The pink glow of energon did nothing to answer the questions and scenarios running through his mind. Soundwave doubted that the high grade he had would help, except make him more irritable in the morning, but then his own cassettes would avoid him until the ache in his CPU would go away. That at least would make it worth it to get overcharged for the night.

Soundwave never had any interaction with the other Decepticons outside of his job as the communication officer. And honestly, he never had a problem with that. It kept him professional with his job, with the other soldiers, focusing solely on the Decepticon cause and making sure he can get the best out of himself.

The first incident that he could remember happened on the battle field. The battle was even on both sides, the Autobots showing up as they were extracting the energy and Soundwave had turned with the others to defend himself, releasing the cassettes to finish gathering up the cubes of energon. He didn’t notice the Autobot coming up behind him until he caught a flash of a gun barrel. Pain blossomed on his shoulder but before Soundwave could turn and confront the Autobot, his comrade was there, his gun firing at the one who hit Soundwave.

“Watch your back!” the ‘Con snarled before turning back to the fight, no longer paying attention to what might come of Soundwave.

Soundwave didn’t take that as a show of affection. It was just easier to save him than to take over his job. He wasn’t the communications officer for nothing. But then there were other little signs that could have been taken as more than the hatred of having more work.

Such as the one saving him taking the time to make sure he was still with them as Megatron ordered a retreat.

Such as the mech bringing energon to the medbay as Soundwave got his shoulder repaired. He didn’t think much of that either since Hook also got his ration at the same time, drinking it quickly before going back to repairing Soundwave.

And then there was the time Soundwave ran into the mech in the corridors of the Nemesis. The collision ended with him sprawled on the floor and his handful of reports scattered every which way around them. Red optics flickered in surprise and the mech actually took the time to kneel down and help gather the datapads, murmuring a soft “Sorry” before handing it over and continuing on his way. Most other Decepticons wouldn’t have bothered with an apology, much less help him.

In retrospect, Soundwave wouldn’t have thought more of it if it weren’t for his cassettes.

“Why don’t you pursue this?” Rumble asked one night before they fell into recharge. “He’s hasn’t treated anyone else like this.”

Nevermind that Rumble didn’t see the mech around others much, but Soundwave didn’t deem it worth pointing out.

“Seriously boss,” Frenzy added. “You probably won’t be so uptight if you got overloaded once in a while!”

Soundwave’s only response to that was, “Suggestion: silence.”

And thankfully, the room was silent after that and Soundwave fell into recharge. But thanks to his two charges, his mind was on the mech that, for some odd reason, showed him a bit of attention.

After that, he was starting to see little hints that the mech was possibly flirting with him. Energon brought to him when he was working for the entire day without coming out of his area. The mech covering him during battles and often saving him from painful injuries. The mech actually taking time to pull Ravage out of the hands of an Autobot when the small cassette would have been hurt.

“He obviously cares for you!” Frenzy said, an odd singing quality to his words. “Just trust us boss. Go to the rec room and we’ll take care of the rest.”

That was how Soundwave found himself in said room, nursing the cube of energon, still trying to figure out how everything got to this point. One hand toyed with the edges of his mask that laid on the table, spinning the piece of metal around idly as he took another drink, feeling the liquid charge his wires a bit more.

The door to the rec room slid open and Soundwave turned enough to see the mech of his thoughts standing there, red optics narrowed as he searched the room. The optics lighted on Soundwave and he quickly said, “Sorry, just searching for someone.”

“Stop,” Soundwave said, the logical part of his mind questioning his actions while the rest of him didn’t care. “Stay,” he requested.

The mech hesitated for a moment before stepping into the room, letting the door shut behind him and cutting off the light from the hall. It wasn’t dark in the rec room per se, but the lights were dimmed, giving the mechs the illusion of barriers if they wished it.

The mech got his own cube of high grade, a rare treat for them, and joined Soundwave at the table, taking little sips from the cube. They sat there for a short while in silence, the mech looking away from Soundwave, apparently not use to seeing the communication officer without his mask but not wanting to stare, before Soundwave spoke up.

“Why?”

The cube paused halfway to the mech’s mouth with that question. “Why what?”

“Nice to me. Nice to cassettes. Why?”

He shrugged. “No reason. If you can’t trust your comrades, then who can you trust?”

With his overcharged mind, Soundwave took this as the base of all truths. He had just finished his cube of energon, the other only halfway through, when some part of his CPU decided that the best course of action would be to kiss the mech.

oOo

He was never this late!

Starscream snarled as he stalked through the halls of the Nemesis, his turbine heels making sharp clicking sounds on the metal floor. He was supposed to be accompanied to the control room for a shift and his partner failed to show after ten minutes, and never answered his comm., forcing the Air Commander to leave his post and search for the wayward mech since no one else would bother to help him.

The door quickly came up and Starscream stopped in front of it, knocking on it loudly as he screeched, “You’re late!”

The door hastily opened and Thundercracker stumbled out, brushing at a few scratches on his armor. “Sorry! Sorry. I forgot to set my alarm,” he said, quickly setting off for the command center.

Starscream, however, was staring at Thundercracker’s room, barely catching a glimpse of something he never expected to see before the door closed.

The blue seeker looked back at the Air Commander, confused as to why he wasn’t following. “Starscream?”

“Is Soundwave curled up on your berth?”

Heat suffused Thundercracker’s face as he said, “Do you want me to answer that?”

“No!” Starscream said quickly, turning and heading to Thundercracker and passing him. “Just no. Get to your duty.”

“Yes sir,” Thundercracker replied, glad that the subject was dropped.

oOo

Author’s Note: The second story for Darkesong over on dA, who wanted Soundwave and someone. I don't know if I did good writing Soundwave though... On another note, excuse the pun, I'm not sure about the title, but it's a music term and hopefully it works. It does in my mind... Enjoy?