Domestic Disturbance

Chapter 21 : Merge



Starscream watched the Autobot's optics carefully. It was considerably harder to read expressions with the Prime's face mask taking up most of his visage, but the seeker was able to make out the slowly shifting traces of confusion, frustration, disgust, shock and finally horror as Optimus allowed the words to fully cycle through his Cybertronian mind. Each heavy syllable taking on it's full meaning with an alarmed beep of a rebooting robotic processor. A rattled gasp escaped the semi. The comforting weight of the other mech suddenly withdrew from the jet's embrace with a jerk.

"W-what...what do you mean, he wants me?" Prime stuttered and nearly fell back into the gurgling river. The sand shifted loosely beneath his knees as he scrambled to stand.

Starscream tried to sit up after the Autobot, wiggling his shoulders to pry his wings up from under the sand where they had been buried. Wincing as the river bed's tiny granules of ground up rock and debris made themselves known in the crevices of his aft. It would take hours to clean the remnants of their river romp from his tiny seems.

"Optimus." He tried to speak in a soothing tone, placing a servo comfortingly on the semi's forearm. "Please try to calm down."

"You mean he wants to...to...interface with me?" The red and blue mech shuddered like he was suddenly cold, pure and utter revolt heavy in his voice.

The two regarded one another for a moment. Starscream frowning as he looked upon the mech's imploring gaze, just begging the seeker to somehow take it all back with a simple rephrase of the previous statement.

"I'm sorry..." He glanced away from those blue optics, spark knotting in his chassis. "But that's what he wants."

It took a few more silent moments before Optimus managed haul himself up out of the river, offering his servo to the seeker to help him up. The two made their way to the dry grassy bank where they sat, watching the sun rise up over the mountains. The semi lost in his thoughts as he let the Con's words roll around in his mind once again. Starscream, content to let his servos wander lazily over the semi's back plating in untraceable patterns. The sensation was pleasant but it couldn't keep the Autobot distracted.

The more he thought about it, the more it confused him. Optimus had always had a respect for his enemy. A silent understanding that only the two faction leaders could share. It had, recently, taken quite a nose dive since learning of the silver tyrant's mistreatment of a mech that Prime now held very dear. Yet, while his opinion of the Decepticon had changed considerably, Megatron would no doubt still feel the same way about Optimus that he had always felt. Respect was one thing that he knew the other general had always had for him. But lust? Desire? Was it possible for his respect to have warped into something intimate? If so, then when had that changed? Megatron had never shown any hint of attraction to him while they battled. They had, on more than one occasion, took each other on in a one on one with nothing but bare servos and their own skills. Never had those dark hands fallen on him in with any intentions other then injury. So how did Starscream know? Was Megatron acting differently ever since the solar plant incident? And if so, should Optimus be concerned the next time he faced the Con alone?

"Starscream." Prime broke the silence, glancing over to the red and white seeker sitting next to him. "How did you know?"

"I just sort of figured it out." The jet explained. "Remember the canyon? I, uh, teased him about you and that's why he kicked me from the cliff."

"So you didn't know it from a recent merge then?" Optimus asked. "You just assumed?"

Starscream shook his head. "We haven't merged for years. I never felt his attraction for you before so this is something new. Something he recently decided upon."

The Con fixed him with a serious expression.

"But you have to trust me when I say that I know he wants you. I've been his toy for millions of years Prime. I know when Megatron wants something. He's not going to randomly grope you one day during a battle. He does respect you, after all. If he didn't, he wouldn't have beat me up so badly for slandering you."

"So why did you tell me?"

"Because." Starscream sighed. "Even though you don't have to worry about him grabbing your aft the next time you beat the slag out of one another, you do have to worry about his determination to capture you. I'm not sure exactly what he wants. He hasn't exactly outlined every dirty thing he wishes and he'd rip me to shreds if I mention it again. I can only imagine how he'll react if he found out about us."

"And that's what has me concerned." Prime touched the jet's knee. "I don't want him taking it all out on you. If he finds out than he'll only hurt you. He's obviously possessive of you."

