Everybody learns from *somebody*

[lordmegatron]

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?"

Comments

[ichooseboth]

"Oh. Um."

His first impulse was to say 'no' - simply because the idea seemed like a bit much.

But Megatron had been right about most things so far, which made sense, given his experience.

"I suppose... We can give it a shot? You said tonight is supposed to be rather...mild, yes?"

Because he really wasn't sure if he was ready to dive into a club full of other people acting out a dynamic he was still getting used to in himself...

[lordmegatron]

Slowly rubbing his thumb against the metal of Orion's hip, Megatron sat quietly - patiently even, which he could most certainly be when the situation warranted it.

He could hear the hesitation on Orion's first stuttered realisation, but said nothing, merely waited. And at least there was no immediate 'no', there.

"Mm, yes. Anything closer to a serious scene on a regular night would be conducted in the back, not out in the club proper. The worst you might see would be mechs on their knees, led around by leashes... things like that," Megatron said, helm tilting with some faint intent to see what Orion's reaction might be to that type of information.

The real interesting revelation would come from Orion getting to see it in person, however.

[ichooseboth]

"...oh."

Orion still seemed rather embarrassed by the idea of 'walking in on' something like that, audials twitching back and vents going warm; never mind the fact that it would be mostly in public.

But after a moment of the indecision, he straightened up with a stubborn nod.

"...Alright. I'm not sure how comfortable I might be there, but I'm willing to give it a shot."

[lordmegatron]

It was probably not the right reaction that Megatron found Orion's hesitation and embarrassment cute, but that was what he did, grin turning faintly sharper as he waited.

"Excellent. And if you end up uncomfortable, we can leave after two cycles. That ought to be long enough for you to at least get a feeling for what's going on," Megatron allowed, his grin turning softer as he pressed his thumb down against the hip joint, having fitted it in the gap between pelvic armour and Orion's thigh.

"There are other locations we could try later for some similar exposure without, perhaps, quite as much of it, but I still think starting here is a good idea." And maybe, just maybe he wanted to show off Orion a little.

[ichooseboth]

Optimus' lips twitched, wryly noting Megatron's reaction to his own. Of course Megatron would be amused.

The thumb at his thigh was rather nice as well. He canted his hip, thigh gap widening as he twitched into Megatron's touch.

"If you insist," Orion sighed.

"When do you want to leave?"

[lordmegatron]

He'd more than gladly indulge in touching Orion, especially as he was being obliged. Angling his thumb to better use the gap offered despite the availabe size of said gap and his thumb, Megatron pressed in in tiny little circles, compressing the workings within against each other.

"I rather am." Voice warming with his pleasure, Megatron squeezed the whole of the hip he had in his grip and then hummed.

"Probably after some proper energon, at least for you. If you end up drinking anything at the club, it's probably a good idea if you have some regular-charge grade energon in you."

He wasn't taking Orion to the club to get overcharged, after all, only to expose him to the atmosphere and more people doing what he was getting in to. And frankly, a newbie like Orion being drunk in such a place was probably not the best idea.

He'd seen situations crop up, on both sides of the equation.

[ichooseboth]

Orion hummed, optics going dim with pleasure as he leaned further into the touch. After a moment, he boldly lifted his leg, resting his heel on the edge of the couch and creating a wider gap for Megatron to reach into.

"Fine. I can manage that."

Grinning, Orion pulled a spare cube from his subspace, saluting Megatron with the cube before taking a drink.

[lordmegatron]

He'd expected Orion to sit down, and when he didn't and instead remained standing, Megatron shook his helm as he laughed Sitting back in his seat he reangled his thumb into the wider gap created and stroked, rerouting charge to the outer layer of his thumb while doing so.

"I can see that. So eager to leave, then?" He knew Orion wasn't, but he was hardly above teasing him, saying it with a grin and scraping his two smallest fingers against the angle of the thigh-armour that had flared wider when Orion raised his leg.

[ichooseboth]

Orion attempted to shrug casually, but the effect was broken by his shiver when Megatron's smaller fingers delved deep.

"Eager to get this started - so I may sooner find out what it is all about, and the sooner we can leave if it unpleasant."

For all his grumbling, Orion's field was alight with nervous excitement.

Would it be terrible?

Would he find out something new about himself, again?

He gave Megatron grin, before downing the rest of his cube in several long gulps.

