Chapter Text
"And he's just so perfect! his servos are just gliding and he effortlessly holds the stylus with his digits, everything's perfect about that mech Springer and he surely must know it" Tarantulas ranted nonstop to the very tiny sparkling who was resting the side of his helm on the table "you like him don't you...?" the green sparkling stated the obvious, Tarantulas squealed and rocked backwards in his chair so hard he almost fell "I love him! every little aspect of him! from the cycle we were partnered up in science period I just knew how perfect he was!"
Springer drew a crude doodle of his sparkling sitter on the datapad his homework was on, there were a few adds and extracts, typical for his age "and do you think your perfect enough for him?" Springer asked before erasing the crude doodle, Tarantulas vented through his air ducts and sighed "No, a good mech Praxian like him doesn't deserve to be with some weirdo like me, he's too good for me so all i wish for him is that one cycle he'll find a mech or femme just as equal to him, someone that isn't like me at all to be specific,
the least i can do is watch him from afar, but if theres ever a chance i'll be shooting my shot because who knows? maybe i'll never have the chance to be near him again and maybe that would be for the best, im just enjoying life as it is" Tarantulas huffed before pointing at one of the questions on springer's homework datapad screen "are you still stuck on that question?"
"yeah" springer mumbled before noticing something about his sitter's stylus, he was quick to point it out "that doesn't look like your usual stylus, did you get a new one?" Springer asked while poking it with the edge of his digits, Tarantulas shook his helm annoyedly "Nah, the creep that keeps following me gave it to me when i said that i lost mine, i wasn't even talking to him! ...but at least i have a stylus now" tarantulas mumbled before pointing at the same question again "you still haven't answered that question yet- if Patches has six energon cubes and Brass takes three of them how many energon cubes does Patches have?" he asked politely.
"Uhhmm...?" springer stumbled across his words while counting with his digits separately before realizng "oh!- three!" he exclaimed before jotting down the answer immediately, Tarantulas chuckled while patting his helm "that's right that's right, good job and well done" he praised the sparkling "do you have anymore homework? its only half an orn more until your carrier and sire come back from work" Tarantulas asked him.
"that was the last question so no more homework, i'm gonna draw on the back now" springer answered while flipping the datapad to the other empty side before scribbling figures on it "my teacher said that if we're done with our work we can draw on the back" he added, tarantulas just watched him intently before getting on and sitting on the couch nearby "it must be nice being your age, no need to think of relationships or whatsover, all you do is color datapads all cycle without a worry in the world" Tarantulas compared their situation while rocking his pedes back and forth.
"that weirdo you mentioned earlier" springer addressed as the sound of his thick tiny stylus grated against the datapad filled the empty habsuite "the one who's stylus you used, i think his designation was ricochet?"
"no ricochet is his spark brother, the one im talking about is jazz, the friendly popular talkative mech who everyone adores and knows, i don't get it- if he has so many friends then why is he always clinging right beside me? im just trying to get a conversation with prowl- and another thing i don't understand is why prowl is so interested in jazz, being an intelligent and versatile mech prowl of praxus has a very busy schedule because he's a prefect, he's class president, he's always joining competitions and getting on the podium and he's in the student council curriculum club yet every time he has free time he doesn't spend it on himself but on the same weirdo who gave me his stylus, Jazz of staniz, why would he want to spend time with jazz when he could be doing better things? i just don't understand him..." tarantulas sighed.
"jazz seems generous for giving you his stylus, but i've never met him though i know his spark brother is generous despite having a scary poker face, he helped me when i got lost in a festival" springer commented while drawing a square house on his datapad "what does prowl think of you? even if you two barely speak with each other" springer queried while biting the end of his stylus, tarantulas winced "if im correct im nothing more than another nuisance to him, even if i bother him who could blame me for having something temporary? at least its something..."
"so all three of you like one mech but hate the other?" springer pointed out.
