#ikys

Bumblebee tore off across the boatyard and back the way he came, beelining for the fence and leaping straight over it without a hitch. He didn’t look back. All he had to do was make sure he could get back to the road where he would easily gain the advantage of speed, and to provide you with at least a bit of shelter from what was inevitably going to turn into a shootout of ice, fire, and electricity.

Your head whipped to the side to cast a glance over your shoulder at the rapidly approaching jet. It blasted out of the clouds once more and dipped into an almost complete nosedive. Now that it was closer, you realized that it wasn’t just stationary before—it was moving toward you.

Adrenaline exploded in your veins, pushing your heart to beat quicker than it ever had before. Bumblebee was running, which meant only one thing. “Is that a–?”

“It’s exactly what you think it is!” His servos reached up to grab you, pull you from his shoulder, and brought you in close to his chassis as he reached the pavement in the darkness once more. The sound of his parts shifting was quickly drowned out by the deafening rattle in the air that was only growing louder by the second. Before you could even react to the strange movements, you were back in the driver’s seat and Bumblebee’s tires were screeching against the asphalt in an effort to speed away.

Not another second went by before you thought your eardrums popped. The deep, guttural roar of the seeker’s engines felt as if they exploded directly above you when he dove and ripped back up into the sky at the last second. You ducked instinctively and Bumblebee swerved at the force of the wind, then quickly regained traction, dropped a gear, and floored his gas pedal.

Your eyes found the soaring Decepticon as soon as your head poked up from it’s hiding place against Bumblebee’s dashboard. It was almost hard to tell in the darkness of the night, but you could see a tan color scheme reflecting the light of the moon as it dipped and banked back and forth in slow turns through the air, seemingly like it was nonchalantly following Bumblebee’s direction.

Your speeding friend noticed it too. “Yeah, uh– might be time to hide.”

Your eyes stayed trained on the screaming jet, afraid that if you lost sight of it, you’d never see it coming again. “Which one is that?”

“Blitzwing. The crazy one.”

A pit ripped open in your gut, then it immediately filled with a flood of dread and you could physically feel your face going pale. Wasn’t that the super volatile one that could also change into a tank?

Great.

“Don’t worry, he’s actually kind of stupid.” The Autobot tried his best at a mocking tone, “I’ll get us outta here. Just hang onto something!”

Another gear shift, and he pinned the gas pedal to the floor. The road up ahead turned to make a sharp right. You figured that he’d go flying off into the trees lining the road, but the sound of yet another shift and the steering wheel whirling on its own proved otherwise. Bumblebee drifted hard–hard enough to make everything in your body slam into your left side with an amount of force you didn’t think was possible. Then he floored it once more when the road ahead straightened out.

He really did know this road pretty well, and the black streaks in the pavement proved that even further.

The populated area of the city came into view again after the treeline to your right fell away and the river was visible once more. As the road paved the way forward, the roaring of the jet in the sky thundered louder and closer.

Your eyes shot to your left, out the driver’s side window. Nothing but thick trees and foliage. “Bee! What if you went into the woods? We could lose him in there if we go far enough!”

Without any warning, Bumblebee slammed his brakes and the squealing of his burning tires sent vibrations throughout his entire frame. The steering wheel whipped to the left and he drifted once again, turning to face the woods at a decent break in the treeline. “Good idea!”

The loud jet screaming in the sky barreled away. Blitzwing very obviously expected Bumblebee to keep pressing on toward the city, and now he was forced to bank and circle back. The maneuver bought the pair of you precious time.

As the scout launched himself into the thick trees, your head whipped around to search for the enemy. However Bumblebee was too quick, so the canopy quickly swallowed your view of the night sky and anything looming in it.

Almost immediately, the rocks and roots along the ground made themselves known through some very harsh dinging and clanging, and Bumblebee’s dashboard disappeared. You thought you were falling out with no way to stop yourself until the rest of him sprang forward and up onto his peds with an exasperated shout. Your form fell straight into waiting servos.

“Fragging Earth organic nature–!” He was running already, clumsily dodging the low-hanging tree branches and throwing his weight over large boulders while very loudly spitting curses, “That could’ve cracked my windshield again–!”

“At least he can’t see us anymore!” You shouted from his arms, “I think that’s a little more important right now!”

His bright blue optics found your eyes as the atmosphere suddenly went really dark, “Y’know, normally I wouldn’t run from a fight!”

The woods offered cover for sure, but now it was almost pitch black. The only sounds you could hear were Bumblebee’s moving parts and his heavy peds hitting the forest floor at a quick pace. “What’s stopping you from toasting that guy then?!”

He didn’t reply immediately. Instead you saw his optics scanning the leaves and branches up above you. “Uh— you, actually.”

“Me?” A hot feeling flooded through your chest. Shame? Embarrassment? Were you getting in the way?

“Yeah. I don’t want him to see you.” Bumblebee’s peds slowed and he circled a massive oak tree, turned his back to the rough bark, and leaned up against it with an exasperated exvent, “He’s kinda stupid—yeah—but he’s insane too. And I’m not gonna take that risk.”

Truthfully, you didn’t know what to say. You were way in over your head when it came to the concept of an alien war and the sadistic freaks it was able to produce. “I’m sorry.”

You were. You didn’t want to be a distraction, or a weakness, or a hazard that he’d have to risk his aft for. You just wanted to go out for a drive with your friend, but he was now forced to hide because he had a living liability with him. The thought made you want to crumple up into a ball of embarrassment right there in his servos.

“What?” His optics jerked back to you, one optic ridge raised in question, “Don’t be sorry! It’s not like you set this up!”

“I know, but—” The words struggled to form a coherent sentence. You didn’t know what you were feeling, other than the obvious fear for your lives. “If I wasn’t here, you’d—”

“If you weren’t here, I’d be walking around a creepy dark forest in the middle of the night by myself.” Bumblebee’s stance relaxed. The tense hold his arms had around you loosened, and his systems whirred with sounds as they finally began to regulate after he’d run so fast. “I hate being in the woods by myself. Too many creepy-crawlies and sounds that come out of nowhere. And Bigfoot! What if I ran into Bigfoot by myself?!”

You thought that he was trying to make you laugh for sure. And it worked, in spite of the anxiety that there was a lingering threat of being hunted from the clouds.

“Bigfoot, Bee?” A small giggle fell out of you, “I don’t think Bigfoot is real.”

The scout’s optics blew up to massive circles, “The monster hunting show I watch every Friday night proves otherwise! And they have evidence!”

Oh. He was actually serious.

You scoffed and waved your hand at him dismissively, “I’m more afraid of the big alien robot flying around in the sky right now. Also, I think Bigfoot would be more afraid of you than you are of him.”

Bumblebee’s optics narrowed and he looked down at the tree roots between his peds, “Huh. I guess that’s fair.”

You hadn’t heard the low rumbling of the seeker since you’d entered the woods, now that you really thought about it. While opting to try to focus on your sense of hearing, the Autobot holding you did the same. His helm perked up and he glanced back around the tree trunk in the direction he’d come running from. There was no crushing of the undergrowth, no lights in between the trees, and no distant roaring of jet engines.

As a matter of fact, the forest was almost completely silent. So quiet that it was eerie and deafening and it made your stomach twist, further tightening that ball of anxiety in your gut. The forest only ever went silent when a predator was nearby.

To be fair, Bumblebee’s frantic stomping could have also scared off all the wildlife. But that idea didn’t really help you feel any better.

The yellow mech’s shoulders slumped and he spoke up, now a little quieter, “I think we lost him. Maybe he doesn’t want to get his plating dirty tonight.”

You eyed your friend in the dark, his glowing optics being the only thing that you could really see clearly, “You think so? He won’t sneak attack you, will he?”

“Blitzwing? Nah.” Slowly and cautiously, Bumblebee stepped out from behind the shelter of the tree. His servos raised you up to your usual spot between his helm and shoulder plating and you settled in without a word. “That ugly pile of slag can never really shut up, nevermind creep up on anything. He’s way too loud.”

You quirked a brow. “Huh. Sounds like someone else I know.”

His helm snapped around to shoot you the harshest glare ever known to mankind. You tried to smother your laugh, but the way his cheeks expanded like his helm was about to blow off made that extremely difficult.

“Hey! Rude!” He spat the retort like he was genuinely wounded, working his way back around the tree and careful not to trip.

“Hey, I never said it was you.” You gave him a comforting pat on the helm, “But if the shoe fits, you should wear it.”

“Uh, I don’t wear shoes.” The sass.

Your plan was working. You’d successfully distracted him from the concept of freaking out in the middle of a deep, dark forest, where arguably the scariest thing around would be himself.

Or the Decepticon lurking somewhere above you.

Hopeful optimism tried to force it’s way to the front of your brain. Maybe you really did lose him after all.

Following Bumblebee’s tracks back proved far easier than expected, likely because the ground was soft and a bit muddy. The soil was able to stay damp thanks to the thick tree canopy, much to Bumblebee’s disdain. You were coming to realize that he didn’t really enjoy getting dirty if it had anything to do with organic matter.

When the treeline ahead of him started to split and a bit more light shone through the branches overhead, it signified the edge of the woods. His tire tracks were still clearly visible in the mud where he’d struggled a bit, and neither of you had to remind the other one to stay quiet.

Bumblebee wordlessly reached up to lift you off of his shoulder so he could gently set you down beside a gnarled tree. Then he knelt before you and whispered, “Let me make sure it’s clear before we keep going.”

When your eyes met his optics, the knot of anxiety that you’d almost forgotten about tightened. The night really could turn dangerous once again without any warning. “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.” He winked.

You bit back a sarcastic reply and kept it only in your head. Right, right.

The mech stood up straight and suddenly his servos were gone, replaced with those iconic stingers that hummed to life with sparking electricity. He offered you a confident smile before turning his back so he could take a tentative step toward the edge of the trees.

You watched his horns turn side to side as he scanned the road and it’s surroundings for anything nefarious or out of the ordinary. Absolutely nothing looked off or out of place, and there was still no rumble in the sky. He craned his neck so he could search the clouds, which were quiet and ever so slowly drifting by the moon without a hitch. It was like the Decepticon had completely disappeared off the face of the planet.

Your skin prickled with goosebumps. The silence was still too eerie and no, you didn’t like it.

Just then the young scout’s posture seemed to relax the slightest bit. He stepped out into the scarce light and continued turning his helm back and forth. But still, nothing. No sound. Not a single peep from the forest. “I think we’re clear, [Name].”

The forest only ever goes silent when a predator is nearby.

The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end and a sense of dread made your blood feel like it went cold. Your nails scraped the bark of the tree you were leaning against and your gut feeling told you that you shouldn’t be there. “I don’t like it, Bee.”

“Awh, c’mon. You scared or something?” Bumblebee turned back to look at you in between the trees. His voice dripped with his favorite teasing tone and mocking smirk. “You don’t have to be scared when I’m here! I’ll fry anything that gets—”

There was a deep thump, and then the shadow. An enormous mass rose from the trees on the opposite side of the road behind Bumblebee and hulked forward. The yellow scout immediately cut himself off and whirled around to face it’s direction.

There was hardly a second to react. That knot of anxiety in your gut exploded into terror.

The last thing you saw before Bumblebee launched himself off to the side was a white flash from across the road. He shouted over the sound of the blast, “Get down—!”

You ducked behind the gnarled tree just as an explosion blew the grass and mud away from the treeline, showering pebbles and dirt and grass all over you. Strangely enough, the blast of air that pelted you with it all was freezing. Adrenaline burst throughout your veins and you threw yourself to your knees among the roots after the initial shock of it all ebbed for a split second.

“I didn’t know we were playing hide-and-seek!” A new voice—one you’d never heard before and thick with an accent—boomed across the road in a giddy tune. “Why didn’t you say so?”

Your hands gripped the bark of the tree when you yanked yourself back up, cautiously poking just enough of your head out to see what on Earth had just happened. Where Bumblebee was originally standing when you last saw him was now an enormous chunk of ice. The sharp edges of it pointed like stalactites toward your hiding spot in the woods. But Bumblebee wasn’t trapped there, no. He was already standing in the middle of the road and firing zaps of lightning back at the massive assailant.

Blitzwing waited in silence like a predator. Bumblebee said that he was stupid and unable to shut up! What a mockery that would be later on.

Hopefully there would be a ‘later on.’

The ground beneath your sneakers quaked. Heavy ped-steps rattled you to the bone. You saw the dark mech stepping out of the treeline opposite you and turning to focus on your much smaller friend. Right about then would have been the perfect time to call for backup—something you really hoped Bumblebee wasn’t stupid enough to not do.

“You just love to interrupt me, buddy.” The tone in the defending ‘Bot’s voice was actually pretty lighthearted. Wasn’t he nervous? At all? “I was in the middle of having a fun night!”

When you looked back at Blitzwing—who’s back was now to you—he replied with an elated kick in his own words, “Well, now I’m having a fun night too!”

Blasts of fire exploded from the Decepticon’s cannons. It happened quicker than you could even blink, nevermind react to. Yet Bumblebee dodged the attack like it was nothing, zipping around the peds of the erratic mech like it was nothing more than a series of dance moves. His speed and grace when delivering zaps of electricity astounded you. Bumblebee really was a skilled fighter, and this was the first time you were able to truly witness it.

A strange shifting sound came from Blitzwing’s helm and he let out a guttural and very angry shout. The Decepticon whirled on his heavy peds and stomped downward, missing Bumblebee’s own peds by a mere couple of feet. When you looked up to catch a glimpse of his faceplate, you saw that it was now a completely different one.

It was red, with a blank visor and a really big gap in what you would consider to be his teeth. Blitzwing roared with rage, “Stop moving! I want to crush your chassis so I can bring your spark fragments back to Lord Megatron!”

Lord Megatron.

Suddenly, the reality of it all came crashing down on your tiny human mind. This really was way bigger than you ever could have thought. And Liz would kill you if she found out that you were ever exposed to this.

Bumblebee’s tires screeched against the pavement and he zipped around Blitzwing’s other side, now well out of reach and quite a few paces ahead of him. “You say that all the time, Blitz-brain. Try coming up with something a little more original. Or is that too hard for a living scrapheap with a processor that’s always getting hit by Lugnut’s fat servos?”

The larger mech firing again, streams and explosions of molten fire bursting all around the empty stretch of asphalt. Bumblebee continued dodging them with ease. The sudden frustration in Blitzwing’s voice was extremely evident, “I’m going to blow your helm off and blast the scraps of your plating across this planet for all of it’s organic lifeforms to find for millennia!”

“Whoa, that one was dark.” Bumblebee’s optics lit up and his ever-prominent smug smile appeared once again, “That’s more like it!”

Your jaw was on the floor. Blitzwing was truly massive, the biggest living being you had ever seen in your life. Beads of sweat formed across your forehead and your palms were damp against the rough bark of the tree that was still sheltering you. Yet Bumblebee was running circles around him like it was easy—entertaining even. His stingers flashed with bursts of energy over and over again as he flashed back and forth. You’d never seen anything like it.

For a moment, you thought that maybe this could be a fun thing to watch. Bumblebee seemed to have the fight on lockdown. His speed offered him a huge advantage against a mech that was so much bigger and bulkier.

Until the Decepticon bellowed with rage. He whirled around in circles on his peds and his cannons let loose. Liquid fire exploded in every direction and you had to dive back behind the roots of the tree before you.

Heat enveloped everything. When you opened your eyes, the ice chunk was gone and your immediate surroundings were burning. Bits of leaf litter and grass were floating by in embers as they burned up. You jumped to your feet on instinct and looked around for the next best place to hide, but it wasn’t very easy. The trees on either side of you were now burning too, however thanks to the damp atmosphere and mud, it wasn’t spreading much further at all. Regardless, you weren’t safe there anymore. You needed to move.

When your eyes looked for your friend again, horror struck you like a freight train.

He was pinned, crushed against the pavement of the desolate stretch of road. One of Blitzwing’s servos had him trapped him in place with his stingers at his sides, and he was struggling in vain to break free.

That same shifting noise caught your attention again. This time, a long blue faceplate had replaced the red one. One beaming monocle stared straight down at him as he leaned over the Autobot with a cold, stoic stare. Nothing betrayed whatever the mech was now thinking. “You are fast, yes. But my patience is starting to run low.”

Bumblebee vocalized his frustration, grunting and spitting with effort in his attempts to escape. The seeker continued with a monotone accent, “You gave it your best attempt, Autobot.”

He raised his opposite servo and angled the end of his cannon down at your friend. The whirring sound it made as it fired up and glowed with a bright blue hue almost made your skin jump off your body.

Help wasn’t coming. No one was coming. Except you.

“Hey!” The angry shout exploded out of your lungs in one quick burst before you could think twice.

Like lightning, that blue face snapped upward and landed on you within the same second. His blood-red monocle bore holes into you. You could feel it. The only visible light you could see through the darkness and you froze like a deer in headlights. You hadn’t thought about what to do after you got his attention, and now a thick sense of terror had you in it’s grip like a vice.

Bumblebee looked, the top of his helm scraping the pavement as he turned it so he could see you too. His blue optics were huge, staring you down like the world was ending. But you never saw it. You were trapped in that emotionless mech’s glaring red stare, fighting like hell to figure out what to do next.

Then, Blitzwing spoke. “Curious. That must be why you chose to run earlier.”

The familiar shifting sound of his many faces sounded off again and that time, you witnessed it. A solid black face, slitted red optics, a jagged and twisted red smile creeping up to an unnatural angle as it grew wider. This face was mortifying. Like something straight out of a horror movie. Your skin crawled with dread and your stomach dropped into your sneakers.

“You have a pet!” Gleeful, terrifying joy burst out of his voicebox. He leaned forward—toward you—like an animal that had just found it’s next meal while still addressing the Autobot trapped beneath his weight. “Can I play with it?”

You flinched at that. But your limbs still felt like they were frozen, feet rooted to the ground and trapped in place. Never before did you feel so close to death while completely unharmed.

It finally broke when Blitzwing shrieked and lurched up, sparks and trails of electricity jolting his systems from his servo. Bumblebee had managed to maneuver one of his stingers to reach in between the dark mech’s plating while he was distracted. The agonized wail of pain only let up after he ripped the smaller ‘Bot from the ground faster than you thought capable and slammed him back into the asphalt so hard, it fractured and cracked under the scout’s weight.

The yelp that left him at the impact broke your heart on the spot. His stinger fell to the ground beside him and his helm dropped to the side. You could hear his heavy venting from your place among the embers.

That red faceplate was back, louder than ever and leaning straight down to scream into Bumblebee’s face. “I’m going to pulverize you, insect! And after I do—” His furious personality switched to that inky black terrifying one quicker than you could blink, “—I’ll figure out if humans pop when they’re squeezed hard enough!”

His wicked stream of sinister laughter made your skin crawl. At that, it struck you like a brick. Absolutely not.

You looked around desperately for something—anything—that you could use to help Bumblebee. You picked up a rock you figured was small enough for you to throw that far and looked back with your arm rearing back to huck it at the horrifying seeker.

A sharp twang ricocheted through the air and rang in your ears. Gold-and-black plating flashed into your line of sight and with another harsh clash of metal-on-metal, Blitzwing was sent flying backward in yet another shriek of shock.

He went tumbling off into the grass and mud on the opposite side of the road. You looked for Bumblebee.

The little mech was already getting back to his peds, albeit a bit wobbly. New scrapes and dents littered his plating and he winced when he leaned to his right. But in between the two fighting forces was Prowl.

You’d never been so elated to see such a grouchy being before in your life.

They were too quiet for you to hear, but Bumblebee looked like he tried to say something until the ninja-bot cut him off without looking at him. So the younger ‘Bot shook himself off like he was attempting to reboot himself and readied his stance once again, facing Blitzwing alongside his teammate.

Furious muttering came from the tan-and-purple heap across the way. When his helm reappeared, the red-face’s visor was streaked with bits of grass and mud as he glared the enemy down. Prowl and Bumblebee visibly braced themselves.

But nothing happened. No shots of liquid fire, no shouting—nothing. His face swapped back to that icy blue one, one monocle glowing in the dark night air ominously as he studied the two Autobots before him. Until he looked at you.

You stared back, suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable. You couldn’t read him or his thoughts and the only thing you could hear was the faint flickering of the burnt bits of the trees around you sizzling out. The knowledge that you were very, very small compared to these massive alien robots was suddenly unbearable.

He only broke the eye-contact when Bumblebee visibly bristled. His stingers roared to life in warning, like he saw what Blitzwing was staring at too.

The Decepticon’s single optic fell on him, then back to you, and back to Bumblebee once more. Almost as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he wordlessly stood and swiped some patches of wet grass from his chassis, took one last long look between you and your friend, and leaped into the sky. His engines screamed with a volume that could have knocked you off your feet and he was off, blasting straight up toward the clouds until he was out of sight.

Silence fell over the desolate area. The embers and tiny flames were snuffed out in quiet hisses, and you dropped to your knees in the damp earth. The heart nestled between your ribs was beating painfully like you’d just run a marathon. Sweat fell from your brow and you blinked hard to rid yourself of your remaining fear. Then you looked for Bumblebee.

He seemed to be doing the same thing you were. His stingers put themselves away in favor of his servos and he leaned forward with his weight on his knees, a heavy exvent falling out of his chassis. You started toward him hesitantly, afraid that the moment you stepped out of the shelter of the trees, Blitzwing would come barreling back down out of the clouds.

