Archive of Our Own

Something strange was going on with Starscream’s trine.

This was not, in itself, strange, and normally would not be worthy of Soundwave’s attention. Erratic and unpredictable behavior was nothing new for Starscream, and his trinemates had their own quirks. But recently they had all been acting… outside of normal parameters.

The first hint of oddness came during an otherwise mundane beta shift on the bridge. Starscream nominally had command, which meant he was loudly bickering with Skywarp in a corner while Soundwave worked.

Not that there was much to do. Boredom suffused the air on the command deck. Soundwave kept catching snatches of daydreams from the bridge crew.

Innocent things, mostly. Flying low over the clouds, wishing for a glass of coolant—one with chunks of frozen dihydrogen monoxide, as some of crew had taken to using. Hook had sent out several irritated memos on the rust-causing properties of the chemical in internal systems, but many crew members had developed a taste for it. Soundwave didn’t understand the appeal. Especially when they were constantly surrounded by the stuff in the Victory.

Dirge, whose station was close to Skywarp’s, was having a vivid fantasy of throwing a datapad at the back of Starscream’s head.

Soundwave was toying with the idea of informing Starscream that his argument was lowering crew productivity by nearly 30% when he felt a sudden flare of sharp aggression. He looked over, prepared to interfere if the fight turned physical, and so saw it with his own optics when Starscream snarled, “Shut up, Skywarp,” and Skywarp actually did.

He watched as Skywarp snapped his mouth shut and looked down at the floor, wings tilted down, contrite.

Starscream glared at Skywarp silently for a beat, then stalked back to the command chair, where he remained for the rest of the shift.

Soundwave’s own productivity was lowered by 13% while he puzzled over this. Skywarp was not a mech prone to contrition. Or shutting up.

He didn’t have enough data to draw a conclusion. He would observe Starscream and his trine more closely, if more pressing duties did not crop up.

More pressing duties did not crop up. Life aboard the Victory had settled into a comfortable routine over the past few months. Energon raids on a predictable schedule, no unexpected aggression from the Autobots.

Soundwave had inquired, politely, if Megatron had made any progress on his current plan to defeat Optimus Prime once and for all and had been told, somewhat snippily, that inspiration came when it came. This was true, of course, and Megatron had been right to remind him. It was only that the day to day operations of the Victory were largely automated—Soundwave had written the programs himself last time there had been a significant lull in the war—and it left Soundwave somewhat at loose ends.

Perhaps this was why he found himself devoting so much time to observing Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker.

They seemed to always be together when Soundwave saw them. This in of itself was not unusual. Their relationship functioned on a predictable cycle of fighting and reconciling. If they were in the reconciliation phase, it was well within parameters for them to be spending time together. That was not what was strange.

What was strange was the way Skywarp and Thundercracker orbited Starscream. They appeared to be—were behaving towards Starscream in a way that could almost be called deferential. Staying close to his heels at all times, holding still while he fussed over their paint, running small errands for him without arguing, obeying orders without arguing.

Starscream pushed his trine around as a matter of course, but it was normally an even probability whether or not they listened to him. His trine’s routine insubordination was one of the things that kept Starscream from being a greater threat towards Megatron. Starscream with two powerful and loyal outliers at his back could very quickly establish himself as a force to be reckoned with.

It worried Soundwave. He devoted additional resources to watching them. Placing a—third—small camera in the hall leading to Starscream’s quarters. Increasing the frequency Lazerbeak patrolled the seeker barracks. He observed them personally whenever their on and off shifts lined up correctly. Took pains to linger just long enough to catch snatches of their conversation, the muted buzz of their trine bond.

Starscream, paranoid by nature and unfortunately not an idiot, noticed first.

Soundwave was subtle enough to not provide Starscream anything to actually confront him over, but he felt flares of suspicion and aggression whenever he passed Starscream in the halls. Saw Starscream’s digits twitch out of the corner of his optics.

The three of them were in the mess hall, one innumerably quiet cycle, by the energon dispensers. The graceful lines of their wings mirroring each other as they talked. Soundwave sat in a corner, whiling away the minutes until his shift started.

Starscream seemed to sense Soundwave’s regard, despite the fact that he was mostly blocked from view by a gaggle of Constructicons.

Starscream whipped around to glare towards where Soundwave sat. He stepped in front of Skywarp and Thundercracker, his wings flaring out to block them from view. Soundwave remained impassive, but noted this new, odd behavior.

A few cycles later, Soundwave happened to be passing the upper decks when the Aerial Corps were finishing up flight maneuvers. This was a genuine coincidence, not planned by Soundwave.

