Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter was a little delayed. College has stolen my life… O.O So, this chapter is extra long, just for you! Thanks Karategal for inspiring this story!
Oh, and as a side note, this story is completely slash-free. The relationships are either friendship or family based. I did not go into detail about the twins' naming ceremony even though I mentioned that is what would happen when they chose their own youngling designations. So enjoy! THANKS FOR REVIEWING!!
Sunny= Sunstreaker
Sides= Sideswipe
Units of Time: Cybertron
Sparkling - Newborn
Youngling - Child
Breem - 8.3 Earth minutes
Joor - 6.5 Earth hours
Orn - 13 Earth days
Vorn - 83 Earth years
Chapter 4
One vorn later…
Two sets of fascinated baby-blue optics widened in disbelief.
"Do it again!"
The older youngling grinned and obliged them, shifting easily into his alt-mode until a small, moon-buggy type vehicle sat innocently in the place of the minibot. Bluestreak achieved this through lots of practice until he had finally accomplished his first transformation.
The twins had just recently graduated to youngling status and the second they saw their friend change, begged him to do it again.
Bluestreak smirked, more than willing to show off a little. He transformed back, standing upright again, displaying his first set of youngling armor proudly. He took a small bow grinning audio to audio, earning loud applause from his small audience.
A sinister set of narrowed optics peered from around a nearby corner, watching the proceedings with malice. The excited younglings were completely unaware of any uninvited guests lingering about in the shadows.
The twins took the opportunity to tackle their friend, earning more giggles from Bluestreak as their small hands and feet tickled his sensitive wiring. They wrestled playfully for a few more minutes, filling the hallway with laughter until the yellow twin sat perched on top of Bluestreak's chest, peering intently into his face.
"Blue looks different!" he squeaked while reaching out a tiny hand to lightly touch the armor- plating adorning his face and head.
"Is it a cool, different?" the elder youngling questioned with a hopeful expression.
The little yellow bot nodded his head enthusiastically. Bluestreak brought his hands up and began to mercilessly tickle the yellow youngling's midsection. He gasped through teary optics as he pleaded with the blurry figure standing to his right.
"Sides, help me!!"
A little whirlwind of red, threw him-self back into the fray with a happy shriek. The trio's fun was soon disturbed when a dark shadow was cast over them. They looked up to see who it was and froze.
Bluestreak climbed warily to his feet, standing protectively in front of the twins in the event anything should happen.
"What do you want, Hotshot?"
The flame colored youngling smirked and crossed his arms arrogantly.
"So you got your armor, finally."
"Yeah…I did," Bluestreak cautiously answered, secretly wondering where he was going with this.
"It only took you what…two vorns to get it?" Hotshot delivered the scathing insult.
The blue youngling sighed, doing his best to hide the fact that his insult did hurt him. It was true…that Bluestreak was a little over a vorn late achieving his first transformation. To be honest, he had forgotten about the bully known as Hotshot, when the hot-tempered youngling had his recreation time revoked. He had practically disappeared from the Sector…until now.
"What do you want?" Bluestreak repeated with a half-growl and narrowed optics.
"All I want…is a simple rematch…just you and me…no interference this time."
The twins walked out from behind their blue friend, both of the small younglings standing on either side of Bluestreak. Sides crossed his little arms over his chest with a pout.
"Blue is gonna kick your skid-plate for good!"
Hotshot leered at him, optics glittering dangerously.
"I'd be careful if I were you, sparkling."
The yellow twin, who had been watching the exchange between Hotshot and his brother silently, took a run at him. He had only been able to run three steps before Bluestreak caught him and held him back while the little one kicked and squeaked with rage.
"Let me go! Let me at him!"
"No Sunny…it's okay."
Sides appeared next to them and touched his brother's arm with soft affection, his optics worried. He must have had some sort of calming influence since the yellow twin ceased his angry struggles.
Hotshot re-directed his heated glare to Bluestreak's calm face.
"Remember to leave the little sparklings at home. I would hate for any…accidents to happen should they get in the way."
Bluestreak narrowed his eyes at the threat against his friends.
"Time and place"
"The East crater…one orn from now."
The blue youngling's face contorted into one of shock as his composure crumpled.
"But that is outside past the safety zone! We aren't allowed out there!"
Hotshot shrugged casually.
"Are you a scared little sparkling? I'll understand if you don't show…" the red and orange colored youngling's arrogant tone returned as he continued to leer.
Bluestreak spoke softly, holding both twins back as they made another lunge for Hotshot with little, feral growls.
"I'll be there. You can count on it."
"Prepare yourself…loser will take full blame for the fight."
Bluestreak wordlessly nodded his head and watched as Hotshot walked away.
"Why can't we help, Blue?"
"Hotshot is much bigger and far older than you."
