“How do you know that designation?! Where am I?! What have you done to me?!” shouted Tarn.

“You told it to me? You said when it’s just us and the team I can call you that. Well more accurately you said I can call you whatever I want including that designation. You’re safe. We’re on the Peaceful Tyranny. Whatever dream you were having it’s not real,” reassured Pharma.

Pharma looks shocked considering there’s a fusion cannon pointed at his face, but Tarn’s not expecting the patient calm and worry directed at him that is underlying Pharma’s gaze as well. Something is wrong here.

Of course this is when a small orange bot with Tarn’s old face but with jet wings comes zooming in and staring back at him with confused optics

“Carrier what are you doing? Why are you pointing your cannon at Sire,” asked the small bot.

“Your Carrier and I were just playing,” lied Pharma.

“Oh! Wait how come Sire gets to play with the weapons but I’m not allowed to touch and play with them?” asked the child with a pout.

“Because your Carrier is a professional, older, and knows how to properly handle a weapon. He also isn’t actually going to fire and the safety is on. Right?” asked Pharma with a pointed tone to Tarn to back him up.

“Yes,” replied Tarn, feeling off kilter at seeing a child that looks very much like him in so many ways.

“Go get Nickel and tell her to come here and hurry,” ordered Pharma.

“Okay! What about music lessons with Carrier?” asked the small orange bot.

“Your Carrier isn’t feeling well this morning so you have no lessons for today. That’s why I need you to go get Nickel,” prompted Pharma.

“Okay! I hope you feel better soon,” said the small orange bot, walking over to give Tarn’s leg a hug before leaving since he was too small to reach any higher.

Tarn’s kind of feeling like a confused and caged animal considering how he woke up and that he just technically died and should be dead.

Nickel comes in and Tarn demands to know what’s going on. Nickel and Pharma try to calm down Tarn and of course this is when the rest of the DJD burst into the room as well. Pharma sarcastically is just like ‘oh great let’s just have everyone try to squeeze into our habsuite!’

Tarn finds out that in this world and time, years have passed since Megatron defected and the DJD plus Pharma have basically been unaligned with any faction for quite some time now and are kind of just traveling space doing their own thing. They’re on no one’s side but their own.

I’m imagining Tarn noting the lack of badges on everyone and is like “Where are your badges? You’ve abandoned the Cause?!”

The others are like Tarn it’s been years. Most of them do still have theirs since it used to be part of their spark casing, but they don’t really wear them anymore. Though Tarn gave his to Pharma the romantic sap. It’s kind of nostalgic and also a little sad to see Tarn like this since the Tarn that they are used to has mellowed out over the years in domestic bliss. Relatively speaking of course, the DJD aren’t any less dangerous in terms of skill sets and living out in deep space and occasionally clashing with the Black Block Consortia means they need to be ready for combat if necessary, but that said they’ve also been more laid back in terms of structure. Tarn’s still their bossy leader who runs a tight ship and pesters them about proper regulations, but he’s more friend than workplace boss to them. There’s not really any official Decepticon chain of command they’re following anymore. The team is less kill squad for the Cause and more friend group at this point.

“I almost forgot how much more of a gear stick and uptight you used to be,” said Helex.

“That’s a black mark,” says Tarn instinctively.

Despite the confusion, Tarn thinks of how good it is to see and hear his team again all alive.

At first they think maybe it’s amnesia, but the memories Tarn has do not align with the ones the Tarn of this world should have. So not amnesia and not mnemosurgery either after checking for marks.

After some more tests and finding a letter left by the version of Tarn from this world (that he kept in a sealed box that would only unlock on a certain date aka today, Pharma going ‘so that’s what that damn thing is’ because it was a box that has multiple layers with very specific timed locks that will only open on the set date or it explodes if opened prematurely which Tarn refused to expand on what was inside and refused to throw it away even if it acted like a useless paperweight for most of the time since he’d gotten the thing) apparently some weird anomaly happened and the two Tarns will switch back in a few months and the other Tarn left instructions asking everyone to just keep the other him safe and make sure he doesn’t blow up anything and get into too much trouble before he gets back. So there’s nothing to do, but wait.

