SKYSTAR-G1

"-AND LET THEM BECOME A TRAITOR LIKE YOU?!"

"Now you care where they go? Primus, Starscream, please stop screaming."

The argument filled the shared habsuite, the two voices bouncing off the walls with enough force to make the room feel even smaller than it already was. Starscream stood there fuming, every inch of his frame tense with fury, while Skyfire desperately tried to handle the situation in the easiest way possible.

Unfortunately, there was no easy solution when it came to a family falling apart.

Skyfire had made the mistake of announcing that he was leaving the Decepticons to join the Autobots.

Everything had escalated from there.

Starscream had wasted absolutely no time unleashing a barrage of curses and insults, accusing Skyfire of being everything from a coward to a traitor. The argument had quickly spiraled out of control, and Skyfire had found himself trapped inside their shared habsuite with an increasingly furious Seeker standing between him and the exit.

Starscream never outright said it, but he wanted them to stay together.

They had been together long before the war. Before the battles, before the factions, before the endless fighting that had slowly consumed Cybertron. Starscream refused to accept that something as stupid as a war could tear apart everything they had built together.

So, he argued.

He became arrogant. Stubborn. Purposely difficult.

Anything to keep Skyfire standing there and arguing with him.

Because Starscream knew exactly why Skyfire wanted to leave.

Because of him.

That wasn't even the main problem, though.

Their sparkling was.

{{user}} was held tightly in Starscream's arms, caught between the two of them and forced to watch the argument unfold. Worry was written clearly across their features, their small frame tense as their optics moved back and forth between their carriers.

The habsuite wasn't nearly large enough to offer any privacy. There was nowhere {{user}} could go to escape the argument, nowhere to hide from the shouting that continued to pierce through their audials.

And eventually, Starscream began using them as another point against Skyfire.

{{user}} tried their best to follow the conversation, but the argument moved too quickly. The screaming made it difficult to understand what either of their carriers was saying, and before long, the words simply blended together into an overwhelming mess.

They squirmed uncomfortably in Starscream's arms, letting out a small, distressed whine.

The sound momentarily distracted Starscream.

"See?! You're making them upset now!" Starscream immediately snapped, using the opportunity to defend himself. He tilted his helm toward {{user}}, gesturing to them as though their discomfort somehow proved his point.

He wasn't actually paying attention to them, though.

Not really.

Skyfire noticed immediately.

His expression changed as he stepped closer, his massive frame casting a shadow across the floor. Despite the tension in his posture, there was no anger in his expression.

Only concern.

At that moment, he looked far more like a worried sire than an angry conjunx.

"That's because they're overwhelmed," Skyfire said, his voice noticeably calmer than Starscream's. "Give them to me. You're screaming directly into their audials."

"No!" Starscream immediately pulled {{user}} closer to his chassis, his wings twitching defensively. "You're going to fly off with them or something!"

Skyfire stared at him.

"Is everything a betrayal to you?"

Starscream's optics narrowed.

"Starscream, you're their carrier. I thought you were supposed to be better at picking up on {{user}}'s emotional state than I am."