âYou do?â Chapter 10: Easy nowâŚ
First fanfic and English isnât my first language
You were in your kitchen, hands flimsy as you tried make yourself something like a tea or whatever you wanted. You took a moment to analyze your situation; you faced Starscream, told him about everything you were holding back and confronted him about the fact that your feelings werenât one-sided. He accepted it (you think). You still canât believe how easy it was. Itâs strikingly different from when he confronted you; he confronted you to make you run away and you on the other hand did everything to make him stop running away. You were convinced that nothing you would do could ever possibly get things right. Worse, youâd expect from someone such as Starscream to deny everything, to flare up at your raw honesty, at this ultimatum, because yes, if he had rejected you again you would have stopped for good. But he didnât. Maybe your brutal self had an effect on him?
Now he was at your house on your couch. But you didnât forget how he almost left, if it wasnât for your please. Never have you EVER been talking like that to anyone, whether it was for a guy (if you ever had one) or to your friends. But Starscream is not some guy, heâs your long years friend! Friend- no youâre not friends anymore.
You glance at him from the kitchen, heâs not looking at you, but you see his stiff body language. You donât know what you two are. What does it mean âtry itâ? Thundercracker told you about the fact that Starscream never had any conjunx. And Starscream is not an easy one to deal with. Maybe heâs not sure of himself? Maybe he is also scared of mess things up just as much as you are? And suddenly youâre not so sure of yourself anymore. Youâre certain that you could accept him no matter how flawed and complicated he was. But what about him? Could he return the favor? You remember of all your flaws, of how imperfect you are. And then of how pissy he can be, of how impatient he can get. What if he leaves not because of himself but because of you.
âAre you done yet?â His voice makes you jump , and heâs looking at you as you do so. His helm was slightly raised from his hand where it was resting a few moments ago. His optics are narrowed and his lips parted slightly. He knows youâre nervous right now.
You quickly grab whatever drink you made or took from the kitchen and walk over to the couch. He hum, analyzing you, scrutinizing you like he did with hundreds of others before. To gain a reputation of backstabber he must be good at reading people to manipulate them. You know that. And you know after all those years he had all his time to analyze you. But youâre not some pawn or asset to him, youâre not expecting some grand treason from him. But youâre painfully aware of how much each of your moves gives you away to him. Regardless, you sit next to him (not too close) and start fake-savoring your sustenance.
ââŚdo you want to do something? I could give you a little tour of the house ?â
âHowâŚappealing.â He looks unimpressed, and obviously sarcastic. You notice how his stiffness disappeared when you walked back in. Did you put him at ease or would he only reveal it when he thought you werenât looking?
âYeah, exciting, right?â You mimic his tone, but with a touch of humor his tone lack.
He snort at that then slightly look up to the sky thoughtfully with a small hint of a smile. âActually, what were your little processors struggling with back there?â He turns to you. âTell me.â
âAh, just processing everything that just happened until now. Heh, yâknow?â You feel like you are doing a good job at hiding the big deal. âTo say the first thing you called me when we met was âjanitorââŚand now weâreâŚâ you wait for him to say something, maybe finishing your phrase with couple?
âThat.â Alright, he called it âthatâ. âThat is a lie.â He straightens up, and you realize he was referring to your words and not you two. You lean back when he lean forward. The length of his arm rests on the back of the couch, while his other hand rises to rest next to the armrest against which your back is currently leaning. The closeness is making your face burn (whether youâre light skinned or not you know he can track the heat of your body at any place).
You shake your head, though itâs hesitant. âWhat make you s-â
âSince when nostalgia would make you jump at the simplest noise?â He tilt his helm to the side, knowing he is right.
âI can be jumpy! You should know that after so long!â
âYou are such an hypocrite. Talking about honesty then lying to my face, tch.â He practically spat those words even though heâs not raising his voice. His optics are just focusing on you. âI want the truth now. Or Iâm leaving.â
Your eyes widened, and you stumble upon your words. You feel stupid because what should you say, huh? âIâm scared to mess it upâ? While in a non-stressed state you would not think of that as stupid-sounding, right now it was rather exactly how it sounded. Stupid. Yet so easy to say! It should be!
He look at you, before scoffing and raising to his full height, wings barely brushing the (thankfully high) ceiling. He turn around. You snap.
âItâs so easy to make you leave.â That was much more easier to say. But indirect too. You were sitting straighter now, hands clenching your drink. Starscream isnât moving. In fact he didnât even started to step away.
Youâre glaring up at him, resentful. Why? Maybe because he doesnât love you that much? Heâs not even trying.
