Surprise, surprise! Here's chapter 3! Once again, it's not very long. Next chapter is the last. Enjoy, my friends!
Part 3
Feeding and naptime
Orion groaned heavily as he watched Jazz toss his energon-filled sippy-cube across the kitchen area. The cube, made small for little sparkling hands, had a small hole at each upper tip to make it easy for a sparkling to drink it once they were weaned off the bottle. It was also supposed to prevent leaks and spills.
Leave it to Jazz to gnaw on one of the sides until the hole was twice the size it once was.
Now, Orion was forced to play clean-up and fetch-the-cube with Jazz. It was a cycle. Jazz throws cube. Cube hits floor and spills a little. Orion cleans up mess and returns cube to Jazz. Jazz squeals his thanks. Jazz chews on cube to make hole bigger. Jazz takes a small sip of low-grade. Repeat cycle. Really, it wasn't that bad the first few times; however, despite the beliefs the media conjured up in people, Orion did not have an unending supply of patience, and Jazz was beginning to use up what he had left from the cycle's events.
"You know, if you keep giving it back to him, the little sla…" Megatron trailed off at Chromia's look before continuing. "The little cretin will only keep throwing it."
"Well, I cannot just leave it there," Orion countered. "The mechling must refuel."
"Yes, but Megatron's correct," Chromia interjected, sounding dismayed by this fact. Megatron, however, puffed up in a prideful manner. Orion felt a twinge of jealousy when he saw Elita glancing at Megatron's thick chassis. He worked to hide his irritation as he knelt down to retrieve the cube again. He studied Jazz, who was staring at him expectantly, waiting with wide, excited optics for the noble mech to continue their game. Orion glanced around at the little sparks that still needed to be fed. Elita was feeding Starscream, while Megatron and Soundwave fed Thundercracker and Skywarp, seeing as none of the seeklets were yet weaned off the bottle. Chromia was focused on Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, who were intent on stealing the other's energon, even after they had successfully traded sippy-cubes more than once. Prowl was resting in Orion's arms, waiting patiently to receive his own sippy-cube, and Bluestreak was seated in an elevated chair, chattering cheerfully as he waited for a mech or femme to fuel him with his own bottle.
"I do not have time for this," Orion stated, and he set Jazz's cube on the counter behind him. Jazz stared at him with open horror as he walked away. What was the big mech processing? They were obviously enjoying a game of throw-and-fetch-the-sippy-cube, a game he and his creators played rather often, and that mech was willing to walk away? Why had he left? Was he not having fun? No, Jazz enjoyed the game, so the mechling was certain this "Orion Pax" enjoyed the game as well. Perhaps the mech was glitched. Perhaps he simply did not understand that when one started this game, they did not stop until Jazz was ready to. Either way, Jazz was not pleased. His little faceplates scrunched up in distress, and every bot in the room jumped in surprise when a loud wail that seemed to reach unholy decibels filled the air. Prowl squealed loudly as he covered his audio receptors with his hands.
"Make it stop!" Megatron yelled over the din.
"Command: acknowledged! Complying!" Soundwave shouted back as he strode to Jazz's side. He looked around for the source of the child's displeasure, and his visor lit up when his optics caught sight of the abandoned sippy-cube. He grabbed it and placed it in front of Jazz, who immediately quieted down and after giving a delighted squeal, started gnawing on it.
"Thank Primus!" Megatron breathed. "Orion, you will continue fueling Skywarp while Soundwave entertains the runt."
"Stop calling him that! You're going to give him a complex," Chromia snapped angrily. Megatron rolled his optics.
"Soundwave can continue fueling Skywarp when he is finished, or somebot else can. I need to get some energon into Bluestreak and Prowl first," Orion stated, ignoring his brother's orders. Prowl chirped as he watched Orion prepare his energon expertly with only one arm while he held the sparkling in his other arm.
"Hey! I am the future lord protectorate! I'm the one that makes the battle plans!" Megatron argued. Orion sighed heavily.
"Primus, you are so childish," Orion mumbled. "Maybe you should try acting like Prowl here. He seems to be able to contain himself better than you can," he added as he handed the mentioned sparkling his sippy-cube. Megatron growled and sputtered in the background while the two femmes giggled at the remark, something that made Orion want to grin in success. He restrained himself, though, knowing that showing such pride was not becoming of a future prime. Prowl clicked out his gratitude as he started refueling. Orion gently placed him in an elevated sparkling seat and moved to set up Bluestreak's bottle.
"At least I don't walk around acting like I'm better than every other bot," Megatron countered with a snarl. Orion rolled his optics.
"I fairly certain you do that more than I, Megatron," he replied smoothly.
"Megatron, maybe you should stop before your brother completely verbally destroys you," Chromia broke in.
