Chapter 8
Settling
Prowl's mouth opens at Starlight's outburst, but he falters for words. Praxus is shocked speechless, and Auri stares at Sunny. Sides alone shows no reaction but thinks a dozen things.
Sunny's jaw tightens. He knows he shouldn't have done that. It was rotten of him to deliberately do something he knew Starlight didn't like. She's little, doesn't understand everything. He should have been kinder. Regardless of whether or not she was acting like a petty glitch, he shouldn't have incited her. After all, he bullied her brother, and she has a right to hate him.
He opens his mouth with an apology ready, but he meets her optics, and she is blazing with readiness to rip him to shreds if she could. It's a look he's gotten on the battlefield from full-grown Cybertronians, and it breaks his spark because she's so small, so young for these horrible emotions. It's not just this moment of touching Praxus that makes her hate him so much; it's every unkind thing he did to Praxus in the past.
He's already apologized for all that, and it hasn't worked.
He doesn't see any point in attempting to apologize again.
She'll only continue to condemn him. Persistent little scrap.
"Starlight," he says quietly. "Why don't you tell me the last time I was mean to Praxus?"
"Get ya hands off!" she screams.
Sunny lifts a single finger. "Tell me when I was mean to Praxus," he reiterates calmly. He senses Prowl thinking over this, and Prowl doesn't interfere, not even to tell Starlight to speak more politely as he always has in the past. Prowl always came in with, "Starlight, speak respectfully. Starlight, that's not how to talk, even if we don't like someone. Starlight, no; don't raise your voice like. Starlight, you know good manners." This time, he's silent. Starlight can yell if she sees fit, and she does.
"Ya frowed drinks in 'im face an sayd all mean things ev'wy day t'make 'im cry at work ev'wy time 'im tried t'work!"
Sunny keeps calm and takes a second finger off Prax's helm. "I know I did that, but when did I do that?"
"I SAID Ev-wy! Day! At Work!" Starlight shrieks, tiny fists clenched, tears welling up in her optics.
Sunny pauses, cursing slightly at himself. "I… That's true, but… I mean, how long ago? Yesterday?"
"Naw!" Starlight says with a scowl, her tone slightly calmer.
"Was it last week?" he asks, and Starlight glares at him. He lifts a third finger. "Was it before Prowl and Auri were hurt by bad bots and stayed in med-bay for a long time?"
Starlight nods begrudgingly but doesn't act furious. She just stares pointedly at his hand.
He turns his palm up. "You know that was well over a whole year ago?"
"I don't know any calendars yet!" she protests, wings flicking. But still she doesn't yell.
"Okay." Sunny feels a hint of optimism. "Okay. I get that. My point is, it's been a really, really long time since I was mean to Praxus. I haven't made him cry once since before Auri and Prowl were in med-bay, that long time ago. And I've been nice to him every day since before then, too. You've seen all that. I give him paints, I teach him techniques, I help him when painting is difficult for him, I make paintings and sketches of him and for him, I answer all his questions, and share all my art archives, I listen to his stories and help him with his songs, I let him play my videogames and borrow my brushes and cloths and drink my energon. I keep snacks stocked for him. Those weird squidgy pudding things? I hate those, but Praxus likes them. I helped plan this party. I'm his friend, Starlight. If I stopped being his friend, he'd be spark-broken. So I'm not going to stop being his friend, and you might as well accept that and stop throwing a fit every time I do anything."
"I'm never trustin' ya, Sunskeeker," she says firmly yet calmly. She also hates those pudding things. She also doesn't feel so angry now that she's yelled do much. She's not used to yelling, and it's made her tired.
"I don't expect you to trust me," Sunny answers softly. "I'm not asking that. I'm just suggesting, you'll be happier if you stop getting mad at me for… existing."
She growls at that.
Sunny tucks his hand behind his own helm.
"Hey," Sides says gently. "Starlight, I know it's rough looking after a brother. But you can't control other bots. What you can do is check up on how your brother feels about other bots and then see how you can help him from there."
