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Chapter Text

The call had come late into yesterday's shift cycle, but Megatron had stayed up, wearing away the grip from the bridge decking with his pacing, as he waited for confirmation on the bounty hunters' skiff entering the system. 

It had been months since Starscream had defected without ceremony, slipping away from the ship -and his berth- in the dead of the night. Megatron had waited, patiently at first, for the coward to come slinking home, but as the days passed into weeks, and irritation grew into fury, he realised Starscream wasn't coming back. 

Not under his own power, at least.      

Megatron had placed the bounty after a night of misery and heavy drinking. Then upped it by a couple hundred-thousand shanix the next morning when his overcharge did little to abate his temper. The bounty, much like his rage, only grew as the months went by. 

And now? Now that Starscream was once again to come within his grasp? The anger swarmed within him like a live thing, as fresh as it was the morning he'd woken to find his berth sheets cold and empty. 

His fingers twitched with anticipation of throttling the miserable cur. It would have been one thing to defect, but for Starscream to have seduced his way into his berth first, just to stick the knife of his inevitable betrayal that much deeper? That was personal. 

His comm crackled. Megatron turned on his heel and was marching from the bridge before Soundwave had time to finish his sentence. "Cargo: entering hanger six." 

"I'm on my way," he growled. 

By the time Megatron had arrived at the hanger, the bounty hunters' skiff had landed in it's designated bay, it's crew and 'cargo' waiting at the bottom of it's ramp. It was not alone. Another ship was in the process of landing beside it; a run down old freighter. It's hull was smoking and sparking with damage from the firefight that had taken it down. It wobbled back and forth precariously, struggling to hold steady, before crashing with a floor shaking thud on it's broken landing gear. 

Megatron strode down the steps from the raised walkway with purpose, his optics locked on the seeker kneeling at his captors' pedes. Soundwave was with them, exchanging words -and shanix- with the bounty hunters. 

Starscream was staring at a fixed point on the floor. He didn't look up once. Megatron was pleased to see they had cuffed his hands behind his back, and even more delighted at the muzzle they'd locked across his mouth to gag him. Starscream's shrill, whining voice was one thing he hadn't missed. 

"He was holed up in this thing," one of the hunters thumbed back at the run down old freighter when he saw Megatron approaching. "Made some awful fuss about not leaving it behind." 

"I have no interest in purchasing scrap off you," Megatron said distantly, too busy studying the seeker to take much notice of anyone or anything else. He looked smaller than Megaton recalled him being, but that may have been his due to his posture. His paint looked unattractively dull, his frame weak. "Payment for the bounty is all you'll receive." 

The hunter shrugged, "Take it. Maybe he hid some evidence, something you can use for his trial." 

Another hunter snorted, elbowing him. "Traitors don't get 'trials'..."

"Soundwave, remove these pirates from my ship." Megatron ordered, finally lifting his gaze away from Starscream. "And have this sad excuse for a seeker taken to the brig." 

Soundwave's optics briefly looked over Starscream. There was a beat of hesitation, barely detectable, before he nodded. "Affirmative." 

Megatron waited, looking down his nose at Starscream's slumped, unmoving form as the hunters were corralled back onto their skiff and Vortex and Onslaught came to take the prisoner away. 

He watched as they lifted the seeker roughly to his feet. Starscream stumbled. He had a nasty limp, not something the Combaticon's accommodated for. Megatron had to bite his own tongue to stop from reprimanding them for their harsh treatment as the seeker was all but dragged from his sight. 

Starscream hadn't met his gaze once. 

Good. It was either from shame or fear and both were appropriate. 

It was tempting to follow them down to the brig. To lock himself in a small dark cell with Starscream and force the seeker to look at him. To rip that gag away from his mouth and demand he explain himself. To shake an answer out of him. To beat an answer out of him. 

But he had waited months for Starscream's return. It was only fair he leave the seeker stew in his own terror for a few hours, abandoned and alone in the brig. Let Starscream feel an iota of what he himself had. 

With the hunter's gone, and Starscream where he belonged, Soundwave lingered behind with him. Megatron glanced back, thinking he was waiting for further orders. But he was looking up at the freighter. 

"Destroy it," Megatron told him. 

Soundwave turned to look at him slowly. 

"What?" He snapped. 

"It is not a large freighter." Soundwave intoned. "It will not take long to search." 

"To what end?" Megatron snorted. "We won't find anything of value. Starscream left with nothing." 

"Material value: unlikely." Soundwave agreed. "Freighter; may hold answers." 

And with that, Soundwave began to climb the lopsided ramp up into the ship. Megatron worked his jaw back and forth impatiently, before giving in to his curiosity and following. 

The freighter was dark inside, the dim lights flickering in places. It's narrow walkways felt claustrophobic and creepy, and it smelt faintly of hydraulic fuel and burnt plastic. The bulkhead's had no panelling in places and it's millennia old wiring was exposed to the elements. Most of the auto-doors were unpowered and had to be prised open by hand. There were crates stacked upon crates, full of spare-parts and rubbish, littering the small hold and most of the cabins.

Just as Megatron had predicted, it was a waste of time. There were no answers here. Just a brief glimpse at the misery Starscream must have lived through during his misguided defection. 

Soundwave was in the freighter's flight deck, a space too tight for Megatron to comfortably inhabit at the same time. He stopped outside and glared through the doorway, "Anything?" 

"Medical supplies," Soundwave gestured to the co-pilots seat, covered in empty packets of sensor-blockers and patch-kits. 

Megatron studied the seat closely, and thought he could see traces of fresh energon staining the metal. He hummed, thinking back to Starscream's weak and pallid disposition. It was likely he needed proper medical attention. 

And he could have it. Later. Megatron wasn't going to be a soft touch and have Starscream rushed to medical all because the stupid fool hadn't known how to take care of himself. Most likely he'd run that overactive vocaliser of his around the wrong mechs and gotten into a fight or too. 

There was just the Captain's Quarters left to check, a place Megatron had deliberately avoided. But Soundwave was still downloading the ships's nav-computer, so they could trace back Starscream's whereabouts over the last few months. It looked like it was going to be up to him to investigate. 

He shouldered open the unpowered door. It shot along it's track and bounced back to thunk against his arm. He scowled and stepped through sideways, grimacing at the mess on the decking. Empty cubes, data-pads, more medical supplies... 

The bunk was a mess of stained, threadbare blankets. But peaking out amongst them, bright and impossible to miss, was a fabric toy. 

It was too bizarre to dismiss. Megatron brushed the blankets aside and lifted it out. It was a bright blue, mesh-fabric plushy, sown into a juvenile shape that only barely resembled a cyber-fox. The stitching was loose, like it had been pulled all out of shape, and it looked as though something enjoying chewing on the pointed ears. 

Megatron looked around his pedes, wondering it Starscream had adopted a pet, some mangy alien guard dog. Nothing came running out to maul his ankles though. 

He went to sit on the bunk, when something hanging above it knocked against and then tangled around his helm. Cursing, he reached up to dislodge it, and knocked down a crudely built mobile, with hanging stars and planes. The type a sparkling would have suspended over it's crib. 

He stared at it, uncomprehending, the cyber-fox plushy held loosely in his hand. 

"...Soundwave!" He called, needing a level-head present before he started jumping to conclusions. "Get in here!" 

He could hear Soundwave leaving the flight-deck to join him. And from an entirely different direction, he heard something else moving. 

His spark, already fluttering nervously, began to pound in his chest at the sound of shuffling from inside the small storage unit next to Starscream's bunk. Megatron set the plush aside and slid off the bunk, into his knees before it. His hands were shaky but cautious when he began to slide the top drawer open. 

It was only open a couple inches when he flinched back with a jolt of horror at the sight of tiny thruster-feet kicking. "No," he breathed, summoning the courage to slide it out all the way and reveal the tiny frame of a seeker sparkling, weeks old at most, fussy in it's nest of blankets. "Oh no..." 

He heard Soundwave arrive, freezing in the doorway with a sharp intake of breath. Megatron couldn't tear his optics away from the contents of the draw to look at him. The sparkling squeaked softy, optics dim and squinting, hands grasping at it's blankets. 

Megatron didn't know what to do. 

Numb, he gave the sparkling the cyber-fox plushy. The sparkling squealed and shoved the toy's ear into it's mouth. 

Chapter Text

Megatron knelt in silence, listening to the contended squeaks of the sparkling gnawing away at it's toy in the open drawer. 

It was small. Not just small enough to fit into a drawer packed with blankets, but small enough to fit in Megatron's palm. There was a bubble of glass on it's abdomen, exaggerating an already rounded belly, and two short nubs on it's back that Megatron couldn't believe would ever be wings as sharp and agile as an adult seekers'. There were streaks of dark crimson coming in around it's armour seams. It's little nose was upturned, very much like Starscream's, and it's optics gleamed with excitement. 

And for reasons beyond comprehension, this chubby, helpless little being was not scared of him. 

"Is this our answer?" He asked Soundwave, struggling to connect this small individual they'd discovered with that sparkless, convincing fiend sitting in his brig 

Soundwave had no response. 

But the sparkling did. It squealed at the sound of Megatron's voice, releasing the plushy from it mouth and, in it's excitement, flinging it across the cabin. 

Megatron dutifully collected it from it's fallen place and handed it back to the little one. It was accepted with a grateful squeak, only for the sparkling to grow bored again seconds later, and throw it across the cabin again. 

Megatron scowled. 

The sparkling frowned back, small features scrunching up in displeasure. "Bah!" It demanded. 

"Well, it's certainly Starscream's." Megatron snarled, snatching up the toy a second time and dropping it back into the drawer. 

The sparkling hugged it close and kicked it's legs. Then, smiling at Megatron like this was all a game, it flung the plushy away again. It landed on the bunk with a soft thump. 

Resigned to this pointless game of a fetch, Megatron retrieved it. Again. 

Soundwave came forward. Wordlessly, he reached into the drawer, carefully extracting the infant from it's blankets. The sparkling didn't seem to appreciate this. It began to fuss, limbs waving, face twisting. Megatron braced himself when the first short, sharp sob burst from the sparkling's vocaliser, followed by a great intake of breath, and then ...the screaming. 

Soundwave made to hand the distraught creature over. Megatron stepped back, the sparkling's plushy held between his hands defensively. "Don't give it to me!" 

"Sparkling; requires comfort," Soundwave explained, shifting his hold so the sparkling was cradled in his arms. 

"Then find it some," Megatron grumbled. 

Unsure, he placed the plushy on the sparkling's chest. The sparkling didn't so much as look at it before knocking it to the floor with it's unhappy squirming. Sighing, Megatron picked it up. "...Take it to Starscream's trine." 

Soundwave hesitated. "Lord Megatron; does not want to-?"

"I have a headache, Soundwave." Megatron said pointedly, wincing away from another round of shrill wailing. "Go." 

"Suggestion," Soundwave didn't leave immediately. "Revise orders regarding the prisoner-"

"I haven't forgotten him." Megatron snapped, stuffing the unwanted plushy into his own subspace for safekeeping. "Transfer him to medical. And tell Scrapper I'll be joining them for the examination."

"What did you do?" Thundercracker demanded as he and Skywarp were forced to leave the airforce briefing halfway through revised manoeuvre choreography. Soundwave's abrupt summoning hadn't left any room for delay: Report to the hanger six security office. Immediately!

Exclamation points weren't to be taken lightly. For Soundwave, it was downright frantic. 

"I didn't do anything." Skywarp complained. 

Thundercracker scowled. Because that was a lie. Skywarp had always done something. 

This trine-mate seemed to realise this and rethought his answer. "...Anything that would twist Soundwave's wires in a knot, I mean." 

"You must have miscalculated," Thundercracker grumbled, leading the way into the hanger and down the steps. There was a dilapidated old freighter parked in the far corner that made him wrinkle his olfactory in distaste. Whoever was on maintenance duty obviously hadn't gotten around to taking the trash out yet. 

The security office was sat hidden beneath the overhanging walkway, secured behind a blast-proof door and a huge sheet of one-way security glass. Thundercracker took a moment to brace himself before entering. "Just tell me you haven't been messing with his cassettes." 

