red_diode_district | Everybody learns from *somebody*

Everybody learns from somebody

Passing the doors into the library, Megatron was pleased he had gotten the schedule correct as he saw who was sitting at the desk. If it had been completely necessary due to his own schedule, he'd have come here when he could. But since he didn't have to...

Ignoring the faint itch interfacing hadn't properly gotten rid off, Megatron approached the librarian at a lazy, casual walk. It was a pity he hadn't seen any signs at all that the surprisingly fine-lined truck-alted mech had the inclination he was looking for. Things would have been a lot easier (and, really, pleasing) if he had.

As it was, since there was no one left in the current arena circuit that he trusted with what he had to hand over, perhaps he would have to avail himself of one of the clubs. It made an irritable twitch slither down the treads on his shoulders, the thought that he'd have to do that.

It was ages since he'd had to go to an open venue like that to simply get his needs properly taken care of.

And he really would have preferred the librarian. Orion Pax - it hadn't taken anything to find out the designation when to found the schedule - was witty, somehow diplomatically argumentative and didn't give in if he knew he was right or wanted to stand for his opinion, actually had some smarts to go with said use of words and Megatron wanted to know more.

More, and more personally (most of the earlier he'd simply learned over the few times he'd been in the library when the mech was, but hadn't actually approached him). So this time, he decided to actually use the librarian's assistance in what he was looking for... and perhaps get something more out of it.

"Excuse me?"

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He wasn't dozing, no, but the ping was helpful anyway as he'd put Orion in the slot where he didn't automatically snap to full awareness due to possible threat. Optics turning on with a flicker, Megatron pushed away from the wall and turned towards Orion with a lopsided little grin.

"Orion." He was pretty sure the poor mech was rather embarrassed which... well. He could understand. Once again Megatron felt vaguely guilty over his probably lacking explanation and the way he'd handled the whole thing two days ago.

In fact...

Letting out the exvent he'd been holding, the warm air pushing against the closed valves, Megatron grimaced.

"I... er. Aplogise. I realise... I might not have handled the explanation in the best way."

That hadn't been easy, as Megatron's avoidant gaze and erratically flickering but tight against his chassis EM field testified to, before he snapped it out again.

Better to get it out of the way.

Venting a overheated sigh, Orion nodded through his embarrassment.

"Megatron. It's alright, really. The situation was...unusual. It's reasonable that the explanation would have to be as well." He chuckled a bit, awkward as he looked away briefly.

"The. Ah. File you set was a greater help, honestly."

He shouldn't smirk. He should. not. smirk.

Somehow, he managed to not do it, and instead just nodded, optics flaring a little in his efforts to supress his pleased amusement. Pleased or not, it wouldn't do to let Orion think he was making fun of him - which he wasn't, merely pleased it had been of use.

... And maybe had some additional reaction, if he was reading that little glance away correctly. Of course, it might just be pure embarrassment over even obliquely discussing porn with the one who sent it over, positive reaction or no.

"Excellent. But, ah. Let's have that discussion elsewhere, why don't we? I know a place reasonably close." Megatron pointed across the plaza the library faced for the direction they needed to get where he wanted to go.

It was a nice little place that had some offerings of reasonable privacy... and some really nice oil cakes, various metal flake crunchies, energon goodies and a selection of sweetened energon drinks.

Orion raised an optic ridge, temperature increasing a few more degrees at that optic flare. He was anticipating laughter, honestly. Which would have made this even more difficult.

He appreciated Megatron's restraint.

"...That sounds like a good idea." Orion managed a smile, nodding in agreement.

"Lead the way."

A tiny grin wormed itself free at Orion's raised optic ridge, but that was all, and Megatron turned the way he'd pointed and started to walk, sweeping out an arm to tug Orion with him before he let go

"It's not far. Just tucked away from the main thoroughfares from the plaza." He'd been surprised the first time he'd been led there, because it was surprisingly centralised and yet you almost had to know where it was.

