Chapter Text
“C’mon, Domey. It’s really not that big a deal.”
“Not that big a deal?!” Chromedome repeated incredulously, pausing in his nervous pacing to shoot a look of utter disbelief over towards his sparkmate. “Are you kidding?! How can this be anything but a big deal?! I mean, for Primus’ sake, Rewind! How often do you inject into someone’s head and see the moment you were born from your carrier’s perspective?! I think my reaction is pretty justified, all things considered!”
At that outburst, Rewind merely held up his hands placatingly, not wanting to get his poor Conjunx more worked up than he already was. He’d been like this for days, ever since he’d helped Ratchet break the memory loop that Rung had been stuck in. At first Chromedome had adamantly refused to talk about what he’d seen, but it wasn’t long before he couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. It had all come pouring out of him earlier that afternoon, but discussing it only seemed to stoke the mnemosurgeon’s agitation anew.
“Okay, fair,” the archivist conceded. “But it doesn’t change who you are. Sure, you know who really made you, but you’re still the same Chromedome you’ve always been.”
Chromedome let out a frustrated scoff at that, taking up his pacing in front of their shared berth once more.
“Rewind, babe, I love you, and I see what you’re trying to do here, but… You’re forged! There’s no way you can understand what this means for me! My entire life, I thought I’d been made by some cold, uncaring government initiative just for the sake of making an arbitrary number bigger, but now I come to find out that I have actual parents! Parents that are on this ship with us this very second!”
Rewind vented out a sigh, honestly starting to get a bit dizzy watching the larger mech trudge nervous circles in front of him. He hopped down from where he’d been sitting on the edge of their berth, intercepting his mate and grabbing hold of his forearms to physically stop him.
“Then why not go talk to them? If it means that much to you, then surely—”
“No!” Chromedome shot back in an almost frantic tone. “No, no no no… That’s one thing I absolutely can’t do! You didn’t see what I saw, you didn’t feel what I felt! If I tell them about this, especially Rung – my fragging carrier, can you believe that?! – th-then he’ll—”
Chromedome’s panicked rambling came to an abrupt stop when a sharp knock at their habsuite door made him freeze dead in place. He continued to stare down at his mate, though this time there was a bit more quiet panic behind his visor.
“I-I… Don’t suppose these habsuite walls are terribly soundproof..?” he asked quietly, somehow clinging on to a tiny shred of desperate hope. Rewind merely gave him an apologetic look before making his way over to the door. When he opened it to see who’d come knocking, however…
“K-Kup?!”
At that, Chromedome’s head whipped around to look towards the door so quickly he was surprised he hadn’t snapped his own neck. Sure enough, there was the old Wrecker standing in the doorway, an almost stunned expression on his face as he stared back at the mnemosurgeon.
“S-so, uhh…” Rewind began awkwardly, glancing between the two speechless mechs for a moment before returning his attention fully on their guest. “H-how much of all that did you happen to hear? I’m guessing more than zero…”
“I heard enough ta know what it was about,” Kup managed to reply eventually, his optics never leaving where they were glued almost solemnly to Chromedome. “Well, lad? Seems we best have us a li’l chat after all.”
Chromedome vented out a heavy sigh, his shoulders wilting as though in defeat. He nodded, sitting himself down on the edge of the berth and bracing his forearms across his knees. Kup took that as an invitation to enter, stepping into the room proper before Rewind securely closed the door behind him.
“So… How’d ya find out? Ya go eavesdroppin’ on the conversation I just had with Rodimus?”
The mnemosurgeon tried not to feel offended at such an accusation. It was a fair enough assumption to make – though the fact that Rodimus now knew all of this was a bit of a shock. He’d leave that to deal with another time. For now, he knew he had to keep a level head and watch what he said – a tall order, considering this was essentially his first real encounter with his own father.
“It’s… Kind of a long story…” he began, part of him hoping he could deflect with just that. One look up at Kup told him he’d have no luck. If there was one mech that could handle a long story, it was the guy infamous for his impromptu war stories. He let out a small, hopeless whine before continuing.
“Okay, so… Y’know how you woke up in the medbay a few days back?”
“I was briefed on it, sure,” Kup replied, taking his cy-gar from his mouth and staring at it for a moment. “Rung told me how I went off my meds that ain’t no one saw fit ta tell me I was takin’ before. He administered an emergency dose, which was why he was there ‘long with me.”
Chromedome nodded lightly. Yeah, he could work with that.
