Different Applications of Moral Support

by Keelywolfe

Sam liked to think of himself as a supportive sort of person. When Mojo had broken his leg in the Great Coffee Table/Love Seat/ Sofa Incident, Sam had been the one to wrap him in a towel and take him to the vet, risking life, limbs, and fingers. He'd seen his fair share of the types of injuries an Autobot could sustain, too. The wreckage that been Jazz, Bumblebee's own damaged legs. Been there, done that.

So as far as he was concerned, there was no reason that he couldn't go with Bumblebee when he finally got his vocal processors repaired. Bumblebee had been of a far different mind and his written argument against it had been both brilliant and sensible, and probably could have included several graphs and charts if Sam hadn't managed to destroy all that logic with one sentence.

"I don't want you to be alone with Ratchet."

After that, it was just a matter of finding a place to sit.

What he hadn't expected was that watching Ratchet work would make him want to upchuck all over the nice clean floors. It was his own fault, Sam thought grimly, swallowing back nausea as another rush of dark fluid washed over Ratchet's hands. He just had to be here, even though Bee had been pretty insistent that he could go play with the soldier boys another day. But, no, no just the thought of Ratchet alone with Bumblebee had made his insides tighten unpleasantly and the back of his tongue taste penny-sharp.

It was stupid of him; Sam knew that. Ratchet was chief medical officer, he'd probably known Bumblebee for ages, and it wasn't like wiring a vocal modulator was anywhere in the realm of sexual. But the mental vision of Bumblebee standing there, of Ratchet...Sam had to suppress a shudder. He'd seen his fair share of porn or at least as much as he could hide on his hard drive but nothing about that had seemed even remotely hot.

Not that was supposed to be. He knew that. He did know it, he was just...stupid.

That left him here, creeping backwards the moment the first spurt of fluid had caught Ratchet full in the face, until he was practically climbing up the wall and out of the air vent and he couldn't even pretend he was offering any amount of moral support. What he felt like was a warden. He trusted them, he did, he just couldn't let it go, not yet. Not even with queasiness churning in his stomach and tightness in his throat that had nothing to do with doubt.

Ratchet either sensed his troubles somehow or just noticed the interesting shade of green Sam probably was, because he said without looking up. "He can't feel it, Sam. I shut down all of his pain processors."

"Good, that's good," Sam mumbled, almost nonsensically, tearing his eyes away from Ratchet's stained fingers and focusing instead on a tray of various parts that were laid out next to him in precise order. Bolts, bolts, funny little bendy part, cables. Little bits of Bumblebee and oh, god, please don't be thinking things like that again.

Bee made a soft, muted sound and Sam looked up, taking an involuntary step forward and he was already reaching out to him.

"Bumblebee, keep still," Ratchet ordered evenly. "This is delicate work. If I tear any of these cables, you'll be at least another month playing charades while I construct new ones. And Sam, keep back if it makes you feel ill. Human stomach acid is highly corrosive. "

"I'm fine," Sam protested, even as his stomach gave another lurch at the shredding sound that rose from Ratchet's rapidly moving fingers.

"Mmmhmm," Ratchet agreed vaguely. He pulled a long, dripping cable out of Bee's throat and tossed it aside, picking up one of the fresh ones laid out for him and threading it into the open cavity. "Of course you are. Keep back anyway. By the way, I spoke with Sideswipe yesterday. He'll be coming to speak with you after he gets off duty."

"I spoke to him yesterday," Sam said, latching eagerly onto any other topic of conversation. When he'd woken that morning, curled up in the backseat of Bumblebee's vehicle form with the sun blazing in through the windows, Sideswipe had already been gone. They'd driven back to Autobot City in silence, Sam wrapped in Bee's holographic arms. It had made every muscle ache worth it. "What kind of duty is he doing?"

"He's patrolling with Sunstreaker. Prime thought it would be better if Sunstreaker stayed away from the human contingent for the time being."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Sam muttered. Bumblebee made a noise of agreement and Ratchet hissed in frustration.

"Bumblebee, I swear, I am going to power you down if you can't keep still!"

"Sorry, Ratchet," Sam said guiltily.

"Don't apologize for what you have no control over."