"What?" Megatron snapped indignantly. "I am in no way destroyed! Orion could never hope to hold up against me in a fight."
"A physical one, perhaps not. I am not trained to attack every mech that crosses my path like some sort of organic animal. In words and intellect, though," Orion smirked as he turned to face his brother, "I believe I have you beat."
"You slagger!" Megatron snapped angrily, moving to put Thundercracker down as he advanced on his brother.
"Hey!" Chromia snapped. "Don't make me come over there!"
"Yes. A sparkling care room is no place for a fight, unless, of course, you wish for Killswitch to send you back," Orion stated. Megatron froze and turned back around, knowing that it would be wise to heed that warning. Orion approached Bluestreak, who was watching the exchange with intense curiosity. "Now, let's get you refueled," Orion said with a smile. Bluestreak squealed happily at the sight of the bottle, and he lifted his arms up, wanting to be in Orion's grasp. Orion chuckled as he lifted Bluestreak up and maneuvered him in his arms so that the mechling was resting in his back. Bluestreak made grabbing motions for the bottle as he made little "uh" noises. Orion grinned as he steered the rubber nozzle into Bluestreak's mouthplates.
"You two are so cute," Chromia claimed with a smirk. Orion gave a nervous laugh, feeling his cheek plating heating up.
"I like children. I just never have a chance to deal with them, and when I do deal with them, their femme creator is always around to look over my shoulder," he said sheepishly, wondering if it was unmechly to say so. Megatron snickered, so he was fairly certain it was. He ignored them, though, as he focused on the mechling in his arms.
Bluestreak's doorwings were in constant motion, flicking and fluttering as he sucked down the energon in the bottle. His two hands curled around the hand Orion held the bottle with, and his little blue optics studied Pax's faceplates carefully. Little squeaks and clicks escaped his vocalize as he fueled, as if he didn't want to stay quiet, even if he was drinking. Finally, he pushed the bottle away when there was barely any left, and he curled up in Orion's arms.
"Hm," Elita hummed as she suddenly appeared beside Orion. He jumped in surprise as she noticed her studying him closely, her optics roving from him to the sparkling he held. "Well, you apparently are doing something really right, because Bluestreak never goes into recharge right after a refueling. Very good, Pax. We may just make a sparkling-sitter out of you yet." Orion felt oddly elated by this comment, though he had no desire to pursue such a career. The sound of a sippy-cube banging loudly on a table caught his attention, and Orion turned to see that Prowl was beating his sippy-cube on the counter beside his chair while looking directly at him. In fact, if Orion didn't know any better, he would say that the sparkling looked rather aggravated.
"And just what are you up to?" Orion asked in a teasing voice. Prowl's optics narrowed, and he pointed irritably at Bluestreak. Orion followed his finger and saw that Bluestreak was cuddled up comfortably over his spark. "I'm afraid I don't understand." Orion yelped when somebot smacked the back of his helm, and he turned to glare at his brother, who was giving him a ridiculously innocent look.
"What?" he asked innocently. "A sloppy prime means a sloppy Cybertron, right? Contractions are sloppy."
"Hit me again, and I will order one of my spies to find out all your dirty little secrets," Orion hissed.
"Oh, please," Megatron scoffed. "You don't have any spies under your command."
"His name is Mirage. He can become invisible, and he is about to finish his training as the prime's personal spy… five vorns earlier than a normal mech would. Do not test me," Orion snapped. Megatron scowled and was about to respond when that persistent banging demanded their attention. The two siblings turned to face Prowl, who was now openly glaring at Bluestreak. The looks the sparkling sent Megatron weren't exactly the friendliest looks, either. Once again, Prowl pointed at Bluestreak, his motions jerky and irritated.
"Is he really mad because I'm talking to you?" Megatron asked, sounding particularly unimpressed.
"Apparently so."
"Why? It's not like you're anything special," Megatron snorted. Orion gave him a withering look, then his optics widened when a sippy-cube rebounded off Megatron's faceplates. "You little maggot!"
The room went still as every bot turned to look at Megatron, sparklings included, wondering what the word meant. Megatron didn't seem to notice. He was too busy having a glaring contest with the intelligent sparkling. Elita moved to stand beside Orion, the Escape Twins settled over her spark, and Chromia followed her example, though she grimaced with every step. Thundercracker and Skywarp were on her shoulders, claws locked uncomfortably under her armor plates, and Starscream was resting on her helm, his hands wrapped around the raised plating on the sides of her helm.
