Elite guard training was rough, just as he predicted. At times, he had to wonder why he stayed in the first place. It was needlessly tiring, filled with obnoxious mechs, and stressful. But he had heard so many impressive stories of the Prime, who was said to have stolen the Matrix with little difficulty, that he could fight the entire Decepticon army without weapons and still win. He had heard of some of his most successful battles, all spent fighting for a new, more impressive era. The idea of conquering everything he could see was appealing, as well. To meet such a mech would be the highest of honors.
His idolizing of Optimus certainly caught the attention of his peers, who weren't nearly as enamored with the Autobot leader as Smokescreen was. They joined for the cause, not the leader. They did not hesitate to demonstrate this to the young Smokescreen, who ended up bothering them further with his non-reaction to their punches, just dodging them with a mildly irritated look on his face, as though he didn't even care. He always heard a lack of reaction would deter these fools.
It didn't.
They did change their strategy, however. Fists were traded for words, which brought little change, at least at the surface. Smokescreen put an effort into hiding his discomfort. He worked to assure himself that no, he was not a soft weakling. He was worth more than scrap. He may not be destiny's child, but he wasn't an idiotic piece of trash, either.
It soon became evident that these guys would only stop if someone dropped out of the elite guard, and it wasn't about to be Smokescreen. It couldn't be. He had to meet with Optimus, and he just had to be his strategic adviser. He did not see the Prime as he did when he first joined, with those wide optics and nothing but admiration for the Prime. No, he had read about the failures of the Prime. He was impulsive, bad at planning. But the two of them together could form an unbeatable alliance! With his genius skills in strategy, and the Prime's power, they would conquer everything! That's what he told himself throughout training, at least. These were the ideas that kept him from dropping out, and motivated him as he prepared to initiate his plan.
It wasn't hard getting those afts out of the way. Fabricating some data pads in which they sound like Decepticon sympathizers, alert the sergeants, it was all very simple. It was clear those jerks were aware of what he had done, and went around to harassing the mech one last time, just as Smokescreen got the honor of dealing with the traitors he called out.
Those last moments with these dregs of society were most interesting, to say the least. The combination of begging for mercy, while calling Smokescreen a worthless coward would never be forgotten. Smokescreen took his time, but got little pleasure from dealing with them. He had spent most of that time wondering if they were right all along, that he may very well be as worthless as they say he was. Perhaps he was just a hindrance to the Autobot cause as they claimed.
He never once asked why they targeted him, but he felt he knew the reason. He was pathetic, an easy target. He wouldn't be significant to the Autobot cause, and was cannon fodder. He didn't matter, so that had to be why they messed with him. He knew this couldn't be true, but the thoughts didn't leave his mind.
Taking his sweet time was interpreted by his superiors as being a choice in giving these Decepticon sympathizers the cruelest end he could give as a rookie, and helped him quickly go through the ranks, until he found himself working as Optimus Prime's strategic adviser.
It was everything he ever wanted, yet something was off. Did Prime only seem fantastic in all of the propaganda? Or did the comments from his peers affect him more than he gave them credit for? Either way, he wasn't as pleased with his position as he wanted to be. He wanted to respect the Prime, but that just seemed to get more difficult with each passing day, as he saw the less appealing sides to Prime. He had to wonder why he stayed in the first place.
A/N: This is mostly something I wrote to get an idea of how I'd better play shattered glass Smokescreen, try to figure out why he acts like a surly mess. It's somewhat awkwardly written and ended up a lot longer than intended, complete with extra chapters in the works. They might be finished if I can figure out how to write SG Optimus.