“[Name]!” Bumblebee’s helm jerked up and you met his optics instantly. The sleek mech beside him was turning to look at him just as he called out, “Are you okay?”

Prowl whipped around to follow his line of sight. When he saw you, your fear of something different entirely came back full force. He very clearly had not known that you were there. Uh-oh.

“Am I okay?” Your voice was small at first and you tried to ignore his staring, “Are you okay? You’re the one that put a hole in the middle of the road!”

Bumblebee let out a curt laugh and his optics skimmed over his form to check for any visible injuries, then he glanced at the fractured asphalt, “I’ve been through worse.” His shoulders went loose and his light personality started to break through once more. Then he turned his gaze to Prowl, “Thanks to this guy, I’m—”

The slender ‘Bot whirled on Bumblebee with a loud voice, “Are your circuits fried?!”

You stopped in your tracks. The yellow scout flinched backward, “Wha—”

“You could have been offlined fighting Blitzwing by yourself!” Prowl belted, fresh fury lacing every single one of his words, “Why didn’t you call for reinforcements?!”

A scowl contorted Bumblebee’s faceplate and his lip curled, “I’ve kicked Blitzwing’s aft befo—!”

“Is that what you were doing when I got here?” Prowl leaned closer intimidatingly, “Just how dense is your processor, Bumblebee? You have a human to look after now! [Name] could have been killed!”

You could feel yourself shrinking. A hazard. A weakness. A distract—

“I had it under control! I—” Bumblebee’s arms flew out to his sides as he tried to explain himself.

“You weren’t thinking! You jump at conflict and the chance to fight without contemplating the consequences of your actions. That’s what’s dangerous, Bumblebee.”

Prowl said that a few weeks ago when you stumbled upon him lecturing Bumblebee on that side street. It’s dangerous, Bumblebee. The heart beating in your chest lurched.

An irritated sigh came from the ninja-bot. He stepped around his comrade and took a few paces north toward the glowing light pollution in the near distance. Bumblebee’s scowl followed him as he rubbed his forehead in anger and spoke again, “Let’s get back to the plant. [Name] isn’t going home tonight. It’s not safe for her anymore.”

He transformed without another word and revved his engine to start forward down the road. Bumblebee turned his helm and stared at his peds in silence, bristling.

You were still standing where you’d stopped in the grass. Shame flooded every part of you. You didn’t want to cause any conflict and now Bumblebee was visibly upset.

He sighed, shook his helm, and that scowl was replaced with a soft look of concern. Bumblebee looked up and approached you, closing the distance within a mere couple of seconds and dropped down to kneel before you. One of his servos reached out to hold your hand and his optics met your eyes, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

You blinked at him, a whirl of emotions overcoming your senses. Suddenly you were beyond exhausted. “I’m okay.”

Something flickered in the blue of his optics, but he blinked it away. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

Your head jerked back in surprise. “You didn’t scare me! The creepy horror-movie murder maniac is what scared me.”

A curt snort emanated from his voicebox. “Good. Yeah. Blitz-for-brains is a creepy freak alright.”

Bumblebee gently dropped your hand so he could stand. He stretched his arms up and over his helm, popped a few sore joints, and turned to walk back up to the edge of the pavement to fall into his vehicle mode. The driver’s door popped open for you and you climbed in quietly, now fully expecting the seatbelt to do it’s usual thing once you were settled. The door closed on it’s own and he dropped a gear, slowly moving to follow Prowl.

”Are you sure you’re okay?” You asked quietly, like you were nervous that he wasn’t going to like the question. “You kinda did get crushed for a second there.”

His nonchalant reply made you imagine him waving his servo dismissively, “I promise you, [Name], I’m indestructible at this point. I’ve had my aft handed to me way worse before. That was nothing. Remember when you literally watched me fall out of the sky?”

A small laugh made your lip quirk up. “Yeah. That was glorious.”

He let out a pfft. “Yeah, sure felt glorious.”

As the road opened up to a more populated area of Detroit’s outskirts, you found yourself unable to shake one of the many feelings from the events of the night. Anxiety. The way Blitzwing stared straight into your soul like he figured something out. It made you nervous. Strangely, it almost felt as if he was silently telling you that ‘this isn’t over.’

Bumblebee didn’t like the quiet. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you, right?”

You stared at the glowing light of the center console as he spoke softly. The anxiety ebbed a bit. You trusted him completely, even if you’d only known him for a little less than a month.

“Yeah, Bee. I know.”

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

“Psh, you? Stealth mode?” Your eyes rolled hard and you smiled, “Not possible.”

“I can be stealthy!” He shot back, the light from the center console illuminating your face in the rearview mirror, “Don’t underestimate me.”

“Bee, you’re loud and obnoxious, you don’t have a muffler, and you stick out like a giant yellow highlighter. Literally.” For a second you wondered if your joking insult was a bit too harsh.

“Oh, like your species could be any kind of stealthy? You guys are so squishy, I can practically hear your fluids swishing around from ten kliks away.”

Okay, fair. That was fair. Safe to say that you weren’t too harsh, because he would always bounce back. Something you both loved and still needed to get used to. Plus, you were pretty sure that this mech out of anyone would immediately call you out for it.

Your nose scrunched up into a disgusted scowl, “Ew, don’t say that. Gross.”

“Oh, you don’t like it, huh?” Bumblebee mocked, “Like that one time you told me you’d climb inside my cables?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You basically did!” He swerved around a garbage pail that was left a little too far from the sidewalk, squawking as he did so.

The harsh movement rebooted your focus. Your head poked forward to gaze out of the windshield again, and you noticed Prowl was quite a ways up ahead at that point, “Focus, Bee! He’s getting away!”

His engine revved and you were forced backward into the seat with the force, “From me? Nah—I’m the fastest thing on–!”

“I know, I know—whatever. But not right now you’re not–” You looked again to set your sights on him, but the slender mech was now gone. “And now I can’t see him!”

“What?” Bumblebee’s voice went shrill, “How did you lose him?”

Your eyes shot to the cyan light and your nose wrinkled again with feigned horror, “Me?!” You leaned forward once again to get a bit closer to the glowing center console, like it resembled talking directly to his face in any way, “You’re the one that keeps committing distracted driving offenses!”

“Sweetspark, I’m an Autobot,” He teased, slowing until he came to a halt in the middle of the empty roadway, “I literally can’t get distracted while driving.”

“You’re doing it right now! That’s literally how we just lost him!” You pointed up to the rooftops, in the general direction of where you’d last seen Prowl.

“Well, you should have been watching! You’re not the one driving here, so what were you–?”

Both you and the yellow scout let out simultaneous screams when a solid mass landed gracefully only a few inches before Bumblebee’s front bumper, immediately looming over him like a leopard. The seatbelt around you tightened and every single light in his interior lit up to their brightest points, then the scout’s gear shift practically flailed and his tires screeched as he peeled backwards to get away from it—the two of you still screaming in tune with each other.

Until Bumblebee cut his vocal panic off and abruptly came to a stop. You managed to do the same at almost the same time, and your fuzzy vision came back into focus as the short adrenaline rush ran it’s course.

Standing in the same spot he’d landed in was the gold-and-black mech that you’d originally been trying to follow. Although his faceplate was blank, his stiff posture told you immediately that he was absolutely not impressed, nevermind even remotely happy to see his comrade. Or you, probably.

“[Name]’s right, Bumblebee.” He stood straight up and narrowed his sights on the scout, “You’d be a terrible hunter.”

The door beside you popped open and you took that as your cue to step out. Bumblebee then stood and immediately had his servos on his hips while he shifted his weight onto one ped. Then the scout shot his sharp retort back almost instantly, “I can be stealthy! My human partner here was just being a huge distraction, that’s all.”

Your heart did something while it was still struggling to stop pounding in your chest from the scare. Was it happiness? He called me his partner.

But still, your neck snapped to the side so you could glare up at him, “What? You just said that you can’t get distracted while–!”

“Do you mind?” Prowl’s tone silenced you instantly. His digits reached up to his forehead, thoroughly frustrated, and each word was emphasized all in itself, “Can’t a ‘Bot enjoy a quiet night without listening to your constant bickering?”

You couldn’t tell if that was directed at you, or the both of you. But… it did have some truth to it, and you suddenly felt a fair amount of shame coiling in your chest. You never wanted to get on his bad side, and frankly you didn’t think you would have in the beginning. But since Optimus had decided to let you stay, all of that went completely out the window with this irritable alien hermit.

Bumblebee somehow was able to completely ignore the jab, “Well, grouchy. What’re you doing out here anyway?”

“Clearing my processor and minding my own business.” The sleek mech turned his back to the scout and muttered bitterly, “As should you.”

The sounds of his parts shifting left no time for another retort from Bumblebee. Either that, or the young scout simply chose to give up. And with that, Prowl’s engine revved and he was off, straight down the side street before he took a right and ripped out of sight once more.

“Well, someone’s cables are all knotted up.” Your tall yellow friend let out a curt scoff beside you and folded his arms. There was an irritated look all over him, but he tried to look unbothered, “Whatever. Come on, [Name]. Let’s go find something else that’s way more fun and totally not gonna fry our processors.”

You turned once more to look up at him just as he turned to you, “Do you think he hates me because I’m a human?”

The Autobot recoiled a little at the question. He didn't answer immediately, like he was contemplating his words for a moment. Then his optics softened the slightest bit and he knelt down to you, “Nah, [Name]. He’s just a ‘Bot that’s got megacycles-worth of being a pent up stiff powering his processor at all times. He doesn’t like anyone.”

All you did was blink at him for a second. Then your eyes turned back to where Prowl disappeared behind the wall a good ways away, and you let out a disappointed sigh, “He was so nice to me before I met the rest of you guys.”

“Well… you were almost eaten by a dog. He was probably just being nice.” Bumblebee tried to soothe you, but even he could see that it wasn’t really working.

“No, I mean–” You started with an urgent tone, like you had to explain yourself even though you knew that you probably didn’t to him, “He was so nice until I met the rest of you! Why? Did I do something wrong?”

Your friend’s optic lids dropped into a look that said ‘really?’ and he aimed one digit at you to get you to go quiet, “I just told you why. Stop that.”

You blinked, then squinted at him. The urge to respond with yet another playful insult was quickly squashed when you recognized that he was probably right. All throughout your youth, you had a tendency to spiral. And after losing your Gramma, you hadn’t realized that there was no one to stop said spiraling tactic of yours ever since. She was the rock that kept you grounded, and for a while there, no one else could be that rock for you.

Until this crude little neon yellow chatterbox came along. And he probably had no idea how much that one comment was able to bring you back down to reality.

So you shot him a grateful smile, “Thanks, Bee. I needed that.”

Then you watched with glee as his optics blew up, cooling vents kicked on, and he leaped back to stand up straight on his peds. He shook off the flushed look as soon as he glanced away from you, “So, now that you blew our cover, why don’t we–”

“I did not–!”

“Why don’t we–” He spoke over you loudly, “–Go racing around the city like we originally planned?”

Your irritation at the jab immediately dissipated and a bright smile broke out across your face, “Yeah!”

His signature smirk reappeared, then he bent down and balled his fists in excitement before shifting back into his vehicle mode and revving his engine louder than you’d ever heard it before. The door popped open wide and you jumped back in, fairly used to the strange feeling of the seatbelt reaching over to buckle itself before you were off.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

You didn’t know how upset Liz was going to be by the time you went home in the morning, but at that moment in time, you really didn’t care. Because this was truly the most fun you’d ever had in your life. She didn’t say no, but… she didn’t seem very lively in her text messages either.

Whatever. It was a problem for the morning, now that you’d be out all night long with Bumblebee.

The scout in question drifted with screeching tires around and around the same lamppost until it nearly made you sick. Only when you threatened to yack did he stop while squealing in protest himself.

It was close to midnight then, but the city of Detroit was still lively even at such a late hour. There were cars driving by everywhere you went that had loud music blasting with windows all the way down, and for a second you were genuinely shocked that you hadn’t come across anyone else that wanted to race yet. It was a Friday night during the summer and the weather was beautiful. Where were they all?

Bumblebee didn’t even seem to care. He was just happy to drive around with you along for the ride. The mech showed you a few of his favorite spots to punch his gas pedal, and from the looks of those roads, he’d been there many times before. They were practically painted with long stretching streaks of black—ribbons of pasted rubber ingrained into the asphalt. How often did he need to change his tires? Every single time you’d seen them, they looked brand new!

“Maybe we should go to the bridge and leave some skid marks there too!” The excitement and joy in his voice was immeasurable, “The cops would love that!”

You were in the middle of tossing your backpack into the passenger’s seat after grabbing your water bottle, “Yeah, uh, how do you get away with all of this all the time?”

“Uh, I don’t.” When your head turned to raise a questioning brow at the lit up center console, he stammered, “I mean, I do! But I’m pretty sure they do not like me.”

You let out a small snort of amusement, “Have you ever been caught?”

“Sorta, but they’ve never actually caught me. I don’t think they try too hard either because we kind of do all the heavy lifting for them. Plus, I’m too fast.” Bumblebee shifted gears once more with an aim to leave the parking lot and he rolled forward, “Actually, I think I’d be the best getaway driver ever.”

You laughed again and watched as a streetlamp passed by, “I bet they love you.”

“Why wouldn’t they?” He chirped while gear-shifting and ripping around the curb to get back onto the main street, “Like I said, we do like, most of their work for them. If anything, they should be thanking us.”

Your half-lidded, yet very amused eyes landed on the brightening light within his dashboard again, “I’m sure they’d love to thank you for leaving skid marks all over the city too.”

Bumblebee scoffed, “[Name], pavement was made to get marks on it. If they don’t like it, they shouldn’t get to drive their cars all over it.”

“Fair, I guess.”

Bumblebee continued ranting with you in tow as he sped down avenues, ripped corners a little too tightly, and soared by other unsuspecting drivers. You wondered if they could recognize the neon yellow Autobot and if they truly cared about his driving capabilities—or lack thereof. If you weren’t sitting safely nestled in the chassis of a giant robot, you probably would have lost the contents of your stomach eons ago.

As he made yet another cruising turn down toward the main roads, that massive river came into view straight ahead once more. You leaned forward in your seat to be able to stare in subconscious awe. Truly since moving to Detroit from the woods of New York, you’d never seen a river so wide. Lakes, sure—but never a river. The lights from passing cars and buildings along the other side glittered in the water’s reflection even at such a great distance. With each passing moment, Bumblebee surged forward and the river seemed to grow even wider as he neared it until he swung a right, now moving toward the parkway.

“Oh! I know what we can check out!” The giddy ‘Bot piped over the sound of his engine, “You like boats, [Name]?”

“Boats?” The word came out with a tone that screamed confusion, “Uh, yeah? I guess?” One of your brows arched at the lit dashboard once again, “You wanna go check out a boat?”

“Lots of boats!” There was a fresh wave of excitement reverberating in his voice and you didn’t have the heart to mock his choice of activity, not even jokingly. Truthfully, his joy, chatter, and unrelenting energy only further proved how happy he was to be hanging out with you.

This Autobot could take you to a junkyard for all you care. You were just so grateful to have someone who genuinely wanted to hang out with you after such a long period of loneliness.

“Yeah, okay.” It came out in a laugh, “Where are they?”

“At a marlin! On the river!” His confident answer almost made you explode.

“A marlin?” After your response, a full on explosion did in fact happen and you lost it in a fit of laughter.

You could imagine the look of embarrassment on his faceplate based solely on the sound of the screech he let out, “Why are you laughing?!”

“I’m not! I mean, I’m sorry!” The words were broken and you struggled to compose yourself, so you took a breath before you responded again, “It’s a marina, Bee. A marlin is a fish.”

“Ohhhh,” That cyan light within the dashboard stayed bright for a long few seconds, “Those slimy organic things that live in water? Yuck.”

“Yeah, well, marlins are actually pretty stabby, and really fast.” Your eyes were cast back to the river on your left and you pictured the silver-blue creature in your mind, “Don’t wanna get anywhere near one of those.”

“Well, good thing we’re not going in the water tonight.” The Autobot floored his gas pedal once more, peeling around an unsuspecting driver in the right lane, “I just wanna show you a cool spot where we can watch the stars.”

A light smile tugged at the corner of your lip. You missed the dark night skies of the northeast more than anything. “Sounds good.”

It wasn’t that much further of a drive before the parkway grew even more desolate, abandoned by the few other drivers of the night now that it was almost midnight. Then Bumblebee took the exit into a darker part of the outskirts of the city and made a left. That road only brought you closer to the river, until you realized that you were essentially on it’s edge. A thick line of trees and forest shrouded the roadway on both sides and you shivered. It was truly dark, quiet, and almost desolate.

You let out a huff of air when an LED sign with the marina’s name above it’s entrance eventually came into view and Bumblebee drove past it, earning a look of alarm from you. “Shouldn’t we drive through the–?”

“The gates that are closed and locked?” He finished the question for you, “No. I go in the fun way.”

Surely enough, when you looked back at the gate, there was a massive padlocked chain around it’s oversized vertical door handles. The Autobot continued forward with a quiet purr from his engine, and the sound of it made you realize that he definitely could have been quieter than he was before when stalking Prowl. But you opted to tease him for it another time.

Bumblebee’s headlights flicked off after a moment and he pulled up to the curb in a patch of darkness, well away from any streetlights. The distance from the gate wasn’t far at all, but far enough away for you to wonder where he was trying to go. When you stepped out and away from him while he worked to stand, your eyes studied the tall chain link fence, its spaces intertwined with a fabric of sorts so you could barely see through it. It’s height reached at minimum ten-feet, much higher than you could reach, and you knew you’d never be able to climb it with the fabric blocking your fingers from gripping within the spaces.

There were a few quiet mechanical hisses that came from your left, and you looked up at him with an arched brow when he moved to stand beside you, “We’re climbing the fence?”

“No.” Once again, that mischievous grin was back. Bumblebee reached his servos down and presented them to you, offering you his help, “We’re gonna jump over it.”

“Oh,” You blinked, then matched his smile and stepped up into his palm, “Breaking and entering, huh? Two incidents of trespassing in one day? You’re bold.”

“What can I say?” The mech’s servos brought you up to his shoulder plating and he waited patiently for you to find your footing before you sat perched next to his helm, “I told you I’m good at being a bad influence.”

You let out a curt snort of laughter before he asked you if you were ready, which you confirmed, and he made a leap for the fence. The mech easily cleared it while guiding his form with one servo at the top, balancing without pressing his weight down completely to avoid collapsing it. After most of him was on the other side however, a loud crash rang out, to which Bumblebee let out a squawk and stumbled frantically. And within not even a full second, he’d found his footing once again beside a collection of empty barrels, some that were now lying on their sides and rolling away.

The ‘Bot’s wide optics cast a sideways glance over to find you with your arms wrapped around his helm for stability, one hand gripping onto his left horn with solid white knuckles.

He tried to shrug the mishap off with a scoff, “You’re fine.”

“Yeah, and you’re stealthy alright.” Your eyes were going to start to hurt from rolling all the time now.

Bumblebee shot you a teasing smile before he focused once more on the task at hand. The marina was lit up before him, but it was like that every single time he’d come here, so it wasn’t alarming in the slightest. He knew that sometimes an older human lingered around to make sure nothing nefarious was happening to the many boats in his care, and Bumblebee knew he’d almost been caught sneaking around one too many times. But this time was just like any other time. He'd get up there to his quiet little perch with you in tow, and you’d both be able to sit and chat about anything and everything until the sun came up if you wanted to.

When the mech began to look around once more, he found that there was resistance coming from where you were sitting quietly on his shoulder. So he cast you another sideways glance, “Hey, uh– I know my horns are cool and all, but can you let go of ‘em? I kinda need to see.”

You hissed through a hot wave of embarrassment. “Don’t trip and scare the crap out of me again so I won’t have to.”

“Hey!” He piped through a laugh he tried to hide, “Look, anything but the horns, okay? They’re sensitive.”

Duly noted. The thought was smug.

The Autobot angled his now-free helm to the left, then to the right, scanning the small clearing a few times just to make sure there really was no one else around. You waited patiently, all scrunched up while leaning with your weight against his shoulder plating for stability and wondering how on earth he’d even found this place to begin with.

“Coast is clear,” He whispered, then pointed one digit at a boat that was suspended high up in mid-air from a maintenance crane along the docks, “Now we go up there.”

“Uh– what?” Your eyes went wide as you whispered back in disbelief, “How are you gonna do that?”

“Relax, [Name]. I do this all the time.” You could hear the smirk in his voice without even having to look at him. He truly was hysterically confident.

It made you nervous at times, you’d admit. But you’d never admit it to him for fear of being mocked or teased in response. Instead, the childish part of you desperately wanted to prove to him that you were brave too—and that you were definitely brave enough to commit misdemeanors all the time.

He ambled out into the open, careful not to move too harshly so you wouldn’t lose your grip on him. Once again, there was no sign of the older human, and you were still totally unaware of his presence even being a possibility. A satisfied smile curled on Bumblebee’s faceplate and he picked up the pace, aiming his strides straight for the tall davit looming ahead.

He wasted no time in his movements but he did make sure to spare a second to remind you to hold on to him. Then he began his ascent, scaling one side of the crane at a quick pace so he could avoid lingering out in the open for too long.

