This one's both part of the prompt table and Kite Strings, so I'm putting it here, too.

Prompt: 02 Dance
Author: Lurkerlynne
Characters: Starscream, Prowl, Jazz
Rating: PG
Summary: There are many forms of dancing.

Starscream hit the practice mat and rolled, coming to his pedes smoothly and shifting his balance to aim a kick at his opponent's helm.

Prowl dodged but didn't manage to get out the way fast enough and Starscream clipped a doorwing. Prowl, instead of flinching away, overrode the sensor relays for that appendage and grabbed Starscream's pede.

Starscream reacted by activating his anti-gravs, suspending his mass long enough to shift position and set himself up to use Prowl's grip as a pivot to land a kick right at the joint where his arm met his shoulder.

"Halt!"

The bellow had them separating, Starscream pulling his kick and turning it into a roll while Prowl threw himself backwards. They faced each other, cooling systems working hard even in the cold air of the exercise room. They each made the ritual gesture of 'fight over" and then turned to face Jazz, who had been judging the bout.

"Foul; Starscream." Jazz's voice range through the gym, cutting across the murmur of the spectators. "That was a potentially crippling blow."

Starscream blinked, recalling the move he had been engaged in right before Jazz ended things. The mech was correct; that had been outside the rules agreed upon.

Starscream had been sparring with battledrones, testing his newly-repaired frame, when Prowl had entered, watched for a few klicks, then suggested a sparring match. Jazz, his escort and guard for the day, had agreed to judge. The crowd had gathered not long after.

"Slag that!" someone called out, anonymous in the crowd. "He tried to kill you!"

"Over-reacting much? The blow," Jazz informed the crowd, "would've damaged the shoulder joint if the foot turbine had been activated, but it wouldn't have been fatal."

"Still, it was a foolish move on my part," Prowl spoke up.

Starscream arched an optic ridge, surprised. Prowl flicked his optics his way before turning his gaze on the crowd.

"Foot turbines are the main method of Seeker flight and their initial reaction is to protect them; the turbines also act as weapons and a Seeker will use them as such." Prowl looked abashed. "It was careless of me to put myself in that position."

"Damn right." Jazz put in. "Could've lost that arm."

"I have sufficient control to prevent that," Starscream snapped.

"Yup, you do," Jazz cheerfully told him before turning to the crowd. "Okay, show's over, people. Vamoose."

The gawking Autobots filed out, murmurs rising as they flocked out the door.

Jazz and Prowl watched them go before turning to Starscream. "Good fight," Jazz told him.

"As you say." Starscream moved to where a small pile of energon cubes waited, snatching one up.

"It was," Prowl joined him, downing half his cube in one gulp. "Until I grabbed your pede, you were holding to the rules."

"Hn." Starscream initiated a diagnostic while he finished his energon and picked up a second cube.

"Yeah," Jazz leaned against the wall next to Prowl. "Everybody knows Seekers kick first, ask later when that happens."

"Or they should." Prowl frowned thoughtfully. "A number seemed surprised."

"Not many of you groundbound mechs go hand to hand with a flier." Starscream snorted. His systems check came back showing he was low on energon and running slightly hot; expected, considering he had been engaged in sparring.

"True." Prowl was now frowning thoughtfully at Starscream.

Unnerved, Starscream snapped. "What?"

"Would you be amenable to doing this again?" Prowl asked.

"What?" Starscream blinked, startled.

"Few Autobots are skilled enough to challenge me," Prowl informed him. "I find I miss the freedom of fighting outside the battlefield."

"What?" Starscream said again, feeling as though he was caught in a loop.

"You are still adjusting to the repairs Ratchet performed but there is every indication that you will be of sufficient skill to be a challenge."

"It has been," an eternity, "a long time since I sparred with any regularity," Starscream told him.

"That is a concern," Prowl agreed. "But I believe we can both adjust."