Plot bunnies are horrible, horrible creatures. This is intended as a short multi-chapter ficklet.

No deep thoughts here.

Steve was hiding in a storage compartment in one of the Nemesis corridors. He was hunched over in shame and his visor was so hot he thought he could fry an insecticon egg on it. Not that they would appreciate it, mind. Bracing himself he made a quick damage assessment and recalled what exactly had happened since the very morning.

He woke up to giggles and when his vision onlined properly he saw his four teammates huddled around him, visors glowing brightly.

-"Aww, Steve." His team leader also known as Viktor cooed at him.

-"Looks like someone had a good dream." Serengeti beamed.

Steve bolted up in his berth and looked around him. -"Guys?" There was a knowing glint in those visors.

-"Lucy, you owe me 2 cans of polish." Viktor quipped turning to the grumbling eradicon furthest from him.

-"What did I say?" Steve scrambled to his feet.

-"Don't worry, we will not tell anyone." Mina assured him, gently patting his arm.

-"No need, I bet Soundwave already has a recording of this." Serengeti pointed out without even a shred of compassion in his voice, the fragger.

That last sentence made Steve tense; he had a crush, of sorts, he was not even sure that was a real crush or just appreciation of spiky aesthetics and lean frames. That in itself was not a problem. He was not on the communications team and was able to keep his mouth shut about his preferences.

That was when he was a wake; recharge, however, was a different matter. The problem became apparent when some of his teammates complained that he talked in his sleep. That particular morning, according to his teammates, had been enlightening.

Steve had dashed out of their barracks and darted towards med bay in hopes of catching Breakdown for a much-needed spark to spark. Sadly the bruiser was out on a mission and Steve had only himself and his embarrassment for company.

Desperate for some alone time he sequestered himself into a hallway closet and started thinking.

Soundwave was the spy, and, according to some rumors a telepath, and also a vampire. That last portion of trivia Steve chose not to trust because that had only come about when they had entered the Earth's orbit and apparently the human culture had some sort of fascination with them. Still, If Soundwave was as good a spy as everyone thought, he probably already knew about Steve's interest and if the TIC had chosen to do nothing with this information, chances were Steve was safe. Until that morning that was. It could have been anything, starting from just his name to places on his frame where he wanted those data cables to be jacked in. That last thought made Steve shiver with fresh wave of embarrassment. Sadly his teammates had not been nice enough to bestow the candid details of his somniloquy so he was left guessing.

Just great, but then again, he had not gone this far in this war by being a coward. It was time for damage control and the best option was to clear things with the TIC himself.

He arrived to the command bridge and, as expected, Soundwave was busy at work. He did not spare a glance towards the newcomer, his assistants, however, did.

Steve stalled, stood there awkwardly and then rapidly backpedaled. Ok, perhaps a public apology would not work with this many witnesses. Time to change strategy.

Serengeti caught up with Steve in the mess hall. -"Hey there, loverwings."

-"Ser', I could really go without your remarks now."

-"Hey, chill, I know for a fact that Mina fancies Laserbeak."

-"So?" Steve was glum.

-"I guess what I am trying to say is that these things happen and it is not the end of the world."

Steve groaned and hit his forehead against the table before him with such enthusiasm it clanged. -"I just wanted to apologise to him." he mumbled into the table.

-"Well then, do it."

-"I can't, he is always with somebody and I just feel too self-conscious to do it before audience."

-"You think you will feel braver telling this to Soundwave alone?" The question was rhetorical, of course he would not, nobody save Megatron would.

Another groan from Steve confirmed his statement.

Several days passed and his teammates kept on teasing his nightly talks about Soundwave. He was somewhat hesitant to believe this as their descriptions of what he had said grew more florid with each passing day but well, damage was still there.

That was until one evening Steve finally managed catching the elusive TIC on command bridge alone.

Ok, so far so good, he cleared his throat trying to at least announce his presence and immediately felt stupid for it because Soundwave had likely heard if not seen his approach.

-"Sir Soundwave, Sir..." Steve stammered, feeling his bravado deflating with each passing second.

Soundwave glanced over his shoulder strut before continuing his work.

Good job, Steve. The eradicon mentally reprimanded himself.

-"Sir, Soundwave. Sir, I wanted to, uh, apologize for.." For what exactly? It was not like he had intended to say anything and sleeping and dreaming was not against the ship rules. Steve stuttered and watched in mute horror as one of those data cables unlatched from the console and extended in his direction. Soundwave himself remained focused on his task.

The poor eradicon almost leaked his hydraulic fluid then and there, his hand found the button for the doors to open behind him; he backed out, fell over and scrambled down the hallway.

He calmed down only when he had found his barracks.

-"How did it go?" Lucy asked this time, the rest of his team just continued staring at him in anticipation.

-"I-I think he wants to offline me." Steve crumbled and collapsed on his berth.

Thank you for reading!

Are you familiar with the Broadway musical 'Alexander Hamilton'? If not, goodness, you should totally check it out.