"Did anyone see you come here?" Sunstreaker growled, blocking the doorway to his quarters.

Bluestreak pulled back with a sour face. "What? No, no one knows we're here-"

"Good, then you may enter," Sunstreaker said, casting another glare at Starscream.

Starscream was minorly amused by the mech's antics. Sunstreaker was definitely intimidating, but not in a way that actually scared him. His reaction to Starscream wasn't fake or a lie, and even if it was annoying, Starscream found it refreshing. Bluestreak had tried to explain his rude demeanor away by just saying he was jumpy, but Starscream had figured it was probably a little deeper than that.

"Why does it matter if someone saw us?" Bluestreak asked, clearly not willing to let the subject drop. He entered the room and nodded to Sideswipe in greeting who was pulling out their high-grade stash.

"We don't need anyone knowing we're hanging out with him," Sunstreaker said, still agitated, his blue optics blazing.

Starscream huffed a little laugh, deciding he didn't actually have the energy for this right now. "Bluestreak, look, this was a good idea, but clearly they don't want me here-"

"No! No, wait, please stay," Bluestreak said. "It's… it's just weird, I know. For all of us, okay?" He looked between the assembled mechs and sighed. "Very… weird. Just, Sunny? Please? Just put it in gear, okay?"

Sunstreaker narrowed his optics and then looked back to Starscream. "Fine. Okay, fine."

Starscream tried not to smirk too widely. The mech was a lot of talk it seemed, and far less bite.

"Take a drink, bro," Sideswipe said, handing Sunstreaker a flask. "You're scaring our guest."

Sunstreaker glared at him but grabbed the flask and took a swig. Bluestreak went over to look at what else they had, and Starscream was about to follow until Sunstreaker stopped him with his arm on his chest.

Unfortunately, it was the kind of hold that Starscream was powerless against. He bit back a sigh of irritation.

Sunstreaker glared at him again. "Why are you here?" he asked with a growl.

Starscream shrugged, giving Sunstreaker a slightly annoyed look. "I'm here to drink, according to Bluestreak. It's been a long day, Sunstreaker, so I'm just trying to relax."

This didn't appear to be the response that Sunstreaker was expecting. "No, I meant… here. The base."

Starscream's amusement fell. His shoulders slumped a little and he regarded the yellow Autobot with an exasperated look. "I was just trying to save the ones I care about."

Sunstreaker paused, quietly watching Starscream for a few seconds, then he visibly relaxed. He removed his arm, and it seemed all the tension in his frame had dissipated.

Bluestreak joined them, handing Starscream a cube. "I don't know if you like sweet, sour, bitter…? Anyway, I tried mixing them all," he said with a shrug and a smile.

Starscream thought this was going to taste awful.

And it did, but he managed to hide half the strength of his wince. "Powerful," he croaked out, earning a laugh from Bluestreak and Sideswipe. Bluestreak similarly sipped his and winced but managed to smile even wider.

"...you said you had a long day?" Sunstreaker asked. His tone was significantly softer.

"He got grilled by Red Alert and Optimus within hours of each other," Bluestreak replied, patting him on the back. "Red even had to call in Jazz."

Sideswipe whistled. "You earned that drink, then," he said, clinking his cube to Starscream's. Spared the need to talk about it by Bluestreak, Starscream merely smiled and took another sip of his terrible high-grade concoction.

"Sorry, I know it's bad," Bluestreak said, laughing. "But it will get the job done."

"What do you mean?" Starscream asked, curious.

"You'll see."

Sideswipe was impressively doing a handstand. "I can do this all day," he said.

"Really," Sunstreaker said, balancing a cube of high grade on top of Sideswipe's pede.

"Oh, come on," Sideswipe groaned. "You think that's hard?"

"How about with just one servo then?" Starscream offered.

Sideswipe lightly glared at him and lifted his servo off the ground to flip him a rude gesture. Starscream and Bluestreak laughed as he lost his balance and got covered in high-grade.

"Is it… supposed to do something?"

Bluestreak snorted. "Yeah, it gets you overenergized. Kinda like... euphoric dizzy?"

Starscream shook his helm. "It's not working."

Sunstreaker grinned malevolently. "Sure, 'Screamer, just get up and walk in a line."

Starscream frowned, and then stood up, almost stumbling off his pedes. "Whoa, what-" he said worriedly. He overcorrected and fell back to the ground onto his aft.

Sideswipe started laughing hysterically. "I thought seekers were elegant," he said through his chuckles.

"That's just Decepticon propaganda," Sunstreaker said, taking another sip of his cube.

