Happy New Year folks! Here is another chapter to tide ya'll over for a while. Get ready for these awkward, stupid, crushing bois.

These characters are not mine, I am just playing around with them. Enjoy!

Soundwave was comfortable. When was he ever this comfortable? The telepath let out a sigh and buried his faceplates deeper into his pillow. The haze of sleep was only just beginning to lift from his frame. There was a heavy weight sitting on his dorsa, it wrapped around his frame and rested between his shoulder blades. Was that a cassette? Probably… although he couldn't tell which one. Too comfortable to bother about the details, Soundwave stretched his legs out and sighed. A soft mist of sleep began to drop over his frame again, he let it. He nuzzled his helm into his pillow again. Then his pillow moved.

Wait.

Soundwave opened his optics so fast that they filled with static. He pushed his upper body up and rested on his elbows. The telepath blinked and shook his helm until the static cleared from his vision. He looked down at his pillow, only to meet optics with an equally surprised looking Blaster.

The two mechs stared at each other for a long moment. Soundwave became overwhelmingly aware of how tangled their frames and fields were. Their legs were tangled together rather intimately. The mysterious cassette on Soundwave's back had actually been Blaster's arm. Soundwave realized that his pillow had been Blaster's chestplates… no wonder it had been so warm.

The groggy and shocked look in Blaster's optics suggested that the orange mech had been woken by Soundwave's sudden movements. His buzzing processor basically proved it.

"Uhh," Blaster stared up at Soundwave dumbly. It looked (and felt) like he had just been clubbed over the back of his helm.

With a start, Soundwave ripped himself from Blaster's arms. Blaster let the blue mech slip away from his frame; it took substantial effort not to his the disappointment show through the embarrassment.

Soundwave cleared his throat and stood up next to the berth. Blaster slowly joined him. Standing on opposite ends of the berth, neither mech knew what to say to each other. Soundwave was instantly very interested in making the berth. Blaster decided that this was also suddenly of upmost importance.

Once the berth was made, both mechs remained across from each other. They met optics for a moment before Soundwave looked away.

Blaster finally decided to interrupt the silence.

"Good mor-" … "Than-"

Both mechs started to talk over each other, then crashed to a halt again. Blaster rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry I w-" … "Oh did yo-"

They started and stopped again.

Soundwave tucked his helm down and bit back a laugh. "Sorry, did you want to say something?" he mumbled.

Soundwave's shy smile was quickly picked up by Blaster. The orange mech's frame decompressed and his shoulders relaxed again.

"Ah, it's okay, you go first" Blaster grinned.

"Oh," started Soundwave, "I was just going to thank you… for letting me stay here last night, that is… when I was upset".

"Of course, 'Wave," Blaster soothed, "what are friends for, right?".

Certainly not for cuddling like that, both mechs thought to themselves. Blaster didn't mind though… not at all.

The awkward tension seemed to thin out of the air. Both mechs headed to the door. However, the awkwardness was still palpable when both mechs reached out to the door's panel and almost touched servos. Soundwave yanked his servo back with a nervous stutter and let Blaster open the door. He dipped his helm and smiled, murmuring a thank you under his breath when Blaster motioned for him to step out first.

Why was he so nervous? Probably because he wasn't used to this kind of intimacy and contact with mechs who weren't his cassettes. It had been so long since he last shared a berth was another mech. Soundwave let out a soft sigh and scrubbed his faceplates. He certainly wasn't used to it with friends like Blaster. Not to mention the confusing flutter in his tanks that he had felt when he was leaning over Blaster like that. Although… he didn't recall having any kind of bad energon yesterday.

Blaster followed Soundwave through the hall. Had they been cuddling? They had totally been cuddling! All he could remember was falling asleep across the berth from Soundwave. Then he had been half awake, and there had been such a pleasant weight and warmth curled into his frame. He hadn't quite woken up enough to question the origin of said weight. Then he had suddenly been jolted wide awake, and Soundwave was leaning over his frame. The blue mech had been so close, their chestplates almost touching. Not to mention how tangled their limbs had been.

It had taken his processer a few seconds just to compute what was happening. Then his processor had been a buzz of excitement and (very pleasant) confusion… which quickly melted into shame for feeling so good about it when Soundwave jumped away like he had been smacked.

Both mechs entered into the primary room of their quarters. Soundwave's cassettes were already piled together on the sofa. Their chatter screeched to a halt when they looked up at the two very guilty looking mechs. Rumble squinted at his carrier and Blaster. Frenzy slowly lowered his energon cube from his mouth before even taking a drink.