When you looked down, you were suddenly a little queasy. Which was surprising even to you when considering the fact that you’d done nothing other than jump off a quarry ledge for almost the whole day. Still, being within the grounds of an active maintenance facility made you nervous. What couldn’t you see that was just below the surface of the water? Was it even that deep? What if you fell? Would Bumblebee jump too?

Regardless, the bright yellow Autobot reached the edge of the small catamaran, high up in the air above the water, and stretched his limbs out and over it carefully. His movements were tentative, like he was trying more than anything not to leave a scratch on any part of the surface. Or maybe because he was hoping it wouldn’t give out and fall, you wondered.

Bumblebee’s helm turned to you once more as he settled into a comfortable position on the catamaran’s hull. There was a contagious smile all over every one of his features—so innocently happy, it warmed you immediately. He seemed genuinely glad to have you around, and you still couldn’t get over that fact.

His optics droned back to gaze upward into the almost totally clear night sky. There were ribbons of clouds dispersed here and there that were glowing in the moonlight, and countless stars glittered in the darkness beyond. The faintest bands of cool colors blended behind them, showing off the hues of the galaxy in spite of the light pollution bleeding in from Detroit’s nightlife.

It was quiet for a few moments as the two of you soaked in the sight. The beauty was almost unmatched—maybe just as beautiful as the night sky out in the middle of the woods of New York. Out there, there were less cities and light pollution, which allowed you to see more colors in the inky blackness of night. But still, the sight of a different set of constellations calmed you just like it did back there. It was true that you missed your home, sure. But perhaps Detroit wouldn’t be as bad as you’d originally thought it would.

After all, you’d only been in the area for a few weeks. Yet you still managed to make one of the best friends you’d ever had in your life, easily. Adjusting to life here was already well on it’s way to being a huge success. Now your next objective would have to be getting back on Prowl’s good side.

“Sometimes when I look up there,” Bumblebee’s voice broke you out of your trace. You looked over to him from your spot on his shoulder as he continued, “I wonder if one of those stars is actually Cybertron. Kind of a longshot, I know. It’s really far away. But I still like to think it’s one of ‘em.”

Your eyes watered just a little bit in the cool breeze before you found yourself wrapping your arms around your knees, careful not to fall from your spot atop his chassis. The thought of missing home made you look back up to the glittering constellations once more, and a quiet sigh left your lungs. You felt almost mournful, like you’d left behind a huge part of yourself when you left your lifelong home. But the reality you faced now was that those feelings must be nothing compared to Bumblebee’s. His home was probably lightyears away–apparently war-torn and divided.

The home you’d known all your life was only a good few hours away, and his was totally out of reach and unrecognizable. The thought made the heart in your chest lurch with sympathy.

You dragged your eyes back down from the stars in favor of your friend once more, “What’s Cybertron like?”

“Right now?” He let out a curt tch without looking at you, “It’s a mess. The Decepticons attacked us, deemed all Autobots traitors, then they totally destroyed everything. We left on a scouting mission because we had to, and we ended up here while we were all knocked out in stasis lock. Woke up, found out the species that’s sorta at the top of the food chain or whatever was cool with us staying, and tried to establish a base here in secret. But that didn’t last long.” His optics fell back down to his peds just before he finished speaking. His next few words came with a tired sigh, “Megatron’s goons found us way quicker than we thought they would. And we’re stranded here.”

You studied his features; the way his optics drew slowly to a close. The way his shoulders slumped against your’s and how his helm drooped a bit. This was the first time you’d seen him get truly emotional about something.

“But before, it was pretty great—aside from the academy. Mostly, I guess. I met Bulkhead there when we were cadets.” His optics brightened at the mention of the wrecker, and it finally prompted a response from you.

“So you did go to school, huh?” A soft smile broke across your face. Hopefully it would brighten his mood, even if just a little.

His unamused, half-lidded optics met your eyes when his helm dramatically flopped to face you, “Yeah, I still don’t know what school is, [Name].”

“It’s a place of agony. Death and despair, a never-ending prison of misery.” The feigned suffering in your voice was already well on its way to thoroughly horrifying the young Autobot.

His optics blew open wide and he reared back like he was physically struck, “What? How?! Why do humans have something like that for their sparklings? I had no idea–!”

“I’m joking, I'm joking.” You gave him a light pat on the top of his helm and after a moment, his posture relaxed a little bit as you continued, “It does kinda suck though. Loads of work that makes no sense to do, like work that doesn’t actually teach you anything about becoming an adult in this world. Bullies. Getting up so early in the morning everyday, your eyes never want to open all the way.” You cast your eyes away as you reminisced, “The bullies are the worst though.”

He was silent for a few heartbeats, then came the sound of a quiet wrr as his neck angled forward so he could look back down at his peds, “Maybe it is like the academy. Bulkhead and I were bullied a lot by this one ‘Bot, who I ended up getting–” Bumblebee stared into space for a second before he shook his helm like he’d rebooted himself, “Long story.”

“I can’t imagine why, honestly. Unless you bullied him first.” Your fingertips traced the edge of his chassis, then the thought of aiming a playful jab at him made you smirk, “Maybe it was because you’re a rude, snarky little troublemaking brat.”

The mech shuddered in a loud laugh, “Can’t deny that. But so are you.”

“No! Not even remotely close compared to–”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Bumblebee’s opposite servo reached up and poked you, like he was trying his best a playful shove while minding his own strength, “You’re catching on pretty quick.”

The laugh shared between you both might have been enough to knock you off his shoulder if you weren’t paying attention. He leaned back after composing himself the slightest bit, fully relaxing for the first time since climbing up to the boat, and his helm turned back to gaze up at the stars.

Your eyes studied him for a moment longer. He was funny, there was no denying that. “You’re probably gonna be the death of me.”

Bumblebee scoffed, “Nah, I won’t let you die. You have to be there to take the blame for me. Optimus definitely won't dismantle you.”

“You won’t let me die, but you’ll let me break laws.” You raised your hand and tapped the side of his helm with it.

“No, I’m breaking laws with you. There’s a difference.” He rolled his optics with a smirk, “And breaking laws won’t kill y–”

When Bumblebee cut himself off abruptly, you turned to look at him and immediate confusion flooded your face. His optics stared off into space, but it was very obvious that he wasn’t just dissociating. He was focused—honing in on something—and you had no clue at all what it was.

You turned to look at where you thought his optics were trained. Then another drawn out pause ended when you could no longer stand it and your brows shot up your forehead, “What’re you looking at now?”

“Shh.” He hissed quietly. Another heartbeat and still, nothing. Until slowly, his limbs began to grow rigid. His posture straightened once more, and he craned his neck back to search the skies above him.

You did the same, and that was when you finally heard it. A low, deep rumbling cascading through the air. It was distant, pretty faint, but it was definitely there. The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end and a massive pit opened up in your stomach. You didn’t know what it meant, but you knew that you did not like the way Bumblebee was acting.

Bumblebee leaned forward without warning and straightened up before he moved to stand, one servo reaching out to cup the air around you so you wouldn’t fall from your place beside his helm. His knees were slightly bent, with optics that were trained intently on the sky. The Autobot was very obviously preparing himself for something that you were completely blind to.

The thought almost made you burst on the spot. You needed to know what was wrong. “Bee, what are you looking at?”

Another agonizing pause. Until he raised his opposite servo and pointed up into the sky, “That.”

High up in the clouds, the vibrations in the air grew stronger. A small bead of muted color was barely visible in the moonlight as it rapidly soared in and out of the cloud coverage. Whatever it was, it surged with bursts of speed a few times before it banked to the left and seemed to go stationary. Your eyes struggled to focus in on the tiny floating object. “What is that?”

The rumbling grew even louder and far more intense, until it finally clicked in your head. That was the sound of a fighter jet closing in, and fast.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

Bumblebee sat beside you with his legs splayed out before him, pedes slowly turning from side to side while he leaned back onto his servos in the soft grass. His optics searched the glittering water ahead while you sat perched on the large root of the tree that loomed above you both, fully enveloped in the need to satisfy your stomach.

Sitting in this exact spot had become the new norm for the two of you ever since the Blitzwing incident almost a month prior. Bumblebee wanted to be closer to the road and away from any obstacles—like an almost-full boatyard—so he could make a much easier getaway if he needed to. He’d learned from that incident, clearly.

And you absolutely weren't complaining. The wide river before you reflected the lights of the buildings across the way as well as the moon, whenever it was visible and full. The massive Ambassador Bridge stood to the left not too far away. You could easily move just beyond the dense branches to look up into the sky for some stargazing, and the upward slope behind you provided some privacy from any prying eyes on the road and beyond. It was certainly pretty, and definitely a quiet and peaceful spot to sit and relax with your friend. Plus, the nauseating height of that davit was no longer a worry.

The summer heat had faded, giving way to chillier nights and warm afternoons. Halloween was just around the corner now that October had come, and you couldn’t wait for Bumblebee to actually experience it this year, particularly because you’d since discovered that he was insanely easy to scare. The young mech could barely handle scary clips online, let alone a bunch of much smaller beings dressed up as monsters and creatures and everything in between. At least, that was what you’d assumed.

The Autobot in question continued to gaze ahead in silence while you wolfed down your burger. His optics fell on the Ambassador Bridge for a long moment before a shiver ran through his circuits and he shook it off before turning to arch an optic ridge at you. “You enjoying your fuel?”

A vigorous nod and a piece of lettuce falling from your lip gave him his answer.

He laughed softly, then turned his optics back to the water again. “Ratchet’s gonna try to work on the holomatter generator again in a few cycles. Maybe I actually could try human fuel soon.”

“I wonder how that’s gonna work,” You mumbled through another mouthful, “The food is solid, so where does it go when you’re not a holoform anymore? Like, if your holoform disappeared, would a pile of ground beef fall on the floor out of thin air?” The image in your head made you wince. “Actually, that would be so gross. Ew.”

“Yeah, actually. Ew.” He shot you another smirk, then looked back at the water once again. “I think it’d be cool to actually feel like a human for a day. To touch stuff and feel stuff. But also not. I don’t know.”

You took your last bite and balled the parchment paper up into a ball with one hand, tossed it into the paper bag on your right, then turned to look at him. “Why not?

“Because being so small and having no plating or armor would probably make me feel so defenseless and basically naked.”

Your head turned sharply to your left so you could send him a glare and half a smile, “Hey! We’re not totally defenseless!”

“Yeah, you are! You guys are all squishy and soft! I mean, it’s gotta feel weird, right?” He leaned up to take the pressure off his servos, then reached over to poke your side with one digit which earned him a sharp laugh. “See? I just can’t believe I used to think you were dangerous!”

You pushed his servo away with another laugh, staying upright to defend yourself from it again if you needed to.

“Besides, I’m your guardian.” Bumblebee leaned forward and brought his knees closer to his chassis to balance his weight on the grass. “I can’t really protect you if I’m just as small and squishy as you are.”

“You’d be surprised.” You mused. “Humans are strong too. You just gotta give us the right tools.” Then you angled your head to the side to give him a playful glare. “And I am still dangerous. Mentally, at least.”

The Autobot turned back to you and squinted. “Yeah—dangerously delusional.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled, then cast your sights back on the rocky riverbank ahead.

The bridge continued to glitter with passing taillights against the dark night sky. Your eyes studied the sheer height of it and for a long moment, you wondered how far the roadway actually was from the water. It was a sickening drop—definitely way further than you’d first thought. Even simply driving across it gave you a strange spike of anxiety and nausea. You couldn’t imagine ever looking down into the dark river from that height.

The thought of it made you shiver once more. You shook your head, then let out a dramatic sigh and threw yourself down onto your back in the soft grass.

It took a moment for you to move again, mostly because you simply enjoyed laying beneath a massive tree, breathing in the scent of fall, and relishing in it all with your eyes closed. When you did open them again, stars speckled the spaces in between the leaves above you as the branches swayed in a gentle breeze. You could only count a few of the leaves that were still green, some of them patchy and others completely swallowed in warm shades of orange altogether. Beside you still, Bumblebee was quiet for once. He seemed to be enjoying the serenity just as much as yourself.

Life alongside him really hadn’t been as insane as you’d originally been led to believe. Decepticon activity was quieter than usual, according to the other Autobots—which was certainly strange but no one was complaining about it. Detroit remained relatively peaceful on that front, and the people inhabiting the city seemed to be at ease as well. Almost two months without a Decepticon attack? Extremely suspicious, sure, but certainly not unappreciated.

Liz had now met Bumblebee two more times since that first awkward meeting. She seemed a bit more relaxed with the idea of her niece hanging around a boy in her age group, especially now that she was actually able to talk to him and get a feel for his intentions—even if they weren’t completely true. They were still nothing but good intentions, but it was still technically a lie nonetheless. You were just glad that she could relax now. She’d barely complained about the ‘cybertronian problem’ at all since that night either, actually.

Prowl’s words still bounced around in your head on random occasions. The lack of Decepticon presence might have brought your guard down quite a lot, but his never seemed to go down at all. His persistence for remaining vigilant was incessant—and even annoying at times.

Prowl’s just paranoid. The words broke through to the forefront of your other thoughts, Everything’s fine.

The lack of chaos and danger was more than you could ask for. It only meant that you could spend more quality time making up inside jokes with the extremely rude Autobot scout beside you.

“You’re my best friend, Bee. The best friend I’ve ever had.” You’d blurted the quiet statement without thinking or even looking at him. While you continued to stare up at the stars beyond the leafy canopy, in your peripheral vision you saw his helm jerk to the side so he could look at you.

He didn’t say anything, but he continued to search your features. Suddenly, your cheeks were burning and you could feel your chest growing hot. So continuing to talk seemed to be the best thing to do without embarrassing yourself—hopefully. “I’m just glad that I ended up moving to Detroit.” You finally turned to give him a mischievous smile, “Honestly, I can’t imagine what my life would be like without my own little talking car to harass me everyday.”

“Little?!” The scout’s emotion visibly twisted from feigned offense into something sinister, complete with a wicked smirk. “You–!”

His servos lunged forward and immediately began an onslaught of poking and prodding, tickling your sides and your middle while minding his own strength. You let out a shriek that was quickly drowned out with laughter, totally and completely unable to form shouts of protest. Somewhere in the attack, he used a digit to ruffle your hair and started laughing at how wild he’d made it look. Your arms flew out once or twice in an effort to shove him away, and of course it would never work. However, your broken pleading for mercy was what finally made it end.

Through your ragged breathing and now-rigid posture, you’d leaned all the way up once more and stared at him with wild eyes, your giggling dying down when he stated firmly, “That’ll teach you not to call me little ever again.” Then he turned his helm up at you like he was too good to meet your eyes, “Because I’m not the smallest anymore. You are.”

Your heart was racing still, unable to come down from the unexpected attack. He’d figured out that humans can be tickled, clearly. How? You had no idea. But it was certainly something to remember from now on. You’d just have to figure out how to get him back for it anytime he weaponized it against you. Surely there had to be something that could work.

For now, you gave in. “Oh, please forgive me!” The back of your hand met your forehead and you leaned back, “How will I ever survive without our friendship?” With the rest of your woeful words, you flopped back down into your original place with your back in the grass and released a dramatic sigh.

“I think you’ll live.” Bumblebee mused.

You pinned your eyes shut and sighed loudly again to see if it would instigate him further, but when he surprisingly didn’t say anything, you finally allowed your muscles to relax. With another deep breath, you inhaled the scent of the chilly night air once again and calmed the racing, gleeful heart in your chest. Your eyes opened once more to find those pretty leaves again. “I don’t think I would, actually–”

The branches were… darker, somehow. While you thought your eyes were simply struggling to adjust, you realized that the stars beyond the canopy were now gone. At your sudden silence, Bumblebee turned to look at you with questioning optics and a mouth that hung open as if he were about to ask you what was wrong. He saw your eyes narrow, arms slowly pushing yourself up as you squinted up into the leaves before he finally voiced his concern, “What’re you looking at?”

As the realization dawned on you, you felt your pulse rush. “There’s something up in the–”

Whatever it was, it moved. The branches high up above shuddered against it’s weight and the leaves rustled violently. Then multiple bright red eyes appeared, and you couldn’t hold back a gasp of alarm.

A loud yelp ripped out of your lungs as you were snatched from your place in the grass. Bumblebee whirled on his pedes and jumped away to stand with his back facing the river. He threw you up onto the top of his chassis in between his helm and shoulder plating before he whipped out his stingers, loud electricity pulsating from them through erratic sparks and narrowed optics searching the treetop. But whatever was there had now vanished.

Your hands gripped the edge of his chassis as you steadied yourself, your own eyes searching wildly, “I saw something! I know I–!”

A heavy thud from behind him sent him whirling on his pedes again, but this time the both of you shrieked in total and complete terror at the sight of an enormous spider on the rocky riverbank. His weapons surprisingly didn’t fire off—probably because he was too focused on screaming louder than you’d ever thought possible and simultaneously backing away. And you were vocalizing just the same.

The horrifyingly massive insect didn’t move or speak during your very vocal shared panic. By the time your voices were dying down, still nothing had happened. Only a glaring stare bleeding from every single one of those slitted red optics grew with intensity as Bumblebee’s voice droned off and your’s did the same.

Silence. Tense, thick silence blanketed the space between yourself, your friend, and the multi-legged being that was still unmoving on the river’s rocky edge. The only sound drifting across the open stretch was the faint thrumming of Bumblebee’s electric stingers.

Until a smooth feminine voice delivered a dry insult. “Well, that was dramatic.”

Then, it transformed. Bumblebee’s posture tensed beneath your palms and you reached for something to grab onto, absentmindedly remembering not to grab onto his horns.

The being stood, her long and pointed appendages curling behind her back as she moved to stand upright. Black, purple, and gold plating reflected the indigo moonlight from above and the streetlights from the top of the slope that were now behind you. Sharp heels, clawed digits, and a sleek form came to take shape just a few yards before him. The new face stretched her arms forward before she looked completely relaxed with one servo coming to rest on her hip. Her armored helm and faceplate lacked any and all emotion—other than maybe a single shred of irritation.

Bumblebee’s stingers pulsed with fresh energy and he narrowed his optics, glowering at the feminine cybertronian that clearly neither of you had ever seen before. Inwardly, you cursed at yourself while you waited for something to inevitably happen. I just jinxed us.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Autobot.” Her voice was smooth, silky, and definitely not at all unnerving. “It’s just a little spider.”

“Back up.” You could feel the scout’s voicebox vibrating up through your chest as he growled. “I can see that insignia just fine.”

The femme glanced down at the Decepticon symbol in the center of her armored neckband, then she let out a sigh that sounded more like a hiss. “What—this thing?” One of her claws reached up to tap it lightly, “I haven’t been one of them for a long time, sweetspark.”

You narrowed your own eyes at her suspiciously. Nothing about the femme standing on the rocks ahead of you made you feel anything other than alarmed and ill. Her plating had sharp edges and ribbed pieces, very obviously less uniformed than any other cybertronian you’d ever seen. However, it made sense when considering what her alternate form was. A massive, metal spider with unnervingly long legs would send anyone into a spiral.

Your friend continued to hold his pointed glare, his stingers vibrating with energy once again and never lowering even an inch. “Then what do you want?”

Her helm flicked to her left just slightly. Even though her numerous optics were solid in color, you could almost feel their burning intensity. She seemed calm and collected, but there was still something about her that just seemed… wrong. A shiver ran along the length of your spine and into your fingertips.

“My designation is Black Arachnia.” The dark femme started in that same silky tone. Bumblebee’s form tensed once again when she stepped to the side and began to slowly pace along the rocky shoreline. “I’ve been exploring this planet for a few vorns now, but I came back here when I heard of the drama that you ridiculous mechs will still not let die. Somehow, you’ve dragged the war onto yet another planet—as if destroying our own homeworld wasn’t already enough.”

“We didn’t destroy anything. You can blame your leader for that.” Bumblebee hissed viciously through gritted denta.

Black Arachnia ignored him, her optics focused on the rocks before her pedes as she took each slow step, still not at all concerned about the scout’s drawn weapons. “But then I saw you, Autobot. And I was intrigued when I saw that human following your every move.” Her helm turned gradually to look at him once more. “A cybertronian and an Earth organic attached at the hip? It’s interesting. You’re proof that our kind can tolerate organic matter.”

Bumblebee didn’t move or speak. Goosebumps exploded along the surface of your skin and against the fabric of your sleeves.

“It’s cute, in a way. I really wondered how that came to be.” Arachnia stopped in her tracks and let out a soft laugh. “So I’ve been observing your bond for the last stellar cycle.”

She’s been watching us? For how long? Another shiver quaked through your body, as if you weren't already completely and totally freaked out.

Movement from her caught your attention once more and when you looked back, you saw half-lidded optics already meeting your own squinting eyes. Then that same smooth voice practically purred, “What’s your name, sweetspark?”

Your fingers curled along the edge of Bumblebee’s chassis, white-knuckling your grip on him and your breath caught in your chest for only a brief second. Even if you wanted to respond, Bumblebee beat you to it.

“You’re a freak of nature and you need to frag off.” His stingers roared with energy and the electric currents flared along the air before he squared his shoulders. The Autobot genuinely seemed like he was one more word away from firing a shot at his target.

“Hmph. Nature.” Arachnia’s optics squinted at him and her lip curled, just a fraction of anger making itself known. She paused for a long moment and searched him up and down, but she still hadn’t moved. “Sometimes becoming a freak of nature is a good thing, believe it or not. Organic matter might just end up being the key to a kind of power one can only dream of.”

