Further Complications.
Chapter Five.
Bumblebee waited until Miles had gone out of the room before he spoke to Starscream.
"What is the nature of your claim on Miles, and did you see fit to explain your claim on him, and what that means to him?" Bumblebee demanded. Starscream lifted his chin.
"Well, I don't want to try and interface with him in any of the limited ways we could with mere squishies, I'll leave such revolting practices to you and Sam once he gets back in his body." Starscream said. Bumblebee stared at Starscream.
"Sam and I don't…I mean we never have…we don't!" said Bumblebee, flustered. Starscream snorted.
Why not? Any idiot can see how fond you two are of each other. Or is he your pet rather than your equal?" he sneered.
"Sam is my equal, but we haven't even thought or discussed anything like that!" Bumblebee protested.
"I'm not the only one to think so, either!" said Starscream. "It's surprising what you overhear in the rec-room when you're this size, and can hide, and people forget you're about."
Making a mental note to warn everyone about this, Bumblebee muttered "I don't know what Sam would think…"
"Then ask him!" Starscream said, rolling his eyes. Bumblebee noticed that since hanging around with Miles, Starscream had quickly picked up a lot of human gestures, expressions, slang terms, and not a few examples of profanity. "If you both keep tiptoeing around the issue, before you know it he'll be confessing his feelings for you at the end of his pitifully short lifespan and you'll regret not having asked before."
Bumblebee had to admit that Starscream might have a point there. Not that he was going to give him the satisfaction of saying so, anyway that was an issue for later.
"Stop changing the subject, Starscream, we're not here to discuss Sam and I, I want to know about Miles and you. What is the nature of your claim on him?"
"My claim is on his life." Starscream said, then put up a hand to forestall Bumblebee's protest. "If he is caught by one of my Decepticons, and they see his tattoo, they will think twice before even thinking of harming him, and bring him to me. I, of course, will allow him to leave unharmed. This fleshy seems to be a unique example of his kind – intelligent, engaging, interesting to speak to. By giving him that tattoo, I am conferring my protection upon him. He has been helping me during this difficult time, it is only fair that I reward him."
Starscream elaborated.
Bumblebee had to admit that whatever way he looked at it, for Miles it would indeed be an advantage. He hung out with Sam and the Autobots enough that one day the claim-tattoos might very well make the difference between Miles living or dying.
"Okay, but what about the claim-tattoos you had done on Sam?" Bumblebee said. "Miles may have been willing to get his done, but Sam wasn't consulted. What if he hates them?"
"Not very likely." Starscream said. "I got the idea when Miles told me that Sam had been thinking of having your alt tattooed on one arm. I just…improved with the faction tattoo, and the name-glyphs to make it a claim-tattoo. If he really hates them, I'm sure your Ratchet is capable of removing mere tattoos from organic tissue."
"That is not the point!" Bumblebee huffed air through his vents and flashed his optics in exasperation. "He wasn't asked!"
"Well, asking him isn't easy, considering, and it's a bit late to worry about that now. He'll have to deal when he gets back in here, won't he?" Starscream said.
Again, Bumblebee had to admit that yes, the issue could not be dealt with until Sam got back in his body, so he decided to let the issue drop, at least for now.
"I'd better go and get Miles back in." Bumblebee told Starscream. "We need to discuss something else with him. School starts next week, and Sam will be expected to be there. When you're there, you will have to pretend to be Sam."
"What is this 'school?'" Starscream asked in puzzlement.
"I'll get Miles and he can explain it all to you." Bumblebee said, crossing over to the room to open the door. Opening it, he admitted Miles.
"Hey, Bumblebee, I've got a message from Jazz." Miles said. "He said there have been two more landings, some guys called Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. They're making their way here."
"Thanks for passing it on." Said Bumblebee, although he had earlier got the message himself over his comm. He was glad Jazz was out of the sparkling body he'd been transferred into while his own body was being repaired. He was used to Jazz being smaller than he was, admittedly, but not to him being that much smaller.
"Come in and explain 'school' to Starscream, and what he'll need to do, would you?" asked Bumblebee.
As Miles took Starscream aside and began to explain, Bumblebee contemplated the meaning of the claim Starscream had made on Miles.
Had being forced to live in a human body taught Starscream the virtue of making a human friend? Would the friendship last once Starscream was back in his own body?
For Miles' sake, Bumblebee fervently hoped so.
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Sam came out of recharge that morning feeling…twitchy was really the best way to describe it. He was on-edge, felt irritable, and really couldn't explain it.
He had spent the week observing the people he was supposed to be in charge of, committing their names, duties, and alts to memory, because he really couldn't end up forgetting or miscalling them, it would call attention to himself, the wrong sort of attention. It had been Soundwave who had suggested it, and had brought out the Cassetticons in private, and had named them each in turn, so that Sam could learn who was whom amongst the small Decepticons who resided in Soundwave's chest compartment when they were not on duty.
Now he paced back and forth in Starscream's personal quarters, his agitation growing. Something was wrong but he couldn't put his finger on it. After a while, he couldn't take much more of pacing the same small room. Turning, he sent a databurst to open the door, he couldn't stand the confinement, he had to get out!
