Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Skyfire smiled as he entered a small room, Mirage, Tracks and Inferno waiting for him inside. Each week one of them picks a spot to meet up and they all talk about their cute boyfriends. Somewhere the others couldn’t hear, since Starscream was a Decepticon and the others would accuse him of treason if he talked about Starscream’s cute pout or the way he fluttered his wings when he was excited about something. 

“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” Tracks said, “was someone following you?” 

“Oh no,” Skyfire said as he sat down, “Wheeljack blew himself up again, I took him to Ratchet.” 

“Of course he did,” Inferno muttered, “every time that happens, Red Alert freaks out, thinking that the cons are attacking. It scares me when his glitch gets worse.” 

“Hey,” Mirage said, “Ratchet’s helping him, I’m sure he’ll find something to help him.” 

“I sure hope so,” Inferno said, “I want to have a quiet life with him someday. After the war, we’re going to settle down in a quiet part of Cybertron. Somewhere far from the major cities, so none of the noise bothers Red Alert. Just me, him, and a future sparkling.” 

“That sounds wonderful,” Skyfire said, “I had always hoped that Starscream and I could make our way as scientists, and then settle down, raise a sparkling in a world where they could be anything they wanted to be. Not constrained by their frame type to be in one certain job.” 

“Speaking of Starscream,” Mirage said, “we might have to change our club’s name again, from the small boyfriends club, to the boyfriends club.” 

“Why?” Skyfire asked, “Starscream is small.” 

“He’s taller than me,” Mirage said. 

“He is pretty tall,” Tracks agreed.

“No he’s small,” Skyfire argued, “I can prove it.” 

“How?” Inferno asked.

“If I can pick him up easily, then he’s small,” Skyfire said matter of factly. The other three looked at him as if he were crazy, but muttered in agreement.

“How are you going to do that exactly?” Mirage said, “it isn’t like you can walk into the con base and pick him up.” 

“I’ll think of something,” Skyfire said. 

The next time Skyfire saw Starscream, it was on the battlefield. The Seeker had just been standing there as Megatron lunged at Optimus. Starscream had been complaining that Megatron’s plan was ridiculous and he would be a better leader. Skyfire smiled as he watched the seeker flicking his left wing in annoyance. Starscream could use a hug , Skyfire thought. As quietly as he could, Skyfire sneaked behind the seeker and pulled him into a hug. 

“What’s going on!” Starscream yelled, wiggling around in Skyfire’s grip. 

“Hey, Starscream,” Skyfire said, “how are you doing?” 

“I’m fine,” the seeker hissed, “what are you doing?” 

“I’m giving you a hug,” the shuttle said sweetly, “you look stressed.” Starscream muttered something inaudible but stopped fighting the hug. For a while the two just stood there as the fight went on, both sides ignoring the two just standing there. 

“Come back with me,” Starscream said softly, “we can overthrow Megatron and lead the cons to victory, end this war.” 

“You know I can’t,” Skyfire said even softer, “but you could always come back with me, be free from the stress.” 

“And let these fools starve and bring themselves to ruin?” Starscream said, leaning back into Skyfire, “I couldn’t. As much as they say I’m a traitor and a coward, this faction couldn’t function without me. I do so much more than they think I do.” 

“Well then, we should meet more in secret,” Skyfire muttered, “I miss you.” 

“I miss you too,” Starscream said, before pulling himself out of Skyfire’s grip, “you want something, I can feel it.” 

“Well,” Skyfire said, “I do need some to help me win an argument.” Starscream smiled a vicious grin. 

“Of course,” the seeker said, “just tell me who and I’ll-” Starscream was caught off guard when Skyfire scooped him up bridal style and started running. 

“Look guys!” Skyfire yelled, causing everyone on the battlefield to look at him, “he is small.” 

“I am not!” Starscream yelled. Soon the seeker was sputtering curses and trying to claw his way out of Skyfire’s grip. Unfortunately a few human news crews were there and were filming the whole thing.

“Well, we did agree that if he could lift him up with ease, then Starscream was small” Tracks said, a smile on his face. The others, except Inferno and Mirage, just looked at him in confusion. Reaching down, the flying car picked up Raoul and placed a kiss on the human’s helm. 

“Whatcha doing?” Raoul said, but still placed a kiss on Track’s cheek. Mirage and Inferno just smiled at each other and looked at their small boyfriends. 