The femme’s servo slipped from her hip and she took one small step toward him, then those solid optics narrowed in on you once again. “We have far more in common than you’d think.”

Bumblebee took one step back and repositioned his stingers to aim at her helm.

Then, she smiled and hissed with a note of disgust. “Hold onto that one while you can, scout.”

“Get lost!” He barked an instant response.

You flinched when the sparking stingers before him finally released in a flurry of zaps. Bolts of electricity soared across the air, each one missing their intended target as she dodged them effortlessly. Arachnia bent her knees and launched herself upward faster than your eyes could follow before she landed, now standing in the grass a few yards away on Bumblebee’s left. The young ‘Bot jerked to the side to face her and held his stingers higher, but he didn’t fire again.

You’d expected her to retaliate, to lash out—something. But she didn’t. Her posture was still relaxed when she stood tall after her landing with her helm lolled over her shoulder to send him another unbothered look.

Bumblebee was practically seething, his chassis shuddering in sporadic pants with his knees bent and ready to act if needed. Through his movements, you’d latched onto the side of his neck with one hand and the edge of his shoulder plating in the other. Staring at the being ahead of you once again was the only thing you felt you could really do.

Arachnia stared back for a moment longer before she raised her servos defensively and took a step back. Then she smiled and murmured, “See you around.”

With that, she shifted. The massive cybertronian spider came to be again, then scurried up the slope and out of sight.

The scout remained tense and rigid for a long moment. Only at the sound of your shaky breathing did he relax just slightly, one stinger returning to a servo while he let out an exvent himself. Bumblebee then straightened and stood tall with his helm turning back to see where she’d disappeared. Clearly, he still wasn’t convinced that she really had left.

On a normal night, you might have thought that the tense silence was suffocating. Instead you found yourself thinking the same thing that he probably was—it’s still dangerous. But when scanning the top of the slope revealed nothing and there was no sound other than the acceleration of a few distant cars, your shoulders finally sagged. She was gone.

Your friend shook his helm like he was rebooting himself. When you looked to find his faceplate, you found a scowl and squinting optics still trained on where he last saw her. It lasted only a moment before he turned to meet your gaze. “You good?”

“I’m good.” You stared at him, jaw agape for a few seconds and blinking away any lingering scraps of wild alarm. “Are you good?”

“Psh, I’m good.” He tried to sound confident, but it didn’t really work. His apprehension was still evident in his optics, his posture that still hadn’t completely relaxed, and the fact that he kept looking up the slope said everything. However, his opposite stinger finally turned back into a servo nonetheless. “But that was really weird.”

“You don’t say?” Your eyes went wide and you craned your neck forward to find his optics again with a tone that emphasized the sarcasm. “She just said she’s been following us for a stellar-whatever!”

“A stellar cycle.” The Autobot corrected. His optics only flicked to your face for a second as he spoke. “It’s like– I think it’s a month for you guys. Or whatever you call it.”

Your shoulders slumped with a sigh, then you flopped over with your weight leaning on the side of his helm. The fresh image of those many pointed legs popped back into your head and a violent shiver wracked your bones. You let out a hiss of disgust, “I hate spiders.”

“Me too.” Bumblebee confirmed, his own shiver reverberating through his circuits. “Especially the Decepticon kind.”

You were honestly surprised that he wasn’t complaining about you being so close to touching his horns by now. “I didn’t even know those existed and honestly, I’m not really thrilled about it.”

“Me neither—to both of those points.” Bumblebee finally turned to face the tree that had previously provided shelter, then he reached up to pluck you from your spot atop his chassis. The scout set you down on the ground beside him gently before he shifted back into the familiar WRX and popped the driver’s door open automatically. “Let’s go tell the guys.”

You nodded wordlessly and jumped in, happy to feel the warmth of his interior. Until that moment, you hadn’t realized that the goosebumps along your skin were still very prominent—likely from the combination of feeling thoroughly freaked out and the chilly night air.

Bumblebee pulled up alongside the massive oak tree and stopped to let you out for a brief second. You needed to retrieve your almost-forgotten burger-joint paperbag.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

“There was this… spider-lady. But it was really weird.” Bumblebee’s need to talk with his servos flying all over the place would likely never be something he’d stop doing. “Apparently she’s been stalking us for cycles like some kind of freak!”

Optimus’ words were mellow and level, and one of his servos held his chin in a thoughtful expression. “And you saw the Decepticon insignia?”

“Yeah! She said she’s not one of them anymore—apparently.” Bumblebee’s optics turned to pan across the room at the other Autobots.

When you both scrambled in through the open bay door, Bulkhead had been discussing something with Optimus. Ratchet was in the middle of his never-ending tinkering. And Prowl must have been in the hallway, because the slender mech only appeared after Bumblebee exploded with frantic rambling. The plant had been quiet for a long couple of weeks and it left the team almost restless to some degree. Some excitement—even if it was coming from the ever-dramatic scout—was more than enough to get them all to stop what they were doing without a second thought.

Your own words seemed to get trapped in your throat. By now, your comfort among the other Autobots had skyrocketed, but they still left you feeling a bit intimidated during group discussions sometimes. You were getting better at it everyday, but the idea that you were just a little pest never seemed to stop bleeding from the cracks of your subconscious. Prowl’s consistent attitude still wasn’t helping either.

“And you didn’t engage?” The cyberninja’s monotone voice carried over to the scout standing beside you. There was just enough of a suspicious tone in there, you almost thought he was trying to instigate something.

“Well, not really. I fired a few warning shots to get her to back off, but that was it.” Bumblebee’s optics flicked across his teammates briefly, then he looked down at you and down at his pedes. “She didn’t attack back.”

Prowl let out a quiet hiss that was half a sigh, his right servo reaching up to cover his visor. You saw Bumblebee tense beside you, so before any bickering could inevitably blow up, you leaned up and took a deep breath.

“She talked about cybertronians getting along with organics and stuff. It was really weird.” You finally managed to work up enough courage to add to the conversation, even if your eyes still stayed stuck and glued to the cement beneath your sneakers. “Then she said that we have a lot in common, and she left.”

“She said that she has a lot in common with who?” Ratchet’s voice from behind you startled you only slightly. The older mech was leaning over you so he could meet your eyes, and you had to crane your neck back to see it. He had one optic ridge arched in question. “You?”

“I mean– I think?” You looked away from his optics, glazed eyes scanning the faceplates of the other Autobots to gauge their reactions. “She was looking right at me when she said it.”

Both Ratchet and Prowl looked to Optimus, then Bumblebee and Bulkhead did the same after staring down at you for a moment longer. Clearly they were all looking to their leader to see what he would think about the strange encounter.

The noble Autobot in question had his optics trained on you for a long few seconds—long enough to make your stomach churn at the unwanted attention. “And you’re sure you weren’t followed?”

“Honestly?” Bumblebee shrugged, his features flinching at the sudden realization. “I hope not. If she’s actually been following us for almost a stellar cycle, I had no idea.”

You looked from your friend and back up to the taller leader. Bumblebee didn’t answer his question, so you did. “I don’t think she followed us back to the plant tonight, no. We kept checking behind us and we never saw anything weird.”

Optimus let out a huff of air. Then the mech turned slightly and began to pace for just a moment. He was very clearly deep in thought, squinting his narrowed optics and still holding his chin within his servo. Then he heaved a heavy exvent and turned to meet the optics of his surrounding and expectant comrades. “I don’t like it.”

“Who would?” Ratchet quipped, his tone dropping into thick sarcasm. “A techno-organic stalking humans wasn’t exactly what I would have expected for our roster.”

“A techno-organic?” Your voice cracked. “Is that what she is?”

Optimus let out a hmph, then squared his shoulders before he turned to face Prowl and Bulkhead on his right. “I’m going to scope it out, see if she’s still in the area. Prowl, you’ll come with.”

The mech in question nodded wordlessly. His helm turned to his right, hidden optics undoubtedly landing on you, and you could feel yourself shrinking deeper into your own skin under the weight of his stare. You tried to avoid his gaze but before you could internally explode over it, he’d already looked away once more.

Neither one of you had spoken a word to each other since he’d lashed out at you—not really. There wasn’t really any need for it. You’d tried your best to hide away from his intense presence more often than not, and Bumblebee also made that quite easy for you. The scout very obviously had never liked Prowl from the start—and that feeling was mutual—long before you’d showed up in their lives, so keeping his charge away from the irritable grouch became one of his top priorities very quickly. Especially after you refused to tell him about how your ‘conversation’ went.

“You two–” Optimus turned to point at Bulkhead, then to Bumblebee, “–stay here with [Name] until we get back with a report.”

Bulkhead nodded. Bumblebee folded his arms across his chassis and dropped his helm to the side. There was a sharp scowl adorning his faceplate and his narrowed optics looked anywhere else but at the commanding leader. The scout was muttering something, but it was too quiet for you to catch it all. Something about ‘my charge’ and ‘I never get to patrol for stuff like this.’

You blinked at him, then rolled your eyes and shook off the remaining nerves as they fired warning after warning in your brain. You were ever so slowly beginning to get a grip on your anxious thoughts, but it was still a fight nonetheless. Plus, it wasn’t like you’d be able to truly relax with the newfound knowledge of an alien stalker on the loose.

Optimus stepped into the space between yourself and the yellow mech with Prowl following just a few paces behind. Once again, you could feel the weight of his stare burning the surface of your skin as he stalked quietly past. But that time, you chose not to meet it.

Maybe ignoring Prowl enough actually would make it all go away.

The two beings exited through the open bay door and Ratchet closed it swiftly behind them. When he turned back to face the abnormal silence, he found a stagnant room with three youngsters expectantly staring back at him.

A scowl rippled along his scarred faceplate, “What are you all staring at? Go play one of those human games—or whatever mindless slag you love to distract yourselves with.”

The old mech ambled away and into his own medical bay. That left yourself, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead all staring after him—until you turned to look back at the scout, then to the wrecker.

With the both of them stupidly staring back and Bumblebee being abnormally quiet, you threw your arms up in the air and widened your eyes.

Bulkhead blinked, then his helm turned just slightly to the side. “What now?”

You simply shrugged, eyes surveying him and Bumblebee repeatedly. “I dunno.”

“We do what Ratchet said!” Bumblebee suddenly jumped in the spot where he stood, his arms waving animatedly before him and his optics squinting in a suspicious look. Then his ever-present mischievous smirk came back brighter than ever. “Distract ourselves with mindless human slag!”

You could feel a shiver run through your insides, but you matched the energy nonetheless. “I don’t… ew, dude. Just ew. You make it sound so gross.”

“You’re gross!” Bumblebee barked defensively as he pointed a digit at you. “I’m just trying to make sure we don’t rust while we wait stellar cycles for them to come back.”

The young ‘Bot turned on his heel and sauntered across the living space toward the mouth of the hallway. He stopped short just before disappearing around the edge of the wall where he could still see you and the giant green mech standing behind you. After a long moment again filled with silent staring, his optic lids dropped and he tipped his helm to the side, “Well? What’re you guys waiting for? Come on!”

The sound of Bulkhead’s shifting parts finally made you move when you realized he’d obeyed without a second thought, and you did just the same. Scrambling to catch up with enormous beings wasn’t as easy as it looked—not to mention holding that pace while trying to keep up with them. Their legs were way longer than yours, after all.

Bumblebee led the two of you back into his own living quarters. Once the young ‘Bot was inside the space, he turned and waited for Bulkhead and yourself to step in before shoving the heavy door closed behind you. Then he scampered across the concrete floor to the opposite wall and hurriedly rummaged through a pile of electronics. Wires and batteries flew into the air and all over the place as he tossed them away, earning him a bark from you after you’d dodged one of the many pieces of flying debris.

“Watch it, dude!” Another small battery flew past your skull. How could he even manage batteries with servos as large as his own? You didn’t know—but you did know that you didn’t want to get clobbered with them. “You’re gonna hit me with those.”

A sharp tang sounded off from Bulkhead’s pede as he was struck with the end of a powercable. One side of his oversized jaw twitched upward in irritation at the contact. “Maybe [Name] should have some armor around here.”

Your eyes shot up to find his optics, wide and amazed and sparkling with sudden interest. “Whoa! I want armor! That would be so sick!”

A scoff came from the hyperfocused scout across the room, but he didn’t look away from whatever he was trying to find. “[Name] doesn’t need armor! She has me.”

“That’s exactly the problem.” Bulkhead leaned forward with one servo outstretched as if he wanted to cover you with it, but he stopped just before reaching you when Bumblebee barked excitedly.

“Aha!” The yellow mech jumped backward and pumped his servos into the air triumphantly, then he turned and presented the object in his grasp to yourself and the just as equally confused Autobot standing behind you.

It was a large box of some kind—dark gray and black in color with cables coming out of the backside of it and a large lens on it’s front.

Bumblebee’s smug smile tugging at his faceplate made you want to make some kind of joke to fluster him. However, your genuine curiosity outweighed the need to do so. “And this is–?”

“A media player.” He stated matter-of-factly, optics closed.

You blinked at him before your eyelids dropped just slightly, even if he couldn’t see it. “That’s a projector.”

“No, it’s my media player.” The Autobot reared back and shot you a look of feigned disgust. “It plays media.”

You had to resist the urge to smile teasingly. “Yeah. Also known as a projector.”

“No, it’s–!”

“Oh, who cares what it’s called!” Bulkhead snapped from behind you. His booming voice was more than enough to get anyone to shut up. “It plays movies! So we’re watching a movie. Right?”

“Right!” Bumblebee smiled brightly, then he looked down at you and winked. “So go get your big pile of tarps while I set this thing up.”

You rolled your eyes and sighed dramatically, but turned to find your mess of blankets nonetheless.

Over the last month, you’d obtained some king-sized blankets of your own to keep at the plant. Soft, plush, and warm quilted ones that offered a level of comfort you didn’t even have in your own bedroom at home. After you’d discovered this, you almost wished you had purchased more than the few residing in Bumblebee’s quarters to keep at the house too. But something in the back of your brain told you that it wasn’t exactly just the blankets offering comfort—it was the company you had when you were nestled here within them. Plus, Liz would wonder what you’d spent all that money on.

After you’d assembled a mess of blankets on the floor to your liking, you kicked off your sneakers and leaped into them with an excited yap. Almost instantly, you were buried in the soft and feathery material and it was a welcomed invitation to immediately relax. You allowed your muscles to go limp and your shoulders to slump so you could sink even further down on your back, closing your eyes in bliss as you did so.

Until a shadow loomed, blocking out the dim light that was beyond your eyelids. So you opted to crack one eye open.

Staring down at you was Bulkhead. The wrecker had titled his helm in what looked like confusion, one of his optic ridges was arched and his jaw quirked upward in a half smile. “What are you doing?”

You could only return his smile as you closed your eyes again. “Basking in the beauty and comfort of some really soft blankets. You should try it sometime.”

You could hear Bulkhead’s physical reaction; leaning backward while undoubtedly continuing to arch his optic ridge as he replied, “Uh, we don’t really need blankets. And I can’t even really… feel them… I guess?”

You cracked an eye open once more so you could see him again. “You can’t? Why not?”

“Uh, well–” The huge mech leaned further back and looked away awkwardly, “–we don’t have exposed protoforms, so we can’t really feel stuff like that.”

You leaned up while gazing at him in shock, curiosity rounding your eyes. “You can’t? Are you sure?” You threw one hand over your shoulder and pointed at Bumblebee with your thumb. “Because if I so much as flick that dude’s plating, he gets all freaked out about how much it hurts.”

The yellow scout’s helm shot upward from where he’d originally been focused on plugging in the cables for the projector. His cheeks were blown up and his optics were wide and angry, like he couldn’t believe that you’d actually say that to another member of the team. “Hey!”

“What?” You threw a sideways glance over your shoulder and tried to stifle your snort of laughter, “It’s true and you know it! It happened like, four hours ago!”

“No, it’s not!” Bumblebee jumped in place and threw his servos up into the air. Then he turned his optics on Bulkhead. “Listen, she likes to make stuff up all the time, so I wouldn’t–”

“Nah. I believe her. She’s not making that up.” The larger Autobot blinked and suppressed a rumble of laughter in his own chassis.

The reaction instantly earned him exasperated shouting from across the room. “What? Why?!”

“Because that so sounds like something you would do and it happens all the time.” Bulkhead snickered in a giddy tone of voice and you couldn’t help the laugh that broke out.

The younger ‘Bot threw his servos all over the place like he was struggling to bat the airborne insults away. “I–! You–! I can’t even–!”

He stood there staring between you and the wrecker for a long moment, then whirled on his pedes and very obviously tried his hardest to focus his efforts back on the projector. Then came the unmistakable sounds of his fans kicking on.

Your explosive laughter finally broke free, simply unable to hold it in anymore. Every few seconds through your cracked eyes, you could see him bristling at the sound while he rummaged through the mess of cables in his servos. Though it was extremely difficult, you tried to speak brokenly through your fit. “Oh– come on, Bee! We’re just– we’re just messing with you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Laugh it up back there!” Bumblebee’s voice had developed a slight sting, then he turned and squinted at you harshly. “‘Cause you’re so gonna pay for that.”

“Ohhh.” Your tone droned up and down through a mischievous smile and you squinted back. “I’m so scared.”

“You don’t even know the half of it–” He murmured menacingly. Then without warning, he turned and leaped forward, stamping his pedes on the concrete and stopping just short of your blanket pile. The action made you clumsily fall back into the pillowed mess with a yelp, but he hardly heard it because he was too busy shouting, “–because you’re about to scream your little organic head off!”

“What?” Your arms worked to shove yourself upright again and your voice broke through the movement.

Bumblebee leaned all the way over, looming above you with his usually-suspect smug smile. “It’s scary movie time.”

“Oh, great.” A laugh, then you rolled your eyes. “Now I get to listen to you scream like a little girl for the next two hours.”

“Yeah. That’s usually what happens.” Bulkhead, still standing behind you, snickered.

“Wha–!” Bumblebee lurched backward like he’d been physically struck and cursed, “Don’t make me laugh, [Name]. Primus.”

He ate his words, however.

Because only about forty minutes into the movie, Bumblebee was shivering beside you. He was struggling to suppress it, but you saw it as clear as day. Bulkhead sat on your opposite side with his pedes situated in front of him comfortably and even he was casting you sideways glances at times. Both of you saw it perfectly clear, even in the light that only came from the projection and the blue string lights around the room.

Then came the most glorious possible thing that could ever grace your eyes.

A creature in the projection jumped forward, and the scout let out the highest shriek you’d ever heard in your life. Not only did you have no idea his voice could even reach that level of volume, but his frantic flailing and the distance his body tumbled backward only made it all the more epic. The screeching lasted for a long few seconds, and when he finally stopped scrambling for a grip on anything within range that he could grab onto, he froze.

He saw you and Bulkhead staring at him with massive eyes and optics respectively. Then came the howling laughter. You’d rolled onto your side in your blanket nest, completely unable to breathe, just as Bulkhead fell backward with a loud crash as his plating met solid concrete. The ground beneath the fabrics trembled just slightly as he shouted broken words through his fit, and your chest began to hurt without a proper breath.

The small ‘Bot squinted at you both while you were lost in the elation. He shuffled over and sat back down without a word—only bitterly narrowed optics and a curled lip as he watched you both struggling to compose yourselves.

When you finally leaned up once more, you were wiping fresh tears from the corners of your eyes with the backs of each of your hands. Your laughter had simmered down into sporadic whimpers, like you were genuinely trying to silence yourself and it was close to an impossible feat.

Bulkhead was now upright once more as well, and you only knew that because you’d recognized the familiar sound of shifting metal. You cast your eyes to your left where the ever-silent scout sat silently—no doubt internally simmering like a tea kettle.

Finally and after a heavy sigh, you managed to form coherent words, “You can hold my hand if you want t–”

“I don’t need hand-holding!” Bumblebee flinched away like your outstretched hand was a loaded weapon, “You need hand-holding!”

More laughter ensued—as if his torture was never going to end.

It wasn’t much longer before the movie ended with just a few more jumpscares. Bumblebee tried to hide his fear, but that was absolutely an impossible task. He didn’t know how to quell his trembling, nevermind stifle his vocal panic. The young mech was the most vocal of any of the Autobots, so naturally it would make sense that he couldn’t handle sitting quietly through any movie—and a scary one at that. Truly, it was a glorious thing to witness and it helped your anxiety fade away more and more by the minute.

You couldn’t stop a loud yawn from announcing your exhaustion. It really had been yet another long day, and the emotional adrenaline-fueled fluctuations had taken their toll. Bulkhead agreed that it was time for stasis, and he left without teasing his younger comrade any more than he already had.

You stood up and climbed out of your blanket nest clumsily, nearly tripping over your own foot as you did so. Bumblebee was in the process of closing the hangar door behind Bulkhead, but he stopped when he heard your voice.

“Hey!” You were waggling one finger at him when he turned to look at you, “Come on. You know the drill.”

Bumblebee’s shoulders slumped and he squeezed his optic lids shut, angling his helm upward to groan at the ceiling. “Ugh! You and your protoform.”

Your response came after a curt giggle. “No. It’s called privacy. And you need to get used to it.”

Bumblebee was halfway through opening up the door once again when he turned to shoot you a confused look. “I just don’t get it! I mean– why? I have a protoform too, y’know. It’s not that crazy.”

You eyed him and quirked one brow. “Can I see it?”

