Chapter Text
"Everybody down!"
The Autobots reacted to Wheeljack's shout with a speed born from finely honing an often used skill and dropped to the ground, and the Decepticons weren't far behind. When Wheeljack said it was time to duck and cover, everyone did because things were about to get explosive.
Everyone but Prowl, who couldn't get Starscream to let go of his doorwing long enough for him to duck into safety. Moments later, the two were blinded by bright yellow light.
When the Autobots and Decepticons came back out of their shelters, the well-known figures of the Air Commander and Autobot Second In Command were gone. In their place, stood two frowning sparklings wearing Prowl and Starscream's colors.
"Oh crap," Wheeljack said unhappily.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Prowl stared around the medbay imperiously, a situation that would have been simply normal instead of hilarious on any other day. Ratchet couldn't stop giggling at the sparkling's serious face, though, and Hoist had given up even trying to scan the small mech once the chief medic's laughter became contagious. The giggles just made tiny Prowl frown more seriously, which started the giggling over and over.
"Not funny!" Prowl finally said, slapping his hand down on the medical berth. Instead of the resounding clang the action should have made, the berth pinged softly.
Ratchet sat down on a second berth and laughed until his systems threatened to overheat.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Prowl's lower lip trembled and he held his arms imploringly up to Optimus. The Prime tried very hard to pretend his sparkling sized second was not standing there and keep reading through the newest trade agreement being offered by--of all places--the USSR.
Prowl's vents hitched and the tremble in his lip became more pronounced. He waved his arms just a little to attract the red and blue mech's attention.
Optimus sighed and turned to pick the small mech up. He could ignore the pouting and the cute optics and the utterly sweet grins, but all was lost if Prowl started crying.
The black and white sparkling settled happily into the Prime's lap and snuggled against his abdominal plates. Moments later, his systems settled down into the smooth rhythm of a recharge nap. Optimus smiled and set the trade offer aside. He powered down his own optics and initiated a light sleep mode.
The USSR could wait until after nap time.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Prime!" Megatron's face was haggard on the view screen and Soundwave, standing loyally next to him didn't look much better. "I demand to know when your scientists are going to cure my Air Commander."
Optimus laughed, then reached up to steady Prowl as he wobbled on his shoulder perch. Prowl sucked an energon candy that he had gotten from Cosmos and waved at the screen. "Considering that it was your science team that made the device in the first place, I should be asking when you plan to restore my second in command to full capacity."
Megatron hesitated, before looking down and mumbling something unintelligible.
"I'm sorry?" Optimus was grinning behind his mask, amused at seeing his rival so out of his element.
"Lord Megatron requires... assistance," Soundwave said quietly. "Starscream... beyond Soundwave's realm of experience."
"You mean he's worse than Rumble And Frenzy? I find that difficult to believe."
"It's true!" Megatron snapped. "We haven't had a decent recharge since this madness started! I demand that your science crew help us!"
"When we have developed the ability to turn our officers back to normal, we will deliver it to you personally." Optimus looked thoughtfully at the sparkling on his shoulder. "Until then, perhaps we should arrange play dates, so that you and Soundwave can get some rest."
Prowl was easy enough to handle. Starscream couldn't be that much worse--not with Skyfire around.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
There was a small panic when both sparklings vanished under Skyfire's watchful care. The entire off duty crew turned out to search for them, visions of damaged or deactivated sparkling spurred them into turning the base upside down.
Until Swoop calmly sent them all an image capture.
Prowl and Starscream had curled up with Grimlock and Snarl. The quartet was napping peacefully in the sun out on the basketball court.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Sideswipe was taste-testing the latest batch of cookies Cosmos had baked when Prowl climbed up on the bench next to him. The red twin smiled and gave the sparkling a one-armed hug. "Hey kiddo. What's up?"
Prowl hugged back distractedly and peeked over the edge of the table. The black and white sparkling grinned and reached for the plate, trying to grab one of the treats.
