X
Starscream happily pranced down the dimly lit stretch of corridor leading to the viewing stands overlooking the arena pit, absently humming a tune to himself as if he hadn't a care in the world. But then again, eight vorn old sparklings, even incredibly precocious ones such as himself, never did have a lot to concern themselves with.
It would seem that before Impactor's sudden departure -which Starscream was still slightly offended by; the aft didn't even say good bye to him- he'd let slip to a certain tyrannical arena owner that Megatron had been entertaining a 'guest' of sorts the past few stellar cycles. Surprisingly enough, Clench has taken the news better than Megatron had anticipated.
"He'll be a real asset," the smirking mech had told Megatron, his dimmed yellow optics trained on the seeker hiding behind his guardian's thick legs, "In a few vorns anyway." He had then winked at him, and Starscream had felt his spark lift in hope. Perhaps his dreams of learning to fight like a gladiator weren't as farfetched as grumpy afthead Megatron kept telling him they were. After all, Clench had thought he was an 'asset'.
But Starscream should have known stupid old Megatron would have found some way to ruin his good mood, for reasons unknown to him, Megatron had been very, very angry with this new piece of information. Apparently Megatron didn't want him to be an 'asset' to the arena, not now, not ever.
Clench had smiled in a weird sort of knowing way and said, "We'll see."
Apart from Megatron's seemingly perpetual bad mood, which had lasted for well over a stellar cycle, some good had come out of Clench seeing him as an 'asset'.
He was now virtually untouchable.
Not a single mech, gladiator, Axel or otherwise, was permitted to so much a look at him without the fear of retribution not just from Megatron, but Clench as well. Starscream wasn't sure what Clench had threatened them with, or what means he possessed to instil such fear in them, but not even Sidepunch was a danger to him anymore. And once he'd gotten over the shock of Megatron allowing him free rein of the arena, he'd been sure to test of this new 'untouchable' status of his by hurling as much verbal abuse at the gladiator as he knew. When Sidepunch had done nothing but stand there and seethe as he was insulted by a seeker the size of his pede, Starscream knew then, he could get away with anything...
Apart from pull the same slag with Megatron it seemed. Whatever threat loomed over the gladiators of the arena clearly didn't apply to the mech he had to share a room with. And of course, in typical Starscream fashion, he had found this out the hard way.
Dismissing the memories of the past few cycles, and the unfair punishments he'd had to endure due to his hard aft of a roommate, he launched himself up the stairs and into the stands, shuttering his optics as the brighter lighting stung them slightly. He ran through the rows of empty stands to get to the best seat in the arena, or what he classed as the best 'seat' anyway.
With a great amount of effort he pulled himself up onto the wall bordering the pit in the centre of the arena, used to separate and protect the spectators from the likely chance of flying debris that was often a hazard when watching gladiatorial fights. It offered Starscream the closest, clearest and most unhindered view of the training sessions he always dragged himself out of berth to watch in the mornings- and as a happy coincidence, his seating preference never failed to agitate Megatron whom always seemed to think he was clumsy enough to lean too far over the edge and fall to his deactivation.
Starscream rolled his optics and ignored him every time. He may be young but his armour wasn't that weak that it wouldn't be able handle such insignificant damage. And besides, he was a seeker; his thrusters would save him before he even came close to hitting the floor.
Like every other cycle Megatron didn't acknowledge his arrival in the stands from where he was trying, and failing, to show how Steelstrut how to block an attack from above, obviously having taken pity on the useless young gladiator. Starscream couldn't even bring himself to laugh at the orange mech as he somehow managed to smack himself in the face with his own weapon in his attempt to block Megatron's extremely slow attack.
Megatron must have then realised it was a lost cause as he promptly moved into the opposite end of the pit, as far as possible from Steelstrut without another word.
The rest of the training session proceeded as it normally did, with a few sparring matches, Megatron winning everything and Sidepunch picking on mechs a lot smaller than him, until to Starscream's surprise, Steelstrut actually managed to knock out another gladiator. Not the one he was sparring against of course, but an unfortunate mech with faded, navy paint who was probably minding his own business when Steelstrut had managed to trip over his own pedes, and accidently fling his weapon into the air, where it came to land on aforementioned mech's helm.
About half way through the training session a small group of femmes came up into the stands to sit opposite Starscream. He didn't pay them much attention, more than used to their occasional visits. From the one chance he'd had to talk to them -before Megatron had appeared and ushered him away- he had learnt that they worked in a popular 'bar' just a level above the arena that a lot of the gladiators here seemed to favour. They occasionally came to training sessions for 'business purposes'. Though he hadn't had chance to spend more than a few klicks speaking with them prior to Mega-Fun-Sponge's arrival, he had decided that they were... nice, and pretty in a less conventional way than he was used to. They seemed to like him at least.
