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It was part of his routine at this point. He had not meant it to; Soundwave had practically shoved himself into Shockwave's routine ever since Shockwave arrived on Earth. Well, maybe not shoved, but Soundwave still integrated himself into Shockwave's routine. Shockwave did not mind; Soundwave's quiet self was better than Starscream's shrieking.
Soundwave tried to be slow about inserting himself into Shockwave's steady routine. He started small. Soundwave had arrived at Shockwave's lab, a cube of energon in his spindly servos. The cube reminded Shockwave that he had not consumed energon in a while. Thankfully, Soundwave left after setting down the cube on one of the counters near the entrance of his lab. Shockwave had almost forgotten about it. He only remembered when he was cleaning up later that day. He had stared at it with an almost warm feeling in his chest. Shockwave was not sure what caused it, so he drank the energon cube to cool himself down. It only seemed to make the warmth worse.
This wasn't the only time this happened. Soundwave came again and again, day after day. Soundwave always left afterwards, give Shockwave the privacy he needed to consume the energon cube. Every time, the warmth in his chest came back. Then, Soundwave started to linger, almost as if he wanted something. Shockwave never paid any mind to the unusual behavior. One day, Soundwave came in, no energon cube in his servos and sat upon the same counter where he had set the first energon cube he had brought to Shockwave. Soundwave just watched Shockwave work in the Predacon project. Shockwave was confused, such a weird feeling. Soundwave had shown no interest in the project before hand; what changed? The other mech had duties, why bother sitting in Shockwave's lab doing nothing? Soundwave still brought the cubes, just later in the day. Every day, Soundwave would come in, sit for a while, leave, bring back an energon cube, and then leave again. An unusual routine for someone as busy as Soundwave.
After a while, Shockwave started narrating what he was doing. He found it easier to think out loud. Soundwave seemed to enjoy his talking, so Shockwave continued. It was nice, Shockwave found himself enjoying this new routine. The warmth in his chest became near constant, but Shockwave could not find out what it was or what exactly was causing it. The only time he was freed from the heat was in his cold habsuit.
Once, Soundwave accidentally brushed up against Shockwave when they both went into the briefing room. Shockwave became warm, and his thoughts became muddled. He could not focus on the briefing, his thoughts were only on what happened and had how warm his frame became. After the meeting, Shockwave decided he had to figure out what was causing the warmth.
He knew where to start, Soundwave seemed to always be there whenever the warmth in his chest appeared. Now all Shockwave needed to figure out is how Soundwave caused the feeling. Figuring this out was not easy. Shockwave found himself thinking about Soundwave a lot. Shockwave realized that most of his thoughts, were not even about finding out what that warm feeling was. They were mostly about how nice Soundwave looked, if Soundwave would be coming to his lab, which he always did, or wondering what Soundwave was doing. It was getting frustrating, not that he could truly feel frustration. Well, Shockwave thought he couldn't. Soundwave was doing something to him, but why and how? Shockwave decided to confront Soundwave directly the next time the third-in-command came to his lab.
The following morning, Soundwave arrived at Shockwave's lab. Soundwave leaned on the counter he usually sat on, ready to jump up, when Shockwave stopped him. Soundwave looked up at Shockwave, he was standing right in front of Soundwave
“Soundwave, I have a question.” Soundwave tilted his helm in a motion to continue, “What did you do?” Soundwave tilted his helm again, but this time in confusion. Shockwave was proud of himself for being able to identify that emotion, “You did something to me the first time you came in with the cube of energon. It grows worse every time you are here,” Soundwave shook his helm, then tilted his helm in the 'continue' motion, so Shockwave continued, “You are making my chest warm, and I keep thinking about you,” Soundwave pauses before his shoulders shake in silent laughter. Shockwave's fins lay tight against his helm, “Don't laugh, this is serious. Whatever you are doing to me, it's hindering my work-”
“-in love with--me-” Starscream's voice crackled through Soundwave's speakers, “-you are--in love with--me-” Shockwave paused, love? No, Shockwave thought, I cannot feel love.
“No,” Shockwave again stopped, maybe he was, “maybe, I am unsure,” He couldn't be, but the more Shockwave thought about it, the more it made sense. He felt safe around Soundwave, wasn't him narrating everything he did an act of trust? Shockwave wanted Soundwave by his side. He wanted to be close to Soundwave. Maybe he was in love with Soundwave.
“Would you show me what love is?” Shockwave asked, Soundwave nodded, and for the first time in a while, his response didn't come in the form of Starscream's, Meagtron's, or anyone else's voice.
“Yes, I would love too,” the voice was Soundwave's own.