Wreck 'n rule!

“ Hmm… ” she thought carefully, “ I often talk about arts and favorite fandoms like Harry Potter and perhaps some anime series, though I don’t watch anime as much as Miko. I do sometimes talk about history. ”

Was it really the topics that she thought was the problem? Not exactly. Like Miko, Wheeljack seeks for thrills. The type of thrill that will get you dead. Not to mention, but they were rather reckless and don’t think twice. Star doesn’t need a quarrel to be sparked in a middle of a hangout. She knew how heated she and Miko could get into. It was unnecessary.

“ I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really no fun. ”

“Whaddya even talkin’ about? No fun? Ya haven’t run me off yet,” he pointed out. “An’ trust me, I’m ‘allergic’ to no fun. Usually gone at the first sign of it.” He made a show of getting comfortable where he was at, clearly intending to settle down for the long haul.

There was no way she was as boring as she was trying to convince him she was. Wheeljack hadn’t really met a boring human yet. Annoying - looking at you Agent Fowler - but not boring.

« Wow. The language on this guy. Can you believe that? Human curses, on my comm? Never thought we’d resort to those again. »

“Seems you’ve found a fun one,” Wheeljack remarks, causing the red Seeker to shake lightly against him in a laugh.

“Seems so. Shall we dispel the air of mystery?” Starscream asks, red optics turning to his partner. At the acquiescent nod of Wheeljack’s helm, Starscream accepted the vid-comm request.

Starscream is the taller of the two, but he’s still leaning against Wheeljack’s front, wings cast halfway down his back so as not to smack the white mech in the face. Wheeljack’s helm is nestled in the crook of Starscream’s neck and shoulder paldron, one servo on the Seeker’s hip while the other lightly strokes the closest wing. They’re paying more attention to one another than the comm when it starts, but Starscream quickly returns his attention to the screen, gleeful, to see the alternate Wheeljack’s reaction, while Wheeljack himself looks amused by Starscream’s antics, if resigned.

« Thoughts, comments, concerns? »

Wheeljack stares for several kliks as he’s processing what he’s seeing and then he makes a degusted noise and looks upwards as if to ask, ‘why?’ Apparently there is a version of him out there crazy enough to get with Starscream of all mechs. He really shouldn’t be surprised. It’s the Multiverse. It’s already proven in spades that it does not care about logic or sanity or any known laws of the universe - universes. Whatever. 

It is interesting just how similar his alternate seemed to be in design and yet the Seeker was so drastically different from the one he was familiar with. That thought is short-lived, however, because it is impossible to ignore the position the pair of them are in. Ugh, not what he’d been expecting or had ever wanted to see.

« Here’s the thing. No matter what I say or do, you won’t believe me. I’m Starscream, after all, why would I tell the truth? Here’s the deal, though – I have someone very special here I’d like you to meet. » 

Away from the comm-line, but still audible, Starscream shouts,  “OH, SWEETSPARK! Someone would like to meet you.“ There a muffled voice somewhere in the background, before Starscream chuckles and leans back against another bot. “Hey there.”

“Hey, yourself,” says the ‘mystery’ bot, now audible on the line. “Who you talking to?”

Back into the comm, Starscream says, « I don’t know, Wheeljack, who am I talking to? »

He’ll address the Magnus thing in a minute, he thinks.

« You have got to be shittin’ me. »

Starscream’s right - the only time he’ll ever admit to a Starscream being right. Wheeljack still doesn’t believe him. That voice? He doesn’t recognize that voice at all and the only other version of himself he’d ever personally met had shared his voice and his looks.

The voice could belong to anyone. He’s betting a paid lackey.

“Which memo?” Optimus asked confused. Had he missed a memo? He’d had a lot on his mind lately, but a memo…? He let the subject rest and noticed that Wheeljack suddenly became calm and hesitated. He knew that there was more than friendship between the two. The evidence of this was more than clear. At first the hesitant inquiries regarding relationships during the work of Ultra Magnus and now Wheeljacks are hesitating. Optimus smiled slightly. It was nice that at least some love could be there.

“Yes, he did… Even if he wouldn’t admit it and never want to tell, the longing for you was obvious. At least… I could saw that.” answered Optimus and smiled slightly. When Wheeljack wanted to turn the subject off immediately, the slight smile was a little wider. “He sure did, but I think… Spending time with a friend will surely get him going again.” Prime encouraged Wheeljack a little, and he stuck to the unpleasant subject.

Of course the Prime wouldn’t drop the subject, he should have known better.  It wasn’t that simple. Nothing ever was where they were concerned. Wheeljack briefly considered making up an excuse to be else where, but the thought petered out before it could gain momentum. He’d already asked Bulkhead for advice - ”Jackie, really? Just go talk to him, silly!” - and now Optimus was in essence telling him the same thing. Their conversations usually wound up stilted and awkward and he wasn’t sure how to get around that.

Ugh, clearly he was over thinking this. He’d spent too long out in the wastes with his own thoughts as his only company. Wheeljack is not the type to sit still spinning his tires and yet without fail Magnus always tripped him up.

« Don’t know about all that, Bossbot, but suppose it couldn’t hurt to go drop by. » It could actually. It could go horribly considering he’d disappeared again and hadn’t returned any of Magnus’ comms save for returning his pings. Well, better to rip the patch off now and be done with it.

“ Hang out with you guys… ? ” 

“ Come on, Star ! It’ll be fun ! ”

Miko looked at her hopefully. Star was hesitating. Apart from being shy, she wasn’t like Miko. Unlike her, though as much as she loved to have fun, she just can’t mix among people like her. Not to mention, but she and Miko had some conflicts at certain times. Miko was one to seek the thrills, while Star was one to play safe. 

“ I would love to, but- ”

“ Why but? ” Miko cuts her off, “ You gotta come out of your shell, either sooner or later. ”

“ You didn’t let me finish what I said. ”

Star suddenly spoke sourly at Miko, who slowly backed away a step from her, raising her hands in surrender. Despite speaking calmly, the girl was glaring furiously at the Japanese girl before quickly dissolving into a neutral expression again.

“ May I say that I’m a rather boring person, ” she spoke as if nothing had happened just now, “ The topics I talk about may be too bland to any one of your likings. Wouldn’t want to cause an argument either, ” she glanced at Miko, “ Don’t think I go well with Wreckers. ”  

Watching the two girls interact was amusing. It reminded him strongly of several rocky introductions he’d had with fellow wreckers and other Autobots over the long, long vorn of the war. Most of them were fast friends now, but sometimes you just didn’t click with a person. Star and Miko would either work it out or they wouldn’t.  “Ouch. Alright, kid, I get it. Not your scene, huh?”

Wheeljack didn’t press her to change her mind. There was always later. Maybe after she got more comfortable around them.

“Wait, what’s this about bein’ a ‘borin’ person’?” he asked, optic brow rising once more. His voice was half incredulous and half amused. “Ya hang out with aliens all day. How’s that borin’? Heck of a lot more excitin’ than most humans, I’d say.”