(no subject)

[rodders]

WHO: Rodimus & Ratchet, Drift
WHERE: the ruins of the city
WHEN: the first day here, shortly after
WHAT: Ratchet yelling at Rodimus after he neglected to tell Drift some things & reattaching his arm, Drift cornering Rodimus so they can have a talk about Overlord related events
WARNINGS: Rodimus being a shitbaby, gay robot feelings

Comments

[asafepairofhands]

"I care about Drift too," Ratchet says angrily, then stops.

He cycles his vents for a moment, dragging in ragged pulls of cool air as he deliberately smooths his hands flat on the medical slab and looks down at them, at the seams of his wrists. A lot of the anger seems to drain out of him, bleeding from his face and the set of his shoulders to leave him slumped and tired, bringing one of his hands up to rub slowly over his face.

"He's my friend too, Rodimus," he says, more quietly now, looking back up at Rodimus' face. "And I believe him when he says you didn't force him to take the blame, but it still happened on your watch. He blames himself for Pipes and Rewind and the rest, he thinks it's his fault. The least you could have done was come clean with him, even if you couldn't with the rest of the crew."

Ratchet shakes his head and reaches for Rodimus again, a little impatiently.

"Get back here, I have to finish checking your organs for scorch marks and reattaching your arm. I'm not letting you wander around injured, no matter how annoyed I am with you."

[rodders]

"You sure don't act like it," he mutters, not looking at Ratchet. But he does what he's told at least and scoots back because, well, what choice does he have?

"It's not his fault," he says automatically, because it isn't. Drift told him it was stupid and he was insane for even considering it, but Rodimus had done it anyway because Prowl had said-- well it didn't matter what Prowl said. "I was captain, I let it happen, it's my responsibility." This is stuff he knows, and regurgitating it for Ratchet isn't hard for him to do now, even though his expression is slightly pained when he does so. Because he doesn't like admitting to his mistakes any more than he likes being reminded of them. "But I-- I just got him back, Ratchet."

He couldn't do that to him. He didn't want to do that to him, shove all that on him when he didn't remember it all.

[asafepairofhands]

"Of course it's not his damn fault," Ratchet snaps. "It's not yours either, not really, but it is your responsibility. So shoulder it."

He looks down at his hands again, working slowly at Rodimus' plating, finishing checking and clearing damage before he moves to Rodimus' arm.

"You owe him that, regardless of the circumstances here. We both do."

[rodders]

"I'm trying," he snaps back. Even though he doesn't want to have this conversation with Ratchet. He's trying but Megatron is there and undermines him and it's awful. How can he redeem himself, how can he attempt to fix what he's done and to be better when he doesn't have the chance anymore? Optimus took it away from him, and-- well. He curls into himself further, turning as much away from Ratchet as the other will allow.

The last statement gets a sound of agreement from Rodimus, reluctant as it is. He knows that, Ratchet, Primus.