"i wouldn't use the word hate but in a way i guess i do dislike jazz to a certain degree just as much as how prowl maybe finds me annoying, and like how jazz is so weirdly obsessed with me the same way i idolize prowl and how-" Tarantulas's explanation was cut short as springer interrupted him.
“Just like me and my classmates!” Springer giggled while showing him the drawing he made, it was a self portrait with two other bots Tarantulas had seen before, Tarantulas rested his chin plate on his knuckles and chuckled “You have something similar going on Springer?”
”Yeah” Springer replied while pointing at the figures he drew “I like Hot Rod because He’s the fastest mech in the whole school” he said, “Really? Thats it- you only like him because he’s fast?”
“Yeah” Springer answered before pointing at the other figure “But he likes Arcee, But he also likes me too- just not as much as Arcee and I guess… I guess I’m fine with that” He sighed disappointedly before getting up from his chair and walking over to the couch to sit next to his sitter “Arcee likes me though, she’s class monitor- president- Wh- she’s in charge of the class and whenever theres a teacher around she pretends to be a teachers pet but if Theres no teachers around then she lets us play and eat in class”
“She sounds nice, why would Hot Rod like her though?” Tarantulas asked while pinching Springers cheek plating, “maybe it’s because she has authority? Or because he gets in so much trouble and the teacher lets her decide his punishment? She always says that she’ll make him do a hundred push ups but once out of sight she lets him go without punishment,
And I think Arcee likes me because I’m quiet and prefer playing by myself, I don’t mind her company but I would like it better if she just left me alone” Springer explained it to him, Tarantulas huffed “Of course she would, what bot wouldn’t want to be around a mech as adorable as you?”
”Im not adorable” Springer stated while swatting his servo away, it was humorous to see him acting all formal and serious even though he was still very young, “Yes you are!” Tarantulas giggled while stretching his cheeks and making squeaky toy sound effects.
”I’m gonna bite your digits” Springer threatened him cutely, Tarantulas fought the urge to just squeeze him like a stress toy or bite his cheek “How terrifying, how am I supposed to do shadow puppets without my digits if this tiny beast eats them all off!” He cackled as Springer attempted to tackle him but he still remained there as if there was no impact.
”Hi-yah!” Springer shouted while play fighting with his sitter, he always wanted to take self defense classes but he never got the courage to ask his sire for it but Tarantulas said that it was fine if he practiced tackling his stuffed plushies Or himself, Tarantulas was fine with that, he always preferred spending time with Tarantulas rather than with his own family, Tarantulas was fun to be around.
Sometimes they would go out in the backyard and stare at the cyber ant hills for orns or look at cyber pillar cocoons transform into Cyber butterflies, Tarantulas was really interested in nature and Fauna, especially insects.
Naturally this meant Springer would grow an interest in nature too, he liked spending his outdoor time during kindergarten ripping out parasitic weeds in the field and seeing how long the roots were, usually accompanied by Arcee or an older bot, sometimes if he was lucky Hot Rod would race right past him and Springer Could get a glimpse of his winning smile.
Tarantulas felt his comm link buzz “Hello?” He answered the call only to be greeted by Springer’s carrier.
’Me and his sire have to work the night shift, it was unexpected so I guess you have to spend the night at our habsuite, you do have the spare key we gave you right?’
”Yup” he replied while looking into his subspace and seeing the key card amongst the other things in his subspace.
’Good, don’t respond to any knocks on the door or if there’s anyone outside you don’t recognize, remember to lock the door- there’s some food in the fridge And cabinets if your hungry, and take care of yourself’ Springer’s carrier advised him.
”I will” he reassured before hanging up the call and prying The Sparklings death grip on him, Over the past few stellar cycles Springers small family had started to grow fond of him and appreciated him taking care of their sparkling, it was almost as if he was part of their quiet family since he had his own room in their habsuite and was often invited to family functions, “Springer Springer” he shook the sparkling to get him to focus “Your Carrier And Sire are busy so I’m spending the cycle here until the next one, are you alright with that?” He asked while putting the little mech down on the carpeted floor.
