Chapter Text
"asdfld" : normal conversation
'Asdsdf' : symbiotic bond
:asfdf: : comm link
Thundercracker stormed towards the Nemesis’ deck, ignoring everyone he happened to pass by. Nobody dared to question his destination as he was looking utterly homicidal.
He practically hissed at Dirge, who was unfortunate enough to be on watch duty. “Open the gate.”
“W-What are your reasons to go outside?” Dirge stuttered, swallowing a huge lump in his throat.
With a snarl, Thundercracker whipped out his null ray guns and stuck them right underneath Dirge’s nostrils.
“Is this good enough?”
“Perfectly sir!” Dirge slammed onto the control panel for dear life.
Thundercracker fired his thrusters and blasted off, flying away as far from the Nemesis as he could. He had to get away… wanted… needed to get away. He circled the sky about five or six times before touching on a barren area atop a cliff, surrounded by trees and oversized boulders. Thundercracker stood still for a clik, venting air heavily. His anger flared up suddenly like a flame threatening to engulf him, and he lashed out violently, unleashing his rays on the boulders. Explosions after explosions echoed through the mountains as they were blown into smithereens; dust clouds and bits of rock flew at him but he couldn’t care less. He felt a cruel, vindictive glee as he swept his gaze across the scene of destruction he had just created. It was unlike him, but it was strangely satisfying.
To say Thundercracker had a bad day was an understatement. In the morning, Skywarp had pulled a prank that involved gluing the Stunticons to their berths, which, needless to say, pissed the living Pit out of them. Skywarp, the fragging smartaft, had teleported and refused to return to base, leaving him to deal with the mess. The Stunticons went to bitch to Megatron. Thundercracker was called in by the Mighty Slagmaker to be berated and slapped across the face hard for not controlling his Trinemate, and he had the Stunticons ganging up on him, demanding Skywarp’s location, resulting in more than a few dents and gashes. Thundercracker wasn’t weak per se, but one lone Seeker could only do so much against a whole Stunticon crew. After spending two joors in Hook’s medbay buffing out every dent and welding every cut on his form, he went on an energon raid, got Jet Judo-ed by Sideswipe who gave him a shattered cockpit, which slowed him down considerably when the Decepticons retreated. The fact that the raid wasn’t exactly a success only added fuel to Megatron’s dark mood and he proceeded to crush Thundercracker’s left wing. Thundercracker had to drag himself into the medbay for the second time that day.
His misery didn’t just end there. Four joors later, Starscream had to start one of his domestic quarrels with Megatron. Thundercracker, freshly repaired and on monitor duty, had to sit through the whole thing (oh, the agony). Starscream had tried to pitch him into supporting him many times, but he’d rather stick his head in a volcano than do that. He decided that enough was enough when Starscream bitched at him afterwards.
He punched Starscream in the gut.
So that was how he ended up here, miles away from base, fuming and cursing inwardly, feeling horrible both inside and out.
“Thundercracker, emotionally unstable?”
Thundercracker jumped about three feet in the air. He spun backwards and found himself staring into Soundwave’s glowing visor. When had the fragger sneaked up on him? It must have been when he was beating the slag out of some boulders, because he couldn’t hear anyone approaching. Sometimes he was afraid just how silent Soundwave could be.
“What are you doing here? Following me?” Thundercracker eyed him suspiciously.
Soundwave stared at him for a sec, then slowly shook his helm.
“Negative. Encounter, purely coincidental.”
“Yeah… like I’d believe that. Coincidences like this are too perfect. What are you really doing here?” Great, the creepy telepath. Hope he wasn’t reading his mind.
Again, Soundwave shook his helm slightly, staying as silent and impassive as ever, yet somehow Thundercracker had a feeling the other mech was reluctant. He waited for five patient minutes and just as he had decided he was through with whatever mind games Soundwave was playing, a voice broke in.
“He was just spending time with us.” Rumble stepped into the clearing, followed by Frenzy and Ravage. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw zipped into view and landed on Soundwave’s shoulders.
“Stop eyeing Boss like that. He has better things to do than stalking a Seeker.” Frenzy quipped. “Why did ya ditch us, Boss?”
