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For the first time in a long while, Bumblebee woke up comfortable. A vorn ago, he had been surviving on Unicron, delirious with pain and hypervigilant (as much as he could be) about Unicron spawn coming to feast on his spark. Not to mention the new bond linking him to Starscream. Recharge had been miserable.
When the Decepticons had rescued them, Bumblebee was filled with anxiety over what was going to happen to him. Even though the Cons were patching him up, he didn’t trust Starscream not to snuff him. Sure, they were bonded, but Starscream also had an aberrant spark that was immortal. They had no idea if he could survive a bond breaking. Bumblebee wasn’t sure if he’d want to risk it or have an Autobot chained to him for the rest of Bee’s life.
So Bumblebee stayed on edge for a while. Even when it was clear Starscream wasn’t going to kill him, Bee’s sensor wings made his life the pits for a while. To this cycle, they were still a little sore. But the uneasiness that grasped his spark had melted a little. The tension forever present had finally relaxed.
Onlining was a slow process, which was a luxury Bee wasn’t used to. What he was used to were blaring alarms of a Decepticon attack. Or initiating sentinel recharge when he was out in the field. He couldn’t completely power down and defrag with these protocols online. It kept him ready for an attack, but it was a huge strain on his systems.
He remembered using it for the first time during basic training. Ironhide- although a favored drill sergeant- was brutal when he wanted to be. Bumblebee passed out in Ironhide’s arms when he finally allowed him to offline the protocols. Ironhide never let him live that cycle down.
The fuzzy memory of his mentor made Bee settle more into contentment. Although his recent memory files are a little glitched, there wasn’t anything flagged. Whatever happened, Bee was safe. He was starting to feel the ache in his struts and wanted to slip back into recharge. The rage room had been a good workout. He really hoped Skywarp would take him back there. Though Bumblebee didn’t know when that would happen with Starscream-
All his memories from last night's cycle came rushing out of their folder. It made his processor’s boot sequence quickly finish up. Bee onlined his optics and fanned his sensor wings out. He winced as the feedback paired awfully with the sensory suite. Hissing, Bumblebee curled in on himself. He quickly offlined his optics and pinned his wings to his spinal strut. It didn’t really help; his helm still pounded.
He heard a chuckle from above, which rumbled throughout the surface beside and under Bumblebee. A clawed servo slightly stroked Bee’s helm before dipping down and gripping his chin guard. Slowly, it was raised, making Bee face the light again. He winced but relaxed against the field that stroked his own.
“Drink,” Starscream’s voice suddenly commanded. Bumblebee realized it was his field that enveloped his own. Before he could ask what Starscream meant, he felt the touch of a cube’s rim against his derma. “It’ll make you feel better.”
Bee didn’t argue, knowing it was pointless. He opened his intake and instantly swallowed as Starscream tipped the cube back. He got a few gulps down before cringing. Immediately, the Decepticon took the cube away as Bumblebee sputtered. “Ugh, what is that?”
“Med-grade,” Starscream said casually, “a synthetic bland Knock Out created himself. Apparently, Breakdown had one too many hangovers that ended with him purging all over the good doctor. By the next solar cycle, all Decepticon energon distilleries were given this new formula to produce for intoxicated soldiers. It’s awful, I know from first servo. But it works.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that.” Bumblebee still winced as the taste clung to his intake. However, his processor was already clearing up. He tentatively turned his optics back on. He was relieved that the dim lights no longer hurt.
Bee grimaced when he caught the muted pink color of the energon. Depending on the blend, energon could be pink, blue, or green. But no matter the hue, energon should be vibrant. Usually neon and radioactive-looking. The med-grade Starscream held was dull and dim, making the pink look almost gray. Sickly looking. No wonder it was disgusting.
“C’mon,” Starscream exclaimed, gesturing with the energon, “it’s best to get it done in one go.”
“Right,” Bumblebee opticked it. Then he looked over at his… bonded.
Their fight(?) last night was still fresh in Bee’s helm. Their truce hadn’t even settled for half a cycle yet. However, it seemed like Starscream was taking it to spark. Bee was curled up as much as he could be in Starscream’s lap. It reminded him of the position Starscream put him in when they were on Unicron and taking a break from their never-ending trek. For some reason, it soothed Bumblebee.
