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The funny thing about deep space travel, you never noticed how cold it was until you hit atmo again. Starscream shivered violently as he transformed into his root mode, alighting in the main hangar of the Nemesis on his pedes. And promptly stumbling, as it had been... longer than he’d like to admit, since he experienced even artificial gravity, and even longer since he’d last transformed.
“Still nothing?” Megatron asked, holding out a heavy blanket. Starscream’s heavy blanket, the nice one he kept folded across the end of his berth in case the heat went out. He snatched it away with a huff as if this wasn’t how Megatron had greeted him on return from his last three expeditions, wrapping the thick, exotic fabric around his frame. It was warm, and smelled faintly of gun oil and cheap polish when he pulled it up around his chin. It smelled like Megatron, and he wished bitterly that he could muster the energy to be angry about that. Angry that Megatron had been carrying his blanket around long enough to get his smell on it.
“Not a blip.” he said, his voice even scratchier than usual after a long flight in silence.
“Starscream, I can’t keep approving these missions of yours.” Megatron said, his deep voice lowered so even if there had been other mechs in the hangar, only Starscream would’ve been able to make out the words.
“I’ll keep going, with or without your authorisation.” he reminded his leader. “You said you would let me, I have it in writing.”
“That was before-”
“Before what, Megatron?” he snapped, wings hiking up slightly before the weight of the blanket and his own exhaustion dragged them back down. “Before you led us into a war without end? Before you realized Soundwave and Shockwave are incompetents?”
“Before I saw what it does to you.” Megatron snapped right back, grabbing his upper arms through the blanket. “Starscream, it’s been millions of years.” his optics dimmed, the stern lines of his face softening to something raw and aching, his field echoing the throbbing pain of yearning that Starscream knew he was probably projecting. “He’s gone, Starscream. You’ve returned to that planet how many times, now? And never once have you found so much as the faintest sign of his survival.”
Megatron’s grip gentled, and one hand lifted to caress Starscream’s face, the other drawing him in until the only thing which kept his knuckles from brushing Megatron’s broad, warm chestplate was the fabric of the blanket. “He wouldn’t have given up on me.” he retorted, but the words came out scratchy and weak. If Skyfire had been the one to escape that storm, he wouldn’t’ve left until he dug Starscream out of the ice and snow to carry him back to Cybertron, no matter how long it took.
“Tell me, Starscream.” Megatron’s voice dropped to a low murmur, the hand on Starscream’s face sliding over to cup his audial, thumb rubbing over the chilled vent slats on its front. “Would your Skyfire have wanted you to destroy yourself, searching for a corpse to bring home for burial?”
It was definitely exhaustion and low fuel that made his knee servos give out just then, dropping him against Megatron’s chest. And his vents were just hitching due to how rapidly his frame was re-heating after an extended space flight. Definitely that, no other reason. Nothing to do with the aching tenderness of Megatron’s field, or how his strong, sure arms had wrapped around Starscream to hold him upright, how that stupidly handsome chin was tucked against the top of his helm.
“You’ve done your duty to him, Starscream.” one of Megatron’s hands moved to stroke between his wings, and Starscream realized they were trembling. “More than, even.” he pulled back, just a little, and the hand petting his wings shifted to tilt his helm back until their optics met. “Stay. Stay with me, by my side.” Megatron’s hand moved around to his front, settling over both of Starscream’s where they were still fisted in the blanket, balled over his cockpit, over his spark.
“Stay with me, my star.”
“Okay.” he rasped, and rose up the little bit needed to capture Megatron’s lips for his first kiss in millions of years.