"This is your ID, Mr. Doe."
"Are you sure you really can't remember anything, Mr. Doe?"
"John!"
"It's a pleasure to have you working here, Mr. Doe."
"Mr. Doe is one of our best employees!"
John Doe, John Doe, John Freaking Doe! That's what everyone was calling him all the time and it was driving Swerve mad! Why couldn't they just accept that his name was actually Swerve?! It made his optic ridge- eyebrow- twitch every time he was called John.
Swerve HATED that name with passion, but it was either that or being sent to the psych ward. And from what he had learned during his very short stay on Earth, he was glad he was not put in there, especially with how the alien attacks had put a lot of strain on hospitals.
'What am I going to do now?' he asked himself 'I don't know where this planet is, how I got here or how to contact the others. Would they even believe me? How did I even become a human?'
He was lost and confused, away from his fellow bots on a world that's hostile against any extraterrestrial species thanks to the damn Quints that were attacking the planet. And while ha had somehow managed to find himself some sort of stable job and steady income without having an official identity, he had never felt more alone. Because as socially awkward as Swerve was by Cybertronian standards, he still wanted to have some connection with another being, a good friend as the humans called it.
…
It happened a few years after Swerve joined the mech program when one of his fellow engineers pulled him to the side as soon as he stepped one pede- foot in the hangars.
"Wagh!" – he waved his arms as to not stumble and fall to the hard ground.
"Swerve! Dude! You won't believe what came here last night!" – Twist was practically bouncing with excitement.
"Uh- wha- what happened last night?"
"Night shift received the documents for a new order!" Twist almost shouted "We're be building a custom mech! Right here, on BASE! Isn't that right?!" – he turned to ask a tired-looking engineer that was about to clock out.
"Huh?" Hoist, blinked sleepily "What did you sa-a-aaai?" – he yawned.
"I was asking about the order you guys received last night." – Twist gestured with one arm while still holding onto Swerve's shirt.
"Haah~ Yes, we got it around… 3 or 4 in the morning. Damn bureaucrats, taking their time…" he grumbled at the end "We left the documents near station 5. You can look it up there and prepare the station. I am going to go and sleep forever."
The sleep-deprived engineer then stumbled out of the hangars and closed the door behind himself.
"Oh-kay. So, what? We've made custom mechs before. What's so special about this one?" – Swerve was still puzzled.
"Because! This mech we're going to be making is for Blurr!" Twist threw both hands up in the air "I can't wait to start putting it together!"
"Who?" – Swerve had a confused look on his face.
"WHAT?!" Twist gasped "How can you NOT know who Blurr is?! He's like one of the big racing stars out there and now he'll become a mech pilot!"
"Sorry…" Swerve rubbed the back of his head awkwardly "I am… not too big on the whole racing thing, so I am not watching any of it."
And he really wasn't a big fan of racing. Even back on Cybertron; before the rebellion, war and them leaving the planet, Swerve was also not a fan of racing, despite his alt mode being a relatively fast car. He was always a bit clumsy and tended the bump into things over a certain speed limit, so he naturally was never interested in racing. He even chose to skip the last few Speedia tournaments they held before the rebellion turned into war, instead choosing to watch some movies and Historical documentaries.
"Oh, boy, are you missing on it!" Twist exclaimed "Blurr is like THE BEST out there, he's also very fit and HOT! He's like a movie star but in racing! Come on, grab yourself a coffee and I will catch you up on him before the morning briefing starts!"
…..
Swerve had to admit- Twist was right about Blurr being amazing. Even after he finished his work day, Swerve was still looking up videos of Blurr on the internet. Anything from news reports, interviews, advertisements for anything from sport drinks to car tires, even a few music remixes with videos of Blurr racing on the track.
He was awesome! Unbelievable! And they were going to be making a mech for him! Would someone like that really be joining MECH?! Blurr was an amazing racer and just by looking at all the videos of him driving in his cars made Swerve turn red and feel like he's watching some forbidden tape.