When Starscream lowered the cube back to his intake, Bee didn’t complain. He had managed to down most of the thick serum when he heard heavy purging coming from the washwracks. It made him jolt, sitting up a little to look over at the open door. Unfortunately, the angle the berth was at didn’t allow him to see much.
“Skywarp,” Starscream answered Bumblebee’s unvoiced question. Bee turned back to the Seeker to see an exasperated fondness settle in his field. “For a mech who loves drinking, it always hits him hard the next orning.”
Bee hummed but didn’t comment further. He winced whenever the wretching went up an octave, though he made no move to get up. However, his field quickly grew with worry and sympathy. “Should we… do something?”
“I think not,” Starscream exclaimed, nasal ridge up. “Thundercracker can take care of it himself. He’s so good at making the right decisions, after all.”
Cringing, Bumblebee looked away, flapping his sensor wings out. He was suddenly aware of his last memories before slipping into recharge. Awkwardness once more settled in his spark.
From stories and terrifying videos (and now from first-servo experience), Bee knew the Elite Trine were a tight-knit trine. They never falter when doing daring maneuvers. There was a trust there that went back centivorns.
However, no one was perfect, making no relationship perfect. Bumblebee had seen some tension between the trine before- mostly regarding him- but he never saw them get in a screaming match.
Until the last cycle.
“THUNDERCRACKER!” Starscream roared.
It was the most frightening sound Bumblebee had ever heard. However, his fear was somewhat shaken when Starscream distractedly soothed him over their bond. Against his earlier glyph, Starscream entered their bondspace, tucking him close. It allowed Bee further insight into the Seeker’s emotions, letting him relax slightly. All that rage and fear(?) pointed toward his trinemate.
From across the nest, TC just groaned. He curled into a half-asleep Skywarp, who didn’t appreciate his trine leader waking him up. “Starscream, whatever is it-”
“‘Whatever is it?’” Starscream snipped back, appalled as he loomed over his nest mates, “Don’t be so flippant with me when you know what you’ve done. Do you even realize what naming Bumblebee an Elite means?! It’s like you don’t even understand our own government. How could you do something so brash? Especially when-”
“We were all there when the laws were made,” Thunder snapped, red optics glaring up at Starscream, “don’t act as if I don’t know legislature when our trine were the ones to create basically the entire Vosian government doc-”
“Well, obviously, I would question your knowledge after this stunt you’ve pulled,” Starscream hissed. Bumblebee was more or less trapping his leg struts. To the scout’s horror, the Second in Command of the Decepticons reached over him, sticking his servos in between Skywarp and him, to sneer at TC. “You cannot just announce an Elite all willy nilly like that. What would the courts think?”
“Most of them are dead, you know,” Skywarp mumbled from where he smooshed his face plates into the bedding.
“Not enough not to face retaliation!” Starscream snapped down at his Left Wing. Warp just made a loud, annoyed sound. Starscream ignored it to glare at Thundercracker some more. “For centivorns Vosians have pleaded with us to expand- to create a flock. Yet we’ve always refused, stating we just haven’t found the right mecha-”
“And now they know we have,” Thundercracker interrupted.
“No, you’ve found a new flock member. You announced Bumblebee as my concert without me being present. Do you have any idea what that’ll do to my reputation? Our reputation?”
“I don’t think it’s that deep, Archangel,” Skywarp tried to ease. He finally turned his helm away from the pillow, toward Starscream. “Just make a press conference and affirm TC’s claim. There, everything’s fine.”
“If only politics were that simple,” Starscream said, rolling his optics, “but it rarely is. They will question. They will nitpick. They will prod. This is a disaster waiting to happen. We are already over our helms with the Great War picking up speed again. Damn it, Thunder. Why would you-”
“You have been ignoring Bumblebee for stellar cycles,” Thundercracker accused. Bee wanted to melt into the berth, hoping Starscream didn’t turn his ire on him. They just came to an agreement. He did not want to start up again now. “Star, your indecision was eating you both up. If you had not spoken by tonight, I know that announcement would have finally gotten you off your aft.”