Skywarp was crouched on the deck, fans running loud enough for Soundwave to hear even at the distance. Thundercracker and Starscream stood over him, chatting to each other.

It was Skywarp who clocked Soundwave this time. He tapped Starscream on the thigh, jerking his chin to where Soundwave stood at the very edge of the decks.

Starscream’s optics found Soundwave immediately, but he didn’t react with the same aggression as in the mess hall. Instead, he smirked at Soundwave, and bent over Skywarp, running one servo around the side of Skywarp’s helm to cup the side of his face. Skywarp allowed this docilely, watching Soundwave with an unreadable expression on his face. Over him, Starscream’s red optics bored into Soundwave.

It had… disturbed Soundwave. Yes, it had left him feeling disturbed. Warm and staticky under his plating. With disturbance.

Soundwave installed a fourth camera outside of Starscream’s habsuite.

It left him no closer to understanding the three seekers’ behavior. Starscream’s odd behavior.

There were no mysterious acquisitions, no suspicious absences. He, Skywarp, and Thundercracker did seem to be spending more time in his quarters together. But Soundwave didn’t have any surviving bugs in there, so he had no way to tell what they were doing. Whatever Starscream was planning, he was being uncharacteristically cautious.

Soundwave devoted an additional 20% of his processor capacity to the problem. There were no other pressing matters, so he had the space to spare.

Everything came to a head when Starscream didn’t show up for his assigned command shift. This was unusual, as even though Starscream routinely shirked his duties, he never passed up an opportunity to sit in Megatron’s chair.

Soundwave was off duty when he received an alert that Starscream was running remarkably late and no one could get in touch with him or his trine. Soundwave sent a ping back that he would investigate personally.

If Starscream was about to enact some kind of plan, it was better to keep everyone clear. The last one had been an experiment with antigravity beams that had nearly cracked open the Victory’s hull.

Soundwave moved silently down the hallway towards Starscream’s quarters. Nothing appeared to be blowing up right this moment, but the quiet would not last for long.

Sure enough, muffled clanging and yelling came from behind Starscream’s door. Soundwave couldn’t make out the words, but it was. Loud.

Soundwave pulled a pistol from his subspace, primed an alert to be sent to Ravage and Megatron should he take damage, and keyed in the override code to Starscream’s door.

He ducked inside, pistol trained. “Starscream: will explain—”

He froze, all of his joints locking up, as the three mechs in front of him did the same.

The scene before him did not actually require much explanation. Skywarp lay sprawled over the berth—bigger than regulation, where had Starscream obtained that?—looking dazed and listless. Little flashes of charge were visible in his joints, and most notably in his bare and gaping valve. He onlined one optic as Soundwave entered, but didn’t move.

Thundercracker was on his hands and knees not too far away, optics wide, shocked, and bright with unspent charge. Behind him, and obviously inside him, was Starscream.

For a long moment no one moved.

Then three things happened all at once. Starscream’s plating flared in a furious threat display, and Soundwave’s ventilation system alerted him to chemical contaminants in the air just as the door behind him, on an automatic timer, slid shut.

The click of the lock was audible in the silence just before Starscream launched himself across the room with a furious shriek. The pistol was ripped from Soundwave’s hands and flung across the room, somehow managing not to go off. Soundwave’s speculation unit cheerfully informed him that there was a 95% chance that he had just blundered into the territory of a seeker in rut, and was thus very, very slagged. But he didn’t even have time to be annoyed about that because he was too busy trying to prevent Starscream from clawing his visor off.

“How dare you,” Starscream snarled. It was all Soundwave could do to hold him off. “This is my room, my trine!” His voice rose into an audial-glitching howl. “You think you can have them? I’ve seen you watching. Get slagged. I’ll kill you first. I’ll—“

“Soundwave: did not intend—“ Soundwave said, and blocked another wild swipe at his optics. He needed to make Starscream understand he wasn’t a threat and fast. Rut left seekers lucid, but hyper-aggressive. Territorial in ways they usually weren’t. It was lucky, really, that Starscream was an officer and rated his own berthroom. No one had gone into rut in the main seeker barracks for a while, but it hadn’t been pretty last time.

Soundwave caught Starscream’s wrists with his next lunge and threw Starscream off him. He scrambled up to his feet. Crouching low to the ground with his servos up, shuffling backwards towards the door.

“Soundwave: apologizes,” he said. “Soundwave: did not realize. No intention to trespass. No desire for Skywarp or Thundercracker. Soundwave: not making a claim.”

