The Guard, The Scout, and The Wrecker

Family Grows

It's been two days since the fight between Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus with Prediking, which meant that Ultra Magnus was benched till further notice. Ultra Magnus couldn't sleep, so he walked near the slightly opened hanger doors and watched the star brightly shining in the night sky. He remembered the nights that he, Prowl, and Nightshard had looked up at the starry sky they could see from the Crystal Gardens in Iacon or their houses while sitting on the roofs. It was something that brought fond memories for him of his sparkling hood, and it got a yearning for being part of a family outside of his friends, which led to the spark pull that he had felt since he had joined. He realized that pull was leading him straight to Wheeljack, which shocked him, though Nightshard smiled at him when she learned about it. She had surprised him in return when Nightshard told him that Wheeljack was her cousin, so she walked away with a slight smile. 

"What are you doing out here?" a voice asked behind Ultra Magnus. He turned around to see Wheeljack standing behind him, which shocked him. "Couldn't sleep, so I must ask you the same thing?" Ultra Magnus said back. Wheeljack knew he could feel the bond between himself and Ultra Magnus, but he wasn't sure if Magnus could feel it. "How are you fairing after the fight with Prediking?" Wheeljack asked, looking down at Magnus' injured hand. "Not too great, but trying to figure out how to be useful to the team," Magnus said, flexing his prosthetic hand. Wheeljack could feel the Ultra Magnus' pain from their weak bond, but he pulled at it, which got a reaction from Ultra Magnus. He looked over at Wheeljack when he felt him pull at the bond. "That's you?" Ultra Magnus asked, trying to figure out the bond. "It's me, and trust me, finding out that we're sparkmates took me by surprise," Wheeljack said with a smile. Ultra Magnus laughed at the thought because he thought the same thing but was willing to give them a chance. 

"We could give this a try and a chance if you are willing," Ultra Magnus said, knowing this has to work between them. Wheeljack thought about it and knew that he was right about wanting to make this work between them. "We could make this work, and we could put our past behind us as much as possible," Wheeljack said with a smile of his own. Magnus returned his smile, knowing that they could have a bright future. They agreed to solidify their bond and become sparkmates but knew they could lose each other during the ongoing war. It was a choice that both of them were willing to make anyway, and they knew they wouldn't be the only sparkmates on the team. Ultra Magnus suggested that they could stay on his ship, which Wheeljack knew was the only place at the base they could call their own for now. "Us being together is going to shock everyone," Wheeljack said with a small laugh. "They're going to be shocked, that's for sure, but I think they're going to get used to it eventually," Magnus said with his laugh. 

The following day, Nightshard was the first person in the main room to start the computers, trying to lighten the load on Ratchet. The rest of the team still doesn't know that Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack had bonded the night before, which would be the biggest shock when they find out. As the rest of the team started coming in, they noticed that both Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack hadn't arrived yet. "Has anyone seen Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus this morning?" Smokescreen asked. "Not really but usually Magnus is one of the first people up in the morning," Nightshard said. "They most likely overslept but tried to figure out how to recover from their fight with Prediking," Elita said. They figured that was the case with those two, but that didn't mean they were worried about them. Having been on Ultra Magnus ship all night since they bonded, both Magnus and Wheeljack had been lying on their now shared berth, trying to wake themselves up. "You know that we have to get up and face the rest of the team, you know that, right?" Wheeljack said as he got up. 

"Since when have you been on for the rules," Magnus said with a laugh. Wheeljack shoved him a little, knowing he wasn't one for rules, but he noticed their bond felt stronger. They left to join the rest of the team, hoping that everyone would ask them any questions about why they came in together. They knew their bond was new, so both ends felt weird and somewhat raw. They knew it would take time to get used to it. Magnus walked over to the computer and stood beside Nightshard to see what she was doing. Nightshard noticed Magnus standing next to her, accessing his files and reports from recent days, though it seemed slow due to his prostatic hand. She saw something different about Magnus that wasn't there yesterday before she realized what it was, so she smiled. "You two bonded last night, didn't you?" Nightshard asked as her smile grew bigger. "You have no proof of it if we did," Magnus said without looking at her. "I do because you smell like Wheeljack on top of your scent," Nightshard noted, pointing out that fact. 

Ultra Magnus finally looked at his friend, which confirmed to Nightshard that she was right. "Uncle Hide, you lost the bet," Nightshard said as she looked at her uncle. Magnus looked at her in horror and confusion, which was shared with Wheeljack. "Wait, what?" Ironhide asked. Ironhide realized what she said and looked at Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack before it clicked. "You two bonded?" Chromia asked, with a smile on her face. Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus confirmed that they bonded the night before, which shocked the team because they hadn't expected it. "You guys are together like Nightshard and Hot Rod?" Jack asked when he heard about it. The bots explained the concept of sparkmates to the kids, which they understood as the bots version of being married. Then they realized there were four pairs of sparkmates on the team, which the bots didn't know until the kids pointed it out when they learned about Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus. 

"Who would've thought that Ultra Magnus would be bonded to Wheeljack, who is known for taking the rules as suggestions," Nightshard said, trying not to laugh. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack looked at Nightshard, knowing she was teasing them about the whole thing. "She's right because we all know that Magnus is a massive stick in the mud, and we all know how much Wheeljack's rule-breaking bugged him," Prowl said, laughing.  The new sparkmates knew where this was going because of their opposing personalities, and their history made other think that they wouldn't be sparkmates at all.  "You didn't believe that Prowl and I wouldn't tease you being with Wheeljack, right?" Nightshard said, also laughing. Ultra Magnus realized what she meant because their teasing about their relationships had always been in good faith. "You two aren't going to drop it?" Magnus asked. "Nope," both Prowl and Nightshard said.

Wheeljack saw how much his family was willing to tease each other to make him laugh when they needed it. "Figured," Magnus said. That caused everyone to laugh because they needed it at the time, but it wouldn't last long.