"But it would be us three against just one of him!" Sunny whined while tugging on Bluestreak's arm.
The little red twin known as Sides giggled at the prospect, just imagining how that scuffle would turn out.
"Have the two of you ever been in a real fight?"
Sunny began to raise his hand innocently while eying his twin from the corner of his optic but put it down when Sides glared at him.
"The two of you fighting each other, doesn't count," Bluestreak interjected before they could say anything.
A moment of silence ensued, tricking the blue bot into believing the argument was over.
"He'll lose for sure if we help!"
Bluestreak looked down at them and firmly shook his head "no", and walked back to their common room, just outside of their quarters on the other side of the Youth Sector, the twins following in his shadow wordlessly. He was rather surprised that none of the caretakers had overheard them, making plans for a fight…let alone making plans to sneak out to the forbidden area.
The Forbidden Area…
The one place that even caretakers, refused to go.
The youngling had heard stories, before the twins had ever arrived. Horror stories about what happened to a little youngling many vorns ago, when the Sector had just been built. That youngling had snuck off beyond the safety zone when his caretaker was recharging…only to disappear and never return. Some argued that the youngling had just gotten lost. Others claimed that a giant monster that lived deep in the crater had eaten him. It didn't matter which version you believed, the fact of the matter was…the youngling had never been found.
When they got to the common area, he sighed through his vents and sat down. He gestured for the twins to join him.
"I don't want you guys going out there because it's too dangerous. I don't mean about Hotshot…I can handle him just fine. It's...about a story every youngling has heard in this Sector. It's about the Forbidden Area."
The twin's optics widened at this and they leaned forward a bit in curiosity as Bluestreak began to tell them the tale of the "Missing Youngling", his optics dimming at the memory of when he was first told the tale.
"Long ago…when Alpha-Sigma was first built…back when this asteroid was still unexplored and filled with many dangers…one of the younglings snuck off while his caretaker was recharging and went to the Forbidden area…"
About an hour later, the story came to a close.
"…the caretakers ran out the nanosecond they heard the youngling's screams…and the asteroid monster disappeared, the moment the caretaker's came out to look for him. No one ever found the youngling… or pieces of him for that matter… even to his orn. The end"
He looked over at them, as his optics brightened as he snapped back to reality, to see that both were quivering with fright, unshed tears shining in their wide, baby-blue optics. The blue youngling silently cursed himself at his stupidity. He had forgotten just how young they really were.
Starlight and Fireflare were gonna off-line him permanently…
Just then, the two caretaker's in question entered the common room and immediately spotted both him and the two frightened little younglings.
"Bluestreak…what happened?" Starlight questioned while picking Sunny up. He immediately buried his face into her shoulder, squeaking and sniffling. Fireflare scooped up Sides and cradled the whimpering youngling. The red twin curled up into a ball as he buried his face into the caretaker's chest.
They continued to shiver and Bluestreak knew he was in trouble.
"I just told them the story about the Missing Youngling…and—"
Starlight cut him off with an upraised hand, while she continued to hold the yellow twin in the other.
"Bluestreak…you know better! They are still too young to listen to scary stuff like that! You are confined to quarters until further notice."
The blue youngling cringed away from her sharp, reprimanding tone and immediately looked down at the floor in shame.
He didn't mean to scare them…it's just that…he would never forgive himself if they went out there with him and happened to get eaten by the asteroid monster when he was busy fighting Hotshot.
It took a lot of effort on his part to raise his head and look her in the optic. Once he did, he choked out an apology, intimidated by her angry glare. She was probably one of the most overprotective caretaker's in the Sector. Then again, that's why she was the head caretaker since she took both the physical and mental well-being of all the younglings, very seriously.
Now that Bluestreak thought about it…the twins would probably have nightmares about the asteroid monster, thanks to him.
"I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be apologizing to me…" her voice and expression softened.
She shifted her gaze to the twin in her arms, who was quietly sobbing into her shoulder.
Bluestreak's legs felt like lead as he walked closer, wracked with guilt. Starlight bent down on one knee so that he could actually reach Sunny. He was about to touch him to get his attention but refrained. Instead he whispered softly.
"Sunny…I'm sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
The twin shifted in her arms and slowly peeked out from the safety of the caretaker's shoulder to look at him, with teary optics. He nodded his head and then wiggled to get down. Starlight released her hold on him and watched the following exchange with a soft smile.
"I forgive you, Blue."
Sunny leaned over and hugged the older youngling around the waist, his head only coming up to his chest. Bluestreak smiled, feeling partial relief at Sunny's willingness to forgive him so easily and hugged him back. His apologies were far from over.
The yellow twin frowned when he sensed something wrong and turned in the direction of his brother. Bluestreak followed his gaze and sighed to see that the red twin's sobs had picked up in intensity, still shivering against Fireflare's chest in fear.
