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".....those idiots! They denied our funding again." Starscream blew through the door of Skyfire's lab, already at full rant. "And after I spent all orn groveling to the board of governors. I covered the introductory geology class! And they have the nerve to cut our budget in favor of that unimaginative, wheel-licking..."
"Starscream." Skyfire's calm voice cut through Starscream's words. "Welcome back."
Starscream paused long enough to pay attention to what Skyfire was doing. "You have another xenospecimen!" He walked around Skyfire to get a better view. The specimin was tiny and in several pieces. One small piece was under a microscope; Skyfire was carefully teasing at the largest piece with a scalpel and probe.
The specimen itself was disgusting, and distressingly low quality. "You bought that in the market, didn't you, Sky. You shouldn't have to do that. Someday I'll be in charge of this place and you'll be able to work with live aliens!"
"It's the best-preserved I've been able to find yet," Skyfire said mildly, and continued to happily tease aside layers of alien material.
The movement of Skyfire's hands, on the other hand...Skyfire could have rested the whole specimen on one of his fingertips, and yet he was able to move his hands delicately enough to perform a dissection. Watching Skyfire's hands sent shivers down Starscream's body. He wanted those hands on his plating. Now.
Skyfire didn't look up from his intense study of the specimen as he said, "Could you perform a chemical analysis? I'm hoping this one will finally prove my theory about the prevalence of hydrogen hydroxide in this whole class of life. It has such a low boiling point that I've only found traces before..."
"Later." For Skyfire, he would analyze the organic specimen, but not before he'd got those hands on him. "For now..." He launched himself into the air a few feet and kissed Skyfire on one wing, right where he knew it was sensitive. "How about you take a well-deserved break?"
Skyfire's hand didn't nudge a bit. Starscream's partner was good. But he carefully put down his tools and put away the specimen. "If you insist..." he smiled at Starscream, took him up in those big, precise, hands and carried him, squealing happily, to the berth.