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Provoke peered into the empty, dim-lit living room at the projector screen, playing the beginning credits for an audience of none.
“Where’s everyone else?”
“Hahaaaah. Yeah, about that-“ Highfire chuckled awkwardly. “Um, Grudge had a work emergency, Gridlock’s attending his night classes, Paragon and Cyclonus are kind of caught up by the Polyhex train delays… sooooo, it’s um, just you and me.”
There was a tense moment of silence as the bikeframe processed what that meant about quarterly movie night. And then she shrugged, let herself in, hauling the pack of iced engex in with her.
“Eh, sure. Means more drinks for you and me.” She said nonchalantly, unequipping her back tire and throwing herself onto the center of the couch, engex pack plunked down next to her. Highfire awkwardly joined her, sitting next to her and the crate, selecting a drink. This was going to be ridiculously awkward, and she wasn’t sure staying sober was going to help.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s… chill. Y’know. Just movies and chill.”
“You do know that’s a euphemism for sex, right?”
“Oh, okay, well, it’s not like that. Don’t be weird, Prov.” Highfire flushed as pink as the cube she was bouncing around in her hands. She immediately pivoted the conversation away to something less intimate. “And um, sorry the others couldn’t make it. This is probably going to be a quiet night without Paragon critiquing the uh, artistic flowspace or whatever. And Grudge calling all the actors senseless idiots.”
“Pff. Doesn’t have to be quiet.” Provoke laughed softly, taking a cube from the pack and cracking it open. Whatever did she mean by that, Highfire wondered. “What’s on tonight? It’s not another comedy, is it?”
“Nope, definitely couldn’t stomach another of those; it’s a horror. I think it’s a slasher flick, maybe?” That was about all Highfire remembered about the movie- it had pretty much been a blind pick which she’d skimmed the synopsis of off the streaming archive, and all but completely forgotten when Provoke’s leg kicked out from the couch to tap against hers.
“Maybe a slasher? Heh, this oughta be good.” Provoke noted, not remarking on how her leg was still resting on Highfire’s as she chugged down half her drink. Maybe that was just a Provoke thing. Admittedly, she didn’t get a lot of one-on-one time with the bikeframe, so she wasn’t all too sure how casually touchy she was. Well, Gridlock and Paragon were usually pretty lax about being all up in other folks’s personal spaces, so maybe Provoke was the same. Though the extent of her casual touch was usually just spent punching Grudge. She would just roll with it- it didn’t have to be weird, and she didn’t need to make it that way.
The opening credits rolled into the introduction shortly and so started the drinking. Admittedly, the movie wasn’t exactly the highest of art- it was one of those self-important, edgy Expansion-era flicks that were so hyperviolent that they rolled over to almost comedic. Only five minutes into the film, and the first of a long series of gory deaths had already occurred. Provoke snorted loudly at the screams echoing across the sound system, crumpling her first empty engex cube into nothingness and reaching for another.
“Hah! Classic. Not a bad pick, ‘Fire!” she nudged the jet in the shoulder, her grin barely illuminated in the dim of the film brightness. Highfire winced slightly, her spark pulsing in its casing, and not entirely because of the energon-splattered massacre happening on-screen. Provoke was just kind of really close. Closer than she usually was, leaning over the crate with her elbow rested against the lip, and her hand was still laying on Highfire’s arm as she tipped back in invested amusement. Highfire sipped her engex and pretended the warmth on her cheeks was just the first vestige of tipsiness. It was just a Provoke thing, surely. Nothing weird about it.
The movie dragged on in silence and gory splatters, the crate slowly emptying between screams, and the occasional quip from her company, and the slow descent into self-inflicted madness. Highfire kind of regretted downing as much engex as she had, because her ability to gauge the increasingly warming atmosphere was getting worse by the minute, even if she was no lightweight. Wasn’t this hangout all more charged than usual? It wasn’t usually like this when she spent time with Cyclonus alone. Then again, Cyclonus was already in a well-committed relationship, and she also wasn’t into Cyclonus at all. But Provoke…
She was hoping the engex would help keep the fight over her feelings to a minimum tonight. That clearly wasn’t the case at all. Maybe more would help. Highfire rummaged through the pack blindly, only to find it bereft of all energon. Probably for the better, frankly- her vision was already swimming, and she still wasn’t feeling any better about any of this than when she was sober.
