The ending kept growing . . . I think I found a satisfactory place to stop, though. :-P Anyway, this is just a oneshot that had popped into my head one day in early January. It was mostly finished then, but I only figured out the ending last night. Set post-ROTF, concerning the fact that Sunstreaker isn't in the movie, and totally separated from my Ghost Chronicles. Please let me know what you think!

Then Came Sunstreaker

By Falcon's Hyperdrive

Begun: 1-7-10

Finished: 4-2-10

It had been over a month since the battle in Egypt. Jazz was brought back by Sam using the Matrix – Will wasn't all that sure of what exactly was up with that, but neither was Sam, so he was okay with that – and so was Arcee, the femme having died near the end. Will still couldn't get over that.

The kid was back at college by now, along with his new buddy Leo. Apparently, lots of questions had been asked of them from fellow college students already, but the two were good at deflecting and avoiding those kinds of things. No doubt, Sam had plenty of practice from those two years after Mission City, and Leo was just able to spin a tall tale well. Will himself had heard in person the geek going off on some tangent of Area 51 and, for some odd reason, the killer rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The listeners were forced to find reasons why they had to be somewhere else in the face of being driven insane.

So here Will was, back from a month-long vacation at home. His wife had been able to come to Diego Garcia with him, along with Annabelle, so he wasn't complaining all that much. Besides, a new mech was on base, allegedly Optimus Prime's second in command and security officer, an Autobot named Prowl. This was the first of quite a few more, he was assured, and even femmes were on their way.

Time passed from that first month, stretching into several. There was Wheeljack, the explosive scientist, Chromia, Ironhide's bondmate, Elita One, Optimus's, and even a scout and tracker named, of all things, Hound. Mirage, a noble-mech spy who could turn invisible, Bluestreak, the most talkative being the humans had ever heard, and Ultra Magnus, a soldier and Optimus's brother or something. Throughout this all, Will started to notice the peculiar behavior of one certain silver sword-swinging mech. Sideswipe hung out with the twins a lot, but he seemed to get even more withdrawn as each new mech arrived. The Army Major suspected this was from disappointment, that someone Sideswipe was waiting for might not be coming for a while.

Then came Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe perked up immediately upon the mech's arrival. The personnel of Diego Garcia were baffled when, one day, Sideswipe went into his quarters as a silver Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept, and came out in shiny arrest-me-red. Sunstreaker adopted the same altmode, but his color scheme was a vivid golden yellow. Even more baffling was the reactions of all the mechs and femmes on base. It was true that they were happy to see the yellow mech, and Sideswipe's bounce back from the pits, but at the same time, they seemed wary of the duo.

Will still couldn't figure this out. He guessed that the two were brothers, or something of the sort, but he couldn't ever bring himself to ask anyone. Any mention of the two had already proven to bring about grumbles from some of the mechs, and he wasn't about to risk their annoyance at this point.

Then, ever so slowly, the pieces started falling into place.

Will was out on the tarmac a week after Sunstreaker's arrival, absently watching him and Sideswipe as they joked and laughed. A mech came up behind him, and Will turned to see Ratchet with a soft smile on his faceplates. "It's good to see them together again," the CMO said quietly. "Loath as I am to admit this, Sideswipe is much better this way. They're not meant to be separate." He looked down at Will, finishing his thought, leaving the Major confused as he walked away. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

After that, Will paid as close attention as he could to the two mechs. He still hadn't figured out what was going on, and Epps, too, was confused. "It's like they're all waiting for those two to do something," he said out of the blue one day at lunch. "Fig even says he's got a strange feeling."

Not a bad feeling, Will was quick to note. If it had been a bad feeling, he would have demanded the scoop on the red and yellow mechs then and there. As it was, he didn't, and so he got the new shock of his life several days later.

Will walked into the hangar Thursday morning, expecting nothing more than the usual. Epps was following, and ran straight into his back when the Major suddenly stopped. Catching sight of what had his friend stunned, Epps found his own jaw dropping. "Woah, man!" he breathed. "What the heck happened?!"

