"You know what I've noticed?" Moonbeam said casually, feeding Skywarp some more energon pudding. "Thundercracker never takes his girlfriend, Gemstone, on dates. Why is that?"
Thundercracker, Gemstone, Skywarp and Moonbeam were at the kitchen table, having some breakfast. Moonbeam was flirtatiously feeding Skywarp his breakfast. Gemstone looked like she was about to throw up.
"Moonbeam, Skywarp can eat his own pudding just fine," she said angrily.
"Shut the slag up," said Moonbeam, sticking another spoonful of the treat into Skywarp's mouth.
"Well, that's actually a good idea," said Thundercracker. "Gemstone? Do you need some help eating your pudding?"
"I'll share," Skywarp told her, pushing the container over. "It's fresh and yummy."
"Oh, okay," said Gemstone, and Thundercracker could have sworn she was blushing a little.
Thundercracker was feeding Gemstone her energon pudding, and she was trying not to have a giggle fit in between bites, as Thundercracker kept talking.
"You know, we should go on a date sometime," he was saying. "I guess we've been so busy that we haven't even thought of it. We can go somewhere real nice."
"Hey, I know!" said Skywarp. "Why don't we go on a double date? Me, Moonbeam, Thundercracker, and Gemstone!"
"Okay, I guess." Gemstone shrugged.
"Skywarp, may I have a word with you?" said Thundercracker, and then took his brother into the corner away from the femmes. "Where the slag did that come from?"
"Well, secretly, I wanted Gemstone and Moonbeam to bond over dinner or something," Skywarp whispered.
"Are you on something, 'Warp?" Thundercracker hissed. "They despise each other."
"Yes, I know." Skywarp nodded. "That's why I think a double date will be just the thing to pull their friendship together."
Thundercracker sighed. This wasn't an entirely bad idea. After all, if they went on a double date, he could flirt with Gemstone and show off his "relationship". After all, the only ones who knew the relationship was fake were Thundercracker and Gemstone themselves. Starscream did suspect it, but he couldn't prove anything.
"Well, I suppose we've got nothing to lose," Thundercracker told him. "Let's do it."
When they got back to the table, Skywarp told the femmes, "I discussed it with Thundercracker, and he thinks we should give it a go."
"That's wonderful, sugar daddy." Moonbeam got up and hugged Skywarp, then they all sat down again.
Not long after, an exhausted-looking Starscream walked into the room, trying to balance the screaming twins in one arm while holding their empty bottles in another. When he got to the kitchen he collapsed into one of the chairs, letting his head land down on the table.
"Here, let me take those darlings," said Skywarp quickly, lifting both twins out of Starscream's lap. "Will someone please fill up their bottles? It's time for them to feed again."
Gemstone filled the twins' bottles while Skywarp rocked them, trying to get them to stop crying. Soon enough, they had, reaching their little arms out and cooing for attention.
"You really are good with sparklings, Skywarp," Gemstone observed, setting both full bottles on the table. "The twins love you."
"Well, who couldn't love them?" Skywarp just smiled.
"It seems like Megatron doesn't love them," Starscream mumbled, lifting his head up off the table.
"What do you mean?" Gemstone asked.
"Megatron is a horrible father," said Starscream, his voice getting louder and angrier with every word. "When I was sparked with them, sure, he was a lot gentler with me, and he was always telling me not to stress them and to drink lots of nourishment. Now that they're born, he doesn't seem to care as much. And he never does anything!"
"You know, maybe you two weren't ready for twins," Thundercracker said carefully.
"Well, they were an accident," Starscream reminded him. "In fact, after I told him, he got really angry with me."
"Even so, you deserve a little break," said Skywarp, smiling. "Why don't you come on our double date? You can bring Megatron, and it can be a triple date."
Moonbeam frowned. "That would be…odd, at the least."
"I could use a break, though," Starscream told them. "We can ask Mr. Lazy-Pants once he finally decides to come in for his breakfast."
Starscream started eating his own breakfast, while Skywarp lovingly took care of the twins. It was too bad Moonbeam didn't want a family—he would have been a great father. Just as Stars and Megs were finishing their bottles, Megatron walked in, holding his data pad, and sat down at the table.
"Would you be a dear and get me some high-grade, Starscream?" he asked, leaning back in the chair.
