Authors note: I dont think you understand how difficult this was to write without eventually making it into a ProwlxBumblebee fanfic! I didn't even ship this paring until I started writing this and then suddenly, 'Huh... they should kiss here wait NO! No, I do not ship this... But it would be great if they have angst here and then an apology kiss wait NO! Stop.'
I may even rewrite the end to become a slash fic if enough people ask. but ANY WAY! On to the story.
Disclaimer: Transformers Animated and all its characters belong to Hasbro. If they did belong to me, Starscream Prowl and Blurr would still be alive... *cough*and Blitzwing would be tied up in my basement*cough*
The base was silent.
Optimus was out with Captain Fanzone to help put out the fire in his home (While trying to make breakfast, the kitchen appliances had decided that today was a good day to stop working and blow up, causing a lot of flammable material to catch alight and a long string of 'This is why I hate machines!' to erupt from the house), Ratchet was in the med bay tinkering with various tools and gadgets and Bulkhead was quietly painting a picture of Sari in his room.
The loudest member of the team was surprisingly not watching T.V or playing Ninja Gladiator, Bumblebee was instead standing in the door to Prowl's room, watching the ninjabot with sadness in his eyes.
After meeting Lockdown and reclaiming his beloved sensei Yoketron's helmet, Prowl had become more distant and gloomy than ever before, and no one had heard him speak for days. He stayed in his room under the great, towering oak tree and meditated, never leaving once. Bumblebee hadn't even seen him eat!
The yellow mech couldn't stand seeing him like this. Prowl was his role model! The mini-bot idolised him and had done so ever since meeting him.
He was so proud and strong, never cowering in the face of danger. That was one of the reasons the scout went charging head first into battle; to be like Prowl. He was so good at keeping his emotions concealed; it was a trait Bumblebee envied. Maybe if he was able to do that, more people would like him and he wouldn't be as annoying. But it was just the way he was.
The only thing Bumblebee hated was that the stoic mech never laughed. He never smiled, or joked or laughed about anything, and right now he was even worse than normal. It was driving him mad!
He needed cheering up.
With that thought in mind, the racer turned and sped down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of his room. The door slid open to reveal a wreckage of a room. Video games were strewn over the floor and cans of oil were scatted in every direction. There were patches of sticky stuff on the floor which could have ranged from old spilt oil to melted ice-cream. Bee had obviously never cleaned, ever. It would be pretty obviously to anyone coming in whose room it was.
Bumblebee leaped over the mess to reach the cupboard which was clearly struggling to keep the door shut. He opened it up and almost immediately the contents spilled out, burying the yellow mech in a mountain of prank boxes and memorabilia until he wasn't visible.
His head popped out the pile and the racer shook off boxes that were hanging off his horns.
"Man, I've got to tidy up in here!" He snorted, "Yeah, when I'm offline."
Brushing off the rest, he started searching through the pile for what he needed.
"Prowl desperately needs to smile, that's what will get him out of boring, miserable state." Bumblebee chatted to himself, throwing boxes and action figures over his shoulder guards, now and then picking something up and putting it in front of him.
"I know that whenever Sari's sad or needs cheering up, I just need to make her laugh."
He finally finished going through the pile and stood up. In his arms were a variety of pranks, balloons, paint tins and a bucket, all balanced precariously on top of each other and swaying like a tower from side to side.
"That should do it!" He grinned widely. "I think I have enough here to make this work."
Bumblebee span round and made his way to the door.
The floor wasn't even visible any more; it was just a sea of junk, and Bumblebee had to hop to not step on anything valuable. Phfff, valuable, more like 50% off at the 99p shop junk.
Once he reached the hallway, he steadied the tower he was holding and began his way to Prowl room.
"Oh man, He is gonna find this so funny! He is gonna thank me so much for this!" Bee laughed as he ran down the hall.