'Oh, no! He's hot!' – Swerve thought, quoting Squidward.
The slick paintjob, the absolute precision with which Blurr took turns as he raced and passed everyone, the purr of the car's engine-! If Blurr was a Cybertronian, he would have been one of the most popular and one of the most fawned over mechs in history.
'No doubt he would have been a racer, maybe even won a Speedia trophy or two?' – Swerve thought, feeling nostalgic over the old times before the war.
Needless to say, Swerve became a fan and bought several posters and some merch when his next paycheck came.
…
"This is madness!" – Tailgate shouted and slammed a bunch of papers on the desk in front of him.
"Please, calm down 'Gate. It would do you no good to be shouting at empty air and make a scene." – Ratchet said, this time joining the engineers after his latest quarrel with Pharma.
"I know, but this is insane!" Tailgate gathered the papers and started walking "I know what the higher ups want – a public face to promote the program. That's why they are throwing so much money to get someone like Blurr in, but just look at these specifications they sent back from HR!"
He handed the papers to Ratchet, the older medic/engineer took them and hummed as he examined the papers.
"I know I am not in the engineering department and work in the labs, but this ignores all safety! You guys would have to re-build half the frame to fit these specs, not to mention with how they want this mech to be, it is basically a walking tin can with how little armor it has! One wrong turn and it gets crumpled like a beer can!" – Tailgate was ranting now.
The two entered the hangars and approached station 5 where Swerve and a few more engineers were working on the mech's inner frame.
"Oh, hey there 'Gate! Ratchet! I see you are going to be here with us instead of the med bay, eh?" Twist grinned and made a *whirr-whirr* with the drill he had in his hand "What's with the sour looks?" – his smile was gone when he noticed the sour mood of the other two.
"Bad news, look at these – new orders from top. The fraggers up there don't know what they are doing." Ratchet practically shoved the papers in Twist's arms "It is almost like those scrapheads want their 'Star pilot' to turn into a pancake!"
The older redhead then put on some gloves and attacked the mech with his wrench in an attempt to vent some frustration by taking apart some of the leg components to fit their new 'order' from HQ.
"Yeeesh! And we just finished making the cabin frame yesterday!" Twist held the documents like they were dirty "Now we have to re-work it AND change the bearings in the legs! Couldn't they have told us this earlier?!"
"Sorry, Twist, I tried arguing but… since I am not part of the engineering department and-" – Tailgate began.
"Bah, no need to apologize, 'Gate! We'll handle it and make it work somehow! After all, we DO have Swerve on our team!" – he gestured back with his thumb.
On top of the mech saw Swerve, the short, stocky redhead with the visor was easily visible and looked absorbed while mounting some circuitry inside the mech's 'head'.
While the rest talked down below, Swerve was deep in though while doing his job. He was thinking… about things, many things, but mainly about Blurr and the mech he was currently working on.
'He seems to like blue a lot, it's like his paint scheme. Maybe I could try suggesting to put a blue coating with black highlights instead of the chrome and red they currently have for the design?' – Swerve thought as he fiddled with some wires.
He remembered the initial design they were currently working on while they built the inner frame. It was a pretty good mech, in his opinion, the classic slick design difficult to grab by Quints, the bright colors that would pop when filmed, they were building a show mech but a functional one at the very least. Still, he cringed at the color scheme, chrome and red would definitely not be a good combination.
'Hm… Wonder how it might look with a head crest, or maybe some thrusters to look like doorwings? Or maybe-'
Swerve was so deep in thought, wondering how Blurr's mech might look with a more Cybertronian look, that he didn't notice someone was calling his name. At least until said someone poked him in the shoulder.
"Swerve! Yoohoo! You there?!" – Twist poked again.
"AUGH!" – Swerve jumped in surprise.
He almost tipped over and fell but managed to keep his balance, alas, the tools he had in his hands just slipped through his grip and fell to the floor.
