Thank you all for the lovely comment! Here comes the story ;)
The first day was a bit… unusual, to say the least.
Even though Agathos had been allowed to stay, they had been asked not to leave the base before a couple of days. Firstly because they needed to rest in order to heal, secondly because the Autobots prefered to keep them within sight before letting them wander freely around the base, and thus its location had not been told yet.
But Agathos did not seem to care. Instead, as soon as the team left the base either for patrol duty or for scouting some energon, they politely asked Ratchet what were their orders.
The medic was annoyed by having to bear the presence of a Decepticon, which was still a bit unsettling to be honest. But since he stayed at the base almost all the time it was only logical for him to watch the Vehicon.
He scoffed at Agathos' demand and told them to do a bit of cleaning, if they were so bored. But the Vehicon did not seem to be offended by his harsh tone, they simply saluted before getting to work. Ratchet stared at them with puzzled optics as they began to gather cleaning supplies. Seeing a war machine manipulating broom and mop was almost comical, making the white and orange mech feel a bit less tense, and he shrugged. Oh well, he supposed he could work on his projects while the Vehicon was busy. If they dared to do something stupid, he could still defend himself.
Several hours went by, and at some point Ratchet wondered why Agathos had not come to ask for another task. When he turned around, however, he was astonished by the sight in front of him.
He was not expecting that they would clean the whole place. Previous traces of dust and rust and moisture were gone. Every metallic surface had been waxed and polished — never before had the floors been so shiny. Then he noticed a datapad on the table next to the computer — when had it been put here? Courtesy of the Vehicon apparently, who had counted what was left of Energon and listed every defective lighting and every leaking pipe.
"Are you serious?" the medic muttered aloud, mouth agape.
"Is something wrong, sir?" Agathos called from another room, and their head appeared at a corner. "This corridor is the last to be cleaned, I recommend not to go there the floor is very slippery. Also where can I find some new bulbs for the lighting? Er… why are you making that face?"
"Oh for the love of — you refurbish the whole base and you expect me not to be surprised?"
Agathos scratched their helm and voiced their confusion:
"In all due respect, sir, how could it be… 'surprising'? Aboard the Nemesis this kind of task is only a part of my duties."
"Wait, just how many duties do you have?"
Agathos hummed, thinking.
"During normal days after cleaning I guard the ship for some hours, then I monitor the bridge, then I fetch the energon from the mines, then I inspect the engines and repair them if they need to. If the vessel is damaged groups take turns to fix it. Of course this is the usual routine — sometimes we are sent on missions on Earth and these vary a lot, depending on Megatron's orders."
"So Vehicons don't have free time at all?"
Ratchet expected the Decepticon to answer by the affirmative — it would only add another proof of Megatron's cruelty — so he was a bit surprised when Agathos replied with an offended voice:
"Of course we do! We are not slaves."
"And neither are you here," the medic huffed. "You are still injured. So take a break, you've already done a good job."
Agathos tilted their helm to the side, and Ratchet could feel them staring — but without any faceplates it was hard to guess what that look was supposed to mean. Questioning? Confused? Or just blank?
And then he remembered. No one had ever thanked Vehicons before. Did that mean that they did not receive any appreciation either?
But after all, Vehicons were the only ones of their race who did not have a spark — that was why most people disregarded them, and some even considered that they were not living beings.
Just worthless machines; cannon fodder.
Monsters.
On that point Ratchet disagreed: the true monsters were Shockwave and Megatron, who had crafted this army of sparkless obedient puppets. But if one of them had got a conscience, could they still be despised?
For this question Ratchet had no immediate answer. But the Vehicon was given a chance — and only the future could tell if their actions would prove that they were a sentient being or not.
Agathos' neutral voice snapped him out of his thoughts:
"Then I will take a break if you want me to, sir."
"Alright, enough is enough," he said, a bit irritated. "It's not about what I want but what you want. Among Autobots we listen to everyone's needs and wishes. Besides, it's not like we have tight strict schedules — we stop working when we feel the need to. Moreover, do I have to remind you that you are missing a leg and supposed to rest?"
Agathos stiffened at the medic's sharp tone, stopping a whimper of fear to escape from their vocalizer.
"Forgive me if I bother you with my attitude, sir," they said hastily, panicked. "Even though it has only been a day, I am still struggling to adjust to this new life."
"Yeah, me too," Ratchet grumbled with a roll of his optics.
Agathos stood awkwardly, wringing their hands. Oh dear, they just succeeded at getting on the doctor's nerves, which was never a good thing — aboard the Nemesis Knock Out would make you deeply regret the day of your activation if you pissed him off.
"Do you like to read?"
The question took them off guard and made them sputter as they raised their helm. There were no books aboard the Nemesis — the Cybertronians were at war after all, and stories were not essentials products in such a conflict. Besides, who would give reading material to sparkless drones?
But on the other hand… They did like to read. Some years ago, during a scouting mission on an abandoned ship, they had found a datapad, dusty and cracked but still functioning — it was a collection of short stories. And they had loved each and everyone of them — the name of the author did not ring any bells, but he was a skilled one for sure, at least enough to make Agathos forget about the world around them, engrossed in the stories, the words soothing their mind every time it was agitated.
If Ratchet had asked such a question, it was no doubt that he wanted to give them something to read — and Agathos realised they were eager to discover more worlds that allowed to dream.
So they nodded, and the medic handed them two datapads.
"Here. We don't have a lot of books, but you have those if you want to."
"Thank you sir!" they happily squeaked, then coughed, realising how embarrassing the sound was.