“I don’t like what’s going on,” Cliffjumper muttered as Mirage disappeared. Suddenly The red mini bot was lifted into the air. The blue noble reappeared and kissed Cliffjumper’s neck. Inferno lifted Red alert into the air and started to kiss the paranoid bot’s face.

“They’re glitched!” Red Alert yelled, “They’ve been infected with some sort of cuddle virus!” 

“There’s no such thing!” Starscream yelled as Skyfire kissed his cheek. The other cybertronians were starting to mutter and talk. All the cameras were on them. Reporters were starting to talk, and the camera operators were trying to get the best shots of the couples. 

“What are your men doing, Prime?” Megatron yelled. 

“I wish I knew,” Optimus sighed.

“I know one thing,” Megatron yelled, “I’m not smaller than you!” The warlord lunged at Optimus and grabbed him under his arm sockets. Megatron could barely lift him off the ground. 

“Megatron, what are you doing?” Optimus asked. Photographers and camera operators turned their attention towards the two leaders.

“Proving to everyone that you are the small one,” the warlord yelled back. Megatron’s arm’s started to shake and quickly collapsed, causing the Prime to land on top of them.

“Man, this is getting weird,” Jazz said as he watched mechs try to pick each other up.

“Perhaps we should look into a cuddle virus that Red Alert was talking about,” Ratchet said. As the two were talking, they missed Soundwave and Deadlock sneaking up on them. Soundwave seemed to have more success than Deadlock when picking up their autobots.

“I can pick you up doc,” Deadlock said, trying every way he could to pick up Ratchet, though the medic wasn’t budging.

“With those skinny arms?” Ratchet said, “I’m going to love seeing you try.” 

“Jazz: is small,” Soundwave said, picking him up and holding him in one arm and pulling out a long string of photos, “but: not as small as the cassettes when they were born.” 

“We’re not small,” Rumble yelled as he and the other cassettes jumped out of Soundwave’s docking station. 

“Yes you are,” Soundwave said, “you're always small to me.” 

“We’ll grab someone and prove that we’re not small,” Frenzy yelled and the cassettes scattered. 

“Cassettes: will always be small. Rumble and Frenzy: were such cute sparklings,” Soundwave said. 

“Ya, your kids are cute when they’re not stealing information from us,” Jazz said. Soundwave started walking over to one of the reporters, “where are you going?” The spymaster didn’t stop until he reached one of the reporters with a camera operator. 

“Cassettes: were cute and small,” Soundwave said, “You: will listen.” Jazz groaned as Soundwave started telling the humans about his kids, but the reporter just listened, and made sure everything was caught on tape. 

Chip Chase watched in confusion as the battlefield turned into a chaos of mechs trying to pick each other up. All of it was confusion, and the reporters weren’t helping in the slightest. Soundwave had Jazz, and had cornered one reporter and was telling her all about his cassettes when they were young. Skywarp and Thundercracker couldn’t lift each other up, so Skywarp disappeared and came back with a dog, and they had cornered a different reporter and were telling him all about the dog.

“There you are,” Ravage said, “now you don’t like me, and I don’t like you, but I will not be one of the smallest beings here.” 

“And what do you want me to do about it?” Chip said,turning his chair around to look at the cat cassette. He knew that he shouldn't antagonize Ravage, but part of him wanted to. 

“Just sit there and look small,” Ravage said before spinning Chip around and picking up the back of the chair.” 

“Not again,” Chip muttered as Ravage trotted off to one of the reporters. 

Starscream grumbled as Skyfire brought him back to the ark. With all the commotion that the shuttle caused by calling him small, the last place the seeker wanted to be was with the other cons. 

“I didn’t mean to call you small in front of everyone,” Skyfire said.

“You can make it up to me,” the seeker muttered, “with fine high grade and a good spa day.” 

“Of course,” Skyfire said as he placed a kiss on Starscream’s forehead. The seeker wrapped his arms around the shuttle and rested his helm on the Skyfire’s shoulder. All was good in that moment, and Starscream let himself smile softly.

Chapter Text

Starscream rolled his optics as he sat on the dusty ground, stasis cuffs around his wrists. He had stopped trying to get out of them when Cliffjumper and Red Alert dragged him out to the middle of the desert. At least he wasn’t the only one suffering; one of the tiny human companions had also been dragged out to the middle of nowhere. He was studying a tiny data pad. 