“Is it empty?” Provoke questioned, glancing at the crate and confirming for herself. When she had, she pushed the crate from the couch to the floor as well, removing the barrier between their frames completely. Okay. Maybe not for the better. Highfire fiddled with her hands, unsure of where to place them and feeling rather exposed without the crate between them- and stupidly, she decided to push them out of the way by resting her arms on the couch backing, and over Provoke’s shoulders. It took her a moment to realize- but her company beat her to the chase.
Before she could pull her arm back and laugh it off, the bike shifted and her smaller, warm frame nestled itself at Highfire’s side, leaning against her chassis. That was definitely not just a Provoke thing. Was it? Highfire racked her processor for any other instance of Provoke being a cuddler, but came up blank. No, Provoke definitely wasn’t a cuddler- not even when inebriated past the point of conscious thought.
But was pretty perceptive, even when drunk, and had probably noticed that Highfire had frozen in place, because Highfire was suddenly very aware of the yellow optics turned from the screen to her.
“‘Fire, does your spark usually thrum this hard when you watch a horror? You’re practically bursting at the seams.”
“I- I dunno. Do you usually get all up and cuddly with bots when you watch a horror?” Highfire shot back, hoping the hotness in her face was not being reflected by the dim of the room at all. “You- you’re basically on top of me right now.”
Provoke shot her a slightly gamy look.
“Not like that!” Highfire spluttered. Curse the art of the innuendo and the way it played tricks on her tongue! “I mean you’re literally all up and in my-”
“Do you wish I were on top of you right now?”
“H-huh?” Highfire’s processor might’ve broken. Was she really that drunk, or did she hear Provoke correctly, or was Provoke really that drunk? “I’m- sorry, did I hear that correctly? Did you just… just…”
“Heh. Do I scare you, Highfire?” Provoke murmured, pulling herself onto her knees, rising so that her gaze could meet the jet’s. “We’re friends, you know; there’s nothing so frightening about me.”
“I- I- know that. I’m just- you just-” Highfire spluttered as the bike crept closer, her hands padding from the couch, to her lap, up to her chest, just about the time she started rabbling at a thousand words a minute. “Yeah, yeah- maybe you do scare me a little, okay? Because you’re really- really straightforward about all these kinda things, and you’ve never really looked my way, and you’re so cool about it and you’re really not helping right now, Provoke-”
“Not helping? I’m telling you exactly what I feel about you right now, ‘Fire.” Provoke hummed, her breath soft and warm against Highfire’s top-deck, crawling up so she could straddle her lap. “Don’t worry. I don’t bite. Not unless you ask me nicely.”
Highfire swallowed, watching Provoke’s gaze flicker over her lips in that painful pause of sheer tension. And in one fluid moment of sheer unthinking, she leaned in, Provoke’s smile tangible against her lips as they met in the middle, parting just enough for her tongue to slide against hers.
It didn’t take more than a moment for her hands to start roaming Highfire’s frame, sliding down the panels of her cockpit, while Highfire panicked internally- everything was happening so fast, and she didn’t have a clue what to do with herself, but she managed to pry her hands from their places where they were glued to the couch and move them to hold Provoke’s waist, feeling up the plating to the cables that wrapped from her front windshield her the back struts. This was happening, Highfire thought. Like a scene straight out of a movie. This was really happening.
Provoke purred into their kiss, her hands finally groping down at Highfire’s lower panels- the nosecone that covered her interface equipment. The jet blushed- opening up was not a subtle nor fluid process at all, but the bike’s hands seemed insistent, rubbing along her seams with her middle and ring digit in a less-than-subtle manner. Highfire panted through her vents, a plume of hot exhaust escaping through her sides, and scooted herself forward so that she could lean back, pulling Provoke’s frame over her as she did.
With that movement, their lips separated, and the bike pulled back to watch Highfire as her panels clicked loose, yawning open- her cockpit itself sliding up to make space for her spike to extend into the warm air. In the same motion, her nosecone detached entirely, no longer held on by her other plating, revealing the panels that slid back to expose her valve. Her partner seemed quite amused by such the elaborate transformation at least, her own panels sliding open much easier, pressurizing her own spike to rub against hers. Highfire let slip another shaky vent- all of this was so surreal. If not for the cool hand on her chassis, grounding her to this plane, she’d swear this was a dream, induced by too much alcohol and the woozy, dim atmosphere they were seated in. It was all she could do to hold Provoke by the hips, reaffirming her existence here in time and space as the femme pressed their spikes together and started to rub.
