Title: Glare up a Storm
Summary: A challenge to explore Megatron's and Starscream's relationship, their characters and possible interaction with each other. A hundred words, a hundred situations. Rating and Genre may vary per chapter. Chapter 10: Jelly (Jealous)
Genre: Humour/Romance
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers characters, robots, environments etc, etc. Any OC, robot or location not recognisable is mine.
Rating and Warning: M for gore, language, violence, abuse, naughty things, high-grade abuse. OOCness through the roof, OCs here and there, beware. Shortness. Other pairings on the side.
A/N: Jelly means, maybe obviously, jealous. But I chose Jelly due to the fun, airy nature of the word itself.
…- Chapter 10: Jelly -…
"And then I stabbed him in the face." Megatron finishes his story, followed by a roar of laughter from his Decepticons. Victory is ever so sweet. A hard battle has been fought, but Megatron's plan, the raid of the refinery, the clash with the Autobrats, everything has been a success. Around him his soldiers celebrate, drinking high-grade and sharing their own stories.
The warlord finishes another cube quickly, the access energy already coursing through his wiring circuitry. As he lowers his left arm, which is holding that cube, his wiring protest, fresh wounds sending a warning through him. The mark, a big slab of his armor torn off from his back, wires and circuits devastated as a good bye gift from the Prime just after Megatron had called retreat, is sore. His shoulder plating has been removed completely when Hook did some quick repairs, just to stop him from bleeding too much energon. What is left now are dying circuits and wires that can easily be replaced, something Megatron will have done the day after tomorrow. As a Construction, Hook is actually the best drinker of that group of already heavy drinkers. Right now he's having a contest with his fellow constructors, easily drinking them under the table. And he'll have the hangover to justify all of that tomorrow.
He relaxes with a deep purr escaping his vocals, optics gliding over the crowd of soldiers that have gathered in the command centre.
Soundwave is hanging around his cassettes, uninterested in the high-grade all together. Just keeping an optic on his drones. His flyer is sitting on a shoulder, a little over energized. Just as much as Soundwave allows his drones. Ravage sways around his feet, walking around the left pede, circling it before going to the other one and repeating, trotting in little 8's as she does so. The twins are cheering with the Constructicons, on the prowl for more high-grade, which Soundwave has forbidden them. But they will get it any way, and Soundwave won't be too annoyed anyway. That little group is the only group that has remained in the centre without leaving, other 'cons walk in and out, party in the halls, the mess hall and wherever they can get their buzz on, interacting with one another and drinking the night away. Megatron watches with content, truly at peace for the first time in a long, long time. Many of his soldiers are injured, scratches and dents covering their bodies. But nothing too serious to prevent them from partying. There were no losses, and the number of serious injuries in next to none.
Collective laughter draws the tyrant's attention to his right. Turning his head strains the injuries on his shoulder but it is bearable. Megatron is no sissy after all. He spots the Command Trine, accompanied by the flyers Astrotrain and Blitzwing. Their rivaling Trine, the Coneheads just joined them, greetings are being exchanged in the form of lively chatter and touching. After their greetings the conversation picks up, the flyers paying great attention to the giant amongst them. Astrotrain is going into great detail when he tells them about his fight with the dreaded Autobot twins. The two had clearly underestimated the power and thick armor of the flying giant. Just because Astrotrain rarely joins in battle, that doesn't mean he is less prevailing for it.
The warlord suddenly spots Darkwing passing by his throne, making for the exit with Wingstun in tow. He can't hear what they say to each other, their speech somewhat slurred and muffled by the crowd currently present. They leave in peace, probably to retreat to either's quarters, or party somewhere else. Missing Darkwing's usually inseparable hanger on Megatron turns his head back towards the group of Seekers, optics immediately falling on Starscream. The red Seeker stands out of their little crowd after all. The tyrant is quickly reminded of the 'intimate slip-up' during their mission.
