Originally written in September 2009 for the Rare Pairings Comp on LJ. Decided to share after I found it again on one of my hard drives.
Pairing Wanted: Author's choice, Decepticons or jets preferred.
Rating Wanted: Any
What missing scene do you want to see? Anything set in a micro-continuity or side-continuity: /wiki/Micro-continuity - Machine Wars, Robot Masters, Binaltech/Asterisk/Kiss Players, the Jazz!lives movie toy micro-continuity, etc.
Three things you want in your story: Comedy, fresh paint
Three things you do NOT want in your story: death, noncon, sticky
Megatron was gone… again. Permanently this time. One does not tend to live through having their spark chamber, and subsequently their spark, burned clean out of their chest. At least he could be sure now the insane mech was well and truly out of his way thanks to the little organic. HA! A tiny organic of all things was the great Lord Megatron's downfall. Oh how that amused him to no end, but also left him mildly bitter that he wasn't the one to deliver the ending blow, but that was the past now.
The Decepticon army was his to rule as he saw fit. He had just seen to that with his latest plans. Unlike Megatron, he preferred sneak attacks specializing in stealth to maximize information gathering and damage. Stretching his wings up and back, the new Decepticon lord stood from his seat, motioning for the messenger to leave. It had been confirmed the Autobot 2IC, Jazz, was in fact alive and that rumors were running rife of the Autobots bringing the fight to Starscream and his forces on Mars. He was never one to take rumors such as these lightly. He hadn't lived as long as he had by letting any tidbits of potentially useful information slip through his talons. And rumors concerning battle rang true more often than not.
Stalking back to his shared quarters in the partially ruined ship, Starscream hissed and swatted at any mech dumb enough to get in his way. The red dust on this planet seemed to get into everything, always leaving the sensitive leading edges of his wings agitated and his plating tingling with an unpleasant itch. All he wanted right now was a good scrub down in his private wash rack and a long recharge.
No sooner did the doors to his quarters open then did he find his plans flying out the nearest airlock. There on the floor was Skywarp, sprawled out on his stomach chin resting on his folded arms, purring. Purring! Thundercracker sitting at his side laving a final coat of deep purple paint on the seekers lower back plating.
Jaw opening and closing, vocalizer spitting static, Starscream's optics flicked over both of his trine mates. Skywarp's once dull purple-grey plating was now a mix of black and deep violent, both wings painted black with red and silver grey striping. Thundercracker's once pale blue plating was now a combination of vibrant royal blue and black in the same patterns as Skywarp.
Finally seeming to notice him, Thundercracker glanced up red optics glowing with silent mirth. Skywarp's head lifted from his arms to look at his trine mate in question before following their line of sight. Wings flicking in greeting Skywarp's face plates split into his trademark dopey grin.
"Hey Star!"
Calmly setting aside the brush and paint containers, Thundercracker gracefully rose to his taloned feet. With measured, languid strides he moved towards his stunned trine leader.
"Starscream, come inside and I'll explain. Please sit you look tired." Thundercracker gently cooed, hands reaching out to caress his leaders frame in hopes of defusing his clearly building ire.
Snapping back to himself Starscream straightened, wings fanning out in anger. Roughly slapping the blue seekers knowledgeable talons from his frame, he bellowed;
"What is the meaning of this? What have you done to yourselves?!?"
Sliding up behind Thundercracker, Skywarp leaned languidly over his counterpart looking the picture of relaxed contentment.
"Come on Star. It's just a bit of paint. Everyone keeps saying it's so hard to tell us apart from a distance so…" Stepping out from behind Thundercracker he put on a dramatic flourish, twisting around to show off his new colours "Now there's no problem!"
All he could do was stare at his trine mates, a CPU ache rapidly developing behind his optics. With a loud huff of heated air he decided he didn't want to deal with it now. Starscream stomped past his trine mates with a low growl, making a bee line for the wash racks.
Skywarp's pleased grin slipped from his face plates, wings and shoulders slumping. For some reason he'd hoped Star would be happy. They had partly done it for the reason he'd mentioned earlier but also to brighten their existing colours as a surprise and a means to cheer up the constantly grumpy mech. These are the colours they once had before the war, bright and eye catching like all fliers. Reassuring the teleporter, Thundercracker ran sharp talons over the edge of a dark wing as they waited for Starscream to return.
They were pleased to find their leader in a more 'receptive' mood upon returning from a long bout in the wash ranks. Plates cleaned of the irksome red dust and feeling more level headed and collected he heard out their explanations. Some wheedling on Skywarp's part and gentle teasing touches from Thundercracker quickly saw all three huddled together on Starscreams berth, reaffirming their trine and providing some needed stress relief.
Waking some hours later, alone but relaxed and well sated, Starscream took his time powering up from recharge. Even during his time under Megatron's command he'd always been a heavy recharger, slow to power up. Major systems languidly flicked back online one at a time as he shifted and stretched. With one final stretch and flex of plating and cables he rolled from his large berth making his way towards the doors to the main corridor.
As he neared the doors an unusual scent caught his attention. For a moment his still rebooting processor doesn't quiet place the smell. It was fresh and clean but also mildly acrid. CPU plodding along with this little curiosity he soon reached the smooth reflective surface of the doors.
His lagging CPU was abruptly kicked into high gear. Fresh paint. The smell was fresh paint. Blazing red optics widen as he takes in his reflected visage. There was a reason for his colouring. Stealth. The paint reflected human radar and let him slip in amongst them, playing himself off as a human aircraft. That advantage was now well and truly shot. Tawny brown plates now reflected in vivid silver white, cobalt blue and ruby red.
Optical plating twitched, talons curled into vicious scythes as scaling hot air billowed from his vents in loud snorts. Raising his arms he fired his weapons, blasting the doors clear out of their housing. Mech's scatter left and right as Starscream came charging out of his quarters, back thrusters in full burn. Long loud audio shattering shrieks echoed down the halls.
"SKYWARP! THUNDERCRACKER!"
Said mech's had already left base in a hurried flight to earth to wait out the fallout of their now not so smart little prank. Maybe they should have just stuck with the first idea of painting glyphs on him.
END