( closed ) i wear it like a message so i don't forget it

[rodders]

Who: Rodimus & Drift
Where: The building where they’re staying in the city. It's… somewhere.
When: After Drift is officially discharged from the clinic.
What: Rodimus tries to deal with symbolism, Drift is surprisingly touched.
Warnings: Gay. A whole lot of gay.

Somehow coming back to where they lived for a few days before things when completely and utterly wrong doesn’t feel as much like coming home as Rodimus thinks it should. Home is still the Lost Light, not this place he’s barely spent any time in. But they can’t stay in the clinic forever - Ratchet would toss them both out eventually - and it’s somewhere to stay that they can at least claim is their own.

It smells stale and vacant which, okay, Rodimus hasn't been in it since he left looking for Drift, but that’s something that’ll go away with time.

"I'm gonna stand by what I said when we first moved in - it needs a lot of paint," he says, turning around to look at the other bot who followed him in. "Er, and probably a window that shuts. Not that it rains here or anything."

Okay, it’s still not much. And their grand plan to make more than just 'livable' fell apart the moment Drift and Tarn first locked optics. But as he looks at Drift - standing in an abandoned room with the lines of the Decepticon symbol gleaming in the light - his spark sinks, the light in his eyes dimming, smile fading.

Not exactly how they left it.

Comments

[auramatic]

"You're here."

Drift lets Rodimus thread their fingers together, tightening his grip on the other mech's hand, and the swell in his spark lances through him again suddenly, making his optics flicker and start. But he smiles after a moment anyway, just a tug at the corners of his mouth, his optics humming with light. The flare of his spark settles into a steady ebb and flow, still something that compels him to move to it like a buoy adrift, but he has an anchor. Rodimus' plating is warm against his, not just his hand but the badge on Drift's chest, too. Whatever energy of Rodimus' had come away with the badge, it's still there. Drift can feel it.

"I know."

[rodders]

"Yeah."

It's said on a particularly heavy exvent, but he can't help the smile that flashes over his face. This - Drift, here - is what he wants right now. Sure, there are a lot of other things, but Rodimus finds they don't seem so insurmountable. Getting home? Yeah, they'll do that. He's sure of it. For a fleeting moment he thinks he can see what Drift gets at with his whole spiritual thing - the way that Drift's hand feels in his and the comfortable weight of the air around them, of them.

"I'm here."

For once, for whatever else. He's not letting Drift go this time. Never again.