"And you as well." The other mech pointed out. "He'd flip slag if he knew I 'faced you before him. Especially if it was of your wishes."

"So what are we going to do?" Optimus growled, protectively squeezing Starscream's knee in his large blue servo. "I know you have to go back for Thundercracker and Skywarp, but I do not want to just hand you back to him!"

"Don't worry about me. I've survived him this long, I'll find a way."

"Fuck that." Prime swore uncharacteristically, causing the Con's red optics to widen slightly.

"Prime, you have to let me go." Starscream took the Autobot's servo in his own. "You have to worry about yourself now. If you get captured....I...I cannot live my life protecting my brothers, bowing to that bastard and watching him torture you at the same time. I'd go crazy!"

He stroked his blue digits across the semi's face mask, trying to make optic contact with the furious mech who clutched back at his other servo so tightly his fingers ached.

"Optimus. Please listen to me. You have to move on. Take care of yourself and your Autobots. Defeat Megatron and protect this planet. That is your job. Your duty. I'm a Decepticon. I'm his second in command for spark's sake! I will survive this alone and without you. I've done it for millions of years and I will continue to do it."

"But..."

Starscream shushed him with a shake of his helm, crimson optics pleading and narrowed painfully.

"Just listen. This isn't easy for me either. I'm going back to the Nemesis. I'll think of some way to explain my absence. I'll fight him to the death if I have to. I'll manage it. And when this is over, either by my overthrowing him or you defeating him, I will lead the Decepticons. We'll call a truce and we'll end this. And you and I can live our lives how we want! But until that day happens we are enemies and I'd rather see you dead at my feet than alive on his berth."

"Starscream...." Prime turned towards the seeker as they embraced for what would be the last time, his spark ripping in two as he held the jet, feeling the other cling to him tightly. "I don't think I can let you go."

"You're going to have to. That's why I have to do this."

Pulling away from the Autobot, Starscream gave Optimus one last kiss on his cheek. A quick, feigned smile before he sucker punched the semi in the gut. The Autobot lurched forward, clutching his dented abdominal with a surprised gush of air. Vents hiccupping as the sudden pain shot throughout his middle, internal systems booting up in response to an attack. Before he could reach out and grasp the Decepticon, Starscream leapt into the air with a burst of his thrusters, transforming and tearing off into the morning sky.

~ ~ ~

Prime reached the Ark by noon, the sun high and hot in the desert. He was greeted by his Autobots who immediately questioned as to where Starscream had gone. When their leader transformed and stood up, the dent visible to them all, there was no doubt what had happened. Optimus only confirmed with a displeased grunt that the no good Decepticon had tricked them into repairing him and took off back to his friends once he had gotten what he wanted. Ignoring the outraged jabbering, Prime shoved his way past his comrades to retreat to the med bay. There he asked Ratchet to straighten the armor once again. When the repairs were finished, the strong Autobot leader finally collapsed under his burden, falling to his knees with a sob that the medic had never heard uttered from the Prime. A wounded, broken noise, not unlike their organic friends made when injured or emotionally distressed. The ambulance knelt next to his fallen leader and listened with a heavy spark as the red and blue mech spoke of what had happened out at that river valley. Although Prime had never mentioned the intimacy that he and Starscream had shared, Ratchet had done his quick routine medical scan while the zoned out general sat like a zombie on his table. The sheer amount of core energy was enough to confirm what the white plated bot had never guessed possible.

Optimus Prime was in love with a Decepticon.

~ ~ ~

Around the time Prime was reaching the Ark, Starscream had already landed at the Nemesis, fully prepared for whatever was there waiting for him. However, he was pleasantly, and yet terrifyingly, surprised to find that Megatron was not awaiting his arrival with a fusion cannon aimed and ready to fire. In fact, none of the on duty Decepticons seemed alerted by his presence. All went about their tasks with their usual acknowledgments that they offered their second in command. Skywarp sat at his station, untouched and just as he had left him. Thundercracker was not around, but after tapping the fellow seeker on the shoulder and asking him where he had gone to, the purple jet confirmed that their brother was helping patch a small leak that made itself known during the night.

