Starscream didn't notice his trine eventually drifting back to their bar spot until he could feel their EM fields crackling against his own. A thump on his back from Skywarp announced their return more directly.
"Ooh, so Screamer does have a secret admirer!" The purple mech pointed at the empty glass on Starscream's left, noting the marker on it that put it on a different bot's tab.
Starscream didn't bother looking at where Warp was indicating, snorting through a gulp of high-grade. "Well, they're sure as the Pit not for you," he asserted, draining the rest of his third glass.His optics lazily rolled around by themselves, taking in Thundercracker's concerned expression and slight confusion starting to bloom on Skywarp's faceplate. Thr purple mech quickly shook himself of it, eyeing the hoard of high-grade Starscream had on his right side.
"Those are Camien drinks, aren't they?" Starscream didn't really care how even a bot as slow as Warp knew that. What he did care about was how close his digits were getting to his glasses. "Mind if I take a sip?"
Starscream scowled fiercely and smacked Skywarp's servo away, holding his drinks close to his chest. "Yes, I do mind. Get your own."
Skywarp seemed offended from how he rubbed at his hand, but he hid it with a raised eyeridge as his optics rolled. "Primus, the only thing bigger than your thirst is your ego. Sometimes I feel like the older you get, the worse you become."
Starscream managed a laugh through a hiccup, and the only thing stopping Skywarp from thumping the air bubbles out of him was Thundercracker turning him away.
"Just leave him, Warp," the blue mech sighed with a glance at their leader. "He's been drinking out of an Alchemist Prime brew, it seems."
Starscream's scowl gained a whole new level of contempt at the reference- the scientist Prime was said to be the first to refine energon and make high-grade out of it, supposedly to help with the development of the first Cybertronians. Of course, it had an altogether different application on modern cycle Cybertron, and he was all but universally known as the patron mech of drunks.
Even with their backs turned, Starscream still sneered at the two mechs before taking tiny sips from one of his glasses. They went on to pretending that he wasn't even there.
"That Nautica... she's quite intriguing, don't you think?" Thundercracker mused.
"Intriguing or hot?" Skywarp turned just enough for Starscream to see his salacious grin. They both laughed loud enough to give him a whole new processor ache.
"She could make a lonely mech happy," Thundercracker said with a sigh. With another glass polished off, Starscream found that two klicks of not being paid any attention was far too long for him.
"Believe me, TC," he said with a tipsy chuckle. "As lonely as you are, she's way out of your league!"
That managed to get his grumpy attention very effectively. "Oh really?" TC asked with a raised eyeridge; surprised that Starscream almost managed to not slur his words.
Starscream adopted a lazier reindition of Skywarp's grin. "Yeah, for one thing her processor doesn't come from a mark-I battle drone." A digit went to his mouth as if trying to contain the smug giggles leaking through it. "She treats you like chewing gum; eats you up and then spits you right back out again!"
Thundercracker's digits tightened on the edge of the bar top, and he was reluctant to ungrit his denta. "That's a rich claim from you, Starscream," he scoffed when the fury finally passed. "I'd rather be dumb than arrogant any day."
"And you've proven I'd rather be drunk than desperate," Starscream quipped, indulging himself with another swig from one of his drinks.
Skywarp, meanwhile, had finally stopped ogling the femmes now dancing on stage and took notice of the hostility in the air. "Oh, scrap, not again..." He put himself between Thundercracker and Starscream, separating them as much as possible. "Guys, guys, did you forget what we're here to do? Relax, have some fun, pick up some femmes... maybe have a nice little bar brawl." He shrugged as he reeled off the list of happy memories. "Just like old times."
Starscream wasn't nearly so nostalgic. "Were those 'old times' before or after TC ditched me for his little anti-Con club and you got the bright idea to take 'Con law into your own servos?" He snorted into his drink while Thundercracker threw a glare over.
"Don't act like you made any effort to try and get us back," the blue mech hissed, turning his back on both Starscream and Skywarp.
"Come on TC, we've talked about this a thousand times," Starscream groaned, as if he wasn't the one who started the whole mess.
"And yet every new version of the story is different from the last and ends up making you look less pathetic than you actually are," Thundercracker observed unsympathetically.
Starscream trying to stand on wobbling legs might have made him laugh if it wasn't for the rage building in the red Seeker's optics as he advanced on his brother. "Are you willing to back that accusation up?" he snarled.
Thundercracker replied in kind. "If that means finally slapping that Primus-damn smirk off your face-"
Again, Skywarp was the only thing stopping the two Seekers from mauling each other. "For frag's sake, guys!" he yelled, literally pushing them apart with hands on their chestplates. "What's the matter with you?!"
"Oh, nothing," Starscream said in mock defense, shoving Skywarp's hand away and still staring Thundercracker down. "Just putting up with the usual routine of betrayal and excuses from Vos' most useless resident-"
Skywarp raised his hand again to point a digit at Starscream, stopping him mid-sentence. "Drop it, scraphead," he warned, only lowering his servos when Starscream and TC had stopped trying to stare each other to death. "That's the second time we've forgotten Rang's orders," he muttered.
"Rung," Starscream corrected, back in his barstool and stewing in his sourness. "The name of that little idiot is Rung."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Skywarp said, exasperated. "At least I can remember what he told us not to do."
