Their hotel room was both unlocked and empty when they returned; which did not please Megatron in the slightest.
It should have been occupied by everyone but themselves and Soundwave. So where had they all run off to? Slipstream had likely wrangled to twins into something -like shopping, the mere thought of it made Starscream shudder- and Primus only knew what Thundercracker and Skywarp were up to. With his younger brother off his head on some, as of yet unknown, drug there was no telling when they would finally turn up again. Starscream could only hope Thundercracker was able to keep the situation in check.
Megatron didn't seem very concerned about their whereabouts though, simply grumbling to himself about disobedience and respect as he kicked the door shut after them. Following his example, Starscream cast the apprehension from his mind too.
Megatron dragged a small, and somewhat vandalised, table into the middle of the room and plonked himself down in front of it, gesturing for Starscream to do the same as he started to draw crumpled pink, green and grey notes out of his pockets and waist band. Starscream's mind almost instantly became void of any worry for his brothers as the mountain of cash in front of him started to grow; it just kept coming. He slid to the floor on the opposite side of the table, mouth slightly parted and eyes fixed intently on the large bundle of Rupees Megatron had pulled out of his front pocket.
"We'll separate the currencies first and then count them," said Megatron, beginning to spilt the money into separate piles, "We have more Rupees and Dollars than anything else."
Starscream nodded and went straight for a bright green note, much smaller than the others, that read '100 Euro'; it was by far the highest valued note in the pile. He continued to group together all of the Euros and then the Pounds, leaving Megatron to the all the wrinkly, grubbier money.
Once all of the money had been separated into twelve different piles, all alternating in currency and value, Megatron sat back and sighed, glancing back at the window and the brightening sky through it, casually mentioning, "It is nearly morning." He then turned back to the seeker sitting opposite him and frowned.
Starscream smiled at him, and then he immediately knew something was wrong. His gaze instantly shifted back down to the money. Eleven piles.
"Put it back." He ordered sternly, deciding to give his second a chance to put it back himself, rather than just holding him down, taking it back and giving him a good smack as a warning never to do it again.
Starscream's expression remained innocent however, he held out his hands, palms open, "What back?"
"Starscream," Megatron rumbled in his best intimidating tone, "Put it back before I take it back."
"What, the money?" he asked again, eyes still wide and innocent, "It's all there."
Megatron growled, "Care to tell me where the stack of twenty dollars notes has vanished to then?"
Starscream shrugged again, lying confidently, "There weren't any."
Megatron climbed to his feet, and loomed over his second, hand held out expectantly, "Last chance."
Starscream scrambled to his feet, expression now slightly panicked. He took a tentative step backwards, moving away from him the tiniest bit, and then another. Megatron scowled as he saw the seeker swallow hard, "There weren't any," he repeated in a quiet voice.
Megatron stepped forward and Starscream bolted, heading for one of the doors, but his leader jumped over the small table and blocked his path. He backtracked around the sofa, just managing to put it between himself and his Commander. "Give it back." Megatron repeated he earlier order again.
Starscream shook his head, "No it's mine! I deserve to get something!" he shrieked, side stepping around the sofa and then moving back as Megatron blocked him again. "Get away from me!"
"Will you ever cease being such an avaricious little pest?" Megatron barked, bracing an arm on either side of the sofa, eyes fixed attentively on Starscream, waiting for his next move, and wondering just where he had hidden the money.
But Starscream froze, eyes widening even further, "Stop. Calling. Me. LITLE!" he shrieked, his voice cracking slightly towards the end. In his fury he was distracted just long enough for Megatron to vault over the sofa. With another shriek, this time one of shock, he ran into the bathroom door. With hands shaking with adrenaline, he fumbled with the door handle, unable to get it open and glanced over his shoulder to see Megatron hurtling towards him, devious expression on his face.
