Chapter Text
If there was one thing that came as easy as being in the air to Starscream, it was his quick thinking. It saved him plenty of times on the battlefield for the better part of four millennia. It saved him from being offlined from the former leader of the Decepticons and escaping Autobot custody countless times.
Being Supreme Leader of Cybertron only brought forth these honed skills as he often took swift control over whatever issues arose and dealt with the situation. It was only one of his tools in his arsenal that he had practiced to perfection that allowed him to handle crisis situations with ease.
Of course, he couldn’t be perfect all the time.
Starscream was used to being kept busy, and when he did have the downtime, he enjoyed spending it with his Conjunx. When the office hours were done, Starscream would gather up whatever documents or data-pads he was working on and head to Wheeljack’s lab. He’d sit on the sofa in the corner of the lab while Wheeljack continued to work, simply enjoying the comfort being in each others presence brought.
Wheeljack wasn’t around and being bored with free time, Starscream decided to finally go for his check up with Flatline. The medic had been insistent on pinging him with comms and messages for the past two months for a check up. Starscream usually would have ignored the medic longer, but his backstrut had been sore lately which was quickly becoming annoying.
So it was a bit of surprise when Starscream had to shaking his helm to focus on the words leaving Flatline’s vocalizer. Having to reset his audials, Starscream waved a servo to interrupt the medic. He must have misheard the medic. “I’m sorry, I’m what?”
Flatline only fixed him with a stare before placing down the data-pad that had Starscream’s readings. “You’re sparked. You can either snuff it, or keep it. I’m taking by your reaction, it wasn’t planned.”
Scoffing, Starscream crossed his arms across his chassis. There was no way he could be sparked and he knew why. “I can’t be sparked. My spark type isn’t able to get sparked.”
The medic shrugged. “You are able to carry a newspark, all sparks are. Your spark type is just less likely to get sparked, not impossible.” Flatline paused, looking down and studying the data-pad once more. “Either way, if you choose to keep it or snuff it, I need to know soon. You are already one month into carriage and if you do keep it, I’ll need to know so we can figure out a plan from there.”
Starscream only nodded, tugging his arms closer to his frame. He didn’t want to believe it but it wasn’t something he could will to be a lie. It wasn’t like it was bad, per say. But it was something he had never thought possible. He didn’t know if he wanted to keep it or-
“You can go for now, but please give me an answer before next month.”
Nodding, Starscream picked himself up and left Flatline’s office. He barely remembered leaving the hospital and transforming to head back to the office. Primus, he needed to tell Wheeljack.
After a few minutes of sitting in his office in silence with the lights off, Starscream scowled at himself and picked up a data-pad. He was too busy running Cybertron to bother himself over this. He still had meetings to attend, documents and bills to overlook and whatever problems arose across the planet. He didn’t have time to process the weight of the news.
Not now.
With an exaggerated flourish to impress no one but himself, Starscream flicked on the hologram console for his desk. A 3-D map of Cybertron was on display and with practiced ease, he zoomed into the new settlements around the planet. He could focus on the order of where needed the most help and which cities could help out, it was an easy task that required the least processor power. He couldn’t allow himself to panic, he had work to do and Cybertron wasn’t going to wait if he was having a meltdown.
Besides, he had to wait for Wheeljack. He needed to tell his Conjunx, who was away for the week which meant that Starscream could do what he did best. And shove the entire issue to the back of his processor and pretend that everything was okay. As long as the week wasn’t too stressful, he’d most likely be okay.
The universe was working against him, as per usual.
As soon as he finished his work for the day and was about to leave, Rattrap told him that Rodimus’ little ragtag crew on his ship caused some political trouble in their travels. Having to deal with the Intergalactic Council was a pain in the aft, especially with their displeasure of having Megatron being kept alive. Keeping the Council placated was hard enough when they blamed every little thing on Cybertron at every chance they got.
