Sorry that this chapter isn't quite as long as the others, but we felt this was a good way to end Arc 4.
And I also find myself with the odd need to apologize to all the readers fro lacks of updates in HiWtHi and STHH. Real life kicked my ass this last month and I've found myself with only time for the RP and oneshots. Thankfully, Christmas break begins soon, so I will have time to type to my heart's content XD
That and plotbunnies can be real bitches!
Anywho!
As always BIG SHOUT OUT AND ROUND OF APPLAUSE to the absolutely lovely Darkeyes17 ^^
Disclaimer: Not ours, though wouldn't Transformers be SO much more exciting if it were XD
Enjoy!
Optimus Prime smiled warmly as he watched his two most trusted friends arrive back at the Ark and transform gracefully in front of him, both saluting. He was very glad to see that they were looking much better than they had before they left the Ark. Jazz was smiling, looping an arm around Prowl's waist, while the Praxian looked content.
It seemed like the couple could really work things out after all.
"Prowl, Jazz, it's good to have you back," he greeted.
"Good to be back Optimus," Prowl answered quietly.
"Home sweet home. Ah mean, Hawaii was nice, but sand kept getting stuck in my joints 'n' all," Jazz chimed in.
Optimus laughed and stepped back to walk them in. "Well, I'm sure the weather was nice. Surprisingly, things went smoothly while you were both away. Perhaps not as smoothly as it usually is, but smooth for-"
"INCOMING!"
Optimus prime ducked as Skywarp jetted through the wide entrance hall of the Ark, three happily squealing triplets on his back, while Sunstreaker, Ratchet, and Sideswipe spewed curses from their mouths as they raced after the wayward jet.
Both SIC and TIC stared in surprise before Prowl gave Optimus a very non-plussed look.
"Smooth?"
Optimus hunched his shoulders indicating the sheepish expression he wore beneath his mask. "I admit that could have gone better."
"For his own good, Ah hope Ratch doesn' catch up wit Warp." Jazz commented, still staring at the entrance and some ways in the distance three angry creators and a loop-the-looping Skywarp and packages.
"So far Skywarp has been undeterred by any threat and/or punishment Ratchet has managed to come up with."
"So the fliers are integrating well into the Ark then?" Prowl asked.
"Well, it was a little bumpy at the beginning. But it smoothed out."
"There's that word again." The black and white Datsun said flatly.
"Word?"
"Smooth. I am almost afraid to find what has gone on while we were away."
"Well...er," mumbled Optimus, when suddenly Starscream came into sight, strutting down the hallway, optics on his datapad. He looked up once to give a nod to the SIC and TIC, sharing a look with Optimus, and then proceeding to walk right past them. However, as he passed Optimus, his hand shot out and groped the Autobot leader's aft with a cheeky grin, before moving on. He disappeared behind a corner before Optimus could scold the incorrigible jet.
Jazz and Prowl stared in shock.
"Please...don't tell me Ah just saw what Ah saw," Jazz said, astonished.
"I'm about to have a processor crash," Prowl muttered, fighting his logic circuits.
Optimus's faceplates behind his mask got even redder as he tried to find some easy, logical way yo explain it to both black and whites. "Well, you see...it's all mutual, and there's nothing...nothing but interfacing."
The two mechs stared at him as if he had grown an extra pair of heads.
"You...and Starscream...sharing a berth?" asked Prowl.
"Think of it as concreting ex-Decepticon and Autobot relations," the Prime broke in. This could go really bad, and fast.
"Damn, Prime. So, how is he?"
"Jazz!" hissed Prowl.
Optimus was very glad that he suddenly had an excuse to change the topic when Skywarp came barreling in through the doors again, triplet-less and cackling as twin blurs of red and yellow chased after him down the hall. All three had literally needed to flatten themselves against the wall to avoid being run over. Ratchet followed at a much more sedated pace, still scowling but with all three of his sparklings trailing after him, each with wide smiles on their faceplates.
Jumpstart was the first to notice the black and whites. "Powl! Jass!" He squealed, launching himself gleefully at the datsun and porsche, quickly followed by his siblings.
"They missed you as well." Optimus chuckled, watching as each sparkling chose a limb to attach themselves to.
Jumpstart threw his arms around Prowl's neck happily, Speedlight gripping an arm, while Brightspark tapped on Jazz's visor in greeting. The black and white's attentions were drawn off topic, for which the Prime was grateful for. If only for now. He knew Jazz would be pressing for details, while Prowl would most likely try and skirt around the issue.
