11. Jealous

Backwards Time Skip - Cybertron

Sideswipe hated the mini-bots. All five of them had clustered around one of the tables, a stack of high-grade in the middle, and sat grinning and chatting and joking around, completely oblivious to the 'bots shuffling in to refuel. They were the most useless mechs on base. Almost every time one of them went out on a mission he came back scrapped to the pit and all the others would take turns hovering over his berth while the rest camped outside the med bay. Sideswipe had tripped over them more than once, sprawled out like that on the floor. But they were at their most irritating when they were all together, gathered in some garish little group, talking fast with their little vocalizers. It made Sideswipe want to pick up his table and throw it at them.

Over in the corner, Cliffjumper started laughing and shoved Dropshaft. The smaller green mech stumbled and his high grade sloshed out and down his thin chassis. That sent the rest of the group into a giggle-fit and Sideswipe almost purged his tanks right then.

Slag-suckers, he thought.

He turned away and brought his own cube up. The room was about half-full. Several of the 'bots still showed the fresh weld lines where Ratchet and First Aid had patched them up. It had been a hard battle. Most of those present were talking in low tones, if at all. Sideswipe counted three who, like him, sat by themselves nursing a cube or four; he doubted their silence was for the same reason as his own, however.

The link strain was acting up again. It had been getting worse for the last quarter, worse than it had ever been before. He knew it was worrying the medics. They'd offered to do what they could but Sideswipe had refused; he doubted Sunny would have the same option. It was the only thing they shared anymore and Sideswipe wasn't going to let anyone take that away from him.

Windcharger said something—Sideswipe didn't catch what—and pointed at Cliffjumper who responded by pegging him in the head with an empty cube. Sideswipe still had about a third of a cube left and wondered whether he could manage to flood his intakes with it.

"They're in a good mood."

He turned to see Leadfoot sliding into the seat next to him.

"Ngh," he said, hoping the 'bot would take the hint and leave him the frag alone.

"Hey, maybe we should go over there too, huh?" Leadfoot said.

"Yeah. How about not."

Leadfoot lifted a hand and thumped Sideswipe on the shoulder. "Oh come on, Sideswipe. You need to lighten up."

Sideswipe looked down at the hand on his shoulder and then up at Leadfoot. He stared. Leadfoot shifted a little and then removed the offending appendage.

"Listen," Sideswipe said. "If I wanted company, I would have asked for it."

For a long moment, the other 'bot just sat there, giving Sideswipe one of those pitying looks that made him want to punch the mech in the face.

"If you keep acting like such a fragger, you're always gonna be alone," he said.

Sideswipe almost started laughing. Instead he said, "Thanks, Ratchet," and took another gulp of the fuel. He went back to staring at the mini-bots. A few nano-kliks later and he heard the sound of Leadfoot's retreating footsteps.

Fragger.

Two of the mini-freaks had cuddled up next to each other. It was obvious by the way they weren't-quite-touching that there was something going on between them. Sideswipe started wishing the alarms would go off just so he'd have an excuse to break something. Like a Decepticon. That would be nice. But he knew that they would be too busy tending to their own wounded to pull something so soon. He wondered what Sunny was doing…

Sideswipe stood up. It was time to head down to the training grounds and see if he couldn't get himself knocked offline before he did something he might regret later.

Stupid mini-bots.

Yay for reviews!

Sunstreaker: Glad you liked it. I wasn't sure if it would come off as weird or not.

P.A.W.07: Well, even if they didn't, it didn't helping the reputation he's building.

Trapped in Reality: Really? I'd read that. I don't think there is much official background on them. A lot is made up (which is why it's fun to write with them). I'm pretty sure I ran into something similar before, just can't remember where. But I'm not sure if that one was long-distance.

blood shifter: Yeah, they do know something is wrong with him. They just don't know what.

Thing With No Talent: Unless Sunstreaker does it first.

Next chapter: Dancing.