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That should be it for today, thought Sideswipe, as he rolled into the scrapyard after a long patrol. He transformed back into bot-mode and pulled out his headphones, cranked up the volume, and slowly bobbed his head to the lively beat of his favourite earth music. Sideswipe went to a quiet corner of the scrapyard to relax, but just when he started to close his optics, small servos poked at his pedes. He opened an optic. It was Jetstorm.
"Sideswipe, may I ask what you are doing?" Sideswipe paused the music.
"I'm listening to earth music," he replied. He moved to start the music when Jetstorm asked again.
"May I try your headphones?" Jetstorm asked.
"Maybe later, I just started listening," Sideswipe vented.
"Then I shall attempt a tactic that Commander Russell taught me!" Sideswipe raised a metal eyebrow. Jetstorm came up really close, put his servos together, widened his optics, and looked really, really sad.
"Pleeeeeeaase, may I please try?" Sideswipe blinked. No, don't give in, he scolded himself, but he couldn't resist his puppy dog optics, AND he was begging, so Sideswipe couldn't help but vent, and slip off his headphones with a grumbled "fine."
"Just let me find a song you'll like," he thought for a bit, then twisted the dial on the side. Then he passed his headphones to Jetstorm. He smiled, then ran off, probably looking for Slipstream. I hope I'm getting those back...
"Slipstream! Slipstream, look! I did it!" Jetstorm ran over to Slipstream, who was currently trying to meditate. He opened an optic to see what Jetstorm was so excited about, and when he saw what he was holding, he too felt excitement welling up in his spark.
"Sideswipe's headphones! How did you get them?" Slipstream stopped, then looked at his partner suspiciously, "You didn't steal it did you?"
"What?! No! I used a tactic commander Russell showed me," Jetstorm said triumphantly, "Sideswipe chose a song for us, let us listen together!" He set the headphones to the biggest setting so they could both wear it together, found a quiet place in the scrapyard, sat down, and he pressed play.
They don't know how long they've been listening to the music, but then again, they didn't really care. Jetstorm loved the beat of it, the harsh, raw emotion running through the layers of sound. Slipstream enjoyed the intricacies of the music, how every part complemented the other, how it was one big song tapestry. They both loved the music.
"Jetstorm?"
The music was amazing, it beat hard and loud.
"Slipstream?"
There were harmonies singing along side the song. Earth music was amazing.
"Pupils...Pupils!" They didn't hear anything until large servos removed the headphones. The mini-cons jolted at the absence of the song and looked to see who stopped it. Grey-blue optics looked down in disappointment.
"Ah, Master Drift! Most humble apologies," blurted Slipstream, jumping up and quickly bowing, Jetstorm following his example. Drift's optics softened and he vented.
"Is this what you have been doing for the past three hours? Listening to earth music? How did you even manage to get Sideswipe's headphones?" Three hours. They were lost in the music for three hours. How did they lose track of time like this? The mini-cons bowed even lower.
"I convinced Sideswipe to lend it to us, we wanted to know why he liked it so much," mumbled Jetstorm.
"Earth music is very good," Slipstream piped in.
"I shall return these to Sideswipe," Drift said firmly, "you two have missed today's training, so you shall make up for it once I return,"
"Yes Master!"
Jetstorm and Slipstream had finished their training, and were watching a movie with Russell. It was getting quite dark.
"So they were listening to music this entire time?" Sideswipe had his optics wide with disbelief. Drift nodded.
"I just do not know why they were so captivated..." Drift trailed off. Sideswipe held his headphones out.
"You can try them if you want," said Sideswipe. Drift skeptically took the headphones.
"Just give 'em back next morning, kay?"
"Very well," Drift headed to his berth, sat down, and pressed play.
His mini-cons found him two hours later, staring into space, with headphones on. Jetstorm and Slipstream couldn't help but snicker.