Starlight shifts a wing as she looks at the acceptable twin. He smiles at her and goes on.
"You don't like Sunny, but Praxus does. So you can't tell Sunny to stay away. Prax would be super sad if Sunny stayed away. But you can ask Praxus, 'are you okay with Sunny doing that?' And if he says, 'no,' then you two can figure out how to deal with that. But if he says, 'yes, it's okay' then you don't have to worry or get mad."
"That's a really good idea, Sides!" Auri says eagerly, more for Starlight's benefit than Sides'. "Starlight, that's a perfect plan!"
Starlight shifts a wing in doubt; she's always been told to leave Sunny be, to be polite, to not worry about what Sunny is doing. This is rather the opposite. How's Prowl going to let her do that?
"It is a plan," Prowl says slowly. "Since nothing else has worked, we're going to try it. Starlight, no more squawking and yelling at or about Sunny. If you don't like something he does, you will calmly ask Praxus if it's okay with him. Understood?"
Starlight looks at Prowl in mild disbelief, but then she nods. "Understood," she says.
"That's my good sparkling," Prowl says, putting his hand over to give her a comforting caress on the helm. She nestles against her brother, putting her little hand on Prowl's for security. Contemplating the new rule, she smiles. Now she can say something every single time Sunny does something she doesn't like to Praxus, instead of being patient and nice. She tried being patient and nice, but she always felt so mad when she saw Sunny that it was hard. Now it won't be so hard.
"I think it's a good plan," Praxus says softly. "You'll be happier with it, and I will be, too."
Starlight wriggles and then looks at his face, searching his optics. She loves her brother. "Yeah, Pwax," she says.
She tries to lie still and quiet to snuggle with him, but the food in the other room smells very good and she hears Elita laughing and Ultra Magnus's chuckle. It would be a lot of fun to be in the other room instead of lying still and quiet.
"Are you feeling hungry?" Praxus asks.
"Yeah," she answers, sitting up eagerly. "Are you?" They could go together, leave Sunny.
He smiles at her. "I'm not at the moment, but you don't have to wait for me."
"Okay." She looks at Prowl to check for permission, and the gentle hint of a nod lets her know she may. She kisses Praxus on the helm and then crawls over him to get to the edge of the bed. "I'll save some fo ya," she says before sliding down.
Praxus listens carefully until he hears someone in the other room greet Starlight. Then he sits halfway up and slaps Sunny on the helm, reaching over Prowl. The golden mech flinches but doesn't offer any resistance, and Praxus settles back down on the bed.
Prowl shifts a wing slightly, and its polished edge rubs smoothly against Sunny's armor.
"I'm sorry, Prax," Sunny says quietly. He hesitates, not liking to talk, but then he goes on. "I shouldn't… I mean, her acting like a brat didn't justify me acting like… a fragger. I'm glad she and I discussed things, but I should have started it better. Been… kinder. Less provoking. I shouldn't have put my hand on your helm."
"It's okay now, I guess," Praxus murmurs. "You were probably getting fed up with her," he adds softly. "I was trying, always trying, to get her to be nicer to you."
"Maybe my solution will actually do the trick," Sides puts in lightly, trying to cheer up Praxus. "If not, we can always have you show her how you can put Sunny on the floor whenever you chose so she won't think you're totally defenseless."
"Sideswipe," Praxus groans. "I don't want to fight!"
"My glitchy brother was teasing," Sunny says, throwing a pillow mildly at Sides in rebuke. "No more fighting or yelling or hitting and all that for any of us."
"Or name-calling," Sides adds, tossing the pillow back. Sunny knocks it down, and it lands on Prowl's helm.
"Yeah," Sunny says reflectively. He halfway smiles. "You can't beat 'cross-wired moldering cable-tie.'"
"I wanna know where she got that from," Sides says, chuckling.
"Uplink," Praxus says with a tiny grimace. "Uplink said 'cross-wired rusting screw-top' in certain tones when she was having difficulties with… well, opening cross-wired corroded screw-top container."