As the door opened he strode out, almost bumping into Thundercracker and Skywarp who were coming the other way. They took one look at Sam, then each turned, grabbed him by a wrist each, and started hurrying him along the corridor.
Sam almost resisted this manhandling, but they were going the way he wanted to go, away from the room, but they didn't stop there, they took him straight across the big room and out of the door, and once there, they began to run. Sam ran with them, not just because he had to or be pulled over, but because it felt like the right thing to do. They all pushed off the ground at the same time, launching into the air and engaging their thrusters, and as the ground fell away below them, Sam felt as if his agitation had been left behind with it.
As they rose higher, Sam felt the hands of the other two Seekers release his wrists, and they both dropped back behind him, leaving him as the leading point of a forward-facing 'V'.
"You got involved in your work and left it too long again, didn't you?" scolded Thundercracker in a databurst. "I keep telling you that if you let yourself fly more frequently, you'd get less stressed."
Sam almost exclaimed out loud. He had felt that way because of a need to fly? He could see why though, it was an amazing sensation to fly, to feel the air under your wings, to know that a slight change could make you drop, soar, bank and spin.
"I forgot." was all he could think to say. "I was busy."
"As usual." was Thundercracker's retort.
"Sorry." Sam said in a tone that meant he wasn't at all, a tone he'd found was quite accepted by the others, it was obviously something Starscream did.
"Until next time, that is." Thundercracker said back sourly, then fell silent.
He had no idea where they were going, was aware they had hit a speed that was faster than the speed of sound, that accounted for the quietness around them, and the need for databurst speech. They were high, so high, and he felt the other two Seekers draw closer, and for some reason wasn't surprised when he felt hands caressing his wings. It was Thundercracker.
"You need to relax." the blue-patterned Seeker purred. Suddenly it wasn't just Thundercracker's hands that were on him, it was his whole body as he lay atop him, hands swirling big circles on his wings. Legs twined and the hands left the wings to reach round to stroke his cockpit. Sam could not held letting out a squeal of pleasure as those hands expertly stroked and caressed, then there was a soundless blast of displaced air as Skywarp appeared above and to one side, and he felt the green-patterned Seeker stroke one of his wings and then trail the hand down his side.
Sam shivered, aware that he was losing control over his flying enough to start losing altitude, but they were so high he didn't think it would matter. Thundercracker and Skywarp didn't seem to be concerned anyway.
Skywarp suddenly vanished, appearing below him and upside-down, of all things, cockpit up, and as Thundercracker's hands slid back up onto his wings, he dropped down a bit and found himself pressed between the two Seekers. Skywarp was caressing the undersurface of his wings and pressing his cockpit against Sam's own, Thundercracker was caressing the top surfaces of his wings and kissing the back of his neck, and then Skywarp pressed upwards and kissed Sam, full on the mouth, his metal tongue snaking in and invading Sam's mouth.
All the stimulation combined with the release of tension was way too much for Sam, and he screeched as energy raced through his frame and he overloaded on the spot.
He came back online to find Thundercracker holding him under the arms, Skywarp supporting him on his back, they had gradually come down from the height, were circling back onto what he realised was familiar territory.
"Skywarp and I are going to head back to base." Thundercracker purred. "You should stay out and fly a little longer." he said. Sam nodded in agreement - there was something he wanted to do anyway and he didn't want to lose the freedom of the air just yet. At his acquiescence, the two other Seekers peeled off and flew away, occasionally caressing reach other and Sam guessed that now they had given him his overload, they would finish each other off.
He flew over territory made familiar when he'd been practicing to fly before he'd gone to 'be' Starscream. He headed for the Autobot base, thinking to check everything looked okay, and to let everyone there know he was still about.
He wondered how they had all done in his absence, wondered how Mikaela was, and Ratchet, and Optimus, of course. Not to mention how Starscream was doing in his body. Sam wondered idly how many more Band-Aids Starscream had needed and just what new abuses on his body he had made.
He overflew the Base, low enough to make Ironhide, at the gatepost, look up, who raised an arm in greeting. He rose up and them dipped down, flying low once he'd cleared the Base. Ahead he spotted two splashes of colour, one red, one yellow. He assumed the yellow one was Bumblebee, but the red one he didn't know, and he lazily turned to take a look. Maybe someone else had arrived, someone Bumblebee knew.
As he passed closer to them, they looked up, and Sam realised he was in error. The yellow mech was too big to be Bumblebee, both were new to him. Realising he might spook the pair by overflying them so low, he began to pull up, just as the yellow one flashed a look at the red one and grinned.
Whatever Sam was expecting them to do as he angled upwards, leaping up to seize his arms and wings with a yell was not one of them. Sam cried out in panic as he realised that they were destabilising him, and their hands on his wings were rough and harsh, completely at odds with the touches bestowed on him by Skywarp and Thundercracker earlier.
When he started to nosedive and spin, Sam screamed as the world turned into a confusing blur.