"Orion, I think you're Prowl's new favorite," Elita said quietly. "Maybe you should focus on him a bit more. He doesn't judge lightly," she added uncertainly. Then she gave a loud gasp. "Sideswipe!" she exclaimed, sounding exasperated. Orion glanced over at the twins to see that Sideswipe had somehow managed to work the top of his sippy-cube off and had promptly poured the contents onto his brother. Sunstreaker squeaked angrily at the red twin, who was completely oblivious to his ire as he rubbed his hands on the yellow twins helm, as if he were bathing him.
"Primus help me," Elita muttered irritably as she moved to a nearby sink. She gently placed the Escape Twins inside and turned on the water, ignoring their protests as she began to wash off the low-grade.
Orion rumbled in amusement as he moved forward with grace, glad for once for those lessons in poise and walking. The flawless steps allowed Bluestreak to stay in recharge. Prowl blinked when Pax stepped in front of Megatron, effectively ending their glaring match, and after carefully shifting Bluestreak to the side, he lifted Prowl up and settled him against his chest plates. He nodded his farewells and left the kitchen area, headed back into the nursery area. He zeroed in on a metal chair and slowly settled down into it, careful not to jostle the two mechlings. Prowl shifted so that he was directly over the large mech's powerful spark and clicked quietly as his systems shut down to recharge. Orion smiled down at him, then looked up to see Chromia placing the three seeklets in a barred berth. Starscream was placed in the middle, and his trine mates were placed on either side of him. The two immediately cuddled close to him, giving small squeaks and chirps as they shut down.
His optics then turned to Elita, who was now striding back and forth with the newly cleaned twins in her arms, cooing at them as she tried to get them to fall into recharge. The two sparklings were wrapped up in white towels to keep them separated from Elita's chassis, which was still lightly coated in their spilt energon. Sunstreaker had cooperated and fallen easily into recharge, but Sideswipe was looking around with no small amount of excitement. What he found so exciting, nobot really knew, but Orion had a feeling the little mech wouldn't be shutting down anytime soon.
Then his optics turned to Jazz. Jazz was being… difficult. Soundwave was walking around stiffly with the mechling in his arms, obviously trying to follow Elita's example. However, his vocal processor kept producing monotone coos that seemed to be thoroughly freaking the sparkling out. Jazz simply stared up at the large cassette deck with huge, terrified optics, and every time Soundwave would turn, the mechling would release a loud squeak of surprise.
"Primus bless," Chromia muttered irritably. She stalked over to Soundwave's side and snatched the sparkling from his hands. She cradled Jazz in the crook on her arm as she pulled a short strip of rubber from her subspace. She handed the rubber to Jazz, who squealed joyfully as he grabbed it from her.
"Bah-buh-lah-wuh!" Jazz chattered.
"I'm sure it is," Chromia replied as she moved to a crib.
"Muh?"
"Yup. Muh."
"Muh!" Jazz squealed cheerfully, then he stuffed the piece of rubber in his mouth and started chewing.
"Well, at least nobody can say that he's boring or antisocial," Elita said optimistically.
"Nope. I don't know whether I'd want to deal with him after his sparklinghood, though. Could you imagine how annoying he's gonna be when he grows up?" Chromia replied with an affectionate grin.
"I bet everybot will absolutely adore him," Elita shot back in a teasing voice.
"That's what I'm afraid of. I bet he'll be so full of himself," Chromia said in a lofty voice. The two femmes snickered at this. "Honestly, though, I doubt we'll ever meet him again after he gets his next frame."
"Of course not. And anyways, what would we say? 'Oh! You're Jazz! I used to feed you, and you chewed on my tire!' Please," Elita claimed.
"Well, we have a higher chance than Orion," Chromia said on a shrug as she placed Jazz on his back in the crib. She knew from experience that Jazz never slept on his stomach, and if he was placed on his stomach to recharge, he would start screaming almost immediately. Orion looked up when his designation was mentioned and found that the two femmes in the room were giving him sad, pitying looks.
"Yeah. Chances of the prime ever seeing one of these sparklings again is almost impossible. He'll be too busy," Elita agreed. Orion smiled.
"That is okay. In the end, as long as I can ensure that they are safe and cared for, I will be happy," Orion promised them.
"Do you think you'll ever see us again?" Chromia asked hesitantly. Orion shook his helm.
"Even the chances of seeing my brother anytime soon after this meeting are slim. As a prime in training, I do not have much time for socializing unless it is specifically placed in my schedule, and at that, it is with dignitaries of some sort. The same applies for Megatron. We still have a lot to learn before we are ready to lead," Orion explained. Elita frowned at his tone of voice. There was no sadness there, no disappointment at missing the things he was missing. He was simply stating a fact, reciting something he had been told time and time again.
"Aren't you… upset by this? Sad to know that you won't have time for friends?" she asked hesitantly, worried that she may offend him by asking. Orion only gave a sad smile.
