Comforting Raff

Ultra Magnus was reading the book gifted to him on the common holidays the humans celebrated. It appeared that today was a day for sparklings and bandmates to celebrate carriers. It was…. displeasing they didn't have the necessary supplies to make a card for Jaquelyn as per tradition, but the book said the real reason to celebrate was for the appreciation of the work they do. So he supposed that it would have to do. Upon entering the main area, he quickly examined the room, taking note of everyone and where everything was. With his vantage he was able to see a nervous Raphael approaching Jaquelyn with … the traditional card. He gave her the card, much to her shock. The two exchanged heartfelt words before embracing in a long hug.

However, now he was confused when he first arrived, it was explained to him that Jaquelyn took it upon herself to educate Rafael in her own free time. Not that Rafiel was her own sparkling. But undeniably right before his optics, it was clear to see that this was false. Raphael is Jaquelyn sparkling.

This means that he has gone about courting all wrong. Raphael needed to be on board with each new sire. Something that he was lacking. This needed to be rectified as soon as possible.

Looking up at the two in question, he agreed with himself, not today. Today is for celebrating the bonds to a femme, this can wait a day.

This time Ultra Magnus is the one waiting for Raff to get out of school. He parked his alt mode and personally made his way towards the doors of the building. Double-checking the watch that Jaquelyn gave him he noted there were only a few more minutes before the final bell rang. Nothing other to do than wait. Sitting down on the bench he was content to wait a few more minutes for Raphael out of school, when the bell rang he prepared himself for the upcoming conversation. He needed to get across to Raff that no one would replace his position and connection with Jaquelyn. Raff was quicker to exit. Seeing him, he immediately ran towards him. Obviously full of relief calling out “Ultra Magnus! Thank you.” There were older students quickly dashing out of the doors. It was obvious from how they paled and backed away when seeing him that those students weren’t happy to see Raphael under his protection.

That the sparkling felt he was safe with himself warmed his spark, but it wasn’t enough to stop a gaze of deep disapproval and promise of threat towards them. “There is nothing to thank. It is my pleasure to pick you up. How were your classes?” Listening attentively as Raf recounted things he learned that day or recently. It was fascinating what the general education system deemed important for society to know.

Unknowingly, Ultra Magnus stopped at the same plateau where Wheeljack did - something that Raf noticed.

“I-Raphael, I am not a mech to beat around the bush so I will state my intentions clearly. As the first matter, I wish to get to know you better and be part of your life more. Regardless of your opinions of the second matter, that is the first and main goal I have here. The second is regarding your carrier, Jaquelyn. I am one of her sparkmates. I’m hoping that I have your approval. I adore her with my entire spark and I only wish to have a deeper bond with her after courting her as much as I am able.”

“Sorta like what Wheeljack is doing?” Raf asked.

There was a pause as Ultra Magus knew who deliberately didn’t say anything to him. There would be a correction - but later. “With only knowing that Wheeljack is another of her spark mates, I believe so. The two of us are in similar situations where we’ve spark bonded rather quickly there are proper procedures in courting to observe. These are to reassure the spark-bonded femme that should the blessing of sparkings happen, they will be taken care of to the absolute best of our abilities.”

Making eye-contact with Raff who was staring with curiosity in his beautiful brown eyes “That includes you. As her first sparkling, you would never be pushed aside in favour of any younger siblings that may happen.”

“But, I’d want to help Jacquelyn with her kids. I do it for all my siblings.” Raf interjected. A little saddened that Jaquelyn would have her own children to care for instead of him. Like what happened with his younger siblings.

“Of course, you’d help as the eldest brother, I can already tell that they’d be blessed with your sharp mind playing and sometimes teaching them.’ Magnus replied far more earnestly than what anyone had seen back at base.

“But there are diapers to change, nighttime feedings to do, They need to be sung to and rocked to sleep,” Raff interjected again. He needed to prove that he was worthy enough to have some of Jaqelyns attention for him instead of feeling that he was stealing it from her babies in the future. Looking up at Magnus he reassured “Don’t worry I already help Mama with that of my other siblings. You don’t need to teach me. I already know.”

“That is admirable that you wish for more time with them, but all of those are things we the parents, the adults in the situation would take care of. Continually doing those is no duty for the eldest sibling. Especially nightly food. You are still growing, you need your sleep. It would never be your job to raise your younger siblings. That is our job as parents.”

Now a little confused “But Mama says that I need to help out with my younger siblings like that. It's really to the problem for me to help Jaquelyn with that too.”

“May I embrace you, Raf?” Magnus decided to take a much different option than what he would usually choose.