He slammed himself against the door and rattled the handle in one last attempt to get away, failing miserably. Two strong arms around his waist lifted him off the ground and he shrieked again. A deep rumbling laugh met his ears and bristled when he realised how much his leader was enjoying this; aft head. He kicked his legs, hoping to catch Megatron, but was swung around and thrown. He braced himself for the inevitable pain that would come as he landed heavily on the floor, and taken aback went his back met, not with the hard, grubby carpet, but the soft, springy mattress. He bounced twice before something heavy landed on top of him, quickly restraining his arms and legs. His senses where then flooded with Megatron.
"Get off of me! Get off!" he screeched, thrashing around and pulling desperately at the hard grip his leader had on his wrists. The bulk pressing him into the bed pulled back slightly and Megatron's smirk came into view.
"Let's see where you've hidden that money, shall we?" he murmured smugly, moving both of Starscream's wrists into one hand before sitting up to straddle the seeker's waist.
Starscream gasped, and bit his lip at their intimate position, cursing his leader not for the first time for his ignorance. Had he any idea what he was doing to him? This was going to be torture far worse than any beating he had received. Had he not had so much pride he might have given up and told him where the money was; he was going to find it anyway, why not avoid the torment. But he couldn't. It was his money, it wasn't fair!
Another disadvantage of being human, he had no cockpit to lock away treasures. In this form Megatron could search him to his heart's content; there was no where he could hide the money away that he couldn't get to.
He squeezed his eyes tight shut and breathed heavily through his nose. A warm palm slipped under his t-shirt and began to search under his clothing. He wriggled and squirmed, hissing out insults as the hot hand felt around his waist band.
"Aha!" his Commander cried triumphantly, realising the seeker had tucked the money into the back of his waist band. His hand darted out from beneath Starscream's shirt to rip open the front of his slacks, button popping off and zip flying down. Starscream's eyes shot open and with a sudden burst of strength he wrenched a hand free of Megatron's hold and dove forward, snatching a handful of Megatron's straight black hair and pulling as hard as he could.
Megatron roared, head tilting into the pull of his hair, trying to alleviate some of the pain. He reached out and grabbed Starscream's hand, releasing the other he held down against the mattress, and crushed it. The seeker cried out, grip on his hair instantly loosening and Megatron leant away from him, tossing his head back to keep his locks well out of his second's grasp. He didn't care much for his appearance, especially as an organic, but he would defiantly have to cut all this carbon slag off.
He glared down at the seeker beneath him and Starscream returned it tenfold. A surge of anger rose up in him and he growled menacingly before backhanding the seeker across the face. His second's head was knocked sideways under the force of the blow, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
At the exact moment, the door clicked, creaking open and Slipstream barged in, followed quickly by the shouting twins, who were busy throwing colourful balls at each other. They froze in place as they noticed their Commanders on the bed. Starscream bit back a groan. He wasn't sure what looked worse, the fact that Megatron was straddling him, his pants were halfway down his thighs or the angry looking red hand mark on the side of his face; perhaps it was all of them combined.
Megatron scowled at Slipstream, and then at the twins, who swiftly moved behind her, as if her petite body could protect them from their volatile leader.
After a moments silence, Frenzy fought up the courage to tug on Slipstream's hand and ask in a hushed voice, "What are they doing?"
Despite it having been whispered, both Megatron and Starscream had heard him clearly. Megatron merely turned back to him, giving no warning before he rammed his hands between his body and the mattress, slipping around the back of his slacks and tugging the large wad of dollars loose from his waist band. Starscream's scowl deepened as Megatron made a show of tucking the money back into his pocket.
The mattress groaned when Megatron climbed off of him and turned to the twins, "I was teaching my subordinate a well needed lesson. Hopefully one he will remember for a long time."
The twins looked confused, but Slipstream's eyes widened and her lips quirked. She turned to Starscream, obviously reading the situation wrong, and winked at him. He blushed so furiously that the red mark on the side of his face almost became invisible. Grumbling to himself he scrambled around on the bed, pulling his pants back up and closing the zipper, cursing as he found the button missing.
