Will didn't know what was worse: the bruises visible all over his body or the accompanying pain. As hard as it was to bruise him, the damage told the story of the fight.

No holds barred. No one had held back.

Wincing, he looked at the badly bruised wrists. Scrapper had clamped down hard enough that he would have easily snapped off a human hand. Very easily. Will's wrists had withstood the force, simply showing dark red and bluish black bruises. As did his back, his hip, one leg, and there was a big one right across his cheek.

He looked like a boxer who had lost a fight.

Well, he had. Just no boxing involved.

Gingerly pulling on his shirt he bit back a hiss of pain. Someone took the hem of the shirt and pulled down gently. Part of Will wanted to be alarmed, another part somehow recognized the presence behind him. He turned and looked into the unnatural blue eyes of an otherwise perfectly human looking hologram. Ironhide regarded him calmly, not an ounce of anger in his demeanor. He reached out and touched the bruised cheek, trailing it gently down to his chin.

"Idiot," his partner said softly.

Will blinked. "What?"

"Taking them on."

Lennox stepped back, anger rising. "If you've come here to chew me out, don't waste energon on a hologram, Ironhide!" he snapped. "You can do that in your natural form."

Ironhide caught one arm, careful of the bruises.

"I'm not in need of a baby-sitter!" Lennox went on, clearly furious. "I can take care of myself! It was my decision! Mine alone! None of you get to talk me out of it! And if it's about them being Constructicons, just leave it! I know who they are and they help! I asked them, not the other way around! It was me alone!"

Ironhide tilted his head.

"They didn't do anything to me that I didn't ask for! The rules were clear! So just… don't even start with the ranting!"

"I didn't come here to 'chew you out'. I watched."

Will stopped, clearly caught off-guard, and stared. "What?"

"I watched the battle."

"Prime told you," the hybrid deduced flatly, feeling his temper hiss again.

The smirk was very human. "No. He honors a promise, but I'm chief of security. I know what's going on."

Lennox narrowed his eyes, not trying to free himself any more. "And you're not angry," he stated.

"And I'm not angry."

"Why?"

"As you said, I'm not your guardian."

He glared at the humanoid hologram.

"Your choice made sense," the weapons specialist added.

The frown deepened. Ironhide closed the distance once more.

"You need to train, against different opponents. Scrapper and his team gave you the opportunity to do that. I approve."

"You do." It wasn't a question at all.

Ironhide nodded.

"Me training with former Decepticons."

"Yes."

"Who are you and when did you lose your mind?"

Ironhide chuckled softly. "Would you rather have me yell at you?"

Will glared again. "Yeah, actually I do. That's normal. This… isn't."

"You have the right ideas, Will. You need to know what you can do. "But taking on all five at once," he added, the smirk back, "was a bit excessive."

Lennox shrugged, wincing again. "Shit," he whispered.

Ironhide touched him again in a very human way, running an open palm over his uninjured cheek. "Give yourself the time to heal."

"Oh, you bet I will."

They both knew that any other human being would have been dead already. The pounding Will had taken in all his forms would have torn him apart had he been a mere human. But he wasn't. He was a hybrid and he was growing in battle strength and resiliency.

Ironhide bridged the last gap and place a kiss onto Will's lips.

"You trying something, Hide?" Lennox said softly, grinning as far as the bruise let him painlessly.

"Not now. This is just a promise for later."

Will felt energy thrum through him, an echo of the hardlight form. He might be wiped, but Ironhide himself had probably accumulated too much energy just watching the battle.

"Later," he heard himself echo.

It was a promise.

Ironhide accompanied him to the privacy of his human-sized room and Will briefly wondered how close the mech was, but then his battered body reminded him that a bed was preferable to the -- albeit comfortable -- interior of a Topkick. Fully clothed, but sans shoes, he gingerly lay down, not the least bit surprised that his partner stayed.

"Bed's big enough," he offered sleepily.

"You're hurt."

"Stop being an idiot and get in," Will muttered.

Ironhide raised an eyebrow in a very human manner, then slipped smoothly behind Will. He carefully wrapped his arms around the slender hybrid and Lennox felt himself relax. A sigh escaped him and he felt sleep drag him down.

The last thing he felt was a gentle kiss against the nape of his neck.

Yeah, Ironhide had been downloading stuff again, he mused, then there was only the nothingness of a dreamless sleep.

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Ironhide didn't need sleep. His projection wasn't human or even remotely close to humanoid. It was simply a hardlight holographic rendering of a life-form that allowed him a different kind of interaction with his partner.

A very pleasurable interaction sometimes, he mused with a grin.