He looked up from where Megatron had just knocked his sparring partner onto his aft for the third consecutive time in a row to see one of the femmes, hot pink in colour -and far too doting for her own good from what he could remember- waving at him unenthusiastically. As he waved back he noticed that there was one more femme present than usual.
The usual three, one pink, one indigo, and one bizarrely sporting about five or six different mismatches colours, had today turned up with a fourth unknown femme. Starscream couldn't see her very well from the other side of the pit, only being able to tell that she was a light yellow in colour and taller than the other three femmes. She also didn't make a spectacle of herself by shouting out and screaming in a poor attempt at seeking the gladiator's attention.
The gladiators in the pit were rotating sparing partners though, so Starscream disregarded them.
Until five klicks later when it became impossible not to notice how many times Megatron had glanced in their- no, in the yellow femme's direction. Starscream narrowed his optics distrustfully and leant forward in his position on the border, trying to get a better look at her. She must have been doing something suspicious to have attracted Megatron's attention.
After another breem in which Starscream was far too distracted with glaring at the femme opposite to pay proper attention to the fighting, the training session came to an end. He lounged back and let his thrusters dangle over the edge of the border, knowing it would only serve to annoy his guardian more and waited for Megatron to stride over to greet him with his usual reproach about dangling himself over such a high drop and then order him to sit in the stands or not come at all, only to watch as Megatron headed in the opposite direction, towards the group of femmes.
Starscream stared, optics huge and bright, mouth slightly parted in shock as he watched Megatron; irritable, miserable, unapproachable Megatron, saunter over to the femmes and casually lean against the side of the border to strike up a conversation with the yellow one.
What the frag?
Starscream leapt down from the top of the border and started to rush towards the other side of the stands to get to Megatron and that stupid femme that was distracting him. Didn't she know Megatron had more important things to do that talk to her!?
He only made it half way across the stands when his path was blocked by an obnoxiously orange pede though. Starscream tried to dive around it, hissing aggressively.
"Hey Star!" Steelstrut said cheerfully, crouching down to his level to talk to him better, tactfully ignoring the tiny seeker's aggressive hissing, "How you doing?"
"Get out of the way idiot!" Starscream snapped at him, "I need to get to Megatron."
Steelstrut looked confused, before straitening up to look behind him to where the femmes were laughing loudly and obnoxiously at something Megatron was saying. For reasons unknown to Starscream the idiot's smile widened, he looked down at the seeker fondly, "Aw, Starscream are you jealous?"
Starscream stared at the orange mech for a full klick before, "NO!"
Steelstrut jumped at his sudden shriek, but unfortunately it wasn't loud enough to distract Megatron from the vicious harpies attempting to sink their claws into his Megatron. And to think he'd almost liked them...
Steelstrut held his servos out in a passive gesture, "Alright sorry!" he said quickly, "You don't have to start screaming little guy, use your inside voice."
Starscream simply fumed, glancing between the idiot blocking his way and Megatron reaching out to touch the faceplates of the yellow femme. Frag, it was worse than he thought.
Steelstrut sighing heavily regained his attention, "Do you wanna come back to my room?" the young gladiator asked him, in a desperate attempt to distract the seeker, "I'll... I'll let you play with my weapons?"
Starscream thought about it for a moment, "...Fine." he said stiffly, crossing his arms over his cockpit and trying not to look in the direction of the femmes and Megatron.
Steelstrut placed a servo between his wings and nudged him forwards, "Don't worry about it Starscream," he said soothingly, "They're just talking."
Starscream was foolish enough to believe the idiot.
That evening, after spending a long cycle attacking Steelstrut with his own swords, as Starscream was about to leave and return to the quarters he shared with Megatron, the orange gladiator received a comm. from the aforementioned mech. It was a private comm. so Starscream wasn't privileged enough to know what was said, but his spark started to fill with dread when Steelstrut finished the comm. and turned back to him.
"Looks like you're staying with me tonight!" He said excitedly.
Starscream would have groaned and complained about it had he not been so worried about where Megatron was, "Has he gone to fight?" he asked worriedly. Megatron never did tell him when he has leaving for one of his awful 'to the death' matches; not that Starscream blamed him, but it caused him to be paranoid about the older mech's whereabouts whenever he was out of the arena.
Steelstrut shook his helm and smiled, "Nope, he just wants the room to himself."
