ONE MONTH LATER…
"Dear Primus, I cannot understand what you see in that Moonbeam femme," Gemstone was saying to Thundercracker, her voice full of disgust. "I've never met anyone as mean as Moonbeam! Just because I charge mechs to 'face with me, she totally judges me. She doesn't even know me. Do you know why I have to be this way?"
"Um…no," said Thundercracker uncomfortably. "Should I be asking why?"
"My carrier got sparked when she was still young because someone forced her to 'face with him," Gemstone said angrily. "So I never met my 'father' and I don't ever want to meet him. And my carrier had to drop out of school because of him. And she couldn't support me. Then she abandoned me. And I was homeless. I didn't exactly have a lot of options at that point."
"Look, I'm sorry to hear that," Thundercracker said, placing one hand on her shoulder. "But Moonbeam's not really all that bad."
"You only like her because she's pretty, don't you?" Gemstone demanded, her voice sounding a little choked up. "If she was as hideous on the outside as she is on the inside, you wouldn't love her."
"No, that's not it at all!" Thundercracker insisted. "Moonbeam is really nice. And she's a great medic. Starscream was almost killed awhile ago due to an energon cube exploding in his face or something and she fixed him up."
"Well good for her!" Gemstone shouted. "She thinks she's so great because she's a medic and all, and she doesn't realize that not everyone has a life as easy as hers! I wanted to have a nice job, a nice life, too. But not everyone has their life handed to them on a silver platter. Sometimes you just can't get what you want and you have to be a hooker."
"Gemstone, I know that getting a quick frag from you is not the only aspect of your personality," Thundercracker told her. "You're a great femme. You can always stay with us, as long as you want to—but if you don't want to stay, I understand."
"I'm staying for two reasons," Gemstone said angrily. "One, because this is the first time in my life I've ever had decent living accommodations. Two, because I'm going to be the best fake girlfriend that Moonbeam femme will ever slaggin' meet."
…
"Oh, Thundercracker, I love you so much," Gemstone was cooing, running her hands up and down Thundercracker's body. As her hands caressed his wings, he shivered and let out a sigh of pleasure; she stroked his face, and they kissed.
As they were making out furiously, Thundercracker paused for a moment and saw Skywarp standing in the doorway, looking at them, the expression on his face unreadable.
What's it like to be on the receiving end, huh, Skywarp? Thundercracker thought as he separated himself from Gemstone smugly.
"Do you want to stay with me for the rest of my life, Gemstone?" asked Thundercracker.
Gemstone noticed Skywarp and giggled. "Oh, yes! I would love to start a nice big family with lots of nice little sparklings!"
"We could live in a nice big house, too," Thundercracker added. "Just you, me, and our big happy family."
What Thundercracker didn't know was that, although they had been on speaking terms up until now, Skywarp and Moonbeam's relationship hadn't been exactly peachy lately. Yesterday, Skywarp had initiated the "do you want children" talk with Moonbeam again, and she had gotten angry. The answer had been a big fat "no" this time. They were now in a fight, not on speaking terms at all, and Skywarp felt abandoned and heartbroken.
"Imagine the backyard energon parties we could have…" Gemstone continued. "Why, I could teach the sparklings how to cook!"
"I didn't know you could cook, Gemstone," said Thundercracker. "I know you would be the perfect wife, Gemstone."
"We would be the perfect parents," Gemstone added. "Imagine! You could help the little sparklings practice their flying and everything!"
"Oh, yes, I could teach them everything I know!" Thundercracker replied, dragging out the word.
Ever since Starscream had gotten sparked and, as he got closer to the due date, everyone was talking about sparklings more and more, Skywarp had realized how much he wanted one of his own…but he couldn't, not without Moonbeam. When he watched Thundercracker and Gemstone discussing their family plans so freely, he felt his eyes slowly filling with tears.
Thundercracker expected Skywarp to be angry, and he was prepared to gloat…but when he looked at his brother, he was surprised to see that he looked hurt, not angry. It was hard to see from where they were, but Skywarp looked about to cry.
"Sweetie?" asked Gemstone, sounding confused. "What's the matter?"
"N-Nothing," said Thundercracker quietly. They continued to make out, as Skywarp bolted out of the room, determined to leave before the dam burst.
