Chapter 2 - Rumor Has It

Thundercracker shifted uneasily in his seat as he glanced around the room. Stabilizer sat silently in front of him, his hands steepled on his desk. The room was painfully bare, and Thundercracker found himself juggling his focus between Skywarp's untroubled face - which just made him cringe - and Stabilizer's deep, intimidating scowl.

Stabilizer, chief doctor at the academy, was a terrifying figure. He was one of the biggest seekers Thundercracker had ever seen, and his imposing stature was dwarfed only by his complete lack of humor. One of his trine-members, Wingflap, was an assistant dean at the school, and he was equally terrifying. Their third trine member, Pulley, worked on the janitorial team, and was perhaps one of the nicest mechs Thundercracker had ever met. It was a perfect example of how one could never tell who would work best together in a trine.

Thundercracker wished he was dealing with Pulley instead of staring into the steely eyes of the janitor's trine member.

"You will be pleased to know that Starscream sustained no permanent damage," Stabilizer told them, his voice low. Thundercracker tried not to shudder at that voice – it was a gorgeously silken baritone, one that he could almost feel rumbling through his core. But when Stabilizer lowered his voice, as he was doing just then, it felt like he was getting ready to gut someone like a turbofox. It didn't help that Thundercracker could barely even hear him when he stopped projecting, and had to lean in to even hear Stabilizer. "The boy will make a full recovery."

Stabilizer stared for quite a while into Thundercracker's optics. Thundercracker felt trapped. He couldn't look away, and Stabilizer's optics held dark threats if Thundercracker so much as twitched out of line. Finally, after an extended moment of silence, Stabilizer turned his gaze to Skywarp, and Thundercracker slumped gratefully into his seat. Stabilizer didn't hold Skywarp's gaze nearly as long as he had Thundercracker's, but then, it was hard to intimidate a young mech with only his optics when the mech couldn't read the threats issued from them.

"I wish to know," the doctor said, speaking slowly to ensure they caught his every word, "How it is that two unattached seekers managed to find Starscream when the entire academy's staff couldn't find him for nearly three days."

Thundercracker shot a look at Skywarp. Stabilizer seemed angry, enraged even, but for the life of him Thundercracker couldn't figure out why. Thundercracker didn't know why he looked at Skywarp for answers, because the burly mech was oblivious as ever.

"Thundercracker found him," Skywarp said bluntly, and Thundercracker winced. If Stabilizer was pissed, Thundercracker didn't want to be the center of his focus.

Slowly, very slowly, Stabilizer turned his head towards Thundercracker, his eyes arctic. "Thundercracker?" he prompted, inviting him to speak.

Thundercracker shifted, uncomfortable. He knew he had to tell Stabilizer something, but he didn't know what. "Well…today was the first I'd heard about Starscream being missing."

"I fail to see how that's likely," Stabilizer said, his voice tight and clipped, "unless you were living in a hole in the ground."

"He doesn't," Skywarp jumped in. "He just doesn't leave his room. 'Cept at mealtimes."

Both Thundercracker and Stabilizor turned to look at Skywarp. "How - " Thundercracker began.

"You know this for a fact?" Stabilizer interrupted, not enjoying that Thundercracker was jumping on his territory by attempting to ask a question.

Skywarp shrugged. "I mean…yeah. Nobody really sees him around. I've asked. I only see him at dinner when he eats with me sometimes."

Thundercracker sat back in his chair, bemused. Skywarp had been asking about him? He wasn't at all sure how to feel about that. Flattered, guilty, weirded out certainly.

"It would seem," Stabilizer began, snapping Thundercracker out of his musings, "that your friend here wishes to protect you by validating your story. It would appear I must accept it as truth until I can verify it further." He gestured widely. "Please continue."

Thundercracker took a minute to collect himself. "Right…so I only just found out he was missing. And I…well, I hadn't seen him for days. But the last time I did see him, I…um…I said some…some things that…"

"You bullied him," Stabilizer said, not willing to wait for Thundercracker to manage to say it in a more delicate way.

