Ring of Fire

|6| - Team Bonding

"What is the point of this again?" You asked Cody, raising an optic ridge.

The Burns family was out having a picnic and invited the team to come along. You still didn't quite understand the concept of a picnic. Why would you go outside and eat on a blanket when you could eat at a table inside?

Cody laughed. "It's just for fun! We like to have picnics when its a nice day out. It also helps with team bonding." He explained, then turned his head to watch the other Rescue Bots out in the field. Chase was off to the side watching Heatwave, Blades, and Boulder toss some sort of ball around while occasionally telling them to be careful. "Why don't you go hang out with them?"

"Yeah, I think Blades could use some help. Heatwave and Boulder are kicking his butt!" Dani chimed in with a chuckle.

You sighed and watched the others for a moment before groaning. "Fine, but don't get mad at me if Heatwave ends up getting decked." You muttered, reluctantly getting to your pedes and walking over to where the others were playing.

Heatwave sneered when he saw you coming, tossing the ball in his servos. "Well look who's come to join us! Ready to lose?"

You flexed your joints and grinned at the firetruck. "Are you?"

"Guuuys! Can we just start the game already?" Blades whined.

You continued to stare Heatwave down for a couple more seconds before leisurely going over to join Blades. "Sure thing." You replied with a grin. You were determined to do anything to beat Heatwave just so you could have bragging rights. His ego was important to him and damaging that would allow you to have an edge over him.

Heatwave chuckled and cocked his hip out to the side, eying you and Blades. "You know what, I'm gonna be nice and let you two start with the ball." He stated, tossing the ball over to you. Although, toss wouldn't be the word you'd use to describe it. It was more like he threw it at you rather than tossing it.

"And that shall be your downfall. Let's go!" You jeered, shifting a few paces away from Blades. As Heatwave and Boulder advanced on you, you glanced at the helicopter and nodded. "Blades, go long!"

Blades immediately took off, weaving around Boulder so that he wouldn't be caught up. Once he was far enough away, he turned around and ran backwards. "I'm open!"

Just as Heatwave was about to snatch the ball from your servos, you launched it over to Blades, who thankfully caught it. Now you could play a fun game of monkey in the middle. If could stay on target and get the timing right, Boulder and Heatwave would just have to keep running back and forth until they eventually got lucky. You weren't planning on that, though. You wanted them to give up.

After a few minutes of throwing it back and forth while running to avoid them, you could tell Heatwave was getting fired up. He had that look in his optics that just made them look like they were on fire. Though, that was probably because you had been teasing him a bit earlier.

"What's the matter, Heatwave? Too slow?" You taunted, throwing the ball just out of Heatwave's reach. "Ready to give up yet?"

"Never!" Heatwave growled, whipping around and glaring at Blades.

Blades went to throw the ball back to you, but Boulder was able to tip it so that its flight path was altered. You cursed under your breath and ran to intercept it, narrowing your optics when you saw Heatwave charging at you. He was trying to get it as well, but you weren't going to let him.

You crashed into each other before the ball even landed. Heatwave ended up on top of you, the ball bouncing harmlessly off his back and settling in the grass. You groaned and rubbed your head. Looking up, you could see Heatwave's face hovering mere inches above yours. What made things worse was that you two ended up in a position that could easily be mistaken for something else that was... less desirable at the moment. You couldn't help but blush a bit.

Once Heatwave came to his senses and realized what kind of position he was in, he immediately blushed out of embarrassment. He quickly got off of you and brushed it off, though you could still see a hint of a blush on his faceplate.

"Guys! Are you okay?" Cody called as he ran over with Chase, practically out of breath.

You hauled yourself up with a grunt, brushing off your armor. You were able to quickly compose yourself before anyone noticed. "Yeah, we're fine. Lunkhead over here just decided to plow into me, that's all."

"I- You had a part in that too, you know!" Heatwave retorted, though you could tell he was still a bit flustered. He usually acted more agitated when he was flustered.

"Who won the game then?" Blades questioned, not really caring if it was the right time to ask or not. Heatwave shot him a slight look, but said nothing.

You walked over and patted Blades on the shoulder. "I think we did, Blades. They didn't even touch the ball." You said with a chuckle, glancing over your shoulder at Heatwave.

You could tell he was still trying to get over that awkward moment. You were too, you just handled it better than he did. He probably wouldn't want to talk about it later, but it could be fun to bring it up sometime when he was being a pain in the aft. As you walked back over to the picnic area with the others, you couldn't help but wonder if he liked you.