I never intended to write in the IDW verse as I hate the fact that they kill off half the good characters. Then this snuck in and bit me... Le sigh, never underestimate your muse people.

And There It Was

It started with a friendly cube of engex. They had decided to renew their friendship after so many vorn of playing on opposite sides of the fence and they started it off with regular meeting for after-shift drinks. This night they found themselves reminiscing on their old history. About the free clinic in Rodian and the grumpy old medic who ran it. About the dead-end drug addict who frequented the area and always dropped by for medical care after a client-gone-wrong. Neither of them really knew why they were recalling this, but it felt good in a painful, cathartic sort of way.

Then Ratchet revealed a secret the other had never known. "I was planning to get you out you know. Right before you left for the 'Cons. I was going to take you to Iacon, make you my assistant. My old one had just quit and I knew you had the personality to do it right. But you disappeared and I couldn't find you. I searched for decacycles."

Drift looked at his friend in surprise. "But I was just a deadbeat, and the higher ups in Iacon would never have accepted me Ratch. It would have been a waste of your time on either end."

The look Ratchet gave the swordsmech was sheepish, almost embarrassed. "You were always worth it to me."

And Drift realized what he had never seen before. For there, in the medic's optics, was all the love the white mech had been searching for and never found. And he realized that the love he saw had always been there, in every gentle pat on the shoulder, in every quiet word of encouragement, in every look of hope for him to better himself. Ratchet had always loved him. The medic had always treated him as an equal when no one else would, had cared for him, and about him, when no one else bothered.

However, did he feel the same? Drift thought back to that time, to the young punk whose functioning had been hopelessly doomed to shortness and an almost guarantee of a painful end in a gutter. How that street urchin found a free clinic after a bad gang fight and discovered therein a kindly medic with the most wicked aim with a wrench. A red and white giant from the Pearl of Cybertron who cared not for the trappings of wealth or the status one carried. How the worthless youngling had vowed to himself to protect the medic's little business, if only to thank him for his kindness. Drift remembered that after that vow a good half the fights he had been in were in protection of Ratchet, not that the medic ever knew that while he was ranting and furiously patching broken plating.

Drift had always thought his feelings were ones of friendship, but now as a mature mech, he could truthfully look back to see that he had been infatuated with his savior. What really surprised him though, was that those feelings had not dissipated with time and separation. So, he did the only thing he could. He leaned forward, covered the medic's servo with his own and kissed Ratchet softly. The kiss lasted for only a nanoklik, but it felt like an eternity of bliss to the swordsmech. Ratchet ended it though, by pushing the warrior back and fixing him with an angry look. "I don't need your pity or sympathy. You don't need to make yourself do this because of any lingering sense of obligation."

Drift looked back at him and allowed the surprise to show through along with his quiet joy at discovery such a wonderful thing. "I'm not doing this out of pity Ratch, I love you too."

The medic searched the other's face for any falsehood, and when none was found it was Ratchet who sealed their lipplates together for a longer, more passionate kiss.

*…*…*…*

Vorns later, after the quest of the Lost Light was over, Drift stood with his Conjunx Endura in their apartment overlooking a rebuilt Iacon and a restored Cybertron. He thought back to that pivotal conversation between two old friends and considered it the best spontaneous decision he had ever made.