"First Aid, do you really want to break up?" Heatwave asked.
First Aid nodded. "I don't think we should be together anymore. I-I mean - with your panic attacks and how you want to rush things... I-it's just for the best."
"I get it. You don't want a partner with baggage."
"No, I don't think this is a good time for a relationship, but I have no doubts of your leadership. Are you all right with that?"
Heatwave turned away. "Let me think it over," he muttered.
"Maybe we can try again. When you're done with your therapy," First Aid said before leaving Heatwave's quarters.
All of the Rescue Bots and their humans were getting ready for a meeting called by Chief Burns.
xxx
"Where's Heatwave?" Ally asked. "Does he have therapy today?"
"No," Chief said. "Razor said that she and Air Raid will be on a training mission with their Pretenders for the next two months."
Heatwave slowly stepped into the bunker. "If you need me, I'll be in therapy."
"Heatwave, therapy's been canceled for a couple of months," Blades said.
"W-what?!"
"It's only for two months, Heatwave. They have important work to do. They'll be back before you know it," Chief answered.
"But I only have two pills left and Razor has-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're taking pills? For what?" Kade interrupted.
"To help me sleep and for my PTSD. Both in the same pill."
"You have PTSD?" T.J. asked, earning a punch in the ribs from his sister.
"We'll contact Razor if you start having panic attacks again," Chief said. "Now, the reason I called this meeting is because 'Prank Week' will start next Sunday at 9 a.m. and will run through until 5 p.m. on Saturday. We have to be prepared for pranks gone awry, such as when the school roof collapsed when two high school seniors used a crane to put the school bus on the roof two years ago."
"Luckily, it was only structural damage, no one was inside when it collapsed," Graham said.
"I heard that one guy had a heart attack from a scare prank," Raychel said. "The prankster paid the hospital bill."
"Everyone, be on your guard next week. We don't know what will go wrong," Chief said.
xxx
It was Saturday night and Heatwave couldn't sleep, or rather, he didn't want to, as he had run out of his pills.
Heatwave adjusted his punching dummy before practicing these new combo moves he saw online.
"Heatwave, why aren't you in bed?" someone asked.
Heatwave spun around in a defensive fighting stance before he saw Chief Burns looking at him.
"I-I'm just not tired yet," Heatwave said before accidentally yawning.
"When was the last time you slept?" Chief asked.
"About five days ago."
"How long can Cybertronians go without sleep?"
"Three days, but some of our sleep cycles are a bit off."
"Take a nap and tomorrow off. You need to rest," Chief walked to the elevator.
Heatwave punched an 'arm' of his dummy and when it spun, another 'arm' at his head level struck him with a loud clang.
"Uuggh..." his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell and fainted.
"Heatwave!" Chief ran to the Rescue Bot leader. He turned on his commlink. "Blades, First Aid, Heatwave is down!"
xxx
"How did he knock himself out?" Blades asked as he checked Heatwave's vitals.
"I think an arm of his dummy hit his head," Chief said.
"That explains the dent," First Aid said as he treated the injury.
Heatwave let out a loud snore.
"Well, at least he's getting some rest like you wanted," Blades said.
xxx
Heatwave was extremely nervous. He was about to go on his first date with a mech. He had been on many dates before, but a mech? Like I said, no, it was his first.
He looked down at his energon drink. It was a dark, spicy beverage, dark blue with light blue swirls as the plain energon cubes melted.
An orange mech with yellow highlights sat down next to him at the bar.
"Hi," the slender mech said.
"Hey," Heatwave looked down at his drink.
"Are you Heatwave?"
"Yeah? Who wants to know?"
The slender mech extended a hand. "I'm Solar. Friend of a friend."
Heatwave did a nervous swallow.
This was his date.
He shook Solar's hand. "So, what do you want to do?"
"How 'bout you finish your drink before we go study at my place?"
"Sure," Heatwave took a sip of his drink.
xxx
Dani and Raychel were helping a couple of preteens with their mild injuries after said preteens did a demon prank during Sunday morning church.
