Disclaimer: the characters aren't mine, I'm just playing with them.

Author's note: the first thing I am going to say is that although it does have some serious moments I'm writing this purely for fun, the last couple of fics have been quite heavy going and I need to something lighter before I dive back in. The second is that this takes place well after the end of series two (I'm leaving messing about with the canon for later unless the bunnies come for me), the Autobots have been on Earth for around five years, still living in the Ark and still finding a few ways to surprise their human friends. Enjoy.

Walking in my shoes

Chapter 1

It had all happened so quickly, too fast to process and he had barely had time to throw himself over Chip Chase before Wheeljack's lab went BOOM.

He seemed to be the first to regain his senses, because the lab was quiet except for the ringing in his audios. "Oh man," he muttered, "What hit me?" Judging by how fuzzy everything felt, whatever it was had been big.

Pushing through the haze he focused and looked up, but was unable to process why he was lying on his back, or what he was seeing.

"Okay, break it down," he told himself, "Silver face, big silver face, black helm, blue visor, my face, what the…?" suddenly he was fighting down panic and would have been yelling if he could catch his breath well enough, wait... breath?

With an effort he struggled to bring his hands up so that he could see them. They were pink, soft, human and the sleeves of a tan jacket meant, "Chip?"

He found himself reaching for the bond before he realised it wasn't there. Prowl, his mate's absence felt like a gaping hole in his spark, heart, he corrected himself. "This is crazy."

Heavy footsteps sounded above him and suddenly the weight of his usual form was removed.

"Thanks Blue," he said gratefully.

The young mech shook his head. "Not Bluestreak, I'm Spike but I don't know how, I remember walking in here with you and the others to see my dad, an explosion and then… why are you looking at me like that?" he asked and Jazz realised he was smiling.

"'Cause you still sound like Blue," he chuckled, "Help me up would you B… Spike, I gotta get off this floor,"

"Sure," Spike nodded and he carefully extracted Jazz from the debris, "I hate to tell you this Chip but your wheelchair's trashed."

Jazz was about to explain that he wasn't who Spike thought he was when Prowl burst into the room, followed quickly by Ratchet. "Jazz," Prowl cried as he pulled the off-line form of his mate into his arms, "Oh Primus, Jazz."

"Prowl it's alright, I'm here," Jazz said trying to push himself out of the grey metal arms that held him.

"You don't understand Chip," Prowl whispered, "Jazz…"

"I'm Jazz," Jazz said softly, "I donno what Wheeljack was working on, but it switched us, an' Spike an' Blue too."

"So that's…" Prowl began hopefully.

"Hurts don't it," Jazz whispered, "I'm hoping that all we've gotta do is get Wheeljack fixed up an' everythin'll get sorted out."

"I hope so too," Sparkplug's voice said, "Although being human could be very interesting."

Jazz looked at the older man who was wriggling out from under the engineer's body, "'Jack?" he asked uncertainly.

"Got it in one," Wheeljack acknowledged.

"But that leaves Sunstreaker and Carly," Spike gasped.

"Jack don't worry about us, just start running before Sunny wakes up," Jazz instructed.

"We don't even know if they got switched yet," Wheeljack pointed out.

"If the fit Sideswipe is pitching down the comms is anything to go by, I'd say they have," Ratchet snapped. "I reckon you're lucky he's out on patrol right now."

A few faces were appearing at the door and the medic started directing them to get the still off-line Autobots into the med-bay.

"Spike could you hand me over to Prowl please?" Jazz requested. Gently the two 'bots manoeuvred him between huge metal arms, until he was secure in Prowl's embrace. He tried to take comfort in them but the metal armour felt harsh and cold against his skin. "Prowl," he whispered sorrowfully.

"I know, Jazz," his mate said softly.

He rubbed his eyes, as they felt like they were burning and he was surprised to feel moisture on his face.

"You're crying, Jazz," Spike informed him.

"I never realised that it was painful. Does it always hurt?"

"Sometimes," Spike shrugged as if the question had never occurred to him, "I think it depends on how often you do it, so as you've never cried before and I can't remember ever seeing Chip cry either…"

"What the frag is going on?" a slightly hysterical and very female voice demanded.