They crossed the bright, busy plaza and went down one of the strees diagonally from the library, then turned in on a smaller side street, which, by its layout was clearly only for walking and not altmodes.

The café was mostly visible from the small collection of tables outside, where a femme couple sat at one table and a mech and a femme at another.

"Here we are. I think you'll like their energon goodies," Megatron said with a smile and opened the door, letting Orion walk in first and then followed him. And...

Stopped.

The interior was familiar, half-hidden booths tucked away along the walls with the circular counter in the middle and another doorway on the opposite end of the room opposite of the entrance. It'd been a while since he'd been here and even as he felt the cables in his shoulders unwind and let go of some tension, he realised he needed to move.

Orion would not be doing anything, and he needed to go up to the counter.

Which... Wasn't usually an issue. It was just that this was one of the few nominally public spaces where he knew he could and was used to letting someone else take charge, and he'd never gone here alone.

Field nearly twitching, Megatron grimaced and felt rather ridiculous.

Orion allowed himself to be tugged along, shaking his head with a laugh at Megatron's apparent excitement.

"This place is so close- I can't believe I've never noticed it before," Orion wondered out loud as he stepped inside. It took him a moment to notice that Megatron had stopped following him, and he turned back, concerned.

"...Are you alright?"

He reached out, placing a hand on Megatron's forearm.

He just needed to---

"... Yes." Visibly twitching and armour rearranging itself, Megatron nodded and managed a smile and a nod at Orion. "Yes, I am. A moment." Because while it wouldn't take more than that to go up to the counter and get a booth, he also needed a moment to collect himself.

Field settling and expanding outwards again, though not nearly at the size it usually was in public - even inside buildings, Megatron didn't really pull his field tighter, polite or no. In here, however, if Orion paid attention, he'd notice there was a difference...

With a shake of his helm, Megatron passed Orion and walked up to the counter, and then shortly after came back and gestured to a booth on the opposite end of the room, near an open archway that led further into the building.

"Over there. They'll be over with the menues after we've sat down." Normally, at least after the first visit or so, the orders were usually taken at the counter, but that wouldn't really work here - Megatron wouldn't presume to order Orion's whole meal for him.

Not in here, certainly, but also not when they were out together, as it was quite a different thing to offer Orion a pick-me-up or refuelling when he knew what the mech liked and brought it to the library.

Odd. Orion frowned, but moved his hand after only another moment.

"...Alright."

His own field twitching under his plating at the irregularities in Megatron's, Orion nonetheless made his way over to the indicated booth. He waited until Megatron sat down as well, not entirely hiding his confused concern with glances around at the decor.

"...So. Have you been here often?"

Edited 2013-09-01 08:18 (UTC)

He tried adjusting his field back when he noticed Orion's twitching one, but he wasn't precisely successful and gave up with a slight frown. He didn't want to admit to it, but apparently he was just... too used to it.

It'd be something to explain if Orion asked.

"Quite often, yes. It's... friendly to lifestyle, so to speak, without being obvious about it." That seemed to be the simplest way to phrase it, smirking a little and getting his equilibrium back, regardless of having to do things here than what he was different to.

"If you push the button on the edge of the table, the menus will be displayed." It was an explanation he made without thinking, but really, he could have done it himself as that button would activate the menu display for however many were sitting at the table.

Maybe they should have gone somewhere else, but at the same time he didn't feel it polite to have sensitive discussions in Orion's apartment, if only because of associations, and this place was a good one.

It was just that... he should probably have made an effort to find a place with similar privacy settings on offer, because he was giving Orion more than he'd asked for. More than he knew how to ask for, and was probably not comfortable with, yet or at all, to want to ask for it, and it was thus not... right to give Orion those little bits of power.

Megatron resisted the urge to growl and rub his faceplates.

