Chapter 3 - Refuge for Nerds

A.N. -In this fic, the legal adult age for most Cybertronians is 50 years old. On Vos, a mech at the age of 30 is considered a legal adult within the confines of the city. Sort of like how in the USA, the legal age of adulthood is 18, but various states have lower ages of consent.

Thundercracker woke to the sound of yelling.

At first he wasn't sure what the sound was – it just sounded like a dull whine. Thundercracker slipped off of his berth and went to the door of the storage room to stick his audial fin on one of the seams to hear better.

After a few moments, he managed to make out what was being said.

"…the useless, glitchbrained, dimmed processor ideas, this is the best you can come up with? You stuck him in the fragging basement? He can't tell his helm from his exhaust port, but you know the last time I checked it didn't warrant him being locked in a cell. Where is he? Is this the right door? Don't touch me, I didn't say you could touch me!"

There was the sound of another mech trying to get a word in edgewise, but an angry voice cut that sound off almost immediately.

"I swear by Primus, if the next sounds out of your lipplates are patronizing, I will wield them together in your sleep. You're all utterly pathetic, can't you morons do anything right? Oh for spark's sake, stop hovering. Did Stabilizer release me or not?"

"H-h-he didn't - "

"Well he would have if he wasn't a complete idiot. Where did you stash him, anyway? The utility closet?" The voice was sarcastic, and more than slightly annoyed.

There was silence as the sound of advancing pedes came to a halt outside of his door. Thundercracker moved back towards his berth so he wouldn't be run over when Starscream swept through the door.

"YOU STUCK HIM IN THE UTILITY CLOSET?"

There was some stuttering as the door slowly slid open to reveal two seekers. Starscream strutted into the room like he was on a catwalk, and not in a dark dank cell. Starscream made it to the middle of the room before he spun on his heel to glare at the shivering member of the nursing staff that had brought him down. In the back of his processor, Thundercracker was impressed that a legal dependent of the state could so thoroughly intimidate a veteran member of the medical staff, who prided themselves on having seen it all.

"I revise what I said earlier: You're worse than pathetic. I've wiped slag from the bottom of my thrusters more impressive than you!" He spun back around to face Thundercracker and flicked a hand dismissively at the nurse. "You're no longer needed here, and you're certainly not wanted. Run along home to Stabilizer and tell him what a naughty little patient I am. Maybe he'll actually have the ball bearings to do something about it for the first time in decades."

Amazingly, the nurse did exactly what he was told and backed out of the room, closing the door. As soon as they heard the magnetic click, Starscream's lipplates twitched upwards in a thin, sardonic smile.

"Do you mind if I use your berth?" Starscream asked. "I just woke up from being in a medically induced coma. Processor damage, you know. I'm still a tiny bit groggy."

"Uh…yeah. Go ahead." Thundercracker moved aside so that Starscream could easily get to the berth from the door.

"So kind," Starscream said, not bothering to look at Thundercracker as he brushed past him.

Starscream settled easily onto the berth, lounging on it like it was his own. He crossed his legs and his servos, laying them easily on his midriff. He had himself propped up so that he could comfortably meet Thundercracker's optics and talk to him. Lying like that on the berth, Starscream looked sleek and graceful. Thundercracker felt bulky and looming by comparison, more so than usual. He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms and tried not to look like a brute.

"So, Thundercracker," Starscream said, smiling that mocking smile of his. "How did you find me? Oh - and this is the question that I'm really interested in - why the hell did you come looking for me?"

Thundercracker scowled. This ungrateful friendless glitch. "Yeah. Sorry I saved your pit-bound life."

Starscream rolled his optics overly dramatically. "Yes, you're such a decent person. Frankly, I don't care about how decent you are. I care about why." Starscream's expression was dark. "I want to know why you risked your life for me. I want to know why you put me into your debt."

"'Your debt?'" Thundercracker pushed off the wall and took a step towards the berth. "How does saving your life put you in my debt?"

"Hello," Starscream said, sitting up and bracing himself with his hands. "Don't you know anything about anything? Someone saves your life, you're in their debt. It's called a life-debt for a reason, you moronic winged trashcompacter."

"Right, and you expect me to believe that you are going to honor something like a life-debt."

"Oh, right," Starscream said snarling. "Horrid, insufferable, bastard Starscream can't possibly have a shred of honor in his shriveled, broken little spark. He has no idea what it means to be a decent mech like perfect, wholesome Thundercracker over here."

