Do you hear the bells? Yes, we are back! Sorry for the delay in updating this story, but you know how much of a glitch real life can be sometimes. But nothing can keep us away from our beloved joint fics for long, so here we are back again.

We want to thank from the bottom of our hearts all those people who have read and commented on this story, and also the ones who have kindly kicked our butts through private messages asking us to update. So here you go, people, we hope you will enjoy. Oh, by the way, kudos and Energon chips to 9aza and Alaskan Olive, who guessed that our character Cree came from Cree Summer, the voice of Blackarachnia in Transformers Animated. As you all know, the names of the original characters in this story have been taken from actors who had voiced or still voice Transformers ever since G1 to TF Prime.

Okay, time for the kick off now. Shall we? Be warned that there will be an abundant use of the F word during the first scene of this chapter. It's all part of the characterization.

Chapter 32

Any given Sunday

It was an odd thing to see Stella smiling. Not that fake, 'maybe if I put on a brave face things will seem better' smile that she wore like some badge of shame every evening she stood on her corner, but a warm, genuinely happy smile. It hadn't been plastered on her face day-in, day-out, but every now and then, when she allowed the light to shine out from within, it would creep onto her features for a moment or two before slinking away into the empty facade again.

It had made for a nice change from her increasingly depressed state of late, but when Johanna had spotted Stella walking past her store in tears, and not stopping to talk, she realised it had been premature to think that things were looking up for her friend.

She would have liked to chase after her and find out what was wrong but she had been stuck with a customer at the time, and it had been difficult to escape. It had been a good hour at least before she'd been able to flip the sign in her door over to 'closed' and locked up, and another fifteen minutes in her high stiletto heels to walk over to Stella's apartment.

And now Johanna stood before a locked door, very obviously being ignored by her friend inside.

"Please, honey, open up. It's been ten minutes and I know you're in there. I do still have my key, you know, and if you don't let me in right now, I'm gonna let myself in."

No response was forthcoming.

"Okay, hun, I'm coming in," Johanna called as she slipped the key into the lock and opened the door.

Stella's apartment was dimly lit, the tattered curtain over the window blocking out most of the afternoon sun. Johanna walked slowly through the living room towards the unmade bed, before spotting her friend's hunched form in the next room.

"Hun, what's wrong?"

A haze of tobacco smoke lingered in the small kitchen of Stella's apartment, the butts of a good dozen cigarettes extinguished in a plate beside a half emptied bottle of tequila. Her head buried in her arms as she sobbed into the tabletop, Stella did not reply.

"Come on, girl, you know you can't keep a secret from me. I know you went to see Kane today, what did the fucker say to you?"

Silence was once again Stella's reply.

"Stel, talk to me," Johanna said, her deep, rich voice reverberating despite the gentle tone. She didn't need the overly long eyelashes and dark mascara to make her eyes look wider when she pulled on Stella's arm and noticed the nasty burn. "Fuck, girl. Did Kane do this to you?"

"What do you think?" Came the bitter response as Stella pulled herself out of her friend's grip, not looking up.

"Girl, why do you have to bait him? He's messed you up enough times for you to know that he's a dangerous fucker when he's angry. Sometimes you just gotta take his bullshit in sil—"

"Fuck you!" Stella spat venomously, sitting up suddenly to glare at her friend. "For your information, I didn't fucking say anything."

"Then wha—"

"He fucking found out, okay?"

Silence fell upon the small kitchen for a moment, the meaning behind Stella's outburst slowly sinking in. The look of concern on Johanna's face dropped to take on a more fearful colour as she reached out to take her friend by the shoulders.

"He found out? About this guy you've been seeing...? Shit, Stel...how the fuck did he know?"

"I didn't have enough money to pay my fees, and Sean was the reason. One of his fucking cock-sucking lackeys must have seen me with him...shit, I don't fucking know. "

"Shit, girl..." Johanna breathed as she watched her companion reach for the bottle of tequila and take a swill. "You ok? I mean, he didn't force you again, did he?"

Stella let out a single, sarcastic laugh as she drank again from the bottle. "No, he had that new Cree bitch ready to sit on his cock when I walked in, he wasn't gonna waste his time fighting me."

"So what did he say?"

"In a nut shell," Stella said, placing a cigarette between her lips and lighting it up, "he's my boss and if I don't want him angry, stay the fuck away from Sean." She inhaled deeply, savouring the minor note of calm the nicotine brought her.

"But of course you're not gonna do that. Am I right?"

