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Bringing a sparkling with him to an energon mine wasn’t the best possible choice, but what else was he supposed to do? Skywarp couldn’t leave her alone! She tended to wander even when he was watching her. Now he knows how his creators felt.
But he had to get them fuel. If he was hungry, she was hungry. He tried to keep her fed as much as possible, but their protoform was growing thinner, and their plating was growing duller by the day, no matter how much he tried to preserve rations.
He just had to be careful, Skywarp could do that! Not getting caught is easy; he used to do it all the time!
Ignoring the fact that when he would get caught, Star would take the fall for him, it was all his fault, and…
Not the point right now, he needs to get fuel for himself and baby bird! Priorities!
“Don’t eat anything that’s not blue. Actually? Don’t eat anything. You can’t handle unrefined energon. We learned that the hard way,” Skywarp said to the sparkling in his arms. Windracer stared back with wide optics. “You’re gonna have to… we don’t have a way to refine it.”
That was a good enough answer, he supposed.
Skywarp had to guess this was an Autobot mine, given the lack of security. Or they didn’t have warp detectors as the Ark did.
He eventually found what they were looking for, energon, an entire crate of it. He could teleport it back to their hideout if he had the energy, but he was only at twelve percent; if he tried, he would go into stasis lock. They could settle for unrefined fuel; Windracer would just have to take it in small pieces.
Skywarp set Windracer on the edge of the crate.
“Put as much of these—” he pointed to the energon crystals. “—In your subspace, yeah?”
“Suhspae…?” Windracer murmured, grabbing at the crystals.
“Atta girl.” Skywarp gave her a pat on the helm before starting to plunder the fuel crate along with clumsy little servos.
“I think that should be enough…” Skywarp took the crystal from Windracer that she was (trying) to bite into and put it in his subspace.
Easy enough, huh?” The purple seeker picked and held up the sparkling, smiling as she giggled and kicked her pedes. “Autobots aren’t as smart as they think.”
Maybe luck was on their side. At least that’s what he thought before he heard voices growing closer.
Skywarp grumbled to himself, hiding behind a large cart and folding his wings down.
“Ah, frag…” he hissed.
“Fwag!” Windracer repeated happily.
Skywarp slapped a servo over her intake, pushing down the giggle that threatened to bubble up.
“There’s nothing here!” One of the approaching voices complained. It sounded familiar, not like any comrade—he didn’t have any of those now, he was sure—but one that nagged at his processor, like irritation.
“This place always gets false alarms. Why do we always gotta come? It’s boring.” The second voice replied to the first, and it clicked for Skywarp.
Those twins who took too much fun in shooting down seekers. Right. Great. Just what he needed.
“You think everything is boring.” Sideswipe teased his brother, blaster held in hand as they walked deeper into the mine.
“Not true,” the yellow twin glared. “Just have better things to do.”
“Mhm, I’m sure scrubbing away the imaginary dirt on your plating is very important.”
Wow, Skywarp didn’t know grounders could be as vain as Starscream. Skywarp snorted, then quickly covered his own mouth. Idiot! He was starting to understand his trines frustrations with him these past months as of late.
He looked down to make sure he had a good hold on Windracer, it would be easier to warp them out of this mess. He could deal with the damage it would do later.
Much to his chagrin, she was gone. Panic flared in his spark. His helm whipped around, looking for where she could have gone, until he spotted her waddling right up to those vile twins.
“Windy!” He called out in a whisper. It was ignored, of course. Sparkling’s had the processing power of a fragging cyberfish!
Sunstreaker squeaked when something touched his leg, jumping away and almost kicking it until he had finally processed what it was.
Sideswipe snorted, “Dude, did you really just make that noise—“
“Sparkling.” Sunstreaker blurted out. There was a small servoprint of mud where she touched his leg.
“What?”
“Sparkling!” He pointed to his offender like she were a criminal.
“Holy scrap,” Sideswipe blinked, momentarily dumbfounded until he smirked again. “She’s cute.” The Lamborghini subspace his blaster, crouching down to pick her up.
