Introduction:
This is my origin story for the twins. It's within the same universe as the other stories I have on here and takes place sometime shortly before Many Voices. It stands alone, though, and doesn't interfere with the main story line.
Age: Three Orns
Garnet yawned and tried to keep herself from drifting into recharge. She was taking the off-cycle shift again for Torque. Technically, they weren't supposed to do shifts like this twice in a row, but when there were only three hired caretakers and a handful of volunteers, they sometimes had to fudge the rules.
It hadn't been a very exciting shift so far. The orphanage was silent. She'd only had to go comfort one youngling who'd had a bad dream, and that hadn't taken very long. So now, she could sit and read, or check the news, or whatever she wanted, so long as she was alert in case something…
Bang bang bang.
Garnet looked up. A knock? At the door?
She spun her swivel chair around and looked at the screens for the front door camera. A femme stood there in the darkness, frowning as if she wasn't quite sure about something.
Garnet got out of the chair and stretched, then left the office. It let out right into the front hall and entry way, so she was at the door in just a few astroseconds. She could already hear a familiar sound outside. It made her angry.
She unlocked the door and it swung inward.
"Hey!" she said, stepping over the small, wailing bundle on the front step and chasing after the femme who'd left it.
But the femme transformed, and sped away, along with another alt mode who had been waiting out on the street.
"You can't just…!"
But they were gone.
Garnet had a moment of indecision. She wanted to chase after them. This was the third time this quarter. Why did mecha think they could do this? She ought to call the enforcers, but she doubted they'd help much. They were so busy already with the crime rate going up. And that sound called her back.
She turned around and walked back to the open doors of the orphanage.
When she reached the steps, she bent down and picked up the wailing sparkling. Stupid, stupid… if you didn't want a sparkling, then you shouldn't go to the allspark and get one. It wasn't like it was that hard. And this one seemed so young.
"They must not have given you much of a chance, poor thing," she said.
The sparkling screamed louder, struggling as if trying to free itself from Garnet's arms. This was illegal. If they wanted to give a sparkling to an orphanage, they were supposed to come during normal business joors and bring paperwork. This little mech didn't even have a designation to go with him. There would be no consequences for them, though. It cost too much to investigate something like this.
The credit had to be spent elsewhere, like on a medic.
She activated her internal comm. "Boss," she said, then waited.
After almost a breem, Avalanche answered back in a groggy voice. "This had better be important."
"Some mecha just left another sparkling here. First frame mech, I think. He's keening loud enough to wake the offline, so I'd bet they've already broken their bond with him."
"Slag it, femme, you're not supposed to let them…"
"They drove off! I couldn't chase them down and leave this little mech lying there on the step. He needs a medic. He's not calming down."
There was silence on the other end for another breem. "Ok, I'll get you one. Just keep him with you in the meantime. They didn't leave a designation, did they?"
"Nope."
"Well, come up with one, and once the medic shows up, you can start the paperwork."
Garnet frowned, gently bouncing the sparkling in her arms as she walked back to the office. "Ok." This ought to have been Torque's job. He was supposed to be on duty this off-cycle.
Paperwork was not Garnet's favorite thing. In fact it ranked pretty far down the list.
She looked down at the little sparkling. "You're going to be okay," she said quietly. "It's okay, little mech. You'll feel better in a few breems." He was probably in real physical pain. Broken bonds were not fun. "I know you hurt, sweetspark," she held him closer, and could feel the erratic pulsing of his tiny spark. "It's okay."
He was a cute little thing. Mostly yellow. "You need a designation," she said. "What should we call you?"
She walked into the dimly lit office.
She hoped the medic came soon. The little mech seemed pretty energetic for a sparkling who'd just had both guardian bonds broken. But he was obviously not comfortable.
A designation, a designation. "Shh… hush, little sparkling, you're going to be fine. You're going to be okay." This whole thing was wrong. This whole city was wrong. The whole world was. She was getting tired of listening to the news, tired of hearing about the crime rates, tired of seeing the little mecha she raised grow up with nowhere to go, no way to get a good education, no way to escape the curse of poverty.
It made her angry.
"Hush, you're going to be okay." Yellow was a good color. Bright. They needed more light in this place. "What should we call you? How about… Sunstreaker?"
