Hi There

Halfway through his transformation, stepping into one of the halls… he got no idea where to go.

He went left, he went right, even went through one of the vents into another hallway… he figured out quickly that he’s lost. ‘For frag sake’ He thinks, pouting at the thought, then he hears slight mechanical whoosh.

Making bumblebee turn swiftly at the noise and froze, optics wide and anxious.

The bot standing in front of him- now realising that’s actually a door -is the tyrant himself. Megatron.

Bumblebee stood still, both bots having a stare down, one full of fear the other in bewilderment. Before long he knelt down and immediately scoops bumblebee up from under his restarlueus before the minibot can bolt.

“How did you get here.” He spoke, keeping the minibot in place while he tries and fails to escape from his grasp. “Where are your companions?” He asks, genuinely curious.

Long before bee could say anything, starscream came from the corner, out of vent. “M-my lord. An *pant* an autobot prisoner *pants* escaped-.” The seeker pauses, seeing the minibot in megatron’s grasp.

“Oh, you caught him, great.”

The warlord sighs exasperatedly as he turns to seeker, with a pissed off expression keeping the struggling scout from escaping. “… starscream.” He starts.

“My lord.” The seeker responds.

“I’m gonna need you to be very, very honest with me. Out of all the autobots to capture. Why the child?” He asks, gesturing towards the glaring yellow minibot.

“Well my lord, he-… did you just refer to the autobot as a child?” Starscream asks, both bots bit surprised by the warlord’s question.

Megatron stood there with an arched optic ridge at his SIC. “Am I not allowed to?” He asks, adjusting his hold on the minibot to a more comfortable holding position, holding the incredibly embarrassed autobot carefully.

“… my lord, with all do respect he’s a prisoner.” Starscream mentions.

“I’m using that one as bait, so why don’t you just hand over-.” Before the seeker could finish and take bumblebee from the warlord.

Megatron barres his denta with a growl, engines revved in warning as he kept a bewildered bumblebee tucked against his chassis, away from starscream.

Blinking and staring at them in confused stupidity, the SIC tried again, only more slower than before. Same exact thing and same pace, revved engines, denta bared and minibot away from his SIC, still tucked against his chassis.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The silence is very deafening, between the bewildered and anxious seeker, an angry yet protective warlord and an extremely confused and weirded out minibot. Not being able to handle the quiet for long, bumblebee spoke up

“Uhh, if I could ask… what is happening?”

“I may have a theory.” Starscream informs, moving an inch closer before raising his servos swiftly, showing the abnormally protective warlord he backed off once he snarled and his optic glowed dangerously.

“… frag this, I’m out! Not doing that scrap again.” Starscream assures, turning a full 180 and walked away. “Where are you going?!” Bumblebee shouts, a little freaked out at the action starscream had done.

“Anywhere else but near you, last time I tried grabbing a sparkling from a bot with parental protocols I was found with my whole upper frame in the ground!” He shouts, already leaving before bumblebee could process what just happened.

“…. Huh?!” Is all bumblebee got out once the seeker is gone from view. ‘Did starscream just say parental protocols?’ He ponders, trying to think back on one of primes lessons… or was it ratchet..?

Nope, definitely both, they taught him that parental protocols are NOT to be taken lightly, but taken incredibly and very seriously. He also remembers ratchet pulling him aside and gave him a few very serious notes when it came to this protocol.

“You ever encounter a bot with parental protocols, be assured you’ll be treated like a sparkling.”

Bumblebee remembers, thinking more about that topic, trying to remember as to why ratchet told him this and why it’s very important-.

“Especially when one is a warframe. Since minibots are smaller compared to warframes.. they’ll most likely see you as a sparkling, not an adult.”

‘… oh scrap. Does that mean megatron-?!’

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he’s suddenly held out in front of the warlord, face to face with megatron like a parent talking with a toddler. “You hungry? You look hungry. Have you eaten?”

‘… oh. This- uh… this is a thing.’ He thinks to himself, his optics darting anywhere but megatron’s optics, until he huffs at the warlord.

“Nice try, but unluckily for you I’m not even hungry-.” He was about to say before getting interrupted by his internal hub system, his energy levels at 20%. He blinks at this, then back at the warlord who arched his optic ridge at the scout.

“Damn it.” He mumbled out, pouting at the hub for giving him worst timing possible, earning- very weird for a known tyrant -a light hearted chuckle and warm rumble from the warlord’s engine.

“That settles it. C’mon--.” He pauses, cradling bumblebee in his restarlueus like a bitlet. “-- I know a good recipe for a very happy fuel tank.”

Bumblebee laughed a bit when megatron poke him in the tank area, causing him to cover his intake & flush red, earning another of those weirdly warm rumbles.

Swallowing a lump in his throat guard, he realised too little too late about a very, very small detail ratchet has told him before.

“---once, if at all it’s activated. They’ll have what’s called ‘empty nest syndrome’ they’ll likely see you as one of their own despite everything.” Ratchet’s voice echo’s once more.

“It’s more prominent in warframes than civilian frames as recent studies have shown with a Decepticon veteran compared to a civilian.”

… oh slag, he’s… he is definitely not escaping any time soon.

____________________________

I mean… I was gonna post this a bit earlier.

… but then I saw @cranberry333’s fic on ao3, which is honestly cool as heck! Normally I tend to do redirects towards some of the stories I’ve seen and I want to share it with a lot of you… but I don’t really know how 😓

So… I just kind of put the title of the story and the website. I’ll prolly figure it out eventually but this is the best I can do. And as usual in my stories… parental megatron is still on the brain on this delusion drive I’m riding-.

I very recommend reading ‘he might be a kid’ if you’d like megatron actually being villainous, it’s so good!! I can’t express it enough!