Fic pitch: Fate Can Stuff It
Last night, I had the most terrible idea for a TFP soulmark/hanahaki SoundOP fic, and because it’s so terrible, against my usual inclination, I’m now going to share it publicly.
In this universe, one’s sparkmark is not the name of the other person, but the first words you’ll speak to each other. So when Orion Pax and Soundwave meet in the pits, duly introduced by Megatronus (whose own sparkmate perished in the mines), Orion Pax speaks the words on Soundwave’s arm/hand/I’m not sure where they are yet. But Soundwave, whose vocaliser is broken, is incapable of speaking the words he wants to say, because a) he doesn’t have the required soundclips and b) they need to be spoken in one’s own voice. Or maybe it’s one or the other, I’m not sure yet about that. In any case. The words are not spoken. Orion Pax remains clueless, albeit very disappointed Megatronus isn’t his sparkmate.
Soundwave finds out by accident, because he sees Orion’s sparkmark, and promptly develops hanahaki. Actually, they both do, because hanahaki is caused by an intended sparkbond not being established despite the two (or more) partners having met. Common symptoms are a desire to spend time with the other, feeling slightly ill when apart and a disproportionate interest in the other person. No flowers. Flowers only develop when someone consciously rejects the sparkmate despite knowing their identity. Which Orion Pax does not, so he only has very light symptoms that he can easily explain away. Soundwave, on the other hand … Soundwave’s getting it. By the time of the Council meeting, he’s hacking up complete flowers every time Orion Pax leaves, but he’s obviously also very good at hiding stuff, so nobody notices except the cassettes, who don’t know who Soundwave’s intended is.
Well, Orion Pax kind of notices. He asks Megatronus repeatedly if Soundwave is alright. He just can’t put his finger on it, but something’s wrong with him. He just knows. He just doesn’t know why.
In any case. Things go straight to hell after the Council meeting and the moment Optimus Prime appears on the scene, Soundwave’s hanahaki stops and his sparkmark fades. Not completely. But enough that you can only see it if you knew it’s there. And he’s glad, he’s so glad Orion Pax is gone, he’d throw a fucking party if he could (not that he can, because Megatron is furious). Soundwave doesn’t actually mind. He’ll take Optimus Prime over Orion Pax every day, please and thank you.
So all is good in Soundwave’s world until the day Megatron returns to the Nemesis with an amnesiac Orion Pax in tow and Soundwave’s hanahaki flares up with a vengeance. His sparkmark’s also back, look at that. He’s pissed. Also extremely confused, because Orion Pax can’t be back, Soundwave’s mark faded, Pax died. He can’t be back.
Because this is all very confusing (and the hanahaki is getting worse), Soundwave’s actually pretty glad when Team Prime manage to recover Optimus Prime, because everything goes back to normal. No hanahaki, faded sparkmark – Soundwave loves it. It can be like that forever, as far as he’s concerned.
Skip further, Soundwave gets stuck in the Shadowzone, Optimus dies and at some point Soundwave is freed from the Shadowzone and brought back to Cybertron to stand trial. Not RID-style, but. You know. Someone gets him out and he ends up in prison.
Then Optimus Prime returns, because when has Optimus ever managed to stay dead, and the moment Soundwave sees him on the news, he’s hacking up flowers like he wants to open a shop. Oh, and his sparkmark is also back, surprise! And now he’s really, really pissed, because what the hell. Optimus Prime is NOT his sparkmate. Someone has made a mistake.
But Optimus, who has never had a sparkmark before (look, if anyone would know, it’d be Soundwave, alright?), now has a sparkmark. And it’s the first words Soundwave wanted to say when meeting Orion Pax, and this is just unfair.
Soundwave petitions the prison to let him meet Optimus Prime. He wants an explanation. The prison is confused, but it’s Optimus Prime Soundwave’s asking for, so – I mean. Not like anything could happen, right?
So Optimus visits. And Soundwave asks him outright about his sparkmark, only to be told that the Matrix acts as a sparkmark supressor, because a Prime can’t favour one bot over all others. It wouldn’t be fair. Orion Pax never died, he just got a temporary break from having a sparkmate, and Soundwave is fucking furious.
Also still coughing flowers. Which he knows will only be kept in check by him accepting Optimus as his sparkmate (not going to happen) or at least seeing him regularly. So he scrapes together whatever charm he can muster up and asks Optimus to come visit again.
Optimus, because he’s Optimus, comes back. Frequently. A lot more often than Soundwave asked him to. The hanahaki gets better, well, manageable, at least. Soundwave starts thinking that maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world to have Optimus as a sparkmate. Maybe he was a bit, uh, prejudiced against him, what with him not realising Soundwave was his sparkmate back then and wanting Megatron instead. Maybe Orion wasn’t actually that bad. Maybe Soundwave should have sent him a comm. Or something. Anyways. What’s done is done. No need to tell Optimus now, after everything. He’s coming back by himself anyway and he’ll never figure it out. Soundwave knows Optimus Prime. He won’t suspect.
Except Optimus does suspect. He’s slow on the uptake, he’s not stupid, and he’s spent a lot of time researching sparkmarks and hanahaki. He recognises the symptoms now. So when Soundwave has an episode right in front of him, Optimus tells him. That he knows. That he’s known for a while. And Soundwave is – okay, look, he still hates him, yes. He’s still so fucking angry at him. But maybe it also wasn’t solely Orion’s fault. Maybe Soundwave kind of does like Optimus Prime. Not like, you know, sparkmates-likes him. But maybe he can live with Optimus being his sparkmate, if they can just – keep what they’re doing now. If that’s enough.
For Optimus, it’s enough. It would always have been enough. They don’t have to get conjunxed. They don’t have to tell anyone. They don’t even have to interface, ever, if that’s not what Soundwave wants (jury’s out on that one, Optimus is hot, but Soundwave is stubborn).
And so, four or five million years later, Soundwave (whose vocaliser was fixed when he went to prison) finally opens his mouth and tells Optimus Prime “How exactly would you be useful to us?”
