Sky and Ground 39 Yield

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

NC 17
Bayverse Sky and Ground AU
Thundercracker/Starscream
sticky, sub/dom (it'll make sense when you read it, trust me)

 

 “I’m not sure about this,” Thundercracker said. He let Starscream pull him onto the berth, bracing himself on his arms for an instant to survey his Trine mate, laid out beneath him.  Oh, Starscream was every bit as beautiful as ever, and the subtle sheen of his metallic finish and the darker play off his inscribed markings gave him a strange, alluring luster, matched by the inviting glow in his optics. 

“You said,” Starscream murmured, drawing his long talons gently up the insides of Thundercracker’s forearms, pausing briefly to tickle at the exposed elbow cabling, “we should make Skywarp happy.  Letting him recharge with Barricade does no harm to the Trine.”

“No harm?” Thundercracker let himself lower onto Starscream’s chassis, pausing to nip at Starscream’s mouth. 

A return nip. “Giving in does less harm than fighting him on this, Thundercracker.” Starscream’s voice was thick with experience. He knew the power of submission, of the price sometimes paid for peace.  His hands travelled over the folded blue wings, coaxing Thundercracker down on top of him.  “I shall show you,” he breathed.

Thundercracker’s optics flickered closed, as he arched into the delicate touches along his wing flaps, the sensitive mounts of his engines.  So different from how Skywarp touched him.  Skywarp was rough, his talons harsh, as likely to hurt as to caress. Not that Thundercracker didn’t like that. That was Skywarp’s way, as much as this was Starscream’s.  They were his Trine.  He loved them both.  He loved the fact that he could have them both.  His.  So different, so special.  So…needing him.  Wanting…him. As right now Starscream did. “Do you love me?” he asked, softly, optics still closed, audio tuned keenly for the soft tenor of his Trine mate’s voice. 

“Yes, oh yes,” Starscream said, his long hands joining around the bases of Thundercracker’s engines, arching his spinal cabling up, bringing their armor in contact. “I love you, Thundercracker.”

Thundercracker purred, the vibration carrying through his engines.  He loved how eagerly Starscream admitted it.  He had to pull these confessions—which he so, so desperately needed to hear—out of Skywarp.  Always a battle with Skywarp. Everything was.  But one worth fighting. For the Trine. For Starscream. And for Skywarp himself. 

And…a little bit, Thundercracker admitted, for himself.  The Trine meant everything to him.  And he had put so much time and effort keeping it together after Skyfire’s death, had had to take control before the entire Trine self-destructed and he’d’ve been left alone.  Alone.  He hated being alone. Even surrounded by other aerials on his orbital station, he had been alone.  No other Seekers. No one who knew him, understood him as well as Starscream or Skywarp.  They were his; he was theirs.  He wished there was a way they could always be together.  If only....

No.  Dangerous thought.  Thoughts like that would send Starscream into a deathspiral of guilt and self-blame. They had had enough of that, already.  But, still. If only Skyfire hadn’t died.  They would have been a functioning quaterne—unspeakably rare.  A quaterne was a law unto itself, answering to no one but itself.  Never separated: not in duty, not in death.  They could have had that.  They had spent…their entire youths imagining that would be the case, considering themselves special, different, closer than others.  Irony struck them down for their hubris. 

He shoved bitterness aside. That got them nowhere: that got Starscream to drown in despair; Skywarp to fly into rages of rejection.  It tempted him, as well. But they needed him to be strong. To be able to push it aside. He did now, in favor, in blessed, glorious, thankful favor of his Trine mate underneath him, eager and tender and adoring.  Despair versus love? No contest. 

“You know I love you, too, right?” he breathed, bending over Starscream’s audio, feeling his own ex-vents like soft caresses of air against the other’s cheeks.  His glossa flicked over the chevrons in Starscream’s jaw.  Starscream turned his face away, inviting exploration into his exposed throat. 

“Yes,” Starscream breathed.  “I know.”  He shifted his thighs, the metal plates sliding over Thundercracker’s, sending trembling waves of sensation over Thundercracker’s net.  The blue jet sighed into Starscream’s throat.  While he loved Skywarp’s roughness, he loved also, in equal measure, Starscream’s gentle submission. 

He traced his own hands down the bronze body, the backs of his talons skimming over the plates. Starscream shivered beneath him, the tattoos glistening in the light like dark water.  Thundercracker bent down to taste one, probing into the healed cut with his glossa, tasting the familiar tang of Starscream’s armor, the light waxiness of his protectant polish, and then the dark bittersweet taste of the dermal nanites.  Starscream made a tight, eager sound, his hands clutching at Thundercracker’s shoulders.  Thundercracker laughed, softly, feeling the nanites ripple under the exvent. 

“These are beautiful,” he said, raising his optics to meet Starscream’s.  He could feel the surge of emotion from his Trine mate—approval, approbation thrilled Starscream like nothing else. 

Starscream reached up, pulling Thundercracker into an almost feverishly intense kiss, his body snaking around Thundercracker’s.  So much raw desire….