[lordmegatron]

"If it really it so very terrible, we'll go to the location I considered first," Megatron promised, grinning at the way Orion quickly downed the cube. He rubbed his fingers into the workings of the hip, strengthening the current that was being led through the outer layer - if it hadn't been for that, the touch could probably have been soothing.

Of course, soothing Orion wasn't precisely his aim right now. Not that he necessarily wanted him all fired up either, but he slight shifts were delightful. And it gave the mech something else to focus on than his own nervousness. Tie that excitement together with the teasing touch, too.

"Finished, then?" Megatron asked as he looked up at Orion with an amused grin on his faceplate.

[ichooseboth]

"Yep," gasped, venting a pleased sigh as the fuel hit his tanks, making his systems quickly flush with energy.

"I'm ready when you are."

He dispersed the cube, reaching for Megatron's free hand. He didn't dare move his leg - not just because he was enjoying it quite well, but also because he didnt' want to pinch Megatron's fingers.

[lordmegatron]

Giving the hip a last squeeze, Megatron withdrew his hand as he grabbed Orion's offered one. Though he didn't use Orion to haul himself upright, even if Orion might have been ready for it. At some other point he might have, just to see if Orion could hold against the pull or would fall down onto him.

This time, though, he stood up himself, even if he didn't let go of the hand in his immediately. Giving one of Orion's audial finials a flick and Orion himself a grin, he led him out the apartment and then let go of the hand.

The club, when they got to it, wasn't particularly hidden; it was situated on the edge of a fairly well-known and popular (if not overly expensive) entertainment district, the entrance simply opening up into an alley right off the street the club itself was on.

There was no open windows inside, but not a lot of clubs had those either, so there really wasn't anything much to distinguish this club from any other on the street... well, beyond the fact that there wasn't any queue outside the doors as they came up to the building, and a group of mechs who approached were turned away... while a trio of others right after them were let inside.

Megatron stopped Orion as they stood in front of the building, hands on his shoulders and leaning down to murmur in his audial.

"Right then. There's a few ways we could do this, but I assume you would prefer to start out with no special dynamic." There were any number of things he could or couldn't do after they entered the club, to subtly let this part of their developing relationship come to the forefront, but he guessed that might, at least at first, be too much for Orion.

"Just keep in mind anyone in there will assume it's in play, and anyone who knows me will turn to you and ask if they can talk to me, and anyone who doesn't..." Megatron paused with a snort, shaking his helm slowly, "will most probably assume I am the dominant, even if size really doesn't matter. I can turn them to you or you can step in yourself in that case, whichever you might want to do or feel comfortable with."

[ichooseboth]

As they paused outside the 'club', Orion could not help but eye the doors with a level of wariness. The one group getting turned away - seemingly arbitrarily, though he suspected he simply wasn't yet enough 'in the know' to grasp why - was slightly unsettling. Megatron's presence at his back and hanging over his shoulders, voice in his audials, was as reassuring as it was pleasing.

He nodded, understanding what Megatron was saying at least. Even if the idea of other mechs asking him for permission to speak with Megatron made him uncomfortable as well.

"You're right. I'd prefer to go inside without...having started anything. That way I can still take a look around, even if people make assumptions."

He shrugged, not caring if people thought he was the 'submissive' if their relationship. Just because he didn't enjoy it, didn't mean he found it insulting.

"So how do we get in there?" He asked, jerking a thumb toward the door as another, smaller group was also turned away.

[lordmegatron]

Chuckling quietly, Megatron lifted his hand ffrom Orion's left shoulder and stretched it out, as if making a pointing motion before he turned his hand palm up. It was easy to tell why Orion was asking.

"Simple, we go in. Even if the bouncers aren't any that would recognise me, the way is isn't hard... the mechs turned away simply don't have a clue what they're trying to get into." Shrugging, Megatron squeezed the wheel on the shoulder he still had a hand on as he dropped his other hand to Orion's hip.

"They're just out to go clubbing and want to try the place with no queue, or might wonder what the place is like... I know some try repeatedly to get in after being turned away, just out of idiotic stubborness and curiosity," Megatron said with a snort, drumming his fingers against Orion's hip, "the mechs let in are either known, or know to show they know what the club is there for."

Having people who didn't have a clue what would be going on inside wander in wasn't something anyone wanted.

