here's the second part! i pulled the uni headcanons out of my ass obviously and this has just slight drama. it's starscream, of course. i apologize.

It was a Thursday, but Starscream did not come to the coffee shop. Nor did he come the day before, as he usually did. Of course Skyfire understood that sometimes routine could be disrupted by certain situations or events, but it was quite saddening to expect someone who never showed up. He had no right to be disappointed, but he was.

His harmless crush was getting out of hand.

But on Friday, the Seeker entered the café and rushed forward to the counter, his wings hiked up in obvious excitement. Skyfire couldn't help his own wings jerking up in response, nor the smile that curved his lips.

"Hello, Starscream."

"Hi. I had things to do, before. In case…you were wondering." It seemed to have suddenly come to the jet that he was excited over nothing, and he rebooted his vocalizer, resuming what seemingly was a neutral expression, "My usual, please."

Skyfire thought it was endearing, "Of course."

Starscream sat at his booth, apparently restless as his leg kept bouncing and his wings wouldn't keep still. It wasn't till Skyfire called out his order (using his name, now, of course) did Starscream speak again, still trying to look collected.

"Skyfire, when will you be finished here? Is it till night time?"

The shuttle shook his head, "Oh, no. My shift ends in about an hour."

Starscream looked pleased at that, "Do you have any plans for the evening?"

"No. I usually just head home after my evening shifts."

"Perfect! Um. Do you want to hang out? I can walk you home or something, since…it's a Saturday tomorrow," the jet looked a little embarrassed at his suggestion, but warmth spread in Skyfire's spark.

"Sure. I hope you wouldn't mind waiting a while longer."

Starscream waved his hand in dismissal, "It's fine. Just tell me when you're ready to go." The jet then took his coffee and sat back down at his table, taking out a datapad from his subspace and proceeded to read. There was a small smile on his face, Skyfire noticed, all the while. Not to say the shuttle didn't find himself smiling for no reason as he worked on a customer's orders, but that was to be expected.

The minibot Skyfire worked with eventually arrived, and Skyfire passed them a quick greeting before untying the uniformed apron and subspaced it, getting out of the counter to stand beside Starscream's booth. All of this felt a little surreal to him, "Shall we?"

The jet looked up from his datapad and nodded, typing in a few extra notes before putting it aside completely, standing up. A jet's frame was considerably large, but Skyfire was bigger, and the difference in their height pleased him greatly. Starscream probably noticed it too, what with him needing to look up to meet Skyfire's optics, but if he was bothered, he didn't show it, "Let's go."

They exited the coffee shop and used the sidewalk, apparently going in the same direction. It was a little cold and a little dark, their vents visible as mist under the streetlights. It was a quiet time in the neighbourhood, not many mechanisms were out and about at this hour.

"Where do you live anyway?" asked Starscream, "I share a place with the two idiots you met in Vos Park."

Skyfire tilted his head in recognition, "Oh, my apartment's in New Kaon, " he chuckled, "Seems like I'll be the one walking you home, then."

"Fair enough," Starscream nodded, looking ahead.

"I see you reading a lot, Starscream," the shuttle asked eventually. They might not be in each other's company like this for a while, or ever again as far as he knows, so he wanted to make the most of it, "For your studies, I assume?"

The jet scoffed, and stood a little straighter, looking smug, "Yes. I'm taking most of the science courses, and it's a lot of work. It's fun, though, or I wouldn't have bothered. Oh, and I meant to tell you why I didn't come to the café for a while. We had a competition; I'm on the flier squad; and it was a two-day affair. Had to stay over at their campus and everything."

Skyfire was impressed, "Flier squad? And you're taking sciences too, you must be busy. I take the science courses too, actually. Where do you go to, Starscream?"

There was no mistaking the pride in the way Starscream puffed out his chest, "Decepticon University. I'm part of the student council. Granted that I'm not the President yet, but I will be."

"No way!" Skyfire laughed, the coincidence was too great, "D.U.? I'm attending classes at A.U."

Starscream stopped in his tracks. The jet looked up at him with wide optics, before something akin to dismay distorted his features, "You're anAutobot?"

"Yeah, I am," Skyfire nodded with a smile, before noticing that Starscream definitely wasn't sharing his happy mood.

In fact, Starscream was downright distressed, "No, no. Oh Primus, that can't be right. We can't date Autobots!"

Skyfire did know about the intense rivalry between his university and Starscream's; it was almost like a blood feud at times; but aside from rooting for the Autobot teams in rallies or competitions, he never really paid the contention any mind. He raised an optic ridge though, in amusement, "We're dating?"