Slipstream stepped aside as Megatron bent at the table, gathering up the rest of the money and strode out of the suite without another word to any of them. Starscream counted to three before shrieking in fury and kicking the small table over, knocking two of its four legs off. His cousin placed the two plastic carrier bags she had done a supremely good job at hiding from Megatron on the floor by the sofa, and told the twins to sit down and shut the slag up before she threw their gun out the window.
She strode towards the heavily breathing Air Commander, looking him up and down, eyes narrowing in contemplation. "Little bit kinky, but who am I to judge." She said after a while.
"What?" he snapped, mouth pulling into a sneer. "Kinky?" he said, testing the unfamiliar word.
"Yes. Sticking money down your pants like that and having him go in after it."
Starscream's jaw dropped, she thought- "I didn't do anything of the sort, SHUT UP!" he shrieked not caring who heard him.
The door clicked open again, and Starscream, fearing his leader's return, spun around so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet. It was only Soundwave. Slipstream, who had moments ago been carefully picking him to pieces, seemed to melt into a puddle of goo on the spot, her passive aggressive demeanour evaporating at the sight of the tall, broad man striding through the door.
Starscream sneered, she was such a hypocrite.
Soundwave didn't pay her much more attention than a glance after he had looked over his creations.
"Were you shouting?" he asked them.
They shook their heads, Frenzy's grip on the plastic gun tightened, "Nah, that was Screamer,"
Behind them Starscream hissed, no one paid him any attention.
Soundwave nodded, "Where is Lord Megatron?"
"He went down stairs." Rumble informed him, "I think he was annoyed because we interrupted his game with Starscream."
At this, Soundwave's eyebrows raised about half a centimetre higher, which could only mean their creator was extremely surprised at this revelation. "Game?"
"We weren't doing anything!" Starscream's screechy voice cut in and he stamped his way over. The look Soundwave gave him said he didn't believe him.
Thankfully the Communications Officer was wise enough to move onto another subject, "Where are your brothers?"
Starscream snorted, "The slag if I know."
"They are downstairs getting breakfast," Slipstream interjected, and Starscream stared at her, "We saw them on the way up." She explained, "They should be back any minute now."
"Good," Rumbled smiled, rubbing his stomach, "I'm so hungry."
As Soundwave's attention was drawn back to his creations, he finally noticed the large, plastic, colourful gun in their hands. He frowned at it, "Where did you get this?" he asked, reaching out to touch it.
The twins held it up to show him, "Slipstream brought it for us 'cause we weren't pissin' her off for once." Frenzy told him happily.
Soundwave's expression darkened at the use of crude human slang. Rumble quickly covered his brother's mistake, by shouting, "It shoots balls!" He pressed the oversized red button on the handle of the gun and a green foam ball shot out of the end of it and flew across the room, hitting the opposite wall.
Soundwave turned it over in his hands, "What is the purpose of such a thing?"
The gun was then snatched out of his hands, "It's a toy," Slipstream snapped impatiently, handing it back to the twins. Both of them reached for it at it at the same time which resulted in yet another tug of war.
"We're back!" announced a deep voice from the hallway outside the closed door before it was promptly kicked open to reveal Thundercracker and a far more level-headed looking Skywarp carrying the shiny metal trays which held their breakfast, or dinner as they had been up all night.
"Food!" shouted the twins together, abandoning the tug of war over the gun to snatch their breakfast from the seekers.
As Thundercracker and Skywarp set about handing everyone a tray each, Megatron stepped back through the open door, almost silently. He shut it behind himself with a quiet click. Soundwave turned at the noise, having been the only one to hear it. He marched forward, inclining his head. "The mission was successful, Lord Megatron." He said, digging into his pockets and pulling out- admittedly smaller than what Starscream had managed to procure- handfuls of money.
Megatron took it silently, eyes flickering to Starscream on the double bed, who was trying very hard not to show the red mark on his face or even look his way.
"Might I suggest," Soundwave continued, and Megatron forced his attention back to the former Communications Officer, "That we move on to other sections of the city to lessen the chances of the theft being linked back to the hotel, namely us."