"Get it yourself," said Starscream, scowling at him. "Besides, we wanted to ask you something."
"Thundercracker and I are going on a double date with Gemstone and Moonbeam," Skywarp explained excitedly. "We were wondering if you and Starscream wanted to come along."
"Well, I have been rather strained lately," Megatron said pensively.
"Strained!" Starscream screeched. "Who's been running himself ragged every day? Trying to keep these miserable little monsters in line? Not getting enough SLEEP?!"
"Looks like you're just having Skywarp do all of it," Megatron pointed out.
"Starscream does plenty," said Skywarp, sticking pacifiers in both sparklings' mouths. "Taking care of sparklings is a hard job."
"So is leading the Decepticons," said Megatron. "And he can't do that either, mind you."
Inevitably, Starscream was about to attack Megatron, but Gemstone held him back.
"Look, you two, if you're going to be parents, you're going to have to get along," she insisted. "Even if you don't truly love each other, be civil with each other for the sparklings' sake. Do you really want to be the kind of father who's never around?"
"I…no, I don't," said Megatron.
"It's hard for a sparkling to grow up when its parents hate each other," Gemstone continued. "Or, in my case, where you never knew your father and your mother hates you."
"Please come on the date with us," Skywarp added. "It'll be fun."
Megatron and Starscream looked reluctant, but finally they both agreed. Skywarp gently handed the twins back to Starscream. They were full and settling into their regular after-meal stasis nap. Starscream kissed both little helmets and gave them both a hug; they cuddled up to him in their sleep. They really weren't so bad when they weren't screaming.
"So, if we go out," said Starscream, stroking the twins' helmets with his finger, "who's going to watch the twins?"
"I guess I could get Soundwave to do it," Megatron said slowly. "He listens to me."
"Yeah, they could have a play-date with Rumble and Frenzy or something." Gemstone giggled.
"Just keep Ravage away from them," said Skywarp. "For all we know, he'd try to eat them."
THAT NIGHT…
All three couples were ready for a night out. They'd tried to think of somewhere fun and exciting, but besides the smoothie shop and the Cybertronian Mechs' Club, there wasn't that much to do. The smoothie shop wasn't a very romantic place, but they decided to go there because the only femmes who went to the strip club were there for money. Besides, Gemstone most likely would not want to go there on a date.
So the smoothie shop it was. Skywarp, of course, paid for Moonbeam's, and Thundercracker paid for Gemstone. Megatron insisted that Starscream pay for himself.
"I'd pay for my own," Gemstone was saying earnestly. "I just truly am broke."
"Don't worry," said Thundercracker. "Don't feel guilty."
"You don't have to buy stuff for me to love you, TC," Gemstone whispered, putting one hand on Thundercracker's wing. Most likely, she was emphasizing their fake relationship to Skywarp and Moonbeam (who were standing right there), but Thundercracker felt a weird sort of tingling feeling when she touched him. Probably just because she was touching his wing. Or because he was thirsty. Or…oh. She just touched me again…mm, nice.
When all six of them got back to the table, Starscream made a smirking face at Thundercracker, who gave him the meanest look possible, his eyes flashing a bright red color. Starscream just put his hand over his mouth and tried to control his laughter.
Once they were all at the table, it was time for the hard part: dinner conversation.
"So…um…can you believe this Earth weather we're having?" said Starscream rather awkwardly, playing with his smoothie.
"We still have a lot to get used to." Gemstone sighed. "Kaon might have sucked, but at least I was on Cybertron at all."
"You grew up in Kaon?" Moonbeam wasn't doing a good job at concealing her look of disgust.
"Well, my mother didn't have a lot of money," Gemstone mumbled, staring down at the table. "It's kind of a long story but…yeah. We lived in Kaon."
"Oh, Vos is so much better," said Moonbeam, smirking. "I've never even been to Kaon. Or, even worse, the Cybertronian Mechs' Club."
"We didn't want to live in Kaon…" Gemstone's tone rose to a slightly higher pitch. "We had to."
"So what happened to your mother now?" Moonbeam asked, raising one eyebrow. "Was she a whore just like you? Is that why you couldn't afford a better place?"
"My…my mother was a saint." Gemstone's voice quivered, and she was clearly struggling not to cry.