Thundercracker pulled away gently, breaking the kiss into a series of small playful licks at Starscream’s mouth, his glossa.  “I want you,” he said, knowing that the sentiment was…obvious.  But knowing that those words, more than any other, enflamed his Trine mate.  Starscream lived to be wanted, to be desired.  He needed it, had needed it since the bonding that had saved him after Skyfire’s death.

Starscream made a sound, almost a whine, in his throat, his optics blazing with gratification.  He shifted his thighs farther apart in open invitation.  Thundercracker leaned in for one last, teasing lick at Starscream’s mouth, then pushed himself back, his slick armor sliding over Starscream’s, the swell of his cockpit sliding alongside Starscream’s, and then lower, between his thighs, as Thundercracker pushed his way down, pausing to kiss and admire every edge of armor on his way down. 

His fingers teased between the doubled plates of Starscream’s pelvic armor.  The bronze body quivered at his touch. He felt a surge of power and pleasure combined, knowing that Starscream’s arousal was entirely his to control, to raise, to push to the limits.  Oh, he could hurt Starscream, he had that power as well. But right now, the act of power was in refusing to do that, and choosing instead to bring only pure, delicate ecstasy to his Trine mate. 

He bent and nipped one of the plates, just the lightest pinch, but enough to elicit a gasp from Starscream’s vocalizer.  The thigh servos tensed.  He licked the pinched plate, spreading the sensation in a long glossal swirl, feeling the tension surge and crest and melt under him.  Oh, Starscream was so good for this. Made for this, almost. 

He wished, vainly, foolishly, that he could do this with Skywarp. Feel the black jet yield and shiver and whimper at his touch.  But no, that was a darker thing, beautiful in its own right.  And why wish for what you do not have when what you have in front of you is so…perfect. 

He dropped lower down, clicking the panel open with a deft thumb, feeling the almost imperceptible anticipation ripple through Starscream’s body.  Beautiful. So beautiful.  “Which do you…?” he asked, knowing already Starscream’s response.  A familiar exchange, but like the steps of a dance, no less enticing for all the familiarity.  Instead, an appreciation for perfect form, for the opportunities for variations in timbre.  Something only someone else intimately familiar with the exchange could appreciate—subtle, bonding. 

“Whichever pleases you more,” Starscream murmured, his long fingers stroking at the part of Thundercracker’s shoulder he could reach.

 Thundercracker smiled.  So familiar. So beloved.  “I do not want to choose,” he said, his tone teasing.  Starscream obediently clicked both of his panels open.  Oh, this openness, submission was so heady for Thundercracker. Exactly what he wanted, without having to fight for it.  He didn’t even, really, have to ask for it.  Starscream’s tender submission was a beautiful thing.  He felt…immensely protective of it.  A treasure for his taking.  And Skywarp’s.  The Trine’s treasured yielding, just as Skywarp was the Trine’s most valuable and precious dominance. 

Thundercracker took the head of the spike in his mouth, tasting the sweetness of the lubricant, feeling the spike’s warmth in his mouth, the hard pressure, the exquisite contours of the fine metal plates.  Starscream whimpered, rapt with desire.  Thundercracker slid his hand down the length of the spike, gathering lubricant on his talons, before pushing one, then two, slowly into Starscream’s valve. 

Starscream moaned, his hands clutching helplessly at his own thighs.  Thundercracker surged with desire, feeling the valve’s mechanism spiral down against his talons.  He crooked one finger, prodding at a node, exulting at Starscream’s desperate twitch.  Oh, so beautiful.

He began licking at the spike, taking more and more of its length into his mouth with each lick, inching himself down the spike, in the same rhythm as he worked the finger in the valve.  Starscream thrashed wildly on the berth, one foot somehow coming to rest on Thundercracker’s shoulder. Not trying to push him away, just clutching at him, the bronze toes gripping into Thundercracker’s folded wing. 

He paused, turning to pull the foot off his wing for a moment, licking his way down the length of one of the toes, sucking it into his mouth, wrapping his glossa around it before moving to nibble his way up the foot, the ankle.  “Love your toes,” he murmured, pushing the vibration of his voice into the gyroscopic stabilizer.  Starscream squirmed, uncomfortable with such naked praise, even as much as his spark drank it in. 

Thundercracker replaced the foot on his shoulder, grinning as the toes flexed before locking down into his armor again.  He vented his breath along the spike before taking it in his mouth again, feeling the lubricant chilled by his breath, and then warmed by his mouth, his teasing glossa.  He rotated his wrist, his talons revolving in the valve, the metal shifting around the valve’s sensitized lining.  Starscream squeaked, his body stiffening to the point of vibrating.  Oh, so easy to please. So…gratifying to pleasure. 

“Please,” Starscream gasped. “Too much!” His body shuddered, the spike leaking more lubricant, the valve shifting restlessly, trying to adjust against the changing contours of the fingers. 

