Ratchet hadn't seen Ironhide coming to the lessons. The other youngling simply wasn't late, he was missing. He had hoped for him to show up, since he had the feeling that the other one would be much easier to relate to than the other younglings in the group.
He had asked some bots if they knew where Ironhide was, but he had gotten funny glares from them. They told him not to bother himself with the red youngling, because he just wasn't worth of it. He really didn't understand what they had meant; Ironhide was as much a bot for him as anybody else.
He quickly disregarded the thoughts and concentrated on the teaching. He had to learn and he had to know everything, so he could become a proper medic. He needed good grades or he would never be able to get in to the medical academy and he would certainly not accomplish anything by worrying about someone who he had just met.
The time was running too thin for him. His mother had just yesterday accidentally dropped an energon cube which had hit his hand. The pain had been awful, but more awful was the fact that his mother was pretty much unable to function normally. His father wasn't much better. He was really worried whether his creators would survive until he would graduate from medical academy.
On top of everything they barely made it through daily life. Their only income was his creators allowance, which wasn't much and most of it was spent for medical bills. He had suggested his creators that he would start working, so they could get more income, but they had refused his suggestion and told him to concentrate on studying. More reasons for him to get through with the basics and get to the medical academy.
"Does anybody know the answer?"
Ratchet raised his hand, while nobody else did. Of course he knew the answer, because he had been studying all of his free time.
"Yes, Ratchet."
"It takes two breems and four astroseconds to reach the tower." He fought the urge to add "are you an idiot?" to the end of the sentence.
"That's right. Very well done."
The door opened, which drew everyone's attention away from the teaching. The lecturer stopped to look who came in. It was Ironhide and there was something very wrong with him, but the red youngling remained silent.
The whole group remained silent while Ironhide walked past them to his place. Ratchet didn't understand why the lecturer did not ask where he had been, but started teaching even before the youngling had reached his place. He could also see how the other younglings ignored the red youngling, while staring at their notes.
"Are you okay?" Ratchet asked in a quiet tone from Ironhide.
"Yeah," Ironhide answered.
"Like frag you are. You look like a slag," Ratchet whispered with a murdering tone.
Ironhide did not answer anything to Ratchet. He just silently stared at his notes, which frustrated Ratchet. He couldn't clear the situation during the lecture, so he decided to let it go for now, but when the break started he was going to be sure to find out what was going on.
"What's going on with you+" Ratchet demanded from Ironhide, while crossing his arms over his chestplate.
"It's nothing," Ironhide grunted back. He didn't feel like telling anyone.
"Like slag it is nothing," Ratchet said while reaching his hand to Ironhide's forehead.
There was no way Ironhide was going to tell Ratchet that his guardian had banged his head to a table, while being under influence of high-grade. He had been offlined for good amount of time before he had come back online. It happened now and then.
He had found himself facing down to a floor in their kitchen accompanied by horrible processor ache. He had slowly risen up to sitting position and finally managed to get on his feet. The world had been spinning around wildly. He had nearly purged his fuel tanks, but had somehow managed to keep his remaining energon inside. There had been a small pool of energon on the floor, which had leaked from his forehead.
He had checked the time realizing he had been offline for quite a time. His guardian was at work by now, but he didn't want to remain in the apartment if it wasn't necessary, so he had headed to school despite the pain he was feeling in his forehead.
The other bots in his group including the lecturer had already accustomed to him disappearing sometimes and gave a flying slag about him anyway. Well he cared as much about them too, so the feeling was mutual.
He could feel the fingers in his forehead. They were surprisingly warm while moving around quickly, though the touch was so light he was barely able to feel it. The fingers stopped in the place Ironhide was feeling pain, which made him anticipate more pain being inflicted from the touch. He had a small crack in the plating there which had been leaking earlier.
"You should go to medbay," Ratchet announced while pulling his hand away.
"My self-repair system will take care of it. I've had worse," Ironhide grunted back.
Ratchet seemed depressed for a while, but returned to normal quickly. Ironhide realized that the other youngling had just cared for him and regretted instantly his choice of words. It made him feel uneasy.
"I just don't want them to know about my circumstances. If I went to medbay, it would be the same as admitting that the slumbots are the lowest scum there is."
He could see an idea forming in Ratchet's processor from the way his expression changed. It was like somebody had lit a light bulb inside the other youngling's head. The white youngling was now wearing a smug expression, which made Ironhide feel bit nervous.
"Come to my place. I know a little bit of repairing," the white and red youngling offered.
"Uhm. Sure," Ironhide replied. He hadn't expected this to happen and was desperately trying to process what was going on.
Ratchet was smiling that he knew for sure. For some reason he liked when the other youngling was smiling, funny thing, because he hadn't cared for anyone for a really long time. Maybe it was because the other one was living in the slums too or maybe he had just taken too many hits on his head.
At least the other one hadn't judged him from the first glance or believed the rumors the other bots were spreading. Instead it seems that he wanted to be friends with him and to care for him, which made Ironhide a little happy. The pain had also ceased to be tolerable after Ratchet had quickly examined him.
For a really long time Ironhide wished the lectures to end quickly, but the time seemed to have stopped completely. He wanted to know Ratchet better and be friends with him, but he couldn't much associate with him during the lessons, because the other one was so deeply concentrated on processing the information that he wouldn't have noticed if walls crumbled around him.
He just settled down with scraping some notes, while checking the time every now and then. He noticed that if he could keep himself occupied the time seemed to pass more quickly.
Despite his all efforts to kill time, when the lessons ended it seemed like it had been ages, since he had come to school. But nevertheless he seemed relieved to get out of there and be not stuck with the bots whom he hated with all of his spark.
Ratchet smiled at him. He registered that the smile seemed authentic without any hidden meanings. It really was funny how he had thought that he was just fine without any friends, but still the concern the other youngling was showing to him made him feel better than anything for a long time.
"Let's go," Ratchet said casually to Ironhide. Ironhide nodded in response.
Like yesterday they did not hurry, but they weren't slow either. They could hear some slum gangs assaulting each other in the distance. 'Whatever as long as they don't come here,' Ironhide thought. Ratchet on the other hand seemed much more concerned about the voices. The white and red youngling really was a newcomer on the slums too, because otherwise he would have ignored the quarreling gangs.
"That happens here quite often. Better get used to it."
"Why nobody is doing anything?"
"Because nobody gives a slag about slumbots."
"I do care."
"Sorry to break this to you, but with all the respect you are a slumbot," Ironhide answered with sarcasm in his voice.
Ratchet returned back to his smiling self. How it pleased Ironhide to see the white and red youngling smiling and he was glad that the other one seemed to share his view of humor too.
"Don't get scared when we reach my place. My creators have a medical condition that makes them pretty much unable to function in everyday life. It's called Chronic Circuit Glitching, CCG for short and there's no cure for it. Yet."
"How do you know all that?" Ironhide asked while trying to call the name of the condition Ratchet's creators apparently had. The other one really was dedicated to his creators, something he never had the chance to do. There was no way he could feel anything like that to his current guardian, which made him feel envious.
"I've read through their medical records about hundred times by now, but to be honest I'm not so sure what the condition is all about." Ratchet's mood darkened, while he was obviously trying to process something.
They heard shooting from nearby and without speaking any words to each other they decided to hurry their traveling by transforming into their alternate forms. Ironhide got caught off guard by Ratchet's alt mode, though he should have realized that of course it would be the same as his, because after all their basic structure was the same. He just couldn't get used to the idea that there was somebody with the exact same design.
They sped until they reached the rusty block where Ratchet lived. They transformed and entered the building.