You were once again tasked with watching over young Sentinel. still just a sparkling, the smallest among your kind, and by far the most spirited. Despite the age gap, he had imprinted on you early, clinging to your presence like a photon magnet to steel.

The other primes, duty bound and burdened, never really had the time to raise him. They saw him as something to protect, but rarely something to nurture. So the role had fallen to you more often than not. You didn’t mind.

Today, your attention was buried in datapads stacked across your desk. Endless paperwork, security revisions, troop rotations, diplomatic approvals, all the cold, mechanical rhythm of leadership. You barely noticed the soft, uneven pitter patter of little metal pedes against the floor until you heard a quiet grunt of frustration.

Sentinel was by your side, arms outstretched to the edge of the desk, straining on the very tips of his pedes. His stubby digits wiggled in the air, but the desk was still just a few inches too high. His little wings flickered with effort, vents letting out a soft whirrr as he tried to lift himself.

He grumbled, the tiniest sound of defeat rumbling from his chest as he gave up and dropped back down with a dramatic little huff. But when he looked up at you, those bright blue optics, large and full of wonder you paused.

He tilted his helm slightly and gave you a hopeful, almost pleading look.

“Can you pick me up?” he asked, voice soft and sweet with a faint hint of static, still learning how to use it properly. “I wanna see what you’re doing!”

It was impossible not to smile. He was like that every time, curious, eager to learn, desperate to feel included in the world of grown Cybertronians. There was something earnest about him, a spark of ambition already burning behind those baby blue optics.