XXX
Prowl sighed. Yoketron was the most honourable and brave mech he had ever known, and having to witness his undeserved and brutal death really struck him down to the spark. The protoforms were stolen by the same mech who murdered him and Prowl couldn't help but think that everything was his fault.
If he had just been there sooner...He could have saved him... He could have saved the protoforms and his sensei... And everything would still be all right...
Prowl lowered his head and stared at the helmet in his lap. He had managed to suppress those memories and feelings, keeping them locked inside him. However in doing so, he managed to lock away all his other feelings and emotions, leaving him cold and blank.
He felt, that if he smiled, or laughed, then all his emotions would break loose and he would never gain control of them again. After so long keeping them inside, he doubted he would be able to handle letting them go like other bots could so freely.
Like Bumblebee.
Prowl may have never showed it, but he really admired the yellow bot. He admired the way could wear his emotions on his (metaphorical) sleeve for everyone to see.
If he found something funny, he would laugh. If he felt happy, he would smile. If he felt unhappy, then he would sulk.
He would not cry though. Prowl had never seen Bumblebee cry, and doubted he ever would, the mini-bot was far too cheerful for that. Anytime he was down, he would just bounce straight back up with a grin and a bad joke.
And even though he annoyed the pit out of Prowl most of the time, he genuinely appreciated the way he brought light to any dark situation. It was something he would never be able to do, no matter how much training he did. Prowl did envy him for this greatly, but quite a lot of the time it just annoyed him.
After all, Bumblebee was almost Prowls exact opposite.
Prowl lifted his head to look at the setting sky. Golds and pinks and reds and oranges burst through the rustling branches of his tree to create a beautiful symphony of colours. Owls could be faintly heard as they started to leave their nests to hunt, and other birds started to flock back to their homes to sleep.
He sighed, letting his posture slump. After meeting with Lockdown and retrieving the helmet of his sensei, all the memories had reawakened. Everything that happened that dreadful night had sprung to the front of his mind as clear as daylight. Prowl could remember it as if it had only happened yesterday.
The energon that pooled from his masters wounds, the gasping last words he uttered, his spark becoming dim and finally extinguishing as his body became dull and grey.
Prowl gasped, and looked down. He was feeling faint and slightly dizzy, and he suddenly realised he hadn't refuelled in solar cycles, nor recharged.
He dragged his servos across his face.
What was he doing?
He had been sitting in the same position under his tree for over 5 days! He hadn't even remembered to eat, and he suddenly realised his legs felt numb. They had probably gone dead after a few hours as usual, but 5 days! That was quite worrying in reality; Ratchet would give him a right chewing out for this.
Ratchet.
No one had seen him for almost a week, they must have been worrying.
Prowl couldn't believe he had been so selfish. Here he was, sitting and moping around while his team were actually busy and doing things for Detroit and Cybertron.
Yoketron wouldn't have wanted Prowl to be sitting here morning him, he would want him to be out there, fighting Decepticons and helping the organics on this planet.
He placed the helmet down next to the tree and stood up.
He was aware that his emotional state wasn't exactly stable at the moment, and it was possible that something might trigger everything to come out, but as he walked to the door he reassured himself that nothing would immediately cause this to happen as it sounded pretty calm outside. Honestly, rejoining the rest of society would probably do him the world of good and help him calm down.
Taking a deep breath to collect himself, he began to slide open his Japanese styled doors.
I mean, what could possibly cause him to loose it so soon.
SPLAT
That... would be it.
Prowl stood perfectly still as the bright pink paint that covered him head to toe was joined by an explosion of confetti and silly string falling from a bucket above his head.
He took a step forward and was suddenly pelted by several water balloons spilling from another bucket above his head. The water washed most of the paint and confetti off, but quite a lot remained or found its way in between cogs and gears.
Prowl didn't say a word, but every fibre in his frame tensed up so much he began to shake, and his dentals ground together so hard it hurt. His servos balled into fists and Prowl knew no matter what happened now, he was going to snap.
All he did was wait for the bot responsible to show up.
