3 – Adaption
Once Astro got back from her house, she had a couple of big bags over her back full of clothes. She knew that they would probably prefer to stick to their normal colours, so she had 'borrowed' some of her brother's clothes. It was lucky that her brothers were of the same build as both Jetfire and Starscream; one buff, and one skinny.
Both men were waiting for her when she arrived. She looked over them and sighed. This was going to be a bothersome task.
Starscream and Jetfire had been sitting on the bed, thinking their own thoughts when Astro came back.
"What's all that?" Jetfire asked, pointing.
"Clothes." Astro replied, dumping the bags down and tipping them out, revealing numerous articles of clothing of all sizes. "While you've got some of your own, it would be best not to walk down the street wearing that or you'll be stared at."
"Everything about us you say we'll get stared at for." Starscream grumbled.
"Unless you change a few things, then yes, it's the truth." The girl said sternly, sorting though the clothes and tossing some at each of them.
Starscream grumbled and looked down at his (to him) perfectly normal outfit. Then he looked at the 'normal' red shirt he was tossed and growled. Well, at least it KIND of looked like him. He sighed, and then looked down at all the straps and zips on his current clothing. He then started to undress his top half.
Five minutes later he was raging at it with steam coming out of his ears.
"Whoa calm down!" Jetfire said, startled.
Starscream looked stressed out, when Astro came over and gently took a hold of his jacket, unzipping it for him. Starscream sat still, almost protesting that he could do it himself, but knowing that it was a lie. He watched as the human girl took off the many parts of his outfit until he was down to a red and black shirt. She took that off him too.
Starscream shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. Astro took no notice of the glare sent her way when she put his clothing away in a drawer, and helped him get his other shirt on. He pushed her away gently and managed with a great amount of difficulty to get it on. Astro clipped holes in the back for his wings.
Jetfire was having a bit more luck getting his clothes off. He had payed attention to humans more than Starscream did, so he had some idea of how to do it. But even he got stuck when it came to getting his wings out. Astro managed to help him more with a bit more dignity that Starscream did.
Luckily, Jetfire had a quite normal shirt underneath, so he left it on.
"Now for the bottom bits." She said. Normally a girl would be a bit more bashful around dressing men, but Astro had lived with only boys apart from her mother all her life. So there was nothing she hadn't seen before.
They managed to get the boots off, and the pants. Starscream for some reason had leather pants on, which made things rather difficult as they were tight. He managed to get them off, revealing boxer shorts underneath. That was a big relief for Astro, and she sighed as he put some black shorts on. Jetfire managed to get his track pants off and slipped on some grey shorts.
Once that was all done, she let out a great big sigh. Well, at least that went well.
"Okay …" She said, scratching her head. "I'm going to inform Optimus of this … situation-" Starscream glared at her. "-Unless you want to do it yourself."
The seeker then got a bad mental image of Hotshot laughing his head off and jeering at him, and grumbled out loud.
"Do it." He said simply.
The teenager nodded and took off up to the vent, and disappeared out of sight.
Some were laughing. Hotshot was cracking up like no tomorrow and Smokescreen fought hard to keep a straight face. Others were snickering at the predicament. Optimus frowned, or as much as he could.
"This is a bad twist of events, indeed." He said. His second in command having been brought down with this … 'condition', would be a blow that would affect the team a fair amount.
Scavenger nodded, and hit Hotshot on the back of the head. "This is NOT a funny situation."
Red Alert, however, had suddenly disappeared …
Starscream looked like he would throw a fit if anyone dared to touch him.
Jetfire, however, was merely looking for more clothes to put on. It was winter, and although he was warm in the base, he knew it would get cold outside. So, he pit on a nice thick jumper like Astro had taught him to, and put some long pants on instead. He felt a bit hot, to his annoyance, so he took off the jumper and tied it around his waist.
He then noted Starscream eyeing him with an unreadable expression.
"What?" Jetfire asked.
"You seem to be handling this okay." The former seeker said.
The white clad human shrugged. "I just don't think it's so bad. I mean, I think I would be worse off if my wings had gone too, but since they haven't, I'm fine."
Wings were the most important thing to a flyer. Jetfire in particular loved his dearly like a friend.
Starscream blinked and then looked away. Maybe it was an over reaction? He didn't know. Still, he wished it had not happened …
Like so many things in my life. He thought to himself, and his dark mood mounted.
