Thundercracker came out of recharge, and immediately rolled over to look over the side at the berth below his. He scowled as it was, once again, empty. Skywarp had disappeared again. Since the first night they had moved into the old Decepitcon base, Thundercracker had not once caught his brother coming online in the morning, no matter how early the blue jet got up.
He hadn't cared at first, but the longer it went on, the weirder it became. Where did the purple Seeker keep going in the middle of the night? Because he had to be going somewhere. Was he avoiding Thundercracker? The blue Seeker considered that with a sudden pang of distress, that converted swiftly to anger. Well if he was, Thundercracker would find out why!
Newly determined, the Seeker threw himself out of the berth and onto the floor. He headed towards the alcove where they stored energon, passing by Ramjet and Slipstream, each holding energon cubes of their own, in the common room on the way. Conveniently, he arrived to find Skywarp already standing in the connected storage room, holding a partially-drank energon cube and staring dazedly at the stacks of rations.
"There you are!" he shouted, marching up to his brother, and the anxious Seeker jumped, wings flaring, fumbling with his cube and barely managing not to drop it. "Doing another little disappearing act, huh?! What are you, hiding? Did you think you could hide from the most skilled tracker of any of us?"
Turning around to face his sibling, Skywarp tapped nervously on the side of the cube, attempting a shaky smile, "T-thundercracker! I-I'm not hiding! I'm right here, haha," he let out an anxious laugh, but his already weak smile was already fading.
"I'm way too smart to fall for that," huffed TC, arms crossed proudly, "You're as bad as Ramjet!" he accused.
Already eavesdropping on the drama, Ramjet couldn't help but poke his head around the doorway at the sound of his name, "My audial receivers are ice cold," he commented with a smirk, "Are you talking about me?"
The blue clone swiftly redirected, turning on his sharply grinning white brother instead,"Get outta here! I'm not talking to you!" he yelled, pointing out towards the connected common room. Not waiting to see if his dishonest brother actually listened, he whirled back around to return to interrogating Skywarp, turning just in time to see the purple Seeker attempting to slip away towards the other side of the room. "Hey! Get back here!" But Skywarp ducked through the common room and out into the cavernous base beyond. Thundercracker made ready to chase, but was stopped short by an urgent "low energon" warning lighting up in his HUD. Right. He still needed to refuel. Couldn't go chasing down sneaky brothers with an imminent threat of stasis lock. Giving the energon an offensive look at the disruption to his plans, TC sullenly grabbed a cube and continued to muse over the mystery of Skywarp.
"Maybe you snore," snarked Slipstream from where she had been watching the drama impassionately, primly sipping her energon, "Or give long puffed-up speeches even in recharge. We sure as spark can't shut you up during the day." Ramjet snickered.
"I didn't ask you!" fumed Thundercracker, gripping the cube in his hand hard enough to cause it to crack.
Naturally, Slipstream just shrugged, completely unrepentant. The blue jet groaned. All of his siblings were so annoying! They couldn't be pleasant and unobtrusive like him. Cube in hand, and refueled enough to avoid immediate stasis, Thundercracker prowled into the dark halls of the base. At first he decided he would track down Skywarp and make him say what was wrong, but as he calmed down over sips of energon and thought it over, he wondered if that would be the best decision. Not that he was ever wrong, of course! They just said that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result was insanity, and he definitely was not insane. He was in fact the most sane one here! He was a tactical mastermind! So it would just be strategic to try something else.
Dispersing the empty energon cube in his hand, he paused in the dim hallway, considering what that something else could be. Something was off about Skywarp, and he needed to find out what it was. It dawned on him that there was one sibling who he could ask…one who always seemed to have a sense when something was wrong. Deciding the new plan to himself, he continued down the hall to search for the sycophant instead.
"Hey! I wanna talk to you!" announced the blue Seeker, finding his brother working on something at the recently rebuilt computer. He looked pretty peaceful and happy about it, so Thundercracker assumed that he was doing some important task Starscream had ordered him to do. He was such a doormat! Thundercracker would never do something just because a lesser version of himself told him to.
