Disclaimer: Still not mine, still not making any money off of this. So is life I suppose.

Thanks to yankeeesailor for beta'ing and for egging me on to write a sequel. We both agreed that possessive!Hound is extremely hot and thus this bunny was born.

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as certain dark things are loved,

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

--Pablo Neruda

Spring was in the air, the birds were singing, the world was awakening from its long winter and life was coming back to the Earth. Animals were bearing their young and all around them, life resonated in the very air. Instead of enjoying this season of new beginnings and happiness, Hound was troubled. It wasn't a state of mind he particularly enjoyed being in or experiencing. In truth, he didn't know why he was so upset over it because in the grand scale of things, his miniscule problems were nothing when compared to those of the whole.

Compared to some of his fellow Autobots, he was truly blessed. Living on a world he loved with a mech he was coming to realize he loved as well. Even with the war looming over their heads, Hound could not ignore the fact that he'd truly lucked out. Yet despite all the blessings, Hound was troubled by a simple fact.

For all the happiness he and Mirage had shared over the past few months, Hound was beginning to think his lover was ashamed by him. He knew he was being paranoid and over-sensitive, and on a logical level, that made sense. But Mirage pulling away from him every time someone walked into the commissary or the noble-mech dropping his hand at the slightest noise was beginning to wear on Hound.

The Jeep had never been the type of mech to suffer from a lack of self-assurance or over-abundance of ego but even he was beginning to feel shaky and uncertain about where he stood with Mirage. Not being the type to beat around the bush however, Hound decided it was time to confront his lover about it. If Mirage truly was ashamed to be seen with him or if he just wanted to keep him hidden away like some dirty secret then he wanted to get it out in the open now.

Hound cared for Mirage, probably loved him, but he refused to be part of relationship where he was viewed as nothing more than a shameful little secret. Primus but it was just killing his spark to even think about this. But he just couldn't continue to live some kind of lie.

So that night, once he and Mirage had retreated to the spy's quarters, Hound paced the room for a few moments as he tried to arrange his thoughts into one cohesive argument.

"Hound? Are you alright?" Mirage was in tune with his lover's moods for the most part and noticed immediately that something was eating at the green mech. "What's wrong?" Concern colored his tone as apprehension curled about his spark like a tangible vice.

"I…" Grimacing slightly, Hound turned to face Mirage. A grim and unhappy expression filled the normally light-sparked mech's faceplates. Mirage took one look at Hound's expression and felt as if the air had been knocked out of his intakes.

Assuming the worst, the spy fell back numbly onto his recharge berth. 'Is this it? Is he tired of me already?' Mirage wondered despairingly. 'Oh Primus, I need to calm down. Don't say anything, just calm down, Mirage.'

"W-What is it, Hound?"

Making an inarticulate noise of frustration, Hound stalked across the room and knelt down in front of him. "Are you ashamed of me?" Hound finally asked. He'd given up any pretenses at being subtle about asking. It just wasn't in his nature and for once, Hound was too impatient to string things out. He wanted an honest, straight answer and he wanted it now!

"Wait…what?" Mirage was at a loss. That had not been what he'd expected Hound to say.

"Are you ashamed by me? By our being together."

"No!" Outraged now, Mirage reached out and grabbed him by the hands so he could pull him up. "I could never be ashamed by you!" The bright, surprised color of his optics told Hound this wasn't some pretense or façade put on for his benefit.

"Then why don't you want the others to know about us?" Two months of confusion and pain poured out of Hound in that simple accusation. "You always pull away when someone comes into the room and you won't touch me outside of our quarters or places where we know no one will show up. It's as if you're ashamed to be seen with me. Like you want our relationship to be some kind of dirty little secret." Hurt and bitterness touched his voice as he stated those hurried and vulnerable words.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, that's not it at all, I swear to you. I could never be ashamed of us." Mirage's pale fingers moved to cup Hound's face tenderly. "But I could not bear to see you get caught in the backlash of my bad reputation. I'm trying to protect you."

"Protect me?!"