"I never said I was - "

"Oh don't start with me, you pretentious looming oaf." Starscream sat up fully and glared up into Thundercracker's optics. "The docs, useless though they are, do know when someone's going to die. They told me if you hadn't found me, I would have died. Ergo," Starscream said, his tone indicating that Thundercracker was being a bigger idiot than usual, "you saved my life. I don't want you holding it over my head, so I want to know why you did it."

Thundercracker scoffed. "Right, cause I want you to be hanging around me all day, whining in my face!"

"So tell me why," Starscream said, his tone turning disgustingly sweet. "And I will get out of your face. Forever, preferably. After this fiasco you caused - "

"I caused - ?"

" – I don't really want to be spending a whole lotta time around you."

"I'm sorry," Thundercracker said, not sounding at all contrite, taking a step closer to the berth, "but I fail to see how you running off and bashing your processor in is my fault."

Starscream crossed his arms across his chassis, a smirk gracing his faceplates. "Well you obviously think you did something. Because your face when I first said it was your fault…do you wanna see the recording?" Starscream's smirk grew as he projected the image against the wall, nearly blinding Thundercracker as he shined the light straight into his optics.

Instinctively, Thundercracker brought his servos up and took a few steps backwards. "No, I don't want to see my face. Primus, what is wrong with you?"

"You sure?" Starscream asked, still grinning widely, a dark sparkle to his optics. "It's comedy gold."

It was hard for Thundercracker to glare through the blinding light, but he managed as best he could.

"Oh you're no fun at all," Starscream mock pouted, shutting off his projector. He crossed his legs and placed his servos delicately across his knees. "Anyway, it's not about what's wrong with me, but what's wrong with you. I mean, what kind of dolt goes off alone into the wild lands beyond Vos to find someone they don't even like?" He casually examined the tips of his servos. "Unless, of course, they want something. But you're far too noble for that sort of thing, right TC?"

Thundercracker crossed his arms again. "I dunno, Screamer. I'm not too far away from punching you in your stupid face. How noble of a mech does that make me, exactly?"

Starscream propelled himself off the berth and right into Thundercracker's face. Or at least, he would've had he been tall enough. He did his best though.

Starscream jabbed a finger into Thundercracker's chest, punctuating each word. "Don't. Call me. Screamer."

Thundercracker uncrossed his arms. "But it's just so appropriate. Do you have the faintest idea how grating your voice is, Screamer? I mean the decibels you achieve with that voice box of yours…did you take it out and chew on it as a sparkling? Cause that's the only explanation that I can - "

Starscream shoved Thundercracker. He was strong despite his size, and Thundercracker actually had to take a step back to keep his balance.

"I don't know who you think you are," Starscream hissed at him. "But we are not friends. Just because you've eaten a few dinners with me, saved my life? It doesn't mean you get to start being cute with me. Don't ever call me that to my face, you graceless moron."

"I never said I wanted to be your friend," Thundercracker snapped back. "You're awful and bitter and miserable, and the only reason I sat with you all those times was because your foul presence drove everyone else off."

Starscream sneered. "I've heard all this before, blue-boy, and I gotta say, that was a lot tamer than what I'm used to hearing. You're starting to bore me."

Thundercracker shifted so his base was wider, which made him feel more grounded, better able to withstand Starscream's biting comments. "You wanna know why I saved you? That'll get you out of my face? Okay, fine: The administration is slag; they couldn't find their own afterburners if they were welded to their faceplates. I knew they weren't going to find you. They thought you were hiding out in the city to sulk."

Starscream scoffed. He backed out of Thundercracker's space somewhat, and crossed his arms. "So tell me, genius, how did you know that was a slag-tastic idea?"

Thundercracker rolled his optics. "You hate people – why would you go to the one place where you can't get away from people?"

The slight mech examined the tips of his servos again. "And how did you know I wanted space? Were you spying on me?" His wicked optics flicked up to meet Thundercracker's, cruel and mocking. "Do I have a stalker, Thundercracker? I don't know if I should be flattered, or - "

"I don't give a damn about your life!" Thundercracker exploded at him.

"Then why did you save it?" Starscream countered, matching Thundercracker's volume, cutting off the rest of what would have been a rant.

"Because I felt guilty!"

The energon slowly drained from Thundercracker's helm as he saw the self-satisfied smile on Starscream's lipplates, and realized he'd just made a huge mistake.