Starscream did not close the distance again. He paced back and forth in front of the berth, wings flared, partially blocking Skywarp and Thundercracker from view, like he had in the mess hall. Soundwave felt a wave of profound irritation with himself for not recognizing the obvious signs.

The two seekers on the berth were uncharacteristically silent. Thundercracker gnawing his lip nervously, and Skywarp still with only one optic online, lazily watching the show. Whatever they were thinking was drowned out by Starscream’s spiky aggression.

“Why the slag are you here, then?” Starscream demanded, taking a step forward, breaking line of sight with the berth.

Soundwave backed up further, staying low to the ground.

Unfortunately, this put him exactly at optic-level with Starscream’s spike. Which was still fully extended, an eye-catching shade of red, and glistening with lubricant. There was a line of biolights running along the underside, still glowing with arousal.

It took a moment longer than it should have for Soundwave to formulate a response.

“Starscream absent without leave from his command shift,” he said lamely and could instantly tell that Starscream didn’t believe him. He braced himself for another attack, but it didn’t come.

“Sure, that’s why,” Starscream sneered. He stood up straight, out of his aggressive half-crouch. All of his plates slicked back down in a flowing movement which unfortunately drew Soundwave’s optics right back down to his spike.

Soundwave stood slowly, servos still up placatingly, palms out.

Starscream’s aggression was calming into something banked. Calmer, but still hot.

Without the blanket of his anger, Soundwave could sense the other two seekers on the bed. Skywarp amused, half-awake despite the yelling. Thundercracker thought achingly of the unsatisfied soreness of his valve. He wanted Starscream’s spike back, he wished Skywarp would touch him, he wondered what Soundwave’s broad hands would feel like on his plating.

Soundwave tore his attention away, back to Starscream, who was still dangerous even if he wasn’t actively trying to tear Soundwave’s throat out. He was just standing there, looking at Soundwave consideringly.

He took a step forward, the movement rolling liquidly through the ball-joints of his hips, spike bobbing gently.

Soundwave’s fans tried to click on. He manually shut them off before they could spin up enough to be audible. Not that they would have been over the din of three flight frames, all of them with their fans still going.

Starscream moved, fast as an electroviper. Soundwave’s threat assessment protocols went wild for a moment until he realized that Starscream wasn’t attacking him. Starscream’s hands flattened on his chest, talons tapping lightly against the glass there, but not digging in to rip or tear.

Starscream smirked up at him and pushed until his back hit the door.

Now would be the perfect time to go for the lock panel, which was in reach, but instead Soundwave held still while Starscream pushed himself flush against his front. Glass squeaking as it pressed against glass, the hot air from Starscream’s vents blowing directly into Soundwave’s own vents, Starscream’s hot, wet spike pressing against Soundwave’s thigh.

Soundwave had to scramble to manually cancel the automatic routine that would prepare his own array for interface. His pelvic gears spasmed as they tried to transform and were forced back into default alignment.

It made the faintest grinding noise. Not very loud at all, but loud enough for Starscream to hear. He could probably feel the grinding of gears in Soundwave’s frame.

Starscream’s optics dimmed as power was rerouted. His spike twitched against Soundwave’s leg. He leaned in close, and blew a stream of hot air and exhaust directly into the vents on the underside of Soundwave’s chin. He could taste the chemical composition of the fumes, broken down energon and unidentifiable foreign particles.

Soundwave’s components ground and stuttered again. Starscream laughed, high and mean.

He stepped back, pushing off Soundwave’s chest. He held out a hand towards Soundwave, palm up.

Soundwave stared at it, uncomprehendingly.

“Well?” Starscream demanded, making an impatient beckoning gesture. “If you want my spike that bad, you can have it. No paint off my nose. There’s enough room on the berth.”

Starscream sounded perfectly calm, but there were little zips of charge running up and down his sides. His biolights pulsed in a slow rhythm. Rut didn’t rob mechs of their processor functions, but it wouldn’t be long now until the buildup of excess charge in Starscream’s frame began to hurt. Until he began to overheat.

“Oh,” Soundwave said dumbly, staring at Starscream’s hand. This interaction was not going the way he had envisioned it. In his mind there had been more gunfire, and screaming, and potentially a bomb diffusion.

Instead, there was just Starscream with his hand out, his optics boring into Soundwave’s.

A low moan turned both their gazes to the berth. Skywarp had apparently gotten bored with watching the silent standoff and had instead started to play with Thundercracker’s spike. Thundercracker’s optics were hazy. Soundwave watched as his mouth fell open.

