A Fire in the Night

Sam bounced into the washracks, systems revving like crazy. "Did you see that? I got him! Shot him right in the afterburner!"

Ironhide and Bumblebee followed him in, the weapons officer stomping over and ducking under a spigot without a word. "Yes, Starscream's not feeling very happy at the moment," Bumblebee said, clapping Sam on the shoulder. "It was an excellent shot, don't you think, Ironhide?"

Ironhide grunted and turned towards the wall, ignoring them both. A little of the glee seeped out of Sam; it was all very well and good for the others to congratulate him, but it had been Ironhide who had trained the newly-formed bot in combat manuevers. He trudged over to a spigot and started the water.

Bumblebee gave the black bot an exasperated look and shrugged. "I'm turning in. Barring another attack, we're all on leave for 24 hours. Sam, you're welcome to the extra bunk in my quarters if you want."

Sam cringed. Bad enough he'd disappointed Ironhide; being reminded of his inability to recharge on his own just added that extra dash of humiliation.

"Boy'll bunk with me tonight," Ironhide snapped from his corner. "Glitches are common after a first battle. If he comes out of recharge swinging, you're not big enough to hold him down."

Another shrug, a quick pat on the back, and Bumblebee was out the door. Sam turned his attention to rinsing the dust out of his gears, then nearly jumped out of his armor as Ironhide shut off his shower and stepped towards him.

"Come straight to my quarters when you're done. If I have to chase you around the base before I get some recharge in, I'll stake you in the desert and paint a bulls-eye on your aft for the Seekers to shoot at."

Sam stared after the larger bot. What the hell was eating Ironhide? He was gruff and short-tempered at the best of times, but this was nuts. And now he got to spend the whole night with a cranky black mountain waiting to fall on him if he went psycho. Oh, joy. Still, better not to keep the mountain waiting. Ironhide was not known for his patience.

The door to Ironhide's quarters slid open to darkness. The light from the hall gave just enough illumination to outline the two berths, one on each wall, and the hulking form sitting on one of them. Ironhide's optics burned blue as the mech looked at him, and for a moment all Sam could do was stand there in the doorway like an idiot. He'd never seen Ironhide like this. There was an intensity, a power to the mech that was a hundred times more frightening than any display of cannons or barked threats.

"Get in here and shut the door." There was no real irritation in Ironhide's voice, just more of that intensity. "There's an inducer next to your bunk; plug into that if you need help recharging."

That hurt more than being ignored earlier. Every night since his abrupt change, one of the team had been there to plug into a dataport and help him settle into recharge. Ironhide had never balked at the task before, and Sam crawled onto the berth and curled into a ball facing the wall, feeling more miserable than he thought was possible. His spark churned in his chest, and before he could stop it a high wail escaped his vocalizer.

The next moment strong arms were snatching him up, holding him close to a broad chest. Ironhide's armor was warm, and Sam cuddled into that warmth. He felt safe here, and wanted, and then he was being pulled away from that safe place. Ironhide was saying something about spending the night in the medbay, and something inside Sam snapped.

"What is it? What the hell did I do today that was so wrong that you can't even stand being in the same room with me?" Sam reached up and hooked a hand into the neck opening of Ironhide's armor, trying to yank him down enough that he didn't feel like he was talking to a wall. A split second later he was flat on his back on a berth, wrists pinned, and Ironhide's blazing optics were inches from his own.

"If you stay in the same room with me, I'm going to overload you till your circuits fry." That broad body pressed down just enough that Sam could feel Ironhide's systems revving, sending vibrations shivering though him.

"Okay," Sam said, and Ironhide's head dipped and forced his chin up, mouth finding wires that Rachet must have gone over a hundred times. It hadn't felt like this. He was dimly aware that he was making really embarassing noises, and Ironhide shifted so that both of Sam's wrists were pinned over his head by one large hand. Which left the other free to start sliding along his body, finding little places where Sam's armor overlapped and delving inside to stroke and pinch and tease wires and circuits.

Sam shuddered and arched and moaned. That incredible mouth gave one last lick to his neck and then Ironhide was murmuring into his audio as the hand continued to wander. "Do you have any idea how you looked today? No hesitation at all- you just aimed and fired, smooth as if you'd been doing it all your life. I wanted to throw you down right there."

Sam opened his mouth to tell Ironhide to just do it next time, instead of acting like an asshole, but just then Ironhide's fingers slipped into the juncture between inner thigh and crotch, and something he brushed in there made a scream come out instead. Ironhide almost snarled, fingers stroking again and again, so good, and then he stopped and Sam seriously considered shooting him.

"Open up," Ironhide said, fingers tapping against a panel between his legs. For a second, Sam didn't know what he was talking about, and then some of Ratchet's very thorough anatomy lectures popped into his processer.

"Um, can't you just do what you were doing?"

Ironhide looked like he might start opening things on his own, and then something gleamed in his optics. "You know that wire I was just touching?"

"Yeah?"

"There are about a dozen of them in there, both sides. You open up, I can touch all of them at once."

Sam nearly fried his processer searching for the way to get that damn panel to open.

Even with the promise of that incredible sensation times a dozen, he stiffened when Ironhide's fingers dipped into his port. He'd already gone through the whole having-a-port-doesn't-make-you-a-girl argument with Ratchet, but it still felt kinda girly to be laying here with his legs spread getting fingered. Even if it did feel good, and now Ironhide was sliding a finger in and rubbing, and sparklers were going off in his head and body and Sam decided to have the sexual identity crisis later.

He was too far gone to freak out when Ironhide slipped fingers out and pressed a thick plug into him. As promised, what felt like every wire in his body sizzled with each thrust, making him beg and squirm. That delicious sensation from before felt like it was channeled directly to his spark now, and above him Ironhide groaned and thrust deeper, and Sam wailed and overloaded, body jerking helplessly. He was dimly aware that Ironhide had stopped moving, pressed tightly against Sam as shudders wracked his frame. For a moment, they were still, Sam sprawled across the berth with Ironhide propped above him, vents working to cool their systems.

Ironhide carefully disconnected them, picking Sam up and lying back on the berth, letting the smaller bot snuggle on top of him. "Okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sam mumbled back. Ironhide's fingers traced gently over his helm, and Sam felt the familiar fumbling of a jack being inserted into a dataport. He slipped into recharge with Ironhide's presence surrounding him.