"No need to worry yourself, Backburn," Starscream said blithely, and it took Thundercracker a moment to realize that Starscream wasn't talking to him. While they'd been shouting, the nurse had come inside to see what all the angry yelling was about. "You can take me back to the hospital dorm. I'm sure Stabilizer's about to pop a spark fragment because his processor-damaged patient is out and about."

Starscream strolled out of the room, and waved to Thundercracker casually over his shoulder without looking back. "Thanks for the chat, TC. It was ever so pleasant, let's do it again sometime."

The nurse gave Thundercracker an odd look before he followed Starscream. At a respectable distance, of course.

Once more, Freefall was standing in Thundercracker's cell, arms casually clasped behind his back, Thundercracker sitting on his berth to make room for all the henchmen taking up space. The only difference was that instead of Freefall coldly and casually accusing Thundercracker of tormenting a mech, Wingflap was standing front and center, fidgeting under the frosty gaze of Freefall, and addressing Thundercracker.

"So…to sum up…um…we are discharging you from…from custody."

Thundercracker only stared at Wingflap, his face carefully blank. Wingflap had been the one to ultimately put him in the cell; he refused to do anything that might make the discharge process easier on the guy.

"Um…er…do you…do you understand what I'm telling you, Thundercracker?"

Thundercracker's expression yielded nothing. "So what you're saying is that you were wrong, I was right, and you put me in this Primus-forsaken pit for absolutely no reason. Do I have that about right?"

"Uh…y-yes."

"So you admit that you were just a little hasty in jumping to conclusions about my actions based on circumstantial evidence and 'testimonies' that you basically wrote yourself?"

Wingflap didn't bother answering.

"Wingflap," Freefall said quietly. His tone was neutral, expressionless, but everyone in the room who'd spent any amount of time with him could read the warning in that single word.

"I…yes." Wingflap looked incredibly small.

"And I'm guessing that you and the school don't want me to make a big deal out of all this? To keep it quietly to myself like a good little seeker?"

"That would be…that would be preferable, yes."

Thundercracker examined his servos nonchalantly. It was the same gesture he'd seen Starscream use, and he had no qualms about stealing it in that moment. "So what I'm hearing is that you screwed up and locked me in a cage. Now you want me to keep my mouth shut and just let every other mech in this institution keep hating me, which, by the way, is your fault to begin with. You want all the nasty little things you've done to me to magically disappear, and in return you'll allow me to keep living here comfortably, which is my legal right to do regardless until a full twenty years have passed since my graduation. As I still have nearly a decade left, legally, you have no leverage."

Wingflap's face was struck with horror, and he looked back at Freefall like he thought he was going to die. It was pretty funny, for the first two seconds Thundercracker didn't look at Freefall. Freefall just smiled placidly at Wingflap, and Thundercracker knew the assistant was a hair's breadth away from spontaneously leaking oil.

"So. Do I need to sign a non-disclosure document, or are you just gonna trust my word on this one?"

Freefall's head cocked slightly to the side, but that was the only sign of surprise that he gave. Wingflap just gaped like the idiot Thundercracker knew him to be.

"You…you're actually gonna sign it? Really?"

Thundercracker shrugged. "Yeah." His optics flicked over to Freefall. Freefall met his optics and gave Thundercracker a tiny, knowing smile.

"I'm pleased you're willing to be so…forgiving, Thundercracker." Unlike Wingflap, Freefall's pauses weren't terrified, but calculated for effect. "Wingflap will get you the necessary form from my desk." Freefall turned that smile on Wingflap, and the Dean's assistant swallowed. Thundercracker did not envy Wingflap's position.

Wingflap hesitated, but he met Freefall's calmly smiling face and almost bolted out of the room. Freefall turned his attention back to Thundercracker. "So then. What shall we chat about while we wait?"

Thundercracker wished he could be anywhere else but there, pinned under the cool gaze of Freefall.

"You're out!"

Skywarp bounded up to Thundercracker and wrapped him in the most strut-bending hug Thundercracker had ever had.

"Yeah, but you're gonna put me in the ER if you're not careful with this hug," Thundercracker told Skywarp with a laugh.

The first thing Thundercracker had done when he'd gotten out of his jail cell was to go straight to his room. When he realized how boring and depressing it was that his first night out of captivity was going to be spent alone, Thundercracker went looking for Skywarp. He'd eventually found him holed up in a remote corner of the library, of all places.

The mech in question released Thundercracker from his tight embrace, grinning madly. "Sorry. So why'd they letcha out? Did you tell them they were being stupid?"

