Nanoclick: 1 second
Astrosecond: 273 seconds
Cycle: 1 minute
Breem: 8.3 minutes
Groon: 1 hour
Orbital Cycle: 1 day
Mechanometer: Meter

*~*

It had been rather silent in the past orbital cycles. But like the quiet before the storm, every one of the 'Bots at the hidden outpost could feel something was brewing under the surface. It spread an uneasy feeling between the fellow soldiers. While Ratchet kept himself distracted with his attempt to make earth material adaptable to fit their repair needs, Optimus was turned towards their control panel - keeping an eye on all the gauges and displays. Arcee had left the command centre a groon before to recharge.
The inexplicable reason of why the Decepticons had been covered in silence tingled under their chassis. But the only two Cybertronians who were unable to handle the current situation of waiting and seeing were Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Bored as they were, the tension was rising and while Ratchet tried to concentrate on his work, he couldn't help but glance over his broad shoulders every other breem. He suspected the anticipation would lead the two young ones down the path of something that would interfere with his work.

With a low grumble Ratchet looked over his shoulder, when an annoyed beeping sound was heard in the otherwise silent command centre. He spotted Bumblebee leaning against the banister of the hideout corner of their human companions. Fiddling with the remote control, the yellow sport car zapped through the channels in a ridiculous speed, not paying attention to anything shown on the screen. With Jack's, Miko's and especially Raf's absence, the bustling Camaro seem to suffer from restlessness.
A cycle before, he had asked Bulkhead to race with him, but the Wrecker had declined as it was obvious that he wouldn't beat the speedster their scout was. And while Ratchet let his gaze wander around the room, he wondered where Bulkhead had headed off to. With any luck he had followed Arcee into recharge which would decrease the chance of him getting distracted in his work, which he planned to get done in the next groon.
With a faint smile on his dermal plating, he faced the metal in front of him. He mourned the time back on Cybertron when despite all the bottlenecks they had during war, he had never had to be worried about not being able to repair one of his comrades.

"The faster you go, the more likely it is that a cable will fuse." Ratchet stopped for an astrosecond in his movement when Bulkhead re-entered the command centre, coming from their private quarters area. He approached the younger scout, knowing that Bumblebee wouldn't turn down an open provocation if it caused an interlude to the tedium.
With a sigh, the white and crimson medic picked up the metal plate in front of him, reviewing his work and estimating if it was of any use for them. He made a determined effort to overhear the bickering between Bumblebee and Bulkhead, starting up just a few mechanometers away from him. The cybertronian clicking and beeping gained on an annoyed nuance which each response he gave to the green wrecker. With a low groan Ratchet turned around to their leader, who stood unaffected from the current situation in front of the monitors he was observing. One word from Optimus would silence the two of them, but the medic knew that Optimus would not interfere at this point.
The urge to throw his wrench at one of the young ones, or both of them, was enormous, but the medic had to admit that he needed his tool if he ever wanted to finish what he was doing and, if Primus was gracious, the two of them would be tired of this sooner or later.

The remote control slipped out from Bumblebee's servos and triggered a glare from the medic, not that either of them would truly care while squabbling. Agitated beeping was directed towards Bulkhead when Bumblebee shoved himself past his brother in arms.
The green Autobot stumbled back a few steps and the amused expression on his face faded. "You had better save your anger for the Cons," he snapped to Bumblebee's backside as the younger 'bot walked away from him.
Ratchet turned, again, back to his work and tried to focus on what he was about to do. Throwing his wrench? Appealing, but he had already shelved it for a later occasion. He scanned the floor for the wires he needed and spotted them not far from him. He lifted himself to his knee joints.
His audios heard Bee's steps approaching his position, but he couldn't care less. But when he heard a scratching sound from metal on metal, he couldn't care more. Just in time, Ratchet turned around to see the yellow 'bot stumbling over an abandoned piece of metal which had lain behind him.
A grey hand reached for the doorwing of the scout, trying to keep Bumblebee on his pedes, but shoved him forward instead. With a loud clank, Bumblebee landed on the white and crimson colored Autobot, who fell forward on the piece of something he was working on for the past joors. Bee sprawled over the back of the older mech, who landed in the shards of his futile efforts. And for a nanoclick everything went silent.

"Slag! What the hell?" were the first words Ratchet snapped, temper provoked by the frontliner and the scout's antics. "Bulkhead. Bumblebee. What do you think you are doing?" He waved his arm around and happened to hit Bumblebee with the wrench he was holding. The yellow scout protested and held the part of his helmet the medic had hit. "Frag, I don't care if you say you are innocent! Look what you've done. It is hard on this planet to even find compatible material." Ratchet struggled to get up, but the weight on his back made it hard to accomplish. "Would you mind getting off me?" he snapped.
The yellow sport car crawled off the Medic. Beeping his apologies, he offered a hand to help him get up.
"Hey Ratchet, I am sorry." Bulkhead looked troubled when the addressed medic looked down on the floor and back to him. "See, we can help you fix it."
His mouth already open for a response, Ratchet kept silent and returned the honest gaze with disbelief. He crossed his arms in front of his body and chuckled, unamused. "I have a good impression of what your help looks like." He looked at Bumblebee. "Don't give me that look, it won't work this time," he scowled.