Even after the war ended, Megatron still gave him problems to clean up after. Even after explaining the fragging loophole keeping the damned mech alive, the council demanded a meeting the next day to handle everything. They were still trying to get Megatron’s helm on a platter and as much as the seeker would love to have the very same, he had to obey the moon’s laws.
At least it kept him busy for a few days, though Cybertron was cleaning up the mess left behind by the Lost Light and paying for whatever losses caused by the damage. Most of which didn’t really cost that much, considering it was a small ship port that was easily replaceable, the meeting with the Council was the most time consuming.
It did mean that Starscream had to contact the Lost Light which he wasn’t looking forward too, until Red Alert Answered instead of the Captains. He was able to have some interesting conversations with Ultra Magnus, who was a delightful mech to talk too considering the rest of his crew he traveled with.
And because Primus loved Starscream, another problem showed up in the form of Optimus Prime. A surprise visit to steal away two of his Councilmen, Ironhide and Windblade, left the seeker seething. The Prime wasn’t even supposed to be planet side, exiled as he was. His little visits were becoming more frequent and he hid from Starscream but not the public, which only brought more complaints about his leadership if Optimus Prime could just ignore his status of exiled, how many more could ignore the law?
He still hadn’t been able to make it home after the whole Intergalactic fiasco and falling asleep in his office chair wasn’t as comfortable as it sounded. Though, at least he knew that whatever the Prime was up to, both his Councilmen would comeback.
Ironhide didn’t like Starscream much at first, though he didn’t have to for him to do a good job. Starscream could respect that, considering he did a damn good job, though he’d never tell the old mech that. They both worked for the future of Cybertron and despite their disagreements, the both of them could work together. Over time, and probably because of Wheeljack, the two had become tolerable.
He knew Windblade would return to Cybertron, not only her duty as a delegate and Council member tying her to the planet, but also her duty as a City Speaker. And though she’d deny her personal feelings had any say, Starscream knew her own connection to her friends she’d made here would keep her working for him. (It was a shared feeling between the both of them of not admitting they were friends despite the fact that he trusted her enough to take his place when he wasn’t available.)
Because of Optimus’ sudden appearance which stole away Ironhide from his post for a few days, Starscream had to force Chromia to take his place while he was away. She was the only one who had similar credentials who could fill in and Jazz was busy away at one of the Cities. Which wouldn’t be a problem but the bot had acted like she had never written a formal report which left him rewriting each one. He knew that she could write proper reports and was only being petty, he could have easily forced her to rewrite them, but with Windblade also disappearing left Chromia unchecked.
As loath as he was to admit it, Windblade helped him deal with the blue bot’s hostility against him. It wasn’t like Starscream was scared of her, but now that he knew of the sparkling, the new coding was online and active which affected his processor, leaving him feeling uncharacteristically week and timid. It made him feel pathetic and frustrated with himself.
Of course, he would have loved to talk to the other perpetrator of his current problem. However, his Conjunx had been working on the colonies as a sign of good faith to help their space bridges. And Starscream didn’t see the situation as enough of a problem to pull Wheeljack away from his work.
It only meant more nights in the office and more rewriting of reports. And because of the carrier coding coming online, it left him hyper aware of his fuel levels. All the time he had alone while in his office at night felt like the Pit, if he let his mind wander, he’d become hyper aware of the sparkling. Aware of all the possibilities that things could go wrong before he even had a chance to tell Wheeljack.
Too many times did Starscream find himself unconsciously touching his chassis, right above his spark casing. He was so tempted to just mention it when he’d check the reports Wheeljack sent, smiling as he saw the little love notes scrawled in at the bottom of the documents. But it wasn’t fair to the scientist to find out over a comm or a message.
No, Starscream owed it to him to tell him in person.
Onlining slumped over his desk, a now familiar setting, Starscream only groaned as the rest of his processor booted up. Standing up to stretch his sore joints from being in an uncomfortable position for so long, he made his way to the energon dispenser down the hall.
