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It’s dark outside, and the planet’s three moons refract light onto the dusty, dry landscape. The temperature is cold, in great contrast to the insufferable heat of the daytime sunlight. The chilly air will be dearly missed when morning arrives, and everything becomes as hot as an oven.
An autobot base lies in the middle of the otherwise uninhabited desert. Its really no pretty sight, boxy and barely functional, with peeling paint and intense sunspots. It’s horribly ugly. However, war zones are not typically picked for their beauty and the invaluable minerals hidden deep underground are worth far more then what one would assume at a glance.
Everyone within the base slept hard after an excruciatingly long workday. Well, almost everyone. Sunstreaker sits awake on the edge of his berth. Hot anger bubbles inside him. Since the loss of his twin, Sunstreaker has been completely inconsolable. He’s angry, brash, and increasingly hostile.
Sunstreaker flips through old art and photos on his datapad. His hands tighten around the edges and he clamps his jaw tightly together as the corners of his eyes begin to sting. His spark aches, he just wants his brother back. It hurt so much to think about him, but he couldn’t keep himself from doing so.
Sideswipe didn’t deserve to die. Not like how he did, not ever. Prowl should have never let him into that building and he shouldn’t have stopped him from going in after him.
It wouldn’t be incorrect to assume Sunstreaker blamed Prowl for the death of his brother. He was leading that mission, Sideswipe died under his watch. Prowl offered his greatest sympathies, but they felt so empty to Sunstreaker. Some sick part of him wanted a form of retribution by his own hands.
Sunstreaker was brought out of his own thoughts by tears falling onto the screen of his datapad. He turned off his device and leaned forward. He scrunched the bridge of his nose with his pointer finger and thumb and haphazardly tossed his datapad onto the foot of his berth. He set his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands.
Grief consumed him, he wanted to scream. He wants to hide away, never to be found, to run, never to be seen again. Why continue this fight with no one to fight for?
Sunstreaker let out a breath he hadn’t released he’d been holding and inhaled shakily. What’s stopping him from leaving? Who would care? Jazz, maybe. When hearing about his brother’s passing Jazz told him that he’s always here if he needed anything, but Sunstreaker knew Jazz would side with Prowl if he ever expressed his hostility for him. Jazz’s affection for Prowl was sorely obvious. He could easily learn to live without Sunstreaker.
The more he though about it the more he liked the idea. He wasn’t a child, they couldn’t drag him back if they went looking for him. He didn’t know where he would go, but he didn’t care. He just didn’t want to be here.
He stood up and turned to scoop up the datapad from his berth and turned off the locating feature, while it was meant for finding a lost device, he didn’t want his “teammates” using it to their advantage to find a lost Sunstreaker. He stuffed it into his subspace along with his digital pen and a few other miscellaneous items. He took a glance over his habsuite one last time before turning to leave.
Sunstreaker closed the door behind himself, but did not bother to lock it. Since he had collected everything of value, there would be no concerns or theft or snooping. He made his way through the long identical hallways. Walking with intention, as to not clip edges when turning corners.
Nobody would get up to see who was wandering around, not if they were never woken up. He scoffed and cringed at the dulling walls. Any sense of belonging had long since faded, there would be no regrets in abandoning this sad excuse of shelter.
Sunstreaker scanned along the dark edges of the base, he didn’t want to bump into anybot who decided a late-night walk around is exactly what they needed. Even if he did have a run-in, it’s not like he could have hid. His bright blue optics cut through the dark like a knife. They’d be a dead giveaway.
Sunstreaker made it to the end of the hallway and glanced down to the left hall before making a sharp right turn. He smacked face first straight into someone’s chest. Great, exactly what he didn’t want to happen. He glanced up to meet eyes with who he’d collided with. He recognized the tired-looking bot as Ironhide.
“Sunstreaker?” He questioned. “What’re you doing up?” Ironhide paused to do a good look-over on Sunstreaker. He could see the faint, dry tear marks on his face and scuffed paint along Sunstreaker’s outer leg. He never let his paint stay damaged, he wasn’t taking care of himself anymore.
“Woah, hey, wait- are you alright, buddy?”
Ironhide extended his arm out to the other and cupped Sunstreaker’s cheek. He gently brushed over the tear-stains with his thumb in an attempt to sooth him.
Sunstreaker stood there in silence for a moment before reaching up to grab Ironhide’s wrist, he went to pull it down off from him but before he could he felt himself become overwhelmed with emotions. He stifled a cry and let go of his wrist and slid his hand up to rest on top of Ironhide’s. He pulled it over to cover more of his face and pressed himself into it.
He took in a sharp, incredibly shaky breath. It wasn’t long before he was crying again. He felt bad, comforting him was probably not what Ironhide was looking forward to after such a long day. Yet here he was, consoling him. Sunstreaker felt like such a child.
Ironhide gestured with his free arm for him to come in for a hug and took his other hand from Sunstreaker after he took a step forward. Ironhide wrapped him in a big hug and rested his chin on the top of the other’s head. Sunstreaker stood there with his arms still by his sides and hid his face in the red mech’s chest. He felt so heavy.
“I’m sorry, you’re probably itching to recharge.” Sunstreaker started. He paused to take in another rough breath. “I can get outta your way.”
“Mmm. Not when yer in such need of a good ol’ fashion smoothing. Anything else can wait, even a nice recharge.”
Sunstreaker slipped his arms around Ironhide and returned the hug. He squeezed him tightly and held on like it was the only thing keeping him alive. He gritted his teeth and tensed his hands aggressively.
“Ya mean that?” Sunstreaker barley managed to speak. His throat felt as if it was being constricted and his voice began to become uneven. He could feel his own hot tears slide down his face and drip onto Ironhide’s chest.
“I thought you knew me better then that. ‘Course I do, I mean it with everything I’ve got.” He assured. He shifted his left arm from around Sunstreaker’s mid-back to his neck and shoulders and lifted his head off of Sunstreaker to kiss the top of his helm.
“I love you, never forget that mk?”
Sunstreaker broke down sobbing. That horrible scream crying, the uncontrollable kind. His vents hitched violently and his vision blurred out from the tears. Even if it was only moments ago Ironhide was the last bot he wanted to see, he was the bot he needed.
Ironhide was like a second brother to him, he took both him and his twin in when they were forged during the heat of the war. He sheltered them, keep them warm and fueled, and so importantly, loved them to death. Everyone on this Primus-forsaken team loved the twins, but it was Ironhide who let them sleep in his habsuite during thunderstorms when they got scared. It was Ironhide who’d help him paint those hard to reach spots for him. It was Ironhide who would put his own grief aside to hold him. Sunstreaker felt horrible for letting himself forget that
“I’m so, so sorry, Ironhide.” Sunstreaker choked, stumbling over his words. “I was just gonna- I wanted to run away. Primus, I’m sorry.” Sunstreaker let out a pained wail and continued to apologize over and over.
Ironhide felt his own tears begin to fall. He’d already lost so much, and he nearly lost everything else. Ironhide pressed his forehead to Sunstreaker’s and looked into his pretty, blue eyes. Sunstreaker winced at the sight of his pain.
“Sunstreaker, you’re my everything. Please don’t leave me. If you ever need anything please, please come find me. I don’t care if the middle of night. I don’t care if I’m busy. Just please, I need you right now.”
Sunstreaker mumbled affirmatively. He had been so stupid to assume nobot would care, he had gotten so lucky, if he had even taken a different route to the main door he might have been out in the cold, lost and with an empty feeling of freedom. But he had walked through that hallway and walked into this bot and he’s here, being held like he’s the most invaluable thing fathomable.
“I love you so much, Ironhide.”