Sunstorm looked up with barely noticeable apprehension, which was quickly covered up by a pleasant grin as he leaned against the console keyboard, "Proud Thundercracker! How might a modest mech such as myself aid you this fine day?"
Coming to stand a little distance away, rather than joining his brother at the computer, Thundercracker shifted his posture uncertainly. He had never asked for any help before. The idea of him ever needing such a thing was unthinkable. But then he reasoned that it wasn't him that needed help, it was that wimp Skywarp. Satisfied in that reasoning, he said, "My incredible powers of observation have noticed that something's weird with our pathetic brother Skywarp. Even though my audial and optical sensors are the most capable, I thought I'd give you the chance to say if you've seen anything."
"I do not doubt your superb observation skills," agreed the orange clone amiably, though he leaned forward against the console pensively, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he recalled the last few times he had seen his black and purple brother. He didn't think anything was strange, though Skywarp was always tense so it could sometimes be hard to tell. Thundercracker, though, shared a room with the timid Seeker and would know things Sunstorm would not. And despite the mech's posturing, he would notice and care if something were amiss. Arm raised in a half shrug, he commented,"I have been regrettably lax in minding our sensitive sibling. What have your powerful optical sensors noticed?"
"He's just…being weird. He's all distracted, and keeps staring at things all the time for no reason. He's not recharging fully, I can tell. Of course, he's also always cowardly hiding away and is never in our room so it can't be sure why," he explained. Remembering his and Slipstream's theory that the black Seeker was avoiding him, he added tensely, "Maybe he just can't stand my awesomeness so feels like he has to leave," his proud posture hunched slightly and he frowned.
Sunstorm was surprised to hear such self-conscious blame come from his most confident sibling, at least so far as Thundercracker could manage it. It was a sound theory- the blue jet was certainly larger than life and could be a bit much around others- but the orange Seeker was fairly certain that Skywarp would have said something if that was the issue. Nothing had ever stopped the purple jet from complaining about his siblings before, not even his own perpetual fear. To his blue brother, Sunstorm reassured, "Ignorant of the situation I may be, I am certain it is not your fault." Steeling himself for the inevitable defensiveness that would come from the suggestion, he proposed, "If I may meekly suggest, you should ask our wonderful brother Skywarp what it is that is regretfully disturbing his recharge."
Thundercracker scowled. He had already tried that, sort of. And he wasn't gonna say that he failed, because he didn't fail at anything! He was the most sympathetic and could handle situations with so much tact. Skywarp was just being a scaredy-jet again, obviously. "I was totally going to do that, but Skywarp couldn't handle how much sympathy I was showing. So I decided since I'm the nicest brother that I would graciously allow you to talk to him, since you like helping others so much. Be in awe of my generosity."
"Hmm," Sunstorm thought it over. Thundercracker, in his own way, was actually asking for help. He must have really been worried about whatever was going on with Skywarp. And what else could he really say to that? "Of course, noble Thundercracker. I would be greatly pleased to do what little amount I can."
So later, after he had finished the task his kind creator had so generously given him, he went straight to look for his anxious brother, eventually finding him sitting above where he had just started, on the roof of the base, looking up at the partially cloudy sky. Activating his thrusters, the orange jet flew up through the hole in the ceiling, waving a greeting as he did, "Hello my splendid sibling! Enjoying some cloud gazing this excellent afternoon?" He touched down next to him, then lowered himself to sit beside his brother at the edge of the hole, their legs dangling down over the room below.
Skywarp tore his gaze away from the sky to give his brother a smile,"Oh, hi, Sunny! N-not exactly. Just…enjoying being outside, I guess."
"Would you too terribly mind my own ignoble company?" asked Sunstorm, casually leaning back on his arms against the warm rock of the plateau, "Though I suppose I wouldn't contribute much to conversation and I'm sure I'm spoiling a peaceful afternoon."
The black Seeker smirked bemusedly at the request, thinking about the irony of Sunstorm saying he wouldn't contribute to conversation. "I don't mind," he answered.
Getting his in, the orange jet started on his mission, though he opened with smalltalk and idle conversation. Leaning over to look at the base below them, he commented conversationally, "Our new home is coming together so exquisitely. Isn't it just perfect?"
