Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Bluestreak chattered with Mirage as they entered the rec room of Iacon Base 2 and gathered their energon and settled at a table. They had just spent a productive few joors at the sniper range, wanting to get in some practice before the new transfers to the base were settled enough to take it over. Even though Mirage could be a reminder of that time, they had both had to change so much with the onset of the war. Being the top snipers on the base gave them a commonality in the present that allowed Bluestreak to ignore the past.

Ignoring the past was something Bluestreak tried to do a lot of these days. It was simply too painful. The attack on Praxus had been horrific. Bluestreak had been on shift at the time, had tried to help those damaged, but had gotten trapped by debris. He had managed to keep himself from bleeding out and dying from his injuries, but he had spent well over an orn trapped, listening to the cries of those injured, seeing their frames as they died, and unable to help. It was too much, even for his First Responder coding to handle.

Thankfully his creation had survived, and had been a part of the crew that rescued him. Prowl and he had discussed it, but it had been an easy choice afterwards to join the Autobots. It had been during Bluestreak's intake exams that his talent with a rifle had been discovered, and the sniper trainers had insisted that he join them, rather than receiving further training as a medic. The fact that the medical mecha didn't insist when they could have and easily won was more than enough of a clue that his coding was more damaged than even he'd expected.

Medics were needed far more than snipers and the medics didn't really want him.

It had hurt, but Bluestreak had focused on his creation's rapid rise in the ranks to keep his processors off of it. Prowl had been quickly recruited by the tacticians, and had very much found his niche. His experience with the Enforcers had afforded him Officer rank, and it hadn't taken much to go up from there. Currently, he was the officer in charge of the base. As painful as it was that it was necessary, Bluestreak was proud of all Prowl had accomplished.

Bluestreak and Mirage were discussing the qualities of different rifles when there was a loud commotion at the rec room entrance. They both glanced towards it and Bluestreak froze, his sensor wings quivering in distress. It had been a long time, but he could never forget those two frames. They were a lot heavier now, built like frontline warriors, but there was no doubt in Bluestreak's processors that it was Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stalking in. Sunstreaker looked ready to maul someone too, though you'd never know it from the way Sideswipe was greeting anyone he came across on their way to the energon dispensers. Memories crashed through his processor, of happiness and pain and a vorn that he had tried to put behind him but was only partially successful. Along with those were the knowledge of the choices he had made, how he always thought they'd feel about those choices...

It was more than he could take. He had to get away, to not face them.

He barely registered getting up or leaving, didn't register the sprint that took him to the maintenance room just off of the armory, or the shaking and silent keens that consumed him once there. It was only when one of his roommates, a bright yellow and perpetually cheerful minibot that went by Bumblebee, found him and started to try and talk that he finally locked onto reality again.

"Bluestreak, talk to me. Silence isn't good on you," Bumblebee was saying, and in the moment it took to understand the glyphs Bluestreak realized that Bumblebee had repeated it several times already.

"I... I can't, Bumblebee," Bluestreak mumbled. "I can't, please. Not with you, at least. No offense. It's just too much. Too much." He shivered, sensor wings trembling.

"Who then?" the youthful mech offered as he squatted in front of Bluestreak's hiding spot.

"My creation," Bluestreak replied, shivering. "He's the one who deserves to know."

Bumblebee got a funny look across his face but pinged the base commander anyway with a note that it was important and about Bluestreak.

Prowl's reply was almost startlingly quick.

::Umm, sir, he's really upset and said he'll only talk to you about it,:: Bumblebee tried to convey the information he had.

::Thank you, Bumblebee. I will be there when this meeting is over. Three breems. Stay with him if you can, please.::

::I will, sir,:: he promised even as he pinged his boss an update and got the soft ping back that he was authorized whatever time was needed.

The Praxian curled up on himself, so unusually quiet for himself. Bluestreak had never been quiet, and had been even more prone to chattering on after what happened in Praxus. The physical noise helped silence the mental noise he didn't want to hear. He listened to Bumblebee's random chatter without really hearing it until a voice as familiar as his own interrupted.

"You may go now, Bumblebee. Thank you for remaining," Prowl told the yellow minibot.

"Any time sir. Family's important," Bumblebee replied and made himself scarce.

"Creator?" Prowl's tone and harmonics shifted. The Autobot officer and Praxian Enforcer were pushed to the background. Speaking now was a mecha concerned for his carrier.

