Series Title: The Five Stages of Love
Drabble: Couldn't Help Myself
Pairing: Sunny/Bee/Sides
Rating: PG
Warnings: creative language, slight violence
Summary: The meanings behind it all... (or "How it Happened")
(AN: This takes place between 'Meeting the Twins' and 'Hating the Minibots')
Bumblebee couldn't stop laughing, even though he knew he should be sympathizing with the angry black bot. Of course, it was Trailbreaker's fault for falling asleep in the rec room. The Defense Specialist was covered with sticky decals of various colors, the most prominent being a bright hot pink.
Letting his laugh taper off into soft giggles, the minibot patted the surly mech on the shoulder. "S-sorry..." Gasping, Bumblebee reset his vocalizer. "Y-you just look so... festive." Grumbling, Trailbreaker turned away from him and crossed his arms.
The minibot giggled again, glancing around the mostly empty rec room for the likely culprit. Out of the three mechs; Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, and Windcharger, Bumblebee couldn't imagine any of them putting stickers on the Defense Specialist.
Trailbreaker often fell asleep in the rec room, waiting for his roommate to get off shift for whatever reason, and somebot had apparently taken advantage of the opportunity. The larger black mech stood up from the couch, straightening and heading towards the table where Bluestreak was watching them.
Bumblebee followed, hoping that Trailbreaker wasn't going to accuse the smiling sniper, but he needn't have worried.
"My my!" A tall red mech sauntered into the room, closely following by a gold one. "Don't you look festive TB!" Sneering at Sideswipe, Trailbreaker changed direction, heading towards the prankster with Bumblebee close behind him.
The minibot smiled sheepishly at the two mechs, expecting the sneer Sunstreaker shot him. "You did this, didn't you?" Sideswipe gasped, one of his servo's pressing against his chassis.
"TB! How could you!" The red mech's lower lip quivered and his optics dimmed, making him look rather pathetic. "I-I thought we were friends. I was just complimenting you!" He made a sad sniffling sound and turned away to bury his helm in his brother's shoulder.
Sunstreaker began rubbing his backplates, glaring at Trailbreaker and making the DS shift uncomfortably. "I just thought, because you prank bots a lot, that- you know..." The black mech trailed off, resetting his vocalizer uncomfortably.
"Well, do you know who did do it?" Bumblebee's question was quiet, mostly because he didn't want to irritate the two mechs and start a game of 'toss the minibot'. "Because I think they should get serious compliments for their work."
"'Bee!" Trailbreaker glared at him, but the minibot giggled and held his servo's up.
"It's really well done, that's all!" Glancing over at Sideswipe as the red mech lifted his helm, Bumblebee smiled again. "All the stickers have individual colors, but they're placed so that they build rainbows all across your chassis. It took a real artist to do that!"
The minibot noticed that Sunstreaker straightened, a small smile on his handsome faceplates. "And while Sideswipe may enjoy pranking, his style is a bit more chaotic than that fluid artwork." Nodding his helm at the display across Trailbreaker's frame, Bumblebee stepped back.
"I gotta go though, just came to tell you that Mirage would be late getting off shift." He giggled again, unable to help himself as he looked over the art once more. "Goodnight!" Trailbreaker mumbled something in reply, but Bumblebee was distracted by trying to shift around the twins without actually touching them.
He knew that Sunstreaker hated minibots and he didn't want to incite the golden warrior's wrath, so he stepped around them as best he could and headed to the door. But Sideswipe grabbed him before he could leave.
The red mech grinned down at him and Bumblebee glanced back at Trailbreaker who had turned away to head over to Bluestreak again. "Oh wait-"
Lifting the minibot and pulling his arms back, Sideswipe threw Bumblebee into the Defense Specialists backplates. Both bots hit the floor and the twins laughed over the angry voices that started to echo around the room.
(((((Scene Change)))))
Bumblebee sighed as his mind replayed the scene from the rec room again and again. The small smile on Sunstreaker's face had made his spark pound for an astrosecond, and it was still thrumming happily. Staring at the medbay ceiling wasn't helping any, the bright orange hurting his optics.
The doors to the medbay swished open, but Bumblebee didn't bother to look up until Ratchet started ranting. "And what makes you fraggers think I'll bother fixing you?!" Glancing over at the medic, the minibot's optics widened.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were standing in the doorway, identical grins on their faceplates. Red, grey, and black scuff marks covered their frames and Bumblebee noticed Cliffjumper and Prowl standing behind the mechs. The red minibot was sneering until he noticed Bumblebee.
Angrily pushing the twins as he walked by, Cliffjumper limped over to the little yellow spy. "You alright 'Bee?" Smiling at the soft tone, which was unusual for the red minibot, Bumblebee nodded and glanced at the other mech's.