“Can you guys hear what they're saying?” Cliffjumper whispered, glancing back towards the cave entrance they were stalking. 

“Nothing yet,” Red Alert murmured, “but if I can-”

“Why don’t we just ask them!” Starscream said loudly, “we ask them what they’re doing out in the middle of nowhere!” 

“I agree with Starscream,” Raoul said, not looking up from his pad, “I have a test with Ratchet in the morning. Let’s just get this over with.” 

“No,” Red Alert said, “we can’t! Then they’ll know we followed them!” 

“Why?” Starscream growled, “if we want to know what their doing then why don’t we get closer!” 

“It might be behind the cuddle virus,” Cliffjumper muttered. “They might be-”

“There is no cuddle virus,” Raoul said, “Ratchet tested the theory, and they came up fine.” 

“How does he know that? There are no tests for cuddle viruses!” Red Alert yelled.

“I agree with the squishy,” Starscream said, “If your terrifying medic says there’s no cuddle virus then there’s no cuddle virus.” 

“Shut up Starscream,” Cliffjumper and Red Alert muttered. Starscream growled and looked at the human.

“Do you want to go in?” Starscream asked Raoul, “end this mess before we stay out here all night.”

“Sure,” Raoul said, not paying attention. Starscream watched as the screen the human was holding turn black, “No, no, no, no… Come on! Turn on!”

“Come on human,” Starscream said as he picked up Raoul, “time to get you to your boyfriend.”

Skyfire looked over at Tracks; the flying car seemed nervous.

“Hey,” Skyfire said, “is everything alright, Tracks?” 

“You’ve been down lately,” Mirage said, “is everything alright with you and Raoul?” 

“Everything’s fine,” Tracks said solemnly, “Raoul has been studying so much that he hasn’t had time for himself. When we go for drives, he’s studying. When he’s hanging out with friends, he’s studying. Every waking moment, he’s been studying for that test with Ratchet.” 

“You know how the Hatchet can be in the medbay,” Inferno said, “Raoul wants to do well on the test. I know he’ll do great.”

“I know he’s going to do great, I told him that. But I’m worried if he pulls another all nighter, he’ll be too tired during the test.” Tracks said. 

“I feel you there,” Inferno said, “Red Alert can stay up for days. I found picking him up and walking around with him helps getting Red to recharge.”

“Cliffjumper and I go on long drives before going to recharge,” Mirage said, “that might help Raoul.” 

“I gave Star warmed Energon while we were at the academy,” Skyfire said, “that worked for getting him to recharge. I heard warm milk does the same for Humans.”

“You were impossible to get to recharge when you were focused on a project too!” A voice yelled from a distance. All four mechs turned to a figure walking towards them. Squinting, Skyfire could make out a pair of wings.

“Were we followed?” Mirage asked softly.

“I don’t think so,” Inferno said.

“That kinda looks like Starscream,” Skyfire said; the figure was coming closer, blue and red paint coming into view.

“Isn’t he supposed to be in the brig?” Tracks asked, “how did he get out?”

“I had to nag you into recharge!” Starscream said as he came up into the group, his servos cuffed and cupped. “also this is yours autoscum.” The seeker opened his cupped servos to reveal Raoul, who was trying to turn the dead data pad on. Tracks quickly took his tiny boyfriend from the seeker and was looking him over for any damages.

“How did you-” Skyfire started to say as Starscream sat in his lap.

“The tiny red paranoid bots followed you guys,” Starscream said, “I’ve got no idea why they brought me or the squishy.” The seeker raised his wings, “Sky, rub my wings. They ache.” The shuttle sighed and started to rub Starscream’s wings. Cliffjumper and Red Alert poked out from behind a rock, glaring at the seeker. 

“I think it’s time for us to get back to the ark,” Inferno said, “I think Red needs some recharge.”

“Same for Cliffjumper,” Mirage said. 

“We’ll see you back there,” Tracks said as he transformed and took off. Raoul was in the passenger seat, starting to doze off.

“Come on Star,” Skyfire said, “lets go back too.”

“What about my wing massage?” Starscream whined.

“I’ll give you a proper one once we get back to the base,” Skyfire said, “with the fancy polish.”