"Yeah, loads of times," Thundercracker said with a chuckle. "But no, they let me out cause the Screamer woke up."

Skywarp started fidgeting. "Um…two questions?"

Thundercracker grinned. "Go for it." He walked past his friend to claim the seat Skywarp had jumped out of to greet him.

"Okay I'm gonna ask them both at the same time so I don't forget."

Thundercracker nodded. "Makes sense. Go for it, Warp."

Skywarp was about to speak, but then he started grinning like a lunatic. "Warp…I like it. Short for Skywarp, right? It's funny. Cause, you know, I can - "

"Warp," Thundercracker interrupted with a laugh. "What were your questions?"

"Oh. Um…" He thought about that for a moment. "I forgot. What we were talking about."

"They let me out," Thundercracker said gently, "because Starscream woke up." It was amazing how much patience he had for Skywarp now that he wasn't confined to his cell.

"Oh yeah!" Skywarp said, bouncing around the nook made by several conveniently positioned bookcases. He was clearly too excited to sit still. "Wasn't Starscream waking up supposed to be a bad thing?"

"Only if it meant me going to jail," Thundercracker said, folding his hands between his knees. "But since Screamer told them what happened, they were willing to believe me. I didn't actually expect him to tell the truth, to be perfectly honest. I figured he was gonna let me corrode in my own coolant."

"Don't call him that."

Thundercracker looked up at the still pacing Skywarp. "Huh? Don't call who what now?"

"Starscream? He hates it when people call him 'Screamer'." Skywarp looked worriedly at Thundercracker. "If he hears you - "

"Oh that." Thundercracker flapped a servo at him dismissively. "Energon through the fuel pumps." When Skywarp stopped moving and cocked his helm to the side, Thundercracker sighed, knowing he'd have to explain further. "When I was in my cell, Starscream came to visit me. Some words were exchanged…to be honest with you, Skywarp, most of them weren't nice."

Skywarp laughed. "Well, it is Starscream."

Thundercracker chuckled too. "Fair point. Anyway, I called him that to his face. He really lost his temper."

Skywarp cocked his head and looked Thundercracker up and down. "Huh."

"What?" Thundercracker asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Nuthin," Skywarp said, pacing around again, straightening things on the bookshelves compulsively. "It's just that the last time someone did that to Starscream, he threw the mech out a window." Skywarp glanced back at Thundercracker from over his shoulder and shrugged. "I guess he must like ya."

Thundercracker stared at Skywarp with disbelief. "You're kidding me."

"Nope. Saw it with my own optics." He started straightening a pile of datapads on one of the tables, a stack that already looked respectably stacked to Thundercracker. At least, they were all in a vaguely pile-esque shape instead of spread haphazardly on the floor. That was usually Thundercracker's sole criteria for neatness. "Ramjet's never really been good in the head since."

"Wow," Thundercracker said, leaning back. "And here I thought everyone avoided Starscream because of his glowing personality."

Skywarp turned back to look at Thundercracker, a look of consternation on his face. "Starscream's personality doesn't glow. It - it's not a light fixture, it's a personality, I don't think personalities can gl-"

"No, I know," Thundercracker interrupted. He smiled reassuringly. "I was joking, it was sarcasm."

"Oh." A look of acute embarrassment stole over Skywarp's face, and he turned away from Thundercracker.

Thundercracker rose and clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you wanna help me celebrate being free? I was thinking we could go out for a fly. And if we use one of those amazing maps you've filched, we can probably push the safe speed-limit for untrined mechs."

"I didn't filch - "

"Yeah yeah yeah, okay, keep up the charade. I won't give you away. So you in or out, Warp?"

Skywarp seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then he grinned broadly. "I really like it when you call me Warp," he told Thundercracker.

Thundercracker returned his grin. "Then I'll do it more often. So do you wanna catch some air or what?"

Skywarp nodded vigorously, and Thundercracker steered the over-energetic mech out of the library and towards the hangar.

As they moved down the hallways, Thundercracker was apprehensive. Because of his deal with the administration, none of the student body had been informed that he was innocent of all charges. Thundercracker braced himself, expecting harassment, but strangely, no one approached either him or Skywarp. Even when they passed a tight group of whispering mechs, the group didn't spare them so much as a glance. As Skywarp and Thundercracker breezed by them, Thundercracker caught a bit of their tense, whispered conversation:

"…fighting on Tarn. That's why they've started charging for energon in the cafeteria."