The sparkling kept wailing, seemingly oblivious to everything else that was going on. But it seemed like the right thing to call him. "Sunstreaker," she said again.
Age: Half a Vorn
The little sparkling sat by the side of the room. He clutched a datapad that was half as tall as he was. He seemed focused on whatever he was doodling.
That datapad sure did a good job of keeping him quiet.
Torque kept an optic on him anyway.
A little red femme tried to take a toy from another sparkling. They both started screaming as they fought over it. Torque got up and walked over. "Hey," he said, grabbing the toy from them. "Vanilla. Phosphora."
They both glared at him. He smiled. "Can you two play nicely or do I have to take this?" he held up the toy.
The younger femme, Vanilla, reached out for it. "Mine!" she said.
"It's not!" the Phosphora said. "It's everyone's! We all share it."
"Yes. Share nicely." He gave the toy to Vanilla.
A shout from across the room called his attention. "No!"
Torque sighed. He recognized that voice. The peace never lasted very long.
"It's my turn! You've had it for joors and joors."
"I have not!"
"Stop it!" Torque was better with younglings than sparklings. But Garnet had the younglings this orn. Lucky femme.
The sparklings were impossible. Especially this last half a vorn or so. Ever since the little terror had shown up.
The other little mech tried to grab the datapad from Sunstreaker, but Sunstreaker smacked him in the helm with it. "Go away!"
"Ow!" the other sparkling wailed, putting a hand to his helm. He turned around. "Torque he…"
"I know," Torque yanked the datapad away from the little yellow sparkling. "Sunstreaker."
"HEY!" Sunstreaker stood.
"Listen to me," Torque made optic contact with the little sparkling. Sunstreaker's yellow-white optics were full of anger. "You do not hit other mecha. You understand?"
"Give it back!"
"Do you understand?"
"It's my turn!" the other sparkling said, but Torque ignored him for now. "Sunstreaker, I need you to answer me. Do you understand?" Torque braced himself for a tantrum. But he got lucky this time.
"Yes," Sunstreaker looked away.
Torque gave him back the datapad. "You may have that for five more breems. Then you will give it to Hubcap."
Sunstreaker didn't acknowledge him.
"Torque, look at this!" A sparkling across the room called for him and Torque turned to look. Never a dull moment. He glanced back at Sunstreaker. The mech wasn't even looking at the datapad anymore, but was staring out the window.
He did that a lot too. Or sometimes just stared at the wall.
"Might just be something off about that sparkling," Torque muttered to himself. "And that's a bit of an understatement."
He went back to looking at what the sparkling across the room wanted to show him, and then had to break up another fight. Sparklings were just difficult. And ten of them in one room with only one caretaker keeping them in line didn't work very well. This was why mecha were only supposed to have one at a time.
"Mr. Torque," Vanilla tapped on his leg.
"Yes?"
The femme pointed.
Hubcap was now playing with the datapad.
Where was that little yellow menace?
Torque spun, searching the room for him. He was gone.
"He went out the…"
"Oh my Primus." Torque looked back at the open window. He dashed across the room and stuck his helm out. Fortunately they were only on the first story. And he could see the little yellow sparkling running across the yard. He was headed for the fence.
He activated his comm. "Garnet, we've got a runner."
"What? What are you talking about?" Garnet replied.
"Our little sunshine's making a break for it. He climbed out the window while my back was turned. I can't leave these sparklings in here, don't you have a volunteer with you this orn?"
"Ugggghhh," Garnet said. "Why was the window open?"
"Just go chase him down, I can't leave these mechlings. Oh, Primus, I think he's small enough to get through the fence…"
"What! Just… just hold on."
Torque clutched the window sill. The other sparklings were pressed around him, trying to see. Some of them started climbing him, and he had to catch one before she fell out the window.
Sunstreaker reached the fence.
And slipped through it.
Torque moaned, and shuttered his optics.
"What happened?"
"I wanna see!"
"What's going on?"
"Can I go outside?"
"Don't push me!"
"Ow!"
"Torque, he pushed me!"
"Okay, okay," Torque shut the window and turned back to look at his group of sparklings.
"Torque, which way did he go?"
Torque took in a deep vent of atmosphere. "Give me an astrosecond because I need to comm. Garnet, and then we'll play a game."
"Yaaaaay!"
"Mr. Torque, why does Sunstreaker get to go outside?"