Sideswipe scooted the plate back. "Nuh uh. Optimus'll shoot me if I let you spoil your fueling routine."
The tiny mech frowned angrily.
"No way, kiddo. Not gonna work."
"I'll tell Ratchet you made him green." Prowl held his hand out.
"You wouldn't!"
"Would so!" The sparkling's hand didn't move.
The red twin sighed and put one of Cosmos' cookies in it.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Jazz had his feet up on his desk, toes twitching in the air to the beat of the music playing on his well loved sound system. He was scrolling through a datapad, checking over his team's requisition requests before forwarding it on to forwarding it on to Sideswipe, who was taking a real shine to his job as supply master during Prowl's absence.
Who knew the red twin would be so good at organizing, stocking and issuing supplies? He would definitely recommend that Sides be allowed to maintain the position after Prowl was back to normal. It would give the tactician one less thing to fret about and one more thing to keep Sideswipe from getting bored and finding trouble.
A touch on his thigh--the only part of him reachable from Prowl's current level--jolted him out of his thoughts so quickly that Jazz had to fight his reflex to grab for the energon blade in his subspace. He looked down at the sparkling with a grin.
"Guess I know why your creators called you Prowl, huh?"
Prowl nodded solemnly.
"So what's up, sweetspark?" Jazz moved his feet off the desk and bent down to pick up the small mech.
Prowl sighed as the saboteur cuddled him. "Bored."
"Bored? I feel ya, my mech." The visored mech shifted the sparkling into a position that would be easier to carry him in and stood up. "Let's go drop this off with Sideswipe and the we can go see what fun we can scare up. Sound good?"
"Okay," Prowl replied, reaching for the datapad so that he could hold it while they walked. "Hide and seek?"
"Whatever you want," Jazz replied with a grin. "But no electro disruptors or sensitive olfactory sensors allowed. Mirage and Hound had to have cheated last game."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Oh! Hello Prowl!" Cosmos smiled as the sparkling wandered into the minibots kitchen. Prowl was looking around the room--and at the supplies strung out on the counters--like he had never seen anything so fascinating before. "Did you come for a cookie?"
Prowl's head snapped toward him like he had flipped a switch when Cosmos mentioned a cookie. "Yes, please."
"I don't have any made right now. Sideswipe took my last batch to the basketball game this morning." The minibot's optics widened in horror as Prowl's lower lip started to tremble. "But I was getting ready to make more. Would you like to help?"
The sparkling hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Okay." Cosmos vented softly in relief. It broke Optimus' spark when Prowl cried, and whoever caused an outburst always got that disappointed stare as punishment. "Can you get out the big blue bowl? I keep it under the counter by the door."
Prowl scurried to the counter to retrieve the bowl, and Cosmos quickly readied a few ingredients that would be safe for the sparkling's less coordinated hands to dump into the mix. They would probably still end up with a glorious mess, but it would be fun.
And Prowl would get his cookie.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Everyone stared when Megatron walked away from the humans newest attempt at clean energy and came straight toward the gathered Autobots without a weapon drawn. He removed Starscream from his helm--with some difficulty because the tiny Seeker did not want to let go--and dropped him into Optimus Prime's hands. Starscream immediately became a shrieking, wailing mess.
"He's your problem now, Prime. Return him once you've fixed him."
"I don't understand," Optimus shouted over Starscream's wails.
"Your parenting advice solved none of our problems." Megatron turned and began walking back toward his troops. "If you're so good at it, you do it."
The gathered Autobots simply stared as the Decepticons retreated, several cubes of energon in tow. Starscream continued to wail until they were out of sight. Then he crossed his arms and looked up at Optimus with a frown.
"Want Skyfire."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Prowl did not like sharing the Autobots with Starscream.
He expressed his displeasure vocally and often. He started riding on the shoulders or backs of his favorite caretakers and he would shove the small Seeker off his perches if Starscream tried to do the same. He frowned and grumped, and even started a biting and kicking fight when the other sparkling claimed naptime with Optimus.
