#agestop

No one had noticed at first. Not even they themselves. It was only after they had returned to Cybertron and the Lost Light had been dismantled that Ultra Magnus noticed the change—or rather, noticed no change. At first, he hadn't really realized what it meant, but as he brought it up with Ratchet, he suddenly was faced with the knowledge that he had met his soulmate and had no clue who it was.

For several vorns, Ultras Magnus debated with himself about whether he should go search for them or not before coming to the decision to search. Deep inside his soul, he could not deny a slight yearning for someone to share his life with. Once he had decided to search, he began to look for possible candidates.

The first requirement was that they had to have been a member of the Lost Light at some point, which already reduced his list of possible bots to a potential list of 200 bots. The next requirement was that they had survived the quest, which reduces the list to around 150 bots, if not less. The last category were bots who had already found their soulmates or were in relationships. This took a bit of research, but the result made it worth it. From a start list of over 200 bots, there are now around 78 left. Looking at the list of candidates, he prepared himself for more in-person research.

After the Lost Light had been dismantled, Swerve had started a new bar in a semi-popular spot, and while he wasn't particularly successful, it was enough to allow him to live in a little apartment over the bar. To his disappointment, he no longer had contact with most of the once-members of the Lost Light, the other minibots and their conjuxes being the only ones, as well as Whirl and Rung. He wished he would have contact with some others still as well, but alas, he could understand that they just had more important things to do. And for some, he just didn't have the guts to contact them.

Really, the only person that counted towards the latter was Ultra Magnus. Swerve simply assumed the mech had more important things to do and a busy schedule. That, combined with the fact the mech had always seemed to dislike him, or at least the amount of noise and chaos following him, made him wary of contacting the other mech. Ignoring all that, he didn't have his contact anyways.

This, of course, led to a very big shock at the start of the night cycle. Swerve was polishing a glass as he heard the door open and automatically started his standard greeting. "Welcome to Swerves; what can I do- Ultra Magnus, sir? I didn't expect to see you here. How are you? What can I do for you? It's been a while; I really didn't expect to see you in my bar. You never really liked my bar on the Lost Light, so you know. Sorry, I'm rambling again; I didn't get out of the habit and probably never will. I'll stop now." Swerve could feel the energon rush into his faceplate the longer he talked, or rather rambled on.

Ultra Magnus hadn't expected Swerve to have changed much since their departure, but to see him so completely and utterly the same was somehow quite comforting. Then he mentally stopped and ran the thought through his head again. Swerve was indeed exactly like he had been at the start of the quest, but not only personality-wise but appearance-wise. The list, holding only three names not crossed off at this point, sat heavy in his subspace as the realization formed in his processor. "Good evening, Swerve; it is nice to see you're still yourself. I'm actually looking for something very important, and I thought you may be able to help me," he replied as he stepped up towards the bar, stopping in front of it.

Looking at Swerve closer, he noticed the faint blush on the minibot's faceplate, and previously pushed-down and forgotten feelings reared their heads again. The urge to pick the cute minibot up or just cuddle him hit the bigger mech for the first time in a long time again. "Oooh, of course I'll help with whatever I can. What are you looking for? Is it something bar-related?" The questions pulled him from his thoughts and returned his attention to Swerve.

"It isn't. I was actually looking for my soulmate. The blunt statement seemed to throw Swerve off a little, but Ultra Magnus could see his processor at work and the moment Swerve came to the same conclusion as he had. The blue tint of his cheeks darkened, and he opened and closed his mouth several times before pointing at himself and asking faintly, "Me?"