"No!" Skywarp folded his arms in a defensive manner that normally meant he had been doing exactly that. 

"Well he's pissed about something, Warp." 

"Maybe it was something you did," Skywarp glared. 

Not bloody likely, Thundercracker thought, thumbing the code-reader on the door security panel. It opened, and Thundercracker was one foot over the threshold when the noise -the deafening racket, previously muffled by the security measures, hit him full force. 

He stumbled back, wings thwacking against Skywarp's chest where his trine-mate had taken a curious step forward. With him blocking the escape route there was nothing Thundercracker could do to get away from the advancing, sparkling-wielding Soundwave. 

"Responsibility for this sparkling's wellbeing has been delegated to your trine unit via Megatron's orders," Soundwave struggled to be heard over the wailing of the sparkling as he pushed it into Thundercracker's unprepared arms. "Designation unknown. Origins: under investigation." 

Thundercracker stared in disbelief. The sparkling was small but it felt heavy with the figurative responsibility it brought. It was squirming weakly, fighting him. Pity stopped Thundercracker from thrusting it back at Soundwave. He swung his arms from side-to-side to rock it. 

Which was difficult with Skywarp trying  to physically bully him into turning around, "TC, I can't see-!" 

But Thundercracker could see. Once he was past the shock of being in possession of a living, breathing sparkling, he started to recognise dreadful familiarities in it's features. There was something in the expression -twisted and wet and flushed from hysterical sobbing- that made it look strikingly alike his missing trine-mate. 

And that was before he'd even noticed it was a seeker. 

He understood why he and Skywarp had been called to deal with this. 

A heat bloomed in the pits of his tanks and rose up to his chest, filling his throat and leaving a bad taste in his mouth. It made him want to utter a very rude word. He was clenching his jaw to keep from squeezing the innocent sparkling he held. 

"Where is he?" He asked quietly. Dangerously. 

Soundwave stared at him silently, giving nothing away. 

"Where's who?!" Skywarp pipped up. "Who's sparkling is this?! It's not yours is it, Soundwave? Because I think you've got more than enough going on with all those cassettes running without adding a-"

"It's not his, Skywarp." Thundercracker cut across him, not breaking optical-contact with Soundwave. Not even to blink. "Where is he?" 

"Starscream is in custody." Soundwave relented. "He is not permitted visitors at this time." 

Thundercracker sucked in a deep calming breath. Hard to do with a sparkling still wailing in his audials. He was going to have to stow his anger for another time and be worried now instead. Megatron... had not taken the desertion well. And a resentful commander was much less forgiving than a disgruntled trine. 

He and Skywarp were always stuck with the dirty work of campaigning for Starscream's second, third, and hundredth chances. Because no one else would. 

"Starscream?" Skywarp repeated, beginning to catch up to the situation. He managed to step around Thundercracker so he was standing in front of him, looking directly down at the sparkling. 

The sparkling blinked up with big watery optics, it's wails subsiding into unsure hiccups. 

"I dunno," Skywarp shrugged, unexpectedly casual. "It looks like Megatron to me." 

There was a sound like a record being scratched in Thundercracker's brain module. His spark turned to ice and dropped out of the bottom of it's chamber. Soundwave, too, had stiffened in surprise. 

All three of them peered down at the sparkling in silence. The sparkling, no longer crying, furrowed it's brow in a very Megatron-like way. 

Soundwave emitted a noise unlike anything Thundercracker had ever heard from him: static-laced and overwrought. 

Thundercracker just nodded along, feeling as though he'd aged fifty-thousand years in the last minute alone.

"Same," he agreed. 

The Constructicons had already thrown themselves into the repairs with expected heavy-handedness when Megatron arrived. 

They'd located the source of Starscream's limp as a popped hip-joint and seen no reason to wait for Hook before setting it right. Through the gag, Starscream was screaming in pain, and thanks to the noise he was making Megatron's arrival went unnoticed.

Hands still cuffed behind his back, the seeker had been pinned flat to the surface of a work bench by Bonecrusher so Scavenger and Scrapper could ram the hip back into place. It took them three tries. 

"Ah, sir," Scrapper panted, straightening up as he noticed his leader. Starscream remained lying on the work bench, his optics clenched shut and his ventilations stuttering. He was in so much pain he no longer needed restraining. "We didn't see you come in." 

"Don't stop on my account," Megatron leant one shoulder against the bulkhead to watch, his optics narrowing when Starscream turned his helm in the other direction at the sound of his voice. "He'll live, I presume?" 

"Yeah," Scrapper agreed. "If you want him too...?"

Megatron gave a noncommittal grunt, doing his best to project an air of indifference. 

He had thought the fight had gone out of Starscream. That exhaustion and pain just wouldn't make it worth resisting for him. It appeared to be a misconception the Constructicons shared with Megatron, as when Longhaul laid hands on Starscream's cockpit without waiting for Bonecrusher to restrain him first, he earned himself a swift knee to the helm. 

There was shouting as they dove in to pin him down again. Metal clunked as they resorted to using the inbuilt restraints. Longhaul was rubbing the side of his head resentfully. Megatron had to fight to keep a smirk off his face. Same old Starscream. 

He looked for clues as the Constructicons began removing pieces of Starscream's armour to get a look inside him for hidden damage. The canopy came away and Scrapper stuck his hands inside, grumbling and pulling faces at whatever he was finding. 

Perhaps Scrapper could tell? Did carrying leave it's mark? In a mecha's frame? In their spark? 

Things Megatron had been too naive to notice? 

He was still muddling through a timeline and working on some half-forgotten facts about carrying, but Starscream must have been sparked when he left. And Megatron had had his hands all over him very shortly before then. If there had been a way to tell, he should have noticed. 

He was drawn from his musing by Scrapper grimacing and pulling his hand free to shake off a layer of watery energon. "Something's leaking," he growled. "And this fuel quality is terrible. Better wait for Hook-"

"Where?" Megatron demanded. 

He was met with a surprised blink, "Sir?" 

"Where is he leaking?" Megatron repeated, irritated. 

"Can't tell." Scrapper wiped his hand off on an oil rag, looking down at Starscream's face. The seeker still had his optics offline, but he wasn't unconscious. "Something's ruptured though. His parts are swimming in fuel. There aren't any visible entry wounds, no denting. Might have happened mid-transformation. Otherwise I can't imagine he went through the trouble of having his armour repaired but not his fragging parts-"

"Get out," Megatron dismissed them, his day too stressful to bother with manners. "And come back with someone at least resembling a medic."

Scrapper hesitated, "It could be his fuel tank-"

"If it were his fuel tank, he'd have bled dry by now." Megatron pushed away from the bulkhead, and that action alone was enough to hurry the Constructicons along. They scurried out the door, leaving their tools and their restrained patient behind. 

Megatron supposed it was best to have this conversation now. Starscream wasn't going to offline in the immediate future, but his current discomfort may encourage him to be more honest. Starscream was a tough nut to crack even on the best of days. 

Megatron circled him first. Not just to intimidate, but to get a good look at him too. He had changed in the months since they had seen one another. Aside from a general dishevelment that was uncharacteristic of Starscream, his armour hadn't changed much. There seemed to be some minor adjustments for speed and stealth, though his waist wasn't as cinched, and his thighs seemed larger -stronger. Megatron wondered if that was a load-bearing alternation he'd made during carrying, or if it had been done to increase speed on foot. 

Megatron imagined Starscream had had to do a lot of running these last few months. 

It was rather hard to ignore the painted over insignias on his wings too. Megatron felt a rush of heat at the sight. Starscream had run off before -never for this long- but he had never made such a pointed statement to disown them. 

"I suppose I should let you explain yourself," Megatron said eventually, stopping at Starscream's side. The seeker's brow furrowed, but he kept his optics stubbornly offline. 

Megatron exhaled through his olfactory and reached down to remove the gag. 

The seeker breathed in relief as it came away. The gag had left impressions across his cheeks where it had dug into his derma. Megatron tossed it aside in distaste as Starscream worked his jaw from side-to-side and swallowed. Finally, he blinked his optics online. 

Megatron stamped down a long held spark of fondness for those bright clever optics and scowled. "Well?" 

"Well, what?" Starscream croaked, looking away almost immediately. 

Megatron fixed that for him, taking his jaw and turning his helm towards him. Starscream scowled, his lips forced into a pout. 

"'What' indeed. Where do we even begin," Megatron growled. "Shall we start with your desertion? The fact that it cost me half-a-million shanix in bounty fees to get your miserable spark back aboard this ship? Or, that filthy scrapheap of a freighter that you had to be dragged out of by your wings?" 

Starscream's optics paled a shade, but his expression remained stoic. Megatron loosened his grip and allowed him to answer. 

"Half-a-million?" His lips twitched. "My Megatron, I had no idea I was so important-"

"Having you unaccounted for was a security liability," Megatron gave his jaw a spiteful squeeze before releasing him. "So you will tell me where you have been. You will tell me why you left in the first place. And then you will spend the foreseeable future apologising to me for-"

"Ha!" Starscream laughed, then winced as it jostled his injuries. "Ha," he repeated, more softly this time, optics shuttering. "Apologising, to you? Really?" 

Starscream's belligerence was ridiculous. He was the one strapped down and injured. He was the one at Megatron's mercy. Was he an imbecile, or just plain suicidal? 

"What was on the freighter?" Megatron decided to change tactics. Starscream wasn't worried about himself, but he may be more concerned for his other passenger. 

Starscream stiffened. "...Was on the freighter?" 

Ah, just as he'd hoped. A chink in his armour. Megatron began to circle him again, deviously proud as he felt the balance shift in his favour. "I paid for you, not whatever trinkets you were hoarding aboard that rust-bucket. I allowed them to take it for scrap." 

He glanced at Starscream, seeking a reaction. Was the sparkling truly his? Did it mean something to him? 

Starscream swallowed thickly. "No, you didn't," denied softly.

"Didn't I?" Megatron smirked. 

"You're not that stupid." Starscream whispered, optics narrow. "You would have searched the ship first."

"And found what?" Megatron enquired casually. 

"I'm not playing this stupid game with you!" Starscream suddenly shouted. "You didn't hand over the ship! I know you found him-"

"Found who?" Megatron jumped on it.

"Optimus-fragging-Prime!" Starscream shouted sarcastically. "Who do you think, you drip-bucket faced battery licker! Where is he?! If you've done anything to hurt him, I swear on my wings, I'll-!"

"Enough!" Megatron barked, silencing him. "You are not in any position to be making demands of me. You will answer my questions, and if I deem your responses sufficient, then I shall see about allowing you to ask your own." 

"He's a sparkling!" Starscream shouted. "and you're going to use him as leverage?!"

"Where has this sudden sense of nobility come from, Starscream?" Megatron mocked. "Has this sparkling made you so soft, so soon?" 

Starscream shuttered his optics and bit his lip, shaking his helm from side to side with barely suppressed rage. "I'll kill you," he whispered to himself. "I will kill you if you hurt him-"

"Is he yours?" Megatron ignored the death threats, folding his arms and looking down at his prisoner. 

Starscream didn't answer. 

"Starscream," he said sternly. "Is that your sparkling?" 

"What do you think," was hissed at him. 

"This poor attitude is not helping your situation," Megatron reminded him, but keeping the seeker's poor physical condition in mind, Starscream's snippiness was probably understandable. He found himself softening. "Perhaps some sensory blockers, for the pain-"

"I want my sparkling," Starscream glared. 

"Tell me who you sired it with and I will think about it," Megatron countered. 

Starscream opened his mouth, then shut it again, frowning. Megatron waited with his arms folded, but no answer came. He felt his patience start to wear thin. "The sire, Starscream," he repeated. 

Starscream arched a brow, smug and elegant and suddenly confident again. "Oh, is it not obvious?" He teased. 

Megatron exhaled loudly, "Shocking though it may be for you to hear this, but you are not the centre of everyone's universe. I do not keep a mental reference list of every mecha unfortunate enough to have bedded you." 

