Title: At the Edge
Author: kirin-saga
Rated: PG
Summary: Prowl was afraid of Blaster, and they had no idea why.
A/N: Sequel to Death's Lullaby.
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Prowl was afraid of Blaster. As shocking as that possibility was, after reviewing Prowl's responses to Blaster over the vorns, it was the only conclusion they could logically come to. At first, they had thought Prowl's reaction to Blaster's transfer to their base had been the tactician's normal response to people he had just met: he had spoken to the communication's officer just enough to go over some required paperwork and then stayed out of his way. Nothing unusual there. Then they had learned that the two had known each other since Blaster was a sparkling.
After they had discovered that, Prowl's continued avoidance of Blaster had sparked their curiosity. Prowl had never mentioned Blaster in all the vorns they had known him, though Jazz recalled once seeing a faded sketch that had that name on it scrawled in a child's messy handwriting: To Prowl. Love, Blaster. Prowl had snatched the drawing away before Jazz could get a good look at it and Jazz had forgotten about it as the Decepticons had chosen that moment to attack.
When Jazz had told them this, one night when the three of them where off duty and had nothing better to do, it made them even curiouser. If Prowl cared enough to keep something Blaster had given him so long ago, why continue to avoid him? It was Ratchet that came up with the best theory they could think of.
"Blaster's loud, Jazz. He plays his music louder than you. And you know how Prowl is."
While that was the best idea they could think of, it couldn't really be all there was to it. Blaster liked his music loud, it was true, but he wasn't loud all the time. He played quiet music as well, even though he never seemed to enjoy it. He would sit in the corner and play quiet instrumental pieces that were felt more than heard, staring blankly off into the distance. Oddly enough, people danced to these songs more often than the louder, more dance-able music.
Jazz wondered over this as well, angry at himself for not understanding something music related. He prided himself on being the base's expert of useless musical trivia and here he was, clueless over the appeal of Blaster's songs. However, Jazz decided that since Prowl always showed up to drag him away when Blaster got in one of those moods and he therefor never heard more than a few notes, that this wasn't in any way a shortcoming of his own.
"Makes you wonder why Prowl's always around when Blaster plays his music, if he hates it so much."
Ironhide's comment brought up another good point. Prowl hated Blaster's music - or rather, he hated the music when Blaster played it since he only mildly complained when Jazz played some of the same louder songs - but he never seemed to leave when Blaster showed up. He'd stay out of Blaster's sight, hide in a corner where he could see Blaster at all times, and listen quietly with a nervous look in his optics. And when the volume lowered and Blaster's face went blank and people began swaying on their feet, Prowl would stand and rush through the room, stopping next to various mechs and ordering them onto some useless errand. All complained but none disobeyed, not even Jazz. And none of those that Prowl targeted had ever heard one of Blaster's quieter songs other than those first few notes. But Prowl himself never left.
They had asked Prowl about it once. They still puzzled over the illogicalness of his answer. "There's something wrong with him, but it's not him, it's what he is." Prowl had refused to elaborate at the time, claiming to have had a backlog of paperwork, and the next time they had managed to corner him for questioning - a mere eight joors later - he had strangely seemed to have completely forgotten they had asked him in the first place.
Asking Blaster hadn't been any better. "It's because he always gets caught at the edge and pulled in, but he's not as in as everyone else so he can see and feel and hear it but he's not part of it like they are and it scares him." That answer had left them staring in confusion and, perhaps trying to help in his own way, Blaster had continued. "I don't mean to catch him, but he has to be there now because he was there the first time."
Nothing either of them said on the subject helped to clear up the mystery, only causing the confusion to increase with every word spoken. Blaster was the only one who actually tried to help them understand, but his answers never made sense. Prowl never seemed to remember that they repeatedly tried to question him about Blaster, always appearing surprised that they even knew how long the two had known each other. If Blaster wasn't always trying to be helpful, they would have thought he had done something to Prowl.
All this just confirmed for them that something was very wrong with the entire situation and Blaster seemed to be the cause of it. Something was wrong with him, like Prowl had said. But Prowl was part of it as well and might be another cause of it all. Because Prowl was there the first time and was there every time after and Blaster never played the quiet music if Prowl wasn't so something must be wrong with Prowl as well.
Prowl was afraid of Blaster, and they suspected that Blaster might be a little afraid of Prowl, and they realized that they might never learn why. And this caused them to be afraid of both of them because they knew something was wrong with them and once you know, you can never not know and it was only a matter of time before Blaster and Prowl noticed them standing there at the edge.