The next solar cycle was the musical, to be staged at the Autobots' base. Starscream hadn't gotten any recharge the night before, and he could hardly walk or fly. He had never been this nervous in his entire life cycle.
Spaceflower was holding his servo, practically dragging him along, saying things like, "Come on, it's not going to be that bad!" and "I know you can do it, I know it."
He knew all of Blitzwing's lines, and even though he wasn't nearly as good at dancing, he could probably modify the dance moves so that he could still pull off the choreography right. But how was he going to sing? Blitzwing was right—if he humiliated himself during the musical, Spaceflower would never love him.
They were bringing Blitzwing along, to be part of the audience, and Blackarachnia, and of course Lugnut and Megatron. Blitzwing was still having trouble walking and talking, but he could still transform and fly. Around afternoon, everyone transformed and flew off to the Autobots' base. By the time they got there, the sun had set, and it was time to perform.
"Um…hello," Optimus Prime said, looking tentative.
"Hello, yourself," Megatron replied simply, then walked up to the stage. "Is everyone ready?"
Definitely NOT, Starscream thought, but he kept this thought to himself. Everyone nodded, and the lights dimmed. Finally, the spotlight focused on Megatron and he recited his speech perfectly. Lugnut went up to the stage with Spaceflower to perform the scene where he was supposed to capture her and drag her off to the stockade (it was originally Starscream's role, but, as Spaceflower suggested, they had replaced his old "Oppressive Autobot" role with Lugnut).
The next scene was Lugnut and Megatron's, and Starscream sat through it, feeling pained, as Lugnut and Megatron sang their duet. He looked at the Autobots, who seemed shocked. In their defense, this musical was rather…weird. They probably had no idea Megatron could sing—or that any Decepticons could sing, for that matter.
And the next scene was Starscream and Spaceflower's.
"We're on," Spaceflower whispered, pulling his servo again. He nodded nervously, reminding himself that he knew all the lines, and he was okay with the dance moves, and he just needed to attemptto sing. The show must go on.
They got to the part of the scene where the song started without any major problems, but now it was time. The song was starting. Spaceflower began to sing in her clear, honey-sweet voice, and Starscream knew that soon it would be his turn, and everything would be ruined.
Starscream drew a deep breath and opened his mouth, about to "sing", when suddenly he heard a familiar voice flawlessly singing the words to the song. Starscream looked and, hiding behind the set, there was Blitzwing, singing, his vocal processor apparently in perfect shape. He kept singing but motioned to his lips and without thinking, Starscream began to lip-sync. Blitzwing sang and sang as the song went on, and Starscream just moved his lips, playing along.
Finally the song was over. Spaceflower smiled her beautiful smile and Starscream sighed in relief. Before he knew it, though, Megatron jumped in front of him, cannon at the ready, and thundered, "Fear not, prisoners! We are here to break you out!"
"Not so fast, Megatron!" Lugnut hollered, taking on Starscream's old role as the "warden". "You can't take my Decepticons!"
"Can't I?" Megatron growled, and pretended to shoot his cannon at Lugnut. Lugnut winced in fake pain and fell down on the floor.
"Hurry, let's go!" Spaceflower cried, and grabbed Starscream. They followed Megatron offstage dramatically, then, after waiting a few cycles, ran onstage again for the Cybertronian battle scene. Starscream was feeling nervous again, for this was the scene where he was going to kiss Spaceflower.
Starscream waited for the time when he was supposed to take a hit for Spaceflower and save her life, supposedly sacrificing his own. Lugnut pretended to shoot her, and, just as he had seen Blitzwing do thousands of times, Starscream jumped in front of her, then collapsed on the floor, screaming in pain.
He then recited his lines about how he was sacrificing his life for the Decepticon cause, watched as Megatron and Lugnut battled, then listened as Spaceflower begged him, "Sing with me, one more time!"
"I'll…I'll try, my dear," Starscream replied as weakly as he could.
This time he was to sing first, and he looked nervously at Blitzwing. Blitzwing nodded happily and started to sing. Starscream lip-synced, until finally his part was over and Spaceflower's beautiful voice filled the room, the sad notes to the song melting Starscream's spark.
And then the song was done.