Starscream's calculative optics were searching him. Megatron began to feel at a disadvantage. "You were one of those unfortunate mecha's." 

Megatron snorted in disgust, "As if I could forget." 

Starscream hummed thoughtfully. "His name is Mission." 

"The sparkling?" Megatron realised. "I do not care what his designation is, I want the sire's-"

"I used the Tarnish glyph, Missio. 'For war'," Starscream continued, suddenly talking, even if it wasn't entirely relative to what Megatron wanted to know. "He's only a few weeks old. I couldn't find a med-centre I trusted, so I had him on the freighter. He was early, but if he'd been any bigger he could have killed me. His sire's fault, I imagine." 

He met Megatron's gaze again, but Megatron didn't reply for fear of interrupting him. 

"He's only half seeker, and new-sparks with lower-caste coding put a greater strain on their carriers. So they emerge stronger, I think. Better at handling harsher conditions." He looked sad then. "He didn't come out stronger, because I didn't know. And because I didn't care enough to check. I didn't want him." 

"You left for him," Megatron argued, reluctant to believe that. 

"I left to get rid of him," Starscream admitted honestly. "But I didn't. And then I couldn't come back." 

"Why?" 

"Because I loved him," Starscream said simply. "And I couldn't stand the idea of him turning out like you." 

Chapter Text

"Not an aesthetic choice I would have made," Hook mused, looking over the dainty little sparkling recharging in Thundercracker's arms- mouth open, tiny dark cheek squashed to his cockpit, fast asleep. "These features on a seeker, really?"

"He wasn't designed," Thundercracker reminded him. "His face wasn't picked out of a catalogue." 

At least, they were pretty sure the sparkling wasn't built. Hook's very purpose here was to help them figure this out, hopefully before Megatron was clued into anything. Thankfully, he was still so distracted by Starscream's reappearance he seemed to have forgotten a sparkling was found at all. 

"No, he was definitely forged through gestation," Hook agreed, frowning at the sparkling's tiny data-port as he flipped through adapters for his medical cable. "But there are such things as complimentary frame-types. If a shuttle and a mini-bot created a sparkling, for example...?" 

"He looks fine to me," Skywarp peered down at the snoozing sparkling. "I think he's cute." 

"His head's big," Hook muttered offhandedly. 

"No, it's not!" Skywarp argued. 

Thundercracker shushed him, folding the sparkling closer, "Keep it down." 

"I can't get a hardline into him to read his coding," Hook finally gave up, shaking his helm. "I don't have an adapter small enough. But if I were guessing-"

"We didn't ask you here to guess." Thundercracker growled. 

"Well if I were," Hook continued anyway, because his opinion was, of course, too important not to voice. "I'm sure he's Starscream's. I don't know about Megatron, but there's definitely some coding-mixing going on." 

"So the sire could be anyone?" Thundercracker didn't know if that was a reassuring fact or not. If it complicated matters or simplified them. Megatron's attitude surrounding Starscream's disappearance indicated there was definitely something going on beyond just a professional relationship. If the sire were another mech? Thundercracker hoped, for their sake, they weren't aboard this ship. 

"Anyone with Megatron's jaw, sure," Skywarp snorted. 

Thundercracker looked down at the sparkling, searching his sleeping features. He did look like Starscream, and... maybe he looked like Megatron too. 

"Hook?" 

Hook flipped his hand over and under with a shrug, "Fifty-fifty? His conception would have happened around the time Starscream left. You can tell he was preterm." 

"Preterm?" Thundercracker's spark ached. 

"By a month or so. He's small, even for a seeker. Especially for a seeker with mixed coding." 

"You said his conception was around the time Starscream left. Before or after?" Thundercracker pressed. 

"Can't say. Too close either way," Hook glanced at his flashing comm. "I'm needed." 

Thundercracker could guess what for. "If Starscream's awake..." 

"I don't think Megatron's going to be allowing a whole lot of chitchat," Hook pointed out. 

Megatron did not react as Starscream had hoped he would. 

He didn't react at all. 

He stood, stoic and frowning, arms crossed in that idiotically superior pose of his, and just stared down at Starscream like that sentence hadn't held the weight it had. Had he always been this oblivious? This immune to insinuation? 

In pain enough to pass out as it was, Starscream sucked in a deep breath, winced at the sharp stabbing pain in his vents, and tried again. "I didn't want him turning out like his sire." 

"Hn," Megatron grunted. 

Again, nothing. Nothing but dull impatience. 

Starscream searched Megatron's expression nonetheless, desperate for an outburst, something to crack in that composure. Something to offer some entertainment or at least a good distraction from the absolute worst case scenario he'd found himself in; tied down, injured, homeless, separated from his sparkling, and back with Megatron. 

Megatron leaned back, shifting his weight onto his heels. "As the alternative is for your sparkling to turn out like you, I have to assume this sire isn't worth the scrap he's made of." 

He sounded annoyed, like he was disappointed by the quality of Mission's imaginary alternative sire, disappointed in Starscream's choices. 

Starscream only just refrained from smiling at the big dope and agreeing. Any other time, he'd have revelled in Megatron's stupidity, toyed with him until someone with at least half-a-brain spilled the cosmic-beans. But he was exhausted. The rough-handling of the bounty hunters had knocked his post-emergence repair job, and he was probably going to slip into stasis soon anyway. 

He shuttered his optics and exhaled heavily, "Primus, I hope Mission takes after me in cognitive development..." 

"I'm sure he will," Megatron grumbled offhandedly, almost ...enviously "Is this worthless excuse for a sire the cause of your ridiculous attempt at desertion in the first place?" He demanded, now looking angry but for entirely the wrong reasons. "If he threatened you-"

"He threatened me all the time," Starscream smirked. 

Megatron's optics flashed with fury. 

"Who is he!?" He snarled, leaning in with all his misdirected menace. Starscream could smell his breath. Smell his armour. It reminded him of cold nights spent revising tactics on the bridge together, when he'd shuffle a little closer, try to soak up some of the warmth coming off his great frame.

"Tell me his name, and I will ensure he is taken care of," Megatron threatened. 

"You wouldn't kill the sire of a helpless little sparkling, would you?" Starscream narrowed his optics. 

"Your sparkling should have better role models than whatever cowardly fiend sparked you up," Megatron rumbled. 

"If you say so..." Starscream's lips quirked, even as another wave of pain shuddered through his abdomen. 

Megatron noticed his attempt at suppressing a wince this time. His optics softened, even as he aggressively poked at his comm link, "Where the Pit is Hook with those pain suppressors-"

"I wouldn't be in so much pain if I weren't tied down," Starscream tried, though he knew he didn't have the strength to run. 

"Get used to it," Megatron hardened again. "You are a traitor and a prisoner, and you will remain restrained until such a time I can trust you." 

"Will such a time ever come?" Starscream teased. 

Megatron was silent for a long time. 

"Unlikely," he growled, but Starscream could tell it was a lie. 

It was at that point that Hook finally made his appearance. Megatron whipped around and snarled a reproach at him for dallying, aggressively shoving the poor fool in Starscream's direction. Starscream realised it was probably for the best he'd been restrained, it gave Megatron less inclination to push him around. 

Hook flashed Starscream a distasteful look before laying hands on him, likely because of the state of his repair work. When he'd gone into an emergence, medical centres had been out of the question. His bounty had been spread far and wide, certainly to every civilised system within a weeks flight.

He'd patched himself up. It was that, or go into stasis to preserve his spark, and leave Mission alone to starve. 

Hooks hand reached through his cockpit and into his inner workings. A knuckle nudged something loose. Starscream jolted at the stinging pain it caused. 

"Block his sensors!" Megatron appeared over the Hook's tense shoulders to snarl. 

Hook withdrew his hand, soaked in poor quality energon, and did just that. 

Sensors switched offline, one-by-one, until everything below the neck just... wasn't there. A feeling of heaviness kept Starscream flat on the berth now, but Megatron still didn't order the removal of the restraints.

"These are typical of damages we see after emergence complications," Hook's hands were clearly still inside him. Starscream sensed his frame rocking on the berth from the handling, but he couldn't see or feel what Hook was doing. 

Megatron was leaning over to watch, with a frown that was parts curious, parts concerned. It was wholly undignified. Starscream had to shutter his optics to try and dissociate from it. 

"How do you know this is typical?" Megatron questioned skeptically. "How many sparklings have you delivered?"

Hook's shoulders hunched higher, almost up to his audials now. 

"I read." He muttered. "The gestation tank's just fine but when the protoform began to emerge, some of Starscream's valve callipers expanded too far out and one of them pierced a main fuel line. That's where the energon's come from." 

"I'm assuming you can repair it." 

"It was repaired. Botch job though. And I'm guessing someone knocked him around and that loose calliper pierced the line again." 

Starscream flickered his optics back online to see Megatron nodding quietly.

There was a strange ghostly warmth enveloping Starscream's left hand though. When he lifted his helm to glance down, he realised it was because Megatron was holding it. 

He couldn't snatch it back, so he hissed, cheeks burning, "Don't touch me!"

Megatron blinked, as if he hadn't realised he'd been doing it. He took his hand way with a sneer. "I would keep your vocaliser muted if I were you," he warned, "lest I change my mind about repairing you and have you broken down for scrap instead!" 

"We're pretty stocked up on seeker parts," Hook reassured, completely missing the point of the threat. 

Megatron's jaw ticked. "Is that all?" 

"The leak is the main problem." Hook took out a drill, presumably to start removing more armour. "He'll still be sore from the emergence, lots of strains and scrapes and some deficiencies where his frame struggled to compensate-"

Megatron held up a hand to silence him, "How long ago did he have this sparkling?" 

"Couple weeks. Starscream's gestation tank is still in it's expanded state." 

Megatron looked deeply unhappy. "Fix him," he ordered, turning way, "And get him fuelled."  

"My sparkling..." Starscream began, barely audible over the whir of the drill. 

Megatron ignored him, stalking from the medbay. 

Soundwave had left the sparkling with Skywarp and Thundercracker, and still out of his mind with curiosity and resentment, Megatron wanted to take another look at him. Perhaps, if he studied the little one closely enough, he might find some clues as to who this deadbeat sire was. If he could bring the fiend to justice, perhaps Starscream would become more agreeable. 

He swept into the air barracks and stalked down the lines of berths till be reached the crowd of wings surrounding Thundercracker and Skywarp's stations. There was an awful lot of cooing going on. 

Lip curled in distaste at his air warrior's behaviour, he cleared his vocaliser. Expressive wings flopped low in reproach at the sight of him. They slinked off, leaving his path towards Thundercracker and Skywarp clear. 

They were sat on a berth together, Skywarp leaning towards the little slip of grey peaking out between Thundercracker's arms. They stared at him with wide bright optics filled with fear. Megatron frowned in irritation. What did they imagine he'd do to a feeble infant? 

"Did...do you want to hold him?" Thundercracker asked nervously, shifting his arms so Megatron could see more of the sparkling. He was recharging, his tiny fingers slotted into Thundercracker's turbine, oblivious to the activity going on around him. 

Megatron wasn't so sure that he did want to hold him. He looked awful breakable.

"Give him here," he said bravely. 

Skywarp grabbed Thundecracker's forearm, as if to stop him, but Thundercracker shouldered him off and carefully, elegantly, slipped off the berth. "He'll probably wake up," he warned. 

Dealing with a screaming tantrum from an overtired infant wasn't at the top of Megatron's priorities. He held up a hand and went to back up, but Skywarp had sprung up from the berth to 'help', grabbing his forearms without leave and moving them into a position ready to receive the sparkling. 

"Like this, sir, and don't forget to support the helm." 

Megatron was shocked into inaction, and before he knew it, the dastardly seekers had gotten the little sparkling into his arms. 

He was ...very small, but surprisingly warm. Megatron didn't move an inch for fear of waking him, or squashing the poor thing. The sparkling shifted, and Megatron held in his ventilation until he stilled again, still asleep. As far as sparklings went, this one wasn't half as loud, or messy, or unpleasant as he had been led to believe sparklings were. 