Watching Will sleep he felt pride rise inside him. Lennox had proven what was hiding inside him today. Watching the fight Ironhide had seen how far the hybrid had come, and with some more training he might have lasted longer. Of course it had been foolish to ask for five Constructicons to chase him down, but sometimes humans were prone to rash decisions.

So were Cybertronians, he thought ruefully, remembering all those Academy freshmen who had been too cocky, too sure of themselves. Will wasn't a novice. He had human training, he had learned from Ironhide and the others, but he was proud and confident and he knew he had to keep on developing; evolving.

The runes were quiet, barely there, invisible to the naked eye on most exposed areas, but Ironhide could almost feel the collected energy running down Will's spine. It was where the stationary runes resided. Touching those areas of skin had incredibly pleasurable effects on them both. The feedback was amazing and Ironhide felt his spark shiver at the memories.

Taking in the bruises he calmed himself. Lennox wasn't up for anything more strenuous than sleep. They had time. All the time in the world.

Keeping watch over the sleeping form, Ironhide still kept scanners peeled on their surroundings. The Constructicons were healing, two of them were already working on models of the Ark again, and Scrapper had briefly come by, talking to his alt mode, and Ironhide had found he could interact with the former Decepticon more easily than he ever had with Barricade. Maybe it was because there was a difference between the two: Barricade had actively chosen the Decepticon side. Scrapper and his team had been reprogrammed and forced onto a side.

Big difference.

A lone rune flickered over the bare forearm closest to Ironhide and he smiled a little as it disappeared once more. Aligning his body with Will's, feeling the stationary rune tattoo on his partner's back respond to the hardlight field, he let himself enjoy the physical closeness.

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Will met up with the Constructicons twelve hours later, feeling a lot better after a long shower, breakfast and a pot of coffee that was strong enough to peel paint. All looked like nothing had happened, the superficial damaged repaired.

"Thanks, guys," he repeated what he had said before.

Scrapper inclined his head. "It was our pleasure. You have a unique style, Will. Still, I'd advise to take us on slowly."

He smiled wryly. "Yeah, learned that. But it was an experience that I needed."

"You're not bad," the Constructicon leader told him seriously. "You can hold your own against an enemy. If you should choose to, we'll train with you again. For now we're heading back up to the Ark for another ten days."

"All of you?"

"Yes. The next phase has started and all of us are needed."

He glanced over to where Hook was bickering with Long Haul over what looked like a 3-D holographic wire model of a section of the Ark's engine's. From the sharp gesturing, Hook wasn't happy. Scrapper's visor band flashed with a smile of amusement.

"Even if some of the team can't understand that the finer points of art are lost on a battle station."

"I heard that!" Hook growled, glaring at his leader.

"Of course."

Will smiled a little at the exchange. He had a rudimentary knowledge of those five. Ratchet had told him that though the combiner mind no longer existed and they couldn't form Devastator ever again – now missing all the connections – the Modulator had left connections of a different kind that the medic hadn't been able to erase. Scrapper and Hook shared such a connection, though Ratchet had been vague what kind of connection it was. Scavenger seemed to be unable to pick up anything from any of his team mates, Mixmaster had a vague sense of him, though. Long Haul refused to talk about the matter.

"I might take you up on that offer," Lennox now only said.

Scrapper nodded once more, then joined the bickering mechs. Will just walked out of the underground base. Ironhide was already waiting for him and to his surprise, so was Scavenger.

Wish I had a camera, he mused. Ironhide and a former Decepticon standing peacefully side by side, and his partner showed barely any tension.

Wow.

"Ready?" he asked the weapons specialist.

Ironhide transformed and opened the driver side door. "Ready."

"Scavenger, thanks for the help," Lennox addressed the huge mech.

"My pleasure. Thank you for agreeing to it."

Will got into the cab of the Topkick and waved, then Ironhide took off down the dirt road that would lead them back to YPG central. He would come back, he knew. To train on his own, to work on control techniques, to attempt to reabsorb already collected energy without blowing himself into a mountain side, and to repeat the battle game.

Ironhide was silent for the time Will was running those thoughts through his head, and he was only startled out of his musings when the Autobot pulled over, off the road and behind an old gas station that had been abandoned a long time ago.

The hologram formed and Lennox shot the blue-eyed man a quizzical look.

"I'm proud," Ironhide rumbled. "Of you. Your achievements. Your courage."

Surprised, the human hybrid didn't know what to say. Finally he managed a rather uneven, "Ironhide?"

The expression in the holographic face was steady. "I wanted you to know."

"Uh, okay."

