shadow_vector | Beauty

G
Bayverse: Sky and Ground AU
Barricade, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker
no warnings, just fluff

Written for

tf_speedwriting prompt 'beauty' (obviously)

Barricade had never seen anything so beautiful and he ached that he’d never be able to take part in it. Skywarp and Starscream were tearing across the open sky of the small planet, solar light sparkling off their wings as they spun and wheeled against the backdrop of palest green. They spun in a dizzying spiral, chasing each other, their engines roaring in sheer joy and their own power and skill. His optics were glued to the spectacle, entranced, his head tracking them across the sky, sitting upright, his talons idly plucking at the wiry grass.

“Jealous?” Thundercracker said. The blue jet lounged on the grassy bank beside him.

“No,” Barricade lied. Of course he was. But not enough that he’d let it ruin anything. He’d rather be here, allowed to watch, and feel through the bond, than be anywhere else in the world. He felt the sunlight glossing off armor, cool air cutting over wings he did not have. More than that, though, he felt the pure, fierce, wild joy of flight, as airframes knew it—complete trust and mastery of their element, surrender and yet control, finely balanced. He felt the blaze of confidence, a magnification of the strength he felt from his own engines when he laid the throttle wide open.

Thundercracker tipped his head. “He’d take you up if you asked.”

Barricade’s optics shot over to him for a klik. “Don’t want to interrupt.” He wanted to watch. To feel. Just share any way he could. He did not want Skywarp to have to accommodate him—carry his weight or feel his fear of falling. Here, the ground solid under him, he could enjoy the lift and speed of flight, without the tendrils of fear that always came when he was in the air, especially in atmosphere. This was the best of both worlds for him.

Another long pause, Skywarp and Starscream diving down so low that air from their dive burst against Barricade and Thundercracker, laden with the aroma of burnt fuel and sunwarmed metal.

Skywarp waggled his wingflaps as he looped over for another, slower pass. Barricade responded the only way he knew: sending a burst of golden devotion through the bond, warm and thick and sweet, his mouth straining to contain a smile that bordered on tears at his pride and pleasure at Skywarp’s flight.

“You really love him,” Thundercracker said, his voice a little awed, wonderingly, and, Barricade realized, more than a little envious himself.

Barricade nodded, turning his head to follow the two jets as they whipped across the sky.

“Hunh,” Thundercracker grunted, but Barricade felt something almost like respect tinge the bond.

Beauty

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