Springer was jumping on his heel struts in excitement “So you’ll recharge here for the cycle? Yay!” He cheered while running around in circles before tripping on his stylus and quickly getting back up and dragging Tarantulas’s servo “Let’s go eat dinner, Sire made Rustic low grates earlier and there was plenty of leftovers-
Wait, Just let me call my own sire and carrier first” he paused his own sentence to let both his sire and carrier know that he would be spending the cycle at Springer’s habsuite.
“Get the Frag out of my room Smokescreen!” Streetwise screeched with the maximum volume his vocalizer could handle, Prowl sighed from where he was sitting on the couch in the living room with his new laptop his sire got him last breem, it was a gift and he supposed he could make use of it.
It was much more transportable than his PC and he could use it while laying on his berth, He used it for online assignments or Social media accounts, Once in awhile he would use it to play games with his younger brothers which reminds him…
”Bluestreak?” He called out to his favorite brother who was in the kitchen making something inedible but he would still eat it anyways, “Yeah?” Bluestreak answered while holding a hot tray and wearing oven mitts, there were small tin cups on the tray but there was something gooey inside them, something that smelled like soap and felt like ice.
”Is Barricade in there with you?” he asked concerningly since bluestreak and smokescreen were both only 11 stellar cycles old so adult supervision was needed, "yup!" his oldest spark-brother, barricade responded from the kitchen while whisking a bowl full of batter, prowl sighed in relief before closing the tab that had his online assignments since he had finished them and opened a few other tabs.
mostly just social media where he could see posts of other bots like social blogs or pictures or videos, it was nice to see other bots happy so it did give him some serotonin, feeling pleased with himself and the world he stood up from the couch and began walking upstairs with his laptop still in his servos to his berthroom which he shared with barricade though barricade was usually never home because he went to college in Nyon ,had his own apartment complex there and even worked a part time job there, so usually barricades side of the room was much more emptier than it used to be, now that he was staying over these two vorns he still slept on the empty berth devoid of style.
Prowl was alright without the company even though his other three spark-siblings slept in the same room because they were all afraid of being alone in the dark, bluestreak and smokescreen shared a bunk berth placed in one corner of the room while streetwise's berth was placed in the other corner of the room, he could always hear them arguing since their rooms were right next to each other, though prowl did miss arguing with barricade late in the cycle when they were supposed to be recharging and it always ended in a pillow fight.
he felt a tiny bit lonelier but he was too old for that scrap and just dealt with it, he was a senior for primus's sake.
and a smart one at that, academically at least because he naturally was, he did it just for fun and because he got bored of wasting around and decided to make use of the time he had while he was still young, all the teachers told him that with a processor likes his, he was bound to have a successful job that would make him known for what was good such as a Law enforcer or a mnemosurgeon, those occupations sounded obscure to him.
he could think about it later in life, after all he has to go through college first before getting a job but his time as a high school student was limited since he was a senior now, he didn't know what to focus on in particular because his grades were already perfect enough, his status and reputation amongst his peers and teachers was well and he didn't really have much friends to begin with, Mirage was his unofficial lab partner since they shared the same science class period but he was really outgoing and had his own fancy hobbies to tend to, Ratchet had extra curriculum club activities and was busy patching up the rowdy and rough bots, Ironhide is good company but they didn't share the same sense of humor, Fortress Maximus was still dealing with his Schizophrenia and medication issues and Tarn already has his own friendgroup.
at least there were fun events like graduation ceremonies, sweet seventeens, prom, senior skip cycle, senior assassin and pranks, and big sleepovers, he supposed it wasn't that boring even though most students would look forward to senior stellar cycle their whole lives, it was kind of enjoyable.
he looked out the window to see the view out of his three story habsuite, there weren't any cyber trees to obscure his view since the gardener was good at perspective study, It was starting to get dark as some of Cybertron’s suns began to set and soon some of the moons and colony planets could be seen.
