The Lights We Burn (tfp Knockout/Breakdown X mech!reader)[on Hold]

12: Step by Step

"Y/D be careful of th-"

BANG!

"Wall."

Once again, I had run into a corner of a wall, and once again, Knockout and Breakdown had to stifle a laugh.

"Dammit!" I huffed, followed by a chirping beep of annoyance. "Almost had it."

"Remember Y/D." Breakdown said. "You're trying to hear the world around you, not memorize it."

"Give it another try doll." Knockout encouraged. "And if you get stuck, remember to listen." I took in a deep vent and focused on the sounds around me, my pedesteps acting as a sort of echo location as the taps bounced off of the makeshift obstacle course the two mechs had laid out.

As I stepped and focused on the sounds, I also focused on the vibrations of said sounds in order to attempt to construct a sort of image in my mind.

Step by step, I carefully went through the obstacles, making sure to do it nice and slow. I was closing in on the end when a certain seeker pest ruined it.

"What in Primus is this all about?" Starscream snapped, his voice startling me so badly that I jumped and crashed into one of the obstacles, the sound and vibrations it gave off, causing my audials to ring loudly. I let out a distressed warble as I covered my audails in an effort to quiet the sound.

Breakdown was quick to my side and helped me refocus while Knockout was giving the seeker a rather nasty lecture on barging in.

"He almost had it, Starscream!" Knockout scolded angrily, careful not to make his voice too loud for my overstimulated audials.

"Well, it is certainly not my fault!" Starscream hissed. "Lord Megatron wanted to know what his status was."

"And I said not to enter unless absolutely necessary! You could have waited a nanoklick for frag's sake! Now, we have to recalibrate his senses to the previous level." Knockout then joined Breakdown and worked on adjusting my audials and touch sensors, bringing them down to their previous setting and providing me with a ton of relief.

"You okay shortstop?" Breakdown asked.

"Loud." I mumbled as I sat up. I then carefully stood and reached out blindly for one of the two mechs, Knockout being the closest one this time.

"Let's take a break doll." Knockout said before shooting Starscream a glare. I nodded and allowed the pair to guide me into the hallway and towards the energon storage room. I felt about for a place to sit and located an empty energon storage cube to which I happily plunked down with my legs crossed.

"What's with the smile?" Breakdown chuckled in amusement as filled me a thing of energon and handed it to me.

"I'm starting to get the hang of it." I said. "Despite Starscream scaring me and all."

"You have been improving quite rapidly." Knockout added.

"The extra vibration detection sensors you installed help a lot." I took a sip and stared thoughtfully at the floor. "I... I really appreciate this. The ability to hear the world and feel it in such a different way is astonishing and... enlightening in ways i can not describe." I looked upwards towards the two and gave them a genuine and extremely gentle smile. "M.E.C.H may have taken my sight, but in its place, you've both given me a beautiful gift."

I could hear the cooling fans of the two mechs switch on and the soft sound of metal heating up, both sounds suggesting the pair were blushing quite badly.

"It's the least we can do since you saved my spark." Breakdown said. "I still don't get why you did."

"Because you and Knockout are.... important to me." I admitted shyly. "Very important. And I don't just mean as Decepticon soldiers."

"What do you mean, doll?" Knockout asked.

"You've both seen me at my worst and at my lowest." I said with quieting words. "I... I feel like I can be vulnerable around you both. You aren't... you aren't afraid of me or... or see me as something to be pitied. I-i don't know why I'm saying all this"

That was a flat-out lie.

I wanted to pour out the emotion I felt since I first started to open up to them. I wanted to be closer to them, be there for them, and most of all, to love them.

But I knew I couldn't, and it hurt me inside that I could never truly express it without serious consequences.

"Breakdown, did you give him high grade?" Knockout jokingly asked, to which I became flustered as a result.

"No, he didn't." I said. "I... I just wanted to tell you both how much you mean to me." I then realized how lovey dovey that sounded, and I immediately panicked with flustered beeps and warbles of incoherent excuses.

"Easy shortstop." Breakdown chuckled as he patted my shoulder. "You'll blow your voicebox again if you keep that up."

"Sorry." I mumbled as I scrunched up in embarrassment.

"No need to apologize to us." Knockout chuckled. "Now come on, once you finish, we are going to do the course one last time, okay?"

I nodded and downed the rest of the cube before the two mechs guided me back to the obstacle course and set me at the start.

"Now remember, feel the vibrations and hear the sounds." Knockout said.

"You got this, Y/D!" Breakdown encouraged. I took a deep vent and focused on the vibrations and sounds, carefully weaving through the course with surprising ease. I dodged trip hazards and avoided running into walls as if I had my eyesight back, reaching to the very end without a single incident.

"I did it?" I whispered to myself in surprise, my helm turning towards the direction of the two mechs. "Guys i... I did it!"

"Yeah, you did!" Breakdown cheered.

"I did it! Haha!" I laughed like a cheerful and delighted sparkling. "I did it and didn't run into anything! Haha!" I was so happy that I did a little jumping fist bump, unaware that Megatron and Soundwave had heard the commotion and came to investigate.

"What's all the noise?" Megatron asked the medic.

"I did it, sire!" I exclaimed. "I made it through the course!"

"That's my little gladiator!"