Instantly, he snapped his mouth shut, his optics blew up, and you heard his fans kick on. “Uh, well–”

“Exactly.” You shook your head and laughed lightly, simply waving your hand at him. “Now scram. I’ll be done in not even a full minute.”

“Ugh.” He sighed, but he didn’t argue any further.

At the sound of that massive door sliding shut, you turned your focus over to your little makeshift shelf to the right of his television setup. Within it, you’d accumulated a bit of your clothes from home to keep at the plant. There were way too many times where you’d been showered with dirt over and over again. Bumblebee was still learning that in a dirt lot or a muddy patch of grass, he should at least move away from you before transforming as soon as you left his interior.

That, and you really just wanted to have some comfy clothes to change into after a long day of robot shenanigans running amuck.

Once you were comfortably tucked into a pair of sweatpants and your biggest sweatshirt, you called for your friend to enter the room once more. Bumblebee slowly cracked the door without looking in, asked if you were sure, and pushed the door open further once he had your confirmation.

For a ‘Bot that pretends to be annoyed all the time, he sure did respect your demands. Most of the time.

Bumblebee quickly closed the hangar door behind him, flipped that huge lightswitch on the wall next to it, then took a few paces over to his berth and sat down on the edge of it. His bright blue optics lit up tiny dust particles as they floated around his helm and in front of his faceplate, watching you curiously.

You were in the middle of tossing some blankets up and around your head, very obviously in the process of making your blanket pile comfortable to sleep in once more. After settling your heavy quilted blanket across the divot in the middle, you climbed in and allowed the warm fabric to swallow you almost completely.

Bumblebee’s optics focused on you for a moment longer. Then he let out a dramatic sigh and flopped over onto his back, slowly pushing himself into a comfortable place across the length of the berth with his pedes. “That was a long day.”

Silence, and then a reply muffled by blankets. “It was.”

His optics searched the ceiling, pipes and concrete illuminated by bright royal blue string lights. Then he smiled, “I’m starting to think I should keep you away from Bulkhead.”

“What?” He heard you shift and lean up, but he didn’t look. “No! Why?!”

“Because every time you guys are together, you gang up on me!” Bumblebee rolled onto his side so he’d be able to see you from the edge, “Bullying isn’t cute, y’know.”

“Oh, come on. You bully me all the time!”

True, he thought. “Yeah, but I don’t bully you the way you bully me when he’s in the room.”

“What?” He could see you staring up at him, your jaw working to form some kind of retort, but you gave up after a moment and flopped back down into your makeshift bed once more. “Wimp.”

Bumblebee lurched upward with his arms and digits outstretched. “See?! Exactly!”

“Oh my god.” Your laughing made him smile.

The mech leaned back down and settled himself once more and a comfortable silence fell across the dimly lit room. Silence was never really something he liked, however. “That femme was really weird.”

More silence, then came a tentative reply from down below him. “Yeah. I don’t like her.”

“Me neither.” Bumblebee scowled. “And she called you sweetspark! Only I can do that!”

He heard a tiny laugh, but you didn’t reply.

He narrowed his optics up at the ceiling, deep in a bitter thought. “Also, if she’s been rogue for a long time like she said, why didn’t she get rid of her slag insignia? It’s so easy.”

You leaned up out of the warmth once again in favor of finding his optics. “Really? How… do you even do that? Does it hurt?”

“It can. You can get a new piece of plating, or smelt it off. Usually you need a medic to do it for you.” The Autobot above you murmured, then you heard his parts shifting as a violent shiver wracked his form. “But smelting it off would probably feel worse than Unicron himself.”

You scrunched your nose and titled your head, confused. “Uni-what? What about a unicorn?”

There was a sharp tang. Bumblebee definitely just clapped his forehead with his servo. “Unicron. He’s the… Uh, actually that’s a really long story. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.”

“Huh. Okay.”

Another long pause came and went. Your eyes drifted from the edge of the berth above you and floated over the floor, then the walls, the many stolen street signs and posters, and the royal blue lights up above.

The sound of metal shifting grasped your attention once more, however.

“Hey, [Name]? Uh– do you…” Yet another long pause, and Bumblebee’s voice was way quieter than you’d ever heard it before. “Do you wanna, um– maybe go to stasis up here?”

You blinked, and suddenly your cheeks were burning and hot to the touch. “You mean up there with you?”

“Yeah, uh–” He sat up yet again, his voicebox faltering like he didn’t know how to speak, “I mean, you can if you want to.”

There was a warm feeling in your chest. And it grew, and grew, and grew until it threatened to combust. You kept your cool however, calm and level and not at all feeling warm from head-to-toe all over. Your lengthy silence made that feeling grow with intensity and you suddenly found yourself needing to deflect somehow, so you said the first thing that came to mind. “You scared up there all by yourself?”

“No!” He barked.

A hefty laugh fell out of you at his instant and defensive response. “Relax, sunshine. I’m just messing with you. And yes, I would like that.”

There was some quiet muttering that you couldn’t really hear clearly, and then the mech was moving to stand. Bumblebee loomed over you only for a second before he reached down to gently pick you up and out of the blankets. He placed you softly on the foot of the berth and leaned back down once more to retrieve your warm haven, then turned and dumped them at the head of the bare slab of metal. You let out a giggle and you weren’t sure if he heard it, but if he did, he chose not to react.

He waited for you to climb back into them before he slowly and very cautiously followed suit. By the time you were done fluffing them, his helm was already laying beside you.

Your eyes drifted over his faceplate, his optics, and down to where his servos were crossing his chassis. He refused to look at you but he obviously knew you were staring, because the sound of his fans spinning harder was way too loud for you to miss.

Yet another chuckle, then you settled in and pulled part of that heavy quilt over your legs. “Thank you, o’ great hero.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

A curt snort, then you finally allowed your muscles to relax and you fell limp in the warmth and safety once more.

With a heavy sigh, you tried to focus on releasing each limb from any lingering tension one by one. Staring at the ceiling proved to be interesting just like Bumblebee was doing, but it wasn’t because you were blushing like he was.

Really, you were just starting to analyze without even realizing it.

The spider-femme—a techno-organic—really was weird. Not to mention everything she said and her threatening undertone. She mentioned organics and cybertronians getting along, fully admitted to stalking you and your best friend for weeks, and what she said when she mentioned ‘holding onto that one while you can?’ It was extremely unsettling at the bare minimum.

You couldn’t help but shiver.

Somehow, you’d managed to fall asleep not long after that. But Bumblebee was wide awake, and he absolutely could not relax.

At some point in the night, he rolled over so he could see you. You were there, in the plant with him, and nothing would happen to you. He was sure of it.

But there was this sinking, gnawing feeling that wouldn’t release it’s grip on his spark. It pulsated and grew the more he thought about it and he could feel the tremors within his circuits through every nanokilk that passed by.

No techno-organic former-Decepticon would ever get their nasty servos anywhere near you, and he would make sure of that. Because he’d fry their protoform from the inside out if they ever tried.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

The passenger’s side door popped itself open not a second before you reached him and you practically launched yourself in head-first. Your head collided with the steering wheel and the gearshift jerked backward in spite of the weight of your abdomen pressing down on it. The young Autobot was peeling away from the sidewalk before the door had even closed behind you.

“Ow!” You cried dramatically, hand reaching up to gingerly rub the side of your head as you laid across the two front seats, “I almost knocked myself out!”

Bumblebee snickered, his center console lighting up in a mischievous laugh, “Yeah, well, you did good, sweetspark. Because your carrier was running to catch you too, and she almost did.”

You stopped rubbing that sore spot on your head, eyes blowing into wide saucers. “What?” Then your head snapped upward to look out the rear windshield and you jumped to sit yourself upright with a loud screech, “What?! She saw me? No! No no no no—!”

The yellow ‘Bot exploded into a loud fit of laughter and you cut yourself off to stare at the center console. Now you were sitting up, legs partially still stretched over the passenger’s seat and your hands whiteknuckling whatever you could grab onto. Your brows furrowed as you stared at the illuminated parts of his dashboard, then your face contorted into a scowl, “That’s not funny!”

Bumblebee howled, “It’s so funny! You’re so scared of your carrier, you thought she was actually chasing you!”

You turned once more to look back, even though by then Bumblebee was now well away from the house and out of sight. Then you looked back at the steering wheel as it moved on it’s own. “She wasn’t chasing me?”

“No!” The Autobot was still laughing, “You’re so gullible, [Name].”

Your face lost its emotion and you dropped your head into one hand, shaking it as you did so. That was definitely not funny. Liz absolutely couldn’t find out about your giant alien friend yet. You especially weren’t ready for that blowout.

“Oh, look.” You looked back up into the road ahead of you as he sped down the street, “There’s Prowl!”

Bumblebee stopped laughing and slammed his brakes, his tires screeching loudly on the pavement and he shrieked over the sound, “Where?!”

The force of it sent you bumping into the steering wheel once more and you shouted again, “Ow!”

Bumblebee’s speed had dropped down to a crawl by the time you moved to settle yourself completely into the driver’s seat—lesson learned. He exclaimed again, “Where?! He’s following me? That stupid old–”

“You’re so gullible, Bee.” You shot the sarcasm to cut him off as you pulled the seatbelt across your chest, “It’s so funny.”

The living vehicle was silent for a long moment and you waited patiently for him to process his grave mistake.

“Y’know, [Name],” Bumblebee’s voice was flat, “I think you’re starting to catch on to me and my humor a little too well.”

You broke into laughter, completely unable to contain it any longer. The opportunity was just too perfect, and you needed to take revenge against him wherever you could. If he didn’t like it, maybe he’d learn not to use the same torture methods on you as often as he did.

The seatbelt around you tightened sharply, and it was so sudden that it cut your laughing short and forced an involuntary yelp out of your lungs. Then the Autobot snickered again, “I’m gonna have to step it up if you think you’re beating me at my own game.”

“I don’t think I am. I know I am.” Your fingers wiggled into the now-smaller space between yourself and the belt and you tugged at it, “Let me go! I can’t breathe, dummy.”

“For now,” He mused in a smooth voice. Then he shifted gears and began rolling away from the place he’d abruptly stopped, “You’re gonna want that when we get to where we’re going though!”

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

The roads on the outskirts of the city were practically desolate, which honestly surprised you. Shouldn’t there be at least some people coming into and leaving the city around midnight?

Actually, that was probably why these guys chose to do this here.

You gazed out the window as Bumblebee cruised past a number of muscle cars. There were plenty of young boys chatting and joking around with one another, and only a few girls in sight. Suddenly you were thankful that his windows were so heavily tinted. “How’d you even find out about this in the first place?”

The Autobot revved his engine when he noticed a small group to his left staring, then replied, “We used to do this in the city all the time, but the cops kept busting it. I think they started tracking some of them because they were actually showing up at meets before a lot of us even got there. So we do it out here now.”

A smile curled along your cheeks and you arched one brow at the steering wheel, “You say that like you’re a really active member or something. You do do this a lot, huh?”

“Well, duh. You take me as a ‘Bot that follows the rules?” You could hear the smirk in his voice, “Guess you don’t know me as well as I thought.”

“Jeez, Bee.” A laugh, then you propped your elbow up against the window to support your head, “All your skid marks and burnouts around the city and now illegal drag racing? The cops really do love you.”

“They do when we save the city on a regular basis, and when we clean up Decepticon messes! I think it’s a small price to pay.” He answered matter-of-factly, so sure of himself.

Bumblebee found a place to park on the edge of the road with an older red Mustang to his right. A few people were milling about around him, passing by and holding light conversation with one another. Every now and then one would cast a glance his way, but he ignored them in favor of you.

“We’re gonna lay low for a few kliks here. Then when they call us up, we destroy them all.” His excitement was infectious, and you could practically feel his joy within the air of his interior.

Your eyes followed them curiously as you spoke to your friend. “Do you normally win?”

“Against these guys and their rusty shells?” Bumblebee scoffed, “Duh. My systems are way cooler than anything they have.”

You rolled your eyes. Truly, the size of his ego was immeasurable. “I bet you’ve made a lot of enemies here then, huh?”

“Actually, not really. Shockingly.” Bumblebee’s center console continued to burst with light as he spoke, his earlier excitement dying down to somewhat curiosity, like somehow he hadn’t even thought of that concept before. “I like to think they just go home and leak all over their berths at night. Obviously, it’s the only thing they can do. No one’s kicking my aft here.”

“You like to think they what?” A curt laugh, then you covered your mouth with your hand. It was incredibly hard to not picture some certain images in your head and it grossed you out.

“Y’know—leak! That weird thing humans can do with their eyes!” If he wasn’t in his vehicle mode, Bumblebee definitely would have been poking at his own optics. You could picture it.

Then it struck you. “Oh. Ohhh! You mean crying!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever—fluid exploding out of their faces.” He sounded like he was rolling his optics, totally not at all embarrassed that he got something wrong. “Leaking sounds better than saying all that.”

“You could just say crying.” You laughed, “Crying is what it’s actually–”

The sound of a massive roar cut you off and your head snapped to the left to find it’s source. It was an old royal blue Mazda without a muffler, which wasn’t surprising. There wasn’t a car in sight here that did have a muffler. But this one was modified, clearly old but very loved. The spoiler on the backside of it was obnoxious for the actual size of the vehicle and it’s headlights were blinking up and down as it approached—straight toward the pair of you.

Bumblebee let out a groan so dramatic, it vibrated within his interior. You cocked your head back to the steering wheel as if you were making eye-contact with him with your own eyebrows raised. “What?”

“This guy again.” The Autobot muttered through thick irritation. “He keeps trying to beat me, even though it’ll never happen. He definitely leaks the most whenever we’re done for the night… I think he likes me or something.”

The thought made you giggle inwardly. Until another obnoxiously loud engine rev caught your attention once again. You cast your eyes back to your left and out the window only to find that this guy had parked directly next to Bumblebee, much to his disdain.

There was a young boy in the Mazda’s driver’s seat. His passenger’s side window was rolled down so you could see him perfectly; dark hair, tanned skin, and a huge smirk adorning his face. He was confident for sure, and he seemed far more ambitious than you would have thought after hearing what Bumblebee had to say about him.

His eyes were fixed on your window and you were immensely thankful that he couldn’t see through. But the continued revving of his engine was obviously trying to get your attention.

Okay… Maybe this was going to be far more annoying than you’d originally thought.

You let out a harsh scoff, then reached for the door to roll down your own window. The seatbelt across your chest stiffened and Bumblebee jumped. “Wait– what are you–?!”

His heavily tinted window was already coming down by the time you turned to shoot a look at the glowing console, “I’m just gonna tell him off! Don’t worry!”

When your head lolled back over your shoulder with a pointed glare ready, the stranger was already looking at you. As soon as you made eye-contact, the boy practically jumped in his seat. His eyes blew wide and his shoulders locked up—that originally sly look was now long gone. He shook his head to reboot himself but still continued to stare at you, absolutely dumbfounded.

Total silence fell across the space between your two vehicles for a long few moments. You arched a brow at him expectantly, suddenly very happy to see that you had surprised him somehow. Your voice came out thick and squared with irritation. “Well? You need help or something?”

He still stared, silent. The corners of his mouth twitched a couple of times like he was struggling to form the words for a response. As soon as your eyebrows furrowed, he finally figured it out.

The boy’s eyelids dropped down into a much softer look, his lip curled in a sly smile to reveal white teeth, and his posture relaxed. He moved one hand to swipe his hair out of his eyes and then leaned forward with his elbow on the armrest and his chin in the palm of his hand. “Hey.”

Oh, ew. Nope. Hard no. You rolled your eyes and turned away to lean back into your seat, finger reaching forward to flip the switch for the window to go back up as quickly as possible.

“Hey, wait– wait! I just wanna talk!”

The tinted glass stopped halfway up. You let out a sharp groan, then brought it back down and threw him the harshest side-eye you could muster.

“You– you’ve been kicking my ass for weeks and this is the first time you’ve actually talked to me.” He’d dropped that weird look in favor of genuine curiosity. “How do you do it? How long have you been racing here? What year is your WRX? Who taught you to drive like that?”

You stared, blinking and extremely suspicious. Jeez. Way too many questions.

“You could’ve started with asking for my name.” Your own eyes were now half-lidded and annoyed, and you hoped the point was getting across. It would’ve been hard to miss. “But to answer your much more important questions; he’s been racing way longer than you’ve even been alive, he’s a 2003, and self-taught.”

The kid stared, jaw agape. He seemed to be really good at doing that.

“How do we do it? It’s easy.” You leaned forward with your face just close enough to the window, it caught the ghost of your breath as you spoke. “I actually have a car that can handle me.”

You looked away, more than satisfied. The seat beneath you shuddered and you could hear Bumblebee just barely containing his giggling. The cyan light from the center console lit up a bit as he whispered to you through broken laughter, “Amazing. I’m so glad I brought you here.”

You snickered yourself, “What would you do without me?”

There was a shadow to your left and it caught you completely by surprise. The young boy had materialized practically out of thin air. He stood right outside your window and leaned down so he could see you better.

Bumblebee went silent instantly. You leaned away, finger ready at the switch for the window. That wave of irritation came back full force and your eyes shot to meet his.

“I’m sorry. I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He started gently with half-lidded eyes, like he thought the look was some kind of attempt at smoothing things over, “I’d love to know your name.”

You stared at him, then searched him up and down. His torn band t-shirt, denim jacket and ripped jeans seemed worse for wear and not at all like he was trying to keep up with a sort of punk style. His confidence was visibly obvious, and all it did was annoy you. “Too bad you lost your chance.”

“Did I?” He leaned closer, head now inching forward through the open window.

Your skin lit up with heat and you could feel the urge to throw a punch growing into an irresistibly inevitable outcome. Then he actually reached in, his hand going for a lock of your hair. “Maybe you could teach me how to drive like yo–”

HONK!

The boy jumped and let out a shriek, his head slamming into Bumblebee’s roof and instantly retreating out of the vehicle in his very vocal fit of panic. His hands whipped up to cradle the back of his head and he winced hard, eyes blown wide in absolute shock.

“Keep your grimey servos to yourself unless you want me to rip your stupid organic shell off your fragging protoform!” The Autobot’s voice was loud, his interior lights reaching a level of brightness that you hadn’t seen before. Intense fury was laced within every single one of his words—absolutely seething.

The boy blinked, flabbergasted. He stared at you with massive eyes and open jaws, like he wanted to say something but had no clue what. His eyes searched the yellow WRX for a brief second before he looked to you again.

Your shoulders were tense, your own shock painfully evident in your eyes that matched his. A nervous laugh forced it’s way through your gritted teeth while you maintained the extremely awkward eye-contact and you shrunk down into the seat, your finger finally pulling upward to close the window.

Now? You were so incredibly and endlessly thankful for Bumblebee’s insanely tinted windows.

The boy's hand rubbed what was now undoubtedly a huge bump on the back of his cranium, looked down at the ground, and shook his head before turning to walk back to the driver’s side of his own car. When he opened the door to step inside, you finally looked away.

Your eyes slowly turned to look at Bumblebee’s glowing dashboard. The two of you were silent for a long moment, your lips pursed and eyes wide as you stared where you thought he could see you. Until the tension finally broke simultaneously and you both released a howling fit of matching laughter.

“Whew! Bee, that was amazing!” You shouted at him brokenly through your fit, hardly able to breathe. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“Why not?” Bumblebee’s voice was finally coming back down to a coherent tone, “I’m a guardian now! It’s literally my job to protect and defend.”

Bumblebee is a soldier first.

Your laughter died, then you blinked and shook your head to force the intrusive thought away.

“I’m so thankful.” You sighed dramatically, woefully bringing the back of your hand up to your forehead and slumping down in the driver’s seat, “What would I ever do without my hero?”

“You’d have to deal with annoying humans—without a really loud car—probably.” Bumblebee had calmed down by now, but he revved his engine for good measure.

Your eyes rolled again and you cast a lazy glance over your shoulder at the boy in the Mazda beside you, “Eugh. Boys.”

Somebody patted the roof of Bumblebee’s exterior to the right and it made you jump. There was a man there, loudly announcing that they’d be getting started momentarily.

The Autobot revved his engine again, “Looks like we’re up first! I love starting first. Let’s everyone here know just what they’re up against.”

“You’ve been talking this up since I met you.” You laughed again, settling in the seat as Bumblebee pulled forward, “Time for your moment to shine. You better live up to my expectations.”

“I literally can’t not live up to your expectations.” He responded cooly, inching forward through the crowd of people that was beginning to form at the starting point, “I’m the fastest thing this city has ever seen.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll see about that.”

The road before him stretched far into the darkness. Trees lined the sides of the pavement on either side and the moon cast their shadows faintly. It seemed like a relatively simple track, but you knew it wasn’t based solely on what the yellow ‘Bot had already told you about it.

There were small groups of cheering people on either side of the imaginary starting line. Most of them seemed jittery and excited, while some others actually seemed a bit more stoic and relaxed. You wondered what they were all thinking as they stared at your living vehicle. Did they know that this was the yellow Autobot? Did they ever try to talk to him like that boy just tried to talk to you?

Probably not. That kid was genuinely surprised that you chose to entertain his attitude, if only briefly.

“Up first is the undefeated 2003 yellow WRX!” A man with a small megaphone caught your attention to your right. The crowd began to settle slightly as he stepped forward, coming to a halt before Bumblebee’s grill. “And up against him is Isaiah in his ‘95 Mazda RX-7!”