Another deep inhalation. "You bet you fucking are," Stella replied as she exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"That's my whore," Johanna said with a wink. "But seriously honey, you really need to be more careful. It's no secret that Kane is really pissed about Sean's presence around here, and if he catches you with him again, I don't think the fucker will simply let you off with a warning."

"Tell me something I don't fucking know."

Johanna smirked warmly as she reached over and stole a drag from Stella's dying cigarette. "That burn looks really nasty hun, how about you let me clean it up for you. And in the mean time, you can tell me something I don't fucking know."

She stood up, and headed towards the bathroom.

"Such as?"

The tall, thin woman paused under the doorway, her long, dark wig swinging playfully as she looked over her shoulder to throw Stella a wink. "Like...how big is his cock?"

Johanna turned and disappeared out of view, but not so quickly as to miss the relatively rare display of Stella blushing behind her.

"You know a good girl doesn't kiss and tell," Stella said sarcastically as she lit up another smoke.

"That's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard," Johanna retorted from the other room. "And honey, if you're a good girl then I'm a fucking saint. Spill it."

"Why? You want a bit of action? Sorry sugar, but this one is all mine."

Something clattered noisily in the bathroom. "Oh, shit. Jeeze, honey, you really need to clean this fucking bathroom, you know? And you know I'd never cut in on your man, honey. Not without getting your permission first. Then it's fucking open season, in all meaning of the phrase."

Stella smirked at that remark as she flicked the ash from her cigarette and took another drag, listening to the thud of the bathroom cabinet closing and the clipped sound of Johanna's red heels on the tiles as she returned to the kitchen.

"Hun," she said as her friend reappeared, "you know I share everything with you but, sorry, this one's a keeper. Plus, I'm not sure how well Sean would react to your secret friend there." She laughed, gesturing with her head to Johanna's least favourite appendage.

Johanna, first aid kit in hand, flipped her the bird, her long, red fingernail glinting dangerously in the wan light. "Fuck you, bitch. Just for that, I'm gonna take that tequila," she said defiantly, snatching the bottle from Stella's lips and putting it to her own. "Thank you."

Violent cherry-red lipstick stained the lip of the proffered bottle, trumping the ever-so-slightly less violent pink with ease. Not that Stella cared as she finished her interrupted swig.

"Now," Johanna said, taking Stella's arm and beginning to clean the burn with a damp cloth, "you didn't answer my question. How big?"

Stella let out a small laugh, before wincing with a grunt. "Ow...shit... You're not gonna give up until I tell you, are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine. I'll tell you, but only to get you to shut the fuck up, okay?"

"I don't care what your reasons are, honey. Just give me the details."

"He's big. Like...this big," she said, holding up her index fingers and illustrating her statement.

Johanna paused suddenly in her work, paying no mind to the excessive amount of white antiseptic cream she was squeezing absently from the tube in her hand. It wormed out with a mind of its own, falling in a large dollop on the kitchen table.

"Jesus, honey, no wonder you've been smiling." Johanna sat in stunned silence for a moment. "Oh, shit!" she then exclaimed as she noticed the mess she was making with the cream.

"And not just that," Stella said with a playful smirk, "it's gorgeous. You remember that guy we hooked up with all those years ago, you know, the one whose bed I puked in the next morning?"

"Oh yes," Johanna laughed, "Mr Tasty. Mmm, what about him?"

"Sean's even tastier. No fucking joke," Stella added as she noted her friend's slight look of disbelief.

"Praise the fucking Lord...it's a fucking miracle!"

"But that's not what makes him special," Stella said, that genuine smile reappearing again briefly. "He knows how to use it too. I've been with so many fucking guys in my lifetime but none of them, not a single one of them, has made me feel the way he does."

Johanna placed a swab of gauze over Stella's wound and began to secure it with a bandage. "Go on..." she encouraged in her deep, 'you're-not-telling-me-everything' tone of voice.

"He makes me scream, hun. Really scream. Like, I was a fucking virgin before him, ya know?"

"And so you're keeping him all to yourself. You selfish whore," Johanna said as she placed a final piece of tape over the loose end of bandage on Stella's arm and began to pack things away.

"Well, I'm not stupid enough to think I'm the only one he's seeing, but...while he's on my turf, I'm claiming him as my own."

"I guess that's fair enough," Johanna sighed. "Perhaps he has another hot friend with a big, satisfying cock?"

"Who knows...aside from his name, and what I just told you, I actually don't know anything about him."

