Meteorite fragments pattered on the exterior of the spacecraft, bouncing off of the shields and back into the void of space. The void of space surrounding the ship was cluttered with the space rocks, some fairly annoying and others potentially catastrophic. Backfire stood in the control room, witnessing the multiple potential collisions as the ship sailed on through the stars, wincing or cringing at every little sound of the meteors hitting the shields. She couldn't pry her optics away, because she knew in an instant if there was one little slip up on the captain or the pilot's behalf, the ship could hit something too big for the shields to repel and they'd be crushed by the impact. 

Her tank was twisting in knots within her frame, complaining to her about the ration of diluted energon she had had a day ago, or screaming at her about how much she worried. Either way she was doing her best to ignore it, standing as still as she could until the next "THUNK" of a meteor being displaced by the shield. 

"The stars are so bright tonight, or today. Whichever it is." a voice that was growing familiar as the orns passed called out from behind her. 

She turned around. How could he not possibly be seeing the GIANT ROCK which was on a collision course with the ship?! She acknowledged his presence with an annoyed scowl before she spun around and went back to staring at the objects hurtling towards the windshield. 

"Aren't you excited we're going home?" Longshot asked. 

"If we survive the flight." She tersely growled under her breath. 

"Cybertron is just a few kliks away. And I'm sure the pilot knows what he's doing. Do you always worry this much?" he replied, stepping closer. 

She flinched as another medium sized space rock bounced off the shield right in front of their optics. 

"Okay... maybe you should spend this part of the trip in a part of the ship that isn't surrounded by windows." he said, a bit unamused by her incessant flinching and twitching by now. He had been standing in the doorway waiting for her to notice him for quite some time, and all she seemed to care about was the meteor shower outside. He would have said something sooner, except she had seemed occupied and it was a bit amusing to see her reacting to every little meteor. Still, he wasn't cruel enough to leave her alone with her fears, and he was beginning to notice her relax a bit every time a meteor didn't hit the ship. That fact made him wonder if it was wrong to want to take her to a lower deck so she didn't have to see the meteors. Maybe the debate in his processor of the pros and cons of removing the negative stimulus was why in all the time he'd been standing there he hadn't spoken up. 

"I need to see that we make it through this." she said. 

"We will. And if we don't, we won't have time to worry about it in the afterspark." Longshot said in reply. 

Backfire swiveled her helm in his direction. Just as she looked at him, a HUGE meteor missed the ship by an mere inches and Longshot gasped, whilst Backfire's optics were trained on his face. She narrowed her optics, studying his sudden and unusual change in expression. 

"What?" she asked, turning more to face him and tilting her head in his direction. 

"Oh....ah.... nothing. Nothing at all." he replied, obviously trying to hide the fact that the ship had nearly been crushed the second she turned her back to the window. It was obvious to both of them that she could tell that he was lying. "So ah... lower deck?" he asked, pointing towards the door. 

"................Sure." she reluctantly sighed, stepping towards him. He offered out an arm as if to lead her away like a gentlemech, and she declined by outright ignoring the gesture. "Save it for your conjunx." she said coldly as she followed him out of the room. 

"My ah....conjunx? Oh I'm not..." He awkwardly replied, allowing his arm to fall back to his side. 

"Oh? I'd assume a mech like you had plenty of game when it comes to romantic pairings. Or am I just making blatant assumptions tied to my observation of your altruistic extroversion?" Backfire said, quickening her pace and walking ahead of him, almost as if she was making sure he'd be answering that to her back. 

"Well...ah... I've had a few flings in my time here and there. Nothing too serious though. More just little jaunts to numb myself to the bleakness of reality I guess." he called after her, his face flushing blue in embarrassment of her bringing it up. 

"You of all bots?" she inquired. "And I thought I was the only one."

"Nope." he replied. "I just find healthier alternatives to dealing with it."

"Like squandering your affections on strangers?" she asked, stopping and turning around whilst raising an optic ridge. 

"You're not a stranger?" he countered.

"You barely know me."

"I'd like to get to know you more." he said with a genuine sheepish smile. 

"Try me." She said, not avoiding the slight smirk that tugged at the corner of her intake as she shifted her weight and coyly crossed her arms. 

"Well...alright. Since you asked me first, it's only fair we break taboo together. What about you? Do you have a conjunx endura?" He replied with a devious little smirk. 

At that, she frowned and turned around, closing herself off from him entirely with a terse quip of "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Hey! You asked first!"

"I didn't ask. I just assumed." she shot back, resuming her trek down the ship's corridor. 

"Assumed what?"

"That a mech like you probably already has someone or possibly even multiple someones to look after back home." She said.

"I have someone, yeh. But that's just Scatterblast. He's my little brother. I don't have... I don't have a sparkmate, okay? Sure, I've had a couple 'a relations in the past, but that's all they are! Past relations! Didn't work out, y'see." Longshot interjected. 

"You sound half desperate. And what makes you think I'm interested?" she growled. 

"Nothing! Nothing at all! I just thought you could use a...a....a......."

"A WHAT exactly, hm?" she snapped, spinning around to face him again. 

"A friend..." he said back, looking quite embarrassed, awkward, and downtrodden at the same time. 

"So that's all I am to you, a charity case? Just another bot who needs your pity to make yourself better? Is that it?" Backfire growled. "Because if that's it, then you can bet your aft that I'm never speaking to you again."

"That isn't it at all Backfire! Unlike most mechs, I genuinely enjoy your company. And I want to get to know you more regardless of if we just stay friends or....ack never mind! My point is, I like you and because I like you I am going to follow you around and make sure you're okay and get to know you better. And if you don't talk while I do so, that's fine because I can do the talking for the both of us." he replied, reaching out a servo towards her. 

She paused, staring at him for a moment. He meant it. His optics rang true with what his spark was meaning to say. And Backfire didn't know how to reply. 

"Life's to short to live without others you care about. So what do you say. Friends?" he asked, extending his servo for her to shake. 

Backfire released a large amount of pressure she'd built up inside through her vents and nodded, slowly and reluctantly as she returned his gesture and extended her own servo. He clasped her hand and gave it a firm, sincere shake. 

Friends. 

"Alright." she said slowly, pulling her servo away when it felt like it was too soon to let go. "I suppose this means I have a lot to get off my chestplate." 

Longshot smiled at her, as if he genuinely liked her regardless of whatever it was she was thinking right then and there. Backfire only hoped that he would still like her when he learned about her past.