Sunstreaker was too distracted inspecting and grumbling about the mud on his finish to care.
“Hey, she’s got hinges but no doors.” Sunstreaker pointed out once he got over the mud.
“Maybe she’s a flight frame,” Sideswipe said, chuckling in amusement when a muddy servo smacked his cheek.
“She’s got a bumper, dumbaft.” Sunstreaker rolled his optics and activated his comm.
::Hey, Prowl::
:Sunstreaker:: Prowl answered. ::Did you find anything?::
::Oh, yeah. We definitely found something.::
“Hey, uh… Sunny?” Sideswipe interrupted, voice suddenly filled with apprehension.
Sunny sighed deeply out of his olefactory with irritation.
“What—?” He looked back at his brother, optics widening at the sight of Skywarp pointing his charging nullray at his helm.
“Give her to me,” Skywarp demanded lowly.
Sideswipe glanced at his brother, an unspoken 'help?!' in his expression.
::Sunstreaker?:: Prowl tried to regain his attention from his comm. Sunstreaker ignored it.
The yellow Lamborghini gestured with his servo, telling his brother to hand the sparkling over.
'Are you insane?' Sideswipe mouthed.
The irritation in Sunstreaker’s expression intensified as he gestured more aggressively. 'Do you want to get your helm blown off?!'
Sideswipe sent a wave of exasperation through their spark bond, then looked back to Skywarp and placed the sparkling between them before slowly backing away.
Once they were far enough, Skywarp rushed forward, grabbed her, and, ignoring the warnings in his HUD—teleported them away with a flash of purple.
Both twins stared where the seeker and sparkling once were.
Sunstreaker reset his vocalizer. ::So… We had something::
::Sunstreaker, is everything alright? You can’t simply not answer me for five breems you made me wor—:: Prowl cut himself off, taking a moment to rethink his words. ::I almost sent out others, you made me think something happened to you::
::We found a sparkling:: Sunstreaker cut to the point.
::A sparkling?::
::And a seeker, Skywarp. He took her. Both of them looked pretty bad::
::Interesting… Return to the Ark. I will take it from here::
Skywarp didn’t remember how he ended up on the ground, but he was there. And someone was patting his face, trying to get his attention.
“Stop…” He mumbled, clumsily trying to swat the offending servo away.
“Birdy!”
Skywarp’s optics shot open. They were dim, and his vision was blurry, but he could recognize his baby bird easily.
“Hey…” He smiled, or at least attempted to. It was weak, barely there. He raised a servo and patted her helm, it took more effort than it usually did. He should be concerned about that, probably.
Skywarp sighed and dug into his processor for information.
-Fuel levels: 10%-
“Son of a scraplet.” The Purple seeker exasperated. He was going to accept his fate, that he would be offline here and now, failing to protect ~~his sparkling~~ Windy.
Something hit his cheek, making him wince.
“What the frag, bitty?” He onlined his optics—when had he turned them off again?—Windracer was pressing something cool to his cheek.
“Mmh…?” He grabbed it, squinting his optics to clear his vision. Energon. The energon they got at the mine. The reason he had to teleport in the first place was because of those twins.
He let out a thankful trill before biting into the raw crystal. He cringed at its bitter taste, but it would have to do.
“Thank Primus,” Skywarp muttered, then snorted. “Or, thank Windy. I guess.”
He broke off a small piece and handed it to the sparkling, who practically inhaled it.
It would take some time for their systems to process it and for their levels to go up. But at least they weren’t going to shut down for starvation anymore.
Primus, he needed a nap.
“Bitty? Baby bird?” He beckoned her over, smiling at the squeak she let out when he captured her in his arms.
“Birdy!” Windracer whined, trying to squirm out. “Bad Birdy!”
Skywarp chuckled, already feeling recharge pull him in.
Skywarp woke to… engines?
-fuel levels: 23%-
How has that not gone up higher already?!
Skywarp cursed a bluestreak to himself in his mind, sitting up so quickly that it jostled Windracer awake.