Tarn spends time with the DJD and they’re basically comforting him about the whole Megatron defection thing cause they get it and have been in his metaphorical shoes, but unlike him enough time has passed that they’ve sort of processed it and have started building a new life together outside of Megatron. Apparently the Tarn of this world seemed to have been less blinded and had some inkling that things were going to go sideways and made contingency plans for the event that Megatron may defect or betray them not that he told anyone about this until it inevitably happened. But when Megatron defected the DJD were understandably very distraught and their Tarn had obviously still been hurt by it, but he managed to keep everyone together and helped them find different purposes to live for after. One of the first things they did was save the colony of Prion and continuing to safeguard it which is where they met Nickel. It gave them a sense of purpose at a time when it felt like they had none anymore without Megatron. Prion remains one of their allies to this day to the chagrin of basically every other Cybertronian except maybe Deathsaurus who they’re apparently on good terms with in this world. The Black Block Consortia haven’t returned to Prion with the presence of the DJD marking it as under their protection/territory and not after their last skirmish, but if anything took them out there’s no guarantee that the Black Block Consortia won’t come back to finish the job.

His kid also adores Tarn. Tarn feeling so many mixed emotions about seeing his old face on a bot who is untouched from the war since their kid was born years after. The kid is smart, curious, excitable apparently loves to draw and paint. He also inherited Tarn’s outlier and is a green spark as well. But unlike Tarn who was punished for the lack of control of his abilities, their little spark is getting the love, support, and guidance on how to use and control his ability that Tarn himself never had. And it’s not like their kid has full control over it yet either, but when he breaks something no one gets overly angry at him or punishes him for something out of his control. It’s definitely not making Tarn internally feel all kinds of feelings about it (it totally is).

Tarn finding and flipping through basically a photo album of his other self’s life in their room. Pharma walks into the room seeing him flip through their photo album and Pharma sits down explaining details of each photo. There’s a group photo of them all on some planet relaxing on the shore of a beach holding drinks and in chairs. Another of Vos and his sparkling painting a mustache onto Kaon as he slept. Another photo after that of Kaon mid-tackle as he jumped on Vos while Helex seemed to have joined the fray holding the sparkling in the air out of harm’s way who was laughing despite all the chaos. There’s a photo of Pharma and Tarn asleep together on a couch leaned against one another. And so many other photos that showcase a whole beautiful life they’ve built together.

And he gets to know Pharma more who seems to know so much about him and also the more time he spends with the other the more he starts liking him too. Tarn initially avoiding Pharma, but also curious on what made Pharma no longer be an Autobot and what happened to him that he seems to have fallen in love with him despite also having been blackmailed by Tarn. Tarn finding out what happened at Delphi after the plague that seemed to hit the place and how Pharma lost his original hands, etc. Tarn judging his other self for not hunting down and killing those who stole his conjunx’s hands on principle. Pharma snorting and telling him that he offered, but that Pharma asked him not to. Pharma tells him that Tarn listening to Pharma’s wishes and request over what Tarn wanted to do about the situation was actually one of the first times Pharma started to trust the other more. Pharma had been very surprised by his behavior when they met again after Delphi, apparently Tarn had been very dramatic about the whole thing according to the doctor with a fond roll of his optics. Pharma had also found the cure to cybercrosis which he just casually mentioned as if that wasn’t groundbreaking. Apparently he was working on a cure to atrophosia at the moment in terms of research. This confident Pharma who seemed so comfortable around him and his team was very attractive in ways Tarn was trying and failing not to admit. Not that them getting together and figuring out their relationship was easy according to Pharma. It was definitely bumpy at first and confusing and frustrating and a whole number of things as Pharma tells him that he hated him at first, but he wouldn’t trade this life they had now for anything. That he was happy here.

Tarn gets to spend movie nights and game night with the team. The more time he spends here in this seemingly alternate reality the more he doesn’t want to leave. But it’s not his to keep and even if he wanted to take the other Tarn’s place according to the scientific theory that Vos tried explaining to him they’ll switch back regardless of what anyone does. Part of him hates this version of Tarn because why does he get everything Tarn has ever wanted or didn’t even know he would want. It’s mostly hatred rooted in jealousy. Because why did this Tarn manage to save his friends and keep them all alive? Why does this Tarn get a loving conjunx? A Tarn who has a sparkling who loves him and a happy life surrounded by friends and family. It’s not fair and Tarn hates him!

