Most of Thundercracker's classmates knew very little about him. It was common knowledge that his grades placed him in the top five percent of his class, sure, and he had small groups of friends he would split his time between, but it seemed to many that his most expressive moments came on the occasions when he would open his messages and reply to a mech no one in the school had met.

No one seemed to think much of how his elated responses slowly morphed into obvious worry. A small number of friends noted—only when the mech was out of earshot—how uncomfortable he had seemed after finally meeting the mystery mech in person. They didn't ask, and Thundercracker never spoke of it. It became a thing of the past and was forgotten. Sometimes young mechs change suddenly, the few who noticed supposed.

He could barely be considered young when he was assigned to a project with a seeker he barely knew named Skywarp. "Assigned" was perhaps the wrong word; everyone else in the class had chosen their partners while he shifted awkwardly in his seat. Most of his friends no longer shared classes with him, and his tendency to blow up at shirkers didn't work in his favor for group projects.

Skywarp didn't end up with him for lack of trying on their part. All their friends had already chosen partners by the time they asked them, and Thundercracker wondered if it had anything to do with their reputation of goofing off.

He resigned himself to doing all the work when Skywarp scanned the room and met his gaze with wide optics.

"Hey," greeted his classmate with a tinge of reluctance. "So..."

"I was planning to make a rudimentary 3D mapping program," the blue mech stated without preamble, looking down at a datapad about the programming assignment. "That okay?"

"Uh," Skywarp answered, wide-eyed. "Yeah. When you wanna meet up?"

"Whenever. Here's my comm frequency," Thundercracker said absently, pinging it to the other. "Just comm me when you're free."

He was honestly surpisrised when, after classes, Skywarp called him.

He was even more surprised when they actually showed up in the group study room he had reserved.

Most surprising was the way the mech seemed excited as they laid various schematics down on the table and started chattering about the mathematics involved.

As it turned out, the topic was Skywarp's special interest. To Thundercracker, it was… refreshing? It had been so long since he had seen genuine excitement and interest in an academic topic without any mocking. (If he were honest with himself, it was one of the reasons he hardly got excited anymore.)

It was frustrating, being the one who understood the least, but Skywarp's happiness was, well, endearing. Halfway through they decided to call it a day, having accomplished much more than Thundercracker had ever hoped to in the first week, and—at Skywarp's insistence—took to the skies. The Academy recommended students not to fly without two wingmates but that was hardly enforced, and although Thundercracker could outmaneuver his classmate he hardly doubted the aerial capabilities of the teleporter.

'Hey Thun,' Skywarp called through the commlink as the two rose on an updraft, 'Sorry we got off on the wrong pede. Guess the rumors are wrong about you.'

The blue seeker would have frozen if he were on the ground. As it was, he hesitated. 'Rumors?'

'Oh, uh. Never mind. They're nothing.'

'Warp. What rumors?'

'Like. Uh. You sure you want to know?' Receiving silence, they continued, 'Like that you're so focused on working you forget about people and get angry about small stuff. Like you're really distant and critical.'

More silence, then, 'Guess that's true.'

'But you didn't get angry at me once. Uh. Thanks for that, by the way. I know talking about spatial distortion gets annoying.'

Thundercracker paused. 'Why? Skywarp, you're brilliant. I had no idea about most of the things you said. Because of you, this project is going to be amazing.'

There was a long pause, which the blue mech credited to Skywarp's long series of spins through the sky.

'Seriously, Warp. I couldn't do this without you. I… I underestimated you.'

Transforming to land, he flashed a smile up at his partner. 'Thanks.'

The muttered 'Thanks, TC,' barely passed through the comm.

Finally, finally the project was finished. Not that either of the two had minded working on it together. Actually…. Thundercracker was a little disappointed. He would miss spending time with Skywarp, he realized, and didn't appreciate the thought. This is why you don't get attached.

Still, the two of them had celebrated its completion, all smiles and laughter and inside jokes the project had prompted, and Skywarp was absolutely beaming.

"Just wanna say, I had a lot of fun."

"Same here." Thundercracker nodded, grinning fondly. "Sorry I have to go already. I need to refuel but you have my comm; just ping me whenever you want to hang out again."

"TC, wait-" Skywarp began suddenly, lightly grabbing Thundercracker's shoulder with one servo. The larger mech stiffened slightly at the touch before Skywarp drew away, looking apologetic. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Thundercracker assured with a nod. "Just… don't like being touched much. Go on."

"I was thinking, I really had fun being with you."

"You said as much."

"No, I mean," Skywarp drawled for emphasis, "I really liked hanging out with you."

Thundercracker, not comprehending, tilted his helm slightly. "I liked hanging out with you too."

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to spend some time together next vacation?" Their voice was hesitant. "Like, just us?"

"Yeah, Warp. I'd like that."

He tried not to go wide-eyed over the hopeful and excited grin he received.

He was completely endeared.