Fireflare knelt down in order to give Bluestreak a chance to apologize but the red youngling shrieked, halting his movements.
"NO!"
"Bluestreak wants to apologize, little one."
The red twin continued his cries, refusing to let go of Fireflare. He managed to cry out one more thing in his squeaky, youngling voice before burying his head back into his chest again.
"Don't put me down… or the asteroid monster's gonna EAT me!!"
More tears squeezed out of his optics as he clung to the caretaker in absolute terror.
Bluestreak's spark nearly froze in his chest. For a moment, the blue youngling felt a painful jolt race through his spark bringing tears to his own optics. What had he done?
"Sides…I-I'm…so, so sorry!"
He choked out in abject sorrow, immediately running past him and out of the room. The loud hiss of a door followed as he sought the safety of his quarters.
Sunny was about to follow him but Starlight stopped him with gentle words.
"He needs some time, alone. Let him be."
Bluestreak got up on his recharge berth and curled into a ball, trying to hold in the quiet sobs as the guilt continued to eat away at him.
He wasn't sure how long he stayed that way. It could have been breems…or even orns. What he did know was that there was no way he was going to stay confined indoors. He would find a way to bypass the lock once his punishment began. He still had to go out and fight Hotshot or risk being called a coward the rest of his life. He was no sparkling…he would show him.
Meanwhile, the two concerned caretakers and anxious yellow twin finally managed to calm Sides down. A few breems later and he was sitting with his twin on the floor, Sunny doing his best to comfort him. Starlight and Fireflare took that opportunity to check on Bluestreak, leaving the twins alone for a little while.
The little red youngling would occasionally shiver and click quietly to himself, as he clutched his favorite yellow blanket to his chest. When they were sparklings, they were wrapped in blankets that matched their plating color, so as not to confuse them. Once they became younglings, they traded blankets since the colors reminded them of each other. Sunny sat across from him, studying his twin silently. After another minute, the yellow twin sidled up next to him and patted his brother's back gently as he had often seen the caretakers do.
"It's okay…I'm here, Sides."
It was funny…how the twins had chosen their designations. Sunny picked his name because of the stories Starlight had told him about their creator, Sunshine. He wanted to honor her memory in some way even though he never got to meet her…plus his twin pointed out that his armor was yellow, like the sun.
Sides on the other hand, had trouble picking his name. Then one day it just came to him as he was playing right beside his twin. He was always at his brother's side. They were rarely apart. So that was going to be his designation...Sides.
The red twin turned his head to look at him with tears shining in his baby-blue optics. He held his arms out expectantly to Sunny with a trembling lower lip.
The yellow twin understood immediately what it was his brother needed, through their spark bond and wrapped his twin in a comforting embrace.
Starlight and Fireflare came out into the common room at that moment to see the spark-warming sight.
They tip-toed quietly, out the room to go check on other business trusting that the two young ones would be alright for now.
The twins pulled apart, looking each other in the face a moment and then Sunny crooned worriedly when he saw the tears still leaking from his brother's optics. The red twin had one hand over his chest, where his spark was. He felt something he couldn't explain and looked to his twin for the answer.
"I feel funny."
Sunny gasped a moment when he felt the same thing and looked down at his own chest, worriedly.
"Me too"
"What is it?"
Sunny shrugged unable to come up with an answer.
Through their spark bond, they were able to communicate the love that they felt for each other.
Sides smiled at the fuzzy, warmth and squeaked back.
"I'm glad we're brothers."
That last word, reminded them both…their older brother was currently all alone.
They both turned their heads simultaneously in the direction of Bluestreak's room. Without a word, they went over and tapped on the door lightly. A muffled "go away" drifted back out to them.
"Blue, it's us!"
No response.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sides, I'm really sorry…about…" the blue youngling's voice trailed off on the other side of the closed door.
This barrier was actually starting to get on the twin's nerves.
"Open the door!"
"I can't. It's locked."
The twins shared a look and then ran off into the next room.
Bluestreak waited patiently, figuring that they were up to something.
They worked together in unison, bringing all of the toy blocks outside of the door and then they built a small platform on which to climb up on.
This racket did not go unnoticed by the trapped youngling who demanded to know what was going on. His two little companions did not grace him with a response, both so focused in their work that they didn't really hear him anyway.
Sides crawled up and with Sunny giving him directions, guided his twin in thumbing open the door lock. The little light went from red to green, signaling that the door was now unlocked. The door slid open revealing a stunned Bluestreak.
"How did…how did you guys do that?"
The twins shared another look, big smiles crossing their faces as they looked up at the elder youngling.
"We used blocks to climb up and open the door."
"Oh…why didn't I think of that…?" Bluestreak rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
The twins and Bluestreak put the blocks back in the room and then stood there silently for a moment before the older youngling sighed heavily.