"Yes! Do you know what some of the other 'bots would say to you if they knew you and I were involved? All the horrible, nasty things they'd say about you to your face or behind your back? At best they'll just say you're naïve and I seduced you but at worst…well, I don't even want to think about it."

"I'm not afraid of a few nasty rumors, Mirage." Hound grabbed his wrists and held on to them. "Why should I care what they say? I know the truth and that's what matters. Nothing those fraggers could come up with will change the way I feel about you. But not being able to touch you whenever I want to is driving me insane."

"Hound…"

"Frag them, Mirage. Why should we let a few bitter idiots stand in our way? I love you and I'm not afraid to show it." The words were out before he'd even thought about it. They'd been floating around in his processor for weeks now but he hadn't meant to just blurt them out like some untried school-mech.

He could tell by Mirage's wide-optics and surprised expression that he'd shocked his lover. They had never really talked about love or expressed the emotion that welled up between them when they were together. Two more experienced mechs might have recognized the beginnings of a bonding but neither Mirage nor Hound had ever truly been attached to another mech as they were to one another.

"I mean it," Hound stated firmly. A strange little beatific smile crossed his face then. "I really do mean it."

Mirage looked pensive for a moment but then he slid his arms around Hound's neck and pulled him close. The tracker was surprised to find the blue mech was trembling slightly. He knew how messed up and repressive a Sparkhood Mirage had grown up with. To be honest, he suspected his lover had never really had anyone tell him he was loved or cherished so he wasn't too surprised at how much three simple words could affect the former noble-mech. It just saddened Hound to think that Mirage had lived for so long without the knowledge that anyone had ever truly loved him.

"I love you, Mirage," Hound repeated firmly, with more confidence this time. The Jeep made a silent vow to himself to tell Mirage that every single day until the mech believed him when he said those words. "I love you—"

Mirage kissed him then and stopped all further conversation with a desperate sort of need and drive for affection. Their argument now forgotten, the two mechs sank down onto the recharge berth and proceeded to communicate their feelings in a far more familiar, and pleasurable, method.

Later that week, Hound had come to a decision on his own. Sure, Mirage might be upset with him and outraged at his high-handed methods but Hound wasn't going to let the fear of disapproval keep him from loving the spy. Especially when it was the disapproval of mechs whose opinions he didn't even care for all that much anyway.

Hound didn't like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker and he had little patience for Cliffjumper and his lot of vicious minibots. The tracker didn't like bullies in general, especially when they picked on someone he cared for.

So one day, Hound stalked into the commissary when it was at its busiest and walked right up to Mirage. The spy was seated near the back at a table with his fellow Special Ops team. Almost as if he could sense him coming, Mirage looked up at Hound and blue optics widened when he caught the determined look on the scout's face.

Across the room, Cliffjumper elbowed Brawn and pointed at the unfolding tableau. "Looks like Hound's about to kick his aft," The red minibot whispered to his companion. "I wonder what he did to piss him off?"

"Dunno."

Behind them, Trailbreaker's large black form stirred and he tore his attention away from the datapad he'd been reading.

Sideswipe laughed obnoxiously and propped his feet up on the table as he leaned back in his chair. He was always up for watching a free show.

Jazz looked up when he sensed tension suddenly radiating from Mirage. "Err…Hound?"

The scout didn't even seem to notice him. He just walked right up to Mirage as the spy leapt out of his chair and to his feet. Metal scraped across metal as the chair was kicked out of the way. For one brief moment, it did look like the mechs were going to come to blows as Hound pressed Mirage against the wall and pinned him there.

Silence reigned in the room for one breathless moment.

Then the tracker leaned down and kissed Mirage hungrily. A surprised noise was pulled from the spy but he didn't fight his lover as Hound ravaged his mouth in a distinctly possessive and aggressive manner.

Sideswipe's chair tipped backwards and he crashed to the ground as Cliffjumper stared at the two mechs with unadulterated shock.

A loud wolf-whistle came from Wheeljack though no one was quite sure how the inventor managed to make the sound. Jazz just burst out laughing along with Bumblebee at the shocked expressions all around. It was hard to keep a secret from a spy and the two mechs had known about Mirage and Hound's relationship almost from the get-go.