“C-come on,” he breathed. He cut himself off with a gasp, arching as Skywarp’s grip tightened around his spike.

“Yeah, come on,” Skywarp echoed, who sadly seemed to be the most lucid mech in the room. He made optic contact directly with Soundwave and said, “Starscream’s got a nice spike. We don’t mind sharing.”

“There you have it,” said Starscream, who had somehow gotten much closer without triggering Soundwave’s proximity alarms. “They don’t mind sharing.”

It had been a long time since Soundwave had last interfaced. He just didn’t have the time. This was partially Starscream’s fault, as redoing Starscream’s sloppy administrative work took up a frustrating amount of Soundwave’s off duty hours.

Soundwave was off duty now, technically. Hours until his next shift.

Thundercracker moaned again, his wings flexing, catching the low lights.

“Soundwave: accepts invitation with conditions—“ Soundwave began, but was immediately cut off as Starscream grabbed him around the wrist and fast-marched him back to the berth.

“Fine, yes, whatever,” Starscream said, guiding Soundwave down onto his back, next to where Skywarp and Thundercracker were tangled together.

“Starscream: must listen to conditions,” Soundwave said tartly as Starscream nudged open his thighs, stepping between them.

“I said fine,” Starscream snapped. ”What?”

“Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker: will not reveal—“

“We don’t kiss and tell,” Skywarp interrupted him. He reached out and stroked his hand up Soundwave’s side, causing the plating there to tingle. Thundercracker hesitated before reaching out as well. He gave Soundwave an almost shy look before running his fingers down Soundwave’s arms. He was thinking that Soundwave’s plating was rougher than he’d imagined. The matte paint Soundwave used didn’t have the same liquid smoothness that Starscream’s did.

Starscream’s hands landed on Soundwave’s plating as well, rougher than the other two as he ran his hands up the inside of Soundwave’s thighs. His palms were scorchingly hot. Soundwave finally allowed his array to transform.

“Yeah,” Starscream said, voice rough with static, “that’s right.” Soundwave’s valve flexed under Starscream’s optics.

He surprised Soundwave by going to his knees in front of the berth, fast enough that his knees clanked against the floor.

Starscream wasted no time in sucking Soundwave’s anterior node into his mouth, making Soundwave’s back arch off the berth and a surprised blat of static escape his vocalizer.

Starscream’s mouth was hot, and he licked into Soundwave’s valve like it was a military target he was trying to overwhelm. Shock and awe had always been Starscream’s preferred tactics.

Soundwave’s processor had momentarily been so focused on the sensation that he’d lost track of the other two seekers, but he became aware of them again as they pressed up against his sides, their hands roving over his plating and over each other. It was hot and claustrophobic. With the trine boxing him in on three sides, his avenues for escape were rapidly closing.

Skywarp mouthed wetly at Soundwave’s mask. Thundercracker was nibbling gently at his neck cables, wondering if Soundwave had a mouth under his mask. If he’d let Thundercracker kiss him—

Soundwave’s mask folded back before he was completely aware that it was happening. He didn’t have much time to consider it, because Skywarp was taking his mouth. His arousal flared along with a little jealous-annoyed twinge from Thundercracker, because Skywarp was always getting there first, and Thundercracker hadn’t even gotten to overload yet—

Soundwave broke the kiss with Skywarp, and turned to catch Thundercracker’s lips with his, quieting his sullen thoughts. He moaned into Thundercracker’s mouth as Starscream shoved his whole tongue in his valve, running it across all the shallow connection nodes near the entrance.

Starscream slipped a finger in, next to his tongue, creating a momentary circuit that made the transformation components in Soundwave’s legs spasm all at once.

Starscream drew back, radiating smugness and thick, dark arousal. He stroked his thumb up the slit of Soundwave’s valve, through the thick lubricant that Soundwave could feel being released as fast as his pumps could manage.

Hooking his claws cruelly into the gap where Soundwave’s torso and hip armor met, Starscream pulled himself to his pedes. He leaned in ungracefully over Soundwave.

Soundwave broke his kiss with Thundercracker so he could look. All Starscream’s fans were running full blast, his intake open to let additional hot air escape through the vents in his mouth. He looked wrecked, feral, optics twice as bright as normal, and unspent charge zipping over his plating. Soundwave could see little flickers of electricity dancing on his tongue, across his fangs, grounding themselves in the lubricant—Soundwave’s lubricant—that was still smeared over his face.