“The fancy polish!” Starscream said, shooting up with stars in his optics, “why are we sitting around! Come on! We don’t have all night!” The seeker started pulling the shuttle to his peds, and Skyfire smiled. Placing a kiss on Starscream’s helm, the two set off for the Ark.

Chapter Text

Starscream huffed as he was shoved into a room by Cliffjumper and Red Alert. Rolling his optics, this was probably another attempt to try and spy on their boyfriends’ meetings. The seeker silently hoped that the two paranoid mechs wouldn’t drag him to the middle of the desert again. 

Another hard shove had him almost falling into an unused conference room. Lying on the table was one of the autobots’ squishies, Raoul. The human looked exhausted, much like how he and Skyfire looked after midterms and finals. A twinge of sympathy surged through the seeker’s spark for the exhausted human, who he suspected didn’t want to be there either. 

“Why are we here?” Starscream growled. There could be a million other things he could be doing. Like doing science with Skyfire, or drinking energon with Skyfire, or talking about future experiments with Skyfire.

“We’re having our own club!” Cliffjumper said, pulling Starscream out of his thoughts.

“If our boyfriends are going to have a club, then we’ll make our own club,” Red Alert said, “and find out what they’re talking about.” 

“They’re talking about us!” Starscream screeched. Raoul made some noise, in agreement or frustration the seeker couldn’t tell. 

“Why are they talking about us?” Cliffjumper asked, “hiding around, sneaking away. There has to be more to it.” 

“Why would they have to sneak around if they are talking about us?” Red Alert asked, “they could talk about us in public!” 

“Skyfire can’t,” Starscream said, “I’m still a Decepticon, remember.”

“With the way you walk around this base, one could hardly tell,” Cliffjumper muttered, “why hasn’t Megatron tried to get you back by the way?” 

“Oh,” Starscream said with a smile, “who knows really. Old bucket-helm has always been stubborn. He thinks that he could run the army without me!” The autobots murmured, almost as if they didn’t believe him. That was alright, who cared about what two small Autobots said. Sitting in an empty chair, Starscream watched as the two bots talked as if they were the only one’s in the room. Talking about what their boyfriends could be plotting. Starscream rolled his optics again, the two would have a ball talking to Megatron about any future plots against them. 

A low groan pulled Starscream’s gaze over to Raoul. The poor organic looked so exhausted. 

“Did you have your test with Ratchet?” Starscream asked, trying to talk to the only other person in the room with any common sense. Raoul only let out a low groan in response.

“Do you want to go see Tracks?” Starscream asked.

“Yes,” Raoul muttered.

“Alright, let's get out of here,” Starscream said as he fiddled with his stasis cuffs. A soft click let him know he had been successful. As they fell onto the table, the seeker scooped up the human and quietly made his way out of the room. Though the seeker was pretty sure even if he made a noise, the two minibots wouldn’t have turned around.

Walking through the hallway, Starscream was glad that it was empty. No Autobot’s to pester him, or yell at him for being out of the brig, or accuse him of stealing. That had been getting quite annoying. If he was going to take anything, he would have done it by now. He wouldn’t still be with Skyfire in the lab. The worst thing he had done was correct Wheeljack's notes. 

Taking a turn, Starscream could hear the commotion of the rec room. If Tracks wasn’t in there, then the seeker would place the squishy with someone who did know where the flying car was. 

“Great,” Starscream heard Ironhide mutter as the seeker entered the rec room, “The bird got out of the cage.”

“I was let out,” Starscream said before he stuck out his glossa. 

“Why you-” Ironhide started to grumble.

“Star, over here!” Skyfire said as he gave a wave. Tracks and Mirage were sitting near him. Smiling and ignoring Ironhide, Starscream graciously walked over to where they were sitting. 

“How did you get out again?” Mirage asked as he sipped his energon. 

“The small paranoid ones,” Starscream said, “they’re trying to make their own club.” Mirage groaned as Starscream nudged him with his wing. The spy moved so the seeker could sit next to Skyfire. Starscream held out his servo’s towards Tracks, and the flying car quickly gathered up his boyfriend.

“I’ll call Inferno,” Tracks said, “Red Alert is supposed to be resting.”

“And so is Cliffjumper,” Mirage muttered. 

“Terrifying medic orders?” Starscream asked.

