Title: I Think It's Going to Rain Today 1/?
Author: akisawana
Genre: Drama/Family, with guest appearances by Romance, Angst, Crack, and Oh God, Didn't I Swear I'd Never Do This?
Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimer here. Transformers? Not mine.
Warnings: Strip poker.
Notes: Oy vey. I've had either too much to drink or not nearly enough.
Summary: The Transformers are human, for no apparent reason. This is not Silverbolt's biggest problem. His brothers are not-so-slowly going insane. This not Silverbolt's biggest problem. Starscream and company have just moved in across the hall. That's Silverbolt's biggest problem.

Air Raid was a morning person; he saw to it that the rest of his team woke to fresh coffee every morning. Silverbolt wasn't sure what they would do without him. Lose their jobs for tardiness or drive a car into the median, most likely. Air Raid had the five cups lined up on the counter, and was just pouring the milk in them as Silverbolt came out from the shower. Lots of sugar and a splash of milk for him, less sugar and more milk for Air Raid himself, no milk and a single spoon of sugar for Skydive, black with an ice cube for Slingshot, and milk and sugar with just a bit of coffee for color for Fireflight. "Morning, boss," Air Raid said with a smile.

Silverbolt nodded. "It's morning." He claimed his coffee and Fireflight's, and took them over to the couch. Fireflight was curled under a blanket with only his feet sticking out and a bottle of aspirin on the floor in front of him. Silverbolt sat next to him and tugged on the blanket. "Hey. Coffee time."

Fireflight sat up and accepted the coffee. Megatron's latest super weapon had definitely turned him into the cutest Aerialbot by human standards, if not the most attractive. Big blue eyes and round cheeks under unruly blond hair, a bit curly, called attention whenever they went out. Especially if he was alone. Even now, pale and drawn from pain, Silverbolt could see where the comparison to a sparkling was coming from, and sparklings of any species, by and large, demanded attention. Silverbolt wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and Fireflight leaned against him. "I don't like this," he said plaintively.

"I know," Silverbolt said.

"It hurts."

"Did you take any aspirin?"

Fireflight nodded. "At four."

"Four? Did you sleep at all?" Fireflight shook his head and sipped from his coffee. Silverbolt sighed. "At least you have today off," he said. "Do we need to pick up more supplies?"

"Probably," Fireflight replied, fast losing interest in the conversation in favor of staring into his coffee. Silverbolt didn't call his mind back for once, just picked up his own cup and listened to Air Raid try to wake Slingshot. He debated intervening, then decided that whoever survived would just have to hide the body himself.

Skydive came out to claim his own coffee and sit on the couch on Fireflight's other side, his dark hair still wet. He set his free hand on Fireflight's knee. Silverbolt lifted his arm from around Fireflight, who just leaned against Skydive instead, eyes closed. "Work calls," he said, tucking the blanket around his brothers. "I'll bring home more stuff later. Have a good day at school."

"Have fun at work," Skydive said. Fireflight just gave a little wave. Once the door was safely closed behind him, he thanked Primus that out of the Aerialbots, only he and Fireflight had female bodies, and only Fireflight was afflicted by the monthly curse. He'd do anything in his power to make his little brother feel better, of course, but he always gave silent thanks that his own courses ran smooth.

Silverbolt came home, after a mildly stressful but mostly unremarkable day at work and a quick stop at the drugstore, to Fireflight on the couch still and Slingshot lying mostly across him, both watching TV and drinking beer. Air Raid would be home soon, but Skydive had class until eight. Skydive was the only Aerialbot in college, and they had had to give up cable to afford it, but it was that or ask Prime for money, something they did not want to do short of an emergency. Prime had been reluctant to let them leave, but Prowl and Ironhide impressed on him the necessity of scattering the Autobots around the planet in case the Decepticons did not resurface conveniently on the West Coast, and Ratchet had been a surprise supporter in letting the Aerialbots free. Prime hadn't liked it, but had allowed it, only after many, many promises that they would call him if they needed anything, money or reference checks or spiders squished. Silverbolt sank in the chair by the couch and nudged Slingshot with his foot. "How was work?"

"Not fun," he groaned.

"If work was supposed to be fun, they wouldn't call it work," Silverbolt teased. Fireflight grinned, and Slingshot cast his eyes skyward, as if to ask Primus himself for patience.

Slingshot sighed. "Being human blows." He resettled his head on Fireflight's shoulder and added, "Diesel exhaust." Fireflight nodded fervent agreement.