Starscream frowned, his suspicions growing, "... Why?"
Steelstrut shrugged, "He said he'll come get you in the morning."
Starscream's mouth fell open, "I don't need to be collected like a sparkling!" he squawked, "and why aren't I allowed in my room tonight?!
Steelstrut shrugged helplessly, "Maybe he just wanted you to spend some time with me?"
Starscream scoffed, "I don't even like you..." he muttered spitefully.
The pleasant smile on Steelstrut's face faltered slightly, but he pretended not to have heard, "C'mon, let's get you some energon and then you can go to recharge." Starscream's only reply was to look miserable, he sniffed and Steelstrut took a step backwards in surprise, "Star?"
The seeker's bottom lip was wobbling, "Why did he kick me out?"
Steelstrut moved forward quickly to kneel down in front of the sparkling, "No, don't be silly," he cooed in that ridiculous, overly affectionate way only he could, but for once Starscream didn't mind, "He just wants some time to himself. Everyone needs a little privacy."
Starscream didn't look convinced.
As much as he wanted to draw the little seeker into a armour bending hug -because Starscream with his little drooping wings and huge sad optics was so adorable- Steelstrut was wise enough to restrain himself and simply patted him on the shoulder vent, "I think you're tired and hungry and once you've had a cube and a recharge you'll feel a lot better."
Steelstrut was sure then he was going to get an outraged screech in the audial and a kick to the shin for babying the seeker then, he had said far less patronising things to him in the past and had received more violence before, but his assumption about Starscream's tiredness must have been fairly accurate, as all he received was a sad little nod of agreement.
Steelstrut guided him over to the spare berth in his quarters, "You stay in here and try to cheer up," He said gently, watching the seeker clamber onto the berth, "I'll be right back with your cube." He moved to the door and glanced back at him before he left, "Everything will be better in the morning, you'll see."
X
Steelstrut was the wrongest idiot to ever be wrong. Ever.
When Megatron had arrived in the morning to collect him, something was definitely different about him. Starscream knew this because he had been stood staring at the older mech for the past breem trying to figure out what it was. He wasn't as tense, as stiff, his optics weren't burning a hole through whatever he was looking at and his servos weren't clenched into fists. He seemed calmer, happier –if that word could ever be used to describe him- and didn't even try to threaten Steelstrut like he usually did.
The fact that Megatron was obviously in a far better mood than he had been for stellar cycles should have cheered Starscream, but it didn't; because it couldn't be coincidence that it came directly after he'd spent a few joors away from him. He must have been the cause of the bad mood. Maybe Megatron really was fed up with him?
"Have you finished your data-pads?" Megatron rumbled above him as they walked back to their shared quarters.
Starscream kept him helm down, refusing to look up at the older mech, and nodded.
Megatron watched him through dim optics, instantly assuming the seeker's apparent lack of energy was due to staying up all night instead of recharging with that idiotic orange gladiator, "I have time to take you to the library today, if you want?"
Starscream still didn't look up and, to Megatron's immense surprise, shook his helm.
Megatron stopped in his tracks, "No?" Starscream slowed in front of him but didn't turn around or break his silence. The older mech grew more concerned, "Are you feeling all right?"
The seeker nodded quickly, and started walking again. Megatron shook his helm and decided to leave him be. He was in too good a mood to get into an argument with the seeker.
"I am about to leave for training, you are welcome to come and watch," Megatron added as they reached their quarters, "But I won't be back until late this evening."
"You're leaving me again?!" Starscream cried, whipping around to throw the gladiator accusing glare, "Where are you going?! And are you going to kick me out of my own room again?" he mumbled miserably.
Megatron might have felt a little guilty had Starscream not been so melodramatic. "There are things that require my attention elsewhere," he tried to explain to the seeker reasonably, his good mood already vapidly disappearing, "And no, you don't have to stay with Steelstrut again tonight."
Starscream wasn't buying it, he moodily stomped into their shared quarters ahead of Megatron, "You don't have anything to do," he muttered childishly, "You just don't want to spend any time with me."
Megatron's optics twitched as he watched Starscream angrily kick one of his data pads before dramatically throwing himself onto his berth. How could Starscream possibly think that? He spent nearly every second of his day not training or fighting either with the seeker or chasing after him. He had no time to himself, hadn't for weeks now. Last night had been a welcome and much needed break from the youngling, a chance for him to spend time with another fully mature Cybertronian, it was just his luck that she happened to be a femme.
And for frags sake, if she wanted to see him again he wasn't going to turn her down just to sooth a spoilt sparkling's feelings!
