of moments. "Wheeljack, didn't we go over this when we were texting each other? I love you. Of course I want to finish the show with you. Now how about we get you cleaned up and then we can watch some more of the show on the Jackhammer?"

Smiling brightly, still holding Wheeljack's dirty hand, he led him back towards his ship.