He wished he could share the view with someone else, he never really had a close friend before, having an Amica or Conjux connection was something he used to want when he was younger but now that he was grown he figured that no Bot would want him or desire to get to know him.
His schedule was too packed with Extra curriculums he willingly took, After school clubs, Competitions and Sports, not to mention he tutors other students every two breems at the school library.
Although he did have optics on a certain Mech.
Jazz of Staniz, Jazz was everything he wasn’t, A social bot who was friends with practically the whole school, he was energetic and enthusiastic about everything and he could tone down and become more relaxed if he wanted to while still being nice, a lot of bots liked him which granted him a good reputation, he was by far the most friendliest bot to ever be around.
If he was in a room full of strangers somehow he would manage to make friends, He had multiple social circles inside and outside of school, He was everything Prowl wasn’t and that intrigued him because if Jazz was supposed to be the opposite of what Prowl was then Prowl supposed he himself was just unhappy with his life since Jazz was always happy.
He watched Jazz from afar whenever he could because of his busy schedule, if he got the chance he would try to muster up some courage to talk to him but mess up completely last minute before deciding to not talk to him for a breem and hope he forgets the embarrassing encounter.
Too bad Jazz was already interest in some other mech, Tarantulas of Protohex, That Mech was outright disgusting and has eaten pests right in front of him, He would sometimes crawl on all four limbs or crack his joints unbearably loud, Prowl hoped that Jazz’s crush would fade soon since Jazz always had a crush that would either last for two stellar cycles or two breems.
Prowl hoped it was the latter, he really hoped it was the latter because a Mech as Cheerful and Social as Jazz didn’t deserve to be with some freak like Tarantulas, in fact Jazz was so perfect he didn’t deserve to be with anyone because everyone else was too incompetent for Prowl’s liking, Jazz deserved to be with someone better for his own sake.
Someone Like Prowl, He had commitment, he had discipline, he was smart and careful with his words since he was used to debate challenges and public speaking, He could improve himself constantly until he was good enough for Jazz, He was perfect, clean and polished plating, Good posture, Respectable manners, Politeness radiating from him.
So why was Jazz so Disgusted by him? Whenever he approached The mech He would observe how Jazz would gag and physically recoil before scrambling away to try and find a way to hide somewhere, Jazz hated being around him as if he was some foul odor, Prowl didn’t know why Jazz hated him so much, if there was anything about him that Jazz didn’t approve of then Prowl could change it, if only he knew what part of him Jazz hated so much.
If it was his personality then he could change that, its not like anyone knew what he was really like anyways since he never really shared his personal feelings or views to anyone, if it was how his frame looked then Prowl could purchase Modifications and maybe change his paint job or lose some kibble, if it was his schedule then Prowl would quit all the clubs and curriculums he was in just so he could spend time with Jazz.
But he wasn’t close enough with Jazz to know what he really felt about him on a specific basis, He wanted to be close with Jazz, he Wanted to talk to him about anything because he never really talked a lot about himself, usually when he talks it’s at some event like his carrier’s creation cycle celebration or his sire got some promotion and he was forced to socialize with other bots at some fancy venue.
He hated bland small talk, he hated talking with adults who only talked about boring topics, he hated being what he was.
All of his problems could be solved if he just talked to Jazz, Jazz Could fix him.
He picked up his pillow and screamed into it so that it would be muffled although his vocalizer crackled and almost spewed static when he screamed too loud, he glanced around the room and hoped no one heard him, he threw the pillow up into the air and watched it fall to the floor.
Then he laid back flat on his berth and stared at the bare ceiling that reeked of blandness, “Primus why is everything so complicated!” He groaned while rubbing his temples, he was just a teenager! Why was he making everything so difficult! It’s just a crush so why was he making such a fuss about it!?