Chapter Text
Prowl looked up from his datapad at the tap on his window. He smiled, out of habit, glancing towards the door to his room to make sure it was closed before going over to open the window.
"Hey Prowl," Jazz grinned, leaning on the windowsill.
"Hello Jazz."
"I’m going on an energon run, wanna come with?"
Prowl hesitated. He didn’t like Jazz’s energon runs, but he hadn’t fueled yet today and he knew the cabinets were empty. His creator hadn’t been home in a few days, and he had no idea when he would be home, or if he would bring energon when he did.
"Come on Prowl," Jazz coaxed.
"All right, I’ll go."
Jazz grinned, moving aside so Prowl could climb out the window. He knew Prowl didn’t have a key to the front door. He didn’t know how Barricade expected him to stay locked in the apartment when he disappeared for days on end. Then again, knowing Barricade, he probably didn’t bother thinking about it.
Jazz took Prowl’s hand, and they set off towards downtown. They headed to the wealthy part of town. Staniz wasn’t exactly known for it’s prosperity, but there was an area of a few blocks around the capitol buildings that was designed not for the citizens, but the nobles. It was where the senators and other government officials stayed during the time they were forced to be in the city state they governed. Most had homes elsewhere on Cybertron, where they would spend most of their time, but running a city state required one to spend at least some time within that city state. So while the rest of Staniz struggled to survive, those that were meant to care for the people, lived in luxury.
"I’m in the mood for sweets," Jazz said, stopping near a confectionary shop.
"Jazz-"
"Prowler, come on!"
Prowl sighed, relenting.
"The usual?"
"Maybe they’d be willing to give us some, or let us work for-"
"Prowl, has that ever worked?"
"I don’t like stealing Jazz."
Jazz shrugged, "Neither do I. I’ll go in first, ok?"
With a sigh, Prowl nodded.
"Just make yourself look pretty," Jazz grinned, walking into the shop.
The shop keep was a tall slender bot with shiny blue paint, clearly something he had re-done regularly. "If you don’t have any shanix, get out," he said curtly. "This isn’t a museum. Not that I expect you to know that that is."
"I just wanted to buy some sweets, sir" Jazz said, as politely as he could manage.
"Yeah? Show me the shanix first."
Jazz frowned, "Would you ask me that if I was a senator’s creation?"
"That’s none of your concern, you scraplet. Now get out before I call the enforcers."
That was when the door opened and Prowl walked in.
"Hello and welcome!" the bot greeted him eagerly after getting a glimpse of his doorwings. "What can I help you find today young bot?"
Prowl’s frame was unusual in this part of Cybertron, as not many Praxians resided in Staniz. Most people assumed he was the creation of visiting diplomats from Praxus, and Jazz and Prowl used that to their full advantage.
Prowl held himself tall, maintaining perfect posture and keeping his doorwings high, "My creator gave me shanix to buy myself something sweet. Do you have gold rust sticks?"
Jazz turned away to hide the smirk he couldn’t keep off his face.
The shopkeeper cycled his optics in surprise, "Um, no, I’m afraid we don’t cary gold rust sticks, but I do have a fine selection of iron ones."
Prowl frowned, giving him his best disapproving look, "I do not care for iron."
"Well I’m sure we have something you’d like," he said, coming out from behind the counter.
Jazz slipped between the isles as he was distracted. He wasn’t going to be picky, but he did look to make sure he got his and Prowl’s favorites, stuffing energon gels, cobalt candies, and copper coated energon crystals into his subspace.
"In Praxus I only have gold rust sticks. Do you have any gold candies?" Prowl asked loudly, sounding quite annoyed. Jazz grinned, staying low as he moved to the other side of the store as Prowl led the shopkeeper away. He grabbed several handfuls of rust sticks, and then slipped behind the counter to pilfer a few energon pastries.
He was about to make his getaway, when he noticed some cubes of frothed energon smoothies. He grinned, grabbing three, one for himself, one for Prowl, and one to take home to his brother.
Jazz stepped out from behind the counter, making sure Prowl saw him before quietly slipping out the door.
"No, these are unacceptable! I will go find a reputable shop from which to purchase proper sweets," Prowl snapped, voice elevated, but just short of improper. He ignored the shopkeeper’s protests as he stormed out of the shop. As soon as he was out of view, he took off running towards the park where he knew Jazz would be waiting for him. He couldn’t wait to get his next upgrades so he could transform and drive.
He reached the park and slowed down, his fans running a few notches higher from the excursion. He found Jazz in their usual spot, an old bench nestled in a corner behind the public washracks. No one ever came around here, as the washracks no longer had working plumbing. The only other thing in this part of the park was an old race track, that was run down, and so full of potholes it was unusable.
They had made the space their own, decorating the back wall with artwork and pictures of crystals. Prowl dreamed of seeing real crystal gardens, the ones they had in Praxus and Iacon. But there was nothing like that in Staniz. The closest he had come to seeing real crystals was the tiny tabletop gardens they had in the fanciest shops downtown.
"Hey Prowl!" Jazz greeted him brightly as he approached. He had already spread out some of the goodies he had stolen for them to share. "We did great today! Look at all this!"
"Did you need to take so much?" Prowl asked.
"Did you hear how he talked to me? Slagger deserved it."
"Don’t curse Jazz."
Jazz stuck his glossa out at him. "Come on Prowler, you gotta admit, he was a slagger." Jazz held a rust stick out to him, "Besides, you know how much he was charging for these? You could get a dozen at the market for the price of just this one."
Prowl sat down, reluctantly taking the candy, "The cost to operate a shop downtown is likely significantly higher than-"
"Nope! No excuses," Jazz declared, popping an energon gel into his mouth.
Prowl sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to win the argument. He popped the rust stick in his mouth, sucking on it. It was the best thing he had tasted in orns. Of course, everything tasted better on a empty fuel tank.
"Hey, look what I found behind the counter!" Jazz said, pulling out two of the cubes from his subspace.
Prowl’s optics lit up as he took the cube, "Energon smoothies!"
"And pastries," Jazz smiled, handing him an energon cream filled puff.
Prowl’s objections to their illegal activities fell away as the sweet, frothy liquid hit his glossa. He hadn’t had fuel this indulgent in stellar cycles!
They stayed in the park for joors, talking and eating probably more than they should have, then divided the rest up for later. Jazz took some extra to share with his brother. He was older and able to work to help support their family, but even with the extra income, they barely got by.
Prowl got home and snuck back in through his window just as the streetlights started to come on. There was still no sign of Barricade. Prowl sighed, not sure if he was relieved or upset. Barricade spent most of his time either ignoring or criticizing him when he was here, but at the same time, Prowl didn’t particularly want to live on stollen candy for the next deca-cycle.
He kept his goodies stashed in his subspace, and went back to his desk, picking up his datapad to finish his schoolwork.