The slide of Starscream’s spike into him both took him by surprise and felt like the culmination of weeks of foreplay.

He sank effortlessly into Soundwave, Soundwave’s internals barely having to adjust to comfortably accept his girth. He slid all the way in until he was pressed snug up against Soundwave’s closed ceiling port.

Soundwave exvented steam through the vents in his chest in a long stream, fogging up the glass of Starscream’s cockpit, and making him smile, smug and toothy. He could feel Starscream’s satisfaction, his relief at being deep enough inside someone to quell the ache of his rut.

Starscream stroked his hands up Soundwave’s torso, leaving little sparks and zaps of charge in his wake.

He didn’t move for a long time, seated in Soundwave’s valve as deep as it was possible to go while his hands roved over Soundwave’s frame. His touch was shivery, almost ticklish. It felt very good.

He pressed two fingers to Soundwave’s lips. Soundwave opened his mouth to accept them.

“Yeah,” said Starscream, hazily, voice crackling with static, “that’s it.”

He moved, finally, withdrawing just far enough to grind back in. His fingers slipped out of Soundwave’s mouth as it fell open. Starscream drew back far enough to thrust back in all in a rush. Then he did it again. Soundwave moaned, and right next to his audial, Skywarp echoed him.

“Frag him harder, Screamer,” Skywarp said, fans whining in Soundwave’s audial. “Spark him up.” That made Starscream snarl, sharp dentae flashing, and made Soundwave shudder. Skywarp laughed. “Yeah, you feel that? He likes that idea, don’t you Sounders?”

“Designation: Soundwave,” Soundwave bit out. There was no leverage with Thundercracker and Skywarp pinning both his arms, and Starscream’s claws sunk into his hip joints. He maybe could have bucked Starscream off, but then Thundercracker leaned down to capture his lips, and he couldn’t concentrate.

Skywarp huffed into his audial, amused. “Naw, you need a nickname if you’re going to be carrying with us.” His hand came up to rest on Soundwave’s chest, rubbing circles over his sparkchamber. “Bet yours’ll take longer to cook than ours. Grounders always take longer, but that’s okay. You can stay on the ground and watch the bitlets. No reason for us to leave you empty ever, since you can’t fly anyway. Once the first ones are ready for protoforms, Starscream can just pump another batch right in—“

It was Thundercracker who moaned, pressing open mouthed kisses to Soundwave’s cheeks, down his jawline. “You’ve got such a strong spark,” he said. “You could give Starscream so many sparklings. You could build us a flock all by yourself.”

Soundwave had to reset his vocalizer to clear the static. “Soundwave: not a spark factory.”

Starscream grinned above them. Optics overheated and bright and vicious. “Not yet.” He thrust in hard, jamming himself hard against Soundwave’s ceiling port.

Soundwave jolted, trying to draw back, but Skywarp and Thundercracker held him down. “Unfeasible to—wartime conditions suboptimal for production of protoforms—“

“Calm down,” Skywarp laughed. He wrapped his free hand around Soundwave’s spike, squeezing it just a bit too hard. “We’re just having fun with you. Starscream isn’t actually going to spark you, right Screamer?”

“Sure,” Starscream said. He ground the tip of his spike harder into Soundwave’s closed port, hard enough to ache uncomfortably. Requests for access popped up in Soundwave’s processor queue, coming as fast as he could dismiss them.

Starscream growled in frustration and drew back before thrusting forward, each thrust banging into Soundwave’s port like he was trying to brute force his way in. Soundwave made a low noise, half pain, half not pain. Then a louder noise when Thundercracker’s fingers found his anterior node cluster.

Starscream stopped moving, as deep in Soundwave as he could go. The mesh of Soundwave’s valve twitched and flexed involuntarily. He could feel the buzzing charge built up in Starscream’s frame, and he was making it very clear where he wanted to release that charge.

Starscream rolled his hips, lighting up each of Soundwave’s internal nodes one after the other. “Not that you’d complain if I did spark you up,” he said, low and cruel. “Those little cassettes of yours—you’re so spark hungry you do this to yourself. Well, I’m going to give you what you want. You’re going to feel my charge flooding your slut spark. Shouldn’t take much.” His hand joined Skywarp’s, clawed fingers digging into the metal of Soundwave’s chest. “I’ve heard it’s easier the more newsparks a carrier’s had.”

“He’s warmed himself up for you,” interjected Skywarp, grinning.

Starscream bared his dentae back. “Maybe once I’ve unloaded in you, I’ll let Thundercracker and Skywarp have a go. Just to keep your valve warm until I’m charged up again.”

