Approximately one week later…
It was a stormy, dreary afternoon. Starscream hated these days on Earth—when something the humans called "rain" fell from the sky and wouldn't stop for hours. Why would water fall from the sky, anyway? Also it was thundering, and Starscream could see flashes of lightning outside the window.
Megatron had finally ordered a new couch (possibly because if there was a couch in the main monitor room, Starscream and Spaceflower were less likely to interface on the floor). For now, though, they still had to sit on pillows or on the floor when they watched TV.
This was what Blackarachnia was doing when Starscream walked into the main monitor room, holding an energon cube. She seemed to be pretty interested in what she was watching—her servos were folded beneath her chin, and she had a strange smile on her face.
"What are you watching?" asked Starscream, sitting down next to her.
"27 Paint Jobs," Blackarachnia replied, and made a face. "It's this cheesy Autobot romantic comedy about some femme who gets twenty-seven paint jobs for each wedding she's in, except what she really wants is for some mech to come into her life cycle and romantically sweep her off her feet."
"That does sound bad," Starscream agreed. "But anyway, I thought you hated romantic comedies."
"I do," Blackarachnia told him. "Slipstream left it on so I just started watching it. I hate it so far. 27 Paint Jobs is probably the dumbest movie ever made."
"Did you just say 27 Paint Jobs?" Spaceflower shrieked, running into the main monitor room. "That's my favorite movie ever!"
"Well, um, I could watch it with you, if you want," Starscream suggested.
"Would you?" Spaceflower asked. When Starscream nodded, she plopped herself down on a pillow and started watching, optics practically glued to the screen.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you," the mech on-screen was saying, in a very deep voice.
"What?" asked the femme (who Starscream assumed was the main character).
Spaceflower squealed. "This is the part where he proposes! And it's just so romantic!"
"Well, thanks for giving it away," Blackarachnia snapped.
The mech bent down on one knee and declared, "I love you! Will you marry me?"
"Yes!" the femme squealed.
"Awww…" Blackarachnia and Spaceflower both said at the same time.
"Oh come on," said Starscream. "That was so cheesy."
The femme kissed her husband-to-be dramatically, then they cut the scene. The next scene was…the wedding itself.
"And I knew all my friends would be there for me on my special day," the femme said, and the camera did a close-up on her and her special mech. (And, of course, she had a different paint job again.) Cheesy, romantic music started playing as the mech flipped the main character backwards and kissed her on the lips.
"Hold me, Starscream," Spaceflower whimpered, and Starscream realized she was actually crying a little bit.
"My love, it's…it's just a movie," he reminded her, as he held her close. He knew she really loved romantic things.
"But it's so romantic!" she cried. "I…I always get a little teary when I watch this scene."
After the wedding scene, the femme and her mech rushed outside, where there was a beautiful sunset, and kissed yet again. Then the movie ended, and the credits started rolling.
"Can we please watch something good now?" asked Starscream. "I think Cybertron's Dumbest Citizens is going to be on in a few minutes. Good show."
"Cybertron's Dumbest Citizens…" Spaceflower was wiping her optics. "Okay…whatever you want, my love."
Blackarachnia changed the channel to the Decepticon channel that was showing Cybertron's Dumbest Citizens. In this show, the host picks three Cybertronians who are, supposedly, total idiots. Then, he asks them trivia questions and sees who gets the lowest score. The categories were always so easy, and yet the contestants were so stupid that they never got anything right.
"I'll pick 'Shapes that are Square' for 400, please!" the first contestant was saying.
"Okay, then, a box is usually shaped like this shape," the host said.
"Is it a circle box?" asked the contestant.
"Erm…no, it is not," the host told him.
"Then, um…is it…triangle?" he asked.
"NO, it was square, you idiot!" the host yelled. The funny part was that on every episode, the host almost always got fed up with the contestants.
Blackarachnia, Spaceflower and Starscream were all laughing hysterically. What kind of idiot would ever guess "triangle"?
Several days later…
All of the Decepticons except Spaceflower were sitting at the kitchen table, having their breakfast. Skydive still wasn't old enough to drink energon yet, so she was still drinking motor oil, but basically everyone else had energon. The reason Spaceflower wasn't present was because she had been gone all morning, and nobody had seen her.
"Are you guys sure Spaceflower didn't say anything to you before she left?" Starscream asked, for about the millionth time. He was worried, because it wasn't like Spaceflower to just wander off without telling anyone first. What if something terrible happened to her?
"YES, WE'RE SURE!" everyone at the table shouted.
Starscream pushed his energon away. He was too worried to drink it.
And then, as if on cue, he saw Spaceflower waltz into the room, a huge smile on her face, and she said, "Hey guys! Did I miss anything?"
"Spaceflower!" Starscream jumped up from the table and gave her a hug. "I was so worried! Are you all right?"
"Very much so," Spaceflower replied, smiling. "Don't worry; nothing bad happened."
"Well, anyway, my love, now that you're here, I wanted to see if you would come outside and supervise some of my flying maneuvers," Starscream told her. "I've been practicing some new ones and I wanted to see what you thought of them."