"We…. We had assumed that you were running an errand," Ravage said. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw glanced back and forth between the two boomboxes. Ratbat, completely oblivious to the situation, chirped a morning greeting and glided across the room into Soundwave's cupped servos.

"Yeah!" Ratbat giggled, "we didn't know you were hanging out with Blaster last night… Good morning, Blaster!". The orange mech let out a nervous laugh of a greeting.

"Yeah…" Rumble added in a more suspicious voice. "We were wondering where you were last night".

Soundwave cleared his throat and immediately took the avoidant route. He settled Ratbat back in front of his energon cube and greeted his cassettes like any other morning. Not once did he even look over his shoulder at Blaster.

Things seemed to settle down again for a moment. Blaster let his own cassettes out of his docs. Oblivious to the weirdness filling the room, the cassettes grabbed their energon and settled with the other creations. Blaster and Soundwave sat together at the table with their cubes as usual. For the first time in a while, the silences between them felt uncomfortable. However, the conservation slowly melted back into familiarity. Before long, the two mechs were chatting like any other morning.

Blaster hoped that Soundwave couldn't hear his processor still buzzing over the events of the morning. He watched Soundwave take a sip from his cube. The rim of his glass lingered on his lower lip for a moment… Primus he was so attractive. The orange mech shook his helm, then smiled sunnily at Soundwave as the telepath shot him a confused smile.

Blaster was just thankful that his own cassettes weren't all suspicious like Soundwave's were. They didn't even know about the events of the morning. He glanced briefly over to their cassettes only to be met with 10 pairs of optics. The cassettes all quickly looked away and paused their hushed whispers. Well… so much for his cassettes not knowing.

Blaster sighed to himself, but he couldn't help the smile. Could he really be so shocked that the cassettes would gossip with each other? They had all gotten so close.

"You look very preoccupied this morning" Soundwave observed. Blaster glanced back at the telepath with a grin.

"I think we both are" he countered. He was both very pleased and a little ashamed when Soundwave's faceplates turned a soft pink. Had he just made Soundwave blush? The telepath shyly rubbed at his cheek with a servo, almost like he was trying to push the flush away. It was so… so cute. Blaster's spark clenched with affection and want. A sudden wash of confidence fell over him. His servos flicked back to Soundwave's servos, which had dropped back to rest on the table top. He could so easily just reach out and place his servos over Soundwave's. The cassettes were far enough away that they would only be able to hear what he was saying if they were snooping (which they definitely were… but who cares?). He could take Soundwave's servos up in his and give them a squeeze. Soundwave always seemed to have cold servos, he could warm them between his. He could tell Soundwave how he felt.

How did he feel?

What would he… no, what will he say? That he has feelings for him? He admires him? He wants to spend every night together like that because he loves him? Primus where did that come from? Love? Could Soundwave hear his thoughts right now? No… probably not, the telepath looked absorbed in his datapad. Not that it mattered, because he was about to hear it with his audios.

Okay… Blaster chose a line and rehearsed it over and over in his helm. He would take Soundwave's servos, give them a squeeze, then say 'Soundwave, I admire you so much. I think you are so smart and talented, and you are a lovely carrier. I have always found you attractive, but recently I have begun to feel more for you. I was wondering if you would maybe want to go on a date with me some time'.

Blaster nodded to himself. Yes, that was it, that's what he would say. He sat up straight. His optics fixed on the mech before him, who was now absorbed in sorting and stacking his datapads. He reached out a servo and took in a deep breath.

"Okay, I have to run some of these datapads to Optimus", Soundwave hummed. Blaster froze mid reach. By the time Soundwave looked up from his reports, Blaster had retracted his servo and fixed a casual smile on his faceplates.

"Sure thing, 'Wave", Blaster grinned. Soundwave's optics lingered on the orange mech for a long moment. Blaster's processor had just jolted so suddenly, it was as though the mech had just been startled to Cybertron and back. Had he done something to frighten him? Whatever it was, Blaster likely didn't want to discuss it, he was acting far too casual. Soundwave gave a slow nod before standing up and disposing of his empty cube.

"Alright", Soundwave turned his attention to his cassettes. "I have a few errands to run. Don't forget to make it to your training and duties for the day". He patted ten helms on his way out.

"We won't forget!" Rumble smiled up. The rest of the cassettes called their goodbyes as Soundwave looked back, smiled at Blaster, then left.

Blaster decompressed into his chair. Damn… he had been so close. He scrubbed his faceplates with a sigh before finally standing. He tossed out his cube and composed his expression and field.