"Kids, you were stupid with that one," Raychel said as she stitched up the girl's forehead.
"You two need to go to the hospital," Dani said as she put gauze up the boy's nose.
T.J. laughed really hard. "Oh, my God! You two got pwn'd by that plate!"
"T.J., shut up and drive the ambulance!" Raychel scolded.
"Y'know, Jackie and Brains should put it on the island's YouTube channel."
"YouTube?" Dani asked.
"Yeah, they're making the trailer right know."
xxx
Heatwave and Solar had finished studying and were playing video games. They were spooning, Solar the little spoon, obviously.
"So, what would you like to do once we're done with the game?" Solar asked as he snuggled in.
"W-we can do an experiment?" Heatwave suggested.
"I'd like that."
xxx
Chief Burns knocked on the door of Lindsy and Jackie's house.
"Hi, Chief Burns," Lindsy greeted as she opened the door. "Is this about the YouTube channel? Agent Fowler says it's okay if the bots' screen time is limited."
"But there is top secret technology on the island, and if the channel brings in tourists-"
"We're installing facial recognition software into the cameras on the ferry, docks, airports," Brains said. "Just so we're on the safe side."
"Look, have all the videos with the bots go by me before you upload them, okay?"
"Cool if we upload the clip where Chase steals the mummies? It cracks Jackie up and I removed the audio."
"Is he in robot mode?"
"Yep."
"I guess it will be alright, but I want to see it before it's uploaded."
"I'll show you right now," Brains pulled up a holovideo.
xxx
Heatwave was changing into clean bed clothes Solar owned.
Not many bots owned bed clothes.
Guy's family must be rich, Heatwave thought as he adjusted the draw strings.
"Hell-o, handsome!" Solar said as he leaned in the door frame. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
xxx
"That's it! I'm calling my dad! First Aid marched to the Rescue Bot Command Center to contact Optimus.
"What's that all about?" Cody asked Blades.
"It's Wednesday and Heatwave still hasn't woken up," Blades explained. "I shined a light into his optic sensors, but they reacted slowly."
"B-but h-he'll get better, right?"
Blades shrugged his shoulders.
xxx
Heatwave was changing out of the bed clothes and back into his armor.
"Are you all right?" Solar asked. "Did I do something wrong?"
"N-no," Heatwave finished putting on his armor. "I-I'm just not ready."
"Well... guess I'll see you around."
"Yeah, see you around."
xxx
Chief Burns and K-9 were in the park. K-9 was napping on a bench, sitting like a human, and Chief was looking for problem pranksters.
Chief saw two kids with their Frisbee stuck in a tree. He helped them get it down.
He was walking back to K-9 and heard the Maximal growling. He ran to find K-9 in a female hula outfit. Two teens were laughing and holding K-9's vest.
"Okay, you two, give me K-9's vest," Chief said.
"One of the teens gave it back to Chief.
"C'mon, K-9, let's get you back to the car," he said.
K-9 followed Chief, walking on his hind legs, which made the teens laugh more.
xxx
Heatwave walked back into the four-bot apartment and his optics got burned by a very bright flash light.
"Ow! Dammit, Chase! Turn off your flashlight!" Heatwave covered his optics.
"Sorry, Heatwave," Chase said. "But you are later than usual. What took you?"
"I was studying with a mech named Solar," Heatwave rubbed his optics. "He's another fire-response bot in training."
Chase gave him a funny look. "Is he skinny, orange, and yellow?"
"Yeah, so?"
"I'm not saying I believe this, but I heard my mentor talking with his coworker about a gay-for-pay mech with a similar look and name. Did he mention his job?"
"No, I've seen his apartment. His family's rich. He's not like that."
"Are you two lovers?"
"Grr..." Heatwave slapped Chase so had across the face. "What the frag's wrong with you?! You know I only like femmes!"
Chase held his aching cheek. "S-sorry! I-I just don't want a gay leader going after Blades!"
Heatwave grabbed Chase by the shoulders and shook him. "Do I
look gay?!"
"Do you really want an answer?"
Boulder ran in and separated them. "Hey, hey, hey! Break it up! We're all friends here!"