Thundercracker smirked around the spike.  Too much.  No such thing.  “For me,” he said, lifting his head for a klik, before diving back onto the spike, his own sensornet shimmering with desire.  Do it for me, he thought, take this pleasure, which you think is too much, more than you deserve.  Let me see it. Let me feel it.  Let me do this to you. For you. 

For me.

Starscream arched up, talons screeching against the metal of the berth, a thin cry escaping his vocalizer. Thundercracker could feel the pulse in Starscream’s EM field an instant before the overloads ripped through his systems, the wash of transfluid flooding Thundercracker’s mouth at the same time that the valve clutched at his fingers, sending a tingling wash of sparks against Thundercracker’s talons. 

Starscream shuddered in hard waves of sensation.  Thundercracker untangled himself, sliding his fingers from the valve, clambering up Starscream’s still shuddering frame, letting the bronze jet pull him into a desperate kiss, shivering himself as his Trine mate’s glossa investigated his mouth, searching out the traces of his transfluid, whimpers echoing gently between them. 

Starscream chased the kiss as Thundercracker lifted his head away. “Don’t you want to…?” he asked, his optics worried. 

Thundercracker shook his head. “Not right now. Maybe later.  Wanted to enjoy…you.”  He pulled Starscream into an embrace, rolling to his side.  Starscream’s thighs interlaced in his, pulling their lower torsos together.  He could feel the slickness of Starscream’s lubricant slide against his pelvic plates with a shiver of desire. Not now. Maybe later he told himself. 

Starscream buried his face in Thundercracker’s throat for a long moment, as if breathing him in.  He lifted his head, almost sadly, afraid he was breaking a spell.  “Soundwave will try something,” he said, softly. “He has been after me for as long as I can remember.” 

“An attempt on you is an attempt on the Trine,” Thundercracker said, pulling away just far enough to be able to cup Starscream’s face comfortingly with one hand.  Starscream nodded.  “We can handle whatever he can try, Starscream. We are strong. We will be with you.” 

“Thank you,” Starscream whispered, the words shivering from restrained fear.  “I need you so much. Both of you.”

“You have us.” Thundercracker tightened his arm around Starscream’s waist. “Against anything.” 



 

 

Comments

[katsuko]

Oh, this gives me the good shivery chills ♥ As much as I detested Thundercracker in the early parts of this storyline, I'm starting to adore him for his own weaknesses and hurts. And I think that Barricade would definitely be a good thing for the whole Trine somehow. Not a replacement for Skyfire, but someone perfect to fit that damaged place in all three of the Seekers... if someone would quit it with the 'ew, grounders are lame and stupid and suck' mentality. He knows who I'm talking about.

Such a beautiful chapter, hon! Love love love love love for it.

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow.
It's interesting to see inside Thundercracker's head and how he thinks. Makes it easier to understand why he sees Barricade as so much of a threat. Why he's so violent with Skywarp. Why his trinemates haven't left him floating in space as so much debris.
...and I seem to have been infected by Barricade's speech patterns.
Anyways, this chapter puts Thundercracker solely in "pigheaded dick who needs to be brought around to the idea" territory (like Slingshot, Thundercracker isn't really Thundercracker if he's not being a dick), rather than "OH JUST KILL HIM" territory. I'm guessing he just needs time, and possibly to hear stories about Barricade that go a little beyond "the grounder Skywarp's banging." Like the time he tried to save Starscream from Onslaught, or the time Skywarp threw him across the room in his sleep and he was cool about it, or how he was ready to leave Skywarp for the good of his Trine (though Skywarp wouldn't take it) or any of the thousand other things he's done to take care of Skywarp and Starscream while Thundercracker couldn't (on account of the whole space thing).
Or, hell, maybe he just needs to have sex with Barricade. I'm not quite sure how that would help at all, but it's been my experience that if you don't know what to do, sex with Thundercracker always works.

[albydarned.livejournal.com]

Others have already said it, but this chapter was interesting because it provided insight into TC's character. I really like how you've shown his vulnerabilities, how much his loneliness hurt him while Starscream and Skywarp were away, and how ignorant he is to how his actions have been interpreted by his wingmates (and have, in Skywarp's case, actually served to drive him further away).

Oh, and the porn. :) Porn is my happy place, and this was delicious. Oh, Starscream, you and your sexy toes and tattoos. The fangirl, she does swoon! *swoons*

Ominous looming disaster is ominous! *winks* But I will stick it out, because the hawt seeker orgy that will come afterwards will be SO FREAKING AWESOME! *swoons again*

[playswithworms.livejournal.com]

You know, much of the whole dom/sub dynamic is still a bit baffling to me, but when you write it, I can kind of start to get a grasp. Not that I can explain what I'm grasping, lol, but little light bulbs are glimmering, if that makes any sense. (Yes, be awed by my powers of explanation, lol). Haven't had a lot of commenting time or energy lately, but still following along and enjoying this one ^^

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

So very sweet. Nice to see this other side of Thundercracker, too.

[ithilgwath.livejournal.com]

huh... looks like Starscream is doing a little manipulation of his own there..

Okay, feel slightly less like killing TC after getting inside his head a bit.