Bluestreak looked up at call, reaching out for the spark that had been dearest to him for nearly all of his adult life. "Prowl. I didn't know... I can't.. They're here," he babbled, voice and field filled with more pain than the younger Praxian had ever felt from him.

"Who, creator?" Prowl asked as he knelt and pulled an unresisting Bluestreak against him. "What did they do?"

"Your sires," Bluestreak whispered brokenly as he clung to Prowl. "I never expected to see them again."

"My sires?" Prowl repeated, dumbfounded by the odds of the pair's survival, then appearance at the base. "Where they mates ... or twins?"

"Twins," Bluestreak said, knowing that Prowl would be able to figure it out from there. Twins were rare enough, and to have them be originally from Crystal City? There was no way that there would be more than one set on base, much less new to base. Bluestreak hung out in the rec room far too much to have missed them for long.

Prowl nodded, his sensor wings twitching in a mix of emotions. "Did they go by Sideswipe and Sunstreaker then?"

"Yes." Pain flared the names. "I don't... I don't know if I can face them."

"I will do what I can to keep your shifts unaligned. I'm afraid I cannot send them away though. I need them too much," Prowl admitted. "They're incredibly valuable as frontliners against the airframes and ground forces alike." He held his carrier for a lingering moment, trying to sooth Bluestreak. "What did they do to you?"

Bluestreak's helm rested on Prowl's shoulder. "Thank you. And they didn't do anything wrong... They were the ones I did contract work for in Crystal City... I read them wrong, thought they felt something they didn't." The pain of rejection was still there, though mostly overridden by self-recrimination.

"You believed they loved you," Prowl didn't need much to work that out. "But if they did nothing wrong, if they didn't love you, how did I come about?"

"The contract was for me to be a surrogate carrier for them," Bluestreak explained, his voice barely above a whisper. "I did, but I thought I loved them... Stayed a metacycle after the separation as a housekeeper. They asked me to join them for interfacing several times in that metacycle, including the last night. It had to have been that night that you were kindled."

Prowl was silent for a long time as he mulled that over. "What was the designation of your first creation?" he asked gently.

"Hot Rod," Bluestreak replied softly. The pain from that loss was softer, less controlling, as Bluestreak relaxed against Prowl.

Again Prowl fell silent, simply holding his creator as he searched databanks. "He's functional as well. An Autobot."

Relief flooded Bluestreak's field. "I haven't seen him since I left Crystal City. Shatterlight saw him once, as a mechling. It wasn't right for me to seek him out, and I had you to focus on."

Prowl nuzzled him. "You were always a good carrier. If you ever want to talk to him, I can arrange it easily enough." He offered, stroking Bluestreak's sensor wings lightly. "If they bother you, come to me, to my office. It will open for you unless I'm in a locked meeting."

Bluestreak nuzzled back. "I don't know if he would even want that, or care," he admitted, giving his creation a squeeze. "Thank you, for everything."

"You are welcome. I will always do what I can for you," Prowl promised softly as they relaxed together for a bit longer.

"Oh, stop grumbling," Sideswipe chastised his twin as they entered the rec room. "Your finish is fine." They had only been on this base for a couple metacycles, but it had quickly become clear who were the mecha best at taking out Seekers. That's who they were meeting, to discuss tactics over their daily energon.

The discussion of how to take a Seeker out of the fight had been enthusiastic, but it soon moved to different topics, general gossip around the base. "Who's usually up for a good time?" Sideswipe asked.

"If it's got doorwings, forget it," Dogfight told them. "Not one of those Praxians wants anything to do with fun."

Sunstreaker snorted, and Sideswipe looked curious. "Any reason why? I didn't think Praxian culture frowned on it."

"Only two of them and they're both weird," Dogfight shrugged. "Prowl's seriously uptight and Bluestreak's ... he's little better than a youngling without that riffle."

"You forgot Smokescreen," Springer pointed out. "He's a riot."

"I'm Praxian," Trailblazer spoke up from the next table over. "Prowl is not that bad, and Bluestreak's a good mecha. Always has been."

Several mecha around them made disbelieving snorts at Trailbreaker's claim or origin as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker glanced at each other. "Bluestreak? Really?" Sunstreaker asked.