"We have a big test tomorrow!" Blades said with a yawn.
"What's this all about?"
"Chase accused me of being gay again!" Heatwave said.
"What? Don't you remember Blades' 'friend' from last cycle? I'm trying to look out for the team!" Chase said.
"You've been questioning me ever since!"
"You two need to go to bed!" Boulder said.
xxx
All the bots were nervously waiting for news on Heatwave's condition. Ratchet had moved him to Team Prime's base for emergency surgery.
The adult humans of the rescue team entered the bunker with Jackie.
"Heatwave's out of surgery. He's recovering now," Blades said.
"That's good, but we have a few questions," Chief Burns said.
"Are they about our biology?" First Aid asked.
"What's hermathus? What are the risk levels? How did you know that Heatwave miscarried? Can mechs give birth?" Jackie asked.
"Jackie read Heatwave's medical file," Ally said.
"The whole baby thing sounds like that Futurama episode," T.J. said.
"Yeah, Kip Gets Knocked Up a Notch," Kade said.
"I'll get the power point," Blades said.
xxx
Heatwave couldn't believe his optics! Solar was just murdered!
"Good Morning, Heatwave," Chase said. "What is in the morning news?"
"The mech I studied with was murdered."
Chase took the data pad from Heatwave. "Do you think you'll be able to go to class?"
"I-I'm going to take a mental health day," Heatwave walked to his room.
xxx
The humans were taking their seats in the command center while Blades set up the power point.
"So, Graham why did you and Lindsy split?" Kade asked.
"Pretenders like her are a subspecies of Cybertronians and I felt awkward dating an alien," Graham answered.
"Okay, the power point's ready," Blades plugged in the flash drive.
An old, medieval-looking picture of a tall female Cybertronian was the first image on the slideshow. She had a big hammer and was purple.
"Who is that?" Dani asked.
"Solus Prime. The creator of the femmes in our culture," Chroma explained.
"How did she make the femmes?" Graham asked.
"Sources vary," Boulder said. "Some say the Well of Sparks wasn't working, some mechs volunteered to become femmes. No one really knows for sure."
"However she did it, something weird happened," Blades clicked the next slide showing a da Vincie looking picture of a dissected mech with a full female reproductive system and a cloth covering the male parts. "It's called 'hermathus'. In that guy's case, it's severe."
"What are the severities?" Ally asked.
"Well, this is advanced hermathus. Heatwave is between mild and moderate, about a two. We didn't think he would conceive."
"Well, couldn't he just abort?" T.J. asked.
"His body, his rules," Jackie said. "And he doesn't have a birth canal."
"He could still abort, right? You know, the pills?"
"If we could do that, then the remains would be rusting inside him," Blades said. "Now, does that sound good or bad?"
"Really bad infection," Jackie said.
"Can bots with advanced hermathus give... Um... You know... Birth?" Chief asked.
"Well, yes and no," Blades said. "The ideal situation for a mech in labor would be a C-section, because a mech, even with advanced hermathus, doesn't have child-bearing hips," he clicked the next slide, "for example..."
(A/N: in case the gif doesn't work. If it does, skip the next paragraph.)
There was a gif of what looked like a British man with a CGI male skeleton on the left and a female skeleton on the right. He had a baby doll in his hands. He threw the doll through the female skeleton's hips with ease. The baby doll was tossed back to him and he threw the doll into the male skeleton's hips and it got stuck, which caused said skeleton to run around freaking out.
T.J. fell off his seat laughing.
"In rare cases, a mech can have a natural birth, but in most of those cases, the sparkling is stillborn," Blades said.
"How did you know he was miscarrying?" Jackie asked.
xxx
Heatwave was back in his own bed. He was rubbing his lower abdomen with his thumb.
"Heatwave!" First Aid ran in and jumped on top and began kissing him.
Heatwave let out a yelp and shoved First Aid to the other side of the bed. "Please, don't!"
"Wh-why? Oh, yeah... The... Yeah... Sorry, I'm just excited you're back!"
