Blurr lurched awake, heart pounding in his chest, limbs flailing. He shoved off the heavy weight of a blanket, squinting at a searing bright light as it lanced across his eyes. The scent of greenery floated around him, and some kind of incense?
A red shape sat in his peripheral vision.
Starscream.
He was asleep, curled in a chair that better resembled an overlarge woven basket with pillows lining the weave. He looked peaceful, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
That bastard.
Blurr groped behind him for a pillow and chucked it in Starscream’s direction.
“Wake up you fragger!”
The pillow bounced across Starscream’s head. He jerked awake, feathers flaring as he scrambled to his feet, stopping to disentangle himself from the thin blanket twisted around his body.
He stared at Blurr with wide eyes and visible offense. “Why did you throw a pillow at me?”
“Because you vanished, you asshole!” Blurr swung his legs over the side of the bed, his head swimming at the abrupt action. “Where the frag have you been?”
Starscream blinked and took a step back from where it seemed he almost intended to hug Blurr. “Here. In the Aerie.”
“Obviously.” Blurr folded his arms, anger burning through any worry he might have felt. “Meanwhile, I’m sitting along for the past week wondering how much I should have charged you.”
Starscream frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“You used me, I feel I ought to have gotten paid for it.” Blurr snorted and shoved to his feet, because he didn’t like Starscream standing over him. “You vanished without an explanation. What was I supposed to think?”
Starscream reared back, his crest feathers flaring high before flattening down his head, like that friend’s cockatiel used to do. “We’ve been under a lock down,” Starscream snapped. “I wasn’t allowed to leave.”
Blurr gritted his teeth. His hands balled into fists at his side. “Why?”
“Some of our members were kidnapped by humans.” Starscream folded his arms, shoulders hunching. “Apparently it happened while I was out with you. When I came back, Liege had put the entire Aerie into lockdown. No harpy allowed out, and no human allowed in.”
Blurr had wanted a rational explanation. Starscream certainly provided one. Blurr wanted to believe it. He didn’t much like the sensation in the pit of his belly, the nausea and the disgust, the brief loathing he’d felt toward the harpy he’d gifted his heart.
He stared at the floor.
“Have I ever lied to you, Blurr?” Starscream asked, and his voice was small, quiet. “Have I ever done anything to hurt you? Have I given you reason before this not to trust me?”
Blurr gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “No.”
It was true. Starscream had been nothing but a gentleman, had made advances with all the speed of a snail, and constantly asked for Blurr’s permission and comfort.
“Then please believe me now.” Starscream took a hesitant step forward, and Blurr didn’t flinch away from him. “As soon as I was given leave, I intended to come back to you. I swear it.”
Heat banked at the back of Blurr’s eyes. He wanted so badly to believe Starscream. He wanted this unhappy coincidence to be a satisfactory explanation. He wanted to accept Starscream’s apology and fall into Starscream’s arms, and let the last weeks of gnawing loneliness melt away.
But.
“I believe you,” Blurr said, and he stared harder at the floor, even though Starscream audibly sighed with relief. “But it just proves we can’t be together.”
“What!?” That was almost a squawk.
Time ago, that would have been amusing to Blurr.
He folded his arms, curled into himself. “You left me alone, Starscream. I was worried about you, and then I was angry, and I was alone again. You turned my life upside down, and then you were gone, and it might have been an accident, but it shows that we come from two different worlds. And maybe — maybe we aren’t meant to mingle.”
Oh, it hurt.
Blurr’s life had improved tenfold since Starscream wandered into it. He’d reconnected with Rathi, and grown even closer to TJ, and made friends of Miko and Sari. He’d started to feel like he belonged in the world, belonged somewhere, and he’d never felt as loved as he did in Starscream’s arms.
Starscream’s absence, however, had shown him how much of an impossible dream their future would be. Starscream would outlive him. His home was a giant tree in the forest. Blurr was meant to live with humans.
Starscream warbled a soft sound. “Blurr, I–”
“Oh, so you’re awake.”
Blurr startled at the low growl and whirled toward the doorway, which was nothing more than a heavy curtain. It swept aside as a massive white harpy strode into the room. He frowned as his eyes swept from Starscream to Blurr and back again.
“Starscream, I told you to come get me when he woke up,” the harpy said, his voice slightly accented but at least not that avian language Blurr didn’t know. “Once again proving that you are incapable of following clear directions.”
Starscream shrank into himself. “I didn’t have the chance to–”
“And I didn’t ask,” the large harpy interrupted. His gaze cut toward Blurr, and he pointed at the bed behind Blurr with a foretalon. “You, human, sit down. Starscream, we’re going to have words before I can think of dealing with the human.”
Starscream’s feathers slicked down, and his fingers tangled together. “Actually, Ratchet, Blurr and I are in the middle of a discussion right now and–”
“That wasn’t a request,” Ratchet growled. He pointed to the floor. “Get your tailfeathers over here right now or so help me Adaptus, I will drag you out and make a show of it.”
Starscream dipped his head. His plumage flattened. “Yes, Ratchet.” He turned away from Blurr, slinking across the floor like a child who’d been scolded.
Blurr huffed. “We’re in the middle of something you know.”
Ratchet’s hot blue glare turned on Blurr in force. “And you can continue your conversation when I’m done. Be quiet and wait your turn.”
