#prowl was one of the best characters in late idw1 with the most potential for interesting plots a unique perspective and a nuanced take on | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heliopauseentertainments · 3 years

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Oh then, can I request the prowlstar one where Prowl has to work in Starscream's administration? If Starscream's gonna lead at least Prowl is gonna make sure things don't go to hell.

I had a lot of fun with this one. Thanks!

Title: 9-To-5AM Continuity: IDW1 Rating: Teen Relationship: Prowl/Starscream Characters: Prowl & Starscream Warnings: Canon divergence, vaguely suggestive situation Summary: In which Prowl finds he rather likes his new job and unfortunately also his new boss. Crossposting: In a reblog. Fic under cut.

Prowl hadn’t been sure what to do when Optimus expelled him from the Autobots, after his so-called “betrayal.” It hadn’t even been a possibility that had occurred to him, so he had never taken it into his calculations. The rending of the surface layer of his armor plating when his Autobrand had been physically revoked all those weeks ago still echoed in his processor, even now as he sat at a new, sturdy desk in one of Iacon’s refurbished administration buildings, centrally located within Metroplex’s frame.

What he’d certainly never been expected was Starscream, of all mechs, offering him a job.

Of course, it made sense. Starscream was no fool. He was running a new, nominally “neutral” administration as the legally elected ruler of the planet. He needed the most experienced and competent functionaries to make everything go smoothly. Riots and mayhem and chaos would do him no favors. It would go without saying that he would be ready to headhunt and recruit valuable personnel, regardless of prior faction affiliation. No sense letting skilled potential subordinates go to waste.

If Optimus wanted to throw away millions of years of Prowl’s unerring loyalty, then Prowl would simply take practical advantage of his free agent status. It wasn’t his fault that Optimus had decided to be blind, to not see the big picture. If Starscream was willing to see it, then Prowl could learn to work with that. Prowl was, if nothing else, adaptable.

It wasn’t just about defeating and eliminating the Decepticons—a moot point now anyway that had really only ever been the superficial goal—it was about Cybertron’s well-being.

The fuel warmer on the corner of Prowl’s desk, nestled between datapads and light-pen holders, beeped cheerfully, telling him that his hot beverage was ready.

And besides, after all, Starscream’s offer was sensible, despite being delivered publicly in a grand gesture. Prowl had been dragged out of his less-than-ideal hiding place, plopped in front of Starscream’s garish, gaudy throne. Instead of being executed for supposed crimes against the state, he was given a job.

Good salary with periodic retention bonuses. Excellent benefits. Nice office with a modest plaque stating “Head of Intelligence Bureau.” Centrally-located apartment approval to minimize his commute. Access to the burgeoning, non-factional informant network that was being developed. Prowl could even add some of his prior Autobot contacts, of flexible affiliation, of course, to the network to boost it. His record had even been wiped clean.

Best of all, Starscream had explicitly included the removal of wanted posters with his face on them in the offer, revoking his fugitive status.

Now Prowl was doing what he had wanted to do all along, behind all of the schemes, behind all of the secrecy, behind all of the projects, behind all of it. Now Prowl was working for the betterment and safety of Cybertron.

It had just been a shame that Optimus couldn’t see it and that the one mech who could… was Starscream.

The curtains behind Prowl were drawn over the large windows looking out onto the city’s skyscape at night. There was no need to work this late anymore, but old habits were hard to break.

It wasn’t like he had any reason to be at home anyway.

He lived alone. His best friend was dead. Most of his former comrades wanted nothing to do with him. Even Ironhide, who headed Starscream’s security division, only begrudgingly worked with him out of necessity. The Constructicons had, although reluctantly, turned their collective backs on him when Scoop replaced him in their gestalt.

He reached out, pouring himself a mug of warmed, stimulant-infused fuel from the carafe. With nothing but the blue glow of his optics and the purple light of the fuel itself to guide him, the only thing preventing a spill in the darkened office was his skill at working in conditions like this.

There was… one other reason that kept him here at these hours. A, perhaps, self-indulgent reason.

There came a sharp, rapid knock on the door, one that Prowl had come to know well in recent weeks.

“Come in.”

The door slipped away into its recess in the wall. White and red seeker wings slid into view as the door retreated.

Starscream stepped into the office without fanfare. In the daylight hours, this would be odd as the self-styled emperor loved drawing attention to himself, but late at night, Prowl appreciated the relatively subdued visit. Apparently Starscream was also a night owl, preferring to stay up through the dark hours to work. It was a strange sort of common ground they had found with each other, a point for a growing sense of kinship.

At first, Prowl had been disgusted with himself, when he had started looking forward to these quiet hours spent discussing intelligence reports. Starscream had plenty of insight to share, both generally and the specifics he brought from having been intimately familiar with the inner workings of his former faction. Yet from one mind with a million machinations to another, there was something unsettlingly comforting in being known and understood.

“You know your fixed salary exempts you from overtime pay, Prowl,” he said, leaning a hand on the desk in a relatively uncluttered spot. Oddly, neither of them had moved to turn on the lights.

Over time that disgust had faded away, leaving only the strange warmth of what… what Prowl thought might have been friendship. Or maybe…. Had Starscream always held his wings like that? His own doors fluttered on involuntary impulse.

“Enemies never sleep, Starscream,” Prowl said, optics dropping to that hand on his desk before tracking the motion of the seeker swanning around the side to approach his chair in the dark. “You know that—“

“True. Sleep is for the weak.” Even in a whisper, Starscream’s voice was sharp but not unpleasant. “Luckily neither of us sleep.”

#ask #fic #one shot #idw1 #maccadam #exrid #prowl #starscream #prowlscream #starprowl

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