He had them installed on every level of the building for convenience sake for nights he stayed in the office and for the other mechs who worked in the building. It would do him no favor if the people thought he didn’t care about his workers being properly fueled as they worked.
Grabbing himself a cube, the seeker was silently thankful that the only other office he had to pass was Windblade’s empty one. He knew he looked like slag and he really didn’t need anyone to see him like this.
:: Cancel all my meetings for the day. Reschedule to wherever it fits, but I’m taking the rest of the day off and tomorrow::
After sending the comm to Rattrap, Starscream grabbed a few cubes of energon. Draining one of them right away and storing the rest inside his subspace, the seeker made his way back to his office.
:: Done and done, Boss. Any reason why you’re taking the day off? ::
Rolling his optics as he walked over to the console on the wall and turned it on, Starscream scoffed. He could practically hear Rattrap sniffing for an explanation he wasn’t privy too.
:: None of your concern ::
Getting to work, Starscream tried to ignore his reflection on the screens. His paint was dull and his optics dim, the exhaustion making itself known all throughout his frame. He’d have to get some proper recharge and a defrag cycle soon, otherwise he wasn’t going to hear the end of it from Knockout.
Sitting in his chair once more after downloading all the new documents and reports onto his data-pad, Starscream raised an optic ridge. He had accidently downloaded one of the new bills that was trying to get passed. Though this one was more of a revision of an old bill; new high grade restrictions after a few too many cases of overcharged bots ending up inside the hospitals.
His office doors slammed open and he barely glanced at the two who stormed in. Ironhide and Windblade both had apologies spilling out of their mouths about disappearing and missing work, Starscream only waved dismissively at the pair with a servo. He was too tired to even hear them out fully and this revision was actually pretty well written. It wasn’t ready to be brought to the Council yet, so someone must have fragged up and uploaded it to the wrong server.
Ignoring the two whispering to each other, Starscream closed the document and checked over to see if anything else was misplaced. The heavy pedefalls of Ironhide left the room and once the doors closed, the seeker spared a glance at Windblade with a questioning look.
She wore a worried look as she leaned over the desk and gently pushed the data-pad from his servos down with a soft smile.
Disgusting.
“Did I do something that warrants pity, Windblade?” Starscream sneered.
Windblade only shrugged as she withdrew her hand. That look of worry and concern never leaving her face. “Not at all. You just don’t look too good is all.”
“Thanks. Next time I need someone to try and attempt to tear down my self-image in such an amateur way, I’ll make sure to comm you.” He replied with a wry smile, placing the data-pad fully down on the desk.
Rolling her optics, Windblade sat herself down on top his desk. It was a familiar setting for the two, though they’d both deny it than admit that they actually enjoyed the time they spent together. “Like any amount of chipping away at your image is actually going to affect your vanity.”
“Please, just because I like the luxury of keeping my maintenance top notch and up to date because I care about how I present, doesn’t mean words don’t have value.”
“Oh, I’d expect you to fully know about the value of words.” Windblade teased before her faced melted into concern once more. “Though I am serious, you look exhausted and I know for a fact that you don’t come to work without a polish. You look less… shiny.” She waved her servo at the last word.
Humming in response, Starscream relaxed back against his chair. He had plenty of reasons to rant at her for her sudden disappearance, a cause of his exhaustion but he also had a good guess on why Optimus stole her away. It was no secret that the Prime wasn’t happy and disapproved of him being Wheeljack’s Conjunx. Ever since the news had broken out across space, he’d received some of the most passive aggressive reports from the Prime since. The Seeker had kept it to himself though, not wanting to stress out his Conjunx. He didn’t hide it though, so it was no secret that Wheeljack was already aware and simply left it alone.