“It’s fine, Blurr,” Starscream said with an uneasy smile. “Ratchet’s our chief medic. He won’t hurt me.”
Somehow, Blurr didn’t believe him. He chuffed. “Whatever.” He sat on the bed. It obviously wouldn’t do him any good to argue.
“I’ll be back,” Starscream said, pausing in the doorway as Ratchet swept out ahead of him.
Blurr stared. “Yeah. I’ve heard that before.”
Starscream gave him a sad, hurt look, but then he vanished out the curtain, and Blurr was left alone in the quiet of the room. Blurr had no idea what kind of room he was in, except there was a window, and the walls seemed to be made of woven wood.
Beyond the curtain, Ratchet and Starscream started talking in their native tongue, and Blurr couldn’t make out a single thing they were saying.
Ratchet had been angry. Outraged even.
Did he know what Blurr and Starscream had done? Had Starscream told them? Had he bragged about it?
Their vocalizations grew distant. Blurr tried not to fidget, but he’d never been good at sitting still.
He moved to the window. It wasn’t glassed over, and was instead open to the elements. Blurr looked out into the central core of the aerie. It was a twisting tangle of vines and branches and walkways and open spaces for flying. There were fewer harpies than he expected, but more than he thought could live comfortably here, and no two looked alike.
The Harpies came in two types, the smaller, brighter ones like Starscream. And the larger, burlier ones like Ratchet and the two guards Blurr had seen earlier. There were smaller ones, smaller than Blurr himself, and he assumed they were children. But those were few and far between.
Red Alert had said that the Kaon Flock was relatively small, likely due to the newness of it, and it wasn’t to be taken as an example of harpy culture. They were all miscreants and hooligans and outcasts.
Blurr didn’t appreciate being told to ‘sit and stay’ like he was a dog or an errant pet.
He approached the curtained doorway. All was silent beyond it, so Blurr peeked out into what seemed to be a hallway with other curtained doorways. One end of the hallway opened into a brighter room, the other into a dead end at another one of those unpaned windows.
Starscream’s voice floated up to him from the end of the hallway, where it deadended. Ratchet’s voice was present as well, and though they were quiet to Blurr, he could hear the agitation in their tones.
Blurr stepped fully into the hallway, letting the curtain shut behind him. He crept closer to Ratchet and Starscream’s voices, and wished he’d taken Miko up on her offer to try and teach him some of the more common harpy phrases. He loitered outside the curtain hiding Starscream from view, wishing he could understand their argument.
“You must be the human my guards found.”
Blurr startled and spun around, only to immediately lose his footing. His toe caught on a rise in the root structure beneath his feet — he probably should have looked for his runners — and he tumbled forward, straight through the curtain and into the room with Starscream and Ratchet.
Ow.
Blurr wrestled with the curtain, face red, spitting curses. Starscream stepped forward to help, pulling Blurr to his feet, and away from the dorway. This allowed another, larger harpy inside. One far more massive than Ratchet, and imposing in his stature.
“Eavesdropping is impolite,” Ratchet said.
Blurr eyed the newcomer, and inched a step closer to Starscream. “So is talking about someone behind their back. I know I heard my name.”
Starscream’s hand tightened around his upper arm. “Politeness wouldn’t be out of order here,” he murmured.
Blurr ignored him.
“You have a sharp tongue, human,” said the other harpy in a deep, rumbling bass. “You don’t seem to realize the danger you are in.”
Blurr lifted his chin. “You won’t hurt me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have bothered bringing me all the way into your aerie.”
Ratchet chuckled. “He has a point, Megatron. And yes, Blurr, you’re right. You’re the topic of choice. Or should I say, you and Starscream together.”
“Because of what we did,” Blurr guessed. His cheeks heated, and he refused to look at Starscream, though Starscream’s hand rested on his arm still.
So this was Megatron. Their leader. Or Liege. No wonder though. He was big, and if Blurr were being perfectly honest, he was scary, too.
“Yes, little one, because of your relationship,” Megatron said with a very grave tone. “Humans and harpies are barely friendly as it is, yet what you and Starscream have shared goes beyond that.”
Blurr kind of wanted to find a hole and bury himself in it. These sorts of things were supposed to be private. Why was Starscream going around blabbing to everyone? Was it a point of pride? Was he bragging?
Wait a minute.
Relationship?
“There is no law,” Starscream said defensively. Both of his hands moved to Blurr’s shoulders, and Blurr was a bit alarmed to find they were trembling.
“Because no one figured any harpy would be stupid enough to mate with a human,” Ratchet retorted.
Blurr’s eyes widened.
Megatron growled. “Ratchet, that is unnecessary.”
“We didn’t mate,” Starscream corrected, and his tone was much softer than Blurr had ever heard, save for his quiet request for a conversation.
“It’s very necessary,” Ratchet argued, his feathers starting to puff up around his collar. “We don’t know anything about humans or this one. It could be dangerous. Starscream could have gotten hurt, contracted something, who knows. And not to mention what the humans would think of it! They already believe us to be child-snatching demons.”
Blurr’’s hackles rose. “Don’t I get a say in this?” He stepped back into Starscream’s space, despite his earlier anger.
