Hot Shot's Childhood

Chapter 14

Broken Or Just Bruised

Sparky could feel Hot Shot's optics drilling into the back of his head. He was gripping the side of his desk with his right hand, trying to ignore the iching feeling causing by the fact he was being observed.

The black bot wanted to turn around but then he would have to face the questioning optics of his friend and he was not sure if he could keep his cool when facing the bright blue gaze.

It was true that Sparky had been a bit of a jerk, Sparky knew this himself, but he could not just take back everything he had said. Especially not this soon after he had spoken the words. And he was not the only one at fault, it was not like his friends had been all that tactful.

Sparky dreaded the evening already. He would have to go into the dorm, where he would have to face Hot Shot and ComCom sooner or later. Not that Sparky was worried about Hot Shot, the yellow bot was pretty laid back. ComCom was the problem.

ComCom was not someone you could easily calm down or who you could just apologise to. Not to mention ComCom had a habit of being angry for a long time, unlike Hot Shot. Sparky eased his grip on his desk. Hot Shot would probably try to get him and ComCom to make up, he was always the referee in their face-offs.

Sparky fought the urge to turn around. It was a very appealing idea to ask for Hot Shot's forgiveness now rather than later. Surely the yellow bot would have calmed down by now even if he had been angry with him. It would be a lot easier to face ComCom if he could count on Hot Shot to put a few good words in for him.

The chair creaked as Sparky slowly turned around. His optics met Hot Shot's own, just like he had expected. Sparky shot a sideways glance at ComCom to see the blue bot scribbling notes down with a deep frown on his face. The ignoring technique, one of ComCom's classics.

"Hi, Hot Shot", Sparky managed to choke out quietly. Hopefully the teacher would not look their way. FogMist might not like students that were late for class, but she utterly despised students that talked in her class. And the grey femme was scary when angered.

"Hello there, Sparky", Hot Shot said carefully, like he was trying out how that felt. The yellow bot frowned. "Hi", he said as a way of correcting himself. Sparky could not help it, he started chuckling. He noticed Hot Shot's optics lit up amusedly.

"Hot Shot, Sparky!" FogMist's annoyed voice called. Both boys flinched at the angry tone. "Stop disturbing the class immediately or I will be forced to send you to the principal's office. I don't think you can afford that this soon, Hot Shot."

Sparky shot Hot Shot an apologetic grin before turning in his chair to face the teacher. "We apologise, FogMist", Hot Shot spoke from behind Sparky. "It won't happen again." "It had better not."

Sparky noticed Hot Shot's choise of words with a smile. Hot Shot had said we apologise, not I. It was a small gesture but Sparky recognized it as what it was. It was Hot Shot's way of telling him things were alright without breaking the teacher's command to be silent. Sparky would have wanted to thank Hot Shot for the gesture but decided to leave it until the end of the class.

As FogMist continued with her lecture Sparky could hear Hot Shot shift in his chair, as if really uncomfortable. Sparky could very well guess what was the cause of it. He could clearly picture the disapproving look on ComCom's face in his head.

As Sparky peeked at Forestra's notebook to get all the things he had missed a thought crossed his head. They would have mathematics next and Calculate did not allow place-shifting on his lessons like FogMist. Sparky and ComCom had already been marked to be sitting next to eachother. It meant that the two of them would have to sit next to eachother. Neither one of them could hide behid Hot Shot's colorful frame.

1.

"Traitor", ComCom hissed as Hot Shot started to take down notes. "Excuse me?" Hot Shot turned to look at his smaller friend. "I didn't know there had been an agreement of not trying to solve this problem."

ComCom refused to meet Hot Shot's optics. "There's no need for you to get mixed into this", he said. Hot Shot snorted. "I think I already am mixed in this, rememeber? It wasn't just you and Sparky in that cafeteria."

Hot Shot was, put it lightly, irritated. ComCom was beating himself up and seemed to be taking a few swings at Hot Shot in the process. Good thing he was good at dodging.

"I was the one who pushed him over the edge", ComCom muttered. "He isn't angry at you, at least not anymore. Otherwise he wouldn't have tried to talk with you." "But isn't that a good thing?" Hot Shot asked, giving ComCom a pleading look. "If I put in a few good words for you he will be sure to forgive you sooner. I'll just-" "NO!"

The hissed prohibition caused FogMist to look into their direction for a moment but she soon turned her face back towards the blackboard. Hot Shot let out a breath he had not noticed he had been holding.

"What's wrong?" Hot Shot asked ComCom. He was starting to grow worried. "I don't want him to say it's ok because of you!" ComCom's hands were clenched into fists. "I hate it. It feels like we couldn't hold together without you."

ComCom's optics turned to look at Hot Shot with uncommon determination. "I want to be Sparky's friend", the blue bot said. "I don't want him to be just a friend of my friend, but a real friend."

Hot Shot could do nothing but nod and turn his gaze back to his notes. He had not known that the thing between ComCom and Sparky was like that. No wonder they never got along if they were not certain if they were friends or not. Well, at least it explained ComCom's behaviour. Hot Shot was not sure if Sparky felt the same way. After all, the cause of his attitude towards ComCom could be anything.

Hot Shot sighed. He realized that he was not going to be able to focus on taking notes when these thoughts were still on his mind. If only he would have listened to his friends' arguments and conversations before. He had always taken their group for granted, not bothering to notice the obvious wall between ComCom and Sparky.

Hot Shot started scribbling on his notebook. An image was starting to form. It was a face that had a very sinister look on it. 'I'm such a bad friend...' Hot Shot thought to himself as his pen ran across the paper. 'I don't even see it when my friends are being torn apart.'

ComCom suddenly leaned over to look at the page Hot Shot had been drawing on. Hot Shot was certain that the smaller bot would lecture him about the proper use of notebooks but instead he heard a gasp. "Hot Shot! How did you do this?"

Hot Shot looked down at what he had been drawing. It was a transformer's face. It was long and the chin and cheeks were sharp. The sneer on the face revealed sharp fangs. Hot Shot knew that the transformer's optics were red even though he could not remember if he had seen the bot on the drawing or not.

"What?" Hot Shot asked ComCom quietly. ComCom grabbed the notebook and stared at the image with wide optics. "This is Megatron", he gasped. Hot Shot's optics widened. "Who?" he asked. ComCom's optics turned to look at Hot Shot. "The leader of the decepticon. You would know if you had read this year's history book." He handed the notebook back to Hot Shot. "How did you know how to draw this?"

Hot Shot took the notebook and eyed the picture he had drawn. "I don't know", he answered truthfully. "I can't say I remember ever seeing him. I just started drawing and there he was."

ComCom's optics were once again locked on the picture. "Amazing", he whispered. "Maybe there is still a part in you that remembers all the things you have forgotten. Maybe you have seen Megatron at some point."

A simple shrug was Hot Shot reply to ComCom. "I have clear plank spots in my memory, but sometimes I have dreams that have an eerie feeling of deja vu to them. Sometimes I wonder if they're really memories and not just dreams."

"It's hard to know things like that", ComCom said. "It's not like there are just some books about our sparks and emotions that we can read when we're confused." Hot Shot leaned back in his chair, giving ComCom an amused smirk. "I bet you would like that", he said.

To be continued...