"I wonder if it's the same one..." Sideswipe mused. "We knew a Praxian named Bluestreak, briefly."

"It's likely. Know his formal designation?" Trailbreaker asked, to which Sideswipe repeated what had been on the contract. "Same one," Trailbreaker confirmed. "I've known Prowl since I was a sparkling. I went to school with him."

"How are Bluestreak and Prowl connected, then?" Sideswipe asked, curious.

"Prowl's his creation," Trailbreaker said like it was common knowledge, though from a couple startled looks from around hearing range not everyone had gotten the memo.

"How the heck did that happen?" One of the startled mecha asked. "Bluestreak's friendly enough and chatty, and Prowl's not."

"What happened to his other creator?" Sideswipe asked, curiously. Through the twin-bond, he could feel Sunstreaker's interest grow slightly, but he was letting the more social twin lead.

"As far as I know, he's never been in the picture," Trailbreaker shrugged. "Whatever happened, it was while Prowl was a very young sparkling. Neither of them ever spoke of it, but at this point I know what sparkbroken at loss looks like. He likely deactivated. If he didn't, he's the worst slag this side of a smelter to leave someone who loved him that much and a brand new creation."

Sunstreaker's engine rumbled angrily. "No creator should ever abandon their creation. Even if he didn't want to be with Bluestreak, he should have been involved in Prowl's life."

"You'll get no arguments here," Trailbreaker raised his hands. "I'll just telling what I know. He wasn't there. I have no clue why."

~Want to try to see him? Would be good to talk to someone familiar,~ Sideswipe commented to Sunstreaker over their bond.

~Yeah, it would be,~ Sunstreaker rumbled in reply.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't see Bluestreak for at least a metacycle. They finally caught a glimpse of him when they were in the rec room later than normal, having swapped shifts last-breem with another pair of mecha as a favor to them. Sunstreaker gave his twin a nudge over the bond when he noticed the gray Praxian.

~Finally,~ Sideswipe muttered, tired and frustrated by the effort taking so long and only succeeding by dumb luck. ~Let's go,~ he said as he stood and moved towards the energon dispenser. ~You make sure he doesn't disappear on us. I'll get a cube for everyone.~

Sunstreaker nodded and kept a sharp optic on Bluestreak while his brother moved, then joined Sideswipe to approach the Praxian.

"Hi Bluestreak. Long time no see," Sideswipe said and offered the energon. "Mind if we join you?"

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker," Bluestreak gasped, sensor wings shooting up in surprise. "Oh, um, hi. I didn't... I guess, but I can't stay long. Was planning on doing some training before my shift."

"Oh. Well, at least stay long enough for energon," Sideswipe offered the cube again and nudged his brother to sit with him. "We heard you survived. One of the lucky ones. How's the army treating you?"

Bluestreak reluctantly accepted the cube, his frame tense. "Okay, I guess. Got trained up as a sniper. I'm consistently in the top five one base, only one of two to be that consistent. What about you two?"

"It's okay," Sideswipe tried to be cheerier than he really was. "Better than being Cons. Still getting used to the whole frontliner idea."

"Are they having you train with Ironhide? I'm really glad I wasn't likely to be put on the frontlines. He's nice enough when I've seen him at the weapons range or in here, but I've heard he's really tough when it comes to close-in fighting and I just wouldn't have been able to handle it," Bluestreak babbled, trying to cover his awkwardness.

"Yeah, he's tough. Believes pain is a good teacher. Can't say he's wrong," Sideswipe admitted. "Have you made any friends here?"

"I'm pretty friendly with a lot of mechs, though only a few that I spend time with consistently. You remember Mirage? He's here and we often try to best each other at the sniper ranges," Bluestreak said. "Have you made any friends here?"

Sunstreaker shrugged noncommittally as Sideswipe gave him a bit of a grin. "We've been chatting with a few mecha. Would like to add you to that list."

"I guess," Bluestreak shifted uneasily. "I mean, chatting is good, but I don't like remembering back then. Memories hurt, you know."

"That's fine," Sideswipe replied easily. "Any good memories from Praxus, or do you not like to think of then either?"

Bluestreak shuddered as his sensor wings folded down, almost completely hidden against his back. Though his optics were bright, they didn't see anything as the clicking whimpers began.

"Apparently not," Sunstreaker muttered as Sideswipe got out of his chair, moving around to place his hand on Bluestreak's shoulder.

