They were sleeping. Megatron stood hesitantly near the recharging jet and... and.
HIS dor'na. Starscream was on his belly tonight, sleeping on his arms again, the hatchling nestled near his breast. He gazed at his bonded for the longest moment; the thin, pale red slits of his shuttered optics, the faint rise and fall of his frame as he cycled air, and when his wings shuffled just barely - the most familiar habit of his. He wondered at times what Starscream dreamed of, to know the memory replays of a flier.
His gaze dropped to the miniscule creature cuddled close to the seeker, a much larger, delicately clawed hand wrapped protectively around the darkly shelled thing. Megatron's internals cycled angrily for a moment. The urge to kill it rose, to get rid of the interloping sparkling. It was enough he had ONE full-grown mech trying to kill him, he didn't need ANOTHER when it matured and came to understand it's doreedo's plotting mind.
But, there was always the possibility of things changing, Megatron processed. Things resurfaced to snap into place with a near earth-shattering realization. So many patterns - why had he not seen it before?
Memory banks assulted him with replays of that one instance in time that had been previously pushed away from his recollections. The shrill, audio-disabling shriek Starscream had given, the roar of anger brought on by Megatron's discovery. Starscream had fought - oh how he had struggled - but in the end had failed. The silver mech looked to his spindly claws, flexing them in awe. The sparkling, barely having received its first shell of transmetal, had been crushed like a ripe fruit in his palm.
None of his ranks had question the absence of the Air Commander, who disappeared for some weeks after the incident. Megatron had stewed angrily. How Starscream had hidden away the sparkling, then dare present to him the product of their singular bonding, he could not comprehend. It had only been a matter of time before Starscream had returned, bowing his head once more to his leader - he had nowhere else to go, and death or capture by the Autobots were choices the reticent seeker did not want to face.
"So, Starscream, is that the reason you changed?" Megatron asked the silent space around himself, moving steadily and silently towards the sleeping flier and his... HIS... sparkling. As if sensing his presence, the tiny creature squirmed and chirped, waking. The greater mech almost withdrew, but held his ground, finding tiny violet optics staring up at him. It chittered, the dor'na completely innocent to the thoughts that crossed its genitor's mind. Megatron sighed, reaching down and picking the miniscule thing up, caging claws around it, bringing it to eye level. The sparkling wriggled and clung to him, automatically knawing at his joints, tiny claws pinching onto him.
"Already so vigorous," Megatron muttered, watching as he teased at the little thing with his free hand. It took a moment, but he managed to croon softly in his native tongue, the base words feeling foreign in his vocals - how long had it been, since he had heard such endearments? He could not even recall his own creators. The sparkling settled, curling up once more in reaction to the codes he whispered. Smirking, he shifted to set the child back down, but was stopped by wide crimson optics staring up at him.
"Starscream..."
"M-my lord," the raspy tone came, hesitant and almost... frightened. The flier shifted to his pedes, cowering before his kneed leader, eyes flickering from the sparkling to Megatron's own dimmed optics, and back again. He was almost trembling, waiting for the deathblow to the small creature - again. But it did not come, and Starscream flinched as his leader reached the hand that held the sparkling out to him, claws unfurling. The silver mech was not quite glaring, more staring intensely at the seeker, seeing what would happen.
It was with unusually gentle hands that Starscream retreived the sparkling, cradling it close to his chest with a croon. Delicate claws stroked at the creature's minute helm, careful of the still developing shell. He shuffled backwards, as Megatron lifted himself to his full height again, still staring heatedly at the jet. Starscream began to speak, mandibles opening only to have vocals muted when his lord turned, trodding off quietly to the entrance of the hanger.
He knew, soon, that things would be different.