Johanna played thoughtfully with a lock of her hair as she watched Stella light up another cigarette and offered it to her. She took it in her free hand and inhaled deeply, adding to the haze Stella was once again preparing to fuel. "So you haven't asked him anything about himself?"

"Well, I've kinda been busy when he's come 'round, you know? And anyway, he's not much of a talker. Every time I've asked about him, he's shut me down."

"Hmmm...sounds like he's hiding something, girl. Have ya thought about asking around? You know, see if any of the other girls know anything about him?"

Stella scoffed at the suggestion. "None of those bitches will talk to me anymore, you know that. They don't even think of me as competition anymore, and just walk all fucking over me. Even if they did know something, they wouldn't tell me shit."

"True...well, what if I ask around for you? You know I've got some good contacts through the store, who knows, maybe someone will know something."

"That would be great, sweetie, but please, be discreet. I don't want Kane to find a reason to come after you too."

Johanna let out a hearty laugh, exhaling a lungful of smoke as she did so. "Girl, you know I don't do discreet. But for you, I'll try my best."

Stella smiled and took another drink from the near-empty bottle of tequila. "Thanks, hun. I owe you one. Shit. I'm gonna have one hell of a fucking hangover tomorrow."

Starscream stared at the prolate spheroid object with a raised eyebrow and an expression of disbelief on his face. At first sight, it seemed to be made of some kind of leather, a suspicion that almost succeeded in making him retch. Just what kind of animal had the humans turned into a ball?

"Okay Sean, this is the deal," Cliffjumper told him. "You'll be the quarterback and I'll be your wide receiver. Leave it to Sideswipe to take care of your back."

"We'll sweep the dust with their rusted afts!" Sideswipe said, pointing a challenging finger towards Spike, Bumblebee and Sunstreaker. "Go Reds!"

Starscream shot a disdainful, but discreet, look at the 'yellow' team before handing the ball back to Cliffjumper.

"I'm not really a sports person." That was actually the first time he had spoken the truth since his arrival at the Ark. Back on Cybertron, he had never been dragged into foolish diversions such as Basketrek or speed races, ironic considering he was the fastest Seeker that ever crossed Cybertronian skies.

"Oh, come on Sean, it will be fun!" Sideswipe said. Starscream doubted that the accursed Autobot would be so enthusiastic if he knew who he was really talking to. Starscream was hated by practically every Autobot alive, but that one in particular, along with his twin, were in the top ten list of mechs who wanted to shred him to pieces.

"Didn't you play football in high school? Or in college, perhaps?" Spike asked him.

Starscream repressed the urge to shoot the human worm his best look of superiority.

"I didn't attend college," he said flatly. Now that had been a good answer, one which would prevent him from getting into trouble by lying about whatever human education he might have had. It was such a shame that silencing that annoying human with credentials such as attending the Cybertronian Science Academy and the Iacon Military Academy was not an option.

"Oh," Spike said, visibly uncomfortable, as if he had made a mistake and was just realizing it. "I didn't go either… I mean not yet. I like to keep my options open, you know?" With that, the human insect cast a discreet glance at his girlfriend. Carly returned him a look of slight disappointment.

Starscream smirked. Those humans and their pathetic conflicts… If he didn't hate being enclosed in his prison of bones and flesh so much, he would have dared to say that constant coexistence with humans was proving to be an interesting experience, educational even.

"Options open, yes," he said, managing to control his laughter. "That's something I can definitely understand."

"Still, you have to do something for a living," Carly counterattacked. "You said you lived alone, so you must have worked in something."

Starscream's smirk disappeared as fast as it had appeared. The blasted female… Starscream hated to be asked about his personal life. Even if he was currently faking it, his privacy was nobody else's business.

"I'm good at repairing things," he said, trying to sound nonchalant and convinced that the female's mouth would serve better wrapped around his pleasure port than prying into his life. "So I get jobs here and there. Nothing stable, but it helps me to, um, survive."

Starscream switched the weight of his body from one leg to the other as he tried to remind himself that there was no reason to feel nervous. His answer had been logical. He had researched the basics about human functions and he knew that many of them worked on their own. Besides, he hadn't lied. In Kaon before the war, he had been forced to employ himself in all kinds of non-official – and non-ethical – activities.

"Well, you must get lots of those jobs, then," Bumblebee said happily, finishing Starscream's tension. "Wheeljack says that you have a natural gift with technology."

Starscream smiled with innocence, a pose he knew very well. "He didn't lie. I have a way with… machines."

Unfortunately, the slagging female was not satisfied. "Yeah, but haven't you thought—?"

