Inspired By, I saw some fan art of Megatron, I heard the song Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey, a horribly idea formed in my head that made me sad. So I wrote it out so all of you can share in my suffering.
Summary, A love story where every touch feels like a goodbye before either of you can admit it.
Where Megatron has already decided that to become who he believes he must become means sacrificing the last person who ever saw D-16 instead of Megatron.
Dear Lord, when I get to Heaven
Please, let me bring my man
When he comes, tell me that you'll let him in
Father, tell me if you can
The corridors of the Nemesis were never truly silent.
Engines hummed beneath the deck plating in a constant, low vibration that settled into every bolt and every thought. Distant reports echoed through comms. Somewhere, heavy footsteps marked the changing of the guard.
None of it truly reached him. Merely rolling off his framework like a dull background noise.
Megatron stood before the observation port with his hands clasped behind his back, watching stars drift by in indifferent silence.
The reflection staring back at him was unfamiliar.
Broader shoulders and all sharper angles. Armor blackened by countless battles, polished only enough to remain functional.
His fusion cannon rested against his arm like it had always belonged there. However at one time there had only been hands made for lifting ore.
Now they were made for ending lives.
“You’ve been hiding.” Your voice arrived before your footsteps. Despite the soft and careful tread of your movements you were not afraid. Never afraid.
His optics closed. “You shouldn’t be here.” Maybe if he didn’t make eye contact some part of this interaction would be bearable.
You paused for a second before speaking again, your voice even, “You’ve been saying that a lot lately.” You said it like you were just discussing stars. Oh how he hated that.
“I’ve meant it every cycle.”
Even with the firm tone in his voice you approached anyway.
Of course you did.
You had always possessed that infuriating habit of walking toward storms instead of away from them.
When you stopped beside him, the stars reflected in your optics instead of his. “They’re worried about you.”
“They.” He didn’t say it like it was a question. He knew who you meant. It was just that ‘they’ probably weren’t worried in the normal sense.
“The Decepticons.”
“They have a leader.”
“They’re worried about the mech beneath the title.”
His jaw tightened. “There isn’t one.”
A heavy silence fell between the two of you. The kind that bent around words neither of you wished to say. It made him dare to look at you. A mistake.
You were looking at him, not at the insignia carved proudly into his chest. Not at the cannon. Not at the scars.
You looked at him. It made something inside his spark recoil.
“Do not do that.”
“Do what?”
“Look at me as though I’m still him.”
Your brow knit together. “Him?”
“The miner.” The word came quietly. Almost bitterly. “D-16.”
The name felt foreign now. Like recalling someone from another life. Someone naïve. Someone hopeful. Someone weak enough to believe justice alone could change a world built upon suffering.
“I buried him.” He continued, almost matter of factly.
“I killed him.” His voice did not rise. It didn’t need to. There was something infinitely more frightening about the calm certainty with which he said it.
“He was too gentle. He hesitated. He believed mercy was strength.”
He turned then. Finally meeting your gaze. “You loved him.”
You smiled sadly. “I love you.”
“No.” The word came immediately. Sharply. “You loved what I was.”
“I know what you are.”
“You know what I was.” The distinction landed between you like a blade.
He stepped closer. Towering over you now. Not threatening in any physical manner, it may have been more of a silent warning.
“There is a difference.” Even with the words spilling from his mouth his optics searched your face desperately, though he would have called it analysis if anyone had asked.
Searching. Waiting.
For disgust. For hesitation. For regret.
Anything.
Anything that proved you understood.
Instead, there was only grief.
Not for yourself. No, he knew that look and this was different. You looked sad for him.
It infuriated him.
“You’ve changed.” Was the only thing you could manage to say.
“Yes.”
“You’ve become harsher.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve become cruel.”
“Yes….”
“You’ve ordered deaths.”
“I have.”
“You’ll order more.”
“I will.”
Every answer was another brick laid between you.
He built the wall himself. He knew that. He also knew that he had to.