But he couldn't see anyone but Starscream in his features. He was a handsome little thing. 

Skywarp cleared his vocaliser. Megatron looked up, realising he had been stood holding the sparkling in silence for some time. He nodded for Thundercracker to take him back. 

"You'll need to provide for him in the coming days," he ordered. "His creator will be out of the medbay before the end of the day, but the brig is no place for a new spark."

"You're putting Starscream back in the brig?!" Skywarp sounded scandalised. 

"Starscream is a deserter." Megatron reminded him dangerously. "He should count himself fortunate. The alternative is the firing line." 

"Sparklings this young need to be with their creator." Thundercracker protested. 

Megatron wasn't falling for that. "You're trine. You'll do." 

"We don't know how to fuel him!" 

"He's not stupid you know." Skywarp scowled up at him. "He knows we're not his creator. He needs to be close to a parent." He paused, shooting a glance at Thundercracker. "Either parent. For the spark connection. It keeps him calm." 

Thundercracker and Skywarp stared at him intently. 

Megatron let out a deep breath. If the sparkling had to be with Starscream, then Starscream couldn't go back to the brig. And if Starscream wasn't secured in the brig, it'd be all too easy for him to escape again. Especially now he had been repaired. 

These seekers had boxed him in tighter than a combiner in an escape pod. 

He gave them both one last withering glare, before whipping around and striding down the length of the air barracks, glaring at every other seeker stupid enough to make adoring sounds at the sight of the sparkling he carried. 

"This would be far easier if you weren't so young," he muttered to the sparkling resentfully. 

The sparkling turned towards him, squashing his little face against his chest and sighing in his recharge. Megatron had to clench his jaw to keep from smiling at him. 

Starscream realised they weren't taking him back to the brig fairly quickly. 

But with his hands cuffed and his wings strapped down to his back to keep him from transforming and flying, he knew it was unlikely he was about to be set free. Motormaster and Dragstrip marched him through the ship in silence, and though he wasn't gagged this time, Motormaster was holding one. He let Starscream see it every now and then as they walked, just in case he thought about opening his mouth. 

Like he'd have anything to say to Motormaster anyway. 

They entered into the corridor housing the Command Quarters. His own former room sat up ahead, and for a brief moment of hope, he thought that soft old mech Megatron was going to put him on house arrest. 

But Motormaster and Dragstrip marched him past it. 

He twisted his helm around to look back at it, stumbling over his own pedes in confusion. "Where are you-?"

They began to slow as they approached the next door along. Megatron's quarters. 

"No!" Panic shot through his frame. He dug his pedes in and thrashed against their hold, bucking and twisting. "No way in Pit-!"

"Cut it out, Screamer!" Motormaster barked, kicking at his ankles to knock him off his pedes so they could drag him. 

"I'd rather be in the brig!" Starscream snarled, throwing his weight sideways to try and crush Dragstrip against a bulkhead. "I'd rather be shot-!"

Dragstrip left Motormaster to wrestle him alone so he could enter in the code for Megatron's door. It swept open, and Starscream used every remaining ounce of his strength to escape Motormaster's grip by throwing himself to the ground and taking him with him. But Dragstrip grabbed his ankles and dragged him across the decking. With his hands cuffed, he couldn't even claw at the flooring to delay the inevitable. 

Inside the room they hauled him upright and threw him on the berth. He bounced once, then tried to roll off the other side, but Motormaster leapt after him and straddled him, pinning him down on his front so Dragstrip could re-cuff his hands to the berth frame. 

"Bet this is a pretty familair position for ya, ey Screamer?" Motormaster sneered maliciously, hand on the back of his head mashing his face against Megatron's sheets. 

"Are you serious!?" Starscream roared, kicking his legs frantically, trying to buck Motormaster off. "What kind of sick-?"

"That's enough." 

All three of them froze. Starscream turned his face out of the sheets. Megatron was stood in the doorway, tall and fierce and holding a tiny sparkling in just one arm. Starscream's treacherous spark fluttered at the sight. Mission was so small in his arms.

To compensate for the ridiculously vulnerable feeling, Starscream twisted onto his back, extracted a leg, and managed to kick Motormaster in the throat with it. The Stunticon choked and fell off the end of the berth, landing in a wheezing heap on the floor. 

Megatron strode forward and grabbed Starscream's ankle, squeezing, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to know he was serious. 

"I will tie you down spread-eagled if I have to," he warned. "Do you want your sparkling to see that?" 

Starscream only didn't lash out at him because he was holding Mission.

"Let me go," he spat. 

"No," Megatron released him and gestured for Dragstrip and Motormaster to get out. Dragstrip had to help his leader off the floor. 

"Is this some kind of punishment?" Starscream demanded when they were gone, straining against the cuffs keeping him on the berth. "I left your berth once and now you're going to ensure I never can again?"

Megatron's nose wrinkled, "Don't be so dramatic-"

"Dramatic!" Starscream howled, shrill enough to wake Mission. His little optics blinked online. Starscream's spark jumped into his throat. He didn't want Mission to see this. For his first memory of his parents together to be like this. 

"I'm tied to your berth! What are you going to do? Force me? Make me carry your sparkling?!" 

Megatron's optics flashed. 

"Don't you dare!" He snarled, and whether it was conscious or not, he covered Mission's head with a hand, shielding his audials from the volume of their raised voices. "You are here to fuel and comfort your sparkling because I cannot have an infant residing in my brig and I cannot trust you out of my sight. So you'll stay here-"

"For how long?!" Starcream's squawked, horrified at the prospect of being alone in Megatron's company till Primus-knew when. 

"For as long as I deem it necessary!" Megatron snapped. 

"Oh, for as long as you think I'm a flight risk?" Starscream goaded. "Well I've got some bad news for you. It doesn't matter how long you keep me in here, how much you think you can trust me, the second I see an opening to escape, I will-"

"Why?" Megatron asked. 

"I..." Having expecting more snarled threats, Starscream wasn't sure how to answer. "Because-because I don't want to be here." 

"You don't want to be with me." Megatron stated. 

"I didn't say -no, I don't want to be with you!" Starscream cried quickly. "And I don't want my sparkling raised here."

Megatron looked down at Mission. "And he is better off out there? Raised by outlaws, no stable home or family?" 

"I am his family." 

"Your trine seem taken with him." 

His trine. Starscream felt his face heat up. "He's my sparkling. It's my choice." 

"What of the sire?" 

Starscream squirmed, the chain of his cuffs jangling. It was uncomfortably short, and didn't give him a lot of room to move. "Megatron, let me go-"

"You are not telling me the full story," the berth creaked as Megatron sat down on the edge of it. Starscream tried to shuffle away, but the cuffs didn't let him get far. He turned his head away, trying to ignore his presence. 

A hand found his hip and he was about to scream bloody murder when Megatron knocked him onto his back again. The chains of his cuffs twisted around each other and shortened further. But he wasn't being assaulted. Megatron was lowering a dangling Mission to his chest, the sparkling's curious little face glancing between them. Laying across his chest, Mission slapped his hands to Starscream's armour in excitement, looking back at Megatron and babbling, as if to ask, 'is that who I think it is?' 

He was young enough to remember Megatron's spark. So unlike his stupid sire, he knew exactly who they were to each other. 

And if they were stuck here much longer, Mission was going to get attached to him. 

Megatron began to lean over him. Starscream flinched back, but the larger mech went for the cuffs. They clinked and the metal bars around his wrists fell away. Cautiously, Starscream unshuttered his optics. As Megatron released the other wrist, he looked down at him. Starscream's spark fluttered again. 

He shoved him away and sat up, arms around Mission to tuck him close. 

Megatron sat back with a sigh, "You were with me, that last night." 

Starscream's focused on the top of Mission's little head to keep from looking at him. Megatron's hand reached across. He had to slap it away. "Stop it!" 

"Look at me-"

"No!" Starscream snarled. "I know what you're doing." 

Megatron expression darkened again. "Fine. You don't want to do this the easy way? Then you'll tell me, now, why you thought it wise to seduce your way into my berth just to desert our cause the very next morning? Was it part of your plan?" 

Starscream sneered at him. 

"Answer me, or you'll be in the brig and your sparkling will be placed in the care of the Combaticons." 

Starscream's arms tightened around Mission. "I didn't have a plan." He muttered through gritted teeth. 

"Why did you leave?" 

"Because I was sparked," Starscream felt sick. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" 

"...Because you were still asleep." 

Megtron didn't answer. Starscream risked a glance up. Megatron was staring into the middle distance, wearing a vaguely frightened expression that implied he might have finally figured it out. 

"...When -?"

"The first time." Starscream just came out and said it. "You fell into recharge and I could feel something, feel him. I checked and there he was." 

Megatron was staring, open mouthed at Mission's flicking wing nubs. 

"Congratulations, I suppose," Starscream smiled sardonically. "It's a seeker." 

Chapter Text

They sat in silence for some time, only Mission's half-hearted grumbling at the lack of entertainment would occasionally break the stillness. Starscream stroked his little wings distractedly, staring at Megatron's bowed back. He was sat on the end of the berth, hunched over, studying his hands. He hadn't spoken yet. Nor looked at him. 

If Starscream'd had a weapon to hand he could have had the perfect opportunity to drive it between Megatron's-

A little shiver ran through Mission's tiny frame, distracting Starscream from his violent fantasies. He held his sparkling closer and cooed to him softly, lifting the corner of Megatron's berth sheets to lay it across his sparkling's back. The heavy fabric smelt distinctly like Megatron; unpolished armour and gun-oil. It wasn't ...unpleasant, but it brought back memories -embarrassing memories from what felt like a lifetime ago. When he had been so reckless and naive. 

He checked to be sure Megatron wasn't looking when he ducked his head to smell them. 

"I don't believe you," Megatron suddenly spoke.

Starscream jumped, dropping the sheets. Mission squeaked a protest at being cold again. Starscream scrambled to gather them up again. "You what?"

Megatron lifted his helm and titled it towards him, optic narrowed. "He's not my son."

Starscream swallowed, adjusting the sheets over Mission's wings. He shouldn't care- he didn't care. Megatron could believe what he liked. "Fine. He's not. So you can let us be on our way-"

"If he was mine," Megatron interrupted, rasping voice picking up and drowning out Starscream's. "You would have told me the moment you knew." 

Starscream glared at him. 

Megatron fixed him with a harsher look, "You wouldn't have run, if he were mine. You wouldn't have had any reason to." 

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Starscream felt his jaw tighten. 

Megatron rose from the berth slowly, standing at his full height. He looked down his crooked nose at Starscream like he was something to be pitied, like Mission was something to pitied. "I would have given you everything, given him everything-"

Starscream looked aside, "You say that-"

"I say that because it is true," Megatron said with such ferocity Starscream's tank twisted. "And I know you know that-"

"So Mission can't possibly be yours because in your deluded mind you think you're made of such impeccable siring material, any sparkling would be lucky to be raised by you? Is that it?" Starscream snapped. 

Mission squirmed and whined, his face scrunching up at his creator's harsh tone. Starscream bounced him distractedly, furious at Megatron and frustrated that he couldn't just scream at him with Mission in the room. The big brute was looking down at Mission with a pathetically forlorn expression as the sparkling started to hiccup. 

"Now you've made him cry," Starscream hissed. 

Megatron's brow lifted, "I have?"

"You drive me insane," Starscream snarled, dodging Mission's clumsily little hands as they tried to grab at his face to stop him pulling such upsetting expressions. "You drive me to this. This is why I left-"

"You left because you were sparked," Megatron reminded him unhappily. 

"I left because you sparked me up," Starscream argued. "You. You did. And you know what I realised that meant?! That I'd never be rid of you! But it looks like it doesn't even matter if I've had your sparkling, you're so possessive and selfish and pompous you're never going to let either of us go anyway. Are you?!"

Megatron stared. 

"Are you?!" Starscream roared. 

Mission burst into tears, wailing with dramatic abandon as he pushed at Starscream's chin.