Welcoming the distraction and shoving his emotions aside, Jazz spoke, "Sunny?" he asked cautiously.

"That's Sunstreaker to you fleshling," Sunstreaker growled, "Hold on, how did you know…?"

"'Cause I'm Jazz. What ever happened switched all of us, human to mech with whoever we were closest to."

"So I'm human, a female human and Wheeljack is responsible," Sunstreaker stated in a low, dangerous tone that lost none of its menace despite coming from the young female, rather than Sunstreaker's usual form.

"It was an accident," Wheeljack responded defensively.

"I'm gonna rip out your internals," Sunstreaker snarled as he attempted to scramble over the ruins of the lab to get to the engineer but he was effectively blocked by Ratchet before he got far.

"You slag him now and we've got no hope of getting you back to normal," the medic pointed out. "At least let him try before you scrap him."

"It should be easy enough once the lab is repaired," Wheeljack said nervously.

Sunstreaker cast a critical eye over the rubble, "But that could take months," he whined.

"I've blown this lab up plenty of times, it shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks," the engineer said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.

"Weeks," Jazz gasped with a glance to Prowl.

"What are you moaning about? You love humans," Sunstreaker hissed.

"True," Jazz nodded, "But I never wanted to be one."

"Sunny," a rather frightened voice called out and Sunstreaker's demeanour changed as his current form started scrambling through the mess.

A few seconds later and with some help from Ratchet, he came up with a very distressed looking young man cradled in his arms.

"Blue?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, but..."

"It's all his fault," Sunstreaker interrupted him, indicating who he blamed by glaring at Wheeljack.

"Right, everyone into the med-bay now," Ratchet ordered, "You can talk there and I can get some work done."

Prowl stood up with Jazz in his arms, and Jazz found himself wanting to scream. The ground was suddenly too far away and the slick armour gave him nothing to hold on to.

Once Ratchet had gotten all the mechs to a berth and the humans were all on one table, surrounded by monitors and with Prowl hovering over them, he set to work and it wasn't long before everyone was conscious again.

Carly, Chip and Sparkplug all seemed rather disoriented. Chip seemed to be keeping a tight hold on his emotions, Carly seemed somewhat comforted by Spike's presence, but it was all but impossible to gauge Sparkplug's reactions, as most of his face was hidden behind Wheeljack's mask.

Bluestreak cocked his head towards Spike and Carly, "It's kinda odd seeing how we must look from this angle isn't it?" he asked Sunstreaker.

"That's one way of putting it," his partner said sullenly, "I always knew we looked good together though," he added in a softer tone.

"I feel weird," the melodic voice that usually belonged to Jazz said quietly from his berth.

"In what way?" Ratchet asked immediately.

"Kind of like something's missing but I don't know what," Chip mused.

"I'm getting that too," Carly added quietly.

Spike looked introspective for a moment, then shook his head, "I don't feel anything like that."

"Nor do I," Sparkplug muttered.

"It's the bonds," Jazz said in explanation but the blank looks he received reminded him that the humans had never heard of such things. "There are things, personal things that you were never told about us, not because we wanted to keep things from you or because we didn't trust you, but because they were private, and we don't get many things that are."

"Everyone has the occasional secret," Chip put in encouragingly and Jazz gave him a grateful look.

"Bonds aren't as common as they used to be and there are different types," he began hesitantly, "Sunny and Sides are twins, created when a single spark split in two, that gives them a constant awareness of each other and they don't know any other way of being, right Sunny?" he paused long enough to give Sunstreaker time to nod. "But some 'bots choose to bond, either because they're friends that can't imagine their lives without each other or because they are what you would term as lovers. The war's made that kind of dependency impractical, but I was bonded just before it started. The two of you are living in our bodies, but what you are has altered our sparks just enough so that the other half of the bond doesn't recognise you."

"So who are you bonded too?" Carly asked.

"Me," Prowl answered forlornly.

"So that's why you went straight to Jazz," Spike mused.

The tactician nodded, "For the first time in vorns, I couldn't feel him."

Jazz reached for the white hand that had been his touchstone for so long and found that it had turned into a boulder, but he held on to it anyway, wrapping his hand around the smallest of Prowl's fingers, he shared a brief, sad smile with his lover before he turned his attention to the others to see if they had anymore questions.

