Being a big fan of Starsceam & Megatron and/or Skyfire is not helping me. XD Anyway, enjoy chapter 2! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Be inspired! Bring on the Rumble! :D

Chapter 2

As it turned out, Rumble realized as his brother Frenzy patched up some loose cables from the Seeker Scuffle, it was an Autobot who turned the overgrown trailer over. The multiple thumps before that had actually been 'bots being thrown against the control room during the struggle by a disgruntled Astrotrain. Rumble winced when his bro' pulled a little too hard on a wire in his arm. But the most amusing part of the matter was no one had actually noticed Starscream and Rumble were locked inside.

Skywarp only went to get them because the trailer landed face down on the door and figured they'd need a hand getting out. His comment about Starscream and Rumble killing each other was based on his ten minute delay from fighting off one of the Autobot twins. Rumble snickered slightly as he remembered Starscream's face when he found out about that little gem. The Autobot's volcano would have been jealous of that eruption. If not for Thundercracker explaining politely that they had better things to do (like avoiding laser fire) they may have noticed that Starscream was having trouble. Starscream hadn't liked that explanation either, but that was when Megaton stepped in and well, a fusion canon does wonders to stop an argument.

So, the mystery of why no one came to help the poor trapped bots had been solved and Rumble put it in the back of his processor under 'amusing memories in the deception forces.' Now he could deal with his other mystery. The one he had somehow not noticed over the years until less than an hour ago trapped in a stuffy, malfunctioning box.

Starscream. Rumble liked him. A lot.

"All done, bro." Frenzy pat the metal arm; Rumble flinched. Though, it made sense, Frenzy figured. His brother was lucky he just knocked some circuits loose after getting crashed into by a pair of flighty, fighting seekers. "Try 'er out."

Rumble transformed his arms into his faithful pile drivers and back again. Felt stiff, but that's to be expected after a Frenzy fix-up job. It'd break itself in after a day or two; his brother always wired him up too tight. "Great job as usual."

"Of course, what did you expect?" Frenzy then smacked his brother upside the head. "Next time get out of the way instead of standing there like some dumb animal with headlights in its face."

"Right." Rumble chuckled. He was not about to tell Frenzy he hadn't moved because he was in shock. It was like all his circuits just connected to each other or something and flashed a big echoing pulse through his whole body with one message:

Rumble like Starscream.

Now, the big question his processor was trying to wrap around, was the 'why' part. Why hadn't he noticed he liked the flier before? Why did he like the stuck-up, ungrateful jerk, and why was he suddenly on the forefront of his CPU? To make matters worse, Rumble doubted he could talk to Frenzy about it without getting laughed at or called crazy. So for now, it'd be best to forget about it and think about it closer to recharge. "I'll keep that in mind, Bro."

"You better." Frenzy shook his head and waved over at Soundwave who had been looking at them quizzically. Frenzy called out to their over protective boss. "He's okay! Just a little jumbled circuits!"

Rumble waved too as Soundwave acknowledged their good health and went back to whatever it was he was doing over there. Probably scanning airwaves or waiting on Ravage or something. Soundwave stuff. Rumble picked himself up to his feet and followed his brother over, but he did sneak a look over his shoulder at Starscream. Even sulking after a spectacular tantrum, he still looked good.

Rumble wondered if there was still something wrong with his head after all.

Soundwave looked up as two of his two cassettes came back to join the group. Rumble had caused him a bit of worry after Skywarp recovered them from the Mobile Canon Control Room due to various injuries along his exterior. That was quickly quelled after it was apparent there was no damage that his brother could not handle. However, at the moment Rumble seemed to be preoccupied with looking over his shoulder.

"Hey boss!" Frenzy trotted over, brother trailing behind him. "What's up?"

"Counting supplies and tallying damage."

"Oh, neat. Well me and Rumble are all patched up." Frenzy stretched. "I'm ready for a nap."

"Acknowledged." Soundwave opened his chest plate and waited patiently as Frenzy transformed and fit himself snugly inside the compartment. He closed his panel after the little mech was snug and safe and turned to his brother. Rumble had always preferred to stay in his mech form until was time to recharge. However, the other little mech was looking over at the Seeker again. "Rumble, status well?"

"Huh?" The purple mech startled and looked up at his boss. He'd been caught staring at Starscream again. Rumble faked a laugh and punched a hand into the air with what hopefully looked like authentic enthusiasm. Drawing attention to his newest issue was not something he wanted to do. Soundwave would be worse than Frenzy about it. "Yeah, yeah. I'm all good. Frenzy fixed me right up."

"Rumble, distracted."