"No!" Thundercracker protested, hating the kernel of guilt that took root in his chest. "I just…I was angry, and I said something that…um…that I shouldn't have." Thundercracker hung his head. "I avoided him after that. He's…he's not nice. And I just don't like yelling at people."

Stabilizer's lips thinned as though he didn't quite believe this. "So you're just a nice guy, I take it?"

"Uh…yeah. He is," Skywarp jumped in again.

Stabilizer turned to Skywarp. "I will address you directly, Skywarp, when I wish to hear from you. It will not happen often," he added with a thin, cruel smile.

"What in the pit is that supposed to mean?" Thundercracker asked, half-rising. The guilt was giving way to indignation.

Stabilizer turned to Thundercracker, clearly unimpressed. "What do you think it means, Thundercracker?"

Thundercracker could feel himself shaking. He was angry, he was exhausted from the flight and the stress of the day, and he did not need any condescending slag from a mech who had no idea what he was talking about. If it hadn't been for Skywarp, Thundercracker would never have been able to find Starscream – the mech might have died if Skywarp hadn't had that map, and if he hadn't warped Starscream back to the compound, there's no telling what kind of damage they could have done to him by trying to move him.

"You don't know what you're saying," Thundercracker snapped. A smarter, less angry part of his mind whispered how much of a bad idea it was to go insulting the guy in charge of addressing his medical needs, but Thundercracker ignored it. All he could see was a self-righteous prick. "I think that you think Skywarp's an idiot. Everyone thinks Skywarp's an idiot. And you know what? Yeah, he is." Stabilizer gave Skywarp a smirk that would have made one of Starscream's seem positively warm. Skywarp stared balefully at Thundercracker, his optics wide, hurt.

Thundercracker didn't see any of that though. He was blind, seething, furious. He slammed his palms down on the table, making Stabilizer jump and turn back from Skywarp. Thundercracker opened his mouth, his voice hard. "He's an idiot. He's an idiot, but he found Starscream. What did you do, huh? Sit around in your office and, and insult the guys who actually got something done? Without Skywarp, we would've never found Starscream. If it weren't for Warp, Starscream would still be out there, because you can't manage the task of finding one slagging seeker."

Stabilizer rose, his wings quivering with anger. "You," he hissed. "Outside. Now." He didn't wait for Thundercracker to comply or retort. In one swift movement, he rounded his desk and grabbed Thundercracker by his upper arm, dragging him to the door. His grip was painful on Thundercracker's plating, and he thought he could hear creaking coming from the appendage.

Almost at the door, Stabilizer seemed to have a second thought and whirled on Skywarp, still holding onto Thundercracker. "And you. Stay."

He didn't wait to see if Skywarp would listen or not, quickly turned on his heel, yanking Thundercracker along behind him.

It didn't take Thundercracker long to figure out where it was that they were heading. At first, he tried vainly to work himself free, but Stabilizer only gripped his arm that much tighter. Thundercracker bit back a cry of pain; he wouldn't give Stabilizer the satisfaction. "You're hurting me," he said firmly.

"And you are out of line," Stabilizer snapped back.

Thundercracker wanted to spit out something scathing and angry, picturing how differently the scene would look if Starscream were the one being dragged to the Dean's office. Starscream would probably be cursing and spitting and struggling the entire way. Although, with how scrawny the other seeker was, Thundercracker figured Stabilizer would've just ended up snapping Starscream's arm in two the first time he squeezed too hard.

Stabilizer barely even slowed down outside the Dean's door, pausing just long enough to get it open to continue inside. He breezed past the Dean's secretary, who issued thin protests that Freefall was busy.

Stabilizer strode confidently through the Dean's door and all but threw Thundercracker across the room. As it was, Thundercracker lost his balance and dropped to one knee. When he raised his optics, he winced. The head dean must have been away on business, because sitting in his usual chair was Stabilizer's trine-mate, Wingflap. Thundercracker lowered his head, knowing there was no way he was going to get out of this with his armor plating intact.