"Do you think they'll attack Vos? Attack us?"

And that was as much as Thundercracker heard before he and Skywarp passed out of audial range.

"Well…isn't this quant?"

Thundercracker looked up from his datapad. He was seated on the floor, his legs crossed, a datapad on the discourses of diplomacy on his lap, and several more on sociology and psychology spread around him, a cube of energon at his elbow. Similarly, Skywarp was curled up on a chair with a neat stack of datapads on the desk next to him, a tidy little pyramid of empty cubes at his pedes, and several more rows of energon sitting on the desk near the unread datapads. At the sound of that oh so distinctive voice, Skywarp looked up as well.

Starscream was leaning nonchalantly in the doorway of Thundercracker's hab suite, arms and legs casually crossed. Once again, Thundercracker found himself jealously frustrated at how Starscream's lithe frame made every move he made seem elegant.

With a sigh, Thundercracker asked "What do you want, Starscream?"

"From you?" Starscream snorted. "There is nothing you have that I could want."

"Then why are you here?" Thundercracker asked, feeling that grating voice shortening his otherwise admirable patience.

Starscream smirked. "I can't come to laugh at a couple of rejects when I feel like it?"

Thundercracker turned back to his datapad, unwilling to play Starscream's little games. "Fine. Whatever. Don't let the door hit you on your way out when you've finished."

There was a period of silence, in which both Skywarp and Thundercracker continued reading, and Starscream continued standing. Finally,"What are you reading?" Starscream demanded, and Thundercracker had to work hard to keep the smirk off his face. He'd found Starscream's weak point, then – the aft hated being ignored.

"Alpha Trion's treatise on diplomacy," he said, still refusing to look at Starscream. He'd turned most of his processor power towards reading again, and couldn't be bothered to deal with the other mech.

"Ugh, boring," Starscream complained. He moved into the room and snatched a datapad off the top of Skywarp's pile. Skywarp had turned back to reading before Thundercracker had, devouring whatever it was he was looking at, nearly constantly sipping on his energon cube as he did so. Starscream flicked on the datapad he'd snagged, scanned it quickly, then made a "tch" sound before tossing it carelessly back onto the desk. He grabbed one of Skywarp's energon cubes and absently started sipping it. Skywarp, without looking, reached over and replaced the datapad at the top of the pile.

Almost aimlessly, Starscream sauntered over to Thundercracker and leaned down to read over his shoulder. In the processes, he accidentally dripped some energon onto Thundercracker. With an annoyed sigh, Thundercracker got up to retrieve a rag from Skywarp's wash racks to clean up the spill. When he returned, Starscream was flicking through the datapad that Thundercracker had abandoned, a look of mild boredom on his face.

"I don't suppose you saved my place?" Thundercracker asked, doubting very much that Starscream had done so.

Starscream ignored the question. "You know, I always found this old crone dry as hell," Starscream said. "I don't know how you can read his drivel."

"Well," Thundercracker said, stooping down to mop up the little drops of energon that had fallen on the floor. "He is prone to ramble."

"'Prone to ramble' is putting it mildly," Starscream replied hotly.

"But," Thundercracker said, quickly talking over Starscream to stop him from going off on a tangent, "I find his examination of alien diplomacy to be fascinating."

An odd look came over Starscream's face. "You've read his dialogues on the connections between the biological and cultural expressions of various alien species, and the inherent difficulties that thus evolve when we attempt to deal with them diplomatically?"

All this came out very quickly, startling Thundercracker somewhat. "Uh…yeah. Have…have you read it, Starscream?" he asked, more than a little incredulously.

Starscream scoffed, as though that answer should be obvious. "The bits about diplomacy are nothing but the mindless drivel of a senile old man, but for a primarily sociology-focused philosopher, he has a remarkable grasp of xenobiology."

"But it's that xenobiological understanding that allows for a diplomat to adequately and appropriately interact with an alien species without unintentionally causing an intergalactic war! It's imperative for the diplomat- "

"Oh please, you're seriously telling me that talking to a disgustingly oozy organic without spurting oil all over them is more interesting than how the disgusting oozy organic body functions?"

"Well in this instance, I'm gonna say yeah. Yeah it is." Thundercracker snatched his datapad out of Starscream's servos.

"You're a miserably naïve sap, aren't you? We have almost no liquid materials within our frames – we are all but pure solids. Organics are a mix of all manner of elemental states - and that's not even the most interesting bit of organic study. Reproductive cycles for instance are varied and fascin - "

"Why are you here, Starscream?" Thundercracker asked abruptly, sitting and scanning through the datapad to find his place again.

