"I demand attention right now."
Skyfire jumped, startled by the unexpected entrance, and promptly grimaced as the fragile test tubes slipped free of his exhausted grasp and shattered against the floor. He frowned down at the gooey mess quickly spreading from the site of impact, wondering why, precisely, everyone insisted on making the containers so damnably breakable. With great reluctance, he twisted his head about to look at the door, dreading the coming confrontation. "You have it." He said neutrally, wanting nothing more than to slink into his private section of the lab and hide again. But that was not an option. The jet had finally managed to catch him outside his sanctuary and unawares, and he unfortunately lacked a viable excuse to scamper off and escape.
"Oh, good. I almost thought I'd have to start throwing things." Starscream flounced about the room, poking about as if he had never seen it before. Skyfire watched him warily, fiddling absently with his scattered odds and ends spread across the counter's surface.
"Well?" He asked, when it became increasingly clear he was expected to query the interruption.
Starscream turned wide, misleadingly innocent optics on him. "Well what?"
Skyfire frowned, as close to glowering as he dared. "What do you want?" He asked with a touch more surliness than he had meant, the lack of decent recharge and energon causing him to be brusque where he would have been patient.
"Grouchy," He could almost fool himself that it wasn't a pleased smirk that twitched Starscream's lips up before the jet took on a solemn countenance. "I have credits enough to get us both raving, ludicrously overcharged. What are you doing today?"
His optics widened, shocked by the candor of the offer. Well. That was blunt.
Skyfire hunched, mostly by habit, willing Starscream to depart before he made a fool of himself. "I don't refuel casually." He muttered, fumbling about with another set of beakers to finish up the tray he'd been interrupted with. "Overcharging is a waste of energon. It's only an excuse to act a fool in public. I'd prefer to not participate in such behavior." He explained tersely, hoping against hope that it would be enough to end the conversation.
Predictably, it wasn't.
"Nobody doesn't get overcharged," Starscream guffawed, rejecting Skyfire's declaration to the contrary. "Come now. What could possibly be that bad about it?"
Skyfire cringed, grinding his dental units and shoving the last few core samples into their convenient slots. "I'm busy. I'd like to get all of this," he gestured at the purposeful clutter of samples and data sheets, knowing it looked more problematic than what it actually was, "Finished by the next cycle. We do have reports due, you realize. And, besides," He added stiffly, after a moment. "I don't do well with crowds." With that, he scooped up the carefully arranged sample tray, and set it in the cart with the others, ready for delivery to the head of the department. "Where did I put that geo-thermal readout?" He asked to distract the both of them, sorting through a pile of debris though he knew quite well that it was safely tucked away in his desk drawer.
Behind him, Starscream sighed exaggeratedly, hopping up to perch on the lip of the only free counter left. "Oh, please. There's nothing to it. You're blowing this all out of proportion." Deliberately ignoring the conversational jump, he tenaciously stuck to his subject. His thrusters clicked against the metal of the counter's base, lacking absolutely any sense of rhythm or beat. "It's not as if you'll go up in a puff of smoke if you dare get a little buzz."
"I know I had it out. I just looked at it." With equal persistence, Skyfire rumbled to himself, picking through another stack of datapads.
"Stop puttering about. It's irritating."
"I'm not puttering. I'm working." Skyfire muttered mutinously, though he stopped regardless. "Why are you so fixated on this?"
Starscream graced him with a flat look of disapproval. "It's a special case. You lead the dreariest existence I have ever had the misfortune to come across, and I'm going to fix it. For the sake of our association."
"It doesn't need fixing. I like my life." Skyfire mewled, hurt by the candid disdain. He'd thought his life was rather interesting; a constant pursuit of knowledge, exploring star systems and testing new theories. He lived on the cutting edge of science. Of new technology. What did slumming have in comparison to his lifestyle? Random flings and a horde of over-charged idiots raring for a fight? That hardly sounded like a good time.
Did Starscream really find him so piteously dull?
No, no, of course not. It was a silly thought. Why would he ask and cajole him for an outing so adamantly, if he found his company so reprehensible? No, he couldn't be as drab as Starscream implied.
And he had been pursuing the subject endlessly. Skyfire felt a mild flush of gratification in his spark that his partner was so keen to be around him. The attention was reason enough to refuse, if not also for the fact that he, quite honestly, floundered in extensive social situations. And there was no need for Starscream to see him in such awkwardness, when the jet clearly already found him ponderous enough as it was.