“Yeah, well… That ‘medicine’ of yours was almost too much for him to handle. Don’t tell anyone I told you this – doctor/patient confidentiality and all that – but it ended up blowing a surface component in his brain core. Ratchet fixed him up, so don’t worry about that, but after the surgery he couldn’t wake up. He was stuck in a memory loop, so I was called in to help him out of it… and when I injected in, I saw it. I experienced it. The Silver Harvest – the entire thing, beginning to end, all crammed into a fraction of a second.”
Upon hearing all that, Kup’s optics widened almost in horror.
“Y-y’mean… H-he remembers?!”
“N-no, no no!” the mnemosurgeon almost frantically corrected, picking up on the uncharacteristic dread rapidly building in the old soldier’s voice. “Trust me, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I know a heavily-repressed memory when I see it, and that one was buried deep. The instant I knocked him out of the loop, it went right back into whatever dark corner of his subconscious it had come from. Even if some tiny scraps lingered for a bit, he’d have likely taken it to just be a bad nightmare.”
Kup allowed himself to release the breath he’d been holding in a shaky ex-vent at that explanation. Good. If he’d somehow ruined everything he’d been working to keep buried for the past nine million years by losing his cy-gar in something as stupid as a drunken party, he’d never forgive himself.
“Hey, listen…”
Kup glanced over when Chromedome started up again hesitantly, noticing that the cream-colored mech had his optics down towards the floor once more, a hand rubbing nervously at his neck cables.
“Primus, this is so awkward to ask, but it’s been eating at me for the longest time… I-I just really need to know, and I need to hear it from at least one of you. Was I… W-was I wanted?”
Now hearing something like that was almost enough to break Kup’s spark right then and there. He’d always heard that constructed-cold mechs tended to be somewhat lost in their lives – something that had weighed heavy on him for ages – but to see it for himself… He couldn’t stand letting that be if he had a chance to change it. He took a step closer to Chromedome, resting his hands on his shoulders and giving him what he hoped was a reassuring smile once he looked up at him.
“Lad, I can’t tell ya how much we wanted ya. Hell, ya shoulda seen Rung when we first started talkin’ seriously ‘bout it – it was all he could talk ‘bout, an’ I ain’t never seen him so excited b’fore or since. Why d’ya think it hurt him so bad ta watch them take you an’ yer brothers away, day in an’ day out? He was in physical pain, sure, but… I could tell he already loved each an’ every one of ya with all his spark. So did I, an’ I still do. Ain’t a day’s passed since then that I haven’t thought ‘bout you or yer brothers an’ wondered how different things might’a been if we’d just gotten ta raise ya like we’d wanted to. Ain’t no one’s more sorry’n me at how things turned out.”
Kup could have gone on, but he didn't get the chance before he felt a pair of arms cling almost desperately around him. Chromedome didn't have to explain himself, though the old soldier could tell from how the younger mech trembled that he likely wouldn't be able to form a coherent explanation regardless. Either way, Kup's reaction would be the same; he hugged his son in return and gave his back a few reassuring pats.
As for Chromdome, it was all he could do to keep from bawling like a damn sparkling, but he just barely managed to keep that last little shred of composure. Never in all of his life did he imagine he’d be in this sort of situation, so it had never occurred to him to want to hear those words. Perhaps that’s why it came as such a shock just how much it meant to finally hear them. He wasn’t just another number; he was someone’s son. Not only that, his parents were two of the best mechs he’d ever met – they’d just been dealt an impossible hand.
Suddenly, Chromedome was pulled from his thoughts when he spotted an all-too-familiar red light blinking somewhere in front of him. His optics focused to find Rewind eagerly staring up at the two of them, and he could practically see the audial to audial grin plastered across his face beneath his mouthplate.
“S-seriously, Rewind?! What the hell?!” he stammered out in embarrassment, hastily straightening up from where he’d impulsively hugged Kup.
“C’mon, Domey! You know this has to go in the vid-album!” the archivist replied, finally allowing himself to bounce a bit in excitement now that the moment he’d been recording was more or less over. Kup let out a chuckle at that.
“I wouldn’t mind takin’ a peek at that album of yers sometime, if ya don’t mind. I figure I got a lotta catchin’ up ta do with you two now that all’a this is out there. Just, err… Try ta keep it between the three of us. As much as I’d love fer Rung ta meet one of our kids proper…”
“Don’t worry, I know,” Chromedome replied once his sire trailed off, a shiver running up his spinal struts from a flash of the memory he’d seen coming back to him. “I’d like that too, but… This is already more than I could have ever hoped for, so thank you. I guess it’s a good thing you happened to walk by during my little freak out.”