"It's a bummer for Sideswipe, though, playing warden to Sunstreaker," Sam observed. He almost touched one of the bolts, vaguely wondering at the feel before he quickly pulled his fingers back. He wasn't sure if humans could contaminate Autobot body parts but it didn't seem like a good time to find out. "How did such a nice guy get such an asshole for a brother?"

"Even Autobots don't get to make choices like that, Sam," Ratchet said absently. "And I'm sure it's a role that Sideswipe has had to play many times. Sunstreaker is--" he hesitated uncharacteristically. "I believe the human phrase would be he has issues."

"Major issues."

"That doesn't mean he is to blame for them." Ratchet had this way of talking that was so completely bland and yet still managed to convey that he thought everyone else in near proximity was a complete jackhole. "However, it also doesn't excuse his actions. If another incident occurs, may I suggest you bring it to Prime's attention rather than trying to resolve the issue yourself? It would save me a great deal of effort."

Oh, yeah. Definite implications of jackhole in that.

"Either that, or make sure you tear out his vocal processors first," Sam said helpfully. Ratchet actually paused long enough to give him a look which Sam met with owl-eyed innocence. Like he cared if Ratchet had extra work.

Extra work which involved tugging out another sodden cable to toss aside, the horrible squelching sound sending Sam back another step.

"At least reserve your violence for limbs," Ratchet grumped. "Voice modulators are entirely too delicate. In any case, Sideswipe agreed to assist you in your mating crisis."

It was refreshing to have an entirely different emotion to close his eyes against. "Could we not call it mating? I feel like I should be on display somewhere."

"That could be arranged."

Silence.

"Ratchet, did you just make a joke?" Sam asked hopefully. Please, let that be a joke. A flash memory to Ratchet's hologram the day before, the detached expression as he touched Bumblebee, jerking him off with all the emotion of...of a robot. A being of extreme logic, Sideswipe had called him, but Sam had seen him after Jazz, he'd seen the tenderness that Ratchet had used with his fallen comrade--

Ratchet interrupted his thoughts. "If mating isn't your preferred term, then you are more than welcome to pick out an appropriate euphemism." Another cable threaded in, the sound only slightly less welcoming than fingernails across a chalk board.

"Just calling it sex is fine," Sam muttered, and maybe idle conversation wasn't the best thing going for him right now. Underneath the very faint hum that always came from Autobots, a soft drip, drip sound registered in the back of Sam's mind and he realized it was coming from Bee. A slow, steady fall of liquid pooling on the floor beneath him, whatever it was that passed for Autobot blood, dark and viscous (blood) on the floor, dripping from Ratchet's fingertips, staining the drop cloth over Bee's chest, so much of it and--

Sam managed to stagger outside before he threw up.


~~*~~

He felt a little better a few hours later, after spending a half hour lying down with a cold cloth over his eyes. The girls had it right though, it was nice to have a boyfriend to hold you up while you puked. Bumblebee had not only held him up, he'd also helped him back inside and into the back room, gotten him a wet washcloth and silently followed Ratchet's shouted orders to get Sam an antiemetic and hurry up, he couldn't solder this until Bee shut down his projection unit.

It wasn't so bad listening from a distance, only the faint hiss of heated metal as Ratchet soldered whatever parts needed it. Sam had nearly fallen asleep before Ratchet came clanking back in, rattling off a list of orders to the both of them while Bumblebee stood impatiently nearby, all signs of his recent surgery wiped away.

"No talking for at least seventy-two hours, until it sets. No fighting any allies, period, if you don't mind. Aside from my personal reasons, I believe Prime is concerned with making a good impression with our new allies and attempts to kill each other will not be well received. And no sex until you speak with Sideswipe and attempt to work through your problems. Is that understood?"

Sam nodded, more in a sincere desire to be somewhere far away from Ratchet than anything else. Bumblebee's nod was more grudging, barely a movement, and Ratchet was more than a little exasperated when he snapped out, "Is that understood, soldier?"

That earned him a sharp head nod and only then did he let them leave. Stepping into the sunshine seemed like a miracle and Sam inhaled deeply, skirting the trashcan where he'd yakked up his breakfast an hour earlier. A light tap on his shoulder made him turn, accepting the small note that Bee's hologram handed him.

