Hydra are small freshwater invertebrates that reproduce by budding - growing small versions of themselves on their sides that eventually detach to develop on their own. I've been growing a bunch of them in a ten gallon aquarium this summer. This fic is the result. There are a few more chapters coming, and I'll add to it now and then if inspiration strikes.
"Truce, then?" Optimus asked, with a hint of a smile, the bud attached to his shoulder peering at Megatron with bright blue optics.
Megatron stood with one leg bent at an awkward angle, careful not to jostle the bud just below his knee joint, and one hand rested on the back of a second grey bud at his hip, both of them tiny replicas of their parent. They were just old enough that they were beginning to respond to movement and sound, and the bud on Megatron's knee reached out curious hands towards the equally curious blue-and-red bud waving and reaching from Optimus' lower leg.
Both budlets began squawking and beeping, loudly and insistently, and with a shared rueful glance both he and Optimus limped closer until the two could touch. Megatron watched as the the two buds grabbed arms and bumped their tiny helms together and tried to stuff one another's finger digits in their mouths.
"Truce," he sighed, over the sound of their delighted burbles and squeaks.