Not just because of possible accidents - even if some lost little light got struck with some revelation, a club being their first exposure wasn't the best of places when they'd have no idea of the rules, and mechs inside would assume at least a base knowledge of said rules.

Of course, there were predators, too. All levels of society had them, which was yet another reason to at least diminish the chance of someone innocent dropping into such a mech's claws. It was bad enough when it happened to someone in the community.

[ichooseboth]

"Hmm."

He eyed the group and the bouncers, but without being able to hear what was being said, he still wasn't sure what they had done wrong.

"Nonetheless, I think I'll let you lead the way. I'd probably get us turned away as well at this rate," he chuckled.

"Shall we?" He gestured them forward, not letting go of Megatron but bowing out to let him lead the way.

[lordmegatron]

"Even if you did, I could easily rectify the situation," Megatron said, amusement rolling through his voice as he stepped around Orion while the mech slid aside, leading the way with a twitch of his lips.

For all of Orion's worries, they didn't have any issues getting in at all. Megatron barely looked at the bouncers as he led Orion past them. The only indication there'd been any information exchanged was the slight heavy buzz of a comm. conversation, on an encrypted channel.

Not that that was necessary to get in, but Megatron already knew his way around, so why wouldn't he use it?

Leading them inside, he stepped aside inside of the door, putting him and Orion up against the wall by the entrance to let Orion get his bearings.

The club was loud, but not deafening, the music loud enough to drown out any individual noise and allow for losing oneself in dancing if one wished, but mostly facilitating privacy.

"There's a booth across the floor to the left, following the railing," Megatron said, not actually having to raise his voice much to be heard perfectly well, nodding in the direction indicated.

The club had at least three floors, the bottom one in a subtle six-sided geometry with a round, open floor in the middle currently used for dancing, with a bar to the far right. There were small stages set in alcolves around the wall on the same side of the room as the bar, all of them currently empty. The space to the left was both scattered with tables and boots of various sizes.

The next floor was basically simply a mezzanine, where more tables and booths were, and, even if unseen from below, more of those little alcove stages. Then came a glass-ceiling, cutting off the third, open floor above from the lower ones while still allowing, strangely enough, some insight, both ways.

Technically, beyond the little alcoves - which, really, could've been home in many sort of entertainment venues, even if they might be strange for a club and not one that seemed to be using them for private dancers - the place looked like a normal club, if a bit quieter.

It was probably the mechs present that made it less normal than the look of the club itself.

Beside the tables and booths that were occupied, mechs knelt, optics turned to the floor. Some were being hand fed small energon treats or a cube. In other cases, mechs were holding drinks for those sitting in their seats, feeding them in turn.

Quite a few of those that weren't on the dancefloor but passing by Orion and Megatron for any reason, usually in pairs but sometimes more than that, had two or more of the group led on a leash.

Others just sported collars.

[ichooseboth]

Orion gave Megatron a suspicious glance when he felt that comm-buzz in his audials, though he didn't comment on it until they were past the bouncers and inside - and almost forgot to say anything, as the inside of the club was immediately distracting.

"Secret passphrase?" He sighed, glancing around warily. "You didn't mention anything about cheating." His tone was amused, at least.

He stuck close to Megatron, trying not to wince at the sight of mechs being led around on collars and chains.

The openly displayed acts of submission, with mechs being fed or feeding their dom...that was a sight more interesting. Orion felt his vents heat up as he quickly glanced away. It felt rather too intimate to him, to be gawking at it in public. He gladly went toward the indicated booth, trying to avoid glancing around like a tourist - and failing rather miserably.

[lordmegatron]

"I'm not sure how that's cheating, since everybody who's been here at least once and plan on coming back can find it out," Megatron said with a chuckle, a faint rumbling from his engine underscoring his amusement.

He pretended not to notice the brief heating of Orion's vents before they were forcefully reset to normal, instead just brushing a hand down Orion's back before he sat down and Megatron slid in the seat opposite.

Even if he did want to kneel down on the floor right beside Orion's seat.

"What do you think?" Megatron asked, helm tilting to indicate the rest of the club beyond them. A question that could be answered many ways and could refer to quite a few things in the situation.

[ichooseboth]

"Then you'll have to explain what it is," Orion huffed as they sat, the taunting of information just out of reach too much for the librarian to tolerate.

