Spin-off of the short story from Rare Pair Collection called Fun and Games.
Send him up to infiltrate the Nemesis, they said. It would be alright to go alone to prevent too much defensiveness, they said. Out of all the ideas, this was by far the most terrifying and the most unfair.
Bulkhead knew if he got caught, the Decepticons wouldn't take his presence lightly and would trap him onboard in a spark beat so he couldn't escape. He was already having flashbacks to the time where he woke up on the Nemesis unconscious and dealt with Starscream clones but managed to evade Megatron and tanked the Nemesis to the ground all in one day. That was a nightmare.
Megatron. Ever since the mud battle he had with the warlord, the Decepticon Leader was becoming an annoyance. He constantly was chasing poor Bulkhead down, ignoring Optimus and the Wrecker was beginning to go insane from how persistent the encounters were becoming. Something was wrong with the mech and Bulkhead knew he might just find out what if his mission went south at any point in time.
Slowly, Bulkhead crept around the corners of the many halls of the warship. He wouldn't lie, he was lost. On the other hand, it was odd that for a ship with three thousand plus crewmembers he had yet to run into some of them patrolling. He doubted all of them were recharging so what was up?
"Okay Bulky, just find the shielding controls and neutralize them then run like hell. It-it works in the movies so this should be okay," the Wrecker whispered to himself.
"Good evening, esteemed crew of the Nemesis-"
He jerked back suddenly when the screens near an abandoned communication station erupted to show King Con himself in all his scary glory. He quickly gulped and walked faster past as Megatron announced new weapon test results and so on. He didn't want to deal with it primarily because if he stopped, he could be snuck up on and he wasn't ready to even be thought about being caught yet. Once the shields of the Nemesis were down, Fowler could test his own government's new weapon to try and sink this ship once and for all.
He passed through an intersectional hall but as soon as he looked left, he froze. A couple hundred Vehicons were staring towards a larger communications screen with their leader's faceplates plastered in broadcast. Thankfully, they were all facing away from him. Sighing silently he continued perpendicular to their direction until his pede pressed down on a loose metal plate.
CREEAAK.
The metal made a loud groan and his face widened in utter astonishment and fear. Two hundred red visors in sync turned in a flash towards his position as he stared at the floor in betrayal before meeting their gaze with an unsettled frown. Megatron's message continued in the background as he felt their optics track every twitch and reflex. A few of them gave very soft but still audible growls of defense in the silence.
Bulkhead smiled sheepishly before deciding to slowly walk back in the direction in which he came, keeping eye contact with the Vehicons as they tracked him, their helms turning to always stare at him with their emotionlessness. As soon as Bulkhead couldn't see the last visible visor, he booked it down the halls.
His panic really set in when he heard multiple foot falls blasting far behind but not lost on his trail. The announcements halted and he could no longer see Megatron's visage so the warlord was no doubt being briefed on his intrusion.
No less than five seconds later, the two hundred Vehicons passed the area of the hall he once occupied, guns loaded and shouting angrily.
"Damn son, look at Bulkhead go! I don't think I've ever seen him run that fast before," Breakdown chuckled with one elbow on the console table.
Knockout smirked, "If you were being chased by hundreds of Autobots, I believe you would be faster than a Velocitronian."
"Doubtful," Starscream mocked.
A few Vehicons on the bridge were laughing like hyenas as they watched Bulkhead almost tripped but recovered, running in random directions since he forgot his path formerly. One of the more silent troopers had a clawed servo holding his chin in thought just in front of Megatron who held his arms behind his back with a feral grin.
"So, dear Bulkhead has finally decided join us on this merry cruise. I do hope we can make his stay comforting," he spoke, glancing idly between two Vehicons situated on both his right and his left side who were returning his demented smile as he peered towards them.
When it was almost silent, a Vehicon in the back immediately broke the tension and chortled, "He looks like a fat penguin trying to flee predators with a rock in his foot."
Almost the entire main deck sans Megatron who just tried to conceal a humored snort burst out laughing with some Vehicons holding their sides while others sank down from the console or wall they were positioned against to just clap down onto the floor nearly crying.
"Hey, I didn't know a continent can move!"
"Which one? I think all seven of them are running away on my screen."
Knockout concealed his wide open howling mouth as he banged his fist on the table.
When Bulkhead suddenly slipped and bounced onto the floor, someone replied, "Did anyone else feel that earthquake?"
Megatron raised a brow entertainingly before unlocking his arms from his back and gesturing calmly, "Now that's enough. Bulkhead may be…larger…than the average Cybertronian in terms of width-"
A few snickers made him only glance for a second to his side, "-but there is always more than meets the optic and size doesn't always matter. I know many of you laugh now but how many times have you been defeated by the one called Arcee? Doesn't she barely surpass the size of a Minicon?"
The room grew dead quiet in realization with a small cough near the captain's post.
"Bulkhead has his moments of strength which makes him a formidable enemy to us and who can hate his rather dim but cute, innocent personality off the battlefield? I know a few of you have a thing for the Wrecker, am I wrong?"
