#mooncee

Which, okay. It's not actually all that long of a wait, she can admit, certainly not in the grand scheme of a Cybertronian's lifespan. But the two weeks until her next deployment isn't all that long either and she was here first. Sort of. Almost. Arcee had been in Moonracer's sights, walking along the expanse of her position on the edge of the construction zone at the perfect angle to be casually bumped into. With that to focus on, how was she supposed to have noticed the other two before they launched themselves out of their alt modes and crowded Arcee with low, excited whispers? Why were they even in the construction zone? Not for the same reason as Moonracer, surely…

Before the possibility can make her too anxious, Blurr and Hot Rod finally take whatever hint Arcee has been giving them. Exchanging a few last words that make Arcee laugh again and shake a friendly fist, they throw themselves back into their alt modes and hurry away, not without Arcee calling after them to mind how they drove.

This is Moonracer's chance.

She doesn't drive or even run but she does make her way more quickly this time, just in case. Not so quick as to not look casual. Of course, that's probably shot anyway, since there's no way Arcee didn't notice her hanging around and staring at stacks of building materials for the last five minutes and she knows Moonracer isn't on the construction crew. Yeah, probably best not to sabotage herself by taking too long for no reason, actually. Moonracer breaks into a jog to cover the last few meters between them.

"Arcee, good morning!" she calls as she comes close.

"'Morning, Moonracer," Arcee says. There's a teasing edge to the warm tone of her voice, something knowing that makes Moonracer almost understand why Blurr and Hot Rod might've been put out. "What brings you out this way?"

"Oh, you know," says Moonracer. "Just passing by." She feels unaccountably shy under the twinkling of those optics that seem to be staring through her own, right down into her spark. She cycles cool air over her rapidly heating internals and rallies herself; looks Arcee once-over and says, "You're looking good today."

Arcee blurts out a laugh, her hand chasing her mouth as she throws her head back with the force of it. Not exactly what Moonracer had been going for. Her plating goes flat against her protoform and she can feel her own smile fall away.

"Guard duty must really look good on me," Arcee says once her outburst has passed, polite affection laced with amusement. "You're not the first person to say that to me today." Her smile twitches into a grin and she leans close as if to share a secret. "You're not going to be the first person I let use the construction zone as an obstacle course either." One of her optics flashes in a wink. "Sorry, 'Racer. You might still catch the other two, not that I know anything about--"

Moonracer's jaw drops open and a gasp jumps into the air between them. It's all she can do to keep her fans from spinning up in response to a flash of mortification, immediate and hot in her circuits.

"I would never--" she starts, stopping herself with a thoughtful look towards the construction equipment. "Well, actually, I guess--" She gives her head a quick shake and, not able to keep from pouting, insists, "But I'm not!"

Arcee looks at her with her mouth rounded into a little o, the sparkle of laughter gone from her optics. She looks, at least, as if Moonracer's sincerity has made some kind of impression on her. But she also looks puzzled and Moonracer feels herself deflate a little under her scrutiny, gentle as it is. Still unable to reconfigure her face out of its childish expression, she looks sharply aside. She's probably not doing anything to raise herself in Arcee's esteem right now-- especially grating now that she knows that she apparently doesn't rate very high to begin with-- but that just makes her pout harder.

It's only about ten seconds of silence before Moonracer can't take it anymore, though. She glances quickly back at Arcee, then away again, and says, "I just wanted to tell you that you look good today."

"Thank you," Arcee says slowly. Moonracer risks another glance and finds Arcee looking down at herself. This close, Moonracer notices the light scratches and faint scuffs that Arcee either hadn't had time or hadn't taken time to buff out before her shift. Arcee runs a finger over one of the more prominent ones, high on a forearm guard, and when she meets Moonracer's optics this time, she's the one who looks uncertain. "I haven't… done anything, though?"

Maybe this whole fiasco can still be salvaged. Confidence boosted now that she's not the only one off her guard, Moonracer stands up straight and makes her plating relax and says with a smile, "Yeah, I know. It's just that I always think you look good."

Arcee resets her optics over another little o. Then that little o stretches out into a smile and there's laughter in her voice when she asks, "Are you trying to flirt with me, Moonracer?"

"Trying!?" Moonracer sputters. Her engines lets off a series of indignant hiccups when that makes Arcee outright laugh again-- not cruelly or incredulously, though, and Moonracer holds tight to that. "I am flirting! And if you'd stop laughing at me, I'd be asking you for a date by now!"

"Sorry, sorry," Arcee says, though the laughter is still there in her optics. "It's just-- while I'm on duty?"

"Well, it's the only time I can ever find you without your team," Moonracer says in a huff, followed by a subvocal mutter of, "usually." Her lips actually twitch up at the little huff of laughter that gets. "So, um. What do you think? I haven't got a shift today. After yours, maybe we can drive out to the lake together? I don't know if you've seen Earth's sunsets yet…?"

"I have," Arcee says. "They're beautiful." Her smile this time is soft and curious and she looks like she's seeing something else now when she looks at Moonracer, right through her own optics and into her spark. "I would love to see one with you."

"Great!" Moonracer says in a high enough pitch that she'd be embarrassed if she weren't spending so much of her energy being elated. "I'll pick you up at shift's end. Oh, or do you need to…?"

"No, I'm free then," Arcee says. She brushes away dust from the side of her helm and adds coyly, "As long as you really do think I look fine as I am, anyway."

"Of course," Moonracer says, practically vibrating. Distantly, she's aware that this is the perfect opportunity for a few good lines but her mind is already on the evening to come. Ugh-- she won't see Arcee again until evening. Not a long wait in the grand scheme of things-- she knows, she knows-- but, well. Without being too dramatic about it, how is she supposed to live until then? She has no shift or appointments or anything else to occupy her mind. She's got nothing to do but wallow and obsess--

"Until then," says Arcee, her expression knowing, "you might spend some time out on the far edge of the city ground, where they haven't cleared for working on."

Moonracer tips her head at that and asks, "Why? Is there something going on that way?"

Arcee shrugs, all too casual, and says, "Oh, no-- nothing I know about, at least."

It takes a second for Moonracer to connect the dots. Then even when she does, she hesitates. Arcee just looks back at her, still affectionate, still curious, her hand still up beside her helm, putting that scuff on her forearm on full display. Moonracer spares a second to consider that maybe there'd been something she hadn't seen either, when she'd looked earlier into Arcee's optics-- only a second, though, and then she's folded down into her alt and peeling out towards the ends of Autobot City's bounds.

"Careful!" Arcee calls like she means the way she's driving.

Moonracer stared slack-jawed at the scoreboard, checking and rechecking her processor for errors. Every diagnostic came back clean. She'd lost.

She'd lost her best event by one point.

Part of her was aware of Powerglide trying to console her. Most of her was fixated on the bot walking towards her, pink and white plating gleaming under the stadium lights and blue eyes gleaming above a deceptively soft smile.

"Nice shooting!" Arcee called as she neared. "I hope I'll see more of you during the Games."

"How about now?" Moonracer blurted.

Powerglide sputtered ("typical!") but Arcee's smile widened.