Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There is only one rule in this laboratory: Don’t touch anything unless I say so! Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.”, #27343 replied unenthusiastic, but only so much that it wouldn’t offend the commander. It wasn’t like he wanted to be here…

#27343 followed Starscream into the lab. Strange machines and monitors adorned the walls of the room. On the large halfmoon table in the middle were stacked up data pads, lined up instruments and some chemicals with respective labels. Everything was organised and clean.

Today, #27343 had been newly assigned as the Decepticon SIC’s lab assistant as the drone before him was killed in battle. Another one of his fellow brothers, dead, nameless…

He had never known that his commander had a scientific background, not that he cared much. The higher-ups never cared much about the drones’ sentience, then why should they? Some officers have even suspected drones to be mute. They weren’t. Contrary to popular belief, they actually have some colourful opinions about some of their superiors, only shared discreetly of course…

Many drones compare officers to officers, based on likability, personality, looks, dangerousness etc. So far, Breakdown has the best reputation, KnockOut is second to best but with a drop to personality, Soundwave is the most dangerous and the Decepticon leader is the only one without gossips.

But the officer with the lowest reputation was Starscream. He is eye candy, but that’s about it. With his unfriendly demeanour, condescending attitude, and overall negative aura, made him awful to be around, even his attractiveness didn’t help. After KnockOut joined the cause, even that reputation was threatened.

#27343 wasn’t very happy about this position, but he’d take this over life-threatening raids any day, not that drones had many choices anyways.

“So, if I recall correctly, you were under Shockwave’s command a Deca-Cycle (month) prior to this, correct?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good, because I won’t be going over any of the basic rules of operating in a laboratory. If you hurt yourself, it will be solely your fault.”

There was a reason why Breakdown is more likable. #27343 thought to himself. A simple greeting in the hallways would do the trick, and also, sparing any vindictive comments about everything being the fault of drones. But he didn’t say any of that out loud…

#27343 was puzzled… Starscream had complimented him?

One thing to note about the Decepticon SIC was his tendency to speak his thoughts when working in the lab. Sentences like ‘This looks good.’ or ‘What comes next?’ are often muttered by the seeker while he taps his claws rhythmic and repeatedly on the table surface.

Today, as Starscream intended to look at the monitor behind #27343, he accidentally made optic contact with the drone, while muttering to himself again ‘What comes next?’. #27343 assumed the commander was asking him, so he answered respectively, earning him a Starscream with suddenly widened optics.

“Yes, very good! You’re a fast learner! Now pass that over.”, the SIC had said to him with a surprised tone.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room was lifted. #27343 couldn’t quite put his digit on it, but he could feel it.

Another thing #27343 noticed was Starscream’s suddenly enthusiasm in tutoring him. His position as lab assistant, gradually changed to ‘student’ during the past few Deca-Cycles. Funny thing was, Starscream would actually become upset if he weren’t paying attention or studying his notes. The SIC might have been an impatient tutor but he also became genuinely happy when #27343 could follow up with his formulas and equations, even if only a little. Dare #27343 say, that Starscream has started to trust him, even if the trust was incredibly weak, but it was there… It was a good feeling.

That’s when the “chatting” began.

The conversation was mainly one sided, as #27343 was afraid of saying the wrong things. But once the commander started, it was hard to stop him from talking. A lot of it was related to his experience at the Vosian Science Academy and his transfer to the Iaconian Academy, the competition, the cultural differences and, especially, the toll the Decepticon riots had on the school. Whilst Starscream loved to boost about his scientific achievements and compare both academies to each other, he never went into detail about his education after the revolutionaries started to rise up in Kaon. And #27343 never asked, but it was clear that there is more than meets the eye…

“Good job yesterday, the results of the new explosives were better than lord Megaron expected. Those Autobots were in for a surprise.”

#27343 was cleaning the tools as he heard Starscream speak. He looked up at the commander and stopped his cleaning.

“Eh, Thank you, Sir. But you did most of the work, honestly.” He continued with his work.

Starscream looked surprised for a second, before saying: “At least you were-”

He stopped mid-sentence.

“Well, you ARE a better assistant than the drone before you, why did you think I send him away? Never paid attention…” That last bit was clearly muttered, but #27343’s audio receptors caught it.

“As in he didn’t do his work properly?”

Starscream suddenly jerked his helm towards him and #27343 thought he had asked too much, regret gripping at his spark before the SIC spoke again.

