The horseformer might be a better singer than him but that wasn’t saying much since Juke was awful at singing.

This blatant style of flirting he’s come to know as a distinctly Bother-patented thing doesn’t bother him as much as it might have at one point. Not that he’s going to admit it.

Luckily he has a plan. An excellent one.

He turns abruptly, a little smirk on his muzzle as he prances towards Juke, brandishing the brush, “Here...let me get your back. I’m good at cleaning!”

Halfway to him, he drops the brush ‘accidentally’ and quickly ducks down to grab it, putting the second part of his plan into action. With a soft pop, he bounces back up, only to pause, brush clutched in a tendril and squeaks, “Oh dear! Wardrobe malfunction!” 

His chestplates are popped open just the tiniest bit, a glimmer of bright silvery blue sparklight shining into the washracks. 

Juke was resting. Keyword was.

He was more than ready to not think about this human holiday at all, why bother with it? He wasn’t really settled on his feelings to begin with.

Seems Bother decided to make the executive desicion.

His proximity sensors alerted him to his presence, he ignored it for a few moments seeing as it was just the cassette, but when he wouldn’t move he began to get curious. Optics open only to be bombarded by flower petals.

“B-Bo that’s… that’s not natural… I’ve never seen anyone do that…”

He grits denta in a grimace, annoyed, “Bo, we see limbs like that torn off and we see either a mech bleedin’ out and screamin’ or a cadaver. At best we see a mech holdin’ onto the severed lines for dear life.”

The casualness of this all just made his tanks twist, he was worried you idiot.

For once, the seriousness in his spark comes forward, and he stands slowly, the sting in his joint fades, his optics filled with...softness, and a depth of introspection that really isn’t something one would normally see from those who only know the surface of the silly slender horseformer. A soft laugh escapes him, and he moves towards Juke, his helm low.

“Ah, sweety.” He coos, curling up close, chest to chest, soft muzzle nuzzling, and grooming over his plating. “I’m sorry. Honestly...I know it doesn’t seem natural, but it is for me...my frame was modified to be very adaptable. I could just...pop the broken limb, but another on while the other is fixed. Its just...me.”

Juke is licked, the stampede passes, he is left utterly confused. Neck crystals glow orange even as he slowly comes to awareness as to what happened.

Bother being Bother, Burden covered in feathers and a sticky substance and chasing after him. Ah. A prank, of course.

We’ll he wouldn’t be a good friend if he didn’t at least try to preserve his life as much as possible… plus he might get a few good shots of the chaos.

“I agree to nothin’!” He shouts after him with a laugh, tearing after him with a howl strong enough to shake plating and scatter whatever wildlife happened to be meandering in the area.

Nothing will stop him from winning this. He needs to be able to prank him! Using all the tricks he can to duck, weave and lunge into places too small for Juke to get into, he pushes himself until his frame is nicely warm...finally, he reaches a human made road, and just bolts down it, taking advantage of his slightly superior speed to try to leave Juke behind, a high happy squeal leaving him.

As he bolts around a massive tree, he can’t help the fits of giggles leaving him...glancing back over his shoulder to try and catch sight of him...which is probably why he doesn’t notice the human pickup truck emblazoned with odd star shaped symbol rumbling towards him. A startled YELP escapes Bo as he briefly tries to slow, hooves skidding before he just desperately leaps, one rear hoof taking out one of the lights from the cab. The humans are yelling inside, he can hear.

Oops.

Once all four hooves are on the ground, he skitters off the road, keying on his active camouflage in desperation, then skidding to a halt behind a very large tree. Primus, Juke is going to kill him for this...

::Juuuuuke, I had an accident.::

“John! I think it went this way!”

Wow. He was not used to seeing an apathetic Bother. He done goofed real bad.

“Okay so I might have the tact of a rock once in a blue moon… I came to apologize.” And almost as an after-thought, “…And I do worry about what you eat sometimes.”

“I-I don’t want you to end up gettin’ sick or somethin’…” He ammends.

Slowly, very slowly, he lifts his helm once more, blinking tiredly at Juke before giving him a lopsided smile on his muzzle, “Apology accepted...m’fine. Always will be.”

His brief moment of beaming tiredly at Juke ends quickly as a LOUD gurgle sounds from his tank, his helm dropping back to the grass as he moans in clear discomfort and probably pain, leg kicking air as another BURST of minty gas explodes from his vents.  

Juke wasn’t scared. Juke wasn’t captured or hurt. Juke was talking to her. Whatever words he was saying weren’t entirely permeating her panicked processor, but his EM field was calm, soothing… 

What was happening? They had been under attack but now they weren’t but the big mechs were still here… 

Without pause as he passes his downed sibling, a tendril snakes out to grab Bo’s leg and haul him over his own broad back, the clatter of plating the only noise they make as all three continue their trek. Once he has quit the room, he simply comms Juke, //Once she stops panicking, we’ll be in our room, with the door closed. Bo is going to be confined to quarters until I feel like he can be safely introduced, particularly considering her reaction.//

Now she was absolutely certain they were being captured, and frightened little shrieks from her voice module joined the cacophony as she struggled to get loose from the fabric tangling her arms in her flailing. 

