Chapter Text
Starscream woke up, finding himself bundled in a big pile of feathers. He looked over his shoulder to where his boyfriend should have been, but instead found himself face-to-face with a giant sleeping owl. It's soft white wings were wrapped around him. It was a sight Starscream had gotten quite used to over the past couple of weeks.
The first time it had happened Starscream had screamed at the top of his lungs, startling the huge bird and sending it tumbling out of his bed. Starscream had initially thought that was a dream but it turned out his new boyfriend (and everyone else in this remote village) was just able to turn into were-creatures. This was just something he had now learned to live with.
Sometimes Skyfire would shift to his big fluffy owl form in his sleep, so Starscream sometimes woke up to the being snuggled in the wings of a giant bird rather than wrapped in his boyfriends huge arms.
It wasn't too bad honestly.
He scooted a bit closer to Skyfire and nuzzled his head against Skyfire's fluffy chest. He knew he would have to get up soon; as a biologist it was good to get up first thing in the morning and do his routine tests, but he could stay snuggled next to Skyfire for just a bit longer.
After a moment Skyfire started to stir, and Starscream found himself looking into Skyfire's huge round eyes.
"Good morning, Sky," Starscream smiled. Then Skyfire leaned forward and snuggled Starscream's head, before nipping his beak at his head and starting to groom his hair.
"Hey!" Starscream shouted, trying to bat the owl off as Skyfire mercilessly continued. "Don't mess up my hair!"
But Skyfire was relentless, so Starscream had to worm his way out of Skyfire's hold. He slipped out from under his wings and off the bed, before going over to his dresser and brushing his hair.
"Honestly, Skyfire, you're incorrigible," Starscream said, always keeping an eye on Skyfire's reflection. The big owl ruffled his feathers before getting up, it was sort of comical watching the owl climb out of a bed that wasn't quite right for him. Starscream knew that it always took Skyfire sometime to shift out of his owl form after just waking up, so he normally just stayed as he was.
He caught Skyfire looking longingly at the window.
"Why don't you head out for a flight? I know you want to fly. Why don't you go out and I'll get us breakfast?"
Skyfire came up behind Starscream, giving him one last nuzzle and nibble at his hair before he headed downstairs.
Starscream rolled his eyes as he gave one last brush of his hair.
Starscream placed some bits of bacon on the stove, before looking up and immediately seeing a face pressed against the window. He was now used to the sight of Optimus's son coming and begging for food any time Starscream so much as thought of cooking. The little fox boy used every trick in the book; big puppy dog eyes, little whining sounds, his ears angled downwards, paws pathetically scrapping against the window. Starscream almost had to admire the audacity.
Still, he wasn't going to give in this time. Instead he ripped of a corner of bacon and popped it in his mouth, making sure to exaggeratedly chew in delight.
This sent the little fox howling with indignation. He started yelping and demanding to be let in. Starscream resolutely ignored him as he placed the bacon on some plates before checking the eggs.
Skyfire would be back from his flight soon, and he should have just about everything should be ready by then.
Skyfire had asked if Starscream wanted to come along and join him on his flight. It sounded tempting, to fly at such a height. However, the only current option for Starscream was for him to grip onto Skyfire's feathers while sitting on his back. So Starscream did not fancy holding on for dear life a hundred feet above the air. Maybe once they'd made a something for Starscream then he might be tempted to actually go through with it.
Until then he would keep his feet firmly on the ground.
He finished up the eggs and scooped them onto their plates just as he caught Skyfire coming home. His huge wings expanding across the sky and he swooped gracefully back to the hut. He flapped his wings to balance himself before perfectly landing. Then he shook his feathers as they started to recede, slowly turning back into the rather tall attractive man he'd fallen for at the start of this venture.
"Hello Star," Skyfire said as he came in. He kissed Starscream on the top of his head before turning to notice Rodimus at the window. "Oh no, the poor thing. We should let him in."
"No we shouldn't," Starscream snapped. He grabbed the plates and brought them over to the table. "That boy gets enough food as it is. You'd think his sap father doesn't feed him for all the noise he makes."
"Awwh, but Star, look at his little face."
Starscream already knew what face Rodimus was pulling before he even looked up. Indeed, the boys eyes had somehow managed to get even larger than before.
"Scheming little manipulator…" Starscream muttered. He had no choice but to pull across the curtains. Then he stomped back to his chair and tucked into his own meal, viciously stabbing at his eggs. "Now eat your breakfast. I made it for you, not him."
Skyfire sat down and then joined Starscream at the table.
Rodimus did try again, but this time at the back window. Luckily Skyfire's chair was facing away from it so he was no longer swayed by Rodimus's pleading. Eventually the little kit was distracted when one of his friends came over, tempting him away to go frolic and play or whatever it was they did.
"So Starscream, what are you planning to do today?" Skyfire asked. He always managed to ask that question as if whatever Starscream was going to say would be the most interesting thing in the world.
"Well, I wanted to go out and get some samples of the lake water. I have a few tests I want to run. Nothing major but it all seemed worth checking."
"I can come with you if you like."
"It's fine. You don't have to."
"No, I'd love to. I love helping you. It's nice getting to do more science stuff again, and besides… I like spending time with you."
Starscream blushed as he took another sip of his coffee.
"And… I like spending time with you too."
Just at that point there came a knock at the door. Starscream and Skyfire both looked at each other.
"You didn't invite anyone over, did you?" Skyfire asked.
"No." Starscream put his coffee down and went to the door. "I swear to god if it's Megatron accusing me of poisoning the water again I swear-"
Starscream opened the door to find it was not Megatron, but two mirror images of himself.
"Star! There you are! We found you!" the first one said and then wrapped his arms around him. Starscream was stuck in shock for a moment.
"Skywarp? Thundercracker?"
"Yeah! Of course it's us!" Skywarp said, pulling back. "Can't believe you didn't send us a message. Your own brothers, and we get radio silence. Thundercracker was so worried about you. He thought you'd been eaten by a bear."
"No I didn't. I just said he hadn't called in a while."
"We asked Slipstream where you were at and she told us you'd come to this backwater place and had asked to stay. Weird. We thought you had decided to just, like, camp out in a tent and reject society."
"No, no, I found a place…" Starscream mumbled. What were they doing here? They were ruining a perfect day.
"Starscream? What's happening? Who are these two?" Skyfire asked, smiling.
Skywarp and Thundercracker seemed immediately stunned, probably by Skyfire's huge stature. Starscream realised it probably wouldn't take long for them to put two and two together and realise they were now dating.
"Skyfire, let me introduce you… this is Thundercracker and Skywarp…" Starscream said with some hesitancy. "They're my brothers."