I think Ratchet has been spending too much time with your military.

Sam couldn't help a snicker. "Yeah, I think that's possible. Soooooo," he stretched, muscles that hadn't been pleased to spend the night curled up on a car seat protesting the move. "We can't talk, and we can't have sex--" he stopped, not entirely happy with the implication there. Like there was nothing to do if they couldn't have sex and it hadn't be true a couple of months ago, but there had been talking involved there, late nights and laughter and Ratchet might not make jokes but Bee loved them, slyly playing ridiculous songs that would make him choke whenever he drove his mom to her step aerobics class--

No, don't think of that, not yet, that wound still fresh and bleeding.

Another tap on his shoulder pulled him from his darker thoughts and he looked up into Bumblebee's amused eyes. He crooked his finger at Sam, gesturing for him to follow.

"You've got an idea?"

A quick nod and that same sly little smile.

"All right, but if this involves anything that will get Ratchet pissed at us, you get to explain."

~~*~~


When he'd first chosen to come to Autobot city, before he'd even known what it was called, he'd had certain reasons in mind. First and foremost was to get someplace where he didn't have Decepticons trying to smoosh him. He hadn't really considered what he'd do when he got here, hadn't actually considered much past graduation besides a few college applications.

But he'd never imagined he'd spend an afternoon losing at Dance Dance Revolution to a holographic projection.

It would probably be a little sulky to point out that one of them didn't have the capacity to process every move in a millisecond but was hard to feel even slightly disappointed in the face of Bumblebee's obvious delight at winning. Ten minutes in and Sam had already been sweating. By then, they'd managed to gain a small audience, other soldiers wandering into the rec center and staying to watch Sam lose pathetically on the medium setting while Bumblebee twisted away on expert.

The perk of an audience meant that eventually someone else would get bold and challenge the winner. And that meant Sam got to sit down and wait until he felt a little less like having a heart attack.

Not that just watching was such a horrible thing. Sam propped his chin on one hand and let his eyes rest on Bee, the sounds of the soldiers cheering around him fading a little. He knew it was a hologram but there was something about Bumblebee that was so utterly attractive to him. His mouth curved in a silent laugh, his eyes shining, and his soft blond hair damp with sweat and curling at the ends. A perfect illusion of a pretty teenage boy. An illusion.

I wanted this to be real.

Real, Bumblebee had said. This past week had seriously challenged Sam's definition of reality.

Someone settled next to him, watching, and Sam glanced at him briefly before looking back in an outright stare. Not just because of his red hair, and it was red, not a hair color normally found outside of a bottle of cheap Hot Topic hair dye. It was his face, the lines of it a sharp echo of Sunstreaker's holo image, blue eyes meeting Sam's and the easy warmth in them made Sam relax a little, enough to look back at Bumblebee.

"I see he's enjoying himself," Sideswipe said, amused.

"Yeah, he's beaten everyone so far."

"Bumblebee does like to win," he agreed. Sideswipe leaned in a little, lowering his voice. "I do think after this round we should get started on our, ah, task for the day."

He didn't quite nod in agreement, like if he somehow didn't acknowledge that Sideswipe had said anything then he wouldn't have to think about what the task of the day was supposed to be. Taking care of their 'mating crisis' - Ratchet's term for it - like he didn't know exactly what that was going to entail. Ratchet had called in training, teaching Bumblebee how to have human sex the Autobot way, but he could call it anything he liked and it would still be Sideswipe and Bumblebee instead of Ratchet and Bumblebee and no part of Sam had to like it.

There was a surge in laughter and applause as the game coasted to a finish, Bumblebee twirling in a move that would have made Travolta proud. The young man he'd been competing against threw up his hands in defeat, staggering away laughing and Bumblebee's eyes were lit with that same laughter, silent as it was, green eyes shining in a way that was so remarkably human and Sam had to catch his breath, hands tightening into fists as he had to resist the sudden urge to drag Bee away somewhere that no one else could see him like that.

Then his eyes fell on Sam, meeting his own and they changed, darkening, Bee's smile relaxing into something that made entirely different parts of his body tighten. They held gazes for what felt like ages, brown on deep green, until Sideswipe shifted next to him and Bee's gaze flickered towards him. He went utterly still for a moment, the smile freezing on his face before it melted away, shifting into something that didn't meet his eyes.

