Written in June 2013

I have a thing for age-gap, and Megs and Screamer fit the bill because my eternal headcannon/meta/whatever for Megatron is that he is a grey-haired old man. And Starscream is a teenage/early 20's brat. :D

Also, I'm forever amused Starscream does Megatron's repairs in G1.

Lost Without Him

Characters: Megatron & Starscream (G1)

Pairing: Pre/Implied Interest for Starscream x Megatron

Rating: T for Violence & Injuries

Summary: While "disciplining" Starscream, Megatron's age starts to show. Starscream is amused (and jealous). Megatron can't be bothered to beat him for it.

On the battlefield, Megatron was all sound and fury. A fiery temper accented with the pounding of fists and guttural battle cries.

Alone in his quarters, "disciplining" his second, he was full of fury, but his sound was reduced to mutterings under his breath that cursed everyone from Prime to Starscream. The words dripped with that special sort of self-loathing that took responsibility for failure without saying it as such.

Metal screeched as Starscream slid across the floor from Megatron's over the shoulder toss. He pushed up with a grunt, and wiped a smear of energon off his bottom lip and a pool of it developing beneath him. Starscream heard the crunch of metal as Megatron punched the wall behind him, and rolled his optics as he sat up on his knees. Starscream wasn't so much the center of Megatron's attention, as he was merely a witness and a warm body to hit when the walls and furniture failed to satisfy.

Starscream was a necessary spectator and opponent in Megatron's world. He didn't trust anyone else to witness his tantrums, and he couldn't throw a tantrum without someone present.

Take the gladiator out of Kaon, but not Kaon out and all that.

Either way, Megatron needed Starscream's presence. No one else would see these bouts of self-loathing and still respect him, and Megatron needed these releases for his own peace of mind and sanity

He'd be lost without Starscream.

The subject of his wrath today? Motormaster and his crew of junkers. Superion wiped the floor with Menasaur in their last battle, and if that wasn't bad enough, Silverbolt got a lucky hit on Motormaster afterwards. The semi was out of commission for at least an Earth week. His prized babies smacked down by a bunch of pathetic flyer-wannabees.

Megatron was furious.

A communications box smashed into the wall near Starscream's head. He backed up, looking at the wreckage of his glorious leader's comm screen and snorted. Megatron was huffing behind him, shaking his fist free of the tiny electronic bits.

"Soundwave's going to be furious you broke that," Starscream snorted. It wasn't like Megatron to destroy things given to him by his precious Third-in-Command. He climbed to his feet, the broken joint in his knee sparking. "I'll be hearing Rumble complain about his bad mood for weeks."

"Can you never keep your mouth shut?" Megatron snarled.

Apparently not, Starscream thought to himself as the fist headed toward his face. Drawing attention to himself never ended well, but he just couldn't help it some days. Starscream's cheek smashed into the floor again. The tell-tale split of glass as his optic glass cracked sent a wave of frustration down his spinal strut. He'd have to visit Hook for that one. Skywarp and TC were useless with fragile work.

Before he could get to his hands and knees, Megatron kicked him in the side. Starscream's feet scraped against the ground as he crawled. He was hit again. Starscream felt his knee slip in a puddle of energon and sighed. Megatron heard it, as it were, and threw another kick to Starscream's side. He snarled back, "Hey! That—"

"Frag!" Megatron shouted, leaning over and grabbing his back with his hand. He hunched over, an leant against the wall on his forearm. He leaned his head down and his optics flickered. He rubbed an area of his hip, and shook his head. His face was laced in pain, and is entire body was stiff, as if moving would trigger another wave of agony. He thumped his head against the wall and moaned, "Primus."

The Second-in-Command sat up, his eyes wide as he took in his leader's stance and the way Megatron's fingers tried to massage the wiring at the bottom of his waist. Starscream snorted, covering his mouth. He tasted his own energon on his hand, dripping from the wrist, but grinned anyway.

Starscream almost bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Did…did you pull your hip?"

With the arm he was using as a brace for the wall, Megatron covered his optics and sighed away his energy. He flicked his finger toward Starscream. "Get out. Tell Soundwave to report to my quarters, and then report to Med Bay."

Starscream pulled himself up using the wall, using the base of the window as a brace. He stood on his shaky peds and looked at his leader, obviously embarrassed out of his mind. Age. A spark could last eternity, but their bodies did not—no matter how well maintained. Starscream's elbow sparked as he shuffled toward his Leader.

Megatron glanced at him, breathing heavily as his internals cycled more air to cool whatever was held up and causing such problems. "What are you still doing here?"

Starscream pushed away Megatron's hand from his hip. "I'll get it."