There was no enjoyment to be found in the seedy regions of Cybertron. None worth seeking out, in any case.
But, somewhere in the back of his processors, that special little place he never acknowledged, he badly wanted to take up the diminutive jet's offer, if only for the novelty of being seen out and about with him. To let others assume there was an intimate affiliation where there was none to be found. It would be a small consolation for their lack of… relationship. Self-imposed as it might have been. It was, after all, he who refused any invitations, who ducked and dodged and snubbed the center of his afflictions at all costs, as much as it sometimes hurt him to do so.
But Skyfire couldn't bear the thought of rejection, of confirmation that they were friends and friends only, at best. This way, at least, he could go on waiting on the hope of having his affections returned, in time.
Should he go with Starscream, and sample the harder energon found in the sleazy streets the jet found so fascinating, he had no doubt he'd make a complete fool of himself, or worse. His vocalizer was easily loosened, even with just a small buzz of an overcharge. Who knew what could happen should he subject himself to temptation, with his partner in the vicinity. And there was that unpleasant factor of having a swarm of others constantly shifting about him, hampering his every move and stifling his conversational skills. With such abundant fare, and much more… forthright company available, would Starscream ever spare a glance for dry, boring old him? At the institute, at least, he had little to no competition among the staff.
Or, rather, would have little to no competition, if he ever managed to cultivate enough audacity to make even a passive overture toward his… emotional muddle.
"It's not as if you have to speak to any of them." Starscream grumbled, kicking lightly at the nearest chair in a fit of vexation. "It's more the principle of the thing. Letting loose, experimenting, and all. Believe it or not, there is a world beyond dirt samples, and it can be enjoyable, getting out once in a while."
"Skulking about in the slums, slogging through over-charged hoodlums and engaging in brawls in filthy streets. It's a wonder I hadn't thought of this before. It's exactly what my stuffy life has been missing. I see the metaphorical light." He hadn't meant to be quite as sarcastic, but there was no taking back the words. Running with the theme, Skyfire grinned slightly – somewhat apologetic to soften his rudeness – and shrugged with as much nonchalance as he could muster. "Forgive my lack of enthusiasm for the concept."
Starscream gave him a long, speculative look. "My, Skyfire. If I didn't know better, I'd say I was rubbing off on you. That's the closest to outright cynicism you've come." In a startling change of tact, he frowned and asked, quite equably, "Are you really that embarrassed to be seen around me?"
"I- what?" Flabbergasted, Skyfire tottered back, mind scrabbling for a response to put him back in safe conversational territory. Unable to find the proper response, he blurted the first question that sprang to his mind: "How did that ever even cross your mind?"
"It's a perfectly reasonable question, given your avoidance."
"I, I'm not avoiding you at all. That's nonsensical. Why would I avoid you? I'm partnered with you, for Iacon's sake."
"Oh, you make a fine show of saying so, now," Starscream arched his hips forward, slithering from his temporary haunt to land with a dull clang on the floor, optics narrow with suspicion. He struck a firm, uncompromising stance, one he often assumed whenever they argued over protocol or technical disputes. "But, as they say, actions speak louder than words. And so far, as I've seen it, all you've done is duck away from me at every opportunity. That seems to speak loudly enough for itself, doesn't it?" He crossed his arms, looking up defiantly, daring Skyfire to refute his implied challenge.
"Now you're being ridiculous." Skyfire mumbled. "I just, I don't like crowds, that's all. It has nothing to do with, with," He lifted his hands and made quotation marks with his fingers, "'ducking away' from anybody."
Something dodgy flashed in Starscream's optics, too fast for the flustered scientist to follow or categorize. "So, if the unwashed masses were out the equation, there wouldn't be a problem at all."
It wasn't voiced a question, but he felt a response was necessary, despite the rhetoric. "I suppose. Yes." He gushed immediately, glad for the understanding. Not half a moment later, however, he heroically resisting the urge to take a step back at the exultant gleam in his partner's optics. Skyfire felt himself suddenly on a slippery slope, on ambiguous proverbial ground with a chasm on either side and no idea how long the drop could be. There had been a mistake somewhere in there, he was certain. He couldn't for the spark of him pinpoint the moment it had all gone sour, but it was there nonetheless.
