I love Airachnid x Arcee. Itās terribly toxic and I love it for that. I love the idea that Arcee keeps finding new partners (Tailgate, Cliffjumper, JackāNO I DO NOT SUPPORT ARCEE x JACK) meanwhile Airachnid has been obsessed with Arcee for years. Airachnid killed Tailgate because she hated that she was so desperately obsessed with Arcee but Arcee had no reason to spare her a second glance. Killing her partner gave her a reason to hate her, and in Airachnidās mind, Arcee hating her was better than her not caring at all. What she didnāt expect was for Arcee to completely close herself off from everyone. Not that she completely minded itāif she was closed off from everyone, at least she wasnāt with someone else. Until she was.
Cliffjumper. Airachnid hated him because he was close with her in a way she never could be. He made her feel safe. Most people would think it had something to do with the way he got her to open up and talk about things she never would with anyone else, but thatās not true. Those times where Airachnid had Arcee tied up for surely no other reason than to gather Autobot intel, Arcee would speak freely about her trauma from the war. She never gave up sensitive information, but she also felt like she could share things with Airachnid that she didnāt share with anyone. She never got too deep in her feelings around the Autobots because she always wanted to keep up a strong front, and didnāt want her teammates to think of her differently. She spoke some of it around Tailgate and Cliff, of course, but she was still always somewhat closed off. But around Airachnid? None of that mattered. She didnāt care what she thought of her. And surprisingly, that was the only thing that ever got Airachnid to shut up. To stop torturing her with her words and sharp objects. She justā¦listened. There were times during the periods where she was stuck there that she would try to scare Airachnid with her horror stories, hoping that she could say something thatād scare her into leaving. But what could scare a Decepticon that tortures others for fun? It was during these times that Airachnid developed a deeper liking for Arcee. She had always found her fascinating and beautiful, but something about seeing her so vulnerable and talking about the moments of her life she shared with no oneā¦Airachnid didnāt think she was ready to really think about what that meant for her, but all she knew is she wanted Arcee. All to herself. Forever. This is where the jealousy really started. She had been jealous of Tailgate, sure, but now she burned with the feeling over Cliffjumper. She swore she would kill him just like she had killed Arceeās previous partner.
Until they left the planet. So many Cybertronians left their home planet to find a new place. Somewhere livable. Somewhere that wasnāt scarred and destroyed from millions of years of war. Airachnid was worried sheād never find her beloved Arcee againā¦until she landed on that rocky planet. Earth. She had finally found her again after all those years, and nothing would stop her from having her. And then she saw the fear. The way Arcee stood in front of Jack like herā¦well his life depended on it. The fear of what she would do. It was then that Airachnid realized something. She didnāt see the big deal in killing a couple mechs. She had never felt the connection with one like Arcee had. When she looked at Arcee, she finally understood what she had done. If anyone killed her, Airachnid would have hunted them for however long it took, and then sheād have tortured them til their last breath. Maybe that was how she had felt about Tailgate. About Cliffjumper. And with Airachnid being the cause of one of their deaths, she suddenly understood why the fear and hatred in Arceeās expression existed. But now that they were trapped on the same planet, maybe if she could kill Jack, she could finally be the one to fill that spot in Arceeās lifeā¦her partner.
In all their moments of closeness, Arcee could only deny what she felt for Airachnid. Somewhere, mixed in the hatred and resentment for her, there was something more. She hated that she could ever feel that way for someone so terrible. A Decepticon. A monster. The one who took away the mech who was closest to her, those many years ago. Maybe in a life where Airachnid hadnāt caused her this pain, they couldāve been something more. But she could probably never be that close with someone who had ruined her the way she had.
Sorry guys, that was messy and unplanned, but once I started writing I couldnāt stop myself. I just love their dynamic where Airachnid keeps trying to get close to Arcee by doing the thing that pushes her farther away. Of course, this is almost all made up and not canon in the show. I made this last year but thought itād be fun to post it here and do a little bit of writing on what their dynamic is to me. Maybe I should get into writing fanfic š