He’s definitely brooding and sad the day before he’s marked to go back probably huddled in a corner of his and Pharma’s room as he’s clutching a group photo of all of them knowing tomorrow he’s about to lose everything again or maybe since he was supposed to be dead he’d just stop existing. Neither option seemed very good. Which is how and where Pharma finds him. Tarn with sad optics asking why he was unlovable when a version of him could do his life so much better. Kind of has a breakdown and asks why he breaks and ruins everything around him.

Pharma sitting next to Tarn going ‘you’re not unlovable. In fact you remind me of him so much. You are different in many ways, but so similar in other aspects as well. You know when I started falling in love with him he was much more like you are right now than the bot he grew to be. I love that he changed in many ways to improve himself for the better because I don’t like to see my conjunx hurting himself. I’m a doctor after all. But at any of those times before and after, he was never inherently unlovable and neither are you.’

Pharma puts a soft kiss to Tarn’s face after saying that and Tarn kisses him back like a starving mech. Before it gets too far, Tarn pulls back and is like ‘wait isn’t this being disloyal to your conjunx’ feeling real conflicted because on one hand he is so down to take what he can get and wants every scrap of affection Pharma is willing to give him ‘screw that other guy who is also sort of me’ feeling but also the idea of being betrayed and the disloyalty rubs him the wrong way even if it’s a different version of him.

Pharma giving a small laugh and pulls out a letter that was in the box that had been sealed away whose lock only opened when this Tarn had ended up here, the letter from his conjunx addressed to Pharma more or less giving him permission to make out with his other self or more if Pharma wishes. Probably also made a joke about telling him how they compare when Tarn gets back.

Pharma basically hits him with the berthroom optics saying they could stop here if he wants, but if Tarn wants more Pharma is more than willing. No longer conflicted every part of Tarn is like ‘YES PLEASE! TAKE ME NOW!’ lol. Though it’s clear Tarn is kind of inexperienced by the way he moves and also gets kind of shy as things get more heated cause this is actually his first time ever interfacing. Anyway Pharma basically gives him hands on Interfacing 101 lessons and Tarn has the best night of his life. What a way to have your first time lol. They cuddle for the rest of the night afterwards, Tarn clinging to Pharma like he never wants to let go because he doesn’t and because he’s pretty sure a part of him is falling in love with Pharma if not already in love.

The next day arrives and the twist is that Tarn is the same Tarn of that timeline. On the day he is supposed to ‘switch back’ with this world’s Tarn he finds a letter addressed to himself explaining that he’s going to end up waking up in the past and he needs to high tail it to Luna 1 with coordinates listed in the letter and save Pharma and also help stop Tyrest from killing all Cold Constructed bots which would also affect members of his team like Kaon (Tarn finally having an explanation on what happened to Kaon that day when Tyrest activated the Killswitch). There’s also a note that he’s going to run into the Lost Light there as well and that whatever Pharma orders him to do to follow his lead while on Luna 1. Priority of Luna 1 is to get Pharma first and foremost. Everything else is secondary. In the message it also details a few other key events he should intervene in and also some knowledge of events about the future that he himself wasn’t there for personally but learned about in the future either from Pharma or others. So basically this whole time the Tarn everyone knows is actually his future self.

Even though he got to experience the future he left, it’s not a guaranteed and set in stone thing since it’s the actions he makes that will shape his future. If he wants that future he’s going to have to work for it and fight for it. It won’t magically happen on its own. But he’s seen what they all could be and he’s willing to do anything for that future.

Fast forward to the future and everyone welcomes their Tarn back. Tarn greeting everyone and reassuring them that he’s fine. Also picks up his sparkling and is like ‘but I particularly missed you’! Their kid going ‘so are you feeling better now?’ and Tarn saying something along the lines that he’s never felt better. After putting their kid to sleep, they go back to reconvene with the rest of the team and Pharma with his arms crossed and glaring going ‘so you knew this whole time and knew you were going to end up time traveling to the past/future but you didn’t tell me?’ Tarn with pathetic wet eyes looking at Pharma and going ‘I couldn’t risk the possibility of telling you and messing up the future. If there was any risk that telling you means I’d lose you I couldn’t risk not having you in my life 🥺’

Pharma pouting going ‘fine you’re forgiven’ because he’s weak to Tarn’s pathetic wet dog rizz and they start making out cause they miss each other. The entire team shouting ‘get a room!’ which is exactly what they do as Tarn literally sweeps Pharma into a bridal carry into their berthroom to make up for lost time.