Work Text:
Meet me in our habsuite in five kliks, Rodimus said, sending the message out to Drift.
Anxiety was filling up his field. He was so worried about how Drift would react to what he was planning, after all they've been through. After Rodimus abandoned him; let him leave. He was haunted by the possibility that Drift would deny him.
He passed around the room for about two kliks, forcing himself to sit down for the other three. He pulled his laser pen out of his subspace and pushed the table cloth back, and absentmindedly drew across the surface.
Drawing calmed him, he could just relax and let his pen flow over the metal, making elaborate designs. Before, he had drawn the map to Cyberutopia, but it felt different now. This time it wasn't just a map, it was his love. It was Drift that he had drawn.
Rodimus smiled down at his work, but then his audials picked up on someone approaching the door. He flattened the table cloth out again, covering his art, and threw the laser pen back into his subspace.
Drift opened the door, and Rodimus noticed how beautiful he was, as he always did.
Drift's optics widened, his mouth falling slightly open when he saw what was arranged. Had Rodimus set this up? There was a small table, draped in a velvet cloth, the lights dimmed in a way that gave the room a peaceful and romantic feel.
His optics moved to Rodimus. Oh, Primus, how beautiful he looked! His painting gleamed, his optics were astonishing, and the smile he gave Drift as he entered was brighter than a star.
"Hey, Drift," he said sheepishly, getting up to pull out a chair. He gestured.
Drift walked forward, surprise and joy glowing in his field. "Thank you, Rodimus."
Rodimus sat down at the opposite end. "No problem." He lifts the bottle he had bought off of Swerve, what the bartender considered his finest wine, and poured it into the glasses. He handed one to Drift, and took the other for himself.
He tilted his glass forwards. "To friendship. And love."
"To friendship and love."
Their glasses clink together, and they share a smile. Drift's always manages to take Rodimus's breath away.
He watched Drift for a reaction as the swordsmech sips his drink, since he had yet to taste the wine. Drift dims his optics, EM field pulsating his feelings on it: delicious.
"So, I'm assuming Swerve has a good taste in wine? I asked him for recommendations," Rodimus says, taking a sip for himself. It's wonderful, sparking his taste sensors in a delightful way.
"Definitely," Drift says. "I haven't had wine this good since my days with the Circle of Light." Drift recalls his days there, sharing smoothly sweet drinks with Wing. He also remembers the favored type of Decepticon engex, burning and strong. He definitely knows which one he likes better. "I'm happy I get to share it with you."
"So am I," Rodimus blushes slightly.
They drink in silence, not only the wine but each other's presence. They've missed each other, and it shows. The way Rodimus looks at his boyfriend, or when Drift brushes servos with him in the hallway. And vice versa. Everyone can see that they missed and love each other.
"What inspired you to do this, Rodimus?" Drift asks. "It was very sudden."
"Exactly," Rodimus says. "I wanted to surprise you. I also wanted to try and make up for lost time." Rodimus withholds the real reason he planned this, Drift still has one more surprise waiting for him.
Drift smiles. "It was a wonderful surprise, Rodimus. Thank you."
"My pleasure," Rodimus sips from his glass. Drift's optics stare at him, puzzled.
"What's wrong, Roddy? You seem nervous," Drift observes. He noticed it since he sat down, but waiting to say something about it.
"Oh!" Rodimus says. "It's nothing. I just have something to ask you."
Drift looks at him, optics gentle and patient. He places his servo over Rodimus's, and Rodimus turns so their palms touch. In hand, he says three words: I love you.
The captain gets up from his seat, and walks over to Drift. He kneels at Drift's feet, and takes the servo that's still wrapped in his and presses his lips to it.
"Drift, in everything we've been through together, I've never been alone with you by my side. Even when you were gone, the memory of you kept me going. You forgave me for everything I've done, for abandoning you, and I'm thankful for that. You're my best friend, my partner...so, Drift, will you be my conjunx endura?"
There are tears in Drift's optics. He pushes his chair aside and hugs Rodimus tightly. "Yes, yes, a million times, yes!"
When Drift pulls back, he looks into Rodimus's beautiful optics and then pulls him into a deep kiss.
~ Act of Intimacy ~
The music flows gently throughout the room, emitting from the sleek player in the corner of the room.
Rodimus's servo clasps with Drift's, Drift's other servo resting on Rodimus's shoulder. Rodimus places his on Drift's hip, rubbing it in light circles with his thumb.
Their helms press together, an intimate form of Cybertronian affection. Joy radiates from both of their EM fields. Drift's smile is contagious, soon one finds its way onto Rodimus's face as well.
"I see that you remember how much I like dancing."
"Of course I do," Rodimus says. "I know you better than I know myself."
Drift kisses him lightly on the lips. "You flatter me."
"That's because you deserve to be flattered, babe."
Drift's face turns bright pink with Energon, and he buries his face in the captain's shoulder. Rodimus can always make him blush.
Rodimus laughs lightly at Drift's reaction.
"It's okay, Drift, it's only the truth."
