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Blaster felt fine. That’s what made it so shocking.
It started right before band practice, which was just him & Jazz bouncing beats off of each other for the better part of two hours once an earth week. They called it band practice because Prowl decided it was more tolerable than ‘weekly awesome-sauce date with my number one music mech’ and it would actually fit on their shared calendar.
He was grabbing his guitar when he felt a twinge in his chest, and paused hunched over the floor as his servos lunged to clutch himself. The feeling went away almost as soon as it started, and Blaster carefully let himself stand as it stayed gone.
“What the frag…” He muttered, grabbing his guitar and putting it in his subspace with the rest of the instruments he was bringing.
He promptly forgot about it as he made his way to the meeting, already hearing Jazz tune his sax and anxious to get his servos on some drums.
They jammed and gabbed an extra hour before deciding it was time for a grand finale, else Blaster be late to his evening plans. The twinge had become persistently annoying, but he was having too much fun to care. He told himself he’d get it checked tomorrow with Ratchet, and that would be that.
That was, until he finished his tuning and went to start riffing on his guitar with Jazz on vocals, and he sneezed. Nothing notable, except it seemed to dislodge something in his chest compartment. He heard two faint thumps as whatever it was hit the floor of his tape deck, and he almost dropped his guitar grabbing himself.
“Woah, you good mech?” Jazz asked, dropping his mic and quickly holding out his servos to catch Blaster if need be.
Blaster ignored him and cracked open his deck, expecting to see a piece of metal or some loose wiring. Instead, he was met with two miniature visors peaking out of the darkness at him. He slowly let it open all the way and watched two almost identical sparklings appear from the darkness and look at him curiously.
“Oh. Uhhhh-” Blaster said, looking between them and Jazz, who’s jaw looked like it had come off its hinges. “Where did you guys come from-?”
Blaster slowly picked them up and closed his deck, much to the enjoyment of the sparklings who instantly started chirping at him and reaching for his face. He held them close and let them get comfortable, with both attempting to smother each other in their attempts to find the perfect place to cuddle up against his armor. They eventually decided to rest their little helms right over his spark, then took to taking in their surroundings.
He looked at Jazz again, who was still absolutely gob-smacked, and the twins started chirping for his attention again. He rubbed their backs gently and watched as they settled against each other and started to converse in babbles and squeaks just barely loud enough for him to hear.
“Well,” He started, not taking his optics off the sparklings, “this won’t help with bots comparing me to Soundwave…” The red sparkling chose that moment to sneeze, prompting his blue twin to sneeze. Both froze, then burst into giggles and grabbed each other; they would’ve fallen if not for Blaster’s firm grip on them.
His face broke into a smile as he watched them. He could feel his spark trying to swell past its casing as he looked at them, and didn’t realize tears were welling up in his optics until Jazz quietly wiped one away.
“I don’t think I care this time.”
-
After finally convincing Ratchet and Jazz to let him get some rest in his hab - which had taken four hours of tests and questions he kept deflecting - he locked the door and set the lights to sleep mode. The twins had fallen asleep during all of Ratchet’s fussing, which had helped hasten Blaster’s escape.
Checking the lock one last time, he secured his sparklings in his dock before carefully opening his window and climbing out of his room, landing softly on his pedes in the dirt below. Making sure they hadn’t woken from the all movement, Blaster then began his journey into the woods and away from the arc and its prying eyes.
After an hour that felt a lot more tiring than it should’ve, he found their usual clearing empty save for a suspicious blue cassette player sitting atop a rock. Blaster chuckled as he walked over and carefully sat next to it, watching Soundwave unfold and grow past the laws of physics until he was sitting next to him.
“Hey there tall dark an’ blue, fancy meeting you here.” Blaster said with a quick kiss to the side of Soundwave’s visor. Soundwave would normally chuckle at that, then remove his mask and kiss him back. This time though, he hesitated. His posture was tense and his pede kept tapping against the rock they lounged on. That didn’t bode well for Blaster.
