Chapter Text
In the show, High Tide wasn't shown interacting with the bots very often. He was just treated as a special guest that only rarely showed up in emergencies.
But that just wasn't the case. What most people don't know is that the Rescue Bots show only showed the major rescues the team made and only a little bit of their personal lives. Not the entire thing. You only ever saw the high pressure situation and the action filled part of their lives.
And High Tide was not usually a part of that. But, that doesn't mean he wasn't involved with the Rescue Bots. In fact, he was extremely involved with them. This involvement ranged from late night calls with Chase about human interactions, to holding Blades until he fell into a recharge.
He cared a lot about the bots, more than he was willing to admit. If he could, he would grab them all, bumble them up, and keep them in his boat where he could continue to raise them, watch them, and keep them safe from everything in the world. But sadly, he couldn't. Well, more like he shouldn't.
By the time he found the bots, they had already built lives in Griffin Rock. They were safe and happy there. But more importantly, they are out of the war. If he were to take them, it would only upset them and scare the young mechs away. Not to mention all the mental damage that would have caused. Separating them from a place they felt safe in during a time full of uncertainty and danger would cause a lot more harm than good. He already had a rocky start with them, he didn't need to make that any worse. So, he left them there and visited whenever he could. He decided to raise them there. And so far it worked.
So, in the end, he couldn't take the four of them as they were already connected to the area they were in.
But Blurr and Salvage weren't.
So, he scooped them up, and now they live on his ship.
He takes care of his younglings. All six of them. He figured out that they were younglings within the first few hours of meeting them. They tried to act older, but their lack of maturity, their small bodies, and underdeveloped frame were all dead giveaways.
High Tide has always wanted younglings of his own, but he never did have any. Something always popped up. He was too busy, didn't want to burden his crew, got too old, etcetera etcetera. But once he saw these younglings, out in the world, alone without any other mech to watch out for them, unaware of the war, weak, and still growing, his spark filled with a mix of emotions. He felt fear and hope, anger and curiosity. He couldn't just leave them on a random human island. Humans can be nice, but their obsession with violence was extremely concerning. These younglings would be completely defenseless towards them. High Tide couldn't just leave them there.
So, he started watching over them. It was a small thing at first. He would patch up the small scratches they got, join in some small talk, taught them small things like surfboarding and more water rescue plays. As time went on, he started connecting with them more.
He started listening to Chase talk about the new laws he found, even if he didn't care for them, they made the younglings happy. He started talking with Boulder and watching him paint. He even started sparring with Heatwave and handed out some tips to the younger mech.
As they grew close, they started gaining some mutual trust. As their relationship grew stronger, the bots started calling High Tide instead of Optimus. High Tide always answered.
At first, they only called in extreme emergencies. He always got to them as quickly as he could.
Then, they started calling him looking for some extra back up or to ask him if he ever encountered something similar to what they were going after. He tried to answer to the best of his ability, but the stuff they asked him about were a little out of his league. And he's been to multiple planets before.
As time went on, the bots started calling for smaller incidents. They would call just to ask for advice or how to do a simple task. They would ask things about humans, about each other, or they would just give reports of what happened if the day startled them. He always tried to help them to the best of his ability, sometimes even coming down to the firehouse to comfort them if the day was bad enough.
These calls would sometimes shift to small talk. And eventually, the bots would call just to have a conversation with him. Which he would gladly answer. These kids need someone in their life, and he would gladly be that person.
He started listening to Chase talk about the new laws he found out, even if he couldn't care less about human rules. He held conversations about human books and the weird TV shows they liked with Blades and Boulder. Even going as far as spending his nights watching the shows or reading the books so he can contribute to the conversation. He even got Heatwave to talk about the different human activities he liked, like the different human sports he tried, the pranks Franky, Cody, and Kade taught him, and any other fun things he learned.
Those were some of the good moments he was there for, but he was also there through the bad.
When Boulder calls him crying about the fear his spark felt, he would stay on the call till he calmed down. He would listen to him for as long as he needed as he voiced his fears.
When Chase would go on rants, freaking out and emotionly breaking down, about something he couldn't understand, he would talk through it with him. He would slow him down, calm him, and talk through the problem with him. They would work together for hours to try and figure out what Chase couldn't understand.
When Blades would come back shaken up from falling out the air, High Tide would curl up with him as Blades fell into recharge, providing him with the comfort he needed in order to feel safe again. In the mornings, he would go out with him to watch him fly and make sure he didn't fall again.
When Heatwave would show up on his boat, trying to hide his true feelings of terror under some snark, he would sit with him until he spoke about the day's scare. He would stay with Heatwave for as long as he needed. He would with all of them.
They were his younglings after all and he would care for them.
He was there when Blurr crashed into his worst crash yet. He was the one that pulled him from the rocks and nursed him back to full health.
He was there when Salvage created his first fully working robot dog from trash and scrap. He helped train the damn thing once he was allowed to.
He was there for Blade's Lad Pioneer test. He helped clean the mud off him once he was done and he even baked him some energon treats to celebrate.
And he was going to be there for any other major events in their life.
Because they were his mechlings. Not Optimus's, he doesn't even answer their calls. His.
And he was going to protect them, raise them, make sure they drank their energon, and make sure they never follow in the other rescue bots' footsteps.