He ignored Starscream and he went to collect his weapons, leaving the seeker to own self inflicted misery without another word as he left for the pit. He caught a glimpse of him look up from his berth and scowl at him just before he left the room, obviously annoyed at the lack of attention his fit was getting him.
Starscream thought to himself spitefully as he watched Megatron leave without a backwards glance, that maybe he should break something, or hide and make Megatron think he'd run away for ignoring him. That would show him! Then he'd regret overlooking him like this.
Though it was tempting to do any number of those things, he didn't. He wouldn't dare. Megatron had never been anywhere near as angry as his sire was most of the time, and he didn't want to push him to it. And some small part of him felt a little sick at the thought of Megatron worrying over him.
As much as he wanted to continue sulking in his room, he really wanted to watch the training. Sighing to himself he rolled off his berth, pausing only to pick up some of his data-pads so Megatron wouldn't shout at him later, before making his way to the stands.
His improvement in mood didn't last long however.
His mouth dropped open in outrage as the first thing he saw when he took up his usual position on the barrier surrounding the pit, was those Primus dammed femmes! And to make matters infinitely worse, the yellow one from yesterday was not only there again, but leaning over the barrier to speak to his gladiator. And to his horror, Megatron was actually conversing back, completely distracted from the training he was usually so focused on as he was smiling and smirking and reaching up to touch her.
Starscream didn't waste a second before sprinting over as fast as he could. He had to get that femme away from Megatron, quickly.
The group of femmes looked up as they heard the approach of this tiny clicking thrusters, the three he was vaguely familiar with all at least smiled slightly, and the stupid pink one waved her servo and waved enthusiastically. The yellow one however, just stared at him.
And Megatron glared. A lot.
"Hello sweetie," the pink femme cried happily, "Finally come over to say hi?"
Starscream scowled at her, opening his mouth to tell her to stop being so patronising when Megatron's deep voice reproached him, "Starscream," he warned.
Starscream huffed and settled for just sneering at the femmes, "Hello..." he muttered stiffly.
The yellow femme who was still leaning over the barrier, raised an optical ridge and glanced between them, "You have a sparkling?" she asked Megatron, already pushing herself up and away from him.
Starscream beat Megatron in correcting her, "He's not my sire!" he snapped, crossing his arms over his cockpit grumpily, "Why does everyone think that..."
The doting pink femme made a soft cooing noise at his pout, "Oh Freeware," she whispered, loudly, nudging the indigo femme slumped in the seat next to her, "Isn't he gorgeous?"
The over-charged looking femme, Freeware, squinted at him before shrugging, but the remaining mismatched femme, who'd clearly upgraded one too many times with a few too many different parts, leant forward in her seat, and smiled in agreement.
"Where are your creators, kiddo?" she asked, in a deeper voice than Starscream would have expected. "They dead?"
Megatron wanted to smack himself in the faceplates at the unbelievable lack of tact the femme seemed to possess.
"Hardline!" the pink femme reproached her before turning back to Starscream, who wasn't the slightest bit phased by the question. As far as he knew his carrier was deactivated, but his sire was still alive, just not around any longer.
The pink femme had moved out of her seat and captured him in a hug before he could react, and unlike with Steelstrut, Starscream found it difficult to summon the strength to push her off or hit her. She was warm, and the gentle curves of her frame seemed to fit around him in a comforting sort of way a mech's bulky frame never could.
He didn't hug back, but he found himself wanting to.
When she released him all he could really do was frown at her, she lifted a small servo and gave his cheek plating a quick caress. Her smile and optics seemed to hold more adoration for him than he'd ever seen in anyone's expression before. He found himself staring after her as he sat back in her seat, wondering to himself if his carrier had been anything like that...
Behind him Megatron watched, his optics narrowing in concern.
"Starscream stays with me," the gladiator announced to the femmes, "He is my guest."
Starscream saw the yellow femme, who was still very close to Megatron, purse her lips together, "A guest?" she enquired, her voice was light and airy and held a hint of a cultured accent that said she clearly wasn't from around here, not like the other three femmes whose accents where thick Kaonian. She sounded Praxian, almost. "And how long is he staying with you for?" the femme continued.
Starscream scowled at her, marching forward, his servos on his hips, "As long as I want!" he snapped at her, sneering at her shocked expression at being addressed so rudely. He heard Megatron growl in irritation from the other side of the barrier and hopped up onto it to see him better, "Tell her!" he cried, pointing at the femme.