Starscream made an affronted noise. He stopped reaching over Bumblebee, sitting down properly. Bee finally got a good look at his bonded face plates. They were as expressive as his field. Bee had to turn his gaze away to keep himself from reacting. Starscream stared TC down severely, but his trinemate wasn’t about to back down.
“Ugh, can we talk about this later?” Skywarp groaned. “I’m calling emergency trine- er, flock time. And I declare that this flock time session’s itinerary is recharging! Okay, night night. Don’t let the scraplets bite.”
Skywarp turned his helm into his pillow again. Reluctantly, Thundercracker started to settle in next to his trinemate - the two snuggle close.
Starscream still loomed behind Bumblebee.
“Well, that’s all and dandy for you,” he declared. Bee suddenly felt talons grip his forearms. Before he could protest, Starscream dragged him as far away from Skywarp as the nest allowed. “Unfortunately, it seems I no longer possess a trine,” Starscream sniffed, “I only have a bonded, apparently my Elite Consort, to keep me company.”
Bee was frozen. He swore his processor was glitching because what the-
Instead of being outraged or hurt by the announcement, Warp and TC just shared an exasperated look and groaned.
That definitely wasn’t the response Starscream wanted. Bumblebee could feel his seething through their bond. However, before Starscream could continue to snap, Bee felt Thundercracker through Starscream’s bond. Bee’s bonded went quiet as they fought through their trine bondspace.
From there, Bumblebee’s memory files started to get fuzzy. When the shock and horror of Starscream’s declaration wore off, he started to relax into the nest and into Starscream’s frame. His processor had started slipping into recharge. He vaguely remembered some more tugging on his limbs. He had no idea who ended up winning, but it was likely Starscream since he was curled up with him.
Bee cringed again as the purging intensified. He could hear Thundercracker murmuring encouragements under the awful wretching.
Although Starscream was putting on a show, their bondspace was still open. Bee could feel everything the Seeker did. Starscream was definitely still hurt and frustrated with his trine, but under that, Bumblebee could feel his concern for his Left Wing. Starscream’s gaze hadn’t left the washwracks.
“You know,” Bee spoke up, drawing Starscream’s attention, “you can go make sure Skywarp’s okay. I know what Thundercracker did wasn’t fair, and that he hurt you. But Skywarp shouldn’t take that fall-”
“Skywarp,” Starscream interrupted with a his, “went against my orders and took you outside of Krusher. It-”
“So what? He should have just dragged me back here so I could continue to rust away?” Bumblebee couldn’t help but snap.
“No, I understand I have also erred,” Starscream easily said, surprising Bee. “However, he still should have told me. The entire building was in an upheaval at your disappearance. I almost put the whole fragging planet into lockdown. That stress could have all been avoided if he had just sent off a quick comm. Instead-”
“You really would have locked down all of New Kaon?” Bee couldn’t help but inquire, disbelieving.
“Of course,” Starscream- once again- said without hesitation. He glanced down at the Autobot, making optic contact. “You’re flock. I-” the Seeker paused, turning away, “I haven’t been the best at showing that, and I have much to make up for, but it’s true.”
A silence settled over the two. For once, not awkward, just mutual. It was soon ruined when Skywarp’s purging started up again.
“I think being hungover is more than enough punishment for going radio silent,” Bumblebee quipped. He smirked when Starscream agreed with a hum. “Go on,” the scout continued, nudging his bonded. Bee stopped leaning all his weight on the Con. “Go help your trine. They need you.”
“Clearly, they would have crashed into a mountain by now without me,” Starscream exclaimed distractedly. Bee could only give an exasperated huff. He was not prepared when Starscream turned back to him, gently pulling him in through bond and field. “But so does my bonded. Either you are just as a lightweight as Skywarp, or you do not have as much experience with engex. No matter which, I will not forsake you while you're in this vulnerable state.”
Bumblebee… didn’t know what to feel about that proclamation (well, he wanted to be a little offended, but any sudden movements, and he’ll be joining Skywarp in purging in the wash racks). Sure, Starscream had just claimed they were flock, but a true action was now backing up his glyphs. His frame warmed considerably. He couldn’t look at Starscream, ducking his helm. The Seeker’s smugness radiated through their bond.
This was definitely something Bee needed to get used to.