It didn’t mean Wheeljack didn’t care, he just trusted Starscream to be civil with the Prime, which he was(to the best he could be, the Prime liked to push his buttons on more than one occasion). Starscream appreciated the way Wheeljack understood and respected that whatever was between Starscream and the Prime, was between the two of them. Only stepping in when it was necessary.
Because of that, Starscream didn’t find any reason to yell at her for her sudden disappearance. Sure, he was exhausted because of that but there were other reasons (he ignored the urge to rub his chassis again) for his exhaustion and stress. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t tell her anything about what she missed out on.
“I haven’t been home since the entire Intergalactic Council and you two disappearing brought me some more troubles on top of the paperwork I still have from that first problem. Chromia isn’t… adept, at writing reports, though I’m aware she’s just slighting me. On top of having to find crews on my own for the repairs for Cybertron, the colonies asking for more than they can give and running on five hours, tops, of recharge had only left me slightly tired.”
Wincing, Windblade looked out the large window that overlooked the city. “Optimus spent the entire time to try and talk Ironhide and I into leaving with him to the Earth Outpost. Of course, I declined, as did Ironhide, but Primus, he was persistent.”
Grimacing, Starscream followed her gaze as he folded his arms on his desk. He didn’t pity her or Ironhide for dealing with the Prime, glad that he wasn’t dragged into another impromptu meeting about something trivial. Optimus was not subtle at trying to undermine Starscream at every chance he got. Not approving of Starscream was a generous downplay to the near hostility he faced whenever the Prime had a chance to ‘talk’ to him face to face.
Placing his chin in one servo, Starscream gazed at the city. It was still morning, which meant that something could still go wrong. There was always something to sign, something to read over, to fix and give his attention too. It had helped distract him with work rather than deal with the true issue that was bothering him the past week but now he was reaching his breaking point.
He was glad he cancelled his meetings for the day, he could go home and recharge after finishing what he had left for the day. He was almost caught up to all his work, which was rare but welcome. It meant his workload would slow down for a while.
“Wheeljack should return late in the afternoon. I can take over here after checking in on Metroplex, if you want to go rest.”
Raising an optic ridge, Starscream glares at Windblade before letting out a huff. “Still trying to take my position, Windblade? I thought you were more tactile than this.”
Windblade only gently shoved his arm in response, standing up as she stretched. “Why would I want your position when I already have a pretty good thing going on for myself as a trusted Councilman and adviser? Besides, if I really wanted your position, Lord Starscream, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Starscream sneered at the smirk Windblade gave him, waving her off as she left his office. He was already aware of Wheeljack’s return, though he did appreciate the offer. He’d probably take her up on it, considering he wanted to just go into recharge on his berth after a shower.
Primus, he hadn’t showered all week, which isn’t the longest he’d went without one but that was during the war. But over two centuries had passed since the war ended and he’d been elected as Supreme Leader of Cybertron, so he was allowed to maintain his appearance as much as he wanted.
:: After you’re done with Metroplex and whatever else it is you have to do, you can take over for me. I rescheduled my meetings for today and tomorrow, but I’ll get Rattrap to forward you my schedule ::
Confident in Windblade to handle his workload (He’d never admit it out loud, Primus forbid what it would do to her ego), Starscream stretched. His position as Supreme Leader of Cybertron for over two centuries had left him with a Council he trusted to make sound decisions for the better of their planet and they haven’t let him down, yet. Now that they would all be back on the planet, he could leave it in their servos for a day or two.
Coming out of the best recharge he’d had in a while, Starscream rolled over in berth as he checked his Chronometer. He still had an hour before Wheeljack would return, which gave him plenty of time to refuel and anxiety to begin to seep into his processor.
They had never talked about sparklings, it just hadn’t come up in their conversations. Both were too busy with their jobs and while Starscream knew they could do it, he wasn’t sure if it was an option for them.
Primus, Starscream wasn’t even aware he could carry. His spark type was a huge deal when he was younger, a royal of Vos who couldn’t get sparked? Oh, the scandal! Starscream took the first chance he had to leave and took it, now wishing he had paid attention to why it became a big deal.