"Oh, stop it, Mission!" Starscream cried, hoisting him up and resting him against his shoulder. He glared past his sparkling's little wings at Megatron, whose frown was now almost comedically exaggerated. 

He scoffed and looked away, focusing on trying to soothe his sparkling. 

The berth dipped behind him. Megatron had sat on the other side. Starscream's shoulders hunched towards his audials as a large presence drew closer to his wings. 

"So," Megatron began. "This is about hating me-"

"You put a bounty on my head," Starscream growled. 

"I didn't know you were sparked," Megatron stressed. "Which is your own fa-"

"Don't you dare say this is my fault!" Starscream twisted round and came face-to-face with him. Dangerously close. He had to shuffle away. "You- you are the one who sparked me in the first place."

"Debatable," Megatron dismissed, lifting a hand and extending a big finger towards Mission, wriggling it enticingly as the sparkling's sobs continued. 

"It takes stalking to another level," Starscream muttered, watching Mission's sobs soften to sniffles as he grabbed at Megatron's finger. "And such a high bounty too, I was almost flattered-"

"Hm," Megatron clearly wasn't listening. Mission had hold of his finger and was squealing with laughter when it kept escaping his grasp to tickle him under the chin. Megatron was starting to smile. 

"Stop that," Starscream breathed, pushing Megatron away from Mission, his spark aching dreadfully. 

Megatron's smile melted when he looked at Starscream. "I thought he was mine?"

"He's more mine than he is yours," Starscream hissed, even as Mission betrayed him by whining and reaching for his sire. "You're a stranger to him."

"I imagine everyone is a stranger at this age," Megatron replied flippantly, and ignored Starscream's demands by extending that finger again. Mission dissolved into peals of laughter as he was tickled again, kicking his legs against Starscream's chest in his excitement. 

Starscream winced at the battering, his frame still sensitive.

The berth creaked. Megatron leaned over, "Your injuries-"

"I'm fine-" Starscream twisted away to keep Mission out of reach.

But Megatron very firmly turned him by the shoulder. It was hard to keep him from taking Mission when the sparkling so obviously wanted to be with him. He scowled. Typical. That horrible little traitor would be calling him 'sire' in no time. This is what he had feared. 

Megatron sat at the head of the berth with Mission cradled in his left arm. He reached into his subspace and pulled out a bright blue plushy. Starscream recognised it as one of Mission's soft toys. Mission did too, little arms lifting eagerly to receive it. Megatron didn't hand it over, wriggling it just out of reach until Mission squeaked angrily. 

"Impatient, demanding," Megatron murmured, handing it over so Mission could shove a well-chewed ear into his mouth. "Now, who does that sound like?"

"You," Starscream snapped, folding his arms. "Enough of this dancing around each other. What do you want with us?"

"A coding test," Megatron didn't take his optics off Mission gnawing on his toy, "When this little one is old enough. Then I will know for sure."

"That won't be for weeks, months," Starscream argued, feeling his panic rising. "You're not going to keep me locked up until-"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to let you go free." 

Starscream swallowed, fear rising at the possibility of this becoming something more permanent. "If ...If you've ever cared for me-"

"I do," Megatron cut across, lifting his gaze. His optics were dark and serious. "In fact, I have a vested interested in you, Starscream. You were my second in command, after all. And my lover."

Starscream scoffed, "One night does not-"

"Out of respect for that 'one night', and for your condition as a new carrier, I won't send you back to the brig. You'll remain here."

"I'd rather be in the brig," Starscream growled. 

"It's not your choice to make." 

"I can't stay in here with you, not for weeks!" 

"Don't be so dramatic, Starscream, I won't be here half the time." Megatron had the audacity to roll his optics. "I have a warship to oversee-"

"It's the other half of your time I'm concerned about," Starscream muttered, feeling heat rush up his neck. 

Megatron knew -he had to know- what this situation would lead to. He must be planning on it. He was obviously still pathetically enamoured and Starscream's frame was still saturated into post-emergence chemical imbalances that were, quite frankly, harassing him with these... urges. And Megatron really expected them to share a room? A berth? 

"I'm not going to frag you." 

Megatron released a weary ventilation, hand cupping Mission's head, "Language, really-"

"He's heard worse."

"Why am I not surprised," Megatron sat up and readjusted Mission so to hand him back. "I'm sure he needs fuelling, I'll have someone bring you cubes-"

"He needs low grade," Starscream refused to meet Megatron's gaze as they negotiated Mission between them. He could feel heat blooming in his face and under his armour, and he was sure Megatron could sense it too. "And more of it than you'd think. He's a purging machine- half of it comes back up." 

Megatron made a low, warm noise in the back of his throat. Starscream looked up, startled to see Megatron smiling at him. At him, not the sparkling. 

"What?" 

"Creatorhood suits you." 

Starscream narrowed his optics, "The thought of me being puked on pleases you that much, does it?" 

Megatron rose from the berth, but leaned around Starscream to stroke one of Mission's wings between two fingers. As he withdrew  he paused with his mouth by Starscream's audial, "Behave yourselves." 

Starscream managed to delay his full body shudder until after the door clicked shut behind Megatron. 

"You see," he lifted Mission to eye-level. "You see what he does to me?"

Mission blinked, still mouthing at his toy's ear. 

"Some interfacing-deterrent you turned out to be," he muttered, bringing back down to his chest. 

Hook dropped by an hour later, bringing with him cubes of low-grade and an incredibly awkward vibe. Starscream tried to focus on fuelling Mission, but it was hard to concentrate when Hook was so obviously trying to peak at his frame like some sort of loitering pervert. 

"What?!" He finally demanded. 

Hook lifted his hands and took a step back, "I just want to make sure my hard work isn't going to waste." 

"What are you talking about?" Starscream glared, lowering the cube for Mission to drink from it again. He had to be careful. The greedy little moron drank as much as he could, as fast as he could, and if Starscream took his optic off the ball-

"I only just reset those callipers and any vigorous activity can pop them loose again-"

"Vigorous...?" Starscream stared at him. "I'm a prisoner, and you think I'm clanging him?!"

"It's not exactly out of character," Hook pointed at Mission, who had been gulping down fuel like a starving combiner. 

Starscream cursed and lifted the cube away, but it was too late. Mission squirmed in discomfort, little face twisting into a green-tinged frown, right before the fuel he'd guzzled came right back up again. 

"Urgh!" Starscream held him away and sneered at the unpleasantly sticky mess dripping down his front. It was something he still wasn't used to. He hoped he never would be.

"You are lucky you're my son," he told the sparkling dangerously. Mission swung his dangling legs playfully, unbothered by his tone.  

Hook was absolutely no help, citing some nonsense excuse that as the chief medic aboard the ship, his servos needed to remain sanitary, before slipping out through the doors and leaving Starscream to deal with the mess he had caused. 

None of the regurgitated energon had gone onto the berth (thankfully), because although Starscream had spitefully considered letting Mission purge on Megatron's pillow, it was obvious he would be sharing this berth for the foreseeable future too. He would have argued his right to just recharge on the floor, but his repairs were still fresh and achy, and Megatron was unlikely to let him anyway. 

And the bastard had had no qualms about handcuffing him to the berth before. 

Maybe he could make Megatron recharge on the floor? Then he'd have the perfect opportunity to 'accidentally' step on him in the night. 

But that seemed unlikely. 

He sighed, setting Mission down on the berth so he could start cleaning himself up. Megatron's desk was locked, so were most of the storage crates lining the bulkheads, and the wash racks were sealed. He found an old cleaning rag under the berth, a little dusty and strained grey from use, but it would do for wiping off sparkling puke. It wouldn't be the lowest he'd sunk to after the last few months. 

"Don't wander off," he called to Mission when he spotted the sparkling making this awkward shuffling crawl towards the edge of the berth. He was ignored, and had to stop what he was doing to reach across the berth and grab an ankle, drag him back. 

Mission made an angry noise in protest, waving an arm at the door where he'd last seen his sire. 

"So it begins," Starscream muttered darkly. "You're just infatuated," he told Mission, hoping to save him from the same disappointments in life he'd suffered. "Believe me, I've been there-"

The lock on Megatron's door disengaged as he was speaking, slipping open smoothly on it's track. Starscream straightened up with a sudden jab of dread. He couldn't be back so soon-

He wasn't. 

Skywarp leaned into view, casually propping a shoulder against the open doorway and flashing him that same mischievous brand of smirk that never had, and never would, change, "Been where, Screamer?"

Starscream swallowed down a sudden rush of relief at the sight of his trine- his family. There was every chance they were as disgruntled with him as Megatron was. He had deserted them just as he had the Decepticons. 

He was also still covered in Mission's rejected meal. It was far from the dignified reunion he had hoped to one day have with them. The sight of Skywarp's gleaming armour only reminded him of his own dullness. 

His wings dipped with shame, but before he could find the words to try and save face, Skywarp was knocked aside. 

"Ow-!" Skywarp rubbed at his arm after Thundercracker barged past him to make a beeline for Megatron's berth. For him. 

Starscream blinked in shock, scrambling to draw Mission closer and get him out of the firing line, unsure if he was being attacked-

"Hey," Thundercracker breathed softly, field saturated with relief and longing and Starscream couldn't figure out how to react when his trine-mate was suddenly on the berth and pulling him into a firm but careful embrace. "Hey." 

Starscream just stared over Thundercracker's shoulder, his nose pressed to his trine-mate's collar. He could smell the mild fragrance of his polish. His arms twitched as a part of him wanted to hug back. But he didn't. 

Despite the comforting warmth of Thundercracker's hold and the unspoken declaration that came with it -that they were still trine and still his- Skywarp re-sealed the door behind them. And locked it. 

So they weren't here to rescue him. 

"I told you he'd be fine," Skywarp complained. 

"We thought you were in the brig," Thundercracker breathed into Starscream's audial, still clinging to him. "Or we would have come sooner." 

"I was," Starscream's managed. "But our- your magnanimous leader saw fit to upgrade my accommodations." 

Thundercracker drew back then, taking him by the shoulders and holding him at arms length, taking him in, sticky armour and all. 

"What happened?" He demanded with a little shake of insistence. "What's going on? You have a sparkling-!"

"Megatron's sparkling," Skywarp piped up, kneeling next to the berth and trying to coax Mission out from between Starscream and Thundercracker's frames, were he sat nestled between two cockpits. 

"Yeah, when did that happen?" Thundercracker fixed him with a seriously disapproving frown. "Did you know you were sparked when you left? We could have-"

"What?" Starscream snapped, shoving Thundercracker's hands off him, unable to bear the false concern any longer. "Could have what, Thundercracker? Come with me?!"

"Well, yeah, duh," Skywarp scoffed from the sidelines. 

Starscream looked away sharply, "Well, I didn't want company."

"It looks like you could have used it," Thundercracker cleared his vocaliser and soldiered on as if his feelings hadn't been hurt. "You're a mess."

Starscream's helm throbbed with an oncoming processor ache, "Thank. You. I hadn't realised." 

"Let's just clean you up," Thundercracker was already pulling cleaning supplies out of his subspace and fussing over him like a grandmother. Mission grabbed one of the unattended cleaning cloths and dragged it into his mouth. Starscream tutted and tugged it loose, but Mission squealed like not being allowed to eat fabric was some kind of assault on his person. 

"Let's go to Uncle Skywarp," Thundercracker suggested, lifting Mission by the underarms and passing him over. 

Starscream went to stop him -because Skywarp and a sparkling was possibly the worst combination he'd ever heard of- but his trine-mate took Mission's squirming frame with ease, crooning to him with uncharacteristic affection. 

"Hello again, handsome," he cooed.

"His name is Mission," Starscream said distantly, watching Skywarp bring Mission out of his mood with just a handful of bounces. 

"Hi, Mish," Skywarp bopped the sparkling on his nose, prompting an indignant grumble. "Who's a handsome little guy, huh? Who looks like his gorgeous uncles?" 

"He looks like you," Thundercracker told Starscream quietly, nudging him backwards so he could clean into his armour seams. 

"I always thought he looked like Megatron," Starscream admitted. 

