Author's Note: These are side-stories to Living With Autobots; it is recommended to read that story but shouldn't be necessary to understand 28 Twins. These stories are regarding to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but include many other characters, both from canon and of my own invention. These are on the short side-I even have some drabbles in here-and range from silly to serious, G to R. They are presented in chronological order, but exactly when these events take place in relation to LWA, I won't say, as it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

I am not following a formal set of 28 prompts, but rather, prompts friends gave me.

Prompt: Childhood

They were not fully-formed yet. They would hardly qualify as self-aware, only barely as alive. But still, they knew that they were content, and so they slept.

Griffon slowly ambled down the row of hatchling pods, ignoring those that were just now beginning to grow or were not even active for this creation cycle. Following him, scrambling upside-down on the ceiling, was a tiny, multi-limbed mech, one of the pod-tenders.

"You are not required here!" the tiny mech chattered angrily. "You are not a tender, you are not needed yet! Hatchlings are still growing, not your time yet!"

"I'm not in anyone's way," Griffon replied without looking up. "I am simply here for a visit." 'Damn tenders, thinking they own the place.'

The ceiling-crawler hissed. "Hatchlings do not need visits! They know nothing outside of their pods! You are wasting your time!"

This time, Griffon glared up at him. "Go away before I report you to the overseer."

The tender blinked a few times, then scurried away, muttering insults the whole way. Griffon sighed and continued on his way until he stood before one of the active pods. He could just make out the faintest form within, floating peacefully within its cushioning fluids.

"Hello there," Griffon said softly. There was, of course, no response from the pod. "I have been assigned as your youngling-master. We're going to be spending much time together..."

They were curled tightly together, as they liked. It was a comfortable position. But they were bigger now than they had once been, and there seemed to be less space to share, even when curled up together.

Sometimes, they did not want to share that space, and they would strech out in irritation.

But soon enough, they would curl up again and sleep.

The pods were covered with a thin but tough membrane, tough enough that hatchlings were not strong enough to break it. Griffon was glad for that, as the occupant of his assigned pod was proving to be a most active individual.

"Yes now," he crooned to the pod as he gently set his hands on either side of it. The hatchling wriggled inside. "I do believe you are ready to come out." He flicked his wrist, extending the small, slim blade tucked within his arm. With a deft motion, he cleanly sliced through the pod's stem, freeing the pouch from its connection to the Allspark. Carefully, he lowered the precious object to the floor and crouched in front of it. Retracting the blade so as to not accidentally injure his charge, he pulled open the pod's membrane.

"Welcome to life, little one."

He dipped his hands into the green fluid within, scooping its precious cargo out with his long fingers. Lifting his hands, he allowed the fluid to drain away from the hatchling.

His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "Primus help me."

In his hands, curled up in sleep the way hatchlings did, was not one, but two tiny new lives.

"Primus help me," he repeated, almost not comprehending what he was seeing. "Twins. They're twins."

They were able to fully stretch out now. That felt good. They were no longer floating, though, and that was a bit disconcerting.

One was the first to express that discomfort in the form of a loud squeak. The noise startled both of them, and the other made known his surprise with a similarly loud squeak.

This of course was even more frightening to them. Never before had noises been so loud! Never before had noises come from them! The first one thrashed about in distress until he found himself touching the other once more. This was very reassuring, and they both settled once more.

Griffon sagged back into his chair. These two were going to be a handful. For most of their first cycle of existence, they had slept, but when they were awake...Primus. They had discovered they could make noise and were practicing that ability at every opportunity. They were also figuring out how to unfold their spindly limbs from their hatchling shells. It would only be a matter of time before they worked out how to use those limbs to move themselves where they wanted. And that, Griffon knew, meant the end of his sanity.

His computer screen blipped. Immediately he sat up, tapping a corner of the screen. "Yes?"

"Advisor Ratchet wishes to speak with you," said a voice from the computer's comm.

"Of course. Put him through."