There was something in the body language of the two larger harpies that suggested they were about to start fighting each other, and Blurr was a small human who did not want to get in the way of that mess.
“I never took you for a xenophobe, Ratchet,” Megatron said, his tone controlled and tight. “I am disappointed.”
Ratchet straightened, shoulders stiff. “That’s not what I meant. Don’t put words into my mouth, Megatron.”
“Ratchet!” Megatron took a step forward, his growl echoing around the room. “You will calm your tongue, or I will calm it for you, do you understand me?” His hands flexed, talons appearing razor-sharp.
Ratchet’s frown deepened. He glared at Megatron before his plumage ruffled, and he took a step back, tilting his head to show the hollow of his throat.
“Yes,” he said, though it was with the edge of a growl. “I understand, my Liege.” He paused, eyes flashing. “Though if you are expecting an apology, you’ll be waiting a long time.”
Starscream muttered something under his breath. It might have been a curse.
Megatron’s eyes narrowed. “You and I will be having a discussion,” he said in a low, even tone. “But for now, I think this particular matter has reached its end.” He turned toward Starscream and Blurr, his feathers twitching.
Blurr might have inched a bit further into Starscream’s embrace.
“Human, you will return to the university in the morning,” Megatron said, his tone brooking no argument. “It is too late to escort you tonight, and I won’t risk the safety of one of my flock to do so. You can remain here in the medical center.”
Blurr swallowed thickly. “Is there an option B?” he asked with a sideways look to Ratchet, who best resembled a volcano about to erupt.
“He can stay with me,” Starscream said, his body warm and welcoming behind Blurr. “That is, if it is acceptable to him.”
“It is,” Blurr was quick to say before Megatron insisted on something else. Besides, he and Starscream really needed to have a conversation, and without someone else listening to them.
“Then it’s settled.” Megatron waved them away, his focus shifting to Ratchet. “Dismissed.”
Starscream dipped his head in a show of respect, and then he urged Blurr out of the room ahead of him. Blurr last got a glimpse of Megatron and Ratchet glaring daggers at each other.
“Well, that was uncomfortable,” Starscream said once they were in the hallway, heading away from the medical center.
“What was that?” Blurr asked.
Starscream rubbed at his face. “There’s a lot about harpy culture you don’t know. Megatron is our leader, our Liege. Ratchet is the Chief Medic, but he’s still supposed to be subordinate to Megatron. Sometimes, he forgets that.”
“Ah.” It kind of made sense. “So when you told me harpies don’t have women and men, is it a size thing?”
“Yes. For the most part. There are some exceptions.” Starscream sighed and paused outside a bright red curtain. He lifted it, and gestured Blurr inside. “This is my nest.”
Blurr freed a little whistle when he got his first look. “Cozy.” The woven walls and shelves filled with interesting items caught his eyes first, but it was the massive pool of pillows and blankets in the center of the room that invited him in.
“It’s small, but I am unmated, and I have no fledglings. It is as big as I need it to be,” Starscream said as the heavy curtain swung shut behind him.
“No mate, hm?” Blurr repeated as he headed toward the nest-shaped bed and circled it. “Is that a requirement?”
Starscream shook his head. “Not in this flock. Kaon is as non-traditional as they come. Vos, where I hail, is much, much different. Had I stayed, I would already be mated and carrying right now.”
“Do you regret leaving?”
“No. Never.” Starscream’s tone was firm.
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse.” Starscream’s eyes darkened before he shook his head and looked at Blurr. “I came to Kaon because I could be free here. I could be what I wanted without my class restricting me.”
Blurr nodded. “I’m glad you could get away.” They had the space of the bed between them, he noticed. He wondered if it was on purpose. “I don’t get what it has to do with me though. I mean, I get being curious about humans, but I don’t get what you were doing with me.”
Starscream’s plumage rustled. “It’s true I always wanted to study the humans, but that has nothing to do with what I experienced with you,” he said. “You fascinated me from the beginning, not as a human, but as a person, as Blurr. Who you are. The way I feel when I look at you.”
Blurr chewed on his bottom lip. “Did you mean it?” He hoped he didn’t have to clarify.
“I have never meant anything more in my entire life.” Starscream circled around the nest toward Blurr. “And I never imagined you’d think I was using you, otherwise I would have left, with or without Liege Megatron’s permission.”
Blurr’s face colored. “It was poor timing.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “And I guess I don’t come without my own baggage. Maybe I blew things out of proportion, I don’t know.” He sighed. “I react badly to certain things.”
“We all have our sore spots,” Starscream murmured. “If the situation had been the other way around, I’m not so sure I would’ve reacted any better.”
Blurr swallowed thickly.
Starscream was right.
“My parents,” he said, suddenly, because maybe he’d never told Starscream how he really felt about them. “They threw me out because I wouldn’t fit in their mold. I haven’t heard from them since I accepted the scholarship and moved to Kaon. Because I’m a good runner, you know? And well, in some circles, that makes me a thing people want. An object. I learned pretty quick not to let people close.”
Did he sound bitter? Probably so. There was a lot of anger inside of him, churning and churning. He found it easier to keep people away then let them in, but he’d let Starscream get close, he’d let Starscream inside his walls. He’d allowed love to enter the equation.
He’d handed Starscream his trust, and then Starscream vanished, and all Blurr had left was the self-chastisement because he should’ve known better.