"T-Twist! Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry, man, but you didn't hear me when I called." The mechanic started going down the ladder "Come now, Johnny, we got new orders from up top."
"Ugh, I told you I hate that name." – Swerve grumbled.
"Well, get used to it or change it if ya don't like it man! Now, hurry up! We're gonna be re-doing parts of the mech!" – Twist grinned.
"Lucky you, Mr. I like taking stuff apart." – Swerve said as he followed the other engineer down.
….
It was an impulsive though, plus some bad luck and timing, that Swerve ended up buying himself a new coffee mug to replace his old one that day.
Swerve had come to love the beverage called coffee since he woke up on Earth, so he'd have one at work each morning. It was his morning ritual, but then tragedy struck when one of the new interns was running errands and not looking, that he bumped into Swerve and knocked the mug out of his hand. It shattered to the floor and spilled hot coffee all over him. So, then Swerve went to buy himself a replacement mug from the nearby dollar store.
'Nothing too fancy.' – he had foolishly thought.
But then the moment he stepped in the store, like a beam from headlights, he was flashed by a new, shiny, blinding display full of Blurr merch. Posters, pictures, cards and even mugs!
"W-wow… so bright-" – he squinted behind his tinted blue glasses.
He was originally going to buy himself a plain mug, a simple white one to write his name on with a sharpie. He knew where they stood, just next to the pun mugs – he just needed to circle around the shiny blue display of Blurr and be done but…
His opti- eyes- still wandered over all the merch, until they settled over a few coffee mugs. He picked the one he liked – it was light blue with Blurr's usual race car drawn on the side and stylized writing in white and black saying "Watch out for the BLURR!". He should have left the mug back there and gotten an ordinary one but…
"That'll be 15.99!" – the young teen behind the cash register told him.
"With card…" – he mumbled.
"Thank you for shopping here! Have a nice day!"
In the end, he ended up buying the blue mug and brought it to work. It was not a big deal; it shouldn't have been – many of the people on base had weird mugs! Tailgate had a chrome cup, he had seen Ratchet drink from an ambulance-like cup (apparently a gift from one of his patients while the old man was still a regular doctor at the hospital), even Vortex (the few times he had seen that maniac) had a cup that looked like an alien head that was cut open and he was drinking its brains. So, Swerve bringing the blue mug should not have been anything noteworthy. Well, too bad that on that same day, the base had a surprise visit.
…
Outside the base stopped a black car with tinted windows, which meant business. Then, the back door opened and out from the right stepped Swindle, from the left side however came out a man with bright blue hair slicked back and a pair of sunglasses. It was Blurr himself!
"Well, this place doesn't look too bad." – Blurr took off the sunglasses and looked around.
"Well, we do keep our bases in top condition in case of a surprise attack." – Swindle smirked and leaned on the car, his purple glasses glinting.
"So! What are we waiting for, let's go and see what my mech looks like! I have another meeting after this at 12:30 with some people, then a photo shoot with some other people. Huh… or wait it tomorrow? Eh, whatever, my manager will tell me either way!" – Blurr spoke fast but casually as he counted a few times on his fingers.
"Well, since you are not officially a pilot, yet, we need to meet the sergeant in charge of the pilots, then get you a guest pass- W-wait! Where are you going?!" – Swindle just noticed the blue-haired racer was gone from his spot.
He spotted Blurr striding confidently towards the hangars, his long legs carried him fast, despite not sunning. Swindle had to run after the taller man, which was not easy with his business suit and coat.
…
Meanwhile, Swerve was inside the hangars, a steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee with sugar and creamer in hand. He had just arrived at station 5 to start this day's work.
After months of work, the mech was nearing completion. The cockpit was done and fully functional, they even had a few of the pilots move the mech around to see if the mobility was fine and to check if something should be fixed before they start adding the finishing details. They couldn't deliver a defective product to someone that would essentially be the new face of the mecha program. Their bosses would eat them alive if they did.