“Is somethin’ wrong? You know you can tell me anything sweet spark.” Blaster told him, gently cupping his helm to make Soundwave look at him. The Decepticon sighed a bit and leaned into Blaster’s servos, visor dimming a bit as he closed his optics.
“Blaster: must promise not to be mad.”
“Mad? Mech you’ve tried to kill me, it takes a lot to get me mad at you these days.”
It was true, they’d had to keep the relationship secret for obvious reasons, which meant no holding back on the battlefield. There were quite a few occasions where they’d been caught in a one on one blaster fight, and both always walked away with wounds the other could tend to in private the next time they met.
Soundwave gave him a look that made Blaster chuckle, then let his dock drop open to reveal two small sparklings that were almost identical to the ones Blaster was hiding in his own.
“Soundwave: did not know until emergence. Twins: Blasters.” Under his monotone Blaster could hear the hesitation in Soundwave’s voice as he admited it, and the twins seemed to sense his uneasiness. The purple one started fussing and kicked at his brother, who squeaked loudly and kicked his brother back, causing both to start crying.
Soundwave quickly picked them up and started consoling them with the weariness of someone who’d been dealing with the exact scenario all day. Blaster waited until they’d calmed back down before he cleared his vocalizer to get Soundwave’s attention again.
“Well, this makes my news a lot less hard to tell you.” As he spoke, he opened his dock, revealing his set of twins sleeping peacefully within. “I also had no idea, and I’m pretty sure you can guess who the sire is.”
Sounwave stared. If his mask was off, Blaster was sure he’d see his jaw dropped as he stared at the second set of twins. The black sparkling in Soundwave’s arms chose that moment to notice Blaster, and subsequently his brothers, and started making aggressive grabby hands at all three. His purple twin noticed and quickly followed suit, prompting Blaster to gently take them from Soundwave and lay them near their new brothers.
“Surpriseee…” Blaster half-heartedly said as he avoided Soundwave’s gaze, making sure all four sparklings were situated and happy.
He was subsequently caught off guard when his helm was grabbed and Soundwave’s lips were on his in a soft yet passionate kiss that was quickly reciprocated. It never became heated or needy, and ended after only a few moments, but it still left Blaster feeling breathless as he pulled away and saw Soundwave with no mask or visor; looking at him with half lidded golden optics as if he’d hung the stars and planets.
“Soundwave: adores them.” He stated, looking at the sparklings who’d all cuddled together and fallen back asleep.
“Same mech, same.” Blaster said, laying his helm on Soundwave’s shoulder to watch their bities and get comfortable. Soundwave’s servo found its way to Blaster’s hip as both new parents finally let the days stresses melt away in each others presence.
They stayed cuddled with each other for a while, longer than they should’ve, until Blaster decided it was time to talk about the gravity of the situation. He turned to Soundwave and kissed his cheek, getting the cassette players attention before he spoke.
“I love them waves… I can’t see ‘em growing up and being sent off with to fight in a war… It breaks my spark…” He buried his face in Soundwave’s neck cables once he’d spoken, trying to hide the tears forming at the edge of his optics.
He hadn’t even had his own twins for a day, and he’d had Soundwave’s for only an hour or two, but the thought of having to arm them to the teeth and send them out in an active war zone was too much for him. Blaster knew he woulldn’t be able to do it, Autobots be damned. He felt Soundwave tense against him before replying.
“Soundwave: agrees. Soundwave: will handle it.” He tightened his hold on Blaster as he spoke, and when Blaster looked at him there was a fierce determination in his golden optics. “Blaster: will take sparkings tonight. Tomrorrow: we reunite.”
Blaster opened his mouth to object but Soundwave held up a servo, bringing it to gently rest on their purple son.
“Rumble.”
He moved to his other twin. “Frenzy.”
Blaster looked at him for a few seconds before a smirk appeared on his face. Soundwave tried to look away but Blaster caught his face before he could escape.
“You mean to tell me,” he started, trying not to laugh, “that you named them after your most popular song from your pop star days way back when?”