Jetfire sighed as he looked at him. He was handling this worse than what was really necessary. Carefully, he went over and brushed a hand along his wing.
Starscream jumped violently and stood up, growling with teeth bared. Jetfire stepped back with his hands up, looking shocked.
"Hey!" He said, startled. "Uh, are you okay?"
"Perfect." Starscream growled. "Just bloody perfect, Jetfire. I feel all fine and dandy just now."
"You look it." The other said, a definite coolness in his tone.
Starscream snarled, and then looked down and to the side, then down again, and his anger faded. For a moment, he just looked so lost.
Jetfire watched him as he balled his fists, shaking, and then walked closer to him. Hesitantly he put a hand on his wing, and the ex-seeker didn't pull away. It was that that made Jetfire throw caution to the wind and pulled the shaking human into a tight hug.
Starscream blinked at the softness of his chest, but then shut his eyes and buried his head into it. He was close to the same height as the other, but right now he was almost curled up against his chest, making him smaller. Jetfire stroked his back gently as Starscream sorted his emotions out.
After a few moments, the smaller man drew away weakly, looking down at the bed and sighing. He had needed that, just a bit of comfort. He realised that he and Jetfire were in this together, so for once, they would need each other for support.
No words needed to be spoken about what Starscream had needed that for, but the small grin on his face said thanks. Jetfire ruffled his hair a bit and got a moan with a swipe for his efforts.
"Now," Jetfire said gently, leading him over to lie down for a bit. "I want you to think about the good parts of this situation, okay?"
Starscream, for once, didn't protest. He shut his eyes and imagined the things he could explore with his new body, the things he could do now that he was smaller. Much smaller, in fact. Why couldn't he enjoy it? There was no reason not to.
It took him a few minutes before he opened his eyes and looked up to see … nothing. He turned to the side and saw Jetfire lying down and watching him, arms folded behind his head and a smirk on his face.
"What are you looking at?" Starscream smirked.
"A still sexy person, no matter the form." Jetfire sniggered and the other blushed.
"Flirt."
"Tease."
"Asshole."
"Bastard."
"Moron."
"Sucker."
"SUCKER?!" The former seeker sat up suddenly, face beet red.
"Sucker." Jetfire smirked. Starscream snarled and tackled him, and the two wrestled for a moment, limbs, feathers and the sound of growling and laughter filled the room. Starscream grabbed Jetfire in a headlock and ground his knuckles into the other's red head. Jetfire cried out and elbowed him lightly in the gut, causing the other to gasp and let go. Jetfire then tackled him and mauled him, while Starscream shrieked and kicked his legs out. Then Jetfire bit his neck lightly and Starscream clawed his neck and back, cringing. Then muscles started to relax as they fell onto the bed slowly, Starscream's wings giving a fruitless flap. The two looked like a tangle of limbs and feathers, as Jetfire let go of his neck and shut his eyes, snuggling up into the other's neck.
A lot of the times that Starscream got into a situation like this with Jetfire, he realised a lot of their bonding was done in silence. As he lay there with the other on top of him, limbs tangled and not a fear in the world, he sighed out. They always went like this: Talking, fighting, make up, making out and then silence. Though the making out part differed from a fist fight to actual intimacy. It was this silence that Starscream looked forward to and relished in every time. Funny how it was, normally he would snarl and tell the white Autobot to 'get the hell off me' whenever he got pounced on, but right now, he really didn't mind. He shifted a bit, their bodies brushing together as Starscream raised his arms up, hugging the other to him, one leg curled around Jetfire's, the other brought up and by the other's hips. Jetfire sighed again and moved his head so it was resting on the side, arm around his back.
They stayed tangled on the bed like that for a long time, taking in the new sounds of heartbeats and breathing, feeling one another. The warmth of each other, and the comfort of the bed plus the warmth of the room sent them both into a doze.
That was how Astro found them when she came though the vent a while later. She grinned softly and flew down quietly, trying not to disturb the two slumbering men. She perched there for a while before she realised it was time to get to work. To teach them more, and find a cure.
FF . net dont like me today ... neways! Will try to watch my spelling/grammar in the future, and Astro will be explained next chapter :) Hope tis good enough (works on fic) --;
Anyways, thanks for the reviews and see you!