Skywarp suddenly lost his cheery expression, muttering flatly, "Yeah, sure, great."
That was strange. Sunstorm honestly hadn't expected to get to the spark of the matter this quickly. Confused, he asked carefully, "Is there something not great about it?"
The purple Seeker cursed his evasive answer, starting to feel a rising panic. Sunstorm didn't need to know, it wasn't even actually a problem. Shifting his optics, he replied in a forced chipper voice, "It's fine." Sunstorm seemed to regard him more intensely after that, and Skywarp could have slapped himself on the forehead. Of course Sunstorm knew a bad lie when he heard it! He hung out with Ramjet all of the time!
Observing his brother keenly, the orange jet got straight to the point, "What is the matter, my fine sibling?"
Skywarp crossed his arms, his wings tensing, "I don't want to talk about it," he retorted. "You'll just make fun of me," he claimed anxiously, gripping his arms tightly, "It's stupid, I know it's stupid."
"Dearest Skywarp, I would never insult you," protested Sunstorm, holding his hand to his chest affrontedly, "Not simply because I'm physically unable but because I don't want to hurt any of my family."
Skywarp narrowed his optics amusedly at the declaration, his grip on his arms loosening. "Except TC?" he wondered teasingly, knowing that the closest Sunstorm had gotten to being rude was when the blue Seeker had gotten annoyingly pushy.
Leaning back again, Sunstorm gave a noncommittal and dismissive "hm?" as though he hadn't heard or understood the question, and Skywarp just shook his head and laughed.
The playful banter had calmed him down, and he considered the orange Seeker sitting beside him. Jokes aside, he supposed Sunstorm really wouldn't make fun of him if he admitted what was bothering him. (And, if precedent were to be believed, would probably just continue to worry and nag him about it if he didn't.) Tapping his claws together nervously, and looking down at the rock beneath him he said in a rush, "I'mscaredofthedark."
Sunstorm took a moment to parse the quickly delivered string, and, while he felt no urge to mock or tease, he was admittedly slightly confused. Cocking his head ever so slightly, he suggested to the fearful Seeker, "It was very brave and thoughtful of you to admit to your fears. If your ignorant brother could humbly make a suggestion, you could turn up the range on your sharp and capable optic sensors-"
"I know!" burst out Skywarp, angrily flaring his wings and flailing his arms,"I know," then fisting them and pounding them against his knees, "but…" He turned sheepish once again, his fingers unfurling from their clenched fist. He looked back up to the clouds gently floating above them, trying to find a way to explain, saying, "My processor knows there's nothing frightening but I can just feel the dark there. Even with my optical sensitivity up all the way I can just sense that it's dark. Just in the corners and…" his posture tightened as he shrunk in on himself, pulling his legs away from the edge and up to his cockpit with his head propped on his knees, and hugging himself tightly. His wings pinned flat against his back as he rambled, his voice raising in pitch and speed as he went on, "And the room is so tight, a-and small and I just know that there's going to be something in the shadows and I won't be able to get away from it! And TC is in recharge and I'm on the bottom and it would be able to just grab me!" the more he got lost in his frightening scenario, the more stressed he became, so now the black Seeker was shaking.
Sunstorm immediately started running a soothing hand down his brother's nearest wing, making vague, nonsense reassurances as he did. He was properly concerned now, and internally yelled at himself for his rare lapse in sensitivity. Just because Skywarp spoke more steadily and expressed his opinion more frequently didn't mean all of his fears were gone. He still struggled with paranoia the same way Ramjet struggled to tell the truth.
"I'm such a u-useless coward," the purple Seeker said softly into his knees, his grip around himself tightening in shame.
"Skywarp! Dearest brave Skywarp, no you are not!" Sunstorm argued adamantly, hands gesturing widely, "You are ever so clever, and stealthy, and you tell the most stupendously humorous jokes! You have so many unique and important skills! We would truly all be bereft without you!"
"You would say that," remarked Skywarp bitterly, immediately regretting the words as Sunstorm minutely flinched. The black Seeker cringed in kind, rasping, "Sorry."
