A/N: Back to Jazz's POV for this chapter! Xxxxxxx


What a fucking arsehole.

If anyone should be holding a grudge in this situation, it should be Jazz.

But no he tried to be the bigger bot and extend a servo of friendship.

Only the get it thrown back in his fucking face.

Why wouldn't Prowl want to be his friend?

Everybody wants to be friends with Jazz!

What was that guys fucking problem?

Jazz was seething by the time he got to the rec room. But he covered it up with an easy going smile as he pushed open the old blast proof doors.

The rec room had been an old weapons storage room back when the Ark was actually used for interstellar travel. So the reinforced walls hid the chaos that usually happened inside. Since the place was still standing, Jazz assumed nobody had thrown Bumblebee's coming of age party yet. They must've been waiting for him to come back.

It was time for morning rations so the place was packed as people hung around before getting to their assigned tasks. Although the atmosphere was unusually sombre. Which was to be expected as jazz had finally leaked the news of Blackout's death into the rumour mill.

Jazz scanned the crowds but Mirage was nowhere to be seen which wasn't exactly a surprise.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before he spotted his second favourite mech sitting in a booth in the centre of the room.

"Heard you got into a fight with Prowl?" Blaster teased as Jazz slid in besides the communications expect, his cassettes for once not running around his pedes. Jazz felt a cringe of guilt as he wondered if he'd booked a babysitter in preparation for him coming home.

"Nice to see you too mech." Jazz said before smoothing switching topics, not wanting to get anymore riled up where everyone could see. "You got the goods?"

"Did you doubt me?" Blaster pretended to look semi-offended before reaching behind the seat.

Presenting it like an ancient sword, in Blaster's outstretched hands was an aghartan electro-bass.

Its body was a deep purple like the midnight sky with six silver strings tied across the length of the instrument's neck.

"What a beauty!" Jazz whistled, stroking his digits over the silky strings. How in the pit Blaster managed to find it in their apocalyptic wasteland of a planet he had no idea! Dude's talents were wasted in communications. He should be a fucking miracle worker!

"I know." Blaster replied with an exaggerated fluttering of his optics.

Yesterday Jazz would've planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Today he squeezed his shoulder in thanks. If Blaster noticed anything different he didn't appear offended by it which Jazz was grateful for. Not that he was surprised, if anyone should be rewarded with the title of coolest mech on the planet, Blaster was the more deserving bot.

Before Jazz could catch up on any of the gossip he'd missed, the sound of heavy footsteps interrupted their conversation.

He looked up to see Ironhide's large red frame standing over them.

"Prowl's an asshole. Don't take it personally."

Jazz snorted at the weapons specialist's unexpectedly frank choice of words as he hankering down in the seat across from them.

"I ain't. But I think he did."

"Ignore him." Ironhide said with a wave of his servos. "He starts shit with everyone. Same with Red Alert. They don't trust anyone. Heck they don't even trust their own shadow!"

"And Ratchet?" If Jazz was going to get the down low from the command team he might as well get info from all of them. Plus it would give Blaster something to keep the base busy with the rumours mill spinning for a while since Jazz probably wasn't to have time to keep it running himself now.

"Ratchet doesn't want you to kill yourself because you ignored an injury due to your mods."

The smile on Jazz's face became genuine at Ironhide's reassurance, not that the other bot would be able to notice any difference.

"Thanks mech."

"Hey none of us would be here of we didn't believe in Optimus so I trust his judgement." Ironhide shrugged before nodding at the electro-base in Jazz's hands. "Can you actually play that thing?"

In lieu of a verbal reply, Jazz strummed a few cords on the base, familiarising himself with the new instrument, playing a few different half songs until the sounds came together into an old tune.

Jazz hadn't played it since his busking days although the song itself was much older then that. If he was remembering his music history right, it had been a sky-sailors shanty from the era of Nova Prime, about the sadness of leaving home despite searching for a brighter horizon. The tension of the past twenty four hours, flowing out of him through the sound.

Besides him, Blaster tapped the table with the beat, humming the melody of lyrics that neither of them could remember.

Soon all eyes in the rec room were on them, transfixed on the sound as they transitioned from one song to another. Jazz didn't even know what the new song was. But it was one that had helped him get through the nights growing up on the streets of Iacon..

When Jazz finished the last strum, for the first time, he heard the rec room fall into total silence. Which was no small feat considering the amount of war machines packed into the small space.

But as Jazz gazed out at the sea of mechs, he didn't see war worn heroes. All he could see were soft smiles and tears shining in their eyes.

And in that moment Jazz knew that his plan had succeeded.

Throwing a party this soon after Blackout's death would have been in poor taste. Whereas their seemingly impromptu music session gave their troupes a chance to feel their pain as one whilst the natural joys of listening to music lifted their spirits just enough to give them hope for the future.

Even Ironhide with his rough exterior, had the corners of his lips turned upwards in a soft smile.

Jazz couldn't help but internally applaud himself for the bonus victory.

Befriending the gruff weapons specialist was no easy task and Jazz thought he would have had to wait a little longer to win him over.

But sometimes the power of his charm surprised even him.

And if he could win over Ironhide with just a few words and a song, then it couldn't be much harder to convince their head tactician either.

Jazz smirked to himself.

Oh he was going to befriend that asshole so hard.


A/N: Like I said in my tiktok I don't know if it's just because I'm British but now I can't help but imagine Jazz's voice as Daniel Kaluuya! Xxxxxxx