Kup seemed to straighten up in sudden realization at that, as though something the mnemosurgeon had said had reminded him of something.
“Oh, right! Actually, I didn’t just happen by – I came ‘round ta talk to y’all. Just, uhhh… Wasn’t expectin’ ta talk ‘bout all that.”
“Really?” Rewind asked, his curiosity stoked anew. “What did you want to talk to us for? We, uhh… We aren’t in trouble for something, are we?”
Kup let out another chuckle at the smaller mech’s nervous tone, shaking his head.
“Nah, nothin’ like that, don’t worry. Believe it or not, I came here wantin’ ta ask ya fer a bit of advice. See, yer the only bonded couple on the ship, and, well… I gots an important question ta ask a certain someone, an’ I don’t wanna frag it up.”
Meanwhile, not too far away on the same deck, that certain someone could be found pacing nervously in front of Kup’s habsuite, fidgeting restlessly with his fingers as though needing to do something with them. Then, for what had to be the hundredth time, Rung stopped and faced the door, raising a hand as though to knock. He seemed to freeze before ever committing to the action, which gave him a moment to rethink. After second-guessing himself, he would pull his hand back and resume his pacing, all the while muttering almost scoldingly to himself under his breath.
It really was a tiring display, which was probably why the psychiatrist’s silent audience felt the need to not be so silent anymore.
“Oh, for the love of— Just knock already!"
Rung let out an embarrassing shriek of surprise at the sudden interjection, looking around only to find Rodimus peeking around the corner from the next hall over, an almost exasperated look on his face.
“R-Rodimus?! Wh-what are you–?!”
“Yeah, yeah, we can talk about my mild voyeurism later,” the Captain dismissed with a wave of his hand as he abandoned his hiding spot and approached the smaller mech. “What we’re gonna talk about right now is why it’s taking you over half an hour to buck up the courage to knock on the Old-Timer’s door!”
Rung’s answer to that wasn’t really an answer at all. Instead, the normally rather erudite mech was reduced to mostly incoherent stammering and sputtering as he struggled to formulate an appropriate excuse for his behavior. Of course, Rodimus’ patience having already run out, he didn’t let that continue for very long.
“Alright, y’know what? This is going nowhere, so I’ll just answer for you; you love him.”
Rung was jolted into silence at that, wide optics staring up towards Rodimus from behind his glasses.
“Th-that’s… not exactly a new accusation from you, is it? I mean, you’ve been complaining about that ever since Kup got here…”
“No, I’ve been complaining about the blatant public displays of affection between you two. That’s different, especially since it was pretty much just Kup doing it for the most part. That was the only thing I’ve ever seen get you genuinely embarrassed before, and only when there were other people around to see. But now? Now you’re pacing in the middle of a deserted hallway and getting yourself all flustered just trying to knock on his door. There’s only one thing I can think of that would strip the confidence off such a self-assured mech like you, and it ain’t something ‘just friends’ have, even if you are frag-buddies.”
Rung’s shoulders fell in defeat at that, a sardonic scoff escaping him.
“I don’t suppose you’ve come to apply for an apprenticeship, have you?”
Rodimus let a cocky smirk cross his lips at his assessment being more or less confirmed.
“No, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been inadvertently muscling in on your turf lately,” he replied as he made his way over to Kup’s door. “So, how about you step into my office and we have ourselves a little chat?”
Rung let out an almost panicked gasp when the Captain simply opened the door to Kup’s habsuite without so much as a knock.
“W-wait! Y-you can’t just—!”
“Relax, it’s empty. The Old-Timer hasn’t been in for hours. You coming or what?”
As he watched Rodimus disappear into the room without a care, Rung could already feel his face heating up from mild embarrassment. This whole time, he’d just been psyching himself out of knocking on the door to an empty room?! What’s more, Rodimus was apparently watching the whole time and just let him! Taking a deep intake, he tried to let it go for now, merely following into the habsuite after the younger mech. Once inside, he spotted Rodimus sitting on the edge of the berth, patting the spot next to him in a silent invitation to sit.
“C’mon, time for you to spill the tea.”
Rung vented out a sigh, but took the Captain’s invitation, soon sitting down in the indicated spot.
“I-it must look rather silly indeed, for a mech as old as me acting like some lovelorn adolescent… I suppose it’s just because I’ve been in denial about how I feel towards him for all these years. I don’t even know why. I kept telling myself that it’s because neither of us need that kind of distraction from our respective careers, that we both had important work to do and couldn’t let something as inconsequential as personal feelings get in the way of that, but… Well, I wouldn’t be a very good psychiatrist if I actually believed something like that, would I?”
