if the pairing is too out there for your tastes
AHAHAHAHAHA oh bless you. 😀
18.
What are their dates like? How long do/did they date? Do they ever feel the need to take a break from each other?
I’m just picturing Tarn’s ideas of classy seduction running afoul of Rodimus’s passion and disregard for The Rules at every turn – like, Rodimus sweeps all of Tarn’s careful place settings to the floor so he can ravish him on the table, or Tarn brings out his “first editions” and Roddy’s just like, “Oh, wow, super creepy! Tell you what – why don’t we get away from your inexplicable corpse collection and go racing instead?” and Tarn is like I’m a TANK.
So, their dates take some doing before they find a rhythm, is what I’m saying.
I think it would be one of those things that starts as a secret indulgence – this clandestine little affair that’s never supposed to last for more than a few weeks, but they both keep coming back for more. And more. And eventually, their meetings aren’t always about seducing one another, and Rodimus gives Tarn’s music a try even when Tarn isn’t there, and Tarn buys the kind of engex Roddy likes, and holy hell when did this become a relationship. They’re never really together for long enough at a stretch to need to take a break, although sometimes Tarn does need to go for a drive to escape Roddy’s relentless energy.
35.
Do they bring out the best in each other, or the worst? Do they have a fatal flaw?
They should bring out the worst in each other. Rodimus is wildly impulsive, Tarn has all the impulse control of a turbofox in heat, and they’re both capable of holding murderous, eternal grudges.
But.
I think they challenge each other in fascinating and needed ways. I think that even if Tarn hated Rodimus, he’d treat him as a real rival rather than a stupid child, and Rodimus, in turn, would force Tarn out of his comfort zone. And their impulses don’t really feed off each other; instead, Tarn might force Roddy to think strategically, and having Rodimus around might make Tarn less able to reach for easy answers and easy comforts (transformation, nuke). I think that whether as enemies or lovers, they’d push each other to be better. And now I’m sad that any interaction between the two was eclipsed by Tarn and Megatron’s relationship (and Rodimus and Getaway’s) in the comic.
39.
Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first? When did they realize they were in love?
There are basically two ways I can see this relationship starting (well, three, but the third would technically be Glitch/Hot Rod, which isn’t the ask). The first would be during the war, with Tarn capturing or cornering Rodimus and trying to bargain with him for the safety of the unit Rodimus leads. Tarn thinks he’s going to get a steady source of information or (preferably) t-cogs, and hopefully also a pretty new Autobot toy to play with. He doesn’t reckon with Rodimus, though, who refuses to betray the Autobots but is fascinated by Tarn, and basically turns things around and pushes right into Tarn’s life and space. Tarn essentially bluescreens – nothing in his life has prepared him for being enthusiastically pursued by a gorgeous Autobot who’s not afraid of him, and who would love to convert him (but is very happy to boink him in the meantime). In this scenario, I’d imagine that Rodimus was the one who just strolled up to Tarn, brushed past the twin fusion cannons, and kissed him.
The other option would start out similar, in terms of Tarn attempting to make a bargain, but the bargain in this case would be Megatron’s life in exchange for lives of the Lost Light crew – basically, if the Lost Light were better defended and Getaway’s coup hadn’t happened, and Tarn wasn’t confident that the DJD could take the ship with Megatron commanding it. This would probably involve Tarn at his most seductive and manipulative, finding all of Rodimus’s levers – praising him, talking about how Megatron was toxic to them both, sympathising with the experience of being chosen and then abandoned by an adored leader without really ever knowing what you did wrong. If he caught Rodimus early enough in his partnership with Megatron, I think Rodimus would be tempted. In this case, Rodimus would probably also initiate the first kiss, but only after Tarn all but dared him – and hitched his mask up at least enough to expose his mouth…
(Glitch/Hot Rod would be a pre-war ship, with the two meeting either before Glitch left Orion’s side, or in Megatron’s ranks when Hot Rod was contemplating joining them. I just think Glitch badly needed friends and validation, and Hot Rod seems like the type who might watch his power in action and go, “Cool, let’s use that to go toss Senate tanks around!” rather than looking at Glitch with suspicion.)
Decepticonsensual's Armada 