Love, dadatron, my man would try, but Lord would he be a shit father at certain points of time. Now... might I ask for idw/mtmte dadatron? Maybe when he comes back in issue 25 of Lost Light, he not only has a fleet, but he also has a small little bit with him... was tempted to make him suffer, but he be a semi good dad during/post LL/mtmte (not before... feel it would be similar to tfp Megatron if he was a father before mtmte)
EXACTLYYY he's not a very good dad... he's the best dad around (to you in your optics) when you're too young to really understand the world but when you get a little older, you see through the MASSIVE cracks.
now idw papatron... thats a bit more complicated
i'll be so fr with you, phase one idw megs is a tough parent. very no-nonsense. like tfp lets you goof off every now and then but this guy? he expects proper discipline and will scold you severely if you're not meeting his expectations. you're more than his sparkling, you're his heir. he expects more from you than tfp ever would. you'd try so hard to impress him, putting yourself in dangerous situations and i wouldn't be surprised if you died either. people tend to forget how emotionally detached from everything phase one idw megs really is. that mf turned bots into living landmines for shits and giggles while quite literally running the cybertronian equivalent of concentration camps. he was BRUTAL. also a lot more emotionally unavailable? he's so busy with the war that he barely has time for you- top 1 worst megadads ever.
but if we're talking about him having a bitlet in the functionist universe, ohhhh its so emotional for him. like he's hesitating but with all the chaos going on, he can't just leave you out there either! he's reluctant, but i think a few of the other bots from the functionist universe might encourage him but terminus kinda disapproves cause they're in the middle of a conflict and megatron can't just go about raising kids now when he's their only commander!
for him, it'll be the first time he's going to have to learn to be gentle. most of the time, even aboard the Lost Light, he's a stern and brooding old mech. he can't exactly keep that up if he's going to raise a healthy little sparkling. he hesitates to as advice at first but soon learns how to hold you gently, he's never held anything as gently until you came into the picture. your giggles and babbles makes something in his spark positively melt. and for once, he's smiling. he enjoys this feeling a lot more than he thought he would.
is he perfect? no, not really. miles better than his counterparts though. when doing something mischievous, he doesn't just scold you. he tells you why you're not supposed to do that and the consequences of your actions. megatron doesn't want you to turn out like him.
he would want you to be better than he ever was. he wants you to be kind, empathetic, and understanding. things that he still struggles trying to grasp.
this might culminate into overprotective behaviour. he wants you away from all bad influences. which is why when he's back on the Lost Light, he hesitates to let half of them carry you around even though they're all so eager. it took him weeks to allow Rodimus, who wouldn't stop begging, to let him babysit you.
Rodimus proceeded to take you in his alt mode and zoom in the hallways of the ship, making you squeal and laugh at some instances when he almost ran over bots. nevertheless, he's your self-proclaimed 'fun' uncle. Megatron thinks hes a terrible influence, the moment you start doing finger-guns at Megatron, he already regrets allowing Rodimus to take care of you.
as captain of the Lost Light, he's a busy mech (just like in the functionist universe). so it means that you're usually looked after by someone else and it ends up with you being the ray of sunshine aboard the ship.
sometime its Ultra Magnus, who lectures you on keeping clean. also you screamed out in terror first time you saw him as Minimus Ambus. you thought he was an imposter. its like those videos where kids see their dads without their beards for the first time.
Rewind and Chromedome often gets chances to take care of you, and despite your mischief, it kinda makes them want one of their own. they know how to calm you down so you're quick to recharge and Rewind has a huge collection of animated features for you to watch!
Drift and Rodimus gets cuteness aggression around you. until you bit Rodimus' digits when he was pulling too hard on your faceplates. Drifts still thinks you're adorable and Rodimus doesn't want to give up his only chance at annoying the scrap out of Megatron by being your fun uncle.
Ratchet is mostly neutral about you and is the one Megatron trusts the most with. he's quick to discipline you. Megatron kinda struggles getting the balance of gentle and stern right so sometimes, its up to Ratchet to give you a spark-piercing glare. you prefer going to Velocity when you're hurt because of it, she's so much more gentle with you.
Tailgate loves playing with you. He's too old for it but he likes keeping you company by indulging in your little games. He'll drag Cyclonus into it too who's just sitting there extremely displeased.
Skids would have been fun uncle Rodimus thinks he is. he would've probably shown you around the bar (Megatron has forbidden any of them from taking you there but Skids prolly dgaf). he would've given you a tour of the vents. his adventurous spirit would've rubbed off on you.
but one day, Nautica probably would take you into Swerve's and she'd teach you to dance in there, holding your smaller servos in hers as she leans down to make it easier for you, the two of you moving to the rhythm of the bar's radio.
when you do show up to the bar, Swerve makes sure to give you the least intoxicating, kiddie energon he can find. he will sometimes give you sweets for free when you show up. he likes you. at least until you give him the petname 'energon mech'. but you're just a kid! so he's inclined to forgive you... even if the nickname sticks.
if he had been alive, whenever you have something that Megatron isn't sure how to deal with, he would've consulted Rung because Rung is the one who checks up on you. you would've been kind enough to not forget his name and probably his favourite patient. would've 100% gifted you a model spaceship or given some treats like Swerve would.
you're not allowed ten feet around Whirl for obvious reasons but Tailgate tries to convince Megatron that it wouldn't be "that bad". you... you test Whirl's patience. he is not fond of sparklings, you repel him away every time you go close to him. he gets this weird feeling of endearment when you chew on his claws though.
you're not just being raised by Megatron here, you're being raised by a whole SHIP. it gives him hope because he knows you'll turn out alright... you have the support net he lacked when he spiralled, you've got people looking after you and Megatron is glad he was able to give you that. he thinks of it as the best possible gift he could ever give you because it was the one thing he lacked the most.
you're the most protected sparkling in the history of sparklings cause you've got like nearly 10 uncles, 2 aunts and an ex-warlord father ready to jump anyone who'd hurt you.
he's the happiest when you've got something to smile about
at least, until when his sentence finally arrives. you've given him the best moments of his old age.
