Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Come on, Hot Spot! You can do it!” yells Blades.

“Nghhh! It won’t…. budge,” replies Hot Spot, as he tries to pull the handles. “It must be stuck or something.” He sets the matrix down on the table and takes a seat on his chair. “First Aid, your matrix is busted.”

“It worked for me,” First Aid replies. “It must be you.”

“Boltscrap! I know I’m worthy,” exclaims Hot Spot. “If you can open it, I should be able to.”

“Maybe your fingers are too big for the locks,” jokes Streetwise. He receives an unimpressed look from Hot Spot. Meanwhile, Groove and Blades chuckle at Streetwise’s attempt to cheer Hot Spot up. “That was funny.”

“Your arrogance must be making the Matrix think you aren’t up to being a Prime,” snarks Pyra Magna, as she enters the room. “Nice station by the way. It looks the same as it did when I last came here.”

“Pyra,” Hot Spot grumbles. “Who called her here?” Streetwise shrugs and murmurs something, First Aid looks away, Blades points at Groove, and Groove says it wasn’t him. Hot Spot rolls his optics at them before returning to face Pyra. “How much of that did you see?”

“I saw most of your feeble attempt to open the Matrix of Leadership.” She walks towards him, and her Torchbearers follow her.

He stands up and shakes her hand. “They didn’t have anything better to do?” asks Hot Spot.

“Witnessing the Magna open the Matrix of Leadership is a significant event, Hot Spot. Watching you fail to do so is also a good way to boost morale,” replies Pyra Magna.

“Why does Pyra hate Hot Spot?” whispers Dust Up.

“No clue,” says Rust Dust. “They used to be friends, though. They just stopped talking.”

“This handshake has lasted too long,” says Hot Spot, letting go of Pyra’s hand. “Okay, let’s just get this over with,” Hot Spot says dryly.

“Agreed.” Pyra Magna walks past him and towards the Matrix. She puts her hands around the handles and whispers a prayer. Then she gently begins to pull on the handles. However, nothing moves. She pulls harder, but still nothing. Even with all her strength she can’t pull the handles even a centimetre apart.

“Ha! You can’t do it either,” exclaims Hot Spot, pointing at her with amusement.

“Pardon my language, but Hot Spot was correct. This is boltscrap,” huffs Pyra Magna.

“Nope, Primus made it himself,” says First Aid. “You must not think that you’re worthy.”

Pyra stays silent for a moment, thinking about what First Aid had said. She certainly thinks that she’s worthy, but if she can’t open the Matrix, that means the Matrix doesn’t think she’s up to being a Prime.

“I think you broke Pyra Magna, First Aid,” pipes up Streetwise.

“Pyra,” says Rust Dust. “Are you alright?”

Pyra snaps back into reality and answers Rust Dust. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“I wonder why THE Pyra Magna can’t open the Matrix,” jeers Hot Spot. “After all, the Matrix sees who you are. I bet it sees the same thing as me.”

Pyra glares at Hot Spot, but she can’t deny that he may be onto something. But she won’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know that.

“It was great seeing you all, but I have some work to attend to around the station, because I’m so BUSY.” He shoots a mocking look at Pyra before stepping out.

“If it makes you feel better,” says Skyburst.

“We thought you would be able to open the Matrix with ease,” says Stormclash, finishing her sister’s sentence.

“I appreciate that. Thank you.” Pyra then sets the Matrix down on the table and starts to stare at it.

“I’ll just let you keep doing that,” says Streetwise, backing out of the room. He then makes his way to Hot Spot.

“My turn!” exclaims Blades.

In the hose drying hall, Hot Spot is taking the dried hoses off the bars and grumbling to himself. “Stupid Matrix. Why doesn’t it think I’m worthy? The only thing it got right was rejecting Pyra.”

“Talking to yourself there, big guy?” Streetwise leans on the wall. “Are you having a little pout?”

“I’m not pouting,” retorts Hot Spot. “I’m just taking my emotions out on hoses.” He begins climbing down the ladder with the hoses.

“Your emotions about the Matrix or Pyra Magna?”

“Shut up.” Hot Spot throws the hoses into storage. “It’s none of your business.”

“If you’re upset about the Matrix, First Aid says it’s mostly self-doubt. I’m pretty sure it’s rejecting Blades right now if that makes you feel better. But it’s probably Pyra Magna that’s on your mind. The only way to get over that is to talk about it.”

“Fine. It’s just that she’s really getting under my plates. I mean, I made a mistake too, but she still hates me. It hurts. It doesn’t help that she seems to still not like me.”

“…. uh huh.” Streetwise nods. “I meant talk to Pyra.”

“You’re still here?” Hot Spot asks Pyra, who is sitting on the floor and staring at the Matrix at optic level. “I thought the Torchbearer’s left.”

“Yes. I’m trying to understand why I am unable to open the Matrix. Blades and Stormclash managed to open it somehow. Dust Up and Jumpstream too. I don’t know how though. Maybe it was brute force. That doesn’t make sense. I’m stronger than two bots. Why isn’t it opening?”

“Maybe it’s because you aren’t as good as bots think you are,” Hot Spot says with much sass.