"In a few more vorns, I will not be Orion Pax anymore, but Optimus Prime, and as a prime, my duty is to my planet, then to myself. The needs of the many out-weight the needs of the few, and in this case, Cybertron's safety and political strength is far more important than my social life," Orion stated frankly. "Besides, I will still have friends amongst other dignitaries and leaders of other city-states. Such relationships are beneficial to a mech such as I."
"Oh… I see…" Elita said slowly. She looked down at her arms and smiled when she saw that Sideswipe had fallen asleep sometime during Orion's long explanation. Apparently, Orion's voice had a very calming effect on the sparklings. She placed the two of them in a berth, watching as they cuddled together. She then peered over at Orion, who was watching the two doorwingers on his chest with a soft look. She decided that life for this prime would be different than the primes before him. He needed friends. She thought back to when he had single-handed talked down Megatron. He was so smart and so witty, and his looks weren't exactly something to balk at, either. He was tall and refined, and he moved with a grace that would take her years to achieve.
It was at that moment that she decided that she wanted Orion Pax to be her sparkmate. He was great with sparklings. He was kind and caring. He treated others with respect. He was everything she wanted.
Now she just had to figure out how to get him to want her back. As she moved back into the kitchen to wash off the energon, she began planning out her future, one that included a bonding ceremony, a certain future prime, and at least three sparklings.
Optimus' girl: D: Sorry to make you wait! This fic doesn't come to me as easily as others do. -_- I love writing sparkling fluff like this. It's interesting to look at the canon mechs and think, 'Okay, what would Jazz do that would make sense and yet still be funny?' It's so much fun to write, and I'm glad my readers enjoy it, even if the updates are rather sparse.
Autobot-Bre: Thanks for the review. Glad the little ones make ya smile :)
Amai Seishin-Hime: Glad you liked it! Hoped you liked the update :D
Luna Prime-Awesomeness: Sorry that the update was late. Hope it's up to standards. The last one should be coming pretty soon.
Supergirlprime: Neh. The younglings handled it rather well. A bit of trouble from the trouble-makers, but all-in-all, it could've been worse ;)
Angel897: Glad you like it. :)
AlexisOptimus: Yeah. 'Hide was pretty awesome, but you gotta remember that in this ficlet, he has to spend a lot of time with Megatron, and he's only seen little Orion at functions that both the future prime and the current protectorate have to attend, so he doesn't have a lot of time to mess with Orion yet. And Megatron just annoys him.
Vivian Hale: Jazz was my favorite to write, but I had fun coming up with all the idiosyncrasies of the sparklings. Stuff that would make sense, but were still hilarious. Starscream obsessing with feet was my personal favorite, but I loved Jazz's attempt to And hopefully this chapter kind of helps you understand why Orion doesn't think he has a chance. :( Poor mech. It's okay, though. Elita's the Unstoppable Force. :D
D-RockXIronhideForever: Lol. Optimus always struck me as the type that would be awkward when he was young, while Megatron always struck me as being the exact opposite. And guess what? You'll get to see Ironhide again next chapter. He's picking up Chromia =D I'm very glad you liked all my characterizations. My biggest pet peeve is for the canon characters to be OOC, and writing them at this age makes it kind of difficult. It was still fun, though. :)
Iceshadow911274: =D I have finally memorized your username, so I don't have to look back and forth to type it out in the replies! :D Happy day. ^-^ Lol. The idiosyncrasies were so much fun to come up with. I always saw Jazz as the type to chew on everything when he was sparkling. And Soundwave… well, he was still learning to hide his emotions at this stage in his life. Glad you liked it. :)
Melody: Lol. If they could speak, perhaps they would. :) Unfortunately, their vocal processors aren't that well developed. Jazz is able to exercise his a bit better than the others, but overall, they don't really know how to use them. :)
Mrs. Knockout: XD Glad you like it! The idiosyncrasies were really fun to decide. =D I had to think about what would make sense, but be funny at the same time. XD
StarBlazer Luvs Sweets12: Glad you like it. :) Orion is sweet. XD I've had fun writing him.
Kellie Witwicky: Nope. These are the only ones. It's more of a high-end orn-care. I mean, Ratchet is a politician, Jetfire is the Vosian liaison, ect. It's not filled for that reason. Plus, I didn't want to add anyone else. :) Too much effort for a side story. Lol. And yeah. Bet Megatron holds it over his head. Unless he forgot… XD
King Sabre Tooth: Glad you like it :D
The bookfan09: :) Glad you like it! I had fun coming up with their personalities. Hope you enjoyed the update. :D
Luna Uchiha666: Glad you like it. :D Poor Orion's having an interesting time, huh? ON the bright side, he will certainly use this experience for future reference. Hopefully. After all, Sentinel did say that commanding an army was like working at a daycare. XD