Torque held up a hand. "He went southwest, straight at the fence. I don't know what way he went after he got through it."
"You are so fired."
"You can't fire me."
"Some orn I'll be in charge of this orphanage…"
"And I'll quit." He cut the comm.
"Okay, let's play a game."
"Can you open the window again?"
"No," Torque said. "I can't." He glanced at the window, feeling slightly sick. He hoped Garnet caught up to Sunstreaker quickly. As much of a pain as the little mech was, Torque didn't want him to disappear or get hurt.
Garnet dashed across the road as soon as the traffic cleared a little. She wasn't sure how that little yellow pitspawn had gotten all the way across the street without getting run over.
"Sunstreaker!"
He paused to look over his shoulder, then turned and ran harder.
She caught him in a few more strides. "What are you doing!" she shouted as she picked him up.
"Let me go!" Sunstreaker screamed, struggling. "Let me go!"
"No!" Garnet said. "You are in trouble, little mech. Come on, let's get back home."
"Noooooo!" Sunstreaker screamed, fighting harder. "I want to go! Let me go! Let me go!"
"Oh, stop it!" Garnet held him tightly as she carried him back across the road, and to the gate. The door opened for her and she stepped into the yard before it closed again. She carried a protesting, struggling Sunstreaker all the way into the building and set him down in the front hall.
She opened a comm. channel between herself, Torque, and Avalanche. "Got him."
"Thank Primus," Torque said.
"Good," Avalanche sounded more angry than relieved. "Give me a breem, and then bring him into my office."
"Sure thing, boss," Garnet said, then looked down at Sunstreaker.
He was staring at the door, but when she moved, he looked up at her. He was trembling. His brilliant yellow-white optics stared up at her, horrified and confused. Why would you do this to me? They seemed to ask.
Garnet sighed.
Sunstreaker shuttered his optics and screamed.
"Sunny."
He kept screaming.
"Sunstreaker, you are the one who ran away."
He sank to the ground, wailing.
"You were putting yourself in danger."
He probably couldn't hear her. He lay on the floor, making enough noise that she was tempted to turn her audio receptors off. Garnet wasn't sure whether to be annoyed, or feel sorry for the little mechling.
Once he was started, there was no stopping him. These tantrums were getting out of control. She should have known, that very first off-cycle, back when he was just a tiny, helpless sparkling. She'd spent five joors trying to calm him down, even after the medic came and made sure he was going to be all right.
Eventually, she bent down and picked him up again. He screamed louder, if that was possible, fighting her.
"Sunstreaker, you can either calm down and walk with me to the boss's office, or I will carry you. Your choice."
He fought harder to get free, and then let her set him down on his pedes, but didn't stop screaming. He did get a little quieter. His frantic, high-pitched, agonizing cries died down to a sort of pitiful keening.
"Come on. Pick up the pace. I have to get back to my group before that poor volunteer starts thinking I've abandoned her."
Avalanche sat across from a screaming sparkling. And waited. Sometimes, if he waited long enough, Sunstreaker got bored or tired. Avalanche was pretty sure it was a game to him.
Sometimes he had the patience for it. Sometimes he didn't.
He won this time, though. Sunstreaker quieted down. He was still hiccupping a little when Avalanche thought it was safe to speak.
"Okay," Avalanche said. "Are you ready to use your words?"
Sunstreaker glared at him and sucked in a tragic-sounding vent of atmosphere.
"You're an intelligent little sparkling. And I know you can talk very well. It's time to move past this tantrum phase. You will not get what you want by screaming."
Sunstreaker started crying again.
"What is it?" Avalanche said. "Just tell me. I just want to understand."
Sunstreaker took in a deep vent. "I want to go!" he wailed.
"Yes." Avalanche. "I could infer that. Where exactly did you think you were going?"
Sunstreaker just buried his faceplate in his hands, keening quietly.
"It is not safe for you to leave the orphanage. Do you understand me, Sunstreaker? You can't do that. You could have gotten hurt, or lost."
The little yellow sparkling shook his helm.
"Sunstreaker, please talk to me."
He put his hands down, but didn't un-shutter his optics. "I! Need! To! Go! Home!" he screamed.
Then he was quiet.
Avalanche leaned forward slightly, frowning. Where had he gotten that idea? Had some of the older younglings been picking on him?