"Uh, maybe a little." Rumble leant back on his heels and shrugged. Soundwave could read his mind if he wanted to, but usually the boss was good about protecting their privacy. Rumble just hoped he could be nonchalant enough to keep it that way. Soundwave was still a Decepticon; if he wanted info- he'd get it. "Busy day. Lots of stuff to keep myself preoccupied."

"Acknowledged." Soundwave made a note to monitor Rumble, as well as the seeker that suddenly had his attention.

"I said I was sorry...jeesh." Skywarp grumbled as he sat on the ground near Thundercracker's peds. "He didn't have to keep hitting me."

"We both know that's how he is. You should have expected that."

"It was ten minutes!" Skywarp jumped up a little and knocked into Thundercracker on accident. Said friend pushed him back down into a seated position. "Even Starscream should be able to stay calm for ten freaking minutes."

Thundercracker pulled the purple teleporter by the wing closer to him and inspected his outer plating. "It was closer to three hours."

"I know." Skywarp paused as Thundercracker knelt down to try and bang out a dent. Starscream hadn't held his punches in between the insults to his intelligence. "But that's not my fault."

"He got worked up." Thundercracker knocked Skywarp's open arm plating hard enough with a small hammer to smooth out an indent. "It could have been ten minutes and he still would have hit you."

"I guess." Skywarp mumbled. "Still don't like it."

Thundercracker shook his head and continued working on Skywarp's scuffs and dents. Honestly though, he was over reacting. Starscream, all things considered, hadn't roughed him up all that much. A dent here, a scuff there; nothing worse than Skywarp does to himself when he warps into a wall or a building because he got over excited. Thundercracker locked a plating back into place and looked for anything else he could hammer out. No, Skywarp was sulking because it was his, Thundercracker used this term very sparingly, 'friend' who had hit him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Skywarp quipped at Thundercracker. His good buddy had a lovely contemplative look on his face. Meant he was thinking again. Thundercracker plus thinking almost always lead down bad roads.

"What?"

"Human saying."

"You pay too much attention to them." Thundercracker shook his head. "So, what does that mean?"

"Um, means I want to know what you're thinking about." Skywarp chuckled and motioned for Thundercracker to give him the hammer. His wingman had a few dents himself that needed a little pounding out. "You've got an odd look on your face."

"Nothing Skywarp, just wondering when Starscream's ever going to lighten back up."

Skywarp pulled at a loose cable that somehow got lodged in a loose panel. "I hope it's soon. I miss us all hanging out together."

"We still hang out together." His argument was weak, but the blue seeker knew that as long as they flew together, Starscream wasn't going away for good. They were still a team. Even if their team-leader would currently rather hang around Megatron in his free time. "We've even got flying drills in the morning. I'm sure afterwards we'll get a drink together and talk."

"For such a pessimist, TC you sure are talking optimistically."

"Wow, I didn't know you knew words that big." Thundercracker snorted.

"Hey!"

The blue seeker laughed as he was tackled to the ground by a now very distracted Skywarp. Good. The more distracted he was, the less he'd think about their distant team mate. Thundercracker hoped he could keep thinking up new tactics. "Come on, get off."

Skywarp reluctantly released his friend and stood up. "Fine, but you owe me later."

"For what? Pointing out facts?"

"For making us late." Skywarp chuckled and took off into the sky. "Everyone's already gone."

"Wait up!" Thundercracker yelled as he too transformed and took off after Skywarp and the other retreating Decepticons.

Starscream was happy to be back at the Nemesis. It was dank, underwater and caused borderline claustrophobia - but it was home. At least on this little mud-ball of a planet, anyway. He stalked down the hallways with the best regal grace he could muster towards his quarters as quickly as possible. He was in no mood to deal with anyone. Skywarp kept bringing up tomorrow's training flights while Thundercracker tried to point out that, yes, Starscream really needs to show up.

Plus, to make things even worse, Megatron was blaming their defeat on Starscream, yet again, and Soundwave just kept...staring at him for some reason. Starscream paused in front of his room and typed in the access code. Yeah, Soundwave staring at him was definitely the low point of the evening. He was used to Megatron berating him for no reason, but Soundwave usually paid him no mind.

Maybe he was still upset that Starscream and Skywarp had rolled over the little runt?

Starscream shook his head as he entered his personal quarters and headed over to his computer to log in the days successes and failures for future reference. Soundwave couldn't be upset over his cassette. He was barely injured and walked away as chipper and annoying as ever. So, something else must be bothering the stoic tape deck.

Starscream groaned and headed for his recharge berth. If he had to wonder and work to find out what was up with the Third in Command, he'd at least like to be at full capacity. Starscream started powering down his systems and snorted to himself. Knowing his rival for Megatron's attention, he really was just upset about his dumb little lackey.