The screen flickered, then the holoprojector at its bottom came to life. The face of the Advisor sprang up in front of Griffon. "I hear you have most important news for me, youngling-master?"

Griffon nodded. "I..." He felt simultaneously terrified and giddy. "Sir...my latest...sir, we have a case of twinning."

Ratchet was silent, his faceplates unreadable. "Twins, you say?" he stated after a while.

"Yes sir. They came online about a half-cycle ago."

"You are not lying to me, are you? You know how rare twins are. I mean, for Primus' sake, there's only ever been two reported cases and both of those were before my time."

"No sir, not lying! I reaching into the pod and...there they both were." Griffon stared at his hands, reliving the moment.

Again Ratchet was silent. "How are they doing?"

"As well as any other hatchlings."

"Mechs or femmes?"

"Mechs."

"Hmm...class and type?"

"4-Betas."

That caught the Advisor's attention. "4-Betas? Really?"

Griffin nodded again. "Ironic, I know."

"Youngling-master, take care that no one outside of your youth complex knows of them, and only those that need to know within the complex know." Ratchet's voice had suddenly taken on a most urgent tone.

"Of course."

"I will be there as soon as I am able. I will contact you when I am on my way."

One was the first to see. He opened his round hatchling optics to a strange non-fluid world. Everywhere he peered, things were big and strange and new. He chittered to himself in wonderment. Unfolding one of his new-found arms, he pushed on the table until he rolled himself onto his front side. Things were more interesting from this angle! He unfolded his other limbs and started slowly scooting himself forward. This was a new and fun way to move!

His actions woke the other, who wondered what the fuss was about. From his brother, he learned about seeing. Carefully, he too opened his optics. Things were different indeed. But he couldn't feel the first by his side any more, so he squealed. The first tried to comfort him by telling him about moving, but that was just too new and different for the other. He was not ready for that, so he squealed louder. If he squealed loud enough for long enough, the first would return to him.

The tender had waited until he was sure the twins would survive. If their constant noise was anything to go by, they were most certainly surviving, and then some. So the tender scurried to his quarters and activated a little-used comm device hidden in the walls.

He was forced to wait several breems before the call was answered. "I told you not to use this comm unless you were prepared to give up your position as a tender," a low voice said through the comm.

"For this? Oh yes, oh yes." The tender drummed his multiple legs against the floor.

"Well? Spit it out already."

"There are twins, Flame. Twins! Mechs! 4-betas! They came online yesterday, they are most active and healthy!"

"Yeeess..." He could hear the dark grin in Flame's voice. "Yes. You were right to inform me. They will work perfectly."

Griffon knew something was wrong when the twins didn't wake him with their squealing. Panic immediately set in. He scrambled from his berth, charging down the hallway as his mind raced with all the horrible things that could have happened to his precious charges. There was any number of problems hatchlings could experience between the time they came online and when they entered their sparkling stage. He could not afford to lose his hatchlings, his precious twins.

The one scenario he didn't imagine was the one he found himself confronted with. The twins' room in the med ward was empty.

Griffon stormed into the on-duty medic's office. "Where are they?"

The medic looked up, startled. "Who?"

"My hatchlings!"

"They're in their room."

"No they're not!"

The medic only stared.

"Who has access to the room?"

"You, me, the chief medic, and the tender."

The tender.

One looked about, confused. He didn't recognize this place. The other didn't recognize it either, though he chose to curl himself up into his hatchling shell as tightly as possible in an attempt to block it out, rather than try to make sense of it.

Strange mechs. Strange sights. No comfortable things to lay on. This didn't seem right.

The first chirred softly in worry. The other replied with a similar chirr, though it was muffled by his shell. Things would be okay, he told the first, although he seemed to be trying to convince himself more than his brother. They had each other, like they always had.

This was true, the first agreed. He also curled himself into his shell, but not before wriggling himself closer to snuggle with his brother. Things would be okay.