The study's lights were dimmed, casting an ombre glow across the furniture. Crinkled pages and worn textbooks, resting openface, were strewn about on the metal bed jutting out of the wall. Stacks of new books, still locked away in protective casings, were placed in the corners of the room.

Soundwave slipped into the study, his adult body gleaming in the warm lamplight. His footsteps remained quiet as he crept across the floor, settling himself on the bed after moving the books and papers into a neat pile.

Shockwave looked up from his project, a soldering flame tool clutched in his robust fist. His development was met with tremendous growth spurts, building up his hefty body. Exercise had become a small part of his daily routine, allowing for some small masses of muscle to form within his teenage body.

"You doing okay?" Soundwave asked his old friend, twisting his body to lay on his side.

"This project has proven to be...challenging," Shockwave gently grumbled, his bass voice vibrating through his body.

"No, how are you doing?" Soundwave carefully stroked Shockwave's thickened shoulder, trying to get through. "You've been in your study for the past three solar-cycles."

Shockwave refused to answer, returning to his complex work. Headmaster offered Shockwave complementary boarding after his initial year of schooling at the Institution, allowing him to further delve into his studies. Mother continued to work hard at the drugstore, but she had unfortunately broken down about a stellar cycle ago. Her deactivated skeleton rested in the shadows of the study.

Soundwave observed Mother's hunched form. "I'm sorry again about her. She really was a wonderful mother to all of us. I like the chilled energon she used to make."

Shockwave absently nodded along as Soundwave spoke, recalling how she had eventually watched over the entirety of his childhood friend circle.

"Are you going to fix her?"

"She has completed her purpose. Furthering her existence is illogical."

Soundwave sat up, shaken by what Shockwave had spat. "It is logical. She raised you. She loved you."

"She was a droid."

"You gave her artificial intelligence. She developed a consciousness."

"But I no longer require her assistance. I have reached adulthood."

"Oh Primus, what happened to you?"

Soundwave stood up and snatched the discus out from underneath Shockwave, making the engineer topple to the ground. He released a furious yelp, flailing his hands and attempting to halt his fall. His armor clanged as he smashed against the ground, and Soundwave crouched beside him, glaring into his optic.

"Where is the Shockwave I grew up with?! Where is the sweet little boy who was so smart it scared him? Where is your emotion and care for those you know?"

. . .

Youthful Shockwave stared at the ceiling above him, the study the Headmaster gave him dark with the light of the night. Mother was shut down in the corner of the room, hooked up to an energon charging box, preparing for the next solar-cycle.

The first stellar-cycle at the Institution had finished, and students had rushed home, ready for the month break before the next session of schooling commenced.

The final solar-cycle of education had been somewhat disturbing for Shockwave. Nothing external had taken place; no one had said or did anything to upset him. But something in his brain had altered, and the tiny flame blossoming inside of him increased when he admired the memory of his first three medals.

The power, the authority he had experienced was brilliant.

He wanted more awards for his findings. He wanted to discover everything the universe had to give. Alpha Trion's incredible lifespan inspired Shockwave; Shockwave could only imagine everything he could explore over millions of years.

But emotion seemed to be the only thing blocking him and everyone he knew from complete scientific dominance.

When he attended class with Wheeljack, Wheeljack's own insecurity with himself seemed to hold him back from accomplishment. Shockwave would listen to him whisper, "I can't do it. I'm too stupid." Wheeljack would then get up from his discus and retreat from the room, refusing to come back in and face the challenge before him. He was scared.

On the other hand, Ratchet would become extremely perturbed when something stumped him. He would rapidly tap on his lap, furious that he couldn't understand a subject. His anger clouded his mind, and until he calmed himself, it was impossible for him to push forward.

In his adult sessions, he witnessed an incredibly bright student abandon her seat during an exam, bawling about something. Shockwave listened closely to her and the professor whispering in the hallway. She couldn't take her test because she couldn't pull her mind away from an argument she was having with a dear friend.

These experiences were only a few of what Shockwave had observed. He had seen many brilliant Cybertronians become ripped away from their work because of their emotional outbursts.

