This is just something I thought up and put together on my bus rides to class. Recommended that you read Our Souls Will Shine Like New before this piece! Also full of spoilers and implications from MTMTE, so maybe be caught up first. Cheers!

A persistent, firm hand tugged at Ravage's ear. Hard enough to make it twitch, and pull at the joint tucked against his helm.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been grounds for a bite and snarl, driving whatever idiot who had been so foolish as to touch him well back. It was a well-known fact, among all Decepticons and most Autobots, that only Soundwave could touch Ravage without permission. And it was just, well, rude to treat a respected, dangerous spy like a Towers house pet.

Today, he looked his assailant into their optics, pushed close, and…blew a ventful of warm air across their little face. Nearly nose to nose, his companion stared into Ravage's red optics with their round blue ones.

"We don't pull," Ravage told Comet. The lesson wouldn't yet stick, but it was worth a shot. Comet, with his chubby protoform and small round face, had hardly mastered walking, never mind respectful contact.

The sparklet stared at him for a moment. Ravage widened his optics a fraction, then made them flash bright. Comet squealed with joy. The delighting giggling had been the desired effect, and Ravage nosed the little mech's neck gently.

"Ravage. Look!"

The second little frame pressed against him had mastered walking by now, as well as simple sentences. Sonata was the spitting image of his carrier—if his carrier had had blue optics, an open faceplate, and a distinctive roundness Ravage had come to associate with sparklets. Today he was stacking small interlocking blocks, working busily on…something. Ravage couldn't quite tell if it was a spaceship or Soundwave's Autobot lover. Or both, or something else entirely.

"Lovely work," he said, and meant it. Sonata beamed, before turning back to add more details.

He curled his tail closer around the two sparklets, and right away Comet was leaning forward, reaching. Straight for its spiny tip, though Ravage had pulled the spikes safely in for babysitting duty.

"That's the Autobot in you," Ravage said to Comet. "Thinking you can touch whatever you like without consequences." Sonata would have known to move away, if Ravage let those spikes burst back out. He had patience, that little mech. Comet would probably try to touch them and hurt himself, and they couldn't have that.

This was a vacation, and he planned to enjoy it. It wouldn't be marred by Ravage causing harm to Soundwae's sons.

Then Sonata leaned back too hard, into his new chassis, and he had to bite down on his hiss of pain. Observant Sonata looked at him in concern, but Ravage only shook his head. There was no reason to explain to such little mechs why he had needed an entirely new middle.

Still, Sonata put down his creation to reach out and touch Ravage's nose. Ravage could have sworn he shuddered, as the last waves of pain smoothed out into something manageable. Maybe they had another outlier on their hands. And how wonderfully anti-Functionist would that be, for Megatron's son to have inherited acute empathy?

Soundwave's son, he corrected. Sonata's carrier had made his wishes clear.

Comet sat up then, leaning out towards the door. Unfortunately, he was just a little too round to do this properly, and rolled over on one fat thigh on his side, to the floor. The thump he produced was quite small, but his face screwed up in anguish anyway. Sonata looked from his brother to the door, thumb popping into his mouth.

Ravage only felt Soundwave the moment he stepped through the door. The sparklets and their carrier bonds had pulled one over on him, blocking out his usual bond.

"Things were going well until this second," Ravage said, as Comet began to cry. "Your timing's poor."

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Cosmos said quickly, trotting in behind Soundwave's tall frame. "Comet! Still trouble sitting up, you little round thing?"

Ravage's gentle nosing had done no good, but scooped into his carrier's arms the spark seemed to relax. He stared at Cosmos, then Soundwave—who seemed to marvel, again, at how he had produced such a perfect little thing.

You're ridiculous, Ravage said, silently, to him. Soundwave was unmoved. His hand left Comet's little cheek so he could reach for Sonata, who stood up eagerly, arms out straight.

"Are you alright?" Cosmos asked, leaning over to get a better look at Ravage. "You're looking stiff again. Velocity sent along that strut relaxant—"

"I'm perfectly well," Ravage said, ears twitching. He had been sure he was a better actor than that, Primus. He made a great show of stretching, though the pain was as sharp as the look Soundwave gave him. "So nosy, you Autobots."

"In that case, I'll leave you be," Cosmos said cheerfully. "I'm joining this little mech for a nap, I think."

The words rolled off him—though Ravage supposed they would, with his shape. He seemed entirely used to the rudeness of Decepticons. Ravage couldn't smell any annoyance.

Impressive enough. Comet waved eagerly at Ravage, who flicked one lazy paw in his direction. Nonchalant, of course (a mech had appearances to keep up) but the sparklet seemed happy enough about it.

Soundwave looked up from Sonata's little creation long enough to nod Cosmos's way. He was trying to keep up appearances, too, but he could hide it no better than Ravage. His optics were warm, everything about him relaxed. He tried to remember when Soundwave had last been relaxed.

"They like you," he said, settling down next to him. His free hand rested on his head, and Ravage rumbled out a purr. Just like the old days.

"Mm," Ravage said eloquently. Sonata was back to his interlocking blocks, leaning against his carrier's leg. "Well, I like them."

Megatron had asked for a picture of Sonata, but Soundwave had rumbled angrily at the thought of his son's image aboard an Autobot ship. The fact that he had an Autobot aboard Sanctuary, and had sired a sparklet on him, had not been discussed.

The offer I made still stands, Soundwave said, over their comm. No questions asked, no trouble from the other Decepticons. You could stay.

Ravage knew that. He knew it would stand forever, if only he put back…well, everything, from the past two years. He could fill the ache left from being apart from Soundwave. Leave all that business with the DJD for the Autobots to deal with. Stay here with only one Autobot and Soundwave's children.

It would be nice.

You know I can't, was what Ravage said in response. But I'll keep visiting.

Soundwave stroked his ears again, and the shudder of his hand wasn't unnoticed.

They sat in silence, as they had so many times before. The only sound was Sonata's busy stacking, but it was the scents that told everything. Thinking of Ravage, of what he had lost (and nearly lost) had tensed him right up again.

He asks about him, Ravage said finally. I tell him to stop, but he wants to know about his son.

Soundwave's hand paused its stroking.

He is not his sire. Soundwave's meaning was so clear that even Sonata seemed to feel it, and he paused in his building. Ravage nosed the little mech's shoulder reassuringly, but he returned to his toys more slowly. Cosmos is more his parent than he will ever be.

So it's not the Autobrand that's the problem. Good to know.

What the problem was went unsaid, but that was expected. Not everything had to be put into words, after all.

Sonata had tilted his head at the sound of Ravage's purrs. Pleased, he pushed his head forward, where the little mech could put his hands on him.

"Only Ravage makes that noise," Soundwave told his son. Sonata frowned, and screwed up his face in concentration. Ravage bit down on his laugh as Sonata made his engines rumble, in the best approximation he could manage.

"Close enough," Ravage said. Soundwave resumed his stroking of Ravage's head.

He was go back in a week, to the newly-taken Lost Light. And he wouldn't regret it, try as he might.

But he would miss this.