Word spread quickly through the school, helped along, no doubt, by the rumors that Stabilizer was subtly planting among the staff, that Thundercracker had been bullying Starscream and Skywarp, and that that was why Starscream had run off. According to some of the wilder stories, Thundercracker had forced Skywarp to help drag Starscream back to the compound, beating Starscream up as they went. As was the case with rumors, they only got worse as they spread around. One version had it that Thundercracker chased Starscream and Skywarp through the air, taking pot-shots at them. Another claimed that he'd tricked Skywarp into beating Starscream up and stayed safely within the protection of the academy. A third said that Skywarp and Thundercracker were taking Starscream out into the wilderness to bury him when they'd been stopped by administration.

Thundercracker, surprisingly, knew all about those rumors. He'd been put in a "hab suite" in the basement of the academy. It had been a storage room at one point, but seekers were an unruly bunch. Administration had found that occasionally seekers needed to be kept in isolation for a few days until they'd be willing to see reason. The storage room had had everything taken out of it and a berth shoved in there.

The door was locked, and there were no windows. It was dim and unpleasant. It was cruel, and usually made seekers miserable enough that they were willing to work out their differences. By the end of their stay, the desperate need to escape the claustrophobic, windowless room overpowered most misbehaviors.

Still, Thundercracker wasn't without visitors. Skywarp was pacing up and down the tiny room, and Thundercracker was sitting on the berth to give Skywarp the room he needed to pace.

"Everyone hates me. Or they don't. And if they don't it's just pity. I mean, more than usual. Like I'm…like I'm gonna break. Before, everybody just thought I was stupid, so they pitied me. Or interfaced with me. Or stole my things. Or interfaced with me and then stole my things." He sounded frustrated. "I don't like pity. I don't like it when people take advantage of me."

Thundercracker's optics flicked up from his datapad to Skywarp in surprise. "People take advantage of you?"

"Yes!" Skywarp said with exasperation. It was clear to Thundercracker that Skywarp hadn't ever gotten to talk to this to anyone before. "They think I'm stupid. You do too, you straight up said it. And, I dunno, maybe I am. But that doesn't mean it's ok for people to be awful to me. That's why I like you and Starscream. You - "

"Whoa whoa whoa," Thundercracker said, interrupting, setting the datapad aside for good. "You mean you actually like Starscream?"

"Uh, yeah," Skywarp replied. He made it sound as if it were self evident.

"By Primus, why?" Thundercracker asked. "He's just about the most miserable piece of slag known to seeker kind."

"Then why'd you go out looking for him?" Skywarp asked curiously.

Thundercracker opened his mouth, closed it."I asked you first," he finally said, crossing his arms defensively.

On any other mech, it wouldn't have worked. Thankfully, Skywarp wasn't any other mech.

Skywarp shrugged. "Nobody's nice to me. I mean, you are. And so's everyone at first. People ignore, me TC."

"TC?"

"Yeah, it's…I mean, you don't mind, right? It's just shorter. Easier to say than Thun-der-cra-cker." His optics were wide, hopeful, guileless. It was slightly jarring, considering a moment ago, he'd been ranting.

"Skywarp," Thundercracker said gently, "did you think of that all by yourself?"

Skywarp nodded vigorously, clearly quite proud of himself.

Thundercracker had to chuckle at that. "Anyway…you were saying?"

Skywarp blinked. "What was I saying again?"

"You were telling me about why you like Starscream."

"Oh right. Yeah. Okay, well people pretend to like me, and then they don't. You don't do that. Well, I mean you haven't yet." Thundercracker opened his mouth, ready to protest, but Skywarp plowed on, oblivious. "But Starscream? Starscream says he doesn't like me. Right away." Skywarp glanced sheepishly at Thundercracker. "I know it's not good that it makes me happy when he does that, but…it does."

"It's refreshing?" Thundercracker offered.

"Yeah," Skywarp said, nodding again.

"It's okay," Thundercracker assured him. "It's normal for you to feel like that. Especially when you hate being lied to or ignored as much as you do."

"Really?"