He apologized to her dismissively, too focused on trying to figure out where the engines were coming from and why they were getting closer.
They didn’t sound like engines on a jet as he expected. No, it sounded like car engines. Grounders.
Autobots.
There was no way they could have tracked him down! He was so careful-! ok, he wasn’t super careful, but he was as careful as he could make himself be!
Skywarp stood, ready to teleport away again, HUD warnings be damned- until he was grabbed, almost dropping Windracer.
“Hey-!” He hissed, whipping around to see that fragging red twin.
“Be careful of the sparkling!” A thunderous voice barked.
“I’m being careful!”
Skywarp took the distraction to kick Sideswipe in the leg, only to have a blaster pointed at him from another side.
“Let’s settle down now,” Ironhide said smoothly.
“Don’t point a blaster at a sparkling!” Ratchet finally caught up to them, stomping over.
“I’m now pointin’ it at her, I’m pointin’ it at ‘im!” He tried to defend.
“You’re a nightmare- I’m gonna weld your fraggin’ servos together. Don’t point it at him when he’s holding her!”
“Do you want him to get away?” Ironhide bit back.
Ratchet went up to them, glaring at them both before reaching for the sparkling.
Skywarp pulled her away from his reaching servos, his wings flaring.
“She’s mine.”
“She ain’t a seeker,” Ratchet stated.
“So what?”
“Seeker coding is dominant, your coding is either weak as slag or you stole her. By the looks of her? It’s the latter.”
Skywarp looked down at her. She was dirty, scuffed up, her plating hadn’t brightened, even after the energon.
'I tried,' he wanted to say, guilt swallowing his spark. 'I’m trying. I really am…'
He could tell by the way the mechs shifted they felt it in his field, but that didn’t earn him any pity.
Maybe Thundercracker was right, maybe he should have let them have her. He could never have done this. Not alone. His wings drooped.
He didn’t fight anymore when they took her, or when they put him in stasis cuffs. He was silent on the ride to wherever they were taking them, to the Ark, probably.
He silently prayed to Primus that they wouldn’t separate them. But knowing the circumstances, the odds were against him. All that praying stuff was slag anyway.
Either the Autobots had a very fancy brig, or they were fragging morons. Judging by his surroundings, it was the latter. He wasn’t expecting to be taken to a medbay, let alone at the other end of the wrath of a grumpy medic.
He’s gotten hungry at one point in the furious rant he had no interest in paying attention to, and trying to distract himself from the aching feeling in his chassis, began to nibble on one of the energon crystals he’d stolen. Ironhide was eyeing him from where he was leaning against the wall.
Only for it to be snatched from his servos.
“Oh, this is great,” Ratchet snarled sarcastically, pointing the crystal back at the seeker like it were a weapon. ~~Maybe that wasn’t a bad idea.~~ “Don’t tell me you’ve been feeding these to that sparkling, too! It’s a wonder you haven’t burned a fraggin’ hole through either of your tanks!”
Skywarp’s breath hitched. The sparkling. Baby bird.
“Where is she?” Skywarp asked, disregarding everything else the medic had said.
“As of now, that’s not your business.”
Skywarp bristled, pulling another energon crystal out of his subspace and pointing the sharp end at Ratchet’s neck.
“It’s my business! If you do anything to her—!” He tried to lunge, only to be grabbed by the red Autobot in the room and pulled back. Ironhide began to take all the crystals from his subspace after he’d grabbed the one from his servo.
“We’re not doing anything to her, she’s being taken care of like I’m trying to do to you,” Ratchet pointed, letting out an annoyed huff. “You’re in a worse state than she is.”
Skywarp is beginning to feel like a sparkling in trouble rather than a prisoner.
“Sit your aft down, or you’re figuring out why I’m called the Hatchet.” Ratchet scolded as he pointed back to the medberth.
Skywarp looked back, watching as Ironhide slowly let him go. He contemplated for a moment before doing what the medic said.