It brought him back to something he was wondering about. Like how Prowl was reacting to having the sparklings on him. Truthfully, Optimus had expected something a lot worse than the usually stoic tactician talking to the sparklings that had latched onto him. He had expected that Prowl would politely excuse himself so he wouldn't have to deal with seeing something that could have almost been his.
"I'm glad you two are back," Ratchet grumbled. "Can you believe the pranking that the twins have gotten away with ever since Prime's been shagging Starscream?"
'Damn you Ratchet!' the leader wanted to scream.
"Oh really?" Prowl asked, gaze narrowing.
Optimus did his best not to cringe under the intense stare. "I - uh - "
"And do NOT get me started on the fragging Seekers! Thundercracker is okay I suppose, but Skywarp is corrupting our own resident fliers! Air Raid actually SQUEALED yesterday!" Ratchet continued to rant and the Prime wondered if it would be a wise choice and tactically sound to retreat now.
"The Aerials?" Prowl asked, his tone sharp.
"Have practically been adopted by Thundercracker and Skywarp. After you approved the rights to monitor their schedules before you left, I almost never see those mechlings unattended by at least one of them at a time!"
"Apparently there are several things we must go over after our absence."
"Ah, Prowler! Can't it wait 'til I see everybody!" The saboteur whined.
At his bondmate's whine, Prowl's features softened slightly and he sighed. "Today. That's it. The reign of the troublemaker ends tomorrow. For today...I just want to reacquaint myself with my quarters. Tomorrow I get back to work."
Jazz smiled brilliantly at the other black and white, cooing to Brightspark as she jabbered away at him.
Prowl smiled back, turning back to his rather nervous and embarrassing looking leader. Smugly, he said, "I expect that 'smoothly' includes you not keeping up on your paperwork?"
Actually feeling proud of his achievements in that respect, Optimus replied, "Not at all. They're all clear. I've had Starscream helping me deal with the workload ever since he firmly insisted he was more than just a sparkling sitter. He's been very informative and helpful. He also implemented a plan on how to tell the human authorities about he and his trine switching sides without any mention of the triplets."
"Thank Primus," muttered Ratchet, twirling his wrench idly.
"Helping is he Prime?" Jazz asked cheekily.
"Can I expect those datapads to be...clean? By the time they reach my desk?" Prowl mused aloud, joining in on his mate's game of embarrassing their leader.
"Oh they better be clean." Ratchet grinned, the smirk looking positively evil. "Especially since I've had Starscream AND Prime in my medbay more than a few times recently."
The squawk of indignation had all the mechs chuckling. Until the sparklings decided they wanted more attention from their recently returned Uncles. Speedlight leaned over in Prowl's hold to pat at jazz's shoulder.
"Look! M' jus' like you, Jass! See!" The mechling jabbed at his own, new shiny visor he's begged his carrier to install so he could look just like 'Big Brother Aid'.
"Ah'm seeing, mech! Must say it looks good on yah!" Jazz agreed, smiling widely.
"It better..." Ratchet growled. "The processor ache I had to put up with...!" He suddenly plucked all three of his sparklings from the Second and Third's grips and then set them on the floor. "Work and socializing is great, but neither of you are going anywhere until you get a check up! Into the medbay with you!" He paused thoughtfully. "actually, while i'm at it, Optimus, in with you to- PRIME! GET YOU AFT BACK HERE YOU FLITTER GLITCH!"
Optimus, who had already made it to the end of the hall called over his shoulder, "You have to catch me first, Ratch!"
And then he disappeared around the corner before taking off at a run, a roar of frustration echoing in the halls behind him.
When he bolted into his quarters, hastily locking the doors behind him. He would rather not go through a check up now. Not when he was having a few personal dilemmas that the medic was sure to want to talk about.
Like figuring out he was in love with a certain ex-Decepticon.
A Seeker who was in his berthroom, splayed along his berth, still reading the datapad.
Recently, this behaviour had confused him. Starscream usually preferred to sleep in his own berth unless they had been interfacing (and in that case, he would snuggle), and to have the flier suddenly come into closer personal space concerned the Prime. Was someone threatening the Seeker? Was that way he was becoming more personal? Not to mention that the flier had become a little distant in the berth at times. It was moments where there was no wild lust, but something else. What, he couldn't place.