Megatron scowled at him before turning back to the femme, an apologetic expression on his face, "I apologise Vibes," he purred, lifting a servo up towards her and flashing her a seductive smile, "He can a rather insecure sometimes-"
Starscream had pulled a face at Megatron's weird behaviour, some parts shocked, some parts outraged, but mostly confused, especially when he heard the gladiator refer to him as 'insecure'.
"Megatron!" he whined, embarrassed.
The femmes still sat in the stands behind him all cooed at him again.
The gladiator and the yellow femme, 'Vibes' Megatron had called her, both ignored him.
"I can skip training this morning," Megatron then said, and Starscream nearly fell off the barrier he was sitting on in shock, "Come, I'll buy you a drink."
The femme smiled, looking very satisfied. Starscream meanwhile, felt like crying.
Megatron didn't look his way, and so therefore missed his spark-broken expression as he moved towards the steps leading into the stands to meet the Vibes. Vibes herself though, did see his expression, and Starscream felt a burst of indignant outrage as he saw her smirk at him. Both Megatron and the evil femme were barely out of audial-shot when Starscream burst out with a malicious, "Fraggers!"
The three femmes that were still in the stands with him all jumped at his sudden outburst, the pink femme that had hugged him looked rather shocked, but the other two, Hardline and Freeware, looked rather impressed.
Instead of reproaching him like Megatron would have done however, the pink femme gestured for him to come closer.
Miserable and frustrated, and somewhat hoping he might get another hug from her, Starscream complied, climbing up into the seat next to her and letting her put a comforting arm around him. "Where'd you learn an awful word like that?" she asked, sounding disappointed. "That's not something little mechs like you should be going around saying."
Starscream looked away and shrugged, armed wrapped around him frame defensively. "Who is she?" he mumbled.
The femme's looked confused for a moment, exchanging glances.
"Who?" grunted Freeware, sitting up and looking a little less over-energised now, "Vibes? She's new."
Starscream scowled, "New to where, and what does she want with Megatron?!"
The multicoloured femme, Hardline, pulled a face and leant away, nodding to the pink femme that had tucked him against her side, "You wanna take this one Shareware?"
Starscream pulled back from the pink femme, scrunching his face plates up, "Shareware?" he asked dubiously, looking at all three of the femmes, "Are those your real names?"
Freeware smirked at him, "They sound like our real names to you?"
Starscream shook his helm, but decided not to delve any further in to this conversation, still confused over this whole situation with Vibes, if that was even her real name! She had been talking to Megatron yesterday, so was that where he'd been last night? With her?
Was he replacing him?!
Shareware must have seen his bottom lip start to wobble as she hugged him closer, "Oh sweetie what's got you so worked up?"
Starscream shook his helm, "Is Megatron going to replace me with Vibes?"
Hardline leant around Shareware to get a better look at him, frowning in concern, "Honey, what is Megatron to you?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.
Hardline flexed her jaw back and forth as she scrutinised him, "If he's not your daddy, why does he keep you around?"
Starscream took a long time to think about that, "...Because we're... I..." The femme raised a good question, "We're friends," was the only plausible explanation he could come up with. "And he saved me, and I don't have anywhere else to go so I just... stayed."
A soft smile came over Hardline's face then, "And he doesn't mind you staying with him? Who fuels you? A growing seeker like you must consume a lot of energon?"
"He does."
The three femmes sat around him looked very impressed, they all paused to share glances, before Shareware gave him another encouraging squeeze, "I don't think you need to worry about anyone replacing you sweetie," she smiled.
It was hard not to believe her, not when she was so warm and kind and gentle. Starscream nodded and pulled back, deciding that since Megatron had run off with stupid Vibes he could probably spend the morning with Steelstrut, maybe he'd let him play with his weapons again.
"Hey kiddo!" Hardline's deep voice called him back as started to run off back into the arena's living space, "Don't hesitate to come see us again some time! You're not half bad for a sparkling!"
Her grin and wink was enough to stop Starscream from rushing back and setting her straight over the sparkling comment, and he even found himself smiling back at them. He had no idea why Megatron had initially wanted him to stay away from the femmes, they were nice. Especially Shareware, even if she was a patronising coddler.
X
Despite what the femmes had told him over the course of the next few cycles, the thing between Megatron and Vibes did not blow over. Megatron didn't get bored with her, didn't stop spending so much time with her, and didn't stop kicking him out of his berth room at night.
He was sick to deactivation with Steelstrut, and wasn't sure how much more he could take of spending night after night in the bright orange gladiator's quarters. His paint was giving him a processor ache -as he was kind enough to inform Steelstrut cycle after cycle. But the younger gladiator was either not getting his hints to change his paint colour or was ignoring them out of spite.