"We don't want to watch your stupid flying maneuvers, Starscream," Thundercracker said.
"Too bad." Starscream started to walk outside and motioned for everyone to follow him.
Starscream waited until everyone was outside, and then Slipstream finally asked, "What are we watching?"
"I told you," Starscream replied. "I wanted to get my spark-mate's opinion on some of these new flying maneuvers I have come up with."
Spaceflower was still smiling. "Well, what are you waiting for, my love? Show us."
With that Starscream turned into a jet and shot into the air as fast as he could, looping back and forth, doing barrel rolls, flying high and low, all the moves coming together in perfect harmony when finally he transformed back into a robot, gently landed on the ground, and pointed at the words he had formed, with his jet-clouds, in the sky:
SPACEFLOWER—WILL YOU MARRY ME?
Starscream walked back to his girlfriend, whose mouth was open in shock. Everyone else's was too, for the most part, but hers even more so.
"We've been through so much together, my love," Starscream said softly, putting one servo on her shoulder. "Like the musical, and when Sweetie—I mean, Skydive—was protoformed, and when we got captured by the Elite Guard and had to dress up like Autobots to get Skydive off the ship safely…I feel the happiest when I'm with you, when we're with each other. I feel like we really are spark-mates."
"So, here." Even more surprisingly, Starscream held out a glowing crystal with a gold band attached, for Spaceflower's engagement ring. "You might recall how I brought the clones to life…well, this ring is made from a piece of the AllSpark too—special, immortal, inextinguishable…like our love."
Almost all of the "audience" groaned, and someone yelled "Cor-ny!" but Spaceflower's optics were slowly filling with tears.
Just like the mech in the movie, Starscream bent down on one knee and held out the AllSpark ring to her. "Would you please make me the happiest mech in the universe by agreeing to marry me?"
Spaceflower didn't say or do anything for a moment or two; but finally, she grabbed the ring from him and promptly burst into tears.
Starscream quickly stood up and held his spark-mate close, his own optics burning with hot tears. "No need to cry, my love…this is a happy moment."
"Yes, yes it is," she sobbed. "Starscream, that was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me! I love you so much!"
"I love you so much too," Starscream told her. "That's why I said we were spark-mates. We should always be together. Kind of…kind of like the Jettwins, I guess."
"The Jettwins?" asked Spaceflower, looking a little confused. "What do they have to do with—"
"You never see one of them without the other," Starscream explained. "I guess we're kind of like that, in a way. But my point is…I just think we were meant to be together, which is why I want to get married to you. I love you, Spaceflower. Will you marry me?"
Starscream reached out one servo and she took it, still wiping tears. "Of course I will, Starscream. Of course I will."
They hugged again, and Starscream felt tears running down his face as he kissed her forehead. "Nobody makes me feel this way but you, Spaceflower. Nobody."
"And what way is that?" she purred.
"Why, love, of course," he replied, pulling her into a romantic kiss. They were lost in this truly passionate moment, nothing but pure joy running through their processors, but then—
"HEL-LO!" Thundercracker called out. "Did you FORGET I'm even STANDING here?"
"Oh…um…yeah," Starscream said. "We're just, you know, hopelessly infatuated with each other."
"Yes, we are," Spaceflower agreed, gently taking her husband-to-be's servo in her own.
"Well, I don't want to watch you making out with each other all solar cycle long!" Thundercracker continued. "You should recognize my worthy presence."
"That reminds me, though," Spaceflower suddenly separated herself from Starscream and spoke to the whole crowd of Decepticons gathered outside the base. "I suppose you all were wondering where I went this morning?"
"No, not really," said Blackarachnia apathetically. Starscream glared at her, but she didn't respond.
"Either way, I was at the Autobots' base because of something I'd suspected for a little while now," Spaceflower continued, smiling. "And I found out I'm pregnant again."
"My love, that's great!" Starscream kissed her quickly on the lips. "I would hug you but I don't want to…you know…hurt anything…"
"Right," she laughed. "I was so happy. I love sparklings. I was so scared the first time, but now, well, I'm just happy. We will need to postpone the wedding until after the sparkling comes, though…"
"Yeah, we will," Starscream agreed. "It's okay."
"So…I'm going to have a new brother or sister and my parents are finally getting married?" Skydive piped up. "These next few lunar cycles will be quite eventful."
"And I'm going to make you my maid of honor, Skydive, if you don't mind," Spaceflower replied. "Would you like that?"
"Of course Mom," Skydive said, looking shocked. "I'd love to be your maid of honor."
"Starscream, just in case you are considering it, I will not be your best mech even if you threaten my life," Megatron suddenly said.
"Oh, get over yourself, Megatron," Starscream snapped. "Why the frag would I pick you to be best mech?"
"Who are you going to pick, then?" asked Skydive.
Starscream pondered for a moment, thinking about who would work for best mech. Finally he decided, "Blitzwing? Will you be best mech?"
