Work Text
The whole ordeal had left Swerve feeling much lighter. He was fully happy for the first time in a long, long time. It felt like a dream he didn’t want to wake up from. He had someone. Someone who was interested in him.
Him!
Swerve giggles just thinking about it.
“Hey Swerve! What's got you in such a good mood lately?” Tailgate nearly jumps up onto the bar in order to get as close to the other minibots face as possible. His field is joyfull and playful as it mingles with Swerve's own fidgety one.
Swerve grins at him as he continues to polish an empty cube. “No idea what you’re talking about Tailgate.”
He pouts behind the mask at Swerve. Whining before asking again. And again. And again.
“I told you! It’s
nothing
.” Swerve is getting exasperated, and flustered. The long walks across the empty ship with Optimus flashing through his processor.
“I don’t believe so. I think you’re
hiding
something from us.”
The red light of Rewind's camera blinks at him as Swerve turns his helm. He pouts at the other minibots. Not liking how they’ve ganged up on him. “you’re blushing~”
Swerve huffs and throws down the towel on the bar in front of Tailgate. "Will you drop it and leave me alone if I tell you?”
Rewind and Tailgate both nod eagerly and lean in closer. Rewind angling his camera towards Swerve’s faceplates.
Too bad, so sad.
“That’s too bad. Because I won’t tell you!”
He turns around and grabs a new rag. Picking up another empty cube to polish. Ignoring the loud protests at his back. Swerve continues to ignore them as they start trying to guess what caused his good mood.
Did Ultra Magnus finally approve an extension of the bar? Did you see Blurr recently? Did you knock someone’s bolts? Did someone knock
your
bolts?
And finally,
Do you have a date?
Swerve stills with his back still to the others. He did, he had a date. Multiple in fact. He even has someone courting him. His faceplates flushes as he goes back to polish the empty cube with renewed vigor.
“Ooo you do!” Tailgate sings songs at him. Giggling in glee. Nothing but pure happiness for his friend. Rewind zooms in on Swerves back as the red and white minibot huffs and spins around. A nervous smile on his face. Nervously wriggling his servos together.
“Promise not to tell?”
Swerve's voice is quiet. His optics locked onto the bar in front of his friends. Not that they can see. With his optics hidden behind his visor. His shield. In a way. He finds the visor comforting. Makes him feel less exposed.
Tailgate nods and Rewinds camera light blinks out. Swerve’s derma quirk up in a small, nervous smile. He takes a few quick steps forward and leans against the bar. Getting as close to the other two as possible before whispering.
“I’m being courted.”
Tailgate squeaks quietly before Rewind harshly shushes him. The white and blue minibot hastily quiets down before apologizing to Swerve. Tailgate leans over the bar to bump his helm against Swerves.
“I’m so happy for you!” Tailgate whispers against his audial before sitting back and clapping his servos excitedly. Rewind nods along, equally as excited for his friend.
“Soo who is it?” Rewind's stage whisper is considerably quieter than Tailgates. But the bar is nearly empty. The other two only stopped by for a quick chat. So it doesn’t matter that much.
Swerve only flushes and shakes his helm. He’s not quite ready to voice it out loud. It seems too good to be true. Like if he said it outloud it would all disappear in front of his eyes. He smiles at his friends and brings a servo up to his intake. Quietly shushing them before turning and walking back to the stack of empty energon cubes that need polishing. Rewind bristles quietly before sending a com reassuring Swerve that his secret is safe with them.
Even if they are terribly curious about who it is.
Swerve cautiously walks through the empty hallways. An energon cube clutched tightly in his servos as he nervously looked back and forth. Maybe this was a stupid idea. Yeah. He should probably head back. To avoid making a fool out of himself. Optimus probably wouldn’t even want to see him right now. The former leader was working. In the middle of his shift actually. He probably doesn’t want to be bothered on his one and only break.
Before he knows it he’s standing in front of the sliding doors leading to the break area. He bites his derma. Unsure. And maybe a little bit afraid of rejection.
Oh who is he kidding. He’s terrified Optimus will turn him away.
But he opens the doors before he can talk himself out of it. Optimus is the only mech in the room. Which is a relief to the minibot. The mech in question looks up from his datapad, his optic ridges rising in surprise as he spots Swerve.
“Ah, hello Swerve. What brings you here?”
Swerve shuffles on his pedes before stepping into the room. Quickly walking up to the Prime. Stuttering out his own greetings. “I brought you this…”
He can't quite bring himself to look the other mech in the optic as he holds up the sealed cube of energon for Optimus to take.
“Thank you Swerve, that’s very kind.” Optimus takes the offered cube and smiles down at the flustered minibot. Touched by his thoughtfulness. His optic ridges shoot up as Swerve grabs ahold of his knee and heaves himself up into his lap, giving him a shy smile before taking the cube from him.
“It’s nothing, really. I just thought you could use a little ‘pick me up’. If you want to call it that. I don’t know what else you could call it. But! You’re working a long shift. And I know how much I hate those. So I brought you a snack! Filled with system boosting additives that quickly filters into your systems and gives you more energy so you don’t feel dead on your pedes at the end of your shift!”