The orange jet recovered quickly, his expression turning stern, "Far be it from me to presume to tell my highly competent brothers what to do, but it would be so incredibly wise and pragmatic of you to tell our bold brother Thundercracker about your certainly conquerable fears."
Skywarp uncurled from his scrunched position as he took a moment to translate the sprawling sentence from Sunstorm to English, before scowling at the suggestion and shouting, "No way! He would just make fun of me, o-or beat me up, o-or something!"
The normally cheery Seeker's stern expression remained, "Unwise though my unworthy self may be, I assure you that discussing this with Thundercracker would be an extraordinarily beneficial thing to do. He, in all of his great capacity for sympathy, was touchingly worried about you."
The black Seeker crossed his arms and hunched forwards petulantly, still not on board with the idea.
"He wants to help you," Sunstorm persisted, "Thundercracker, the wonderfully observant mech, saw that you weren't getting recharge, and requested my insignificant assistance in asking what was wrong," Skywarp's brother explained.
"Thundercracker told you that something was wrong?" the Seeker wondered in surprise. He had assumed this whole conversation was just from Sunstorm being Sunstorm, and that the kind Seeker had figured out something was wrong himself. His brother nodded, though, so Skywarp thought about the idea of Thundercracker being worried about him. "If he was the one who was worried, why didn't he say anything himself, then?" he asked, slightly annoyed at his blue brother using their complimenting sibling as a middle man.
"He certainly made a valiant effort, although… Thundercracker is a mech of bold, confident, action, and he will never gently sidestep a problem," Sunstorm addressed their brother's complete lack of subtly diplomatically, which got a chuckle out of Skywarp.
The black jet reflected. So that was what the yelling about disappearing was about? He was worried? Softening, the Seeker relented, "Ok, I guess I can try talking to him."
And he did! Try, that was. He intentionally got his energon cube at the same time as his brother the next morning, intending to bring it up then. But you know, complaining while refueling was kind of rude, so it just wasn't the right time.
And then when they were preening later he opened his mouth to tell Thundercracker what was wrong. But at the mech's sharp "Yeah?" when he could tell he wanted to say something, Skywarp backed out.
And when they were both in their room and about to recharge, he ran what he was going to say over and over in his processor, and almost said something several times. He just couldn't shake the fear that his problem was silly and that TC would tell him so and he would just be bothering the other mech.
Just as the blue mech moved to turn off the lights, Skywarp burst out ungracefully what he had been trying to say all day, "I'm scared of the dark!" he blurted, immediately regretting it. He had planned to say it so much more carefully than that! Now he just sounded pathetic. However, Thundercracker stilled his hand, and the lights stayed on.
"I kn-know it's really stupid. Our optics light up, what is there to be scared of?" he babbled, twisting his fingers and avoiding Thundercracker's most likely judging face, "B-but I can still tell it's dark and who knows what could be hiding, and with the door closed it would get me and the room's so small and I wouldn't be able to escape!" He told a shorter version of his fear to his confident brother, still pointedly avoiding his gaze.
Thundercracker remained oddly silent, thinking over his brother's explanation as he took his hand down from where it hovered over the power switch to the room. Yeah, his kneejerk reaction was to think it was incredibly stupid, but a surprisingly larger part of him was just relieved to at last know what was wrong (and even more relieved to know it had nothing to do with him). He felt almost offended that his brother had been feeling unsafe in their own room. "Skywarp!" he barked out, feeling a little bit guilty when his brother flinched sharply at the tone. "Hey, look at me," he requested, in a significantly softer voice.
Skywarp turned his face in his brother's direction, though his optics still darted uneasily around the room. Fisting his hands on either side of his hip, Thundercracker boomed,"When we were trapped in a glue ball with that Autobot, it was my sharpshooting that got us out, right?"
Actually looking at his brother, Skywarp hesitantly answered, his wings flicking, "Y-yeah?"
"And when you almost flew recklessly straight into that asteroid, I took decisive action and shoved you out of the way, didn't I?"
The black jet cringed at the reminder of one of the scariest things that had happened to him while the two of them were stuck in space and trying to get home. You wouldn't think giant space rocks would just come out of nowhere, but he had almost crashed. He was definitely thankful that TC had been with him. Still, he wasn't sure where this was going so replied uncertainly,"Yesss?"
