#engineerwheeljack

Wheeljack had been hesitant at best about the idea of inviting Vortex over to his lab for a drink. He wasn't normally one for being competitive or trying to one-up someone, but he couldn't deny it'd be very satisfying to take the crazy copter down a notch or two. And when Vortex tried to claim that he made better highgrade, well, Wheeljack couldn't just let him have that. Still, his want to prove the copter wrong was outweighed by the fact that he really didn't want to deal with Vortex in person. Possibly drunk. And in his lab.

But since this was Vortex, things never seemed to pan out how Wheeljack expected them to.

Instead of waiting to be invited over like any normal bot with manners would, Vortex simply showed up when he pleased, demanding he try some of Wheeljack's so-called famous home brew of highgrade.

There were a few bumps, mostly due to the engineer having a terrible knack for bringing up every sore subject for the Combaticon. But he'd be lying if he said that, overall, it hadn't been enjoyable. 

It certainly wasn't one of his worst ideas, at any rate.

And so, the pair somehow became drinking buddies, and it became a bit of a regular thing for them.

Sometimes Vortex would bring one of his teammates along, usually Brawl or Swindle. Though once he'd somehow managed to convince the whole team to come along. Wheeljack didn't remember much of that night, and only recalled finding all five of them strewn across his lab the following morning. He decided he could live without that happening ever again.

Tonight, though, it was just him and Vortex.

At one point, after they'd almost finished off a bottle between them, Vortex turned to look at Wheeljack. 

"Y'know," he said, "we've come a long way since meetin' each other."

Wheeljack gave him a quizzical look in return. "We have... but haven't we talked about this-"

"Shh!" Vortex interrupted. "Yer not lettin' me finish." 

Wheeljack tried to give him a hard stare, but it was difficult with his fuzzy processor. "Vee, are you even gonna remember any of this by tomorrow?"

There was a drawn out pause while Vortex thought over his answer. By the amount of time it was taking him, though, Wheeljack was sure the answer would be 'no'.

With a shrug, Vortex grinned. And without his mask on, it could be seen as well as heard in his voice. "Weeeell, that's why ya gotta listen an' remember for me."

One exasperated sigh and roll of the optics later, Wheeljack had set his cube of highgrade down on the worktable he'd cleared off for them to use. He propped up his helm with one hand, placing his elbow on the table, and turning towards his companion. With his free hand, he gestured to Vortex, "Well go on then, let's hear it."

"We come a looong way, haven't we Wheelie?" Vortex started again.

"Yeaaah," Wheeljack replied, not entirely sure where this was going.

"Like, I attacked you an' all that when we met."

"Yeah."

"An' 'm pretty sure ya didn't like me at all for a while."

"This going anywhere?"

Vortex tried and failed at glaring in a remotely menacing way. "What 'm sayin' is, we've done a lot. An' some of it was pretty funny, too." Who knew Wheeljack could actually be funny if he tried? Granted, there were still plenty of times it was unintentional. "We should like... write a book or somethin'."

There was another long pause.

"A book?" Wheeljack repeated.

"Yeah, it'd be funny."

It was then suddenly and irrevocably clear to Wheeljack just how intoxicated he was, because his first thought was that that sounded like a good idea. And that meant this was a bad idea. Quite possibly a very bad idea.

Yet here he was, nodding in agreement. "We have done some... interesting things." With a sly grin, he met Vortex's optics with his own, an amused glint in them. "Do I get to mention how you're a 'pretty princess'?" He failed to hold back his laughter as he remembered that whole incident.

Vortex, however didn't find it nearly as funny. He sneered, "Whatever, laugh it up. Jus' remember how long it took ya ta clean up all that pink gunk Dep left for ya."

And that's how the rest of the night went, the pair going back and forth, bringing up memories of their misadventures, and ideas for future ones. They didn't bother writing any of it down then, as the drunken writing would've probably been impossible to decipher once they'd sobered up.