Starscream's optics reset a few times before he shook his head frantically, "No! I meant…we don't usually associate with Autobots. Haven't, for years! I can't be seen walking around with one!"

Now that was just really pretentious. Skyfire folded his arms; they stopped walking when Starscream halted; and looked at the panicking jet, "Because you're on the student council?"

"Yes! If Megatron finds out, I'd be slagged, and if Optimus fragging Prime catches wind of this then I am seriously doomed—"

"Then don't let them find out. I mean, as far as we know, as well as your Seeker friends, I'm just the barista at the coffee shop you frequent."

Starscream paused, as if seeing Skyfire for the very first time, probably at a loss of words. Skyfire couldn't help a smile; Starscream looked impossibly young with that expression on his face.

"We can just stop hanging out, if you want."

Another bout of silence before Starscream shook his head, "Actually no. I don't want."

"Then we can hang out still, I guess. It's not like everyone has to know we're friends." Skyfire continued walking then, and Starscream followed. The jet kept on looking at him, and Skyfire didn't really mind. He did understand where Starscream was coming from, but it didn't mean he cared as much of what people thought.

"You're really not into university politics, are you?" Starscream asked, slightly amused.

"Nope," was Skyfire's cheery answer, and he smiled at Starscream's consequent snickering. They were almost at Vos Park when Starscream placed a hand on Skyfire's arm, pointing to the empty playground ahead.

"Let's go there."

So they did. Starscream sat on a bench at the side of the play area, and Skyfire joined him. There were no other mechanisms around, not at this hour, and night was falling. It was all still pretty surreal, and Skyfire felt at ease. It was nice, spending time with Starscream like this.

"Science courses," Starscream murmured quietly after a while, leaning back to look at Skyfire, "Tell me about them."

They engaged in a discussion about their respective science fields for a while, mildly surprised that their interests seemed to be quite similar, give or take a few aspects. Both of them were into creating things; Starscream leaning towards weaponry and defence aids, while Skyfire liked devices that could be used to further research.

"If only," Starscream exclaimed in frustration, "There were more Decepticons like you studying science. And mind you, I don't say this to anyone. There are just too many incompetent fools wasting their time at the labs, fragging up all the equipment. We could have even been partners."

"I'd be honoured to partner up with you in the laboratories," said Skyfire, honestly impressed with how vast Starscream's knowledge concerning their mutual field was, "We have quite a few esteemed scientists but well… I suppose working independently would always be the more appealing choice."

Starscream nodded, sighing as he leaned back again, optics scanning the playground. Skyfire watched him, noticing that the jet paused at the sight of the swings, and asked good naturedly, "Do you want to go to the swings?"

Starscream gave him a look, before raising an optic ridge, "You gonna push me?"

"Sure," Skyfire laughed, and they stood up, with Starscream almost bounding over, dropping himself onto the metal seat as his fingers curled around the sturdy chains of the swing. Skyfire stood behind him and lightly pushed at first, letting the swing gain momentum on its own accord.

It was dark by now, and the light from a nearby lamppost illuminated Starscream's plating as he swung back and forth, making him look almost ethereal. Skyfire thought that Starscream might just be the most beautiful mechanism he had ever seen in his life.

"Higher," Starscream said almost breathlessly, and Skyfire obliged, putting a little more force into his pushes. Starscream was reaching quite an impressive height by now, feet kicking to try and go even higher. At one point, the chain jerked due to the pull of gravity and Starscream's weight, and the jet jumped from the swing as it was very high up, onlining his thrusters to let him hover mid-air. He did a few somersaults over the swings and Skyfire laughed at the display, impressed. Starscream seemed like a true member of the flier squad.

Eventually the jet lowered himself down, facing Skyfire, till their faces were level with each other. Skyfire smiled, and the heat from Starscream's thrusters were warming his feet but he didn't care. Starscream probably didn't either. No words were exchanged; they just stood there looking into each other's optics. Skyfire lifted his hands after a while, spreading his fingers, stopping short at the level of his chest. The motion caught Starscream's optics, and the Seeker hesitantly reached with his own hands, lightly placing them in Skyfire's.

He offlined his thrusters then, dropping deftly onto his feet. They spent a moment with Skyfire's bigger hands covering Starscream's, before Starscream pulled away. He turned around, walking a little farther from Skyfire, and glanced over his shoulder. It was dark, and Starscream's faceplates were shadowed, but the red of his optics were dim and his voice was a little shaky and Skyfire could bet that the jet was more than a little flustered, "Let's go."

Skyfire hummed an agreement and walked up to Starscream, and they left the playground in amiable silence.

If Skyfire reached for Starscream's hand while walking the jet home, and Starscream laced their fingers together, neither of them said a word about it.