But as much as Steelstrut was annoying him, it was nothing compared to the all consuming hate he felt whenever he saw Vibes and her stupid face, and her stupid yellow colour, or heard her stupid voice. And what was worse, he could smell her in his room, he could smell her on Megatron. Everywhere he seemed to look, there she was, draping herself over Megatron like she owned him, laughing like an idiot at whatever he said-
It wasn't funny! Megatron was the least funny mech to ever exist! So what the frag was she laughing about?!
Probably him, he thought angrily as he glared up at them as they embraced before Megatron's fight. He nearly purged when Vibes leant up on the tips of her pedes to press a kiss to Megatron's lips, smiling sweetly and promising him a reward if he did well this evening.
Patronising idiot, Megatron always did well; he didn't need the promise of a reward from her to motivate him.
"You behave for Vibes," Megatron was foolish enough to order Starscream as he sheathed his swords on his back. He missed how the seeker shook with fury when he turned to wink at Vibes one last time before they had to separate, Megatron going down into the pits to wait for his fight.
Starscream stared after him longingly. He hadn't had the chance to speak to the gladiator privately in nearly two weeks now, not since Vibes was constantly around him, constantly.
Vibes made a noise of impatience as she waited for him to hurry up. She scowled back as he sneered up at her. It didn't take a genius to work out that she wasn't particularly fond of him either. That and the patronising comments she'd made whilst in Megatron presence, and the snide ones she used when he was out of audial range.
He swore to Primus if she called him 'Stumpy' one more time...
But at least her friends were okay.
Starscream pushed past Vibes as they entered the stands, running up to the three femmes that had already chosen seats, Shareware had even saved him one next to her. Starscream smiled as he climbed up into it, he didn't think he would have been able to get past these past two weeks of Hell had it not been for her listening to his every complaint, unbiased and confidential. Unlike a certain orange someone who had run straight to Megatron with a list of the rude names he'd called Vibes.
Fragging suck up...
He didn't have to sit next to Vibes, and the match proceeded smoothly. Megatron, of course, won spectacularly. Starscream winced as the femmes he sat with screamed and squealed excitedly as he did so, their pitch ringing in his audials.
Unfortunately, at the end of the match Vibes, once again beat him down to the pit side and was already leaning over the barriers to give Megatron a passionate kiss. Starscream seriously debated running up and giving her a good push so she fell over the side into the pit. But since he was already in disgrace with Megatron over the whole Steelstrut selling him out and telling the gladiator he regularly referred to Vibes as a 'Jumped up Credit grabbing Pleasure drone' –an insult taught to him courtesy of Hardline- he decided not to.
Eventually the kiss ended and Megatron glanced over Vibes' shoulder towards him, "Starscream, you're staying with Steelstrut again tonight, Vibes and I are going out."
Starscream wasn't surprised in the least, but that didn't mean he had to accept it, "But what if something happens!" he whined, running forwards and shoving Vibes to the side so he could hit the gladiator with the full force of his wide, sad optics, "What if the arena is set on fire and everyone burns to death! What if I fall down the stairs and break my neck! ...And die!"
Megatron looked confused for only a moment before casting Starscream an impressed look, "Whatever unfortunate accident you decide to have in my absence, rest assured that I will make sure to attend your funeral," he said, mouth curving up at the side in amusement.
That wasn't the reaction Starscream had been hoping for, "You wouldn't care if I died would you!?" he burst out angrily, "You're a selfish afthead!"
The amusement in Megatron's expression vanished and was quickly replaced with anger. Starscream didn't care though; he wanted him to be angry. Before he could be shouted at however Vibes put a servo on Megatron's shoulder and cooed in her awful, annoying, stupid voice, "Oh don't be angry with him Megatron, he's probably just frightened."
Starscream wanted to howl that he wasn't fragging scared he just wanted her to get the slag out of his and Megatron's life and for things to go back to the way they used to be-! But he didn't, instead bottling it up and balling his servos into fists before stomping out of the stands.
X
Steelstrut might have been a treacherous idiot, but at least he was easily tricked into doing Starscream's bidding.
"We're going to get rid of her," Starscream told the orange mech maliciously, "And then we can both move forward with our lives. I get Megatron back to myself, and you get your quarters back to yourself. Deal?"
Steelstrut smiled, "I quite like having you stay with me actually," he said happily, "I'll kinda miss you if I-"
"I said do we have a deal or not!?" Starscream interrupted him suddenly, his optics wide enough to give him a slightly crazed look.
