The halls of the new fortress became a roar of crashing plates, laughing vocalizers, and clinking cubes. This was a time for celebration. Secret stashes of energon processed in Kaon before Cybertron had fallen, and hey, lots of interfacing because why the frag not?
Knock Out was immodestly sandwiched between two silver Vehicons right at an intersection, grinning and groaning and admiring the shine to their finish. Starscream paid no mind and stepped around, well aware of numerous other optics watching his backstrut as if it were a big chunk of glowing energon. Hmm. He couldn't say he'd never thought of fragging a drone before. Knock Out did it quite frequently but there was also rumor of him letting an Insecticon blow some of his fuses, so no one was surprised.
Starscream continued down the halls, clutching his cube, careful not to let it spill with light steps on his heeled pedes, former grace very much returned with his confidence at being placed back in a position of command. He could hear eager but cautious steps behind him. No doubt the Vehicons wanted a taste.
The air commander swiveled alluringly to face them, free servo on hip. The drones misstepped and clankered into each other stupidly. He waited a moment, almost considering, then blinked the idea away. "I'm looking for Soundwave. Any idea where he ran off to?" the aerial asked, very deliberately teasing.
"Down to the communications lab, Commander Starscream," an automobile Vehicon answered, stepping forward a little, servos rising.
Starscream was quick to hop back. "I suggest you remain up here on cleaning duty. Lord Megatron will allow celebration, of course, but I assure you he would be offended if he found purged energon staining the floors of his new fortress."
And with that, the jet continued his overcharged prancing until he reached the sharp stairwells and the levels below.
"Ah, Soundwave," Starscream greeted his fellow Decepticon, who seemed to be ignoring the festivities in favor of setting up a console. Typical.
The sleek Decepticon did not even acknowledge Starscream with a twitch. Long, spindly fingers tapped and pressed buttons with a curious intimacy that the commander had long wondered about.
"Have you been down here this whole time?" Starscream asked, loudly this time, deliberate in his pestering. "There's plenty of high-grade left."
Soundwave merely plugged in to the console and began an upload, visor showing various strings of code. The jet's optics narrowed and after taking in a large gulp of fuel, he flanked the other 'Con swiftly, swiping servo over the console's keyboard to push long sharp digits away.
Soundwave shifted his weight, and turned his helm to stare.
"Oh, good," Starscream sneered. "I thought maybe you were glitched or something."
Soundwave remained still, waiting. The jet simply stood straight and took another sip, twitching his wings a little like a pretty birdie who wanted attention. "Do you intend to continue working the rest of the night?"
The dark Decepticon turned, pointing a long digit at the console screen which displayed a progress bar.
"Ah. Yes, I suppose it would be in our best interest to get the data uploaded." The bits of unrefined energon were starting to dissolve in his tank, and a pleasant tingle spread down to his pedes. Even Soundwave saw the slow shuttering of optics. Maybe there was a little twitch in his visor display, maybe there was something intriguing about Starscream leaning buzzed and loose against the console.
But he had work to do. Soundwave turned back and pulled up some other tasks while the upload continued. A quiet nano-cycle went by. The only sounds his audials picked up were the clinking of the cube and its contents, and maybe some slow ventilation. But it was peripheral. Soundwave was known for being very focused, after all.
"Where is Laserbeak?"
Soundwave paused his servo over a button. His audials brought in Starscream's voice and briefly over his visor were the waves of his words. Definite slur to the vocalization. Husky, which meant not a lot of air had been put into it. It had almost been one slow word. Wherzrbeak.
He gave in and turned again to confirm that Starscream had finished off the cube and was looking at him with gleaming, half-masted optics. Soundwave took in this image for a moment before searching his recent recordings and spitting back out, "—working the rest of the night."
Starscream clawed gently at some buttons. "Hmm." His hum was low. "With Megatron?"
Soundwave tilted his helm in a nod. Back to staring, then. Starscream's wings had a definite relaxed droop to them.
"Soundwave, you can't expect me to believe you have no interest in celebrating at all."
The spy gave a glance at the screen. 13% uploaded. "Yes, I know," Starscream snorted, stepping forward and wobbling on a heel before steadying himself. "Our crew is up above observing our victory, and nearly everyone has paired off. You don't want to get stuck with a Vehicon, now do you?"
Soundwave's visor shuffled for a moment. "With Megatron," he sampled, though through tilted helm, indicating it was either a question or suggestion.
Starscream's vocalizer ground in a laugh, though it was distorted as he tried to get the very last drop of energon from the cube. His coordination was much too off and before anything happened, the cube suddenly disappeared from his servo and he blinked to find one of Soundwave's long cables setting it on the floor safely.
"You're no fun," Starscream said, pressing his mouthplate together as more energon lit up his circuits. He was warm, so very warm inside. "Can't you unplug? We could play."
If Soundwave's optics were visible, they'd have rolled for the fifth time now. But he didn't miss how Starscream had his own claw digging into some chassis seams. The tipsy jet did seem to get frustrated after a moment though and pushed from the console. "Fine, I'll see if any Vehicons haven't been spent yet."
Starscream made it all but three steps before taking a dive, and before his faceplate kissed hard metal flooring, he halted. Long, strong cables coiled around his waist and around an arm, lifting him from his fall. The jet's vision swam and he ground his denta when something gurgled in his tank. He allowed Soundwave to upright him and squinted to check and confirm that the spy had indeed unplugged his other cable to catch him. My, what a gentlemech.