Sunstreaker un-shuttered his optics and glared.
"Mechling," Avalanche said as gently as he could. "This is your home."
It was a mistake. As soon as he said it, he wished he could recall the words. Sunstreaker started screaming again, louder than before.
Avalanche's patience ran out. "Enough with the dramatics!" he stood.
Sunstreaker was shocked into silence.
"Why do you do this every single orn? What is wrong with you? Are you hurt? Do you need a medic? Do you need more attention? What do you need? You have to talk to me so I know how to help you! Who put the idea into your processor that you need to go home?"
Sunstreaker just stared at him.
Avalanche sighed, frustrated with himself. He shouldn't have lost his temper. "I'm sorry," he said.
The little yellow sparkling started wailing again.
"Come on," Avalanche said. "If you aren't going to talk to me, you can go to your berth and stay there until you've calmed down."
Sunstreaker shook his helm, keening louder.
Avalanche got up. "I have other things to do, and other mecha to take care of." He picked Sunstreaker up and carried him away.
All was quiet, finally.
"Well," Avalanche said. The three adults stood in the front hall. "I'm here for the off-cycle this time. I'll see you two next orn."
Torque nodded once, and made as if to leave.
Garnet frowned. "Avalanche?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we should have a medic look at that sparkling?"
They all knew which one they were talking about.
"I don't just mean call one in to check and see if he's got a virus. We know he's physically healthy enough. But I have never seen a sparkling carry on…"
"Like the world is ending?" Torque suggested.
Garnet shot him a look. "…for so long,"
"I don't know," Avalanche said. "I doubt there's anything actually wrong with him, but there might be. It could have been caused by his guardians breaking their bond with him so early on. I've never gotten one that young before." According to the medic, he'd been sparked less than a decaorn before his creators had left him at the orphanage. "In which case, there's nothing we can do about it. I wish we had the resources to get some kind of special care for each of the sparklings who needed it, but we don't. I have thought about this before, Garnet."
She looked down.
"If it doesn't get better when he's a little older, we'll look into getting him some professional help. For now, just do your best. I know he's a handful."
"Doesn't play well with the other sparklings either," Torque said.
"I'm aware of that," Avalanche said. "Thank you both for all you do. I couldn't run this place without you. It's not a particularly easy job."
"It doesn't pay much either," Torque said.
"I love it," Garnet shot Torque another look "I'm here as long as you need me, Avalanche."
Avalanche nodded.
"And Torque secretly likes the job too," Garnet said. "He's practically still a sparkling."
"Excuse me?"
"Ok," Avalanche said. "You can go now. Your shift is over."
"Thanks boss," Torque said, and led the way out the door. Avalanche sighed and shook his helm. It was sometimes like having two extra sparklings here, especially when they were bickering. They ought to just get bonded already.
Age: Two Vorns
Sunstreaker sketched on the datapad. It was almost like the drawing took shape on its own. He filled in light and shadow and color almost instinctively, transferring the image in his processor onto the datapad.
Garnet said his drawings were good. She said she wished he could get lessons so he could learn to draw better.
Sunstreaker thought those two statements contradicted each other.
He didn't need to learn how to draw if he was already good at it.
Something didn't feel right.
He looked down at his drawing. It was a picture of a big, scary, wolf-shaped symbiot. It had jagged sharp teeth and it crouched, ready to spring.
Sunstreaker frowned. Then he saved it and opened a new file. There was something he had been itching to draw all orn, but he hadn't figured out what yet. What was it? A stifling panic descended on him, and he scooted over to the wall and turned his helm so his faceplate was pressed against it. He shuttered his optics and waited for the feeling to go away.
When it retreated he looked back down at the blank datapad. "I need to draw something," he muttered, then scooted away from the wall. He was torn between facing the direction of the wall and facing the doorway. He didn't want to leave his back exposed to the rest of the room. He didn't trust the other younglings.
He turned to face the wall anyway, because it felt like the right direction, and hunched down over the datapad to draw.
He just let his fingers do what they wanted. An idea formed in his processor and simultaneously took shape on the datapad.
Sunstreaker sketched a youngling standing outside in the sun. The mech's helm was cocked to the side a little, and he was smiling mischievously. He cast a small shadow on the uneven ground around him.
What color should he be?
Red. Yes. Red was a good color. Sunstreaker carefully filled in the youngling's armor with red. It stood out against the mostly-gray background.