The ease of the scene in front of him made something ache at his core. He hadn't involved his trine in his mess because he had feared it would have complicated things. That they would have slowed him down. That they would have betrayed him in the end, as 'friends' always inevitably do. 

Hypotheticals were pointless. He had made his choices and they had eventually brought him back here anyway. There was no escaping Megatron, and he doubted his trine's presence would have made that much difference in the end. 

Starscream's chrono had been taken offline, so he didn't know how long it had been. In the absence of anymore armour to clean, Thundercracker had taken to running his servos over Starscream's chassis, massaging away the aches and pains. Starscream may even have been dozing -for the ffirst time since Mission had emerged. He hadn't realised how much recharge he had to catch up on. 

But the peace couldn't last forever.

The door beeped and swept open. Starscream's optics snapped online and he grabbed at Thundercracker's hand out of instinct as Megatron's towering frame stomped into view, then came to an abrupt stop at the unexpected presence of two additional seekers lounging about his private room.

Megatron's surprise was short lived. It wasn't long before it morphed into irritation. 

Skywarp and Thundercracker stood their ground, but said nothing. Tense silence ticked on. Starscream almost felt like shrinking behind Thundercracker, sensing Megatron's mood darken as no explanation was given. 

"You're dismissed," Megatron said after a lengthy pause, stepping towards Skywarp in order to take Mission. 

Skywarp stepped back with a shake of his head. "Uh, actually-" he began. 

"Sir," Thundercracker drew away from Starscream and stood up to address his superior more respectfully. "As Starscream's trine, we feel it would be more appropriate to hold him and his sparkling within his former quarters, with us."  

Starscream snapped his head towards him in surprise. 

Megatron fingers flexed in and out of fists, "He is a prisoner-"

"Then shouldn't he be in the brig?" Thundercracker challenged. 

Starscream swallowed thickly, watching Megatron's gaze narrow with impatience. "He will remain here, where I can keep a close optic on him." 

"Then so will we," Thundercracker folded his arms and tipped his chin up. "He's just had a sparkling. It's our right, as trine, to bond with our new addition." 

It wasn't strictly a 'right', and Megatron would have known that if he'd ever bothered to learn anything about seekers other than how fast they can fly or how dense their combat armour was. But he didn't. And he couldn't continue to claim that his choice to keep Starscream out of the brig and in his room was strictly for the welfare of the sparkling if he was then going to tear a newly reunited trine apart. 

Starscream felt that ache in his chest grow into something unbearable. It was guilt. 

Megatron's jaw worked like he was trying to think up a new argument, but it was obvious he had nothing.

He exhaled harshly. "...He is not leaving this room," he repeated. 

"Cool," Skywarp smiled, setting himself down on Megatron's berth and swinging his legs up to make himself comfortable, Mission sat in his lap. "I guess you're taking the couch then?" 

Chapter Text

Megatron couldn't recharge. 

Partly because he'd been shafted from his own berth and was squashed onto the small couch in the corner of his quarters, but primarily, the fault lay with the soft but maddeningly distracting sound of three (three-and-a-half, if he wanted to be technical) seekers snoozing and sighing and snoring in his sheets. 

Thundercracker and Skywarp had all but sunk their claws into their prodigal trine-mate and had made it clear nothing short of violence was going to separate them at this point, which was going to make Megatron's own 'attempts' at reconciling with Starscream all the harder. He couldn't very well bully answers and apologies out of the blasted seeker in front of the overprotective trine when Starscream was making such an exceptional effort to look as pathetic as possible. 

He had hoped, all those hours ago when the confirmation had first come through that the seeker had been caught, that this day would have been a tad more satisfying than this. 

Someone stirred and the insulation sheets rustled. Half hoping it was Starscream rousing, Megatron sat up, keen optics watching the lumps beneath the covers shift and settle. Then nothing. 

He slumped down again, folding his arms across his chest sulkily. 

He was being too gentle, he thought to himself aggressively. He'd let that damn sparkling soften his resolve. If he'd had any sense he would have ordered the trine's removal, left the sparkling with Soundwave, and thrown Starscream in the brig where he belonged for a few days until the idea of bunking with him had looked positively appealing. 

Someone stirred again, and the covers slipped down to reveal a wing. The shape in the darkness was distinct enough for him to recognise it. Starscream's.

Megatron grappled with his temper. Under any other circumstances he would have had Starscream interrogated, his memory banks searched until every second of the seeker's absence was accounted for. Until every idiotic little thought that had passed through his tiny processor was laid out for Megatron to inspect and interpret for himself. 

He should do it now, he thought, sitting up, his jaw clenched and his chest tight. Rip the covers away and drag Starscream out by his wing and-

A soft, meek cry rose from the berth. The sparkling. 

The sound pulled on Megatron's spark. He'd barely put one pede on the floor when the sheets rustled again as Starscream sat up, shushing and crooning. 

The trine, oddly enough, weren't disturbed by the noise. They slept on. Skywarp snored loudly. 

"What's wrong?" Megatron called. 

Starscream jumped, optics darting to Megatron's position with a soft curse. "...Nothing. None of your concern."

Megatron was already rising from the couch and approaching the berth. Starscream's optics widened and darted towards his trine, like he was thinking of waking them. 

"Don't let hiding behind your trine's wings become a habit, now," Megatron murmured lightly, stopping two steps from the berth with his hands on his hips. 

Starscream's optics narrowed. In his arms, Mission was pulling at his neck cabling like he wanted something. "Hiding?" He scoffed quietly, "Like I'd have any reason to hide from you."

He threw the covers aside and carefully swivelled around to bring his legs down. Mission made increasingly insistent noises as he pulled on him. "Alright, alright," Starscream winced as he made to step down. "I'm getting it-"

"What does he want?" Megatron stared at the back of the sparkling's little head, every whine and hitch of vents tugging on something deep within his spark. 

"He's hungry," Starscream explained, and scowled when Megatron then turned to grab a pre-prepared cube from the desk. "No, I'll get it-!"

Megatron ignored his protest, snatching it up and holding it out for him. With an optic roll, Starscream took it, adjusting Mission to cradle him in the crook of his arm so he could fuel him from the cube. 

"You never fuel him from your lines." Megatron didn't step away, titling his head curiously. 

Starscream paused with the cube an inch from Mission's mouth. He lifted his head to glare at him. Mission whined impatiently, tiny hands trying to get the cube back.

"Since you've decided he's not your sparkling, that's not really your concern, is it?"

"There are proven benefits when a parent supplies a new-spark's fuel themselves-"

"Well I couldn't always get the best quality fuel, so I wasn't going to share the sludge I was drinking with him," Starscream whispered harshly, refocusing on fuelling Mission to soften his whining. 

"That's why your frame filters the impurities out before the sparkling consumes it," Megatron reminded him softly, not buying that excuse. "Sparklings in Tarn were always strong, healthy, because they drank from their creators, and not from the dispensaries." 

"Well I'm not from Tarn and neither is my sparkling," Starscream muttered. "This is more convenient." 

"Convenient?" Megatron repeated. "Why, your decision wouldn't have anything to do with your proclivity for high-grade, would it?" 

Starscream went stiff. Mission continued to fuel from his cube, oblivious, as his creator lifted his head to meet Megatron's gaze, optics glowing with indignation. "How. Dare. You." 

"Your sparkling is small and sickly. If you had had him here, under the supervision of medics and-"

"And who?You?" Starscream hissed furiously, always so quick to be offended, his voice only just quiet enough to keep from waking his trine. "If you're that desperate for this sparkling to be fuelled naturally, why don't you do it!" 

Megatron scowled, "I'm not-"

"-not the sire? So I've heard," Starscream sneered at him in disgust. Mission had finished his cube now, so Starscream shoved the empty cube at Megatron. "But thank Primus I have you around anyway to tell me what a terrible job I've been doing." 

Megatron had the sudden inspired thought that perhaps instead of criticising Starscream's parenting (however good his intentions in doing so may be) perhaps a better way to re-ingratiate himself with this stubborn, miserable, undeserving seeker might be to placate him instead. He opened his mouth, and was just muddling through the phrasing of how he wanted to say that Starscream obviously hadn't been doing that bad a job because the sparkling was still alive at least, when Soundwave's frequency pinged his comm. 

He shut his mouth with a frown. 

Starscream shook his helm and huffily turned over, tucking his sparkling back in between his and a drooling Skywarp's cockpit. 

"I am required elsewhere," Megatron said, and to the hope he saw gleaming in Starscream's optics at the prospect of his absence, he added, "There are guards posted outside this door. And their weapons are not set to stun." 

Starscream let his head thump into the pillows, "Let's hope they can keep hold of those blasters then." 

Megatron considered letting him have that little 'joke'; it was late, it had been a difficult day, the sparkling was fussing, and his repairs undoubtably still ached. But Megatron would not be tolerating any escape attempts, and the seeker ought to know how serious he was. 

He leant close, until Starscream went stiff and shrank away. "I am allowing you to keep your sparkling, for the little one's sake. But I don't have to let you keep your wings. You won't get far without them." 

Starscream said nothing. His optics had shuttered closed. 

Satisfied, Megatron straightened up, leaving the seeker to think about his choices. 

Soundwave was waiting for him in the corridor. His visor lingered on the door after Megatron stepped through. 

"What?" Megatron snapped, waving him onwards and out of audio-range of the Combaticons watching the door. 

"...Air barracks; short on bunks?" Soundwave enquired diplomatically. 

Ah, he must have sensed the additional presence of Thundercracker and Skywarp within the room. The last thing Megatron needed was gossip about a full trine spending the night in his berth making it's way around the ship. He exhaled heavily. "They are keeping an optic on him," He growled. "So let's make this quick. What have you found?"

Soundwave removed a data-pad from his subspace and offered it to Megatron. Megatron took it, switching it on as Soundwave spoke. "Navigational computer logs; intact. Starscream's whereabouts for the full duration of his absence are now accounted for." 

Satisfaction curled through Megatron. Finally, some good news. He scrolled through the listed flight log coordinates, some codes he recognised; spaceports, moon colonies, unregulated systems ...a medical centre. His spark twinged as he read that last one. 

"Dispatch a unit to the medical centre," he ordered. "I want Starscream's records forwarded here." 

Soundwave gave a short nod. "There is one additional item of note, Lord Megatron," Soundwave reached over and scrolled further down the data-pad, till his digit rested atop a highlighted list of glyphs. It was another ship's identification code, logged when it would have docked with Starscream's freighter. 

"Lockdown." Soundwave stated. 

"Lockdown?" Megatron echoed, glancing at the timestamp. Four months ago, well after he had broadcasted Starscream's bounty. 

His grip on the data-pad tightened. He dragged his thumb up to continue down the list, only to see Lockdown's ship highlighted again. Three months ago this time. And then again, from a month ago. 

The last one was dated two weeks back, around the time Starscream would have gone into an emergence. 

"One would wonder," Megatron began darkly. "Why Lockdown would willingly forgo a million credit bounty, all for Starscream's sake?" 

Soundwave said nothing. He didn't need to.

Lockdown, like all bounty hunters, was driven by greed, but Starscream wouldn't have been living in that death-trap of a freighter if he'd had shanix to splash. There was no way he had the funds to pay Lockdown to look the other way. At least, not with material wealth. 

"Summon him," Megatron handed the data-pad back before he ended up snapping it in two. "Lure him here with the promise of work, have him dock with the Nemesis, and then deal with him as we would anyone foolhardy enough to fraternise with traitors. Understood?"

"Affirmative." Soundwave slipped the data-pad back into his subspace but, sensing his rising temper, he decided to linger. "Query: Starscream-?"

"I will hear what Lockdown has to say for himself before I give Starscream the opportunity to spin this into one of his tall-tales," he snarled, waving his hand to dismiss Soundwave. 

But Soundwave didn't move. 

"What?!" 

"You are assuming Starscream's possible fraternisation was an act of spite," Soundwave stated. 

Megatron felt his jaw twitch, "Given the circumstances-"

"Circumstances must be taken into account, agreed." Soundwave cut him off, uncharacteristically bold. "Starscream's situation; faction-less, hunted, sparked, destitute."