"You know," he said, looking at Cliffjumper, "I think we should play this football game after all. Who knows? It may be entertaining."

"That's the spirit!" Sideswipe said, rubbing his hands in anticipation of victory. "Losers kick off."

Already taking position on the improvised field outside the Ark, Sunstreaker made a vulgar gesture to his twin. "Which means you kick off, 'Sides. You lost last time, remember?"

Sideswipe grunted as he walked to one of the extremes of the football field. "Only because you said I hit you beneath the knee joints! And Carly believed your act and threw that slaggin' penalty flag…"

From her place at the top of a boulder beside the field, Carly grinned. "I only marked what I saw."

Sideswipe kept murmuring something about his brother being a femme bot, but assumed his position with very good mood. Cliffjumper joined him and Starscream hurried to do the same, noticing that the other 'team' was also briefing before the game started.

"OK Sean," Sideswipe said, not looking at Starscream but at the yellow rivals, "just gimme the ball and I'll take care of everything. Cliff, just keep Bumblebee distracted and leave Sunny to me."

Starscream wasn't convinced, surprised by the simplicity of the game. But then again, it was a human diversion, after all. "Give you the ball? Is that all?"

"That's all we need. We'll win this game by running the ball, nice and strong."

The game was getting stupider even before getting started, not a good omen for Starscream's already unbearable boredom. Still, he mimicked the position Spike had taken in the other team with the best masquerade of a smile he could provide.

A dry sound and next thing he saw was the ball flying from side to side of the field, right to the hands of Sunstreaker, who started to run into his direction.

Now what the slag am I supposed to do? His question received a reply when Sideswipe jumped over his head and crashed against his twin in a mixture of sparks and Cybertronian curses.

"Fumble!" Cliffjumper cried as he launched toward the small ball that somehow came out of the cloud of dust and servos that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had become.

"Ah, blast!" Bumblebee complained when he couldn't get there on time and the possession was returned to the red team.

"Nice way to start the game, Sunny," Spike mocked.

"Hey, it's not my fault that the ball is so tiny!" Sunstreaker growled whilst he aligned in front of the human and Starscream positioned himself behind Sideswipe.

Cliffjumper assumed a funny position, one that made Starscream confirm that he was definitely not keen on Autobot aft. He was still thinking about the lack of good looks within the Autobot army when Cliffjumper tossed him the ball. He hesitated before remembering what Sideswipe had said about throwing the ball to him. Sideswipe caught it and started running forwards. If that football thing was so simple, then Starscream wouldn't even have to get dirty. The Autobots could slag each other to pieces for all he cared.

The play finished when Sunstreaker and Bumblebee jumped on Sideswipe and tried to embed him into the ground. Starscream found the sound of metal clashing against metal very satisfying. He wondered when he would be able to inflict that kind of pain again. Being a Seeker, he preferred to shoot an enemy from the skies, but in that moment he really was looking forward to denting some steel.

"First and ten," Sideswipe said, shaking the dust off his frame. "Now we'll fool them a little. Give me the ball, Sean, I give it back to you, and you throw it to Cliffjumper. Ready to fly, Cliff?"

"You bet," the other pompous Autobot stated as he hit his chest plates.

Starscream shrugged his shoulders and returned to his position behind Cliffjumper. When he received the ball he tossed it to Sideswipe, who immediately returned it to him. Throwing it towards the red Autobot scraplet was going to be an easy thing. Aim had never been Starscream's problem.

But he had barely turned around when something embraced his waist and took him down. All he saw a brown mess of hair fiber falling against his chin before hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Well done, Spike! You totally buried him!" Sunstreaker cheered.

"Get off me," he scowled at the human still straddling him.

Spike grinned and stood up, offering him his hand.

"Next time I'll make you fumble." The happiness on the human's face turned into concern when he noticed the thin stream of blood coming from Starscream's lower lip. "Oh… did I hurt you? I'm really sorry…"

Starscream wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand. "Neither in this Universe nor in any other could you actually hurt me," he grumbled as he stood up.

"Play nice, boys," Carly voiced.

Bumblebee approached them with that disgusting expression of sympathy all over his face. "Are you okay, little buddy?"

"Why don't you give him a skirt, 'Bee?" Sunstreaker complained. "Everything's cool, right Sean?"

"Indeed it is," Starscream said, returning to formation as if nothing had happened.

