The Brat Prince of Vos
Chapter 15
Continuity: Pre- and Post-TF:A, a little bit of AU here and there
Warnings: None
Pairings: Megatron x Starscream, but nothing too slashy yet.
Cyclonus dragged Starscream back to Megatron's main unit a year later.
Until Megatron saw Cyclonus' face that day, he hadn't even thought the calm, purple flier to be capable of rage.
"What," began the flier, in a deceptively serene voice, "did you say or do to him?"
The Decepticon Commander narrowed his optics fiercely. "This is not Vos, and you will address me as your commander here, Cyclonus," he replied. "I will excuse you this time - I know that you were close to Starscream when he was a child. Your emotions cloud your judgement here."
"Alright, commander. What in the name of the pit happened, for me to find him half battered, missing a wing and drunk off his processor in the remains of a bar in Kaon!?" Cyclonus yelled, ignoring the looks of the other Decepticons in the room that seemed to be saying "don't do it, don't do it!" Starscream, for his part, seemed to be offline, hanging limply over Cyclonus' shoulder.
"You four," Megatron snapped at the Decepticons in the room. "Dismissed." They all hurried out, closing the door behind them. Megatron turned his attention back to Cyclonus with a sigh. "Where did you say you'd found him? I've been sending out search parties looking for the brat since he left a year ago."
"Downtown Kaon - or what's left of it," Cyclonus grumbled. "He tried to punch me when I said I was taking him back to you."
"If you must know," Megatron groaned, rubbing his optics wearily, "we had an argument. He went too far. I slapped him. He left."
Cyclonus stood still suddenly, then narrowed his optics as he relaxed. "You said…you sent out search parties for him," he repeated.
Megatron nodded with a frown, unsure of the relevance of this.
"I was right," Cyclonus said through gritted dental plates. "You didn't bond with him that night. If you had, you would have known exactly where he was all year."
Very quickly, Cyclonus found a fusion cannon aimed at his head. "You tell anyone, I will not hesitate to blow your head off and use your body for sheet metal," hissed Megatron, snatching the limp figure of Starscream off his shoulder and storming to the other side of the room.
Before leaving for the med bay, Megatron hesitated. "…Thank you for bringing him back to me," he grunted. Cyclonus just shook his head in disbelief.
The first words out of Starscream's mouth, once fixed and sober, were "Are you ready to bond with me yet?"
Megatron almost slapped the Seeker again.
Starscream woke up in Megatron's berth. He flexed his new wing slightly, hissing when his sensor nets screamed back at him in protest.
"I wonder if there are any psychologists left alive," Megatron commented casually from the other side of the room, where he was busy looking over battle plans and strategies once more. "You certainly have enough issues to make hiring one worthwhile."
The Seeker just rolled over in the large berth, and said childishly, "I don't like you."
Megatron snorted, standing and abandoning his work to come and sit on the berth with the flier. "Oh, Starscream. What am I to do with this little bratty Prince?" he mocked, though the affection in his voice leaked through. "You should like me today. I didn't just kill you when Cyclonus brought you back like I would have anyone else. I'm even letting you recover in my berth."
"You slapped me," Starscream pouted, kicking at the Decepticon leader, and Megatron wondered if the Seeker had genuinely become this immature or if it was the medicinal energon Hook had pumped into the flier's systems. He sincerely hoped it was the latter.
"You deserved it," Megatron replied. "You pushed too far."
The flier said nothing for a while, optics seeming to glaze over - definitely the medicine, Megatron decided. Then the red optics were staring intently up at him again. "If I were leader of the Decepticons," Starscream said earnestly, "I'd force you to bond with me."
Megatron just raised an optic ridge. "Why are you so adamant that I bond with you, little Prince?"
"Little King now," Starscream growled.
"No, always a Prince to me. Besides, Vos is gone," Megatron chuckled, laughing more when a look of outrage blossomed on Starscream's face. "I'll ask again. Why are you so insistent that I bond with you?"
"You promised," Starscream moaned sadly, curling up into a little ball and prodding Megatron's waist repeatedly with a claw. There was no question now, Megatron thought - Starscream was high on whatever Hook had given him. "You said you liked me."
"I did, I do, and I will bond with you - after the war is finished. You're impossibly impatient," Megatron replied playfully, smacking the flier lightly on his (good) wing.
"If I were leader of the Decepticons, we'd be bonded today," Starscream repeated, optics not quite focused.
"You would have to defeat me to become leader of the Decepticons. Do you really think you can overthrow me, little Prince?" Megatron asked with narrowed optics. Had Starscream been in his right senses, he was sure he would have punched Starscream in the face for even suggesting such a thing.
Starscream didn't reply, seeming to slip back into a state of unconsciousness. The Decepticon leader just shook his head, and laid down next to Starscream to try and get some recharge himself.
If he had been around when Starscream was a sparkling, Megatron would have instantly known that the look currently plastered on the Seeker's face was not, in fact, unconsciousness, but commonly referred to by Cyclonus as his "plotting" face.
And hours later, Starscream smiled wickedly.
"Yes…" he said softly. "I can."