“Sounds to me like both of you feel pretty strongly about each other. So, what’s the hold up? Why not just make it official and be happy old geezers together?”
“I-I…” Rung hesitated to answer for a moment, his optics shifting down to where he was anxiously playing with his fingers. “I’m not sure I deserve that, to be honest… Yes, I may have been the one in denial for all this time, but I’m not the only person that was affected by it. Nine million years of keeping him just at arm’s length, never giving in to his obvious affection for me… I can’t help but feel guilty for it now. It must look like I’ve been playing some sick game with his emotions for all that time, and I could never do something like that to him, even in appearance…”
“He’d never think that! Trust me, he doesn’t care how long it’s been, he just wants you!” Rodimus replied, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he’d intended. The unusually adamant tone didn’t go unnoticed, Rung arching an eyebrow in clear suspicion.
“You seem rather sure of that. Is there something you know that you aren’t telling me?”
Rodimus’ optics widened slightly in silent panic. Aw scrap, he went and pushed it too far, didn’t he? Rung was already starting to catch onto the real reason he was doing all this, and he couldn’t let himself be pushed far enough into a corner to reveal what he really knew. Backing off wasn’t really an option at this point, so there was only one real option for it – he had to push it even farther!
Without warning, the Captain stood up from the berth, grabbing hold of Rung’s wrist and practically yanking up up to his feet.
“R-Rodimus, what are you doing?! What’s gotten into you?”
Rodimus merely shot the smaller mech one of his trademark smirks.
“Well, if you don’t believe me telling you something, the only other way to get through to you is to just show you!”
“Sh-show me? Show me wha—?!” Rung’s questioning was cut off with a startled yelp as the younger mech suddenly dashed out of the habsuite, practically dragging him along behind. “Wh-where are we going?!”
“Don’t worry, you can thank me later!”
“So, yer sure that’ll work? I dunno, seems too simple ta me,” Kup asked again as the three of them made their way down the hall, the old soldier’s nerves showing clearly in his voice.
“Yep! That’s all there is to it!” Rewind replied, sounding more chipper than he had in a long time. “It certainly worked on me, didn’t it, Domey?”
Chromedome merely let out a nervous chuckle at that, his faceplates heating up almost bashfully as he felt his Conjunx squeeze at his hand lovingly.
“Ehh, well… I mean, it worked for us, sure… But you were bonded to him before, weren’t you? Wouldn’t you know what would work on him from the first time you asked him?”
At that suggestion, Kup merely let out a sardonic bark of laughter.
“No can do, lad. First time I asked him ta be my sparkmate, he said no.”
“W-wait, really?!” Rewind asked in utter disbelief. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get the chance to ask for more details on that incident before the overhead PA system crackled to life.
‘Attention crew of the Lost Light, this is your illustrious Captain Rodimus speaking. If I could please have my Chief of Security report to the observation deck as quickly as possible. See, I have a suuuper dangerous criminal holed up in here that’s in desperate need of arresting, perhaps some mild interrogation until you get a proper confession out of him. The use of handcuffs is entirely up to your discretion, of course. Actually, scratch that last part, I don’t need that image in my head.’
‘Y-you didn’t just send all that in a ship-wide announcement, did you..?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Oh, thank Primus…’
‘The way you said it implies that it’s in the past. I’m still sending it in a ship-wide announcement.’
‘R-Rodimus! Y-you hang up this instant, or I swear I’ll give you such a talking to!’
‘Oh damn, hear that? He’s making threats now. You’d better hurry.’
Kup couldn’t help but shake his head incredulously as he heard the PA system finally click off. He wasn’t sure if having Rodimus as a wingman was a help or a hindrance in this situation, but either way it’s what he had to work with.
“Well, guess that saves us a trip ta Specs’ office, at least.”
The three of them made short work of the trip up to the observation deck. Almost too quick, Kup couldn’t help but think. After all, he still barely knew what to say to Rung. He knew the mech better than anyone, knew every inch of him, knew everything he liked and disliked, yet he couldn’t shake the fear of royally messing up everything they already had by botching up this one little moment. After a long while of staring in silent terror at that closed door, he felt a hand come down to rest reassuringly on his shoulder. Glancing back, his optics met Chromedome’s amber visor.
“You can do this. Good luck, Dad.”
At that bit of reassurance, Kup could feel a small smile sneak its way onto his lips. He turned back towards the door, eager to at least make his way inside before that small boost of confidence inevitably left him. The door opened, however it wasn’t by his command. Before he could take a step inside, a blur of red and yellow rushed out past him, and in the next moment he felt himself being shoved into the room from behind.