Blurr scraped a hand through his hair, alarmed to find his hands shaking. “You came along, and I had a friend, and then I had a lover, and I was happy. I let you get close, and we did things, and then you vanished and I…” His voice cracked, and Blurr hated himself for that weakness. He rubbed the back of his hand over his nose, his breathing too sharp and rapid.
“Oh, love. I am so sorry.” Starscream closed the distance between them, his hands absurdly gentle as they cradled Blurr’s face, tilting his head up. “I should have defied my Liege. I should have come to you regardless.” He pressed his forehead to Blurr’s. “I should have never left.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t have,” Blurr agreed, his voice shaking, and his knees trembling. He clutched Starscream’s sides, burying his hands in thick, vibrant feathers. “And you’re not allowed to do it again.”
“Never,” Starscream breathed as he curled an arm around Blurr, wrapping him up in the warmth and shield of his feathers. Safety. “Does that mean you forgive me?”
“Yeah.” Blurr sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “I guess you really didn’t have a choice about it.” And because if he didn’t, he’d be alone again, and that was the worst.
Starscream’s forehead rolled gently against his. “And us? Do you want us to end?”
Blurr sucked his bottom lip into his mouth before he let it go. “No. Primus help me, I don’t, but Starscream, we gotta talk about whether or not this is going to work. We have to decide–”
“Shh.” Starscream stroked his knuckles down the side of Blurr’s face. “And we will. In a minute. But right now, I really want to kiss you. May I?”
Blurr’s eyes fluttered shut. “You never have to ask that.”
“I think I did this time.” He stroked Blurr’s face again, leaving a tingle in his wake.
Blurr was not trembling, except for the part where he was, when their lips slanted together and Starscream pressed the softest of kisses against his mouth. Starscream smelled sweet, like fruit, and there was something intoxicating about the touch of his lips. Blurr groaned and reached blindly, grasping at feathers in an attempt to get Starscream closer to him.
Everything he tried to suppress, all of the emotions and feelings and needs, came rushing back tenfold. Blurr’s heart pounded in his chest as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding into Starscream’s mouth as Starscream’s tongue touched his in return.
Blurr’s insides tightened with need and he started to throb behind his jeans. He broke off the kiss and pressed his forehead to Starscream’s. “So,” he said. “Is that big bed just for looking at or…?”
Starscream chuckled, his fingers flexing on Blurr’s ass. “You are most welcome to join me in it, so long as it’s what you want.”
“I want,” Blurr confirmed with a wriggle of his hips. “I definitely want.” Words were nice, but words could be misconstrued. He wanted the comfort of the physical intimacy, to feel Starscream’s sincerity with his body.
“Are you sure?” Starscream’s forehead rolled against his, a gentle pressure that felt like a caress. “You just woke up, and you were angry with me, for good reason I mean, but still. Maybe we should talk first.”
“I’m sure.” He tightened his grip on Starscream, fingers slipping past feathers to stroke over the rougher skin – if he could even call it that – beneath. “Please, Star. I need to remember this is real.”
He didn’t know if he was embarrassed about how open and needy he was being, or just relieved to not have to hide it anymore. He didn’t much want to think right now, if he were being perfectly honest. He just wanted to feel Starscream against him again, remember how it felt to be with the harpy, and remind himself what he was getting into.
“Whatever you want, love.” Starscream stole his lips for another kiss.
Blurr moaned into it. He leaned in closer to Starscream and gave in to the grip Starscream had on him. He let himself be hauled upward, and wound his legs around Starscream’s waist. Starscream held him easily.
“I’m so glad you are no longer angry with me,” Starscream said against his lips before he turned and carried Blurr toward the bed.
“Don’t abandon me, and it won’t happen again.” Blurr carded his fingers through the soft feathers on Starscream’s chest. “Seriously. Don’t.”
“I won’t. Promise.”
Starscream lowered him to the nest-bed and Blurr took the opportunity to shuck off his jacket and sweater. He spared a brief thought to his bag and his runners, but he’d go looking for them later.
“This looks comfortable,” Blurr commented.
Starscream grinned and reached for him. Blurr moved to join, and tripped immediately on a pillow, tumbling right into Starscream’s arms.
“Oops.” Blurr laughed, and found himself staring right into beautiful red eyes. “Nice catch.”
“Nice balance,” Starscream teased. His hands gently glided down Blurr’s back as Blurr settled on his hips. “Do I get to see all of you this time?”
Blurr’s cheeks heated. “You mean, am I going to go full nude this time?”
Starscream tilted his head. “Yes, that.”
“I could…” He trailed off and glanced over his shoulder. What the Harpies considered a door was little more than a piece of heavy cloth. “But, um, is it… I mean, you can’t really lock that can you?”
Starscream chuckled, his talons lightly scraping over Blurr’s ass. “No, I can’t. But no one will disturb us.”
“Are you sure?”
“Reasonably so.” Starscream warbled at him, a sound Blurr was slowly coming to recognize that meant reassurance. “If you are not comfortable, we can stop.”
Blurr gnawed on the inside of his cheek. He didn’t want to stop.
“No, it’s okay,” Blurr said, though he still hesitated. Less because of the not-at-all-a-door and more because Starscream hadn’t seen him fully nude yet. Blurr didn’t know why he felt embarrassed about it. Starscream’s mouth had been all over his dick and balls last time.