"Ahhh…!" Sides grins, and Sunny smirks. "Clever sparkling! I see what she did! It's like a formula for-"
"Do not start," Prowl says, seeing the ideas twinkling in the mischievous twin's optics.
"Yeah, be good," Praxus says, taking the pillow and stuffing it toward Sideswipe's face.
"I'll be perfectly behaved," Sides answers, sitting up to rub the pillow on Praxus's helm and make him laugh.
Auri takes the pillow. "I'll just put this decoratively somewhere else," she says, having been thinking about a pillow fight since it was first tossed.
"Put it on Prowl," Praxus says, grinning, ready for some fun now that the drama has been diffused.
"Yes, hand it over for safekeeping," Prowl says.
Auri catches a twinkle in his optics and shakes her helm. "No, sir. I don't think I will."
Casually, Sunny shifts. "Looks like your subordinate is getting insubordinate, commander," he remarks, stretching lazily to steal a pillow unnoticed.
"Auri is not my subordinate," Prowl answers gently, shifting a wing against Sunny. "She is my coordinate."
Sunny pauses and then halfway smiles down at Prowl. He hadn't been expecting that sort of comeback, but he likes it. "That doesn't mean she'll automatically side with you in a pillow-fight," he says.
"Is that where this is going?" Prowl asks, pretending to be surprised.
"Pretty sure."
"Are we doing teams or every bot for themselves?" Prowl asks, sitting up and motioning for Auri to give him a pillow.
"It's your new house, we could all gang up on you," Sunny offers as Auri tosses a pillow to her mech.
Side chuckles. "Or we could all gang up on you," he suggests, nudging his brother and snagging a pillow. "Since that's been the trend so far this evening."
"Hilarious," Sunny says flatly and then smacks his twin in the face with a pillow. Auri hops up and thumps gives Sides a second smack with her pillow.
"Have some brotherly sympathy for Sunny," she teases a second before Sides returns the blow.
"Hey!" Praxus yelps, the only one still lying down. "I don't have a pillow." Prowl rolls on top of him, pins him down lightly and taps him gently with his pillow.
"Never tell the enemy your weakness," he says, two-tone wings flicking playfully.
"I was telling allies to help me!" Praxus yelps, squirming. Auri plops a pillow on top of him for a second before turning it back on Sideswipe. "Arg! Sunstreaker!" Praxus calls.
Sunny whacks Prowl in the face and then pushes him off Praxus to wrestle down. Praxus scrambles away and tackles Sides so Auri can hit the cheerful twin while he steals a pillow for himself. "I helped you!" he protests when Auri hits him as well as Sides.
"Every bot for themselves," she says.
"Honestly, it's just the three of us against each other and then Prowl versus Sunstreaker," Sides says, motioning to the two mechs. "Wayyyy too competitive with each other."
"Okay!" Auri says, grabbing the last of the pillows so she has two.
Leaving Prowl and Sunny to themselves, Auri, Sides, and Praxus fight evenly among each other for a while, thoroughly enjoying it, teasing, dodging, thumping, tickling every now and then when someone gets pinned down. Then Praxus and Sides start ganging up on Auri, more mischievous than competitive. How long until Prowl notices? They're curious.
Auri giggles at them because she sees what they're up to pretty quickly. Sunny and Prowl are wrestling almost more than pillow fighting, but Prowl takes his focus off Sunny for a couple seconds, and Sunny waits, meeting her optics. She winks. She can defend herself in a pillow fight quite well, and she knows her opponents are softies when it comes to her. Neither one will be too rough with her.
She sweetly takes on Praxus, keeping Sides just occupied until she has Praxus pinned down, half tangled up in a blanket, and then she divides her attention between keeping Praxus in place while beating Sideswipe as much as she can.
"Sunny!" Praxus protests. "Prowl! Ow! Help!"
Prowl and Sunny glance over and chuckle at him and Sides.
"Serves you right for ganging up on her," Sunny says, trying to drag Prowl down again to halt his blows.