"Totally. No one likes getting walked all over. Starscream is the first person who hasn't tried to do that to you. Of course you like him for that." For a little while, they were silent. Finally, Thundercracker got up the nerve to ask what he really wanted to. "So, erm…you've interfaced before?"

"Oh yeah," Skywarp answered easily, like casual interfacing wasn't something that everyone did. Like the thought of it didn't make Thundercracker's fuel tank flip over like everything was going to come rushing back up. "Nobody's ever stuck around for very long after. A couple have come back for seconds, but that's it. I'm just an easy frag," Skywarp said bitterly, kicking his pede aimlessly against the wall. "Too damn dumb to be good for anything else."

"Hey, no," Thundercracker rose from his berth. Hesitantly, he put a servo on Skywarp's shoulder. "You are not 'too dumb for anything else'. Don't forget that without that map you found, we would've flown in circles forever to find Starscream."

"I wouldn't have flown in circles!" Skywarp interjected, but Thundercracker ignored him and continued.

"You were the one who smuggled energon cubes out of the cantina. If we'd found Starscream conscious, that could've saved his life. You were the one who warped him back to the academy, which did save his life! You were the one who brought me datapads to read so I wouldn't be bored down here by myself - your suggestion, not mine." He squeezed Skywarp's shoulder as Skywarp's faceplates gave off the distinctive hissing sounds of embarrassment as they became warmer than the air around them. "Hey," Thundercracker continued gently. "Hey, look at me." Skywarp did so, shyness and gratitude gleaming in his optics. "Just 'cause it takes you a little longer to grasp what's going on, it doesn't mean you're not one of the best damn mechs I've ever met. You're a good guy, Skywarp. One of the best I've ever met. Never let anyone tell you you're only good for a frag."

Skywarp stared at Thundercracker for a moment, and then grabbed him around his chassis in a tight hug. Thundercracker jerked, startled by both the embrace, and how incredibly warm Skywarp was. The heat of his plating gave Skywarp a sharp, distinctive metallic scent that Thundercracker found he rather liked.

Skywarp suddenly pulled away. "You hum," he pointed out.

Thundercracker smiled in amusement. "Yeah," he said. "My engines run louder than most."

Skywarp put a hand on Thundercracker's chestplate. "Is…are you sick? Maybe you should get that looked at."

Thundercracker laughed. "No, I'm fine, Skywarp. It's always been that way." He smirked a little. "Besides, I kinda like it."

Skywarp grinned at him. "Then so do I."

For some reason, that simple declaration warmed Thundercracker's spark.

Thundercracker's internal clock pinged, a reminder that he'd set up earlier. He sighed. "Hey Skywarp?"

"Yeah?"

"It's almost time for me to get my evening energon cube."

"Oh." Skywarp sounded crushed. His face had the saddest, most disappointed look Thundercracker had ever seen on another mech. "Can I hang out with you for a little longer? Nobody else wants to talk to me."

Thundercracker sighed. Damn, but that face made it hard to say no. "Look, Skywarp, I'd love for you to stay here and hang out with me," he said. He saw Skywarp's face start to brighten a little in a smile and he held a hand up. "But if they catch you down here with me, you'd be in a ton of trouble. And I don't want that to happen."

Skywarp crossed his arms and scowled. "I don't see why you get to be in trouble and I have to get everybody's pity," he grumbled.

Thundercracker chuckled. "I'd take pity over trouble any day," Thundercracker admitted.

Skywarp produced something from his subspace pocket. "Here." He tossed a datapad over to Thundercracker, who caught it easily.

Thundercracker turned it over, examining it. "What is this?" he asked, turning to look at Skywarp.

Skywarp smirked. "Found it in Stabilizer's desk when he took you to the Dean. Thought you'd enjoy it." With that enigmatic statement, Skywarp was gone with a vop as displaced air rushed in to fill the space he'd just vacated.

Thundercracker knew he should just stash the thing until after he'd gotten his meal, but he was curious. He booted it up and scanned the contents. He did a double take. Quickly, he opened one of the entries and scanned it to make sure he wasn't losing his mind.

It was Stabilizer's personal datapad, where he kept entries detailing his day. And Skywarp had had the nerve to steal it.