Various no's and other muttered comments sounded among the group with the last heard being "I do like thick mechs."
Megatron sneered, "I personally like the way he is because to me, I see it as there is more to like about him physically. More to hold, more to admire, and possibly more to play with so is there a downside to his abnormal structure?"
Most shook their heads as Breakdown responded, "I was with him on Cybertron during my time among the Wreckers and his size was perfect for what we were able to do. Fun times. Of course, the only problem I had was that I needed to corner him to get him to submit. He wouldn't play by others' terms if he wasn't under control."
"Well like I said, I do believe it's time we give Bulkhead a proper welcome aboard our vessel," the Decepticon Leader laughed.
A Vehicon interrupted, "Just so you know, my lord, a while ago when we were tracking his human pet's cellular device, this 'Miko' mentioned an incident when Bulkhead quote on quote 'screamed like a little girl' because of brief power failure. He seemed very submissive when in the dark due to fear of being alone. You were once a miner and your optics were tuned for extreme dark whereas the rest of us have only standard lighting although we have sensory maps of the Nemesis in our processors so we can navigate by that. If you were to cut the power and maneuver towards him, you could make a fun game of it. We can help with that as well. Scare him the Decepticon way then let you deal with him as you please."
As they watched Bulkhead run in circles trying to figure his way around, Megatron grinned madly, "Let the games begin."
Soundwave who ignored most of the drama in a corner of the room hooked himself up to the mainframe and cut all lights on the Nemesis including their own deck. Optic lights practically all red moved wantonly as they adjusted to the darkness. Most were only able to see about twenty feet out in front of them but Megatron could see up to eighty, able to completely make out the main deck control panel on the other side of the room. He dimmed their visible appearance to dark red to blend better with the environment which would make them impossible to spot from a distance, giving him the ultimate advantage.
He growled happily and charged through the powerless open door, optics seemingly bobbing up and down ferociously as the other sets followed suit.
Bulkhead finally slowed down and listened if the two hundred Vehicons were still around his position. They had probably split off into separate groups. This was far more of an escalation than he anticipated but then again, running into more than a hundred Decepticons was bound to cause an uproar.
"This is stupid. Can this day get any worse?"
The lights above and around him suddenly vanished and the mech gave out a shriek as pure darkness hit him. He stood corrected big time. Blue optics batted in various degrees of fear as he tried to assess the situation, realizing he had only fifteen feet of optical vision maybe less. This meant he was a sitting duck if any Con figured out how to sneak up on him.
He heard no movement anymore even from afar, saw nothing but portions of the floor, but he did sense something close by…he just couldn't pinpoint where it was and that was far from good. When he began to move, he peered down at his pedes when they sounded a lot louder than he anticipated. It was freaking him out far more than it should have been.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, I'm going to die!" He whimpered.
Something briefly pattered past him from behind and he immediately whipped around. He caught nothing in his sights and there was no sound again. He was alone for the time being.
"This isn't good! Oh Ratchet when I get off of this ship, I will kill you."
He felt a ghostly brush against his backside and panicked, turning frantically in all directions where scrambling backwards away from the area he was touched. Optical light could barely focus on any visible pieces of the room as he was moving his head way too fast. He thought he saw pedes of someone or something but they fled his vision before he could react.
A ghoulish chuckle and an animalistic growl of two different vocal tones were caught audibly circling him, both very short-lived. They were taunting him. He couldn't tell who they were but he knew the Cons were in fact near him like a pack of raptors. Some forms of movement were heard in different areas and the echoes only lasted two seconds at most before a new sound drowned it or it became dead silent.
Another playful nudge or two had him sidestepping as fast as he could with a scowl and he knew damn well he was certain there was more than one Con when he felt a clawed servo pass his cheek while an average one hit his shin simultaneously.
He saw a flash of red streak through the corner of his optic and felt something rush past him, grazing his arm. As he moved in one direction hoping to get away from whatever he was dealing with, he peered behind him despite not being able to see far and his distraction led him to crash into something sturdy face first.
His visible optics made a distressed but confused expression of alarm and he shook his helm from the blow. Without thinking, he pressed his servos against the object he hit and mapped it out, expecting it to be a wall. Once his servos met a more 4D area, he made a grunt of realization and adjusted his optics as he slowly looked upward. The Decepticon symbol his light trailed over made time freeze and his processor backtrack. When he scanned upward a bit more, two red lights for eyes flashed brightly out of superficially nowhere as if they had been closed prior.
"Oooh…boy, this is…um…awkward. Now this has been a real riot and everything but I think I'm going to be leaving now."
Despite Bulkhead's cheap smile was covered by the darkness, the red optics narrowed in response and the Wrecker fled. The crimson eyes widened from the sudden surge but dilated again and chased after. If one was peering into the dark with no special sight, it would almost appear as if red and blue balls of light were dancing when in reality, the lights had much more sinister and scared motifs.