Prowl's optics twinkle as he rolls and pins Sunny down instead. "We knew she could handle you two."
"The question is," Sides says conspiratorially, dodging another blow from Auri. "Could she handle you two?"
"Probably not," Sunny says, hooking a pede on one of Prowl's wings to hold him back. "But she's welcome to try."
Prowl halfway rises to get out of the pede-wing hold and loses some control of Sunny. Instantly, the golden twin jumps up to his knees and then pins him down. Prowl puts up his pillow to block the next blow and then rolls over into Sunny to knock him off balance and deliver a blow of his own.
"Honestly," Sides says, returning Auri's most recent pillow tap, "I'd stay out of that if I were you, but as for me, I'd have fun watching."
"We're both gonna have fun then," Auri says, shaking her pillows and getting a better grip on them. "I like a challenge."
Sides grins as he sees Prowl's optics widen.
"Bring it," Sunny says, smiling, sitting up as Prowl backs off.
Prowl puts a finger on the golden mech's shoulder. "Be careful with her," he says warns quietly, firmly.
"I'm not that delicate," Auri says, both pleased at being protected and not so pleased at being considered in much need of protection in a pillow fight.
"Indeed, no," Prowl agrees, looking toward her with a fond half-smile. "You're tough and stubborn enough to make Sunny forget to be careful. That's why I warned him."
Auri kisses him lightly to convey her contentment.
"No worries, Aurilaze," Sunny says. "I'll beat you gently as possible."
"I cannot say the same," Auri answers, optics twinkling at him.
He chuckles, and then she swings at him.
Praxus and Sides keep out of it and just watch. Prowl does the same. Sunny doesn't pin her and wrestle her as hard he did Prowl, but he definitely plays tough. And Auri matches his intensity almost perfectly, getting in just as many blows as he does, dodging and striking and evading and attacking.
Auri smiles because she's doing well, but she knows she lacks the endurance the Sunny has. She'll tire long before he does. Plus Ratchet would scold if she overdid anything or pulled a muscle.
She strikes and then dodges, and taking that momentum, she rolls nearly into Prowl and gives him a solid thump with her pillow, earning herself one of his startled looks. She could get in more blows, but she stops to appreciate the wide blue optics and the cute wing twitch.
Then Prowl retreats a little, as much as he can on a big bed with four other bots on it. Auri grins at him and doesn't follow, certain he's being tricky now. Instead, she motions Prowl toward her with a finger. He moves forward, and she engages him in a blink, pinning him down with a little rush attack, one pillow between them, one pillow coming down on his helm.
They tussle for a little bit, and Auri, smiling, reflects that while Prowl is more gentle that Sunny was, he's more bold about making physical contact. Understandably. She makes sure to stay focused on the pillow fight, but she also can't help but enjoy the warm energy of his body and the sensation of pressing against him. If the twins and Praxus weren't there, she would let him win. Or maybe he would let her win. Either way, it would end up pleasantly.
"Honestly, I don't think either of you are trying that hard," Sideswipe says, chuckling.
"I am her mech," Prowl answers as Auri gets the upper hand and pins him down on his side, sits on him. "My inclinations are to care for her and please her. Fighting much with her, even in play, is not much in my spark."
Quite melted, Auri lowers her pillow to the bed instead of smacking Prowl with it as she had intended. "I didn't realize you didn't really want to play," she says softly, wanting to scoop him up and cuddle him in apology. "You should have said."
He studies her face fondly as he looks up at her. "I didn't realize I liked it so little until we were in the middle, but it wasn't all unpleasant, and I didn't mind continuing. You seemed to be enjoying it very much."
Auri's mouth makes a silent 'o' as her cheeks slowly heat up more. "I… I… the pillow fighting wasn't what I was enjoying so much," she confesses.
"Oooh," Sides says with perception. Praxus squashes a pillow in his face.
Prowl smiles softly as he realizes what Auri meant. He frees a hand to caress her. "That… that's the part I liked as well."