You blinked at the man, then turned to look for your opponent.

Oh, great. It was that boy.

The royal blue Mazda rolled forward and came to a stop on your left once again. His passenger window was still down so you could see him clearly. There was a wicked glare pointed at your window and his lip was curled in a snarl. He was definitely angry.

“Oh.” Your voice started dark and low, then your tone perked up mischievously, “Isaiah looks like he wants to get absolutely destroyed, Bee.”

“Guess it’s a good thing he’s used to that by now.” Bumblebee was more than ready, and more than happy to deliver.

“Don’t know why you keep trying, kid. But I think I speak for everyone here when I say we like the persistence! You got guts.” The announcer’s voice barely fell on your ears as you stared back with a wicked smile. This was going to be fun.

“Ready…”

Bumblebee’s engine roared and Isaiah floored his pedals to match the intense volume.

“Go!”

An airhorn blared loudly over the cheering, signifying the start. Bumblebee’s tires spun and he was off, peeling away from the mass of headlights and humans and into the darkness ahead. Isaiah’s Mazda ripped away from the line not a second later, hot on the Autobot’s tailpipe.

Adrenaline exploded in your veins as the force of sudden speed pressed you deeper into the fabric of your seat. Your eyes were stuck on the sights ahead of you; trees and bushes zipping by at a speed you didn’t think possible. You let out a shout of joy at the feeling, having never experienced anything like it before.

Bumblebee’s voice matched your excitement, loudly exploding with bursts of energy and happiness as he soared across the cracked blacktop.

The pavement ahead curved to the right and out of sight beyond the treeline. The Mazda tailing you surged forward on the outside as Bumblebee clung to the edge of the road, dropping a gear and letting off the gas as his steering wheel spun to the left. Your head whipped to find your young opponent, and you barely caught a glimpse of him turning his own steering wheel with every bit of strength he had.

A small smile quirked the corner of your lip upward. Maybe all you had to do was tire him out. Seemed simple enough.

Bumblebee shifted gears once more, whipping his body back into a straight line and soaring ahead along the next straightaway. Isaiah’s Mazda hung back but stuck close, tailing the Autobot’s bumper at an unnerving mere few inches. The boy tried to head left, then right, but Bumblebee managed to block every maneuver he made.

“Yawn!” He shouted over the sound of his own engine, “Too easy, as usual!”

You let out a howl of laughter, watching as the steering wheel before you kept itself in check.

The road ahead was curving once more, this time to the left. Bumblebee aimed to keep himself on the inside of the turn, but the reckless boy on his bumper peeled out way too far on the left and punched his gas pedal. With half of his vehicle off the road and kicking up clouds of dirt, the blue Mazda ripped up to become parallel with the Autobot in the blink of an eye.

Bumblebee was forced to jerk to his right to make room for the ambitious human. His form wobbled the slightest bit as he maintained his control, and the split-second maneuver forced your stomach to jump up into your throat.

Bumblebee let off the gas once more to take the sharp left turn, and Isaiah’s vehicle tore ahead.

“Well, that was rude.” The young mech’s voice was nonchalant and completely unbothered. He dropped a gear then floored the gas pedal, the volume of his screeching tires almost overtaking the sound of his words, “Time to put you back in your place!”

“He’s flying!” You leaned forward to stare at his taillights ahead in the center of the windshield, “Don’t you have boosters or something?”

“Sweetspark, believe me, I’ve been begging Ratchet for those upgrades!” Bumblebee punched it forward, his engine roaring with effort as he surged ahead and quickly closed the distance between himself and his opponent once more, “But I don’t need ‘em for this!”

His headlights lit up the road before him and reflected off the glittery surface of Isaiah’s buffed bumper. The boy was mirroring the Autobot’s earlier maneuver, which highlighted his desire to stay ahead of him for as long as he could. But Bumblebee knew this track very well, and he knew what was coming next. It was this particular human’s notorious weak spot.

You could see the light pollution in the sky above the treeline once again. The short track was nearing it’s end, and it surely wasn’t going to last much longer. Right?

Your friend laughed lightly, then his gears shifted and he blasted forward. The move sent your stomach flying back up into your throat as he ripped toward the Mazda ahead of him. At the last possible second, Bumblebee’s steering wheel jerked to the right, narrowly avoiding the boy’s royal blue bumper and gunning it.

You let out a satisfied battle cry as you watched the Mazda wobble from the sheer force of Bumblebee’s speed as he passed him. When you looked back to the road ahead however, that shout turned into one of terror.

The pavement ahead curled upward before it abruptly ceased to exist, curving back down and out of sight. It was a sharp incline followed by an unnerving drop, no doubt. You sank down into the driver’s seat as far as possible and your arms flew out to your sides to grab onto anything you could as you braced for the inevitable disaster. “You’re crazy!”

“Trust me!” The Autobot shouted back, and the seatbelt tightened around you.

He throttled forward and then flew—literally. As Bumblebee crested the hill, his tires left the ground. You let out a shriek as gravity forced your hair into your face and then away once more as soon as the same force overtook the living vehicle, which promptly sent him plummeting straight back toward the ground at an alarming speed. His steering wheel turned sharply to the left while in midair, then his gas pedal hit the floor and his engine revved louder than you’d heard all night.

The scout hit the ground with screeching tires, already in the middle of a harsh left turn. If it wasn’t for the tightly secured seatbelt, you were sure you would’ve went barreling through the passenger’s side door. Bumblebee’s tires continued to scream as he maintained his control around the curve, then he ripped to the side in a sharp 180 and skidded to a halt. It was all over before you could even blink.

Your head lazily popped up to see beyond the dashboard again. Loose strands of your messy hair were blocking your eyes and you felt queasy, trembling and fighting to quell the sudden nausea that threatened to overtake you.

Bumblebee was panting heavily but he was ecstatic, and high on adrenaline. “Watch!”

“Wha–” Your voice was small and hoarse from screaming, but you did so, eyes searching the road ahead of you now with your back to the remainder of the track.

Isaiah’s old Mazda materialized seemingly at the speed of light. You could barely hear his terrified screaming over the sound of his own screeching tires, scrambling to stop before he reached the maple bushes directly ahead of him. He appeared for hardly even a second before the royal blue RX-7 went barreling into the trees and a loud crash sounded off, abiding by his desire to stop.

“Ohh, that was a rough one this time!” Bumblebee exploded into laughter, his interior vibrating around you, “And it works everytime!”

“Is he dead?!” You’d managed to shake the nausea away as soon as your queasiness soared straight into another choking wave of fear—this time for someone else entirely.

“No!” Bumblebee yelled, then immediately quieted himself and stopped laughing. The Autobot began to roll forward slowly and tentatively, “...I think.”

A small cloud of dirt and dust was billowing from the space where the teen had entered the trees. Luckily and surprisingly, he hadn’t ended up that far into the woods, as you were able to see that striking shade of blue not too far from the road. Isaiah had crashed into a massive thicket of bushes with a tree situated behind them, which was inevitably what ended up stopping the vehicle. You sat staring, muscles growing rigid and tense as Bumblebee drew closer and no sound came from the crashed vehicle.

Until a horrified shriek came from the open driver’s side window. The door popped open and Isaiah came stumbling out, “No! My car!”

A huge breath of relief rushed from your lungs and your shoulders dropped, then you slumped back down into the seat. Immediate regret swallowed you whole. His car didn’t look… totaled by any means, but it definitely was not okay.

Your face contorted in a grimace and you found your cautious voice as you leaned forward toward your own open window, “Are you okay?!”

The teen boy whirled on his feet to face the voice. He looked like he was visibly bristling, his arms throwing themselves up in the air as he stammered and struggled to find the words, “Wha–! I–! Why did you–?!”

You winced and reared back. He looked fine. There were no visible injuries whatsoever. His car on the other hand…

“You!” Isaiah’s anguish was painfully evident. He turned back to face the mild carnage and his hands slapped his own face, then he threw his head back and let out a muffled shriek into his palms.

All you could do was watch the event as it unfolded. Bumblebee was snickering quietly, so you flashed a lighting-fast glare at the center console. Then you turned your attention back to the unfortunate teenager, “Okay, uh… We’ll call a tow truck for you!”

Another infuriated shriek of total despair met your ears and you awkwardly rolled up the window. Bumblebee turned his body to face the end of the track again before he revved his engine for good measure, which instantly earned him a sharp swat to the steering wheel. The scout scoffed lightly, “What? You didn’t have to introduce yourself! Plus, he was weird anyway. He needs to learn how not to race at some point.”

Your eyes stayed stuck on that spot off the side of the road in the rearview mirror. “I guess.”

“Come on! We won, [Name]!” The Autobot floored his gas pedal and drifted left, then right. His tone was brighter and louder now that he wasn’t staring down his much younger enemy, “I told you nobody would beat us.”

A smile found it’s way back to your face, your guilt melting away even if just slightly. Bumblebee was right. The kid was weird—not to mention extremely rude. Maybe he did deserve it? “I never doubted you, sunshine.”

There were a few more sharp turns and dips in the road, but now that the competition was out of commission, Bumblebee was taking them leisurely and playfully. His level of intensity had dropped dramatically and he’d managed to make each drift far less nausea-inducing in spite of the force of gravity. The light pollution from before was much stronger after a mere minute or two of the continued drive, and the treeline had begun to thin out as you reached the destination.

The road straightened out ahead and there they were; small crowds of people and the headlights of their muscle cars bathing the pavement before them. They exploded in cheers upon seeing the WRX tearing from the trees and drifting out of the final sharp turn. His brakes squealed and he came to a halt just past the line where you’d originally started.

“To absolutely no one’s surprise, we have our little yellow winner and he’s still undefeated!” That same man from before was trying to yell over the sound of Bumblebee’s fans, “Will that Mazda kid ever learn? No one knows.”

The young ‘Bot let out a curt groan and he mumbled bitterly to you, “Little’… Pffsh. And when will he learn that I have manifolds bigger than anyone else here?”

You rolled your eyes and laughed, waving your hand in front of your face like you were waving away his irritation. People were beginning to approach and surround him while they broke out into applause, and it finally caught your attention. Your nerves were beginning to show at the sudden focus on the two of you. Bumblebee seemed proud, but you were suddenly starting to grow uncomfortable with it.

“Come on, Bee.” Your voice started small and you tried to comfort yourself by patting his dashboard, “I’m tired, and I actually need to get some sleep.”

“Awh, what?!” His disappointment was loud, and for a second, you almost felt bad about it. Until his tone climbed into a painfully dramatic level, “But [Name]! We just got here! You wanna go home already?!”

The crowd was growing louder. “Uh– yeah. I haven’t really slept in like, two days? Remember?”

The scout sighed loudly and he sat still for a long moment, but then his gearshift dropped and he began to slowly inch forward which automatically parted the crowd in front of his bumper. “So lame.”

You remembered your final task for the night—other than making it to your bed—and rolled down your window one last time to yell into the crowd of drag racing enthusiasts. “Can someone go get that kid?! He probably needs a tow!”

Another wave of cheering and laughter erupted from them as Bumblebee cleared the last of the stragglers and pressed forward, his engine revving to drown them out. But you did manage to catch some of their excited shouting as the distance between you and them widened. They were simply elated to find out that the mysterious yellow WRX driver was—in fact—a girl.

The drive back to your aunt’s home was rather uneventful. Bumblebee had actually apologized for trying to push his luck. He figured you were tired, especially when considering that the only sleep you’d really gotten in the previous twenty-four hours was on a pile of his old tarps and blankets. A lot had happened even between now and then, never mind the chaotic and mildly life-threatening events of the previous day.

The mech pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the street and rolled to a halt. He was quiet for a moment and you looked at the light in the middle of his dashboard, thoroughly confused for a brief second. It wasn’t until the seatbelt released you and the door at your side popped open did you finally catch on.

You stepped out and into the crisp night air. The end of August was nearing and living so close to a massive body of water meant that the air would cool as soon as the sun went down, if only sometimes. You weren’t complaining however. This summer had been particularly hot, especially while hanging around giant mechanical living beings of metal for the last month or so.

You looked up to the stars as you waited patiently for him to switch into his bipedal form. They glittered and twinkled silently, only broken up by a moon that was almost full and a few stray bands of clouds here and there. Part of you was apprehensive, your eyes searching for something that moved against the distant balls of gas, but nothing out of the ordinary reared it’s ugly head. And the lack of it soothed you.

The yellow scout beside you leaned forward onto one knee and the movement reclaimed your attention from the night sky. You turned your eyes back on him and met his optics, immediately remembering to shake off any look that said that you were thinking about any nefarious entities.

If Bumblebee caught it, he didn’t let on. His optics searched your face, then their lids dropped halfway and he smirked. “Did I impress you, sweetspark?”

A smile broke out across your face and you turned away for a brief second to hide it. You could physically feel the heat rushing to your cheeks, so staring at your dirty sneakers for a moment seemed like your next best idea.

“I guess it was pretty cool.” Your smile grew wider. “It was nice to finally see how fast the ‘fastest ‘Bot around’ is.”

“You guess?” The Autobot reared back in shock and it forced you to look at him again. “It was amazing! I’ve never destroyed that human like that before!” Bumblebee leaned forward once more with his servo cupped around his face, like he was trying to whisper to you even though not another soul was within sight, “This is the part where you say, ‘I’m honored.’”

You blinked at him and the sheer audacity, then laughed lightly. “Yes, I’m honored. So honored that I got to witness you run a teenaged boy with an ego as pompous as yours off the road, which definitely might have maybe totaled his car.”

“Hey!” The mech jerked backward once again like he’d been physically struck, his optics blown wide. “I did not! He ran himself off the road!” The Autobot crossed his arms over his chassis and then turned his chin up defiantly, “I just didn’t help, that’s all.”

“Pfft, definitely not.” You reached forward to swat at the plating that guarded his knee, and your knuckle making contact sounded off with a small twang, “But he was weird. So it’s cool.”

“Right! You’re right. Weird.” Bumblebee turned to look at you again with a stupid smirk.

You smiled up at him, genuine happiness seeping from your very form. He returned the look, dropped his servos, and reached toward you with one of them curled into a fist. Now, his voice was soft and quieter, gentle even. “See you in the morning?”

Your smile grew even brighter and you bumped his fist with your own. “See you in the morning.”

While your legs turned to bring you down the sidewalk and back to your home, your gaze lingered on him for a moment longer until you fully turned away. Bumblebee flashed his headlights from his chassis to light you up and you muttered a curse through a laugh under your breath. That giant yellow idiot was definitely going to get you both caught on this street at some point.

You just needed to figure out a way to get him to meet Liz—without her ripping up one side of you and down the other for befriending the one specific thing she’d warned you about from the start.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

Moonlight bled through the leafy canopy deep in the woods outside of Detroit. In spite of the waxing gibbous, the forest floor was dark and thick, blotting out any and all detail one might normally be able to see with the naked eye.

There was an enormous mass of inky blackness hidden within a huge thicket of mapleleaf bushes and overshadowed by old white pines. Their branches were wide and they hung low, the moonlight barely reaching any part of the massive object. It was the perfect hiding place.

The mechanical hiss of moving parts was the only thing to finally break the silence.

Then there was a ring of some kind—alien and unnatural.

Movement among the pine branches flung their nighttime dew out into the grass. In spite of the brink of a changing season and the intense heat, the forest was still lush and full of life deep within, well away from the prying eyes of the city.

A hulking, towering being stepped out and away from the hidden mass within the trees. The moon lit up multi-colored plating in a soft gray-blue light, dulling it’s usual hue against the patchy shadows of the canopy. One massive servo reached upward to find it’s face, and there was a quiet click when a button was pressed to answer the alien sound.

A small glowing blue light lit the tall being’s faceplate in the darkness. Then there was an audible smile in a slick feminine voice on the other end of the line.

“You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve finally located our little runaway experiment."

“It’s been a long time.” A deep, gruff voice rumbled through the air in response. Slitted optics narrowed in on the comm link situated before him and the hulking mech flexed his digits. “You sure it’s the right one?”

“Of course I am.” The femme’s voice held the slightest twinge of irritation at her partner’s doubt. “She’s been relocated—practically right into our very servos.”

“Finally.” The dark mech let out a huff of an exvent at the confirmation, then a half-smile curled it’s way up one side of his marked faceplate. “Now I’ll go do what I do best.”

“Not yet.” Her voice was suddenly sharp and commanding, then laced with vicious disgust when she continued, “My lovely little organic contact managed to allow those pathetic Autobots to get involved.”

“So?” His beaming red optics turned to stare out into the woods, their light reflecting in the dew droplets on the branch that was just below his line of sight. He was quiet for only a brief moment, unbothered and not at all concerned in the slightest. “That’s never stopped me before.”

“Don’t worry, dear friend. By all means, you can do all the dirty work when the time comes.” The femme’s voice smoothed out once more, as if her counterpart’s confidence had rubbed off on her through the comm link. “For now, let me do some more digging. I need to pay that contact of mine a little… friendly visit. It’s been far too long.”

Her tone lightened even further, “For now, you can keep watch. You’ll know when the time comes.”

The mech’s posture straightened as he stood tall and cracked his helm to the sides while rolling his shoulders, fresh anticipation and excitement bubbling up within his spark chamber. He chuffed, then his optics turned back to his comm link and his wicked smirk curled upward once more. “Looking forward to it.”

The forest only ever goes silent when a predator is nearby.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

The scout’s weight shifted to rest mainly on one ped. When you cast a hesitant glance his way, you found that he looked completely and utterly unamused—bored, even.

That was until Prowl stalked toward him. Without saying a word, the skinny mech grabbed the younger bot’s servo and lifted it into the air to turn him around. Bumblebee let out a squawk of protest until Prowl snapped back to cut him off, “Will you calm down? I’m only checking for damage.”

The scout pulled and yanked his servo from his grip, then a scowl immediately replaced his alarm. “You could just ask, y’know—and no. No damage. I’m fine.”

If Prowl’s optics were visible, you were absolutely positive they would be rolling into the back of his helm. The corner of his mouth quirked up into a mirrored look of irritation. “Ratchet will check you over in the morning. For now, stasis.” He glanced down at you for a split second, and the look was enough to make you cringe even in the darkness of the silo. Then he aimed a pointed digit between the both of you, “Don’t do anything stupid for the remainder of the night.”

Bumblebee feigned a look of shock in response, like he was very obviously pretending to take offense. “Me? Never.”

“I’m serious.” The ninja-bot practically hissed. He turned his back and stalked into the dark hallway ahead, “I’ve seen enough foolishness tonight to last me through the next stellar cycle.”

Your brow quirked as you watched his figure disappear into the shadows and thought to yourself, Seriously? What is your problem? Grouchy old metal toothpick.

“Yeah? Well… I’m tired anyway.” Bumblebee muttered, definitely low enough so Prowl wouldn’t actually be able to hear it. He turned to you with his optics still narrowed in a sideways glare down the dark hall, then he shook his helm. Almost immediately, his irritation melted as soon as those bright blue optics fell on you. “I am pretty beat… But definitely not because he said anything.”

You smiled, relaxing now that Prowl was gone. “Yeah? Are you sure about that?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I was stomped on by an ugly bucket of slag with anger management issues.” He tilted his helm and quirked a brow ridge at you, “But you’re human. You’re telling me you’re not tired after all that?”

You let out a hmph, then lifted your nose at him teasingly, “Not at all.”

“Really?” His helm tilted further, “Jumping into a quarry all day in the heat? Trespassing twice? Watching the most awesome Autobot deliver a smackdown?”

Your eyes snapped open to shoot him a look of shock, “You delivered the smackdown? Is that what that was?”

The ‘Bot jerked his helm back like he’d been physically struck, “Uh– yeah? Did you miss the part where I zapped his circuits?” After he finished speaking, he yawned.

You stifled a laugh. Then halfway through your response, you yawned too, “No, but that was kind of–”

When you cut yourself off to yawn without realizing, Bumblebee jumped and pointed a digit at you, “See! I knew you were tired!”

Oh my god. You flinched at his reaction at first, then a torrent of numerous remarks struggled amongst themselves to come out first. “Wha–! I–! You–!”

“I nothing. You yawned.” Bumblebee folded his arms across his chassis and turned toward the hallway, “Time for stasis.”

“Yawns are contagious!” The realization hit you like a brick as you hurried to follow him, “You did that on purpose!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Bumblebee mused, casting a nonchalant glance your way. His sly smile at the sight of your cheeks flushing red was almost enough to make you explode on the spot.

You waggled a pointed finger at him accusingly, “Oh. You’re so in for it, buddy… someday.”

“Oooh.” His vocal notes thrummed up and down in fake fear, “I’m terrified.”

The walk to his quarters barely took longer than you’d thought it would. Quite honestly, it only took so long because the plant itself was enormous. Walking from room to room felt like walking the length of a baseball field—for a human. For the Autobots, it must feel like absolutely nothing.

The young mech wordlessly waited for you to follow him into the space before sliding a heavy door shut behind you. The creaking and scraping sounds it made while being dragged against a rusted frame made your insides curl with disgust—like nails on a chalkboard. He winced too, but as soon as it was done, he was back to his usual self.

Bumblebee flipped a single switch on the wall beside the door and light fell from above to illuminate the space. His space. And it was right then that you realized… you hadn’t actually seen his room before.