His confidence was not helped by the triumphant sneer twisting Starscream's stark features.
His fuel pump contorted oddly, unsettlingly shifting at that predatory expression. He hadn't seen that look directed at his own personage before, he was fairly certain. That singular, distinctly malicious smirk was only in evidence when someone had been hopelessly outmaneuvered and outclassed by Starscream's verbal sparring. He had a dim
sense that he had now become that unlucky 'someone', and bitterly wished he had partaken in the teleportation technology that had recently been made available.
"Ah. See, now? That wasn't all that bad, for all your whining." Manifestly pleased with himself for reasons unknown, Starscream flicked his wrist in a dismissive gesture, and propped himself back against the counter. "So, are you free this rotation?"
"I didn't—" Skyfire broke off apprehensively, befuddled by this turn of so-called logic. This wasn't going according to plan. But, then again, did anything? "I never said I'd do anything."
Again, that devious flicker sped across Starscream's face, too quick for Skyfire to readily identify. "So you really are avoiding me?"
"What? I, no, but," Skyfire gestured helplessly at himself, presenting his body in all its massive, scrupulous cleanliness, using its sheer bulk as his argument. "I don't do well with crowds." He implored weakly, pleading with what little conscience he had seen in Starscream, willing the jet to simply concede to his protests and be done with it.
"Crowds, I can assure you, will not be an issue." Starscream all but purred. The shuttle tried not to read too deeply into the tone, lest he take it for more than what it was. It was not a professional voice to use, he thought. Could be taken all sorts of wrong ways. So many, many wrong ways…
The words caught up with his frankly conflicted processor, past the timbre they were conveyed in. With palpable mistrust, he frowned, staring hard at the entirely-too-smirky jet. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean?" Starscream countered, affecting an aura of wide-optic'd naïveté. "I made a simple statement. It's patently straightforward. What was so hard to understand about it?"
That inkling sense of misgiving and looming danger grew exponentially. He was evading the question, hedging about and diverting the conversation, which generally meant something unpleasant was about to happen. Turmoil certain to follow. Disaster near at hand. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, Skyfire began to fidget with several baubles scattered over the nearest counter. "What, what did you mean by that?"
"I meant," Starscream began with exaggerated enunciation. "That crowds will not be an issue." His grin was unrepentant and snide. "Have you been getting much recharge? You seem very slow today."
The specific word choice sent warning signals racing down Skyfire's relay system. Ignoring the light banter, he focused on the crux of the sentence, so calculated in its ingenuous delivery. "Will? I haven't agreed to anything yet." He took a moment to admonish himself. Why was he arguing against it? It was an opportunity, a chance for something to happen between them.
A chance, his pessimistic mindset snorted from the peanut gallery of his conscious thought, that he would most assuredly bungle beyond the bounds of any recoverability. A thousand horrific scenarios flashed through his processor, and all of them pointed toward embarrassment and abandonment. Starscream would surely transfer out, humiliated by Skyfire's freakishly intense adoration, if only to spare them both the mortification of continued association. Their rapport would be ruined, irreversibly. He would never see him again.
Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. His chronometer had already begun to malfunction from the stress of their relationship. He could get back to basics. It would be a relief to be free of this madness.
Despite himself, Skyfire huffed a deep breath, resigning himself back to lunacy. It was the same argument as ever. He wouldn't go through with it – not quite yet.
Starscream pursed his lips, as if in deep meditation, ignorant of Skyfire's rising panic. Then, nodding to himself, "You did say 'yes'. One generally assumes that when one says 'yes' to something, they're agreeing."
"When?" Skyfire blurted, then grimaced when he realized his slip, going back over the conversation. Ah. Tricky. Very tricky. "I didn't say yes to that. I said yes to the other question."
"They were one in the same." The wily jet said artlessly, spreading his hands placatingly.
"You're just playing with context now."
"It's all very relative," Starscream waved a hand flippantly, sauntering to the door with a distinct swagger in his step. "Don't worry about it. You'll enjoy yourself." And just like that, he was gone around the corner, off to realms unknown.
For now, at least.
Skyfire made a skeptical noise in the back of his vocalizer, flopping back to sag against the counter. He rubbed at the front of his head, groaning to the universe in general, "Great Iacon, what did I get myself into?"
Understandably, the cosmos declined comment.