[ The cracks were being split wider until something wide yawned in Drift's chest and threatened to swallow him back into that grief he barely crawled out of since coming here. Rodimus bearing his spark was agonizing to them both, even if moments before Drift had begged him to tell the truth. It hurt to know why Rodimus had been a ghost in his life for all those years, but it was more than the deadening numbness he had been aimlessly wandering in since their return. ]

You told me once that you didn't trust yourselves with words because of how easily they can be manipulated. [ Drift said at last, still off to the side but his posture no longer resembling a tightly clenched fist. ] That there were a dozen better ways to speak to someone when you wanted me to know how badly you wished things could have been the way they used to be.

[ For a being with a flexible metal larynx and no respiratory system, Drift managed a gulping breath that went down his throat hard and came out in a brittle exhale that left him almost trembling. ]

What you did was selfish, and hearing it out loud hurts. But... [ Drift leans like he wanted to step forward, but his upper torso wasn't yet in concert with his lower. ] I believe you, and I want to fix things too. Even if I think what you feel for him [ Drift and Megatron had barely gone back to being civil, and most under the pretense of caring for Rodimus, but he still didn't like this ] is a mistake and you're better than letting yourself burn out over him, I—

I can't lose my amica too.