In the meantime, he was trying to make his feelings as non-obvious as possible. He didn't want Starscream to scorn him for having such emotions when their arrangement had been just that. And arrangement. So he kept quiet, and kept his more tender actions to himself.
It would have been awkward otherwise.
"Did you know that I could hear Ratchet yelling?" Starscream asked nonchalantly, not looking at Optimus.
"Oh really?"
"Mmm...why does he want you in the medbay?"
"Probably to check that my wrist joints have healed from the handcuffs you put on them," replied Optimus.
"Lugnut. Don't know you're own strength," muttered Starscream under his breath. Still...the memory of that little session was arousing.
"Did you also know," the flier said louder, "that your TIC is sparked?"
"...Huh?"
"Because I was in such proximity to him as I walked past, I detected some extra spark energy with the sensors in my cockpit. Only Seeker's and other protective fliers have such sensors. So most likely we'll be hearing Ratchet yell again when he finds out exactly what Prowl and Jazz did on their little getaway."
For his own part, Optimus was wondering if he would suffer his own crash in Prowl's place.
That was... not what he had expected to happen. At all.
"I can tell you're gaping behind that mask of yours, Optimus. So close your mouth. It's unsightly for a Prime." Starscream snickered, setting aside the datapad to roll over onto his stomach and prop his chin on folded arms.
Optimus snapped his mouth shut, embarrassed that Starscream was right, but also embarrassed that he had been caught. Still... sparked... "You're absolutely certain?"
The tri-color Seeker snorted. "Please, Prime! When have I ever said anything without absolute certainty backing the words? In the berth doesn't count."
Optimus snapped his mouth shut again, deciding that arguing probably wasn't going to be worth it.
"I suppose we shall find out soon enough." He allowed.
Suddenly a huge roar echoed throughout the Ark.
"And that, my dear Prime, is the call of the beast they call 'The Hatchet,'" the Seeker snickered.
Optimus didn't fully hear the words. He was too caught up in watching those sensual lips move as they spoke.
Dear Primus, he did have it bad didn't he?
Clang!
"OW!"
"And you!
Clang!
"Oi! What was that for Ratch?"
"You oversexed black and white glitches! As if Prime and that Seeker don't give me enough processor aches already, I have to deal with you two being absolutely-!"
Whap!
"Why are you hitting me more than Jazz?" growled Prowl, ducking as the medic tried to grab his chevron.
Sighing, Ratchet calmed a little and asked, "Just how many times did you two sparkmerge?"
"I dunno." Jazz said, eyeing the wrench still being tightly gripped in the medic's hand warily. "Wasn't exactly keepin' count, doc."
Uh oh. An optic ridge twitched. Which meant something big was beginning to brew. Prowl wondered just how far Jazz had managed to dig their graves with the one statement. Pretty deep, judging by the fact that Ratchet was still being 'calm' when he spoke again.
"And I am to presume that means 'more than twice'."
"...Yes?"
The next thing either of the recently returned officers knew, their audios were ringing with the force of the cry of frustration that bounded and echoed off the walls of the almost completely empty medbay. Swoop and First Aid jumped where they had been quizzing each other in their corner and turned to stare at their mentor curiously. A sedated Wheeljack (who was still missing an arm and several fingers on the other hand from his latest project-gone-wrong) twitched, but otherwise remained completely unawares. The visiting Bluestreak had taken his cue to dodge behind his slumbering lover's berth... Just in case things decided to start flying.
"Frag you! Frag you and frag every fragging fragged fragger who can't tell their afts from their helms if their lives depended on it!"
"Lotta frags there, Ratch..." Jazz dared to comment, before he followed Bluestreak's example, only using his mate as cover instead of the berth, as a wrench came for his helm again.
"You have a problem with my cursing...?" the CMO said dangerously.
"Erm...no, not really Ratch...just keep going," Jazz deflected easily. He smiled a little. He didn't want the medic to be on his bad side right now. It was ruining his plesant mood after helping Prowl overcome their difficulties. With the lost sparkling and all...
Ratchet glared at Jazz, before sighing heavily again. Here they go on another roller coaster ride.
"I hate to tell you this, but Jazz...you're sparked," Ratchet finally stated, face taking on it's normal, neurtal expression.
Prowl gaped at the medic, looking from the red and white mech to his mate, and then back again. "Are you serious?" he asked.