Will had no idea, and the two stared in astonishment at Ironhide as he sat recharging in Topkick mode. After a moment, the truck stirred, clearly focused on them first as he came online, wondering at their unresponsiveness. "Lennox?" he asked, obviously worried for them. "Epps?"

The black Tech Sergeant finally stuttered through his words as he stared at the weapons specialist. "Dude . . . You're pink!"

Those words prompted a stunned silence from the mech as he processed those words. He transformed, looking down at his arms and legs as he confirmed with his own optics what Epps had said. After a moment, he grew livid. Growling, he transformed back, speeding past the two soldiers to find the culprits. "TWINS!!" he roared, causing Will and Epps to wince at the sheer volume of the word.

Skids and Mudflap appeared before them, popping open their doors. "C'mon!" Mudflap prompted. "Ya don't wanna miss this!"

The soldiers obeyed warily. "Aren't you the ones he's after?" Will asked.

"Nah, man, not us!"

"Yeah, we know better than that!"

"Those two don't, though."

"Ha! Yeah!"

Epps put voice to his confusion. "There's another set of twins around here?"

"Dude, where ya live, a hole?"

"No," Will answered. "We just haven't asked before, and no one told us."

"Sides and Sunny, right?" Epps continued.

"Got it in one, Air Force boy! Hey, Army, look!"

Will watched, stunned, as the magenta Topkick tackled the fleeing Corvette twins. One good knock of the heads later, and they were being dragged off toward the building with the med bay.

As they waited with the younger set of twins in the command hangar, Will and Epps heard quite a bit of shouting from the direction Ironhide had taken the twins, as well as a very distinctive clang. Optimus strode in with Prowl several minutes later, Jazz following as he struggled to stay upright in his laughter. "Dudes!" the third-in-command cracked up. "Those expressions were awesome!"

Prowl grumbled. "You'd think they would learn after the first hundred times Ratchet's punished them."

"First hundred?" Jazz cackled back. "What about the first thousand? Or first two thousand! If they haven't learned yet, they aren't ever!"

Will stood as Optimus heaved a sigh. Seeing the humans, the Autobot leader stepped over to the catwalk. "Major Lennox, Sergeant Epps. Can I help you in any way?"

Epps snickered. "Coulda told us the two were pranksters, man. But, hoowhee! That was priceless!"

Will choked back on a laugh. "Congratulations, it's twins?"

Optimus blinked in a very human fashion. "Ah, I see. We failed to inform you of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's infamy among the Autobot ranks, and their nature of being twins. I apologize for the neglect."

Will shook his head. "No harm done. We should've asked. There's only one thing I wish, though . . ."

Epps's grin was knowing. "Yeah? What's that?"

The Major smirked. Jazz was sent into new hysterics at his next words, Prowl blinking in confusion and Prime fighting a smile.

"That the Autobots were public knowledge. That would have won first prize in America's Funniest Home Videos."

........

"SLAGGING TWINS!!"

"Heh-heh . . . Hey, Hide, easy now . . ."

"Yeah, it was just a little joke!"

"Aw, man! You got pink paint on me!"

"GOOD!"

"AAHH!! Run away!"

"Make a hole!"

"We'resorrywe'resorrywe'resorry! Pleasedon'tkillus!"

........

"Hey, Bee?"

"Yes, Sam?"

" . . . You guys are awesome, you know that?"

Intense amusement. "Thank you, Sam."

"Just warn me when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker pull another prank."

The scout shook with laughter. "You got it."

........

CLANG!

"TAKE THAT, YOU SLAGGERS!"

........

Watching the scene from the command bunker as the twins fled from Ironhide once more, Lennox and Epps shared broad grins.

Epps stood, prompting a curious look from his friend. "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" Epps jerked a thumb toward the chase.

"I'm getting popcorn."

Fin.