"What the frag?" Seismic asked in complete and utter confusion, setting down her Energon cube.

Starscream frowned. "Language."

Seismic stuck her glossa out at him. He ignored it as she elaborated, "You want to turn the Solar Flare into a hotel?"

"An apartment complex." The Decepticon corrected.

Seismic rolled her optics. "Whatever. An apartment complex is just a long-term hotel anyway."

Starscream shrugged, ignoring her previous statement. "I don't see what reasons we have not to; she's in excellent condition, despite the remaining damage- but I'm sure we could get someone to fix that- and to be quite honest, she's much too large for simply you and I to occupy by ourselves."

Seismic vented loudly. "But I like living by ourselves. Other people are noisy, and when I was at the Academy, other people would talk about how rude some neighbors can be."

Starscream gave a noise of agreement. "Well, of course, you're right. Some people are unfortunately like that, but you won't just find them next door. You'll meet people like that just about everywhere, at work, at shops-"

"At academy." Seismic added bitterly. Starscream winced. The pink grounder vented again.

"It's just..." she trailed off, looking away. "I don't want more people to judge me for whoever my parents were. Red optics, they tend to be a curse. Ya know?"

Starscream's scarlet optics softened, and he yearned to somehow comfort his young charge, but he couldn't seem to figure out where to start and instead sat, frozen awkwardly.

"I'm the owner of our future apartment complex; don't I have the right to evict my renters for being outrageously rude?" The Seeker smirked deviously at his charge.

"You wouldn't!" She gasped, holding a servo to her chestplate for dramatic affect.

"Oh, but I might." Starscream cackled even as she mirthfully threw her empty cube of Energon at his retreating form.

"So how does one advertise for an apartment complex?" Seismic asked once her laugher had settled.

Starscream shrugged. "Perhaps you throw up a sign outside and hope someone shows up? I have no idea."

Seismic snickered. "Maybe we should ask some actual experts."

~~~

A brief conversation with Rubble, the owner of Scrap Heap Apartments (an absurd name for any place to live, if you asked Starscream), and Fuse, the rivaling owner of Unicron's Slaggin' Aft (he had apparently named it while drunk off his aft) revealed only that rival company owners kept their affairs between each other and didn't particularly like customers who spoke to the other. Starscream very disgruntledly made better use of his remaining time by searching the holonet for information.

~~~

The many rooms aboard the Solar Flare were in shockingly livable condition, and most only needed replacement lighting (Megatron had liked his ships to be dimly lit, for whatever reason), so Starscream set out to work on repairing what little was left. Surprisingly, some of the old Team Prime arrived to help.

"We decided you might appreciate the help." Bumblebee shrugged when Starscream questioned them. "Knock Out saw your ad on the holonet and thought we could offer something."

Starscream turned to Knock Out in surprise, and the Aston Martin held a clawed servo to his forehelm dramatically. "He speaks lies! I was dragged into this against my will!"

Smokescreen rolled his optics. "Come on, it was his idea to begin with."

"Lies, I tell you! He sits on a throne of lies!"

"How did you know it was my ad?" Starscream asked suspiciously. "I didn't put my designation on it anywhere."

"Knock Out recognized the address." The black and yellow mech answered, shrugging at Starscream's quizzical expression. "He makes note of where all of his friends live."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Knock Out crossed his arms and looked away.

"In any case," Starscream interrupted the red sports car's denial, "I do appreciate the assistance."

"We're just helping an ally out." Bumblebee spoke warmly. He frowned, apparently thinking.

"What is it?" The SIC questioned bluntly.

"It's just... I don't understand it." Bumblebee admitted. "Why didn't you just stay and live with us?"

Smokescreen frowned too, having just thought of that. "Yeah... you could've been made an Autobot, nice and easy! And you wouldn't have to live alone in this dreary warship..."

Starscream raised an eyebrow in mild offense. "I thought I told you before, I'm still not prepared to discard my insignia entirely. And I'll have you know that the Solar Flare is a very nice place to live! And-"

As he opened his mouth to inform them that he wasn't alone, he was interrupted.

"Starscreeeeeeeeam!" Seismic's voice called. After a few seconds, the femme's familiar magenta form walked into the control room. She quickly spotted him, scarlet optics gleaming. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Anyway, I've got something to show you. It's totally wack! I-"

She frowned and stopped midsentence, having just noticed the three visitors. "Who're they? If they're more of those aftholes who wanna fight you, I'll punch 'em for ya."

Starscream struggled to hold back a burst of laughter at both his charge's words and the Autobots' expressions. "No, Seismic, they're not here to fight, although I know you would destroy them if they were. They're old... allies of mine who took the liberty of coming to help clean up the ship."

Seismic's optics widened in comprehension. "Ohhhhh."

"Seismic, these are Autobots Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Knock Out." Starscream introduced, gesturing to each bot respectively as the pink femme watched in interest. "Autobots, this is Seismic."

"Hey." The three mechs said in unison with a wave from Bumblebee.

Seismic blinked. "Hello, Autobots. Welcome to our humble abode. Lighting replacement is needed in every room, and the command center can be turned into a front desk."

The three Autobots blinked, and Starscream held back a chuckle. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

~~~

Several hours later, the five Cybertronians looked upon the clean ship with pride, red and blue optics alike. Starscream shook servos with the Autobots and thanked them for their help.

After they left, Starscream stared strangely in the distance their bridge had come. Seismic noticed and walked up to him.

"Starscream, what are you doing?" She asked flatly. Starscream shook himself out and scowled at the sky.

"I just noticed today. I can't believe I never noticed before, but... I can see the color yellow again."

"Yellow?" Seismic asked, one eyebrow raised comically. "The frag why?"

"Language." Starscream said absently, still looking into the distance. He shook out his helm and narrowed his optics in a scowl. "I don't fragging know. I know I must have regained it sometime recently without noticing because, if you haven't noticed, we live in a darkly colored warship and, well," he gestured to the pair's decidedly not yellow finishes.

"Maybe you saw someone yellow who had the potential to become close to you and didn't notice." Seismic pointed out her theory once again.

Starscream shook his helm and scowled in thought again. "No, that theory is absurd, and I refuse to believe it has any relevance. I am satisfied with living in near solitude."

"You're opening a hotel." Seismic pointed out. "Your 'near solitude' won't last too much longer."

"Frag you." Starscream glared playfully at her.

She skipped in a small circle around him and cried, "Language!"

Starscream gave her a glare and then swatted at her. Giggling, she retreated back into the ship.

Hesitantly, Starscream took one last glance into the distance before following her.

Once again, the ending was a little rushed, but I liked writing the concept of this chapter. Enjoy it while it lasts because my next update might not be soon at all. I hope you liked this chapter!

Edit: I deleted this and republished it so I could edit a few things. I would like to get back into this story, as it has promise.

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SalixEnder03