Nervous, Starscream made his way back to his chambers. With nothing out of the ordinary, when slag should be hitting the fan right about now, the air commander was only too anxious to be alone. While he had had the entire flight back to base to mourn what he had just done, the seeker needed more time to help ease his pain. He needed a clear mind when he finally faced Megatron, for there was no doubt the tyrant knew he had been out and about last night.

He took the final corner to his quarters just a little too hastily, not watching fully where he was going, and smacked straight into what he was hoping to avoid.

"Starscream?" The surprised sound of a mech caught his audios.

"Megatron!"

The seeker leapt back, throwing his arms up in defense to an attack that never came. He watched with mistrustful optics as his leader regarded him with confusion.

"Why are you being so strange?" Megatron cocked his helm slightly, optic ridge raising at his commander.

"Why do you think!" Starscream growled, not falling for this game that his master was obviously playing. "You can't tell me you forgot that I went out last night!"

"Out? To get repaired?"

"Yes! Ou- wait....what?"

The jet lowered his defenses, fixing the tyrant with a confused stare, one that Megatron mirrored back quite convincingly as well.

"So...you went out to get repaired?" The silver mech repeated. "Because that would have been very smart of you. You weren't exactly in the best of conditions last night."

Starscream stared back like his leader had grown an extra head right then and there. There was no way this could be so easy. Megatron wasn't admitting to the transmitter, nor was he acknowledging that the seeker was no longer wearing it. Could it be that he hadn't planted the device? Did somebody else? Or was this a way to lure him into a false sense of security?

"Of course I got repaired." Starscream tried carefully. "I would have died if I hadn't."

"Oh don't exaggerate!" Megatron chuckled almost playfully and reached out to grasp the stunned jet's wrist. "By the way, I'm glad I ran into you. I have something I want to give you."

"What?" The red and white mech tugged at the tyrant's grip as he was lead over to his own quarters. His chassis knotting uncomfortably at his master's changing the subject. "What could you possibly want to give to me?"

Megatron opened the door to the air commander's chambers, pulling the jet in after him and locking the door. Starscream didn't like where this was going at all. His room was small, but always safe feeling. A place where he could retreat to and know that he would remain undisturbed. Now his privacy was invaded. The small room claustrophobic as the larger silver mech prodded him towards his berth. This was no longer a safe haven. The jet gasped as the mech man handled him to sit down on the berth. He realized what it was the bastard intended to give.

The silver Con purred for him to relax as he knelt at his seeker's pedes, dark servos sliding up trembling thighs. This, however did nothing to calm the frantic mech at all. Not when he was trapped in his own room. Not when Megatron knew where he had gone the night before and for some reason pretended like he didn't.

"Relax?" His voice was near hysterical as the cruel tyrant tugged his knees apart. "You want me to relax? What the Hell is going on here!?"

The smaller mech panicked. Megatron should have known it wouldn't be so easy to make the jet compliant. Grasping Starscream's wrists, he rose up and shoved the flailing seeker's back into the berth. A thrum as his wing tips struck the wall. His servos pinned just next to his helm as the larger bot draped over him with sicken warm push of chassis to cockpit.

"Must you make a commotion over every little thing?" He growled with amusement as he held the still wriggling jet firm. "If you're not going to relax and accept my gift of your own accord, then I'll order you to accept it. Or shall I give it to one of your brother's instead?"

Starscream froze beneath him as if liquid nitrogen had flooded his tubes. His thrashing ceased as he sunk down against the berth with a defeated vent of air. If this was the worst that he had to endure for his treachery and running to the Autobots for help, than the Decepticon would have to accept it. If only to spare his brothers. Not only that, but Megatron seemed far too interested in 'facing him to care where he had really gone the night before. Perhaps if he indulged the bastard his little "gift", his leave last night would be overlooked.

"Good boy." Megatron nuzzled into the seeker's cheek as he descended the now sprawled out commander's body.

