Chapter Text
Hot Rod woke up to discover himself covered in cassettes. Ah, today was his turn to watch them.
He stared at the ceiling, not exactly wanting to get up, but he had a shift to get to within the hour and Hot Rod had to make sure to fuel beforehand. The cassettes would either be staying in his hab until they got up and found him, or he’ll have to drag them with. He sighed and started squirming to get out from under them.
A groan, “Why ya moving?”
“I have a shift soon, you can come with or stay and sleep, but I need you to get off me.”
Rumble grumbled but rolled off any ways, landing on Frenzy, who just grunted and sleepily swatted at his brother. It made Hot Rod smiled even as he had to shuffle out of under Ravage’s bulk laying on his chest. The felinoid opened an optic a slit before curling into the warm spot he just left. He rolled his own optics, before walking into the attached washrack and getting presentable. A quick wash was good enough for now, at least it got the leftover dirt off from yesterday’s patrol.
Coming back out, Hot Rod found the cassettes sitting up and yawning. “You guys can stay here and recharge you know.”
Frenzy grunted, dropping his helm onto Rumble, who looked more awake, even if it was only slightly. “Nah, we’ll come with.”
Hot Rod rolled his optics as he walked to his berth, and picked up Frenzy, hefting the surprisingly heavy cassette on his hip like he’d seen the humans do with their young. “How are you guys so heavy for how small you are?”
Neither of them gave an answer. Frenzy, because he had slipped back into recharge, and Rumble looked ready to follow. Hot Rod was debating on whether he’d manage to carry them both when Rumble made the decision for him by slipping off the berth and latching onto his plating. His fingers slipping into a seam at his hip.
Only sometimes would he grumble about being as short as he was, but it made it easier for the cassettes to reach him compared to Soundwave. Unfortunately, that also meant he was fairly short when it came to Soundwave. It made initiating kisses difficult. Shoving that thought aside, Hot Rod looked at the other three still on his berth. There should be four.
“Where’s Ratbat?”
Laserbeak chirped, shifting her wing to show Ratbat curled between her and Buzzsaw.
“Thanks Laserbeak,” he walked over, rubbing a finger over Ratbat’s helm to see if the youngest cassette would rouse. A soft peep came from the bat as his optics lit up.
“Hey little guy, wanna come with me or stay with your siblings?”
The squeak and attempt to wiggle up had Hot Rod slipping his hand underneath Ratbat and shifting so he could lay on his shoulder. The softest of thunks against his neck faring had Hot Rod giggling, knowing that was Ratbat passing back into recharge.
“How does Soundwave get you to do anything when you’re just a bunch of sleepy cassettes?” Hot Rod couldn’t help but tease as he walked out of his hab, leaving the avians and Ravage to recharge for as long as they wanted. Rumble just let out another grunt as he shuffled beside the speedster, fingers not slipping from where he had latched them earlier.
Hot Rod didn’t pass many bots as he walked through the hallways. There was Jazz, who smiled and waved, and Prowl, who rolled his optics, but neither bothered him. They were partially responsible for the situation in the first place, but the real culprit was standing in the rec room as Hot Rod entered with the cassettes.
Blaster smiled at him and waved him over. Hot Rod towing Rumble along as he joined the cassette carrier.
“Hey there Hot Rod, see Soundwave dropped his kiddos off again. They get to your hab okay?”
“Yeah they did. Didn't even know I was getting them today actually,” Hot Rod set Frenzy down beside Rewind who was dozing against Eject. He grabbed Rumble and put him next to Frenzy, the two’s helms clonking together. The speedster didn't bother removing Ratbat from his place on his shoulder.
“Could you watch them while I grab fuel?”
“No problem mech, go get y'all's fuel.”
Hot Rod smiled gratefully at Blaster before moving over to the energon dispenser to grab three cubes. Of course, he had to input a code on the screen to get the extra two. Something Jazz had handfully set up for whenever it was Hot Rod’s turn to care for Soundwave's cassettes. Hot Rod didn't mind watching over them.
Even though it's been a few months since he started dating Soundwave, being allowed partial custody of the cassettes was a surprise. Blaster had to explain it to him since Soundwave didn't, and his cassettes weren't very helpful in that regard either when he had just suddenly dropped them off one day.
As Blaster had put it, it was not only a way for Soundwave to determine how well he could get along with them without Soundwave hovering in the background, and it was a good way to allow them to figure out if they could coexist without too many issues. Blaster was kind enough to let him know that if it didn’t work out with the cassettes then Soundwave would likely break it off. Primus must have been on Hot Rod’s side because they all managed to get along, sure it took a little bit, especially with the mechanimal cassettes, the exception being Ratbat.
Now, it’s just become a shared custody thing that Hot Rod couldn’t help but sometimes compare to the humans media. Only it was easier and not as messy as some of those looked. Of course, Soundwave didn’t always announce when he was dropping the cassettes off, and like today, Hot Rod would just wake up with them sprawled on him.
Hot Rod shook his head to stop the thought tree from continuing as he made his way over with the cubes. Snagging two of the straws sitting to the side of the dispenser on the way. Once to the table, he set the cubes down and stabbed the straws through two of the cubes before nudging Frenzy and Rumble. The two grumbled but took their cubes, mouthing at the straw before sleepily slurping the energon up. He patted their helms before taking the seat next to Blaster and chatting with the other cassette carrier.
Blaster was seriously Primus sent, Hot Rod was glad to have him on their side since he could get some great advice and help when he wasn’t able to get a hold of Soundwave. Which actually was a lot of the time when it came to the cassettes getting suddenly dropped off. It usually meant the blue tapedeck was busy and didn’t want or need his cassettes with him for time being. During the conversation, Hot Rod managed to drink most of his cube. Without finishing it he pulled Ratbat off his shoulder and cradled the bat cassette as he carefully tipped the corner of the cube into his mouth so he could finish it.
Hot Rod cooed at Ratbat as he yawned after finishing the rest of the cube, and in true youngling fashion, curled back into Hot Rod’s chassis to continue sleeping. It was adorable. Hot Rod really did enjoy his time caring for the cassettes, but he also couldn’t wait until Soundwave showed up. Optimus, along with Jazz and Prowl, not to mention Blaster, had given clearance for Soundwave to enter the ARK as long as he stayed in certain areas. One being Hot Rod’s berth room.
The resulting ‘talk’ from Kup after he learned of that was not something he wanted a repeat of again.
They weren’t doing anything besides cuddling while the cassettes went to play and cause small, allowed, chaos with Blaster’s group as he kept an optic on all of them.
Hot Rod glanced over to Blaster, the red tapedeck had a certain smile on his face that caused him to cover his glowing faceplates. Blaster just chuckled and patted Hot Rod on the back. A thunk sounded. Hot Rod removed his hand to find an empty cube with a bent straw sitting on the table in front of Blaster. The culprit turned out to be Frenzy who was glaring at Blaster.
Blaster laughed. Hot Rod couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped his vocalizer. That was another thing, the cassettes were very set on keeping others from making a move on him. Though, he honestly thought they did it to Blaster just to annoy him.
At least Soundwave knew Blaster wasn’t a threat.