“Yes, Ratchet did tell them to take it easy,” Skyfire said, “he was worried about them not getting enough recharge.” 

“Interesting,” Starscream purred. 

“You know he’s going to give you a check-up before negotiations,” Tracks said.

“I am in perfect health,” Starscream hissed.

“Not if you keep going into the labs,” Mirage muttered, “Wheeljack is down there.”

“Just because your scientist keeps blowing himself up, doesn’t mean I’m going to blow up as well,” Starscream huffed. 

“Give it time,” the three autobots said in unison. Starscream rolled his optics, and slouched onto Skyfire. 

“The Cons have been pretty quiet,” Mirage muttered, “I’m surprised that Megatron hasn’t asked for you back.” 

Starscream rolled his optics, “the old fool is happy I’m gone. He’s going to ruin the Decepticons while I’m gone.”

“Then why don’t you go back?” Ironhide muttered as he walked past the table, “no one’s keeping ya here.” 

“My scientific expertise is needed here! I can’t go back to old bucket helm now!” Starscream said, causing most of the Autobots in the room to let out a loud groan. Starscream smirked, he would let the Decepticons suffer without him. Once he was sure that the cons would overthrow Megatron and make him the new leader, he would unblock the Cons comm frequency on Teletran one.

Megatron scowled as he watched the comm go straight to voice-mail. Optimus always answered his comms. Something was up, and he knew his second in command had something to do with it. 

“You don’t really think that they would let Starscream just walk around the base?” Megatron heard Thundercracker say to Skywarp. 

“Skyfire might,” Skywarp said with a smirk, “all in the name of science.” 

“Skywarp!” Thundercracker exclaimed, hitting his trinemate with his wing. The warlord took a deep inhale, this was becoming more of a helmache than he wanted it to be. 

“Prime would have called to get his scout and pet human back,” Megatron yelled as he pointed at Bumblebee and Spike; Thundercracker and Skywarp flinched at the loud noise, wings held low. 

“I don’t think they’ll call for a while,” Bumblebee said with a sheepish grin. 

“We told them that we would be out on a camping trip all week,” Spike said. Megatron had turned his helm towards the two, rage painted on his face. 

“How long ago was that?” Megatron growled. 

“A couple hours after you captured us,” Spike said unhelpfully. The Decepticons in the room groaned. Megatron pinched the bridge of his olfactory sensors. 

“Soundwave! Send Ravage to unblock our comm systems on the Ark,” Megatron said, “and do something with the scout and his pet human.” 

“Yes Lord Megatron,” Soundwave said as Ravage ejected out his chest.

“I am not a pet!” Spike yelled as Soundwave picked Bumblebee and the human up and walked out of the throne room. 

“Don’t worry Spike,” Bumblebee said, “I’m sure that someone will come and save us.” 

“I hope so,” Spike muttered. Soundwave continued walking in silence. As Soundwave made a turn, he passed a decepticon crying as he tried to comm someone. 

“Is he okay?” Bumblebee asked.

“Ratchet’s comm: also blocked all decepticon frequencies. Deadlock: will be fine.” Soundwave said flatly. 

“Starscream was sure thorough when blocking everything,” Spike said.

“Starscream: too thorough.” Soundwave grumbled as he made another turn.

Chapter Text

Raoul yawned as he made his way to the med bay exit. Ironhide had gotten a flat tire, and Ratchet was out. The human knew that the medic had gotten a strange distress call, and he had to go investigate. Raoul knew that the older medic would look over his work once he got back, but everything was good for now.

”Have a good night,” First Aid said as he passed the human, “I’ll comm you if any emergencies come up.”

”Thanks,” Raoul said with a wave as he left the med bay. He had only taken a few steps when a large hand picked him up. The mechanic turned medic knew exactly who it was. “Tracks! Put me down!”

”No,” The cybertronian hummed, “You need some recharge, not a pot of coffee.” 

“I was-“ Raoul started to say.

”Don’t deny it,” Tracks said, “Ratchet’s out on an emergency comm, First Aid is watching the medbay. You can rest.”

”And what if there is an emergency?” Raoul asked as Tracks placed him into the palm of his other hand.

”Then I’ll wake you up with a fresh pot of coffee,” Tracks cooed; Raoul smiled at his large boyfriend, knowing that Tracks would keep his promise. 

