Firsts: Sunstreaker and Mirage

Title:  Firsts: Sunstreaker and Mirage
Author:  Mirage Shinkiro

Rating: T
Warnings:  mech/mech kissing, a.k.a. intimacy between androgynous and nonsexually reproducing but male-"pronoun'd" 'bots.

Disclaimer:  Transformers is the property of Hasbro, and although I wish I could make money off the TF franchise so I could be independently wealthy, I am not.  Alas, I remain poor and am just borrowing the lovely robots.

Summary:  G1.  Sideswipe supposed he should have seen it coming:  Sunstreaker thought he was the best and deserved the best, and Mirage was the best-a beautiful noblemech.  Unfortunately for Sideswipe, it wasn't all such a good thing.

A/N, explanation:  Pairing requested and secured by fic trade with BloodPaper.  Idea the result of a bunny stolen from tf_bunny_farm on LiveJournal.  Prompt by perianfrost.  Also inspired in part by Ariel-D's "A Bond So Special" and Asher119's "Bridges."

A/N, time:  Joor=roughly an hour.  Orn=roughly a day.

Firsts:  Sunstreaker and Mirage

Mirage tried to make sense out of what was occurring around him.  Sand and dust showered around him, obscuring his vision as he hit the ground, and a bright flash of pain lanced across his back.  Earth's sun seemed to shine too brilliantly, almost a yellow-white, but even still, it couldn't entirely cut through the dust cloud.  He heard a yell in the distance, realized it was his own, and then his only real awareness was the throbbing in his back and the hot sand against his cheek, chest, and legs as he lay face-first on the desert floor.

As the pain subsided, his systems suppressing the sensors, he began noticing the laser fire still zipping overhead.  Someone had shot him in the back while he was cloaked, and given the placement of the troops, that meant 'friendly' fire.  Well, perhaps not so friendly.  It was hard to say yet whether it was an accident since not everyone was completely assured that he was not a traitor thanks to his iffy attitude toward the war and Cliffjumper's recent ravings.  Still, he couldn't imagine who would have reason to hurt him on purpose.  Cliffjumper had realized that he wasn't a traitor and apologized, and thanks to the smallness of their group, Mirage had managed to overcome his admittedly anti-social tendencies and end up on speaking terms with everyone.  Granted, Sideswipe was a bit miffed with him, indirectly, but surely that wasn't enough to warrant shooting him.

Yes, just an accident.  Had to be.

The dust died down, giving him a better view of his surroundings, but he knew better than to try to move.  Even with the pain receptors offline, he could still feel energon seeping down his back. He had no idea how serious the wound might be and hoped someone had notified Ratchet or Hoist of his situation.  However, he was beginning to think he'd spend the rest of the fight inhaling sand before he saw yellow feet rushing his direction.  His lover, Sunstreaker.

"Fraggin' slagger," Sunstreaker muttered as he knelt by him.  "I'm sorry, Mirage.  I can't believe the glitch did that."  Yellow hands reached for him.

Mirage wanted to ask what Sunstreaker was talking about or tell him not to touch him or move him.  But he knew that Sunstreaker was simply trying to get him to both Ratchet and safety as quickly as possible.  "Uhn," he managed to groan, only to offline the instant Sunstreaker grasped him and jarred his injury.

oOoOo

Returning to the land of the functioning slowly, Mirage kept his optics offline and tried to determine how long he'd been unconscious.  His chronometer told him he'd been out for eight joors.  He expected to hear Ratchet yelling at some other poor injured 'bot, but instead he heard hushed voices arguing.

"-don't know what your problem is," the first voice, immediately identifiable as Sunstreaker, was saying.

"I said it was an accident," hissed the second voice.  Sideswipe.

"I don't believe you!"

"You don't seriously think I'd try to kill Mirage, do you?"

A pause.  "No, not kill."  A cold, flat tone.

"Sunny!"  It was growled.  "Look, I won't pretend I'm not jealous, but I'm not so low as to shoot Mirage on purpose."

"Jealous why?  Because I finally found someone I really like and you haven't?"

Another growl.  "No, you dumbaft.  Don't you even see what's going on right in front of your face?  You spend all your fraggin' time with him now.  Everything is 'Mirage this' or 'Mirage and I that.'  You never do anything with me anymore and haven't in a good hundred orns.  You've vanished.  We never hang out, never play video games, never even spar.  I'm the last one to even know anything about you now."

Mirage held back a frown.  They're fighting over me?  He'd detected some animosity from Sideswipe recently, but nothing that would suggest he'd literally shoot him in the back.  Given that he'd been cloaked at the time, surely it had been an accident, just as Sideswipe had claimed.  Right?