"Hahahaha oh WOW! That was FANTASTIC! I wasn't expecting you to come out so soon. I was about to knock on your door to get you but looks like you already came out. Oh man, that was soooo funny, don't cha think! Oh boy, I only wish you waited for me to fit these pies up there, then that would have made the whole thing just complete. It was still really funny though, yeah? I knew you'd find it funny, I bet you're so please I did this..."
Prowl quickly stopped the mech from continuing by suddenly grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the wall with a loud CLANG.
Bumblebee squealed in surprise as the wind was knocked out of him and dropped all the pies he was holding. He stared wide eyed and slightly frightened as the mech he'd been aiming to cheer up glared down at him.
"Bumblebee." He spat out through grit dentals as his servos got tighter around the yellow bots neck. He spoke slowly, as if every word was a struggle to get out.
"What...In...The...Name of Primus do you think you're doing?"
The mini-bot opened his mouth to speak, but nothing managed to come out. He only squirmed weakly in the ninja bots grip.
He stopped with a jump however when a servo slammed onto the wall next to helm.
"Do you think this is funny? Do you think this is just a harmless joke?" The words were strangely quite, but held a hidden malice in them that Bumblebee had never heard before. This quickly stopped when the black and gold mech abruptly yelled in his face.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING? HUH? DO YOU THINK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING?"
Bumblebee was honestly terrified. He tried to wriggle away but the servo around his neck was keeping him securely to the wall. Prowl leaned in even closer and Bumblebee began to whimper.
"YOU NEVER THINK, YOU JUST DO STUPID THINGS THAT IRRITATE THE SLAG OUT OF EVERYONE AND I AM SICK OF IT!"
Prowl never swore before, and the fact that he used a cuss word now made the yellow bot even more scared. This Prowl was angry, and unpredictable. Not only that, but the distance between then, or lack of, was causing Bumblebee's audio receptors to glitch and creating painful feedback.
The mini-bot whimpered and turned his head to the side to avoid the onslaught of insults, but it didn't make any difference. Prowl was practically millimeters away from him.
And he didn't stop. "YOU ARE AN ANNOYANCE TO ME, AND THE REST OF THE TEAM! DO YOU REALISE HOW MANY MISSIONS YOU HAVE COMPROMISED BECAUSE OF YOUR IMMATURE ATTITUDE!
YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PAIN TO THIS TEAM AND YOU CAN'T THINK OF ANYONE BUT YOURSELF."
Bumblebee felt every word hit him like a dagger, and he could feel tears beginning to pool in his optics. Even though he knew Prowl was just angry, he felt that every word was true. He was nothing but a hindrance to his team. Everything he did was wrong, even when he tried to make something right. His team probably hated him.
He closed his optics not only to prevent the tears from spilling out, but also he couldn't bear to see Prowls face.
Prowl looked him in the optics and spat out the 4 words that crushed Bumblebee's spark and crumbled it into little pieces on the floor.
"You are a disappointment."
Bumblebee gasped and opened his optics wide, looking straight at the black and gold mech with a shocked and hurt expression. Prowl let go of the smaller bot's neck and Bumblebee crashed to the ground, hitting his aft hard.
Scoffing at the trembling mech on the ground, Prowl walked away, leaving the smaller bot on the floor. Bumblebee waited a few seconds and heard the front door to the base slam shut, causing a resonating shudder to go through the whole building, as if it gave a sigh of relief.
Once again, everything was silent.
Bumblebee couldn't hold it in any more. All he had been trying to do was cheer Prowl up, and he thought that pranking him would make him laugh. But, as always he messed up. Everything he did was a mistake, Prowl was right, he was a disappointment. He sniffed, and wrapped his arms around his knees, hiding his head between them.
The tears he had been trying to keep in spilled forth and his whole body shuddered. He couldn't help it, no matter how hard he tried he always did something wrong. He was a disappointment at his home, he was a disappointment at boot camp and he was a disappointment here.