“You better,” Raoul teased. Tracks hummed and started to walk towards their shared room on the Ark. Closing his eyes, Raoul hoped that nothing would come up that would ruin their time together.

Cliffjumper scowled as Mirage blocked his way out of the Ark, the spy master refusing to move. 

“Cliffjumper,” Mirage said, “we can’t go out now.”

”Someone sabotaged the roads!” Cliffjumper huffed, “Ironhide got a flat tire!” 

”Ironhide decided to go off-roading,” Mirage said, “he ran over a cactus and blew out his tire.”

”A decepticon cactus.” Cliffjumper muttered.

”No,” Mirage cooed at his small boyfriend, “it was a regular cactus. Ironhide was just trying to show off.” 

“How do you know what type of cactus Ironhide ran over?” Cliffjumper hissed. 

“Jazz,” Mirage said. Cliffjumper pouted as he mulled over what his boyfriend said. Mirage smiled, Jazz had told him but not in an official capacity. Just quick gossip by the energon dispenser. 

“How do you know that Jazz’s intel is correct?” Cliffjumper said, breaking the silence. 

“Jazz’s intel is never wrong,” Mirage said as he gently held Cliffjumper’s servo, “now let's go to recharge before an actual threat comes around.” 

“What if they need back up?” Cliffjumper whined as he walked with Mirage back towards their quarters in the ark. 

“Then we’ll go out and help,” Mirage said, “but until then, we are going to get some recharge.” 

Inferno smiled as he watched Red Alert try to stay awake. The smaller mech had worked a double shift, constantly checking the security cameras and monitoring the coms. With zero chatter from the Decepticons, it was putting Red on the edge.

”I have some warmed energon, why don’t you take a break and have some with me?” Inferno asked as he walked up to the security officer. Red Alert barely made a noise that indicated that he heard his boyfriend. Inferno sighed, and placed the cube next to the smaller bot. 

Inferno watched as Red Alert’s optics flickered, on the verge of going into recharge right in the command center. The smaller bot exvented and grabbed for the cube. There was no stopping Red Alert when he was like this, and all Inferno could do was wait until his boyfriend fell into recharge and take him to their quarters.

As Red Alert switched from different security camera to a different set of cameras, Inferno’s mind started to wander. When the war was over, and no threats were around, they would live in a nice house away from the bustling cities that were going to be built. It would be quiet, except for when the two of them wanted to have noise. It would be a place where Red Alert didn’t have to worry. They could just be, and that would be good enough for Inferno. 

“You shouldn’t wait up for me,” Red Alert said with a yawn, “you need your recharge as much as I do.”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Inferno said, “I just like being with you.”

Starscream hummed as he watched Skyfire recharge. It had been so long since he had a moment of peace. With the Decepticons there was always something going on, a project that he needed to work on, war meetings where his plans were dismissed, squabbles among the ranks, and supply inventories that were always needing to be done. If he tried to delegate some of the lesser duties, they would not be finished and his wings were the ones on the line.

With Skyfire it was different. Science and studying had become fun again. His opinions were considered, and others listened to him. Sure most of the Autobots didn’t want him there, most wanted him to be in the brig. But the few who did listen, listened well and gave him more constructive feedback. Wheeljack and Perceptor were helpful, adding suggestions and fixing small errors without condescending attitudes. A small part of him was telling him that he belonged there. That he should defect and have a good life with Skyfire. The Autobots weren’t starving, and it was nice to have a whole cube to himself.

The other side of him was screaming that he couldn’t become an Autobot, not after everything they did. The Autobot cause was born from the remaining functionalists, and a few were still in their ranks. Plus they would never forgive Starscream for what he did in the war, not truely. Plus the Decepticons would run themselves into the ground without him around, with everything he did for the cause. 

Sure staying with the Autobots was a way to show the other decepticons how important he was, but the longer Starscream stayed the longer the seeker doubted how much he actually wanted to go back. The only two mechs that Starscream truly cared for in the Decepticon cause were his trine, and if he defected they might too. At least Thundercracker would, Skywarp would follow the both of them to get out of whatever punishment Megatron might throw at him because his trine defected. 

All of it was too much to think about right now. For now, all he needed to do was recharge and think about it when his mind was clearer. Maybe he could find some neutral party to vent to, one that wouldn’t judge him on what side he picked. 

