#dratchet hc bs

[pyrochoreia]

Personally, I don't think that Ratchet ever would have felt betrayed by Drift because the kid never owed him anything and he never expected anything of him, nor would he have felt any resentment in the common fanon way of 'I didn't save your life so you could go do a murder'...

One of the key things that stuck out for me was that after they reunited they literally shared no panel time and Ratchet's literal first reaction to Drift going MIA was to worry about him. The punk was either fucked up or fucking shit up instead of escaping with them and in need of a slap, let's be real. Ratchet spent the next however long before they ever spoke on panel was putting himself directly in Drift's space.

Another thing I noticed is that Ratchet is acutely aware that Drift does not know how to defend himself unless resorting to violence; there were a couple instances where Ratchet has either openly stopped Drift from reacting on that impulse, scolding him for having that impulse, and Drift yelling for instruction because he doesn't know what to do as he was specifically told not to stab people. Drift seems to be more passive and confused when violence isn't an option, and seems to shut down or quietly cooperate as seen with how he deals with Rodimus (although a good portion of that was him letting Rodimus use him to keep him on track, more on that another time, because I'm upset by it forever). They had literally like, one argument on the Decepticon topic which crossed a previously undefined line that did result in Drift drawing a sword, highlighting both facts; Drift responds to feeling threatened with violence and that what Ratchet is feeling isn't betrayal since not only does it never really come up again but going forward he seems to instinctively know how to handle and approach Drift. It was also very clear that Ratchet wasn't afraid of him in that moment, so I'm also of the opinion that Ratchet never felt threatened by Drift and believed he wouldn't actually hurt him, knowing that the sword was being displayed defensively.

What I think that anger stemmed from was the fact that Ratchet felt responsible for Drift -- that him turning to the Decepticons was a result of him failing him when he needed help the most. Ratchet sees it as a logical choice from Drift's perspective; he was around since before the war, knew what Megatron stood for and what was being offered. The very sudden flip in Ratchet's handling of Drift following that incident was realisation that not only did he unintentionally make him feel cornered and likely hurt him, but the understanding that the anger he felt was at himself for not doing enough and not at Drift for taking what he likely saw as the only option at the time. After all, weren't they trying to do similar -- didn't they have the same end goal? Wasn't that the original conflict between Pax and Megatron, that after a particular incident their approach on the matter clashed?

Not to mention, some of that anger was fear that Drift might feel betrayed by him; after all they stood for in the past, Ratchet still chose the side opposing them. Did Drift resent him in some way because he'd left him before even fully chasing him out the door - had he felt discarded in that moment?

Since Cybertronians only have one sparkmate I'm of the opinion that there's a pull, that bonding is very literal in the old-old fanon way. While Ratchet wouldn't have fully understood his feelings towards Drift until much later (unless in the dumb AU I was plotting for my Shockwave) there still would have been that draw, and I 100% believe that he would have gone after the idiot if there was room for any sneaky hookups. They never did explain how or why Ratchet got kidnapped in the first place and never really came back to that topic, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was entirely because he'd just found out where Drift had gone, was personally offended by the discovery and decided that he was going to go collect him and unfortunately was discovered by someone else first.

Ratchlock nonsense in the canon story would be a lot of Ratchet bickering with Megatron for custody, more or less, and Megatron just Not Having Time For This Shit and probably calling Orion.

To be fair, a lot of the headcanon bits are because I write some of the other characters very particular ways - Megatron who would have forbade harm to knowingly come to the medical class, for example, that they would have had more ties with/offering aid to particular anti-government organisations and the Decepticon sympathisers (including some ocs here- madam Fireshine and the Pedlar's Inn), and Rathet's relation to my Trepan and Rung...

..........diarchy!Ratch though would have had that boy if he could help it, Deadlock or no.

Whirl heckles him in both stories. She Knows, even when he doesn't.