Of course, he had never planned to have a sparkling in his lifetime. More so when the war broke out and dragged on for well over four millennia, it just wasn’t something he gave half a thought about.
What if Wheeljack didn’t want a sparkling? They were both still dealing with the aftermath of the war, and while they were both handling it in different ways, Starscream still didn’t take onlining abruptly well. Wheeljack still slept with a blaster under the berth, though it wasn’t in his subspace anymore.
Frag, what if they accidently kill the sparkling because of their PTSD? They’d have to hide the entire existence of the sparkling, considering the amount of assassination attempts he deals with to the point of it being normal. Would the sparkling even survive the entire carriage?
Starscream didn’t know how to raise a sparkling, he was never around sparklings enough to even have experience seeing one.
The carrier coding only made the anxiety and dread Starscream already felt triple, causing him to grasp onto the counter as he took deep invents. He could feel his wings twitch, a tick he’d never been able to break. A comm request with a familiar signature pinged and he didn’t think twice about answering it. Any distraction was a helpful distraction from, whatever the Pit the coding was making him experience.
:: I need your signature on some documents, think I can bring them to you when you meet Wheeljack? ::
Taking another invent to steady himself, the seeker shakily stood up to reply. He was alright, he was going to be okay. He had to pull himself together otherwise he was going to get nothing done. Windblade needed him to sign some documents, he can do that.
Standing up straight, helm and wings held high, the seeker made his way to the door, managing a clear expression on his face.
:: No need, I’m on my way ::
Transforming as soon as the door closed behind himself, Starscream flew off into the sky. Windblade was most likely in his office, so he made his way to the nearest balcony.
:: Okay, I have something else I’ll need your opinion on. I’ll explain when you get here ::
The fly was nice and while he still felt anxious, it wasn’t getting worse. He knew from the sound of Windblade’s reply that something had come up that was probably best discussed in person. Obviously it didn’t need immediate attention otherwise she’d have told him.
Transforming on one of the large balconies, he noted that his wings weren’t twitching anymore. A good sign, at least now that he was clean, polished and well rested, he wouldn’t look like the mess he was earlier.
The short walk through the halls into his office was enough to set his processor on something else. Whatever Windblade had to discuss would be quickly taken care of and she’d probably escort him to meet Wheeljack at the space bridge.
Opening the door to his office, his optics caught sight of the hologram blueprint of a sector of Metroplex Windblade had displayed. She paused what she was doing when he entered and didn’t speak until the doors closed behind him.
“You got here pretty quick. Did you recharge well?”
Smirking as he crossed his arms across his chassis, Starscream sauntered over to her. “Of course I did. Now tell me, what’s this?” He motioned to the hologram.
“Well…” Cocking her helm to the side, Windblade zoomed out of the hologram to show that it was the edges of where Metroplex covered and Cybertron connected. “One of the guard stations is in this sector, which it has been for a few years now. The only issue is that they’ve requested to expand a bit more, since the smaller city it connects too is also expanding. The blueprints show that we can’t expand it otherwise we risk breaking the station if we expand too much into Cybertron and whenever Metroplex transforms.”
Humming, Starscream nudged her over and changed the hologram to the smaller city. Cybertron had grown a lot, now have five major cities and three hotspots on the planet again. Seeing the size of the new city and making it so he the construction plans were also visible, Starscream shrugged. “So make a new guard station. The city is expanding to the point of needing its own council, which means why expand the small station when they can just build another HQ nearby their government building?”
Windblade looked to the middle of the blueprints where Starscream pointed too and nodded. “We’ll need to get a Council set up. I can talk to Ironhide about the guard station. Do we keep the already existing one on the original sector?”
“We can keep it as a check point, there’s a lot of shady business’ on the outskirts of Metroplex. We need to have an easily deployable station in case anything happens to the other sectors that aren’t connected to any settlements.”