"Hey, come back to us," the red mech coaxed, deeply disturbed by the wild fluctuations in Bluestreak's field that spike from terror to despair to incomprehension to horror.

He sent his own field into Bluestreak's radiating safely, and squeezed his shoulder. "Bluestreak? C'mon now, you're safe. Come back to us."

~Comm a medic, afthead. He's in a flashback,~ Sunstreaker told his twin.

~How the frag does someone get stuck in a flashback from a basic question?~ Sideswipe grumbled as he commed medical. The medic on duty, Fix-it made a resigned sound and was on his way.

~How should I know?~ Sunstreaker snapped back.

Fix-it arrived and dropped Bluestreak into medic stasis. "Help me get him back to medbay."

"Sure," Sideswipe replied to the medic, carefully lifting the unresponsive mech.

~What do you think he's going to do?~ Sideswipe asked uneasily as they made their way to the base CO's office. ~We did send his creator into medical stasis.~

~Hope he's as rational as he's supposed to be,~ Sunstreaker shrugged. ~What's the worst he can do, send us to the brig?~

~Send us into a trap,~ Sideswipe muttered. ~He's not just the CO, he's the head tactician too. The mecha who makes the plans.~

~We didn't do that much damage. Bluestreak's fine now!~ Sunstreaker objected as they pinged for admittance to the CO's office. The door opened.

"Enter." The normally flat voice was tight with anger and the twins obeyed cautiously and stood at attention before the black and white Praxian. Ice blue optics locked onto them and sensor wings were held in a tight V framing his helm. "Do you know why you're here?"

"We accidentally triggered an episode in one of our fellow Autobots that caused him to require medical stasis," Sideswipe replied truthfully. The two of them watched carefully, their skills at reading mecha working overtime in trying to figure out how much trouble they were in, and how best to soothe the angry commander. He wouldn't be the first irrationally angry mecha they'd dealt with, just the highest ranked so far.

"Not just a fellow Autobot," Prowl growled at them. "My carrier. A mecha who has been trying very hard to avoid you. One you cornered when you should have been on duty."

"We didn't...." Sunstreaker protested, only to snap his jaw shut at the deadly glare that focused on him. Ice blue optics were uncomfortable at best to those with warrior training thanks to how close they were to the white associated with berserker insanity, and Prowl's had currently brightened to white.

"Wait, he's been trying to avoid us?" Sideswipe drew the CO's attention away from his more volatile brother and hoped his honest confusion came across. "Why?"

"Because you hurt him terribly in your final encounter in Crystal City," Prowl bit out, much to the twins' growing confusion.

"But that was over a hundred centuries ago!" Sideswipe replied. "And obviously he found love again," he added motioning to Prowl.

"No, he didn't." Prowl snapped at him. "He barely dated and never connected with anyone. He raised me alone because my sires rejected him," those accusatory white-bright optics pinned the pair. "From what I've seen of Hot Rod, I was better off for it, even if he wasn't."

The twins stared at him, frozen for several kliks in utter incomprehension of what Prowl was saying.

"He...?" Sideswipe started.

"What are you trying to say?" Sunstreaker demanded.

"You are my sires." Prowl said bluntly. "I was kindled during that last spark merge before you made it clear you didn't want him."

"He didn't even...?" Sideswipe began, before being cut off by Sunstreaker's rumbled, "What are you trying to imply about Hot Rod?"

"He is immature, arrogant, reckless, completely without value to society despite his education and all but useless as anything but cannon fodder to the army," Prowl rattled off his assessment. "He doesn't even have your talent for violence or airborne maneuvers."

"Don't talk about him when you don't even know the full story," Sunstreaker snarled, defensive of the creation they had raised. Only Sideswipe's hand clamped on him kept him in place and the aggression didn't even cause Prowl to twitch.

"Have you even met him?" Sideswipe asked, calmer than his twin but just as angry at Prowl's pronouncement. "Or found out what he was like before the war before you passed judgment? None of us are the same as we were."

"No, no one is undamaged," Prowl agreed coldly. "Whatever he was, it produced nothing he or his trainers felt worth including in his file. He had no function, no skills of any value anywhere in the army. Do you grasp how difficult that is?"

