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Soundwave was not unaccustomed to Megatronus pacing. Far from it; the mech had a particular loathing of showing vulnerability where it might be seen by any broader group, and the gladiator quarters had once embodied that, their labyrinthine design made to discourage exploration. As soon as Soundwave had been able to writhe himself out of such places, Megatronus had followed, til the both of them found themselves back where they had begun. A shared room and no escape. Never mind that Soundwave's apartment was now outside the pits; it was, in the end, all the same.
"He would have betrayed me," said Megatronus, not to Soundwave but to himself, still pacing the small, hard-won apartment Soundwave had secured. It was three rooms between him and his symbiotes, and still more luxury than he had ever expected. A luxury he would never deny Megatronus, so stubborn as to remain in the gladiator barracks despite his increasing options as both their darling and the thorn in their side. Soundwave worried. It was in his nature. So he always let Megatronus in, even if only to worry himself sick.
Soundwave had insisted, long ago, that actions spoke louder than words. That was before he truly realised how incompetent his chosen Amica was at such things, and frankly, more worry had arisen from that overestimation than anything else since. The compromise was speaking hand; and so Soundwave gently took Megatronus' agitated digits in his, stilling them.
"Be patient," he said in hand, pressing digits to Megatronus' palm, holding his Amica's hand in place just almost as though as an afterthought. "Orion is no traitor, and the Matrix has gone elsewhere."
Soundwave loved Megatronus. He loved him spark and brain alike, but by Primus, he knew well that the mech he had pledged his own life to could be an idiot at times. More than anything he had learned this from Megatronus' inability to detach. They would not have been such good Amica otherwise, without Soundwave there to soften the blow. Each and every time. Still, Soundwave always worried.
"Orion would have taken it," Megatronus insisted, crowding Soundwave's carefully curated space. The only person allowed to do so, and Soundwave indulgently allowed it. "He would have said yes." And Soundwave knew such an agreement would never have been seen as anything but a rejection, even as he himself watched Orion give up all but his own spark to keep Megatronus happy. There were so few compromises, sometimes. Certainly never on Megatronus' part. If there had been, Soundwave knew full well he would never have bowed his knee so, all these years. So it went.
Soundwave held Megatronus' desperate gaze in the aftermath of this unadmitted confession. His Amica wanted someone to tell him otherwise, to refute even the hypothetical wavering on his dear Orion's part; but Soundwave was no liar, not in this.
Instead, he caught Megatronus' faceplate with both his hands, gentle, and when he was sure he had the other mech's attention, played Orion's own words against his dearest friend.
"It does not matter who holds that power," said Orion in the clip that Soundwave had himself paid rapt attention to several vorn earlier, "Only that we understand that all of us want the same thing; to see such power gone, forever. If it requires any one of us take it on in the first place, so be it. When we say til' all are one, remember only that we mean it, not in the next life but this one."
Megatronus took his time to process this, long enough that despite his own personal discomfort with the entire matter at hand- one unplanned for, and so in Soundwave's mind unacceptable- he was willing to wait out of sheer novelty. Not even Soundwave had seen such a considered, difficult response before.
And so in this pause, Soundwave held himself, waiting anxiously. Such matters were now out of his hands; he could only rely on others, but down to his spark Soundwave knew that whatever his Amica chose, it would be the right thing.
"I trust your judgement," said Megatronus finally, such a long time after his gaze first began to drill itself into Soundwave's spark. "Do not make me regret it."
Orion would not, thought Soundwave, ever pragmatic. He kissed his Amica's hand and no more was said, thank Primus.