As playmates, they did fine together. As siblings, Prowl seemed destined to kill Starscream.
Optimus finally relented after five days and sent Skyfire to deliver the Decepticon sparkling back to his own caretakers.
Sorry, Megatron. I assumed you wanted a functional air commander once they were restored, so I felt it best that i remove him from the presence of my very jealous second in command. I'm certain you understand. Skyfire has brought along games and toys that will hopefully take up more of starscream's time than whatever you were doing before.
Sincerely, Optimus.
"I am sorry," Skyfire said as he handed the bite damaged sparkling over to a very resigned Soundwave.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Hi, Prowl." Bluestreak said softly as the sparkling climbed up into the chair next to him.
"Hi." Prowl reached for the untouched plate of assorted goodies on the table in front of the sniper and picked a cookie from the bottom of the pile. He took a bite with a pleased grin, then turned his attention to the grey Praxian's frown. "Why you sad?"
"I'm not sad. I'm just..." Blue picked a candy out of the mix and put it in his mouth, chewing while he looked for the right words. "It's complicated."
"What is?" The sparkling took another bite of his cookie.
"You probably wouldn't get it." The adult mech fidgited with the goodie plate but didn't take another treat. "I just really want to tell Mirage something, but i can't."
"Why?"
"He's so different. You can't just talk to Mirage."
"Jazz does."
BLuestreak sighed. "Yeah, but Jazz talks to everybody. He's like everybody's best friend. I think even Megatron likes him."
"You talk to everybody too." Prowl shook his cookie for emphasis before taking another bite. "Why not Mirage?"
"He's just too far out of my league." The sniper sighed and put his head down on the table next to his plate of goodies.
"Why?" The sparkling turned his head sideways until he could meet Blue's optics again.
"Because he's a noble and I'm not."
"So?"
The grey Praxian sighed again. "Nobles don't get together with bots like me. He's not even supposed to talk to me."
"Not supposed to have cookies, either." The small mech took a bite of his cookie.
Bluestreak lifted his head and looked at Prowl in confusion. "Are you comparing Mirage to a cookie?"
Prowl nodded. "You like him. I like cookies."
"So I should make extra effort to talk to him?"
"Yep." The sparkling reached over for the second cookie hidden on the plate as he stuck the last bite of his first treat in his mouth.
"Because Mirage is like cookies, and we should have the things we like."
"Yep."
The sniper laughed. "That makes a scary amount of sense. Thanks, Prowl."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Prowl was sitting forlornly at his chess table, idly playing with a pawn and kicking his feet, when Trailbreaker came into the rec room. the sparkling looked hopelessly sad, and the defensive strategist’s spark twinged with sympathy for him.
Quickly, he made his way across the otherwise empty room and sat down across from Prowl. “What’s wrong?”
Prowl sighed and dropped the pawn. “Nobody wants to play.”
“Thy’re probably afraid you’ll stomp all over them.” Trailbreaker reached into his subspace to fish out the bag of energon candies he kept there. They were useful in more situations than just giving him an energy boost to run his force fields in combat. He offered one to the sparkling with a smile.
The small mech took the candy with another sad sigh. “No. i’m too little.”
“Prowl.” Trailbreaker’s voice was firm, so that the sparkling would look up at him. When he had the black and white mech’s full attention, he continued. “You are not too little. I bet you played strategy games the first time you were this age and were very good.”
Prowl nodded slowly.
“And I bet you’re better now. Ratchet says all your memories are still in there.”
Prowl nodded again, more enthusiastically.
“So, do you think I’ll say you’re too little?”
The sparkling grinned and shook his head. “Want to play?”
“You bet!” Trailbreaker set the candy down on the table and reached for some of the pieces so that they could set up the chessboard properly.
As they set up the board, the larger mech opened an internal comm line. Jazz, I think you and Bumblebee should come down to the rec room. Bring Smokescreen too.
Somethin’ the matter, Breaker?
No, Prowl and I just have something to show everyone.
