Apologies for missing last week's post. _ RL has bitten me hard and I didn't realize what day it was until Tuesday evening. And this time I kept thinking it was Sunday for most of the day.

Characters: Rodimus Prime, Optronix, Starscream and Ratchet
Rating: PG
Summary: Rodimus meets Optronix
otes: rezuri beta'd but I still lay claim to any and all mistakes. Mwahahaha! :} Many thanks to Carmella deWinter for inspiration on the epilogue. :D

Optronix was the only sparkling in the daycare that day. All of the others were either accompanying their creators onshift or were having a family day. A lab had finally been secured for Starscream and the Seeker was inspecting both it and the projects Skyfire had arranged. Blaster had thought to offer to play with him at first, as most of the younglings grew restless without their friends to keep them company, but he was surprised and slightly confused by how happy Optronix seemed at the prospect of having free reign over the room.

Though the more Blaster thought about it, the more sense it made that Optronix would know how to occupy his time. Optronix was a sociable sparkling, but he had learned at an early age that very few were willing to entertain him. He was used to having only his imagination for a playmate and whatever was handy for toys.

Blaster watched, smiling fondly, as Optronix propped Thing up against the leg of a table and dumped the container of blocks out between them. Optronix had a love of building and little joy in destruction; unlike Landslide, who would pile things up just to knock them down, Optronix's building efforts tended to last until told to put them away. Syncing himself with the comm scanners, Blaster absently flipped through channels while he watched Optronix lay out a foundation of blocks. Noting several frequencies playing music, Blaster looked for suspicious activity; the Decepticons had been quiet since Starscream defected but Blaster knew that wouldn't last for much longer.

A flash of orange in his peripheral vision caught his attention and Blaster turned his head to see Rodimus step into the daycare. Blaster shunted the scan to the back of his processors and calmly intercepted Prime.

"Hey," Rodimus said quietly.

"Backatcha," Blaster replied easily. "Did you need something?"

"Nah." Rodimus rocked on his heels. "Thought I'd come by and see Optronix."

Blaster thought quickly; Rodimus would not like what he had to say. "That... may not be wise. Optronix thinks a Prime is the same as Megatron."

"I'd heard." Rodimus grimaced. "I was just going to say 'hi'. I left orders to be contacted by private comm only, and only if it's important." Rodimus wheedled. "Lemme talk to the kid."

"All right," Blaster said. "But be careful."

ooOO0OOoo

Optronix blinked at the adult that had settled next to him. He was a large mech with flames on his chestplate and what looked like small golden wings on his back.

"Hi! I'm Roddy," he said with a friendly smile.

"...Hi," Optronix said shyly, turning a block over in his hands.

"Whatcha building?" Roddy asked, looking through the pile of blocks.

"A castle." Optronix pointed to the partially built wall. "That the gate."

"Want some help? I'm pretty good at building stuff."

Optronix thought about that for a bit. "Kay. That wall has tu'it."

With Roddy's help, they built a bigger castle than Optronix had ever managed before; Roddy knew how to stack the blocks really tall without them falling over or making the walls really thick.

Roddy looked at the castle when they were done, and said, "That's the best castle I've ever built."

"Me too." Optronix grinned.

Roddy stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You know what this needs?"

Optronix looked at the castle, confused; it had everything a castle should have. "What?"

"A battle. Can't be a proper castle without someone laying siege."

Optronix giggled and went to get the box with the action figures.

ooOO0OOoo

He was defending the castle against Roddy's army when a mech he had never seen before walked in. He walked right over to Roddy and said, "Prime, I need you to-"

Optronix froze. That mech was Prime?

With a distraught cry, Optronix scrambled for the nearest hiding place he could find, which happened to be under the vidscreen. It was a good hiding place because he could move along the floor under the shelves to someplace different if he needed to, and it was a big vidscreen, so Prime wouldn't damage that. He hoped. Optronix shut his optics, so they wouldn't shine in the dark space, and curled into the farthest corner. He was confused; he thought Roddy was nice! How could he be Prime?

He could hear Prime demanding to know why he hadn't been commed. Optronix curled into a tighter ball; Prime sounded really angry.

"Optronix!" Blaster's voice was near, but Optronix was too far back for him to reach. "Rodimus isn't going to hurt you. Come on out from under there before you get stuck."

"What's going on?"

Optronix nearly cried out in relief when he heard Starscream. There was a conversation he couldn't hear the words of, then Starscream's voice came again, and he sounded close.

"Optronix. You can come out now. I am here."

Optronix had made the mistake once of revealing himself to Megatron after being hidden by Starscream. It happened during what had ended up being their last month at the Decepticon base. Soundwave had managed to send a warning ahead to Starscream that Megatron was heading towards his lab, and that he looked furious. Starscream had just enough time to place Optronix behind some spare equipment before the noise started.