"That might not be a bad idea, Ratchet", the deep and calming voice of their leader said, soothing the uplifting storm of the conversation. All three of them turned around to Optimus, who had turned away from the monitors. "When you feel like you don't get credit for your much appreciated work, you should give them an idea of it."
"But Optimus, I am handling sensitive material and tasks. Not to mention that their coding is not related to mine," the white and crimson colored Autobot objected.
"Teach them. I am sure you will be a good mentor, if not for repairing, then for growing the respect you think they lack." His speech was interrupted by a sound coming from the control panel behind him.
Ratchet sighed. Knowing that the decision was made he turned around to his two unwanted assistants. He gave in to the urge, and hit his wrench against Bulkhead's helm to give him his share of the incident. "Let's clean up and…" Bumblebee interrupted him and looked at him questioningly. "...and let's start from scratch. I'll explain to you what this was and what I need it for. Sit down." Ratchet motioned for them to sit beside him and both of the Autobots followed his request.

"Smokescreen has discovered possible Decepticon activities. He requests a backup," Optimus's voice drew the focus of the group toward him.
Ratchet saw how both of the troublemakers were tempted to get on their pedes. But neither of them dared to abandon the punishment which the Prime had cast upon them.
"I hope you don't mind if I take Bulkhead with me." Optimus shifted his gaze towards the Wrecker. "Ratchet will have you back later on," he added before the expression of relief could implant on the frontliner's face.
Bumblebee looked as if he was dumped without fuel in the middle of a highway. He was as quickly back on his pedes as Bulkhead, facing Prime, ready to discuss the decision.
"Bumblebee." His leader was highly aware of the reaction he had provoked. "Helping Ratchet is as important as following up Smokescreen's observation. I believe you don't want to leave him alone with it." He had successfully called on Bumblebee's guilty conscience, as the whirring and beeping stopped together with his upset gestures. Instead he crossed his arms in front of his chassis and let himself fall back to the ground, obviously pouting while his door wings sank down to indicate his dash of frustration.
"Primus," the medic mumbled and stood up to close the Groundbridge after the departure of their two team members.

When he turned back to Bumblebee, the mess on the floor had decreased. The yellow bot had rearranged it in piles of wires, metal, and tools. Ratchet took the good intentions in account but growled as he faced the, what had Miko called it once? Puppy-dog eyes the Scout was capable of giving whenever he was in serious trouble. And they gave Ratchet a hard time when used on him.
"Once we're finished, I'll think about acknowledging your apology", he said and joined him back on the floor.
Bumblebee raised the piece of metal in front of him which had made him stumble before he fell on Ratchet.
"It is not the best match, but the best I could find to assure that I can fix you up when the Decepticons managed to hit you. I was about to find out how much it fit our needs regarding agility and stability when you fell on me," he explained when the yellow Autobot asked his question with the whirring and clicking he had to use to communicate with his comrades. Ratchet's expression was overshadowed in concern when Bumblebee asked another one.
"I refuse to think of a moment when I can't repair you properly anymore. Thought it happened before…" The last part of his sentence was more a low mumbling to himself than directed to the yellow sports car, whose expression changed into sorrow, not for the loss of his voice box but how Ratchet still burdened himself with it. Before he could respond to him, the medic was sliding closer. "Let's get some work done before they are come back and need my attention." He picked up the work material and started to explain the desired purpose of the piece of junk he had ripped of an abandoned car.

Bumblebee was listening to him and even his restless moving around seemed a little bit less since the white and crimson Mech gave him his full attention. With Ratchet's guidance the both of them caught up quickly on their work. The servos of the scout were never made to create or depend on sensitive sensors. The medic had to place his servos upon the younger one and observe everything he was doing. It was a different experience to see the ever so restless Autobot work quietly and concentrated while engaged in work that wasn't his own.
"You have to be more careful when connecting wires. Imagine you have your hands on your lover." Ratchet's voice was calm for once when he leaned over the shoulder of the smaller mech, making sure he didn't blow them up with a wrong move - and Primus knew, Wheeljack had blown up the base with less than two wires and a power source. Actually he only would need the power source.
Letting his thoughts slip into memories from a long time ago, the Medic felt how Bumblebee had stiffened in front of him. Even his two hands with which he held the two cables came to a hold. Ratchet raised his optic brows. Just when he was about to scan the scout to see if his system had crashed of an unknown reason, Bumblebee came back to life. In a fast pace he beeped and clicked, making Ratchet laugh. When he felt a sting of embarrassment in Bumblebee's EM field, he patted his arm and curled his derma plating in a smile the smaller bot wouldn't see unless he turned around.