"I'm not sure I'm the best example of a seeker anymore," Starscream said with a laugh. The smiles faded from both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's faces and they looked down at the ground.

Bluestreak sighed and then smirked. "Well, you're a hell of a lot more elegant than these two when it comes to tact," he said, roughly patting Sideswipe on the top of the helm.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Bluestreak asked sitting next to him on the floor. Actually, they were seated quite close together now with Bluestreak gently leaning on his wing and their shoulders touching. Starscream's processor was pleasantly foggy, and he found he hadn't minded at all when Bluestreak had sat there; he actually found he enjoyed someone being that close. "About the Decepticons?"

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were arm-wrestling over a table. They had invited Starscream to join, but he had declined knowing he wouldn't really be able to play.

"Bluestreak," Starscream said gently. "If it is about intelligence-"

Bluestreak waved an exaggerated servo, dismissing that thought quickly. "No, no I'm not going to bug you about that stuff."

Starscream tilted his helm. "Then maybe I can answer."

Bluestreak nodded and let his helm fall back against the wall as he looked up at the ceiling. "Why do the Decepticons follow Megatron?"

"What… do you mean?" Starscream was surprised by the question, and blinked slowly, waiting for his processor to catch up.

Bluestreak turned his helm to look at him. "I just mean… look, you were there for like a month. If you had been given the choice knowing with what you know now, would you have followed him?"

Starscream was biting the inside of his cheek. He wasn't sure he had enough information to make a good answer. "I… don't know. I didn't see him a whole lot while I was there. To be honest, I think the conversation I had with Optimus was about as many words as Megatron and I have shared."

"Really?" Bluestreak said, surprised. "You two were always… talking." Bluestreak grimaced a little and Starscream thought that he didn't actually mean "talking." "I guess I'm just surprised."

Starscream took another numbing sip from his cube. "I don't know why they follow him. Whenever I asked, I got very different answers. 'Warp would usually burst into a rant about how he was great in battle and a worthy leader. Probably as close to what most the most loyal believe. TC on the other hand… didn't quite believe the same thing."

Here Starscream paused, because thinking about them made his spark hurt. Thundercracker had looked at him fondly when he had asked, holding him close. "TC said he followed Megatron because I had asked him to," he said quietly. "Because Megatron was the only one who would do what it would take to make things right for everyone."

Bluestreak frowned sadly but nodded. "I always hoped it would be an easier answer than that," Bluestreak said as Sunstreaker crowed in victory and Sideswipe winced, rubbing his arm. "Unfortunately, we follow Optimus for about the same reason."

Starscream frowned too. So far, the differences between the Autobots and the Decepticons really seemed to be a matter of name, perspective, and how they treated the natives of the planet.

"I just wish I had more information, or… history at least."

"You could talk to Teletraan-1?" Sideswipe answered, coming to sit down in front of them. At Starscream's confused look, he chuckled.

"Yeah, Teletraan-1 is an AI that runs the Ark and has a complete history of… everything," Bluestreak added with a smile.

That sounded promising. "How biased is it?"

Both Bluestreak and Sideswipe frowned slightly. "I mean, how can facts be biased?" Sideswipe said.

Starscream smiled wryly. "I would love to talk to it. Thank you."

Bluestreak and Sunstreaker were talking quietly in the corner, leaving Sideswipe and Starscream to sit on the ground playing some kind of simple dice betting game. Starscream kept accidentally running probabilities in his helm, and Sideswipe kept slapping his servo to his helm.

"I swear, you're as bad as Prowl! You just- look, just turn that part of your brain off for a second and then the game will be much more fun."

"I don't know, Sideswipe," Starscream said, laughing as he picked up a few more dice to roll again. "I'm having a lot of fun winning at the moment."

Sideswipe gave a lighthearted glare and then wrote down Starscream's score.

"So, are they a thing?" Starscream asked, flicking his optics towards Bluestreak and Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe scoffed. "I think Sunny's trying for it to be, but he's an idiot, as he is in most things." He picked up the dice and then paused for a moment, glancing at Starscream. "Why, are you looking for something?"

Starscream smiled warmly. "Oh no. Just looking for friends. I've got… my own things going on."

Actually... he wasn't so sure about that anymore. Romantic entanglements had not exactly been on his list of things to talk about tonight, but the high-grade was making his glossa talk about it anyway. Skywarp and Thundercracker both had been amorous enough for him, and he thought he might be developing something with…

But it likely didn't matter anymore. He looked down at the floor. "I'm guessing there isn't a whole lot of inter-faction intermingling."