At some point, amidst the seemingly endless noise of yelling and grinding metal, the Seeker had fallen into stasis lock. Afterward, the room was quiet for so long that Optronix had assumed it was safe to come out. He could see Starscream lying crumpled against the wall on the opposite side of the room, and had crawled out to go to him.

Megatron had been waiting for him when he did.

After that, he always, always waited for Starscream or Soundwave to retrieve him from his hiding places, even if he got really hungry while waiting. Seeing Starscream now, peering at him so calmly, must have meant that Prime was gone, and that it was safe to come out.

With a sigh of relief Optronix inched forward towards Starscream's outstretched hand, but stopped short when he noticed familiar pedes standing close by.

"Stasceam!" he whispered shrilly. "Leadih still outside!"

"Optronix, Rodimus Prime is nothing like Megatron," Starscream said firmly. He stretched out his hand a bit more, palm up. "He won't hurt you. I promise. Please come out."

Fearfully, Optronix let Starscream pull him out, and cringed at the sight of Prime.

This was wrong; he should be hiding! Prime was so close. Close enough to grab him, or hurt Starscream. But Starscream wasn't putting him down, and he couldn't cry; crying made Leader mad.

Making broken, staticky whining sounds, Optronix pressed his face against Starscream's cockpit. His hand tugged at Starscream's shoulder vent; he wanted so badly to be on Starscream's back, to be out of sight.

He wanted to be someplace Prime wasn't.

"Shh. It's okay, it's okay," Starscream whispered. His aura flickered against Optronix's, tangling. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

It made Rodimus' spark ache to see Optronix so terrified. A wave of guilt hit him as he saw Starscream, and how visibly upset he looked, as he tried to calm his trembling sparkling.

"I'm going to go." Rodimus abruptly turned and strode out the door. Starscream glanced at his retreating back before returning his attention to Optronix, whose systems whined as he started crying properly, sobs broken by the squeal of static and overheating systems.

Starscream could do nothing but hold Optronix and pray that Primus would forgive him for not getting him away from Megatron sooner.

"Starscream." Blaster touched his shoulder. "Over here."

Starscream was lead to a strange chair with curved pieces of metal on the ends of the legs. Blaster held the chair as Starscream sat down. One of his Cassettes handed Starscream Thing and Optronix grabbed it tight, burying his face in the soft cloth. A cooling blanket followed, the Cassette helping Starscream wrap it around Optronix.

Blaster startled Starscream by pulling on the top of the chair and making it rock; it was surprisingly pleasant sensation. Setting a slow pace, Starscream concentrated on calming Optronix, vaguely aware of Blaster and his cassettes setting up a privacy screen and white noise generators.

Gradually, Optronix quieted and he lay exhausted against Starscream's cockpit. His only sounds were that of his cooling vents slowing. Starscream continued to rock, humming softly; he was going to have to think of something to convince Optronix that Prime was safe-

"Starscream?" Ratchet's soft voice interrupted his brooding and he looked over to see the mech peeking around the privacy screen. The medic raised his optic ridges and nodded at Optronix.

"Come in," Starscream told him softly. Optronix flinched at his words, pressing close and vocalizing static. "Shh. It's only Ratchet."

"Atchet?" Optronix's voice crackled as he peeked over the form of his toy. Starscream frowned, hoping his vocalizer hadn't been damaged.

"Just me," Ratchet said, crouching down to Optronix's level. "Heard you had a bad orn and came to see if you were okay."

"Met Pime," Optronix told him fearfully.

"So I heard." Ratchet brushed fingers along Optronix's helm. "He gave you quite a scare."

"Uh-huh." Optronix shifted and Starscream moved him so he was sitting, braced against his lower arm. "Thought he was nice."

"He is nice," Ratchet told him, connecting a cable to the dataport on Optronix's shoulder. "Give him a chance to prove it."

"Leadih's not nice," Optronix insisted. "Leadih's mean."

"Not all leaders are mean like Megatron," Starscream told him, rubbing his hand along Optronix's back. "Primes don't like hurting people."

Optronix didn't look convinced.

"No lie, Optronix," Ratchet said. "Rodimus is a good mech; I've known him for vorns. Never hurt anybody outside of a fight and never got into a fight with anybody but a Decepticon."

Optronix still didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything while Ratchet examined him.

"All right then." Ratchet retracted the cable. "Nothing a refueling and a good night's recharge won't cure. The damage is more psychological than physical."

Ratchet held out a hand and Starscream hesitated a moment before taking it, allowing the smaller mech to lever him out the rocking chair and making it much easier to hold on to Optronix. He disentangled the sparkling from the blanket and swung him onto his back, initiating refueling protocols as soon as they connected.