"Which one are you talking about?" Thundercracker scoffed, cradling his leftover glass from the femme's table. He was half tempted to abandon the brewing disaster of his trine and find some semblance of sanctuary back over there. "The one where we won't insult each other or the one where we won't try and blast each other full of bullet holes?"
Starscream's bark of laughter brimmed with sarcasm. "Or maybe it was the one where we'd actually act like a trine again?"
"It was the one where we agreed to be caring and considerate brothers again," Warp stated sternly, going on to shake his helm. "Actually, no, now that you mention it, I meant everything else as well!"
There was an unusual strain to the force of his air vents, prompting a concerned look from Thundercracker and a pat on Skywarp's back.
Starscream, meanwhile, was physically incapable of keeping his mouth shut for more than a klick. "Well, well, Warp is the responsible one here. The universe must be ending again for the fifth damn time this orn." He pulled another glass close to him and downed the contents with closed optics, not seeing Skywarp's own narrowing before his angry approach.
"For your information..." he growled, slamming a servo next to where Starscream was slumped. "I was gonna put all our drinks on my tab, a little gift from me to set things straight, but you can pay for it yourself!" All Skywarp left behind was an empty barstool, drained glasses and his disappointment ringing in his brothers' audios. Usually there was some warning before he teleported, but the usual resonance was drowned out by the bar ambience.
The silence between the remaining Seekers was made only more awkward by the surrounding cheers as another act finished up on stage. Starscream didn't bother seeing who they were, instead focusing his gaze and digits down on his empty glass. A broken reflection frowned back at him, a picture of pity. His wings hung so low as to almost touch the floor, and his spark brewed uncomfortably in the claustrophobic confines of his spark chamber. He dared a glance over at Thundercracker, seeing much of the same in his slumped over stance.
"Cybertron was quite lonely without you two idiots," he eventually admitted, half hoping his voice would catch in his glass and not carry over to Thundercracker's audios. Primus didn't award drunks though, and the blue Seeker's helm looked up.
"Yes," he agreed with a curt nod. "I've... missed you both too."
Starscream glanced over at him, for once not as a throw-away glare. "You of all bots should know high-grade makes some..." He grunted out a cough. "Hidden feelings surface at the worst times. You know I was hurt and disappointed and... so damn angry..."
Thundercracker threw a doubtful glance over at him. "If that's your attempt at an excuse, then it's a pretty weak one, don't you think?" he asked, swallowing his distaste with a gulp from his glass. "Even you can do better than that..."
Starscream realised then that he wasn't going to make this easy for either of them. "TC, I ..." he began without knowing where to even finish. Luckily for him, Thundercracker interrupted on cue.
"How often do you think I've wished for Scraplets on your and Warp's necks?"
"...At least once a day," Starscream replied with a microscopic smile.
Thundercracker sighed against his glass. "Brother, you have no idea..."
Starscream shuttered his optics, fiddling with just his digits now as his helm almost collided with the bartop.
Thundercracker watched his descent with something like a reluctant pity. "...But just as often, I would have liked to see your dumb face," he admitted. "Even if it meant having to put up with all the stupidity behind it. Primus knows I've missed the good... even the bad times. But the good times most of all. Being with friends, having parties..." As he trailed off, Starscream found the strength to pick himself back up and make optic contact. Even with high-grade making them cloudy, his optics were clearer than Thundercracker had seen in centuries. Prima himself would have envied his purity in that moment.
"We were good at that, weren't we?"Starscream asked, seeing a a grin spreading over his brother's face and catching it as well as they both fondly remembered.
Thundercracker's grin faded as a thoughtfulness overcame him, looking over at the multitude of empty glasses crowding Starscream's area. "Usually I'm the one who's first drunk..." he said with a nod towards the hoard.
"That's not really hard, considering how little you can handle," Starscream couldn't help but quip with a smirk. Thundercracker quirked an eyeridge but chose not to restart their argument.
"Anyway..." He finished his drink and turned to Starcream. "I think we've both had enough. If we leave now we might catch Skywarp in the middle of trying to remember the habsuite code."
Starscream's wings perked up ever so slightly, even as his digits still toyed with his glass. "TC, you´re a good friend... and my brother-"
"See, the best way to put up with you is when you're drunk," Thundercracker said with his own smirk.
"...But I'll know when it's time for me to go," Starscream finished. "I'll stay a little longer."
"Suit yourself," TC said with a sigh, pushing off his seat with a nod to the eavesdropping bartender. "I'm off. For all we know, the little brother's getting mugged as we speak."
"'Little Brother'? You mean Skywarp?" Starscream made a face at the comparison. "But he's just less than a klik younger than-"
"It's an Earth phrase," Thundercracker explained. "It just means he's the one we need to keep our optics on." He stretched his wings out and gestured towards the fresh drink in Starscream's hand. "I'd lay off any more of those nova drinks, scraphead. Don't want someone getting a glimpse of your... more extroverted traits, now do we?" He winked and was off before Starscream could voice any confusion. And it was only after the crowd had swallowed him up did Starscream realise that, just like Skywarp, Thundercracker had left him to pick up the tab for the evening.