The first thing you noticed were the many ropes of lights hanging from all over the place. There were lots of lit strings meant for decorating the outside of a house, most likely. Traffic lights positioned in one corner blinked in all three colors as they dangled from the ceiling. He had numerous disco balls, kaleidoscope projectors, lava lamps—anything and everything one could imagine. If it lit up to catch the eye, it was in there.

Nailed into the walls were loads of different street signs and posters depicting a plethora of different musicians. You recognized a few; rap artists, rock artists, and pop artists for starters. The mass amount of street signs confused you though. You squinted to read their names for a moment, then quickly forgot about them when the scout moved to stand beside you.

“Yep. This is my shining oasis.” He started, fists resting atop his hips. “Cool, huh?”

You blinked, eyes shooting back to the street signs. “Did you steal those?”

“Uh, no.” Bumblebee moved forward to stand in the middle of the room and pointed at them, “I borrowed them. For my decorative flare.”

“Yeah, you have a ‘decorative flare,’ alright.”

The yellow mech turned his helm back down so he could squint at you, “I bet your room’s not as cool as mine.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The smirk you shot back nearly sent him reeling. He wanted to continue to tease you, but the exhaustion was finally beginning to weigh on him. He’d never admit that to you, however.

“It is pretty cool though.” You smiled, barely catching his optics as they drifted back to further gauge your reaction to his space. “I like all the lights you have. Kinda surprised you guys have working electricity, too. I bet the city still thinks this place is abandoned.”

Bumblebee let out a scoff, “We’re Autobots, [Name]. We don’t need humans to power our stuff. It probably wouldn’t even be enough to–”

“Yeah, yeah—human power is super weak compared to Cybertronian power—I know, I know.” Your head turned to your right when you caught sight of a massive stereo system built into the wall. “I guess I’m just surprised they haven’t showed up to harass you guys about it yet.”

“Oh, they have.” He quipped back.

Oh. You couldn’t suppress the snort.

“So! This is where I stay during stasis” The mech started, patting the berth on the opposite side of the room with one servo, “You can… Uh…”

You watched him, thoroughly amused as his optics jumped around the room in search of something. He stomped into the corner beside his enormous stereo system and reached down, bundling up a huge pile of oversized blankets and tarps. Then Bumblebee walked back over to the edge of the berth and opened his arms wide to dump them onto the floor in one great heap of fabric. A cloud of dust billowed up into the air when they made contact with the concrete and he swiped his servos against each other, satisfied with his work.

“Since you organics are really soft– I mean squishy and… whatever. I guess you need something soft to go into stasis on too.” Bumblebee’s servos returned to his hip for a brief second, then he pointed at the pile and looked back to you across the room with a bright look on his faceplate, “So! You go to stasis there.”

You blinked again, glancing from him to the rough fabrics. Oh, god.

Truly, he was trying so hard to be hospitable. And he likely didn’t understand that humans had to care more about dirty and dusty objects than they did. Allergies and hygiene were very real priorities to humans, but… now that you were thinking about it, they probably didn’t have to worry about those things at all.

Regardless, you didn’t want to come off as rude or ungrateful. However, he should probably still learn these things if you were going to stick around.

“Thanks, Bee.” You approached him and the hunkering mass of fabrics, eyeing it suspiciously, “But, uh… Could you shake those out a little bit, please? There’s a lot of dirt on ‘em. And there’s definitely probably some spiders in there too.”

Bumblebee’s faceplate contorted in confusion, “So what? They’re just dusty.” Then that stupidly teasing smile came back again, “You afraid of a little dirt, [Name]? And spiders?”

“No, I just… I don’t wanna sleep with them all in my hair.” Your eyes found his optics and you made a pleading face, “If I don’t have to.”

The Autobot rolled his optics, “Whatever you say, sweetspark. But you’re gonna have to get used to some dirt if you wanna stick around with me. I love dirt.”

The wave of disbelief within you couldn’t have been stronger. “You didn’t even like the grit in your carpets from the quarry!”

“That’s different.” He mused as he lifted the wad of tarps.

“How?!”

“Because I don’t like grit. It’s all wet and sometimes it’s slimy. Ew.” Bumblebee looked away as he shook the fabric mass furiously, angling his helm to the side so the floating specks of dust didn’t get into his optics.

Instead of shooting a sarcastic comment back at him, his pause gave you a second to realize something. That puppy-eyed look actually worked when you used it on him. Now you knew that you could use it against him in the future. Yes!

Once the waves of dust died down a bit, the mech stretched his arms forward to lay the fabrics on the ground beside his berth. He layered them with care, casting a sideways glance at you every few seconds or so, and then piled one massive blanket up in the center of it all. It almost looked like a nest of sorts, you thought.

Bumblebee stood straight and admired it for a moment. “Better?”

You approached the blankets and patted them gingerly. They were softer than you expected, which was a pleasant surprise. Maybe sleeping on them actually wouldn’t be so bad until you could get your own comfy setup here. “Yes. Perfect.” Then you smiled up at him, “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Bumblebee chirped, “I’m gonna turn the lights off. But before stasis, we better think of some good excuses for when we get our cables fried in the morning.”

“You think they’re gonna fry us for that?” You plopped yourself into the soft pile and reached down to pull your sneakers off, casually glancing over your shoulder to watch him hit the levered lightswitch. “Why? Isn’t fighting those guys what you’re supposed to do when you see them?”

The only light now came from the dark blue outdoor string lights along the ceiling. It added an ambiance that you didn’t realize would be so comforting. Bumblebee’s peds passed you before he turned, planted himself on the edge of his berth, and nervously reached to cup the back of his neck with one servo. “Well, yeah. But they don’t like it when I do it by myself. Always saying ‘call for backup’ and ‘you’re too small’ or… whatever. I’ve been fighting those ugly slagheaps for a long time too!”

He looked away, his optics narrowing to focus on the floor instead. “It’s like they have no faith in me.”

Suddenly, you remembered your comment from before and the shame that came with it made you feel hot. You mocked him for getting his butt handed to him too. Bumblebee was able to pull moves way quicker than you thought possible. He was fast, agile, and fully capable of making split-second decisions in the heat of the moment. He truly was a skilled fighter, but… maybe his size was sometimes a disadvantage, especially when up against someone as large as Blitzwing.

“Well, there’s only so much you can do when your enemy’s super unpredictable and has literal jet engines strapped to him. So… if it makes you feel any better,” You angled your head to the side to catch his gaze, and when he met your eyes, you offered him a smile, “I think you were awesome.”

Bumblebee stared at you for a long moment, thinking. Then he blinked, cracked a huge smile and set his half-lidded optics on you, very obviously preparing to release a witty reply. Your heart swelled. Bad thoughts gone. Success.

“I guess I was pretty awesome, huh?” The yellow mech propped one servo up on his knee and planted his chin into the palm of it, gazing at you with the same half-lidded optics, “Bet you’ve never seen anything cooler than that.”

“Oh my god, here we go again.” You rolled your eyes and leaned all the way back into the nest of blankets he’d made for you, “Actually, one time I saw a fox hunting mice where I used to live. Did you know all foxes jump on their prey like that? So cool–”

“Primus.” Bumblebee shook his helm before dropping it into his servos, “How is a fox cooler than a Decepticon getting fried by my super sick stingers?”

“Well, have you ever seen them?” Your hands flew out to your sides to emphasize your point, “They’re so agile and swift and so pretty! You–!”

“Nuts and bolts.” The Autobot cursed, then swung his legs up to rest completely on the berth. He sighed loudly, and it was almost loud enough to make you think he was trying to rile you up further. “You’re weird.”

“No.” The reply came out so fast. You were beginning to think that you were finally catching up to his speed in conversations like these. It made you feel as if you were glowing with joy, inside and out. “I just appreciate robots and nature.”

“Huh.” Bumblebee’s response came out in a sigh at first. “Then you’d get along great with Prowl.”

Prowl. You sighed too. The older mech was so… bitter. He seemed so kind at first. What changed? Why didn’t he like you anymore? Did he ever like you to begin with? Why couldn’t you say or do anything around him without feeling like you were disrupting his very existence?

You squinted your eyes at the ceiling, deep in thought. This couldn’t go on forever. It wouldn’t go on forever. Because you weren’t going to let it. Who did he think he was anyway? Did he think he was better than you or something? That you’re just some stupid human kid who knows nothing about the universe, or life? Or anything? Because if he did, he was wrong.

Quite frankly, you’d spent most of your life getting bullied already. So you definitely weren’t going to take any more of it from a tall metal beanpole with an attitude problem.

“Uh– sorry. How ‘bout we don’t talk about that creaky buckethead.” Your yellow friend above you had leaned over so he could peek over the edge of the berth at you. “We should definitely figure out what we’re gonna tell Optimus though.”

“Oh, man. Yeah.” Your eyes blew wide for a second at the thought of the imposing leader. Disappointing him was already reminding you of a classic disappointed father figure. “I guess I’m still on probation too, huh? Do you think he’ll kick me out?”

Bumblebee scoffed, “No! He can’t kick you out of here even if he wanted to. You’re stuck with us now. Plus, I won’t let him.”

Your heart fluttered in your chest. The thought of having a genuine best friend for the first real time in your life who’d do anything for you? It was unbeatable. You couldn’t help the smile on your face.

The mech’s cyan optics gleamed in the darkness as he peered down at you, “Maybe we could tell him… that Blitwing never saw it coming!”

“Or we could just tell him the truth.” You stifled a laugh, but your tone turned serious and you shifted to get more comfortable in your makeshift nest, “That we were minding our own business until that creep basically fell out of the sky and attacked us first. Because we were.”

“Huh.” Bumblebee’s optics squinted and he turned his sights away, like he was pondering the idea. “True, true.”

“We don’t have to lie about anything, Bee.” Your fingers began to fidget nervously, almost as if you didn’t believe your own words. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“We didn’t call for backup.” The young scout replied in a mocking and rehearsed tone. “That’s what they’ll say, remember?”

“Oh.” You blinked, shoulders drooping. “Yeah. We didn’t.”

“So,” He continued almost immediately, “We call for backup from now on.”

Your head turned so you could catch his gaze again, quirking a brow as you did so. “That’s it? That’s your masterplan? I could have told you that!”

“But you didn’t.” Bumblebee turned his ‘nose’ up at you and he disappeared from sight to lean all the way back down onto the berth. “So I win.”

“What? There was a competitio–?” Cutting yourself off would be wise, you thought. This was one of his many routes into teasing you, and you finally caught on. So you rolled over and nestled in close, finally relaxing your muscles and closing your eyes. “Oh, whatever. I’m too tired for this. G’night, idiot.”

“G’night, meatbag.”

There was a long silence. So long, it almost broke you. Until a massive fit of laughter exploded from the both of you simultaneously, and some broken shushing ensued. If you woke the other Autobots now, there would be no escaping Prowl’s wrath.

Not that you really cared anymore. Not really. You were going to figure out what his problem was, no matter when or how it happened.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

“Remind me again why you didn’t call for reinforcements?” Optimus’ angry bellow wasn’t as loud as you were expecting. “You could have been offlined!”

The room was eerily silent. You stood beside Bumblebee with fidgeting hands, struggling to suppress your nerves. The air was thick and festering with irritation and anger. You could feel it.

Optimus stood before both yourself and Bumblebee. Prowl and Ratchet were leaning on the wall behind him with their arms crossing their chassis, and Bulkhead stood behind the concrete couch in the main space. Every single optic was trained on you both and your skin was threatening to set itself on fire in shame.

“And even worse!” Optimus continued, pointing one servo down to you. “[Name] was with you! She could have been offlined!”

The much smaller scout’s brow ridges lowered, determined and defiant. “I didn’t get the chance to! I was in the middle of handing his aft to him!”

“That’s not what was happening when I showed up.” The ninja-bot’s stoic voice carried itself over and Bumblebee’s helm snapped to face it. “Blitzwing had you pinned.”

“Oh, what do you know?” Bumblebee snapped the retort like venom. “You weren’t even there for most of it!”

Prowl pushed his weight off the wall and slowly began to stalk toward him, helm lowered like a feline preparing to pounce as he hissed, “It only takes one nanoklik—one mistake—for you to get smelted. You were pinned under him and his cannon was ready to fire.” The skinny mech reached Bumblebee and pointed a digit into his chassis with a sharp ting, “If I didn’t show up, your spark wouldn’t be lit right now.”

Bumblebee smacked Prowl’s servo away so fast, you took a step back. “Get your aft out of my face before I–”

“Calm down, both of you!” Optimus had shoved his servos between the two quarreling ‘Bots to separate them, pushing them both a few steps back from one another. “Bumblebee. Listen to me.”

The scowl on the scout’s faceplate didn’t falter at all and he held the ninja-bot’s intense stare. Only after another few seconds did he scoff and turn himself away in favor of his leader.

Optimus held his gaze, his tone only a slight bit softer than before. “You have a responsibility to someone now. You can’t go looking for conflicts. And you definitely shouldn’t be handling them on your own.”

Suddenly, the ground beneath your feet felt like it was quaking. You felt sick, mind spinning with anxiety and all sorts of other bad feelings. Was this somehow your fault? Was Bumblebee trying to show off for you or something? Why didn’t you convince him to run while he still could? Why didn’t you–?

This whole thing was stressing you out a whole lot more than you were expecting it to.

“That human–” Optimus pointed to you and you felt your stomach drop into your sneakers, “–is your charge. You can’t go looking for danger—especially when she’s with you.”

“I wasn’t looking for anything!” Bumblebee’s voice went shrill, almost desperate. “Blitzwing caught us by surprise! What was I supposed to do about–?”

“You call for reinforcements.” The leader finished in a level tone.

Thick waves of anger were wafting from your friend. You could feel them in the air. Regardless, his shoulder plating wasn’t as tense anymore, signifying his defeat. Your breath was caught in your throat. All you wanted to do was speak up—defend him somehow—but simultaneously you felt like you were way out of your depth. Even if you did say something, you didn’t know what you could say that might help the situation at hand.

Bumblebee’s helm dropped to the side just enough so you could see his expression once again. His optics were narrowed, staring at the floor and flicking back and forth like he was wracking his processor for what to say next. But Optimus beat him to it.

The red-and-blue leader leaned away from his subordinate and turned to you. You met his optics as soon as you realized that the attention was now being fully drawn back to you and your stomach flipped.

You felt so… small. These gargantuan beings were just discussing you like you weren’t standing right in front of them. Was this what it was always going to feel like?

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. At all. You’d have to find your voice sooner rather than later—for your own sanity.

“[Name],” The massive mech started after he crouched down to get a bit closer to your level. “Are you alright?”

Wow. You bit back the bitter thought. Could have started with that, big guy.

“I’m totally fine.” You tried to speak with a level voice as you held his intense blue gaze, but a shaky breath came out instead. Optimus was much more intimidating than he was probably trying to be. “We tried to run, honestly. But Blitzwing just kept catching up to us. Bee was just doing the best he could.”

Visibly, something flickered in the Prime’s optics as he watched you speak. You’d only just managed to catch it before it quickly vanished. Irritation.

“I’m sure he did. Everyone here knows that Bumblebee’s a skilled fighter.” Optimus leaned away and stood tall once again before he turned to send the scout another harsh look. “But everyone here also knows that he has a tendency to act first and use his processor later.”

Bumblebee bristled, but he still didn’t say anything. Your stomach twisted in your gut at the thought of making the situation even worse than it already was for him.

“Listen, kid.” A new voice, gruff and older, spoke up to catch the younger mech’s attention. Ratchet’s optics were closed, still leaning in his place at the wall with one servo rubbing the side of his helm. “I don’t have a lot of resources on this planet. I don’t have my old lab, I don’t have a lot of the necessary equipment, and we barely have an energon supply. If you get hurt, the prognosis would be… slag, honestly.”

“I know that.” Bumblebee muttered bitterly. Only a second later did he whirl to face Ratchet, then Optimus, and then Prowl all in one go. “Why don’t any of you think I can handle myself?! Primus– I’m an Autobot just like all of you!”

“But she isn’t.” Prowl used a sharp digit to point at you without even sparing you a glance.

Suddenly, fresh anger started to bubble in your chest once more. Again, someone was talking about you like you weren’t standing right in front of them. It made you feel small. Insignificant. As if your voice didn’t deserve to be heard, or that they didn't care what you were thinking for yourself. Whether what he was saying was true or not—it didn’t matter. It made your face contort with fury without having to try.

Optimus let out a loud sigh and brought one servo to press on his optics, as if he was trying to rub the frustration away. The sound caught the room’s attention once more. “[Name] is a part of this now, whether we like it or not. Blitzwing saw her with Bumblebee. And as a human, that makes her an easy target.”

The glinting of light across Bumblebee’s plating caught your attention when he turned to face you. After you made eye-contact, there was some kind of unreadable emotion on his face, like he was thinking long and hard about something as he stared you down. That—piled with the ‘you’re a target now’ thing—only made the anxiety worming around in your chest grow stronger.

More movement out of the corner of your eye prompted you to turn once again. Prowl backed a few steps away from the group. His voice was cold, monotone, yet laced with something you couldn’t quite figure out as he stared at Optimus. “And that’s exactly what never should have happened.”

With that, he turned and stalked down the hall, away from the rest of his team—and you.

Bumblebee scoffed loudly and rolled his optics. Meanwhile, you could physically feel your anger threatening to boil over as it crept along beneath your skin.

“Bumblebee.” The Prime’s voice was cooler now, it’s earlier edge melting away just slightly. “If the Decepticons find out you have a human friend, they’ll try to use it against us. It’s our job to keep her safe. She shouldn’t go anywhere without one of us to look after her.” The red-and-blue mech placed a servo on your friend’s shoulder plating, prompting him to look up to meet his optics. “You’re a guardian now. Back on Cybertron, it’s one of the most important roles a ‘Bot could ever have. Don’t treat it like it isn’t one.”

“Obviously, Boss-bot.” Bumblebee’s gaze hardened. Then he turned his helm to look back down at you and cracked a small smile. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”

Hesitantly, your eyes flicked back and forth between the two Autobots. Then you looked to Ratchet, and then over to Bulkhead who—comically—had been way too afraid to say anything throughout the whole exchange. The wrecker looked like he thought he’d shatter the imaginary glass box around him if he moved at all. You’d almost forgotten that he was even there.

The gnawing feeling alongside the knowledge that you were a burden on this team was now very, very real. Bumblebee’s feelings were obvious. At least Bulkhead seemed to like you. Optimus looked at you like you were his roommate's pet. Ratchet hardly paid you any mind and when he did, it was because Bumblebee was annoying him somehow with you in tow. And Prowl very obviously could not stand you.

All you wanted was friends. Not to become someone’s problem, or a liability. Why were they chalking you up to be some kind of nuisance? Why did they let Bumblebee befriend you at all if this was how they felt about you from the start?

Your nerves were starting to fry. Rather than continue to freak yourself out over it, you took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pit in your gut. The questions would have to wait.

“Yeah.” You cast your eyes back to the two mechs standing before you. “Thanks, Bee.”

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

“You better pray to Primus, because I’m so gonna destroy you!”

The air was lighter in Bumblebee’s room. Optimus had barred you both from leaving the plant until nightfall to avoid any scouting Decepticons, in spite of Bumblebee swearing that they don’t normally do that anyway. He’d boiled the Prime’s logic down to ‘being a scaredy-bot workaholic who can’t relax’ once the leader was out of earshot. Bulkhead told him to quit being mean, and that Optimus was right.

You were just trying to ignore all of it by now, nestled back in your little pile of blankets on the floor of your friend’s room. The swirling thoughts in your brain never felt good when they started to go haywire.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee were sitting on the floor to your right, optics focused intently on the massive TV against the wall as they battled it out in a videogame. Bumblebee’s arms were swinging up and down and left to right, like the movements would help his digits on the controller somehow. Bulkhead had to have his own home-made controller due to his unique servos and their sheer size alone. Plus—up against Bumblebee—he was already at a severe disadvantage.

“[Name] gets to play the winner!” The yellow mech piped excitedly, then he shot you a side-eye and a sly smirk. “But as usual, I’m gonna destroy her too.”

“That’s not fair! How are you doing this?!” The wrecker beside him tensed, his voice rising to a shriek as he swung his massive servos through the air, “You’re cheating!”

“No! I’m just that good at this game!” Bumblebee sprung to his peds, determined to snuff out his competition.

Your eyes flicked back and forth between them as the battle grew even more intense. A loud laugh came barreling out and you shifted to sit on your opposite leg once the other one had begun to cramp. Then a realization struck you and you gasped, sitting straight up and bending forward. “Bulkhead! Wait until the track starts to turn right again, then hold ‘X’ and you’ll blast off!”

Like lightning, Bumblebee’s helm snapped to the side so he could witness your treachery firsthand. “Hey! No! No helping the enemy! Bad!”

“Bulkhead’s not my enemy. You are!” A huge mischievous smile broke across your face and now you were leaning all the way out of your soft blankets to stare at the TV, “Do it do it do it!”

The wrecker waited until the right-hand bend on his half of the screen appeared once more. He continued to steer in a shaky line until the moment to strike finally hit, and he punched the button with another shout. His digital green truck blasted off, straight past Bumblebee’s bright sedan and across the finish line at the last possible second like something out of a movie. The two of you jumped to your feet with loud, triumphant cries just as Bumblebee screamed and threw his servos up to grab the sides of his helm in despair.