A tremor passed through the metal body and Will recognized the need to release that energy. He smiled a little in understanding and when Ironhide's hand brushed over the string of glyphs currently winding around one forearm, he didn't pull back. Will had learned to adjust to his partner's sudden bouts of experimental moods. And he knew just how much Ironhide got out of the contact between condensed holographic light and Allspark runes. Especially the ones on his back.

Clothes were shed because unhindered contact with the runes was good. Naked was good. Strong hands pushed him back and Will let his partner lead. Something neither human nor Cybertronian was happening between them, something only for them, something that involved bright glyphs and runes, energy coursing over the holographic form, and the shudder of the metal body around them. The windows were dark, no one could see a thing, and in the approaching night the black Topkick was perfectly hidden. Anyone seeing the vehicle shudder on its shocks would have been curious and bemused. Will, who felt that energy race through him, annihilating thoughts and leaving only intense feelings, didn't care at all. He simply needed. He needed Ironhide. He needed this. He felt his need reflected with such force, it took the last shred of sanity away, and Ironhide's low keen pushed him over the edge. Runes flared brightly and his partner rocked hard, caught in the feedback.

The hologram flickered badly, then the human appearance faded to black. Only the inhumanly blue eyes were still recognizable, the rest was a black bipedal form that reflected the cosmic code racing across Will's skin.

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The aftershocks were pleasure and pain. Will had no idea how Ironhide had been able to reconfigure the interior to create a leathery bed he could stretch out on, but apparently he had had an ounce of thought left.

He caught his breath, moaning softly as obsidian black fingers trailed over his spine. The eddies and ripples had his muscles convulse a little and the pleasure and pain signals drove him insane. Ironhide had discovered this peculiarity a few weeks ago. Will was highly sensitive after this kind of overload and the mech liked to gently torture him with it – because it created the same feedback in Ironhide. The pain wasn't really pain. It was pleasure. One that couldn't be turned into another overload because Lennox was exhausted, but it was teasingly good.

Ironhide hummed a little as Will turned on his back, the stationary tattoo out of immediate reach, and simply settled over the prone, naked form.

"Better?" Will asked lazily.

"Much."

"Good."

He turned onto his stomach again, giving Ironhide ample opportunity to give into his fascination with the tattoo. As the sensitivity decreased, it was a lazy, patternless caress enjoyed by both.

Will had stopped thinking how different all of this made him, how much of what he had been had been lost. He simply went with the flow, wherever it took him.

"Thinking?" Ironhide rumbled, leaning over him, so solid, so real.

Will smiled into the leather, caught despite. "Kinda."

Not a bad kind of thinking. Not about the differences, but how being with Ironhide made him feel. How this was it, real and here and now. It was reassurance and safety, it was give and take, it was need and letting go. Ironhide, in his own unique way, had helped him deal with the changes. He didn't fear the runes any more. He didn't mind the need he had for the mech. He didn't care about what others might think of a human-robot relationship. This wasn't something that could be put into words.

A particular touch had Will shivering and he glanced over his shoulder, catching the mischievous glint in the blue depths.

They were different, yes. Age-wise, by origin, by culture, but they had found something together. They needed each other. He definitely needed his partner. If that made him weak, so be it. Lennox didn't feel weak. He didn't mind letting Ironhide lead. There were no roles in their encounters and each new step was a revelation for the both of them.

Comparing this with what he had had with Sarah wouldn't do either relationship justice. Major William Lennox had been human. Will Lennox was a hybrid.

Ironhide drew deft fingers up his spine to his shoulder blades, making him squirm and voice his pleasure in a gasped, "Ironhide!"

Damn those runes!

The cab resounded with the mech's chuckle.

"Not worn out enough?" Lennox challenged.

"Are you?"

Shit, what a stupid question! Runes flared in an answer he hadn't even formulated in his head that clearly and Ironhide hummed his approval. They didn't have to be anywhere right now and Will didn't care if they were. Energy collected in the runes and Ironhide shuddered.

"Evil," he murmured.

"Get used to it, Hide."

The hardlight hologram leaned forward, catching his lips and he responded automatically. Pushing the palm of one hand flat against the obsidian chest, pulses of runes making Ironhide moan. He liked that sound. He liked the Here and Now. He wouldn't change his past for anything.

Ever.

Will's world turned white with the approaching overload and he let himself fall. In his mind a word rose, but it didn't fit them. It was a human description for a human relationship. They were more.

He whispered Ironhide's name in perfect Cybertronian, heard his own echoed in the mech's own tongue. Will smiled; content, happy, home wherever Ironhide was.

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Hope it was worth the wait!

fin for this story