As he shifted himself in the bed, turning away from the ceiling, he felt a piece of himself slide away into the shadows, never to be heard from again. The pulsing of his spark slowed, and a sharp chill clambered over Shockwave's body.

. . .

"It's gone, Soundwave," Shockwave muttered. "I disposed of it many, many stellar-cycles ago."

"But why?" Soundwave laid down beside Shockwave, slipping over his hand over Shockwave's beveled chest.

"Emotions, I have observed, take away from scientific discovery."

"Oh, Shockwave...you, for the first time, are so wrong."

Shockwave smacked Soundwave's hand away, sitting up quickly.

"What do you mean I am wrong?" Shockwave's voice deepened as rage shivered through his nervous system. "Emotion has always been the final obstacle to breakthrough. The family stops scientists giving more time to their work. The friend steals focus away from research."

"So, none of us ever mattered to you?" Soundwave scooted closer to him, his body pressed up against Shockwave, his tone vibrating with heartache. "I never mattered to you? I gave you the affection no one else would because I understand you. I understand what it is like to stand out."

"I did have emotional connections to you all."

"Then what happened to it? When did this happen?"

"I noticed how emotions would tear people down, preventing them from gaining so much knowledge. I don't want to be like them; I want to discover all that I can. I noticed this after my first stellar-cycle at the Institution."

"So your emotion has been...gone for almost a millenia?"

Shockwave pulled his gaze away, his eye dimming.

"Shockwave, you faked everything? You know what this means, don't you?"

Shockwave stood up, trying to distance himself from the truth that was about to be poured out.

"That's something a psychopath would do."

"But I still feel," Shockwave muttered, feeling the repressed emotions stir inside of him, desperate to be released.

"If you do, that is good. But it is unhealthy to repress emotions, including the 'negative' ones." Soundwave stood and slipped his arms around Shockwave's waist, pulling their chests together. Soundwave had felt the strong sensation of Shockwave's pulsing spark, but over the many years they spent together, his synthetic heartbeat had indeed slowed.

"What are we?" Shockwave muttered, placing his hands atop Soundwave's boxy fingers. "Friends or lovers?"

"I'm honestly not sure. I've mostly just thought of you as a friend that I adored more than my other friends. Like a best, best friend."

"I think I consider you the same way." Shockwave pressed his head into Soundwave's cheek, delivering a hefty shock through his body, making Soundwave shudder with glee.

"But don't you consider my relationship with you...distracting?" Soundwave tore his optics away, locking them upon the unidentifiable invention resting upon Shockwave's scratched desk.

"Not right now." Shockwave's hands slithered across Soundwave's flat back, his embrace strengthening.

"You are changing. I don't think we have much of this left. We are both still young, still developing. Adulthood is soon, and you are transforming. What are you going to do after you graduate?" Soundwave rested his blocky head upon his fading friend's chest, hoping that Shockwave's would revert to his original self soon.

"Enter myself into a think tank. Where are you going?"

"Not sure. I want to use my ability to record and mimic for something."

"Special agent work?"

"Possibly. I could find employment with the Intelligence."

Soundwave carefully ripped himself out of Shockwave's grasp, a sudden wave of discomfort drifting over him like fallout. Shockwave was no longer the boy he used to be. His care was not gone, but shoved deep, deep down. Maybe he would learn that his behavior was unnecessary. Or maybe it would ultimately help him.

"I think...everything is over." Soundwave muttered, rubbing Shockwave's bulky shoulders.

"W-What?" Shockwave's pubescent voice crackled, and a flame of dread flowed through his joints.

"I can't be best friends with you anymore. You have been going through a lot, and I want to help you. But, I can't help someone who thinks they can't love me because they believe success is more important."

Soundwave meandered silently to the door, leaving Shockwave trapped in his own shock. Soundwave slipped through the doorway, entering the Institution's dormitory hallway. He poked his head back into the study.

"Mother taught you a lot, but it seems you only remembered one thing from her."

"What?"

"How to act like a robot."