As if on cue the blue and bluer Seeker Dreadwind joins the group. He takes Thundercracker's spot on the left of the SIC, and the larger Seeker actually steps out of the way with only a minor glare as half a warning. He moves next to Skywarp and doesn't make a fuss at all. Usually the two of them are very protective over their Trine leader. Dreadwind acknowledges the silent threat with caution, all the while wrapping an arm around the red Seeker's waist and offering his superior his cube of energon. Starscream accepts the cube, giving the blue mech a thankful and promising smile. On his turn Dreadwind wraps his other arm around the Seeker's front, brushing his faceplates along the junction of Starscream's neck and shoulder. The SIC fans his wings in appreciation, turning his head and letting the other Seeker trace his lips over his neck cables.
Somehow, that doesn't sit well with Megatron.
That, on its own confuses the grey mech greatly. When the two were at it during the mission, of course he reacted. A battle was being fought, the refinery had to be protected. But now, it shouldn't matter who Dreadwind is flirting with. This is victory, it must be celebrated.
Oh but that has to be it. Megatron had scolded his Second in Command. The Seeker had allowed one of their men to act like a whore in heat. But because of all the commotion and excitement, the tyrant had yet to scold Dreadwind himself for such inappropriate behavior. In heat or not, glitching or not, whan you're in a battle, you don't try to get under someone else's armour!
And that is what has been bothering him. It has to be.
Still, it shouldn't be bothering him that the double blue Seeker is still hugging the red one. And it's al right that Starscream is flirting back, leaning with his back against the front of the other, his free arm twisted up to brush fingers over Dreadwind's check. Why would the warlord care that not even Thundercracker and Skywarp, who usually don't accept others near their Trine leader, are not even looking at Dreadwind in general?
The same Dreadwind that is now nibbling on the SIC's neck, running a hand over the top edge of a flickering white wing. Dirge, who is standing next to Blitzwing, on their opposite is glaring bloody murder, seemingly furious about this. He sneers and looks like he wants to tear the two of them apart. But that wouldn't be appreciated by Thundercracker, who has been glaring his subordinate back into place with a vehemence usually reserved for his enemies. Or Skywarp.
After a moment of contemplating Megatron realizes he wants to kill someone.
Soundwave does react but doesn't inch closer, torn between soothing his Lord's suddenly swelling anger or keeping an eye on Lugnut. The large mech is staggering due to excessive drinking with the Constructicons, and normally the TIC couldn't care any less, but now an over energized Ravage is walking in little 8's around Lugnut's feet. Should he fall over, he will crush her with his weight, and that is something the dad in Soundwave is trying to avoid.
Back to the situation with Dreadwind and Starscream. The feeling inside the Commander's chest is annoying him, but he can't pinpoint the cause. He does know Dreadwind is a part of it. The gladiator knows this much because every time he looks at the two flirtatious Seekers the feeling constricts somewhere deep inside of him.
Is he angry?
No, Megatron knows what anger is. Fury, he is familiar with. He thrives on it, hatred and anger, makes him stronger. True, that annoying feeling is starting to piss him off, but the feeling itself is not anger.
Jealous maybe?
Hn, that cannot be it either. The tyrant knows that feeling. Jealousy, desiring something someone else has. Something he was bothered greatly with when he was much, much younger. Now, whenever he wants something, he takes it. Though even nowadays he sometimes feels resentful. Or maybe in better wording: envious. Something with much less weight that straight out jealousy.
Without a second though about it Megatron scratches that off the list as well. So much less then jealousy, and he can accept the things he envies, and will not try and take that. The wings on the back of any of the flyers in his army, from the large Astrotrain to the miniscule Laserbeak. Wings are a beautiful part of a flyer's body, gives them finesse and elegance. Even the ever stumbling Astrotrain has a grace to his stomping about. Megatron has no need for wings himself, but he still, sometimes, fantasies what it would be like to have them.
