"Yeah . . . I guess. No one's told me I couldn't."

He looked at Starscream again, noting that he had gone tense, hesitant. His own wings flicked and settled, sinking slightly to a calmer set on his back. "It's not that. It's just . . . " Just thinking about it, he felt himself tensing back up again. He made himself relax again, blowing out a vent of hot air from his systems. "In my reality's Decepticon ranks, you don't have friends. At best, you have a few people you're useful to and who are useful to you, enough so that neither betrays the other - yet. Anyone who's not your own trine, you have to watch your back. Because you're either going to be pranked or, more often, shot." He looked away. "Unless it's our...'glorious leader'." He couldn't bring himself to use the mech's name, not when he knew Starscream's mind would go to the "wrong" mech - Thundercracker didn't want anything negative getting associated with the one he actually still deeply respected. "Then it's an electro-whip. With or without wings left attached first." He shook his head. His wings had hitched again at the thought and he forced them back down once more. "I'm probably just always going to get tense and defensive. It's nothing personal."