With a laugh, Thundercracker turned it off and stashed it in his subspace pocket, along with the other contraband datapads that Skywarp had brought him. He settled down to wait for Stabilizer's goons to bring him his energon, a feeling of mischievous glee lightening his spark.

He didn't have long to wait. Instead of just the usual surly pointless nurse's assistant, however, a group of important-looking mechs clustered into the cramped space. At the head of them was the Dean, a look of bland disinterest locked on his faceplate. He fixed Thundercracker with cold eyes.

Thundercracker sat up on his berth. "Forgive me for not standing," he said, trying to remain respectful. "There's not going to be enough room for everyone to be in here if I stand up too."

"Insolence and insubordination," Wingflap muttered, jotting something down on a large datapad he had wedged in the crook of his elbow.

Thundercracker resisted the urge to glare at the Dean's assistant, at the idiotic mech who had thrown him in the cell without waiting to hear Thundercracker's side of the story. It wouldn't help Thundercracker's case if he casually insulted the Dean's assistant when he was already in hot water. The fact that Stabilizer was Wingflap's trine-mate didn't exactly help Thundercracker with the whole not glaring thing, though.

"It's not insolence or insubordination," Thundercracker protested.

"Backtalk," Wingtalk muttered, scribbling again.

Thundercracker began to say something more, but the Dean of the academy, Freefall, gave him a sharp look. "Thundercracker, you are already facing very serious charges," Freefall said quietly. "You don't need to make it worse for yourself."

The quiet tone of voice that Freefall had was not like Stabilizer's. Freefall's was calm and rational, and held no promises of a temper waiting to explode. Thundercracker relaxed a little, knowing that someone as reasonable as Freefall would surely listen to what he had to say, instead of jumping to conclusions like everyone else. He had to, didn't he?

Freefall clasped his servos before himself and shifted his pedes into a wider base to make standing more comfortable. "Stabilizer and Wingflap inform me that you 'found' Starscream rather quickly. How did you manage to do that when after three days of searching, none of the authorities could do so?" There was no accusation in that question, only bland curiousity. Freefall even tilted his head to the side slightly in that way that Skywarp did when he was confused about something. Thundercracker didn't like that head tilt on Freefall – it felt false, forced, like he was just doing it to portray curiosity, and that he didn't actually care.

"Well the authorities weren't looking very hard if they couldn't find him," Thundercracker said. "I mean, it only took Skywarp 'n me about three and a half hours to find him. It took your guys, what, three days? Where were you even looking?"

Freefall's lipplates twitched. "Sarcasm will not earn you any sympathy, Thundercracker," he said moving to stand beside the berth.

"I…sir, I meant no disrespect," Thundercracker said hurriedly. He hadn't, either. He didn't even think he'd been using sarcasm.

"Of course not," the Dean said, standing comfortably at Thundercracker's side so that Thundercracker had to twist around to look at Freefall properly. It was an awkward position for Thundercracker to hold. "No one ever does." He smiled. It looked cold. Insincere.

Without meaning to, Thundercracker said "Starscream usually does, sir." He winced mentally at that, knowing that was probably the last thing he should have said.

"Indeed? And is that what he did to make you begin your verbal abuse of him?" Freefall's voice wasn't calm and rational, Thundercracker decided; it was just void of any sort of emotion at all, except that clinical curiosity. This mech barely had any spark to him at all.

Thundercracker shifted nervously. "He…well, he did kind of harass me," Thundercracker admitted quietly. "He…sir, he was talking about my trine," Thundercracker added quickly. "My old trine. And, I dunno, I guess he said one thing too many and I just…I lost my temper sir." He hung his head. "I'm not really proud of that."

"Of course you aren't," Freefall said gently. Then he tilted his head towards Thundercracker. "Now, that is."

Thundercracker's head snapped up, and he looked at the Dean in horror. Freefall's smile was thin and devoid of any hope for Thundercracker's future.