He made the mech's optics gold, like his own, and started filling in the little details.
"What's that?"
Sunstreaker jumped, nearly messing up his picture. He turned around to glare at the youngling femme standing behind him. "Go away," he hissed.
"What are you drawing? You've had that thing for joors now. I want a turn."
"No," Sunstreaker growled. "I'm not done with it."
"You're never done with it. When you finish a drawing, you just start a new one!" Chalice said, pouting. She and Hubcap were always trying to take it away from him.
"Just go away," he said. "Leave me alone."
"It's not fair." She tried to see his drawing. "You always get the datapad. We're supposed to share!"
Sunstreaker held the datapad close to him. Some of the other younglings were watching now. A few wandered over.
Then Garnet came over. "Hey, mechlings," she sat down on the floor next to Sunstreaker. "Can we get along, please? We're going to start school in a few breems, so how about Sunstreaker can have the datapad until then, and then I'll take it. Then after school it'll be your turn, Chalice."
"But…" Chalice said.
"But I'm not finished!" Sunstreaker said.
"What are you drawing? Show me."
Sunstreaker didn't want to show her, not with everyone else looking.
"Come on. I want to see. I'm sure it's really good."
Reluctantly, Sunstreaker turned around and faced the datapad away from himself.
"Wow," Garnet said. "The shading on that's really well-done."
"Who is it?" Chalice asked.
"What's shading?" Hubcap demanded.
Everyone was looking now. Sunstreaker wanted to hide.
"I don't recognize him," Garnet said. "He's probably not anyone, Chalice."
That made Sunstreaker mad, though he wasn't sure why. "He is someone."
Garnet looked surprised. But then she smiled. "Who is he? A friend? What's his designation?"
Sunstreaker looked down. He didn't know who it was. He'd just randomly drawn this mech. Who was he? Sunstreaker studied him, thinking hard, trying to figure out where he'd seen the little red youngling before.
"There isn't anyone who looks like that," Vanilla said. "He's just making it up."
"Yes there is," Sunstreaker said. "He is my friend. His designation is…" he hesitated. It was just barely out of reach. "Is…"
Everyone was looking at him. Sunstreaker turned to the side, to face the wall again.
"It's ok if he doesn't have a designation," Garnet said.
"Sideswipe." Sunstreaker said. "His designation is Sideswipe. And he's a real mech."
Everyone was quiet. Why were they still looking at him?
"Sideswipe," Garnet said. "That's a good designation."
"I don't know anyone with that designation," one of the other younglings said, sounding very confused.
"He's an imaginary friend," Garnet explained. "You can have one too if you want."
"He's not imaginary."
Garnet didn't acknowledge what Sunstreaker had said. "Well… it's almost time to start school for the orn, so please hurry up and finish drawing him so we can get started."
Sunstreaker turned to face the wall again and waited for everyone else to drift away before he started working on his drawing.
"How do you know he's real?" Chalice asked, still standing behind him.
Sunstreaker didn't answer.
"I think you were lying."
Sunstreaker saved his picture, then spun and threw the datapad at her. She screamed and tried to get out of the way, but wasn't fast enough.
"Sunstreaker!" Garnet didn't raise her voice very often. Except when she was talking to Sunstreaker. They all seemed to like yelling at him. He waited for her to say more. She wouldn't tell him he shouldn't throw things. She knew that he knew that. Instead, she'd just punish him.
Chalice was crying.
"If you can't share nicely and use that datapad the way it's meant to be, you shouldn't be using it at all. Chalice, sweetspark, it's ok. Come here. Bring that datapad too, would you?"
Sunstreaker shuttered his optics. Something welled up inside of him. This wasn't fair. Nothing was fair. Everyone hated him. He buried his faceplate in his hands and started wailing too.
No one tried to comfort him.
They didn't have a teacher. School was just Garnet or Torque teaching all the younglings. Once you were old enough to go to secondary school they sent you to the nearest one, but before that you just got the caretakers.
Sunstreaker figured real school might be less boring, but he wasn't sure.
Afterward, they got to go outside.
Sunstreaker wandered over to his favorite place by the southwest fence. He liked to watch the alt modes go by, and the occasional mech or femme. Sometimes they'd notice him. A few even smiled and waved at him. He wished they wouldn't.
