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Jazz chatted happily with the mechs surrounding him while he enjoyed his highgrade. He always spent as much of his spare time in the rec-room with the others, especially on evenings like this one. Not only to socialize, but because it was a good and easy way to keep an extra optic on the troops.
Most Autobots felt save around him and relaxed, even if they weren't directly interacting with him, but then he always tried to keep a calm and cheerful emf around him.
So of course he noticed that something was off with their resident ex-Decepticon. In opposite to Jazz, Drift was one of the least trusted mechs on the base, which was not that surprising, to be honest. Many Autobots were of the mindset, that, who was once a turncoat would always be a turncoat and some even had bets going when Drift would go purple again, yeah Jazz already had a word with Smokescreen about that.
Others were sure the swordsmech was a spy and letting him stay would probably end the war… but not in their favor. Yes, Jazz had a couple of discussions with Red Alert and Cluffjumper as well, luckily Mirage was helping him at that frontline.
And additional a few good sparks took it upon themselves to keep the lone mech company every now and then, but then Bluestreak did have trouble to blend in when he first arrived after the fall of Praxus as well and only opened up after quite some time, thanks to Prowls patience. After that things had worked out for him in the end… And Perceptor owned the mech his live and was probably still thankful for being rescued.
But there was still a certain tension simmering in Drift’s emf he could not fully identify. Especially when they had the rare treat that highgrade was being handed out. Sure enough Drift took a cube and slowly sipped it, while looking around as if he was afraid to be attacked every second. But his second cube would always go into the swordsmech’s subspace and he left.
Today was no exception to that routine. Deciding to finally find out what was going on, Jazz excused himself from the group he was chatting with and made his way out of the room, away from the crowd.
Drift had a head start on the visored mech but Jazz was the head of Special Operations after all. So after rounding a few corners, Jazz found him with trained ease. Drift was just about to punch in his door code, as he stilled for a second before he slowly turned around, servo on one of his sword hilts.
"I mean no harm mech" Jazz announced hands up in a surrender like gesture. Drift relaxed slightly, took his hands off his weapon, reluctantly. His field pulled in so tight Jazz could not even guess what the other felt.
"How about we go in there and have a chat?" The black and white offered with a smile, pointing to Drifts door. The ex-'Con looked like he wanted to say no but nodded anyways. He opened the door and went in, Jazz on tow.
The room itself was sparsely decorated, it felt barely lived in, the only personal Items Jazz could spot were a few cleaning supplies and an old datapad. From the four standard beds which were placed in every room, besides the officers’ quarters, three were clearly unused. Jazz knew from the floor plan he just pulled up in his HUD, that Drift didn't have any roommates. probably because no one wanted to be in a room with him and no mech cared to step up to do something about it. Jazz didn't comment on it for now but already planned to change that as well. Already contemplating who would be a good match
"Listen, if it's about the highgrade… you can have it back. Most mechs drink more than one cube and I wasn't aware that it's not okay to take some with me instead of drinking it there… I didn’t intend to steel something" Drift said, pulled the cube out of his subspace and offered it to Jazz. The visored mech used the opportunity to step closer, but instead of taking the cube he pushed it back to Drift.
"Nah, that's not the issue and before you start to think about what else you did wrong, let me tell you that everything is alright. I'm not here because you made a mistake or anything“ Jazz assured with a smile, still keeping his servo over Drift’s, which still held the cube.
Drift stood there for a moment then suddenly the swordsmech stepped back, field flaring up alarmed. His optics locked at something on the floor, as if he didn’t dare to look at Jazz. "I… I'm not offering. I don't do that anymore. Sir."
It took the saboteur a few seconds to catch onto the other's words. Then he remembered Drifts past before the war, at least from what they had gathered about him as he was still Deadlock. It wasn't common knowledge, but he as head of Autobot intelligence knew. And Drift could probably tell, that he had said Intel and thought Jazz was using his knowledge.
"No. That's nothing I would ever consider asking from any mech, ever. And if anything like that would happen and be brought up to my attention, I'll sort things out. I promise." Drift nodded slowly but there was still wariness in his optics.
"What I am here for, is to see why you always retreat after a cube and rather continue to drink alone instead of enjoying some company. Did something happen I should have knowledge about or are there other reasons?" Jazz decided to sit down on one of the unused beds. To give Drift some space without breaching his privacy more than necessary.
Drift sat down as well, opposite to Jazz, optics down as if the answer to the saboteur’s question was to be found in the viscous liquid in his servos. "I… don't like to get overcharged around others. I learned my lesson about it the hard way and I rather don't get a repeat performance of that..."
Jazz’ knee-jerk reaction to Drift’s confession was to say that something like this won't possibly happen here at the Autobot base. But while he considered the Autobots less aggressive towards each other than the Decepticons were, Jazz had done enough deep cover missions to know, he also knew that not every mech on their side took consent as serious as he liked. And Drift was not very popular and mostly alone, with no pal who might intervene if some mech would take advantage of him while he was drunk… Drift was right; he would be a great target. So simply reassuring him that things were better handled here and that he was save, won't help Drift much.
"I See... that's a valid point. Something, that doesn't have an easy fix, but would you grant me an advance on your trust? See, I know quite a few mechs I'd trust in such a situation. Not because they know that they probably won't survive such an offence, but because they aren't the type to even think of committing anything alike. I'd like to introduce you to them. Can't guarantee you mix well, but it's worth a try. Maybe sometime in the future you can relax a little more? Not just while drinking but also during battle. Knowing that someone you can trust has your back is priceless"
Drift was silent. Then he finally looked up, studied Jazz. "Why? Why do you care? I’m not even in your unit" He wanted to know. Puzzlement slowly bleeding in his relaxing emf.
Jazz shrugged. "I could tell you that I care because 'a chain is only as strong as its weakest link' and I like to keep our troops at their strongest. But that would be an unfair generalization… to be honest I see a lot of my old self in you. Back when I just joind the Autobots I kept to myself, didn't trust anyone. Maybe it's due to what the both of us had to do before the war to earn our energon... I don’t know, really. But it took me a very long time to finally stop to isolate myself. It doesn't have to be the same for you…"
Drift's field flared out in surprise, then actually reached out, tentatively, questioning, before Drift nodded. "I… see" He gazed down at his cube again and then offered it to Jazz. "How about we share?"