…
Skywarp was hoping Starscream wouldn't be in their room, because he just wanted to cry without anyone seeing him. Unfortunately, Starscream was there, eating more red energon and reading Decepticon Weekly. There were two pillows under his wings and one under his head, and he kept feverishly adjusting them every two seconds.
"Oh, hello, Skywarp," Starscream said calmly as Skywarp burst in. "Would you mind chopping my wings off for me?"
"Why?" asked Skywarp.
"Being sparked makes them hurt by default," Starscream replied, "and since I'm going to be grounded for the next three months of my life now, it's becoming basically unbearable. Plus I think these twins might be kicking each other as much as they're kicking me. What's up with you?"
Starscream had asked this casually, but when he looked over at Skywarp, he knew something was wrong.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" Skywarp demanded, his voice shaky.
"You're a wreck, that's why," Starscream said.
"No, I'm not," Skywarp mumbled. "I'm just a little tired."
"What happened, 'Warp?" Starscream asked sternly. "I can tell something isn't right."
"I made the mistake of asking Moonbeam about our family plans, again." Skywarp was trying to stay calm, but he was losing balance. "So she got mad and pushed me out of the room. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, I saw that Thundercracker and Gemstone were talking about their future plans, and it was everything I wanted. Everything."
Starscream wanted to tell Skywarp that Gemstone was only Thundercracker's fake girlfriend, and that he was only dating her to make everyone jealous, but then he decided it probably would do more harm than good. It could destroy the tiny, miniscule sense of friendship and brotherhood the two of them still kept for each other, and destroy it for good.
"I know she'll come around," Starscream insisted helplessly. "Maybe you two have to get to know each other a little bit better, that's all."
"I would even be the carrier myself, but I'd have to get spiked by someone first, and I'm not really into that," Skywarp continued.
"Trust me," said Starscream. "You do not want to be the carrier."
"If it meant I could have a little sparkling of my own, I would," Skywarp insisted, thinking of what it would be like to hold an impossibly tiny sparkling in his arms for the first time, and have it look up at him with its little red eyes, see it smile at him—and, without warning, he started to cry.
"Skywarp, please, please don't cry," said Starscream, wincing as he hoisted himself up and pulled Skywarp to sit next to him, but Skywarp just kept crying.
"I love Moonbeam so much," Skywarp sobbed, clinging to Starscream. "I want her to love me again too."
"Moonbeam does love you," Starscream whispered. "She just needs a little time to realize how much she needs you."
"No she doesn't." Skywarp wiped his eyes. "She deserves better than me and she knows it."
Oh, if only I wasn't about to have two sparklings, Starscream thought to himself bitterly. I would get that Moonbeam for hurting my brother, and give Thundercracker a good-talking to as well.
"Skywarp, anyone would be lucky to have you!" Starscream kept on trying to console Skywarp, but it wasn't really working. If he didn't do something quickly, poor Skywarp was probably going to be hysterical. In fact, Starscream was beginning to feel a little hysterical himself.
"I-I just wanted to b-build her a perfect life, w-with a good f-family," Skywarp was insisting as he cried even harder. "I'm s-so sad. So, so sad."
"Listen, 'Warp, if you'll help me off this bed, I can go to the kitchen with you and we can get something to drink," said Starscream. "You can't stay here crying forever."
"I'm not thirsty," said Skywarp, wiping his eyes.
"Well, you need to go flying, at least," Starscream told him. "I can't go with you, but it will cheer you up."
"Okay, I guess." Skywarp shrugged and hopped off the bed; Starscream envied how mobile he was. Carrying twins was like having two giant water balloons shoved into your stomach, only a lot less comfortable. Starscream reached out his hand, and Skywarp pulled him off the bed.
"Now, you can come with me to the kitchen and we can refuel," Starscream was saying. "Then you can go flying outside. I guess I can sit there and watch you. Then you wouldn't have to be alone."
"Thanks," said Skywarp, and they walked into the kitchen—but they couldn't believe what they saw.
There, on the kitchen floor, Gemstone and Moonbeam were fighting each other mercilessly; it seriously looked like they were trying to kill each other. Thundercracker was gone; the femmes were the only ones there.
