🐝

Light pollution from the city no longer felt like an obstruction when you stood in your silent neighborhood, now in front of your garage; you were glad to see the stars at their full potential, lighting up the sky one-by-one in full view. You were dropped off at your place by none other than Bumblebee, always spending the last few minutes of the day spent together either gazing at the stars or having late-night talks; it's become routine at this point. A few moments to unwind in comfortable silence has always been a highlight, the two of you just enjoying each other's presence even while there are no words exchanged.

Tonight, you thought this to be another wordless soon-to-be goodbye.

Your eyes stayed fixated on the countless stars, your irises shifting ever so slightly to every new one you found, it really did feel endless.

Bumblebee's optics stayed fixated on you, the same fascination.

Some of the stars looked to be a lot rounder than a few others, a lot more noticeable than the typical shapeless glimmer. Your mind wandered, maybe it was a planet you had the privilege of being able to see with your naked eye. It doesn't make any of the surrounding stars any less special--no--it's just appreciation for a different kind of beauty. Alternatively, you remember reading somewhere that the stars you see in the sky in the present are actually impressions of what they looked like thousands of years ago, and that those stars probably don't exist anymore. It's strangely beautiful to catch a glimpse of a sight of 10,000 years ago, even if its bittersweet to know that these stars truly are gone now. You wondered, almost laughing to yourself, at the thought of if the autobots began their journey to Earth in the 9th millennium BC and only landed now in the 21st century.

Bumblebee stayed fascinated, not at the stars as he's done on other nights, but on you. Your eyes slightly widened in wonder, shifting in constant activity as you take in as much as you can of the night sky. He looked upon you in silent admiration, optics softening in a pale-blue glow. Really, he was doing the same thing you were doing, only he was appreciating his own different kind of beauty.

Bee couldn't help it.

"..Krrsh.. -- You look pretty.."

You snapped out of your stargazing, turning to face the mech, clueless. "Sorry, what was that?"

Bee gave a surprised whir and scrambled back to his full height, alarmed at his radio unintentionally exposing him outright. He bumped the lower plating on his chassis over and over with a fist to get himself to shut it.

Unfortunately, even with every hit he gave to his chest, his radio kept going.

"Zrt! -- Uhh-" Hit.

"-- I said-" Hit hit.

"-- You look shitty! -- Kzrt!" He winced.

Bee backed away quick, panicked whirs and mechanical trills filling the air. "Goodnight, Denise!" He gave a swift two-finger salute and bailed, quickly transforming back into the Camaro and speeding away, tires screeching as he did. 

You stood there, completely stunned; the only thing you could hear were the night crickets and Bee's roaring engine, gradually getting quieter the farther he drove away.

The smile that crept up to your face couldn't be helped. You shook your head to yourself, heading inside to your house as the smile never went away.

You may have not heard the first thing he said in the moment, but you sure did recognize the sound-bite the longer he kept talking.

Bumblebee really did call you pretty.

You weren't sure how long exactly you had these feelings for, but after discovering them as of recent, they've never left your mind since.

You can only pray that your revelation of admiration to a specific scout hasn't resulted in any noticeable changes in your behavior. Once you came to the conclusion (after catching yourself shamelessly fawning over him in silence during a most recent mission), like a hopeless coward you did.. absolutely nothing about it. You considered limiting visits to the base to lessen the chances of making a fool of yourself, but that might've looked more suspicious if anything.

So, here you are, at the autobot base trying desperately too hard to push down the feelings and pretend that you didn't discover anything major about yourself in the past few days.

It was proving very difficult with Bumblebee standing right behind the designated human-sized couch you, Raf, and Miko were all sitting on, the other two competing against each other in some racing game and completely oblivious to your internal battle. Their game was the last thing you could pay attention to; his presence being right there had you feel like your back was on fire, any sitting position you readjusted to never felt comfortable enough for longer than ten seconds, a lingering sense of uncomfortable insecurity engulfed your every move as you couldn't help but constantly think of the possibility of him just perceiving you. Crazy to think that a couple days ago you never would've thought twice about minute things like where your hands should be resting, whether your hair was in the way or a mess, or both. What's the battle, the struggle, one might ask? It's being on a couch.

You've never had an issue sitting on a couch before--you would swear on it, ..right now just wasn't a great example of that.

After realizing that maybe your sitting is a little too rigid for what's meant to be and is a casual hangout between friends, you silently take a breath and slowly but surely start to lean back to meet with the comfortable plush of the couch.

Though, rather than being met with the couch, instead your back made contact with the scout's servos.

Instantly, as if a shock was sent throughout your body, you flinched forward in surprise, disconnecting the contact immediately. You noticed the spot on your back that unintentionally touched his hand felt the hottest, almost as if it were a burn; nothing bad, just in the sense of an overwhelming warmth. 

A whir in the tone of a question sounded from the scout behind you, and in quick thinking you tried to play off your unexpected reaction in a continued swing to hoist yourself up from the couch. Reaching your hands above your head, you gave out the pressure in your lower back in a satisfying stretch, not realizing the words he was saying.

"Uh- ..Sorry about that, Bee. Didn't mean to bump you," you spoke apologetically, turning your face so that he wouldn't just be looking at your back, but you couldn't get your eyes to leave the railing to properly make eye contact.

Bee responded with affirmative albeit hesitant beeps.

That seemed to have done the trick.

Without removing her eyes from the screen, Miko tilted her head towards you. "Where ya headed off to?"

Quick, come up with something.

"Oh, you know.. 'just going to go get something from.. from our pantry real quick yeah- you guys want me to get you anything while I'm there?"

"Nah, 'm good thanks," Miko uttered, clearly preoccupied.

Nailed it.