Megatron nodded his head, lifting a hand to rub across his stubbly chin, "Very well." He glanced up to see Skywarp, stood a safe distance away from him with a metal breakfast tray, which was rattling in the seeker's shaking hands, "We will discuss this later."
He took the tray from Skywarp gently, who managed not to whimper and instead smiled slightly at him, and refocused his attention on his sulking second.
Starscream hated food. It was all disgusting. Not just the taste, but the thought of it, like where it came from; he shuddered. The Breakfast was the same as it was every morning, the same old boring and repulsive food. He picked up a piece of... something before allowing it to drop back to the tray again with a thud, grimacing.
"You need to refuel,"
Starscream closed his eyes at the sound of Megatron's voice. He turned around, so that his back was facing where he knew his leader to be and began to the ultimately doomed process of attempting to ignore him. Primus, didn't he have anyone else to harass?
The mattress dipped behind him as Megatron sat down and he inched away slightly, shoulders rising, bracing himself for when his leader would lose his patience and decide to manhandle him.
"Starscream," Megatron's voice purred very close to his ear and he jumped, his tray almost falling to the floor, but was saved by the other man's quick reactions. The tray was offered back to him. He refused to take it. His commander simply placed it back in his lap, and then bent down to steal one of the small flat, wraps.
"Stop stealing my food!" he hissed, unable to help himself from scolding his leader.
Megatron simply pooped the wrap into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times and swallowed. "You weren't going to eat it."
"I was actually," Starscream snapped moodily, "I don't want this anymore, now that you've touched it."
"Stop seeking out arguments and just eat it." Megatron growled,
"I'm not hungry," he lied.
Megatron gritted his teeth; if Starscream carried on like this, he was going to get a red mark on both sides of his face. "If you don't refuel you'll-"
"-I am refuelled!" He interrupted heatedly, "I just don't need to consume the colossal amounts you do."
To his surprise Megatron's lips quirked slightly, "Starscream," he purred again, leaning close and Starscream's breath hitched.
He recalled the torturous search that he'd had to endure earlier, his skin prickled as he remembered the feel of Megatron's warm palms sliding up and over his taught stomach, the weight of him on his hips. Sweat started to bead on his forehead and his breath quickened. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as warm finger tips slid down his bicep.
"I need you to refuel." Megatron told him, deep voice sounding soft to his unfocused ears, he was far too busy staring at his leader's moving lips to be paying attention to what he was actually saying. "I can't have my second in command collapsing on me at any given time; you'll be next to useless."
Starscream would have glared at him for calling him useless, had a warm palm not been sliding up his arm, across his shoulder and down his back, to massage the point between his shoulders where his wings used to be. He shivered. Megatron felt it.
"Do you not feel well?" his leader asked, brow creasing as he noticed the seeker's sweating forehead and damp hair. He lifted his hand to brush across his forehead. Starscream quickly slapped it away.
"Don't-" Starscream began, before stopping himself quickly.
Megatron lowered his hand, and leant away, the warm palm against his back falling away "-touch you?" he finished.
Starscream looked away, and found himself wishing that they had brought separate rooms so he could have somewhere to crawl and hide away until he had nursed his pride back. He absently lifted a hand to rub at his stinging cheek.
"You did well today." Megatron said quietly, and so sincerely that Starscream had to look up just to see if he was smirking at him. He wasn't.
He dejectedly picked up the idili on the tray and took a bite, chewing and swallowing it and then turned to Megatron, holding it up to show him that he had in fact taken a bite so he could leave him alone now.
Megatron almost laughed at his second's impatient expression, and as if completely forgetting Starscream's earlier annoyance, rested his palm against his back again. Instead of shivering and arching away from his touch, Starscream relaxed into the massaging sensation, almost forgetting to take another bite. The warmth on his back was soon removed and Megatron reminded him they all needed to get some sleep.
