Starscream was bored. The Eradicon could tell. The way he glanced furtively up at the sky every now and again, the way his wings twitched slightly whenever a breeze would blow- oh, yes. The Air Commander was becoming restless after a long day of supervising the Miners, and Eradicon 4N-D13 couldn't blame him.
The sun was starting to get to him, and his pedes ached from standing still for so long. He was meant for battles, not for sparkling-sitting. But to The Pit with complaints. If he wasn't stuck out here guarding the Miners, he'd be helping clean tools in the med bay, and honestly that seemed even more boring, if possible. Even so.. a little company would have been nice. It didn't take ten Eradicons to guard a cave entrance, but conversation would've been pleasant. Something to distract him from the barren, foreign landscape, something to keep his thoughts from scurrying and escaping him like so many nano bots-
"You."
4N-D13 jumped and his face plates heated up exponentially when he realized the Commander was staring straight at him, servos crossed over his chassis. His intakes stuttered.
"Me?" he squeaked, receiving a light scoff in return. Starscream's wings fluttered slightly in irritation.
"Well, is there anyone else out here?" he snapped, rolling his optics and inspecting his claws. "Yes, I'm speaking to you, Grounder."
A pang went through the Eradicon's spark, and he gave a rapid, apologetic nod, grimacing from behind his mask. Yes, he was of the Vehicon division, but Seekers used Grounder as a derogatory term. It hurt, for some reason, and he found his own reaction funny for a few brief seconds. Why he cared now was beyond him.
"Uh-huh? I mean- yes? I mean- yes, Commander S-Starscream?" the Eradicon sputtered, flinching away from the Seeker ever so slightly, unused to such sudden sparks in conversation. He received only commands from higher ranking officers, not.. whatever this was.
"Save me your blithering," Starscream said simply, sending another look up to the clouds before turning his gaze back to him. "What's your designation, Grounder?"
"4N-D13, sir!" he said frantically, putting a hand on his own chassis and watching the flier apprehensively as he raised an optic ridge.
"4N-D13?" the second in command echoed. "How cumbersome. Well, 4N-D13, I tire of waiting. The skies call to me, so I'll make a bargain with you. I'll let you keep your spark in its chamber if you keep quiet. Deal?"
Starscream's simpering tone sent a shiver down his spinal chain, and he tensed as a sharp claw was dug into his chassis- right above his frantically pulsing spark. 4N-D13 had no idea what was going on, but his processor screamed at him to respond. Keep quiet about what?
"Yes. Yes, sir," he choked, shoulder platings sagging in relief when Starscream removed his hand and let out a low chuckle.
"Good."
With that, he transformed, zooming off with a powerful gust of wind and leaving the Eradicon dazed and in the dust. Literally. Oh. Keep quiet about that.
Squinting against the rising cloud, 4N-D13 waved a servo in front of his face plates to clear his vision, craning his neck cables to look up at the sky- and his intakes stuttered yet again.
Oblivious, the sleek Seeker flew on, spiraling, diving, whirling into the horizon only to return in a sparkbeat, a blur. He was clearly enjoying himself- the Eradicon could tell.
It was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. Though he himself was scared of heights, seeing this was just... Strangely entrancing. He could watch for megacycles. Taken aback, he almost forgot his pedes were touching the ground, and lost all passage of time until-
'4N-D13? You there?'
His comm pinged, and he huffed in embarrassment, forgetting no one else could see him getting caught off guard.
'Yeah, still here. What is it?'
'Tell Screamy w're on our way out- there's not much here. Leftovers, really.'
The Eradicon waited a few seconds, hesitant. Starscream wouldn't be happy to hear that. At all.
'You sure?' he asked. 'Take what you can- something's better than nothing.'
A brief moment of surprised silence fuzzed the comm link before his fellow reluctantly agreed, and ended the conversation. 4N-D13 took a brief cycle of air before tentatively poking the Seeker's link.
'Commander?'
'Can't you see I'm busy?'
'Deepest apologies, Commander Starscream, but the troops didn't.. exactly have a plentiful find. Th-They'll be out with the little they managed to seek out soon, though, and.. I thought you should know.'
More silence ensued, the Seeker pausing and hovering in the air almost pensively, from the looks of it. The Eradicon felt his insides clench. It seemed like forever until the second in command lowered himself from the sky and transformed, landing lightly on his pedes, aiming him with a sharp glare.
Oh, Primus. His mouth began working before he could stop it, and he moved back a few paces, digits clenched fitfully.
"I..I'm sorry, sir," he babbled. "They weren't- I mean, well, it's not like- what I mean is-"
"Has anyone told you that you talk too much?" Starscream interrupted him, raising his optic ridges, unamused. "As long as we have something, our ..beloved Lord Megatron will hopefully keep his mouth shut. And as long as you keep our little secret about me leaving my post, you'll have nothing to worry about. So stop your rambling- you're giving me a helm ache."
4N-D13 practically choked as a razor sharp claw tapped at his mask, going stock still at the Seeker's elegant but deadly smirk, his own lip platings twitching a bit.
"Y-Yes sir," came the breathy reply, and he let himself lean against the cave entrance with a soft thud, helm spinning as the troop came out and Starscream's focus turned to them instead.
His spark was pulsing so hard, he thought he'd offline on the spot, and he couldn't help but give a muffled grunt of surprise when he caught Starscream sending him a smug, amused look, optics glinting.
Maybe staying inside had been a good idea after all.