"The lifestyle?" Orion repeated, voice dropping despite Megatron's claim. His gaze briefly flicked to the side, more closely examining the other diners despite his best efforts at remaining polite. He still didn't know what to expect...

Biting his lip, Orion turned his attention to the menu instead. At least that was normal fare, and remembering Megatron's recommendation he quickly decided on the energon goodies.

"What sort of, ah, situation would this...involve?"

"There's also privacy barriers that'll make sure we aren't overheard, but I thought we'd wait with those until we have our orders," Megatron said, waving a hand towards the edge of their booth, where a set of small, unobtrusive devices were set into the metal.

It would, after all, be somewhat hard to get their orders if the privacy barrier was up.

Talking of orders, he actually had to decide on something. Annoyed, Megatron rubbed the side of his helm and, in a fit of exasperation at himself, chose one of the metal crunchies of a flavour he hadn't gotten at any point and a small, sweetened energon cube.

"You won't notice much of it in here, Orion." Megatron smiled, letting his amusement soothe his annoyance. The question was, did he actually want to explain... With a sigh, Megatron admitted that just avoiding Orion's question would be too obvious.

"Usually it would simply be the dominant getting a booth or table, if it's outside, and ordering for both."

"Sounds reasonable-" Orion started, quickly jabbing in his final selections in on the menu; adding a small oil cake and flavored cube. Then Orion jerked his optics back toward the table and huffed a vent several degrees hotter than before, embarrassed to have been caught looking.

"R-right." He coughed awkwardly, slowly shunting his embarrassment aside to properly mull over what Megatron actually told him.

"Just...ordering their food for them? That doesn't sound like it really needs a special venue at all. So long as the, er, person involved knows their partner's tastes..." He trailed off, uncertain. That seemed far too easy for all the fuss involved.

"That would usually be expected yes." Waving a hand in the air dismissively, Megatron pretended not to have noticed Orion's embarrassment. "And it's not necessarily needed, no, but the knowledge that no one will cause a scene if they see something they don't like, or if it does happen, that the managers will be on your side is worth quite a lot. The café is open to the public, after all."

Pausing, Megatron glanced up at the ceiling and smirked a little.

"Some do like to have their submissives kneel on the floor beside the table, sometimes, hand-feeding them. There was an incidence once when an unsuspecting... company had wandered in." He looked down again and eyed Orion before shrugging. "That's about as 'extreme' as you'd see in here, however."

"...O-oh." Orion murmured, wide-opticed.

"That's..." Entirely too pleasant a mental image. Unlike the vast majority of the things he had seen on the holonet, that was something that seemed...nice. At least, it didn't make him immedatiely uncomfortable, aside from the whole 'in public' thing.

"...not something I would think to do in public. But it isn't...unpleasant sounding." A cough, and Orion's audial nubs twitched back at the admittance.

"It's good that the managers would be on their side."

Well, that was... more of an admittance than what he'd expected at this stage, though even if Orion hadn't admitted to it, he'd picked up on his reactions. He shifted in his seat, folding his arms over his chestplates when he realised he ought to have locked the strength of the glow from the lughts - they were flickering a little.

Mostly because while Orion's admittance was certainly exciting, Megatron had, perhaps, some strange limits regarding what he felt comfortable with giving up and where he started to feel unfomfortable.

Being fed was one of those things, but that didn't mean it hadn't ever happened.

"Since they usually wouldn't be in other places, it simply allows people to relax in a way we couldn't otherwise," Megatron said with a shrug, waiting until their orders had come before reaching out and activating the privacy barrier and turning to actually address the rest.

"I suppose I should've expected you might find that attractive, if you would be interested at all in this sort of play." His voice was dry, but his expression was hardly unkind.

A bit amused, maybe.

"And considering that I ought to have given you some parameters to search for, I suspect you got quite an opticful if you're surprised there would be things that aren't 'unpleasant'." Megatron tilted his helm, giving Orion a bit of an arch look. Not that he had quite an idea what Orion would consider unpleasant, but he ought to have thought a little further given how Orion had been... introduced.