"It's not forever," Silverbolt said.

"It's been eight months," Fireflight said quietly.

"It won't be much longer then," Silverbolt encouraged, but neither of his little brothers believed him. Luckily, Air Raid chose that moment to burst in the door and bound on the couch, kicking off his shoes on the way. He landed half on top of Slingshot, half hanging off the couch. He threw his arms around his smaller brother, partly to keep from falling off the couch, and partly to pull Slingshot over for a noisy kiss on the cheek.

Slingshot pushed him off, but Air Raid carried him to the ground with him. "Get off me, you maniac!"

"Missed you too," Air Raid chirped. He didn't fight Slingshot scrambling on top of him, but he didn't let go either.

"Let me go!"

"What, Fireflight gets snuggles and I don't? I'm jealous, 'Shot!"

"You're insane!"

Silverbolt caught Fireflight's eye and raised his eyebrows. Fireflight cracked up at that, snickering harder when Air Raid pulled Slingshot's head down and scrubbed his knuckles through the smaller man's hair. Slingshot yowled in protest, squirming free and scrambling up. He crossed his arms and glared at his brothers, who barely noticed, too busy laughing themselves sick.

The ringing phone interrupted them. Silverbolt was the first one to get himself under control enough to answer, though it took three rings. "Hello?"

"'Bolt," Skydive said from the other end. "I'm not quite sure how to say this…"

Something in his voice, almost scared, flipped Silverbolt from big-brother to commanding-officer. "Report."

"Starscream is teaching my math class."

"We'll be right there." Silverbolt hung up and turned around. Air Raid and Fireflight had their shoes on, and were helping Slingshot find his missing one. His own Birkenstocks were sitting neatly on the doormat. "Skydive has located the Decepticon Air Commander," he said more calmly than he actually was. His men nodded, and headed out the door. "We're going to meet him at Skydive's school," Silverbolt continued in the elevator. "I'll drive. Slingshot, you take shotgun. We aren't looking to get into a fight, and he shouldn't start anything; we outnumber him. Should it happen, we want to bring him back alive for interrogation. Clear?"

"Crystal," Air Raid said. Slingshot and Fireflight nodded.

"Good." Silverbolt drove, mostly because he had the least points on his license of everyone in the car. Fireflight curled half in Air Raid's lap for the fifteen minute drive in the back seat, still hurting so Silverbolt let it pass. Slingshot didn't take the gun out of the glove box until Silverbolt parked the car in the one-hour parking lot. He shoved it down the front of his pants and checked his wallet to make sure he had his permit on him, just in case. With Skydive's schedule in Silverbolt's datebook in his purse, it was only a matter of reading signs for them to find Skydive's class, a floor up from the door. They settled against the white cinderblock wall across from the door and waited.

When Starscream dismissed the class, the thirty young people left quickly; Skydive was the last one out, and he joined his brothers silently. When Starscream finally emerged, they fell into place behind him without a word.

"I'm too hungry to deal with you now," Starscream said without looking behind him. "If you insist, meet me at the Taco Bell around the corner. I'll be alone." He walked away quickly, boot heels clicking against the floor.

"Well. That certainly went better than the last time we saw him," Air Raid commented, lacing his hands behind his head and walking off.

"It did?" Skydive asked, confused.

"He didn't shoot at us this time, did he?"

The others had to admit that was true. Silverbolt shifted Air Raid to Skydive's car, and they found the Taco Bell with little difficulty. Starscream was the only customer, sitting at a booth far from the door. The Aerialbots ordered food, quickly since there was no line, and sat at his table. To the casual observer, they were simply a group of friends who happened to run into each other. Someone paying more attention might have noticed that Air Raid and Skydive, physically the strongest, had boxed Starscream in and that Slingshot wasn't eating but aiming a gun at Starscream under the table.

If Starscream noticed, he didn't react, eating his nachos with an air of studious unconcern. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Silverbolt said.

Starscream looked down and began to scrape the remains of the cheese up with one of the last of his chips. "Megatron isn't here. Nor would he look here. The area holds little attraction for his interests."

"And yours?"

"Why am I in The Motor City?" Starscream affected an accent for the epithet, pronouncing it closer to "Murder." He smiled thinly, still concentrating on his food. "My reasons are none of your business, but I assure you it had nothing to do with your presence. It's just a…happy coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidence when you're involved," Silverbolt said, low. "What are you really doing here?"

