"That is not funny!" Starscream shrieked as he stood up, throwing the now empty can of pink paint at a laughing Skywarp and Thundercracker's pedes. The two darker coloured seekers lost their footing and fell to the floor, still howling with laughter.
"You should've seen the look on your face Star'!" Skywarp cackled, his head leaning against Thundercracker's knee.
"Oh Primus! Why didn't I get a camera!" Thundercracker wheezed in between snorts. Tears of humiliation welled in the corners of Starscream's optics, his fists shaking as they pressed against his hips. The pink pigment was dripping down his flawless body armour, pooling on the floor and even getting in his thrusters. He stood there, fuming, waiting for his brothers to stop laughing.
When it became obvious that this wouldn't happen any time soon, Starscream just let loose and lived up to his name in every way.
"I hate you both!" He screamed at an audio puncturing level. The two abruptly stopped and stared after their brother, younger and older, as he stormed out of the room and effectively slamming the sliding door. How that was possible, neither of them knew.
The, formerly, blue and red seeker rushed down the hall in an enraged and teary fit. Several other Decepticons stared after, what they saw as, the pink and white blur dashing passed them making sobbing noises. Starscream ran to his chamber and, once again, slammed the door shut. He pressed his back to the door and slid into a sitting position before letting himself relieve his optics of all the tears he'd kept pent up.
"Stupid slagging Skywarp! Fragging Thundercracker! I'll make them pay for this!" He choked. 15 minutes passed before Starscream remembered he had to get the paint washed off! Megatron would never let him live it down if he saw his second-in-command covered in bright, unicorn-shade, pink! He got to his pedes and scurried towards the luxurious bath tub, filling it with water and grabbing a wash rag from the side table. Leaning over the side, he began scrubbing furiously, but the slagging stuff had already dried!
The seeker slammed his servos on the edge of the tub, hanging his head and sobbing pitifully. He would make his brothers pay for this, even if it was most likely only Skywarp's idea-Thundercracker didn't have to go along with it!
"Statement: You will not remove paint that way." Starscream whipped around to see Soundwave leaning against his door, his leg cocked up so his pede pressed flat against it, arms crossed over the glass casing on his chest. Even with that silvery mask he could see himself in; Starscream could tell the telepath was smirking at him. "Do you require assistance?"
The seeker frowned. Soundwave wasn't asking. He turned his head back to it's original position, staring at his reflection in the water.
"Yes." He grunted. Soundwave removed himself from his overly confident looking pose and made his way over to the seeker. He had Starscream stand back a bit, then he emptied the bath of the cold and slightly pink tinged water. He then refilled it with hot water, squirting in plenty of soup and causing bubbles to arise. He then turned to Starscream and gestured to the water.
"In." He ordered. Starscream paused for a moment, then got into the bath. Soundwave, to his surprise, followed his lead and clambered into the water as well. Starscream looked over at Soundwave's shoulder, seeing his stereo-canon had been removed. Soundwave reached towards a cleaner wash rag and dunked it into the water, soaking it completely. Looking up at the seeker, he opened out one arm. "Come here." He mumbled. Starscream reluctantly did so, crawling through the water and into Soundwave's lap. The dark blue mech wrapped his arm around the smaller body and began scrubbing roughly in circular motions. He rubbed extra had on the dried substance on the seeker's chest plate and cockpit, but got gentler as he got to shoulders and arms.
Then, Soundwave began cleaning the seeker's wings.
"Ahn!" Starscream gasped, recoiling against Soundwave's chest. The wet rag continued wiping away at the paint across Starscream's left wing, getting closer to the tips. The smaller mech began panting and moaning at the attention to his most sensitive area, the hot water and bubbles dripping over the hidden sensor nodes over the spread of his wing. He shuddered and buried his face deeper against Soundwave.
And Soundwave began trailing swirling, circular patterns down his back.
"Get away from me!" Starscream snapped, shoving Soundwave to the other end of the tub and threatening to get out of the tub with a lift of his leg.
"Statement: Not all paint has been removed." Starscream paused. He turned to Soundwave slowly and drank in his image.
Including the drop of dried pink paint on his cheek.
It was him! Not Skywarp, or Thundercracker, but Soundwave who placed that huge barrel of pink paint above the door. He planned for it to be dumped all over the seeker because he knew Starscream opened doors more violently than most people. Thinking back, neither Skywarp or Thundercracker had a drop of paint on them! Skywarp was too clumsy not to get some paint on him, and doubtless Thundercracker would have wiped it off of him and removed it on his blue thighs and, and, and-
He'd said he hated his brothers.
Starscream's visage screwed up in utter fury, then smacked his hands on the floor of the bath rub, and yelled at Soundwave, while on all fours:
"Why!"
Soundwave paused for a minute. Starscream had figured him out. It was inevitable really, the seeker was smarter than Megatron gave him credit-and had an uncanny talent for noticing tiny details others would miss.
"I told Skywarp and TC I hated them because of your little joke, now tell me why dammit!" Starscream snarled. Soundwave placed a bent finger on his chin in thought; How could he put this?
"So I could bathe with you."
Soundwave wished he'd thought to bring a holo-scanner with him, for moments such as when the usually mouthy, screechy, bitchy seeker was absolutely lost for words and down right gob smacked! To relive that hysterical, and somewhat beautiful, expression again and again.
"... What?" Soundwave leaned forward, blue fingers of his right servo stroking slowly and softly down a pale grey cheek.
"Repetition: I wished to bathe with you. Prank: necessary for mission completion." Starscream's jaw dropped. Mission? He'd planned the entire thing! "Statement: You are cute when you moan."