"What? You think we should have raised him with surviving a war in mind?" Sideswipe countered. "He was becoming a slagging good salesmech. We could barely keep up with him even as a sparkling. That those officers haven't found anything is because they haven't been looking, or seeing the potential in what they do find!"

The pair weren't sure what to make of the abrupt and radical shift in Prowl demeanor. He went from stiff but furious to calm and focused between sparkbeats and it reached all the way to his field.

"What would he be good at?" Prowl asked evenly.

"Get him doing positive interactions with mecha, for a purpose," Sideswipe replied. "He was fragging great at discussing prices, with clients or suppliers. Could read a mech and tell when to push and when pushing would end in a loss."

"Soldiers are not rewarded with less supervision and more responsibility by blowing off what duties they do have," Prowl pointed out. "I will see if he wants a transfer into acquisitions or interrogation, though unless his attitude changes he won't get any further there than he is now."

"How come we were never told?" Sideswipe asked after a few kliks. "Bluestreak knew we wanted sparklings, and had the resources to care for them."

"Yes, you wanted sparklings and not him," Prowl glared, his anger flaring black to life. "He knew the courts would take me away for you to raise and he'd never see me again. It would be just like Hot Rod, only without the pay. Carrier rights mean nothing against your wealth and connections."

Sunstreaker rumbled with a slow-building anger, but Sideswipe couldn't counter what Prowl said. If they had known, they would have pushed for custody. It would have seemed the best thing to do, to have the second sparkling with his brother, and with the creators that could better financially support him.

That still didn't ease the sense of betrayal and anger. They should have been told, they had every right to have been told.

Prowl's optics narrowed and he rumbled back in a form of hate that was slowly building inside him. "You really would have. You would have taken a creation from his carrier, a carrier perfectly able to care for him, just because you think you were better than he was."

"What would you have expected us to do?" Sunstreaker growled out before Sideswipe clamped onto him.

"Honored your contract and honored that you didn't want him," Prowl snapped at him. "When you rejected him you lost all claim to everything in his frame."

"We wouldn't have denied him as your carrier, but see it from our perspective," Sideswipe replied. "We were already taking time off from our business to devote to Hot Rod as primary caretakers. You would have been raised with your brother as a companion, and had the highest quality energon and upgrades available."

"Without the carrier who chose to keep me, raise me, because he wanted and loved me," Prowl hissed. "Without my family. I learned what hard work was, the value of community and the value of my skills to help those around me. What would you have taught me? The value of credits and that wealth mattered?"

"We were trying to be generous with a young mech that seemed to be having trouble letting go of the sparkling he carried," Sideswipe replied hotly. "Yes, we made mistakes, but that doesn't change the intent."

Prowl stilled, his temper cooled quickly as the statement confused him briefly.

"And you think we didn't work hard? You have no fragging clue how much we had to work to build the life we had. It wasn't handed to us on a decorated platter," Sideswipe continued.

"You two show a work ethic. The mecha you raised does not," Prowl shot back. "How does your generosity to a young mecha change that you lost all claim to his creation when you rejected him?"

"Give it up, Sideswipe," Sunstreaker snarled. "He's convinced we're monsters and nothing will change that."

Prowl's sensor wings twitched at that and he paused. "I do not believe you are monsters."

"Yeah? Well, you're certainly giving a good impression that you do," Sunstreaker retorted. "Whatever we say is obviously the worst thing possible."

"You glitched my carrier." Prowl pointed out, visibly forcing himself to calm. "I'm angry about that. I'm furious that you'd have taken me from him. Neither is relevant to my opinion of you as mecha."

"Causing him to glitch was an accident. We were trying to find out what he would be okay talking about, and had no clue that 'didn't like to think about' was code for 'about to glitch'," Sideswipe replied, a bit hopeful at the way Prowl continued to calm down.

"And we just found out that we had a creation that we had never known about, and never had a chance to raise," Sunstreaker rumbled. "You think we wouldn't be upset about that?"

"I did not think about it at all. I only learned who my sires were when Bluestreak broke down after he first saw you a metacycle ago," Prowl explained more calmly.

"Look, we still want to apologize to him," Sideswipe took the calmer mood to hopefully make some inroads. "He was a good mech when we knew him. Not many left that we knew."

"Most of them are here too," Sunstreaker snorted. "Speaking of, Trailbreaker said he's Praxian."

