Ooh, next installment already! AU alert here; this is pre-war Cybertron, and includes several OCs that are the intellectual property of my sometime co-author and adopted little sister Katea-Nui. Maverick's her baby, but in this ficlet, Starscream adopted him. (Perhaps we'll share that story with you all sometime...)

Warnings: AU, maaaaaaaaaaaybe slashy overtones if you look sideways (not between Maverick and Starscream)N

Not mine!

Terminology:

Kalu- Seeker term for sire

Kali- Seeker term for carrier

-2- Bored "Young Seekers live for adventure... And it's five times worse when they're /bored/."

"Star, I'm bored." Maverick said, frowning. He held up his datapad, homework finished and mostly correct.

Starscream glanced over and sighed. "We can't leave here yet. I am waiting on an important comm from-"

"Lord Aftshaft of Stinkypede?" Mav cut in.

"/No/, and if he heard you call him that, he'd be somewhat less than amused." Starscream gave his adopted creation a single raised optic ridge, but the irrepressible young Seeker only smirked back, looking eerily like his adopted kalu.

Maverick opened his mouth to continue, but Starscream held up one finger. "I wouldn't."

The grey, yellow and orange Seeker scowled and sat back in his chair, glaring at the viewscreen on Starscream's desk as if he wished it'd explode or something.

A few moments later, when no call had come, he spoke again. "You /promised/, Star. You said we'd go to Shimmerglow's before Revvy got off shift, and then out for dessert afterward."

Starscream sighed again. "Yes, I did, but I must wait on this call or the slag will totally hit the recirculation unit."

Maverick's optics grew artificially wide. "You wouldn't /lie/ to me would you?"

Star didn't buy it for an astrosecond.

"Go find your brother, tell him it's okay to go offshift early, and I'll see what I can do." he said. "Or sit here and do tomorrow's lesson today. That'll cure your boredom."

"I don't know where he is!" Maverick whined.

Just then, the screen beeped, and Starscream motioned for Maverick to be silent while he proceeded to talk about very dull things indeed- trade, mainly, along with a minor dispute as to who owned what percentage of the profits from a mine near the Tarn-Vos border.

He tried. He really did. But Maverick was still young, even though he'd been sparked into an adult frame, a batch-Seeker like so many others. He looked around, desperate for something to do that /wouldn't/ get him into trouble. He even tried to listen to his adopted creator's conversation for a bit, but all he could hear was Starscream's tone rising the more the other mech began to torque him off. He finally found something to mess with, something quiet, and kept at that while Starscream got angrier and angrier.

Finally, the Winglord of Vos lost it. "I think not, 'Lord' Macerator." Starscream spat. "You might wish to call me back to discuss this when your helm /isn't/ firmly planted all the way up your aft."

Maverick started laughing uncontrollably at that, and he couldn't help but move to his kalu's side. He could see the enraged Macerator through the screen, staring at the both of them.

"Well, I'm not bored anymore." Maverick declared.

Starscream smiled and shut the offending screen off, cutting the Tarn delegate off mid-curse. That's when he noticed what Maverick had done in the time he'd spent in conference.

The arms and crests and decorated plaques of his forebears had once hung proudly upon the walls, polished regularly out of respect.

They now seemed to be firmly stuck to the ceiling. Starscream turned his head slowly and pinned Maverick to the now-bare wall with his gaze.

Maverick shrugged. "Shouldn't let me get bored, Kalu." His smile made it impossible for Starscream to be mad for long.