All right. We’ll be down shortly.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“Haha, you should have seen it!” Smokescreen crowed. “Three moves! he had Trailbreaker in checkmate in three moves!”
Prowl looked away shyly as everyone in the mess hall turned to look at him. He almost dropped the plate of cookies he was carrying for Cosmos as he tried to hide, but Sideswipe shot a hand out and caught it before it could fall.
“Careful, kiddo,” the red twin said. “Be a horrible waste for these to hit the floor.”
“Sorry,” Prowl said, ducking behind Sideswipe to hide from the sea of staring faces.
“Hey, no.” the frontliner scooped the sparkling up with his free hand and held him close. “I wasn’t scolding. I wanted to make you laugh.”
“Everyone’s looking.”
“Hey, Smokescreen,” Sunstreaker called out from his place next to Sideswipe. “Tone it down. You’re embarassing yourself.”
The blue praxian raised his wings in offense, until he realized the yellow twin was looking pointedly at Prowl. Then he lowered them to his back and grimaced, clearly guilty that he had upset the sparkling. “Right, sorry. My mouth is ahead of my processor again.”
The other mechs in the room slowly looked away from Prowl. Prowl slowly lifted his head from where he had burried it against Sideswipe’s plating and looked around the room again. Sunstreaker grinned and handed the small mech a cookie.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Sunstreaker was pacing in the medbay waiting room. Prowl was curled up in a chair watching him. The yellow twin was a barely contained ball of worry and anger; the sparkling could feel how tense and unhappy he was from across the room.
Not that being worried and angry could make Sideswipe any less hurt.
Prowl was worried abotu Sideswipe too, but he was more worried about Sunstreaker. The other mech needed to stop pacing and worrying. Ratchet would fix Sideswipe, but no one else was here to fix his brother.
The sparkling slid down from his chair and slipped out of the waiting room. He ran quickly to the twins’ quarters, even though Red Alert would yell about how it wasn’t safe to run in the halls later, and stood on his toes to open the door. He walked inside and started searching, intent on finding something he could distract Sunstreaker with.
When he found the Cybertronian-sized crayons, he knew he was in luck.
He gathered up all the colors he could find quickly and rolled them in several large sheets of paper. Then he left the twins’ quarters and raced back to the medbay. Sunstreaker was still pacing, just like Prowl thought he would be.
Noisily, the small mech flopped the paper and crayons onto the ground. He picked up one of the crayons when the yellow twin paused and, holding it in one fist the way he had seen human children hold their crayons, began drawing on the paper. He made several lines before Sunstreaker finally stomped over to him.
“No! You’re holding it all wrong and you’re going to break them!” The yellow mech dropped down on the floor and repositioned the crayon in Prowl’s hand. “Like that. you have to be gentle, or they break and are impossible to use right.”
“Okay.” Prowl hid his grin. Mission accomplished.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“Wanna play!” Prowl’s lower lip trembled and he clenched his fists, warning of a massive tantrum if he didn’t get his way quickly.
“You get to play after this is done.” Ratchet pointed at the holographic table in front of them. “Stop acting like a brat and do your chores.”
“Optimus doesn’t make me!”
“And that’s why I’m here and not Optimus.”
“Don’t wanna!” The sparkling stomped his foot hard enough that the holo-display wobbled.
“I. Don’t. Care.” The medic dropped into a chair in front of the door. “I can wait all day. Hoist has Sideswipe well under control.”
“Hungy,” Prowl said, trying a different tactic.
“You are not. I saw Cosmos sneak that plate of cookies into you and that red pain in my skidplate.” Ratchet pointed at the table. “Work.”
“Wanna go outside.”
“Work.”
Prowl pouted and stomped his foot again, but turned back to the table. Quickly, he began moving the holographic figures around on the board. When they were positioned to his approval, he crossed his arms and glared at the table.
“Wanna go play.”
“After Trailbreaker and Smokescreen look it over. You might still be a genius tactician, but I didn’t live this long by being stupid.”
Prowl scrunched his face in an angry glare and starting moving figures on the table again.
