This was actually my first published writing for Transformers so it's exciting. And I can't thank crim-bat on tumblr enough for the prompt to get me started!

Transformers, Beast Wars, and related properties © Hasbro
story © RenaRoo

A Crude Suggestion

Skids knew that there was a huge gap in understanding between Cybertronian culture and Camien culture. They were deceptively similar, what with Caminus having once been a colony, but the millennia apart had caused Camiens to develop a much more socially extroverted culture than what he was used to.

And he tried to keep that in mind so that nights and situations like his and Nautica's current one wouldn't catch him so unawares. And yet…

"I can't believe you suggested a linkup, out loud, in Swerve's bar," he marveled as they crossed the halls of the Lost Light together aimlessly. "With Swerve serving us engex. He's never going to let me live this down."

"Uh huh," Nautica offered unhelpfully.

When Skids glanced over to her, he found that she was curled around her wrench with her visor down. She seemed to be obsessively checking over the enhancements Brainstorm had made to her favored tool, but Skids had gotten to know Nautica well enough to see the ploy it was. Her visor didn't do too much to obscure the slight hue spread across her faceplate, nor did Skids miss how she couldn't seem to turn her optics his way.

Nautica was embarrassed. And Skids felt an odd comfort at that discovery since it meant that it wasn't merely him feeling the full faceplate flush at that point.

"But it's… It's okay," Skids offered, looking away quickly. With his hand on Nautica's shoulder, he guided her from running into the wall as they turned the corner, and then from walking into some fellow crewmates walking the opposite direction. "Caminus has a lot of social differences from Cybertron. It probably doesn't have the same context for you. It was just… Well, it'll all be funny soon."

As the words left his vocalizer, Skids felt a prickling embarrassment grow in him again. Only rather than it being directly the fault of the interfacing suggestion, it was because Nautica stopped in the hall and began releasing a long, forced laughter at the suggestion.

Nautica began to curl more around her wrench, wavering unsteadily on her feet, and faceplate in full flush. Which led to Skids gently leaning her up against the wall and nervously looking around as other crew passed by with looks of confusion.

No one stopped, however, which was a small miracle of the general expectation for weirdness on their ship.

"Alright, you're beginning to worry me," Skids informed her as he looked directly at her.

"Sorry," Nautica seethed through her creepy laughing and snorting. "It's just… Iwas going to use that excuse. Cultural misunderstanding. Ha. I just. I didn't think you'd say it and then once you said it I realized how silly it sounded."

Skids stared at her for a moment before beginning to feel his own faceplate flush. He was good at hiding behind rationalizations, and the idea that interfacing wasn't what he thought it was for Camiens had tided him over.

But apparently things were a bit more difficult than that.

And suddenly he wished they'd finished off the engex Swerve had been pouring for them.

"Oh," he managed only somewhat intelligently. It felt like his vocalizer was malfunctioning.

"I'm so stupid," Nautica berated herself. She tried to cover her blue blushing face with her hands, but even that motion led to embarrassment as her wrench clanged against the brow of her helm. "Ow."

"So… you were actually suggesting a…" Skids could feel his energon pumping through him at the realization. He cut himself short and took in the suggestion. "Ah. Okay. So there wasn't a misunderstanding."

"Just a misunderstanding between my pede getting stuck in my own intake," she muttered. "I'm sorry. We can never talk to anyone at Swerve's again. We'll have to make all new friends. We may have to go to… the other side of the ship.I don't think I've even seen the other side of the ship."

Surprised, Skids reached for Nautica's servos and pulled them from her face. "Nautica, calm down a second. Vent or something."

As her servos were pulled from her face, Nautica was left to stare back at Skids, eyes wide behind her visor, and her faceplate at full hue. But at the very least, she vented, draining some of the heat from her body and forcing her to really take in Skids.

"We don't have to leave our home and friends out of embarrassment," he informed her. "I'm a little worried that that's the first reaction you had, though."

"I would much rather leave an entire planet than deal with an embarrassing situation, thank you very much," she said.

"So I'm learning," Skids offered with a smirk. "But at least I'm not embarrassing you."

"I'm a complete ball of embarrassment. There's nothing left to embarrass," she scoffed.

"But you never said we should stop being friends, even if we're on the dark sideof the ship," he pointed out. "Which makes me think that it's possible that you're a little more genuine in that offer than I realized."

Nautica's optics squinted at him. "What are you? Nightbeat all of the sudden?" Her brazen sarcasm didn't survive long, however, as her faceplate lit up anew and she ducked her helm. "Skids, I… I'm very sorry for the suggestion. Especially out loud. In public. At Swerve's. But I hope our friendship survives and that…"

"I'm not ready for an interface," Skids informed her suddenly.

"Oh," she said. "Okay…"

"There's things I'm still sorting out in my processor and… Interfacing is really allowing someone to see things going on up there that I might not have figured out myself yet," he explained. "But, Nautica, you're someone I look forward to sharing more with every single day. So, maybe right now we're both letting some of that engex do the talking, but if you don't mind standing by me, I'd like to share more with you."

She looked at him softly before giving a gentle smile and nod. "Of course," she said back. "And I feel the same right back."

There servos squeezed each other and they smiled at each other just before there was a throat clearing behind them. Nautica nearly jumped off her pedes, but Skids didn't fare much better, nearly scooting into Nautica to get away from the affronting noise.

When they looked they saw Ultra Magnus towering behind them with a comically tiny datapad in hand.

"Cluttering the halls in a high trafficked area is a violation of the Lost Light's safety protocols, as is indecent displays of public affection," he informed them.

"But we weren't–" Nautica began to challenge.

"Or speaking of doing them," he clarified. "Either take this to the less trafficked areas of the ship or move to a private area. I'll write you both up for first offenses." He eyed Skids. "Even though some of you have more than your first warning."

"That's surprisingly lenient," Skids observed out loud, only to get kicked by Nautica.

"I am attempting to loosen up, and I've been told young bots in love boosts ship morale," Magnus informed them before carrying on. "But don't think it will let you off again."

The two stared after the ship officer before glancing to each other. They snorted and both laughed before carrying forward.