"So I'm the strongest and most capable of any of us here," pronounced the blue Seeker with certainty, "No shadowy figures would even be able to get close to my brother without getting a sonic blast to the face! And I don't miss," he bragged.
The quivering Seeker considered this, and admittedly it made him feel a little better. Thundercracker definitely was very strong. But that was only any good if he was actually online. "But what about when you're in recharge?" whined Skywarp.
"Obviously I could take on any threat even in recharge!" retorted the egoist instantly. The statement, however, did not look like it had convinced the scared Seeker. But Thundercracker knew what would. He reached back towards the light switch, but only turned it down halfway, leaving the room illuminated enough to see clear outlines and details. Without another word, he got onto his berth and shut off his optics.
"TC? W-what are you doing?" he heard Skywarp ask, sounding shocked and confused.
Not turning his optics back on, in the darkness of his own creation to make a point, Thundercracker replied, "The lights are only turned off because Starscream told us to conserve energy. Well, I won't have anyone else tell me how to light my room!"
The black Seeker looked around the partially lit room with relief. He could clearly make out where furniture began and ended, and the corners no longer held the noticeable outlines of shadows. There was no place for anything to potentially hide, and for the first night he could recall he could actually relax in his own berth. Laying down on his side with his back against the wall and his limbs curled inwards to shelter his cockpit he said to the room in a quiet voice, "Thank you."
Thundercracker didn't reply, but from the shifting in the berth above Skywarp could tell he had heard him. For the first time, Skywarp spent a whole uninterrupted night in recharge in his own room.
The next morning, Thundercracker came online to an alert and chipper Skywarp. He stared at the unusual image of his brother actually sitting in the berth below his, adjusting to the novel sight. Noticing his blue brother was up, the black jet greeted, cheerier and more relaxed than Thundercracker thought was possible, "Good morning, Thundercracker!"
Not quite used to the concept of actually having another person in the room when he got out of recharge, TC just grunted.
Skywarp didn't seem to mind, and chattered on, swinging his legs cheerily, "Wow, I recharged well. A berth is so much more comfortable than outside."
"You've been recharging outside?" asked TC critically.
Tracing little circles in the berth below him, the timid Seeker sheepishly explained, "Well, sometimes I'd recharge in the main cavern, if it was raining or something. The stars are so bright, and they look so different and pretty planetside. Plus it's nice knowing I can escape to the sky any time if I need to." He gave a tense laugh, "It's a lot better than the white walls in here. They're so oppressive."
The blue jet scanned around the room, this time grunting thoughtfully to himself. The walls were pretty boring, now that he was really looking at them. And they did make the room seem small. With that, he got a brilliant idea, and threw himself off to the floor below. Skywarp twitched in surprise when he landed with a heavy thud. Turning to his brother in the lower berth, TC grabbed his arm to pull him to his feet, saying, "C'mon let's go refuel." The two left together to get energon.
Later that day, Starscream was scanning over the last completed details of his new office proudly, when the peace was shattered by the loud sound of footsteps thundering his way. "Oh no," he frowned, not knowing yet which clone had already found his place of solitude and was coming to ruin it, but assuming that no matter who it was they would make his day difficult.
He groaned loudly when the figure arrived, fairly crashing into the room, and slamming at the closed door to get in. Only one of the clones would make an entrance like that. It just figured he would have to deal with the most difficult of them all. "Hey, lesser me!" the clone called as he entered the room, seeming to fill up the space of three mechs.
"Oh goodie. Thundercracker. What do you want?" he asked dryly, vaguely computating his chances of getting around the clone and out the door.
"Do we have any paint in this dumpy base?" he asked aggressively.
"What?" wondered Starscream, giving the clone a deadpan stare. Of all the things to be bothered about, this was nowhere near what he had expected.
The clone huffed impatiently, reiterating, "Paint, blue paint. You put it on the walls to make them a certain color? I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone as unintelligent as you would be confused."