Abruptly, something swiped his legs out from under his from the front and Bulkhead tumbled. With a second of composure, he glanced back to see the two red orbs bobbing and growing in brightness as his enemy neared. Seeing the eyes cover his entire limited line of sight once the Con decided to pounce on him made an alarmed scream emit from Bulkhead. It was immediately mumbled when he and the Con rolled from the impact force before he was pressed down hard against the floor, the red optics staring down at him with unreadable emotions.
Bulkhead cringed as the face of the Con drew closer to where he could feel the breath tickle his cheek. He turned his helm to the side and whined, "Please don't rip off my face."
He barely interpreted the dark laugh of his attacker when suddenly he felt something slick start on his jaw line up his cheek and end right above his optic. He realized it was the mech's glossa and he kind of blushed and stuttered at the gesture. Another swipe went over his nose when he turned back to face the Con. It made him reel back slightly but he didn't fight it necessarily since he didn't want to provoke a much deadlier movement.
The Con drifted to the side to let Bulkhead sit up in the dark but gave him a purr and rubbed the Wrecker's jaw line with his own, visibly smirking at the flustered Autobot despite said Autobot couldn't see him at the current angle.
"Okay, alright, not the welcome I was expecting," the Wrecker laughed uncertain of the situation.
The lights overhead began to flicker back on until the halls were once again illuminated purple and he found himself shocked when he saw Megatron straddling him with one clawed servo on his chest and the other lying next to his waist. The larger mech huffed steam from nasal vents and licked his scarred lips, peering down with velvet red optics.
He nervously peered around to see if anyone else was nearby but they were all alone. Bulkhead didn't know what to do since the warlord practically had him pinned from the abdomen down and if he tried to push the Decepticon off, Megatron would barricade him completely until he was directly between him and the floor. He sank a bit more into the floor in embarrassment, watching as the mech's optics traced him again.
"Dear Bulkhead, do you not remember what I said last time?" The warlord purred.
The green mech kind of glanced awkwardly to the side before holding up a digit semi-squished between them with a nervous smile. "Nothing's registering at the moment. Recap please?"
Megatron laughed at the charming, bewildered expression of the Autobot. "I promised you we would have more fun in a more appropriate environment and as I recall, you technically never rejected the idea."
"Oh…that…yes, well I didn't think you were…uh…serious about that. I just thought…"
Silver claws latched onto the ground on both sides of Bulkhead's helm, making the smaller mech shrink a little. He cautiously peered down Megatron's body and up again to the scarred face he had learned to dread. To be fair, Megatron was a good looking mech for his age and for a former miner. So if he asked for Bulk's appeal to him, the Wrecker wouldn't be lying if he was forced to say Megatron looked great.
Tapping a thumb against the floor, Megatron gave a sigh, "You and I are a lot alike, Wrecker."
Bulkhead frowned, "I'd rather say we aren't."
"Oh but we are, especially in certain areas of expertise and talent," he mused.
It took a second for the Autobot to catch on but when he did, "Whoa, whoa, now that's a bit private. I don't go snooping around your personal life and stuff."
"I wouldn't care if you did, to be honest. I don't have much to hide."
"Okay, alright," Bulk scowled. "You and I need to discuss some boundaries with personal records."
Megatron smirked impishly, "Fine, I'll start."
The Wrecker was shocked as the warlord kissed him. He was never one to kiss his partners as his jaw limited what his mouth could do but he admittedly melted to the sensation despite his apparent partner being Megatron. He moaned a little as glossa brushed against the inside of his mouth. It seemed like a long kiss but it ended and he felt Megatron press his forehead against his own, moving it side to side in a comforting cuddling manner.
Bulkhead coughed from halting his intakes at the surprise before dazedly frowning. That was indeed unexpected and he had no idea how to take this information of the warmonger actually liking him.
He huffed, "You have a…a very good point. I'm not going home to the Autobot base tonight, am I?"
The silver mech smirked with half closed wanton optics and shook his helm as innocently as possible. He then sat up and let the Wrecker stretch out his trapped arms before climbing up off the floor. He held out a clawed servo which Bulkhead hesitantly took and didn't let go, dragging the poor Autobot down an unknown direction.
"Where are we going?" Bulkhead mumbled.
Megatron chuckled lightly, "I think you already know, my dear Wrecker. You will be staying with me tonight."
As they continued through the labyrinth that was the Nemesis' halls, Bulkhead grew anxious at the thought. He tagged alongside the warlord with little to no resistance as he knew it was futile. The only hope he had was that Megatron would play nice this time and that he could at least walk in the morning.
AN: Miko, you blabbermouth! Anyway, I was going to write the naughty scene but I figured it was best left to the imagination. If you didn't read Fun and Games on my other fic, you would probably be wondering what the hell led to Megatron's sudden interest and why was Bulkhead not frightened about a night with the King Con? Thankfully Bulkhead's a big mech so Megatron doesn't have to be as delicate as he is with Arcee in my other fics regarding the latter pairing. I did say at one point Megatron/Bulkhead was more a platonic ship as a co-op parenting base for Miko but that doesn't mean I didn't think about doing this with them.