Chapter Text
Skywarp winced, helm pounding as he followed the tug of Starscream’s spark. His trine leader called a meeting—something, something, plans for the future, something, something, Bumblebee, blah blah blah. Skywarp didn’t really care; he was just glad he was done purging.
Note to self: having three Night Purges in a row is not a good idea. Skywarp thought miserably. Or you’ll actually be purging a whole lot in the morning.
Thankfully, Skywarp’s tanks were done heaving. Mostly because there was nothing left in them to purge, but Warp would take what he could get. Of course, just as Thundercracker was trying to coax him to down Knock Out’s disgusting hangover cure-all Starscream ordered them into the receiving room. On the complete opposite side of their aerie. Of course.
I might just have to try and purge on him. Skywarp grumbled in his mind, stumbling his way into the room. He could feel TC fretting just behind him, making sure he didn’t fall.
“Ah, my lovely trine,” Starscream crooned. Skywarp glanced up to give his trine leader a dead look. Through the bond, Warp could feel Starscream’s smugness. The urge to purge in his lap was increasing. “So nice of you to finally join us.”
“Star.”
“Starscream.”
TC and Bumblebee said at the same time, the two giving each other a surprised look.
“What?” Starscream exclaimed with a mock, confused look. His gaze shifted from Thundercracker to Bee, who was curled up on the couch next to his bonded. “I’m only concerned that it took almost eight breems for my trinemates to join us when they were merely in the other room. I know this meeting was rather abrupt, but I would expect Vosian Elites would know something about punctuality- hey!”
While Starscream was monologuing, Skywarp ambled over. He took a klik to look between Bee and Star before lying down between them. Skywarp immediately tucked himself in beside the Autobot, trying to get into a spooning position. He did not concern himself with Starscream’s comfort. Warp’s wings slapped him as he got into place.
“Skywarp!” His Archangel shrieked unpleasantly. Skywarp cringed, hiding his helm away in Bumblebee’s sensor wings. The scout was tense at first, but melted easily into the touch—their fields meshed smoothly.
It was common knowledge that Cybertronians weren’t a touchy-feely species. Physical touch paled in comparison to fields. However, Vosians and Praxians preferred both. Cybertron’s stratosphere used to be pretty thick back before the Quints started fragging with their planet. Before it started to thin out, it was really detrimental to a flight frame’s ability to feel EMFs. Seekers, in particular, would become numb to the sensation, and physical affection would start to heighten.
Even though Praxians were grounded and lived in the thinner troposphere, they still inherited a preference for physical affection from their Seeker ancestors. Bumblebee wasn’t an exception. In fact, he might be the most physically affectionate grounder Skywarp’s met. Although he didn’t seek it out, he always seemed relieved when Warp and his trinemates instigated.
Clinging closer to his trine leader’s bonded, Skywarp tried to block out Starscream’s yapping. He just grunted along to Star’s ranting. He felt amusement rising in Bee and leaned into the act.
“You’re unbelievable,” Starscream finally hissed. He stood up- victory!- with a pout and stomped over to a lounge chair. He made a big huff out of it, folding his arms across his chassis while he glared as Warp snuggled closer to Bumblebee.
“Alright, enough,” Thundercracker warned. Skywarp jolted, not realizing TC had rounded behind the couch. He turned blearily to see his trinemate glaring cooly at Starscream before glancing down at him. Regarding Warp for a moment, he unceremoniously handed him a desaturated cube. “Drink up.”
“Ugh,” Skywarp exclaimed, but took the cube. He sat up a little, staring at Knock Out’s torture fuel. With an ex-vent, he tipped it back, trying to down it in one go. It didn’t work. The stuff was more putrid than he remembered. He choked, his tanks ready to purge again.
The only thing stopping him was Bee. The Autobot didn’t deserve to be heaved on. Swallowing the disgusting concoction, Skywarp groaned when a little less than half still sat in the cube. Bumblebee reached out with a sympathetic field. Starscream likely made him choke down his own hangover cure. Muttering under his vents, Skywarp brought up the courage to slam the rest back.
“So,” TC said, sitting down in his own chair across from Starscream. He looked warily at their trineleader. “Why did you call an emergency meeting?”
“Well, I think it's obvious,” Starscream sniffed, sitting with perfect posture. Skywarp would have bemoaned his condescension if his processor wasn’t trying to offline itself right now. Give him a joor, and Warp will give his trineleader a good snapback. “Now that Bumblebee and I have talked out our differences-”
Under Warp, Bee scoffed.
“-I believe it’s time we all discuss our future. What we want our goals to be individually and as a flock.” Starscream finished, barely flicking a wing toward Bee for interrupting.
“While I’m relieved you're finally taking responsibility,” TC started, gaining an affronted look from Star, “are you sure we must do this now?”