"Look…I have to go fight Hotshot soon. You guys have to promise not to follow me. It's dangerous out there and I—"
A block sailed through the air and hit Bluestreak in the forehead. He rubbed his slightly dented head in pain and glared down at the yellow twin who was innocently pointing one finger at his frowning brother.
"The asteroid monster might get you…don't go."
"I have to, Sides…"
The red twin's big, baby-blue optics filled again with watery tears and his lower lip quivered for emphasis.
Bluestreak tried ever so hard to resist the face…that innocent, worried, sad little face…that…
Slag it all.
The blue youngling rubbed his sore head, tiredly and frowned.
"Well if I don't go, Hotshot is gonna' call me a sparkling for the rest of my life!"
The twins shared a mischievous smile and looked back at Bluestreak.
"We have a better idea…"
"We do?" Sunny looked at Sides in confusion.
The red twin nodded his head vigorously and leaned over to whisper in his brother's right audio. Sunny's optics widened and he smiled up at Bluestreak proudly.
"Yup…we have an idea."
"What kind of idea…"
Bluestreak listened intently to the twins' proposition and before long he was snickering evilly.
"You know what…this might just work."
The three ran out of the room, to gather the supplies they needed. If a curious youngling or a suspicious caretaker asked them what they needed with a wide array of paint cans, spray paint, cotton balls, glue, and glitter…they innocently told them that they were doing a special art project for their assigned caretakers. No bot was the wiser…
Pretty soon they snuck into the target's quarters after slipping past the recharging caretaker and Bluestreak had to hastily clamp one hand over Sunny's mouth when he began to giggle out loud. The trio stared at the recharging figure with wide, frightened optics as the being shifted a moment but then went still again. Bluestreak silently released the air he held in his vents and they got to work.
When a youngling was in deep recharge…it was next to impossible to wake them up. Everyone knew this. It was like a universal law or something...
The twins learned this, after attempting to wake up Bluestreak to come and play with them, only to receive an occasional click or tired grunt in response as the tired youngling recharged in peaceful bliss.
Thus the trio was able to complete their devious mission in record time, without fear of their target coming out of recharge any time soon. Then they turned and fled, barely containing their giggles. They returned their borrowed supplies to the nearby utility closet and slipped silently into the holo-vid room to watch a movie.
One orn later…
The massive hallways of Youth Sector Alpha-Sigma echoed with the shrill shriek of one of its young inhabitants.
Wide-eyed younglings and caretakers alike moved out of the enraged youngling's way as he marched furiously down the hallway with murderous intent. Light snickers soon turned into loud giggles, as the bots he left behind in his trail fell to the floor in fits of merciless laughter. His right optic was twitching the nanosecond he arrived in the recreation room where a small crowd of younglings was gathered around the holo-vid watching a movie. Others, who had been playing games, froze when they saw who had just walked through the door. It was so silent, a pin could drop. The scowling youngling broke the silence, easily enough.
"WHO DID THIS TO ME?!"
Every head turned to look at him. Some of the caretaker's snorted, immediately clamping hands over their faces in a nearly failed attempt to hold in amused chuckles. A few caretaker's pretended to cough and looked away at something else, or risk losing all composure.
What every pair of wide, unbelieving, optics saw…was a rainbow painted youngling who had stripes of red, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, and pink, running in diagonal lines from head to foot, covering every inch of his once pristine, youngling armor. Wads of vibrantly painted cotton balls were glued to the poor youngling's head, like some sort of organic growth...
"WHOEVER DID THIS TO ME IS GOING TO PAY!!"
Sunny, Sides, and Bluestreak struggled to keep straight faces…but once the rest of the room let loose with howling laughter, they joined right in.
"I MEAN IT, I'LL GET YOU BACK!!"
The youngling continued to shriek death threats at everyone above the noise. One of the caretaker's actually took pity on him and ran over, ushering him gently out of the door while shooting glares at her co-workers. The other caretaker's immediately took the hint and with smiles and grins, finally managed to calm the rest of the younglings down.
The twins and Bluestreak shared hi-fives once he left.
"I don't think Hotshot will want to fight you looking like that…" Sunny giggled from where he was perched in Bluestreak's lap.
Bluestreak gazed down at his head with affection and smiled.
"I don't think he will want to fight anyone looking like that…"
At least for now...the fight was postponed.
It just so happened, that this was when the little younglings known as Sunny and Sides began their career…as the infamous prankster twins.
TO BE CONTINUED!!
Author's note: Please review! Also…I might not be able to update in a while due to the next two weeks being major slag for me. Do not fear, because I never leave a story unfinished! I hope you guys enjoy your weekend.
Equivalent earth ages:
Hotshot= 12 years old
Bluestreak= 9 years old
Twins= 4 years old