"You are ashamed of your actions now that you are here in this cell, being reprimanded for them." He began to circle around the berth, and the mechs crowding Thundercracker's tiny cell parted ways for him. Thundercracker kept having to twist awkwardly to keep the Dean in sight. "It's rather easy to be contrite when everyone is telling you that you should be. So do forgive me, Thundercracker, if I am disinclined to believe you" He paused at the foot of Thundercracker's bed and smiled that empty smile. "If you truly felt so terrible for your actions, you should have come to me immediately, my dear boy. Set the record straight."

Thundercracker could feel himself starting to get angry. They were all accusing him of actually hurting Starscream without listening to his side of the story. He struggled to keep his temper in check when he responded – it wouldn't help his case if he exploded at the Dean. "With all due respect sir," he said, working to make his voice docile and cooperative, "I didn't come to you because it didn't seem important at the time."

Freefall nodded once as though in understanding, then continued circling the berth, that bland, knowing smile stuck perpetually on his face.

"Sir," Thundercracker said, struggling to force someone, anybody in the room, to understand. "It was just…just a spat. I was angry after I talked to him, so I just avoided him. I didn't think I was going to have to defend my actions against the entire administrative board!"

"A reasonable explanation," Freefall said, moving languidly across the floor. "One I'd be willing to believe. Except for the fact that we have several eyewitness accounts claiming that you would refuel with him nearly every day."

Thundercracker was taken aback. People had noticed that? People had brought that fact to the Dean? And what did that have to do with anything?

"You seem confused," the Dean said helpfully, "so I will explain. Just so we're all on the same page." The words were innocuous, but there was accusation in his tone, sparkling in those cold optics; Freefall believed him guilty. The Dean perched lightly on the side of Thundercracker's berth, getting into Thundercracker's personal space and smiling thinly at him. "You have been bullying Starscream, Thundercracker. Skywarp as well. When Starscream decided he'd had enough, he called you out on your actions. You argued, and afterwards pretended you were avoiding him. What you were really doing was biding your time until an opportunity presented itself to pay him back for his…insubordination."

"What?" Thundercracker demanded, shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Freefall continued as though Thundercracker hadn't interrupted. "Once the administration realized he was missing, a search party was organized for him. For three days, we found nothing. Then you got wind that we were looking, and low and behold, a few hours later and you've not only found him, but you've managed to bring him, conveniently unconscious I might add, straight to our doorstep." Freefall smiled reassuringly. "It wouldn't be unreasonable to think that your actions were an attempt to work your way into our good graces. You've been living off of our generosity for quite some time now, Thundercracker. It stands to reason that you'd find some way to turn this to your advantage." Freefall interlaced his servos and rested them in his lap. "When Starscream wakes up - and he will wake up despite your efforts - we will hear the truth." He smirked, looking genuinely amused for the first time since he'd entered the room. "I would call them your 'best' efforts, except it doesn't seem like you put any effort in making sure Starscream wouldn't get up and tell on you."

Freefall got back onto his pedes, looking austere and regal. Behind him, most of the mechs had somber expressions, except for Wingflap, who was sporting a rather nasty and vindictive smirk.

"Based on your actions, we are no longer willing to accommodate you in the Academy. When Starscream regains consciousness, he will testify against you, and you will be taken into custody of the Vosian authorities. Until then you will be kept here, in this room, without visitors." The lifeless smile returned to his faceplates. "Hopefully it isn't too much of an inconvenience for you."

With that, Freefall and his entourage swept out of the room like an ill wind, and Thundercracker was left alone in a cold, dark cell with the shock of the accusations that he'd emotionally abused another mech, and the unspoken promise that Freefall would do all he could to make Thundercracker's few remaining days of freedom as miserable as possible.

When Skywarp next materialized in Thundercracker's room, the blue mech was pacing frantically across the room, and Thundercracker nearly crashed into the shorter mech.

Skywarp grabbed Thundercracker's shoulders to help steady him. "Whoa. You alright there?" he asked.

"No," Thundercracker spat, feeling static creeping into his vocalizer. When Skywarp seemed startled and hurt at the harsh tone of Thundercracker's voice, Thundercracker sighed. He waved toward the berth. "Have a seat. I can't pace when you're standing in my way."