"All self-inflicted," Megatron growled through his denta, annoyed that Soundwave was even attempting to drum up sympathy for that lying, faithless, immoral little-

"Lockdown's situation; comfortable," Soundwave reminded him, "He is known to be ...opportunistic." 

Megatron didn't have to think about it for long before an entirely new sort of rage threatened to build in him.  

"No," he shook his helm, trying to refuse that idea altogether. Starscream was resourceful and slippery and stubborn, but he wasn't so prideful as to allow- as to let himself be coerced into- 

"He would have come home," he argued. "He would have come back if he..." 

Soundwave lowered his gaze. 

Megatron's anger returned with whiplike speed. "Do you know?" He demanded, advancing a step. To Soundwave's credit, he did not retreat. "Can you sense this from him?!" 

"Starscream's mental state is reflective of someone expecting an assault of this nature," Soundwave admitted. 

"Expecting? Here?! But I have never-?" Megatron stopped. If Soundwave's assumptions were true, and Starscream's experiences as a deserter had involved allowing himself to be routinely assaulted as a means to keep himself and his sparkling 'safe', then him having the seeker dragged into his private quarters and tied to his berth must have felt like history repeating itself. 

His tanks rolled unpleasantly. He took a slightly unbalanced step back from Soundwave. "Lockdown," he said again. "Before the end of the next cycle. I don't care what it takes."

"Affirmative, Lord Megatron," Soundwave agreed, nodding once and turning on his heel. 

Megatron watched him disappear into the depths of the ship before turning back to his own quarters. Blast Off and Vortex were still stood at attention either side of his door, and it seemed no escape attempts had yet been made. 

He ached to set things right. He wanted to shake Starscream awake and look him over, search his features for any sign that what Soundwave had said might not be true. He found himself in the rare position of hoping that Starscream's relationship with Lockdown had been an act of spite and not something he'd had no choice but to entertain.

And more than that, he wanted to make promises of fire and vengeance and torture, wanted Starscream to know that this would not go unpunished, but...

He stepped away from the door. 

"Sir?" Blastoff enquired. 

Megatron waved them off, turning his back, "Hold your positions. I am needed elsewhere tonight." 

He'd recharge in his office, if he could. He'd terrorised Starscream enough for one night. 

Starscream watched the door, but Megatron didn't return. Slowly, minute by minute, he allowed himself to relax. 

"Hey," Starscream tore his gaze from the door. Across the same pillow as him, Skywarp's optics were lit and staring. "You recharged yet?" 

Starscream said nothing, rolling into his back to stare at the ceiling instead. He heard Slywarp mutter something vaguely insulting about being ignored before the berth began to shake with his movements.

Starscream glanced down. "What are you doing?" 

Skywarp was lifting Mission's recharging form out from between them. "Getting this out the way."

"That is my sparkling," Starscream began to sit up, watching as Skywarp nudged Thundercracker something close to wakefulness to hand the sparkling over. 

"Don't wanna squash him," Skywarp explained, watching Thundercracker sleepily accept his charge before rolling back onto his side and wriggling closer. "C'mere."

Starscream slapped his hands away, "What- no! What are you-!"

But Skywarp was heavier, as though Starscream loathed to admit it, stronger too. With no respect for personal space, he wrapped arms around Starscream's middle and threaded their legs together. He was warm and familiar and typically Skywarp about it, squeezing a wing in such a way it'd have been inappropriate if he'd been anyone but trine. 

Starscream didn't want to fight him off -his repairs were tender and he'd need them to hold if he was going to make any escape attempts- but he stiffened, uncomfortable with the close sort of physicality that he had now come to associate with something far less platonic, and much less enjoyable. Skywarp set his chin atop Starscream's head and made a contented noise. He smelt like Thundercracker's polish. Starscream breathed it in, lifting his hands and slipping his fingers into the seams of Skywarp's chest armour. 

"Get me out of here," he whispered. 

"We're not gonna let him keep you in here," Skywarp promised, his optics shuttered like he was planning to fall back into recharge. "You and the little squirt can stay with us-"

"No," Starscream's fingers flexed. "Here. This ship. I can't stay. We can't stay, Mission and I."

Skywarp's arms tightened. It took him longer to respond this time, and when he did, he was quieter, "You can't leave, Screamer." 

"He's going to take him," Starscream tried to explain. "Megatron, he'll take my sparkling and make him his, and he won't just stop at Mission."

"What are you talking about?" Skywarp sounded confused. 

"Sparklings aren't easy to come by!" Starscream snapped harshly. "He's going to come to terms with sirehood eventually, and once he realises our coding is compatible, that I produce even remotely healthy offspring, he's going to want more-"

"Then say 'no'," Skywarp sounded impatient. "Megatron's not going to make you have more sparklings."

"You don't know that for sure," Starscream said into his trine-mate's collar. "He brought me here, didn't he? To his quarters." 

Skywarp was silent for a long while. 

"Megatron wouldn't do that." He said finally, but Skywarp had always had a little too much faith in their leader. "He might like you, but he still has self-control-"

"'Might like me'," Starscream echoed, scoffing. "So juvenile-"

"Why'd you leave anyway?" Skywarp leaned back to look at him. "For real?"

"I was sparked," Starscream reminded him of the obvious. 

"I know, dumbaft, but that didn't mean you had to leave," he squinted at him for a while. "...You like him too, huh?" 

"What?!" 

"Yeah," Skywarp was smiling now. "You really like him. That why you're worried about him wanting more sparklings? Cuz you know you'll cave and give him half-a-dozen cute little seekers with his big head and your ugly face?" 

Starscream managed to extract an arm from between them and shoved his palm into Skywarp's grinning face, sick of looking at it. "I'm going to recharge!" He hissed, awkwardly rolling away to face the other direction. 

Skywarp just wriggled his way between his wings, arms locked around his cockpit to spoon him from behind. "I missed you, you know."  

"...I know," Starscream whispered. 

"Do anything like this again and I'll teleport you aboard the Peaceful Tyranny and lock you in Tarn's rooms myself." 

Starscream felt a smile pull at his mouth, "You'd have to catch me first." 

Skywarp vents puffed air against the back of his neck as he laughed, and finally, Starscream felt safe enough to sleep. 

Chapter Text

Megatron woke to the sound of his comm pinging and the sensation of something digging into his facial derma. With a groan he onlined his optics, and found himself strewn across his own desk, a glitching data-pad pressed beneath his cheek. He pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked his optics back into focus, begrudgingly answering Soundwave's hail. 

"What?" He demanded, feeling weary and despondent. 

"Target inbound," Soundwave responded. "Permission to engage?" 

Ah yes, Lockdown. 

"Leave him conscious. I will see to him shortly," Megatron disengaged the comm-line and pushed himself upright, stretching out stiff cabling. 

He dragged the data-pad back to him, giving it a shake and a light smack, until the glitching screen resettled into something readable. 

There was a heavy feeling in the pit of his tank. He had woken up with it. It took him a moment to place where it was from, but it became obvious when he saw what it was he had fallen into recharge reading the night before; records from the medical centre where Starscream had been treated after the emergence had taken place. 

'Pre-mature emergence', it read, 'chemical deficiencies found within both creator and offspring', among several other unpleasant damages Starscream had sustained getting the bitlet out of him. 

Megatron stroked a thumb across the screen next to the sparkling's medical data. Only the 'Sire' had been left blank. The medical staff had managed to fill in the rest using just the coding sample they were able to take from the sparkling. Cybertronian. Frame-type: Seeker- 76%, Tank- 23%. Coding origin: Tarnish CB, Vosian CB. Estimated date of conception; XXIII -XXVII Galactic Standard. 

Megatron had obsessed over the night Starscream had left enough times to remember what the cursed date had been. It seemed fate was determined to corner him into sirehood.  

There was every possibility Starscream had forged these records, but seeing as they also reported the seeker as berth-ridden and unconscious for the duration of his week-long stay at the medical centre, it felt unlikely. 

Megatron had been sat musing over the data-pad for longer than he'd realised. Soundwave sent a ping to his comm before long. They had their prisoner. Megatron subspaced his data-pad as he get up, not yet done agonising over the information it held. 

There had been a duty shift change, and now Rumble and Frenzy -of all mechs- were stood guard outside the door to his quarters. Megatron had to resist the urge to roll his optics. Competent warriors though they were, he'd seen them dispatched with little more than a swift kick, and this was Starscream they were guarding; a self professed expert at 'punting cassettes'. 

"All quiet, Boss," Rumble gave him a smirk and thumbs up. "Guess creator-hood mellowed him out, huh?"

Megatron knew the lack of dramatic escape attempts during the night were down to Starscream's utter exhaustion, rather than any lack of will or improved agreeability. He grunted, unwilling to comment on it as he reached for the door panel. 

"Can we see him?" Frenzy asked, he and his brother sidling up and appearing at Megatron's pedes. 

"Starscream?" Megatron frowned. 

"The sparkling," Rumble said impatiently. 

"Does he look like Screamer?" 

"No, does he sound like Screamer?" Rumble snickered. 

"Return to your post." Megatron reminded them, stern enough that the twins, for once, obeyed an order without him having to repeat it a dozen times. Without them chattering at his heels, Megatron was able to slip into his quarters with little to no disturbance. Which was a wise choice. Starscream was still recharging. 

His trine were not. 

They looked up at his entrance; Thundercracker pacing the room with the sparkling in hand, Skywarp whipping his hand out of the desk drawer he'd been rifling through. Megatron heaved a great sigh, but they weren't where his concerns lay. 

Thundercracker, bouncing Mission in what Megatron assumed was an attempt to coax the sparkling back to sleep, moved quickly to place himself in front of the berth. On it, Starscream was curled up and nestled deep beneath the sheets, the tip of just one wing visible. 

"...Let him recharge," Thundercracker whispered, features Megatron was so used to seeing blank with apathy, were wrought with stress. "Please." 

The sight of Starscream, lying asleep and unguarded in his berth, brought back memories fond enough Megatron almost agreed to returning later. But no, they'd tiptoed around this long enough. It was happening now. 

Megatron brushed past Thundercracker and grabbed the end of the berth sheet, sweeping it away with one firm yank. Exposed to the chill of the room, Starscream jolted awake, optics hazy with sleep and claws scrambling for covers no longer in reach. 

When he saw Megatron, understanding dawned. 

"Back already?" He sneered. 

Megatron threw the sheets on the ground and pointed Starscream's trine-mates to the door. "Take the sparkling to Soundwave," he ordered them. "And only Soundwave. See that he keeps the little one out the cassettes' reach-"

"No," Starscream threw himself off the berth in anger, stifling a wince when he jostled his repairs, "You're not turfing my sparkling off on-"

"This won't be something you want your sparkling to bear witness too," Megatron cut him off, serious and stern. 

Starscream's dark face paled. He stepped back fearfully, wings flopping. 

"Hey!" Skywarp began, his own wings shooting high in a threat display. 

Megatron onlined his cannon, not lifting it, but letting the sound of it's hum fill the room in warning. Skywarp stopped dead. "Take the sparkling," Megatron repeated. 

Skywarp swallowed, looking forlornly over at Starscream. Megatron found it intriguing, how trine-bonds worked. For millennia he had watched his Elite Trine bicker and fight and hate each other with every fibre of their being, and yet... 

"He'll be fine," Megatron grit out, growing impatient. 

Starscream looked away from Skywarp, and it seemed like some wordless sort of permission. The trine hung their helms and shuffled towards the door, the sparkling now wide awake from all the excitement and staring intently at Megatron over Thundercracker's shoulder. He emitted a curious little squeak before the doors sealed behind them. If Megatron hadn't known better, he could have sworn Starscream's bottom lip had trembled. 

He offlined the cannon. 

"Going to kill me with your bare hands then?" Starscream looked between him and the cannon, squaring his shoulders. 

Megatron took a long, deep breath. "Do not tempt me." He pulled a pair of cuffs out of his subspace and tossed them to Starscream. "Put them on."

"So I can't fight back?"

