Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“That thing is NOT my sparkling” Starscream yelled as his long sharp claws gestured towards the rather large three headed predacon sparkling sitting teary eyed in the center of Shockwave’s lab,” I will not take care of that creature you’ve created, Shockwave!”

“Illogical, the predacon shares half of its CNA with you,” Shockwave spoke as he typed in the recent development. Not bothering to look at Starscream nor the poor predacon throwing pleading optics at the visibility distressed seeker. “Lord Megatron made it clear that it is your task to train the predacons”

“That was for that big lug sitting in the corner!” Starscream complained dramatically, his wings emoting his annoyance with a strange pattern of fluttering as his talons pointed at the mentioned predacon, Predaking sitting near his creators side, trying to avoid eye contact with the heartbroken sparkling while glaring daggers at Starscream. “I’m not playing mother to one of those creatures!”
Predaking growled at that while the poor sparkling whined loudly. Looking like it was suppressing the urge to throw itself at Starscream. Starscream predictably, backed away from Predaking, looking like he’d run to some hidden hidey hole any minute now.
“Must I tell Lord Megatron your refusal to deal with your responsibilities?” Shockwave stated, knowing the threat of their lord’s wraith will get the silver seeker to obey.
Said Seeker released an incoherent noise as a response to the threat before throwing his talons into the air and storming off. The sad little predacon sparkling hurried after its “mother”,whining for his attention. Making it to his side in time for Shockwave’s heavy doors to close. Predaking rumbled his disapproval of the whole situation.

Chapter Text

Starscream tiredly approached the energon dispenser, as his evening was spent doing not only his job as second in command to an entire army but also having to keep an eye on that predacon Shockwave forced on him, who seems to become more of a nuisance the longer Starscream goes without screeching at it for disrupting him. Chewing on anything it can get a hold of and chasing the poor vehicons stationed nearby. Thankfully the poor whelp leaves Soundwave alone, shying away from his thin servos or even tentacles upon approach.
Starscream did try pawning off the sparkling to Soundwave, but much to his dismay Soundwave displayed an unamused emoji and pulled up all video evidence of the predacon sparkling’s refusal of every caretaker that wasn’t a certain silver seeker. He let out a groan at that before stalking off angrily.
Like its “mother” it wasn’t a big fan of their lord, “hiding” behind Starscream's slim legs whenever Megatron is in the room and whining pathetically whenever his gaze lands on the poor thing. Nevermind whenever Megatron picks up the poor thing by its scruff bar! Thrashing and crying out like their lord will physically harm it for simply existing. After being released each time, the predacon will still shake and cry continuously unless Starscream comforts it by holding it and allowing it to hug him until it calms down.
He knew the three headed predacon was still following him, as its claws scratched against the metal floor loudly and it would scream loudly if he even disappeared from its sight for even a second. Meaning, unless he wanted to deal with judgemental looks from the drones and the audial ache, he had to stop until the poor whelp catched up. Slowing him down even more but he refused to just carry the damn thing everywhere. Mostly because only a caretaker would do that and he refused to be a caretaker to a three headed predacon of all things.
Thankfully the dispenser was relatively empty, with only a few drones sitting at tables and talking quietly among them. He grabbed two cubes,knowing that if he didn’t grab another cube that sparkling would lose its mind. Starscream dragged his exhausted self to an empty table in the far corner of the cafeteria, the predacon sparkling trailing after him happily. Even stopping occasionally to stare at the few groups of vehicons refueling. Starscream sat down and opened his cube, taking a slow slip from it. He grimaced at the poor aftertaste of the energon yet took another sip as the predacon sparkling struggled to climb the table's seating. The three heads trilled after finally climbing up and onto the table seating, said heads made direct eye contact with Starscream and the cube of energon. Then proceeded to open its beaked mouths and all three heads cried loudly.
Starscream wanted to put his face into his talons and honest to primus, cry if it didn’t further make a fool of himself. Instead, he schooled a scowl on his face and picked up and opened the extra serving. Instantly, the crying became more insistent and somehow even louder. He lowered the serving onto the seating and made a “go on take it” motion with his talons, unfortunately for him the sparkling didn’t move to drink the serving out of the cube. The urge to just leave the sparkling with the cube to figure it out became overwhelming but if he did, he’d know soundwave would have his aft for “neglecting” the unwelcomed thing. So instead he grabbed the feeding syringe Soundwave had given him after a thorough chewing out for previous “neglect” and tried to not screech at the damn thing to shut up. Starscream filled the syringe with the energon and fed it to the closest head. Then filled it up with more energon and moved to the other head, trying to ignore the previous head nipping at the syringe for more. He repeated this process until the sparkling wasn’t screaming its head off. He sighed out of relief, turning back to nurse his own fuel as he questioned how his actions had ended up with him syringe feeding a three headed predacon sparkling.