The last joor from there was a lot of poking, prodding, and minor patch-ups. After that was all done, a cube of refined energon was shoved into his servos. Skywarp was too hungry to think it was poisoned or tampered with in any way and began to drink it in big gulps.
“If you purge, you are going in the brig.” Ratchet threatened, though Ironhide snorted at it like it was a joke. Cruel Autobots.
The medic stared at him while he refueled. It was weird—Autobots are weird.
“Why’d you have a sparkling with you?” Ratchet asked, hands on his hips with his thumbs hooked into the plating.
Skywarp huffed into his cube, lowering it to snottily reply, “‘It’s none of your business.’” He mimicked, sticking his glossa out after.
Ratchet gave him an unimpressed glare.
“…What?” Skywarp spat.
“She’s not yours. So either you ‘con’s got some secret society of Praxians, ya’ took her from somewhere, Shockwave cooked somethin’ up in that lab of his.”
Skywarp cringed at the thought of Windracer ever being in the vicinity of him. The medic said she was fine, but they could easily lie. His wings drooped under his worry before he could stop them.
“I didn’t steal her!” He tried to sound irritated, but he just sounded pathetic.
Ratchet stared at him with disbelief, then sighed.
“Y’know, most sparklings would probably be uncooperative right now.” Firstaid was gently applying a nanite gel to the worst of the cuts and scrapes on Windracer’s frame. She was sitting still—mostly—and just staring at him.
“Birdy.” She suddenly broke her silence, looking up at the young medic expectantly.
Firstaid blinked behind his visor. “…huh?”
“Wan’ Birdy! Birdy!”
Firstaid glanced around, did… did a bird get into the ark through the vents again? Usually Redalert would be freaking out by now, and he couldn’t spot anything.
“There’s… not a bird here.” He mumbled. He shook his helm, brushing off his confusion and reaching for an energon cube on the nearby tray.
“Hungry? Your fuel levels are low.” Firstaid held out the cube for her to take. He figured she could hold it herself, she was about the age where sparklings had better motor functions.
Windracer stared as the cube, optical ridges furrowing to make a pout.
“Birdy!” She demanded more instant than the last time.
Firstaid winced at how shrill her voice had become. “There’s no birds-“
“Birdy!” Tears formed in her optics. Firstaid could see her puffing up, gathering air in her vents to let out an audial splitting cry-
“Oh, Primus. No, no no- don’t do that—!”
Ratchet opened the door to the private room and stopped in the doorway at the sight he was met with.
Firstaid was holding a squirming, sobbing, and clamorous sparkling. His posture was slumped, and he was holding her out in front of him to prevent being hit by flailing little limbs.
“…What on Cybertron?”
“Take her,” Firstaid begged as he held her out to the older medic. Ratchet tried not to laugh at the complete resignation in his voice.
Ratchet pat his shoulder, starting to lead him out. Don’t worry, kid. I got Somethin’ that’ll calm her down.”
They’d left him in here alone. It was a perfect opportunity to escape, but they took all the equipment out with them, and the vents were too narrow for him with his wings.
It was a cruel torture method, really. Leaving him with no entertainment and at the mercy of his thoughts. He didn’t want to think of the trine he’d left behind, or the sparkling he’d probably almost had deactivated out of stubbornness, or how she could be scared without him there…
The whoosh sound of the door opening made him snap his optics open. He’d been staring at the ceiling before, he wasn’t sure when he closed them.
“What—“ he began to hiss before his optics widened.
There was a minibot Ratchet walked in with, one with the same colors and medical symbols as Ratchet. He was holding Windracer. She was clean with a new coat of paint, and she didn’t look famished anymore. He smiled.
“Birdy!” She squealed with excitement. Firstaid had to readjust his grip on her to make sure she didn’t fall out of his arms.
“Baby bird,” Skywarp breathed, feeling the tension that had been building all dissipate within that moment.
Firstaid walked over, Ratchet going with him while wearing a look that said 'Don’t try anything' to the purple seeker.
Skywarp ignored them, snatching his sparkling from the minibot’s arms and into a crushing hug that made Windracer giggle. He trilled and mumbled words of comfort and affection in Vosian while he nuzzled her.