'Still…' Swerve thought as he looked over the unfinished mech 'I don't really like where this is going with the design. Looks a bit too wonky still. Not to mention what happened on last week's field test. Those emergency breaks need to be worked on some more.'
The mech's outer armor was still not fully installed, instead they currently used temporary sheets of metal that were just bolted on to just protect the joints and delicate electronics and circuitry that ran through the machine, some of it still visible from the many gaps still present. The mech might be functional but was FAR from working properly, evident by the many scratches and scuff marks on the plating from the latest test drive.
They had put one of the new recruits to do the test field with mech 555, since they would have been able to adapt better to the mech's high speed specs, compared to seasoned pilots that were already used to piloting a certain type of suit. It was all promising, until they had to increase the speed. The acceleration from the many thrusters that were mounted on 555's back and legs proved to be too much and the pilot could not react in time, so he went off-track and had to use the emergency breaks. He stopped, but just barely avoided crashing straight into the central building, the mech falling HARD and skidding unceremoniously across the asphalt with a screech of metal. Sparks flew, the temporary plating was damaged and dented and the new pilot was rattled pretty hard and still had some bruises from the nasty crash.
'I still don't understand how they expect someone to be driving this machine, it just goes way too fast for any of the pilots to even control it properly. Who needs that many thrusters?! The mech needs to be lighter to not just be burning fuel for nothing, but then again, if we cut too much of the armor and support out to reduce weight, one crash and it will crumple like a beer can.' – the Autobot thought with a scowl.
He heard the doors to the hangar open and he thought it must be one of his colleagues, so he just stood there, drinking his coffee and scrutinizing the mech's design. Maybe he could try making it better?
'If those higher ups actually decide to listen that is.' – Swerve scowled and took a sip.
The steps stopped just a bit behind him and he heard a new but strangely familiar voice whistle.
"So, this is the tin can they will be putting me in?" said the painfully familiar voice "Have to say, doesn't look like much but certainly better than the last racecar they stuffed me in!"
Swerve looked back so fast he almost got whiplash, his eyes looked up and he felt his jaw drop. Just behind him stood the very man they were making said mech for! Blurr was standing fust a few steps behind him! In the flesh! His blue hair slicked back, a pair of sunglasses hooked on his white shirt's collar, a blue sports jacket with black and white accents was partially unzipped but still showed off how fit the racer was. And he was tall!
"Hey there. Nice mug. You a fan?" – Blurr looked down at him.
Blurr was taller than Swerve expected! He knew he was on the shorter, if stockier, side of humans, but TV certainly did not give justice how tall Blurr was compared to the engineer. Swerve had to look up just to see his face- AND he was supposed to be saying something! Blurr was looking AT him!
"Oh- uh… yeas, I mean no! I – I- A discount at the store- You taller than I thought." – he stuttered and messed up his words.
'By the Allspark! Why did you have to say that?!' – he chided himself.
"Hah! That's certainly the first time someone has told me that instead of just praising my good looks." Blurr couldn't help but laugh and combed through his hair with one hand "Though, I have to say was not expecting that on my first visit." – he pointed a finger gun at the scratched-up mech.
"Huf~ Damn you and your stupidly long legs Blurr! I told you to wait!" Swindle finally caught up to the racer, huffing as he stopped "Huff~ There's a procedure when it comes to visiting a military base, Blurr! What if something happened with you speeding off to God knows where?!"
"Sorry, Swindle but you were stalling too much." Blurr shrugged and casually put his hands in his jacket's pockets "I came here to check how my new ride was doing and, to be frank, the look ain't really doing it for me right now. We can't have me going around doing promotional demonstrations with this mech without my signature color scheme, now, can we?" – the corners of his mouth lifted up.
"Oh! Ab-about that! Uhm, we're still not done! The mech is not complete, yet is what I mean. We still have not worked out all the kinks in the current design." – Swerve shifted from leg to leg, feeling very embarrassed.