"Bluestreak and Trailbreaker got a few good hits in too, but they're already reporting to Ironhide for starting a fight, then they'll be heading here." Grumbling, Cliffjumper glanced back at the door as Ratchet and Prowl stepped away from the twins.
Quickly becoming bored, the two mech's moved over to the minibot, grinning as Cliffjumper sneered and got in a ready stance, more than willing to continue the fight. Seeing that he needed to find a way to dispel the tension, Bumblebee interjected a comment.
"Do you know who did that artwork on Trailbreaker?" Frowning at the question, the red minibot shifted to stand in between the advancing twins and his roommate. "Because I still think it was awesome!"
"Well, thank you." Sunstreaker smirked, leaning against the end of the berth Bumblebee was sitting on. "Although Sides did the legs." Giggling at the dumbfounded look on the red minibot's faceplates at the unexpected confession, Bumblebee turned to face the golden mech.
"It really was amazing, the play on colors and how they shifted from one to the next without seeming rushed or tacky. It was brilliant!" Sunstreaker straightened from where he was leaning, his smirk widening into a real smile and making Bumblebee's spark pound.
"Hey hey!" Sideswipe frowned and shoved his brother. "I picked the colors and found the victim!" He whined, pouting. "Where's my compliment?" The minibot couldn't help but giggle again, his optics darting over to Prowl as the enforcer nodded his helm in their direction, still deep in conversation with Ratchet.
"The colors were wonderful selections, so awesome job on that." Smirking, the minibot leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Although it would have been even more awesome if you'd gotten photo's of it, hmm?"
Sideswipe's mouth dropped open, his optics widening. "Why didn't I think of that?" Pouting again, the red mech crossed his arms and looked away. "I need to stop forgetting to do that..." Giggling again, Bumblebee straightened and reached a servo up to rub at his sore faceplates.
"The frag?" Cliffjumper sneered at the red mech. "Why do you think you can just walk over here and have a conversation with 'Bee like you didn't just throw him into another mech and land him back in the medbay?" Sideswipe grinned.
"I do believe you are angry at something, Cliffjumper. You seem unusually tense. Maybe you should ask Ratchet for some relaxants." Growling and revving his engine, the red minibot moved towards Sideswipe, but Bumblebee grabbed his shoulder.
"You do remember that if you start a fight in the medbay Ratchet is liable to remodel you, right?" All three bots shifted uncomfortably and turned to glance at the medic. He was glaring at them, his optics darting between the front liner's and the minibots.
Prowl had even stopped talking and was watching them as well, seeming to analyze the situation. Walking over to the group, Ratchet, closely followed by Prowl, stepped in front of Cliffjumper and glared at the twins.
"You slaggers are lucky I took an oath to treat any bot that needed me or I would be scrapping you for messing with my friend. Like what you did on your first day wasn't enough!" Grumbling, the medic directed them all to separate berths, nodding at Prowl as he moved to check over Cliffjumper, who appeared to be the most damaged.
"Are you alright?" The vocals seemed monotone, but Bumblebee had known Prowl long enough to hear the concern and he smiled.
"I'm fine. A little banged up, but nothing serious." He glanced over at the twins as they moved to their berths, but Sunstreaker stopped when he noticed a large jar of energon treats. Ratchet normally gave them to the better behaved patients and the golden twin hadn't seen it out before.
He stuck one of his servo's in the jar and loudly dug thru the various colors of treats before grabbing a green one and popping it into his mouth. He dug for a bit longer as Ratchet hollered that those weren't for him, then pulled back with a small handful of green ones and one red treat.
As he was passing his brother, he handed him the red treat and popped another one of the green ones into his mouth, grinning at the irate medbot. "Only one red one in the whole thing!" Sunstreaker mumbled around his full mouth and hopped up onto the berth.
Ratchet had quickly moved to rescue the jar of energon treats, plopping it down on Bumblebee's lap as he passed by again. "Fraggers..." Moving back to the red minibot, he started to work on the damage, grumbling as Cliffjumper sneered and complained.
Bumblebee sighed and glanced back down into the jar as Prowl shook his helm. The minibot knew that the SIC would be rolling his optics if he didn't considerate it to be immature. Smiling at the black and white mech, Bumblebee held up the jar.
"You like the purple ones, right?" Smiling fondly, Prowl grabbed the topmost energon treat, a deep purple one, and popped it into his mouth.
"Thank you, 'Bee. See you soon, hmm?" He left the medbay, glaring at the twins and daring them to comment on his indulgence. They kept their faceplates as indifferent as possible, but once the doors closed behind the SIC, they burst out laughing.