Auri sinks down onto him and kisses him as she cradles her arms around him. "Sweet silly Prowl. Next time, no playing a game you don't like. I want it to be all fun for both of us."
"Yes, ma'am," he says, optics twinkling fondly.
She gives him another quick kisses and then moves to sit beside him and pull him up.
"Well, looks that was a tie," Sunny says, taking Auri's discarded pillow and rubbing it on her helm.
"We both won," she confirms, smiling at him. "And you remain undefeated for now," she adds with a wink.
"No kisses for you, though," Praxus teases.
"I'll survive," Sunny replies, shaking out a pillow.
Prowl snuggles Auri and then reaches over to shift the tassels on the decorative pillow. "We should tidy go back to the rest of the party."
Praxus pops up and puts both hands on Prowl's helm. "Did you get a helm injury?" he asks dramatically, optics wide.
Auri giggles at that, and Prowl chuckles. "No. But, there is food out there, you see," he explains.
"Food is a powerful motivator," Sides quips, hopping off the bed.
Sunny gathers up a couple more pillows, and Praxus brings him several more as Prowl and Auri try to straighten the blankets on the bed.
"We have thoroughly rumpled it," Prowl ascertains after a couple moments. "We'll have to remake it entirely."
"Or just cuddle up and go to sleep," Praxus offers, flopping down amid the disheveled blankets.
"Prowl couldn't go to sleep in such a messy piles of blankets," Sides says. "Hop up. It'll be easy with all of us to help. And then we get food."
"Nmmm…" Praxus wriggles toward the edge of the bed but doesn't get up. Prowl gives him a light tap on the after-plating with a hint of a smile. "Hey! You don't have to lay a hand on my glorious and beautiful body like that," Praxus says, scrambling to get off the bed.
"Wow," Chromia says, wandering in, quirking at optic-ridge at the state of the bed. "Did I miss an orgy?" she teases.
Praxus's wings pin up instantly.
"Have some respect, Chromia," Sunny says bluntly. "Prowl and Auri have the highest honor for each other's bodies and boundaries, and Praxus and Sides and I would never… engage… each other."
Chromia blinks at Sunstreaker. "When did you lose your sense of humor?"
"I didn't," Sunny answers. "Just not certain humor is not amusing to some bots, and it's kindest to not employ it when they're around. Such as, what you said and Praxus who is sensitive to certain subjects."
Chromia looks at Praxus and melts at the vulnerable look on his face. "I'm sorry, sweet cheeks," she says, putting a hand out to him. He goes to her and tucks against her, and she hugs him gently. "I wouldn't ever say anything to upset you on purpose. You know, right?"
"I know," he says, snuggling in forgiveness.
"I just came in to check in on the lot of you," she says, glancing at the other bots as she caresses Praxus's helm. "You've been in here a while."
"We had a pillow fight," Auri says with a smile. "We were just tidying up before returning to the party."
"Sounds fun." Chromia smiles at the mental image she has.
"It was."
Prowl and Sides pull the blankets all off the bed, and Auri and Sunny help them, a bot at each corner, remake the bed, smooth and tidy. They pile all the pillows back neatly with some order at the head of the bed.
"That's a lot of pillows," Chromia remarks.
"We used them all in the pillow fight," Praxus tells her. "It's just the right number."
Prowl gives a nod of approval.
"Time for food now," Sunny says.
OoOoO
A couple hours later, the guests are gone, Prowl and Auri are washing energon cubes, Starlight is playing with the confetti, Praxus is dancing peacefully in the middle of the room to a song he's made up, and the twins are tidying up.
"I see 'em moon in th' roof-window," Starlight says with amazement, lying back in the confetti to look at it better.
Sides comes over to peer up. "Good view," he comments.
"It is really late at night?"
"Pretty late," Praxus says, bowing. He wanders over to the couch and snuggles down, watching as Sunny starts sweeping the floor. "We can do that in the morning, Sunny," he says, his optics partially closing.
Sunny chuckles. "You know Prowl better than that," he answers. Prowl glances over with a half-smile.