Swallowing a whimper, Starscream closed his optics when he felt the shift of Megatron's weight. His wrists were released, but remained where they were as the silver Con knelt back down on the floor. His own legs still hung over the berth's side, vulnerable as Megatron slipped in between them and began his lazy petting.

"I've come to a recent realization." He purred as he traced a delicate seem in the seeker's pelvic plating. "I take you for granted far too often. I've never shown you how I truly appreciate you."

"I...I don't need you to." Starscream gulped down a groan when he felt the first tell tale sensations of pleasure dart up his groin.

"Oh but it would put me at ease knowing that I have." The tyrant lowered his mouth to the cool plating and ghosted his lips over another seem as he spoke. "After all, you deserve it."

Shuddering, Starscream turned his helm to the side as Megatron kissed far more deeply at the erogenous zone. Warm lips and hot glossa prying at quickly swelling wires. His body still so sensitive from the remaining core energy running rampant in his systems. Every sweep of his mouth produced a static charge that, like spark energy, would accumulate and discharge. Only smaller and not as powerful. With so much static still charging his systems it wouldn't take long for the tyrant's ministrations to bring him to this artificial overload.

Megatron wedged his large servos under Starscream's aft, angling the pretty hips up so that he could have more access to the warm stretch of red plating. Digits digging mercilessly into the seeker's lower back and exploiting all kinds of sensitive cracks in the Con's pristine armor. Starscream's hips rocked suddenly as that clever glossa swept over an inflamed wire. A wounded sound escaped his throat as his legs hiked up higher until his pedes rested on the tyrant's large shoulders.

"Me-Megatron!" He gasped as his back arched and his anxious servos clawed helplessly at the soft berth material. "Oh Primus! I'm..I'm..."

Overload suddenly rocked the trembling seeker's body in quick waves. Not nearly as strong or as satisfying as the one he had had earlier this morning, but it was enough to cause him much relief. The tyrant letting him slip to the berth in an exhausted heap. Every circuit still inflamed and twinging at the slightest contact.

"Feel better?" Megatron climbed onto the berth with a fluid and graceful motion, like a feline stalking it's prey.

"Not...particularly." Starscream panted and tried to avoid looking the advancing Decepticon.

"Well maybe once I've had my turn..." The tyrant grinned, nuzzling into the crook of his toy's neck.

The red and white mech sighed, obediently spreading his legs further apart for Megatron to settle between them as they melted together with a heated kiss. The silver mech didn't fail to notice the commander's body was running at an unusually high temperature. His circuits enflamed and sensitive. He also couldn't miss the traces of sand and the smell of burning ozone from the dampness evaporating from his various crevices and seems. He stroked the pretty wings, mouthing over the amber canopy in slow, impassioned kisses as he explored the other Con's structure, noticing the dull scuffs with laces of red and blue paint. Starscream so lost to sensation and processor fogged, he didn't notice the shifting expressions of discontent across his master's face.

He didn't know that this was all part of Megatron's plan. He had watched the seeker, via the Nemesis' monitors, run to the Autobot base. The tracer died sometime shortly after he had arrived at the Ark. Obviously it had been found, but that hardly mattered. A few hours after sunrise, Starscream had come back from his little adventure, completely healed but baring new scuffs and, oddly enough, traces of a river or lake bed. His structure showing symptoms of indulging in an interface.

Seeing as how Starscream knew that he had been discovered sneaking out of the base in the middle of the night, Megatron planned to beat him to the punch. Rather than confronting him and indulge the creature's lies, he would throw him off guard by completely side stepping the usual screaming and yelling match that should have happened upon his return. Keeping it all very low key so the other Decepticons wouldn't be aware of what was about to happen.

He had beaten Starscream back to his quarters and bullied him into the room before he could lock himself in and polish away any incriminating evidence. Distracting the seeker with one sided pleasure gave him the chance to personally search out this evidence. Not only that, Starscream would no doubt drop his guard if Megatron promised him a quick interface and the chance to avoid the ugly mess that he should have returned to. The seeker's self preservation and natural cowardice would jump at the chance to avoid all confrontation regarding his absence. He most likely believed that his master's one track mind would be distracted by this little early morning romp and that everything would go back to normal after all was said and done. It wasn't unlike the cretin to use his body as a means of wiggling out of trouble. He'd often sold himself like a common prostitute to his master to avoid serious trouble.

