The Band's Called...

Disclaimer: My streak broke. Otherwise, same.

"SCREW YOU!"

"We're sorry!" Skids tried the door again to no avail. Swerve had locked his room tight behind him. He stepped back enough to talk into the door jamb, bumping into the rest of the group packed around his shoulders. "Please! Let us in!"

Tailgate spoke directly into the door jamb. "If you're still mad about us playing at Visages, we can tell you it was awful!"

"That's very satisfying but not why- who said you could come back early?!" Swerve shouted through the door. "I thought I was safe!"

Rewind was so happy his words were slurring. Skids suspected this was all going into the "documentary" in full, unedited glory. "This footage is going to be amazing."

"It's about to get better," Skids whispered. If Rewind wanted drama, then he was good at supplying it. Swerve lent himself well to causing it. Skids squared up his shoulders and set his feet. "Everybody get ready."

The others tensed, ready but not exactly sure what for. Tailgate and Chromedome just straightened their posture. Trailcutter backed away, biting his lip in confusion. Only Cyclonus actually stepped up, shoulders set, like he knew what Skids was thinking. Good! He couldn't voice his thoughts, not with Swerve listening. Plan in motion, he commed Rodimus and put the call on his external speakers.

"Captain Rodimus?"

Rodimus blasted through the speaker as if he knew he was being broadcast. "Skiiiids! How's it going? Heard Visages sucked."

"You heard right. Hey, Swerve's locked in his room, pop the lock for us?"

Swerve, inside, yelped. "WHAT?!"

"Sure thing! Bring him to the medbay if he's sick again."

"RODIMUS I'M NOT SICK LOCK THE-"

As soon as the door remotely clicked open, a feature added since the last time Swerve wound up in there, Skids and Cyclonus rushed in and scooped the minibot off his feet. Skids took the legs, Cyclonus the shoulders, and they marched back into the hall and immediately off to the band room.

Skids cheered over his shoulder. "Great teamwork, everybody!"

"Oh that's what you were planning to do!" Tailgate hopped along behind them. "I was expecting something different!"

"Put me down!" Swerve protested loud enough to turn a few heads in the hallway, but nobody dared step forward with Cyclonus on glare detail. "First you invade my room then you CARRY me?! You know how I feel about being carried, Skids! Your special bar table privileges are revoked! I'm giving your table to Pipes!"

Skids grinned. "Chromedome, you got the door?"

"I got it!" Chromedome skipped ahead of them and ran to get the band room unlocked. "I'll get the stage set up!"

Tailgate and Trailcutter hurried along after him. "Let's get the drums together!"

Skids said, "Cyclonus, you can put Swerve down now."

Cyclonus dropped him and Skids stumbled as a couple tons of minibot slammed into the backs of his legs.

"Okay maybe not that hard..." Skids hoisted Skids up onto his shoulders to carry him instead, give him a little more dignity. "So, sorry about the door, but I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You wanted to humiliate me," Swerve moaned into his ear. Skids bemoaned that he couldn't see Swerve's face from this angle. "You're gonna make fun of me for being loud and excitable."

"Skids, we wouldn't do that."

"'Serenade to Setting Unrealistic Goals.'"

"I did that..." Skids sighed in defeat. "Specifically to make fun of you being loud and excitable..."

Skids stopped and put Swerve down, then knelt on the floor to meet him optic to optic. "Swerve, remember outside of Trailcutter's room? When I told you off for being a jerk?"

Swerve didn't look happy in the slightest. "Bringing up all kinds of pleasant memories today."

"Well this time, it's me!" Skids pleaded. "I'm the one being a jerk! I made fun of you for getting excited about something you were passionate for and then took off with it without you and... and I'm sorry if I made you feel bad for just liking things."

It nearly cracked Skids' spark to see Swerve's expression arguably getting worse, twisted in emotion and wary. The bot was watching him, checking to make sure he was sincere. It was that same look he gave on Swearth, when he hurt but didn't know where, when his spark was so deep in the dark that he couldn't even express his own pain. Guilt doubled down on Skids, and Cyclonus laid a clawed hand on Swerve's shoulder to keep him steady.

When Swerve spoke, it was quiet. "You're just saying that 'cause you heard..."

"NO it's not because I heard you singing!" Skids grappled Swerve's face and held it tight. "You should have seen us at Mirage's! We sucked! And not because nobody sang- it was because we had no set list, no idea what to play, we- we had no fun, Swerve! You are the one who got us all together! You make this fun! It took exactly one time not having you there to figure that out and we should have known it from the beginning!"

Swerve's little smile grew and grew, and his intakes stuttered and choked in withheld sobs the longer he talked. Skids could feel a balm starting to heal over his spark. "You believe me now?"

Swerve choked and swallowed. "I do."

Suddenly, behind them, forgotten in the background like a proper cameraman, Rewind piped up. "And if you ever forget, I recorded it all."

Swerve squealed in joy. "It's like the Leif Garrett episode!"

"Yeah! I have... no idea what that is." Skids laughed and stood up straight again. "Nice capturing of an emotionally vulnerable moment there, Rewind. Totally don't feel self-conscious about this getting posted to the ship without my permission."

Rewind patted his head. "I think this'll get directly mailed to you and Swerve alone."

Cyclonus only gave a wry little smirk. "We're holding up band practice."

They had a singer! He knew it, and it electrified Skids down to his core. "Come on! Let's go make some music!"

Skids took Swerve by the hand and pulled him all the way to the band room in full stride, aware of Swerve being swept up in his long steps but not trying to stop him. It almost looked like he was enjoying it. Cyclonus sure was, if his tiny evil smile was any indication. Rewind sprinted ahead to open the band room door ahead of them. "Everybody! The new lead singer's here!"

The band cheered, already at their places on the practice stage. Tailgate's drums and Chromedome's mixing board had been moved so they weren't crowding each other, and Skid's homemade guitar rested on the floor across from where Trailcutter stood with his bass.

"Welcome back, Swerve!" Trailcutter greeted him with a little fistbump. Skids noted that, still, Swerve had not let go of his hand. "Got a song in mind?"

"I-I- I don't know! I-I was singing 'Eye to Eye' with Ten, but we can't do that, not without a drum machine and a full keyboard." Swerve ran through the options on his free hand. "We could maybe do 'Love Makes the World Go Round' but we'd need three vocalists, and 'Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby' needs a full swing band, need-"

Trailcutter cut in with a loud "Um."

Tailgate broke the awkward. "I don't know any of those."

Chromedome raises his hand. "I think I do. Those are all from Cartoon Night a few months ago."

Skids shouldered his guitar over one arm. "Okay. Maybe a song that's not from a cartoon?"

The request almost pained Swerve. "Um... 'School of Rock'?"

"Maybe let's meet up in your room and watch some music videos for ideas."

Swerve glowed. "Music sleepover."

Cyclonus glowered. "No."

Tailgate bubbled up, "I'm in!"

Cyclonus glowered harder. "Just this once."

He still hadn't let go of Swerve's hand.