Starscream smirked. "Teaching. And if your brother drops the class, you won't even know I'm here." He turned to Air Raid and Skydive. "Let me out," he ordered.

Air Raid and Skydive looked at Silverbolt, who nodded once. They stood and let Starscream pass. "What gives, boss?" Slingshot asked. "We're just going to let him go?"

Silverbolt nodded again. "We don't really have a choice, Slingshot." Slingshot didn't look too happy, but he didn't argue. Silverbolt continued anyways. "He's human now, same as us, and we can't exactly just shoot him when he's done nothing that we know of. There's nothing wrong with teaching calculus."

"Aside from it being a strange and unnatural form of math," Air Raid put in, earning a smile from three brothers.

"Even if he is up to something," Silverbolt said, still smiling, "we can't exactly do anything about it. We'll have to leave it to the authorities." He held up a hand to forestall the protests he knew they would make. "I don't like it any more than you do. But I doubt we'll see him again. Let's go home."

The ride home was more or less silent. Air Raid rode with Skydive and Slingshot home to hear the game, leaving Silverbolt with Fireflight in his front seat. Fireflight spent most of the ride home staring at the taillights of the cars in front of them. "What are you thinking, 'Flight?" Silverbolt asked at the stoplight at the end of the off-ramp. The community college was only seven miles away, but the only way to travel in the Detroit area was on the highway since public transportation didn't exist. Silverbolt's one concession to asking Prime for help was the purchase of extra cars. They had drove one from Washington, but quickly discovered that five people and one car does not work in Michigan. So Silverbolt kept the original station wagon, and Optimus Prime sent them enough money to buy cars cheap off the auction block. Only three, because Fireflight refused to try driving, and try as he might to lie to himself and say he would ask why, Silverbolt just looked the other way and thanked his lucky stars.

"What did you say?" Fireflight asked, turning towards him.

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about."

"Starscream." Fireflight looked back out the window. "He didn't have any bruises. If he was still with Megatron, he'd have bruises."

Silverbolt never questioned Fireflight when it came to noticing things others didn't. Still, he was curious. "Why's that?"

"Megatron almost always hits him when things go wrong. I don't think things have been going very well for the Decepticons lately."

"No, they probably aren't," Silverbolt agreed. "Do you think he was telling the truth?"

"Would he have let us go if he wasn't?"

The other three Aerialbots were standing outside the building when they parked. "Someone's moving in and hogging the elevator," Slingshot explained, sounding none too happy. "We'll have to take the stairs." Seven flights of stairs was not fun for any of them, except for maybe Air Raid who tried to jump from landing to landing ahead of them. Silverbolt and Skydive just rolled their eyes at each other, and then again at Air Raid as he waited somewhat sheepishly at the door for someone with keys. "Hey, whoever's moving in is across the hall," Slingshot said as Silverbolt unlocked the door. The two doors opened at the same time, and their new neighbor came out.

"Hi," Skydive said, waving at him. "We're your new neighbors, I guess." The neighbor, tall and dark, waved back but didn't say anything. Six doors down, the elevator dinged and opened, though no-one in the hall noticed. "I'm Dave," Skydive said, giving his human name, "and this is Robin, Shawn, Ray, and Raven," he continued, pointing at Silverbolt, Slingshot, Air Raid, and Fireflight in turn.

"Nice to meet you," they chorused. The stranger smiled and waved once more before walking to meet another man carrying two boxes from the elevator.

"TC, new rule," a vaguely familiar voice said. The Aerialbots froze in the doorway, each recognizing the voice but unable to place it. "You pack it, you carry it."

"They're not that heavy," an equally familiar voice answered. And it was much more distinctive; no human voice held the echo of sonic booms as Thundercracker's did. As one, the Aerialbots turned. Only one person that they knew of would call the Seeker by nickname, which made the other man in the hallway Skywarp. And if Skywarp and Thundercracker were here, there was little doubt of how far away their commander would be.

Later, much, much later, Air Raid wished for a camera to capture Starscream's and Silverbolt's expressions as they faced each other across the hall.

True to Starscream's word, the Aerialbots barely saw the Seekers. Skydive dropped the class, and aside from once catching the back of his head, he never saw Starscream on campus. And while having Skywarp and Thundercracker around led to some very awkward elevator rides, they never gave any trouble. Thundercracker even let Fireflight in once when he forgot his keys. Decepticons and Autobots alike settled into an uneasy truce of mutual disregard for nearly a month, until an autumn storm rolled in and knocked out the power. Slingshot answered the door, wondering who it could be. His brothers wouldn't knock, and none of them had made any human friends. He opened the door, flashlight in hand.