"That scanner was recalibrated a few days ago. Yes I am. Now we're going to have another sparkling to think about."
"Not that we weren't before," Jazz said quietly, in some sort of shock. Sure, he and Prowl had talked about trying for another soon, but not quite this soon. Reverently, he placed his hand over his spark and breathed in deeply. He felt worry and concern flow from Prowl to him, and he sent back pulses of calm. They would just have to re-prepare for another life yet again.
Optimus could only be glad that Ratchet was too busy with Prowl and Jazz to worry about visiting him to drag him to the medbay. He was tidying up his office while two small drones were at work next door in Prowl's office, clearing out the months worth of dust. It was the least he could do.
Now his own mess was taken care of, he felt less claustrophobic in his own plating.
"I know for a fact that everything will be fine, you silly soft-sparked mech," Starscream said from the doorway.
The Prime looked up, noticing the flier for the first time. "Following me again?"
"Everyone else interesting is doing something or in the medbay. Thundercracker and Skywarp are reading to the Aerials, but I didn't feel like getting in the cuddle pile," Starscream murmured, wings fluttering. Optimus was kinda cute just sitting there, this little confused expression on that masked face. At least he didn't tell him to get lost. It would have been a shattering rejection.
Then inwardly he cursed. He was supposed to be forgetting about the fact he had SOMEHOW fallen in love with the Autobot leader.
"Was there something you needed?" Optimus chuckled. "Because I am trying to avoid Ratchet at the moment and if he knows you're here..."
"Then by default, you must be here as well." The Seeker concluded, unbothered. "Nothing i particularly needed... Except you may want to let your troops know that you're going to be indisposed for the evening."
Optimus gave him a curious look. "Why is that?"
Starscream hesitated, checking down both ways of the hallways before stepping completely into the room and keying the door locked behind him. In a few short steps he was across the room and standing close to the Autobot leader, optics darting around the room.
"Here." Something was shoved into the startled servos of the Prime and when he glanced down, he saw it was a vid-pad. "You need to see what is on this... I figured you should see it first."
Optimus frowned behind his mask. "What-?"
"Just watch it Prime." Oh. It was THAT tone of voice. The one that was no-nonsense.
Obligingly, Optimus sat at his desk and plugged the pad into his computer terminal. What popped up on his screen startled him. In a matter of seconds he was staring at the visor and mask of Soundwave, who actually seemed to be NERVOUS as he made the message.
"Optimus Prime. Greetings. I wish to speak plainly. I have limited my vodocoder for this conversation. Message. I do hope you give me a few moments. Ever since Starscream and his trine have defected, conditions have grown steadily worse for every mech here at the Nemesis. And Megatron and Shockwave become more insane. They have more plans they continue to leave me out of. My cassettes are suffering. And I have seen the error of continuing to stay with this faction. Not only that, but if I had known about the sparklings I would not have agreed to the plan. Optimus Prime...I need your assistance."
Optimus stared at the datapad, deep in thought.
"I want to go after Shockwave."
Starscream's low voice broke into his thoughts and he blinked stupidly at the Seeker before saying firmly, "No."
"You're not my keeper or master. I'm going," Starscream huffed, crossing his arms.
Optimus stood up, frowning. He retracted his mask and said again, "No. Not without back-up."
"So I'll take Jazz with me. You know he'll go off by himself anyway," murmured the Seeker, standing pede to pede with the other mech.
"And Jazz is now a carrier!" Optimus frowned, crossing his arms across his chassis. "And we do not go after mechs with vendettas, Starscream. It makes us no better than those who wrong us. And as you can our most pressing problem is not Shockwave for the moment... How much can Soundwave be trusted?"
Starscream, who was seething in silence, gritted his denta before sighing deeply. Getting mad at Optimus wouldn't do anything to convince him to let he or Jazz go. Which meant he would need to be talking to the Saboteur himself.
"Honestly?" He asked. "I'm surprised that you would ask, seeing as he and I never were on the best of terms."
"I was actually assuming that most of those rumors were highly exaggerated." Optimus admitted.
The tricolor seeker felt the corner of his lips twitch. "Which you assumed correctly. While Soundwave is, or was, horribly illusioned about his 'Great and Glorious' leader, he wasn't stupid enough to let Megatron influence his relationships on the Nemesis. While we held no actual like for each other, we at least respected the other. And he was content in the knowledge that his cassettes were safe with Seekers in the vicinity, not that the little slaggers made it easy, mind you."