Starscream draped the blanket over the chair, tapped the white noise generators off and headed for their quarters. Optronix snuggled closer on his back and Starscream could feel the weight of the sparkling's helm come to rest on his upper back. Contentment filtered through their link, the lingering fear draining away.

ooOO0OOoo

Starscream had geared himself up to strip paint off Rodimus the next time he saw the mech, which was the next day during another debriefing. He thought he did an admiral job of masking his anger while with his escort; no sense in getting riled up too soon, or they would never let him near Prime.

Rodimus stood as Starscream entered his office. "Please, close the door."

Starscream complied, jabbing at the doorlock in the process; no need for witnesses. He turned a seething glare on Prime and, too angry to give a fried circuit that it could probably land him in the brig, marched right up to the taller mech and snarled, "You idiot! You fragging-"

"What I did was thoughtless," Rodimus interrupted. "I was warned not to go near him, but did anyway. That was careless."

Starscream could only scowl and agree. "Yes. It was."

The Seeker raised his chin defiantly. Had it been Megatron he was back-talking, he'd already be on the floor with a fusion cannon pressed against his helm, followed by a long session of Putting Starscream In His Place. Though Starscream didn't believe Rodimus Prime was the type to strike mechs under his command, this was still their first argument alone.

Starscream needn't have worried, though Rodimus' reaction to the disdainful tone was still not one he expected.

He watched in disbelief as Rodimus gracefully sank down to kneel in on the floor, hands raised palm-up in front of him in the outmoded bow of sincere apology.

"I am sorry."

Knocked off-balance, Starscream could only stare. In older times, the gesture meant that Rodimus had just given Starscream permission to remove limbs. Bowing all the way to the floor would have indicated consent to deactivation.

Starscream stared at the hands. He hadn't been on the receiving end of an apology from the head of command in an extremely long time. Even then, there was no way Megatron would've deigned to offer such an apology, to make himself so vulnerable.

Rodimus held his position, head bowed; he wouldn't move until Starscream allowed it.

Feeling strangely comforted, Starscream pushed Rodimus's hands down, and replied, "Apology accepted, the infraction forgiven."

His reply, worded the way it was, meant Starscream wouldn't punish but neither would he forget.

The urge to rebuke gone, Starscream watched Rodimus stand. He was ready to listen.

"How is Optronix?"

"He is better," Starscream replied, seating himself, "and will be fine in another orn."

"Good." Rodimus seated himself as well. "As much as I regret what happened, I think some groundwork has been laid between us."

"You do," Starscream said, a statement rather than a question.

"Yes." Rodimus leaned forward. "The two of us were having fun before that. I can't see Megatron playing with a child."

"He would not." Starscream could see where Prime was headed. "You want to further interact with Optronix."

"Yes." Rodimus looked solemn. "He needs to learn that the Decepticon way isn't the way most people live; teaching him that I'm different than Megatron would probably go a long way towards that."

Starscream thought about that; it was true that much of Decepticon behavior was emboldened by Megatron, either by example, encouragement, or by the illustrious leader ignoring it. Primes tended to be the epitome of the Autobots, leading by example. Showing nobility, caring, all the soft Autobot traits.

"I agree." Starscream leaned forward to glare at Rodimus." But your interactions will be short."

"Okay."

"And I will be present at every one."

"That's a given."

"In that case," Starscream continued, leaning back in his chair, "I will evaluate when it would be best to start implementing this and let you know."

"Sounds good." And that was the end of that particular discussion. Rodimus pulled a datapad out of a stack of them and handed it to Starscream. "Now, on to business. Blaster discovered this broadcast late last night but can't decrypt it yet."

ooOO0OOoo

One week later, Starscream started taking Optronix with him when he met with Prime. Optronix was always on Starscream's back when he did and Optronix discovered that Starscream didn't feel at all like he had when he used to meet with Megtron. His thoughts were calm and there wasn't any kind of energy surge when he met with Prime.

A part of him thought that Rodmus was mean like Megtron, even though Prime didn't act like him at all. He never yelled and stayed away from Starscream. He never got close enough to touch and always greeted Optronix in a nice voice. He had also helped Optronix build the biggest castle he'd ever made and had laughed when they played with the action figures.

But he was Leader, and experience told him that Leaders were mean. Ratchet had said that Prime wasn't like that, wouldn't hurt anybody, but as much as Optronix wanted to believe, he couldn't really. And yet... his systems felt funny whenever the Prime was near. There was something familiar about Prime, like he had met the mech before and didn't remember. But Rodmus was an Ottobaut and he had always been with the Dicepcons.

Concentrating, Optronix tried to figure it out; it wasn't Rodmus that was familiar, but something about him. Like he carried something that called out to his systems.

Optronix wanted to ask but was afraid to; so he would wait, see if Prime was as nice as he acted.

He hoped so. He had liked Roddy.

Vivienne Grainger wrote me fic! The Once and Future Friend .net/s/6209740/1/The_Once_and_Future_Friend Future!fic; Ironhide watches Optronix while Starscream goes flying.

It's not part of my storyline so far, but the bunnies have been eying it with intent.