"Hey, Sunny," someone said.
He hated it when they called him that.
"What was your imaginary friend's designation again?"
Sunstreaker turned around as two other younglings approached him.
Chalice and one of her friends. They didn't look happy. Chalice still had a little dent on her faceplate from where the datapad had hit.
"Go away."
"It was side… sidesomething."
"Sidestupid?" the second femme said.
Chalice giggled.
"Sideswipe." Sunstreaker growled. "And he's not imaginary." He wasn't even entirely sure why he was convinced of this. But the idea was too compelling. Another youngling, his same age, who was his friend. Someone he could play with, who wasn't mean and selfish like everyone else.
This mech had to be real.
"Stupidswipe," the other femme said. "That was it."
Sunstreaker shoved away from the fence with a shout. He lunged at the two femmes, but they ran away, screaming, but not really scared.
Sunstreaker went back to his spot by the fence, hoping he'd scared them off.
But they came back after a few breems, and this time they brought a larger crowd.
There were different kinds of noise, Torque had learned. Working with sparklings you had to be able to listen for them. A quiet chatter, with the occasional bout of giggling or happy shouting was the right sound for younglings playing outside.
But if it got too quiet, or too loud, you knew something was up.
Something was definitely up.
He walked out the open front door and almost crashed into Phosphora coming in.
"Torque!" she said. "I was going to come get you! They're being mean…"
She pointed to where the large majority of the other younglings were gathered by the fence.
"Thanks, Phos." Torque slipped past her and out into the sunlight. He went over to investigate.
Before he reached them, there was another enraged shout and they all backed away. Torque watched as Sunstreaker tackled another one of the younglings.
"Hey!" he said when he had almost reached them. The other sparklings scattered.
Sunstreaker raised a fist as if to punch the mech he was on top of, but Torque grabbed him and lifted him off of his fellow youngling. "What are you doing!"
The other youngling scrambled away and ran too.
Sunstreaker glared at him, venting hard, but getting that familiar helpless look in his optics.
"Don't even think about having a tantrum," Torque said. "You do not hit the other younglings. I don't care what the circumstances are…"
"Mr. Torque, they were being mean to him," Phosphora said from behind him.
Torque looked around. All the other younglings had gone inside.
"You're hurting my arm!" Sunstreaker said.
Torque set him down. Sunstreaker sat down and put his arms around his knees, trembling.
Torque wasn't sure how to feel about this. Normally, Sunstreaker was the one who bothered his peers. He almost thought it was fitting that they should get back at him.
But then he felt bad for thinking it. Sunstreaker might be overdramatic, stubborn, violent, and impossible to reason with, but the other younglings shouldn't pick on him.
"Ok," he said. "Come on, Sunny."
"Don't call me that!" Sunstreaker said, getting back to his pedes. He shoved past Torque, and shot Phosphora an acidic glare before storming toward the building.
"This is my fault," Garnet said. "I should have just… I don't know."
They were having what Torque liked to call a Sunstreaker meeting. Garnet didn't like that name. They didn't always just discuss the little yellow youngling in the meetings. There were a few other mechlings they occasionally called meetings to talk about.
Usually, it was Sunstreaker, though.
"It's not your fault," Torque said. "There was no way to know he'd take such offense that no one will play along with him about his imaginary friend."
A volunteer had come in to read a story to all of the mechlings in the orphanage. The event had left Garnet, Torque, and Avalanche free to have their meeting. Sunstreaker hadn't wanted to participate in story time, though. He'd claimed to feel sick, and had gone up to the room where all the younglings recharged.
"I should have just dropped the issue." Garnet had seen the betrayal in the youngling's optics when she'd explained that the mech in his drawing wasn't real. She hoped she hadn't completely lost his trust. They'd been making some headway with him.
"He needs to stop caring so much," Torque said. "He needs to learn that in the real world you can't just tell lies and yell at everyone until they believe them."
"He doesn't mean to tell lies," Garnet said. "I think he just really wants a friend."
"You think he actually believes his imaginary friend is real?"
"That's not what I said." Garnet glared at him. "I said he doesn't have any friends, and he's trying to find a way to feel better about that. I'm actually glad he has an imaginary friend. I just wish I'd played along so the other younglings wouldn't get all…"
"The reason he doesn't have any friends is because he hasn't learned to get along with the others. He can't just invent a friend. He needs to learn how to…"
"Stop," Avalanche said.