But her legs were free. Which meant running was an option. Which led to bouncing off Juke. But she couldn’t really see that it was Juke and she couldn’t really hear him over her own distressed attempts at self defense, so she just turned and bolted the other direction which she really really hoped was towards the door and not deeper into the mountain where she’d be cornered and captured and brainwashed—

But what she met was a wall. Which she bounced off and fell, but managed to knock the cloth off, leaving her scrambling back into the corner along the wall with wide, frightened optics full of tears and heaving, shuddering vents. 

How Bother managed to turn everything into a absolute mess was beyond him. Nothing about today had been good. First, they’d been chased off the field they’d been snacking upon by an angry farmer, Bother had harassed a small sportscar into a game of chicken (the humans inside had panicked when he’d turned off his hardlight illusion) and they’d been forced to come back early because an entire flock of magpies had taken exception to Bo’s noises (it had taken an hour soaking in a pond to get rid of the poop). 

Now...this. A deep grunt leaves him as he shifts on heavy legs, staring passively at the tiny panicking bot wearing his piece of fabric, his brother WAILING on the floor like a newspark having a tantrum, and Juke trying to talk the little minicon who just...ouch...ran into a wall. 

Bravo. One blue optic flicks to Sammy, and a textual message is sent which results in the slender horseformer on the floor abruptly going stiff, then falling limp, blue optics wide and blank. Sometimes..sometimes...Bo just needed to be puppetted to stop his sheer stupid from infecting everything.

And Then the peace was broken and she was very VERY awake.

Startled out of her doze by the loud, unfamiliar voice and sudden light show, her speakers let out a shrill, audio-piercing shriek of feedback. Juke’s flailing bumped her off the couch to the floor, though he soon joined her there, and the larger minicon landing partly on her certainly didn’t do wonders for her panic. 

Were they under attack? Were these enemies?? Standards come to capture them and drag them to the Council to be reprogrammed and forced into zombie-like servitude???

Burden, at the first sign of the sharply pitched noise, acts quickly, disabling his very sensitive audials. The textual equivalent of a sigh comes in from Samson, Bitty flicking his ears back with a distinctly adorable frown. Clearly his carrier had told him to do the same. 

The sight that are greeted with in the common room is one that Burd is very used to seeing in the prescence of Bo...pure chaos. His attention is on his idiot brother up until a tiny form backs right into Burd’s legs, prompting him to peer down at the minibot. Idiots. The lot of them. 

Juke was laying on the couch, lazily watching some reality tv show and snickering at the right moments. He knows these are horribly fake but thinking of humans acting this way amuse him to no end.

“Oh, its fine, I just want to scare him a little!” Tossing his helm, a PFFFBT leaves his muzzle as he keys on his hardlight active camouflage, spark detection suppression forcing his field down to nothing, not even a shifting movement of shadow betraying him as he minces down the hallway towards the common room...and upon noticing not one, but two frames upon it HIS couch, freezes. 

Optics narrowed, he edges up close, his helm peeking over the edge of the cushion before he just...flicks it off, his helm, fore hooves and BRIGHT glowing blue optics flaring into view, and BELLOWS as loudly as he can...

Starscream furrowed his optic ridges, not entirely pleased with Samson’s response. This wasn’t a game. This was a huge change in all of their lives…Bother and Burden shouldn’t have to wait to see Samson trotting back home with a baby in tow to learn the truth. 

Samson, meanwhile, relaxes on their pillow, optics dull and still utterly exhausted, eternally grateful for Bitty’s distraction. A heavy sigh escapes them as Star insists, huffing out a soft vent, //Burden knew I was leaving, but not for what. I don’t think they’d be that concerned. I’ve left before, sometimes for a week or two. This would be no different. :P//

Tiny legs stretch gently as he lays there, optics flickering off to the side as they consider, muzzle pursing in an annoyed pout before looking up at Star. //If you insist, I’ll contact them shortly...I...just really would appreciate being able to rest a little while longer.//

He’d never heard that tune before, right? Maybe? Either way it’s lulling him somewhat, processor not chugging away as hard as it was before. A rueful snort at the ‘anything he wants’ bit. What he wants is his family back, he wants what happened to him to have never happened, he wants to be vacationing with his family like they should have been doing instead of staying in that future bomb zone…

The regret and shame boils up again, spilling back into his field alongside the overwhelming guilt he feels over their deaths.

“I can give you my spark. It’ll be okay this time, and it’ll show you everything you need to know... How much I love you, and how I will always be here for you.”

His voice is soft and urgent, sweet and so earnest. His optics wide and overful with the pure emotions that are making him yearn towards the mech he loves so much. Nothing but pure love and support would sit in Bother’s field, washing against Juke with every single pulse of his spark. 

The only time he’d felt such was likely when first meeting his brother, or the many times Burden had helped and saved him, but...this is different. This is deeper, more solid...more...damning. In this instance, he knows he’d give anything to Juke, processor, body and spark.