Skywarp pressed a kiss to her helm, cupping her cheeks to inspect her. It squished her cheeks, making her look silly.
“Look at you, you’re all clean and pretty!” He praised.
Windracer didn’t acknowledge it, trying to pry off his servos while whining, “Bad birdy!”
The purple seeker snorted, letting go in favor of hugging her close again instead.
Ratchet’s demeanor had softened as he watched them, though he was still stern. “I have questions.”
Skywarp figured he could answer a few.
“I find it hard to believe you just came across her- scrap that, I don’t believe it at all.” Ratchet watched as Windracer took the wash rag from Skywarp’s servos that he’d given him to clean up and began to bite it.
“Why would I lie?” Skywarp frowned, not bothering to try to extract the cloth from Windracer’s intake.
Ratchet raised an optical ridge.
“Seriously!” The purple seeker whined. “What’s even the point of stealing a sparkling?”
Ratchet thought for a moment. It was a valid point. Not to mention taking into consideration, Skywarp wasn’t… all too smart to be able to think of some terrible plan that included sparkling abuse.
“Alright, fine,” Ratchet let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his olfactory. “But it still doesn’t make sense. There were no extra spark signatures whenever she got here.”
Skywarp shrugged, “We were- I’m just as confused as you are.”
Ratchet grunted in response, the medic moving forward to try and pry the rag from Windracer as she attempted to consume it since Skywarp didn’t seem to care, or just not notice.
“Stop that…” He hissed under his breath, glaring when she whined and flared her doors defiantly. “Yes, yes. You’re very scary.” He patronized before successfully confiscating the wash rag.
Skywarp’s snicker was met with a more intense glare from the medic. He ignored it.
“So… Can we leave?” The purple seeker asked, giving the sparkling his servo to play with instead.
“Primus! No,” Ratchet snorted. “The state you two were in? You won’t make it.”
Skywarp pouted. He wasn’t that incompetent! Taking care of a sparkling was hard, they could at least give him a little credit!
“So were prisoners?”
“Not necessarily.“
“But we’re not allowed to leave?“
“She’s not allowed to leave.” The medic pointed to Windracer.
“I’m not leaving without her!” Skywarp held her closer, protective, his wings hitching up.
“Then you’re staying here with her?”
The seeker looked down at Windracer and wilted some.
“You’re gonna make us stay in the brig?”
Ratchet scoffed, “No! Primus- what is wrong with you?!”
Why was he acting like he was the crazy one?!
“There’s nothing wrong with me!” Skywarp snapped back quickly.
Ratchet held back a lot he could say about that matter.
“We’re not keeping you, let alone a sparkling in the brig!” Even if Skywarp did deserve it, he didn’t say that.
“Then if we’re not staying in the brig, where are we staying?” Skywarp asked.
“Well, in the medbay for a few days. I have to make sure you both get up to healthy fuel levels.” Ratchet answered.
“Then…?”
“Then we’ll figure it out from there,” The medic turned to Firstaid. “Speaking of energon, could you go get two cubes since you failed to fuel her the first time?”
Firstaid wanted to argue that it wasn’t his fault, but he simply turned to walk out and do as told instead.
The young medic paused, turning back around and pointing at Windracer. “She’s a menace, by the way.”
Skywarp smiled proudly.
It had been four groons—or weeks, by Earth standards. Windracer and Skywarp had been settling in nicely. Skywarp still needed an escort whenever he wanted to leave their room, and likely would for a while. It was all worth it in the end, he thought. They had a stable roof under their helms, protection, not to mention food. He had preferred to be independent, there were so many fragging rules here! But he'd take it over Windracer or him starving to stasis.
If he could change one thing, though, it was the fondness Windracer had developed for those terror twins.
She had taken to quite a few others, of course. But she had grown undeniably attached to the two Lamborghinis. Skywarp found her asking for them even when they weren't around. When they were in the rec room, she would gravitate to them.