All seemed to be falling nicely into place. Starscream stretched out beneath him and writhing. Wanton moans as he indulged his leader and played along like the perfect little pet. Megatron lurched against his commander, cracking his chassis and letting his core slip out to lap at the seeker's thrumming center with a firm lick of energy. The jet perfectly distracted.

Megatron couldn't allow himself to enjoy the exchange much longer. Growling heavily, he pulled the Con up and into his chest, minding his wings and turning him around so that Starscream was on his knees with his back pressed to his master's parted chest. A strong wave sent straight from the silver mech's core had the trembling seeker collapse with a loud moan onto his servos. Megatron seeming to encourage the change in position, bracing his own servos taught against the mattress, straining against Starscream's backside as he draped himself over the winged stretch, reconnecting them. The voluptuous mech pushed back, enjoying the grind of the other's pelvic plating against his aft as he clawed fitfully against the berth. A string of nonsensical gibberish spilling past his treacherous lips. Although it sounded pretty, Megatron wasn't interested in anything that the seeker had to say. Everything would be said for him with no words spoken aloud.

Drawing a shaky breath of air, the silver mech reached up and took a firm grip on the back of the jet's neck, shoving him face down into the berth. Starscream still blissfully unaware that the dominating grasp wasn't just for show. The connection broke, and both groaned at the loss of pleasure, but Megatron didn't allow himself to lament it. With his free servo, the general slammed his dark digits into the Starscream's back plating. The creature beneath him shrieked at the sudden pain, straining to push himself up from the berth as his very dermas was peeled back like an orange. Megatron dug his black fingers deeper into the gore just below the jet's shoulder, ignoring the blood curdling screams as he gouged his other hand into the mess and tore back even more of the plating, watching as new founts of energon bled over the exposed support column. Starscream jerked in what seemed to be a death throw. His vocals cutting out to a hiss of static as his back was ripped open with a squeal not unlike a rusty screen door. Another slam of a servo severed his spine. The heavy tink tink tink as the monster pounded the back of his spark chamber until it cracked like an eggshell, splitting open under the brute force.

Megatron was dizzy from the scent of energon. There was far too much of it. Bleeding out onto the berth, his fingers slippery with it as he worked deftly to pry the other mech open. It seemed like he dug through metal and gore for hours just to get to the seeker's center. The sound of his screams, muffled into the mattress, aggravated him. His processor was already hazy and his audios rang with the torturous noise. His core twisted and knotted, sickened. He felt a small amount of relief with the shrieks finally stopped. A splash of warmth struck is face, dripping into his optics, rolling onto his lips. He could taste the blood, smell it. The room grew hot and unbearable as he dug, pounded against the stalwart chamber that housed the jet's beating life. The small quarters closing in on him as he continued feverishly. Every so often he felt the jarring sensation of Starscream bucking underneath him. He nearly toppled backwards a few times, loosing his balance.

Practically blind and numb, he finally sense the burning hot light of the other's spark. The center of the seeker finally exposed and bared, Megatron opened his own spark chamber and instinctively pressed down into the unnatural exposure, forcing his very life deep into that of Starscream's.

It was utterly indescribable how it felt. The jet's very essence filled right down to his very atoms. He couldn't breathe without tasting the other Decepticon. Couldn't think without hearing the other's thoughts. Couldn't see without watching the mech's entire life flashing before his optics. Couldn't feel without sensing every joy, every heartache. Everything was laid out for him. Every emotion, every memory. Like a movie on fast forward it played around and around in his head until it ached.