“Apologies.”
And now the army of miniatures.
Motherfuckers of motherfucking mothers.
Soundwave looked over at Thundercracker and repeated his previous questions in a monotonous voice: “Thundercracker, emotionally unstable?”
Thundercracker’s optics darkened, all his memories of the day returning like a rushing wave. How dare Soundwave barge in on his privacy and question him as if he knew everything?
“You know nothing about my emotional state.” He ground out through gritted denta.
“Status?”
“Normal. Now leave me the frag alone.”
“Previous actions indicate otherwise.”
“Stop being noisy!”
“Thundercracker: bad day?”
He vented hard, his mind filled with pent-up anger. He felt like screaming.
“Bad day? Bad day? Someone like you, Megatron’s Golden Boy, is talking to me about a bad day? I’ll show you a bad day.” Thundercracker hissed.
Soundwave and the Cassettions looked at him, clearly perplexed. Figured. He was supposed to be the calm, rational Seeker in his stupidly moronic Trine. So if he were to go off the rails… most mechs would be dearly confused and more than a little freaked out.
… Actually, that was a very tempting idea.
“I have been yelled at, slapped, manhandled by the Stunticons for Skywarp’s prank, forced to take responsibility for something I didn’t do, suffered from a smashed cockpit and a crushed wing, listened to Starscream’s bitching and gone to the medbay twice.” He practically screamed at Soundwave, and didn’t miss the way the tapedeck flinched a little at the volume. “How is any of that not a sign of a bad day?”
Like a rolling tidal wave, the rage washed over him as sudden as it came and left him completely empty. Thundercracker deflated. He didn’t want to talk about it. Suddenly he felt sick. It wasn’t as if his usual days were wonderful but never was there a day as bad as this.
He was tired, truly tired.
“Just… Just go away, will you? I need some time.”
Thundercracker lowered his gaze onto the ground, bitter anger swirled within his spark. Decepticons never tell others their true feelings and he had let slip too much. He felt used. They were all trying to dump slag on him, every single goddamned one of them. No one ever showed him a bit of consideration, save for his Trine but even their comforts were few and far between. Besides, they were the prime source of his misery in the first place.
Funny how those supposedly closest to you caused you the most pain.
Silence. Then pedesteps coming towards him. Thundercracker lifted his gaze just in time to see Soundwave’s facelate a few inches from his, his facial expression as blank as ever. He stumbled backwards in surprise. “Soundwave, wha-”
Soundwave held up a servo and Thundercracker instantly shut his mouth. He stared in bewilderment and a little fear as Soundwave lifted one arm over his head. Was Soundwave mad and about to smack him? Thundercracker shut his optics and waited for the blow.
It never came.
Instead, a tentative and gentle servo rested on top of his helm. Thundercracker froze on the spot, not believing what he was experiencing. Soundwave initiated physical contact with him. Soundwave initiated physical contact with him. Soundwave never willingly approached any mech and nobody dared to touch him either - yet here he was, with one servo rested atop Thundercracker’s helm.
Fragging mindfucks. His systems must be glitching again. No way this was happening.
He hadn’t finished processing the initial shock when Soundwave slowly patted his head, stroking it hesitantly, his movements slow and awkward, as if unsure of what he was doing. Thundercracker unconsciously leaned into the oddly comforting touch before he realized he was receiving pity from a mech he barely knew. He slapped Soundwave’s hand away.
“I don’t need your pity!” He spat furiously. He hated that Soundwave was giving him something his Trinemates didn’t: sympathy. He didn’t think he could bear it.
He began stalking away when Soundwave grabbed his lower arm in a firm grip, not enough to hurt but enough to keep him from leaving.
“What the frag- Let me go before I fry you with my null rays!”
“Thundercracker’s threat: failed to intimidate.”
He tried his best to shake Soundwave off, nearly throwing the other mech off his own pedes. Soundwave didn’t relent. Instead, he only tightened his grip on Thundercracker.
“Let go, dammit! I don’t want to fight!” He was desperate to get away. It was how he usually dealt with emotional distress – in solitude, waiting for his raging emotions to die down and bury themselves. And now Soundwave was preventing him from doing so.