Selfconsciously, he shrugged, giving the place another glance, taking in the whole room from his chair.

"It...certainly different. It should take some, ah, getting used to-"

He paused, unable to help but stare as a hulking femme tank lead her equally huge partner past the table on a glowing energon lead. Though nothing was showing, something about the way the mech walked - nearly stumbling, legs quaking - and the smirk on the femme's face, was enough for even Orion to come to some kinky conclusions immediately.

Venting hotly, he looked away with a cough, gesturing to Megatron.

"I. Well. So what do you personally do here for. ah. Fun?"

[lordmegatron]

With a grin at Orion's annoyance, he sent over the 'password' over their own private comm. frequency, nodding blandly as Orion stumbled over his words... and then broke off completely.

Considering the pair that had just walked past, it wasn't hard to guess at what had caught Orion's attention, and Megatron chuckled, straightening up as Orion turned back to him.

"I'm not much for dancing, so it's mainly been a place to socialise... take a drink once in a while just for the atmosphere. I met my first dom in Iacon here, before Maul," Megatron snorted as he said Maul's designation, optics narrowing briefly.

Then he shook his helm, optics brightening into a sharp glittering glow as his glance went from some of the stage-alcoves and then back to Orion.

"I have, both here and elsewhere, been up on stage a few times... either with my dominant's blessing, or with them up there as well." He wasn't, exactly, an exhibitionist, but as a gladiator you either were predisposed to taking pleasure in being seen, or you learned to deal with it, if not like it.

Megatron had found out early that the spellbound, vent-stopped or roaring, attention of an audience was something that gave him a thrill and was pleasing, in almost all contexts.

[ichooseboth]

Deliberately ignoring Megatron's amusement, Orion chose to take a moment to fuss with the comms.

"See? So much easier," Orion huffed, saving the password frequency - just in case. He refocused at the mention of Maul, face pinching with a growl of his engine.

He really, really didn't like him.

But he didn't outwardly comment, instead glancing over toward the stage.

"...Oh? What were you doing up there?"

He really had no idea. Dancing? He couldn't really see it, unless it was light the battle-dancing Megatron had shown him in the park.

[lordmegatron]

He'd vaguely assumed Orion wouldn't make the connection at first, but still, the fact of the open innocense in the question made it very, very hard not to laugh. It meant he ended up chuckling quietly, engine revving in tune with his muted laughter.

"Ah, well." sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest, Megatron counteracted his arms partly shielding the sparklights on his chestplate by brightening the lights, "while I didn't like it much, one of my doms used it as part of a punishment, tied me up up on a stage like that. I preferred the event where I basically played the dom for another submissive... by acting only on what my dominant told me to do. I was collared on stage, once."

He could bring up more circumstances, of course, but it was probably better to not bring up too many at once. Let Orion take that in and actually consider and realise what the stages were there for.

Dancing? No, not so much.

[ichooseboth]

The answer was unexpected enough to make him sputter, throwing an incredulous look between Megatron and the nearest stage.

"That's-"

He made a face, distressed by the very idea, as his already abysmal impression of Megatron's former doms took another dive. Unexpectedly, his engine rumbled out a growl.

"Just. No." He shook his head, arms crossing over his chest, immediately resolving not to do anything even remotely similar.

[lordmegatron]

"Orion, no." Megatron shook his helm, making a point of catching Orion's optics and holding his gaze. That wouldn't do, especially with the assumptions he could practically see lay behind that vehement repudiation.

"While the punishment was hardly something I liked, I didn't like it because I was being tied up, not where it was happening. The other things I had nothing against... and usually liked, too," Megatron said with an arched upper optic ridge, still not letting go of Orion's gaze.

Even if Orion was extremely far from being an exhibitionist, which was perfectly all right, he wouldn't let the mech think all of those things had been bad.

[ichooseboth]

Orion, yes.

Orion held his gaze easily, for once not afraid of messing up or doing the 'wrong' thing in their burgeoning relationship. Megatron's reassurance did little to reduce his primary objection.

"It's not just that, he grumbled, engine still growling. "Though I don't like that either."

He gestured down at himself, trying to articulate words that really only wanted to come out as snarls.

"It is foolish, but the idea of these another doms, not just employing distasteful punishments, but existing the way they did just makes me-"

He hissed quietly under his breath, trying and failing to suppress the petty possessiveness.