The yellow racer was shaking hard now, so much it was audible. His throat felt dry and tight, and he could stop the tears streaking down his face and hitting the floor, causing a small pool to form below him. He felt a cry begin to form and a choked sob escaped him before he could stop it, echoing around the corridor
Soft footsteps approached the weeping mech and before Bumblebee knew what was going on, he was swiftly pulled into a comforting embrace. Optimus held the yellow bot to his chest and rubbed soothing circles across his back.
The last of Bumblebee's resolve crumbled and he wrapped his arms around the Prime's shoulders and buried his face into his chassis. He struggled to breathe with every gasp of air he took, only to release it again in another forceful sob.
"I am a worthless mistake aren't I?"
Optimus held him tighter and shook his head. "No, no. Bumblebee you are an important part of our team, and we would never think you are worthless."
"But I mess everything up. Prowl's right, I am stupid. I never think before I do anything and everyone would be better off if I just stayed out of the way." His voice shook, and Optimus was becoming rapidly furious at Prowl. How dare he have the audacity to hide away for 5 days, and then show up without any warning at tell such outrageous things to the youngest member of their group. Angry or not, he had no excuse to behave the way he did.
"Don't say such things Bumblebee, you know that's not true. Think of all the times you saved us all! Like when the assembly line went haywire and tried to kill us, you were the one who stopped it. And the time when Nanosec was running around and we couldn't stop him, but you did, and you managed to save Detroit from the bomb he was carrying!"
Bumblebee sniffed. "But I still nearly drove off a bridge with my turbo boosters, and ran you over." He muttered miserably.
Optimus gently lifted his chin up and looked him in the optics. "But you fixed that mistake. And any mistakes you've made in the past, you fixed those so in the end it all worked out."
"Not this one." He sighed and looked down. "I really messed up this time."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Optimus reassured. "You were right, Prowl did need cheering up, I just don't think he appreciates pranks and jokes like you do. Why don't you try again but think about what he might like instead."
Bumblebee leaned back from Optimus and wiped his optics with the back of his servo. Putting on a determined face, he nodded and dropped back to the ground.
"You're right boss bot, I bet I can fix this before he gets back." He smiled. "Thanks!" He gave the prime a quick hug round the middle, and with that he turned and marched down the hall like nothing had ever happened.
Optimus watched with amused optics. Only Bumblebee would be able to bounce back so quickly after being hurt. He was about to continue to his own quarters but a yellow head popped around the corner.
"Um, boss bot. You won't tell anyone about that will you?"
He chuckled. "No Bumblebee, I won't tell anyone."
He grinned and rushed off again, leaving the prime to his own company.
XXX
Prowl returned later that night. He had spent the evening at Dinobot Island, releasing his frustration through ninja training. It had also been nice to see the Dinobots. Grimlock had been very pleased to see him, and almost immediately had caught him in a great big hug - or tried to, Prowl eventually took pity on him and his tiny useless arms and gave him a hug after he realised what he was doing.
While he was there, he had realised how appalling he had been to Bumblebee. He had only been trying to make him feel better, and even if it wasn't exactly the best idea he'd had, his spark was in the right place. Prowl truly felt ashamed at the way he treated his friend, and honestly the reason he came back so late was because he couldn't bear to face him.
He wouldn't be surprised if the mini-bot didn't forgive him. But still he had to apologise.
He walked silently to not wake any of the other bots and as he reached Bumblebee's door, he considered whether he should go in or wait till morning.
He decided that waiting would only prolong his guilty feelings and it would be best to get it over and done with so he could rest easy. It was what Bumblebee deserved really.
Prowl opened the door as quietly as he could and looked around the room. To his surprise, he couldn't see the yellow racer. He knew he hadn't got the wrong room; the explosion of clutter covering every surface clarified that.
So where was he?
Confused, he took a step back and began walking to his own room. He couldn't apologise to Bumblebee if he wasn't there.