Starscream was absolutely exhausted, the rush he had received earlier from stealing and then the fight with Megatron had sucked him dry. He barely had the energy to chew. Eventually he pushed the tray away, allowing it to clatter to the floor without a second glance and fell back onto the bed, his eyes closing almost instantly. In his half awake state he was dimly aware of someone moving him under the sheets, but even more aware of a warm body getting in next to him just before he his heart rate slowed along with his breathing and he fell to sleep.
XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDX
The pounding headache Starscream woke with the next day was far from pleasant, as was the burning in his throat. Add that to the fact that he couldn't breathe through his nose and he was drenched in what he could only assume as his own sweat, and anyone could rightly assume that he was not in a good mood.
A hand was pressing against his sweaty forehead, it wasn't improving his mood. He groaned and threw out an arm to whack it away.
He started to hear someone talking, "He's waking up."
"Get off!" Starscream groaned again, voice cracking painfully as he tried to turn away.
The hand on his forehead stilled him. He was about to shriek out for whoever was holding him down to get the slag off, when his throat closed up. He coughed. It didn't clear, he tried to sit up and cough again and it came out hoarse and broken, eventually he managed to dislodge whatever was stuck in his airways, breathing heavily.
He cracked an eye open and the bright light stung them, he closed them again moaning. Something cool pressed against his hand, a glass, and he took it, gulping it down, but it didn't quench his thirst nor the stinging in his throat.
"What's wrong with him?" Skywarp's voice asked timidly.
"It's just a cold," he heard Thundercracker's deep voice reassure him.
Starscream opened his eyes again, squinting, and saw his brothers leaning over him, gazing at him curiously.
"What happened?" he managed to croak out, throat feeling like it was on fire.
Thundercracker brushed his hair back away from his damp forehead, "You have the Common Cold."
"I don't feel cold," he muttered sitting up and kicking away the blankets tangled around his legs, "I feel hot, really hot."
Thundercracker was quick to wrap him back in the blankets again despite his struggles, "You need to keep warm or it'll just get worse."
"I'm fine!" he barked out and then groaned, clutching his throbbing head. "Where is everyone else?" he asked, looking around the room and seeing it void of anyone but his brothers, not that he wasn't grateful for the screaming twins absence.
"They went out," Skywarp informed him pleasantly, helping him to sit up by propping pillows behind him.
"Where?" he snapped, and then sniffed, looking between his brothers, "Where did they go?"
When neither of them seemed capable of an answer so he continued talking, ignoring the burn in his throat, "So they just left us here? They just left me?"
"Don't worry Starscream, I'll look after you." Skywarp told him happily, shuffling onto the bed with him.
Starscream groaned again.
"How do you feel?" Thundercracker asked him, pulling the blankets up around his shoulders, disregarding how his brother simply threw them back again.
"Like slag." He muttered, sniffing and then closing his eyes as they began to water under the intense glare of light, "Close the curtains."
The mattress creaked and dipped as Skywarp got up to carry out his orders, "Do you know when they'll be back?"
"They?" asked Thundercracker, "Or Megatron?"
Starscream cracked an eye open and narrowed it at his smirking brother, "Oh, shut up. I'm not in the mood."
"What about Megatron?" Skywarp asked curiously, reappearing behind Thundercracker, after he had closed the window and curtains.
"NO-thing! He attempted to shout at his brother, grabbing a handful of sheets and dragging them over his head. He felt someone trying to pull them back down again and held tight, kicking his leg out until his foot collided with something.
"Ow-wah!" Skywarp's voice squeaked from outside his warm cocoon of sheets. "Thundercracker, he's kicking me!"
"Come away from him, Skywarp, sit over here," he heard Thundercracker telling him. The mattress bounced and creaked as the weight at the end of the bed moved elsewhere. He tentatively pulled the sheets down just enough for his eyes to appear over the top and narrowed them at Thundercracker, who was smiling fondly at him.
"So, Megatron?" his brother began and Starscream groaned again, before coughing a few times.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" he rasped, swallowing thickly and wincing at how raw his throat felt. "Ugh, how long do these 'colds' last?"
"Soundwave said a few days."
