Crosshairs POV
Drift isn't too pleased we're talking about Jamie. It's depressing knowing there's not much any of us can do. He didn't try to leave the room either. It's the same venting how humans don't seem to give a scrap. We know Jamie's shyness isn't helping; it makes a friendship seem one-sided for a while which to many humans means someone who uses people for attention.
Third-person POV
The conversation about Jamie's depression turns into ranting about how humans treat depression like it's nothing.
"It's bullshit any human who doesn't have depression and feels their work is scrap, they get a confidence boost, but if people know the person has depression, it's just asking for attention," Ratchet rages before throwing his glass across the room.
"Oh yeah, asking for attention. JAMIE WON'T EVEN TALK TO US ANYMORE!" Hound rages.
"I don't know what's worse; how Sunny deals with what humans did to him or Jamie's way dealing with what she dealt with as a kid," Sideswipe comments.
"Sunny thinks he needs to act tough while humans say humans with mental struggles need to keep quiet. You hear Jamie's own family saying she lies about everything. Oh yeah, she enjoys making up this shit!" Cade rages, "no wonder she has social anxiety. Assholes who do nothing about bullying when it happened, not caring how kids avoided her. Deciding it's her fault they avoid her and therefore she had no friends!"
"And now it's her fault for not acting like bullying never happened like there are no long-term effects!" Sideswipe rages.
Both end up shattering their glasses.
"Bad idea having drinks while talking," Vivian comments as she takes the rest of the glasses and leaves the room.
Sunstreaker walks in and sits next to Sideswipe. He doesn't say anything but knows what the others are talking about.
"Is there even anything we can do?" Crosshairs asks, "besides making sure she eats."
"I don't know," Ratchet sighs, frustrated, "I don't like how much more Jamie has been struggling the past two years. It makes it look like she wasn't dealing with depression all these years."
"YOU KNOW WHY!" Sunstreaker rages, "AND HOW TO FIX IT!"
"NO, TELLING HER TO FORGOT ABOUT HUMANS DOESN'T SOLVE EVERYTHING!" Drift argues. The others are shocked he's yelling. Sunstreaker's eyes turn red.
"Let him explain, Sunny," Sideswipe insists, "you know Drift hates seeing Jamie struggle."
"You know how bad she's been struggling this year, but you don't know why. Jamie goes back and forth, thinking like you, and hating she has no friends back in her dimension. Though this year, she's trying to talk to people, it's been causing more anxiety," Drift explains.
"You could say she crashed emotionally and mentally this month," Crosshairs adds, sighing in frustration.
"It's been awful. I umm I have been keeping tabs on Jamie's social media even though Crosshairs and Drift are," Sideswipe admits, "though they've been too focused on getting her to stop crying and forget to look for clues what might have set her off again. They forgot the other day; I looked at her phone, and it's heartbreaking."
Sideswipe shows Crosshairs and Drift the post, which turns into his phone being passed around.
Optimus sighs as he looks at the phone, "this is something else humans will not understand-."
"They'd say jealousy!" Sunstreaker says angrily, "considering how old she is and how shy she is, she can't make friends. Oh, and how people are afts who will never understand!"
Everyone hates how Sunstreaker is right, but also wrong; how this is a challenging issue.
"It's a problem when she doesn't want to even show them how she looks in her dimension," Sideswipe comments pointing to Crosshairs and Drift, "her guardians and best friends."
Only Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Prime know Jamie's appearance in her dimension. Drift had enough of this conversation and goes upstairs to his room.
"The problem isn't Jamie can't make friends; it's a challenge with many extra steps requiring patience, people who don't understand or don't want to bother with her since it'll be harder than making friends with other humans-."
"Which is causing a lot of anxiety, and she's crushed emotionally and mentally!" Sunstreaker rages, "for how long?! How long before it happens again?!"
"Maybe we do need to get her to think screw humans here; we're her friends, and lately, her family," Bumblebee suggests.
"That's not going to take care of this completely," Ratchet explains, "she'll still struggle and hate having no friends in her dimension."
"She'll be dealing with this forever, and we're the only ones that understand her, fuck," Sunstreaker sulks, kicks the couch, and walks out of the room. The others know he means all of Jamie's friends across all the dimensions.
"What about acting sort of like a middle man?" Hound suggests.
"That can backfire in so many ways and ignores the problem," Prime points out.
The others are frustrated there's not much they can do to help Jamie. They leave the room to get breakfast—everyone but Prime and Ratchet who want to talk to Crosshairs.
Crosshairs knew Prime was going to ask about Drift's nightmares and if he's had any. Crosshairs worries what Prime will do if he tells Prime and Ratchet he's had a few nightmares. He left out when the nightmare has Drift ending his life, but with the close relationship he has with Drift, Crosshairs fears Prime will figure out that part.
He wouldn't separate us, would he? Crosshairs worries.
He tries to wait for Prime to say something but can't.
"You can't separate us. You know how much Jamie needs both Drift and my support."
"Calm down, I'm not making any changes," Prime assures Crosshairs, "I am concerned about Drift's nightmares and how you have had a few."
How the frag could he tell I kept our that I've had nightmares? Crosshairs wonders.
"He only has them when Jamie is very depressed. Thankfully not every night while she's depressed," Crosshairs explains.
"You told me the only other time this has happened was during the nightmare situation," Ratchet reminds Crosshairs.
Crosshairs becomes more anxious.
"He had nightmares when Jamie is depressed, but not as bad as this time. He'd usually have one or two nightmares during Jamie's depressed period and not as bad as
last night," Crosshairs explains, "I focus on getting him back to sleep, but I have a feeling he dreamt about finding Janie dead."
Crosshairs eyes begin to water, but he's able to wipe his eyes before tears roll down his face.
Prime and Ratchet drop the subject though they suspect Crosshairs has had the same nightmare as Drift, even if it's not as often.
