#ughk

Long ago, the Decepticons had an amazing member among their ranks.

Mighty, handsome, multi-talented—did I mention mighty?

Enemies quivered before him, cowering in fear whenever he so much as clenched his servos. He was the ultimate example of raw, unrelenting cybertronian strength.

The Decepticons began to fear this formidable warrior. If he ever turned on them, it would be over!

So, they (very barely!) managed to push him out of base, despite his bulging muscles and incredible battle skills. He had been defeated for the first time.

But the Decepticons knew little of the price they’d have to pay!

He single-handedly wiped out the whole faction, swinging awesome uppercuts and totally bodyslamming those ‘cons to the ground!

And, to top it all off, he totally wrote “Space Farts” on Megatron’s butt.

The Autobots, seeing this display, were enamoured. Who was this wonder-bot? Optimus Prime fell to his knees, humbly requesting that this absolute unit of a warrior joined the ranks among their own faction. After some veryyyyyy careful consideration, the kind warrior benevolently accepted, becoming the Autobot everybody knows and loves today!

~

“Man, you’re still as good of a listener as always, Smoothie!” Ballpoint praised, patting his friend a little on the glass. “Say…” he whispered conspiratorially, “you should help me write an autobiography one day! Wouldn’t that be awesome? Everyone’s gonna LOVE reading about my awesome journey!” 

Shkk-click! The door to the break room slid open, revealing Jazz’s smiling face at the doorway. “Hey there, little man!” he chirped, sounding joyous as ever. “What’cha doin’? Talkin’ to your friend again?” “Jazz! Hey, my dude!” Ballpoint piped up, returning the enthusiasm. Jazz took them both up into his servos. He had always regarded Ballpoint’s quiet companion with such care and gentleness—nothing like how the Decepticons had. Noticing Ballpoint starting to get a little fidgety, he slowly set the two down, being extra careful not to drop either of them. 

“We’ve got an important briefing from the boss-bot in 5. Thought I’d let you know in case your comms’ were busted again.” “Oh! They must’ve been…” Ballpoint tapped the device at the side of his head. It was a temporary fix engineered by Wheeljack to use while they figured out how exactly to get the little bot’s comm-link frequency on the Autobots’ wavelength, but clearly it wasn’t working too well. Jazz laughed, picking up Ballpoint once again and placing him atop his shoulder plating. “Let’s get goin’, then, kid! Don’t wanna keep Prime waiting!” 

~

Meetings with Optimus were certainly a refreshing change from the …“consults” the Decepticons normally had with Megatron. Plus, nobody had to yell to relay whatever message they had, since Prime didn’t sit 40 feet up in the air. “Well, we’re all equals here, Ballpoint,” was his response when Ballpoint posed the question. All equals…The very concept had always been foreign to the minibot. And this really did seem to be the case, with his current faction.

None of them had ever treated him differently because he was new and small. In fact, they seemed to almost forget the fact entirely. When they didn’t, they were always finding ways to accommodate him, include him. He didn’t have to lie to feel like he was worth anything. And yet, he still did, even after all the kindness they had been showing him.

Maybe he really was the worst bot ever.

…But that didn’t matter for now. Optimus had given them all work to do, and he had reports to write.

Not before a talk with smoothie though. Surely, that would calm his nerves.

~

“Kid? You alright?” Jazz couldn’t help but notice that the break room felt a little too quiet. Normally, the little guy was running around the place telling everything his cool stories. But he was nowhere to be seen. Then…ah, there he was. Jazz smiled. He was finally using the little penholder standing berth that they had installed for him on the counter. “Oh…man, that’s cute.” He walked over, looking over Ballpoint for a moment. It was a pretty useful alt’ mode to have, actually. Nobody, human or cybertronian, would see him coming! Him and Mirage would be great battle partners, Jazz found himself thinking. He straightened out the penholder, turning on his pedes to return to his habsuite. 

Just then, he heard a few small clicks and whirrs from behind him. Did he wake Ballpoint up? “Ah, sorry, little man! Didn’t mean to wake ya’. ”He muttered sheepishly. “Oh no, it’s totally fine, bro! I wasn’t asleep, just takin’ a break,”Ballpoint brushed it off, stretching a little. “Hey…say…could you…stay and talk for a while, actually?” he’d now turned to face Jazz, looking up at him expectantly.

Needless to say, Jazz was a little surprised. “…Sure, man. What’s on your mind?” He pulled out a chair and sat down.

~

Feelings. Too many feelings. Too many CONFLICTING feelings, he wanted to blurt out. Ballpoint hesitated a little. “Am I supposed to be here?” His voice was a far cry from what it usually was. “…Damn, deep thoughts, broski. Are any of us supposed to be here?” Jazz leaned back a little.