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From their first time meeting Medix, it was clear to see he was odd. Not in a bad way. Medix was a wonderful friend and an even better rescue bot, but odd nonetheless. He never understood their jokes, consumed his energon kinda funny, and never seemed to quite understand the feelings of others. They understood he didn’t mean to but Medix was the last person you’d talk to when you were upset. He’d just provide statistics, which clearly he meant as comfort, but often painted the situation in a worse light. Medix was strange. The recruits had accepted that.
All morning Medix had been acting weird. Well. Weirder than usual. Medix had a habit of fidgeting. Which wasn’t a foreign concept for the recruits. Hotshot and Whirl also partook in the habit. Sometimes Whirl had to go into the hallway to “ express herself” which usually meant going into the hallway to pace or spin or whatever calmed her down. Medix's go-to was flicking his servos. He closed and opened them over and over again until he felt better. He usually only did it when he was stressed out. He was doing it right now, which likely meant he was anxious. His teammates didn’t blame him, this was a very stressful sim. And noisy. It was very noisy. It seemed as if a billion things were going on at once. Medix began to emit a low keening sound, optics dilating slightly, and swaying forward and back. The other recruits were still trying to complete the rescue. “ Medix can you stop? We’re trying to finish the rescue. Are you injured or something?” asked Wedge, trying to be polite but still coming off a bit irritated. Medix didn’t answer and instead sank to the ground, his rocking becoming much more intense. His servos rose to cover his audials. “ Medix? What’s going on? Are you ok?” Whirl asked in rapid succession. Medix didn’t answer once again. The mission faded into the background. They were all worried about their friend. The recruits surrounded him, asking him a barrage of questions. His rocking became more extreme until it seemed almost painful. His voicebox glitched as his keening became sobs. He began to band his helm against a tree. Hard. Everybody started panicking. “PROFESSOR, END THE SIMUATION! SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH MEDIX! WE NEED HELP!” shouted Wedge. The simulation dissolved into pixels. The recruits saw Blades walking towards them and Heatwave fidgeting with the light settings of Hero Hall. Blades was carrying what looked to be a weighted blanket. He motioned for the recruits to back up. “ Let’s give him some space,” they nodded and backed up. “Medix, I need you to take a deep breath for me.” If Medix had been feeling like himself, he would have pointed out that bots don’t breathe, but he simply did as he was told. Medix was still rocking very hard but his sobbing had died down. His optics were shut very hard and his servos still covered his audials. “ Would you like the blanket?” Medix nodded. “ Over?” he nodded again. Blades gently placed the weighted blanket over Medix’s helm. Medix was still rocking but it was much slower and relaxed. His keening had turned into humming. After a bit he stopped rocking entirely. “Do you want to finish cooling down in medbay?” Medix nodded from under the blanket and Blades led him away.
His friends watched him go, still looking worried. “ Is Medix alright?” asked Hoist “Yeah, What just happened?” questioned Hotshot. Boulder sighed and Heatwave just looked away. He cleared his throat. “I guess I’ll start. I’m sorry for leaving you recruits alone when this was happening. It must have been very scary for all of you. I left to go get Blades and hadn’t even realized how bad the situation had gotten.” a chorus of ok’s erupted from the recruits. “But what happened?” asked Hotshot, curiosity and anxiety for his friend's safety began to boil over. “ What you recruits just saw was a meltdown. Do any of you know what that is?” The recruits' optics shifted to where Medix would usually be standing with the right answer. “ That’s alright. Do you know what autism is?” They shook their heads. Hoist raised a servo. “Medix had brought it up a couple times, but I never really thought to ask further,” “That’s ok. Medix is autistic. Autism is short for Autism Spectrum Disorder which is a disability. A disability is something that makes it harder to live your life. Disabled people may need different tools or procedures to help them live life to the fullest.” “Like hallway time!” “Exactly! Your situation is different from Medix’s but it's similar. Blades might be able to explain this better than I can but what happened earlier was a meltdown. A meltdown can be caused by overstimulation or stress. It may cause Medix to act abnormally and when it happens it's always best to get an adult. They can help Medix in a way you might not be able to just yet. If you can't find an adult, just stay with him until he calms down to make he doesn't get hurt.” Heatwave piped up. “ I'd like to mention that Humans can have Autism as well and it may affect some rescues. Don't worry though, you'll learn more about factors like that in year 3” A silence fell over them “Are we supposed to treat Medix differently now?” asked Wedge. “ Primus No!” replied Heatwave. “ Medix is still the same old Medix. He’s still your friend. His processor was just assembled differently than yours and that's ok! There's a human saying ‘ Everyone gets across the pond, some swim, some float and some need a boat!”