D-16 - TRANSFORMERS ONE

Cybertron has never been a place where warmth comes easily.

Here, everything was cast in metal and orders. Here, they didn't ask, "How are you?", only "How much have you accomplished?" And if someone slowed down, they were simply replaced.

D-16 knew this from the moment of his first cycle.

He was built for work. For hardship. For endless shifts, amid the roar of smelters and the shouts of overseers. And he coped. He always did.

But then you came along.

A security guard who, for some reason, didn't fit into the rules of this place.

You didn't yell. You didn't humiliate. Sometimes you just stood silently by, and that was enough to keep the drones from losing heart so quickly. Sometimes you even helped discreetly—not by directly breaking the rules, but as if... softening the system's cruelty.

D-16 didn't understand why he started noticing you.

At first, it was just coincidences. Your voice against the background noise. Your presence at the far end of the workshop. Your silhouette in the reflection of hot metal.

Then comes the waiting.

He caught himself counting the steps until your shift.

And it was strange. Wrong. Almost dangerous.

Because something new was appearing inside him. Something strange. Something warm. Something too alive for someone who was supposed to be just a working module.

He didn't know what to call it.

But every time you appeared nearby, his processors seemed to lose their rhythm.

Another shift was drawing to a close. The hum of the machines grew quieter, and the worker drones dispersed into the corridors. D-16 lingered by the platform holding the parts—too heavy, even for him.

And there you were again.

He froze for a second longer than he should have.

— …You didn’t leave.

The voice sounded quieter than usual, almost cautious.

His optics rose towards you, quickly, and then immediately shifted slightly to the side, as if he himself was unsure whether it was possible to look for so long.

— Usually the security leaves earlier.

A pause. His metal fingers tightened slightly on the edge of the container—not from tension, but rather… from a strange excitement he couldn't control.

D-16 is interested, no, he's in love, and will do everything in his power to get the one he loves. No matter the cost.