"Mm, yeah, there is… some. But not a lot. And probably not for someone so high-profile as you," Sideswipe said.

Starscream's wings dipped a little behind him, and he noticed Sideswipe's optics had tracked them almost on instinct. "I'm pretty sure I slammed that door… or those doors shut when I came here, anyway."

Sideswipe arched an optic-ridge. "Barely a month old and you're already a player. Impressive."

Starscream was a dismissive servo with a laugh. "Hardly. Just seemed to… pick up some things my former self had squandered."

Sideswipe regarded him for a few kliks. "You know," Sideswipe started, leaning his back against the berth. "Sunny and I are the ones who downed you the day you got captured that led to this whole... thing. And I guess up until now, I didn't feel terribly guilty about it," he said, wrinkling his nose a little. "I'll be honest, Starscream, and I thought you deserved it. But knowing what I know now, and talking with you… I guess, I'm sorry. For everything that happened."

Starscream shrugged. " Everyone's been saying sorry since I woke up, but they're apologizing to me, not to him. I realize the distinction is weird, but… it matters."

Sideswipe's blue optics were full of thought and appraisal; it seemed Starscream had earned a modicum of respect. "Well. I'm not going to apologize anymore to a mech who cheats at dice."

Starscream laughed, rolling the dice again with a smirk.

"I think you're pretty great."

"Blue, you're drunk."

"Star, no wait, sorry, Starscream, listen, no you're great. You're a seeker, but you're great."

Starscream dramatically shook his helm. "I am not great, but I am… something. Haven't figured that part… out yet," he said, squinting.

Sunstreaker was already passed out on his berth, mouth agape and arms flung wide. Sideswipe was swaying on his pedes a little, pouring himself just a little more.

"Don't you want to be great?" Bluestreak asked in confusion.

"Of course I do," Starscream replied leaning against him. "But frankly, I can't be great if I can't do anything."

"Fair," Bluestreak said.

"Fair," Sideswipe echoed.

Starscream sighed dramatically. "I used to be awesome."

"Debatable," Bluestreak and Sideswipe said together before descending into laughter.

Starscream smiled but shook his helm. "No, see I used to do the manipulating instead of getting manipulated. No one would have dared try and kidnap me to fix their faction before this accident."

Sideswipe merely nodded. "Probably right," he murmured laying on his berth with a yawn. He then fell into recharge within seconds.

Bluestreak however was looking at him with giant, round optics, and he looked stricken.

"Starscream, I'm sorry," he said morosely. He turned to Starscream and enveloped him in a tight hug. "You are still awesome."

Starscream couldn't exactly move now because of the hold and his program, but his lethargic and foggy processor told him he didn't mind the hug. It felt like ages since he had been hugged.

Bluestreak sniffled and Starscream was surprised. Bluestreak was definitely drunk and probably feeling things a little… more than he probably should. Starscream didn't judge him. Bluestreak was a good mech and was probably his first friend that was truly his, not someone his former self had ruined and left shattered in his wake.

He gently held Bluestreak back and then slowly drifted into recharge.

Sunstreaker woke up with a groan, his helm pounding. He could usually hold his high-grade, but he had limits, and he had definitely exceeded them. He sat up, holding his helm, noticing his brother on his own berth, curled into a ball of similar post-drinking woe.

He slid his optics to the other side of the room.

Wings.

Thruster-pedes.

A gentle swell of a cockpit on the abdomen.

Red, light gray, white, and a far too cheery blue for a Decepticon.

Sunstreaker silently got to his pedes, swaying only a moment before he righted himself. His frame tensed, wound like a spring, far too tightly. He watched the seeker sleep, curled up against Bluestreak, with his helm nestled against the chest of the other. Both of them looked at peace.

Why was the seeker here? Didn't matter. Sunstreaker had trained his frame and processor to hunt seekers and this one was so pathetically open; it would be easy to dispatch him.

Sunstreaker quickly grabbed Starscream's pede and yanked him down and away from Bluestreak. Starscream awoke with a terrified gasp, but Sunstreaker had put his servo over his mouth silencing him. Starscream's red optics were wide and alarmed, and terribly confused.

Sunstreaker straddled his chest, effectively pinning him to the ground with his knees grinding into his wings. They'd been in this position a couple of times in the war, half the time Starscream had him pinned and then vice versa. Sunstreaker put his other servo on Starscream's neck and squeezed. Gently at first so that the seeker would know what was coming and then slowly tightening his hold. Sunstreaker heard the pained, muffled whine and hitching vents coming from the frame beneath him.