"Raf?" You queried next. Unlike Miko, Raf actually looked at you to answer your offer. "Oh, I'm alright [Name], thank you." You smiled and with that, turned to the descending ladder (and judging from the groan of frustration paired alongside an exclamation of victory from behind you, Raf's politeness appeared to be his detriment in-game). Just as you were about to turn your body to climb down, a few familiar beeps stopped you. Looking up, Bumblebee stood right in front of you, in front of the ladder, with his head tilt to the side.

The only words you were able to pick up on were '-want.. ... help you?'

Judging by his now outstretched metallic palm just below you, you filled in the rest that he just offered to take you to the bottom of the ladder himself. 'Do you want me to help you?' it was probably was.

This was nothing out of the ordinary, he's done this for you many times before. The problem came from you not knowing how to properly act anymore. Any other day you would've gladly accepted without thinking twice about it, and right now is mostly the same, except now you're thinking too much about it.

You nodded your head, “Oh sure, thanks Bee. I’d love for you to help me.” 

Bee, though with no visible mouth, gave a smile evident through his bright optics as he cooed a few excited chirps and beeps, you stepping off the platform and now in his clutches. 

You looked up, returning an innocent smile towards him.

Looks will forever be deceiving because internally you were in a panic.

Why did you say ‘love?’ You’d love for him to help you? How obvious can you be? You kept your eyes closed, not daring to look at him as you basked in your inner embarrassment.

You felt the small rush in your stomach as Bumblebee leisurely descended his hand down upon the lower ground as gently as he could. Stepping off, you shot Bee a thumbs up and quickly trodded off to the small room directly underneath the upper landing that you and your fellow humans deemed the 'pantry,' a place where you four kept a stash of snacks and drinks. It was the only remaining human-sized room (more like closet) that wasn't being used so why not make it a snack hole? Truly, it started with Miko keeping her snacks there 'temporarily' (as she swore) but it soon escalated to you, Jack, and occasionally Raf contributing to the snack haven; now the four of you have sustenance at your disposal whenever any of you visited the base.

Even with all that, upon entering you nearly forgot that you lied to get here so you could avoid an awkward situation and you were stumped on what to actually bring back.

...

"What's the matter Bee?"

The mech looked up to face Rafael, apparently during a game intermission as Miko was checking something on her flip phone. After hearing the question though, she looked up, all too interested. "Why're you asking? Did Bumblebee say something?" Raf only shook his head, "No it's not about anything he said I just thought he--..well--are you feeling down, Bee?" He redirected his attention back to the scout.

Bumblebee shook his helm, waving his servos in front of him. Beeps and churs left his chassis in a series pertaining to an explanation.

"What about [Name]..?"

Miko scrambled on her knees, fully on the couch as she faced the yellow bot with intrigue. "What's it Raf?" she questioned in ardor. "Bee's just a little worried about [Name]," Raf translated. Miko frowned, "How come? They seemed alright to me?"

A continued stream of robotic whirs and boops left Bee with different dips in tones natural of someone speaking, even if unconventionally.

"So? What's he saying?" Miko asked in loud, exaggerated whisper.

Raf, in response to Bee, tilted his head, "Different how?"

"Beep, beep zip. Zrr beep kr."

"Really? I guess that's a little weird.. Think they're feeling okay?"

Miko bounced in her spot on the couch impatiently, "Hello? Gonna fill me in yet?"

Raf gave an exhausted sigh. "Bee just noticed that [Name] seemed really dismissive of him today is all."

Miko rolled her eyes and whisked her body around, slumping in the couch and returning her attention back to her flip phone. "Eh, I wouldn't dwell."

"How are you so confident?" Raf asked, curious at how quick the girl just dismissed the concern.

Miko tilted her head towards him, "Come on, there's no way they hate Bee or anything."

At this, Bumblebee's optics swirled for a good few seconds. Realization hit when he gave a few worried beeps, looking away from the two other humans in disquiet. Raf was about to give comfort to the distressed mech. "In case they think you're annoying or something just be extra nice to them! That'll help," Miko advised wisely. Raf winced at her choice of wording. "I really don't think that's all too necessary.. especially considering-"

Bee was quick to intercept and hastily utter determined whirs and beeps in response.

Suddenly, you emerged from underneath the main platform, head peaking out after climbing the ladder, not having been paying any attention to the conversation that had just ended. You huffed yourself over the edge, arms hoisting towards the platform, still below the upper-ground level. In your hands was a pack of honey-graham crackers.

Honey --> ....bee..

Ah. You winced at the unintentional yet reaching similarity to who's been on your mind all day.

At least it wasn't that obvious. Hopefully.

A few beeps from behind you entered your ears and before you could even register what they meant, you were gently lifted off of the ladder and quickly placed fully on the grounding. You continued to stand there, snack still in your hand, as you slowly turned your head to face the yellow mech. "Thanks- thanks Bee but uh- uhm.. what was that for?" You cursed yourself for the stuttering, begging that your red face wasn't as noticeable as you're imagining it is to be.

He only responded with a few of those charming sound signals of his, optics spiraling as he did, to which you couldn't stop the smile creeping up to your face. From the sidelines, Raf and Miko exchanged unknowing glances, the first shrugging his shoulders in uncertainty towards the other.

You shook your head and swiftly returned to your spot on the couch. You sighed. "Adorable..," giving the quietest of mutters as it was drowned out by your expertly timed opening of your retrieved snack.

Or so you thought.

Bee's optics gave a spin, the teal lights from his eyes dilating.

After a few seconds of shocked silence, he chirped out six excited beeps, and Raf nearly stumbled in the resumed video game (much to his dismay and probably to Miko's pleasure.

You also nearly choked mid-chewing, face growing hotter as your heartbeat intercepted within your eardrum.

The only words you were able to pick up from him were 'adorable too.'