"There is quite a bit of similarity between a lover and the work we perform here. Both need a tender attention. Knowing you are creating it for someone of your own kind, you want to make sure it is the best you can provide." Ratchet explained and guided Bumblebees servo back to their task. "There is no need to be embarrassed anyway." He let his own EM field wrap around Bee with a soothing emotion to make him feel better. But before the two endings of the cable touched to close the circuit, the scout paused and leaned his helm back against the broad chassis of the medic.
Blue optics met blue optics when Ratchet looked down to his assistant in curiosity. He stopped his own attempt to get them working on their prototype, but he didn't let go of the black servos in his. "What is it?"
Bumblebee hesitated for an astrosecond and shifted his gaze away from Ratchet before he started to say what was on his processor. But he was quick at glaring back to the medic when he laughed once again. Ratchet felt a wave of frustration and hurt feelings through their mingled EM fields.
"Easy little Bee, no offence. I always forget how young you were when the war had started." With a sigh the expression on Ratchet's face softened. "To wrap it up, Raf had asked you about Cybertronian life and demanded comparable action to their organic behaviour."
The yellow sports car nodded and responded, flustered.
"I am sure you were able to provide him a lot of information. Maybe I can help you with the things you didn't know how to respond to."

The Camaro hesitated and Ratchet gave him the time to explain what made him obviously feel uneasy. He kept to transmitting a soothing emotion and hoped that he could make him feel more comfortable. Another nanoclick passed before Bumblebee explained the procedure of kissing, which Raf had given to him. Once, Bumblebee also saw how June forced Jack to give her a kiss on the cheek. But he didn't understood the need of the humans for this kind of touch.
There was silence for an astrosecond. Ratchet flipped his servos so that the inside was faced followed his movement with his gaze, examined the skilled fingers which had proven to be sensitive. "I guess it can be compared to what our kind can transfer throughout our servos."
The yellow helmet fell back against the medic's chassis questioningly. "Don't play the shy one, you've asked me," Ratchet encouraged him and waited until Bumblebee had laid the tips of his servos upon his own.
"You will notice that humans use it to share their affection for each other. With a direct connection of our hands we can transmit a lot of different emotions, including affection," he explained and wondered how much time had passed since he had to explain it to someone or even experience it by himself. War had stolen a lot of enjoyable things out of their existence.

They sat silent for a cycle with none of them complaining about the comfortable togetherness they shared. Suddenly a painful squeal escaped Ratchet as a feeling of pain sizzled through his system. With a loud 'clang' his wrench hit the yellow helm of the scout.
"We were talking about showing affection and not burning my circuit, you little glitch. I can assure you, young one, this won't bring any affection back to you."
Bumblebee beeped his apology and even through the mouth plating was closed ever since the scout lost his voice box, the smirk was transmitted through his optics.
With a snort Ratchet turned back to their connected servos and transferred a feeling of affection to Bumblebee's sensors. He felt how the frame of the younger Autobot stiffened as the comfortable burning feeling raced through his cables. A uplifting whirring sound was heard from the yellow one before he turned his gaze towards the medic, who smirked.
"That's how it is done," Ratchet told him and was about to remove his hands from under the black ones. But he didn't got the chance as the feeling he sent the younger one suddenly flowed back into himself. A low groan escaped him as his EM field, which was still wrapped around both of them, transmitted the feeling of longing and enjoyment.

It was somewhere in that astrosecond and the one to follow that Ratchet lost track of their surroundings, when he leaned his helmet against Bumblebee's and shut his optics, responding to the energy waves both of them exchanged, filling him with a long-forgotten warmth the war couldn't possibly provide. His system was running wild and warned him about the tension and heat that was rising inside of him. Ratchet simply switched off the diagnostic system and concentrated on the younger one in his arms.

"Ratchet." The call brought both of the Autobots back in the here and now. They onlined their optics, facing each other with a similar expressions of longing, before they looked around the control room which was still empty.
"Ratchet, Bumblebee, are you receiving?" The voice of their leader came through the communication system, reminding them of their duty. With a last exchange of affectionate energy, Ratchet removed his hands and stood up to walk over to the console.
"Receiving. Optimus, what do you need?"
"We need a groundbridge. Smokescreen is lightly damaged, be prepared."
"Understood. I am opening the groundbridge at your current location." He activated the controls and turned back to Bumblebee, who still sat where he had left him. Both of them shared a last glance at each other, before the away team got was leaning on Optimus and Bulkhead, clearly incapable of walking on his left leg.