A flush spread down into his neck as he reached for his t-shirt and tank, pulling both of them over his head. There was a chill in the room and the moment he tossed both aside, his skin peppered with goosebumps. His nipples pulled into little nubs.
And Starscream was watching him intently.
Blurr rose up on his knees to push off his jeans and boxers, too. That was followed by an awkward wiggle before he kicked them away. And then there he was, fully naked, perched on Starscream’s lap, his dick getting hard under Starscream’s intense scrutiny.
He didn’t have a single feather. What did Starscream even see in him?
“So smooth,” Starscream crooned as the back of his knuckles stroked over Blurr’s arms. One hand glided in, however, and caressed over Blurr’s chest, brushing his nipple by happenstance. “Except here of course.”
A shiver crept up Blurr’s spine. His dick hardened even further.
“In comparison to a harpy, yeah,” Blurr replied.
Starscream chuckled, and his hands slowly returned to Blurr’s hips, cupping them, so that he barely felt the prick of the harpy’s talons. “I do not mind the difference,” he said, and his tongue flicked over his lips. “Come up here. I wish to taste you again.”
Blurr’s dick throbbed. He remembered the wet warmth of Starscream’s mouth. How much attention Starscream had paid to him. How he’d left no inch of Blurr’s groin unexplored. He’d pulled so many orgasms from Blurr that day, nearly wringing Blurr dry.
And it had felt so one-sided because Blurr had been so cautious in exploring Starscream’s body in return.
He wanted this time to be different.
So he wiggled his hips, planted his hands on Starscream’s abdomen, and shifted down instead of up. “What if,” Blurr proposed as he shimmied down even further, “I taste you instead.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Starscream breathed, his hips rising beneath Blurr’s as though in request. “But only if you’re sure. I don’t want to push you, Blurr.”
He grinned, his heart throbbing a little faster. “I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t sure. I wanna do this for you, Star.”
Starscream obediently parted his thighs so Blurr could slide between them. His featherdown was already damp. Blurr could see the head of his clava peeking out. And just below it, his antrum was dewy with growing moisture.
“How curious can you be?” Starscream teased. “You looked last time.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t taste,” Blurr said as his fingers traced the edges of both Starscream’s clava sheath and the rim of his antrum.
“I distinctly remember your mouth on my clava,” Starscream retorted, even as said organ emerged from his sheath, rosy at the tip and dripping with need.
Blurr grinned and wiggled until he was on his belly, his dick trapped between his belly and the pillows beneath him. He cupped Starscream’s ass, which was pretty flat actually. It only looked floofy because of the feathers.
“Yeah,” he agreed and he leaned closer, exhaling over Starscream’s entire groin. “But I didn’t get to taste this other thing.”
Starscream’s featherdown got even more wet. The hollow of his antrum grew very dewy, the rim of it pulling outward to reveal the dark depths.
“Oh,” he said, his tone breathy. “I see.”
“You don’t mind?” Blurr asked, more than a little mischievous, as he pressed a light kiss to the nub at the apex of Starscream’s antrum. It throbbed beneath his lips.
Starscream’s hips twitched in his hold. “I’m the furthest thing from protest right now. I would beg you, if you asked.”
Well then.
Blurr rubbed his cheek on the softer feathers around Starscream’s groin and nosed his way to Starscream’s antrum. The swelling folds revealed the wet depths. A tentative lick made Starscream moan, and his slick was as sweet as his come. Good to know.
And that, too, made it easier for Blurr to drag his tongue up the length of Starscream’s antrum, to trace the oval shape of it, and suck on the folds. His nose bumped against the little nub of flesh at the top – which was totally a clit, if Blurr had anything to say about it – and he eased his tongue past the rim, deep into Starscream’s antrum.
He was warm and wet and sweet. His hips danced under Blurr’s ministrations. A whimper eeked from his throat as his thighs pushed further apart. Sweetness coated Blurr’s tongue and that made it easier to lick deeper, to push his face against Starscream’s wetness and lap at everything he could reach.
Starscream squirmed beneath him, letting out all of these adorable squeaking noises. Blurr looked up and realized he was biting down on one of his knuckles, even as his other hand was ravaging a pillow. Damn, but those claws were dangerous. His feet were kneading at the pillow-bed, too and all of his feathers fluffed.
Blurr grinned and mouthed his way back to Starscream’s clit. He licked at it a little, and then caught it between his teeth. He barely applied any pressure, but given the way Starscream keened and arched his back, he must have liked it.
Wow.
Blurr’s dick throbbed, spilling more pre-come onto the blanket beneath him. He could probably come just like this, licking at Starscream’s sweetness while he ground down on the heavy pillow beneath his hips.
“More,” Starscream all but sang. “Oh, please, Blurr. Don’t stop.”
“Don’t plan on it,” he murmured against Starscream’s clit even as Starscream’s hips rolled up toward him, begging for more.
Blurr shifted, freeing up one hand, and while he was laving attention to that clit-nub, he slid two fingers into Starscream’s antrum. Starscream’s walls fluttered around him, and more of that dewey fluid welled up, soaking Starscream’s soft feathers.
