because I am reading ALL the (adult) student/teacher books at the moment, I'm now dwelling on the idea of Skystar student/teacher...
Starscream being assigned to be Skyfire's tutor when Skyfire starts at the Iacon academy and being like 'UGH. YOU'RE PATHETIC. YOU'RE BIG AND CLUMSY AND YOU CAN'T DO DELICATE LABWORK. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE BEEN ASSIGNED AS MY PARTNER. But if anyone else but me bullies you, I can and will rig their berth to explode'
cut to two weeks later and Skyfire is trying desperately to concentrate on his research but is continuously distracted by the running commentary that Starscream keeps up throughout Lab Time (bitching about everything and everyone)
Skyfire thinks he is expected to listen and contribute. He HATES this in a very neurodivergent way, even though he's masking so hard and not showing it (or so he thinks. He's actually shut down emotionally and comes over as ice cold, awkward, and uninterested! Which to Starscream, reads as scorn!)
In truth, Starscream is just the sort of neurodivergent who stims vocally. They are each other's worst nightmares until Skyfire realises that Starscream's constant natter doesn't actually need verbal interaction from him, and Starscream realises that Skyfire's silence isn't judgement. This (coupled with the aforementioned blowing-up-of-bullies (which cannot be linked to Starscream, though Skyfire has his suspicions) brings them into a tentative friendship.
A couple hundred years down the line, and they're inseperable. What a shame it would be, if everything were to go wrong...
