Greeting The Sun

[heliopauseentertainments]

Won runner up for fandomweekly 's challenge: 223 - Sunrise

Continuity: IDW1

Rating: General

Relationships: Megatron/Rodimus, Megatron/Starscream (referenced)

Characters: Rodimus, Megatron, Starscream

Warnings: Alternate Universe, Vignette, Polyamory, Established Relationships, Fluff, Not Beta Red

Summary: In which Rodimus is taken to watch the sunrise in the Sonic Canyons.

Crossposting: AO3 | Tumblr | fandomweekly entry

Fic under cut. See AO3 for complete notes. Related to: A Bouquet of Firecrackers (AO3)

Rodimus yawned, groggily stretching his limbs.

The world felt like it was swaying around him, periodically jolting him upward. He was held up by something warm, resting in some kind of gap. The distinctive, acrid smells of gun oil and brittle iron told him was probably being carried by Megatron, most likely wedged into the gap formed by the much larger mech’s barrel.

This was probably fine.

Rodimus kept his optics off. If it were important, he’d know about it. It would feel like Megatron was running rather than… whatever unhurried movement this was. The normally soft scraping sounds of a metal hand gripping rock bounced oddly loudly around him—It was probably just his imagination.

Yawning again, he let his limbs hang limp as the repetitive motion gently lulled him back into recharge.

Unfortunately, just as he was really dozing off, the swaying stopped.

“You’re late.”

Nearby, he heard a scoff, one that could only belong to the other denizen of the home he shared with Megatron, one that he could really do without. He could also do without the scoff echoing somewhere behind and below him.

Starscream’s sharp words still reverberated underneath the echoing scoff.

It was dreamlike.

Rodimus must have still been dreaming.

Starscream continued, “You would have gotten here sooner if you weren’t hauling that dead weight around.”

“Not everyone can fly, Starscream. It would have taken me the exact same amount of time—“ Rodimus stopped listening.

Another yawn and a poorly balanced stretch had him flopping from where he had been draped over Megatron’s shoulder.

Rodimus gave a startled yelp as he suddenly impacted a stony surface. The nearby bickering stopped immediately. He could practically feel the weight of two pairs of red optics settling on his back: one pair in worry, the other in cruel hope.

He didn’t notice any pain, so he must not have been injured by the fall, but, if he could believe his optics, such luck had been a very near thing.

A dark canyon stretched out before him in the dim, predawn light. His hands grasped at the edge of what was a sheer cliff… that Megatron must have just scaled.

Rodimus gaped at the drop far below, beyond where he could see. Megatron must have managed to scoop him up out berth at some point hours ago without waking him.

That begged an obvious question.

Why… were they here ? In the middle of nowhere, before the day had even gotten started no less.

No, maybe it wasn’t nowhere—He could hear the wind, the noise of even a soft breeze amplified as it was channeled through the canyons.

With the war having ended all industry here, Rodimus hadn’t recognized the Sonic Canyons without the trademark cacophony that used to fill the air here. The landscape was empty, save for shadows reminiscent of old cranes peeking up over plateaus in the distance.

Distracted by his wondering, Rodimus didn’t notice the creaking of joints, even with the echoes, until Megatron’s hands were on his flanks, gently checking him over for injuries.

Rodimus turned over and pushed himself to his feet, breaking Megatron’s grip. The edge of the cliff loomed a little too close for his comfort.

“Megs, what are we—“

He was shushed. Even the shushing noise was carried away into the canyons below, right along with his interrupted question. The sounds of Starscream’s earlier scoff still echoed weakly, slowly fading along with the din of the bickering that had come shortly after it.

A big hand gingerly nudged him further away from the cliff’s ledge, back towards where Starscream stood several steps away, frowning with his arms crossed, wings held high in aggravation.

Megatron’s voice dropped to a whisper, a rare occurrence given his general enthusiasm for being the loudest mech in any given room, as though he were trying to avoid adding to the mess of interwoven echoes bandying between the sheer faces of the cliffs behind them.

“Hurry or we’ll miss it.”

“Miss what?” Rodimus forgot to check his volume control, the question scattering to the winds as Starscream cringed away from the noise.

Megatron just shook his head, grabbing Rodimus by the middle and turning him around to face the canyons and their brightening halo of sky.

“The summer solstice sunrise, of course.”

The morning where their homeworld’s star would shine for the longest in the sky. And they would be here to greet it on its special day.

The arrival of the sun was heralded by the distant shrieks of technohawks calling in the depths of the canyons as they began to hunt.

A bright point of yellow began to burn just beyond the most distant plateau, a growing halo of glowing orange and feathering reds reached into the dark blues and purples of darkness, pushing back the blanket of night.

A view worth being hauled up a cliff for.