A light blue dusted Soundwave’s face as he tried again to escape Blaster while muttering ‘affirmative’ under his breath. They’d both been singers pre-war, which was how they’d met. They’d had something going on in the background they refused to label up until the war, when they’d been separated and presumed the other was dead. Thinking you lost someone makes you reevaluate a lot of things, and both mechs came to realization that there’d been some serious feelings going on that they never got to act on.
Low and behold, they both managed to become communication specialists, just for opposing sides. Soundwave had sought Blaster out during a battle shortly after realizing, and hadn’t let the mech get a word in before he was spilling his spark to him and begging him to try and make things work; make it serious this time.
Your average Autobot would’ve blasted him through the spark chamber and called it a day. But Blaster couldn’t. Instead, he pulled Soundwave into a fierce kiss, one that held millennia of pent up emotions and untold feelings, all finally ready to be sung in the song of their sparks.
They both left the battlefield that day with the others encrypted personal communication frequency, and enough suspicious paint transfers to raise a few optic ridges. Neither cared about the latter, but thanks to the former they’d been able to meet in secret no matter where the war took them.
“Would it make you feel better to know I was thinking of Eject for the blue one and rewind for red?” Blaster asked, trying to get Soundwave to look at him again. The Decepticon looked at him for a few seconds then chuckled, finally relenting and letting Blaster smother him in kisses. “Names: appropriate. Approved.”
Blaster continued his smothering until Soundwave reciprocated and they devolved into just kissing each other before Rewind started wake from all their moving and began to fuss. Blaster cooed him back to sleep with a smile as Soundwave gave all the sparklings a kiss on the helm and stood.
“Aw, leaving me so soon gorgeous?”
“Affirmative. Soundwave: has a mission. Must tell other cassettes about newest additions. Must ensure their safety. Soundwave: will see you all tomorrow.”
Blaster made a face.
Soundwave squinted at him.
“Blaster: remembered to tell other cassettes?”
“Uhm.”
“Blaster: forgot.”
“I was busy! Then I needed to come see you! Don’t judge me mech!”
Soundwave silently shook his head and gave Blaster one last kiss before returning his mask and visor to their places. “Blaster: will tell them tonight. I love you.”
Blaster sighed and nodded, carefully standing and closing his deck to protect the four sparklings slumbering inside. “I will, I love you too waves.”
With that they went their separate ways, back to their own factions and duties, where they had to pretend to hate the mech they loved more than life itself.
When Blaster had finally managed to climb back through his window without waking any of the sparklings, he wasn’t surprised to find he had an audience. Steeljaw was lounging across his brother Ramhorn, both of whom where on the berth staring at the window like a super villain and his emotional support feline.
Steeljaw stretched a bit then released his brother before leveling Blaster with a look. “You’re out later than usual, we were almost worried.”
“Yeah, I threatened to comm Jazz-” Steeljaw interrupted Ramhorn with a paw to the face.
“He wouldn’t dare don’t worry, but where have you been?”
Blaster couldn’t help but laugh at their antics. He’d found the two in an alley by themselves early on in his life, before he’d been online more than a week. They may not have come from his spark, but they were his cassettes nonetheless and he loved them just the same.
He sat on the edge of the berth and motioned for them to sit with him, prompting both to cuddle up on either side. Blaster mentally prayed to Primus for strength and opened his dock, carefully taking Rewind and Eject out and laying them on a nearby pillow. Steeljaw and Ramhorn stared in silence, both of their optics growing wide as Blaster produced Rumble and Frenzy as well. Once all four sparklings were successfully transferred without any of them waking up, Blaster returned his attention to his cassettes.
Steeljaw was staring at him while Ramhorn was slowly approaching the bities, seeming almost scared the closer he got. One moved a bit in his sleep, and Ramhorn instantly retreated to Blaster’s side, only to peak out a few moments later and try approaching them again.
Steeljaw remained in place, leveling Blaster with a look as his tail flicked against the berth in thought. “Explain. Now.”
Recharge seemed determined to evade Blaster. He didn’t mind as much as he probably should’ve.