"Days!?" Starscream attempted to shout before the ability to speak seemed to leave him. He sat up coughing, struggling to breath. Thundercracker pushed the glass of water back into his hands and he drank again. It didn't help much. "How did I get 'cold'?" he asked again once his airways had opened up again.
"You got a cold from running around sleep deprived in the dead of night wearing nothing but a t-shirt and slacks." He was told dryly, as Thundercracker took the now empty glass out of his hands and placed it on the small table besides the bed. "Anyway, you're not going to be allowed to do that again."
Starscream's breath caught in his lungs -which didn't help his condition- at this news. He wasn't allowed out at night again? What, ever? "That's not fair!" he burst out, voice breaking half way and becoming high pitched. He clenched his fists and slammed them down on the bed either side of him.
Thundercracker arched an eyebrow, "That hurt, didn't it?"
Starscream scowled at him and lifted a hand to massage around his throat, "...Shut up," he croaked quietly, "Get me some more water."
Thundercracker was about to reach for the glass, standing up as he did, when it was quickly snatched off the table by someone else.
"I'll get it!" Skywarp shouted, already bounding towards the door before either of his brothers could protest. He threw open the door and quickly disappeared from sight. He was gone for about three seconds when a muffled thump, then bang and then crash met their ears, before a loud screech of "IDIOT!" followed.
"Skywarp?" Thundercracker called through the open door, already getting up to see what had happened. Once he reached the door he was shoved out of the way by Slipstream storming through and dragging a reluctant, embarrassed looking Skywarp behind her by the wrist.
"I didn't see her." He mumbled, looking at the floor.
"The boltless moron ran straight into me," Slipstream raged, shoving Skywarp into the sofa and flipping over his wrist, "Dropped a glass and then fell on it."
Thundercracker frowned and looked down at what Slipstream was inspecting in his brother's palm, and then his knees started to feel a little weak. He braced himself against the arm of the sofa to keep his balance. There was a shard of glass stuck in the surface of Skywarp's skin, but it was barely distinguishable between all the dark, red fluid pooling around it. "Primus," he whispered.
"Calm down," Slipstream snapped grumpily, looking around the floor next to her for something to mop up some of the blood, "It's not as bad as it looks."
"What's going on?" Starscream rasped from the bed, up on his knees and craning his neck to try and get a better look at whatever was happening, "What's not bad?"
No one paid him any attention.
"Skywarp," Thundercracker whispered, looking at his younger brother's embarrassed, but not at all pained expression, "Does that not hurt?"
Skywarp shook his head, "Not really, I hadn't realised I'd done it until I got some of this red stuff on Slipstream's top."
"My favourite top!" his cousin snapped, tugging at Thundercracker shirt, "Take that off, I need it."
Thundercracker dutifully did as he was told and Slipstream snatched the fabric before he had even properly pulled it over his head, and winced as it caught his nose. He watched as Slipstream, with sticky, red stained fingers, carefully dabbed his dark t-shirt around the point where the glass was lodged in his brother's skin. She then took her long nails and warily began to use them to dig the shard of glass out of the skin it had buried itself in.
Skywarp gasped and tried to pull away but Slipstream held him in place fast. Thundercracker, despite feeling squeamish, grabbed Skywarp's other hand and squeezed it as Slipstream gently worked the glass away.
"Will you tell me what's going on?" Starscream was still squawking from the bed, angry at being completely left out.
Skywarp whimpered as the glass finally came free, covered in the red, metallically smelling substance. Once the wound had been opened just that little bit more from the removal of the glass, a surge of life fluid began to flow up into Skywarp palm. His eyes widened.
Slipstream quickly wrapped Thundercracker's already blood stained t-shirt around his palm, pressing on the wound and then tightening the fabric around it. "There," she announced, tying the ends of the shirt together, "All better."
Skywarp looked at his bound hand, bottom lip wobbling as if he were about to cry, "But it's not-"
"What do you want me to do?" Slipstream snapped, teeth clenched together, "Take you to a medic? This is the best we can do."