"He is, legally, if not by frame," Prowl nodded. "Carrier was Praxian and he separated in Praxus. He took after his sire." He paused and regarded Sideswipe for a long moment. "Very well. You may apologize in medbay. If he does not want to see you again, you will respect that."

"Thank you. We will," Sideswipe replied softly.

Sunstreaker stood behind his brother, watching CMO Ratchet run the final checks on Bluestreak. The mech looked peaceful like this, relaxed and calm, and in a strange way so did Prowl as he stood by the head of the berth and stroked Bluestreak's chevron as warm blue optics powered up.

"Hello," Prowl said softly, his thumb still caressing the gray Praxian's bright red chevron. "Feeling stable?"

"Yes," Bluestreak replied, tilting his helm into the touch slightly. "What happened?"

"You glitched into a flashback," Prowl said quietly and nudged Bluestreak's attention towards the twins. "They know better now. They wished to apologize, if you let them."

"Oh," he murmured, shifting uneasily as he looked at the pair. "I guess so. I mean it's not like they meant to. It's okay...."

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, say your piece," Prowl's voice was low, calm and more permission than command.

"Look, we're really sorry for what happened," Sideswipe started off.

"We were trying to find a subject that wouldn't set off bad memories," Sunstreaker added quietly.

"Much less what actually happened," Sideswipe added, hesitating a moment, before continuing on. "And for what it's worth, we're sorry for hurting you, when you left Crystal City. We didn't realize how strongly you felt about us."

Bluestreak nodded slowly. "I know you didn't meant to hurt me. Memory loops are kinda random sometimes, but I really can't think about much of Prowl's life without hitting one now. I wish it wasn't so serious, but I'm getting better. It takes time, you know, to recover from trauma."

"We know," Sunstreaker replied quietly.

"Would you be willing to try hanging out again?" Sideswipe asked, tentatively hopeful. "We promise to let you pick the subjects, so this doesn't happen again."

Bluestreak tensed, causing Prowl to tense, which made Ratchet tense. Yet he slowly nodded. "I ... I guess so. You were nice when you were trying to be. But why bother with the one mecha that has so much bad history with you? I mean I annoy everybody within a couple breems. Even Bumblebee needs a break from me after a while. I'm broken."

"Creator," Prowl said softly.

"And you think we aren't?" Sideswipe asked with a shrug. "Mecha avoid Sunstreaker when they can. They're more accepting of me when I'm on my own, but that doesn't happen often."

"Why?" Bluestreak asked with a look at the yellow twin. "I mean, you were never as social as Sideswipe, but you weren't bad unless somebody interrupted your work and you always made that hard to do."

"Ever seen a frontliner glitch in battle?" Sunstreaker rumbled with a humorless smile. "Or out of battle?"

"We're not the same as we were," Sideswipe explained. "We're both far more aggressive, and Sunny's got less control over it."

"Don't call me that," Sunstreaker snarled ineffectually at the nickname.

"Berserkers," Prowl said simply.

"Oh," Bluestreak mumbled as comprehension hit. "What happened? I mean, something had to cause it. Stuff like that doesn't just happen."

"Battle damage," Sunstreaker shrugged. "A few too many shots to the helm."

"Or landing on them," Sideswipe added. "I'm guessing you don't know our rep for jet judo, but sometimes the landing is pretty hard and not so controlled."

Bluestreak stared at them for a moment. "Somehow I get the feeling that I don't want to know what 'jet judo' is. Even from just that it sounds incredibly dangerous. How do you even get away with it?"

"We're good." Sunstreaker gave a vicious grin.

"It makes us the only grounder frontliners that can take out Seekers," Sideswipe replied with a grin. "Not many can handle them to begin with."

"But how do you get up there? I mean, you're grounders like me. How...."

"Part rotor, remember," Sideswipe tapped his shoulder. "Jetpack."

"Sometimes a flier will give us a lift too," Sunstreaker grunted. "Sometimes they fly low enough to just jump and grab, or jump down from a building. Lots of ways to catch a Seeker."

Before Bluestreak could ask another question, Prowl made a noise to catch their attention. "That is enough for the moment. Bluestreak should rest, and both of you need to recharge for your next duty shift. You may chat again later."

"Aww, okay, sir," Sideswipe caught the protective instinct rising in Prowl as the core cause. "Later Blue. Maybe now we won't have opposing shifts so much?"