Garnet looked down. They were too hard on him. Sunstreaker needed them to at least try to understand him. His processor just worked a little differently. That was no reason to be angry at him. He just didn't know how to correctly express his emotions… or something like that. If they could only get him to a psychologist…
"I think in this case all of the younglings are in the wrong," Avalanche said. "The others were teasing him, and Sunstreaker reacted badly. They all know better. Just take some time at the beginning of school next orn to talk about it," he looked at Torque, who would be teaching the next orn.
Garnet wished she could take the younglings instead of him. Torque could be kind of tactless and stupid about these things.
"And then they'll lose the privilege of going outside for three orns," Avalanche said. "And they'll be warned that any further offenses of this sort will be punished as well. I don't want any teasing or bullying in my orphanage. I also will not tolerate Sunstreaker's violence. We need these mecha to grow up in a safe environment. They need to learn to get along with each other better."
"Boss," Garnet said. "Sunstreaker…"
"I know you feel sorry for him. I'm glad he's got such a strong advocate. He needs your compassion. He also needs to learn that he can't solve his problems by hitting other mecha…"
"How do we teach him that?" Garnet asked.
Avalanche seemed to think for a few astroseconds. Then he shook his helm. "I don't know. You say he doesn't have any friends? None at all?"
Garnet and Torque looked at each other. Garnet shook her helm. "None."
"Do you think any of them would be willing to try befriending him?"
"It's not like they haven't," Torque said. "He's not particularly approachable."
"Phosphora's very sweet and level-helmed," Garnet said. "But he seems to dislike her, and I don't want to ask her to try and befriend him when it'll probably backfire…"
"He dislikes everymech." Torque said. "And Phos isn't stubborn enough. She might try, but then she'd get her feelings hurt and give up."
"One of the older ones, maybe," Garnet said. "Like, to be a mentor figure."
"Yeah," Torque said. "Someone he couldn't beat up."
Avalanche nodded. "We'll think about it. That might help some."
"For now, we've got work to do."
Torque nodded and they all stood up and left Avalanche's office. Garnet went upstairs to check on Sunstreaker.
He was lying on his berth. His optics were open, but he was still and silent, and he didn't look at her as she approached.
He was almost always staring that direction. Garnet had nearly given up trying to figure out why. That was the direction he'd been running too, back when he was a sparkling and had escaped. He'd said he was going home.
It wasn't possible that he knew where his creators were, though. His bond with them had been broken just barely after he'd been sparked.
Torque was probably right, and he just had some processor damage of some kind.
"Sunstreaker?"
His faceplate contorted into a mask of anger. "I hate you."
"Are you ok?"
"Leave me alone," he growled.
Not in a good mood. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"
He didn't answer. She walked away, and out the door. As she walked down the stairs, she unsubspaced the datapad she'd confiscated earlier in the orn. The picture of the little red mech was still on there. She studied it, smiling slightly. You couldn't help it. Sunstreaker's imaginary friend was adorable, and there was so much personality in his expression.
The drawing was really amazing. For a youngling only two vorns old, Sunstreaker was quite the prodigy. Garnet's smile faded. It was tragic, really. He probably wouldn't ever be able to use his talent for much. No one bought art from penniless orphans.
And despite his innate ability, Sunstreaker would never be professional without training. Even if they had the means, somehow Garnet didn't think the little yellow mech would let anyone teach him to draw.
She sighed. Poor Sunstreaker. "I wish you were real," she said quietly to the drawing. "Maybe you could help him."
Sideswipe just kept smiling back at her, with his helm cocked to the side and a mischievous glint in his yellow optics.
Notes:
1. Torque mentioned that most couples only have one sparkling. In my headcanon, it's culturally frowned upon to raise more than one sparkling (unless they're twins. Everyone thinks twins are cool) at a time. This is partly because sparklings are much more difficult to raise than human children. Also, unlike human couples, Cybertronians don't lose their ability to reproduce when they get older. They also live a really really really long time. They can raise a sparkling to adulthood, take a break for several vorns, and then raise another one. And another one. And just keep going.
2. Consequently, Cybertronians don't have strong family units the way we humans do. In fact, once you move out, you don't usually visit your creators anymore, and often siblings won't even know each other.