“There you are! Finally!” Rodimus called out in an exaggerated tone. “I dunno if I could have kept him at bay any longer! Go on, then! You go get that dastardly criminal!”
Once Kup was inside, the door was closed except for a small gap only a few inches wide, through which Rodimus eagerly spied on the two. After a few seconds, he seemed to realize that he hadn’t been alone out there in the hall, turning his attention momentarily over to Rewind and Chromedome.
“What?! I’m invested! It’s like a live soap opera at this point, and I’ll be damned if I miss the season finale! What are you guys doing here?”
Chromedome let out a scoff, rolling his optics behind his visor.
“I think I’ve got a much better reason to be invested at this point than mere entertainment.”
“What the hell do you m—” Rodimus’ retort caught in his intake as realization suddenly dawned on him, his optics widening. “You… You know, don’t you?”
“That they’re my parents? Yeah, still working through that particular existential crisis, thanks.”
“Guys, shush! You’re gonna mess up my audio!”
At that interjection from Rewind, Chromedome was made aware that his mate wasn’t right at his side as he had been a moment ago. Instead, the minibot was knelt by that gap in the door, his camera clearly aimed towards the two inside.
“Rewind! Are you recording this too?!” the mnemosurgeon scolded in a harsh whisper, though even he couldn’t resist the urge to join the other two in peeking through that gap.
“Domey, your parents are about to get back together! Of course I’m recording this!”
Once he stumbled into the observation deck from Rodimus’ ‘helpful’ little shove, Kup found himself standing among the top row of deserted auditorium seating, the plain starfield outside deemed too boring a sight for any other member of the crew to be present. Well, except for one.
After being dragged there by the Captain, Rung had apparently resumed his nervous pacing down at the flat area in front of the main viewport. He only stopped when he heard the mild commotion outside, glancing up only to meet Kup’s optics. Even from that distance the old Wrecker could see how the petite mech’s face lit up with a bashful glow, a sight that couldn’t help but put a loving smile on his face.
“K-Kup! I-I, errr…” Rung began to stammer out nervously as the other mech began making his way down the stairs towards him. “I-I know how unorthodox this all is, b-but… Y-you should know that this was entirely Rodimus’ idea! You know I would never try to ambush you with something like this, a-and under such a ridiculous premise!”
“Oh, trust me, I know,” he replied with an amused chuckle as he finally made his way to the same level Rung was standing on. “This hare-brained scheme’s got his fingerprints all over it. ‘Course, just ‘cause it ain’t the way I’d have gone ‘bout it don’t mean we should let the opportunity go to waste.”
That only seemed to deepen the heated color on Rung’s faceplate, and he averted his gaze elsewhere as though that would help matters.
“E-even so… Th-there’s no need to force something like this if we aren’t ready…”
Before he could argue further, Rung felt his anxiously fidgeting hands being taken up by a familiar pair of larger, rougher ones. This pulled his attention back up to Kup proper, where he was greeted with the most sincere expression he’d ever seen.
“I ain’t never been more ready fer somethin’ in my life,” he began in a voice more gentle than one would think such a gruff old sergeant would be capable of. “I know it ain’t no secret that I love ya. You know it, the whole damn ship knows it. Hell, I’m pretty sure there’s even some ‘Cons out there that know it. But what none of them know is just how deep that love fer ya runs. Now I ain’t some fancy poet like Megatron, so I ain’t really got the words ta put to it, but I’m hopin’ I can start ta really show ya, startin’ right now. I know it’s kinda sudden, an’ I know it breaks all’a the rules we had, but… Dammit, Rung, I can’t live another day without havin’ ya there next ta me as my Conjunx! S-so… Will ya bond with me?”
By the end of Kup’s speech, Rung could feel his spark pounding in his chassis in a way he couldn’t remember having ever felt before, yet somehow there was a vague familiarity to it, something warm and comforting. He wanted to reply, but even if he could have found the words, he could already feel the tight knot forming in his throat that would have choked them out. Instead, he decided he would return Kup’s promise to show his answer rather than tell.
Kup felt those slender hands slip from his grasp, but they weren’t gone for long. Instead, he soon found them caressing the back of his head and neck, gently pulling him down. In the next instant, he only barely registered the clatter of his cy-gar falling to the ground before soft porcelain lips pressed passionately against his own. His arms instinctively wrapped around the thin frame against him, pulling him all the closer. Finally, after nine million years of waiting, he had that missing piece of his spark back, and he was never going to let it go again.