Skywarp wasn't jealous, of course, he knew he was his baby bird's favorite. It would never change!
That's why when he was watching them play with her, while he sat at a table, drinking energon and glaring over his cube, he was perfectly fine. It was good for her to be around other mecha!
"Hope you're not plannin' anything." Jazz teased the seeker as he sat down next to him.
"What?" Skywarp sat up straight, gaze darting between Windracer, the twins, and Jazz. "No- I'm not. I wouldn't. Why would I?" He replied, probably sounding more suspicious than he meant.
Jazz snorted, "'M only messin' with ya, mech. Just saw ya givin' a death glare to the mechlin's." He grinned at the look Skywarp had, like a sparkling caught with their servo in a goodies jar. "Calm down, she ain't goin' nowhere."
"I know that." The seeker grumbled peevishly, his claw idly tapping his cube.
“Yer certainly actin’ like it.”
Skywarp glared at him from the corner of his optic. Jazz chuckled.
The seeker stared back down at his cube, idly tracing the rim. It wasn’t his fault. He just had to be careful, Windy was all he had left.
"'Hide was wondering if you wanted to play Praxus fold 'em again later." The saboteur spoke up again.
Skywarp smirked. "Why, so he can get his aft beat again?"
Jazz laughed and playfully nudged the other mech's arm, “Yknow, for someone I've seen act like a rabid turbofox on the battlefield, you're not too bad, mech.”
Skywarp snorted. “I’m no Autobot,”
“Maybe,” Jazz paused, then smiled again. “But yer a pretty good sire.”
Skywarp's smirk softened. He could live with that.
It had been years now. Windracer was about the human equivalent of… six human years old? She could walk now, he’d expected her to get into all kinds of trouble but she’s really the most well-behaved sparkling he had ever met. Prowl was certainly happy with it, not having another troublemaker to worry about running around the ark.
When he first left the Decepticons, He had thought this would have gone a lot worse.
Usually, sparklings were raised within trines. It made it easier on the creators, and good for the sparkling. Then, when Skywarp left, he had no one. He had to do it all on his own.
That’s what he had thought, at least.
When he was too tired or busy to entertain Windy, the twins he’d actually grown to tolerate would take her for him and play with her for as long as she wanted. Prowl had begun to teach her basic math and writing. Jazz would take her some days when Skywarp needed sleep or to take care of himself. Ratchet was there to teach Windy everything she wanted to know.
He didn’t expect it. When they let them stay at the Ark, he figured they’d just ignore their existence, let them do their own thing. They were strangely… kind. It was off-putting to the seeker. The mechs that had tried to kill him and vice versa, helping him raise a sparkling, even started to become friends with him.
He had thought months prior that he had made a mistake, taking a sparkling and running out on his own had been a stupid idea.
But now? He didn’t regret it one bit.
He could only wish his trine were here to experience it with him.
The recurring thought always left him with a pit in his spark, one he had trouble getting rid of.
Skywarp looked down at his baby bird, snuggled up to his side, cuddling his arm after she had fallen asleep while they were watching a holovid. The sight made the pain in his spark ease, but not enough. The seeker carefully extracted his arm from her hold, then moved her to lie on the couch where they’d been sitting instead. He gave her one last loving look before walking out.
How cramped and painfully orange the Ark was didn’t help the shitty feeling go away. He had to get out, feel the open air. He could deal with Prowl’s “you have to file a leave report” complaints later.
He pressed a key on the pad next to the Ark's exit, sighing in relief when he saw the open sky. A quick flight would make him feel better, it always did.
“Where are you going…?” A sleepy voice asked from behind.
Skywarp whipped around, expression softening at the sight of his bitty. Her doors hung low with exhaustion, and her optics were dim.
“I’m just going for a night flight.” He answered.
“Can I come?” Windracer’s doors twitched like they wanted to perk, but she was too sleepy, and they drooped back to their original position.
Skywarp hummed, thinking about it for a moment before giving her a soft smile.