"I see."
Seeing that shrewd look on the Autobot's features, Starscream knew he had to distract the larger bot so he wouldn't inquire further about Shockwave or anything else to do with the Decepticons. As far as he was concerned, that life was far behind him. He relaxed, letting his wings flutter as he reached up to caress the thik battlemask.
"Besides...you are tense. We can't have that now, can we?"
Optimus sighed and took the blue hand in his, removing it from his mask. "Not now, Starscream. I have too many duties to attend to-"
"If Prowl and Jazz are having the rest of today off, then you should too. Let Ironhide take care of it, it'll be good for his literacy skills," the Seeker argued back.
"Starscream," said the larger mech in a low warning tone.
The tricolor mech ignored it and plastered his body to his lover's, mouth seeking those neck cables that couldn't Optimus to crumble ever so deliciously. He would not be dissuaded. He wanted. He always did, and even more so now that he realized that what he felt for his ex-enemy was more than just some sort of kinky infatuation. He purred as Optimus choked his name out in a protesting moan.
Optimus stumbled, his back hitting the wall just to the side of his desk and he slid down it, pulling Starscream with him with a growl. Half of arousal, half of annoyance.
"You're insatiable." He declared breathily, his mask snapping open as he pressed a soft kiss to the flier's forehelm.
"Seeker." Starscream reminded him with a snicker.
He yelped when two heavy servos closed on his aft and squeezed. Pouting crimson optics met grinning blue ones.
"You didn't really think I was going to let you have all the fun?"
Starscream's pout turned into a smirk, one tip of a fang peeking out of his mouth. "Cheeky, Optimus." He purred, walking his digits down the Prime's windshield and snaking them into his grill. "I wonder, do your Autobots know you can be this... unrefined?"
"I'm sure if they did, Mirage would have already blown a circuit."
"Either that or he would have joined in the fun with his bondmate. I can imagine him having this big chest of toys," replied the flier, fondling a bundble of sensor ends in his fingers while Optimus ex-vented, hot air blasting him.
"Naughty," breathed Optimus, mouth latching on to a shoulder vent, glossa frolicking around on the smooth metal, tasting the air as slim blue fingers tangled in each other his sensors. There was something about the Seeker, about the way he didn't just take, but he gave and gave freely. He could feel his great spark leap in his chest as Starscream moaned under the attention he bestowed.
"Optimus," Starscream murmured, tracing his hands back up to that blue helm, tweaking the ends of the regal finials playfully as large hands kneaded over his aft and lower back.
"Wet already?"
"Always for you, you sexy beast," the flier teased.
Optimus chuckled at the other's silliness, and he moved on to the charcoal lips that drew him in time and time again. Their lips joined as Starscream retracted his panel, giving his full and free permission. Feeling around, Optimus discovered that the Seeker was indeed already wet, aroused. The knowledge of how he affected Starscream was heady and he put more effort into his actions.
The Seeker moaned, enjoying the feelings of the large servos exploring well known seams and hotspots, spreading out, long, elegant digits tweaking the tips of his wings. He leaned up to claim another kiss and almost completely missed the Prime's lips turning up into a mischievous smirk. He pulled away to stare suspiciously at his lover.
"What are you planning, Prime?"
"Oh? Not Optimus, Starscream?" Optimus snickered.
"Not when you have something pl- AH!"
The flier's backstruts bowed sharply as two thick digits pushed gently into his valve, his cry of surprise tapering off into a long moan of delight and pleasure.
Optimus groaned as the hot, silky heat closed around his digits, Starscream's servos clenching at his grill as the valve adjusted to the the sudden intrusion.
"You've...nngh... never been that direct before," the Seeker got out around the pleasure of the sudden penetration, rotating his hips around to get more comfortable.
"You've never been so wet so quickly before," replied Optimus as he focused on slowly finding each node within those clenching walls. He wanted to enter the beautiful flier just as he climaxed, and the only way to do that was to tease his valve with as much skill as he could utilize. His digits rubbed along the walls in random patterns, and when he encountered a sensor or sensor laden part of the flexible channel he slowly teased it, gently pinching it between his two fingers, circling it, stimulating in such a way that it left Starscream breathless and gasping for more.
