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“Sire!” Ironhide smiled and spread his arms when the twins jumped up and charged over to him. He hugged them tightly and picked them both up, making Sideswipe giggle and Sunstreaker kick his feet playfully, and carried them back over to the table where they’d been coloring before he came home.
“What you mechling’s been workin’ on?” Ironhide set Sunstreaker down first and then Sideswipe. Sidesiwpe clamped back onto his leg quickly, but Sunstreaker reached for his coloring pad and held it up. Ironhide’s smile widened as he looked at the image. He’d never seen a crystal condor that was green or trees that shade of red, but it was creative and carried a bit of the abstract flair Sunny was already drawn toward. “That’s lookin’ real nice, Sunny. What color you plannin’ to make the lake?”
Sunstreaker was thoughtful for a moment before replying. “Pink.”
“Good choice.” It was going to look like a lake of blood, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud and make his youngling feel self-conscious about his choices. Sunstreaker cared a lot about his pictures, and Ironhide was going to encourage that for as long as possible.
“Now mine!” Sideswipe shook himself back and forth, drawing Ironhide’s attention back to him.
“All right, Sides, what have you been workin’ on today?”
Sideswipe let go of Ironhide’s leg and reached for his own coloring pad. He held it up proudly and Ironhide had to squint for a moment to make out the image behind all the colors spread across the screen. It was the same as Sunstreaker’s, but where the golden youngling had been meticulous about staying in the lines and even adding shading, Sideswipe had scribbled colors down in the places that felt right to him without regard to the lines or what the image was ‘supposed’ to be. It was as creative as his twin’s, if differently. Maybe it was time to invest in a more advanced drawing program for the two of them, in addition to the coloring sheets.
“Lookin’ good, Sides! You got a real good optic for decoration’!”
“Thank you, sire!” Sideswipe set the pad down and hugged him again. “Wish mine was pretty like Sunny’s.”
“Is pretty,” Sunstreaker replied, looking up with a frown before Ironhide could say anything. “Just… ab-stracty.”
“Abstract,” Ironhide corrected gently. “And that’s right. You both do really nice abstract work, they’re just different kinds.”
“Promise?” Sideswipe asked.
“Promise,” Ironhide replied.
“Okay.” Sideswipe beamed at him again and Sunstreaker gave him a tiny little smile, and Ironhide didn’t think he could have loved his younglings more if they’d come from his own spark. “Can we color more before dinner?”
“Well, I still need to check with Mia, but I don’t see why not. Maybe you can color something for me to put in my locker at work.”
“Yeah!” Sideswipe cheered and Sunstreaker began flipping through the different pages in the program.