"Grow up."  Sunstreaker's voice was more of a snarl.  "What?  Are you going to fulfill the role of lover to me as well?  Don't you think I'm going to want to pursue a serious relationship at some point?"

Dead silence for a solid klik.  "I never said you shouldn't.  I just never expected you to be so selfish that you forgot you even have a brother.   You know, Mirage isn't the only 'bot in the fraggin' universe."

A thud of metal against metal told Mirage Sunstreaker had likely hit his brother, and Mirage onlined his optics and sat up instantly.  "Stop!"

The brothers stared at him, their hands locked and frozen on each other's arms as though grappling, apparently shocked to find him awake and moving.

"It's not worth fighting over," Mirage whispered, utterly horrified.  He hated fighting, period, and would have never joined the Autobots except for his love of Cybertron, which the 'Cons had destroyed.

"The hell it's not!" Sideswipe yelled.

Sunstreaker, his optics blazing with his anger, had yelled simultaneously.  "He shot you!  On purpose!"

Mirage gazed at both of them, his spark aching.  "I'm not here to take anyone's place."  He didn't cherish being shot, but he also had to admit that if Sideswipe had really meant to kill him, he'd be dead.  Clearly there was more here than was immediately obvious.  "You are brothers.  Twins.  That cannot be and should not be negated.  No one relationship should eclipse another:  not a lover over a family, not a sparkling over a bondmate, and not even a bondmate over a job.  Things must exist in a balance.  Don't you get it?  Imbalance is what led to this war.  Imbalance led to the destruction of our world."

The piercing burn in Sunstreaker's optics faded.  He released Sideswipe, pushing him away a step in the process.  "We'll finish this discussion later."

Sideswipe smirked.  "By all means, attend to your noble lover first."  He swept from the room, a crimson streak of rage.

Sunstreaker stared after him, then heaved a high sigh out his intakes.  "Slagger."

"Don't be that way."  Mirage wasn't entirely sure anything could fully separate the twins, but if anything could, it would not be him.  More than that, he was no fool:  whatever came between the twins was likely to be crushed by them in collateral damage.  "Promise me you won't fight with him again.  He is your brother, after all, and I never meant to take up all your time."

Sunstreaker crossed the room and sat on the end of his berth.  "Hey, don't get so upset about that.  If I were you, I'd be more slagged off that he shot me in the back."  He frowned.  "Doesn't that bother you?"

Mirage preferred not to consider all the implications.  "I was cloaked.  It had to be an accident."

Sunstreaker didn't look convinced.

"Promise me."  Mirage took one of Sunstreaker's hands and squeezed it.  "No matter how inevitable you may consider our relationship, your brother was taken off guard and is hurting now."

Sunstreaker smirked.  "Hey, I deserve nothing but the best."  He gestured to the noble crest on Mirage's chest.  "And you're the best."  He grinned then, clearly teasing.

Well, sort of.  Mirage snorted.  "Yes, yes, my dearest beauty queen.  Now promise me."

Sunstreaker gave him a playful shove on the shoulder for his pet name, then shook his head.  "Fine.  I promise I'll talk to the slagger."

"Thank you."  It was not a topic Mirage would let slide.  Not for Sunstreaker, not for Sideswipe, and certainly not for himself, considering what had happened.

Sunstreaker grasped his chin, still grinning.  "You're almost as impossible as I am, sometimes."  He leaned forward, pausing momentarily, and Mirage realized he meant to kiss him.  Mirage found the human custom rather odd, but he didn't pull away.  Sunstreaker continued forward, apparently realizing he had his lover's permission, and pressed their lips together, then captured Mirage's lower lip, sucking on it gently for a moment before releasing it.

Mirage found he couldn't speak right away.  It was more than the unexpected pleasure of the human custom, though.  It was the reminder that Sunstreaker cared for him genuinely.  What was forming between them was no shallow fling.

"I'll go track him down," Sunstreaker said, standing.  "You just rest, okay?"

Mirage nodded mutely and watched his lover leave medbay.  It would be no simple thing to fix, this rift between the brothers.  It hadn't sprung up over night, and if it'd already reached the stage of violence for Sideswipe, it'd been ignored too long.

Still, Mirage hoped Sunstreaker could hold his temper long enough to begin the process.




Postscript:  So, I went for something totally different this time, including the rather open ending.  And why not?  (Although I must admit this could be a much longer story .)

Of course, kissing TFs are actually canon circa 1985, but it's still a valid consideration considering they're an alien species.