"Yeah…" Praxus murmurs.
"You can go climb into your new bed," Sides offers, seeing that Praxus is starting show how tired he is.
"I'm gonna sleep in Prowl's bed."
"You may go settle in," Prowl tells him, drying his hands after the last cube.
"You won't be there for a long time, walking Auri home and looking at the stars and moon and coming back."
"We'll be here," Sides says. "You won't be lonely."
"Auri and I are tired, too, so we won't take a long time," Prowl reassures him, wiping a few splashes off his armor.
"Auri's not tired," Praxus points out. "She's looking to flirt with you and stuff."
Prowl shifts his attention to Auri, and she flicks him lightly with her drying towel. He captures her gently with one arm, confiscates the towel, trading a kiss for it, and then rubs splashes of dish-water off her belly with it. "We will keep the flirtation brief, and I'll come right home."
"You say that…" Praxus says.
Prowl shakes his helm and nudges Auri toward the door. Praxus would argue sleepily for the next half hour if they let him.
Auri wishes the twins good-night and thanks them for planning the party and helping with the cleanup. She has a snuggle for both Starlight and Praxus and tells them she'll see them in the morning.
"When th' sun shows up!" Starlight chirps, tossing some confetti.
Once Prowl and Auri are out the door, Praxus tucks his helm against the couch, sitting sideways. Knowing that Praxus won't be reasoned with in this state, Sunny goes to sweep the hallway and the minor bedrooms, and Sides recruits Starlight to help him "capture" all the confetti so she can play with it later.
Starlight is happy scooping up handfuls of confetti into a bag as Sides sweeps it from every corner of the room. He knows some has gotten tracked into the master suite, so he heads in there, leaving Starlight with a pile to pick up.
She picks up some individual confetti bits and marches them into the bag, and then she sends double handfuls after them. "In ya go, tiny trash! Whoosh!"
Sunny smiles at the scene as he comes into the room, but Starlight notices him a second later. She gets mad, wings flicking.
"Hey, remember the new rule," he tells her gently.
"Yaw 'member new rule!" she retorts.
"I will," he reassures her, wandering away as non-threateningly. He tidies some other stuff in peace, and Starlight finishes capturing all the confetti. "Prax is pretty much out," he says when Sides comes back in with a dustpan of confetti.
"Think we should move him?"
Sunny looks at the mechling. "Maybe wait for Prowl."
"Prol…?" Praxus queries in a sleepy murmur, moving his hand a little.
"He'll be back soon," Sunny tells him, going over. "You could tuck into bed to wait for him, if you wanted. I could help you."
"Sunnnnny…" Praxus reaches for him like a sparkling.
"Well, I'm not carrying you," Sunny says, leaning down, putting an arm around the sleepy mech. "But I'll help you uh-"
Praxus pulls him down to snuggle.
"Ack." Sunny accepts his lot with a small grimace as a little purr of contentment vibrates in Praxus's throat.
"Look on the bright side," Sideswipe says. "Now, he'll fall sound asleep in two minutes and we can carry him to bed without him ever noticing."
"Ya wait fo' Pruddle," Starlight tells him, putting her hands on her hips. "That what him wants."
"That sounds best," Sunny says, shifting slightly, attempting to find a little personal space to no avail.
Sides turns to hide a grin as he takes the bag of confetti to store in a closet, Starlight following at his heels.
"Now what?" she asks, peering around.
Expression serious, Sides considers her. "Now, we wash your face and pedes and then pick out a sleepy story for me to read to you."
Starlight frowns. "That fo' Prowl o' Praxus."
Sides mulls over how to convince her, and she frowns and shakes her helm at him as she sees him thinking.
"No," she says.
"Can I try just this one time, please? I'm pretty good at reading sleepy stories."
"Well… I guess so," Starlight decides after a little hesitation and some shifting of her wings.