âI seeâŚso thatâs it.â His tone is steady with satisfaction. He looks like he just got exactly what he was looking for. He sit back in the couch and youâre looking at him with an addition to your anger; confusion. Then you realize what he did; he provoked you. He coaxed you out of your shell forcefully. He was-
âYou were bluffing?!â
âWhy, yes.â He scoffs, as if you were the slowest person in the world. But his expression goes back to serious. âYou donât believe Iâm that invested, do you?â
âItâs not that!! ItâsâŚItâs-!â You stop and look down. Your heart is beating fast. Heâs making it about him.
âThen use your words.â
But youâre the one who were so insistent on becoming more than friends. Youâre the one who gave him the ultimatum and now youâre backtracking?
âWhat if you donât like me?! What if you loose it?!â And you have every reason to believe that! He easily gets annoyed, he snap at the least inconvenience and he hates when things donât go his way. And you, even though for most of those years you played the calm listener, you too can be snappy from time to time. But now weâre talking about being his partner, not just his confidant buddy. Not that he never saw your flaws after so long, butâŚwhat if itâs too much and that he snap at you?
Starscream is taken aback. His lips are once again parted and your voice feels too loud after the silence following. Then-
He laughs. He is laughing.
âHaha-! Oh girl, if only you knew how many glitches I had to deal with. Lived with. You could never possibly be worse than them, believe me...â he look into the distance, recalling memories before looking back at you with a smug face.
ââŚand how would you deal with me when I get overly emotional or upset?!â
âLike now?â He grin as his words leave you speechless for a few seconds before you insist.
âBut itâs different! If itâs daily-â he flick your forehead and the metal of his digits actually sting. You scowl. But before you can retaliate he speaks again.
âDo you think youâre harder to deal with than Skywarp? Or TC? Or a whole planet? Is that a challenge?â
If thereâs anything you can say him is that he has a way with words. Because now you feel awfully embarrassed, as if you had been dramatic when Starscream is a dramaqueen. How the table turned.
âAre you done now? Or are you going to keep whining about how flawed you are as if it wasnât already obvious?â He sigh and lounge back in the couch. âBy the way, while youâre at it, maybe you could make yourself useful and praise me. I mean, Iâm so flawless for my part. Stating the contrast between us would make you appear much more miserable, since itâs what you crave to be treated like so badly.â
âHEY!â Youâre up now, your melancholy and tourments definitely gone at that. âWATCH IT!â
He hum in satisfaction, looking at you up and down. You decide to turn the embarrassment to him.
âYouâre a hell of a boyfriend.â You cross your arms and look at his reaction. His optics snap wide and he glare at you before clearing his vocals with contempt.
âAnd you, a crybaby. Fleshy with that.â
You feel the heat once again and you shiver at the fact that he didnât deny it. Youâre snapped out of your thoughts when youâre tugged down on the couch in a sitting position, except that heâs not pinning you. Youâre not at this point yetâŚto your sadness.
âIf youâre done, maybe you could recharge now?â
âItâs called sleep. For us.â You correct him, but he just shrugs it off, not that invested in knowing what the likes of you call it.
Anyway, you sit in a much more comfortable position (cross-legged or whatever you prefer) and go back drinking. But you quickly stop as your mouth is the only noise in the room. Jeez, why is he so quiet like that? Before, even when he merely knew you, he would rant about himself and complain about anything! Now that you think about it, Thundercracker talk a lot too, except that itâs about his scenarios.
You glance at Starscream, who is looking at you with an unreadable expression: a mix between a scowl and a neutral face. Or a neutral face with disdain.
âWhy are you staring?â
âOh, canât I admire my lovely beautiful squishy?â He ask with that overly honey tone.
You scoff, mimicking his sweet smile âI know, I know. Iâm so beautiful, must be hard for you.â You raise your drink to your lips, enjoying the look of offense striking down his grin. Before you can even react, he shove your drink to your face and it soaks all over you.
âSTARSCREAM!â You yell, raising up as the sweet stick to your clothes. You should have sputtered some on him in the momentum!
Heâs chuckling gleefully. You give him a blank look before clicking your tongue and stomping away. âIâll be backâŚâ you walk upstairs, very aware of his optics stalking your moving form.
You didnât outwardly said that youâd be in the shower (internally hoping that heâd enter when you know that if he really did youâd just scream). You already had new clothes prepared, so you enter the shower. You trie to recollect yourself but thinking back about how he just made you spill your drink, the look you mustâve had on when he did- you stifle a laugh.
Starscream was leaning back on the couch, but it felt like a chair. A small one at that. Everything here could make him claustrophobic, if it wasnât for the high ceiling. Well, high for a human house. He sighed, sitting with one leg over the other as his pede tap on the ground in sync with the rhythm of his fingers. Here he is, spending the night with you. What a troublesome girl you are. And you bite back. Not so passive, listener. Thinking about it, the idea of you enduring him daily isnât so unrealistic. After all, itâs been years that you see each other daily, years that youâve been dealing with his snappy behavior. But itâs not what could be troublesome. Intimacy doesnât go without vulnerability. While you can be rawly honest, he on the other hand wonât open up just with a few words. And why would he need to be vulnerable? Why would you need to see him snapping at his reflection? Or witnessing what the others exaggeratedly call âdysmorphiaâ.
