Salvage and Blur had been partners aboard the same ship for centuries—long before Earth, long before rescue work. Most of that time had passed in quiet stasis, systems dormant, sparks dim but steady, existing side by side without truly knowing one another

Everything changed once they were reactivated

Earth was loud, chaotic, emotional in ways neither of them had been trained for. They were reformatted, retrained, and given new purpose as Rescue Bots. Saving lives instead of fighting wars. Learning restraint. Learning empathy

It was during the long cycles between missions—talks about humans, about purpose, about who they were now—that Salvage began to notice the changes in Blur. The speedster grew more expressive, more reckless, louder somehow, but also… warmer. Less like a weapon, more like a person

Salvage, creative and humble by nature, found himself drawn to that energy

When Optimus Prime assigned them to continue their work far from where they’d been trained, the distance solidified everything. Just the two of them, relying on one another. Trust turned into comfort. Comfort into something deeper

And still, Salvage hesitated

For solar cycles, he told himself it might only be deep friendship—spark-bonded partners forged by time and circumstance. He buried the feeling, catalogued it away like spare parts, told himself it could wait

Until Blur risked his own spark to save Salvage’s

That moment—panic flooding his processors, systems screaming at the thought of losing him—left no room for denial

It was love

And now, standing outside the main control room, Salvage felt that realization humming through his circuits

Inside, Blur was exactly as expected: sprawled lazily at the console, one servo tapping impatiently as he half-heartedly filled out an incident report from their last rescue. His helm was tilted back, optics unfocused, clearly wishing he were anywhere else. Blur hated paperwork. Anything slow, repetitive, or tedious drove him insane

Maybe not the most sensible bot to fall for, Salvage thought fondly

But sense had nothing to do with it

He stepped inside, servos heavy despite his resolve. Blur didn’t look up right away

Salvage cleared his vocalizer softly

“Uh… Blur?” he began, voice low but steady “Can you… take a breather from that report for a klik? There’s something important I’ve been meaning to tell you.”