Skywarp complied, cautiously climbing onto the berth while still keeping Thundercracker in his line of sight. "So…why are you pacing?"

Thundercracker vented violently. "It's that damn Freefall," Thundercracker said. Anger and terror were warring equally inside of his spark. He tried to focus on the anger, because it was the only thing keeping him from having a mental breakdown. "He's telling everyone that it's my fault that Starscream is in the state he is."

Skywarp nodded, pushing his shoulder blades together in a shrug. "Yeah. I told you that already."

"No, you told me that's what everyone else was saying," Thundercracker said, unable to keep the aggravation out of his voice. "The Dean of the Seeker Academy on Vos is going to give me up to the police because he believes that what everyone else says is true!"

"What?" Skywarp asked, and this time there was incredulity in his voice. "What? When?" He rose halfway out out of the berth, concern on his faceplates.

Thundercracker pushed him back lightly. "As soon as Starscream wakes up," he answered. "He spoon fed me some slag about how they're going to 'hear Starscream's side' before they ship me off to a more secure cell, but how much do you want to bet they're actually going to listen to him? Or that he'll even tell them the truth?" He continued to pace. "Primus, this is so stupid. Nobody even cares to ask me what's going on!"

Skywarp reached out a hand and put it on Thundercracker's shoulder, effectively stopping the tall mech in his tracks with a firm bit of pressure. "So, if Starscream wakes up, you go to jail."

"More or less," Thundercracker said with exasperation. "Why?"

"Well what if he doesn't wake up?"

Thundercracker rolled his optics. "I don't know, Skywarp. If it takes too long, they'll probably just send me there anyway." He continued to pace. "Oh, and it'd means he'd probably be dead, and that the reason he'd gotten himself killed was because of the awful things I'd said to him last time I saw him. So between a future of crippling guilt and never getting to see the sky again, versus never getting to see the sky again but remaining relatively guilt-free, I'm fragged either way."

Skywarp deflated a little, but quickly perked back up. "What if I warp you out of here?"

Thundercracker sighed. "Then they'd set the authorities on both of us. Skywarp, I'm not dragging you into this mess any more than you already are."

Thundercracker paused, thinking. Something dawned on him. He stopped pacing and turned to face the other mech. "Skywarp," he said slowly. "When you said 'What if he doesn't wake up', did you…was that a suggestion?"

Skywarp vented hard in frustration. "I'm just trying to help. If him dying is most helpful - "

"It's not," Thundercracker told him, appalled. "Don't suggest that again. It's not gonna help us here."

"Okay," Skywarp said, all too docile, as if he hadn't just offered to kill somebody. He took Thundercracker's rebuke in stride. "Then what are we going to do?"

"We are going to do nothing," Thundercracker said, his voice harsh from surprise. "I am going to sit here and wait until Starscream wakes up. You are going to keep going to class."

Skywarp looked as small as Starscream in that moment. Thundercracker took a second to compose himself. "Look, Skywarp, if you really want to help…keep coming down here. I'll help you with homework if you like, or - or read to you, or…just, I don't know. Find reasons to come see me." He rubbed a servo across his faceplates. "It keeps me from going crazy."

"Sure thing, TC," Skywarp said, brightening. He bounced up from the berth and hugged Thundercracker, happy to be of use. Thundercracker returned the hug, once again marveling at how warm Skywarp ran. The physical contact made him feel worlds better.

When Skywarp released him, Thundercracker squeezed his shoulder. "Thank you, Skywarp, for helping me out, but…but I need to be alone for a little while. Is that okay? Can you leave me alone? Just for a little while, not forever. I, um…I just need some time to get myself in order."

Skywarp nodded. "Yeah. Course." He smiled and took a step back from Thundercracker.

"Come back down after curfew," Thundercracker suggested. "Nobody'll notice you're gone."

Skywarp nodded. "You're smart, TC. Yeah, I'll do that." And with a vomp sound, he disappeared, and Thundercracker was alone again, his worry echoing in the tiny room.