A high-pitched sound left Starscream. “Well, yes, of course,” he exclaimed. “We have put this off long enough-”
“And who’s fault that?” Bee interrupted. Skywarp was too busy nuzzling the scout’s wing hinges to see the look the bonded pair shared.
“Regardless of blame,” Star continued loudly, “we don’t have many instances where we can all sit down together and talk this out. I generously excused us from our duties this cycle. However, we cannot leave our posts indefinitely. This planet would fall apart without me. So, no better time than now to get everyone on board.”
“While I agree we need to do this soon,” TC slowly said, “can’t we wait a joor or two? Half of us are not all there right now. Pits, Skywarp just took his medgrade, it’s going to take a while to take effect.”
“Hey,” Skywarp piped up, glancing over at his trinemate, “I’ve flown into battle drunk and hungover before, I think I can handle… talking.” He laid his helm back down, vision swimming from sitting up.
There was a prominent pause before Bee spoke up, “I’m great too.”
“Excellent,” Starscream purred. No doubt he gave TC a triumphant grin. “Now let’s get started. I have typed out a list of goals our trine has had since the war started-”
Oh, Primus. Skywarp thought. They had been young idiots back then. Naive and hopeful. Vos- Cybertron- still stood back then. Warp was pretty sure their “goals” were outdated.
“...I thought we could start with-”
“Actually,” Bumblebee interrupted hesitantly. Skywarp was glad; he hadn’t been paying attention to Star’s speech. “Can we go over what an Elite is? You actually never told me what that was.”
Awkward silence followed. TC eventually spoke up. Warp wasn’t really listening, only hearing his placating tone. He booted the conversation to his secondary processing unit as he offlined his optics. The medgrade energon was taking forever to kick in. He wouldn’t put it past KO to give him a faulty batch.
At least he wasn’t needed for this part of the discussion. He knew what an Elite was already. Pits, he came up with the title. At first, it was a way to mock the Functionalist regime in Vos. However, after their defeat, the Elite Trine title stuck around, and they just kinda flew with it.
Oh, if only their younger selves knew what would become of them starting that rebellion. They were the first city-state to break from Functionalism. Sure, Megatron had started his group with Orion Pax way before them. However, Kaon’s officials had really fought to keep them under ped. Not to mention, one half of the Decepticon founders was a pacifist. Oh, mech, if only Orion Pax knew what was in store for him.
Anyway, Megatron was the first to fight Functionalism, but their trine was the first to actually be freed from the toxic government (it was also the first to fall when Sentinel bombed the flight city to the ground). It was kinda funny to think about their Elite Oligarchy being the oldest form of government after Functionalism. A sad and cool kind of funny that was not really funny, but still funny.
…what was he thinking?
Elite Trine! Now Elite Flock! The Vosians were going to love that. They’d been begging Starscream to make a “real” family for a while now. Skywarp still remembered back when Vos still stood, how random mecha would come up to him with a hungry look in their optics. There were all-out fights and betting pools on who would get the Elite title next. It had been exhausting. That was one good thing about the war, mecha were too busy trying to stay alive to flirt with him.
Don’t get Warp wrong; he loved a good little flirting. It was rare in Vosian society to see a trine in a closed relationship. How else were flocks supposed to grow and adapt? Not everyone could afford or want a youngling after all.
However, Skywarp soon got over it when he realized that mecha would do or say anything to get that damn Elite title. They weren’t themselves. They’d put on any mask they could to get on Warp’s good side. Above all else, Skywarp liked authenticity. None of the Seekers vying for his attention ever stayed honest.
That was why he liked Bee. The Autobot had been skittish at first, sure, but he never wasn’t himself. The more he settled, the more his personality showed. Skywarp could admit he was attracted to the scout, especially after his display at the tracks.
Skywarp thought Bumblebee would make a good Elite. Although he didn’t have much political experience, neither did Skywarp when they took over Vos. Sure, their circumstances are entirely different, but Warp thought- once Bee settled- his outside perspective would be good for Vosians and Decepticons alike.
That was… if he settled.
Although Skywarp loved TC’s drama-filled proclamation of being an Elite, something had bothered Warp about it. Not Starscream’s reaction to the news- that would have been so funny if Skywarp hadn’t been half dead at the time. No, rather… how Bee himself took to the news.
Skywarp’s trine chose to be Elites. That was kinda the whole point. However, Bee never agreed to it. Pits, he didn’t even know what an Elite was. Warp doubted he’d take the news well. Shock was the best-case scenario they had.
And Bee has really come out of his shell. His smackdown with Starscream last cycle definitely backed that up. He wasn’t going to take this news sitting down, that was for sure. Although Warp felt a little bad, another choice was taken from the Autobot; the fallout was definitely going to be juicy.
“What?!” Bumblebee suddenly exclaimed, getting up. Although Skywarp was sad to see his little spoon go, he was just as excited to see the drama about to unfold.
Here we go!