"Rest in peace, my love," Spaceflower whispered, taking Starscream's face in her lovely, lovely servos. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too," Starscream whispered back, spark beating incredibly fast against his chestplate as he looked up at her. Spaceflower wanted him to kiss her, even if it was only for the musical, and he wanted to kiss her. So…
Spaceflower drew Starscream's face closer to hers as he lay on the ground until finally their lips met. Starscream wrapped his arms around her, startled at the sudden electrifying feeling that shot throughout his circuitry, starting at his lips. He hoped he wouldn't go into overload just by kissing her—now THAT would be embarrassing, maybe even more embarrassing than his last musical experience. What a horrible choice. But then he found himself melting into the kiss, and forgot where he was.
He held Spaceflower tighter, savoring this moment, and even though Blitzwing usually stayed down on the floor during this kiss, Starscream got up and kneeled on the floor like Spaceflower was, pulling both of them deeper into the kiss, loving every single second.
All too soon, Spaceflower pulled away. Her optics were shining, and she looked happier than Starscream had ever seen her. Was she still acting (she was a pretty good actress), or had she legitimately enjoyed the kiss?
There was no time to wonder, though, for next up was the end scene, with everyone in it. They finished the talking part again, then Megatron, who sang first, belted out the lyrics to his part of the song, and Lugnut was singing along, even though Starscream was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be.
After Megatron was finished, Spaceflower began to sing. Starscream, feeling okay now, maybe even a little happy, stood next to her until it was his turn to "sing" and dance with her. He grabbed her servo and led her into their dance scene as he lip-synced to Blitzwing's voice coming from behind the set. They danced and danced, until Blitzwing's part ended and it was Spaceflower's turn to sing again. She sang higher and higher, her perfect voice reverberating throughout the base, while Starscream shouted, "Sing, my love, sing! Sing for me!"
Spaceflower sang. The Autobots were on their feet, cheering and applauding. Blitzwing started to sing again too, and Starscream, after he was done lip-syncing and Spaceflower was done singing live, he held servos with her and bowed.
Later…
It was past midnight, and the Decepticons were still partying, back at their base. After being congratulated by the Autobots (a rare occasion), they had flown home and Megatron had brought out almost all the energon they had and declared an energon party.
Starscream approached Blitzwing first. Blitzwing was standing by the energon cubes with his Icy face on, looking perfectly healthy as he poured some energon down his throat.
"Um…I just wanted to thank you…you know, for saving my circuits back at the musical," Starscream began, fidgeting as he spoke. He didn't do this often. "It must have been hard for you to give up your role and the kiss, since I know you're in love with Spaceflower and all."
Icy gave a small laugh, then replied, "Are you kidding? If I was in love with her, I would not have done that for you. We are just friends. That is what I have been trying to tell you. I faked injury so you could take the role I used to have. I knew you loved her and wanted my role much more than I did, so I gave it to you."
"That was…erm…very kind of you," Starscream told him. "And I'm glad you filled in for me on the song parts. I thought I was going to go offline for a moment there."
Blitzwing nodded. "Besides, my friend, Spaceflower is more interested in you than she is in me. She always talked about you, when you were not there. She said you were so thoughtful to help out so much with the musical, and so funny and smart…and not to mention incredibly handsome."
Starscream looked down into his energon cube, trying to hide his blushing. Spaceflower really said all these things?
"As I said," Blitzwing continued, smiling slightly, "you belong better with her. I am just friends with her. She is simply not my type."
Starscream paused, thinking. "What do you mean, Spaceflower isn't your type? She's exactly your type. She loves singing and dancing, just like you, and you guys always seem so happy when you're with each other."
"We enjoy each others' company because we are friends," Blitzwing replied matter-of-factly, "and you are right. She is too much like me. I want someone who is more different than I am, to make it exciting." His face switched to Random, and he added happily, "After all, why would I want to date myself?"
Blitzwing started laughing again and slapped Starscream on the back, then drank some more energon. Starscream knew that the more energon Blitzwing drank, the more often his Random face showed up, so he figured he'd better leave now while Blitzwing was still relatively sober.
"Yeah, um, good luck with that, Blitzwing," Starscream said, walking slowly away. "I'm going to go and talk to Spaceflower."
