Chapter 1 "Getting familiar"

Cybertron was at peace.

That was something kind of difficult to accept, specially for someone like Starscream, who had lived for war since he was still a youngling.

But well, four million years of war had become a curse to the planet itself and to its civilization, to cybertronians as tough to break as they were. Even Starscream knew that a total victory was harder to obtain as time passed, and Primus, time had passed from the moment when he had met Megatron and started fighting for him; four million years since the Decepticons first attacked the Council and four million years trying to gain control over the planet.

And after all that thing about Unicron destroying half the population that was left by war… Well, peace was something both factions desired. No more death, just peace.

Starscream, as the commander he was, watched, analyzed and gave advice to his own leader during all the process of the leaders of both factions giving their demands and making negotiations to assure they would not lose the authority they had (Optimus was more interested in the safety of his Autobots, though). At the end, the senior commanders received titles and became governors of certain city, or minister of some aspect, or, as the case of Megatron and Optimus, part of the new Council that rule and control Cybertron completely.

Starscream was not part of the Council because of the relation he had with the once War Lord, but actually none decepticon or autobot was part of it with the exception of Prime and Megatron; the rest of the members were all neutral leaders who had been doing deals with other civilizations to assure the survival of the cybertronians who had not taken part in the war; that solved the problem of how they were going to face the Intergalactic Council and how to install a government that was not going to favor any of the two factions. Plus, neutrals were more reasonable about laws and rules knowing their own leaders were part of the new Cybertronian Council.

Anyway, Starscream was now the High Lord Protector of Vos, at least until the citizens decided they wanted another governor, that was little bit probable considering the red seeker had already serve for two hundred and fifty years, but he still insisted in doing the process of elections every twenty years. Why? Because he had learned (in the bad way) that forcing authority over the rest was everything but convenient for the plans one could have.

Anyway, most of the seekers that lived in Vos were ex- Decepticons, so Starscream had no problem at all to keep his power in a considerable level, sometimes even daring to disobey direct orders from the Council, but never getting to a point that he was considered a menace, maybe in terms of ethic Vosians were different, but they wanted the new peace to last forever. And Starscream was always thinking about hot to keep his city satisfied with the life style at the same time that the Council was not threating the autonomy of his city because of some rules they were not following (well, Vos did follow those rules, just that not completely).

So, two hundred and fifty years of Starscream being actually a nice High Lord Protector that did care about the citizens and that was not planning anything to break the peace.

Many had asked themselves (and to Starscream himself), why?

After being SIC of the Decepticons (of Megatron), after being such a high commander of the aerial-seeker force, after being such a recognized soldier and strategist… Why?

Megatron, Optimus, Prowl, Magnus, Soundwave… They had had their own reasons, but Starscream did have some advantage back then, he could have taken power over the Decepticon force and take control of what was left of the planet and population.

So why would he support the Peace deal during both factions and neutrals? Why would he accept to lose his rank without knowing if he was actually getting a high position in the new government? Did he know Megatron was going to recommend him to being High Lord Protector and that the rest of the Council was going to agree?

The truth behind it was strange.

He was tired of war.

Tired of trying to overthrow Megatron just because his own desires and resentment.

Tired of being so selfish and so foolish at the same time.

Starscream had got tired of his loneliness, too.

And peace had seemed like an opportunity to fix his mistakes. Or a little bit of them, at least.

Cybertron was at peace (three hundred years of it had recently been celebrated), Starscream was the High Lord Protector of Vos and he had not seen Megatron in all those years.

Everything was perfect, one just needed to get familiar to it.

But well then, Skywarp had not gotten familiar with that situation, and he did not think he could.

It was not rare that Starscream gave and indirect invitation to his two brothers to relax of their responsibilities to have a chat and drink some of that good engex he used to buy at Helex, but it was rare that Starscream insisted in having the reunion at his apartment and not in his office.

Skywarp could not put his finger on it, but Primus knew something was happening; and it probably was no good.

Skywarp sighed before knocking the door of Starscream's apartment; he saw the doorbell a few seconds later and press it with embarrassment. The door opened without previous notice, and Thundercracker smiled at Skywarp.

- Hey. – said the blue seeker.

- Hey… - responded the teleporter.

Skywarp entered the apartment, feeling quite nervous.

(He had been nervous all those years of peace, but he never was nervous when being near to his brothers. There was something hidden from him).

-Where`s Screamer?

-Do not call me like that! – was yelled since the living room, and then a laugh that was not from Starscream sounded softly.

There was someone else in that apartment with the three seekers. There was someone with Starscream.

Thundercracker give Skywarp a slap on the shoulder, still smiling.

-You better stay calm, SW. This is… Not really expected.

Both walked a few meters in the aisle and then turn to the left to enter the living room. And it was then when Skywarp understood why he was more nervous than usual about seeing his brothers.

Skyfire was sitting next to Starscream, with his large arm surrounding the red seeker`s hips. Starscream was hiding his face in the white seeker's neck.

Skywarp smiled to those two with a feeling similar to anxiety.

To be continue…

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Edited on 07/29/18