CHAPTER 25
Relating

They'd been working for a good hour.

Sunstreaker had already shown him a great deal of techniques that Dylan had never thought of before. A different stroke of the brush, a different shade you could create, a different type of painting. For his part, Sunstreaker was really good at explaining these things in a way that Dylan could understand. And even better at leveling with him on several things too.

Eventually, Sunstreaker decided to take a break. And they seated themselves down to hang out. "So, you... Said you were abused too." Dylan spoke up, and after a moment asked. "Did you mean that?"

Sunstreaker looked at Dylan like he had definitely seen this coming. He sighed a little, then set his energon cube down. "I was a gladiatorial slave... Sides and I were." He explained. "So yeah, you can say we were abused in a way most people should be glad they'll never know."

Dylan was silent a moment, then spoke up. "Like a roman gladiator? Fighting to the death and all?"

"Pretty much exactly like that." Sunstreaker grunted. "And before that, we were house slaves too. Locked in a cellar, kept hidden. Treated like we were rodents or something worse..." He tried to relate to Dylan. "The fragged up thing being both positions were legal under the caste system."

"Legal? Like they could..."

"Do that and face no charges? You bet. We were the slave caste."

Dylan was silent, but hugged his legs to his chest. He thought for a moment, and then spoke up. "My... Well, Gene. He used to lock me up in the attic. He'd shackle me so I couldn't even reach the door he got in using." He told him quietly. "I didn't even get a bed. I slept on the floor, cobwebs, spiders and all."

"Sounds like our childhoods were about the same for the same amount of time." Sunstreaker grimaced. "I guess in a way you were lucky though. You went into foster care, my master sold me off to a fragging fighting ring."

"I wouldn't consider myself lucky." Dylan shook his head.

"Really? You had a home, even if it was temporary. Probably a bed to sleep in most of the time... Food." Dylan was silent for a moment, not having thought of that. "You know what it's like to live in pit, Dylan. I'm not denying that. But you were lucky... They got you out of it. Even if some foster homes were probably just as bad. At least when someone found out, they could take you out of there."

Dylan had never thought about it that way. But at the same time, he knew that Sunstreaker was right. Dylan may have felt like a slave in his biological home, and in some foster homes. But the truth was he was never enslaved after he'd been saved from his biological father. Whereas from the sound of things, Sunstreaker was a slave nearly his entire life before the war.

"I guess you're right, I am lucky in a way." He took a moment to consider his next words. "I'm sorry... You had to go through that. No one should ever have to go through that for that long a time."

"I don't need you to be sorry for me, kid." Sunstreaker told him bluntly. "We both had fragging hard as pit lives. I mean, I've read about the foster care system. I know that was no cakewalk either. My life may have been harder, but yours... Yours was bad in a different way."

Dylan was silent for a long moment. "I guess so. I just... I can't imagine being an actual slave either." He said honestly.

"And I can't imagine being raped when I was a sparkling." Sunstreaker replied. "So I guess we have something in common."

Dylan looked away at that, knowing he had a point. People like them all had something terrible in their life that they couldn't quite relate to the other with. He looked at Sunstreaker a moment, and then spoke. "I... I guess that was really hard. I didn't really grasp it until near the end, that it was wrong I mean. I just knew it hurt, and I didn't like it before that." He explained, as Sunstreaker listened quietly. "Now that I really know what happened... I just... I don't... I mean..."

"I get it. I'd probably have a hard time dealing with it too." Sunstreaker was silent for a moment. "Do you actually remember anything? I mean you were so slagging young."

Dylan was silent. He hadn't talked about that a lot, or said how much he remembered to many people. But, something about the way Sunstreaker spoke made him feel like he understood. "I remember everything. Every detail, everything he did..." Dylan told him honestly. "Every time I feel like I'm starting to forget. Like I can finally unsee it... I have a nightmare and it all comes back to me."

Sunstreaker looked like he didn't know how to reply to that for a moment. But after a long moment, he spoke up. "That's how it feels when I think back about my time as a slave. Wish I could say it goes away since I feel for you." He explained. "And you'd better not spread that around mind you." He made very clear. "But it's always probably gonna be hard. Just gotta figure out a way to get through it."

Dylan understood that much. Given he'd figured that out to an extent a long time ago. "I know, and dad's making it easier for me." He explained, taking a deep breath. "Sometimes I wonder why... Especially since I don't get how he puts up with me."

"What do you mean?" Sunstreaker asked.