Orion thanked the waiter when their food arrived, heat-venting when the thin mech gave him a knowing, yet still professional look. He privately supposed that they had seen it all before, including ignorant mechs like himself who simply stumbled in to this 'lifestyle'.

And he wasn't even in it. Yet?

"Oh?" He twitched as Megatron continued. Expected it?

"...Well, yes. Probably. Some of the things I found were nearly enough to make me stop looking entirely." Orion sighed from behind his flavored cube, which did little to hide the grimace on his face.

They had, at that.

"Teaching isn't my strenght," Megatron said with an apologetic half-smile before he shook his helm. "But I ought to have done a better job." Picking up the metal flake cookie, Megatron turned it over in his hands for a moment, following the greenish-silver shifts in the metal as the light fell over it.

"Well." He then looked up, smirked a little and took a bite of the metal flake crunchie and waved his hand at Orion. "Merely your usual behaviour. I could be wrong, of course, but you don't seem the type to vastly change when in private, and you're a very... caring spark otherwise."

Respectful and careful of those around him, even those he'd only meet briefly... No, it didn't surprise Megatron that Orion would be the type to want to care for a partner.

"It's hardly your fault that I chose to indulge my curiosity without worrying about search filters," Orion snorted. He ducked his helm behind his cube at the compliment to his innate character, but he didn't attempt to deny it.

"I certainly wouldn't do the vast majority of what I saw. And you are, thankfully, correct: I am hardly one to change my entire personality matrix the moment I get in the berth."

Even talking about berth behavior was usually enough to completely embarrass the smaller mech, but given their line of questioning, 'normal' berth behavior was suddenly far less troublesome to discuss than usual.

"Perhaps not, but a warning might not have been misplaced." Another dryly amused smile and a shrug; at least Orion wasn't too upset.

He had to admit to being (amused and) impressed, however, that Orion had been able to say that without getting embarrassed again, considering how he'd reacted during this topic so far.

"As long as you think of yourself as well." He gave Orion a once-over, the setting briefly taking a back-seat to Megatron's more usual insistency of trying to push Orion to think of himself as well, and not being quite so accomodating as he was.

Of course, given the hints of steel he'd seen, at least he didn't need to start from nothing; it was more about teasing up what was there, just hidden.

"And the range is quite wide, yes, and no one would expect anyone to actually be involved in all of it, but no matter what it looks like, if it's done correctly, everyone has agreed to it and is enjoying it." The rest of the cookie disappeared and Megatron picked up his small cube but didn't drink from it.

"If you were worried about that."

Orion sighed in relief.

"That is certainly good to have confirmed, though I am aware enough now to realize that there seems to be an entire...range of various rules and habits involved in this. But yes, so long as everyone involved agrees to the...various additions, it's much more reassuring."

Think of himself? Orion snorted softly, assuming a mock-snooty air.

"Myself? While this entire situation is new to me, I normally try to make sure everyone involved is well 'cared for' in the berth, thank you very much. Myself included," he claimed with a chuckle. He even managed to keep the mildly embarrassed heat flush contained that time.

Even if Megatron might have noticed the flush if Orion hadn't kept it conatined, he was a little busy trying to keep his own reaction contained. Normally someone claiming to be respecting of their partners (and themselves) in the berth wasn't something that would cause of much any reaction, but the situation and the location...

Megatron had to shift in his seat and exert some manual control to keep his vent cycle steady and normal as a little rush of charge snapped through him, because Orion's comment brought a few images to mind.

He really should have found a better place.

"Good to know." Finally, he managed a dry chuckle and a tilt of his helm. His optics might be a little paler than usual, though, but Megatron wouldn't be in the position to know. "And yes, there's quite a few variations... Sometimes it might take a while to find out what one likes and don't, and how far one's ready to go."

