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::Have we got what we need?::
Rodimus’s tires twisted impatiently under him, resisting the urge to slip traffic entirely and start weaving in and out of cars. Earth: the one planet with traffic just as bad as Iacon.
::Captain?::
He vented hard through his rear piping, engine letting out a guttural snarl. ::Yeah, we got it. Stealth mission success, well done guys. Now we just have to get back to the shuttle.::
There was an array of celebrations over the comm band, and he tried not to snap at them. That wasn't what a cool and relaxed guy who trusted his team did.
::Take as long as you like. We have until 0800 before we have to leave orbit.::
More exuberant celebrations echoed that and Rodimus dropped out of the comm band with a snarl of frustrated engine. It went ignored in the crush of the freeway traffic around him, heat rising off the asphalt and mingling with the miasma of exhaust fumes and the moisture natural to being on an organic planet.
His systems pinged. Local, so someone was close enough for that, and when Rodimus checked around him a sleek, low-slung, white speedster was sliding into his blind spot. Urgh. His tires twisted in frustration—normally Drift was the best possible guy to be rolling up—but right now? Rodimus just wanted to fume in peace. He accepted the comm without hesitation anyway.
::Want to get out of this traffic?::
Drift's blinker flicked on in Rodimus's rear mirror, the easement into the exit striping out alongside him.
::Why, so I can be even more stuck when I have to turn around and rejoin the crush?::
::What's the rush? You did say we have til 0800.::
Oh. Oh.
Rodimus was already swerving into the exit lane before he even flicked his blinker on, drawing loud blares of horns around him. Drift laughed in his comm-line, sliding smoothly ahead of him as the exit merged into one lane away from the freeway.
::What're you thinking?::
::Just follow me.::
Elated, Rodimus took the excuse to disable his mapping software, riding Drift's bumper to navigate instead. The route Drift took was meandering, taking them eastward in a path that was less direct than any of the major roads but felt faster regardless as they crossed the arterial routes of the city instead of following them.
Slowly the build up of houses gave way to industrial looking plants and structures, then got sparser and sparser.
Drift's engine was purring, eager about something, and Rodimus couldn't help but switch his gear up in anticipation. This city was painfully boring even by human standards, and while the roads were well maintained they were slow—
And then they crested the curve of the road.
It was empty, no humans running around doing anything, and Rodimus could tell from his own sensors that the security system was a dummy one. The chain at the front gate was rusted through and hanging loose, and the 'FOR SALE' sign out front was both peeling and visibly the most recent of four different agencies.
Rodimus transformed to take the last few meters up to the gate at a run.
"Really?"
Drift grinned, joining him at a much more leisurely pace. "Beats waiting in traffic right?"
"And no one's even here?!"
Drift shrugged. "I checked the real estate place just in case. Apparently it's hard to offload a whole racetrack if you don't have a private buyer lined up."
Rodimus scoffed, carefully stepping over the fence in case of damage alarms. "Suckers."
"I know, right?"
"I'm going to do a test lap."
Rodimus dropped into alt as soon as he touched asphalt, relishing in the feel of road against tire in a way that had only been agitating less than an hour ago. It hadn't exactly been maintained to race standard, but there was only some cracking, no major potholes, and while the crash barriers were peeling, and honestly, a little wrecked, it wasn't like he was a human driver who'd need something else to stop his momentum.
He took the test lap at a cruisy two-and-a-half minutes, rolling to a halt at the starting line and revving his engine to Drift's weird little smile. "Well? You gonna stand there and watch me or are we going to race?"
Drift laughed, startled, and folded down into car next to him. "Go on then, show me the ropes."
Rodimus revved his engine hard, and sent three pings in quick succession. On the final one they both leapt forward, rubber squealing.
Drift was faster on the take off, streaking ahead in a burst of speed, but it was a long straight to start and Rodimus could get some serious speed once his engine caught up. The gain was easy enough, and he was nosing ahead, but the first turn was coming up and his engine growled at the realisation.
Rodimus swapped gears and pushed back into his rear tires, dropping speed to take the corner. There was a brief "Hah!" from Drift, who accelerated and, true to name, drifted round the corner with a bright pulse in his electromagnetics.
He was out of practice though; wobbled on the recovery, and Rodimus put on a burst of speed to overtake.
Rodimus let out a whoop of his own as he passed him, twisting one tire in a sharp flick to knock road dust up on Drift's plating and receiving an engine rev of mock anger for his troubles. It gave him enough distance to keep the lead on the subsequent turns, and Rodimus won the first lap by a bodies length.
Drift was warmed up now though, and gunned his engine to catch up while Rodimus was celebrating.