"Relax~" Blurr turned away from Swindle "I came here for this reason after all – to have a look and to give a few suggestions. But also, a bit because I was curious."
Blurr took a few steps closer to the mech, despite Swindle's disgruntled look. He placed a hand on the mech's left leg and ran his fingers over the grooves and scratches in the metal.
"May I have a closer look?" – he asked Swerve.
"Blurr…" – Swindle almost growled.
"What~? I am just making sure my mech is in good condition."
"Ugh! Fine, I am calling the sergeant to tell him we are in the hangars. And don't you DARE move from here!" – Swindle warned and stormed off.
'He really should have known better.' – Blurr thought.
"So, now that the grump is gone, tell me more about the specs of this." He knocked on the metal "How fast does it go, how are the controls, how does it break at max speed?"
"W-well. We have not tested all that out. During the last test, the pilot could not react once the mech's speed reached over 150 km/h and we crashed. In theory, with the current design it should be able to easily go up to 200, maybe 250 if the thrusters are in full throttle, but it would then burn through the fuel quicker-" – Swerve began explaining.
'Yes, this is what I can do! Talk about work. Easy!' – the bot thought as he led Blurr up the steps to the catwalk.
He was showing the famous racer and his current new idol some of the features they added to compensate for the high speeds requested from the mech. Blurr hummed, seemingly paying attention, but Swerve was not sure how much he was understanding of all his rambling on the technical part.
"So… From what I understood, you still have not tested the max speed and only 200 km/h? A bit slow, to be honest. That's more than a 100 slower than what I am used on the racetrack."
"Well, the mech is bulkier and heavier than a racecar, plus the shape is not that good for quick acceleration, not to mention how difficult it would be to test when the pilots can't react to the high speed." Swerve shook his head "Now, the cockpit here-"
He opened the cockpit of the mech and started pointing at all the controls and safety measures they installed to ensure the pilot doesn't die from the high-speed impact. Too bad at this point Blurr was hardly listening. The moment Swerve gave him enough space to move, he hopped effortlessly in the cockpit and shit it closed.
"Wha- What are you doing?! This in not safe-" – Swerve was about to try and pull the emergency release lever when the mech powered up.
It moved away from his reach, the charging cables detached from its back with a hiss and Blurr took a few slightly shaky steps away from the catwalk.
[Now, let's test this baby out properly!] – Blurr's voice came from the mech's speakers.
"Blurr- Sir! Please don't be reckless! Driving a mech that's not been approved is dangerous and without any training-" – Swerve shouted.
[I am fine! I am strapped in properly and everything. Also, I have 3 months of active pilot training already! I am a very fast learner, you know.]
Just as Swerve was about to protest, one of the hangar's big doors opened, the pilots were returning from their morning training. The help of mech 555 moved and seemingly locked on the opening to the wide outside. Swerve could swear he could feel the giddiness of the racer.
"No! Don't-" – he tried.
[YES! Make way for the blurr!]
There was the sound of 6 thrusters firing up and Blurr shot forward like a bolt. The returning pilots barely had time to react before he zipped past them and out to the field. All Swerve could do was frantically run down the steps and get to the tablet to try and call Knox or try and just get Blurr to stop, least he crashed and died.
'They are going to kill me if something happens to him!'
"Blurr! Blurr! Respond!" – he tried contacting him through the earpiece but there was no response.
There was a commotion outside the hangar, the pilots were not going in and there was a lot of noise. Swerve ran out and looked outside, only to feel his jaw almost drop. Blurr was zipping all over the courtyard at such a speed he left a cloud of dust behind him, easily handling the high speed of the mech.
[HAHAHAHA! You missed me! Whoop! Can't catch me! Try again, slowpoke!] – Blurr's voice finally came back from the comms.