Wheeljack looked absolutely mortified, he'd never considered that particular consequence. "I'm sorry, Jazz," he said as their eyes met, "You too Sunny, you're going through hell and it's all my fault."

"We'll get through though," Jazz assured him. "This isn't going to beat us," he added with a confident look to each of the others.

Bluestreak quickly added his agreement, "And in the meantime we've got the chance of a life time, I mean no one else is going to get this, I certainly never thought that one day I might be human and I doubt any of the others did, except Spike as he's been an Autobot before…" he cut himself of as he realised that everyone else was looking at him.

"Yeah," Spike continued fairly cheerfully, "but this time there's no nasty side effects, like wanting to smash things and turning evil."

"Wish I could say the same," Sunstreaker growled, "But then in this human body I doubt I could do much damage."

"Oh don't be like that, Sunny," Bluestreak scolded him gently, "There are good things in this, there always are."

"Name one," Sunstreaker challenged.

Bluestreak grinned and caught his partner's lips in a firm, tender kiss. For a moment Sunstreaker fought him but for the first time in their relationship Bluestreak was the one with the bigger, stronger body and he wasn't above using that to his advantage.

When the pair broke apart, Bluestreak looked up to see his own face and Sunstreaker's usual visage staring at him.

"Are you and Sunstreaker bonded too?" Carly asked.

"No," Bluestreak answered as he felt his current face heat up, "not yet anyway, we met as the war really started getting nasty and by the time we were ready it wasn't worth the risk."

"Risk?" Carly queried.

"There are a few draw backs to being bonded, the main one being that if one 'bot dies the other rarely survives long, before the war it didn't matter much as we're basically immortal but battles make death much more common and with Sunstreaker being a twin and bonded already it's not just us we have to think about…"

"There's me too," Sideswipe finished for him as he stormed into the med-bay in a fair impression of one of his brother's worst moods. Fury burned almost white in his optics and he glared at his brother's partner. "Ratchet explained most of what happened but I didn't believe it until now, so Spike's Blue, which of you is Sunny?"

All eyes and optics turned to the only female human and Sideswipe's rage was forgotten as he burst into slightly hysterical laughter while several of the others struggled to keep their faces neutral.

Sunstreaker's growl was enough to silence his twin but any rant he was about to go on was postponed by the arrival of Optimus Prime.

"What's the prognosis Ratchet?" he asked calmly, although his optics flickered worriedly over the eight patients.

"Apart from being in the wrong bodies, they're all fine, a few bumps and scrapes but nothing that won't heal," the medic answered.

"That's good," he said with obvious relief, "Wheeljack, I need a report on what happened as soon as possible."

"I'll get right on it," the engineer responded glumly.

"As for the rest of you, I cannot expect you to return to your duties immediately, but if any of you feel inclined to do so, every effort will be made to accommodate you."

"Thank you Optimus," Jazz nodded, "But I think I might need a few days leave."

"Jazz…" Prowl began sympathetically.

"Don't," his lover warned him, "I'm not helpless but if you treat me like I am, then that's what I'll become."

"You're already planning something aren't you?" the tactician asked.

Jazz nodded again, "Could you take me to see Perceptor? I think he might be just the mech for this. Guys, Sunny, I'll catch up with you in a while."

Sunstreaker shot him a filthy look, but said nothing as Prowl picked Jazz up carefully and they left the room.

"What's he planning?" Chip asked suspiciously, "I mean it's my body, he could have asked."

"It's always difficult to tell with Jazz," Wheeljack shrugged, "But you know he won't do anything that'll harm you, right?"

"If it's bothering you, go after him, I'm sure he won't mind," Bluestreak suggested.

For a moment Chip seemed to consider it, "No, I have to trust him, I'll ask him when he comes back."

"So what do we do?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Get something to eat, and get used to your new situations," Ratchet suggested, "As far as I'm concerned you're all good to go but any problems will be reported to me immediately, clear?"

After various assurances had been made the three humans and five mechs left the med-bay and headed for the rec room.

Sideswipe walked between the mech that usually his twin and the human whose body he was currently borrowing, watching them both and trying to understand what was happening, until Sunstreaker started growling at him again and he settled for just hoping that everything would be sorted out soon.