Starscream scowled, annoyed at the interruption. "What, I'm not allowed to visit half-wits when I get too bored?"

"Not really your style," Thundercracker replied absently, finding where he'd left off in the treatise. "You hate people."

"Yeah," Starscream agreed, sneering down at Thundercracker. "Especially losers like you."

"TC isn't a loser," Skywarp suddenly piped in. He'd turned off his datapad and everything to better follow the train of the conversation.

Starscream turned to Skywarp and scoffed. "Well look who's talking," he sneered. "You're the king of all losers."

"Maybe," Skywarp said, calm and neutral as ever. "But Thundercracker saved your life. If he's a loser, then he's the loser that saved your life, and what does that make you?"

"Loser's luck," Starscream snarled, ignoring the question. "He's still a loser." Before Skywarp could retort, Starscream whirled back to Thundercracker. "'TC', huh? Cute. How long's he been calling you that? How come you don't let me call you that?"

"Because, Starscream, as you so pleasantly pointed out to me, we aren't friends."

"Ouch," Starscream said, smirking. He clutched at his chassis. "You wound me, Thundercracker."

"As if you care," Thundercracker shot back, focusing once more on his datapad.

When it was clear that neither of them were going to pay any more attention to Starscream, he gave a frustrated huff. "Are you both seriously just going to sit there and read? Don't you get enough of that in classes?"

Thundercracker raised a hand without looking up from his datapad. "Don't have class, remember?"

"Oh yes, however could we ever forget the great big graduate," Starscream said snidely, adding an overly dramatic bow. He straightened and added "What are you even doing here if you've already graduated. Oh wait, that's right, you left your trine, like the antisocial slag-slug you are!"

Skywarp looked up from his datapad. "You left your trine?"

Thundercracker sighed but refused to look away from his datapad. "Yeah, Skywarp."

"Why?"

"Yeah, Thundercracker," Starscream said with mock sincerity. "How come you left your first trine? Are you just that unlikable?"

Thundercracker sighed. He was finding it easier to ignore Starscream with Skywarp in the room, but he couldn't ignore Skywarp's innocent curiosity. He set the datapad aside. "They, uh…they weren't going anywhere with their lives, Warp."

Starscream moved to sit at Skywarp's pedes. "That means they were no-good deadbeats. Thundercracker leaves people that he doesn't think are good enough for him."

Skywarp turned to look at Thundercracker with uncertainty, his eyes probing.

"No, no that's not what I said," Thundercracker said, quickly reassuring Skywarp and shooting a hot-tempered glare at Starscream.

"Oh don't be so high and mighty, Thundercracker. Just admit that you're no better than the rest of us – you just use 'em and lose 'em like anyone el - "

"They wanted me to spark-bond with them, alright!"

For the first time since he'd known him, Starscream seemed at an utter loss for words. Skywarp looked confused and concerned. Mostly just confused.

Thundercracker took a moment to compose himself before he explained. "I've…never…been intimate with anyone before. And they kept asking me to be. Before I…before I was ready."

There was a moment of silence as Skywarp and Starscream just looked at him. Then Starscream burst out laughing. "You've never interfaced?" he blurted out incredulously.

Thundercracker scowled at him. "No, Starscream, I haven't. It's a huge display of intimacy and trust and - "

"No it isn't!" Starscream countered. "It shows you're looking for a good time! There is no 'trust' involved!"

"Temporarily letting someone have access to your spark and your mind for the sake of pleasure? That's a huge risk, Starscream. And don't give me slag about safety and protection, because letting someone use your spark is enormously intimate. There is no such thing as casual interface, because there is nothing casual about baring your spark!"

Starscream turned to look up at Skywarp, grinning snidely. "Is it just me, or did that sound rehearsed?"

Thundercracker fumed while Skywarp considered. He turned to look at Thundercracker. "It sounded nice." He smiled.

Starscream scoffed and turned away. "You're useless." He leaned toward Thundercracker, still comfortably at Skywarp's pedes. "A seeker's got needs, Thundercracker. Flight is one of them, and interfacing is another. It's a physiological fact."

"I'm not saying I've never wanted to," Thundercracker snipped. "I'm saying that I don't see the point of showing someone what's in your spark if you have no intention of letting them stay there!"