He was laughing, for Primus' sake! And he was doing it all while the other pilots were trying to catch him! The other mechs had surrounded him and were trying to stop him and his erratic movement, but they were just too heavy and slow, so whenever they came close, Blurr just spun and zipped around them. They tried forming a circle around him and it seemed that he was trapped for a moment, but he did some impossible-looking fast spin inside the circle and skidded in between the small gap between two of the larger mechs. Sparks flew as some of the metal scraped on the ground, but Blurr simply fired up the thrusters, spun like a top for a few seconds, before pushing his mech up and skidding on its feet.
[How's that?! Pretty awesome if I say so myself! Can still make it go faster though.]
Swerve heard the racer's voice on the earpiece and he almost felt his legs give out under him. He wanted to go even faster?! Was he insane?!
"BLURR!" Swindle's voice bellowed as the earpiece was rudely taken from Swerve "What did I tell you about going out of the hangar?!"
…..
For the next half a year, Blurr would regularly visit the base, at the very least once a week, if not more often when they needed him. With his input and ability to handle the insane, breakneck speeds of 555, he became the mech's official test pilot before he even officially completed his pilot training.
At first everything seemed great, everyone was excited, but as Blurr spent more time on base the carefully crafted image Swerve and every one of his colleagues knew had crumbled. Behind the perfect smile, the pretty face and perfect image, Blurr was a different kind of man.
He was difficult to work with, often ignoring instructions and doing his own thing, but the higherups didn't care as long as the results were there. Blurr had a big ego and even after all the time spent with the team, he never bothered to learn their names. Referring to people by their appearance, their color scheme or just "Hey, you!" when he wanted something. He would come and go at odd times, unless Swindle or Knox did not bring him for pilot testing, he'd lounge at odd places, scrolling through his phone and drinking a smoothie since he was permanently panned from the coffee machine after the incident.
There were also the reporters that started flocking to the base and getting in the way of all the workers. Security really had a hard time controlling the reporters blocking the gates, getting in the way of traffic and trying to get in. It added another layer of animosity to the already unfriendly relationship between the blue racer and the workers.
Still, no one could deny the fact that Blurr was one hell of a good pilot. 555 was re-worked and tuned up so much in the meantime that Blurr became the only person alive that could handle the death trap the mech had become. It could now accelerate to way over 300 km/h with the turbo thruster they put in the back struts, making the mech appear as if it had wings coming out of its shoulders. It moved so fast that the reaction speed of any other pilot would not be enough and they would crash at the first turn, that coupled with how much armor they had shaved off to make the mech functional meant that one bad crash was all that separated the pilot from the afterlife. The armor would crumple given enough pressure – the mech might have been fast but fragile, but Blurr somehow made it work. He took all the turn and executed complicated maneuvers like it was nothing!
'Just watching him makes my processor-er- brain spin…' – Swerve thought as he watched 555 zoom around the field.
….
Swerve found himself awake late one night in his small apartment near the base. He could not fall into a recharge-sleep-
'Damn, it has been several solar rotations and I still can't get used to this!' – he scowled and pushed himself into a sitting position.
His room was small, just like the one he had back on the Arc, when they had to leave Cybertron, but unlike the Arc, he had managed to bring in a lot of little things to make the space homier.
'Kind of like my old hab back before the war.' – he remembered fondly.
His optics, eyes currently, looked around the room. A soft carpet, a TV and a DVD for his movie collection, shelves lining the walls, full of books, DVDs and figurines from all the different anime and manga he had started watching.
Seeing as he was not getting any sleep soon, he clicked the bedside lamp on and the mushroom-shaped light illuminated his room in a soft glow. He really liked the weirdly-shaped little lamp and was glad he bought it. Swerve got up, made himself a cup of tea and sat on his desk, watching the stars.
'Wonder how everyone is doing back on the Arc? What about the other Autobot ships? I hope they are not harassed by the Quints as much as Earth is right now.' – he winced, remembering the day he woke up here in a new form.
