A/N: After being urged by a friend to pursue the hobby of writing, I thought I'd finally give it a shot now that I have an entire summer to spend doing nothing. I figured the easiest start would be shorter, lackadaisical pieces on my favorite pair. Please go easy on the writing style; my professors usually tell me I'm a bit wordy (run-on sentences galore) but I'm hoping practice will make perfect.

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1. Drinking Energon

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To say energon was a sensitive subject among Cybertronians would be an understatement. The energy shortage was one of the main factors to spark the on-going war, and its collection was the main focus of the intermittent battles on Earth. When it came to surviving on a daily basis, the Autobots had, for once, a definite advantage over their adversaries; a side effect of their good relations with the humans was a steady supply of energy gained through conscientious means. This was a sharp contrast to the Decepticons, who were reduced to a basal state in their frequent attempts at procuring the life-substance through thievery, which often met with failure.

Repeated flops put them in the predicament they now faced: severe shortages with a catch-22 that often led to desperate measures. Too low on energy to make a proper attempt to plunder it en masse, soldiers would venture off on their own or in small groups to make quick hits on energy sources before any Autobots could possibly organize a retaliation. The purpose wasn't collection for the army, but to merely refuel to make it through the orn. This practice tended to be viewed as slightly embarrassing to troops and officers alike, the former for having to raid gas stations or small energy plants, the latter for their inability to feed their own army. However, a non-issue among all the possible arguments one could have against the routine is moral qualms. That is, for most Decepticons.

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"Well I hope your ridiculous morals keep you from offlining. If you want to sit here and starve until your gears lock up and your processor crashes, that's fine by me. I'll just set up an application for a new trine mem—"

Thundercracker ordered the mechanical door to shut, cutting-off Starscream in mid-sentence, sparing himself the agony of another screeched retort.

"It's not morals, slagheap." He spoke to the door angrily, not really expecting the words to permeate the metal plating.

"Trying to convince yourself again?"

Thundercracker turned to see Skywarp lounging on his berth, expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"When did yo—Skywarp, please tell me when you teleport into my room."

Mindful of his wings, the black jet flipped onto his back and scrutinized his companion upside-down. "Your room? Isn't it pretty much our room by this point?" he snickered at Thundercracker's scowl in response. "But Screamer's got a point, TC. Everyone else might think you're just too dignified up to go stomp around at a power-plant on your own, but you can't trick your wing-mates."

"So you've taken it upon yourself to convince me to change my ways, then? Do you think I'm some oversensitive…organic-lover too?" He spat the phrase.

"I think you're a weirdo. Come on, TC. Even those squishies hunt other types of squishies when they need energy. It's not that big of a deal if you're just doing it for survival, right?"

"There's a difference between hunting and stealing, 'Warp," he said as he sat down beside his trine-mate. "I'd have no problem with it if it was a matter of going out and "hunting" it. I have enough trouble with raiding energy sources as an army, but at least then I can convince myself it's for some greater purpose. If it's just for me, though…"

Skywarp sat up with a sigh. "So what do you plan on doing then? You're not really gonna starve yourself, are you?"

"…Well, I figured I could just wait until the next full-scale raid. I'll manage unti—"

He almost warped in indignation. "Thundercracker! That could be like…2 or 3 Earth weeks! You're gonna be an empty by that point!"

"Oh come on, Warp it's not that—"

"Yes it is! 'Screamer was right, you're being unreasonable." Skywarp glared at his friend, who returned it in full with a stubborn frown.

"I refuse, and you're not going to change my mind."

If Skywarp was Starscream, he'd have gotten up and stormed out by this point. Lucky for the blue seeker, he wasn't anything like the third member of their trine, and instead pulled the most serious philosophical pose he could manage. "There has to be some way to get it without stealing, then."

Thundercracker sighed, "Look 'Warp, you can go off and get energy, you don't have to suffer for my sake. It's my issue, not yours."

The purple jet ignored him. "What about…buying oil? We could take some money from squi—wait that's still stealing."

Rubbing his facial plates with the palm of his hand, Thundercracker stood up again, and commented, "Don't you think I've thought about this already? Come on, just go catch up with Starscream before he leaves."

"No, TC. If you're gonna refuse to go get energon, so am I."

"Skywarp. Come on, you're being immature."

"And you're the epitome of maturity in this? No."

"'Warp."

"No."

"Skywarp."

Skywarp gave Thundercracker the same obstinate look the blue seeker bore scant minutes ago. "Now you see how annoying it is?" The two stared at each other for a full minute, until finally—

"ARGH. Fine. You win. We'll go get some energon. We're going somewhere where they won't miss it, and where no one will get hurt."

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Forty-five minutes later Thundercracker sat on crushed automobile, sipping energon newly-converted from gasoline. In the distance, Skywarp was smashing gas pumps out of personal amusement, giggling like a (rather cruel) sparkling as car alarms went off. He somehow couldn't bring himself to reprimand his companion for the wanton destruction, despite how strong the inclination to avoid costing whatever organics owned this establishment more money.

As something made the spilled gas catch on fire, much to Skywarp's glee, the blue seeker merely shook his head and hoped to Primus that either the Decepticons would manage to steal more as a team in the future, or the small stockpile they gathered today would outlast the droughts. Calmly gathering them as he heard sirens nearing, he called to Skywarp, and the pair flew back towards their base, leaving a oily smear of what was formerly a Hess Express behind them.

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http : // img172. imageshack. us/ img172 /1139 /drinkingenergon. png Doodle for the story :]