Skywarp pulled his wounded hand against his chest, cradling in his in other hand, he nodded dejectedly.
Slipstream's expression softened slightly, "We'll get Soundwave to look at it when he gets back. He's good at this sort of thing... I think."
"Good at what?" Starscream's voice grated in their ears again, and Slipstream's face twitched in annoyance.
"Skywarp hurt his hand." Thundercracker finally answered for him, and Skywarp held up his shirt wrapped hand to show him.
Starscream scoffed, and sank back into his bed, clearly uninterested.
Slipstream narrowed her eyes and turned to the other two seekers "He not dead yet?" she asked tactlessly, barging across the room, looking for another top to change into after the one she was originally wearing had been ruined by her clumsy cousin.
Skywarp scowled at her insensitivity, but it wasn't very intimidating.
"He's going to be fine." Said Thundercracker testily, shaking his head at her. He strode to the other side of the room to pick up his other shirt, pulling it over his head to cover his bare chest. "As long as he gets enough sleep and stays warm and stops shouting at everyone." He said the last part more to Starscream than he did Slipstream.
The former Air Commander merely sneered at them all and pulled the covers back over his head, "I still want that water!" his muffled voice could be heard from under the sheets.
Thundercracker breathed heavily, "I'll get it. Slipstream, could you-" he trailed off, gesturing between the lump under the bed covers and Skywarp huddled around his hand in the corner.
She nodded, rolling her eyes, before she caught Skywarp fiddling with the shirt wrapped hand, "Skywarp! Leave it alone!" she snapped suddenly and he jumped, eyes widening at the shout. He lifted his undamaged hand to his mouth hesitantly, looking innocently at his feet until she turned her dark, narrowed eyes away from him and he deemed it safe to continue poking at his hand again.
The door clicked, and creaked open after about five minutes. Starscream, thinking Thundercracker was finally back with his water, threw the covers from over his head, scowl set on his face. He opened his mouth to snap something at Thundercracker for taking so long; when he saw that it was not just his brother that had just walked through the door, but everyone else as well.
Megatron drew more of his attention than anyone else and he scowled, seeing his leader's approach, making to dive beneath the covers again. He wasn't quick enough, and sudden movements made his stupidly delicate human brain ache. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder and the covers, damp with his sweat, where ripped away.
He groaned pathetically, closing his eyes, and attempted to turn away. Megatron's surprisingly gentle hands stopped him though, and managed to roll him onto his back. Starscream looked up to see his leader hovering over him. Expression some parts concerned other parts amused. His straight black hair was dangling temptingly above him, and had he possessed the courage he probably would have reached up and used it to pull his leader's face down to his. Primus, it was tempting, especially with Megatron's dark eyes smouldering like that.
Megatron lowered a hand to his second's glistening forehead, sweeping the damp hair away and pressing his palm against his burning forehead to feel his temperature. He turned to Thundercracker, who was placing a cool plastic cup full of water on the bedside table.
"How is he?" he asked him.
Thundercracker opened his mouth to reply when Starscream's grating, harsh voice rasped out, "Why are you asking him? I'm right here!
From behind him Megatron could hear Soundwave's brats laughing.
"Starscream sounds stupid," laughed Rumble
"You mean, stupider," corrected his twin.
Naturally, Starscream didn't take this well and began to screech, "Will you get-!"
Megatron closed the damp hand he had pressed against his forehead over his second's overactive mouth. How was the seeker's throat going to feel any better if he kept shrieking at everyone? Starscream looked positively livid at being silenced in such a manner. He slowly removed his hand, ready to silence him again if he started to show any signs of kicking off.
When all his second did was sneer at him, he allowed his hand to slide over Starscream's red flushed cheeks, dismissing how the seeker tried to turn away from him.
"I have no sympathy," he said dryly, now brushing his large hand over Starscream's soft hair, slipping his fingers between the thick locks, secretly enjoying how soft they were. "You have only brought this upon yourself. If you had eaten like I told you to-"
Starscream shook his head, tearing his hair free of his leader's hand, and wincing at the ache it was sure to have caused. "This has nothing to do with the disgusting slag you make me eat!" he burst out, disappointed that his voice came out as no more than a hoarse whisper.