-
Blaster’s servos were subtly shaking as he worked to connect the incoming call from the Decepticon warship. He’d managed to smooth things over with both his cassettes fairly quickly, but hadn’t had the nerve to tell anyone about the extra four little ones he now had napping in his dock. He’d initially been given the day off to adjust to having sparklings - thank you Ratchet - but had been called by a frantic Red Alert when the call was initially picked up by Teletran.
Once it finally connected, they were met with Megatron sitting atop his throne, looking as menacing as ever. The only difference from his usual glower was the slight bags underneath his optics that the high quality video feed was just able to pick up on.
On his left stood Starscream, looking annoyed and just as tired, and refusing to look anywhere near his right. On Megatron’s right stood Soundwave, who’s normally rigid posture had a sort of smug air to it that Blaster couldn’t help but snicker about; which earned him a questioning glare from Prowl.
Megatron gave a weary sigh before he finally spoke. “Prime. I have called you to request an urgent meeting regarding this petty squabble of ours. It has come to my attention-” he shoot a look to his right, “that things have gone on far too long, and it is high time we settle things diplomatically. We will meet in a neutral location with mechs of our choosing to discuss this further.”
The Autobots were in shock. Optimus was gripping a desk so hard they could hear it crunching. Prowl had dropped his datapads, and Jazz had taken to whispering in his audial asking if everything was real or if he was still dreaming. Sparks were spitting out between Red Alert’s horns as he tried to search the frequency for any viruses or tricks.
“… What-?” Was all Optimus could manage.
Megatron seemed done with their conversation, and made to turn the camera off before Soundwave’s servo was suddenly on his shoulder. Megatron gave him a look before rolling his optics and muttering something, then turning his attention back to the Autobots.
“And ensure Blaster is among those you choose for the meetings, Soundwave requests him personally.” All optics turned to Blaster as he offered the screen a timid wave, which Soundwave reciprocated before shutting off the feed himself.
“Well…” Blaster said, quickly getting up and heading towards the door. “That was interesting! I’m just gonna-”
“Oh I think NOT!” Red Alert yelled from his chair.
“Mech is he the sire!?” Jazz yelled, grabbing Blaster by the shoulders and shaking him.
“The what.” Prowl demanded, stopping Jazz’ abuse and leveling Blaster with his full attention.
Blaster wanted to respond but was interrupted by the muffled sound of a sparkling starting to cry. Everyone around him went silent as it was joined by another, then another, and the entire command center was once again gob-smacked as he produced four wailing sparklings from his dock and attempted to console them.
Jazz was gripping Prowl’s servo hard enough to leave dents as he was overwhelmed by the amount of cuteness in front of him. Blaster completely forgot where he was as he slowly managed to calm his bities down one by one and only remembered when he felt a large servo come and rest on his shoulder.
Looking up, he met Optimus’ smiling optics with his own.
“It seems congratulations are in order for you and Soundwave then, I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.”
Blaster was at a complete loss for words, and barely managed to nod his helm to acknowledge the kind statement. Frenzy quickly noticed the new presence and, upon recognizing it as something that could give him attention, started making grabby hands at Prime. Within seconds, all four were reaching for Optimus and trying to tumble out of Blaster’s servos.
Optimus chuckled as Blaster tried to reign them in, offering him an apologetic look. “Would you mind holding them-? I’m gonna drop one if they don’t stop-”
Optimus gently took the four sparklings from Blaster and held them to his broad chest, able to fit them all in just one hand. Blaster sighed in relief when they calmed down after getting what they’d wanted, even though Eject seemed determined to start climbing Optimus.
“Sooo, you aren’t mad?” Blaster tried once he was sure Optimus was distracted by his handful of adorable sparklings. He could feel his spark beating against it’s casing and couldn’t stop the tremble that edged his voice when he spoke. Just because the war was apparently coming to an end didn’t mean he was safe from being tried for treason.
