'Quite the crowd today.' Swerve thought to himself as he polished the last table of his bar. He moved the cloth away from the newly polished table and gave his own reflection a double-pistol and wink.

"Hey there handsome!" he complimented his own reflection and gave a hearty laugh, going back over to the bar, twirling the cloth in his hands. He stood behind the bar and ducked down, reaching to grab one of the dirty glasses he had put away to quickly attend to the other customers.

'Empty bar, slow and low music and me cleaning an empty glass...man I must look cool.' he thought to himself, chuckling a little as he silently cleaned the glass.

The door opened with a swosh letting in the cool air into his bar. Someone strode in with heavy footsteps, footsteps Swerve knew well. His blood pumper pounded hard against his chest plate as he forced another smile on his face. He looked up to see Skids, his face as hard and battle-lined as ever.

"Hey there Skidsy!" he greeted Skids in his usual chipper, albeit he forced it. "Hello Swerve." Skids muttered, somewhat annoyedly. He pulled over a bar stool and sat down, outright glaring at Swerve.

"Woah, hey! Don't take that out at me!" Swerve joked seeing his friend's expression, putting his hands up in defense, still holding the cloth in his right and the glass in his left.

Skids huffed out slightly, face softening. He put his hands together and bowed his head apologetically. "I apologize, I had not meant to glare." he said, the annoyed tone in is voice was replaced with a tired one, and Swerve had noticed it. He set the cloth down and placed the clean glass in front of Skids and turned his back on him to grab some drinks and ice to mix.

"Rough day?" Swerve asked, pouring a little bit of this and that into the drinks mixer. Skids grumbled a "yeah" as Swerve put a few ice cubes into the concoction and toped off the lid.

"Whirl?" he asked turning to face his friend, shaking the drinks mixer vigorously. Everyone knew Whirl had a habit of picking a fight with someone over every single little thing. He remembered one time Whirl almost shot him square in the face for adding the traditional salt to the rim of his drink to make it taste better.

"No, I did not even see him today." Skids muttered as Swerve poured him his drink. He took a sip and his internal systems whirled in delight. In his opinion, Swerve served the best drinks. But it didn't make him feel a lot better, Quite frankly it made him feel worse.

"Mag?"

"Busy telling the other autobots that their badges were off and he escorted them to the probation area."

"Well that's Magnus for you. Rodimus?"

"Busy on the deck planning our next stop for fuel and supplies."

"Huh, that's something new for Hot Rod."

"Ultra Magnus told him to."

"Figures he'd listen to him, Tailgate?"

"Busy talking to Cyclonus as usual."

"Damn right, as usual." Swerve said, grinning. Those two were stuck together like super glue.

Swerve lowered his forearms to eye Skids in the face. His optics zoomed in and out, studying his friend's face. "Well, I've named all the bots who are most positive to piss you off but it seems like they're doing their own shit yet you still look like you want to punch some bot in the face. Why don't you tell ol' Swerve your problem?"

Skids stayed silent as Swerve kept looking at him, waiting for him to say something but nothing came out. For a long time, Swerve kept silent, face slowly contorting to worry as he noticed his friend's hand tremble slowly. He became even more worried when Skids began to grit his teeth plates together.

"H-hey, Skids..." Swerve murmured softly, slowly reaching out to place his hand on Skids' shoulder plate. "you don't need to tell me if-"

Suddenly, Skids stood up and swung his arm, smashing the glass against the opposite wall, spraying alcohol mixture everywhere, making Swerve reel back into the alcohol rack abruptly. He winced as he felt pure alcohol streaming down unto his arms and shoulder plates. He looked down and saw a few bits and pieces of smashed glass.

'That's gonna be hell to clean up.' he thought to himself, shaking his head slightly. He looked up towards Skids, who now was standing up, breathing heavily. His hands were at his sides shaking violently.

"Skids." Swerve said, removing himself from the rack and walking to the front of the bar feeling and hearing the broken glass crunch under his feet. He stood directly in front of Skids and looked up at him. He opened his mouth, but Skids said something first.

"You." he said quietly, almost like a whisper above breath.

Swerve's optics blinked rapidly.

"W-what." Swerve said, not really hearing what he said.

Skids looked up and glared fiercely at him, making Swerve take a few steps back until his back was against the bar.

"You." Skids repeated a little louder, still glaring at Swerve. He raise his hand and pointed a shaking finger at Swerve. "You are my problem." he said. He glared once more at Swerve before taking off, footsteps trudging harder unto the metal flooring. The door closed with a swosh, leaving Swerve just standing there, immobilized for a few long minutes. He snapped out of it later on to clean the mess. He sighed as he wiped the floor. He stopped as he closed his optics for a moment, then opened them and looked towards the door where Skids had just exited not too long ago.

'Looks like another mistake to add to my list of mistakes.'

-Line Break-

Rung sat in his office, quietly arranging his papers in alphabetical order. He looked towards the clock and sighed contentedly.

'It might be wise to partake in a little exercise today, perhaps a little walk around the ship.'

Making up his mind he stood up from his chair and walked to the front of his desk to scribble a little note for any bot asking for his services. Just as he was signing his name, Skids walked in. Rung looked up at Skids and his optic ridge knit together. Skids seemed a little off today.

