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Rumble was bored. Bored out of his mind.
Normally, sire didn't keep him and his siblings out when he ate in the rec room. At least in the chassis compartment, it wasn't hard to fall asleep, and the six of them could still bicker and chatter, and generally annoy their creator. Lovably, of course.
Buzzsaw was pretty much playing with his food, insisting that he was going to make something good out of the mess. Rumble silently commended him for his creativity and optimism: it was going to take a miracle to make that slop 'art'.
Laserbeak was having a grand old time, being quite expressive as she chittered in language only them and sire could understand. And repeatedly nearly kept knocking her cube over. Multiple times, sire had had to intervene with his supply reel-tape cords to make sure the contents didn't go spilling all over the table and cause a disaster.
Ravage, being his usual self, as a mainecoon, was settled on the table, nicely loafed up, and generally being a nuisance, as he refused to drink out of his own cube, but clearly Soundwave's glass was the peak of quality for him, constantly trying to get a little.
Ratbat was settled on Ravage's back, and was happily sucking the life force out of the mandarin oranges. Probably the only one who currently wasn't being an annoying ass in any form.
And then, his twin, Frenzy was on the other side of the table, beside sire. He was constantly mixing things into his energon to make some ungodly flavored concoction, and how he drank it, Rumble would never know.
Rumble himself was occasionally sipping away at his cube, sat down next to Megatron, who sire was chatting with.
He'd kind of just promptly strode over and settled himself across from sire, having to do little more than gently pick him and Buzzsaw up by their T-Bars and settle them so they were either side of him. They'd both been a little indignant about it, but Ravage gave a yowl to shut them up, and that was the end of it, because neither of them wanted to test the eldest's temper at the current moment. Megatron hadn't seemed to have minded them in the slightest, little more than chuckling, while he listened to Soundwave talk, initiating conversation between them.
Thinking about it, they'd always been really close, as long as Rumble could remember. The mech wasn't much of a talker, but he did like to engage in casual conversation with sire and the others who 'sat at the top', how sire had put it.
Usually, Megatron actually seemed to behave differently with the cassettes. He was gentle, and sweet, not quite as gruff, or stern. Never once in his life, had Megatron ever laid a harm intended hand on him, or his siblings, as far as he knew. Megatron didn't even scruff them often, usually not unless sire specifically asked - he just scooped them up like they were little more than cyberkittens, and held them like fresh emerged newsparks. It was a little weird, but Rumble was kind of used to it.
Ever since coming to Earth, whenever they used holoforms, one of his favorite things was usually just to pet them, feel the textures. Like with Ravage it was long strokes up and down his fur while in cat mode, Ratbat he would let rub all over him with all his soft fuzz, and with Laserbeak and Buzzsaw it could be a variety of things he did.
But what he did with the twins, since they didn't have animal modes, was gently carting his fingers through their hair. He could do it for ages, and he'd slowly get almost all of the any knots out with simple finger combing. He seemed to prefer Rumble, from the way he'd start carting his digits through the organic strands without even thinking about it, like it was a subconscious habit, compared to not doing it nearly as often with Frenzy.
Rumble didn't get it, but he wasn't really complaining. It meant at least he didn't have to brush too much. And it was nice to constantly feel some connection to someone trustworthy. Besides sire, because of course he was trustworthy. Someone else who was also trustworthy would be a better way to put it.
Though... he had faint memory of another mech who lived with Megatron years ago... the mech was blue and red, with blue optics, if he recalled correctly. He wasn't so bad, even if their few interactions were quite brief and he couldn't really remember him. It was interesting. But he felt so very similar to Megatron... why was that...?
No. It didn’t matter. That mech was gone now. They hadn’t seen him for vorns since. At least he didn’t think so. The closest Rumble had ever encountered to it, was Opti-
no. No. He wasn’t the same. Nothing even close. Never. Not possible. Couldn’t be. Prime was nothing like him. Y’know what, whatever-
Regardless, it didn’t matter at the end of the night. He shook his head, and shook the thoughts off in the same motion.
He sighed, looking around, head laid on his arms. He saw the coneheads were talking, not too far away, and tried to listen in to what they were saying.