His clava fully emerged, swaying with the motion of Starscream’s body. Pre-fluid dribbled from the tip, the angled and rounded head swollen with need. It looked like it needed attention, too.
Blurr licked a line up Starscream’s antrum, flirted over his nub, and then licked the length of Starscream’s clava. He sucked the tip into his mouth, sweet pre-fluid spilling over his tongue. He swallowed it greedily, a low moan echoing in his throat as he took Starscream deeper into his mouth.
Starscream hissed a cry of pleasure and went still, careful as always not to hurt. He trembled beneath Blurr as his clava throbbed on Blurr’s tongue.
He was only able to take about three-quarters of Starscream’s clava into his mouth, but he made up for it by rubbing his thumb over Starscream’s nub. Maybe, with enough practice, he could deepthroat Star the way Starscream could deepthroat him.
And maybe, someday, he could fit Starscream’s clava inside of him. Starscream was long and thick, but if he was careful, Blurr bet he could do it.
His internals clenched at the thought. He imagined Starscream over him, all power and beauty, but also care as he gently thrust into Blurr.
He shivered.
Blurr nibbled at the tip of Starscream’s clava and was rewarded with a breathy keen as Starscream shook beneath him, deep in the throes of pleasure. “Hey,” he said, conversationally. “Do you think, maybe, one day you could do me?”
Starscream’s eyelids fluttered. “What?”
Blurr licked his lips and stroked his fingers down the length of Starscream’s clava. “I’m kinda curious. I wanna see what this feels like, you know, inside me.”
The length throbbed. Another pearl of pre-fluid seeped free.
“I don’t… I don’t know if that’s wise, Blurr,” Starscream asked as his talons rent a hole in the nearest pillow. “I could hurt you.”
“I trust you not to,” Blurr replied and returned his attention to Starscream’s clit-nub, mouthing it with his lips and tapping it with his tongue.
Another keen warbled out of Starscream’s throat. He was seeping fluid now, and the sweet smell of it made Blurr’s mouth watered.
“Maybe next time,” Blurr said, and licked around the opening of Starscream’s antrum again, feeling the flutter of the folds against his tongue.
All of the weirdness was gone. Starscream was too responsive, too eager and beautiful, for Blurr to feel anything but excited and aroused.
“Nnnn.” Starscream’s response was entirely non-verbal. His hips bucked. “Blurr, that’s good. That’s, Adaptus, that’s really good. But – nnnnn – now I want you inside me.”
He grinned and nibbled on Starscream’s clit-nub. “Maybe I want to see you come like this,” he purred and lapped at Starscream’s antrum. The sweetness of the sticky damp rolled across his tongue. Even the feathers were softer than he expected them to be, more like a really silky fur.
Starscream shivered. His thighs trembled, legs drawing inward to press at Blurr’s shoulders. “But I want you to feel good, too.”
Blurr rolled his hips against the pillow, orgasm creeping up on him slow but sure. “I am,” he murmured as he went back to Starscream’s clit-nub and flicked the tip of his tongue over it. “Trust me, I am.”
Something that sounded like a growl echoed in Starscream’s chest. And then Blurr felt hands fold over his and the gentle prick on the back of his wrists. He blinked and looked up just as Starscream surged upward, with more flexibility than Blurr realized the Harpies had.
What….?
His world turned upside down in a flurry of feathers. Blurr shouted and flailed as he suddenly found himself with his back on the nest of pillows and Starscream on top of him, his legs folded beneath him and his groin brushing over Blurr’s groin. He had careful talons wrapped around Blurr’s wrist, pinning his hands to the pillow.
Starscream hunched forward and sealed his mouth over Blurr’s, even as he rocked his hips, his antrum dripping on Blurr’s rock-hard dick. Blurr moaned into the kiss as Starscream teased him, the heat of his antrum rubbing up and down Blurr’s length.
Starscream was making that rolling, purr-growl again. His feathers were rustling and his fingers twitching around Blurr’s wrists. But he was making obvious effort not to do harm, despite the fact Blurr could feel his thighs trembling.
And then Starscream shifted, caught the head of Blurr’s dick against his antrum, and rolled his hips down, sliding Blurr into him. Blurr whined in his throat, his hips rocking upward as his dick was swallowed by wet heat.
Starscream’s sharp canines grazed his lips and then Starscream nosed his way to Blurr’s throat, inhaling deeply. “Sorry,” he said as he ground down, his antrum squeezing on Blurr’s dick and making it throb.
“For riding me?” Blurr shivered as teeth scraped over his throat, like a threat of danger, but he trusted Starscream not to do anything. “Why would you apologize for that?”
“Shouldn’t have taken control,” Starscream mumbled, but that didn’t stop him from rocking his hips harder, his entire body trembling above Blurr.
“Why not?”
Starscream didn’t reply. Blurr let it go. It was probably another harpy thing he didn’t understand. He’d worry about it later.
Right now, he needed to make Starscream come. And hopefully last long enough to do that. A task easier said than done.
Starscream was so hot and wet around him. The walls of his antrum seemed to squeeze around Blurr’s dick, as though milking him for his release. He kept making all of these sounds, soft little moans and hums and warbles, and it was hot as hell.