Soundwave, distracted and overwhelmed, accidentally hit accept on one of the port access requests.

Starscream cried out in triumph and immediately jacked in. Before Soundwave could so much as twitch, Starscream was shoving charge into his system so fast his processor struggled to keep up with it.

The payload was in two parts, half a compressed data dump of frame-type specs and programming to be passed onto the sparklings and half a wall of pure electricity designed to overclock his spark.

Starscream’s eyes were glowing white with the charge, and Soundwave knew his must be too. He couldn’t think. The dampeners installed around his spark cables were absorbing enough of the charge that it was unlikely that he would truly be sparked, but it still felt real. It felt dangerously, beguilingly correct.

Soundwave let himself slip into the fantasy for a moment. Imagining that he could feel his spark flaring, splitting. The chance of the new spark guttering was high, but Soundwave had a spark specially designed to support others. The chances of it not guttering were not insignificant.

He imagined returning to his duties the next day with his valve raw and sore and a secret concealed in his spark chamber.

He had carried each of his cassettes alone. Soundwave had no doubt that Starscream would lose all interest in the concept of sparklings once his rut was over, but Starscream might meet his optics over his monitor, over the command table, and know. Soundwave imagined the tiny, satisfied smirk. Never more than that. There was something bizarrely appealing about it.

Starscream collapsed on top of him, crushing Soundwave down into the berth. Thundercracker yelped as he was smacked in the face with one of Starscream’s wings.

Soundwave lay there, valve twitching around Starscream’s spike, unspent charge making his array feel achy and swollen.

Starscream shifted as his vents released steam with a sharp hiss. He pushed himself off Soundwave, pulling his spike from Soundwave’s valve abruptly enough that Soundwave couldn’t hold back a low sound of discomfort.

He got to his pedes shakily, and wandered over to the energon dispenser on the wall. Soundwave saw that his spike was still fully extended, but he seemed to be done with both Soundwave and his trine for now. Content to leave Soundwave with his valve open and leaking electrically charged lubricant onto the berth.

Soundwave wasn’t left cold for long, though, as Skywarp and Thundercracker descended on him. Elbowing each other companionably as they made their way down the berth.

Soundwave offlined his optics while the two seekers jostled each other between his legs.

“He’s still crackling,” said Thundercracker, sounding breathless.

“Look at him lying there, all charged up. Did you overload?” asked Skywarp.

“Negative,” said Soundwave.

“That’s okay, we’ll take care of you,” Skywarp said, placing one lubricant-slick hand on the inside of his thigh. “Screamer, you were serious about us getting to use his valve, right—“

“Whatever, just don’t access the port.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Skywarp laughed. He pushed two digits into Soundwave’s valve with little preamble, pressing up against the cluster of shallow nodes near the front. Soundwave’s hips bucked.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Skywarp said. “TC, get his spike out. You should suck it while I’m fragging him.”

“No one’s even touched me,” Thundercracker grumbled, but he lowered his face to Soundwave’s panel, pressing his lips to the hot metal.

“What are you talking about, you were bouncing on Starscream’s spike like an hour ago.”

“Yeah, an hour ago.”

“We’re entertaining a guest, TC,” Skywarp said pressing tip of his spike to Soundwave’s entrance. “Learn some manners.”

Thundercracker’s outraged “excuse me?” was cut off as Skywarp pushed in roughly and Soundwave’s spike pressurized into Thundercracker’s open mouth.

Soundwave winced at the scrape of dentae and Thundercracker made a surprised, choking noise. He tried to jerk away, but a blue hand caught the back of his helm, pushing him firmly back down. Starscream, obviously bored of watching, had returned to the berth sometime when Soundwave was distracted. He knelt on the berth, one hand on Thundercracker’s helm, the other stroking along the inner edge of Skywarp’s wing.

Soundwave felt the metal of Thundercracker’s intake spasm around him. He was making unhappy gargling noises.

“Turn off your gag protocols, idiot,” said Skywarp helpfully.

Thundercracker made a rude gesture, but stopped choking.

Soundwave relaxed cautiously back into the berth as Skywarp began to move inside him. He was better with his spike than Soundwave had expected, grinding against staticky nodes in a way that both relieved the ache and ramped it higher. Soundwave could feel the mesh of his valve flexing around his unyielding spike, while Thundercracker’s hot intake moved on his spike. And above all of them was Starscream, his optics narrow and satisfied, fangs peeking out from behind his lips. Somehow managing to look both regal and utterly wild.