Drift looks up at Rodimus with stars in his optics. Rodimus realizes, then, that this mech, this gorgeous and talented and utterly amazing mech agreed to be his conjunx endura. His bonded. Agreed to spend the rest of his life with Rodimus. Him!
Oh, Rodimus feels over the moon.
"Rodimus?" Drift asks, cocking his head to the side.
"Yeah? I..." he kisses Drift. "Just...love...you...very...much." He punctuates each word with a deep kiss, leaving Drift's fans spinning afterwards.
"I love you too, Roddy," Drift says, voice breathy. "So, so much."
The song filters out, and they transition from dancing to simply holding each other close, whispering proclamations or love and kissing.
~ Act of Disclosure ~
"Drift, after letting you go, which is the worst decision I have made, and after I told the crew about Overlord, I held a vote. For whether or not I should stay captain," Rodimus paused, sighing. "Eighty-nine out of one hundred one mechs said I shouldn't. I'm still here, captain of a ship of people who don't even think I should lead them."
Drift listened carefully to his story. He still had much to catch up on, and this is the kind of details that don't belong in a brief summary. He sees the pain and regret in Rodimus's optics, the same things he feels when he looks back on his time as Deadlock. He reaches for Rodimus's hand, and squeezes.
"Later, Atomizer gave me a list: all the people who voted against me. He said that that way I could easily eliminate the people who didn't want me and keep a crew of believers. I said no, but I kept the list. I actually debated whether or not I should follow through. It should not have been a choice for me; but I thought it was," he shook his head. "The first things I did as captain since you left and they weren't at all okay."
Rodimus's helm had drooped down, and Drift puts a servo under his chin and pushes his head up. He sighs.
"You don't love someone because they are perfect, or else no one would ever be loved, you love them through all their flaws and mistakes," Drift says. He presses his forehead to Rodimus's, an intimate form of affection on Cybertron. "And you know how much I love you."
"Thank you, Drift."
~ Act of Profference ~
Rodimus rolled the ring between his fingertips, inspecting it. It was beautiful, a ring he thought would be appropriately wonderful for Drift. It was a glowing red beauty, a mutual color in both of their color schemes. He stored his own in his subspace.
He tucked the ring away into its small, sanded down metal box, pushing it in to the velvet padding. He tucked that into his subspace as well.
He found Drift on the bridge, staring out the window. Members of the crew conversed around him, and Rodimus made his way through them to Drift.
"Hey, baby," he said, kissing Drift softly.
"Hello, Roddy," Drift smiles. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, just wanted to see my amazing fiancé," Rodimus gleamed. "And I wanted to give you something."
He gets down onto one knee, and everyone's attention slowly diverts to the two of them. He fishes the metal containers out of his subspace and pops the lid.
"To finish the third act of Conjunx Ritus, the act of profference, I give you this ring, Drift, as a symbol of our love." Rodimus slides the ring onto Drift's digit, and Drift grins at him. Rodimus grins right back.
"Thank you, Rodimus, it's...beautiful."
"Just like you, Drift."
Everyone is quiet. They had absolutely no idea of the process Drift and Rodimus had already ungone.
Rodimus pulls himself upwards as a series of claps resonates throughout the room. Megatron comes to the front of the crowd, and says what Rodimus had said to him after the co-captain's speech on the Necrobot's planet.
"Well said."
~ Act of Devotion ~
It's late at night when Rodimus comes through the door to theirhabsuite. He just finished up in the bridge and he's tired; but happy as ever to see Drift after a long day.
"Hi...Drift?" He asks, seeing his fiancé standing in ring of lit candles in a pitch black room. His spark casing is pulled back, his red spark out in the open.
"Rodimus," Drift began. "As the final step in our path to conjunx endura, I bare to you my spark, for you to cherish forever as a part of your own. I love you, Rodimus of Nyon, and will until the moment my spark no longer glows. But for now, let our sparks merge together as one."
Rodimus feels the lubricants well in his optics. He doesn't stop them. He stops forward slowly, and bares his own red spark, one that has carried the Matrix.
He's right in front of Drift now, and he finds his digits reaching out to caress Drift's lovely spark. He looks up and stares into Drift's optics.
"I love you."
They take each other's servos, and Drift asks him, "Are you ready?"
"Yes. So ready."
Then, Drift gently pushes his spark into Rodimus's. An explosion of beautiful crimson light illuminates the room. Drift sees Rodimus's face in the light, tilted backwards at the sensation.
They've gone so far, been through so much, and Drift is absolutely astonished that they're sitting here, merely minutes away from becoming official conjunx endura and spark-bonded. He silently thanks Primus for such a gracious gift.
Drift hugs Rodimus close, kissing him gently but desperately. Their sparks push together, pleasurably, and pieces of the sparks swirl around each other like moons around planets and planets around stars. It mind's well be just that; they both mean the galaxy to each other.
When their sparks finally retract back into their casings, they both collapse onto the floor, holding each other tightly.
"I love you," Drift says, "my conjunx."
Rodimus's ecstatic spark skips. Drift was his fragging conjunx endura.
"I love you, too, Drift," Rodimus replies, breathless. "More than anything."
Rodimus of Nyon and Drift of Rodion are conjunx endura at last.