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“Hey, Starscream?”
Now this was novel. Skywarp rarely ever used Starscream full designation. It was part of the show.
At least in the elite trine’s shared quarters, they could finally put the falsities aside.
Sharp talons tap on Starscream’s data pad screen. Every line had to be precise and perfect. Starscream hated having Soundwave breathing down his neck about these sorts of things. It seriously put a damper on their “work relationship,” as Thundercracker had so generously dubbed it.
Though… A little distraction couldn’t hurt. The report wasn’t due until tomorrow anyhow.
“Yes, ‘Warp?” Starscream hums, tilting an audial toward his brother while also keeping his optics on the words blinking into existence in front of him.
“Do you hate me?” Starscream’s back snaps ramrod straight. Where had that come from?!
Starscream turns, finally setting down his datapad to give him trine mate his full attention. The purple and black seeker lay on his cockpit on his middle bunk, lazily kicking his pedes and peering warily at Starscream as he snuggled his pillow that cushioned his cheek and hid half his faceplates from view.
The one optic that the trine leader could see looked near to tears- minute shivers running through Skywarp’s wings not going unnoticed by Starscream’s keen optics.
This was the part Starscream dreaded the most. Out of everything the trio fought for- everything they promised one another- it was still difficult to hear those words asked aloud.
Despite what the rest of the Decepticons saw, Skywarp was not exactly the brash, stubborn, incessantly annoying mech he played hard to be. Instead he was patient, enjoyed people-watching in silence, and was very, very insecure.
Occasionally, Starscream would have to pull Skywarp aside just to give him a reassuring hug and congratulate him on his ruse to keep the mech from breaking down and having a full-blown panic attack.
Starscream couldn’t blame him, though… He had sorely underestimated just how taxing this side of the war would be on them all. He tried to protect them from it, but, well…
It never ended well.
All of these thoughts flash through Starscream’s processor so fast, he could hardly find the words.
“No!” Starscream gasps, finally managing to pull himself together, “No, I would never- What could have possibly made you think such a thing?” The seeker coos, moving from his desk chair over to his trine mate to set a servo on his pauldron. Skywarp just wriggles his faceplates further into his soft escape.
“Nothin’…” Skywarp mumbles. The purple seeker absentmindedly shuffles over, offering room on his berth for Starscream to join him.
Starscream accepts the request immediately, wrestling himself onto the small space meant for one. Most of him was draped over Skywarp himself, but that was ok. It was kinda the point.
“Please don’t ever think that I hate you, ‘Warp… I love you. You and Thundercracker. You’re my brothers.”Starscream frowns worriedly.
Skywarp still hasn’t looked at him since he’d moved, and it was really starting to freak him out…
“I just-,” Skywarp starts, clutching the pillow hard, “I can’t tell between you’re acting and you being real anymore.” The mech finally turns his face to look Starscream in the optic.
Starscream’s processor nearly shorts in dismay.
Skywarp’s lower derma was jutted out into a pout and wobbling. On top of that, washer fluid lined his optics, threatening release, and the poor thing just seemed so, so hurt-
“Oh-!” Starscream vents, dragging his brother close and hugging him tight.
“I’m so sorry! I never meant for you to feel this way!” Starscream whines, “It’s all just an act! You know that!”
“I know!” Skywarp sobs, burying his face into Starscream’s neck cables, “But- I don’t know! I just- I wanna make sure cause you say a lot of things, and it hurts my feelings real bad, and I just-!” Skywarp was shaking now, his words tumbling out as fast as his glossa could carry them. Starscream cut him off with gentle shushes, petting Skywarp’s wings with a gentleness he only reserved for solitary places such as this.
The purple seeker continues to shake and cry into Starscream’s shoulder, hiding away between the warmth of his beloved brother and the comfort of his personal berth.
Thundercracker leans out from his bunk just below- datapad perched precariously on his cockpit between his servos as he looks up with confusion and obvious worry.
“What happened?” Thundercracker asks quietly. The mech reaches up to his helm, and Starscream has no doubt he’s just turned off the music playing in his audials. Starscream lowers his own voice to match his other brother’s so as not to disturb Skywarp.
“It’s nothing much… I’ve just- I’ve been too careless with my remarks.” Starscream winces. The confusion on Thundercracker’s face doubles- optics narrowing and olfactory sensor scrunching up in the tell-tale way of TC’s thought process.
“Which one? You talk a lot of scrap when you’re in public…” Thundercracker grimaces.
Starscream sighs. No, he was right. He had to keep up with appearances. And as time went on, those appearances were becoming harder and harder to maintain. No longer was Starscream a sweet, gentle and caring mech that put the wellbeing of others before himself. All mecha got from him was scorn, spite, and a hunger for power that overrode every sensible thought in the universe. And Star was determined to keep it that way.
It was the only way to ensure his brothers’ safety…
At least Thundercracker didn’t have to try so hard. He literally just sat around, zoning out into his processor and his stories until whatever shift he had was up. Starscream wished he’d had such freedoms…
“All of it…” Starscream pouts. Thundercracker smirks, sucking his dentae and reaching up to take Starscream’s servo as the trine leader’s own lower derma began to shutter.
“Hey,” Thundercracker soothes, though his voice cracks, telling Starscream that TC wasn’t too far off from joining them,
“This’ll all be over soon, you’ll see. We’re gonna beat those autobots, take back Cybertron, and then we won’t ever have to hide our true selves from anyone ever again!” Thundercracker vows.
“Hey, that’s my line!” Starscream sniffs out a laugh. Skywarp huffs his own soft chuckle into Star’s neck cables- calming down with the sheer amount of love and comfort between the pair’s fields that it was impossible not to.
“I know! That’s why I said it!” Thundercracker beams. This causes Starscream to fall into a fit of laughter- and not the kind that he put on to sound like he was better than everyone else. This one was a genuine, crow-like laughter that bubbled up into short bursts of giggle-snorts that the other two couldn’t help but join in on. It was infectious.
“I love you guys.” Skywarp sniffles, leaning over Starscream to put his own servo on top of Starscream’s and Thundercracker’s combined, nuzzling into the space between Starscream’s wings and finding peace there.
“I love you guys, too.” “Me too, Warp, me too.” Starscream and Thundercracker promise, overlapping one another, but the sentiments no less profound.