Starscream caught his optics and smirked. He rose up higher in his knees, leaning over Soundwave’s face. He curled one hand around the base of his spike, not stroking, but displaying it. The cherry red contrasted with the blue of his digits in a way that Soundwave couldn’t seem to take his optics off.

“Do you want this back?” Starscream cooed. “Open your mouth.”

Feeling utterly debauched, Soundwave did. Starscream didn’t thrust his spike into his intake, though, just rubbed his spike back and forth over Soundwave’s lips. Soundwave opened his mouth wider, extending his glossa, and was rewarded with a growling sound from Starscream’s engine.

Starscream rutted against Soundwave’s face until there was charge crackling up and down his plating. Then he grabbed Thundercracker by the scruff, pulling him off Soundwave’s spike, and dragged him so he was lying across Soundwave’s torso, half propped on his own arms. Starscream entered him roughly from behind and Soundwave felt him shudder.

Skywarp moaned, high and shaky, and thrust in hard, jolting Soundwave’s whole body. He fucked into Soundwave in short, rough strokes which jabbed into all the nodes on the ceiling of Soundwave’s valve.

He wrapped his hand around Soundwave’s spike, still wet with Thundercracker’s oral lubricant, jerking in counterpoint rhythm. He hooked the fingers of his free hand into the plates of Soundwave’s hip, pulling him back into each thrust.

Soundwave found himself unable to do anything but lie there. Pinned under Thundercracker’s weight and jostled by both Skywarp and Starscream’s thrusts.

He wondered vaguely if the berth would survive the night.

He reached out with the arm that wasn’t pinned awkwardly under Thundercracker’s thighs, and stroked fingers over Thundercracker’s face, tracing his lips. He couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but he felt it when Thundercracker’s mouth fell open, and when his glossa ran over Soundwave’s fingers.

Soundwave moaned along with Starscream. He couldn’t help it. Pleasure was looping through him from every side. Thundercracker’s desperate desire to overload just once before Starscream got distracted again. Skywarp’s uncomplicated enjoyment of his body, a rapid-fire flow of tight valve, pretty paint, pretty face, wanna kiss him, Thundercracker’s in the way—

And Starscream’s barely coherent lust crackling over all of them. Possessive and sharp-edged. Starscream’s world was narrowed down to the tight, breedable heat wrapped around his spike. Narrowed down to the scent of ozone and exhaust that was making the air hazy. The unbearable heat of his own frame.

He was running an algorithm in the back of his processor calculating how many times and in what order he should overload in each of them in order to maximize the chance of spark output. He had completely forgotten that this was all a sham for his rut.

At least Soundwave hoped it was. He wasn’t sure what Skywarp and Thundercracker had installed for contraceptives.

Soundwave was so worried about what would happen if two thirds of the command trine did end up sparked that his own overload took him by surprise. He arched, as much as he could with Thundercracker still on top of him, charge running through him.

He caught Skywarp in the wave, dragging him under too. They were both completely still, joints locked, as charge raced back and forth between their two frames. Thundercracker moaned, high and thready.

Starscream snarled. His wings flapped, buffeting air over all of them, as he overloaded inside Thundercracker.

“No, no, please,” Thundercracker moaned as Starscream pulled away. He sounded on the verge of tears. He pushed himself up on his hands. There was charge gathered visibly in his seams, still unspent. An arc of electricity leapt from his elbow joint, grounding on Soundwave’s plating, a gentle, almost pleasant sting.

Thundercracker pushed himself backwards, off the berth, and to his shaky pedes. Soundwave let his head loll, until he could see him. He looked almost as wild as Starscream. Biolights all bright and pulsing rapidly, lubricant dribbling in a long line from the tip of his spike. It jerked under Soundwave’s optics.

“Please,” Thundercracker said.

Starscream laughed, meanly. He pressed himself flush to Thundercracker’s back, one hand curling around his desperate spike. He stroked Thundercracker twice roughly, then shoved him away, towards the end of the berth.

This left Thundercracker standing between Soundwave’s splayed legs. Starscream slipped onto the berth, by Soundwav’es head.

Thundercracker’s optics flicked from Soundwave’s once again empty valve to Soundwave’s face to Starscream’s.

“Let me,” he said, slightly too desperate to be a question. It wasn’t clear which one of them he was talking to.

“Would you like that?” Starscream cooed poisonously, cupping Soundwave’s bare cheeks in his servos.

Soundwave met Thundercracker’s optics deliberately as he said, “Yes.”