“Yea,” Raf replied, slightly confused but loving any hugs he received anyways.

While Hugging Magnus stated “You are a sparkling yourself. Night feedings, waste changes - you called them diaper changes? All of those are the parents' duties. Not that of a sparking like you are. If you so wish to you may do those sometimes and when you see we are busy. Any younger sibling of yours should count their blessings they have such a dedicated brother to look after them.”

Pulling away slightly “I believe your … Mama is wrong for pushing so much of her responsibilities onto you. You are exceptional and should have the freedom to explore and learn to your heart's content. Is this a cultural difference between your species?

“What do you mean the responsibilities of Mama’s and Papa’s?” Came the innocent question

“On Cybertron, if you were blessed to have a single sparkling, let alone more than one, it would be the full responsibility of the carrier and sires to raise, nurture and care for the bitlet. While it was acceptable for any of the parents to work, the carrier was expected to take time off of such duties during the later 2/3rds of carrying as they could possibly lose the sparkling. That is if they didn’t take their parental leave immediately. Carrying a sparkling is a worthy undertaking. Oftentimes the carrier wouldn’t return to the workforce until the sparkling had a few years of basic education. The sires would take time off before and after the emergence of the bitlet to welcome the newest miracle to their family. Oftentimes, only about half would return to the workforce sooner, by the time the sparking reached its first year or two in basic education nearly all the sires would return to their jobs. Sparklings have a special connection to their carrier's sparks and being too far too soon, could prematurely take their life. If the family was blessed with more than one sparkling it was a cause for great celebrations. If the first sparkling was still living at home with their carrier and sires then, they would act closer to an elder mentor to them playing, encouraging some soft mischief, and occasionally teaching. They wouldn’t be an additional authority figure even remotely close to that of a sire or carrier. You mentioned nightly feedings and manual waste removal as part of your duties to your younger siblings. Is there anything else that you do to aid your … Mama?”

“Yes, I make sure that the dishes are cleaned as much as possible, I clean other parts of the house, clean up after my younger siblings and make sure that when I’m home when they are alone I’m always in the room with them. I prepare treats and food when Mama and Papa are busy.” Raf replied.

“How often are you required to do these tasks? Do your other siblings help and try to take on such a burden?”

“Mama and Papa say I need to science my older siblings are out of the house or are busy with college classes.”

Looking over confused “Raff, you take quite a few advanced classes - you called them honours, AP, and dual credit. Why are your difficult classes intended for much older people less important than your siblings' classes made for their age group?”

At Raff’s blank and slightly panicked look and glancing around Magnus realised he went a little too far. “I’m sorry Raff. I’m only trying to understand. I should not have questioned you so much when it was distressing to you.”

Mangus is hesitant to call Raff’s biological mother his carrier. Sure he has other siblings, but Raff is definitely Jaquelyn's sparkling, Jaquelyn is doing the role and job of a carrier. Raff’s older siblings aren’t acting as elder siblings should, only Raff seems to be around long enough to take on the role of another parent towards his younger siblings, which seems to be expected for Raff to do, while at the loss of the attention of his carrier and his sire only looking long enough to scold him. Thinking about it too long only angers him especially as he can’t do anything about it with his current situation as the process would most likely take Raff away from the support system that he does have. The only reason why he dosen’t do this and pulls strings behind the scenes is that Raff loves his Mama and Sire.

He could fall back on his long ago training for public service work, or as a police officer, offering his apologies, backing up and regaining lost trust or overcoming most of the hurt feelings. The words of one of his mentors said ‘the best way for those in the situation to get out of it is the assurance of friends and family to be the exact opposite of the manipulator.’

The words rang true as Raff visibly lost most of his tension and sent over a surprised look. Privately his opinion of Raff's supposed "creators" lowered inestimably smaller. Those who don’t apologise verbally to sparklings dosen’t mean anything good to their values.

“Now, I consulted bumblebee about your preferred pastime activities and he reassured me they were these racing games. Would you be amenable to teaching me how to play?” Ultra Magnus asked. He did ask Bee about the games, but he used up some of his free time and learned the absolute basics of the games. However, it was the process of teaching an elder - or someone who is presented as knowing how to fix issues - something new that was one of the most effective confidence builders for sparklings.

The two spent the next two hours exactly on playing the game. In all Ultra Magnus could say this endeavour was a success. Already Raff was showing a vast increase in trust, communication, and, the ultimate goal, relaxing with him. He was most pleased and should do this again soon to reaffirm the successes of this afternoon. Maybe sampling this ice cream that Miko mentioned. The human fuel at Hogan alley was nearly life-changing in its flavours.