"Maybe," Bluestreak replied, still a bit unsure but more willing to give them a chance. The twins gave him hopeful smiles and left before Prowl could become agitated enough to lift his sensor wings.

"Where would you rest best?" Prowl asked.

"I can rest in my room if you'd prefer," Bluestreak replied softly. "I don't want to intrude on your time off."

"Bluestreak, you are my creator. If recharging in my quarters will be easier for you, you are welcome." He gave a small smile. "I like having you close."

"It helps me remember that you're here and okay," Bluestreak admitted, smiling at the truth about Prowl's own recharge.

"Then recharge in my quarters," Prowl said with quiet insistence as he helped Bluestreak to stand. "You're always welcome there."

It was a couple decaorns later that Bluestreak tried spending time with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker over energon. The conversation had been even more awkward than the first time, with the twins struggling to come up with something that wouldn't send Bluestreak back to medical and Bluestreak not doing any better on topics for them. He babbled. He shifted. He talked nonsense just to keep the words going.

Eventually Bluestreak had suggested that they go down to the firing range instead, for a bit of friendly competition. The twins had jumped at the opportunity. Less talking and more action was always a good thing for them.

Thus the three found themselves in three stations of the pistol firing range along with half a dozen other mecha with pistols and targets. Neither twin missed that Bluestreak had selected a level only one below the most difficult and seemed to be completely confident with it.

~I didn't know snipers practiced with pistols that much,~ Sideswipe hummed, more than a bit turned on by the confidence. It was a visceral, fundamental shift in the Praxian as he picked up the pistol and they both saw what he was in the field. Silent, focused, absolutely deadly.

It was a far cry from the nervous, babbling mech they had seen here on base. It was even better than the young, naive mech they had known in Crystal City.

~Much of the skills probably transfer,~ Sunstreaker replied back, taking in every detail of Bluestreak's form.

Once he was done with his set, Bluestreak turned towards them and grinned. "Think you two can match that?"

"Sure," Sideswipe gave a cocky grin, but the words were enough to draw attention from around the range. Even Mirage, down towards the end, stepped back and leaned further back to confirm who was so confident they were a better shot than Bluestreak.

~We're nowhere close to that good,~ Sunstreaker huffed, but watched as his brother set up for a sequence at the same difficulty level.

~Since when do you give up on a challenge?~ Sideswipe shot back even as he settled himself and began the set.

Sunstreaker held his peace until his brother was done. It wasn't a bad set given the difficulty level, but it was nowhere near as good as Bluestreak's. ~It's not giving up to admit you are massively outclassed.~

~Yeah? Then what are you gonna do?~ Sideswipe asked as he gave Sunstreaker room to set up.

"I thought you said you were going to match me," Bluestreak teased the red twin, having expected that Sideswipe wouldn't.

"Off round," Sideswipe shrugged. He was well aware of the small gathering that their contest had acquired.

~My best, but not pretend I'm better than the sniper extraordinaire,~ Sunstreaker huffed back. Yet he took his place without a word about not pulling off a better score and went to work.

"Sure it was," Bluestreak teased him, sensor wings fluttering a little. "You just don't want to admit you can't keep up."

"Sure, whatever you need to say to feel good," Sideswipe winked at him playfully and felt better than he had in vorns. He glanced at the crowd. "So who is the best with the pistol on base?"

"Prowl, when he has time to spend here on the range," Bluestreak replied, pride filling his field. "I come a close second, though."

"Inherited your talent with targeting, did he?" Sideswipe suggested as Sunstreaker finished his set. It was just above average, which was good for him. He'd always been better with his hands than at range.

"That, and I think his tactical computer helps too, especially out in the field when there's a lot more variables affecting things," Bluestreak said. "He'd probably be good at sniping too, but they need him in tactical more." The sniper stepped up, preparing for his second set and bumped the difficulty up to the max.

"How'd you find out you were so good at this?" Sideswipe asked while Bluestreak took shots.

"They were assessing our various skills on intake," Bluestreak replied even as he continued to shoot, the conversation seemingly not affecting his performance. "The officer assessing me couldn't believe I hadn't used a gun before, with how well I did on the shooting tests."

"Ever tried for a pilot's license?" Sideswipe asked. "If it's linked to your family's spark gift, you'd probably do very well at that too."