"Watch it, buddy," warned Starscream, optics narrowed, "You're the one asking me for help right now." Shifting to a smirk, he asked teasingly, "What do you want it for, anyway? Planning on getting artistic? Or do you just want to make the walls match your 'superior coloring'?"
"No," TC answered shortly, taking the older Seeker slightly aback. (Funnily, Thundercracker hadn't even thought about the fact that he'd be painting the room the same color as his plating. Although now that he was he guessed it was a great bonus.) "I'm generously painting the room for Skywarp. He hates the plain white walls and honestly I do too! And I'm not gonna recharge in an ugly room that I hate!"
"The base isn't even fully rebuilt and you want to move on to picking out paint?" criticized the elder Seeker, but internally he was thinking the statement over. Thundercracker of all mechs wanted to do something for someone else? They were all ruined, he bemoaned, they had all grown so sentimental. He unfortunately had to include himself in that, because some treacherous part of what made up his spark these days thought that it was rather sweet, and was impressed to see the egoist's development past his stock trait. Not bothering to pick a fight (and maybe it would give the boisterous Seeker something else to do, anyway), he suggested, "We just dug up a new storage room, but haven't gone through it yet. Haven't seen paint anywhere else in this wreck, but maybe you can get lucky."
Without so much as a thank you, Thundercracker turned around and marched determinedly out of the office to pursue his quest.
"You're welcome!" shouted Starscream sarcastically out the door as his clone left.
When Skywarp went back to his and TC's room that night, he had to do a double-take at the sight that greeted him when he opened the door. The quarters seemed to have been transformed, the formerly sterile white metallic walls all painted an uneven light blue. He looked up wonderingly to see that the ceiling was similarly colored.
"Oh, so I see you've witnessed my masterful craftsmanship and artistry," Skywarp startled at the booming, boastful voice of his brother (Sparks he wished he could stop doing that all the time).
Turning to look behind him at where Thundercracker was just entering the room, the purple jet asked, "TC, you did all this?"
"Obviously! I can do anything! And I deserve a living space that looks as great as I do (well, almost that is, clearly nothing can be as gorgeous as me)." Gesturing sweepingly across the room, the blue Seeker bragged, "Gaze upon its perfection and be grateful for our no longer hideous room!"
Skywarp did indeed gaze upon it, although "perfection" was a stretch. The paint job was blotchy and uneven, and he could see scorch marks on the floor from where the other Seeker had likely used his thrusters while painting the ceiling. But he kept these notes to himself, exclaiming instead, "It's great!" Observing the room's new look, he noticed a new feature. A hole near the top of the right wall, which definitely hadn't been there before. Pointing at the new feature somewhat dumbfoundedly he asked carefully, "Umm, did you blow a hole in the wall?"
"It's a window, duh! The best rooms have windows!"
Looking at the "window" more closely revealed only more tunnel on the other side. They were deep within the mountain so a glimmer of open sky wasn't exactly physically possible. Skywarp considered that it was the thought that counted.
With the lights at half brightness, the Seekers settled down in their berths. The black jet took a moment just to lay down and appreciate the new room. The blue on the ceiling was especially nice. He knew factually that it was still just the ceiling, but the blue illusion of sky was already making him feel better. He was just about to power down for real, when a voice screeched through the night, "Why is there a hole in the wall?! THUNDERCRACKER!"
Starscream could be seen on the other side of their window, face somewhere between incredulous and furious.
"It's called interior design! Or maybe superior design, in my case," retorted TC, shouting through the window. "It's a clear improvement!"
The older Seeker dragged a hand down his face, muttering darkly. Skywarp couldn't make out everything he was saying, but there was definitely a lot of swearing involved. "You're lucky it's too late to deal with this," was the one thing he actually said to them (well, Thundercracker),before turning on his heel and stomping down the hall.
It took a little bit for Skywarp to resettle, looking in the direction of the contentious window as he did. As nice a thought as it was, he had a feeling the window wouldn't be staying.
TC got lucky with the paint. Also darned Sunstorm just has to keep inserting himself into these stories, only this time he didn't even want to be, lol. It's what happens when you assign yourself the family problem solver. Hope you enjoyed another dose of hurt/comfort! See ya next time.