Untold Adventures on the Nemesis

I See You in the Constellations - Chapter 5

Summary: 

Starscream's optics widened. Danny was... leaking?

"What is happening? Why are you—" He gestured vaguely at Danny's face, at the unnatural moisture gathering along his cheeks. "Are you broken?"

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Notes:

Gift for 'TheGatorsGoose' They really wanted to have a scene where the Cons discover crying for the first time and have no idea what's going on and are very concerned about the leaking human. We talked about this concept and made a whole plot idea, and I wrote this, and they did an artwork for it!

Let's just say for plot reasons, the Cons have never encountered crying, and there is not a Cybertronian alternative. If they are sad, they feel it in their sparks and field. But their optics are unaffected.

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Starscream sat in his quarters, holding a datapad in his servo as he idly listened to the human rambling in front of him, sitting on his desk. "I mean, space is just so cool," Danny gushed. "I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid, y'know? Just imagine it. Flying out there, seeing new planets, visiting an alien world! Ugh, it would've been amazing."

Starscream huffed a small chuckle, digit tapping on the datapad, which had nothing on it. Not that Danny knew that. "As if your kind would last a single cycle on an alien planet."

Danny waved a dismissive hand. "Okay, sure, we kinda suck at space travel right now, but still! Can you imagine being the first person—er, being—to step onto an unknown world? Studying landscapes no one's ever seen before, finding new lifeforms —"

Starscream raised an optic ridge.

Danny blinked and looked the seeker up and down, mind suddenly dawning in realization. "Wait! You're an alien!"

"To you, I am." Starscream tilted his helm, surprised by the sheer admiration in Danny's voice.

"You're literally on another planet right now with other aliens. I'm an alien to you. Wow . Even if it is under upsetting circumstances, but you're literally living my dream." Danny went on, grinning. "You've been to other planets! What's it like? What's the weirdest thing you've seen? Do other planets have, like, space cows?"

The words kept coming, excitement bubbling over. The enthusiasm, the curiosity, the sheer wonder in Danny's voice... he had seen it before. Felt it before .

For the briefest moment, he was back on Cybertron, sitting beside his partner, looking up at the stars, listening to his boundless excitement about the endless possibilities beyond their homeworld.

"Think of it, Starscream," Skyfire had once said. "A universe filled with life, waiting to be discovered!" And now, he was hearing those same words from a very different voice. From a human.

A fragile, reckless, frustratingly stubborn human who should have had no place among the Decepticons. Who had no reason to trust him, to talk to him, to sit on his desk and ramble about the universe with stars in his eyes.

Starscream's spark clenched. He scoffed and turned his gaze back to his blank datapad. "You talk too much."

Danny snickered. "You're the one listening."

"I'm not. You're distracting me from my work."

"Uh-huh."

Danny just kept talking.

And, despite himself, Starscream kept listening.

-

Danny eventually tired himself out. Now he lay slumped against Starscream's arm, fast asleep. Starscream stared down at the human, wings twitching slightly. He sighed but made no effort to move Danny. He was small. Barely weighed anything at all.