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He can't remember the last time he's felt so protective about someone - save for his cassettes. The need to nurture, to defend is weaving into his spark, taking over his core processor. On the outside, he doesn't show any of that; one can never be too careful about sharing feelings and emotions.
Most of his fellow Decepticons suspect his emotional subsystems don't even work - and every now and then he thinks maybe it would be wise to get rid of those... unnecessary turmoils.
But had he done that, what would remain?
Would that Other-He be able to look after anyone?
He glances down at the makeshift med-berth he's built for his newest protégé - a delicate mech who shares his designation. The mech's plating seems fragile and thin, so different from Soundwave’s sturdy armor. There are greyish spots all over the newcomer's frame - a tell-tale sign of spark-deep exhaustion. He'd been pulled out of that strange shadow realm in the last moment, before his spark burnt out, before the total system shutdown.
"What'you gonna do with him, Boss?" Frenzy asks, looking at the unconscious mech. He's feeling that Pull too - the sparks' resonance, the delicate and deep thread of Recognition, of "I know who you are".
Of closeness.
::Soundwave: protects:: he answers because what else could he say, what other option is even there? His Carrier protocols urge him to shield that fragile being from any harm, to keep him close, to help...
::Soundwave: stays here:: he adds, a bit helplessly, and almost-touches the other's helm.
The spark-twin.
Family.