Written originally as backstory to a Bayverse story I'm playing with, but it could just as easily be G1—does that make me a bad writer? Probably. Kind of slashy, so if that bothers you, thanks for at least showing up, and sorry.

Fire in the Sky.

"Two solars," Skyfire said. "Can you believe it? Two solars between us and our Navigant."

Starscream shifted, nervously. He wished he shared Skyfire's confidence. To be honest, the Navigant scared him—left alone in the darkness of unnav'ed space, to find his own way home? For the first time without his quaterne? Not even on comm chatter? "Yes," he said, forcing an answering grin. "Two more solars."

Skyfire chattered happily, "Thundercracker says he's going to get back first, and have all of his stuff moved into the Seeker quarters before any of us arrive."

"He might." On a dead run, Thundercracker was the fastest, though Starscream was more maneuverable. If Thundercracker got a good heading, he could beat all of them home.

"I think 'Warp is kind of freaking out a bit about it. You know. I don't want to say he's scared, but…."

"He has a right to have a healthy respect," Starscream said, cautiously. He didn't want to let on his own fear, but he didn't want to mock Skywarp's concerns.

Skyfire laughed. "Always just a little stiff, aren't you, Starscream?"

"I am," he admitted, "not like you." He wished the envy didn't show in his voice. Skyfire was the smartest, the funniest, the most outgoing of the quaterne. Starscream often wondered if all of the abilities and personalities had been doled out first to Skyfire and then to the rest of them in ever-smaller portions.

"You're not…worried, are you?" Half-teasing. Only half. Skyfire wouldn't deliberately hurt his own quaternion.

"It would be foolish to underestimate the challenge of the Navigant," he said, feeling foolish.

"None of us are fools," Skyfire said, his voice a little softer. "But no sense borrowing trouble from the future. Plenty of time to worry about it then."

"Yes," Starscream said, dubious.

"I know," Skyfire leaned in, his voice tickling against the other jet's audio. "I know a way you can lighten up a little."

"I do not wish to lighten up. I am sufficiently light."

Skyfire laughed again, a pealing happy sound. Starscream wondered if he could ever laugh like that. Before he could respond, Skyfire leaned in and kissed him. A quick brushing of their mouths, nothing more, but it sent shivers through Starscream's body as if his energon had been electrified. Skyfire pulled away, smiling. "You like that?"

"I—uh, why?"

Skyfire laughed again. "Never seen you at a loss for a complete sentence, Starscream." He kissed him again, flicking the edge of his glossa against Starscream's labial plating. "I like you this way." Starscream closed his eyes, concentrating on the feel of Skyfire's mouth on his, his soft warm ventilation on his chest, his hand clumsy on Starscream's shoulder. He was otherwise frozen, afraid to move, afraid to break the magic of this moment. "Why?" Skyfire murmured, his hands beginning to trace the other jet's ailerons, "Because. You're my quaternion. You're,…so bloody innocent." He licked at Starscream's cheek, a bold move that caused the other jet to quiver.

"Innocent?" Starscream felt himself tremble.

Skyfire pulled back. "You've never done this, have you?"

"No, of course not. A warrior must…," Skyfire shut him up with another kiss, fiercer this time, probing into his mouth. Starscream's hands flew to Skyfire's shoulders, but he didn't know what he wanted to do—push the other jet away? Pull him closer? Keep him there? Just…keep him there.

Skyfire murmured in his audio. "Everyone else has." Starscream looked shocked, and then, hurt. Why not him? Why would they keep this from him?

"You and…." They weren't supposed to—they weren't allowed to—before the Navigant.

"Skywarp? Yes. Thundercracker too."

His shock that his quaterne had broken the rules was overridden by the shock of feeling left out."Not me….?" An ache swelled near his capacitor. Maybe they were just a trine with a glitch, as their master had said. Maybe he was the odd one out, the one who wouldn't complete the Seeker training. If they were already isolating him, cutting him off….

"They don't know how to approach you," Skyfire whispered. "You get shocked so easily."

"I am part of this quaterne," he said, helplessly. Stupidly.

"Yes," Skyfire breathed, and stroked the other jet's back, teasing the mounts of his engines until he quivered. "You are."

Starscream tried, clumsily, to repeat the same gentle stroking motion on Skyfire's mounts. He could feel immediately the difference between their experience, and even though he had followed tradition, and Skyfire hadn't, he felt embarrassed at his awkwardness. "I do not know what to do," he said, meekly.

Skyfire purred against him. Starscream could feel the vibration against his own chest. "Do what you want to do, Starscream."

"I do not know…," he repeated, ashamed of his own innocence.

Skyfire laughed against Starscream's mouth. "There is no training on this, Starscream. Just do what you think will feel good." His hands slid into the other jet's elbow joints, teasing the connecting cables. Starscream quivered again, and then, tentatively, pulled Skyfire's face closer to his. He probed hesitantly at Skyfire's mouth, feeling it part under his. Skyfire's hand stroked his head, encouraging him, keeping him close.

Starscream got a little bolder, running his hands down Skyfire's chest, into the sensitive joins of his armor plates, their mouths still locked. He heard Skyfire moan, softly, in his mouth. His hands traced the edges of Skyfire's interface hatch. Skyfire twitched. Starscream pulled away, nervously. "Did I hurt you? Did I press too far?"

Skyfire grabbed his hand and placed it back near his hatch. His voice was husky and strange and sent a strange thrill through Starscream's sensor net. "You," he said, "worry too much."