Suddenly Thundercracker was yanked backwards and he felt himself enveloped in a tight embrace. He tensed up instinctively then began to thrash, but Soundwave held on, one arm wound around Thundercracker’s waist, the other lightly tracing his left wing, drawing patterns and circles.
The shock froze him in place. This is not the Soundwave he knew.
“Hush,” Soundwave murmured against his chassis, “Let it out.”
Granted permission, Thundercracker clung to Soundwave with all his might, his entire body shaking slightly from trying to contain his anger. Soundwave continued his comforting movements, stroking his wings with a featherlight caress. For the first time, he realized Soundwave was a bit shorter than him, his frame slighter, and very, very warm. The constant heat radiating from his frame, his soft hushing, his gentle touch on his wings, the feeling of his body pressed flush against his own, all of this calmed Thundercracker down significantly. Out of the corner of his optics, he distantly registered the Casseticons gawking at them, clearly shocked at Soundwave’s actions.
When Soundwave asked:
“Source of Thundercracker’s distress?”
Thundercracker didn’t hesitate.
“… And then Starscream said to me: ‘We are a Trine and you should’ve backed me up!’ Well excuse me if my idea of a Trine doesn’t involve getting a fusion cannon up my aft! I blew a fuse right then and there and flew off here.”
He told Soundwave what happened. Why he bothered to do so, he had no clue, but it felt as if a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Soundwave was quite an attentive and possibly sympathetic listener. He never spoke over Thundercracker, he didn’t interrupt, simply nodding along with only the occasional quiet words here and there to encourage him to keep talking.
The Cassetticons had all snuggled up against Soundwave, sluggish and half-asleep. Soundwave had said they could return first without him and get their overdue recharge, but they had stubbornly stuck by their Master’s side.
Soundwave glanced at him, the light behind his visor soft. “Thundercracker, calm?”
They were sitting close, shoulders barely touching. Closest he had ever been around the Communications Officer outside of the circumstances of battle, Thundercracker’s processor distantly mused.
“Yeah…” Thundercracker scratched his helm sheepishly, directing his gaze from Soundwave. An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them. Thundercracker still couldn’t compute what had happened. It was really strange to see Soundwave comforting someone beside his Cassettes. What would he say to him now? He wanted to ask many questions but it didn’t seem like Soundwave would answer any of them.
“Thanks for listening, I guess. I’m… sorry I took it out on you.”
Soundwave gave a tiny shrug, an indication he held no grudge over Thundercracker’s previous ill manners, then turned his attention to the starless night sky.
They sat like that for another joor until Soundwave stood up and began gathering the sleepy Cassetticons into his arms.
“Recharge cycle, overdue. Suggestion: return to base.”
“Wait!”
Soundwave turned to regard Thundercracker, tipping his helm in inquiry.
“Why?” He blurted out.
“Elaborate on statement.”
“Why did you do that? We’ve almost never talked, we hardly know anything about each other and I doubt we like one another’s guts very much. I don’t think you are the overly affectionate type either. So what gives?”
It might be his processor glitch speaking again, but Soundwave seemed uncertain. Thundercracker waited patiently until finally the other mech spoke.
“Thundercracker: integral part of Elite Seeker Trine and valuable asset to Decepticon army. Emotional distress from Seeker member would lower the Trine’s performance and cause future problems. Immediate actions required.”
Thundercracker’s wings sagged. Soundwave comforted him because he was still useful. A tiny part within him had hoped that Soundwave’s actions had another motive.
“I see… Should’ve seen that coming.”
He stretched his wings to its full span and was about to take off when Soundwave’s voice stopped him.
“Also… Thundercracker, most tolerable among Decepticons.”
Wait, what? Did he just…?
“This event: not to be repeated in the future. Return to base.”
Before he could say anything, Soundwave took off.
He was most tolerable? That was probably the closest to a “I don’t loathe you” from Soundwave. Soundwave had acted so strange that he was at a loss. How would Thundercracker act around him now? He could pretend nothing happened, but that didn’t feel right to him.
Thundercracker shook his helm and transformed. If he thought any harder, his processor would likely explode. A mystery for him to decipher another day.