"Deeper," begged Starscream, making a little writhe as those questing digits ventured further, running over a particularly sensitive patch that signaled getting closer to the depths of his interface component.
"In good time," crooned the Prime, coaxing the slim legs wider over his hips with his other hand, putting his mouth to use in a simultaneous motion to overwhelm with pleasure. He brushed his lips over the golden glassed cockpit, nuzzling it tenderly and then nipping at the wires in the seams around it.
"Nnn...ooooh!" mewled the flier, optics fritzing out for a moment as sensation flooded him. It felt so good.
"How close are you?" asked Optimus, curling his fingers and then scissoring in that tightness, preparing him for both penetration and climax.
"Close," breathed Starscream, hands gripping onto the truck grill with a desperate force.
Optimus nodded, retracting his panel.
Without looking down, the Seeker knew that Optimus was already hard, the turgid spike rearing up against the red abdominal plates. He arched back more, grinding his soaked channel on those fingers. He wanted to overload, he wanted more. He was just one big ball of want. He gave a sob as he felt the fingers in him begin to thrust inside him, a third finger added to stretch him out even more.
"Yesssss," he hissed.
Perfection.
Each.
And.
Every.
Time.
"My Star," The semi-whispered lowly in his audial. The low purr made the flier's optics fritz white once more before the sudden sensations overtook him in a heady overload. He felt as he was slammed to the floor, a great weight atop him and panting in time with his cries of pleasure, and then a hot, thick spike was entering his spasming valve.
Starscream howled, the bass groan of his lover underlying it and reverberating through his chassis.
Lights exploded behind his shuttered optics once more, as he cascaded into his second overload almost immediately after the first. The tight, velvet heat encasing Optimus' spike seemed to become even tighter, drawing a long moan from him which was quickly cut off and swallowed eagerly by the flier underneath him.
Once he was fully sheathed, the Peterbilt held still, waiting for the tricolor Seeker to come down from the overload.
And when Starscream did, panting and keening as his valve continued to flex around the hard length inside of him, and his optics were once more unshuttered and staring up at him, bright with pleasure, Optimus allowed that smirk to cross his features. Then he ducked down to kiss the flier once more and began thrusting vigorously.
The tricoloured mech moaned into their liplock. He couldn't think, he could only feel as his lover thouroughly loved him just the way he liked it. As the length slid deep inside him with each thrust, Starscream could feel his third overload building, a roaring fireball of pleasure setting his sensors ablaze as he could do nothing but cling to the larger form of his Prime.
His Prime...he liked the sound of that.
Optimus growled as he ground his hips against the slimmer one of the Seeker writhing under him. Primus he was beautiful, those charcoal faceplates set in a rapt and pleasured expression.
Kissing around the neck cables, Optimus drove himself harder, his spike squeezed in the wet valve so nicely.
He never dreamed that he could feel like this.
With a groan, he wrapped his arms around his lover, pulling them close together even though their hips clanged on the floor from the force of his thrusts, feeling so intimately connected in a way that he knew he would never have permanently.
Optimus yelped when Starscream bucked up and (even with his smaller and lighter frame) managed to flip them so he was straddling Optimus, servos balancing him on either side of Prime's chassis, legs splayed wide to allow the hot shaft deeper penetration and a serious look in his optics.
"Stop thinking." The Seeker rasped, leaning in again to steal another kiss and making sure his lover did indeed stop thinking.
Which wasn't that hard to do really, considering that Prime was so close to his own overload.
In the way that only he could, Starscream took control of the situation, the frenzied thrusts leveling out to a paced, almost lazy wave of hips that had Optimus moaning and Starscream keening. Oh it felt good, each roll of Starscream's pelvis and clamp of his valve working Optimus' spike until he hit overload with a cry as his helm thumped back to hit the floor with a clang.
The wave of pleasure crested and Starscream was quick to follow, tipping into his third overload with a loud keen, his wings flaring up and trembling in his pleasure and completion. This was bliss. This was life. This was... everything he wanted. And by Pit when he returned... He would make sure it was his.
The ex-Decepticon conveniently ignored the loud 'if' that wanted to replace the when in his sentence.
He would return.
He would work to remain by hisPrime's side.
And frag it, not even Unicron was going to stand in his way!