“Uh huh. Thought so.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“Tired of being little,” Prowl said softly from his place on Sideswipe’s chest.
“I know, kiddo.” The red mech wrapped his arms around the sparkling and hugged him. “I’m tired of you being little too.”
“Tired of stupid Starscream, too.”
Sideswipe chuckled. “He really made you mad when Megatron dumped him on us, didn’t he?”
"Yes." The sparkling snuggled in closer to the frontliner, scooting until his head rested just over the red mech's spark. "He can't have my Autobots."
"Your Autobots?"
"Yes. Mine."
"I thought we were Prime's Autobots." Sideswipe gave him a grin.
"Can share with Optimus. He's not mean to everyone." Prowl smiled sleepily in return.
Sideswipe chuckled softly and rubbed the small mech's back as Prowl dropped off into a nap.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Ready or not, here I come!" Optimus' voice boomed through the storage room.
Prowl clapped his hands over his mouth and just managed not to giggle as the red and blue mech walked right past his hiding place. Even after weeks of being little, the sparkling could still hide in places low to the ground and be completely overlooked by the bigger mechs. Jazz and Mirage always found him right away, but Optimus and Ratchet always forgot to look under tables or inside cabinets.
That made it the most fun, because sometimes he could even change hiding places before Optimus found him.
He wiggled a little, waiting until he knew Optimus would be on the other side of the room. The Prowl darted out of his hiding place and into a dark cave made by three crates that was just the right size for him. If he dimmed his optics, the Prime would never find him there.
He managed not to whimper when he smacked his head into something hard and metal. He had hidden here before when he was playing with Beachcomber and Windcharger and there hadn't been anything else in his cave then. He left his optics at full power so he would have light and looked around.
Red optics stared back at him and he screamed as loudly as he could.
"Prowl! I'm coming!" Optimus sounded scared, and he was running quickly enough that some of the crates were shaking on their stacks. Prowl kept screaming as he backed out of his cave. Ravage growled as he followed.
Prowl wished he had anything to fight Ravage with, even a stick. "Stay away!"
Ravage hissed and came out of the cave quickly. The cassettecon looked like he was going to pounce, and he would probably tear the sparkling into pieces when he did. Prowl couldn't remember ever being so scared.
The small mech screamed again. "Optimus, help!"
Ravage yelped as bright blue laserfire hit him in the face.
"I'm here, Prowl." Optimus scooped the small mech with one hand and held his pistol steady on Ravage with the other. The cassettecon hissed and growled, trying to shake off the disorientation of the attack, but wasn't foolish enough to try and run. "Ironhide and Red Alert are on their way. You're safe now."
The sparkling clung to the large mech and shook with fear.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"In light of Prowl's recent encounter with Ravage, Wheeljack and i felt it best that we expedite the process of returning Prowl to his proper stature and emotional state." Perceptor set a datapad down on the desk in front of the Prime. "We have put a hold on all other projects in order to persue this line of research."
"And?" Optimus picked up the datapad and thumbed through it, skimming the contents.
"We believe that we have found a method that will work, but we need your authorization to begin construction of the device."
"Perceptor, you've had free reign in this project from the beginning." The red and blue mech frowned behind his mask. "What makes you think you need authorization now?"
"We require parts and energy sources that Human technology is not advanced enough to produce." Perceptor frowned. "We will need access to Cybertron, and perhaps to some of Smokescreen's less savory business contacts."
"Do it." Optimus said firmly. "Take Skyfire, Smokescreen and the twins and get whatever supplies you require. Prowl is in danger as long as he remains a sparkling."
"We shall depart within the hour."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Don't go!" Prowl cried and clung to Sideswipe's leg.
"I have to go, kiddo." The red mech crouched down, carefully, so that he could hug the sparkling tightly. "Perceptor needs us to help find the stuff he needs to fix you."
"Don't want you to go." The small mech dug his fingers into the seams in Sideswipe's armo and held on like the frontline warrior was the most important thing in the universe. "Want you here!"