Make his mental walls Higher. Make them as strong as his framework. Impenetrable, not even allowing a single crack that you could use to pry him open.
“So stop looking at me.” he whispered.
You frowned up at him. “.…Why?”
“Because you’re remembering someone who no longer exists.”
“No.”
His composure cracked, he felt it slip. For a moment it was almost laughable about how not even seconds ago he demanded from himself that his will be impenetrable.
No one else would notice, he barely gave any hint of emotion away these days. But you saw it. The smallest flicker in his optics.
The almost imperceptible hitch in his ventilation.
“I see someone exhausted.” You reached toward him.
He caught your wrist before your fingers touched his face. Not roughly.
Just….Desperately. “I am trying to save you.”
“From what?”
“From me.” The words escaped before he could stop them.
His grip loosened. “I know what I am becoming.”
Outside the viewport, stars continued their endless march. Inside, time seemed to stand still. “I wake each cycle knowing I will ask more of my soldiers.”
His voice had lowered. “I will send them to die. I will end lives. I will become everything the universe requires me to become.”
Another pause. “And one day….”
His optics finally broke away from yours. “.…one day you’ll look at me and realize you cannot find him anymore.”
His fingers released your wrist entirely. “There will be nothing left worth loving.”
You stared at him for a long moment and a part of him wished you would walk away already. Megatron would not beg you to do so but he felt like he was just on the edge of commanding you to leave him.
But he knew better than to think you would listen. And as if to confirm this thought you stepped into his space anyway.
Close enough that your forehead nearly brushed his. “I already can’t find him.”
He froze. The words struck harder than any weapon. “What?”
“The miner who smiled at strangers.” You reached up. This time he didn’t stop you or more so couldn’t bring himself to.
Your hand rested gently against the side of his face. “The mech who thought everyone deserved another chance.”
A thumb brushed across scarred metal. “The one who doubted himself every day.”
A soft breath. “He’s gone.”
His spark lurched painfully. “So why-!”
“Because I wasn’t in love with your past.” Your eyes shimmered. “I will fall in love with every version of you.”
He couldn’t breathe.
“I know exactly who is holding my hand.” Your fingers intertwined with his.
“I know exactly whose voice I hear.”
Another step closer.
“I know exactly what you’ve done.”
The silence stretched.
Then, “I choose you.”
Something inside him broke.
Not loudly.
No tears.
No collapse.
Simply….a fracture.
The armor he wore around his spark split just enough for agony to seep through. “You shouldn’t.”
“I know.”
“You should hate me.”
“I don’t.”
“You will.”
“I won’t.”
“You cannot promise that.”
His gaze fell to your joined hands. So impossibly small within his own. So trusting.
He wanted to pull away.
He wanted to hold on forever.
Neither choice felt like something survivable.
His voice came out rough. “When this war ends….”
He laughed once. A hollow sound.
“No.” He corrected himself. “If this war ends…” His optics remained fixed on your hand. “There will be nothing beautiful left of me.”
He could see the tears forming in your eyes but you still smiled. “I didn’t fall in love with beautiful.”
“You did.”
“I fell in love with someone who looked at a broken world and wanted to fix it.”
His expression twisted. “That mech is dead.”
“No.” Your answer came immediately. “He’s still trying.”
The words hurt more than any accusation ever could.
Because somewhere.
Buried beneath conquest.
Beneath vengeance.
Beneath the title of Megatron….D-16 still wanted to build something. It was just that Megatron simply no longer believed anything could be built without first tearing the old world apart.
He closed his optics.
Slowly….
Very slowly….
He lowered his forehead until it rested against yours. The gesture was so gentle it almost felt foreign. “I don’t know how to come back.”
You pressed against him, to comfort him or maybe comfort yourself. “You don’t have to come back.”
“No?”
“I’ll meet you where you are.”
His ventilation stuttered.
There it was.
The impossible thing.
The thing no battlefield had ever given him.
Not victory.
Not power.
Not obedience.
Grace, mercy.
He stayed there for a long, silent moment.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely more than a whisper.
