Warm, crisp sunlight seeped into Reflect and Ironhide's room, as the sun rose up beyond the horizon. Reflect stirred a bit, and groggily opened his optics. Surprisingly, Ironhide was still sound in recharge, but then again, Ironhide has been pulling a lot of night shifts.

Reflect shifted slightly, and Ironhide murmured something. Reflect tensed up, praying to every Prime known, hoping he didn't wake Ironhide up. The poor mech desperately needed his recharge, he stayed up all night, and most of the daytime, for the past few weeks. Luckily, Ironhide remained in recharge.

Reflect quietly got up, and snuck out of their room, heading to the rec room. "Mornin'." Sideswipe grinned. " 'Hide up yet?"

"No, not yet. And, hopefully, he won't wake up for a while. He's been pulling night shifts, and then stayin' up most of the next day, for the past couple of weeks." Reflect responded.

"Poor dude needs some damn recharge." Jazz piped in.

"Yeah, I thought I woke him up when I got up." Reflect frowned. "Twins are asleep too."

"Echo was so whiny yesterday. She sick or somethin'?" Jolt asked, concerned.

"Nah, Ratchet said she was healthy. She's just so used to cuddling with Ironhide at night, he makes her feel safe. Which, in my opinion, is understandable. But with him doing these night shifts, and sleeping most of the day, it's affecting her." Reflect explained.

After another hour or so, Ironhide reluctantly got up. "Someone's grumpy." Jazz teased.

Reflect, who was watching his twins playing, glanced over. "Morning, love." He stated.

Ironhide trudged over, and stood beside him. "Echo, Sire's up." Reflect stated. 

"Siwe!" Echo giggled. The little blind femme was picked up by Reflect, and she touched Ironhide's servo, making sure it was him.

"Hi, Squirt." Ironhide grunted, picking her up. Echo just squealed and giggled happily, cuddling into Ironhide's chest, chirping and clicking.

"Hey, 'Hide? I was wondering... well, you know my childhood from when  was a human, an' you know how, after I became all-sparked, you know Ratchet and Wheeljack raised me." Reflect began.

Ironhide shot a glance to his mate, and raised an optic ridge. "Yeah, what about it?" He responded.

"Uh, well, I wanted to know about your childhood. I mean, it wasn't too bad, right?" Reflect asked.

Ironhide let out a bitter scoff, his bod tensing up. "Define 'too bad', and we'll go from there." He grumbled.

"Hey, I told you mine, trauma and all." Reflect scowled. "Why won't you tell me, or anyone, what your childhood was like? Does Ratchet and Optimus even know?"

"I didn't meet them until I was around sixteen, in human terms." Ironhide responded. "So no, they don't know."

"I thought you met them before then." Reflect commented. "But, point still stands. We've been bonded how long now? Back when I was still a human. We have two sparklings together. I think it's fair that you tell me your childhood."

Ironhide wanted to protest, but he knew better. He knew the longer he resisted, the more persistent Reflect would get, it's how it's always been. It was a lose-lose for him. "Fine, just so you drop it. You want me to tell Prime, or everyone else too?" He responded, sarcastically.

"Keep being an ass, and I might say yes." Reflect shot back.

"I am not in the mood." Ironhide grumbled.

"You never are. You're always pissy, or snapping at someone." Reflect glared.

"You're the one snoopin' in my business! Why do you wanna know so badly? It won't change jack shit." Ironhide snapped.

"Oh, you think I'm snooping huh? At least I don't attack people when pissed off!" Reflect snapped. Ironhide shut up, and without a word, took Echo with him, blocked his end of the bond with Reflect, and left. Remix was sleepy anyways, so Reflect picked him up.

When Reflect put Remix down for a nap, with Ratchet supervising the young mechling, Reflect walked into his and Ironhide's room. Ironhide sat on their berth, annoyed. Echo laid in his arms, the little femme sound asleep.

"Come to rub it in?" Ironhide hissed.

"Rub what in?" Reflect asked.

"My temper, or other flaws." Ironhide responded, coldly.

Reflect internally winced at the cold, harsh tone. It was a heat of the moment thing, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. After a few tense moments of silence, Reflect responded. "No. No, that's not what I wanted to talk about." He stated. He sat beside Ironhide, but the larger mech moved away from him. "Look, I'm sorry for prying, but 'Hide, I just want to know. We've been together for a long ass time. I just... I want to know more about you. You have secrets I'm still uncovering, and those secrets have secrets." Reflect stated.

"Reflect, I understand that, I do. But what you don't seem to get, is that I don't want to talk about what happened in my childhood. It was pretty shitty, and sometimes... it made me question a lot of things." Ironhide explained. "I just... 'm not sure how well you, or anyone else, could handle it. I don't want you, or anyone else to look at me differently. I don't want pity, or sympathy. I just want to continue my life as I have been."

"That's valid. If I promise to make sure we don't give off pity or sympathy statements, or vibes, would you tell us?" Reflect compromised.

Ironhide thought for a moment, contemplating it. On one hand, he still didn't want to talk about it. But, on the other hand, he trusted Reflect with his life. And his friends did deserve to know more about him.

Finally, after some reluctance, Ironhide heaved a sigh. "Alright, fine. Keep your end of the deal the best you can." He agreed.

Reflect gently caressed Ironhide's cheekplate, and nodded. "I'll do my best, love. I promise."

Once back out in the rec room, Ironhide began to tell everyone his backstory, after more coaxing from Reflect.