"... Well dad's a veteran from the war. He's a hero." Dylan told him honestly. "He could have had just about anyone. But he chose to put up with the kid who has those kind of problems. I feel bad sometimes, that he has to put up with that... And the papers when they talked about those three other men, and..."

"Hey, hey." Sunstraker stopped him. "You don't think that way. You deserve the same love as any fragging one else. We all do. Sure, I'm not exactly the lovey dovey kind. But even I've got Sideswipe, and he's got me. No matter what happened in life, no one deserves to be alone."

"But dad-."

"Knew what he was getting into. And if Hatchet regretted it that would be his fragging problem anyway." Sunstreaker put it as bluntly as he could. "Look, if I'm gonna mentor you, I don't want to hear this slag. Stop caring about what other people think of Ratchet adopting you. Stop caring what people think of your past, and what happened to you. If they know you, they know it took a lot of bravery and strength to survive that slag. And you're a tough kid for surviving it." He then added. "If anything, Ratchet should be proud he gets to say you're his sparkling."

Dylan looked at Sunstreaker like he couldn't believe he'd said it so bluntly. He was silent for a long moment, and then spoke up. "I sometimes wonder..."

"If he is? Pfffttt. I've been told by a bunch of my friends how much he brags about you. Thinks you're the best thing since fragging wrenches." Sunstreaker held nothing back in saying that. "Ratchet keeps pictures of you in his office too. I've seen 'em. Have to see him once and a while for a check-up, and I sure as slag have seen the pictures."

Dylan was silent. "I guess I just thought that was normal parent stuff."

"It is, but that's not what matters. What matters is that it means he's proud to be your parent. Remember that kid, you need to remember that stuff to keep you going." Sunstreaker looked at him for a long, hard moment. "If he was ashamed, he'd do the opposite, wouldn't he?"

That, the boy couldn't argue with. He rested his hands on his knees, and smiled. "You know, you're good at this... Whole talking thing." He commented. "I don't see why people think you wouldn't be a good mentor."

"Don't go spreading that around." Sunstreaker made clear. "I've got a reputation to keep as a hard aft. And one that doesn't have soft spots for any humans, kids or otherwise." He told him rather bluntly. "But you're... A pretty alright human."

"Just "pretty alright"?"

"More than most of them can say." Sunstreaker stood to his feet. "Come on, now. We should get back to what you're actually here for. And isn't a heart-to-spark. Now, let's try some more of that shading, you still need some work on it."

As Sunstreaker walked over to their spot, Dylan smiled a little. He was starting to believe, on a real, honest level that Sunstreaker would be good for him. Maybe just as someone to spell out the blunt truth to him. Or perhaps as someone to look up to as a tough mech that moved past his abusive history as he was trying to.

Standing, he decided to follow him, and continue this teaching. Perhaps, after all, he really could help him.

...

"Where is he?"

"In the other room with Sides." Sunstreaker motioned for Ratchet to come in later that night. "I guess the kid has a perchant for pranks. He was asking Sides about them, and well, things kept going from there." He added.

"Just what I was afraid of." Ratchet attempted a chuckle.

They stood there for a long few moments. Before finally, Sunstreaker spoke up yet again. "You've got a really good youngling there, Ratchet. And I mean that." He told him very genuinely. "I don't get along with most humans. But he's... Got a spirit I like. He's tough, a fighter like Sides and I."

Ratchet was clearly trying to process what Sunstreaker had just said. It had gone that well? They hadn't ripped each other's heads off? "You... Like him? Wow, that's... A surprise." Ratchet commented. "Not that I don't agree that I have a good youngling in there. I pride myself in that. I just wasn't expecting that kind of response."

Sunstreaker snorted in response, thoroughly amused even if he didn't blame him. "I was a bit surprised. I thought he'd be a lot angrier than he was. I mean frag, we all heard the stories." He explained, his voice tight. "You've earned a lot of respect from me for taking him, you know that? A lot of people would have looked at his past and fragging kicked him to the curb. You didn't."

"Contrary to what you believe I wouldn't." Ratchet replied. "In fact the more I learned, the more determined I was to adopt him. He was a good kid that was lost. Very much like you two when we agreed to take you on in the Autobots. I couldn't just look away like everyone else seemed to."

"And now I hear that the bio dad's out. He try and contact you?"

Ratchet tensed as Gene was yet again mentioned. "No, but he has tried to find Dylan, I've heard. Apparently he tried to bribe his old social worker for information."

