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“I’m busy,” was all that Starscream had snarled over the comm before cutting the connection and blocking all future attempts to contact him.
And Soundwave had sighed, resigning himself to the fact that it had become one of those days when all the tasks he had hoped to work on during his shift would go untouched while he wasted time corralling the wayward Second.
But Megatron’s orders were absolute. So Soundwave had gone.
It had been a surprise that Starscream was just in his personal quarters.
At least, until Soundwave cracked the electronic lock on the door and it slid open.
The first mech Soundwave noticed was actually Thundercracker. The normally brutish seeker was sprawled across the berth on his front, wings completely slack against his back, thighs akimbo, mouth agape. He was functional though judging by the way his optics flickered online, albeit dimly, as if in a blissful daze.
Further up on the bed was Skywarp on all fours, his wings flicking madly as his frame was pushed and pulled, forcing hoarse noises from his vocalizer with each echoing crack of hips against hips.
Following the source of that movement finally had Soundwave meeting Starscream’s gaze.
The seeker looked downright feral.
Lips were curled back over his teeth, more snarl than his usual sneer, and optics burned like smelting pits in the dim berthroom. One servo was clamped tight around Skywarp’s hips, keeping his trinemate close as the fragging continued without pause, brutal in its single-mindedness.
The other servo was raised, null-ray buzzing with charge as it was aimed directly at Soundwave’s helm.
“Mine,” Starscream growled as his flight engines began to roar aggressively.
Rut.
Starscream was in rut.
Because of course he was. It would have been too much for Soundwave to hope he was just working on some harebrained scheme.
Luckily, this wasn’t the first time that a trineleader had gone into rut, though it was the first time that Soundwave had been forced to confront one himself, let alone Starscream. There were protocols though, medic and seeker endorsed suggestions of what to do in such a situation. So Soundwave locked his frame to keep it completely still so as not to do anything that could be misconstrued by the purely instinct driven seeker, and replied, “Correct. Thundercracker and Skywarp: yours.”
Skywarp cries grew louder as Starscream’s unforgiving rhythm picked up.
But Soundwave didn’t dare be the first to look away from Starscream’s burning optics. Starscream had worked side by side with Soundwave long enough that, visor or no, he would know if Soundwave broke the shared gaze first, would know if he accidentally looked at his trinemates, might place meaning where there was none.
Starscream’s snarl lessened, slowly but surely, but still his optics remained on Soundwave.
“Starscream! Please, please, Starscream, please--!!”
With three armor-crushing thrusts, Skywarp wailed, his frame writhing in the periphery of Soundwave’s vision.
And Starscream’s mouth finally dropped open in a gravelly groan, optics flaring.
Soundwave’s spark pounded inside his chest as he realized he was staring Starscream in the optics while the Commander overloaded inside his trinemate.
He didn’t dare think about the tight heat pooling in his own hips.
Finally, finally, Starscream lowered his arm and his null-ray powered down. He was still looking at Soundwave though, helm cocked to one side.
And then his gaze shifted down, tracking down Soundwave’s frame, assessing.
“And you, Soundwave?” Starscream asked, seemingly apropos of nothing, as he shifted back and out of Skywarp. The seeker whimpered before flopping down onto the berth strutlessly, the purring of his engines easily carrying across the room as he cuddled into Thundercracker’s side, apparently very pleased in the aftermath of his trineleader’s rutting.
Starscream, however, was still fully pressurized as he slipped off the berth, spike shiny with lubricant and transfluid as he found and held Soundwave’s gaze again. There was a magnetism to Starscream that even with the threat of a fight now passed kept Soundwave rooted to the spot. The way that Starscream slunk across the floor, hips swaying, wings fanned out wide and moving slowly, the small brushes of air washing across Soundwave’s plating, into his vents—
Soundwave startled when Starscream’s servo cupped the side of his helm.
How had he let Starscream get so close?
Why was his threat assessment subroutine screaming about particles in his ventilation systems, and why wasn’t he concerned by it?
When had his mask snapped aside so Starscream could kiss him, purring approvingly as he claimed Soundwave’s mouth? And where was Starscream leading him by the servo? And what was he being pushed to sit on, pressed back to lay on—
::Status update?:: Megatron’s demanded over Soundwave’s comm, piercing the fog of his processor.
And it was with a jolt of panic that Soundwave realized he was in Starscream’s bed, laid out next to Starscream’s trinemates, his thighs spread wide around Starscream’s hips, prepared to let himself be victim to Starscream’s rut.
But seekers were only supposed to drag other seekers under. That’s what the protocols outlined – that rut was specific to seekers, to trineleaders and their trinemates, to the potential to build flocks if a trineleader was successful in seducing other seekers. Trineleaders didn’t seek out mechs like Soundwave. Starscream shouldn’t want Soundwave!
And yet Starscream’s spike rubbed insistently against Soundwave’s embarrassingly hot modesty panels.
“Soundwave, not trinemate,” Soundwave insisted, sounding strangled even to his own audials as he pressed his servos to Starscream’s chest, pushing urgently. “Not seeker, not mate, not--”
“You’re mine,” Starscream hissed possessively before catching Soundwave’s bottom lip between his teeth and biting.
Soundwave frame jerked as undeniable mechanimal lust threatened to send him under again.
He had to act and act fast.
Using all his strength, Soundwave shoved hard, sending the seeker flying off the berth and onto the floor with a clatter and an enraged howl. Soundwave didn’t dare to take a moment to assess the situation further and give Starscream a chance to collect himself and retaliate. Instead Soundwave scrambled off the bed and made a mad dash for the door, dignity gone as he could only hope that he wouldn’t receive a null-ray shot to the back in his haste.
Through either luck or a rare moment of mercy from the Commander, Soundwave made it out the door before slapping his servo to the panel to shut it and set a quarantine lock.
And, just like that, Soundwave was left in the empty hallway. The only sound was the roar of his cooling fans.
::Soundwave!::
Soundwave twitched, moving on autopilot as he activated his side of the commlink.
::Rut.::
::What?::
::Commander Starscream is in rut.::
::Of course he is. Why would my Second bother to warn his superior about his upcoming rut?:: Megatron growled angrily. Soundwave didn’t bother to answer the rhetorical. Instead he found himself distracted by an odd sensation. He lifted a servo to his face only to find his digits touching liquid. ::Inform Thrust he is to be the acting Air Commander until Starscream finds his senses again.::
And then Megatron disconnected without another word, leaving Soundwave with his thoughts.
It was energon that stained his digits and dripped down his chin, sluggishly escaping from where Starscream’s teeth had torn Soundwave’s lip in his haste to escape. Touching the wound proper sparked a sharp ache that lingered even when it was left alone again.
It was going to scar, Soundwave realized absently as he let his mask snap shut, hiding the evidence away. Soundwave suspected that Starscream would be rather pleased with himself if he found out he’d managed to leave his mark.
Soundwave ran his tongue over the cut as he considered the door to Starscream’s quarters.
And then he forced himself into motion, escaping down the hallway before he fell to temptation.