Starscream didn't know much about Gemstone or her backstory, but Moonbeam was again acting like the blatant bitch she was, and Thundercracker wasn't sticking up for his fake girlfriend, and everybody just sitting there watching. This wasn't about Skywarp or Gemstone or Thundercracker or anybody. This was about Moonbeam, and it was about Starscream.
"Shut up!" Starscream shouted at her, standing up and pointing his gun right at her face. "Shut up forever! I am tired of you, you worthless bitch!"
"Call me a worthless bitch, will you?" Moonbeam's eyes flashed with anger and she stood up too. "Just try and shoot me, Starscream."
"No!" Skywarp shot up and locked his arms around Moonbeam protectively. "No one's shooting anyone. Sit back down and drink your energon smoothies!"
"I'm not drinking anything!" Starscream snatched up Moonbeam's smoothie and tossed it at her, the bright pink fuel spilling all over her black-and-gold paint job.
"Oh, it's on now!" Moonbeam shrieked, and with a furious, warrior-like howl, she attacked Starscream, knocking him backwards onto the floor. The fight escalated quickly.
"You go Starscream!" Gemstone was almost like a cheerleader. "Rip her wings off!"
"No! Don't!" Skywarp sounded almost hysterical—but nobody listened.
Thundercracker, meanwhile, didn't know what to do. Of course, he didn't want Moonbeam, his love, to get hurt in any way, but he was feeling bad for his fake girlfriend, too—Moonbeam had no idea what she had gone through, and to be honest, she was showing Gemstone no respect. Who was he supposed to side with? Should he help Skywarp stop the fight? What was he supposed to do?
It would have been different if she was fighting Gemstone again, because it was hot to watch femmes fight…but this time, instead of Thundercracker's crush and his fake girlfriend, it was his crush and Starscream. That was more jarring than hot.
Thundercracker hated conflict! And he hated not knowing who he should be mad at! And he hating not knowing what to do! And why was he not defending Moonbeam?!
Moonbeam…the beautiful Moonbeam…she was getting hurt…but Gemstone was hurt too…by Moonbeam. Who was the victim here? Who was in the wrong? Thundercracker was starting to get a massive processor ache.
"Please, please stop!" Skywarp was screaming, tears running down his face. "Stop it right now!"
"That's enough, Starscream." Megatron got up calmly and pried them apart. Starscream and Moonbeam, both lightweights, were easy to pick up. "Call it off."
"We're going home right away," Skywarp added, wiping his eyes. "Thanks for ruining our night, Starscream."
…
"I can't believe Skywarp got mad at me," Starscream said for about the tenth time that night. As usual, he was sharing the room with Thundercracker. The twins were fast asleep in their crib, and Starscream had been complaining about the smoothie incident all night long.
"Well, you did attack his girlfriend," Thundercracker grunted, turning towards the wall.
"Thundercracker, this is getting ridiculous." Starscream glared at the blue jet. "I just couldn't take it any more. Skywarp is so slagging blind to everything she does…and I'm not talking just about how she was treating Gemstone, Thundercracker. It's about how she treats me, how she treats you, and especially how she treats Skywarp. She loves to play him for a fool, and every single time I try to warn him, he just gets mad and accuses me of being jealous. When she breaks his spark, he's going to be the last one to know."
"Skywarp is going to stay with Moonbeam," said Thundercracker. "Even if she isn't looking for the commitment that he is, he's going to hold onto her as much as he can. Now his entire life centers around her, basically."
"What is the Mech Code, Thundercracker?" Starscream demanded. "What is it?"
"Mechs before femmes," said Thundercracker. "So?"
"So, we're his brothers and his friends," Starscream snapped. "And he's turned his backs on us for her. In the end, I swear she's going to mess him up big-time, and then what's going to happen?"
"Well, it's no business of ours, is it?" Thundercracker flexed his wings a little and glared at the wall.
"It's completely our business!" Starscream shouted—but he must have shouted a bit too loud, because the twins woke up and started screaming.
"I'll get Stars, you get Megs," Starscream grumbled. Thundercracker followed him to the crib, and they fed and rocked the sparklings until they fell asleep again. The harder part, though, was for Starscream and Thundercracker to get any recharge themselves.
TO BE CONTINUED…