#drift|deadlock

[mapelie]

@jenn-oddballpunk

My heart burns with the strength of a thousand suns. Your ficlet drove me further and added a little extra.

@viisivarvaslaiskiainen @iopele @ruenesca

[agatharights]

okay, so a friend and i were trying to figure out how to make this ship work for the sake of the glorious sparklings that would result. starscream/drift. their kids would be literally unmatched in terms of fighting but wouldn't be afraid to retreat. (and they'd probably have legs so fine they could end wars.) but how would their parents get together?

Oh my god oh my god so I was thinking about this after I read this ask for a while and let me tell you I accidentally a whole fucking story that I’m never gonna have the focus to sit down and write so HERE’S THE BREAKDOWN.

Drift and Ratchet return to Cybertron for ?????? reasons, and there’s a lot of discussion between them about “well what do we do now” and “where tf is the Lost Light” and Drift feeling really weird about getting what he feels like is another second chance and wanting to live up to Ratchet’s expectations of him when he’s having issues with the way he sees himself at the time.

Meanwhile, Starscream, because he is Starscream, is having issues because he is Starscream and has anything ever actually consistently gone right for Starscream for any significant length of time? Even if right now Cybertron wasn’t vomiting up combiner units onto Caminus (POOR CAMINUS SO MANY GIANT ROBOTS) there would still be issues.

Anyways, curiosity drags Ratchet and Drift to see Starscream giving a relatively informal speech and a kerfuffle breaks out and before Drift realizes what he’s done, he’s stopped an assassination attempt on Starscream’s life and Starscream is like wtf gdi I’m trying to get rid of you autobots and you just keep showing up and making yourself useful ffs.

Maybe Starscream’s also injured and Ratchet does some emergency surgery at Drift’s pleading (Drift is very uncomfortable with the idea of Ratchet not helping someone) but either way they get to talking and Starscream decides to pull his wheedle-deedile act because hey, DEADLOCK was hella useful so why wouldn’t DRIFT be?

Drift, to Ratchet’s utmost horror, accepts Starscream’s proposition- Starscream wants a personal bodyguard for a time while there’s a bit of unrest/assassination attempts going on, and Drift is just the right combination of disposable and useful for Starscream to be like “yes this one” and Drift is really just kind of looking for reasons not to go back to the Lost Light quite yet because RATCHET WHAT IN THE NAME OF UNICRON’S TITS DO YOU MEAN MEGATRON IS CO-CAPTAIN????!!!!!!?!??!!

Spending a lot of time with Starscream, though, means that Drift starts relaxing around him and Starscream and him start to snip back and forth about spirituality and religion (though Drift secretly loves the arguing because just look at how much he uses it to mess with Ratchet and Starscream is just as easy to rile up) and he’ll do things like rearrange Starscream’s stuff both to better protect his living area and call it “feng shui”.

But they get along pretty well in a weird way. Drift even starts teaching Starscream to better use the new swords that came with his body and Starscream’s a fast learner, and they can both appreciate the frag out of a fast, elegant sparring match. Starscream comments that Drift should’ve been a flier, with grace like that.

At one point, during a rare less-guarded moment, Drift stuns Starscream into actual silence when he speaks about the value of giving second chances, about how he’s happy to trust Starscream because, pits, if somebody hadn’t given him the chance, he would have died as Deadlock, he’s sure of it. Starscream feels uncomfortable with the idea that Drift is genuinely hopeful for his future.

Drift also gets along really well with the Camiens, by the way, and just soaks up their culture and mythology like a sponge! He and Windblade become tight buds and he starts adding prayers to Solus among his repertoire, which winds up making Starscream look all the better because he can guide Starscream into being mindful of Caminus’ religious and spiritual aspects, which Starscream would otherwise struggle with.

To their surprise, their relationship gets a little less harsh and built on pushing each other, and a little more built on respect and a keen interest in each others’ sweet, sweet chassis like seriously have you seen how gorgeous those babes are?

When Drift makes his intention to woo Starscream clear, or perhaps it’s the other way around, Ratchet effectively hunts Starscream down and promises that if hE DOES A SINGLE THING TO HURT DRIFT THEY WILL FIND WHAT’S LEFT OF HIM IN ORBIT AROUND THE FUCKING MOON SO HELP HIM PRIMUS-THAT-HE-DOESN’T-BELIEVE-IN.

AND THEN THEY FUCK LIKE CYBER-WEASELS SO HARD RATCHET FEELS A LITTLE BETTER WHEN STARSCREAM LIMPS IN HELPED BY AN EMBARRASSED DRIFT AND IS LIKE EYYYYY *thumbs up*

Look we’ve gotta be honest here, they’re athletic by Cybertronian standards, they’re gorgeous, Drift probably knows some HELLA tantric sex stuff and Primus only knows what kind of wickedness Starscream has lurking in his berth. If anything solidifies that relationship it’s a mixture of tentative trust and the fact that they can get each other to overload their processors to crashing.

Rattrap is slightly worried that Drift is gonna frag Starscream to death one of these days. Ratchet is equal parts grossed out and proud. Optimus is trying desperately to ignore the sounds of Drift and Starscream having a quick interface session for stress relief in a closet he’s walking by like ‘oh primus i’m not hearing this give me strength.’

Primus help us all when they manage to reproduce.

In the end, Starscream has found a little bit of religion (after all, Drift makes him see Primus on a regular basis HEYOOOOO) and Drift has found that sometimes being a little mean is worth it. Because it’s a good time for second chances, and he’s wiling to give as many as he gets.