If there was one thing about the future of your relationship that was good was his duration. He remember that day when the building you were in containing some strange chemicals (that none accepted to tell him more about) exploded. You survived and Ratchet had analyzed your organism. To be brief, by some magical miracle your lifespan was about as long as the one of a Cybertronian after that. You wouldnât be gone after a few hundred years. If you did, he wouldnât have bothered himself having feelings for something heâd loose so fast. Unfortunately for you, you will loose a lot of loved ones. It even convinced you to never have kids (if you ever desired to have kids in the first place). And you couldnât have kids with him, heâs a Cybertronian. Their reproduction is asexual. That doesnât mean they canâtâŚwell, have fun.
Growing relentless and shaking off those thoughts, Starscream rise up and walk around while trying not to catch his pedes in your mess (if youâre messy). He walk up the stairs and look for you. Where are you? In your washracks? He hear what sounds like liquid, certainly water, running. Then it stops. Walking to the door he knock.
You were out of the shower now, wrapping a towel around you. Then you hear a strong knock on the door. Funfact about this door; it has a lock but this lock is fucking loose. If a window is open, the damn door WILL be open. So, if a Cybertronian was in the habit of knocking on a thick metal doorâand therefore had to knock hard (especially when he was fidgety)âand happened to be knocking on that very loose door, it WILL open.
âAAAAAH!!! LOOK AWAY!!!!â
You cover yourself, but you already have the towel around you. He curses loudly in Cybertronian and slam the door shut quickly.
âWHY DONâT YOU LOCK YOUR DOORS?!â
âWHY CANâT YOU STAY STILL FOR 5 MINUTES ?!â
If you were Cybertronian, youâd bet that your system would spam you of overheating warnings. Your heart is pounding and you quickly dry yourself while listening to his fans puffing. He mumble something sharply before walking downstairs. You panic, already imagining him flying away. You get dressed up quickly, even if thereâs still some wet spots. You then open the door and follow hastily, not caring about the fact that you certainly look like a soaked rat covered in clothes. Aaand he was just sitting casually in your couch. Heâs surprised that you were so quick to finish, but he cool his expression into indifference. Not wanting to stand here like an idiot, you sit next to him again. Great, now your clothes stick to you.
Maybe itâs tiredness or the awkwardness, but you feel something bubbling inside you. You feel a strange need to laugh, hands clenching and lips pursed, trembling. You hear him bristle, which means that he certainly noticed. You must look weird.
âWhat. Are you. Doing.â
Thatâs it, itâs too much- you burst into laughter, pointing your finger at him. He scowl, thinking youâre mocking him. Maybe you do.
âY-the face- THE FACE YOU MADE!â You let your head fall, pressing against his arm, tears streaming down your cheeks. He stiffen for a few seconds. All the tension, the stress, the relief, all of that is leaving out of your body through laughter. You hear what is shy of a chuckle coming out of him. It sounds so adorable. After a few moments you manage to catch your breath and look at him. He catches himself smiling a bit too much and clears his vocalizers. You straighten up too and bump his shoulder to make him loosen up. Now youâre sitting closer, like a normal couple would. You think.
ââŚum, do you want toâŚâ you wanted to ask him to cuddle with you in your room (although his metal form might be the least comfortable thing to snuggle with). But it sounds awfully bold and sudden. You still have time- BUT COME ON heâs your partner! Right?! And yet you two didnât even kiss yet. But you know Cybertronians kiss! You remember seeing some Autobots and even âcons doing it.
âHm?â He looks down at you, his helm resting on the back of his hand. His optics, red and yellow, are warming you. You remember that it was one of the first thingsâif not the very firstâthat made you fall in love with him. âWhat? You want to show me something? Because Iâm getting bored of this room.â
That was perfect. Because now it sounds more like him asking for it than you proposing first. Itâs an opening. And you donât know if he did that on purpose or not.
âIf you want.â You shrug casually and get up. He follows you as you head upstairs. Letâs see how it goesâŚ
Notes: Yeah you, [MC], are superhuman. I hope the chapter wasnât too short (it is very short I knowâŚ). And I donât want to be exigeant or anything like that but uhâŚCANT ANYBODY JUST COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH STARSCREAM?! OR JUST RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT LITERALLY ANYTHING IN THE FIC?! COME ON YOU ARE LITERALLY THE CHARACTER TO WHOM I SPENT MY TIME WRITING. (´ŕźŕşśŕ˝źĎŕźŕşśŕ˝ź`) (Dont feel forced if youâre too shy, higi đ¤)