Siren entered the office and perused his surroundings, looking for anything he could do that might break up the monotony. It was amazing how such a reasonably sized room could feel so confining, but that had more to do with familiarity than dimensions.

He would have cleaned it except his past self had that idea so many times that it was spotless. He had already figured out the most optimum places for every piece of equipment, absolutely everything was perfectly sorted and straightened. He hoped his roommate wouldn't notice the discrepancy between his workspace and their slightly disheveled quarters, but that would require his roommate ever visiting.

With no chores and no admin work, he admitted defeat a mere minute in and sat down to get lost in thought. The first thing that came to mind was Nightbeat. Weeks had passed since their last encounter. He was reaching levels of patience he hadn’t thought possible but was rapidly approaching the breaking point. Nightbeat having yet to follow up on their agreement was irritating given that interesting things had definitely been happening, but for whatever reason, he hadn't put aside a few minutes to relay them to the desk-locked Siren. Maybe he had been wrong about him, maybe he was just being polite at first—but, then, “polite” and “Nightbeat” didn’t really go together in most people’s eyes. So what was it?

He held his communicator hesitantly, typing hand hovering over the text entry field, weighing whether or not to ask why Nightbeat hadn’t shown. He wasn’t sure whether Nightbeat was being rude by not acknowledging his existence, or if he would seem rude for being impatient. They were Cybertronians, after all, relatively speaking, a few weeks were nothing in the grand scheme of their lifespans.

Plus, the passage of time while in outer space just felt strange, and it had been a while since there was a ship-wide shore leave to ground everyone to the same perception of time. Maybe his and Nightbeat’s experiences of it were stretching in opposite directions. Maybe Siren was upset over nothing. Maybe—

He heard gentle footsteps in the hall approaching his office. That was unusual. Could it be…?

Nightbeat finally showed. All he had to say for himself was, “hey”.

Siren was quick to slam his comm down. “Nightbeat! Hi! It’s good to see you! Real good! Where have you been?”

Nightbeat seated himself. Siren felt hyper-aware of him noting the minutiae of his behavior in the brief moment before he responded. In a bizarre feedback loop, he got the impression that Nightbeat was glad he could pick up on the nearly invisible fact that he was observing him in such a way. “Investigating.”

“For…weeks?” Siren attempted to hide how hurt he felt. He knew perfectly well how it felt to get sidetracked, but his spells didn’t last as long as Nightbeat’s apparently did.

“It’s been weeks? Really?” Nightbeat looked away, pasting his memories together to get an approximation of how much time had passed. “I didn’t realize. I tend to get…consumed.”

“Don’t worry about it! Just doing your job, right?” Siren said, some sort of relieved.

“I haven’t forgotten your request, by the way. Just busy.”

“Not gonna lie, I thought you might’ve. But since ou didn’t, no worries! Anyways, how can I help you? Is that why you’re here, or do you need a door pried open cause it’s between you and your answers? Or maybe you're hoping I have ship blueprints so you can investigate something you’re not supposed to be—which I do, by the way!” Siren winked beneath his visor.

Nightbeat clearly appreciated the offers, but they weren’t what he had in mind. “Actually, I was wondering if I can help you. Can I ask you a personal question?”

Siren cocked his head. Based on Nightbeat’s tone, it didn’t sound like a light topic, whatever it was, but he could always shut the conversation down if he didn’t like the direction it headed, and he would never know what Nightbeat was wondering if he didn’t let him ask. “Sure! About what?”

“About Rung retiring.”

“Oh, yeah, sure! Everyone’s talking about that! Kind of hard to believe.”

“Right. I’ve seen you pop in and out of his office a few times, so I was just wondering if you’ll be okay.”

Siren stared. That was one hell of a question to ask a stranger, even if he had asked permission beforehand. He could tell from the get-go that Nightbeat would go to extremes when there was something he wanted to know, but he hadn’t yet truly grasped the scope of that until now. But, while it was a surprising topic, it wasn’t an unwelcome one. He recently started to feel like talking about this sort of thing with anyone who was curious was beneficial—it was only because he snapped at Inferno early on in the quest, demanding an explanation for why he was so distant, that he ever got the idea to seek counsel himself, after all.

…And, if Nightbeat could ask whatever he wanted, surely he could, too. “…How many people have you been asking that?”

“Not too many.”

Did Nightbeat care about him? What had he done to warrant that? Siren shook his head. “Uh, yeah! I’ll be fine! We weren’t anywhere near done, but I learned a lot anyway!”

“Good. I just didn’t want you to feel like you were being left high and dry.”

Noticing that Nightbeat was moving to leave, Siren reached his hand across the desk. “Wait! Don’t go!”

The request caught him off guard, but Nightbeat stayed.

“What about you?”

“I never really talked with him.”

“Really?!” Siren gaped before waving his hand in front of him to disperse the comment from the air. “Sorry! That’s not my business. Just… really? Even after being dead for years? And a sleeper agent on top of that?!”

Nightbeat shook his head again, not offering any further details.

“Hm. I guess I just figured you did. You don’t seem very affected by that… or at least not as much as I’d be…” Siren trailed off, more voicing his thoughts out loud than actually speaking to Nightbeat. “Sorry, you just seem like you handled that really well, and I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around how you bounced back like that without a godsend like Rung!”

“Don’t take this personally, but I think Rung’s a bit of a hack, especially since word of what he did on the Fateful Archetype got out.”

Siren gave a demoralized pout. He was glad Nightbeat was sharing, but it had a sting to it. “You really think he’s a hack?”

“I said ‘a bit’ and ‘don’t take it personally’, didn’t I? It’s not like you had much of a selection and it’s not your fault he’s not perfect.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

“You tell it like it is, is all! Hosehead always says that’s one of my worst qualities, but seeing it in someone else, now I’m not so sure!”

“You’ve gotta be the first person who’s framed it as a good thing. Really, I'm just a control freak who thinks my ideas are always the best. Granted, they do tend to be pretty damn good, but…”

“Ha! That sounds like someone I know. Y’know, I didn’t have anywhere near as much experience firefighting as my coworkers, but command still made me chief cause I’m just that bossy.”

“Ha, I know what that’s like. A detective leading a team of frontliners around a crime scene would be one thing, but into the frontlines is ridiculous—and yet, that’s so often where I found myself… I’m sure I outshine you in terms of bossiness.”

“Bold claim! You should ask around.”

“You’re asking me to go farm horror stories about yourself? I could spare you the embarrassment and see it first-hand. Why don’t you join me on a case?”

Siren nearly sprang from his desk, but leaving was the one thing he wasn’t supposed to do. He also thought that there were plenty of more effective ways to test that besides investigating, but he wasn’t about to complain about an invitation. “Aw, I’d like to, but I can’t abandon my post!”

“…Of course. Maybe we can sort something out later. Anyways, it’s good to hear that you’ll be alright. I’ll excuse myself now.”

Couldn’t Nightbeat stay just a little bit longer? “One last thing!”

Nightbeat stopped in the doorway.

“When are you free?”

“For the investigation? I’ll keep myself open.”

Siren grinned and gave a parting thumbs up. Nightbeat saluted him in emulation of when they had first met and disappeared.

The second Nightbeat left, Siren picked up the comm he had set down earlier to call Inferno. He at first refused to entertain the idea of covering for him the next day, but Siren pleaded hard enough that he eventually agreed, trading one form of annoyance for another. ✧