"I wanna be here too. But I want you to be fixed, more." Sideswipe reached up and rubbed one hand over the back of Prowl's head. "This is what we need to do, so that you're not little anymore."
"Don't wanna be big if it makes you go away."
"Hey, I won't be gone forever. As soon as we have Percy's parts and Wheeljack's energy converter doohicky, we'll be back."
Prowl shook his head and clung more tightly.
"I promise. Here," The red twin pulled a data key from his subspace and held it out to the small mech. "You know what this is?"
Prowl looked at it and nodded. "Key to the store room."
"Right. And I'll need it to get back to work when I come home, right?"
The sparkling nodded again.
"So you hold onto it for me. That way, I have to come find you to get it back."
Prowl loosened his grip with one hand and took the key. "Promise to come home?"
"I promise." He hugged the sparkling again before standing back up. Prowl let him go reluctantly. "We'll be back before Starscream has time to pick another fight with you."
"I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, kiddo." Sideswipe turned and fled up Skyfire's boarding ramp before Prowl's sparkbroken expression could convince him to bail on the mission.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"What's it do?" Prowl peered up or the edge of Wheeljack's work table at the half-assembled device.
"Well," Wheeljack said as he assembled a circuit board. "Nothing right now. But after Perceptor and the others get back, it'll reverse the mass displacement that turned you into a sparkling."
"I'll be big again?" The small mech looked sad at the reminder that Sideswipe was still gone, but there was hope in his voice.
"You'll be big again," the inventor assured him. "And Perceptor's got another machine in his lab that'll fix your behavioral and linguistic programming. You'll be back to your old self in no time."
"Will it hurt?"
"I... I dunno, Prowl. There's nobody to test it on but you and Starscream."
"Oh." Prowl reached out and toyed with a dangling wire for a moment. Then he stood up straight and gave Wheeljack a confident smile. "I'll be brave. Even if it hurts."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Jazz stood outside with Prowl every day, waiting and watching the sky for Skyfire's return. The expedition would radio in before landing, but that didn't matter to the sparkling. He wanted to be there as soon as his friends came home. So they waited for several hours a day, every day for four weeks.
And on the twenty ninth day, just before the smaller black and white mech gave up for the day, Jazz received a comm from Blaster. Skyfire's inbound, coming in from the south over the Baja. ETA's about twenty minutes, give or take a Decepticon patrol.
They won't come after him this close to Autobot territory. We'd have Silverbolt and the Aerials all over them before they could shoot. Jazz grinned. Thanks for the update, my mech. Prowl needed a pick-me-up.
Anything for my favorite tactical genius. The answering grin was clear in the communications officer's voice. Make sure you get some pictures. Those'll keep morale up for decades.
You sure you don't just want blackmail material? Jazz ignored Blaster's offended response in favor of turning his attention back to Prowl. "I think we should stay out here a bit longer. Seems like a waste of a perfectly gorgeous day to spend it cooped up inside."
"Can't. Have chores to do." Prowl sighed and turned back toward the entrance to the Ark.
"They'll wait a bit longer." Jazz sat down at the edge of the landing pad. "C'mon. I brought that jacks game that Carly bought for you."
"Ratchet'll get mad." The small mech was still dutifully heading inside.
"I'll handle Ratchet. We'll have a bit of fun and soak up some sun."
The saboteur watched the sparkling hesitate before turning back to him. The expression on his face clearly said that he knew Jazz was up to something and had decided that it was worth risking Ratchet's anger to find out what. Prowl moved away from the door, but didn't sit down.
"Why?"
"Because it's a great day." Jazz pulled out the case for the jacks and handed it to Prowl.
The small mech frowned at him, but took the case and sat down. "It works better when Eject or Rewind play. Your hands are too big."
"We'll just have to make up rules for playing against someone with hands that are too big, then."
Prowl nodded and began carefully setting the jacks on the ground. He pondered the small bits of metal and the accompanying rubber ball for a moment. "You can only pick up one before the ball comes down."
