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"What's taking Tailgate so long?" Rewind huffed, setting his hands on his hips. "I told him 7, sharp."
"Tailgate's always late," Swerve dismissed, mouth full of energon goodies. "He's coming, I'm sure. He never misses minibot movie night."
"Especially not the documentaries!" Pipes added, "Those are his favourite!"
Rewind perked up at the knock at his habsuite door. "Oh, finally!"
"Heyyy, I hope you don't mind that I-" Tailgate began.
"Nope," Rewind snapped, holding the door open. He glared up at the massive intruder in his doorway with all the venom he could muster.
"Ah," Tailgate said, deflating, "I told him he could come, though."
"Why would you do that?" Rewind demanded, without breaking optic contact with Whirl, standing behind Tailgate in the hallway, "It's minibot movie night, and he's like, forty feet tall. And also, I hate him."
"I said he could come because-"
"Because y'all are watching Functionism's Folly tonight, ain't ya?" Whirl chirped, apparently unbothered by Rewind's last statement. He picked Tailgate up with one claw and barged into the room past Rewind's protests. "I'm in this one!"
Rewind hesitated. "What?"
"I'm in this one!" Whirl repeated, dropping the minibot down on the couch. He inspected the seating arrangements for a moment before plopping down backwards onto his aft on the floor.
"You're in this documentary?" Rewind repeated, confused.
"Yeah!" Whirl laughed, making himself comfortable.
Rewind had seen this movie a hundred times. He'd never seen him in it before. He considered the door again, and then closed it, returning to the couch.
"So, what, is he staying then?" Swerve probed.
"I guess," Rewind muttered. It was easier to let him stay than try to kick him out at this point, anyway. He'd tell Magnus to keep him busy next week, and put up with him for now.
Whirl, to his credit, was very quiet throughout the film. He only twice asked Swerve to pass the rust sticks, but otherwise, he didn't interrupt the documentary as it discussed the rise and fall of Functionism in pre-war Cybertron. Rewind found his behaviour mystifying. He'd never seen him like this. He was so quiet in fact, that it caught him off guard when Whirl suddenly straightened up and pointed at the projection, raising his voice.
"There!" he hollered, elated, "That's me!"
Rewind stared at the screen, a cold feeling in his gut. "That's you?"
"Uh-huh!" Whirl nodded enthusiastically. "Back then I was a helluva lot more handsome though, heh."
On screen, a watchmaker stood outside of his shop in Rodion, giving an interview to a local news station. His yellow face plate beamed with a brilliant smile, hands gesturing excitedly as he talked about how difficult it had been to obtain alt-mode exempt status when going from soldier to craftsman was considered a class downgrade. The narrator went on, speaking over serial footage of the same shop at night, burning to the ground. This was only one of many, the documentary told him sadly. Those that sought to escape the system would go on to be punished by it.
The footage cut to a shot of the same mech from earlier on his knees on the sidewalk, smeared with soot and sobbing, wailing into the night by himself.
Rewind looked at Whirl. Without a faceplate, his expression was unreadable, but he was sitting quietly, having apparently succeeded in seeing what he'd wanted to see. The cold thing in his gut spread to his spark and Rewind turned back to the screen without saying anything.
The next week when Whirl showed up again at his door, Rewind let him in.