Megatron carried on anyway, "And slept like I told you-"
"That wasn't my fault and you know it!"
"Then you would not be confined to a bed for the unforeseeable future." He finished, fighting back a smirk at the horror struck expression his second wore.
"Confined! I'm not- You- you can't keep me here!"Starscream stuttered in disbelief, "I can go out anytime I want and I'd like to see you try and stop me!" He sat up in the bed and threw the covers aside, pausing for a moment as his head panged at the sudden change in position. Shakily, he stood, wobbling precariously when something pulled on the back of his waist band and he quickly fell back onto the bed. Next thing he knew Megatron was gently pulling the covers back over his shoulders.
Smirking smugly at him, his leader said, "I'm fairly sure I won't have much trouble restraining you."
Slipstream, who had been smirking sadistically at this exchange, suddenly remembered something, "Skywarp!" she barked, "Come here and show Soundwave your hand."
Both mentioned looked up at hearing their names, Soundwave appearing curious and Skywarp looking terrified. The timid seeker held his throbbing hand against his chest protectively.
Slipstream scoffed, "For sparks sake, Skywarp," she muttered and stomped over to him, fisting the front of his shirt and dragging him towards the former Communications Officer, holding out his wrist for him.
As Soundwave reached for the fabric wrapped hand, Skywarp whimpered, closing his eyes and bracing himself for the pain he knew was about to come. Soundwave was surprisingly gentle, peeling away at the now half damp, half hardened fabric carefully to reveal the angry red looking wound.
"How did this happen," said a voice, not Slipstream's or Soundwave's.
Skywarp jumped, hand almost jerking free from Soundwave's grip, as he heard Megatron speak so close to him. He hadn't noticed his leader's approach with his eyes closed.
"I- I didn't-" he began to stutter at his leader, bright blue eyes wide and terrified.
"He broke a glass and then got himself stabbed with a piece," Slipstream answered grumpily for him.
"You removed the glass shard." Soundwave said, carefully inspecting the wound.
Slipstream wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question but she answered anyway, "Yes."
"The wound needs to be cleaned," he said again, more to himself than anyone else. He started to pull Skywarp across the room with him towards the on-suite, the seeker threw terrified glances at Slipstream and Thundercracker as he was dragged away, but neither of them followed after.
Inside Soundwave had Skywarp stand to the side as he ran the sink over one of the hotel towels until it was dripping wet, he then wrung it out.
Soundwave's hands were warm and very gentle, and Skywarp's skin prickled against his fingers. He jumped when the cool towel rubbed over his palm, carefully wiping away the dried blood. Eventually the wound was clean and Soundwave spent a few more minutes inspecting it, just checking that there weren't any more shards of glass hidden away beneath the skin before he released him. Skywarp pulled his hand back, slowly, skin still tingling.
"You are lucky." Soundwave told him solemnly, "That glass shard could have sunk far deeper, even straight through your hand."
Skywarp's mouth fell open, "Really?" he whispered.
"Human skin is not thick, and their flesh is not tough." He glanced up and looked into Skywarp's bright eyes intensely, "You must be more careful."
Skywarp nodded.
"No running with glass or sharp objects."
Skywarp nodded again, "I won't I promise."
"And you are not to consume something if you do not know what it is." He added.
Skywarp blushed bright red, recalling the other night in which he had swallowed what he had thought were sweets. "I didn't think it was anything bad. It was colourful."
"Colourful does not necessarily mean good," he told the seeker, throwing the damp, red stained towel into the corner of the room, "We must find something more practical to bind your wound in." He said, holding the bathroom door open for him.
Skywarp walked through, head bowed, and took a deep breath, "Thank you." He whispered, casting a rare smile in Soundwave's direction.
The former Communication Officer's lips quirked slightly, and on the other side of the room Slipstream's eyes burned with jealously.