Blitzwing nodded, still drinking. Starscream left to go find Spaceflower, but before he knew it a huge blast from Megatron's fusion cannon had soared across the room. Starscream instinctively jumped out of the way and the blast shattered the wall behind him.
"LUGNUT!" Megatron hollered. "IF YOU ATTEMPT THAT AGAIN, I AM GOING TO SHOOT YOU TO PIECES!"
"Y-Yes, my liege," Lugnut mumbled, an energon cube in his servo.
"And I think you have consumed quite enough energon!" Megatron added, swiping the energon cube away from Lugnut. "Now get out of my sight."
"As you w-wish, M-Master." Lugnut stumbled away. Megatron shook his head and sighed.
Starscream tried to slip inconspicuously past. He was pretty sure what Lugnut had "attempted", in his confused status, but he didn't want to think about it. Finally, he found Spaceflower standing by herself, sipping some energon.
"Hey," he said quietly.
"Hey." Spaceflower looked up and smiled a little. "Great job in the musical."
"Thanks. You were great, too."
Spaceflower sighed, the smile suddenly gone from her face. "Come on, let's go back to the energon table."
"Um, okay," Starscream replied, and followed her. Once they were there, she sat down, and motioned for him to do the same. He poured himself some more energon, since he had only had a little yet, and drank it up as she talked.
"Starscream…" Spaceflower took a long sip of energon, then asked, "Why did you lie to me?"
"What?" Starscream yelled, nearly choking on his energon.
"During the musical, I noticed you were lip-syncing from the start, and I saw Blitzwing doing the singing, plus I recognized his voice, anyway," Spaceflower explained. "So while the energon party was getting set up, I cornered him and asked him why he was suddenly able to sing so well. He admitted he had faked injury so you could take his role, and told me you had never been able to sing, that the only reason you were doing this musical was to impress me."
Note to self: Kill Blitzwing later.
"Well?" Spaceflower asked.
Starscream was thinking. She was staring at him, waiting for an explanation, and he was wondering what to say. He knew lying was a bad habit of his, but he figured that now, maybe—just maybe—he should tell Spaceflower the truth.
"The truth is, Spaceflower…what Blitzwing said is true." Starscream took a deep breath. "You see, I was trying to impress you. Not just at the musical, but from the solar cycle I met you. I knew how much you loved music and singing, and even though I'm a terrible singer, I lied and told you I was a great singer."
Spaceflower was looking down into her energon cube, and Starscream could tell she was hurt. He didn't blame her. Nobody wants to be lied to. Since he felt it was the only thing he could do, Starscream just continued talking.
"It's true that I was in a musical when I was young, except I was really bad in it," Starscream told her. "I was the worst singer there. Everyone else teased me, and nobody wanted to be my friend. It's my secret and you're the first one I've ever told. I thought maybe…I don't know, I guess I thought if I told you I couldn't sing, you wouldn't like me either." He paused. "It was a really mean thing of me to do, lie to you I mean, and I wish I hadn't done it. I'm sorry."
Spaceflower finally gave a shaky sigh and looked up. "You didn't need to lie to me, Starscream. I don't care if you can't sing. Don't you remember? You never sang once since I arrived here, and I loved being around you. You were so funny and smart and even though you didn't sing, and you didn't have a very big part in the musical until Blitzwing's fake injury, you were still so helpful. Every time you left, I wished you would come back so I could be with you some more."
"Guess you don't feel that way now."
Spaceflower shrugged and smiled slightly. "It's okay. I can understand why you lied now. Since we're being honest here, I might have done the exact same thing. School must have been terrible for you."
"Beyond terrible," Starscream replied, finishing his energon and grabbing some more. Spaceflower did, too. The more energon they had, it seemed, the more they wanted.
"But anyway," Spaceflower said, as she set down her energon, "it's true that you performed well in the musical."
"You think so?" Starscream smiled slightly.
"Remember that kiss scene?" Spaceflower asked sweetly. "Very convincing. You might be a bad singer, but you're also a great actor."
Before he knew what he was doing, Starscream had gently taken her face into his hands, she had smiled shyly and wrapped her arms around his neck, and they were kissing again, wonderfully, even more wonderfully than they had during the musical.
Finally Starscream pulled away and gave her a soft smile. "My dear, I wasn't acting."