"What on Earth?" Skywarp cried. "Moonbeam, what do you think you're—"
Moonbeam screamed as Gemstone bit into her wings, hard. At the sound, Thundercracker came running in, too, and he seemed as shocked as his two brothers were.
"How dare you touch a Seeker's wings, you worthless whore!" Moonbeam screeched, clasping both hands around Gemstone's neck and squeezing.
"How dare you call me a whore, you stuck-up, sparkless witch!" Gemstone hollered back, managing to squeeze out of Moonbeam's clutches.
"It's funny…" said Moonbeam. "After I texted your name into my data pad, it autocorrected to 'disgusting slut'."
"I saw a piece of Ravage's scrap on the floor this morning," Gemstone retaliated. "It reminded me of you."
"Frag you," said Moonbeam. "And if you have any friends like you, you can go frag them too and earn some pocket change."
"Why don't you slip into something more comfortable…like a coma?"
"You make me wish I had more middle fingers!"
"Maybe you should eat makeup so you're pretty on the inside!"
"The smartest thing that ever came out of your mouth was a mech's spike!"
"You're so evil that when I kill you, they're not even going to let you into the Pit!" Gemstone shouted, and flipped Moonbeam over. Judging from Moonbeam's howl of pain, Gemstone could punch awfully hard.
"Wow, they're worse than you and Megatron," Thundercracker whispered to Starscream.
"All right, ladies, that's enough!" said Skywarp, but, in the confusion, he got kicked in the nuts and bolts by Moonbeam.
"You aren't really dumb enough to try and split up a catfight, are you, Skywarp?" Starscream asked, as the purple jet's feminine scream lingered in the air for a moment. "I mean, I can win any dogfight…but this is a whole other ball field."
"Actually, this is kind of…hot," said Thundercracker.
"H-Hot with pain?" croaked Skywarp. "Because I think that part of me was built to be treated nicer."
Gemstone seemed to be winning the fight. Taking advantage of Moonbeam's smaller size, she easily picked her opponent up by the wing and backhanded her right onto the floor again; Moonbeam introduced Gemstone's face to the bottom of her thruster.
"We should…we should really try to split them up, don't you think?" Skywarp mumbled, sinking down onto the floor and groaning in pain.
"Gemstone's obviously winning the fight," said Starscream, shrugging. "I say let her take out Moonbeam."
Gemstone, looking furious, lifted a screaming Moonbeam up, then slammed her onto the floor.
"Yeah, my money's definitely on Gemstone," Thundercracker agreed.
"Listen, guys, I can't just sit here and watch my girlfriend get beat up by Thundercracker's girlfriend!" Skywarp insisted. "Do you realize how bizarre that sounds?"
"What is going on in here?!" they heard someone say as he burst into the room. "What is all this noise I hear?"
"Oh, Megatron, thank Primus!" said Skywarp. "Gemstone is beating up Moonbeam and I'm afraid she'll beat me up too if I try to stop her! You've got to do something!"
"Silence, fool," said Megatron and, to their surprise, he walked over to the two battling femmes (still trying to kill each other) and lifted them both up, one in each hand.
"Let me down!" shrieked Moonbeam. "I'm going to kill that whore!"
"Like you ever could, you freak!" Gemstone shouted back.
Megatron set them both onto the ground. Skywarp grabbed Moonbeam and Thundercracker grabbed Gemstone; they held them back until the two femmes were too exhausted to fight any more.
"I'm not fixing up those injuries I gave you," said Moonbeam.
"You're a lot worse off than I am," Gemstone snapped.
"Thundercracker, take Gemstone away," Megatron told the blue jet. "Starscream, Skywarp, Moonbeam, I don't care where you go, just stay away from the other two."
"Moonbeam, sweetie, what got into you?" Skywarp asked gently as he wrapped his arms around her. Her wings were bleeding heavily, and she had a deep scowl on her face. She was the loser of the fight, and it was clear she didn't like it.
"I hate that hooker Thundercracker brought home," Moonbeam mumbled. "And she hates me."
"Let's just head to the med bay and get you fixed up, okay, kissy-wissy?" Skywarp held Moonbeam's hand and led her out of the main monitor room and down the hall, Starscream following close behind.