"So won't get fair when you try to run." Megatron stood with his arms folded, and waited. 

Starscream didn't move to obey, staring him down with hate-filled optics. Megatron could almost sense his inner thoughts, debating whether to obey and get things over with, or resist and keep his pride. 

"Do you want to leave this room or not?" Megatron tried. 

It did the trick. The first cuff clicked shut as Starscream closed it over his wrist. 

The walk was fairly uneventful. Soundwave had cleared the way of any nosy Decepticons and the lack of distractions meant Starscream had little opportunity to manipulate Megatron's attention away from him. The seeker put up so much of a fuss whenever Megatron dared try to touch him, that he ended up letting Starscream walk freely, but it meant every time they turned a corridor or passed a doorway, Megatron was waiting for him to dart out of reach and sprint for the nearest airlock- cuffs and sparkling be damned. 

"Back to the cells it is, why am I not surprised," Starscream drawled when they entered the stairwell that took them down to the brig. "I suppose it's easier to keep my trine out of a cell than it is your quarters, isn't it? And if you can't have me-"

"You won't be staying," Megatron cut him off before Starscream could assume anything about his motivations, stopping outside the door to Lockdown's cell. "We're just visiting." 

"Visiting?" Starscream's brow furrowed as Megatron thumbed the security panel for the door. It pinged and swept open, and Megatron roughly nudged Starscream over the threshold before the seeker had any time to react to what was waiting inside. 

Soundwave had left Lockdown tied to a fixed, steel chair in the centre of the cell, the one they used for interrogations. He was scuffed up from an obvious tussle -a cracked optic, energon tickling from the corner of his mouth- but was otherwise uninjured. Megatron found himself disappointed that no one had thought to rip any limbs off. He had said 'conscious' not 'undamaged'.

Starscream wasn't as underwhelmed. He immediately backed up, until there was no place else to go, bumping into Megatron's chest. 

"...Star?" Lockdown winced, his expression growing more worried by the second as his optics shifted back and forth between them. "What're you...?"

"What is he doing here, you might ask?" Megatron said, placing his hands on Starscream's shoulders. They were stiff with tension but Megatron was pleased that for once, the seeker wasn't flinching away from him. Even if it was only to avoid getting closer to Lockdown. "He has come home-"

That caused a reaction. 

Starscream twisted out of his grip, stumbling away and bumping into the wall. "This isn't my home. What are you doing?!" His optics darted towards Lockdown, then back. They were pale. "Why have you dragged me down here?"

"I thought you might like to see an old friend." Megatron waved to Lockdown, who was already shaking his helm in denial.

"Hey, I ain't seen Screamer since -since long 'fore he went missing. Shame really, cus I coulda really done with cashing in on that bounty of yours." Lockdown lied, quite unconvincingly, as Megatron crossed the cell, approaching the corner Starscream had squashed himself into.

"I have your ship's logs." Megatron warned him, before he started telling lies too. "I have data from the medical centre. I know he admitted you there." 

Starscream didn't say anything. Standing in Megatron's shadow he looked small and frightened and lost. Megatron felt something shift inside him, his anger rolling towards a new target as Lockdown continued to spin his lies, and another sort of righteous heat formed in his chest, born from the need to defend, to protect. 

He held Starscream's gaze as he released the cuffs from Starscream's wrists. The seeker pulled his hands away the instant they were free. 

"What are you doing?!" He asked again, a frantic whisper.

"You were sparked," Megatron explained. "I should have protected you." 

Starscream stared up at him like he'd grown a second head. "...But I didn't-"

Megatron turned to face Lockdown again. The bounty hunter was twisting in his bonds. "You've got the wrong mech!" He shouted. "Whatever he's toldja, it's not-!"

"You brought him to the medical centre," Megatron allowed his fusion cannon to online. "For that, I should give thanks." He lifted his weapon so it was level with Lockdown's head. The hunter fell silent, staring down the barrel that was about to end his existence. "The rest, however-"

"Stop." 

Megatron froze in place at the sound of Starscream's voice, the whir of his cannon fading. He twisted to face the seeker, incredulous. Lockdown breathed a sigh of relief. 

He searched Starscream's face for an answer, his tempter beginning to rise. "Stop?" He repeated, every paranoid fear he'd ever held about Starscream being with someone else, loving someone else, rearing their ugly head. "You want to me to spare the miserable spark of your pathetic lover?"

"He's not my lover," Starscream growled, stepping away from the bulkhead and thrusting out a hand. "I want to do it."

"Starscream!" Lockdown shouted, pedes kicking against the floor now. "Don't- we had fun, Star, don't be this way-"

Megatron felt a smirk pull at his lips. 

He reached into his subspace to pull out a standard issue blaster, placing the grip in Starscream's hand without a moments hesitation, and stepped aside in permission. Starscream looked down at the blaster for a moment, expression unreadable, Lockdown's bartering-pleading-cursing going unheard. 

He flicked off the safety and raised the blaster, aiming it at Lockdown's head. 

Lockdown's mouth snapped shut. 

But at the last second possible, Starscream lowered the blaster two inches and squeezed the trigger. Megatron watched the blaster bolt shoot across the cell and nail Lockdown in the groin. The hunter lurched against his restrains with an agonised howl, smoke already rising from the scorched area. Megatron frowned, opening his mouth in surprise-

-when the blaster swung towards him. He had a spilt second to think, which just long enough for the little voice in his head to call him an idiot, before Starscream fired the blaster again, shooting him in the knee. 

Starscream turned and ran as Megatron's leg buckled from underneath him. He caught himself on all fours, hissing with pain as the wound sizzled and sparked. 

"Starscream!" He roared, rising above the pain and throwing himself after the seeker, spurred by rage and desperation. He wasn't going to lose him again. He wasn't. "Starscream, get back here!"

He flew out of the cell and saw the seeker still in the brig, not too far ahead of him, slowed by his own injuries. Megatron saw him glance back fearfully -one arm wrapped around his middle, blaster in hand- and charged after him, heavy pedefalls thundering against the decking. 

Realising that he wasn't going to outrun him, Starscream pointed the blaster at him, stumbling and tripping as he ran. This time he was aiming at Megatron's head. 

Fool. If Starscream had wanted to kill him he would have done it with the first shot. 

Starscream's expression was determined but the hand that held the blaster shook. Megatron didn't slow down for a second, and realising his gambit wasn't about to pay off, Starscream span and tried to run again, getting a whole two steps away before Megatron swept out an arm and caught him around the middle. Starscream howled as he was lifted, kicking with all his might, until Megatron had enough and slammed him against the brig's bulkhead. 

"Enough!" Megatron shouted in the seeker's pain-pinched face. 

Starscream tried to bring up the blaster. Megatron caught his wrist and slammed it against the wall. It slipped from the seeker's grip, clattering to the ground. 

"I said enough," Megatron snarled, pinning him to the bulkhead by his wrists. 

Starscream tried to surge against him, "Let me go!"

"No." 

"Let me go!" Starscream shrieked, vocaliser crackling. 

Megatron leaned most of his weight against the seeker, securing him so effectively Starscream could barely twitch. "No," he allowed his voice to soften. "Never." 

Starscream's head twisted from side to side, trying to look anywhere but at him. "You're pathetic," he said, voice hoarse. "You think that changed anything? I don't need you. I didn't need you stepping in to protect me before, and I sure as Pit don't need you now. If I want someone dead, they're dead." 

"I'm not dead," Megatron told him. 

He felt Starscream try to buck against him, his entire frame tight with unspent rage. He wasn't strong enough to break Megatron's hold, but he was giving it his all. It was ridiculous, hysterical behaviour, and he was in need of a good hard shake, something to shock some compliance back into him. But Megatron was all too aware of his delicate repairs. 

He glanced at the blaster on the decking below, wondering if he just needed an outlet that wasn't him. "...Would you like to shoot Lockdown again?"

"I'd like to shoot you again!" Starscream hissed, craning his neck so his gnashing denta were inches from Megatron's nose. 

Megatron veered back, scowling. His knee was throbbing and his patience evaporating. "I did this for you-"

"You didn't do this for me! You did this because you wanted to see what my reaction to Lockdown would be! You wanted to see if you had competition-"

"He assaulted you!" 

"He's not the only one! Are you going to track down and kill every pirate, smuggler, outlaw piece-of-slag in the galaxy who's ever dared touch me?!" 

"Yes." Megatron said, incredulous. 

Starscream faltered for a moment, but recovered quickly with the cheapest of comebacks. 

"I don't love you," He spat, spite in every syllable. 

He'd have to try better than that. Megatron squared his jaw, "I don't care." 

Starscream looked away sharply, his head bumping the bulkhead he was pinned to. His optics shuttered open and closed rapidly, like he was trying to blink something away. As close as they were, Megatron could the emotions flittering across his expression, Starscream's mask of cold indifference slipping. 

"I missed you," he said fiercely, honestly, seizing his opportunity. His hands tightened around Starscream's wrists. "I was desperate to find you." 

The channels beneath Starscream's optics looked watery. "You sent bounty hunters after me." He sucked in a ragged breath. A single tear managed to escape his optic, tracking down his cheek. "You put a price on my head!"

It probably wasn't safe to do so, but Megatron released one of Starscream's wrists to wipe the moisture away, his thumb leaving a damp streak across Starscream's dark face. The seeker didn't try to escape his grasp. "I want you home."

"I told you, this isn't a home!" Starscream's cheeks were flushed, coolant falling thick and fast now, "This is a warship. We were never going to be a family. I had to think of Mission-"

Megatron pressed his forehead to Starscream's, "Think of him now, and stay."

Starscream shuttered his optics with a scoff. "With you." He sounded disgusted. 

"And your trine," Megatron reminded him, nuzzling their heads together. Against him, he could feel the fight easing from Starscream's frame, tension leaking away. Whether it was resignation, exhaustion, or something else, Megatron couldn't tell.

"You'll need help with that sparkling," he pressed.  

Starscream was silent. Megatron released his other wrist and lowered it to his waist. The plating was warm and smooth. Now, Starscream seemed to be leaning on him. 

"He is yours," Starscream said eventually. 

"I know," Megatron ignored the jump of his spark in admitting it, acknowledging that he was a sire, that he had been a beast of denial over such an obvious truth. "I know he is." 

Starscream swallowed thickly. His hands felt a little shaky where they fallen to rest against Megatron's abdominal armour. 

"I'm not making more," he grumbled resentfully, letting his helm drop to Megatron's shoulder.  

Megatron brought his arms around him, relishing the opportunity to hold him. He had no idea where Starscream was getting the impression that he wanted endless sparklings out of him. They were neither a couple, nor sleeping together, so it was unlikely such a thing would even come about in the first place. Unless, of course, Starscream was open to the idea of being pursued romantically, in which case...

Megatron shifted his footing, forcing himself to keep his hold light, his hands on Starscream's back still. "...Shall I have Lockdown killed?" He offered. 

"No," Starscream's voice was muffled by his shoulder armour. "But let Skywarp have a few hours alone with him before letting him go." 

Megatron hummed in approval. He'd have liked to have stayed, embracing Starscream's weary frame for a while longer, but the pain in his knee was growing unbearable. "Come," he said, drawing Starscream away from his chest and throwing an arm over his shoulders. "Help me to the medbay." 

Starscream did, wiping a quick hand across his face and sniffing, recollecting himself. He glanced at Megatron's knee. "That blaster's power-cell needs changing. A shot like that should have blown your leg off."

"Is that what you had planned?" 

Starscream looked rather proud of himself. "It was actually," He smiled unrepentantly, and then, before Megatron knew what was happening, leant across to press a kiss to Megatron's slack mouth. It was a chaste peck, but Megatron swore his spark stopped. 

A moment later he recovered. 

"...Was that supposed to be an apology?" He guessed, trying to remain cool and collected and indifferent as his spark somersaulted about it's casing. "Because you'll have to do better than that for shooting me." 

"You put a bounty on me," Starscream reminded him. "I think we're even." 

Honestly, with all the horrible things they'd done and said to each other over the years, that would be impossible to tell.