Starscream closed claws lightly around the one of the cables in a caress. "Now that you're not uploading..." Soundwave stepped forward, one clawed cable unraveling slightly to attach itself to Starscream's chest. The jet purred in anticipation. After a few moments of a spinning processor at work, Soundwave's visor produced colorful stats and charts. Energon pressure, sparkpulse, charge level, etc. One was zeroed in on and enlarged for display. Toxicity level. A low warning beeped.
Starscream responded in a half-afted snarl, knowing when he was being called a lightweight. "Are you going to make fun of me or are we going to do this? Don't tell me it's against your morals to frag the inebriated."
To the commander's irritation, the dutiful Decepticon glanced once more at his beloved console. The upload was frozen and abandoned. He'd have to start over. Cables tightened marginally in contemplation. Starscream was already well worked up from the high-grade. And Soundwave may have been a workaholic. There was a static and tenseness to his protoform and wiring, built up over likely over deca-cycles. Or ano-cycles. To his surprise he couldn't bring up any logs of the last time he interfaced or even experienced a good overload. That would require further digging.
But for now, he had a spirited and sleek jet in his tentacles. It was logical to continue.
Starscream bristled seriously this time, "Let me go if you're just going to sta—aaghh!"
Soundwave's cable twitched as he fed energy through it, into Starscream's chestplate. The aerial whined and let his helm roll back, servos grasping at nothing. "Yeeees," the moans came easily, no room for modesty with high-grade heated insides. Stepping closer, Soundwave eased the commander up onto the unused portion of the console, knowing it wasn't likely he'd be able to stand soon anyway.
The other cable entwined arm and snaked to chassis, filaments spreading and feeling seams, curious to find every little crevice where more wiring and panels hid. Starscream was already shaking and panting, vents kicking desperately. His optics crossed in an attempt to focus vision and suddenly the aerial grabbed Soundwave urgently.
"Wait," he rasped, wings snapping out and hitting something hard. "Wait!"
Soundwave powered down the feed and stilled the small feelers. Starscream ventilated harshly, optics shuttering in a daze. The spy loosened his cables and leaned back, giving the Decepticon space. He searched and repeated, "—spent yet."
Starscream would've looked offended if he wasn't so loaded. The energon was slamming his systems hard now, and Soundwave thought for a moment before freeing his energy field. It enveloped the jet softly, a cooling buzz to help with overheating circuitry. It was apparent that Starscream would've overloaded right there if Soundwave hadn't stopped. But he also probably would've purged half his tank all over the console. That wouldn't do.
As much as he would prefer not to be fooling around with a drunk air commander right now, he'd already started. And he'd be lying if he denied the kick to his own fans at seeing Starscream squirm like that.
"Do you intend to continue—" Another recording supplied. Starscream took a few deep ventilations and nodded, focusing his gaze on the shiny, attractive Decepticon before him.
Soundwave steadied his servos on Starscream's waist, allowing the jet to lift his legs a bit to get more comfortable. Perhaps starting at lower level of stimulation would be best. Those hands weren't just good for manipulating consoles.
Slowly, the darker mech stroked long digits up and down waist and chassis. He scratched the cables lightly, a few times deviating to dig into crevices. Starscream gasped very lightly and relaxed his upper body against the console. The cables wrapped around him in different places now, one finding a nice leg to squeeze and the other snaking the torso.
Soundwave coaxed the other energy field out with little pulses and Starscream responded, field slightly distorted from intoxication. There. Filaments locked on again and he unleashed the charge in a building buzz.
Starscream choked a bit, and to Soundwave's displeasure, scratched the console. With a jerk of the long cables, he nudged the other's servos up and encouraged him to take hold onto smooth shoulder plating. Soundwave's own fans were whirring and the pleasurable frequency between them was too exciting not to want to bring their frames closer. But, still. Jets first. With a smooth hitch he upped the charge almost to max and Starscream bucked against his tentacles.
It only took a few more notches for the silver Seeker to start babbling again, demanding more, and yes, right there, frag, scrap, son of a glitch. His sensors detected smoke, and there it was, a genuine Starscream overload. Soundwave tightened his grip to hold his prey down through the thrashing, visor taking in every little twitch and spasm. His cables almost didn't have to drag any of that energy back and he held still but for some upper-frame shuddering when his sytems reached overload as well.
The spy took a good three micro-kliks to cool before gearing up and lifting Starscream from the console. He set him down, all the way down, on the floor. There was no way he'd be able to walk just yet. Drunk or not. Starscream wheezed on all fours, smoke still rising from his chestplate, evidence of fuses popped and maybe an overworked spark chamber.
Cables retracted neatly, but not before sadly inspecting the scratches on the keyboard. Fixable, though it'd be tedious. For now he had a more annoying problem, who looked either about to sleep or empty his tank on the floor. Soundwave blipped and extended a servo.
Starscream waved it away and pushed up, knees rattling as he stood. "Wax," the aerial vocalized, staggering to the door that barely whooshed open in time, bonk. "We beat the Autobots and I want to get waxed. After I frag my first Vehicon."
Wow. Soundwave almost felt bad letting him leave like that. But now he would be left alone, and had some interesting samples to call upon in the future.