“I told you I’m sorry. You said you forgave me.” She doesn’t turn to face him.

“Well, maybe I just said that because I wanted my friend back even though I was hurt.” That came out more hurt than Hot Spot intended. He was trying to keep that inside.

Pyra Magna thinks about his words for a moment, but decides she doesn’t want to address it. “So, you really don’t think I’m worthy of the Matrix?”

“Not really.” Hot Spot shrugs.

“Perhaps I needed to hear that.” She looks Hot Spot in the optics. “Go on. Tell me more.”

“So, you can fix yourself? Sure, why not.” He sits down and takes a moment to think. “Okay, you’re a workaholic that puts work before her friends; you have trouble loosening up; you have trouble with letting people help you when it comes to personal matters; and you act like nothing happened when you ghosted me for seventy-eight cycles, saying it was because you were busy!”

It stings to hear that from Hot Spot of all bots. She knows that it’s all true, and has for a while, but that still doesn’t make it easier to hear. “You’re right. Especially with that last one.” She looks away from him for a split second before making optic contact again.

Hot Spot gets up and sits next to her. “Your turn.” Pyra gives him a confused look. “It’s only fair. You can tell me what you think about me now.”

“Are you sure?” asks Pyra Magna. Hot Spot nods. “Well, you often act without thinking; you can be immature; and you can be petty. Oh, and you also act like you didn’t leave me on read and that it was all my fault.”

“I guess those are all true. I don’t think it was all your fault though,” he pauses. “You forgot too boastful.” He smirks under his faceplate. “I guess if you really want to know who you are, you should ask your frenemy.”

“You would definitely get more honesty than from a friend and less negative bias from an enemy. I don’t want to be your frenemy though.” She tilts her head slightly to the side to see the smirk in his eyes.

“Friends then?” Hot Spot puts his hand out.

Pyra shakes it and gives him a smile. A smile he hasn’t seen in a while. “I’d like that. I can’t wait to learn about the bot you’ve become.”

“Yeah, maybe you’ll like this version better.” He makes a smug face.

“I liked the old one quite a lot, so let’s see.”

“I liked the old Pyra as well. Too bad they weren’t compatible.”

“I thought they were very compatible,” Pyra says sincerely.

“I meant romantically.” He looks away a bit sheepishly. He’s a bit embarrassed about having to explain and that he admitted to having feelings for her.

“I knew that.”

Hot Spot quickly turns his head back to her when he hears this. “Then why did you want to be Amica Endura?”

Pyra raises her eyebrow in confusion. “Because I liked you.” Hot Spot tilts his head a bit, still not getting it. “You become Amica Endura, and if you want, you can be Conjunx Endura.”

“On Cybertron, that’s called asking someone to be your best friend. Amica Endura is like saying ‘gals before pals’ forever. That’s an Earth saying. Amica Endura is like Conjunx Endura but without romance on Cybertron.” He pauses, realizing something. “So, you didn’t friend-zone me.”

“It was a misunderstanding this whole time?”

“I’d call it culture clash.”

“We’re idiots for not catching this.” Her saying this makes Hot Spot grin. She can tell by the look of his optics. “Why are you so happy? You realize we wasted deca-cycles.”

“You haven’t called me an idiot in deca-cycles.” He chuckles a bit. “I missed that; the old teasing and roughhousing.”

“It was nice to have another firefighter to do immature firefighter things with. The Torchbearers wouldn’t dare tease me unless I asked them to.”

“Don’t forget the roughhousing.” Hot Spot punches Pyra’s arm gently. She slaps him on the back of the head, making him laugh. Hot Spot puts her head in a headlock and pulls her up as he stands. As they rise, the table is accidentally nudged and the Matrix falls. Instinctively, the two reach to grab it, both grabbing one handle. When they pull it back up, it opens, the light shining against their metal.

They place the Matrix back on the table and look at each other. They don’t know how they did it, but they have a guess. It opened with the power of their repairing friendship, and maybe love.

Chapter Text

“Are you spying on them?” asks Groove, walking over to Streetwise, who’s sitting at his desk and on his computer.

“I’m not spying,” replies Streetwise. “Look, they opened the Matrix.”

“It’s about time,” remarks Blades. “It wasn’t that hard, once I called Stormclash over to help me. It’s not that impressive.”

“It means a lot to them,” says First Aid, joining the conversation. “It also fixed their friendship.”

“How did that even happen?” asks Groove. “Are they only a good leader together or something? Also, how is Blades worthy of the Matrix? No offence Blades.”

“He isn’t,” answers Streetwise. “No offence Blades.” Blades folds his arms and gives him a playful glare. “We just tweaked it a bit so it’d only open with the power of friendship. Like My Little Ponies.”

“How?” Groove asks.

“I got the Matrix that I opened when Rung made a whole bunch and got the Headmasters and Streetwise to change its programming,” explains First Aid. “I bet they would have opened the real Matrix easily. We just wanted them to be friends again. I don’t like the tension with the Torchbearers and the Protectobots.”

“Lame,” says Blades.

“Well, it worked,” says Groove. “I think you created something else as well to go with your peace. Love.”