As it turns out, Sideswipe's bright idea was rather dim. The idea was so dim it was, in fact, nonexistent. But Sideswipe would never tell his brother that.

Sunstreaker was near the end of his rope. He reached down and grabbed some more in order to tie down a pallet of energon in the storage bay.

Sunstreaker wanted to know Sideswipe's plan. Sideswipe refused to tell his brother anything. Sunstreaker bitched.

"You don't plan things Sideswipe! You improvise!"

"That's not true. My plans just usually involve winging it." Sideswipe gazed at Sunstreaker with a dopey grin on his face. The grin was especially dopey because Sideswipe was still high on pain medication. Sunstreaker, as always, was not having it.

"I'd like you to throw out everything serious that ever happened to us. Forget it. Child's play. What we are about to do is the most consequential thing possible."

Sideswipe shrugged. "No sense in worrying if you ask me. It's just something that needs doing. It… needs doing, right?" Sunstreaker stopped working. He gave his brother a wounded look.

"Sideswipe - "

"Okay, okay," Sideswipe raised his hands in surrender. "We'll do it." They both shut up as the Ark's resident midgets, Brawn and Cliffjumper, strolled past outside in an argument of their own.

"You fucking douche. Look at this! Shit! I'm going to be sticky for weeks. Fuck you." Cliffjumper bitched. Brawn rolled his eyes very well for someone whose optics were stationary.

"Fuck you too, buddy. How dense are you to think that running dead speed into someone minding their own business wouldn't get energon all over you?" Cliffjumper pushed Brawn into the wall. Or at least he tried to. Brawn saw it coming and planted all 3 tons of himself. Cliffjumper rocked him only a millimeter.

"You're the one that's going to explain this to Prowl!"

"Sure! I'll be happy to do it over your dead and mutilated body, cocksucker."

"Huh," Sideswipe said when the minibots' voices had faded, "Cliffy sure has taken to terran slang."

"We're going to need an energon supply. Everyone knows that the 'Cons are on starvation rations." Sunstreaker eyed the energon he was holding.

Sideswipe let his engine whine. "Can't we go one conversation without talking about this?"

"No."

Sideswipe frowned in legitimate frustration. A dense anxiety formed at the bottom of his chest.

"Fuck… we'll save up some each day?" Sunstreaker shrugged. It wasn't a very good plan.

"Sideswipe!" Hearing his name, Sideswipe turned around. When he saw who it was, he bowed just to be cheeky.

"Ooh hello, Sister Loquacious…" Bluestreak laughed at the reference. He walked further into the storage bay and began helping Sunstreaker stack energon cubes. Sideswipe leaned wearily on the shelving nearby.

"I don't know if you heard," Bluestreak said, "but scuttlebutt is Cliffjumper and Brawn got into a fight."

"Those two lovebirds?" Sideswipe snarked. "Say it ain't so!"

"Sideswipe, you idiot. They're fucking each other." Sunstreaker shook his head at the the gaping mech.

"Since when?"

"Since you were out of commission for two months."

"I missed so much…" Sideswipe whined, sliding to the floor. "What else happened?"

So Bluestreak began to happily fill him in on all the top notch gossip. Tracks had painted his face scarlet instead of crimson. Jazz caught Mirage playing peeping tom, but wouldn't say on who. The war was actually going pretty well.

Bluestreak was stupid. Fortunately, it was the kind of naive dopiness that warranted a pinch to his cheeks and a sigh of affection. He believed all life was good, war happened for a reason, and that the color orange did not clash with neon green.

Sideswipe would miss Bluestreak.

In his opinion, Bluestreak was the Autobot's saving grace. The ground he walked on was holy, littered with his sweet composition with a trailing stench of kindness. The kid was messed up, no doubt, but Sideswipe forgave him.

Startled, Sideswipe realized that one day soon he would have to try to kill Bluestreak. He didn't like the thought one bit, and resolved never to think it again.

Sunstreaker was reminded that the only thing, the only bot, who could persuade him to stay was Bluestreak.

Unfortunately for everyone, Bluestreak was stupid. He would never see their betrayal coming. And Sunstreaker would not stay for Bluestreak.

"Sunstreaker," Sideswipe whispered, later that evening. Sunstreaker hummed and stared at the bottom of the top bunk. He tried to ignore the sudden discomfort of his berth. After today, after speaking to Bluestreak, their berths were cold and hard.

"I don't think I want to go through with this anymore."

Sunstreaker knew what his brother was thinking – he always did. So he too thought of Bluestreak's sunny smile and easy laugh. He thought about him for quite a while, mulling over the sniper.

Maybe, in a warless world, they would've been good partners. Sideswipe was funny and Bluestreak was compassionate and he was loyal. Bluestreak would be a store clerk - that's how the twins would meet him, buying groceries. They'd court him. For vorns, they'd court him. They'd visit the Helex Gardens, and the Iaconian spires, and the Temple at Simfur. For a holiday they would all stay a week at Six Lasers over Cybertron. Sunstreaker would paint portraits of a smiling Bluestreak and win the annual art festival. The three of them would get drunk and change their color schemes. They'd laugh for weeks about it. He would smile when Bluestreak laughed.

Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, and Sideswipe would fight, as he imagined trines were wont to do. He'd throw things. Sideswipe would storm off and get drunk. Bluestreak would hold a grudge. But eventually they'd make up and apologize, waving a white polishing cloth in surrender.

And, maybe, the three of them would bond. The three of them would be… happy.

He didn't like this alternate, warless universe. Sunstreaker didn't like hopeless things.

Love was a fairy tale amongst Cybertronians. It was a children's story, a philosophical concept mechs disinterested in philosophy were loathe to entertain. Maybe it existed once, they reasoned, but this is war. No one has time to go off on a pretentious quest for love. Mechs nodded and agreed over engex. In their quarters with their lovers, some entertained that love might be real. They entertained the idea for no more than fifteen minutes at a time.

The same was true of Sunstreaker. And, as Sunstreaker had always and would forever do, he put Sideswipe first.

"Tough shit. We're sticking to the plan."

Sideswipe didn't say anything. He knew what his brother was thinking. He always did.