The first time a pair merged, the shear magnitude of information bombarded their processors so violently that it was nearly unbearable. An entire life of memories and emotions and experiences flooded their mind like a drug. A heavy, thick invasion that was near maddening and impossible to comprehend let alone pick through the tidal wave of information to find any desired tidbits that they wished to learn. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Megatron, however, had been through this before. It got easier to sort through the bits and pieces of desired information straight from Starscream's mind. Once one was used to the sensations of merging, it was easier to control the flow and rate of information entering one's processor.

Most of this flood of info was already known to him and accepted. As easily as one could dismiss a thought from their own head, Megatron could dismiss Starscream's, sifting through the new information presented with each merge until he found what it was he wished to perform the bond for in the first place. The tyrant sorted through the various trains of thought and emotion until he came across one memory that always brought him a guilty pleasure.

Right there, he focused on it. It was Starscream's hate. Not for Megatron, however. There was plenty of that buried elsewhere. This was a hate reserved especially for Starscream, himself. He absorbed himself within this little piece of his former partner, fully allowing his processor to mold the sensations. It was almost like copying and pasting a chunk of the seeker's mind into his own. There, deep down within their mingled cores was that indisputable, and much loathed, fact that the air commander still loved his master. Starscream had never stopped loving him.

Megatron reveled in that love. Let it bathe him and soak into him. He prodded and poked into Starscream's self loathing. His disgust for feeling anything other than hate for his tormentor. It was understandable, of course, that Starscream could never truly get over his first love. He had given a piece of himself to Megatron along time ago. A piece that he could never take back. To fall in love with somebody meant that a part of you had to be given away. No matter how badly it ended, it still belongs to them. Starscream would always belong to Megatron. And it was the same in reverse. A piece of him was always with Starscream. It left an empty, vicious little hole in their very beings that could never be filled and the pain that it caused would never be lost. Starscream felt it in self loathing. Megatron felt it in guilt.

Once he indulged in this knowledge, he let the memory pass him by, seeking out what he had come here for in the first place. He scanned through the still fresh memories that lingered on the surface of the jet's mind. There was the canyon. The sudden bloom of realization when he had discovered Megatron's little secret. Waking up in the Ark, locked in a cell. The sneaky little schemes to escape....

There it was. The Autobot. Optimus Prime. He burned through the memories like a beacon of light. Starscream's bright hope filled his spark as he pictured the handsome red and blue semi. The sensations of Prime's touch so clear and comforting and real. Megatron had only ever imagined what the other general had smelled like, or what he tasted like or felt like. But here, without a doubt, he knew. He knew with all his being what the other mech felt like. He could feel Prime's servos on "his" wings. The taste of his clean armor. He looked down upon the Autobot as he straddled his hips. The delicious sensations of his beating spark. The way his core warmed to that beautiful voice saying "his" name. That sheer thrill that coursed through his spark was enough to confirm what the silver plated bot had never guessed possible.

Starscream was in love with an Autobot.

Megatron could stand no more. His body shuddered violently with the overwrought and jarring pleasure the merge produced. He couldn't hold back the cry of pure unbridled ecstasy as overload rocked his circuits. He off lined, collapsing atop the seeker who jerked spasmodically in his own overload. Their vents working desperately to cool their structures as systems rebooted and processors came back online with a gulp of electricity. It took a few minutes of recovery before either moved. Starscream horribly wounded, could only twitch weakly against the berth as Megatron dragged his tired and shaky body from the bloody mess.

Both could feeling the other burning brightly within their cores like an invaded sentient taste. There they would linger for months. Maybe years. There was no need for words. There were no longer any secrets between the two Decepticons and yet Megatron was not angry like he had believed that he would be. A quiet understanding passed between them as they their optics made contact. The tyrant sat with his back against the wall, looked upon his broken, former lover with a blank expression as if he could still read the seeker's mind. Starscream's cheek smooshed against the berth as he looked up at his master, no longer scared or expecting pain. His numb body continued to bleed out, but he knew that he wouldn't die. Megatron would have him repaired soon enough.


"I'm proud of you." The silver mech didn't really have speak. Starscream already knew. "You made the right choice to break his spark."

A fizzle of static was his response and Megatron smiled. Somehow he knew what the jet was trying to say.