He waved away the loud protests and groans of the crowd, shrugging helplessly at their catcalls and threats of, "Next time, man, next time I'll have you!"

His shoes scuffed lightly against the floor when he paused in front of them, hands in his pockets. Bee didn't look at either of them, walking on without waiting to see if they followed and after a moment, they did, Sideswipe trailing after Sam in silence, but then, what was there to say?

~~*~~

Bumblebee was already sitting on Sam's bed when he came in, his knees pulled up so he could wrap his arms around him, his chin resting on them. It made a slow burn ache in the pit of Sam's stomach, something like anger but not at Bumblebee, not exactly, more like at the world, for making this so choiceless while Bee radiated silent misery.

"It's always a pleasure to be so welcome." Wryly, from behind him as Sideswipe quietly closed the door and leaned against it, brushing his long hair out of his eyes. He'd left it loose, another contrast from his brother and Sam wondered why he chose to look so much like him. Maybe he didn't have a choice.

"Yeah, I wish we could say we were happy to have you over," Sam said heavily.

Sideswipe waved a hand carelessly. "You two are making entirely too big a deal about this. It's really just a wiring issue. You both look like someone is making you attend the big Decepticon orgy and bake sale."

Sam snorted, "Thank you for that mental image."

"I try." He frowned at Bumblebee, who hadn't even looked up. "Look, it's just me and I've known you since your conception, Little Bee," Sideswipe chided and Bumblebee's eyes flew up. He gestured furiously and Sideswipe laughed, tipping his head back. "I'll stop calling you it when you stop acting it."

Bee's next gesture was so purely obscene that Sam choked on a laugh. God, he just loved Bee to pieces--he loved him.

His thoughts came screeching to a halt with an almost audible sound. He did. God, he really did, he was totally in love with Bumblebee who was an alien robot pretending to be human, and now he had to walk out of here and let him have sex with someone else. Bee who didn't even want to do it, but he would. For Sam. For them.

This was so completely fucked up.

It was all about choices, which ones to make, which ones held really no choice at all. He'd chosen to come here, he'd chosen to stay with Bee, but loving him. That wasn't a choice. It never had been.

Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them. If they were going to work, he was going to have to allow this. Bumblebee had already made his choice, and he'd chosen Sam, and he could do this. I can do it for you, Bee.

"I'll just go, then," Sam said calmly, all his churning emotions held in check. He touched Bee's cheek lightly with one finger, trying to convey everything he was feeling in that one touch.

"Actually, I'd rather you stayed."

"What?" Sam and Bumblebee both blinked at him, confused.

"This is for you, right? How can you learn how this works if you aren't here?" Sideswipe moved closer and sat on the bed, kicking off his shoes. They vanished the moment they left his feet, a surreal little reminder that there really was only one human here.

"Er," Sam said intelligently. "I don't think--" I can watch you two have sex. Really not. Ratchet was bad enough but Sideswipe was actually in the realm of attractive and it was one thing to think of this as training but way something else for him to watch Bee liking it.

"Well, I need someone to stimulate him while I access his processors," Sideswipe said reasonably. "I could do it myself but I thought you would prefer--"

"I'll do it," Sam said promptly, then he frowned. "Why didn't Ratchet think of that?"

Bumblebee tugged his arm and Sam looked at him, frowning deeper as Bee shook his head frantically. "What--you don't want me here?"

That hurt worse than Sam had thought, that Bee would prefer to do this without him.

Sideswipe cocked his head to the side, like he was listening to something only he could hear. "He doesn't want you to have to perform in front of someone else," Sideswipe said thoughtfully. "He says this is his problem and you shouldn't have to deal with it."

"Fuck that," Sam exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "That's just stupid! I'm already dealing with it. Why do you keep trying to leave me out of this I--" Comprehension dawned and he glared at Bee, who was shrinking beneath his frown. "I don't need protection from this, all right? Let me make my own damned choices! I seriously don't think a little making out in front of Sideswipe is going to give me mental scars!"