“I’ll take you out for a flight tomorrow.” Skywarp knelt in front of her, cupping her cheeks and planting a kiss on her forehelm. “You gotta get a lot of sleep, or Ratchet’ll yell at me.”
Windracer giggled and hugged him, which he quickly returned.
Once they parted, she walked off.
Skywarp waited to make sure she wasn’t going to turn back, then walked out of the Ark, wasting no time in zooming off into the night sky.
It was quiet as it was most nights, except for the animals making their strange noises, of course. Primus, Skywarp hated squishy things. Nothing about this planet was ever going to feel normal to him.
He tried to ignore it, focusing instead on the cool air on his plating as he soared through it. The thoughts hadn’t left like Skywarp would have liked them to. He was thinking about his trine still, about how nice it would have been to have them flying together.
He figured he should get back to the ark since this obviously wasn’t working as a distraction this time, he’ll just go drink some engex or something. He didn’t even get the chance to turn around until something had rammed into him—another mech—sending them both crashing to the ground.
“What the frag?!” Skywarp changed back into his bipedal mode, fighting back against servos trying to hold him down.
“Get off—!”
“You idiot!” His attacker snarled. The voice sounded all too familiar. Skywarp squinted his optics. The other mech's expression was furious, he was blue, and… a seeker.
Skywarp blinked. “…TC?”
“We thought you were dead!” Thundercracker pulled him up from where he was pinning him to the floor. “Where have you been?!”
“I- I’ve been… what have I been…?” Skywarp stared at his trinemate, unable to form words. He could feel the tangle of relief, anger, and happiness in his field. His own mirrored it.
Skywarp gave up on answering, surging forward and hugging Thundercracker tightly. He heard the other seeker huff and return the embrace.
“You’re an idiot,” the blue seeker repeated, though only fondness was in his voice.
“You!” Another familiar voice came from behind Thundercracker. Skywarp opened his optics to see Starscream storming towards them.
Thundercracker pat Skywarp’s back, then let go of him, giving him a look that said ‘good luck’.
Once Starscream reached him, the tri-colored seeker grabbed him by the shoulders and began to shake him to the point of whiplash.
“You leave without a word?! Go missing for three years?!” The seeker stopped shaking him in favor of pinching his helm vent instead.
“Hey- hey-!” Skywarp winced.
“I should kill you!” Starscream raised his servo.
The purple seeker squeaked, closing his optics, bracing for a blow. When none came, he opened his optics to find Starscream cradling his cheek and pressing his forehelm to his own.
Skywarp smiled and leaned into it, letting out a quiet purr.
Starscream scoffed and eventually pulled away. Seeing as no one was attacking him anymore, Skywarp stood up with the other two.
“What are you guys doing out here?” Skywarp asked.
“You’re in Decepticon territory.”
Skywarp blinked. “Oh.”
“You’ve been taking our old flight routes every time you come out. We would try to come get you every time, but you were already gone by the time we got here.”
That was probably just because he always just warped back instead since he always ended up too exhausted to fly.
It was nice to see his trine again, but he couldn’t go back… so the question was… what now?
“…do you guys wanna come back to the Ark with me?” Skywarp tried.
“Is that allowed?” Thundercracker asked as Starscream smirked.
“Uhh…” Skywarp thought for a moment before activating his comm. “Hey, Prowl?”
::Skywarp:: The tactician answered. Skywarp knew he would be awake, he always is. He was pretty sure the mech didn’t need sleep to function at this point.
“I’m bringing, uh… guests.”
::Guests?:: It’s one in the morning, who else could possibly be out who wasn’t from the Ark right now? ::what kind?::
“Unauthorized kind!” Skywarp chirped.
::No::
“C’mon, Prowl-“
::No! You can’t just-::
“We’re on our way!”
Skywarp heard a deep, resigned sigh from the other end of the comm. He heard it frequently, but especially from Prowl.
Skywarp turned to his trine and smiled. “It’s cool!”
Thundercracker gave him a doubtful look. Skywarp was sure he wouldn't hear the end of it later, but for now? He had his trine, and he was happy.