And judging by his expression he either wanted to punch him or talk to him.

Only one of the options, Rung would gladly accept than the other.

"What seems to be the matter, Skids? And please take a seat." Rung said, formally. He went back to his place behind the desk and grabbed the note he made, crumpling it and tossing it into the trash shoot. Skids took a seat and sighed, folding his hands together.

"I... did what you..um...advised me to do.." He started, fiddling with his hands a little. Rung sat back and crossed his legs. "Ah, yes. The thing pertaining to a, ah, certain bartender, yes?" he said as Skids looked at him with trepidation. "Go on, what had happened with your conversation?"

Skids sighed heavily, bowing down to avoid Rung's gaze.

"Skids, take your time." Rung said gently, as he saw Skids trying to force himself to say something. "I am a therapist, I have time for everyone, that includes you. Do not force yourself or it might make everything worse."

"Everything IS already at its worse." Skids finally said, holding his head in his hands. Rung uncrossed his legs and leaned forward to bring more security to Skids as he spoke. He stayed silent as Skids retold his conversation with Swerve to Rung with the latter nodding solemnly.

"...and then...I left, without saying anything." Skids finished looking up at Rung, to hear what he had to say. Rung smiled gently at him and leaned back up to look at Skids properly.

"You did an exceptional job, Skids, do not worry." he said, making Skids look at him in surprise. "It takes great courage to talk to some bot who knows so well-"

"But I forgot about him." Skids stated bluntly.

Rung sighed a little. "Yes. You forgot about him but that doesn't mean that you should not be worth praising."

Skids raised an eyebrow.

"And why is that?"

"It sometimes takes a great amount of time for an amnesiac to speak to old comrades, because they do not remember the things that they had done with that person, making it awkward and depressing for the amnesiac, such as yourself, correct?"

Skids looked at Rung and nodded slowly.

"When...I look at him," Skids started slowly.

"Go on." Rung urged.

"I, I feel like there was something between us, something more, something I don't- can't remember and it makes me angry."

"When you look at him?"

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

"Because he's not saying anything about it."

Rung stayed silent and looked at Skids, urging him to continue.

"He.." Skids huffed in annoyance, looking back down. "I..I think he knows, that I can't remember anything about my past, yet. But he doesn't talk about it. He doesn't help me remember and it makes me angry because I don't know- don't remember why."

Rung reached over the desk and put a hand on his shoulder. Skids looked up at Rung solemnly, then glared at him, which startled Rung.

"Why won't he tell me?" he said through gritted teeth. When Rung couldn't answer he slammed his palm on the table and turned away from Rung. "Why won't he help me?!" he yelled loudly, covering his face and breathing heavily.

Rung looked at him and moved towards him without taking his eyes off of him. He stopped right behind Skids and bowed his head.

"An amnesiac has a hard time remembering their past and they are afraid of losing everyone they care about because they think that if they can't remember the important things, they will lose everything, but that is not the case."

Rung looked up before continuing. Skids seemed to be listening, so he continued.

"They won't lose anything, but they gain something very important."

"And what is that?" Skids whispered, turning his head slightly to see Rung give him a crooked smile.

"An even stronger bond."

"Did me and Swerve even have a bond?"

"I believe so." Rung answered immediately. "But, I believe that he is scared of admitting it because you have seen his mistakes and the price that everyone has paid for it, something you did not witness when you two were ...together,"

Skids blinked rapidly in response. His thoughts racing.

'Together...'

Rung breathed in deep in preparation.

"Based on what I have heard from you and his actions towards you, he's trying to keep you away from him, from the fear that you will abandon him like everyone he has met."

Skid turned to face him.

"He's scared?"

"That is my assumption."

"Of me abandoning him?"

"Yes."

Skids tilted his head childishly, trying to comprehend what Rung was telling him amongst his thoughts.

"He's...afraid..." Skids started. Rung waited patiently, face impassive. "of-of...losing.."

"You, correct." Rung finished his sentence for him, smiling slightly.

Skids looked down, optic ridges coming together to form a thin line.

"W-why?" he asked quietly.

"It might be because you have seen his mistakes and because you have seen those mistakes, when you regain your memories of your time together, it might change your mind about him and you might..." Rung became quiet when he saw recognition in Skids' eyes.

"W-we, we were together..." Skids murmured.

"Yes." Rung answered, equally quiet.

They remained silent, though it was comfortable.

"Do you..." Skids started, looking at Rung. "do you think, he'll talk to me if I talk to him?"

Rung smiled sincerely. "Of course."

Skids stood up slowly, smiling slightly.

"Thank you for helping me, Rung." he said.

Rung returned the smile. "You are most welcome, Skids."

Skids nodded and exited Rung's office, feeling revived all of a sudden. He walked down the hall and passed by the nearest clock. He blinked. It was almost midnight.

'I spoke with Rung for quite a while.' he thought to himself as he looked down the hall towards Rung's office. He turned back and continued to walk.

'Perhaps I should speak to Swerve now, since everyone must be regenerating in their own stations right now.'

He made a firm resolve and walked towards Swerve's bar.