Megatron paused, considering... yes, he'd need to ask, at least before they left here. Soon, then.

Orion blinked, resetting his optics in amused surprise at Megatron's unexpected and rather telling shift.

Well. The larger mech had been forgiving of his own embarrassment so far. Muffling a chuckle on the side of his cube, he dropped his gaze down to the food as he took a sip.

"I imagine so. I'd hate to think of how much guesswork is involved with figuring that out the first go-around, though." A brief pause as he raised a single energon goodie up to his lips.

"Well, you mentioned they were good," he said with a smile, before taking a bite. Optics lighting up at the pleasant taste, Orion's engine rumbled with pleasure.

"Very nice."

Resolutely ignoring his own, ah... reaction and Orion noticing it, Megatron chuckled, pleased that Orion had found it to his liking. He hadn't really doubted that the smaller mech would, but tastes did vary, even in the face of well-made food.

"There's a reason this place is well-liked, besides the tolerant atmosphere." Optics flicking down over Orion, he didn't really pretend not to be interested in Orion's reaction as it played out over his faceplates and that engine rumble - whatever else happened, he was, after all, interested in Orion himself.

No reason not to show that.

"And yes, some guesswork, but mostly talking. A lot of talking, if you're doing things correctly. Communication is important." Megatron shrugged, taking a sip from his cube and thoughtfully letting the mouthful linger for a moment, then waited until he could catch Orion's optics.

"And talking of talking," Megatron said with a twist to his lips, not quite a smile. He had to work harder than he should to keep his optics on Orion's, but it wasn't too hard. "Would you be interested in getting... involved? Setting aside the question of how, beyond normal, for the moment."

This place or not, Megatron didn't wait around or work with careful tiptoeing; straightforward questions or demands were best in his opinion, and being used to talking about what he liked or didn't (even when it was hard and he would rather not) this was among the simplest thing to ask.

"Communication is very important," Orion agreed readily enough, crunching into another snack as Megatron asked his question.

He nearly choked.

Though he had rather expected the conversation to veer in this direction, he had not anticipated it to be so soon. Orion used a mouth full of energon goodie to delay his reply, crunching thoughtfully; the librarian was not one to rush into things...not even things that had been floating around on the edge of his processor for since he had walked in on Megatron and Maul. Thankfully, Megatron wasn't asking him about that aspect, and Orion was able to shunt that idea to the side and think more objectively.

Without the concerns of this...strange new lifestyle holding him back, would he want a relationship with Megatron?

After a long moment, he swallowed the goodie and smiled. "Yes."

Given the joy Orion had long-taken in their friendship - and long-hidden admiration of the large mech's processor and frame both, the answer was fairly clear.

"No matter what else may happen, I would want to preserve our friendship over all else. But yes, Megatron. I am interested."

Feeling suddenly emboldened by the declaration, he carefully reached across the table to lay a hand on Megatron's massive forearm.

The wait was frustrating, but it wasn't as if Megatron wasn't used to waiting, and so he actually let the sense of the place and his usual place in it, settle around him.

He could've drawn on another method of being patient for waiting, but even he could admit that he might have trouble doing that here, as the precense of mind needed was one of battle-readiness, waiting for the moment to strike - and here he was too far from that.

And a café in the middle of the city wasn't the right place to drag up that, anyway.

So Megatron sat, optics softening and the stiff position of his shoulders relaxing as the moment went on and Orion's response suddenly seemed very sudden, and he lifted his helm up again.

"I don't think that will be an issue. You're too amusing to argue with over various topics." Smirking, Megatron leaned forward slightly, more pleased than he would admit.

Especially when Orion reached out first, and after a moment he carefully turned his arm to be able to grasp the underside of Orion's forearm himself.

Some small part twisted in frustration over having to wait, probably indefinitely or uselessly for that particular itch to be scratched, but he closed it away firmly.

Orion had, after all, expressed some interest, even if he was hesitant.

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