Swerve’s smiling up at Optimus at the end of it. Finally daring to meet the others optics. The bigger mech smiles back as he takes the cube again. Popping it open and snapping his battle mask back. Scarred lips quirking up in a small smile at the minibots awed
Oh.
Before he takes a sip of the modified energon.
He smiles as the energon goes down. Swerve wasn’t kidding. He can feel the effect the fuel has on his frame almost immediately. Huh, it tastes good too.
Swerve didn’t talk much during Optimus’ break. Afraid to annoy the mech during his break. He settled down in the Primes lap, tracing patterns on his chasis as the mech drank his energon. Listening to the quiet lull of the great mech's powerful engine.
Optimus eventually empties his cube. Only to stare at the bottom of it. The soft smile on his faceplates widening as he stares at the text at the bottom of the cube.
Made with love
He smiles and sets the cube down. Squeezing the minibot in his lap tighter in a hug. Placing a soft kiss on his kibble as Swerve makes a confused noise. Unaware of his secret message being discovered.
“Thank you, precious one.”
It’s little more than a quiet whisper against white plating. But Optimus EM field sings.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Swerve curses as he struggles to balance on the tips of his pedes to reach the keypad to his hab. He’s already typed in the code twice and gotten an error message. Having somewhere along the line pressed the wrong button.
“Yes!” He cheers loudly to himself as his doors finally part. Rushing inside and jumping onto his berth. He’s so tired. The bar had been so busy he almost hadn’t been able to stay and talk with anyone. Someone always needed a new drink or a refreshment. The shanix had been good though. So he wasn’t complaining. Even if he was tired enough for his frame to ache.
Swerve curls up and pulls his mech blankets over himself. Sending a quick command for his lights to dim. He sighs and activates his recharge protocols. Already looking forward to the joors of rest he’s about to get.
The minibot giggles quietly to himself before burrowing deeper under the mountain of blankets and finally drifting off.
Swerve smiles happily to himself as he goes about cleaning the countertops. The bar isn’t set to open for another few joors but he’s got the time. And energy. Thanks to the full recharge cycle he was able to get in earlier. He hums along to the quiet song playing on the speakers as he cleans. Dancing and jumping to the music as he moves from table to table. Chuckling quietly at the silliness of his own actions. He never would’ve imagined himself acting like this. Oh well.
He heads back behind the bar once he’s finished. Oddly not dreading the time left until the bar’s set to open. He goes to throw the rag in a washer in the back rooms when he notices a piece of scrap metal with a crudely drawn arrow pointing to the cable room.
Swerve’s smile drops. Of course he wouldn't be allowed to keep existing in such a good mood. Of course someone would decide that today is the day to play a prank on the annoying little minibot who runs the bar.
Of course they decided to mess around with his cables. The intricate lighting and music systems he had painstakingly installed himself because no one wanted to help him. All meticulously up to Ultra Magnus’ high safety standard.
He brings his servo up and chews on a knuckle as he approaches the door. Do they want to shut down his bar? He can’t think of anyone that’s been overly hostile in the last few cycles. Everyone seemed at least content with the bar's service and what he had to offer. Cautiously pushing the door open he braces for the worst.
Only nothing seems out of place. Swerve’s optic ridges furrow as he looks around the room. not noticing anything strange. The cable management is still meticulously keeping everything in place.
But there’s something on the floor. Another, frankly hideous, arrow pointing towards the control panel for the lighting in the bar. And as his gaze follows the arrow he drops his servo from his intake. Mouth hangs open as he stares at, what looks like, a new and improved control panel.
Swerve quickly approaches it. Allt thoughts of pranks and cruel jokes leave his processor as he stares at the buttons and switches in wonder. He looks towards the small camera overlooking his empty bar. Flicking a few switches.
And the light systems obey without any delay. Swerve smiles and claps his servos excitedly before testing out all the other settings and adjustments. Getting used to the new setup. He’s so excited about the upgrade that he almost misses the note sitting just to the side of the control table.
Swerve quickly snatches the datapad. Reading over the message displayed on the glowing screen.
I recall you complaining about the lighting fixtures in your bar the other cycle. Hopes this makes a difference for you,
Optimus
Swerve stares at the message for a klick before a huge smile breaks out across his faceplates. A real one. His optics nearly spark as he looks from his upgraded control panel to the message displayed in his servos. He hugs the datapad to his chasis and sits down against the wall. His vocaliser clicks as he struggles to hold back the coolant threatening to spill from his optic casings.
No one’s ever done something so thoughtful for him.
If anyone noticed Swerve’s elated mood they didn’t say anything. A few of his customers complimented his new lights. But that was the extent of it. He’d been happily serving customers all night, chatting and prattling to anyone willing to listen. Smiling from audial to audial and refusing to answer Tailgate and Rewinds curious questions.
He’d returned to his habsuite happy and exhausted. Still buzzing in excitement over his new light systems. He’d have to think of something big to make it up to Optimus. It must’ve been difficult, especially since Ultra Magnus tightened the safety protocols after the Rodimus incident. Swerve was still receiving slack for that one. It wasn’t his fault! He was just doing his job as a bartender, serving his paying customers.
He jumps up into his berth and burrows down under the blankets. Pulling out the datapad with the message Optimus had left for him. He reads it over and over again until his systems automatically shut down for recharge. The tablet still cradles to his casis.