"You didn't want the human soldiers to know," Sideswipe said slowly, his expression puzzled. "You wanted to keep this a secret--"

Sam could have slapped himself. "Only because I didn't want them judging us! Bee, humans can get weird about two guys being together. And yeah, yeah, I know you aren't a guy," he cut off Bee's protest, "But you look like a guy and you act like a guy. It's just, people are stupid, sometimes. I'm not ashamed of this, or you, I don't want to hide it. I just--" He took a breath, a little shaken by his own emotions, hovering just beneath the surface and demanding that he touch Bee, tell him but--

He settled for lightly touching Bee's cheek, watching the tremble in his fingers bemusedly. "I guess I was trying to protect you."

Bumblebee caught his hand and pulled it to his mouth, pressing a kiss into his palm. Then on his fingertips, sucking the tip of one into his mouth and the wet heat made Sam take a sharp breath, jerking as Bee nipped lightly.

"If you could wait a moment." They both startled as Sideswipe scooted closer, resting one hand on the back of Bee's neck. His voice changed, a faint echo coming from beneath it as he spoke in monotone. "Initiating connection. One moment please. Connecting....connecting...connection complete." Sideswipe relaxed, leaning back against the wall. "All right, go ahead."

Go ahead. Right. Bee let Sam's hand fall away and he stood awkwardly, trying to think of what going ahead would be.

"Go on, kiss him or something," Sideswipe urged impatiently. "I'm tracking his reactions, so...ah!" Startled, Sideswipe gasping when Bee yanked Sam down into his lap and kissed him hungrily, lips and tongue fierce against Sam's mouth and he made it nasty-wet, the need in it so perfect that Sam couldn't help but melt into it and he would have let Bumblebee do just about anything right then, anything.

"Stop." Weakly. Sam barely heard it and Bumblebee was clambering over him, pushing him down into the softness of the bed and jerking his t-shirt up to bite at one of Sam's nipples, too-hard rush of sweet pain and Sam gasped, tipped his head back and God, yes, he'd missed this, wanted it so much, he--"

"Stop, please...stop..." The desperation was so thick in that voice that Sam feebly tried to obey it, pushing Bumblebee away and he went, only to dive lower and bite the hard length of Sam's cock through his jeans, tearing a startled cry from him and he was going to come in his pants, he would have humped Bee's leg if it had been close enough.

"Stop it!" There was the harsh sound of a slap, Bumblebee yanked away from him and shoved onto the floor and...oh, geez, Sideswipe had slipped off the other side of the bed, scrambling away from them until he was pressed into another corner, his eyes wild and fever-bright.

Hesitantly, Sam slid off the bed and took a step towards him, determinately not looking at Bumblebee who was panting at his feet and trying not to die from the hot, sharp pressure in his balls. He reached out to Sideswipe, unthinkingly. "Are you all right?"

"Don't!" Sideswipe flinched, eyes closing tightly and Sam stepped back, wordlessly. Great, now he was breaking two of them.

Minutes ticked by, Sideswipe and Bumblebee both calming while Sam looked at just about anything else in the room, concentrating on not-dying.

"All right," Sideswipe said finally, climbing shakily to his feet. "I think..." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think I've figured out the problem. Bumblebee, you have the most sensitive receptors I've ever felt. That was--" Another breath, slow and deep, "That was remarkable but you're going to have to recalibrate them if you want to be able to make love with Sam."

Make love. Something about that phrase, not mating, not sex, made Sam's stomach glow pleasantly warm.

Bumblebee was nodding thoughtfully, climbing to his feet and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Unfortunately, there is only one way I can think of to do that," Sideswipe said heavily. "I believe Bee and I need to switch roles so that he can calibrate his receptors to mimic the reactions of mine."

"You want me to have sex with you," Sam said dumbly, trying not to hear the squeak in his voice.

Bee leapt to his feet, his hands cutting fiercely through the air and Sideswipe held out his hands in surrender. "If you have any other ideas, I'm open to suggestions."

A silent communication seemed to flow between them and Sideswipe sighed, turning to Sam. "A moment."

He closed his eyes, a faint humming sound vibrating from him and when he spoke again, it sounded eerily like Bumblebee, echoing tinnily.