Or Hook's intelligence, that logical, quick CPU of his. The medic, although slow in his work if Megatron would have anything to say about it, is damn good in what he does. The warlord can appreciate that rare kind of knowledge, as Hook surpasses many a Decepticon with his wits. The Second in Command of the Decepticon army is many times smarter then all of the other 'cons on this warship combined. Paired with that intelligence is the sheer madness the tyrant sometimes spots in the Seeker's eyes when the red flyer is unaware of the company. He lost count how many times Starscream had gone through a meltdown and needed to be rebooted from scratch because his CPU had crashed. His brain? Amazing. But the madness? Megatron envies his SIC not. Starscream can get things done in record time, but at what cost is that all?
The grace of some of his soldiers? Some of them are fast and agile. Although Megatron can be very fast as well, he is as graceful as a brick. Or what about Soundwave? That ability is something to be very proud of. At any rate, the list can go on and on.
So what he feels now, is no envy either.
What else is there? No need to go over his list of positive feelings, since Megatron doesn't have many of them. Damn it, this is going nowhere.
…Now Megatron really wants to kill someone.
Soundwave has been following his Lord's inner turmoil and is finally fed up with Megatron's confusion. The TIC comes to a halt next to the large throne, Laserbeak toppling forward in the abrupt stop. The large mech had already foreseen this and had held his arms up, effectively catching his falling cassette. The bird lands on his back but doesn't move any more, just throws his head around, trying to focus on the large silver blur that is their Commander. The Third doesn't seem bothered by his drone's behavior. But then again he isn't bothered by much anyway. "Megatron's feeling identified: Jealousy."
"What is that supposed to mean?" The grey mech growls out, frown appearing on his face. He already went over that, it cannot be jealously. Of who? Dreadwind? How could that depressing glitch even draw his attention?
"Megatron: Needs to alter perspective." A bit more of silence follows between the two of them while the gladiator thinks this over. Soundwave just stares ahead of him, mentally trying to make Ravage circle someone else's legs. His oldest cassette swaggers and sways, finally breaks away from Lugnut. She sniffs the ground, moves fluently through the legs of the crowd before finally picking someone else's legs to walk in circles around. Startled and with a great deal of effort Soundwave begins to try and steer her back towards Lugnut. Better him then Astrotrain. The giant flyer hasn't downed enough energon to get anywhere near over energized and falling over now, but he's downing fast, and his sensors may or may not be able to detect the small femme making 8's around his feet. If he so much as takes a wrong step in a wrong direction she becomes a hard to remove stain on the ground. Meanwhile Lasrebeak is trying to climb back up onto his shoulder, scratching his amour way more then necessary with his beak and claws as he tries to get a hold of anything. Needless to say, Laserbeak isn't getting very far.
When Megatron still comes up blank after a few moments of pondering, Soundwave assists.
"Megatron: Jealous. Cause: Starscream." Which would mean he is jealous of Starscream getting attention from Dreadwind.
"Megatron: Needs to alter perspective." Which would mean he is jealous of Dreadwind getting attention from Starscream…
…Still nothing. The warlord still comes up with nothing. No identification, nothing to label that annoying feeling with…
…Megatron is going to kill the first mech he can reach. Preferably Dreadwind, seeing as he is now trying to nibble on Starscream's lips.
Soundwave quickly leaves his side, deciding it would be much more fun to get crushed by Astrotrain should the flyer decide to drink too much. An angry Megatron, he can deal with. A fuming Megatron, he can deal with. An enraged Megatron about to go berserk on anyone's random aft, he can deal with.
A jealous Megatron, he cannot.
-TBC
A/N: Da's right, Megatron be Jelly! Can I get a special thanks to my boss? Because she didn't have shit to do for me today, which led to this chapter here. I hope to update again on Saturday. Oh yeah, I am working towards that smexy smut, lets see if I have the cojones to get that on paper.