Starscream just gave Thundercracker a pitying look. "You poor, romantic, naïve bastard," he said, shaking his head with a small sigh. "Okay, say that I've accepted your stupid, sappy ideas on love and slag like that, and that I have no problems at all with your ideas on interfacing - which, by the way, I haven't - these were your trine-mates. You honestly want me to believe that you couldn't imagine letting them 'stay in your spark', as you put it?"

"That's just it, Starscream," Thundercracker said, resigned to coming clean to these two unlikely confidants, Primus only knew why. "I spent ten years with them. At the start, I really believed I was going to be able to fall in love with them. And then…I didn't."

Starscream raised an optic ridge. "Thundercracker," he said, scooting across the floor to lay a hand on Thundercracker's knee in a mockery of comfort. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Thundercracker scowled, confused. "Um…no?"

Starscream leaned in companionably. "It's okay, Thundercracker. This is a non-judgmental space. I promise, we won't laugh." His knowing, condescending smile was still firmly in place.

"Uh, Starscream?" Skywarp piped up. "You just did laugh at Thundercracker."

"Shut up," Starscream snapped over his shoulder, but there was no venom in the command. He just continued to smile in that strange manner at Thundercracker.

"Starscream, if you've got something to say, just come straight out and say it."

Starscream squeezed his knee companionably. "Thundercracker, you know that if you're into groundpounders, it won't change the way we view you at all."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Thundercracker said, getting quickly to his pedes. "What? Where in the pit did you get that idea from?"

Starscream stood too and put a companionable hand on Thundercracker's shoulder. He could no longer keep the laughter out of his voice. "It's okay, Thundercracker; I get it. They're exotic – they're new and shiny and different. I mean, what mech hasn't thought about it, with at least one of them, no matter how traditional they say they are."

Thundercracker pulled away from Starscream. "What, because I couldn't fall in love with my trine-mates, I must have a thing for grounders?"

Starscream shrugged, grinning wickedly. "It's been known to happen. Stabilizer, for instance, if you believe the rumors - "

"They were aft heads," Thundercracker interrupted. "I like wings on my lovers. What I don't are mechs who are lazy, content with being stuck in dead-end jobs, no purpose, no point, no driving forces in their lives, who try to pressure me into interfacing when I'm not ready!"

Starscream stared at Thundercracker for a moment. For one tiny instance, Thundercracker thought he was going to stop being annoying and have an actual moment of honesty with him. But then the scrappy mech rolled his eyes, said, "Oh, you're no fun," before moving over to flop down on Thundercracker's berth. "Oi, Warpy," he said, snapping his servos. Skywarp turned to look at Starscream with wide eyes. "Toss me a datapad, will you? Something not boring."

Skywarp turned to his desk and scanned the stack before carefully pulling out one of them, miraculously managing not to disturb the stack as he did so. He tossed it over to Starscream, and it sailed perfectly into the slight mech's hands. Without a thank-you, Starscream turned it on. Immediately, he snapped "I said not boring, are you deaf?"

"But it isn't boring!" Skywarp protested. "Astrophysics and space bridge technology are really really cool!"

"Ugh, you're pathetic," Starscream complained. "No, shut up, I'll find one myself!" He stormed over to the desk and started flicking through all the datapads, quickly messing up Skywarp's neat little pile. Skywarp watched sadly as Starscream did so, but did nothing to stop him, clearly fearing Starscream's acerbic tongue.

Finally, Starscream plucked a pad from the now disheveled pile. "These are all awful, but I suppose this one is the least awful." He stormed back over to the berth, the image of a sulking sparkling, and began reading.

When Starscream glanced back up, Thundercracker and Skywarp were both staring at him. "What?" he demanded. "I can't do what you two losers were doing earlier? You're obviously going to be boring, so I might as well entertain myself."

Thundercracker looked over at Skywarp, who turned to meet his optics. After a shared moment of questioning, Skywarp shrugged. He straightened the pile once more, then sat back down and continued reading.

Thundercracker shrugged as well. 'If you can't beat them, join them'. He grabbed his datapad, got comfortable, and settled in for a good read.

"Hey, how come we always do this in my room?" The thought had randomly dawned on Thundercracker in the middle of reading a case study involving the different socialization patterns of aerial mech races, and he knew it'd bother him forever if he didn't get it out of his system.

"Quiet you imbecile," Starscream growled from Thundercracker's berth, which he had long since claimed as his reading spot, as he always did when coming into anyone's hab suite.