Ratchet arched an eyebrow at their strange reaction, but did not add anything. At least this activity seemed pleasant to the Vehicon — and not even two seconds later they were sitting in a corner of the room, their clawed servos delicately scrolling through the datapad, and even though they had no face Ratchet could feel them beaming.
That was… unexpected. A comfortable silence settled in the base as Ratchet went back to his work. If someone would have told him a few days ago that he could stay in the same room along a Decepticon without feeling the urge to slice them to pieces, he would have scoffed. Now, however? It seemed he could tolerate their presence, tolerate being the key word. But having someone so quiet — a trait that seemed rare nowadays — in this place was more than welcome for the old medic.
And so several hours went by, with a peacefulness that could almost make forget that there was no war outside, no faction splitting an entire race, but just two people who could enjoy their day without despising each other.
But all things must come to an end, and both stopped in what they were doing when they heard the sound of engines — the Team Prime was back.
Three vehicles came in and transformed, their human friends chatting about their day as they stepped out, and the red truck shortly arrived after them. Bumblebee was the first to spot Agathos, still sitting on the floor, who waved shyly. The young Scout beeped a greeting in return, but was interrupted when Miko raced toward the Vehicon, bouncing on her feet and asking them so many questions they became immediately lost.
Fortunately Raf put them out of their misery, asking them how they were feeling. And as Agathos was telling him that they were fine, they realised it was the first time they actually felt fine, they were not on edge anymore like it was usually the case among his fellow Decepticons.
And… it felt so good! Agathos did not know if they wanted to sing, do a happy dance or hug the little one — huh, wait, no, they might scare Raf off with such abruptness. But still, the center of their chassis was pleasantly warm.
Miko snapped them of their thoughts when she asked what they were holding.
"It's a book!" Agathos happily exclaimed. "Mister Ratchet lent it to me, it was very nice of him."
"'Ratchet' and 'nice': two words that don't get along at all in the same sentence," Miko scoffed. "But c'mon, reading? It's so bo-ring," she lamented, dragging out the last syllable.
"No it's not!" Agathos said with defensiveness, holding the datapad against their chassis as if to protect it. "It's a wonderful activity."
"Try to read Pride and Prejudice and then we'll see if it's still 'wonderful'", Miko retorted, using air quotes with the last word.
"Pride and Prejudice?" Agathos asked, tilting their head to the side.
"It's a human book Miko has to read for the second next week, she will have a test about it." Raf explained, then added with a giggle, "she won't stop complaining about how awful it is."
"Because it's more than awful!" Miko exclaimed, fist on the hips.
Agathos shyly reset their vocaliser.
"Maybe… huh… I could give it a look?"
"Yeah, sure!" Miko said, too happy to get rid of this oh so great burden.
She handed them the said book, which was comically tiny in their servo, as if they were holding a robot-sized postage stamp. They nonetheless began to delicately flip the pages, taking immediately interest in the story — and also trying not to loudly cackle at the sarcasm used by the author. Primus, that was so funny! How could the little human not like it? The children and Bumblebee, seeing they were enjoying themselves, left them alone, not without a soft smile dancing on their lips. Ratchet and Optimus were looking at the scene from afar, and while the medic did not really have any interest with what the Vehicon was doing, as long as they did not bother him, the Prime had a small but perceptible fond expression.
To an external point of view, Agathos looked like a little sparkling, doing with excitement their favourite activity. Ratchet had told him that they behaved themselves during the absence of the others, and the Prime was glad to see that some entente was possible between the Autobots and an ex-Decepticon.
He picked up a cube of energon and approached them.
"I see you are enjoying yourself," he said softly.
But Agathos jerked at the sound of his voice, and stood up, keeping the book in their fist as they saluted him stiffly.
"Good evening, sir. I apologise for my laziness, I will go back to work immediately."
"What laziness?" Optimus asked, saddened by the sudden formality of the robot, who lost all of their former brightness. "Ratchet told me you have already done a good job. The base looks better thanks to you."
Agathos froze, once again caught off-guard, and Optimus Prime noticed it.
"You have to know, Agathos, that things work differently here. You don't have to work all the time. You don't have to think that you are worthless. You are an individual just like us, with its own limits and its own assets. I don't know what you had to do aboard the Nemesis, but having a good time like when you were reading is not forbidden. Alright?"
"…Alright," Agathos said hesitantly.
The Prime suppressed a sigh, then handed them the cube of energon.
"Here," he said gently. "You need to refuel in order to heal."
Agathos simply nodded and slowly gulped the liquid, taking care of not wasting any drop. They were a bit tense with the Prime standing next to them, but if they were to live with their former enemies, they had to get used to their presence, be it the nice Scout or the mighty leader. Said leader was looking at them with gentle optics, which was pretty weird, but if, as he had said, he really cared about their well-being, then that look was nothing but the expression of his own words.
Oh well, they would have to get used to this too.
And if they had to be honest… the fact that they were the centre of such attention, even though they did not think they deserved it, felt surprisingly good.
They could not smile, so they extended their EM field, just barely enough to shyly brush against the Prime's own field, and, hoping they were not crossing any line, poured all their gratitude into it.
Optimus felt it, and offered Agathos a kind smile, hoping to make them feel at ease. After all, this place was their new home, and he wanted nothing more than to make them know that they were welcome here.
He saw Agathos' frame becoming less tense, and decided to leave them alone, so they could go back to their reading.
Because there was nothing better than being immersed in a world of words.
Hope you liked it ^^
Have a nice day!