Chapter Text
Squishies are weird.
They are a short-life species with an even shorter attention span. Their piteous entertainment devices showcase flashy, processor-degrading filth. Most of which emphasizes interfacing, getting overcharged, and offlining other squishies.
It really was no wonder why most of the Decepticons became hooked.
Thundercracker was one of the few Decepticons smart enough to ignore that “T.V.” What confused him was the Casseticons’ reaction to it. Sure, they watched the data files with the squishies waving around the pathetic explosion-powered blasters with the other ‘Cons. But they’d almost offline any mech that tried to interrupt one data file type in particular.
Crudely rendered mini-equines.
It was horrible. The renders were numerous, loud, and colorful. Thundercracker hated it. What’s worse was the horrific transmission spouted off the importance of “love,” caring, “magic,” and friendship. Any self-respecting ‘Con wouldn’t be caught offline watching it. Frag. This was Soundwave’s little sparkeaters beating the slag out of any mech that got in between them and their viewscreen.
It really didn’t matter though. At least it shut the glitches up for a few breems a planetary cycle.
Thundercracker swirled the energon in his cube, musing about the complexities and irregularities of functioning when a loud “Whoop!” from Rumble drew his attention to the recroom’s entertainment device.
“C’mon! The show’s about to start!” Rumble hollered to his brothers. Frenzy ran to stolen squishy, cassette-sized seating to sit with his twin, the two aerials drifted down from somewhere in the ceiling, and the feline mechanoid seemingly materialized from the shadows. The five settled down to watch the disgusting transmission.
This planetary cycle’s annoying audio file was the same as the last few rotations. The renders were going off on a tangent about a day focused on equine peds and one of the fluid transportation mechanisms in the squishies’ bodies.
Mech, squishies are weird.
Thundercracker tuned out the nonsense. As long as it kept the Casseticons quiet for a few breems, he was a content mech.
~ - ~ - ~
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he zoned out once more, or how long the mech had been shifting from ped to ped in front of him, but the static laced vocalizer reset brought Thundercracker back to the land of the processing. The seeker reset his optics. Soundwave stood there looking…off. Wait, Soundwave shifting from ped to ped? It was unnerving being the center of the silent mech’s attention, but the rippling shifting of his armor suggested that it was Soundwave that was more uncomfortable by this situation.
“Query-,“ the looming mech’s vocalizer broke off to static once more. He fumbled with a small box in his servos. Thundercracker looked up at Soundwave from his seat, to the box, then to his visor.
Soundwave cycled a deep ventilation then slowly set the box down on the table with both servos. Visor lights flitting a glance between box and mech, he monotoned, "Open."
Thundercracker evaluated his options. There was option A: Ignore the Tapedeck. But it's kind of difficult ignoring a mech when he could just hack your processor to make you pay attention. That was out.
Option B, Run Away, could work in the short-term. But no one hides from Soundwave or his pitspawn. Not for long anyway.
That left the unfortunate choice of option C: Open the Box. It's alright, Thundercracker. Setting up a trap like this really didn't seem like Soundwave's style. Plus, he didn't think he did anything to frag off—Was that a tentacle nudging the box closer?
The jet blew out a soft ex-vent and grabbed the box. It was surprisingly light. The flimsy container quickly fell to shreds under the Decepticons' claws to reveal a small, fluffy...something. "What is it?"
That tentacle was back again. It nudged whatever the thing was holding. Thundercracker remembered seeing that shape in the squishie culture. Another wiggle drew his attention to the glyphs drawn in the center of the shape. He examined the markings carefully. "Will you be my..." The last glyph was baffling, one he'd never seen before. A rough guess would be a combination of "mech" and "importance." He poked it with a claw tip.
A small set of wings ruffled by as Laserbeak perched on his shoulders. ::It says: 'Will you be my special somepony?':: Laserbeak twittered cheerfully through a commlink. A dismayed and disproving warble blurted from Soundwave at Laserbeak's sudden appearance.
::No? It's a special glyph! Does it maybe look like "very special mech" then? Do you agree, yes?::
"Yeah, I guess," Thundercracker mumbled. He didn't notice Soundwave stuttering intakes, nor did he listen to the cassette's chortle while he inspected the strange squishy item for more clues. Huh. It was at least in a mechanoid-like shape. A ping with coordinates, a date, and a time caught his attention. "What-"
Funny, he could have sworn Soundwave and his spy were there a moment ago.
"Hope you have fun on your date, 'Cracky!" Frenzy yelled from across the recroom. Date? What?
~ - ~ - ~
After some painfully tedious research, Thundercracker realized what happened. And what he agreed to.
"...Frag."