“No, he did, oh he followed every order I gave him, but the problem was, he wasn’t interested in the first place! When I asked him for the accelerator on the table, he just stared at me, with those clueless optics because he wasn’t paying attention to what I had been saying! Of course, I like- prefer you over him!”

#27343 remembered that time when Starscream asked for the accelerator and he handed over the magnesium, and he had complemented him, saying he was a fast learner. And suddenly, everything just clicked. A burning sensation spread over #27343’s cheeks and he scratched at his servo.

“Oh, erm, thank you Sir! I do enjoy these shifts, and you are a great tutor.”

#27343 never thought he’d hear Starscream say the following words in his entire life.

“Yes, yes… How about we meet in my quarters later for a little… celebration?”

And, was that seduction #27343 heard coming from his own commander’s voice box?

#27343’s schedule changed. Well, it changed all the time, but he is supposed to help Starscream in the laboratory today… Why did that shift go missing from the entire solar cycle?

At first, he thought maybe Starscream was especially busy this week, but his schedule never changed back. Suddenly, he barely saw the SIC again, and never exchanged a word since meeting in the commander’s quarters and having some engex.

#27343 missed being Starscream’s assistant. He never thought he’d feel this way, but the time spend around the seeker created this bond between them, that now has seized to exist.

Chapter Text

A blond figure was standing on the rooftop of a tall apartment building, looking into a golden binocular with heart shaped lenses. Her lips pulled upwards into a smirk the moment she spotted the boy in the yellow shirt, standing in a half circle among his peers. The football coach was going on about something to the boys.

Her target was directly facing her with his back.

“Jackpot.”

The blond pulled out a golden arrow from the quiver on her back. The arrowhead was a curious heart shape, red as a ruby. The fletching was a blooming scarlet rose, with tiny golden thorns following down the shaft for a fourth of the length. Rumour has it that if you stare into the tip of this arrow long enough, you will fall in love with the next pair of eyes you gaze into.

The job will be swift. She has done it many times before, more than she can count. Loosing an arrow came natural to her, just like blinking her eyes.

Nocking the shaft against the bowstring, she took a moment to squint into the direction of her target before she drew the bow. The arrow flew across the sky like a beam of light, the red ruby glowing brighter the closer it got to hitting the target.

The arrow didn’t hit the boy. There wasn’t a huge scene in which he topples down in pain. Instead, the shaft disappeared into the boy’s back in the same manner as if someone dropped it into a lake. The moment the fletching followed; a neon mark appeared on the teen’s hand. A small pink heart took shape and pulsed a few times as if to symbolise a job well done.

The blond figure held the binoculars to her eyes again, zooming in on her target, smiling when she saw the mark on their hand. And the boys began playing football again…

The job is done.

With a jump she leaped into the air, the three pairs of wings sprouted out of her back like flowers. With a short twirl in the air, she began flying.

A moment later she got a call in mid-flight. She pulled her phone out from her purse, the phone case covered in glitter and real diamonds and jewels.

“Yeah? Cupid here…”

“Hey! Uh, I saw the arrow!”

“No need to thank me! It was an easy target.” You could hear the smugness in her trill voice.

“Seriously, like, I’m a little shook right now. That was wacky.”

“It’s nothing really! I do this every day!”

“Haha, I wish I had a job this fun. So, uh, we’re in stage two now? That what you called it?”

This part never get’s old. Cupid was more than ready to rock and roll. It was what she did best after all.

“Yeah, stage two…”

“I know I asked this before but I’m going to ask you again: When are you going to move on?”

Ever since that day #27343 hadn’t stopped thinking about it. It was always at the back of his mind. When he got off his shift that’s when it comes drifting back, ever so subtly…

#27343 wasn’t sure why he was removed as the commander’s lab assistant, but he had his speculations. It could be that Megatron had simply replaced Starscream with Shockwave, the cyclops has been in the field of science longer than the seeker after all. From a strategic perspective that made sense, any leader would want to utilize their soldiers best qualities to the fullest. However, that doesn’t mean Starscream enjoyed it…

The commander is an excellent flyer, one of the best, a tiny crystal of red Energon amongst a sea of blue ones. But regardless, the position of Air commander wasn’t what Starscream really wanted, at least not back then. But people change.

“When are you going to move on?”

#27343 turned to look at his roommate. #27349 looked like he was about to power down: “I know that you’re thinking about it again, because you’re just sitting there doing nothing.” #27343 stared back.

“I don’t know…”

“It’s just a fling. I doubt someone like Starscream gives a flying frag about the likes of us.”

“…hm.”

“Remember how you said he was special? That you were special? To him?”

#27343 swung his legs over the berth.

