Raising a Sparkling Together (And Apart)

Sounds

Did you know that "Sounds" backwards is still "Sounds?" Try it!!

Paradox stared at the locked door in front of her with a frown. She bit her derma in thought, only for Knockout to pull it away from her Detna with his digit. She looked up at him with a glare, crossing her arms as she pouted. "Hey! I said don't do that!"

"And I said to stop biting your derma. I don't want to have to fix it later. How did you even learn to do that?" Knockout asked, placing his servos on his hips as he stared down at her. She deflated and shrugged, causing Knockout to groan. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

He walked away, causing Paradox to turn back to the door. She sat down criss-cross applesauce and stared at the door. She wanted to get out. The medbay was way too stuffy for her. The tools were interesting and the sounds they made were cool to listen to, but she had touched every tool and listened to every sound they could make. Spending every day in the medbay got boring, and she didn't like it.

Suddenly the door opened, causing Paradox to look up with a wide smile until she saw it was Starscream. She huffed and crossed her arms, slouching down with a pout.

"Paradox! Primus, I would have stepped on you if you hadn't huffed," Starscream said, crouching down in front of her with a smile. "What are you doing on the ground?"

She just glared up at him and turned away, tears filling her optics, but she refused to shed them. Starscream stared at her for a moment in shock before looking up at Knockout, who watched them with sad optics. Starscream stood up, Knockout pushing off of the operation table and standing upright. Starscream stood next to him, looking down with a glare. From the corner of his optic he could see Paradox's wings dip, the edges of them pushing against the floor.  "Why is she so upset?"

Knockout sighed, crossing his arms as he glowered at the Seeker. "Well, since the last time I let her out of my sight you managed to not only single handedly introduce her to the Autobots, but also got them to open fire on her!"

"They open-fired on me, too!" Starscream snapped back, wings raised in anger.

"Yeah, but I don't care about you," Knockout snarled, pointing a digit into the other mechs chest. "I care about Paradox. Don't ever, even for a moment, think that I care about you or your wellbeing." It was quiet for a moment between the two of them before Knockout stood straight, still scowling. "Now I am going to take Paradox and get away from this piece of slag I call the second in command."

He turned, ready to grab Paradox and storm out of the medbay when he noticed something.

"Where, where is Paradox?"

Starscream whirled around, staring at the spot where she used to sit. "She, she was right there."

"You don't think I know that?" Knockout asked with a snarl. He began searching the medbay, Starscream not far behind him.

"Where could she have gone?"

"She has to be here somewhere, the door is locked!"'

Paradox stared up at the tall, tall mech. His frame was dark purple and black, with small bits of navy blue accents. His faceplate was covered in a pointed mask, the only thing showing on the screen was a bouncing green line. Paradox knew that that green line indicated a cybertronian's sparkbeat, so she knew that this mech was most definitely alive. At least, she hoped it was.

"Uh, Sir?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly. "What, who are you?" The mech continued to stare down at her, making her feel uneasy. "Um, hello? Can you hear me?"

Paradox shrunk back slightly and thought. Maybe he was—what was the word?—death? Is that it? She saw no harm in trying it, so she attempted to use a the language of sign she had partially downloaded from the internet.

"Hello, my name is P-A-R-A-D-E-X. What is your name?"

He stared at her for a second before his mask beeped. He slowly held his servos out, quickly and efficiently signing "S-O-U-N-D-W-A-V-E," unlike what 'Paradex' had signed.

Paradox tried to watch what he signed, but got confused. "S, U, N, A, E? S...Suna..eh? Sunaeh? What type of name is that?"

Soundwave stared down at her for a moment before be went down on one knee. Paradox stepped back, but stopped when she saw something flash on his mask. It showed the sign for 'S,' and then the letter next to it. He did this for his entire name, and then pointed to himself.

"Oh, so your name is Soundwave?" When he nodded, Paradox smiled. "My name is Paradox." She held out her servo. "It's nice to meet you!"

Soundwave stared at her servo for a moment before slowly putting his own in hers, allowing her to grip his servo and shake it excitedly. She pulled away and stared up at him, thinking.

"Well, what do you you want to do?"

Two hours later, Soundwave carried Paradox into the medbay. Laserbeak was circling above them, playing with Paradox. Knockout and Starscream both snapped their helms in the doors direction, gasping when they saw Paradox emerge on Soundwave's shoulders.

"Paradox! Oh Primus where have you been? Where did you go? I was so worried" Knockout paused to stare at Soundwave. He blinked once, twice, and then a third time. "Paradox. When did you meet Soundwave?"

Paradox tilted her helm, thinking. "Well, 5t3v3 came in and opened the door, letting me out. And then I saw Sounds, who taught me some sign language and let me play with Laserbeak. After that he took me back and now we're here talking to eachother."

Knockout and Starscream stared at her for a moment, not knowing what to think. 5t3v3 let her out, she found 'Sounds,' and then they hung out until he brought her back. Alright. Cool.

Soundwave lifted her up with his feelers and then placed her lightly on the ground. Nodding to her as she waved before turning around and exiting the medbay. He had work to do. He was busy.

Knockout and Starscream stared at Soundwave's back as he moved, sighing in relief when he disappeared. They turned to stare at eachother for a moment with wide optics before looking back at Paradox. Starscream gulped slightly before pointing in the opposite direction of Soundwave. "I, I, uh, gotta go. I, um, have... Seeker things to do."

"Alright." Knockout said with a small nod.

Starscream nodded silently to himself, moving past Paradox as he muttered a small goodbye. "Bye, Paradox. Uh, don't, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Or anything I would do, really. Just, listen to your Carrier, alright?"

Paradox stared up at him with a 'what do you mean?' Expression on her faceplate before nodding. "Alright."

Starscream walked out of the medbay, checking in both directions before sprinting to the deck. He needed to fly, urgently. Knockout sighed, staring at Paradox.

"How do you make so many mysterious friends so fast?"

"What was that, Carrier?"

Fuck.

"Nothing, sweetie. Here's your drawing pad." He rushed out quickly, shoving the datapad into her lap.

She stared down at it before smiling up at him. "Thanks."

"No problem."

(I hate myself for that joke I'm sorry)