There was a sly kind of smugness to the laughter as he passed him, and Drift fishtailed, knocking Rodimus's bumper as he leapt ahead. Rodimus revved, jerking forward, but Drift's brake lights danced ahead of him with a warning flash, and the stop-start on his brakes lost him another few meters.
It took him a lap and a half to catch up, cursing out loud as he let himself take his time on the climb up to top speed, and he deliberately leant in and scraped along Drift's side with a screech of metal.
Drift laughed, jerking his rear out to try and knock Rodimus away. "Scratching my paint as a distraction?"
"I don't know what you mean!" joked Rodimus, using an upcoming turn to press his advantage and knock Drift off balance before streaking ahead.
"Cheater," called Drift affectionately, leaning into the momentum of the shove and catching up by increment to coast int Rodimus's wake again.
"Gonna make something of it?"
Drift laughed, letting him take the lap before revving his engine in a growl and pushing up alongside him. "Better hope you stay faster, or you might just find out."
His paneling scraped along Rodimus's with an electric arc of static that leapt through his engine with a thrill. "Gonna catch me?"
He returned it as a taunt, lowering the pitch of his engine to a growl and pushing his tires to spray up dust as they sped towards the bend and it cost him—Drift took the turn ahead of him and used the momentum of his swing to block the through-way.
Rodimus slammed his brakes, spinning and skidding to collide with a shock of laughter that ripped from him inappropriately—they were going to be so dented, Ratchet would be pissed. Drift was laughing too though, and he punctuated their skidding by opening his door and slapping Rodimus in the side with it.
Rodimus retaliated in kind, revving his engine and bouncing forward on his wheels, letting electric amusement spark from his door edge to Drift's hinges.
"Oh, that's how you want to play this?"
"You gonna cat—urk!"
Drift was still laughing as he spun and rammed Rodimus, making him flip and roll into the edge of the track. His sensornet was spinning, making him dizzy as he laughed back, engine sputtering. "I already caught you, jackass."
He pushed Rodimus further into the barrier, the roof of his cab sliding uselessly across asphalt and dirt with a loud screeching noise. "Give! I give!" he laughed, tires spinning uselessly in the air. "You win!"
"I do, yeah," said Drift cheerfully, butting up against him affectionately.
Rodimus felt strangely exposed, on his back, unable to right himself between the barrier and Drift's pressure, undercarriage open and vulnerable. But. They weren't in any danger. No one else was here. No one was looking for them.
"You gonna let me up?" he asked, rocking to touch his bumper to the ground.
Drift twisted to slide his hood over it, pinning him there and hummed, his engine rolling directly into the vulnerable components of Rodimus's underside. "No."
Rodimus would have responded, but he was too busy seeing stars and gasping. "Oh f—do that again."
Drift laughed, a full and surprised noise. "Seriously?"
"Shut up!"
Drift revved his engine hard, pressing down on Rodimus's bumper with force. Rodimus gasped, a small ah noise he'd never admit to being able to make, all of his fuel traveling south. His engine was already primed and overheated, sensitised by the hard driving, and his undercarriage was crackling, rarely touched.
Heat flashed through his lines, static jumping from hot metal.
"Damn, alright," said Drift conversationally, and then drove forward.
The noise Rodimus made could only be described as binary, the grinding heat of Drift's undercarriage against his own, electric-energon feeling rocking through him with the movement of his chassis.
His plating ground against dirt and asphalt and it felt like every new scratch scored a line of heat directly into his spark. He moaned and rocked into the motion, knocking Drift back who retaliated by slamming all his weight into him with a growl of his engine.
"Hah!" he gasped, revving his engine half heartedly. "You're getting into this."
"Honestly, I'm just amazed this is doing it for you," said Drift, before doing a maneuvre that Rodimus could only describe as mounting him.
The hilarity of what they must look like had enough time to make him wheeze with laughter before Drift ground a wheel into his fuel tank and accelerated.
It vibrated his whole frame, the energon burning in his lines in a sensation next to but not quite like being on fire. He yelled, every cable in his frame tensing, and hen Drift did it again with that horrible, beautiful grinding of their chassis and Rodimus came so hard he saw stars.
He took a second to lie there and recover, tyres listing uselessly in the air, listening to the sounds of Drift transforming. After a moment he initiated his own t-cog, using the momentum to right himself, shaking his head to clear his joints and seams of road dust.
It did nothing to wipe the grin off his face.
Drift snorted when he came up, lazily draped back over the section of barrier they'd wrecked. "You look pleased with yourself."
"Should I not be?"
"I don't know, if I failed to finish and wrecked my track time like that..." Drift trailed off, tutting mildly.
Rodimus scoffed and shoved at his shoulder, earning a headlock for his trouble, and then he was goading Drift into another drive, and by that stage the day was shaping to have been pretty alright, actually.