His point thoroughly made, Hound finally pulled away enough to frame Mirage's face in his hands and brushed his lips against Mirage's tenderly. "Mine," he whispered hoarsely, lips brushing the spy's. The slightly bemused spy just blinked his optics and nodded numbly. "Mine," Hound repeated more firmly and loud enough to be heard by the others.

With that, he stepped back and laced his fingers through Mirage's. The spy let himself be pulled along out of the commissary though reason was beginning to flood back into his optics. "I can't believe you just did that," he hissed softly at the green mech. Pleasure and embarrassment mingled within him until he didn't know if he should be amused or shocked at Hound's rather aggressive behavior.

"I figured that if they were going to talk, I might as well give them something to talk about." The scout grinned unrepentantly at his lover.

After the two had left the commissary, everyone started talking at once. It was an understated fact that the members of the Autobot cause were hopeless gossips and word of this little scene was just wife with material for the gossip-vine.

"Man, can ya believe that?" Cliffjumper muttered and rubbed at his optics, almost as if he didn't believe what he'd just seen. "What the frag is a mech like Hound doing with Mirage of all 'bots."

"I dunno." Brawn shrugged. "Not sure I want to know, really."

"I'd have thought Hound had a little more taste then tha-WOAH." Cliffjumper found himself yanked out of his chair and high in the air by a suddenly growling Trailbreaker. The huge black mech wasn't the fastest of 'bots but he could certainly be intimidating when he chose to be.

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, Cliffjumper," Trailbreaker growled and turned him around to glare at the minibot with a flashing optic visor. "Hound is my friend and I won't hear of you or anyone else slurring his reputation with your filthy words. We're all getting sick and tired of listening to you put down other mechs just because it makes you feel better about yourself."

"What the slag, 'Breaker!" Cliffjumper yelped and kicked wildly.

"Stop it. You got a problem with Hound, you're going to have to go through me." The normally likeable and sweet black mech sounded so menacing and angry at that point. He dropped Cliffjumper and the minibot bounced off the table with a sharp clang.

Trailbreaker glowered at the other minibots for a moment before turning on his heel and stalking out of the commissary as well. But he walked off in the opposite direction from the two lovers.

"Well, that's 'bout enough excitement for me fer one night." Jazz broke the startled silence and tossed back the remains of his own cube of energon.

"Where are you headed? I thought we were going to play poker tonight?" Bumblebee asked in confusion.

"Eh, can I take a raincheck?"

"Yeah, sure." Visibly confused, the yellow Beetle shrugged and waved at the black and white Porsche. "I'll talk to you later, Jazz."

"Catcha later, Bee!" Whistling to himself, Jazz left the room and walked lazily in the direction of Prowl's office. Knowing the Datsun, Prowl would still be hard at work and would be just about due for a distraction. Feeling oddly frisky, Jazz contemplated the odds of pulling off a move like Hound's. The look on his bondmate's face would be hilarious but Prowl was too stodgy to let him get away with it. And his wrath just wasn't worth the minor thrill Jazz would get from molesting him in front of everyone.

Sighing regretfully, Jazz had to resign himself to the fact that Prowl just wasn't the most adventurous or demonstrative of 'bots whenever he was around anyone else. The tactician had a preconceived notion of how people were supposed to view him and unfortunately, making out with his bondmate in front of Primus and everyone else was not on the list of acceptable behavior.

Oh well, he'd always find some other way to sneak in some kind of molestation on Prowl. The saboteur couldn't really help himself. Prowl was just too cute and irresistible when he was concentrating on his reports and had that studious air of concentration around him. Grinning in anticipation, Jazz made sure no one was in the hallway as he let himself silently into Prowl's office. The Datsun was so caught up in his reading that he barely stirred when the door opened. This gave Jazz plenty of time to lock the door and sneak up behind Prowl.

Moments later, a rather undignified yelp could be heard coming from the second-in-command's office followed by a loud clank. Then nothing and no one saw either black and white for the rest of the evening.

All around the Ark, rumors of new and old romances started to abound. Some were right, some were wrong. The stories just grew wilder with each retelling as gossip was wont to do. All in all, it was just another night in the Ark.