“It lasted a single night. A day later he acts like you don’t exist. Who knows maybe he does it with every assistant he gets! Fragger takes everything for granted…”

#27349 flips over to his side, back facing him.

“Get some rest, 343. Don’t want you dying tomorrow…”

Yes, that’s right. They found a new Energon pocket, hopefully the bots don’t have their optics on it yet.

Yes, that’s right. They found new Energon pocket, hopefully the bots don’t have their optics on it already.

“Any questions?”

Cupid clicked the butt of her ball pen. In front of her lays a notebook. And her client was sitting on the ground, opposite to her. A shy teenage boy who contacted her through her website. He had a huge crush on a boy from the football team…

The boy hummed and nodded hesitantly.

“I know it sounds hard…” Cupid leaned back onto her heels. She was kneeling on the bedroom floor with her knees touching the carpet in front of her.

“And it probably will be… for you. But all I need you to do is memorize the key conversation points we talked about.” She flipped the pen around to tap at the paper with the end of the pen. “I already went ahead and changed the teacher’s plan to partner him up with you. Tomorrow when you invite him over to work on the project, is your time to make me proud.”

The boy looked over the notebook again and smiled awkwardly.

“Let’s hope I can make a good first impression.”

Cupid stood up, flicking her hair behind her shoulder: “You have one month time before the arrow's effect runs out. So you can take it easy. And I, I am going to go for a short flight for now.” She sang.

The boy placed the notebook onto his desk, watching Cupid swing her legs over his bedroom window.

“I’ll be watching you, so do your best.”

Cupid said as she jumped down the apartment building, her golden hair blown upwards by the wind. The boy didn’t go after her like the first time, he was used to it by now…

She looked back at the light coming from her client's bedroom window before her wings sprouted again and she flew off into the night sky.

The sky was the quietest. Sounds from earth can only reach this high, so that Cupid could have her peace…

Or more so she won’t have disturbance when playing her own music. With no one up there with her she didn’t bother using headphones. Blasting everything was way more fun.

In cartoons angels are always seen laying on top of clouds. Physics won’t allow that in reality, but anything can be solved with a little reality bending magic.

Cupid got this little concoction on her 500^th birthday from her grandfather the weather god, Jupiter. Just a sprinkle will turn clouds into pillows. Though, it wears off eventually…

Cuddled up in a puffy cloud, there was nothing better in this mortal world. Since there are better things in the realm of immortals, but that is beside the point. Wherever this cloud took her, she drifted with it.

Until a dark silhouette appeared in the corner of her eye. Yo, is that a spaceship? Cupid lifted her head from the fluffy cloud.

She knows she shouldn’t, but she wants to… Besides that thing looks kind of off… like it was evil. If that even makes sense? Cupid can just tell her Dad she checked it out to see if the aliens will be a threat to humanity. Solid plan.

A smirk crept across her face. Oh yeah this will be fun.

Cupid was creeping up every window trying to look inside, sadly every single one was tinted. Guess she’ll just have to get inside the ship! Because… she can’t see the evil aliens from the outside! Or whatever…

#27343 saw it, whatever it was. It couldn’t have been human, not with those extensions on its back. But the thing had human features. An ominous light emitting from it helped #27343 make out the face of a young adolescent human female. However its small size and harmless appearance, the strange human had an unexplainable powerful aura around them.

Somehow the drone was glad the glass didn’t allow the creature to see inside. He contemplated on waking his slumbering roommate. Unfortunately, the figure had moved on the next time he looked at the window. The bright light disappearing with the strange creature.

Sure, there was nothing to worry about? #27343 should just go back to recharge. He didn’t have time to lose sleep over anything right now. He needed to be in top condition for the raid tomorrow…

Finding an opening or a cranny was harder than she’d imagined. The ship had better security than Cupid thought. She wasn’t a weather goddess so she couldn’t just turn into a beam of lightning and travel through the ship… The deck might be the only liable option… However, there was no way Cupid could land without triggering some kind security system.

Cupid hovered over the landing deck, contemplating over any other options she might have. Maybe she could just go to the front of the ship and look inside the command center? No, no doubt the front would be tinted too…

The longer Cupid watched the ship the more curious she got. What was inside this vessel? What did the aliens look like? What will- Wait, what was that?

She sensed a dream: The helpless cries of someone in love, their heart yearning for the ones lost to them.

She sensed another dream: The cries for guidance of a hopeless romantic, unable to confess their true feelings in fear of rejection.

Well, Cupid was never one to disappoint potential clients.