“Yeah!” Bulkhead’s heavy pedsteps made you wobble before he turned to you, one massive servo extending down to you for a high-five. “Thanks, [Name]! I don’t know any of the tricks in this game. And he never shares any.”

“Hey! What do you want me to do? Start losing?” Bumblebee cocked his weight mostly onto one ped and gave Bulkhead a look that feigned innocence with his servos raised in front of himself defensively.

“Uhh,” The wrecker blinked, “Yes?”

“Come on, Bee.” You walked to stand beside the scout so you could give his leg a comforting pat or two. “You gotta share these secrets at some point.”

His helm jerked back and then down so he could raise his brow ridges at you. It was a look that questioned how you could ever suggest such a thing. “No, I don’t.”

You were going to snap back with another teasing comment. He tortured you enough, so you genuinely tried to take advantage of the opportunity to return the favor whenever one presented itself. However, something sounded off in the hallway just as you were going to do so. You turned around to find the source of it, as did your two taller friends.

Standing a few feet away outside of the open doorway was none other than the ever-irritated ninja-bot. His lip was curled the slightest bit and he stared in silence with his servos curled into fists. No one said a thing, and it only took another second for you to realize that the sound that had caught your attention must have been another one of his dramatic sighs.

Prowl turned and shook his helm before continuing down the hall toward his own quarters.

“Pssh. Whatever, crank-bot.” Bumblebee shrugged the interaction off and looked down at you, but you didn’t notice it.

The intense anger that you’d been feeling before came back in a massive wave, flooding every one of your senses for the first time in a very long time. Suddenly it felt like you were back in your old high school—trained to cringe and silence yourself whenever one of your peers would visibly or verbally let you know that your presence wasn’t wanted anywhere near them. Back then, you used to get upset. You’d been told for so long that you were a nuisance, annoying, weird—any and every insult under the sun hurled at you like it was second nature. You used to believe them, and it kept you awake at night for so many years.

Not anymore.

You threw your arms down at your sides, beyond irate. Your stomping feet carried you around the blanket pile and you headed straight for the enormous doorway.

“[Name]– Hey!” You hardly heard the shifting of Bumblebee’s mechanics when he jumped to follow you, practically running to put himself between you and your fleeing target. “Whoa, whoa!”

He moved one ped to block your path. You stopped in your tracks and your head snapped up to glare at him.

The mech’s optics softened when he met your eyes, but they were also questioning and his voice held a note of suspicion, “What are you doing?”

“I’m finally gonna go figure out what his frickin’ problem is!” It wasn’t a shout that was directed at him necessarily. But he was in the middle of preventing you from reaching your very important and very impulsive objective.

“Uh-oh.” Bulkhead’s soft voice came from behind you. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Who cares what his problem is?” Bumblebee asked urgently, yet gently. One of his servos rose to point in the direction of the older mech. “That’s just Prowl! He doesn’t like anyone!”

You stared at him, then looked away and balled your fists. Your heartrate was still rising and you let out a sharp huff of air, thinking hard.

“Besides…” The young mech in front of you leaned down onto one knee to get closer to your level, “You got me and Bulkhead. We’re your friends. You just gotta ignore him. He’s just a rusty old stiff know-it-all who has no idea what having fun is.”

His words tumbled around your brain for a second. You tried to ponder them. Really, you did. Bumblebee was right—it was stupid.

But he didn’t know everything about you. He didn’t know what you had to deal with before, and he didn’t know that you didn’t want to do it all again.

You swiveled around him without meeting his optics, “I’ll be right back.”

His helm followed your movements and he jumped back to stand on his peds, voice rising into alarmed whisper-yelling, “No– bad idea, bad idea!”

But you were already in the hallway and turning right, trotting down the corridor with fierce determination. Surprisingly—and to your relief—Bumblebee didn’t follow you.

You’d seen Prowl walk to the very end of the hallway a few times before. He always turned into the last doorway on the left. It had to be his room.

As you approached, you could feel the waves of anger growing stronger. Who does he think he is? Like he’s so much better than everyone else?!

When you reached the silo’s door, it was cracked open by only a few inches. You brought your face close to peek inside and found the mech standing before… a tree?

Without thinking, your fingers reached to grip the edge of it and you tried to push. It was difficult for sure, but after you managed to creak it noisily to the side a bit more, you had an in and you squeezed through.

Prowl was already turning to look down at you from a good dozen or so feet away. For a split second, he actually looked surprised to see you. As you stepped inside, you couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Okay. What’s the problem, dude?” You stopped with a good amount of distance between the two of you, eyes searching every part of his form like you were sizing up an opponent.

Once again, Prowl sighed. He brought one servo to his faceplate and grimaced. The extreme annoyance was already perfectly clear. “Go back to the others–”

“No!” The curt shout came out quicker than you could even think. “I thought we could’ve been friends!” Your hands flew all over the place as the tone of your voice rose, desperate for answers. “You were so cool before! What happened? What did I do to you?”

“Nothing.” Prowl’s voice had practically dropped down to a growl. He turned his body away, but you could physically feel the optics behind his visor burning holes into your own. “Leave me be and go back to Bumblebee. You’re not supposed to leave his side.”

You stared, dumbfounded as the questions still swirled around in your head and your heartbeat pounded in your ears. He stared back, until the moment he turned his back to you completely and spoke monotonely once more. “I see he’s already doing a great job.”

With eyes blown wide open at the sheer audacity, the fury boiling within you finally exploded into a raging fire. “Dude! What is your problem?!” Your feet carried you a few paces closer and you felt your gut twisting. “What am I doing to you that’s so bad? Why are you so nasty to Bumblebee? Spit it out!”

The opportunity for him to respond came and went when you stopped for a mere few seconds. He still didn’t say anything, didn’t move—nothing.

“Is it because I’m a human?” That question came out in half a laugh. “You think I’m small and weak and a liability to you guys? That I’m gonna cause all sorts of problems by just existing in the same space as all of you?”

Still, nothing. But you were persistent. “Or maybe you’re just–”

“You are a liability!” Prowl shouted without any warning, whirling to face you with hackles raised. It silenced you instantly and you recoiled at the unexpected volume.

“You are a human, so you are small and weak.” He took a step closer.

You stepped back. Your once immense anger and fury had vanished, and the feeling plummeted straight into something else entirely.

“In case you don’t know, we’re fighting a war here. We’re stuck on this planet with limited resources, severely outnumbered and we have to be extremely vigilant with every move we make.” Prowl’s tone dropped as he spoke, venom lacing every one of his words. “Bumblebee is a soldier first, even if he acts like a sparkling. And he definitely shouldn’t be a sparkling-sitter. If he doesn’t get his processor out of the stars at some point, his naivety is going to get him killed. Not to mention you.”

You stared at him, shocked to your very core. Nothing could have prepared you for the normally calm mech’s sudden level of intensity. You could feel yourself shrinking and you couldn’t find the proper words to respond. You just felt… small.

“I tried to tell him not to get distracted. That bringing you into our lives—and this war—was a mistake.” Prowl’s shoulders loosened and he stood straight. If you were thinking clearly, you might have noticed that it was because he noticed that he was scaring you.

Then he sighed quietly, and he finally turned his back to you once again. He looked up to gaze at the enormous tree that was branching in all different directions out of the ceiling. The birds that he loved to observe so much were now long gone thanks to the unusual commotion.

Your head finally dropped so you could stare at the floor, struggling to ground yourself. You just didn’t know what to say. It was overwhelming, nevermind unexpected. What he’d said wasn’t at all what you were envisioning for this confrontation.

“Getting attached to a human is sparkbreak waiting to happen.” The mechanical sounds of the mech in front of you whirred as he moved, turning to look at you one last time. His voice was soft, almost forlorn. “And you’re both going to have to learn that the hard way.”

With that, Prowl leaped soundlessly into the branches of the tree in front of him and out of sight.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

Streetlights passed by slowly. You tried to count the ones in the distance absentmindedly during the ride home to keep your mind occupied, but it wasn’t really working.

Bumblebee was worried. You’d been unusually quiet since you slipped back into his room after your blow out with Prowl, visibly shaken, and you didn’t want to tell him anything about what had happened. He thought about confronting Prowl himself, but you insisted that he didn’t need to. That it was pointless.

The light from his center console glowed softly when he spoke, “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” A lie. Your fingers fidgeted with the hem of your shirt. “I’m good.”

Silence followed, other than the sound of the bumps and potholes in the road beneath the Autobot’s tires. He didn’t believe you and you knew it, but neither of you said anything about it.

Your aunt had texted you twice throughout the day to ask where you were and if everything was okay. You should have known she’d be upset—of course she would be. You haven’t been home since yesterday morning and you were going to have to make up a lie to get out of it once again. You hated lying—especially to your family.

“I’m gonna be sticking close to your house for the night, okay?” Bumblebee tried to catch your attention again. He seemed desperate to break the silence that kept settling every few minutes or so.

“Yeah, yeah.” Your quiet voice fell off. Prowl’s words kept ringing in your mind and you knew you probably weren’t going to sleep through the night. “Boss-bot’s orders.”

The mech stammered as if he was tentatively stepping on eggshells. “Uh, well— yeah but I don’t really… I don’t want to leave you anyway.”

Liz popped back into your head again. You blinked at the glowing center console. “I don’t want to leave you either, Bee. I wish I could stay out, but Liz is probably gonna kill me for staying out past curfew a full twenty-four hours ago.”

“She can’t kill you.” Bumblebee stated matter-of-factly, “You have a guardian now, remember? I won’t let her.”

“Psh, how would you even get into the house to stop her?” A laugh finally broke it’s way out of you for the first time in hours. “You’d have to blow a wall apart or something.”

“Ooooh, that’s a good idea! Thanks for the suggestion!” His tone picked up immediately to encourage yours, finally happy to hear something other than complete and utter misery in your voice. It made you smile in spite of everything else.

No matter what Prowl said, it didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. He was wrong. You weren’t going to get in their way, you weren’t going to get involved in any intergalactic drama, and you definitely weren’t going to get Bumblebee or yourself killed.

…Right?

The rest of the drive went by far too fast. Bumblebee was driving slower than usual to take advantage of his last few minutes with you until the next day, but it still felt as if it had only been a moment since you’d left the plant with him.

He wanted to question you further. To figure out what in Primus’ name Prowl could have said to make you shut down so hard, but he didn’t want to push it either. At this point in your friendship, he hadn’t tested your limits like that yet. And he didn’t want to start now.

As the Autobot pulled up in front of one of the other houses on your street, he quickly flicked his headlights off so his presence wouldn’t bring any unwanted attention. Another lie, you thought. You really hated hiding things from Liz so soon after she’d welcomed you into your home. Simultaneously, you hated that you had to hide the fact that for once in your life, you had finally found a real friend. One that truly didn't mean it when they mocked or belittled you. A friend that cared, just like you cared for him.

Compile all of it—and Prowl’s words—into the huge mess wracking your mind at the moment and you had a perfect recipe for insomnia. Brilliant.

“Let me know how it goes, okay?” Bumblebee’s cyan lights illuminated your features in the rearview mirror. His voice was soft and gentle, and you hated it. It was just full of pity.

Your response came out in a soft huff, like you were trying to reboot yourself before tackling the daunting task ahead of you; an upset family member. “I will. And you let me know what happens when I’m not at the plant. Someone’s probably… really not happy tonight.”

Your yellow friend was quiet for a brief moment, but to your relief, he didn’t press.

“Nah, I’m not going back to the plant tonight.” Bumblebee’s voice was chipper, but almost too chipper. Like he was trying really hard not to question your tone. “I have a new job, remember? There’s a girl that needs me at all times.”

Ew. You couldn’t contain your giggling, even if it was quieter than it usually was. He still caught it and it made him smile too.

He definitely shouldn’t be a sparkling-sitter.

The intrusive memory sent a shiver straight through your bones. You tried to shake it off. Honestly? Sleeping in your own bed for the night sounded heavenly. But the thought of inevitably mulling through the events of the previous two days was daunting and you remembered that once again, sleeping likely wasn’t going to be possible. Not for tonight, anyway.

You’d jumped from the edge of a quarry repeatedly, witnessed a violent smackdown, feared for your friend’s and your own life, were lit on fire during a “team discussion,” realized you were now roped into their drama, had a sleepover with an alien robot, exploded on Prowl when you thought it was deserved, and now you were most likely facing another confrontation with someone you barely knew.

Yeah, you’d be lucky if you slept through the night at all.

“Awesome.” You said it partly to Bumblebee and partly to yourself, though he didn’t know it. “I’ll let you know if I need any saving in there. Just don’t break down the wall on the left side of the house. I actually like my room.”

“Your room that’s definitely totally not cooler than mine?” Bumblebee shot the humor at you lightly as the driver’s door beside you popped open and your seatbelt clicked itself undone. “Sure. I guess I can spare it.”

“Oh,” Your legs swung out to the side so you could begin the climb out of his interior and you sent one last look at the center console, your eyebrows raised, “You’re too kind.”

After you stepped out, you looked for the house a few lots away. The lights in the living room and kitchen were on, meaning there was no doubt that Liz was waiting for you. It wasn’t late in the night by any means so you figured she’d still be awake anyway. You were just foolishly hopeful that you might have been able to avoid her for the night altogether.

“Hey, seriously.” The unusually gentle voice of your usually loud friend pulled your focus from the house and back to him. While he spoke, you reached back into his interior to grab your backpack so you could get yourself ready. “Lemme know what happens, okay? I’ll be waiting. And… if– if you need anything–”

“I’ll let you know, Bee. Promise.” You closed the door with a soft push and tried to ignore your heart screaming in protest. You didn't want to leave him either. “And I promise I’m fine. So don’t go running back to yell at Prowl, okay?”

He was quiet for a long moment. “...Okay.”

“Bee.”

“I won’t, I won’t!” The vehicle before you actually shifted like he was tensing up. “Promise.”

A tiny laugh forced itself through your nose and you smiled sadly, patting his roof in an effort to reassure him. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah… tomorrow.” There was a note of mischief there, enough to make you squint at him.

Whatever. You just wanted to curl up into your own blankets, ones that were actually clean. So you turned slowly and smiled at him, wondering whether he could even see it or not. “Thanks, Bee.”

“Stop thanking me so much!” The ‘Bot called after you as you traversed the neighborhood’s sidewalk.

The walk was short. Bumblebee parked closer than he normally did, but you didn’t really care. It wasn’t like Liz would be able to see him unless she came all the way out of the house and into the street anyway.

As you stopped at the end of the pathway to her front door, you glanced over your shoulder one last time at the yellow WRX and waved. He flashed his highbeams in response, and you continued on. Taking one short deep breath as your hand found the door handle, you tentatively pushed it open.

Almost at once, you heard something shifting inside the kitchen. Then a voice. “[Name]!”

The edge of the door left your line of sight as you pushed it in and there she was. Liz was previously sitting at the kitchen table before she stood up, clearly. Her hands were gripping the frame of the chair like her life depended on it. She looked fine, definitely not like a parental figure that was thoroughly freaked out. At least, that was what you tried to convince yourself to make yourself feel better.

“Hey.” Your voice was soft, nervous. “I’m sorry, I–”

“You can’t do things like this!” She wasn’t necessarily yelling, but the tone of her voice definitely caught you by surprise. “I was worried sick! Where were you? What happened?”

The older woman practically flew around the chair in front of her so she could walk straight up to you. Her hands reached up to cup your face, eyes searching everywhere for any signs of injuries or distress. “Are you hurt? Did something happen? Why didn’t you come home? Why didn’t you tell me to come get you?”

The flurry of questions was suddenly overwhelming, not to mention her hands being so close to your face as they flew out of her. Your hands involuntarily reached up to block her from touching you any further. “I’m fine! I’m… I’m fine. I promise. Nothing happened. I just wanted to stay with my friend for the night. Honest.”

You met her wild eyes. There were still millions of questions in them and she didn’t look convinced at all. If anything, she just looked extremely worried. “Are you sure?”

You nodded your head wordlessly. Your backpack finally fell off of your shoulder and you pushed the door closed behind you. You didn’t even get the chance to realize that you were still holding onto the outside doorknob until that moment.

The woman before you sighed loudly, then she took a step or two back. She looked away with her eyes on the table and she folded her arms across her chest. “Okay… What happened?”

She brought her eyes back to yours. Her worry was gone, now very visibly replaced with some kind of anger or disappointment. Or both.

Now this was the moment you were dreading the most—lying your way out of it.

You tried to look her in the eye while you said it all. You really did. “They wanted me to stay over at their house so we could play some videogames, that’s all. I swear. We didn’t do anything stupid. And their parents were home the whole time.”

You swallowed, gauging her reaction while you continued to hold eye-contact with her. Nothing stupid, other than trespassing twice in one day and then almost getting blown up and watching my friend almost die.

Liz searched your face like she was looking for something to point out. She stared quietly, then a heavy sigh fell out of her after a long moment. Her shoulders slumped and the rest of her posture relaxed a bit shortly after. She met your eyes again. “You just… You need to tell me where you are, okay? And I really need to meet these friends of yours. I don’t like not knowing who you’re hanging out with, or where you are. I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

Bee keeps me safe perfectly fine. The thought flashed in your mind and you tried to push it away so you could focus on her. But you don’t know that, and you can’t know it.

“I want you to meet them too! And you will. Soon.” The words flew out quicker than you could stop them. Yikes. Now that was something else you’d have to figure out later too.

The woman eyed you once again, but her suspicion seemed to have finally melted away. Then she sighed again and pushed herself away from the kitchen counter. She shuffled over and wrapped her arms around you in a hug without a word. It took only a brief second for you to realize that you wanted to hug her back. She squeezed you tight in her arms before she leaned away, her own hands moving down to gently grip your biceps so she could keep your attention once more. “I’m glad you’re safe and I’m glad you’re home. Now go to sleep, okay? I’ll have breakfast ready in the morning. Then we can talk about bringing your friends over here for a change. Yes?”

“Yes.” Your agreement came out in a heavy sigh. Exhaustion was finally beginning to creep up on you, as well as a huge sense of relief. “I’m sorry again, Aunt Liz.”

“It’s okay.” Liz released you. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you in the morning.” You offered her a tired smile and leaned down to grab the discarded backpack at your feet. She returned it, then said goodnight.

Not a moment later, you were walking quietly down the hall to your own bedroom with enormous eyes. I can’t believe that actually worked. Holy crap.

Quickly, you pushed your bedroom door open and quietly clicked it shut behind you. Immediately your phone was out of your pocket and in your hand, typing furiously to the very friend you were hiding from Liz. I’m fine! No saving needed, o great hero.

You hit send, then threw the phone onto your bed. You’d never been so desperate for a change of clothes before. They were still the same ones you wore to the quarry, and the same ones you wore while standing in the woods with a burning patch of grass in front of you the night before. There was no doubt dirt and grit and probably specks of ash scattered within the threads. You just couldn’t believe you hadn’t thought of it until you were finally standing in your own bedroom.

The layers came off easily and were quickly thrown into the hamper sitting against the far wall. Fresh, clean, and heavenly soft pants went straight on and you quickly dug for a loose t-shirt in one of your dresser drawers before—finally—you slipped on your most comfortable hoodie.

Throwing yourself down onto your bed had never felt so good. A comfortable sigh of relief came out and every single muscle in your body relaxed. You hadn’t realized how tense you’d been before.

The phone a few inches away from your head vibrated against the soft blankets beneath it. You reached for it without a second thought. Bumblebee had replied, You sure?

A laugh came out once again. Yep. Perfectly totally absolutely.

You tossed the phone back down beside your head and closed your eyes. Maybe sleep would actually come easier than you thought. Until the device vibrated again only a few seconds later.

It’s too bad you have to stay in tonight. I just got some great intel.

You furrowed your brows and typed back, Oooo, do tell.

It took a moment, but Bumblebee still responded quickly. Come outside and I’ll bring you to a race. Unless you’re scared of breaking the rules.

Exhaustion? Gone. Destroyed. Forgotten about. You flew up and off of your covers to scramble over to your bedroom window and peeked out from behind the curtain.

Of course, there he was. He’d moved closer to the house since you last saw him but he was still parked quietly, well away from the glow of the closest streetlight.

You cursed under your breath and looked away from the window. No. No, [Name]! Bad idea, bad idea. You literally just got in trouble twice today. Don’t do it. No.

The time it took between his last text must have dragged on too long for him, because you’d just gotten another one. Knew you were a scaredy-bot.

Oh, no you don’t. You threw your arms down at your sides and groaned. Your bed would have to wait.

Because you’d already thrown on a pair of proper pants and sneakers to slip out of your bedroom window before you could spare it another glance.

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊

Kid Spirit — Family and Friends

Weirdo — More Fatter

Daylight Doom — MOTO BANDIT

Moon Man — Balu Brigada

Underground — Cody Fry

Cigarettes and Feelings — The Haunt

Buzzcut Season — Lorde

Cheerleader — Porter Robinson

Ocean’s End — Starjunk 95, BELELA

Summer’s Ending Soon — The Midnight

Deep Blue — The Midnight

Ripple — Good Neighbors

Automatic — half•alive

Green Lights — Yam Haus

Goner - Demo — Kids That Fly (this one hurts me for… reasons)

where do we go from here — Nightly

New York — Junior Varsity

Headlock — Imogen Heap

See Her Out — Francis and the Lights

Steady Hand — Saint Motel

The Gospel of Love — Her Dark Heaven (!!!)

₊ ⊹ 🐝 ⊹ ₊