#time to break bratwaves trust for whirl and send him into a panic attack uwu

[copycatsymphony]

When Soundwave wakes up, he may find a stranger in his home, sifting through Whirl's stuff, and looking at pictures as if he owned the place. The coloring is somewhat akin to what Whirl's was, though the bulkier, streamline non-Empurata frame is anything but similiar.

His helm turns to the side now, yellow faceplates coming into view, golden optics finding Soundwave's gaze, and he turns to fully look at him.

A smile spreads, and Soundwave is looked at with upmost.. love and recognition from this complete stranger.

"Ah, hello Soundwave. Uh, this, may be hard to explain but-." Frankly Whirl doesn't know how to explain to 'his' kid that while yes he has all the memories and knowledge over him and harbours great care and affection- Soundwave is as much of a stranger to him as Whirl was to him.

"I, seem to have been temporarely displaced with your usual Sire, though I am still Whirl."

He'd been still half-asleep as he walked out of his berthroom into the main hab, mask and visor off, sleepily rubbing at his optics when he caught sight of the fuzzy but unfamiliar mech. At first, without his visor correcting his impaired vision, the coloration registers as Whirl's and he opens his mouth to say hello back...but then the mech looks at him and the face is a completely strange, unfamiliar blob of color.

Soundwave's mask and visor slid back on so fast it might as well slam back into place, hiding his horrified expression from the stranger-not-stranger standing in his home.

As the stranger continues, in the usually calming voice and affectionate tone Whirl would use, the boombox just stands there, caught between wanting to run and wanting to demand the stranger to give him his Dad back. This can't be happening. This is a joke, right? Someone was playing a horrible, mean, cruel joke on him and the real Whirl would walk in with Skywarp or Thundercracker.

"Displaced?" What an awful word. It doesn't at all explain what's going on or why this fake was claiming to be his loving and adoring parent. It doesn't ease the fear that bubbles up in his spark at the sight of this stranger rifling through things that don't belong to him. "You-you're not Whirl. This - this is a joke, right? A bad prank? That's...that's what this is, right? Where's my dad why are you going through his things -"