Blitzwing, he thought, deserved this position more than anyone else because, after all, he had helped set up Starscream and Spaceflower. And even though he was part crazy, and he had endangered Skydive's life with his stupid Energon Pops, he wasn't really that bad a friend. As long as he didn't get too drunk at the reception, what could go wrong?
"On one condition," Icy said.
"What's that?"
"Can it be a musical wedding?" Blitzwing asked, switching to Random and breaking out into another song-and-dance routine.
Spaceflower shrieked with delight. "Yes! That's an excellent idea! Starscream, we can have a musical wedding, right?"
"You mean, kind of like the musical we performed in when we first met?" Starscream asked.
"Of course," Spaceflower replied. "And you know you don't have to sing."
"Well…then…I don't see why not," Starscream told her. "Thanks, Blitzwing."
"Anytime, my friend, anytime."
"Skydive was right, though," Spaceflower pointed out. "We have a lot of planning to do, since we have a sparkling and a wedding on the way. We seriously have our servos full."
"You know, you never told me you wanted a sparkling, Mom," Skydive said. "Why didn't you say you were trying for a sparkling? I'm actually really excited to have a new brother or sister."
"Well…you see…I wasn't exactly trying to get pregnant," Spaceflower told her, more than a little awkwardly (just like Skydive, this new sparkling was, technically, an accident). "Of course, that doesn't make it any less happy. We're very glad you're accepting a new member of the family."
"Of course." Skydive shrugged. "Being an only child can get a little lonely sometimes."
"Oh, come here, honey," said Spaceflower tearfully, running over and embracing her daughter in a sweet mother-daughter fashion. "You were always the best daughter a femme could ever hope for, did you know that? You were so smart, so funny, so talented, so cute…"
"Thanks, Mom," Sweetie whispered. "You're a great mother, too. I'm so happy you chose me as maid of honor."
"Of course," Spaceflower told her, and then once Spaceflower finished hugging her daughter, she went back to hugging her husband-to-be.
"This has been a most unusual solar cycle," Starscream commented. "Proposal…sparkling…wow. Pretty crazy."
"And I can't wait," Spaceflower added.
"Who are you going to choose for your other bridesmaids?" Skydive asked.
"Probably that Autobot from the party, Arcee, and Slipstream," Spaceflower replied. Of course, she didn't say she wanted Blackarachnia to stay OUT of her wedding, but everyone knew that was what she was thinking. Blackarachnia didn't seem to have a problem with it, though.
"And…well, since you're the Decepticon leader, Megatron, you kind of have to be one of my groomsmechs," Starscream told Megatron. "Sunstorm, Skywarp, Ramjet, you can all be groomsmechs too."
"I'm glad you didn't choose me," said Thundercracker. "I wouldn't have done it anyway."
"And…I do have to make an appearance at a high-profile Decepticon occurrence such as a wedding," Megatron added, reluctantly.
"If Megatron's in the wedding, I want to be in it, too!" said Lugnut.
"Okay, fine," Starscream groaned. "Just…just don't mess anything up, okay? Megatron doesn't want you to."
"I will not fail you, my Lord!" Lugnut declared.
"Honestly, Lugnut, it's not my fragging wedding," Megatron reminded him, looking irritated.
"But anyway, we still have a LOT to do, in terms of both the wedding and the sparkling," Spaceflower reminded everyone. "So let's get started."
…
Starscream and Spaceflower were in the main monitor room, sitting on pillows. Spaceflower had a data pad out, and they were writing down everything they thought they would need for the wedding.
"So…what should we do first?" asked Starscream.
"Well, first of all, we need to figure out our guest list," Spaceflower suggested. "And write out invitations, too."
"Yes, and—Blackarachnia?" Starscream turned to see Blackarachnia, making her way into the main monitor room.
"It's me," said Blackarachnia, sitting down. "I wanted to ask, Spaceflower…why didn't you invite me to be one of your bridesmaids?"
Spaceflower, apparently deciding to be brutally honest, replied, "I thought we hated each other."
"Well…yes…but I still wanted to be part of the wedding," Blackarachnia told her. "I thought it would be, you know, romantic."
"Are you serious?" Spaceflower asked.
"Of course."
"I suppose I could add you to the bridesmaid list, then, on one condition," Spaceflower said. "Can we be friends, not enemies, on my wedding solar cycle? Just that one solar cycle?"
Blackarachnia shrugged. "I guess that's not too much to ask…okay."
"Same goes for you and Megatron, Starscream," Spaceflower continued. "ANY fighting between you two and you are in VERY BIG TROUBLE, got it?"
"Got it," said Starscream. "I want my wedding solar cycle to go perfectly too, you know."
"Anyway, thanks for the bridesmaid nomination." Blackarachnia stood up and started to leave the room. "Later."
"Later," Spaceflower replied, then turned to Starscream. "That was weird. We hate each other. Why would she want to be in my wedding?"
"Who knows," said Starscream. "Now…let's continue planning, shall we?"
"We shall," Spaceflower giggled, holding up her data pad, and so they did.
-TO BE CONTINUED-
(Next chapter coming soon!)