"Starscream, you're leaking energon everywhere and twitching. I don't want your shaky hands anywhere near it," Megatron said. "Get Soundwave and go to med bay. I'm done with you."

"My shaky hands'll be more than enough. Better than Soundwave any day," Starscream muttered, letting a new stream of energon flow out over his teeth. He wiped it away, and pulled at the hip. "Move your hand."

Megatron pushed at Starscream, and winced as a spark flew from the top of his hip. He rubbed his optics as they flickered, adjusting to the warning messages surely flashing by his eyes. "Stop being a stubborn brat and leave."

"Stop being a senile old man and let me look!" Starscream screamed back. His hands shook slightly, but he managed to swap his finger for his micro-repair tool. He glared at Megatron until the aged beast rolled his optics. He was in too much pain to argue. How telling, Starscream mused. "Better. I could do these repairs in my sleep-cycle, anyway."

"Of course, because everything you do is better," Megatron snorted. "Heaven forbid Soundwave do some of my repairs. It's not like I don't alternate between the two of you, anyway."

"He's a hack," Starscream said absently as he opened a panel at the base of Megatron's hip. The exposed wiring steamed, overheated. An energy block. Or leak. Something wasn't flowing right, either way. Starscream rebooted his optics to look closer. "I'm surprised his cassettes are still functioning."

Megatron shook his head. Starscream thought he heard a chuckle, but that would be impossible. Megatron shifted slightly under Starscream's ministrations. "You're so easily jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Starsceam hissed. Bits of his energon dripped into the wounds, sizzling on the exposed wire as he pushed through, scanning with a single good optic for the pull. It's not like Megatron hadn't been covered in Starscream's energon before. "I'm just better."

Megatron moaned—not the good kind, either—and bit his lip as Starscream opened a second panel to search deeper. He pushed a wire aside, and smirked when the warlord growled to cover the pain. "It is amazing how much these little tiny things on the inside can hurt compared to fists and kicks, isn't it? The Mighty Megatron whimpering from a broken connector."

"Is that the problem?" Megatron asked, wincing as Starscream pulled loose wires out of the way. They hung around his hips, their sensitive coating open to the hair. "A broken connector?"

"You snapped it right in half, and a few wires near your main rotation joint disconnected," Starscream answered. He placed the tip of his repair took to the connector hanging loosely from a sparking wire. "It's so brittle I'm shocked its held as long as it has. Your age is showing, old man."

"And so is yours," Megatron smirked. "You'd rather repair my hip than take care of your own injuries because you don't want to share with Soundwave. It's like a sparkling with a toy."

"Are you calling yourself a toy?" Starscream asked, pulling pieces of the broken connector out. The tiny bits of black metal clinked as they hit the ground. They rolled into the pink puddle under Starscream's feet. "And where are your spare parts? This needs replaced."

"What I am, and what you think I am are hardly comparable," Megatron sighed. He turned his head toward a broken desk and waved at it. "Top drawer."

"Don't move." Starscream jerked as his knee flashed and twisted when he took a step. He held his arms out for balance for a full minute, before continuing toward the desk. Starscream's knee had given out completely and he had to drag it behind him. Starscrem dug through three drawers before finding the required component.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Megatron asked as his second as he took his place back at the hip. "How can you even see with that cracked optic?"

"Stop whining," Starscream said. He leaned on Megatron with his shoulder to stay upright as he pulled at the wire's in the larger mech's hip. Starscream felt drained, knowing he'd need to see Hook soon himself. But he was so close to being done. He leaned his head on Megatron's side, listening to the still functioning internals above whirling softly. Starscream pulled the two wires close together, and inserted the loose ends into the new connector. "I'm working."

Starscream continued in blissful silence for another few minutes before he was finished. He carefull placed the wires back in place and snapped the panels closed. He took a step back and Megatron straightened. He had left a smear of pink on the mech's side. Starscream felt a little proud of that. "Well?"

The warlord twisted at his waist, back and forth, checking for any hint of pain. Finding none, like Starscream knew he wouldn't, he nodded in approval.

"Better than Soundwave?" Starscream smirked, tasting still wet energon on his teeth.

"Go to the medbay, Starscream," Megatron cracked a smile. The "You're such an insufferable brat" was spoken through his optics alone.

Starscream took what he could. "Fine, since we're all done here."

The screech of metal and the sounds of growls and guttural uttering were replaced with the quiet scraping of Megatron replacing his furniture to their upright positions. Starscream closed his leader's quarters door behind him, a smirk on his face. He was far better than Soundwave.

Megatron would be lost without Starscream.