“You have a point. I’ll fly over there tomorrow to see if they have leaders of the sort, or anyone who’d be willing to start a council. They’ll need a representative to fit the requirements or relocate here while they learn.”
“Make sure to take a few guards. The last time I went to a new city, they tried to kill me.”
Rolling her optics, Windblade shut the hologram off. “That’s because you’re a pain in the aft.”
Putting a hand on his chassis in mock hurt, Starscream replied in a hurt tone. “What? Me? I’m a pleasure to be around.”
“Sure, whatever makes you recharge better.” Picking up a data-pad, Windblade opened a few files and handed it over to Starscream. “Anyways, these need your signature. I also had an important request come in tonight that I thought you’d like to see.”
Raising his optical ridges as he read over and signed, he made sure to hide his curiosity. “Oh, pray tell, what exactly would this request entail?”
Windblade picked up another data-pad and waited patiently until Starscream was done. “Here, read it over.”
A bit apprehensive due to the excitement in her voice, Starscream read the form. And reread it to make sure he was reading the right words and designations. Optics darting back up at Windblade, he ignored her excited expression.
“When was this sent in?!”
“Just a few hours after you left- don’t give me that look. I decided to let you recharge, you look like you needed it.”
Rolling his optics, he signed off on the request and shoved the data-pad back into Windblade’s servos. “When it’s something this important, don’t just leave it until I’m available. You have my personal comms for a reason.”
“Oh, I thought I had them because you actually thought of me as a friend.” She teased, walking to the console.
Starscream knew she was only doing it to get a rise out of him and it was working. “How dare you?! I can’t stand you!”
“Sure, and your optics are blue.” She shrugged her wing before turning around and leaning against the computer, crossing her arms. “So what’s his position going to be?”
“This isn’t over.” Starscream grumbled as he put a servo on the desk to lean on. “He’s going to be an advisor and I’ll probably assign him to the new City as a temporary representative while we wait for everything to get set up there.”
“Hmmm. We’ll need him to get properly integrated with our government first. Even if he knows everyone, he still needs to learn the laws and how things run.”
“I’m pretty sure Bumblebee will have no problem getting the hang of things.”
Windblade gave him a questioning look before shaking her helm. “Whatever, we don’t have enough time to argue over this. Who’s going to take over his position?”
An idea popped into his processor and Starscream gave her a sadistic grin. “Why, who else?”
It took her a second to realize what he was thinking and giving him a flat look, Windblade let out a huff as she pushed up off the wall. “No. It’s not going to work and you’re going to have a hell of a time explaining the entire situation to the rest of the Council and delegates. I won’t back you up this time.”
“What?! Why not?!” Following after the other jet, Starscream whined as she led them through the building to the space bridge room. “It’s a perfectly good idea! Think of it! It’ll be perfect cover for all the times he shows up anyways, and he won’t have a choice but to listen to proper protocol!”
Letting out a long sigh, Windblade threw her hands up in the air. “You’re literally so petty! That’s all this is! A petty feud that you’re threatening to make a political feud!”
“I’m not the one who has been trying to turn my Council against me!” Starscream knew it was a low blow and refused to admit he regretted saying it as soon as the words rolled out of his mouth.
Windblade stopped to abruptly whip around, Starscream almost crashing into her as she snarled at him. Jabbing a finger into his chassis, she growled at him. “I’ve told you, have fragging showed you time after time that I am not turning against you.”
He knew she had a point, but he wasn’t focused on that. Instead, he took note of the hurt in her expression. Letting out a sigh of his own, he raised a placating servo. “I know. It is a good idea tho-“
Rolling her optics, she threw her hands up in the air again, the tension from before gone as she continued their walk. “Shut up, Starscream. We’ll have a meeting later this week.”
Huffing, the seeker followed after her scowling. At least the anxiety was forgotten for the moment.