Skywarp glanced up at Thundercracker nervously, then held the datapad over his faceplates. It was obvious that he wasn't reading anymore and that he was just doing it to hide his expression.

"No, seriously," Thundercracker persisted, laying his datapad aside. "Why my room? I mean, you two both have rooms. I don't really want to go to the data libraries any more than either of you, but surely a change in venue once in a while would be nice?"

Skywarp continued holding the datapad in front of his face, but Starscream gave an overdramatic sigh and flung his pedes off the berth. "If it will get you to shut up so that I can read, then fine, we'll go to my room."

Five minutes later, Skywarp and Thundercracker were standing in Starscream's threshold, stock-still. Skywarp had a look of pure horror on his faceplates. Thundercracker had ceased venting in efforts to quell the contaminant warning pings from his sensors.

Starscream stood knee-deep in things, servos on his hips. "You two coming in, or what?"

Skywarp just let out a sound of pained horror, much like a whine. Thundercracker patted Skywarp's shoulder strut. "Just go back to my room, Warp, we'll meet you there."

Barely able to spare a thankful glance at Thundercracker, Skywarp disappeared to the sound of air being displaced.

Starscream blinked a few times to make sure his optics hadn't deceived him. While Thundercracker and Skywarp had come clean about the rescue operation weeks ago, he'd never actually seen Skywarp do his thing before. He recovered quickly, fixing Thundercracker with a glare. "What the pit was that about?" he demanded. "I thought you wanted a change of venue!"

"Yeah, a change in venue," Thundercracker said, incredulity creeping into his voice. "Not a change in sanitation!"

"Go frag yourself, you virginal vapor-trail."

"Starscream, there is sour energon somewhere in this…this mess! Can't your sensors detect that? That's not safe, plus it's highly volatile. And is that, is that - what is that?" Thundercracker just stared at the mess in wonder. There were datapads strewn everywhere. Chemistry lab equipment, both broken and unbroken, was mixed in among the mess. There were plants - real, organic plants - stuck in various corners, intermixed with unidentifiable metal scraps that looked like they'd come straight from a trash yard. Mud was streaked across the metallic floors, old and layered. "Starscream, do you live in this mess?"

Starscream scoffed. "It's not a mess."

"When was the last time the cleaning mechs came through here?" Thundercracker demanded. He felt sorry for anyone who had to straighten this room up; it looked like a cross between a battlefield and a natural disaster.

"They don't," Starscream snarled. "Once I started living in my own quarters, I told them to frag off. They kept moving all of my things, and I couldn't find anything - "

"-And you can find anything in this mess?" Thundercracker asked in utter disbelief.

Starscream crossed his arms and glared in what Thundercracker was starting to realize was Starscream-speak for "no, but I'm too stubborn and proud to say as much, you [insert clever/rhyming/alliterate insult here]".

Thundercracker vented. Hard. "I'm gonna go ahead and guess that you got into a fight with one of them - "

"No!" Starscream protested, shrill.

" – and they refused to clean until you apologized - "

"That would never - "

" – and when Pulley offered to help you out, you insulted him and he left - "

"- full of slag, TC - "

" – and none of the janitorial staff has touched your room since."

Starscream stood there, hands clenched by his sides, wings as flat against his back as they could get in embarrassment and anger. He stormed across the room. He got right in Thundercracker's face, seething. "You think you're so smart, don't you, you pathetic cloud of exhaust fume? Well you know what? I don't feel like letting you into my room anymore. You want a change of venue, go to the data library." He marched out of his room, forcing Thundercracker to back out ahead of him. Starscream slammed his door closed with an angry burst of code. He whirled on his heel, putting his back to Thundercracker. "As for me, I'm going back to your room, if that's not a problem with you, oh high and mighty one." With that he stormed off.

Thundercracker stared after him. Finally, after a moment of silence, he shook his head. Unbelievable. The mech was absolutely unbelievable. He trotted down the hallway after Starscream, back to his room and his datapads and his friends.

A.N. -I want to thank all of you guys for the favs and follows. And especially for the reviews, because it reminds me of why I dedicated myself to this ridiculous fic and inspires me to write more (it's more than 200 pages now, and the more I think about how much more I have to write the more daunted I get). A HUGE thank-you to my beta, Jideni3, 1) because without them this idea wouldn't have been born and 2) who works very hard to make sure I'm coherent for you guys.

Next update will be Sept 6, and we'll get to see a...different side of Starscream (okay so not actually that different - he's still the turd we all know and love). Until then!