Ratchet remembered that call of warning from social services well. It had only been a week ago, but sure enough, it had happened. He had refused to tell Dylan about it either, worried that it would do nothing but incite paranoia in his son. "He doesn't know that right?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Of course not!" Ratchet replied. "And keep it that way. Dylan still wakes up screaming some nights. Other nights I need to recharge in his room because he's scared. If he even had a hint that his father was looking for him..."

"You'll recharge in his room?"

"Doesn't know that either. He thinks I'll always go to bed after comforting him. But most nights, I don't." Ratchet explained.

Sunstreaker nodded his head, then looked back towards where Sideswipe and Dylan were. He knew they'd be coming out soon, since without a doubt they had heard Ratchet. "So I'm thinking you should bring him by next week. Same time and day." He told the medic. "I think he's got all the potential I've been told, so I want to make sure he continues on with that potential."

Ratchet looked at him rather sideways. It was hard to believe that Sunstreaker was actually going to do this... And yet, the way he looked told him that he was being sincere. After all, even Sunstreaker had a tell like that. "Sounds like a plan." Ratchet finally managed as he noticed Dylan had finally come out with Sideswipe. "There you are! I hear that things went well."

"Yeah! Especially after Sides decided to show me his prank storage." Dylan replied. "Though you showed up just as he was showing me the best part."

Ratchet smirked. "Well consider myself lucky then. Time to go, Dylan. I have an early rise for work tomorrow." He explained, stretching a bit. "Sideswipe, if he's coming home with any tools with which to torment me, it's on your helm."

"You think I'd do that? Never!" Sideswipe chuckled nervously, though he shot Dylan a small wink that he knew meant he had. Sideswipe was never good at hiding these things. "It was good to meet you small fry."

"Thanks for the tips."

"Thanks for the tips." Ratchet replied with a side-eye.

"I'll see you next week, Dylan." Sunstreaker replied. "Keep working on what I taught you though. This mentoring thing won't go anywhere if you don't practice."

"Alright." Dylan nodded. "So you're really going to let me come back again, for real?"

Sunstreaker gave a small smile, and nodded. The smile was new, Ratchet noted, as he was known for being the type of mech where it was a rarity. "Not like I have anything much better to do anyway." He told Dylan in all honesty. "Now go on, he said he has to be at work early. And I don't need to tell you how cranky he gets when he doesn't have enough recharge."

Dylan smiled back, and looked at his new mentor. "Alright, thanks again guys!"

As the two exited, Sunstreaker vented out quietly. He really hoped he was making a good choice, letting himself take on this kid. But a part of him, no matter how small, already knew the answer to be "yes".

...

They looked so happy together.

Gene hadn't known what he expected upon approaching the home he'd tracked down. But he sure hadn't expected Dylan's adoptive parent to be an Autobot, or the boy to look so happy. It was late at night when he'd poked his head out to look through the window of the home. He hadn't been sure the intel from his contacts in Jasper had been accurate until he saw him.

Sure, Dylan was nine years older, but he still looked so much like his mother. He'd been getting ready for bed when Ratchet had come in to check on him. At first, Gene thought he may have been like him, but Ratchet merely made a point to give him privacy. And once he was done, use one of what he guessed was their "holoforms" to pull him into his arms.

Dylan laughed, letting Ratchet throw him onto the bed. And like he was a young kid, the mech pulled his blankets over him, tucking him in. Gene watched intently as Ratchet gave the boy a kiss on his forehead, and seemed to say some words before starting back out of the room. Both of them entirely oblivious to the man that was covertly watching them.

Gene was disgusted. How could this boy be so loved? How could he be so HAPPY? He didn't deserve it, not after ruining his life. And he wanted the boy to know that. He wanted to smash the window, jump inside and strangle the life out of him...

Yet, he knew he couldn't. Not yet. First of all, he wanted his son alive for his own reasons. And secondly, he was not stupid enough to trip the alarm, invoking the wrath of a giant robot. Anyone with a brain knew that it would not end well - most likely in his own demise.

No, he realized, he'd have to handle him later. With a plan, and perhaps back-up.

But he still smiled, a gleam in his eye. Watching as Dylan fell into a deep sleep, blissfully unaware of the fact he was just a few inches away. Gene would be sure he paid dearly for all he'd done, in ways he'd never imagine.

And when he did, not even his precious new "father" would be able to save him.

...

A/N: Man, took forever to get this one out! Hope it was worth the wait for you guys. XD