“I could never be mad at love, it is the one thing we can never let be taken from us Blaster. I’m happy you were able to keep your spark open, even in such harrowing times.” Optimus ended on a chuckle as Eject managed to grab his mask and start tugging on it. Blaster visibly relaxed, almost falling into a nearby chair when Jazz suddenly put an arm around his shoulders to keep him upright.
“Yesterday you had two, now there’s four, what gives Blast-mech?”
“Would you believe me if I told you the exact same thing happened to Soundwave?”
“Ah, that tracks.”
-
The Autobots were already waiting when the Decepticons arrived. They’d agreed to meet in a desert equidistant to both of their strongholds, and had decided to meet three hours after the initial call.
Blaster spotted Soundwave instantly among the rest, and unconsciously stood straighter as he approached. The Decepticons landed some ways away, but unlike the rest, Soundwave didn’t lag behind. He strode confidently towards the Autobots, threw his shoulder mounted blaster to the ground in a show of faith, and made a beeline for Blaster.
Before he could object about their audience, Soundwave was on him. Mask in one servo, the other pulling Blaster in, their lips met like they hadn’t kissed in years. One of Blaster’s servos found the back of Soundwave’s helm as the Decepticon dipped him, the other scrambling for purchase across his shoulders.
They held each other for what felt like an eternity, lost in the revelry of the war ending and their family having a chance at a peaceful start. The kiss quickly turned heated, and as Soundwave made to deepen it someone nearby loudly cleared their vocalizer, bringing both bots back to reality. Soundwave slowly pulled Blaster back up and left his lips, quickly reengaging his mask before anyone else could see underneath.
Blaster could feel the energon heating his faceplates as someone whooped at their display, but Soundwave didn’t seem to care. His servo drifted from Blaster’s waist to his own waiting servo, and both walked with the Autobots to meet the Decepticons in the middle of the negotiation grounds.
Blaster squeezed his servo a bit as they got closer and whispered, “So how’d you do it waves? How’d you get him to call it off?”
“Soundwave: appealed to Megatron’s logic.”
“Elaborate sweet spark.”
“Soundwave: told Megatron if he quit, Decepticons would loose embarrassingly fast. Decepticons: inferior without Soundwave.” That got a laugh from Blaster before Soundwave could keep talking.
“Also.” He continued, “Megatron: could not spark Starscream during war. Starscream: forbade it. No war: means he can.”
“Oh that’s a low blow babe, I’m so proud of you.” Blaster replied with a kiss to the back of Soundwave’s servo. He could almost feel the other mech smiling beneath his mask as they finally met with the rest of the Decepticons, and they reluctantly let go of each other so Soundwave could take his place at Megatrons right hand.
Blaster had left the sparklings with Steeljaw and Ramhorn just in case tensions got high and fighting broke out, but now that felt silly. Soundwave had given his word that they’d be protected, and Blaster knew he’d uphold it with his dying breath if need be.
Jazz stood next to Blaster as Optimus and Megatron started their discussions and nudged him a bit with his elbow. “Congrats mech,” he whispered. “I mean it. I might think he’s a crazy ass glitch, but he seems good for ya. Just keep it PG during negotiations, will ya?”
Blaster rolled his optics and nudged Jazz back, whispering his reply. “Yeah yeah, but can you blame me mech?”
Jazz gave Blaster a look he could feel from behind the visor, then took a second to appraise Soundwave. They both had a pretty clear view of him from his position at the front of the group, and he seemed to notice their attentions. Almost as if reading their minds, he tilted his helm ever so slightly in their direction.
Jazz hmm’d a bit then whispered again. “I see it. Not my kinda beat, but I can appreciate it. You put up with me an’ Prowler, it’s the least I can do for ya.”
A snicker escaped Blaster’s mouth before he could stop it, which he quickly covered with a cough when Prowl suddenly turned his way to give him a look. Both bots quickly straightened their posture and pretended they’d been at attention the whole time, which earned them and optic roll from the tactician before he returned his sights to the negotiations at hand.
Blaster didn’t know what peace would look like, but as long as he had his family, he knew he’d be okay.