He still had not found a way back, or even figured out how he may contact the other Autobots. But… Most worrying of all was the fact he was… starting to doubt himself.
At first it was easy to dismiss this as some wild dream his processor cooked up from all the vorns before the war where he spent almost every night watching different videos, both historical, fictional and reality shows. He had heard it was not that uncommon for a mech to wake up from a deep recharge and to have imagined being a spaceship captain or lived a different life but after not waking up for so long, after spending YEARS on this planet, as a human, working with them, sometimes he found himself doubting who he really was. Wondering if maybe the diagnosis of amnesia was true but then what about all those VORNS on Cybertron?! His life there was much longer than the one he had as a human! He couldn't have imagined all that!
'Ugh! Not again…' – Swerve rubbed his temples and took a sip of his drink.
Too many thoughts were buzzing in his head to fall asleep again. It appeared that it would be another sleepless night.
It was then that he noticed one of the builder sets he had gotten recently. It was of a Gundam but it would probably work! He just needed something to occupy him so his thoughts didn't spiral. So, he turned on all the lights and went to work, taking out the small plastic pieces, some paint and tools to go with it. He had no idea what he was about to build and it was most certainly not the robot drawn on top of the box.
By the time morning came, he already had the base for a Cybertronian speedy root mode put together.
= Bonus =
It was one of the rare times Swerve sat down next to Blurr.
They were out in the field, doing demonstrations for some rich sponsors and Swerve was one of the 'lucky' engineers chosen to come for technical support.
'There's nothing lucky about baking under this sun!' – he though bitterly and went to get himself a cold water.
"I would not do that. You could hurt your throat. Here, catch!" – Blurr suddenly threw a bottle at him.
"Gah!" he barely managed to catch it "What is this?"
"Electrolyte drink. I keep e few in the back of my car. Much better in my opinion than the cold water from the freezer." – the racer lounged back casually in a chair and took a long sip.
"Thanks…" – Swerve couldn't help but feel awkward as he also sat down next to the racer.
The damn foldable chairs they had were so wobbly and uncomfortable, the sides were digging into Swerve's sides and he was not feeling very comfortable. How could the blue racer do everything, even sitting in the damn chair, look so effortless? He also didn't know what to do, since he was alone with Blurr at the moment while the rest were off talking to sponsors or just walking around. In the end, the two of them did end up talking with each other.
….
"So, let me get this straight, your name is actually Blurr?" Swerve asked with raised brows "Like, your name is actually that? It is not a nickname or a stage name your managers thought of?"
"Nope!" Blurr grinned "It's what my folks called me. Had real weird parents, to be honest. One of the things I remember from my childhood is my father getting me one of those small electric cars and leaving me with it completely unsupervised. Drove off to who knows where and only stopped when the battery was dead and I was lost in the middle of the city."
"Pfft~ Haha, ehm, sorry." – Swerve couldn't help but laugh at the mental image.
"And you… uh, what's yer name again, Orange?" – Blurr took a sip from his bottle.
"It is Swerve, we talked before…" – he grumbled a bit, having said his name so many times already.
"Ah, yes, Swerve… Huh, pretty weird name too, if you ask me. Your parents named you that?"
"No, it is the name I chose for myself. Not that the people in the hospital would listen. They called me John, even though I told them it is not my name. Put it on my papers and everything. John Fragging Doe!" – Swerve vented a bit of his frustration.
"Well, why don't you change it then? Officially, I mean. Seen people with stranger names before." – Blurr quirked a brow.
"Huh… never thought of that, actually…"
…..
A month after that conversation, Swerve happily returned home with his new ID card, his name officially changed! He hummed happily when he suddenly noticed the unfinished plastic model on his desk. He had added bits of it here and there but with no concrete idea, he had left it mostly forgotten and gathering dust.
He looked down to the new ID card in his hands, then at the model, then back at the card.
'I would need some blue next time…'
With his mind made, he dusted the plastic figure and began his work.