Blurr gave a token tug to his wrists. “Let me touch you,” he said as teeth grazed his throat, not breaking the skin but enough to make him take note of their presence. He shivered as Starscream’s exhalations caressed his skin. “Come on, Star.”
The harpy purred and finally unwound his talons from Blurr’s wrist, leaving him free to skate his hands up Starscream’s sides. His feathers were so soft, tickling to Blurr’s palms, but he still radiated heat. Blurr stroked back down, his hands finding Starscream’s hips, giving them a squeeze. His dick throbbed in Starscream’s antrum, his feet struggling to find purchase in the plush pillows.
Starscream sank down, taking Blurr deep, his hips making little circles as his antrum rippled. It felt so damn good that Blurr shivered, his fingers digging in at Starscream’s feathers. He pulled Starscream onto him, rolling up rather than thrusting, pleasure spiking hard through his body, as he drank in the sight of Starscream’s pleasure.
Feathers fluttered and flared. Starscream’s eyes were half-lidded and bright with heat. His lips were parted with little breathy exhales and moans. His clava bobbed, dripping precome, some of it splattering onto Blurr’s belly, and smelling sweet.
“Kiss me,” Blurr urged, because he couldn’t reach Starscream no matter how he tried. He needed the harpy to close the distance. He slid one hand to Starscream’s clava, giving it a squeeze.
Starscream moaned and the feathers on his crown lifted. He bent over, almost double, his nose brushing over Blurr’s, his exhalations hot and humid. “I love you,” he murmured as his lips touched Blurr’s in an almost kiss.
Blurr’s insides squeezed. He shifted his hand from gripping Starsream’s hips, to curling around him, trying to tug him closer. It was less thrust and push now, as it was slow and steady grind and rock, and it felt so damn good. His heart pounded, his dick throbbed, and Starscream said it as if he meant it.
“Kiss me,” Blurr said, again, and moaned when Starscream obeyed, slanting their mouths together, his tongue tangling with Blurr’s. There was something desperate and hungry in the kiss, to where Blurr felt the bite of Starscream’s teeth.
He stroked Starscream harder, root to tip, squeezing with every upward pull. He rolled up into Starscream, grinding deep, and Starscream met him. Release swept over him like that, slow and steady, a throbbing wave of heat that spread out from his groin and carried him away in ecstasy.
Blurr moaned into the kiss as he came, milked by Starscream’s antrum. His grip on Starscream tightened, as did the heat of the kiss. Starscream made a sound above him, a cross between a warble and a moan, and then Blurr’s hand was splattered with come, Starscream’s antrum squeezing down tight in a sinuous wave.
Starscream breathed against his mouth, hot and urgent, pressing his forehead to Blurr’s. His thighs trembled where they pressed to Blurr’s body. His hips moved in slower and slower undulations until they stilled, Blurr’s softening dick resting within him.
“I love you, too,” Blurr murmured as he slid both of his hands up Starscream’s side, forgetting that one was covered in slick. Oops.
Well, they could both take a bath.
Starscream’s cheek rubbed against his before he shifted, sliding off Blurr and into a recline in the nest. He wriggled around, tugging and pulling Blurr on top of him, covering him with an arm like a feather blanket.
Blurr grinned and let himself be manhandled. It was never a terrible thing to be held close to his lover, and Starscream was both warm and soft. It was much better than the loneliness he’d suffered for nigh on three weeks.
He snuggled in closer, listening to the rapid beat of Starscream’s heart, sweat slicking his body and probably dampening Starscream’s feathers, too. Their legs tangled together.
Blurr couldn’t remember the last time he felt so content.
And yet, the nagging realization that this could probably not last would not leave him alone. He wanted to relax, perhaps kiss Starscream, either initiate another round or sink into sleep. But all he could think about was the future, or lack of one.
If the week had been this hard, what about a lifetime? Could they last like this? What happened when he graduated? What did the future even mean?
He nosed into the hollow of Starscream’s throat, a lump forming in his own. “Starscream?”
“Hm?” the harpy purred, his arms tightening around Blurr.
“What are we doing?”
Starscream chuckled and rolled his head, his chin rubbing across the top of Blurr’s head. “Right now, we’re laying in my nest and cuddling. Surely the humans do such a thing.”
Blurr gnawed on his bottom lip. “I meant, what are we doing together? Where is this going?” His chest hurt, the lump in his throat growing larger. “Can we even be together?”
Starscream shifted beneath him, drawing himself up so that Blurr had to reposition himself as well, but at least now he could look into Starscream’s eyes. “There’s nothing stopping us,” the harpy replied as he nudged the knuckle of a primary finger under Blurr’s chin. “There’s no one to tell us ‘no’.”
“Just because we can, does that mean we should?” Blurr remembered how angry Ratchet had been. He’d never heard of a harpy being with a human before either.
“Do you not want to?” Starscream asked, and there was an edge of caution in his voice. As though he feared what answer Blurr would give.
“I mean… is it wrong?” He had come on his groin and stickiness everywhere, and he was cuddled up with a feather-covered being, and he only just now wondered if maybe he was committing some kind of cosmic crime.
What did that say about his priorities?
Starscream pressed their foreheads together. “It’s only wrong if it feels that way to you. For my part, I had not known I could be happy until I met you.”