Highfire gasped softly, fans whirring in tandem with Provoke’s, the first tingles of charge fluttering through her system with the slow up-and-down of her partner’s hand, her spike thrumming gently against her own. For such the brazen, incendiary bot she was, her touch was so gentle, almost nurturing, caressing the slender dips and ridges of her length with careful digits, her fingers meeting at the top to squeeze the head of her spike tightly. Highfire was dully aware that she was already leaking pre-fluid as she pulled the bike in for another kiss, her hands tracing up to her helm and playing with her collar. She could taste the engex on Provoke’s tongue, her lips soft and insistent and not awkward at all. She might’ve been half of Highfire’s size, but in this moment, she felt like she towered over her in every sense of the form.
The hand pumping their spikes together was joined by the soft movement of Provoke’s hips, her spike thrusting softly against Highfire’s, letting the ridges on their spikes slide against each other, creating another, new stemming of charge. Highfire moaned softly against her partner’s lips, flustered at the pathetic little sound she’d made and at the optics gazing at her through her visor, hooded, coy, wanting. Wanting her.
“Provoke-”
“Mm? You want more?”
Before she could process and respond to the query, the femme’s hips shifted against her, rising so that her valve could rub up the length of Highfire’s spike, letting her feel the wetness that awaited her, eliciting a shiver that went down her spinal struts and leaving her mouth completely dry of words. It was all she could do to stare back into those golden optics, spike trembling in anticipation, and fervently nod yes.
Provoke dragged her hips down sharply, taking her in her entirety with a soft gasp, nothing in comparison to the whimper that dragged itself from the jet underneath her. She giggled breathily, wiggling her hips to let her calipers adjust to the thickness inside of her, relishing the bright-pink face that Highfire was currently trying to hide with her hands.
“Don’t hide.” she commanded, taking hold of Highfire’s bigger hands with each of her own and pressing them against her own wings, trapping her there. “I’ll give you a show if you want. One better than anything on screen right now- or ever.”
“N-not a high bar to set.” Highfire managed, trembling under Provoke’s touch in sheer terror and delight. It didn’t even register that she might’ve accidentally flirted back until Provoke gave her a sultry smile, her turn to flush pink.
“You’re damn right.” she purred, and with it she started to move. Highfire could feel her spike between her mesh, the tip hitting the upper top of her valve- and with it, all of the sensitive nodes contained within. Provoke’s fluttering moans mixed with her own, hips rolling sensually against her frame, letting the spike inside drag against her valve walls, drawing charge through the both of them, bubbling out in pants of hot steam and exhaust venting from their overcharged, overheated frames. She really was a sight- the act of riding almost a dance with the hypnotic way she swayed her hips on top, the curves of her face rolling like waves in response to the pleasure, illuminated in the blue light of the projector behind her and accented by the golden glow of her own optics, which peered right back into her own.
Did she know? Highfire thought between the bliss. Did she know how long I’d dreamed about her? Provoke’s optics were all over her, as her moans started to drawl, crescendoing with the sloppy tilting of her hips. There was something in that gaze that was completely different and completely new- almost tender, even raw, only made greater by the uninhibited state of her tipsiness. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had ever looked at her like that with such desire. Was it always like this for her?
Provoke broke her train of thought with an ecstatic mewl, her hands releasing from Highfire’s wrists to brace herself on her chest instead, the pleasure coming to an imminent climax. It wasn’t going to be possible to pull her in for a kiss from this angle, but Highfire’s hands pulled her against her frame anyway, one wrapped around the small of her back while the other found its way to Provoke’s spike, pumping it in tandem with the rise and fall of her frame, just in time to tip her into overload.
Highfire’s name danced on her lips as she came, high and clear between the mixing of their shared noises. And combined with the tight clenching of her calipers around her, it wasn’t long before Highfire followed into climax as well. A thick strand of transfluid shot itself from between her grasp on Provoke’s spike, painting her cockpit in her fluids while Highfire’s other hand held her tight, keeping her pressed down on her own spike as she released into her, charge crashing through their frames in sync.
–
The sounds of screams emanating from somewhere in the background dragged the jet back to reality. Provoke was laying on her chest, her head rested against the top of her top-deck at an angle, windshield pressed against her own snugly like two pieces of a puzzle. Her hand was still on Provoke’s back- the other still sandwiched between their frames.
Highfire looked up over her partner to catch a glimpse of the horror movie still running in the background, in the midst of background death number fifty-three, and finally dragged her hand from Provoke to the remote, switching it off. That was enough of that.
But by the way Provoke was gazing at her, optics half-shuttered with exhaustion and adoration, movie night had been a success anyway.