Fic: The Game
Title: The Game
Author: SBX
Characters: Megatron, Shockwave, Optimus Prime, mention of Starscream and Soundwave
Pairings: Megatron/Shockwave, mention of Megatron/others and past Shockwave/????
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: No character used in this story belongs to me.
Summary: It wasn’t about love or trust. It was about the game.
A/N: I’m never writing Megatron/Shockwave again. It took me almost the entire month just to think up a plot and then only about three hours to write it once I did have one. D: The pairing just doesn’t ping my pairing radar. And the song this is supposed to be based off of was a problem because I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not and I usually like to listen to music when I write. And in spite of all the set backs I’m actually quite satisfied with this and I wasn’t expecting to be. Anyway, I hope the requester likes this. Um, enjoy?
For Megatron interfacing wasn’t an act of love or trust, neither of which figured into it, but another dominance game. It was a game he played with his highest lieutenants to assert his authority over them.
Soundwave played it well, even though Megatron had his complete loyalty. He played it because it was expected of him to play and because it was extremely enjoyable. His leader knew that but insisted on playing the game. The sounds that the communication officer made were simply too fascinating to stop over a technicality like trust.
Starscream was by comparison the exact opposite. He played the game with everything he had, fought tooth and nail and glossa to dominate his leader, if only in this one area. It made putting him in his place so much more perversely satisfying. Once he had secured the Seeker’s submission Megatron muted his vocal unit. Talented as Starscream’s mouth was with other things, the noise he produced in the throes of overload were borderline painful.
Megatron had once, in a fit of temporary insanity he was certain, attempted to play the game with his rival Optimus Prime. It was both a mistake and the best game he’d ever played. He’d lost stunningly, overpowered by the passion of his enemy’s kisses, the feel of those hands claiming him completely. It wasn’t a bad way to lose, and with anyone else he would have tried again to see what a victory felt like. Pleasant as the night had been, the Prime had evoked an unfamiliar, utterly frightening emotion in the cruel dictator that he dare not put a name to and so, he never went back.
However, the most baffling of Megatron’s playmates had to be Shockwave. There was something unquantifiable about the guardian of Cybertron and that always bothered his leader. Loyal as he seemed, Megatron always got the feeling that there was something more going on inside of Shockwaves processor than what he made apparent.
Even more frustrating was Shockwave’s complete submission in the berth. Certainly he gave as much as he received, but he didn’t fight for dominance the way Starscream would. He had no mouth for passionate duels with lips and glossas and teeth like Prime. He most certainly didn’t make any of the beautiful sounds that Soundwave did. In fact it was a minor victory if Megatron could get any sounds to escape Shockwave’s vocal unit at all.
In spite of all these shortcomings Megatron still came back to his berth, if only to attempt to force his lieutenant out of his placidity. He did everything he could to force sounds or struggle out of the guardian, even crossing lines he never had to cross with other playmates including purposely causing pain. Shockwave became slightly more vocal with those methods and Megatron was vaguely disgusted to realize that he enjoyed the pain.
That should have been his first clue to back off, but Megatron had his pride to worry about, so he stepped up his efforts, neglecting his other playmates in the process. Soundwave showed concern and slight disappoint with the amount of time his leader now spent with the one-opticed mech while Starscream vocally exhibited his jealousy of the lack of attention he was getting, but Megatron brushed them both aside, feeling their protests to be unfounded.
That is until he over heard a conversation held between Prime and Shockwave in the middle of a firefight. One that opened his optics to the truth.
ooooo
“So, are you enjoying the game?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea of what you a speaking.”
“Really Shockwave, don’t play coy. Have you forgotten that I knew you before the war? I know the games you play with your lovers.”
“I hardly see how that applies to our current situation, or why you feel the need to bring all that up now.”
“Oh, it’s perfectly applicable to your current situation. You play the attentive submissive and lure your lover into a false sense of security. You earn their trust and affections, get all you can out of them, then dispose of them as soon as they are no longer of use.”
“The bitter voice of experience.”
“Hardly. I may have been idealistic, but I was never naïve. I saw you coming a mega-mile away. Then and now.”
“Which reminds me of my original question. Why bring this up now?”
“Let’s just say that it’s in my best interest to have you not pulling Megatron’s strings. Besides, I wouldn’t be much of an Autobot if I stood by and let him end up as another one of the shipwrecks you leave behind for your amusement.”
“What makes you think this isn’t serious?”
“Yeah, sure. You may have his interface port, but you’ll never have his spark.”
ooooo
Megatron was too furious to focus on the battle after that and sounded the retreat, much to the confusion of both sides. He didn’t care; all he wanted to do was rip his treacherous lieutenant’s single optic out.
Once they returned to base however he’d calmed down enough to think of a better solution. He started paying more attention of Soundwave and Starscream again, cutting his time with the guardian more and more until he never saw him at all outside of official business.
If Shockwave wanted to play his own games, he could find a new playmate. Megatron was nobody’s toy.