"Okay. Five points when i grab just one, and five points if you grab three or more. Sound fair?"
The sparkling grinned. "Yeah!"
They were quickly engrossed in their game, modifying their simple rules a few times to make it more fair for both of them. Jazz was still losing by fifty points when he finally heard the sound of Skyfire's engines in the distance. Prowl dropped the ball and scrambled to his feet. The saboteur quickly picked up the pieces as the smaller mech dashed out onto the landing pad so he could see better.
Jazz stood up and joined the sparkling in time to see Skyfire drop below the clouds and angle himself toward the landing pad. Prowl waved his arms in enthusiastic greeting as the scientist descended. Skyfire flashed his landing lights in a return greeting.
A few minutes later, Skyfire had settled safely on the landing pad. He opened his loading bay doors and before he could lower the boarding ramp, Sideswipe jumped to the ground.
"Sideswipe!" Jazz didn't try to stop Prowl as the sparkling sprinted away from his side.
The red mech dropped down to one knee on the landing pad and spread his arms wide. Prowl barrelled into them at full speed, almost knocking Sideswipe over. The frontliner just laughed and wrapped the small mech in a tight hug.
Jazz made sure he saved image files for Blaster.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Prowl hadn't wanted to let Sideswipe go after the frontliner's return, and Sideswipe hadn't been inclined to make him. He loved the affection and closeness that the sparkling gave him, and wanted to get as much of it as he could while he could. Adult Prowl liked him well enough, but was certainly not nearly as cuddly.
Even now, recharging in the latest hours of the night, Prowl didn't let go of his chestplate.
"Better be careful with him, Sides." Jazz slipped up next to him with all the silence the ops team was known for. Only the recharging sparkling kept him from reflexively assaulting the saboteur. "He's more fragile than he looks."
"I am careful with him." To demonstrate his point, Sideswipe straightened a doorwing that was catching against his armor. Prowl sighed and dropped into a more comfortable recharge. "You should be more careful with me. If i hadn't been holding him, we'd both be on our way to Ratchet."
"I'd kick your ass, but we'd both be in bad shape," Jazz agreed. "But that's not what I meant. I know you like him, and that you did before he got turned into the adorable half-pint you're toting around."
"Look, if this is the "hurt my friend and I hurt you" speech, save it. I already know." The red mech frowned.
"Well, there's that." The saboteur's voice was a paradox of amused and serious. "But I'm more worried about you getting hurt. Once the science crew fixes him, we're gonna lose this cuddly little guy who shows everyone how he really feels. And I think you've noticed that Prowl doesn't do warm and caring with anyone but Blue."
"Doesn't matter." Sideswipe hugged the small mech closer. "I cared before he got shrunk and I'm not going to stop loving him just because he's less cuddly afterward. I-- Aw, slag."
"S'all right, Sides. I already knew."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"I'm scared," Prowl said softly, squeezing Optimus and Sideswipe's hands tightly as Wheeljack and Perceptor set up the device that was supposed to return him to his normal size.
"I know, kiddo," the red twin replied, squeezing back. "I am too."
The sparkling looked startled by that idea. "Why?"
"We are afraid of the consequences if the device does not work as it should," Optimus replied, saving Sideswipe the struggle of finding the right words.
"Oh." Prowl looked up at the larger mechs seriously. "Even if I break, you'll still like me, right?"
"Always, kiddo." Sideswipe crouched down and gathered the sparkling into his arms, so that Prowl wouldn't see the pained expression on his face. "No matter what."
Prowl hugged the red twin back tightly. "Me too. No matter what."
Optimus watched, and whispered a prayer to Primus and any other benevolent diety who was listening that the device would work.
"Guys?" Wheeljack said, interrupting the moment. "We're ready."
Prowl looked up from Sideswipe's chest and gave the red mech a weak smile. "Time to be brave, okay?"
"Okay." The frontline warrior tried to smile back as he let the small mech go. "Catch you on the flip side."