It seemed almost like Thundercracker was the one who could teleport, with how fast he was at the end of the berth, wrapping Soundwave’s legs around his hips. He leaned forward to kiss Soundwave as he pushed inside, swallowing Soundwave’s gasp.

Soundwave’s valve was tender after his overload, but Thundercracker slid in smoothly. And his movements were gentle, despite the ragged edge to his moans.

Starscream leaned over them. He braced one servo against Thundercracker’s shoulder and shoved him back, so he was kneeling between Soundwave’s legs instead of hunched over him.

“Don’t make him overload,” Starscream ordered. “I want him charged up for me.”

Thundercracker whined wordlessly and nodded. His thrusts sped up, lengthening, each one jolting against the back of Soundwave’s valve.

He overloaded quickly after that, jet engines shrieking. It buzzed up through Soundwave’s valve, but didn’t bring him along with. Thundercracker collapsed to the side, all his fans roaring.

Soundwave wasn’t given even a moment before Starscream was back between his thighs, thrusting in roughly to the hilt with a squelch. Soundwave exhaled, shakily. He could take it, wanted to take it, but it ached now and he could tell it would ache more later.

Thundercracker rolled onto his side, pressed up against Soundwave’s side. His fingers closed around one of Soundwave’s hands, tugging it gently between his legs, until Soundwave’s fingers were sinking into his soft, thoroughly fucked valve, nodes buzzing against his sensory pads.

“Hey, Thundercracker, can I spike your aft?” Skywarp asked.

“Yeah,” Thundercracker breathed, thrusting up against Soundwave’s hand. Soundwave turned his head, and caught him in another kiss, swallowing his moan as Skywarp pushed inside.

“That’s an idea worth pursuing,” Starscream said. His voice was hoarse, crackling, even more so than usual. “Do you like it up the port, Soundwave? Do you want me to open that hole up next?”

Soundwave groaned into Thundercracker’s mouth, his valve clenching weakly with a new surge of arousal. He couldn’t seem to get his vocalizer to form words, so he just pinged Starscream an affirmative. Starscream’s thrusts sped up. His overload seemed to be building quickly this time.

Starscream grabbed Soundwave’s face, fingers digging into dermal plates hard enough that Soundwave felt them creak, forcing Soundwave to meet his optics.

“Look at me,” Starscream said, dentae bared, optics beginning to glow brighter as his overload approached. “Look at me, look at me—”

Soundwave didn’t even bother to deny the access request this time. His vision whited out as Starscream filled his chest with heat and light.

Soundwave was still cycling the stars out of his vision as Starscream mechhandled his thighs wider, scratching at the cover of his port until it opened. Apparently Starscream wanted to be inside his aft more than he wanted a moment to recover. His fans were all at max setting, blowing hot air all over Soundwave’s paint as he fingered Soundwave’s wet port.

There was an odd grinding noise coming from somewhere, but it was banished out of Soundwave’s processor as Starscream sank past the first few rings of his port, forcing it overwhelmingly, blissfully wide.

“Tight,” Starscream said appreciatively, “but not for long.” He slapped Soundwave’s hip, a sharp clang that made Soundwave clench around him.

“Yeah,” Skywarp moaned. His thrusts were jostling Thundercracker’s nodes against Soundwave’s hand. “You should let one of us fuck his port next. You should fuck his valve at the same time. Do you think he could take all three of us?”

There was a muffled bang. Soundwave didn’t know from where. Maybe his own engine backfiring.

Starscream looked down consideringly at him. He reached between them, and shoved three fingers roughly into his valve, grinning meanly at Soundwave’s gasp. “I don’t know, but it’s worth a try. What do you think, Soundwave? Is it worth a try?”

Soundwave could only nod, mutely. Starscream pulled his fingers out and slipped them into Soundwave’s mouth. Soundwave sucked on them, moaning in the back of his throat. He wondered how many more overloads he could stand before he, actually, passed out.

The strange grinding noise got louder for a moment before the door to Starscream’s quarters buckled and fell inwards, crushing to the floor. The suddenly open door revealed a gaggle of Constructicons and peering over their heads, a grim looking Megatron.

There was a long, awkward silence where the Constructicons goggled and Megatron’s optical ridges rose and rose.

“I see you’re not being murdered, Soundwave,” Megatron said dryly. “Do you want to explain, exactly, what’s going on here?”

Soundwave had to cycle his vocalizer twice before the static cleared. “Air Commander Starscream: in rut,” he said. “Soundwave: assisting.”