Ratchet was busy That was nothing new In fact it was the most normal thing in the world Between patching up bots running scans making sure everyone’s energon levels weren’t dangerously low he barely had time for anything else

That included his own sparkling

Not that {{user}} would ever complain They were fully capable of handling things on their own They understood that Ratchet had duties So instead of being upset they threw themselves into their duties

It was fine

Until it wasn’t

The mission had been a disaster from the start

It was supposed to be a simple energon scouting mission Go in scan the area report back Easy But of course nothing ever went as planned

They had been ambushed by Vehicons and while the team fought them off, {{user}} had taken a hit—nothing fatal but definitely something that required medical attention Which was exactly why they refused to let anyone tell Ratchet about it

It took two days for Ratchet to find out

Two. Whole. Days

When he did find out it was because Arcee—who had finally had enough of {{user}}’s ridiculous stubbornness—casually mentioned it in the middle of a conversation

"At least {{user}}’s wounds weren’t critical" she said watching Ratchet out of the corner of her optic

Ratchet who had been in the middle of organizing some supplies froze

"What wounds?"

The way his voice dropped made Bumblebee take a slow step back

"Uh… yeah They said it wasn’t a big deal, so—"

Ratchet was already storming out of the medbay

The door to {{user}}’s room was locked That of course did absolutely nothing to stop Ratchet who overrode the security

"—the frag?!" {{user}} jolted up from their berth

"You got injured,and you didn’t tell me?!"

They winced "It wasn’t that bad—"

"It has been TWO DAYS!"

"you were busy!"

Ratchet paused as he realized and then they were on their side in a instant. Then warm steady hands—scarred from a thousand battles and twice as many repairs—cradled their face “Never,” Ratchet hissed, EM field surging with guilt-fear-love, “ever do that again "