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Rumble rubs at his helm in annoyance, grumbling softly to himself as he trots down the sidewalk. A processor ache is not something he wants to deal with today. After all, he was supposed to have a nice visit with Soundwave and the other cassettes. His cooling fans click on as a sudden wave of heat nearly knocks him over. Condensation forms on his plating, which is suddenly much hotter than the cool morning air around him. Great. He hopes he's not got a bug in his code somewhere.
The hot flash passes as Rumble trots up to the door of Soundwave's apartment, leaving behind a thin sheen of condensation as the only evidence of it ever happening. He wipes at his damp optical ridge as he steps through the door, smiling as he sees that most of the others are already here. Ravage sits, curled up and so very comfortable, on the couch with Laserbeak perched on his haunches. Buzzsaw chases Frenzy around while Soundwave watches impassively, Frenzy yelling some half hearted apology about eating the last energon candy. Ratbat is the only one not present, but he'd probably be astronomically late and then call it 'fashionable'.
As soon as they lock optics, Frenzy darts over, putting Rumble between himself and Buzzsaw's fury. Rumble raises his arms and grimaces, feeling a bit nauseous as he's shaken by the tussle. Soundwave must notice, because it's now that he intervenes.
"Command: Cease antics. Rumble is not part of your quarrel."
Rumble sighs with relief as Frenzy grumbles and lets go. Buzzsaw sqwacks and joins the other beast cassettes on the couch, hogging all of the space as usual. Of course, Soundwave was prepared for that and had extra chairs for Rumble, Frenzy, and himself.
Usually, the group would play games and just have a nice time being together, but Rumble was having a hard time concentrating. Between the processor ache and some soreness that he didn't really want to think about, he was a bit distracted. When another hot flash sends his cooling fans into over drive, the others take notice.
"Observation: Rumble is unwell. Sick?"
Rumble feels his faceplate flush and kicks his legs a bit. "Not sick. Just hot. And my processor hurts. But I'm definitely not sick."
Frenzy grimaces and scoots away a bit. "Ah, come on, mech. Why'd you show up if you've got a bug? I touched you earlier!"
Soundwave gives Frenzy an admonishing look before standing and motioning for Rumble to follow him. The cassette grumbles but does as he's told. He probably was sick, and Soundwave probably had something for it like he always did.
The two pass into Soundwave's berthroom, and Rumble crawls up onto the recharge slab while the other mech searches through a cabinet. While he's searching, he speaks.
"Query: symptoms."
"Uh… Processor ache. Nauseous, kinda like my tanks are boiling. Super hot off and on." Rumble pauses to think. "I guess I've been feeling pretty run down, too. Like a full recharge just don't cut it."
Soundwave pauses, and Rumble can tell that he's said something that's got his carrier thinking. Finally, Soundwave turns to him.
"Query: duration and changes in routine before symptoms manifested."
Now that's a question. Rumble honestly wasn't quite sure. He had to manually pull up the memories to figure out how long he's been feeling like this.
"Not too long. Couple lunar cycles at the most. Wasn't that bad at first, but I guess I've been feelin' really warm ever since–"
Rumble cuts off abruptly as a memory comes to mind. The light of Arcee's spark and the rock of her body against his. It was after that.
"Uh… I mean, I don't really wanna go into detail or anything like that, but I guess something… intimate happened between me 'n' Arcee right before."
Soundwave's expression (if it can be called that) softens as he listens. He digs around again before finding and pulling a scanner from the cabinet drawer. Rumble grimaces. It looks like a medical scanner, and he's not looking forward to whatever virus it was going to say he somehow contracted. Arcee wouldn't have gotten him sick, right?
"Instruction: Hold still."
Rumble nods before realizing that nodding isn't holding still. As Soundwave administers the scan, slow and thorough to make sure the beam gets all of him, he does his best not to squirm. He's never been good at medical exams, ever antsy when he has to stay still.
It feels like he's waiting forever for the scanner to run its diagnostic. He fidgets with the edge of the recharge slab, venting out steam instead of just hot air. Soundwave is calm as ever, and for once it doesn't put Rumble at ease. Did Soundwave know something he didn't?
Finally, the device lets out a high pitched tone that signals its diagnostic conclusion. After going over the findings himself, Soundwave turns the device around so that Rumble can see.
"Diagnosis: Carrying."
Rumble hears him. He sees the same result on the screen. Feels the heat of life making him so hot he could set plants on fire. But for the life of him, Rumble can't wrap his head around it.
"I didn't know I could carry…"
"Soundwave: Unaware as well. Surprised when Ravage was concieved."
Rumble nods a bit, looking through the diagnostic information. He makes a face as he scrolls down.
"Hey, tell me I'm reading this right. Does that say two sparks? As in, like, twins?"
Soundwave leans over to see the line of coding before nodding.
"Affirmative. Likelihood: Common. Twins bear twins."
Rumble takes a deep vent, reading over the information again. He was carrying. Twins, no less. He'd not even considered talking to Arcee about the idea of maybe one day in the far future trying to spark life. And yet, here was not one but two sparks made from their love.
The thought absolutely melts him. No, he'd not thought about sparklings before. But, now, with the reality that he's going to create something new with the love of his life, he couldn't think of anything he wanted more.
"Do you think Arcee's gonna be happy about it?"
Soundwave mulls over the question for a moment before he responds. "Observation: Arcee loves Rumble. Rumble's joy will be Arcee's joy."
Rumble smiles softly at the reassurance. Not that he really needs it. Sure, they didn't have a talk, but he can't imagine Arcee as anything but ecstatic. He feels so soft thinking about it. Arcee is the sire of his sparklings. Just the acknowledgment causes his fans to kick on despite the hot flash having already passed.
"Is it okay to tell the others before I tell Arcee? I mean, Laserbeak or Ravage were probably spying so I bet they already know."
Soundwave shakes his head, laughing and helping Rumble off the recharge slab so he doesn't slip. "Affirmative. To both."
Rumble chuckles and the two go back to the cassettes. Ratbat arrived while the two were occupied, looking quite chastened by the fact that he didn't get the attention he wanted from arriving late. Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw have moved to make room for Rumble on the couch, giving him a more comfortable seat.
The attention is nice. His family congratulates him in their own ways, jokes and teasing and promises of hurting his sparkmate if she doesn't feel as joyful as he does. It's exciting. Soundwave is already planning a small party. Even Ratbat, the attention hog, sounds genuine when he talks about how excited he is to have niblings to spoil.
The party can't last forever, though. Rumble is the first to leave, the anticipation of telling Arcee the good news far too great for him to wait any longer. As he hurries down the sidewalk back towards their apartment, he sends her a message.
[Need to talk. I have GREAT news!]