Steelstrut lifted his servos in surrender, "Yeah yeah, okay, I'll help you get rid of her."
"Good," Starscream growled, peaking around the corner of the corridor they were hiding in to see if there was any movement from the quarters he shared with Megatron. Both the gladiator and Vibes were in there, they just had to wait until she came out.
Only ten breems later the door whooshed open, and out stepped Vibes, she waved seductively back into the room she was just exiting before stepping out into the corridor, letting the door close behind her.
"Quick," said Starscream, reaching for Steelstrut behind him, not taking his optics off the femme, "Hand me your weapon."
Steelstrut frowned as he removed his arm cannon, but paused before handing it over to the sparkling no higher than his thigh armour, "I don't think we really need an arm cannon to scare her off..."
"Scare her off?" Starscream asked, scrunching up his nasal plates in confusion, "We're going to kill her."
Steelstrut blinked, "...Kill-? No, Starscream no, that's not- That's what psychopaths do! And I don't think Megatron would approve..."
Starscream ignored him, "It's Kaon, mechs are deactivated every day."
He sounded incredibly serious about this entire 'Killing Megatron's Girlfriend' idea and Steelstrut was very concerned, "...I think someone needs an early night," he said eventually.
The look Starscream gave him then really was psychotic, "Give me the gun," he said darkly.
Steelstrut took a step back and hugged it to his chest, "No."
"Don't make me hurt you!" Starscream threatened, shaking a tiny blue fist at him.
Steelstrut scowled, "I'll beat you up! You're one third my size!"
Starscream's response to that was to kick him in the shin plating.
As luck would have it, it was just at that moment that Megatron came around the corner, obviously having left his quarters when Starscream had been too busy arguing with Steelstrut to pay attention to watching the door.
With a sigh of exasperation he plucked Starscream off the ground as the sparkling aimed another kick for Steelstrut's shin plating and began to move back towards his quarters. Starscream had shrieked when he'd felt someone suddenly lift him, but after seeing it was only Megatron he had fallen silent and limp, the same dejected, miserable expression on his face that Megatron had been seeing a lot of lately.
Once inside the room he plopped Starscream gently onto his berth and stood before him, waiting expectantly for him to tell him what the matter was.
"I hate her," Starscream spat out eventually.
Megatron didn't have to ask him to elaborate who 'her' was. "I never would have guessed," he said sarcastically, moving to kneel before the berth so that he was more at optic level with the seeker, "Your constant sneering and name calling must have thrown me off."
Starscream scowled, not finding it funny at all, "Why do you go out with her?"
"I enjoy her company."
Starscream felt his spark sink, didn't Megatron enjoy his company? "Don't you like me?" he whispered miserably.
Megatron rolled his optics, "Of course I do," he said, once again trying to explain this to the sparkling responsibly, "but you are a youngling, and I need to spent time with someone that is closer to my own age."
"We can still go out," Starscream pointed out, expression pleading.
"Not without you getting into trouble," Megatron reminded him, "and I like her in a different way to how I like you."
Starscream looked down; he liked her more than him...
"You'll understand when you're older," Megatron continued, "but femmes are rare, you don't pass up the opportunity of being with one, regardless of how annoying her voice is."
Starscream smiled in agreement, her voice was annoying. It was nice to know that even Megatron thought so.
"Is she going to be around for long?"
"Why..." Megatron asked quietly, "Do you want her around?"
"No!" Starscream burst out, "No I don't... I just want you..."
Megatron watched him for a moment longer, "...Alright," he said, moving to stand again, "Get ready for recharge; you're staying in here tonight. I'll be back in a moment with your energon."
Starscream smiled despite himself, and jumped off the berth to select one of his data-pads to read before recharge. Megatron left the room and Starscream settled back down again, flicking the pad on and beginning to read.
It must have been at least twenty breems later when Starscream realised Megatron hadn't come back. It barely took five minutes to walk to the nearest dispenser and back again, so where had the gladiator wandered off to?
Curious, he jumped off the berth, quickly flipping open the newly repaired access panel on the door and rearranging a few wires to get the door to unlock without the code. He casually flipped the panel closed again and walked out into the corridor, heading in the direction of the nearest dispenser. He was half way there when he heard voices.
"But I don't understand why do you even have it around?" he heard an angry voice, definitely Vibes, exclaim. It was coming from one of the corridors up ahead. Starscream quickened his pace and lightened his foot falls.
"I'd prefer it if you didn't refer to him as 'it'," another voice spoke. It was Megatron, he sounded irritated.