“I could have loved you.”
You blinked looking up in to his fiery optics, confused. A sad smile crossed your face. “You do.”
He shook his head. “No.”
The word was agonizing. “I could have loved you….” His hand tightened around yours. “….if I’d remained the mech you deserved.”
His thumb brushed over your knuckles as though committing the feeling to memory. “But Megatron….” He swallowed around the name. “.…does not know how.”
The tears that finally escaped your eyes landed on his armor. He watched them fall.
You leaned forward the final fraction of the distance and pressed a kiss to his brow.
Not because he had earned it.
Not because he was innocent.
Not because you believed love could erase what he had done.
But because somewhere inside the monster he feared he had become was a soul mourning the mech he believed he’d buried.
And for one fragile moment, beneath the endless stars and the ceaseless hum of war, the feared leader of the Decepticons allowed himself to grieve him too.
would you be willing to write some d-16? i think he'd be soooo cute with a crush. he's awkward and trying to talk with them but orion is trying to be a wingman and is not doing a good job lolol
i love him!!
hi!!!!! i love dee so much!!
i tried to do something different, rather than bullet points i thought this writing style would suit this request better
but i hope you like it!!
Pairing: D-16 (pre-megatron) x Cybertronian!gn!reader
Warnings : none just sweet stuff, cussing
D-16 is the sweetest bot ever when it comes to a crush, i think he’s very romantic and clumsy all at the same time.
He’s quick to talk and chat with you only to fumble over all his words, even after you comfort him and reassure him, he’s still embarrassed. Avoiding you during transport or work, it takes him a bit to get back to his somewhat confident self.
The poor baby is constantly made fun of by Orion and B-127, he gets no break from Elita-1 either. Expecting her to atleast have some decency to be kind towards him, but no, when she catches him staring at you with this sickly sweet look, she bashes the FUCK outta him. He’s never escaping his friends laughter ever, but when Elita-1 brings you around and winks at him, he knows that shes got his back.
He tries so hard to ask you questions and just listen to you, he could listen to you for hours.
I fear you’d have to specify to him that you are interested or else he will friend zone himself, he’s not the type to make the first move in fear of making you uncomfortable and ruining any of his chance with you
Loves to make you laugh, will become the butt of a joke if it means you’ll laugh. Tries his hardest to make you cry from laughin, the wheeze you let out is music to his ears. Once he gets comfortable with you, even before courting, he’s very touchy. Hand on your shoulder, lower back when guiding you, etc. i feel that his love language is definitely touch, have you seen the way he touches Orion? Yeah he loves to hold the people he loves.
Very very lovey dovey bot, he does things for you without hesitation, just love to do stuff for you.
he’s helpful in the mines and helping you transport stuff across Iacon.
I think he’d deny he has a crush on you at first, not wanting to disrupt the work balance or make you weirded out. Slowly but surely he’d accept his feelings and figure out what to do from there!
Once Orion figures it out, and he does, way before Dee ever even thinks about it, it’s over for him. Orion tries to be slick and hype D-16 up, he fails miserably, Orion is part of the reason Dee thought you didn’t like him. Literally tried pushing the two of you together at any chance, Elita-1 has to step in and cut that shit OUT. she’s serious about her job and her bots, seeing Pax make you uncomfortable was something she would not stand for.
When she found out Pax was trying to be a wingman, she was so confused, he was acting as a repellent to poor Dee. she had to set pax straight and actually become the wing man, and whoo was she fantastic. Started bringing you around and not pushing much but just hyping Dee up when he was the topic of the conversation. Both Elita and Orion love you to death and love you two together <3
Tbh I really like TFO’s post-apocalyptic setting. As far as I’m aware this is the first time it’s been done in a TF continuity (not talking abt a post-war phase)? Correct me if I’m wrong .
A big part in past TF continuities has always been this mourning of the golden age/city states and how Cybertron used to be before the Great War but for TF1 it’s like ok . We’ve got busted down energon depots to our right and various corpses to your left, pick your preference .
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