Just as Starscream shut off his optics and started his recharging protocols, the sound of tiny claws scratching on metal filled his audials. In the Decepticon base, it was a familiar sound. Ravage was in the vents again. Scouting around for Soundwave when a camera went down, or just avoiding bigger bots. In the Autobot base, there was only one answer, she was spying on the enemy. 

She would ruin everything. She would find out that all the Decepticon frequencies were blocked, and then silently unblock Megatron and the rest of the Decepticon frequencies. Negotiations would start before Starscream could decide if he wanted to stay or go back. That couldn’t happen.

With a sigh, Starscream left the warm and comfortable berth. He had to stop Ravage, so he had the choice to stay or go. Walking over to the door, Starscream pressed a button that opened the door. Silently the seeker hoped that Skyfire wouldn’t wake up. The last thing he wanted was for Skyfire to wake up alone, thinking that Starscream abandoned him in the middle of the night. Skyfire didn’t deserve that.

With a sigh, Starscream followed the familiar sounds of tiny claws in the ventilation system. By now, Soundwave must have figured out that the communication barrier was because of him. Ravage would slip in, and undo his work. Megatron would call, and everything would go back to the way it was. Though, with the way his tanks churned at the thought, maybe he could convince Prime to let him stay instead of negotiating with Megatron. 

A little nose poked out of a vent, before carefully moving out of the vent. Starscream locked optics with Ravage. The cat-former’s audials flattened, and the seeker snarled. Ravage wasn’t going to make it easy for Starscream to stay, but Starscream was not going to give Ravage an easy time undoing his work. 

“You little pest!” Starscream growled out as he lunged at the cassette, “You're going to ruin everything!” Ravage hissed as Starscream’s servo landed on her back. The cat cassette scratched at the seeker, and Starscream tried to wrap his servos around her so she couldn’t injure him as he held her. 

The two tousled, but in the end, Starscream was the victor. Slowly getting off of the floor, servo’s extended as Ravage snarled and tried to wiggle out of his grip. “Now, what to do with you?” Starscream muttered. It’s not like he could throw her out of the Ark, he might get locked out too. He didn’t know if Soundwave had any spies in the Autobot ranks, so he couldn’t pawn Ravage off on them. The seeker frowned, the last thing he wanted to do was bring the cassette back to Skyfire’s room. She could hurt the shuttle. 

Maybe he could dump Ravage off on someone of equal rank as Soundwave. That would make sense in some fashion. Third in command deals with third in command. The only problem, the Autobots had no clear structure in command. No one on the Decepticon side could tell if Jazz was the second in command, or if Prowl was. At least on Earth. Some floated that Elita was the second in command, but Prowl or Jazz was bumped up just because she was on Cybertron while others were on Earth. 

Maybe he should just go with special ops. Soundwave was in intelligence after all. It would make sense to drop Ravage off with the leader of the Autobot intelligence. Jazz was in charge of that, so Jazz would have to deal with this feline problem. 

Walking down the orange halls, Starscream finally found Jazz’s personal quarters. The ship was like a maze, and with the mountain creating halls to nowhere didn’t help. Kicking the door, Starscream hoped the saboteur was in his room. 

“Just a minute!” came Jazz’s muffled voice from the other side of the door. Starscream hissed as Ravage scratched at him. The autobot saboteur needed to hurry up before the seeker dropped the cat cassette. As the door opened, Jazz spoke again, “Whatcha- Starscream? Is that Ravage?” 

“Yes, she was sneaking around the vents,” Starscream said as he shoved the cassette into the saboteur, “now she is your problem.” The seeker turned and walked away. 

“Wait- Starscream!” Jazz yelled as he struggled with Ravage, “How did you-”

“I’ve got to get back to Skyfire! I’m sure you can contact Soundwave through some spy network to come pick her up!” Starscream yelled over his shoulder. Wings held high, the seeker made it back to Skyfire’s quarters. The shuttle was still in recharge, and Starscream smiled as he crawled back into the berth.

“Starscream?” Skyfire said in a sleepy tone, “everything okay?” 

“It is,” Starscream said, “heard something move in the vents, Jazz got it though. Go back to recharge.”

“Okay,” Skyfire said as he turned over and pulled the seeker into a cuddling embrace, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Starscream said softly, and allowed himself to power down and cuddle up to his big boyfriend.