"Hey," Skywarp said. "Got an extra one of those?"

"No," Slingshot said. "But come in. You can help us eat the ice cream." He stepped back to allow the Seeker to pass, and locked the door behind him.

"Ice cream?" Skywarp asked. He wasn't about to turn down free food, but surely there were more important things to take care of.

"We have to eat it before it melts and gets all over," Slingshot explained, opening the freezer and shining the light in. "You like chocolate, right?"

"Well, duh." Skywarp mentally shrugged and rolled with it. Slingshot handed him a carton of ice cream and a spoon.

Air Raid wandered out of the bedrooms, lantern in one hand and a deck of cards in the other. "Who are you talking to, 'Shot?" he asked. "Oh, hey, Skywarp. Do you know how to play poker?"

Skywarp had something of a reputation for bewildering any and everyone in the Universe he came across. The universe got in nine million years of karmatic revenge shortly after Skydive and Fireflight came home to find Slingshot, Air Raid and Skywarp huddled around a lantern and a deck of cards. "Why is there a Decepticon in our living room?" Skydive felt obliged to ask, though he knew he probably didn't want an answer.

"Helping us eat all the ice cream before it melts." Air Raid said without looking up. "What's higher, a straight or a flush?"

"A flush," Skydive replied, bemused. Fireflight handed him a spoon and sat between Air Raid and Slingshot to more efficiently steal bites from both their boxes of ice cream. "Wait," Skydive said, sitting down on Slingshot's other side. "Isn't that my ice cream?" He pointed his spoon at the chocolate in front of Skywarp. Skywarp shrugged and slid the carton halfway over.

Slingshot gathered up the cards and shuffled them clumsily. "Fives wild okay with you guys?" he asked. No-one had a problem with it, and he dealt out five hands. When they laid their hands down after trading out cards twice, Skydive had nothing. Air Raid and Slingshot smirked at him.

"Off with it," Air Raid said.

"Off with what?" Skywarp asked.

"Low hand loses an article of clothing," Slingshot explained. "It's in the rules." Air Raid and Fireflight nodded agreement.

Skydive groaned. "There's something wrong with you. All of you," he said, peeling off a sock and dropping it in the middle of the circle.

"We didn't make the rules," Fireflight said innocently.

"But you're playing the game," Skydive pointed out.

"So are you." Air Raid gathered up the cards and shuffled them expertly. "What's wild, 'Shot?"

"Threes."

And so the game went, the deal passed to the left and the winner picking wilds. Skywarp tried valiantly to keep up, but when Fireflight lost his shirt, Skywarp's human body demanded he notice his breasts, and how soft they looked, and wondering what they would feel like. Human males seemed to be obsessed by them, and Skywarp wondered, idly, if Fireflight would show him what was so great about them. Thundercracker would probably want to know, too. He would wait for him, and in the meantime, think of a way to get Fireflight to allow them to explore the mysteries of the female chest; that's why he was almost naked when the power came back on.

"Uh, Skywarp?" Fireflight said quietly. "You dripped." He pointed at the bit of ice cream running down Skywarp's bare chest, the beginnings of a blush staining his cheeks. Neither of them noticed Air Raid and Slingshot exchanging glances behind their brother's back.

"Oh?" Skywarp looked down. If Thundercracker was there, he would have asked him if he wanted to lick it off, just for the reactions everyone would have when he did. He almost asked Fireflight anyways, but he had had a real nice time so far. The Aerialbots weren't so bad once they stopped shooting at you, he thought. No point in angering them when this was the first time he'd had fun without having to take a shower afterwards since they had been stuck in these bodies. He wiped the ice cream off with his thumb and licked it.

"Can we put clothes back on now?" Skydive asked. "Or turn the heat up?"

"Yeah, the game's on," Slingshot agreed. He got up off the floor and sat on the couch, turning on the TV. The other Aerialbots and Skywarp pulled their clothes back on. Skydive sat at the desk and booted up their laptop, presumably to do homework. Air Raid joined Slingshot on the couch while Fireflight claimed the chair.

"Guess I'll just get going then," Skywarp half-muttered as he stood.

"What's the rush?" Air Raid asked. "Stay and watch the game."

Skywarp looked at the snowy picture. "What's wrong with your TV?"

"Nothing's wrong with it," Skydive said. "Just bad reception."