Starscream reached the corridor and poked his helm around the corner, seeing both the femme and gladiator in the middle of what looked like a very, very tense conversation.
Vibes was waving a servo dismissively, "Yes, yes, but why don't you just get rid of him?" Vibes sighed, exasperated, "You said before he's not yours."
Megatron did scowl then, and even though it wasn't directed at him, Starscream found himself shrinking back in apprehension, "He's staying," he said stiffly.
Vibes didn't look the slightest bit impressed, "Don't make me compete for your attentions with a youngling." She snapped impatiently, placing her servos on her hips. She looked down her nasal plating at the gladiator, "You and I both know I'm worth more than that."
Megatron started to walk past her, towards where Starscream was hiding, "Then I won't," he growled without looking at her as he passed. "Get out."
Starscream stared, both his and Vibes mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"What?" she murmured.
"If you ask me to choose between you and him, he will always come first. Leave."
Vibes looked scandalised, she took a step closer to Megatron, mouth twisting into a sneer, "How dare you-"
Megatron didn't seem to have the patience for her though; "Out!" he barked turning around and stepping towards her. She jumped back and sent him one last look of pure fury before storming off up the corridor. Megatron starred after her darkly.
It was a few moments until Starscream came out of his hiding place around the corner.
Megatron didn't look surprised to see him. He sent Starscream a wry smile and rolled his optics as if something about the situation was amusing, when it clearly wasn't, as he moved towards him.
Starscream ran the rest of the distance between them and Megatron dutifully knelt down. The seeker took it as an invitation to press his face into his strong abdomen; he wrapped his arms around as much as Megatron's waist as he could and clung to him tightly. A large servo laid itself against his back between his wings, and though it might have been awkward, it was a hug better than anything Shareware could ever give him, because it was Megatron's arms around him.
He wanted to tell Megatron that he'd missed him, and that he thought he'd loved Vibes more than he did him and that he'd thought replace him with her and that never, ever wanted to spend another night with stupid boring Steelstrut ever again; but he didn't need to say anything. From that way the gladiator scooped him up and carried him back to their quarters he knew he needn't say anything at all.
Megatron already knew.
X
Starscream was enjoying the next fight night at the arena considerably more than he had the last four, simply because he didn't have to endure Vibes' presence anymore, and what's more, it was the first time he was being trusted enough to sit on his own during a match.
Before Megatron hadn't been worried about the levels of violence he was being exposed to, but now it was just the sheer number of unknown mechs that would be in close proximity to the seeker that had the gladiator apprehensive about going to the matches. Since tonight Steelstrut was fighting at the same time as Megatron, and Vibes was... no longer with them, and the three femmes he had befriended –despite Megatron's warnings that no good would come from affiliating himself with femmes like them- were 'working' tonight , there was no one available to watch over him.
But he had been allowed to watch tonight, on the condition that he remain on the VIP balcony at the top of the arena, under Clench's watchful, though over-energised, optics. It was too far from the pit for Starscream to really be able to see all the mech blood and gore, but it was better than being stuck in his quarters all night cycle.
And Clench wasn't so bad, especially since he seemed to have already forgotten that he was supposed to be watching over him as he occupied himself with chatting up a grimy looking femme and sucking up to what Megatron had pointed out to him earlier as a 'corrupt Senator.'
The only other occupant of the box was a rather tall and powerful looking light blue seeker. He didn't look like a royal guard, which was a great relief to Starscream, but he was still very formal looking.
He kept casting glances his way, but Starscream did his best to ignore him and focus on the fight.
It was mere klicks before Megatron's match was scheduled to start when everything started to fall apart, the new life he'd started to build here with Megatron, where for the first time he'd felt safe and happy in his living memory, all came crashing down around him in the blink of an optic, and it all started with one huge explosion.
It was so sudden that the crowd was still cheering as the ground shook hard enough to throw Starscream to the ground. I must have happened just above their box because there was heat and noise and rubble rained down on top of them from the area's high doomed ceiling.
Instantly the pit erupted in screaming; screaming and blaster fire. There was a sudden stampede as mechs rushed to escape in the stands below them. Starscream leant over the railing to watch them, mouth hanging open in shocked horror as he saw massive chunks of the ceiling crush mechs as they scrambled to escape.
He heard another creak and looked up only to see the entire ceiling start to come down. He rolled under one the seats in the box before he could be crushed as rubble fell all around him, terror gripping at his spark as the chaos continued, more blasters and more screaming.
"AUTOBOTS!" Someone was yelling at the top of their voice, over all the screaming and blasters, it sounded like Clench, "EVACUATE!"
They had been found.
X