Chapter 10: an interlude

Cliffjumper was late. He and Axle usually met around this time and he wasn't even off the base yet! He had been held up delivering some last minute reports to the officers.

Skidding around the corner, he slammed into Powerglide, sending both himself and the orange pilot to the ground. "Scrap!" Cliffjumper cursed, "Sorry about that Powerglide."

"Don't worry about it Cliff, no harm done." Powerglide stood and dusted himself off, he was a pretty laid back mech. "What's the rush?" he asked. Cliffjumper wasn't the kind of bot that sped up for most people, so either he was running away from something or he was meeting someone important.

"I'm a bit late Powerglide, I can't really talk" Cliffjumper said rapidly, unaware of the light blush on his faceplates. He hoped Axle hadn't left yet. Their meeting place was just equidistant from the Decepticon and Autobot bases, a kind of no-bot's land, but if he drove where he could, he'd make it in a few minutes.

"Hey, no-prob, you head on out! I'll catch you later Cliff! You're coming to the poker game right!?"

"I'll be there!" With that, Cliffjumper zoomed for the exit, leaving a very amused Powerglide in his wake. Whoever Cliffjumper was going to meet, he must mean a lot to the minibot if he could blush like that. It actually made him a bit curious, but if he didn't know already, he'd find out through the rumor mill when it got big enough.

Meanwhile, Cliffjumper motored through the maze of debris towards the meeting place. He hadn't given much thought to these meetings, though they'd become more and more frequent. Being with Axle was just…fun. He could almost call it a habit now and he felt off whenever he missed a meeting.

The highlight of his day had slowly become his meetings with Axle ; when he could talk about anything! From the prank wars to his security duties, from politics to dirty jokes. Sometimes he worried that Axle didn't enjoy these meetings as much as he did, since he really didn't talk much. Surly it must get boring after a while, right? But Axle kept coming, kept listening and kept asking questions. He wouldn't if he wasn't interested right?

At first, Axle mostly asked questions about bots and duties and technical stuff. But recently, he had gone beyond that, asking about his friends and his day and how the gossip mill was running and who was ahead in the prank wars. It was almost like he was a part of the crew with how much he knew about everyone.

That got Cliffjumper thinking.

Axle didn't really have any friends among the neutrals. No one he was really close too, no one that he talked about or mentioned. But what if he wanted some? What if he wanted more friends and was asking to know about them, to feel some type of connection? Cliffjumper didn't want to dig too far into it and raise his hopes, but…what if Axle wanted to become an Autobot? What if he wanted to join and actually meet these bots and be friends with them like he is with Cliffjumper?

It was actually a really cool thought. But beyond asking questions and hanging out, Axle never actually said anything about joining or wanting to join, so Cliffjumper kept quiet about it. Maybe, Cliffjumper thought, maybe someday he would want to join. But even if he didn't, it didn't change anything. What's a brand between friends like him and Axle ? Just because Axle wasn't an Autobot, didn't mean he wasn't a good guy.

Still, Cliffjumper resolved to at least offer an invite to Axle …soon…

A ditch came up ahead of him. Speeding up, he propelled himself over it, kicking up dust as his tires hit the other side. He was almost there.

Chapter 10 end