Just before he reached his door, he noticed something was off. The sliding doors were open a crack, and light was seeping through.
His mind immediately turned to panic. Bumblebee must be doing something to his room! Sure, he may have a bit too harsh on the younger mechs antics, but that didn't mean he could have another go at cheering him up! He would probably be subjected to another pit forsaken joke of his.
Prowl quickly rushed through, ready to stop Bumblebee and what ever he was doing.
He stopped...and stared...mouth wide open in shock.
His room was filled with Chinese lanterns, each producing a vibrant fiery glow that bathed his room in a warm light. They were hung on almost every branch of his tree and were decorated in the most elaborate and fascinating patterns. It looked magical contrasted against the dark, black night sky above, making his room look like it was set alight. The lanterns illuminated the ground, and as Prowl walked closer, he saw that the floor was littered in hundreds of origami cranes; each a different colour and size.
It was beautiful.
Bumblebee had not noticed the extra presence in the room, and was still crouched down on the ground next to the tree, folding another origami crane. His movements were slow and sluggish, and it was apparent by the way his head kept dipping down that he was about to fall asleep.
Prowl- keeping true to his name- snuck up behind the smaller bot and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, pulling the mech close.
Bumblebee gasped and turned his head.
"Prowl?" He asked in shock.
The ninja bot sighed. "Bumblebee... I'm"
"Prowl I'm so sorry!" Bumblebee interrupted, obviously still quite shook up about earlier that night.
"I never meant to hurt you, and I didn't mean for you to get so angry! I just wanted to make you feel better, and I didn't think just like you said. I just did what I thought would make you happy, but it was what would make me happy, not you. I'm so sorry Prowl..."
Prowl quickly shushed the younger mech. "Bumblebee, don't apologise. I am the one who should apologise. The things I said were not true and I had no excuse to act the way I did. I was just stressed and frustrated, and I should have thought before I spoke. Bumblebee, everything I said about you, about how you are a disappointment..."
Bumblebee visibly flinched.
"...It isn't true. You are a fantastic member of this team and we would be lost without you. Your attitude is what brings life to this team, and sure, you may come off as annoying once in a while, but we wouldn't have you any other way."
Prowl was looking down at the ground in shame, but he lifted his head to look at the mini-bot.
"Bumblebee, can you ever forgive me?"
The yellow racer was speechless for a moment, but soon smiled and swiftly wrapped his arms around Prowls middle in a hug. Prowl was shocked by the sudden response, and hesitantly, wrapped his own arms around the smaller bot.
"Of course I forgive you Prowl." Bumblebee whispered and Prowl gave a sigh of relief.
They stayed in the hug for several minutes, both too tired to move.
Eventually, Prowl spoke up.
"Thank you."
"For what?" Bumblebee mumbled.
"For trying to cheer me up. And I must say you have done a fantastic job of it this time! It's absolutely love it."
"Oh good, I was wondering when you were going to mention this. It took me hours!"
Prowl chuckled, and began to shift himself so he was lying on his side at the base of the tree. Bumblebee snuggled closer to the black and gold mech and curled into a ball.
"Can I stay here tonight?" He asked. Prowl couldn't say no to that innocent little voice, also he was too comfortable to move. He simply hummed a response and laid one of his arms over the yellow bot's chassis.
Bumblebee immediately fell asleep, comforted by the warmth and gentle hum of Prowls spark, and Prowl soon followed suit.
XXX
Optimus watched in the doorway, smiling. He was glad the two had sorted out their differences, and he found the scene before him –dare he say it- cute. Happy that the two mechs were sleeping, he turned and headed back to his own room.
Just before he fell asleep, he sighed in exasperation. Just because they were friends again, it didn't mean he wasn't going to give Prowl a royal chewing out in the morning.
Bumblebee: Please stop shipping me with everyone!
Me: Review and I will give you energon cookies! (:.) (:.) (:.) (:.)