"Reception? No cable?" Skywarp didn't know they still made TVs that had such hookups, and a month working at the local Best Buy made him something of an expert. He shook his head. "You need to come over and watch it on mine." The Aerialbots exchanged glances. "My screen's bigger," he added.

"Go," Skydive said. "I'll tell Silverbolt."

The next week, Slingshot and Air Raid knocked on the door twenty minutes before kick-off with a bag of chips and a couple of jars of salsa. To Starscream's loud dismay, it didn't take even a week before there was a constant flow from one side of the hall to the other. Skywarp's TV drew Aerialbots to the Seeker's base, and lack of Starscream and the famous Aerialbot game collection drew the Seekers over more nights than not. Starscream stopped protesting as soon as he realized the Aerialbots kept Skywarp entertained, and Silverbolt was just happy that his team was happy.

Air Raid expected to be the first one home, but Fireflight was leaning against the picture window watching the rain when he came in. Air Raid kicked his wet shoes off –clothes weren't so bad, they rarely restricted his movements, but shoes were almost intolerable—and walked up behind Fireflight. "Whatcha doing home, 'Flight?" He wrapped his arms around his brother's waist and rested his chin on the other's shoulder.

Fireflight leaned back against him. "I got fired again."

"Oh, Fireflight." Air Raid pulled him towards the couch. "What happened?" Without the window to distract him, Fireflight studied the carpet to avoid Air Raid's eyes. Air Raid didn't need to see them to know the guilt and shame that would be there. "Did you go out in a blaze of politically-incorrect glory?"

Fireflight shook his head. "No, the PC police wasn't there today." He didn't say anything more, but his sudden flush gave him away.

"The boss's creepy son was hitting on you again?" Air Raid guessed. "They won't keep very many people if they don't get rid of him." His words sounded hollow, even to his ears, but he said it anyways. Without Superion, without their link, he couldn't see what had happened, nor could he reach out and comfort his brother.

Of course, if they had Superion, they'd be robots. They wouldn't need jobs even humans considered bottom of the barrel. And Fireflight would no longer be at the mercy of those strange chemicals called "hormones" that messed with his head and made him even more sensitive and easy to upset. And Slingshot wouldn't drink so much, and Skydive would talk more, and Silverbolt would worry not less, but about less important things, and Air Raid himself could get back to what was important and have fun. Life was too short for these messes, especially with the seventy years allocated to humans.

Human, Air Raid couldn't show Fireflight how much he didn't blame him, how his bosses were evil, how he understood that it really was never Fireflight's fault and he just had the worst luck in the world. Instead, he had to rely on human words that were never quite what he wanted to say. "You'll find another job," he said. "You always do."

"I always lose them, too," Fireflight sighed. "And it's harder to find one each time."

Air Raid patted his knee and got off the couch. Silverbolt had suggested to Fireflight once, kindly, that he could stay home and keep house, but the utter humiliation on Fireflight's face stopped him from even finishing the sentence and Skydive had jumped in to save them both, pointing out the financial difficulty. He had told them later, when Fireflight was in the shower, that he'd gladly give up school if it meant Fireflight didn't have to work, but he just couldn't stand insulting –hurting—his brother like that. No-one disagreed. Air Raid privately hoped that Fireflight knew as well, knew that his brothers loved him that much. Eight or even six months ago, he would know, but eight months without merging left its mark on them all. He brought a glass of chocolate milk back to Fireflight, who hadn't moved. "Hey," he said. "I'd rather you get fired a hundred times than keep one job like that."

Fireflight smiled weakly at him, and for the third time in as many minutes Air Raid cursed the loss of Superion. "I'll start looking tomorrow," he said.

"I'll take you to the malls, if you want," Air Raid promised.

"Okay." Fireflight looked down into his cup, looking for answers or away from Air Raid's face, Air Raid himself didn't know. "I'm sorry," he said, barely audible.

"It's okay," Air Raid said. "At least you lasted longer than Slingshot again." The joke fell flat. "It's okay," he said again.

All Aerialbots have the ability to come in at the perfect time to save one of his brothers, even Slingshot, and he did so before Fireflight could reply. "Fireflight? What are you doing home? Did you get fired again?" Fireflight nodded silently. "When are you going to learn?" Slingshot asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a beer can. "The only way to get ahead is to give head."

Fireflight didn't get it, but Air Raid did, so he patted Fireflight's knee again, got up, and punched Slingshot.