And I’d love Soundwave’s thoughts here:
Soundwave slowly lowered his arms. His visor swiveled towards Rodimus. It flashed with images: Rodimus in the fuel furnace, in the med bay, on the hull.
“I like that you're thinking about me,” said Rodimus. “Everyone should.”
Soundwave's visor went blank.
“What happened back there? What did you do?”
“Use your words,” said Rodimus. “I can't read your mind.”
A pulse of pain came through Soundwave's field. He raised a spindly finger and pointed at Rodimus's chest. “Injured?”
“It's not good,” said Rodimus. He touched the holes the tendrils had left in his chest. “But I'm sure enduring Ratchet's screams will be worse than the actual patch job. I'll be okay.”
Soundwave's field pulsed with pain again.
“You want to say something,” said Rodimus. “I know you do. Just say it. Are you injured?”
Soundwave's frame seemed to collapse in on itself. His field pulsed with roiling emotions. They were bitter and sharp. He held up a tendril. Its tip was silver. “Danger not desired. But danger: expressed.”
“Yeah, that wasn't a good time,” said Rodimus. He eyed the tendril tip. “I think I understand a little more what you meant by that, now.”
“Are you afr- afraid of m- me?”
“Nah,” said Rodimus. He tried to lift his spoiler. Only the right side rose. He forced cheer into his voice. “You kidding me? As far as I can tell, you pulled something out of me that killed a god.” And you cried doing it. You saw Nyon and you cried. Rodimus swallowed. “How cool is that?”
Relief flowed from Soundwave so hard, Rodimus felt it in his own lines.
Rodimus grinned at him. “Tell me you couldn't have done that with any other mech and I promise I won't be mad.”
Equations ran across Soundwave's visor. “Perhaps another mech has infinite understanding. But I-” He cut himself off.
His visor displayed rose pink crystals. “But I only want yours.”
I tried to write Soundwave's thoughts as graspable to the reader as possible, based on his body language, but maybe it was too esoteric/confusing. We'll go through the steps of his thoughts:
His visor swiveled towards Rodimus. It flashed with images: Rodimus in the fuel furnace, in the med bay, on the hull.
^here Soundwave is thinking of the times Rodimus has been hurt (fuel furnace fight with Stardrive, recovery in med bay) and when he himself could've hurt Rodimus (hull, more on that in a moment).
He raised a spindly finger and pointed at Rodimus's chest. “Injured?”
...
He held up a tendril. Its tip was silver. “Danger not desired. But danger: expressed.”
^this refers to that time on the hull when Soundwave went to Rodimus and tried to explain that he was dangerous ("danger not desired") and that he didn't understand his ability very well. He wanted to make Rodimus understand that without saying something like "look, I'm terrified I'm going to eat you." Ever since the fight with Stardrive, Soundwave's #1 fear has been that his hunger is going to destroy Rodimus. It's the thing that's affected all of his actions and choices since The Irradion arc. He didn't understand his hunger on the hull, and now that he's destroyed 2938 Megatron, maybe he knows a little more of what he's capable of, but he did also kill the only person(thing/being/whatever) that could've told him exactly what he was and taught him how to control it. So the fear remains that he could hurt Rodimus. "Danger not desired. But danger: expressed." -> "I don't want to be dangerous, but I am, and I hurt you." That's why he stutters when he asks:
“Are you afr- afraid of m- me?”
He doesn't want Rodimus to be afraid of him. He's visibly relieved when Rodimus says no.
Rodimus then says "I promise I won't be mad if I'm the only one who could've saved us all ;)" to which Soundwave replies with the truth (he is, overall, a very truthful character):
“Perhaps another mech has infinite understanding. But I-” ... “But I only want yours.”
aka "it's possible that I could've taken the data I needed from another mech (aka you're technically not the only mech who could've saved us all), but I only wanted yours, Rodimus."