"Sam, you don't have to do this," His voice was faint, urgent. "I can turn my receptors off when we have sex and--"

"And feel nothing." Sam finished flatly. "No."

Bumblebee's expression combined with the words he'd just spoken only made Sam more determined. "I can do this. If you can deal with having Ratchet trying to...to train you, then I can do this."

"I'm hardly going to throw him down and ravage him, Bee," Sideswipe added dryly. "This isn't like those movies you've been watching on Lifetime. I believe a kiss would be sufficient for the moment."

"Sure, a kiss," Sam said, burying his own uncertainty. This was for Bee and Sideswipe was hardly a drooling pervert.

With obvious reluctance, Bee put a hand on the back of Sideswipe's neck, sifting through the long strands of his hair to find bare skin before he closed his eyes, lips moving silently as he linked.

"All right, Sam, just a kiss."

Right. Sam stepped forward, tipping his head up and wasn't it nice that Bee was almost his height, they didn't have this whole neck straining thing and--Sideswipe's mouth was very gentle, cooler than Bumblebee's and he parted his lips unthinkingly at the damp probe of Sideswipe's tongue, pressing his own against it in a slow writhe and it wasn't too bad, the heat still aching in his groin slowly sparking to life again because it wasn't Bee but Sam wasn't dead and there was a hand at the base of his spine, pulling him against the lithe line of Sideswipe's body. There was a hard line of hot pressure against his belly; Sam barely registered it, intent on the mouth moving softly against his own, and it filtered through slowly that it was Sideswipe's erection, God, he was hard and did they just react like humans, helplessly, or was it a mimic, was it intentional and--

"Enough," Sideswipe pulled away, going so far as to step backwards and he shook off Bee's hand, both of them blinking like the light was too bright. "I think that's enough for today, we've made a little progress."

He was actually backing towards the door, Sam saw, his expression shaken and it made guilt swell up in him, Sideswipe was only trying to help and he was obviously upset by all of this.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked, trying to be as gentle as he could with his cock pressing uncomfortably against his zipper. "I mean, you don't have to do this, you just seem...uncomfortable." And that was saying something, considering that Sam had just survived his first bizarre three-way kiss. Bumblebee made a soft noise of agreement, eyes darkened with concern.

"I am," Sideswipe said, jagged humor in his voice. "But only because it's been a very long time since I've done this. Don't worry about it."

"But--"

"I'm fine," Sideswipe stressed, but his steps backward told another story. "I'll come by again tomorrow and we'll see how much progress we've made." The door slammed hard behind him as he fled out of it, leaving Bee and Sam to stand there, confused and a little worried.

"Is he all right? I mean, you guys are old friends, right, I --ooof!" The bed suddenly beneath his back slapped the breath out of him and Sam barely had time to regain it before Bumblebee had his pants halfway down his thighs, jerking his boxers after them and the sudden relief of pressure against his crotch made him gasp anew. "What are you--we can't," he tried, faltering as Bumblebee looked up at him and the expression on his face, the darkness in his eyes made Sam fall silent, let his head loll back on the bed and if Bumblebee needed this, who was he to argue.

The first hot suck against the tip of his cock made him strangle out a cry, his hands clenching in Bee's hair and Jesus, god, the wet slide of his tongue, glossily-slick against the underside made him arch up, pushing into that perfect, damp heat. Riding the hot pressure of that tongue, obeying the hands on his hips that urged him to thrust into it, over and over until the sweet heat of it tingled up his spine, blanking his thoughts completely as he arched back on the bed and came, shivering helplessly at the feel of Bumblebee swallowing around him.

It wasn't quite fair, Sam thought muzzily, that he wasn't going to be able to reciprocate. Unfair orgasms and maybe he should tell Bumblebee to keep track of what he owed for when they managed to work things out. For the moment, Bee seemed content to crawl up and flop down next to him, nuzzling soft kisses against Sam's neck and ear.

One hand was still curled around the limp bulk of his cock, gentle, so gentle against sensitive skin but Sam wasn't so oblivious that he didn't get the implication.

Mine, that hand said, starkly.

"Yours," Sam mouthed it against the top of Bumblebee's head, surely too quiet to be heard but Bee snuggled closer to him anyway, silent weight next to him that Sam still understood, completely.

-finis-


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