"Hey, I am, too. I-it's just... We'll have a new teammate in about eight or nine months," Heatwave put First Aid's hand on his belly.
First Aid's optics widened. "It's Rotor's?! Of course, it is! Whose wouldn't it be!"
"First Aid, calm down. Please. I've made the choice to keep it."
First Aid took some deep breaths. "I've heard that an air unit and a ground unit can't procreate."
"Our population is low, I'm willing to risk it. Besides, how awesome will a Rescue Bot with both fire and military vehicle traits be?!" Heatwave rubbed his belly. "The kid may take some getting used to, but I'll love it no matter what."
xxx
Blades walked into Heatwave's room a week later and saw him curled into a ball and moaning/groaning in pain.
"What's wrong?!" Blades ran to his side.
"Th-the -k-kid!" Heatwave sobbed. "S-something's wr-wrong!"
Blades uncurled Heatwave and removed his belly armor and saw discoloration. "I'm contacting Razor!"
xxx
"Dude..." Kade said.
"Okay, not laughing!" T.J. got back in his seat.
"Heatwave needed emergency surgery to remove the remains. He was so upset about it," Blades said.
"I think he still is," First Aid said.
"Oh, man... That's why he was so upset when I told him about Haylay's..." Kade trailed off.
"Wh-when was Heatwave was going to tell us he was pregnant?" Chief asked.
"When he felt that he wouldn't be able to work on the team," Blades answered.
xxx
"So, that's Heatwave?" Raf asked.
"Yes, now please do your homework," Ratchet said.
"But, we already did," Miko said.
"What happened to him?" Jack asked.
"He knocked himself out and hasn't regained consciousness. First Aid got worried when his neurological activity dropped and contacted me. He should wake up in a day or two," Ratchet said.
"Can we help?" Miko asked.
"How would you help?"
"We can take turns watching him."
Ratchet thought for a moment and nodded.
"I'll take the first shift," Jack said.
xxx
Heatwave was freaking out because he woke up and didn't know where he was.
Someone pinning him down was not helping.
"Bulkhead, stop pinning him! You're making him worse!" Ratchet shouted.
"I'm not?" Bulkhead asked.
"Get off him!"
Bulkhead stopped pinning Heatwave. "Sorry about - do'h!"
Heatwave karate kicked him in the gut and ran into the base's tunnels.
xxx
Jackie, Kade, and Ally were in the old firetruck driving back from the library when Kade's cell phone started to ring.
"Dude, your phone," Jackie said.
"Driving," Kade said.
"I'll answer it," Ally held out her hand and Kade gave her his phone. She turned on the speaker phone.
"Kade? Are you there?" Ratchet asked.
"I am, and so are All and Jackie," Kade said.
"Is Heatwave awake or dead?" Jackie asked.
"What?!" Ally asked
"What is wrong with you?" Kade asked.
"Heatwave's awake, we just can't find him. He had a panic attack and is hiding somewhere in the base."
"Try the empty storage rooms. I used to hide there when my transmutate abilities took over me, remember?" Jackie said.
xxx
Heatwave was calming down after his panic attack. He didn't have a nightmare, he thought he had been recaptured.
He leaned against the rock wall. Jackie told him the base was an old Cold War missile silo. It felt like... home.
Optimus entered the old storage room. "Heatwave, are you all right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I am now," Heatwave said.
Optimus sat down next to him. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"I think I knocked myself out. I probably thought I was bot-napped again. Could've sworn I heard Rotors threaten to tell you I'm bisexual," Heatwave covered his mouth.
Optimus rubbed the fire-bot's back. "It's all right. I have known many Autobots of the LBGT community. You are not alone."
xxx
"Heatwave!" the entire team, except for the small guys, gave him a group hug.
"We were so worried!" First Aid said.
"I-it's good to be back. Can you stop the group hug?" Heatwave asked.
The bots dispersed from the hug.
"Sorry," Boulder said.
"Hey, it's all- what's Jackie doing with underwear on her head?!"
"I pranked it forward by putting ladies' products in the lady's rooms on the island as an anime character!" she cheered.
"Which character?"
"I forgot."