Sideswipe proves to be adapt at washing small faces and pedes and a bit better than just "pretty good" at reading stories, and Starlight forgets that she had any objections to him taking Prowl and Praxus's place in her bedtime routine. Snuggled on his lap as they sit on the couch next to Praxus, she feels content and starts to get drowsy. She would have preferred to sit on her brother's lap, but he was cuddled up too much with Sunstreaker for her to even consider trying to find a place that would suit her. The golden mech seems relaxed and non-threatening enough, and grows more so while Sides reads.
Sides finishes one story and then starts another, his voice soothing and peaceful. He'll read until Prowl shows up, he's decided.
He ends up reading a third story before Prowl slips in the front door.
Sides raises an optic-ridge at him. "What took so long?"
"Arresting two bots," Prowl answers just above a whisper, smiling at the scene on the couch. "High-grade and tempers."
"Ah." Sides nods in understanding. He smiles at the tender expression on Prowl's face and his optics softly glowing. "I'm quite a good nanny, huh?"
Prowl halfway chuckles, a smile and almost silent purr. "Exceptional," he answers gently. "These two, I can understand you getting to sleep" -he motions to Starlight and Praxus- "But this one, in this situation, that's a feat." His optics twinkle at the golden twin.
Sides's optics widen. "He…" He looks around at his brother and then grins. "He is…!" he whispers, astonished and delighted.
"Shh," Prowl hushes. Sunny is utterly relaxed against Praxus, his helm tipped back against the dark mech's shoulder, optics softly closed, face peaceful in the oblivion of recharge.
Sides is inclined to savor this for a bit, but Prowl motions him up.
"What?" Sides asks.
"Settle Starlight in my bed. Then help me with these two."
"We could leave'em," Sides says, smiling, every the prankster.
"No," Prowl says, and Sides knows from the undertone that Prowl is far more tired than he appears.
Prudently, Sides slips off the couch and takes Starlight to the master suite. He scoots a couple pillows and settles her among them on one side. Then he goes back to the living room and helps Prowl separate Praxus and Sunny.
They settle Sunny more comfortably on the couch, and then Prowl moves toward Praxus.
"Hey, I'll carry him," Sides says. "You get a blanket for Sunny."
Prowl gives him a look of gratitude and then heads for the closet with tired pedes while Sides gathers up the dark winger.
Praxus makes a little querying sound at being moved around and lifted, but Sides stands still and silent until Praxus settles with a small whirr of his cooling system. Then he carries Praxus in and settles him close to his sister, putting him on his side and pulling a blanket partially over him, adjusting a pillow.
Prowl trudges in.
"Thank you, Sides," he murmurs, practically falling onto his side of the bed. He's miscalculated, though, and he's not quite in the right place. He's not on the bed enough. Legs too far over the side. He kicks a pede slightly, faintly annoyed.
Sides softly chuckles at him. "Hang on," he says, going around to Prowl, whose optics are blinking drowsily now that his helm is touching a pillow. Prowl could stay awake a whole day more if a situation arose that required it, but with no strong motivation to stay awake, he'll nod off in moments. Sides knows, and this makes him smile as he pushes Prowl over, away from the edge of the bed and starts to tuck his pedes under the blanket.
Prowl makes a small sound of complaint. "I did not clean my pedes…" he murmurs, making an effort to move.
"Hey," Sides says, putting a hand on him to make him stay put. "Just be still. I'll clean them for you."
"You do no hav t…"
"But I'm going to," Sides tells him firmly. He gets a cloth and some cleanser and settles at Prowl's pedes. Prowl shifts a wing but doesn't object as the twin gently takes one of his pedes and starts to wipe it down and scrub the street-grime from the treads. Prowl's pedes aren't overly dirty, but sticking them in bed even just a little grimy would bother him, Sides knows.
Prowl murmurs a drowsy, exhausted "thank you."
"It's a small thing in return for all you do for the lot of us every day," Sides answers gently. Prowl dozes as Sides finishes his self-appointed task, and then he settles as Sides tucks his clean pedes under the blankets and pulls the blankets up close to his wings. "Sweet dreams," Sides says, dimming the lights. "New adventures tomorrow, I'm sure."