"I hadn't ever thought about it," Bluestreak replied as he finished his set, the display showing the highest score the twins had seen. "There you go, a new challenge," he said, grinning up at Sideswipe.

"Maybe if you let us add our scores together we might manage that," Sunstreaker snickered at the trickle of oh slag across the bond.

"A team effort, then?" Bluestreak giggled, sounding the closest to normal that anyone there had heard from him since he came on base. "Would you rather try that, Sideswipe?"

The red frontliner gave a death-glare to his brother, but huffed at the unrepentant grin he got for it and made a fuss of checking his weapon. "Yeah, sure. If it helps Sunny here feel better."

"Don't call me that!" Sunstreaker snapped, but even those who didn't know the pair picked up it wasn't going to be enforced.

"Sure thing, Sunshine," Sideswipe gave him a smirk before stepping up to the range and settling in to do his best.

"How much firearm training have you two had?" Bluestreak asked Sunstreaker curiously as they watched Sideswipe struggle.

"Just the basic frontliner course. We don't use them much," Sunstreaker answered. "We're both up close and personal types."

Bluestreak hummed at that. "How did you get tapped for being frontliners?"

"By the time we enlisted, we were good at it," Sunstreaker said grimly. "Kaon's gladiator pits are good teachers. No way to deny it when it was Autobots who pulled us out."

Bluestreak's sensor wings wilted a bit at that. "I'm sorry. That had to have been hard," he said softly.

"At first," Sunstreaker trembled, but it was Sideswipe who showed the obvious reaction to his brother's turmoil in several wide misses.

"Then you become numb to it. Then you understand the benefits past survival. Then you start to enjoy it," Sideswipe finished, no longer paying attention to the set. "After four vorns we lived well, for gladiators. Saw Megatron quite a few times, but we couldn't be controlled well enough to be set loose on a battlefield."

"Still aren't," someone muttered.

"You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," Bluestreak said, hands and field automatically reaching out to soothe what he knew couldn't be.

"No secrets involved. It's all in our public records," Sunstreaker shrugged. "Just not a favored set of memories."

Sideswipe flicked a covert glance towards the crowd. "You're going to win anyway, Bluestreak. Why don't we do something else?" He suggested as he placed a black hand on Sunstreaker's arm to encourage him to break his glare from the crowd.

"Yeah, okay," Bluestreak agreed readily. "Why don't you two pick this time?"

"Racing?" Sideswipe suggested, knowing it was one of the few things that could almost always snap his brother out of a mood. "Get some good road beneath our wheels."

"Racing sounds good. That's something that we have in common," Bluestreak replied as they moved towards the range door.

Bluestreak was a bit confused as he entered Prowl's quarters. His orn with the twins had gone fine, so the sniper wasn't sure what his creation wanted to talk to him about. The uneasy look Prowl gave him, imperceptible to most, did nothing to ease his nerves.

"I've asked ... I need to apologize, creator," Prowl began, his sensor wings drooping. "I should not have said anything, but I was so angry, I wanted to hurt them."

Bluestreak's sensor wings flared in surprise as he came up to Prowl, reaching out to grasp his forearms. "Apologize for what, my love? Hurt who?"

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker," Prowl looked at him in the optics. "After they glitched you. I told them they were my sires."

Bluestreak froze, everything flaring in shock. "You... They..." He began to tremble, armor plates rattling. "They must hate me!"

"From how today went, I would assess that as incorrect," Prowl retreated to his tac-net a bit. "They knew before you were brought out of stasis."

"But... but.. How could they not?!" Bluestreak exclaimed, now hanging onto Prowl to anchor him. "I knew, I knew how much they wanted sparklings, how much of a betrayal it would be, but I kept you from them anyways!"

"I do not know," Prowl admitted. "I do know their behavior indicates they do not. If it is important to know, you must ask them."

Bluestreak shut off his optics, sensor wings drooping. "I... I don't know if I could. Everything is so fragile... What if bringing it up only makes it worse?"

"I can be there, or you can act as they are acting and forget that they know," Prowl suggested. "I am sorry I told them, and now that I told you. No good ever comes of my temper."

"Don't be sorry," Bluestreak whispered, wrapping his arms around Prowl. "They needed to know. I was being selfish and couldn't." He rested his chevron guard on Prowl's shoulder. "It might be easier, pretending like they don't know."

"It is your call. You know I will support any choice you make," Prowl said softly.