Blurr swallowed thickly. “It doesn’t feel wrong. I mean, I think it should because it is kind of weird. But I guess the weirdest part of it is that it feels right.” His cheeks burned with embarrassment. He carded his fingers through Starscream’s feathers, holding on tight.
“Yes. It does.” Starscream nuzzled him, and Blurr soaked up his warmth. “I want to see where it takes us.”
Blurr drew in a heavy breath. “What if there’s nowhere for us to go? We need to talk about a lot of things. We have to look at the reality of–”
“Blurr.” Starscream slipped back so he could look into Blurr’s eyes. “I’m not unaware of the situation. But we’ll talk. We’ll figure it out. I’m sure of it.”
He wished he could have Starscream’s faith.
“We just have to decide together.” Starscream smiled gently. “To that end, why don’t you stay here in the Aerie for a few days? See what life is like?”
Blurr tilted his head. “Megatron said I have to go back in the morning.”
“I’ll talk to him. Explain the situation.” Starscream lay down, pulling Blurr into his arms and stroking along his back. “Once he understands you’re not a threat, he’ll change his mind.”
“He didn’t seem like he’d be willing to let me hang around,” Blurr muttered, thinking of the anger he saw flashing between Megatron and Ratchet. “I don’t want to get on his bad side either. You weren’t kidding when you said you were pretty small for a harpy. He’s huge.”
Starscream chuckled. “Yes. That is because Megatron, like Ratchet, is what we call a bara. While I’m of a type known as smols.” His voice took on a bit of a lecturing tone, though far more interesting than Richard’s. “They are classifications based on size rather than gender as we are all the same biologically.”
“Biologically,” Blurr repeated. Now, he hadn’t taken many science courses except for the basic ones, but that rang something at the back of his mind. He squinted. “So if you don’t have females, but you all have birginas, does that mean any of you can get pregnant?”
Starscream sighed and gave him a look. “First of all, not a birgina, as you well know. Secondly, the answer to that question is yes, though we refer to it as carrying.”
Blurr blinked. The difference in terms went over his head. “Wait,” he said. “Could I have knocked you up? Should I have used a condom?”
“You’re safe,” Starscream said with a laugh, some of his offense visibly bleeding away. “We’re not genetically compatible, and I’m not presently in heat.”
“Oh.” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Yeah, he was in school right now so he didn’t want kids at the moment, but knowing it wasn’t possible at all was kind of disappointing.
Well, he supposed one of the other Harpies could always lend a hand. Or clava. Or sperm. Or whatever.
Blurr’s face burned.
Wait.
Did that mean he was actually thinking about this in long terms?
Oh, Primus. He was.
He considered Starscream his one and only. He considered Starscream, a harpy, a being of another species, to be the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
Wow.
“Blurr?”
He nibbled on his bottom lip and rested his head on his folded arms. He didn’t want Starscream to read the emotion in his eyes.
“I’ll bet baby Harpies are cute,” he said, instead, to conceal the rapid flurry of emotions suddenly arising within him.
“We call them hatchlings and then fledgelings, but yes, they are cute. I will show you some tomorrow, if you like.”
Blurr closed his eyes, listening to Starscream’s heart beat beneath him. “Sure. You can show me everything in the aerie. Finally educate me so I don’t sound like an idiot.”
“You could never,” Starscream said.
One hand left Blurr’s body, but it returned with a blanket, which Starscream threw over Blurr. It was small and thin, nothing that would cover Starscream, and Blurr wondered if Starscream had gotten for a future fledgling, or if he’d gotten it for Blurr.
He wasn’t sure what he felt about that either.
His stomach suddenly grumbled. Blurr’s face flushed with heat.
Starscream chuckled. “Are you hungry?”
“Well, I did bike all the way here, then spent who knows how long unconscious. I don’t know how long it’s been since I ate,” Blurr grumbled. “I’m an athlete, remember?”
“I do.” Starscream’s hand stroked down his back. “I do not have much in my personal stores, but I can offer you anything there. Though you’ll have to let me up so I can get it.”
And therein was his dilemma. Blurr was warm and comfortable atop Starscream. He didn’t really want to move. His stomach was noisy, but honestly, the fatigue was more annoying than the mild hunger. He wouldn’t die from lack of a meal.
“Mm.” He rubbed his face on Starscream’s chest, feathers tickling at his nose. “Nah. I expect a big breakfast though.”
Starscream warbled deep in his chest. Blurr felt the vibrations of it against his cheek. “Whatever you want.”
Blurr grinned and closed his eyes. He nuzzled closer to Starscream, leeching off the harpy’s heat. Starscream was a little thin, had been since the molt several weeks back, but he was still very warm. And snuggly. Almost enough to make Blurr forget how angry he’d been.
“Is it time for sleep?” Starscream asked. He sounded amused as his fingers drifted upward to card through Blurr’s hair.
He was always so careful, so aware of his size, his claws, the danger he presented.
“Mm hm.” Blurr breathed evenly, in and out. “So hush. It’s been a long day.” And he hadn’t slept well. He blamed Starscream for that.
“Yes, Zippy.”
The affectionate nickname made Blurr’s heart throb. He tucked that emotion away, however, and snuggled in against Starscream. He let the sound of the harpy’s core beat, the soft purring, and the sensation of Starscream caressing him, carrying him into sleep instead.
***
Pandora's Box 