This wouldn't exactly kill him, but it would incapacitate him. Then Sunstreaker could kill him.

But Starscream wasn't struggling. That was weird as usually Starscream was a flurry of claws and angry shrieking; much louder and more dangerous than any of the other seekers that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had perfected hunting over the millennia. The realization hit him like a brick and then everything came rushing back; the pacification, the memory wipe, Starscream had joined the Autobots, he's safe, everyone is safe even though a seeker is living among them. It's like his trance broke and he remembered where he was.

He removed his servos slowly from Starscream's mouth and neck and Sunstreaker noticed his own venting was ragged. Starscream just stared up at him, trying to keep still even though Sunstreaker could feel him trembling.

"I'm sorry," Sunstreaker said mournfully in a whisper. Starscream still said nothing, still staring at him with vulnerable fear. "I… I'm sorry. I wasn't here."

Starscream hesitated a moment and gave the slightest of nods. He looked incredibly wary and Sunstreaker wondered if he had ruined everything for Starscream and undone all the tentative trust he had developed here. "Please get off me," he rasped.

Sunstreaker removed himself and once he was completely clear, Starscream dashed for the door and desperately tried to open it. His servo slipped in nervousness and he ended up scratching the access panel. He hissed in pain and pulled away his servo from the panel, holding and massaging his servo. He was distressed, clearly, but not just because of what Sunstreaker had just done.

Sunstreaker frowned and slowly got to his pedes. Both Bluestreak and Sideswipe were still completely out, so he kept his voice low. "Are you alright?"

Starscream's wings dipped behind him. "I… damaged an inanimate object," he said helplessly. "Property. When I do that, I get this... tingling pain."

Sunstreaker slowly walked up to him, trying not to frighten him again. "I'm… I'm really sorry, Starscream. We just… I woke up, I forgot where I was… what had happened. Are you… going to tell Optimus?"

Starscream glanced at him, confused. "I- I wasn't going to."

"Okay, thank you," Sunstreaker sighed with relief. "Primus, if he demoted Jazz and Prowl for hurting you, I have no idea what he'd do to me for trying to strangle you in your sleep."

Starscream looked incredibly concerned for a moment, some tension still in his face as his servo still looked like it was hurting him. "I can't pretend to know what it must be like for you to have me here. I know I was… terrifying."

"Oh, you weren't that scary," Sunstreaker lied with a shrug. "You were just annoyingly loud most of the time. Anyway, Sides' and I got really good at neutralizing seekers anyway, so it was never a huge problem."

Starscream looked like he was slightly relaxing at the casualness of the conversation and Sunstreaker's bravado. He seemed thoughtful for a few kliks. "But why seekers, may I ask?"

Sunstreaker met his optics for a moment. The new Starscream was incredibly curious about things, and far more polite about it than he had expected. Sunstreaker glanced over at Bluestreak, still passed out with his limbs akimbo. "For him, mostly. But for others too. It's something we could do, and we got good at it."

Starscream sighed sadly. "I suppose I can't ask you to… stop targeting seekers, can I?"

Sunstreaker turned his helm back and looked at the conflict on Starscream's face. "You can ask, but you have to understand that I can't listen. Not if they are going to hurt Blue or Sides', or anyone else I care about."

Starscream clenched his jaw and looked down at the ground. "Are we any closer to finishing this war, or are we just going to keep fighting into eternity?"

Sunstreaker shrugged. "I don't know. Things seemed to have escalated in the past few months surrounding you, but I don't know what it all means. Kind of above my paygrade."

The seeker nodded forlornly, and Sunstreaker empathized. "I want it over. I… I don't know how to handle this, having my friends and loved ones trying to kill each other over something I don't understand."

"You could try not caring about anyone?"

Starscream huffed in a tired laugh, knowing that the joke wasn't funny. "Can… you open the door for me? I seem to be unable to in order to get back to my quarters."

Sunstreaker considered this for a second. "What do you mean, is it broken?"

"No, I'm fairly certain the door is functional." His jaw clenched.

Sunstreaker didn't get it but he did know that Bluestreak was not supposed to leave his side except if he was at his quarters. He didn't want Bluestreak to get in trouble. "Look, just sleep here? I'll go somewhere else."

"I'm not going to kick you out of your own quarters-"

"Starscream," Sunstreaker said with a stern voice. "It's fine. Take my berth. I'll go sleep in the common room."

Starscream's wings relaxed and Sunstreaker patted him on the back.

"That's a good seeker," he said as he left.

He could feel Starscream's optics on him as he left to walk down the hallway.