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The throne room was quiet as it always was this late into the dark cycle. Ravage shoved the doors open and stalked forward, glaring at the tall form in the back corner. As she watched, Soundwave tipped to one side before righting himself. The feline narrowed her optics and stalked forward even quicker.
“What are you still doing here?” She asked once she was close enough to him.
Soundwave froze for a klik and then he went back to typing quickly. He obviously knew that Ravage was here to drag him away from his work. She hopped up onto the monitor and sat down on it.
“Ravage: is in the way.”
“Soundwave: was done working two hours ago,” she parroted back at him. His face might have been hidden behind a mask and visor, but Ravage could tell he was frowning at her because of how his shoulders stiffened. “You know I’m right. I’ll get up if you save whatever you’re working on and come with me.”
She watched him shift for a moment before he sighed. “Ravage: will not let this go.” It wasn’t a question.
“I won’t,” she confirmed.
Soundwave sighed, but saved all the data and shut down the monitor. He looked at her and she hopped off the console and started off, pausing to make sure he was following her. He was and she quickly led the way to their habsuite. She was glad nothing got in their way or popped up to distract him, Ravage wasn’t sure the tapedeck would’ve been able to handle much more than walking at this point in the evening.
Ravage opened the door for them and Soundwave let out a huff. “Ravage: does not need to open the door.”
She rolled her optics. “I got here first and I felt like it, now get inside before you tumble over.”
Soundwave dragged his pedes inside. He remembered the chaos he’d left behind that morning and wasn’t looking forward to being greeted by any of it. He’d have to find time to get it all cleaned up eventually. He froze when he stepped through though. The lighting was dimmed, but he could tell the entire room had been picked up, organized, and put to rights. The twins’ video game area had even been tidied up and Soundwave noticed all the berths had been made, something only he ever did.
The tension in his shoulders bled off completely. Soundwave stumbled over to his berth at Ravage’s urging and he sat down on the edge heavily. Rumble and Frenzy were there, pushing him back and down onto a berth that had a lot more pillows and blankets than he remembered there being from that morning. Soundwave looked between his three cassettes, wondering where the other two were.
He frowned behind his mask. “How long have you had this planned?” He asked, not bothering to modulate his voice anymore now that they were in the safety of their habsuite.
The twins grinned at each other and then him. “We didn’t plan a thing,” Frenzy said.
“Yeah, none of this was us. Well, we did volunteer to help you relax.”
“It was Lazerbeak’s idea and I backed her up,” Ravage said, hopping up onto the berth next to Soundwave’s helm.
“And what exactly is this?”
“Think of it as a self care evening,” Ravage replied and curled up on a pillow next to Soundwave’s helm.
“Who cleaned?” He really had to know. If Rumble and Frenzy had been left to do that, then the room wasn’t really clean. They were notorious for hiding their messes in other places. Like under berths and in rarely opened cabinets.
“We all did. And don’t worry, I made sure Rumble and Frenzy cleaned properly this time.” Ravage smirked and started purring.
Soundwave nodded, feeling his frame start to relax once he heard Ravages purring. It always helped soothe him. He shifted to get more comfortable and then Frenzy was climbing onto the berth and moving to his left. Rumble wasn’t too far behind his brother, climbing up onto the berth and settling on Soundwave’s right. He was expecting them to curl against his frame and force a full night’s recharge cycle on him, but instead, they each pulled out a tub of polish and a cloth and started in on his armor. Soundwave blinked behind his visor, turning his helm to look at Ravage.
“I told you. It’s a self-care evening for you. Which means you’re getting pampered and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Only Ravage would make caring for another into a threat.
Soundwave chuckled, settling more fully into his berth. “Alright,” he gave in easily. “Anything else you have planned?”
“Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw will be back soon with some fuel. They’re cashing in a favor to make it really special for you this time around too.” Ravage responded.
Soundwave was curious, but he didn’t question Ravage further. It was probably a surprise for him. Plus, Rumble had reached a joint in his shoulder and had stopped polishing him and instead turned his focus on working out the kinked wires within the joint. Soundwave sighed, optics sliding halfway shut under his visor. Frenzy had managed to pop out a minor dent and dug out an annoying pebble from around his clavicle too.
He almost didn’t notice when the door slid open, the bright hallway lights spilling into the room, and Lazerbeak flew in followed closely by her brother. Soundwave turned his helm slightly, blinking a bit at the fancy boxes they carried. He’d seen something similar a long time ago, probably before the war.
The two avian cassettes circled once and then placed the boxes on the berthside table before landing near Soundwave’s helm. Ravage shifted onto his pillow, curling more comfortably around his helm.
Soundwave looked from the boxes to the twin birds and back again a few more times. His processor was exhausted and the attention from Rumble and Frenzy was making it difficult to think at all.
“What’s in those?” He finally managed to ask.
Laserbeak preened, plating fluffing up proudly. “We called in a favor with Mixmaster to get these for you to help you relax.”
“You’ve been working too much lately,” Buzzsaw grumped, shuffling closer while opening one of the boxes.
Soundwave had a klik to be worried about what it could be before he saw one of the objects Buzzsaw had plucked from it. It was an energon treat. Soundwave’s mouth watered at the thought. He hadn’t had one in ages .
Buzzsaw held out a goody and wiggled it at him. Belatedly, Soundwave remembered to retract his mask and then let his cassette feed the treat to him. He sighed, sinking more into his berth. It was sweet but the center had a bite to it that lit his sensors up with a pleasant sort of heat.
“We got you a few different flavors and a few different styles of treats,” Laserbeak said, offering him another goodie.
Soundwave gladly ate whatever they fed him. His tank filled slowly and he almost didn’t notice when the twins moved on from his chest and arms to his waist. Ravage chose to get up then, stretching her frame out slowly before she climbed on top of his chest plate and curled up to nap. Her purring vibrated lightly against his chest and spark and soothed him even more.
Slowly, his frame started to slip closer to recharge. Soundwave shifted, sighing as more kinked wires and stressed protoform were massaged and soothed. The twins would eventually have to get his back plates, but until then, Soundwave decided he could nap. He’d earned a few of those after this week. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw had both settled in next to his helm. He was pretty sure Buzzsaw was recharging, but Laserbeak was watching the twins closely. Soundwave smiled and shut off his visor.