The future? Bah, like as if he’ll need this in the future… Ridiculous.

The kid was at least amusing, bumbling and climbing around like that… At least until the kid decided to chomp on his crystals. He frowns, wiggling said crystal that was being goobered on, “Hey, bit, those aren’t toys… Nor are they nutritious.” He flips his datapad up to snap a quick picture of this nonsense to send to Beatbox before he goes to try and nudge the little critter off him.

“What would you have to say for yourself if you gobbled me all up huh? You’d be in serious trouble, munchkin… Then again…” He hums, “You might get away with it because your cute… You sure you wanna take that chance?”

Bitty stills mid suck as he listens to the the words coming from his living perch, tiny mouth still latched onto the end of the lumpy crystal spear, bright optics wide. Is it possible that he could actually gobble Juke up?

What did Juke taste like? Now the tiny deerformer is extremely curious, his little mouth nomming a few more times on the crystal before he lets go, leaving it dripping with drool. A series of soft meeps escape him, a seeming tiny squeaky commentary during his journey.

The tiny sparkling moves tentatively, squirming up Juke’s neck, teeny hooves slipping with each movement as he gets closer and closer to the object of his desires: Juke’s audials.

Closer and closer, he wriggles, teeny hooves probably digging uncomfortably into seams as he goes, bending and pushing crystals every which way, bitty legs clutching either side of Juke’s neck once he gains his desired perch, his teeny tiny bitty muzzle darting right into Juke’s audial and snuffling loudly. 

SNUFFSNUFFSNIFF? Pausing, Bitty peers into the assaulted bodily orifice, considering with wisdom well beyond his days of existence before opening his tiny maw and BITING onto the sensitive metal of Juke’s audial. 

He moved his servo to gently guide the baby back towards it’s mother, “What do you think you want to name them, Sammy?”

Sammy, meanwhile, is slowly calming, the seam on their belly is almost closed, the cramps still clearly visible through the whole of their back and stomach. Urgh. Still ouchy, but definitely not half as bad as it was when the bitty was coming out.

Bright optics blink tiredly as they watch their sparkling move, a deep vent, and Samson mumbles, “Bitty...for now.”

Knowing that their normal truncated words weren't enough, they resort to texting the pair. //He will choose a better name later.// 

The tired mini texts both of them, every word clearly exhausted, //I’m doing better than I expected. The seam will close soon, then I’ll need to rest more. He will need my feeding line...I think he’s already trying to suck on your servo.// A soft snort of laughter escapes Samson and they flop their helm back down on Estella. 

He leans into Bother, helm pressing into a shoulder and biting back a distressed noise. A wheeze of vents before he wraps his paws around the horseformer’s neck and clings as if he’s going to float off into nothing.

“My spark’s spinnin’ I– I-I feel like I’m goin’ to burst a-and this always happens when— when this happens… But…”

He contracts his intake thickly, licking derma feverishly.

“But I don’t know if–” He growls, gritting his denta, “AUGH! I fraggin’ hate this!”

“Always tauntin’ me with a moment of niceness before draggin’ me back…”

Bother gently starts to groom Juke’s shoulder, stroking his muzzle down handy seams, humming a soft little song he remembers from when he was a bitlet. Anything to just help the distress from the mech he loves the most. He keeps his voice soothing and soft as he continues to speak, “Anything you want, Juke. You’ll have it, I promise.” 

That said, his spark flutters hard, reacting to his own stress and the distressed spark so close to it. Even through his plating, he yearns to care for and sooth Juke...maybe...maybe that's the way? He could show Juke the truth...the strength of his love and faith though his spark. If...if he wanted to. Primus...it was alternately a good and bad idea.

“I could prove it to you...if you want to. I mean, we’re never done it before...but...” Bother licks his lips, a hint of nervousness in his field. He wanted to so much, but what if Juke reacted badly? 

He’d respond but he’s figuring he’s going to get dead air, “Really? Really they’re gonna leave me with a sparklin’ without knowin’ if I can even handle one?” A shake of helm and a sigh, “Either they’re an idiot or a metareader…”

It just so happens that Juke isn’t TERRIBLY awful with bitlets. He just appreciates people asking him first instead of taking advantage of him…

He’ll get the fragger back later.

Bitty meanwhile, as made his shaky way over to Juke, helped by the mech’s gently pull towards his chest, would immediately squirm away, and is now trying his best to climb up his belly. Of course, being as Bitty is extremely small and the dogbot he’s trying to scale is quite large, he soon resorts to tiny little HOPS...much like an organic goat. 

With pure determination and MANY adorable little frustrated meepings, minuscule hooves finally gain traction on Juke’s side plating. Attracted to the glow, he’d immediately make a bee-line for the handy, yet unfortunate crystals along his neck. Should he managed to grab one, the tip would disappear into his teeny mouth, and like any very young creature from almost any universe, he’d start enthusiastically sucking on it without ANY regard to the poor mech it is attached to.