Outside, that is, because on the inside Starscream was burning. Aside from the obvious exception of pleasure purposes, he hated being touched, especially by a low form of life such as that Spike worm. If rough play what was he wanted, rough play was what he would get.

He barely listened to the instructions Sideswipe gave. All he knew was that he would personally take care of the next play.

When the ball arrived to his hands a trigger was activated. Completely deaf to Sideswipe and Cliffjumper's cries, he ran forwards with all the speed he could give to his human servos. He saw Sideswipe jumping over him to block Sunstreaker, but he couldn't have cared less, as he had one single target in sight.

Fortunately for his urgency to get even, Spike ran directly towards him with the intention of tackling him.

Big mistake.

Speed turned into fury when the human boy was within his reach. Starscream's muscles tensed and erupted into his rival, giving the humanized Seeker some much needed satisfaction.

As he impacted the boy's chest with his shoulder, Starscream could hear the pleasant sound of bones crushing. He wasn't particularly sadistic but, slag, how much he enjoyed the moment.

He smirked and simply walked towards the line on the ground, crossing it triumphantly. "Um, touchdown?" he said smirking as he turned around and saw Bumblebee kneeling beside Spike, the boy cringing and holding his ribcage.

"Are you okay?" the yellow runt was asking, a very concerned look on his face.

"Oh, for slaggin' Primus' sake, another candidate for wearing a skirt, Bee?"

"This is not funny, Sunstreaker. He's really hurt."

"I… I'm okay…" the boy said, trying uselessly to get up on his own.

"No, you're not," Carly said with a worried tone as she jogged to her boyfriend's side. "That was an illegal tackle, Sean, and it just signalled the end of the game." She pried Spike's hand away from his chest and gently touched his heaving side. "Bee, can you comm Ratchet for me, I think he may have a couple of broken ribs."

"Ughh… Carly, stop fussing, I'm fine," Spike protested with embarrassment; still, he complied with her following command to lie down anyway.

Starscream watched the pathetic display with disgust; if the human male's show of weakness wasn't revolting enough, the sight of Bumblebee hovering around like a worried femme pushed him to the point of wanting to purge.

"It wasn't an illegal tackle."

He couldn't help but jump when a voice whispered to him from the side. He looked up to see the insufferable yellow Autobot Sunstreaker sidling up next to him.

"Actually, it was quite impressive. Nice to see someone acting like a mech on the field."

Starscream cringed internally, finding what was supposed to be a complement a painful reminder of his horrible circumstances instead; he may still have been male, but he could no longer be considered a mech.

"Ahh, thanks," he muttered as he realised the Autobot was looking at him expectantly. "I...don't know much about that game, so I wouldn't know what's illegal or not. Just figured I'd hit him like he hit me; I guess I don't know my own strength."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Spike will be fine. Anyway, I should get going, I was supposed to be on surveillance duty a breem ago, whoops," he said with a smirk, before transforming his alt mode and driving off. "See ya."

Alone at last, Starscream watched in silence as Carly and the recently-arrived Ratchet guided Spike slowly back into the Ark. For a moment he considered following them, but only for a moment. A cool breeze picked up across the dry landscape and caressed his skin like an open invitation to take flight. A terrible sense of longing filled him, and he suddenly found himself walking in the opposite direction, lost within the sudden and unexpected torrent of miserable thoughts.

It wasn't until a dark shadow passed swiftly over his form that he realised he was no longer alone. He looked up to see the dreadfully familiar form of Laserbeak hovering silently overhead.

Great.

"What the fuck do you want?" he called, not bothering to hide the malice in his tone.

The metallic condor screeched in response.

"Tell your freak of a master that I'm not in the mood for his shit, so you can just get lost."

Laserbeak screeched again, and swooped without any further warning, snatching him up by the arms before he could react.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Starscream shouted hotly, squirming wildly within the cassette's unmovable grip. "Put me down this instant, you freak!"

Laserbeak remained silent as he stubbornly ignored Starscream's abuse and began flying over the desert, his talons griped just tight enough to cause pain.

To be continued.

We hope you are more or less familiarized with football. But it you are not, there's no problem. We wrote this chapter thinking that not everybody knows how NFL football is played. We, for example, are Australian and Mexican, respectively, so our concept of football is very different. But still, considering that this story happens in the United States, we tried to use a sport which is very popular there and that the Autobots might play. There was actually an episode in which Spike was teaching Optimus Prime how to play basketball.

Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this chapter. Apologies once again for the delay in updating, but the good news is that we have the next chapter almost ready, so you can count on a fast update.

See you then and many thanks for your reviews :o)