"Alright my little creatures! Up and at 'em, let's get you fellas ready for the day!" He turned his cheery smile back on for the cassettes. It didn't take too long to get everyone sorted. He gathered the emptied cubes and filed everyone over to the wash racks. The cassettes chattered over each other as usual. Blaster helped Ratbat clean his wings properly. Soundwave's youngest often needed assistance with little tasks like that. However, the little bat always revelled to Blaster that he was getting better at doing things independently, Soundwave said so!

Nothing felt out of the ordinary anymore. By the time Blaster was helping them dry off, he had almost forgotten how he had woken in the morning. Blaster reached over to help Frenzy dry off around his helm. In the middle of drying off, Frenzy stopped and fixed Blaster with a grin.

"You like Boss, don't you?".

Blaster's entire frame froze up, his servos still holding Frenzy's towel. "…uhh".

Rumble leaned over with a grin to match his twin's. "You like-like him, don't you?" The twins erupted into giggles. The rest of the cassettes fell silent and stared.

"uhhh…" Blaster continued hollowly. His faceplates burned deeply with his guilt.

Rumble and Frenzy's laughter suddenly fell silent. Rumble narrowed his optics and scrutinized Blaster.

"Wait a minute… are you serious?" The cassette chided.

Frenzy's focus also snapped to Blaster, the joking all gone from his voice. "Hang on, do you actually like Boss?".

Blaster's glossa suddenly felt very heavy and difficult to use, "I… well, you guys- I'm not sure how to put-"

"Oh Primus! You actually like Boss!" Frenzy cried. Blaster pleadingly hushed him, unsure when Soundwave would be back home. He guided the now excitedly chattering mob of curious cassettes back out into the main quarters.

"Wait! Hang on, we were joking! Do you actually?" Rumble trailed hot on Blaster's heels.

"He does!" Shrieked Frenzy. The room suddenly exploded into yelling cassettes. Some were mortified, others overwhelmingly excited. A barrage of questions and opinions were thrown at the communications officer.

"Are you going to go on a date?"

"Ew that's gross!"

"Do you like him or do you love him?"

"Does he know?"

"Are you going to be bond mates and we can live together forever?"

"Yeah! Does this make us all brothers?"

Blaster hushed them nervously, the room finally fell to silence. All optics rested on him waiting for his answers. Blaster took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm still kinda figuring this out, and Soundwave doesn't know yet. So I would really, really appreciate if you guys kept this between us" Blaster pled.

"We can keep it quiet" Rewind assured.

"Yeah, this is just between us" Laserbeak agreed. More nods from the cassettes gave Blaster some more ease. It wasn't a perfect situation… but it also wasn't a disaster. He let out a breath.

"Okay, so just between us" he double checked.

The cassettes nodded. Eject mimed closing a zipper over his mouth.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it" Blaster smiled.

With that, the orange mech gathered all of the cassettes and ushered them out the door to their duties for the day. With the door closed between him and the cassettes, Blaster finally pressed his dorsa against it, shuttered his optics, and let out a long breath of relief. He thumped his helm gently against the door, then sighed before opening his optics again.

His gaze met Ravage's optics. Blaster jumped with a half yell back against the door. Ravage didn't show any sign of noticing the embarrassing reaction. The feline observed him coolly for a long moment. The phrase 'cat got your tongue' suddenly made so much sense to Blaster.

Ravage silently picked his way around Blaster to the door. Blaster's optics followed the cyber-cat. At the door, Ravage paused and looked back over his shoulder at the orange mech.

"I think you would make him happy", Ravage admitted. The door slid shut behind him.

Blaster stood tense for another moment, then melted back against the door. He sunk down it and plopped onto the floor. His helm lolled heavily back against the door. He let one final breath of relief out of his frame and relaxed.

Blaster let out a yelp as the door he was leaning on suddenly vanished from behind him. He fell (none too gracefully) onto his back.

Immediately, he met optics with a very shocked looking Soundwave. The telepath took a step back and blinked at him.

"You really are taking me by surprise a lot today, Blaster" Soundwave finally broke into a smile.

Blaster dissolved into laughter, "Just trying to keep ya' on your toes".

Soundwave laughed with him and offered his servo to help the other carrier up. Blaster took the offered servo and suddenly forgot what he had been so worried about in the first place.

I hope ya'll enjoyed this! Like I said before, there will be more chapters, so subscribe and keep your eyes peeled for more if you're interested!

We are getting into the meat of this story! It won't be long before things get... juicy.

Feel free to leave a like and comment! I love to hear your feedback, it motivates me to keep updating.