But now...he didn't want to have to do this, but it was necessary so have could have that life that he wanted. While his lover was still reeling from the after affects of his strong overload, Starscream reached into subspace, a vial of a strong sedative in his hand, ready to be injected. When those deep blue optics looked back to him, he leaned forward, connecting his lips to Optimus's and slowly savoring the taste of him, gently swirling their glossas together. Broad hands were stroking over his hips and lower back. The beauty of the moment would be shattered, he knew, when he did what he was about to do.
Parting from those gentle lips, Starscream shuttered his optics, sliding his hand up, hidden from his lover's view. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"For what?" the semi breathed, concern creeping into his tone.
"This."
In a fast, decisive movement, Starscream jabbed the sedative into an energon line in Optimus's neck, too fast for the larger mech to react. It was effective immediately. Before the larger mech fell offline, Starscream felt gutted by the betrayed look in those beautiful blue optics.
Safe in his conviction that Optimus was deep in recharge, Starscream pulled himself off the hot spike, ignoring the twinges of pleasure as he knelt next to the blue helm. Caressing a finial, he murmured, "I'll apologize when I get back. I...I hate having to do this to you...but I need this. It's selfish. But Shockwave needs to die. I won't let anyone else be hurt by him. Not anymore."
The Seeker smiled ruefully, curling his frame so he could press another soft kiss to those slack lipplates, doing his best to squash the thought that this might be the last time.
"I'm doing this for you, Optimus. Because I love you, as crazy and as dysfunctional as it is. I love you. I hope I'll come back alive so I can actually tell you when you can hear me."
With that, the Seeker quickly cleaned them both with a cleansing rag, closed their plating and thoughtfully put a cushion from the couch under Optimus' helm. Then, resolutely, he turned on his heel, ignoring his low energy warning and marched from the office, forcing himself to not look back.
Jazz smiled at his mate, the exhausted mech lying on their berth with a peaceful look on his faceplates in recharge. The poor mech had been on an emotional roller-coaster this month and he deserved the rest. But, Primus, how he hated not telling the tactician about the plans he and Starscream had exchanged on their way back from Hawaii, but he knew that if Prowl knew, then there was no way he would have been going, Master Spy or not.
He double checked his equipment to make sure that he had everything he needed and was just finishing up when he got a ping from Starscream.
He opened the private channel. :- Yo, Screamer. We good to go?-:
:- Yes, and I suggest you hurry. We have exactly two point four breems before either Hatchet, Red Alert or my trine realize we're up to something.-:
:- Had to implement plan B, huh?-:
:- Prime is a soft sparked fool. Sometimes I wonder if he even remembers that we are at war.-: Even through the sneer, the saboteur caught the tone of affection lacing each word.
:- Well, I'm on my way and I'll be there in a third of that time. -: He assured, leaning down to kiss his mate's chevron before rushing from their room.
He met the proud Seeker on top of the volcano the Ark was buried under, and couldn't help but notice the flier's subdued manner in the way he turned, nodding at him and merely following his instruction. It had been part of their deal that Starscream follow everything he said, lest they be deactivated.
Jazz could only hope that he wouldn't have to come back to base alone.
Optimus gasped as the sedative wore off him. Gingerly, he sat up, before promptly placing his helm in his hands.
Starscream had believed that sedative had worked on him.
Not quite.
The Matrix, being the amazing and mysterious object that it was, had the ability to keep his processor aware of everything going on around him in the event of sedation. If his optics were offline, then his audials would compensate.
He had heard every word that Starscream had said.
Optimus let out a humorless laugh. Of course. The mech of his dreams admits he loves him, and he runs off to Cybertron to track Shockwave and would possibly not come back. Just perfect. That's the way it seemed to go for him. He was still reeling from those spark-felt uttered words that had fell like diamonds from the sky from Starscream's lips.
Figures.
It didn't help that the sedatives left him feeling sick to his tanks, making him dizzy. Yet, he allowed himself to reel and ignored the increasingly desperate comm lights that were blinking rapidly in his HUD. Especially since they were all Ratchet.
He would deal with whatever lecture later.
Optimus pulled his servos from his face, his mask remaining open as he glanced at the datapad Starscream had brought in earlier that orn. Quietly, he stood, took the few stumbling steps he needed to reach his desk and scooped up the pad. He watched Soundwave's message again, the silence after the telepath's message was over echoing in his spark.
"Don't you die, Starscream." He growled with a conviction once only heard when fighting for his people. "Or I'll come after your sorry aft myself."
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