AN: Hey, it's me! Sorry, no Victory/Attraction updates yet…I haven't abandoned them though, I promise! It's just slow going right now. Anyways, in the meantime, have some sparkling fluff!

The Start of a Beautiful Relationship

By Elora Vashara

Starscream was lost. The seekerlet was now aware of this, and had since realized that his outing had been a spectacularly bad idea. His tiny thrusters were barely keeping him in the air and he wobbled with exhaustion, never having flown this much before. He had thought when he set out that he could easily find his way back—after all, he knew what his house looked like! But now, up so high and far away, all the houses were starting to look the same and he was so turned around that he didn't even know what direction he was flying in now. Deciding he needed a rest from the flying, Starscream landed in a clear area that must have been somebody's yard.

It was huge, though, a vast plain compared to his own yard at home. The house itself was rather impressive as well, a gleaming, pillared structure that screamed aristocracy. Curious despite his nervousness, he reasoned that if the mechs that lived here were so important they must be nice as well. Maybe they would know where to find his daddy and father? He wandered around the side of the grand house and spotted another sparkling playing with some toys. The ground-based mechlet was a little bigger than him, and looked a little older, but Starscream had since decided to ignore the flutterings of nervousness that had been plaguing him for a while. Things couldn't get any worse, could they?

So he wandered up to his fellow sparkling, shadow falling into the similarly colored mechling's line of vision.

Optimus glanced up at the obvious intrusion to his playtime, expecting a cleaning drone or one of the servant drones, and was instead greeted with the vision of a red, white and blue seekerlet, a bit younger than him and looking very tired and distressed, though he was hiding it well. He gaped for a moment, and when he was not met with a greeting of any kind he pulled his mouth shut, gathered his manners and stumbled out a hello.

Upon seeing the mechlet's face, Starscream had become immediately fixed upon the optics shining up at him. They were a vibrant shade of blue, shining in bright surprise up at him. They reminded him of stars, he decided, since they were the only other things he knew of that shone so purely. The small hello had come and gone now, and Starscream felt embarrassed at his lack of response, so he directed his gaze to the ground, scuffing the tip of his foot slightly and feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Um…" Optimus wasn't sure what to do now that he had been denied a response. "D'you wanna sit?" he asked gently, patting the ground beside him. This got a reaction, as the seekerlet took his offer and plopped down with legs crossed, scarlet optics meeting his for a fraction of a second in thanks. Optimus nodded, then stared at his lap, trying to work out what to do next. They could play, but the seekerlet seemed tired, or… Oh! His papa was always reminding him to have good manners, and that included always politely introducing himself by name and shaking hands. Maybe that was why he hadn't gotten a response.

He shifted a little so he was facing the other sparkling slightly and held out his hand. "'M Optimus, it is very nice to meet you." There was no reaction right away, but Optimus could be patient and he left his hand out within easy grasp.

Hesitantly, Starscream reached up to take the blue hand in his own and was surprised to find that the shades of blue were nearly identical. Curious, he pulled the hand a little closer and flipped it over, inspecting the smooth curve of the small digits and comparing them to his own slightly smaller ones. "Starscream," he offered quietly as he continued his inspection of the now wide optic'd Optimus, lower lip sticking out in a slight pout. Eventually he relinquished Optimus' hand and met his optics with a shy smile, crimson optics glowing warmly.

Optimus couldn't help but grin back, and with that the ice was broken and the two began to play and chatter and chase each other around the yard until the light began to grow dimmer outside and both were exhausted. They trooped up the steps onto the back deck and clambered up onto one of the benches, Optimus curling up against one armrest and Starscream snuggling up against him. They quickly fell into blissful recharge smiles on their faces and each feeling that they were far better off for knowing the other now.

AN2: Hope you enjoyed it :-) Review if you have a second!