"...-ech probably knows the dinosaurs on a first name basis."
"Aha!" One laughed. "Yeah, he certainly looks the part."
"Especially with that big ugly scar on his face he refuses to get rid of." One said, pointing over Rumble.
When he turned, realized they were talking about and pointing at Megatron, especially since this side of his face had a set of big deep gashes that had healed over on his face, around/over his optic. The optic still functioned pretty much perfectly, but there was scarring on the 'eyelid'.
And thinking on it, Rumble was a little offended. The scar looked cool. It made him kind of scary sometimes, but it also looked absolutely wicked in his opinion. And it showed he'd been doing shit like that for vorns, so they couldn't be talking on it.
"He really ought to get that fixed."
"It would definitely improve his appearance."
"He might actually pass for something that doesn't belong in a scrap yard."
Having had enough, Rumble stood up on the bench, and cupped his hands around his mouth, to yell over to them.
"Yeah, well, I think you belong in a box floatin' down a river, rusty wings."
He stood there confident, and feeling pretty good. After a minute they laughed, and one called back.
"If you think we're old, you should turn around and look at that bucket of scraps right behind you."
"You're on meth." Rumble said firmly. "Megatron is hardly twenty."
It was quiet a long moment, before he heard from behind him:
"Thank you, Rumble."
After a brief beat, Rumble added on. "Also kinda weird. I don't know any people who say 'thank you' when you're being honest."
He could hear a snort, and Megatron gently carted a hand over his helm, drawing down to somewhat caress his face - albeit kind of awkwardly - and let his hand rest for the moment.
"You truly are very generous, little one." He chuckled, and gently tapped his cheek with the backside of his index digit.
Rumble turned to him with a cocked brow. "Since when is honesty generous?" He asked, hands on his hips, and Megatron just snorted a laugh.
After a minute he just sighed, and with a gentle affectionate rub on his head, he spoke calmly. "You might come to understand when you're a little older." He said.
He gently managed to coax him into sitting down again, subtle and wordlessly, to the point Rumble didn't quite understand what compelled him to sit down again, backing down from further argument with the jets.
"Now, here," Megatron tapped the cube with a digit. "Finish that off, and I'll give you something to keep yourself busy, hm?"
It wasn't quite the motivation Megatron thought it was, because coloring books were hardly good entertainment. But he'd drink his energon anyway, so he picked it up and took a sip to start, while the mech was watching.
"That's it." He said encouragingly, before he turned back to pick up conversation with Soundwave again.
Rumble quietly sipped away, and when he was finished, Megatron handed him a couple thin strips of metal and sent him off on his way, watching out of the corner of his optic as he excitedly bounded off to the vending machines in the corner by the door.
"He is an interesting mechling." Megatron said after a long moment of silence between him and Soundwave.
"He is." Soundwave agreed, watching Rumble carefully.
It was quiet, the only sounds being the other five cassettes, besides him setting his lanyard of keys on the table, which had a couple fidget toys hanging off the end of it, and they settled with a little clatter, before the cassettes were the only sounds to be heard at the table.
From the corner of his optic, Megatron could see Frenzy contently sipping at his energon with a straw, as he clinked and clanged the spoons he was using together, occasionally between sips he would stand up to try to pet at Ravage.
Ravage's tail thunked down on the table now and then, and he would lean into his younger sibling's touch with his helm, Ratbat squeaked happily as he conversed with Laserbeak in a language he couldn't understand, while she squawked and crowed back at him. Buzzsaw was focused on what he was doing, remaining quiet, moving his food and tray around. Megatron couldn't quite grasp what he was making, but whatever it turned into, it was bound to be the creative youngling's newest masterpiece.
"You have a sweet spot for him in particular." Soundwave pointed out. "For both the twins, but him in particular."
"I do, don't I?" He admitted. "I suppose it's something of a byproduct of that first impression."
It was silent a moment, as Soundwave turned to look at him.
"Sap."
Megatron laughed at his amica's single syllable statement.
"That I am." He agreed, watching as Rumble gleefully came back over in a sprint, and settled down again.