A Mute Friendship

Deterioration

(A/N: So, with the true heritage of Tegan revealed, and the heightening of the Decepticon traits, we begin the rapid decline from the innocent boy Tegan used to be to the youth that acts/thinks like a Decepticon. This not only concerns Soundwave, but also the Autobots and Tegan's grandmother begins to notice a change.)

Tegan smiled widely at the tall human he could now see and assumed was Soundwave. He didn't notice anything strange in the Decepticon's expression, but Soundwave knew how to hide what he was thinking or feeling.

The tall, dark Cybertronian walked over to him, bending over to look at his eyes.

Soundwave placed a hand beneath Tegan's chin, lifting his head to looked at his eyes better.

Allowing his head to be tilted upwards, Tegan fell silent as he began to pick up that something might be wrong. "Soundwave?" He asked, nervous now.

Silence continued to reign while Tegan watched as Soundwave looked into his eyes through the darkened glasses he was wearing.

"I-is something wrong, Soundwave?" Tegan asked carefully, the nervous fearfullness in his voice breaking Soundwave out of his thoughts as he straightened up.

"Your optics look fine." Soundwave said in his monotone way. "Can you see well?" He asked now, moving back to his tools.

Tegan grinned widely again and nodded vigorously. "I can see perfectly, Soundwave!" He cried excitedly.

Soundwave looked at him for several moments, standing stock still and not saying a word, making Tegan's smile disappear as he felt nervousness creep up on him again.

"Is something wrong Soundwave?" Tegan asked softly now, his fear and nervousness causing Soundwave to come over to him again.

"Orion's optics are red." Soundwave told him softly.

Tegan looked at him. Sure, red wasn't a colour most humans had, but he found it cool. "What's wrong with that?" He asked, not picking up on what Soundwave seemed to be wanting to tell him.

Soundwave sighed softly. "Autobots have blue optics." He said slowly, looking into the human youth's optics. "But Decepticons, they have red."

Nodding slowly, Tegan looked at him. "Does that mean my father-?" He stopped his question, looking at Soundwave as he waited for a response to be given.

"Yes. Orion's sire is, or was, a Decepticon." Soundwave told him, standing up to his full height again. "This could be dangerous for you." He added.

Tegan looked up at him, confused. "Dangerous? Why would this be dangerous?" He asked slowly, unsure of what to say or think.

Soundwave looked back down into the red optics. "Do you know if your sire ever knew of your existence?" He asked carefully.

Shrugging, Tegan shook his head. "I don't know... I don't have any pictures of him, and my grandmother never met him." He answered.

"If Orion's sire doesn't know of his son's existence, it could be dangerous if he did." Soundwave said slowly. "If he didn't want a sparklin-youngling." He corrected himself due to Tegan's age. "Then he may not want Orion now."

Listening to Soundwave, Tegan felt slightly sad. "Oh... I see." He answered softly, slightly sad and disappointed.

Soundwave noticed and placed a hand on the black-haired youth's shoulder. "But we will not worry about that now." He said calmly. "We will figure out what to do when it comes to that. For now, Orion's existence must not be revealed to Decepticons."

Looking up at the other man, Tegan smiled slightly. "OK. Thank you, Soundwave."

Nodding once, Soundwave stood up to his full height and moved back over to his consoles. "Do not try to do anything else until I have made sure that everything is working." He ordered as he began to run scans and other testings.

Tegan nodded in response, sitting on the table as he waited for it to be okayed... Right now, he just wanted to transform and try out his alt-mode. An armoured human? Who would've ever thought that he could do that?

Smiling widely to himself, Tegan thought about all the things he could do with it... Get back at Vince and the other bullies... Get away and keep away from the Autobots. Life would be good.

Over at the consoles, Soundwave was thinking quite the opposite, in his mind, he had just destroyed a young boy's life.