"Tight-aft-" Sideswipe snorted, laying back on his berth. "Tight-aft Prowl sucking on an energon treat?" He chuckled, staring at the jar in Bumblebee's lap. "Oh, that's hilarious." The minibot was already digging thru the treats and had grabbed a pink one for himself.
Popping it into his mouth, he settled back against the raised top of the berth and sucked on it happily, shifting the large jar in his hands. A bright red treat caught his optics and he reached in to grab it. As he looked back up at Sideswipe, who was still watching him, he lifted the treat and motioned to throw it.
The red mech grinned and lifted his servo's, catching the treat as it sailed through the air. Sideswipe settled back and flipped the treat up, catching it in his mouth. "Bumblebee!" The minibot jumped, turning guilty optics onto the medic.
"I didn't give those to you so you could give them to the twins, fraggit all!" Pouting, the little yellow bot leaned back further. "You're too slagging forgiving sometimes..." He trailed off, pushing Cliffjumper down as the red minibot tried to sit up and headed over to Bumblebee's berth.
"And lean forward so I can take a closer look at your faceplates." Complying, Bumblebee found his vision blocked by the medic who was meticulously looking over the dent in his faceplates. Admittedly, the yellow minibot had struck Trailbreakers backplates hard enough to push his nose inwards slightly.
There were still traces of energon on his chin, but Ratchet ignored them as he looked over the dent. "Slaggin, pipe sucking afts..." Bumblebee giggled at the medic tone and Ratchet shot him a rare smile before moving aside to get the equipment necessary to remove the dent.
Bumblebee almost blushed when he noticed Sideswipe staring at him once the medic moved out of the way. There was a look in the prankster's optics that was making the minibot uncomfortable, though he did his best to smile at the red twin.
Sideswipe smiled back, as if it was involuntary, but then he quickly scowled and rolled over, determined to not look at the minibot. Bumblebee, feeling unusually hurt at the red twins antics, dimmed his optics and laid back again.
Then Ratchet attached some odd device to his faceplates and told him to stick an energon treat in his mouth because what came next was going to hurt.
(Scene Change)
After being released from the medbay, Bumblebee started to look through the personnel files for the twin's. Once he located them, he scanned through, looking for their creation date. Seeing that it was coming up in less than an orn, the minibot closed off the file and headed to Wheeljack's lab.
The engineer greeted him happily and asked Bumblebee what happened to his faceplates. "I got thrown into Trailbreakers back." Wheeljack's optics narrowed and he glared at the door, as if he was expecting the minibot-hating twins to be standing in the hallway.
"But uh-" Bumblebee reset his vocalizer, rocking on his pede's and glancing around curiously. "Have you made any energon treats recently?" Smiling at the minibot, Wheeljack moved over to his desk.
"You know I always keep a stash around for you, 'Bee!" Chuckling, his helm fins flashing brightly, the engineer lifted a large jar out of a drawer on his desk. It was relatively the same size as Ratchet's, but all of the energon treats inside were individually bagged according to their color.
"Your favorites are the pink ones, right?" Bumblebee nodded, his faceplates flushing slightly.
"I don't really want any for me right now..." Wheeljack's servo hovered over a bag of pink energon treats and he grinned behind his mask.
"Oh! And who's the lucky bot, huh?" Wiggling his optics ridges, the larger mech nearly skipped over to Bumblebee, his helm fins flickering all different colors. "Is it one of the new recruits, that youngling Bluestreak maybe? Oh, he's cute alright, but talks a lot-"
Bumblebee was shaking his helm and Wheeljack grinned, leaning down. "Oh, maybe the minibot flyer, Powerglide wasn't it?" The smaller yellow bot's faceplates were bright red at this point and he shook his helm again.
"Well, you'll just have to tell me who you're going to give these to or I'm not sharing!" He shoved the jar behind his back petulantly and stared down at the minibot. Bumblebee muttered something, rocking on his pede's, and the engineer slid closer.
"What was that?" Sighing through his vents, the minibot glanced back at the open door. Once he had confirmed that no one was about to come in, he moved closer to Wheeljack so he could whisper into the larger mech's audio receivers.
"The twins." The engineer felt his processor stutter for an astrosecond and he moved back to get a better look at the minibot.
"How hard did you hit your helm?"
(Scene Change)
Sideswipe was staring suspiciously at the two colorful bags that had showed up in the mail slot for the room he shared with his twin. Sunstreaker was at the wash racks, like he normally was after a patrol, and the red mech knew he should wait for his brother before opening the bags.
'But I can't.' Grabbing the one marked 'Sideswipe', he quickly tore it open, his optics watching carefully for any wires or hidden camera's. Once he had torn the bag open all the way, he gawked at the large amount of red energon treats inside.
Glancing around the room, the red mech grabbed one of the treats and popped it in his mouth, moaning as the sweet flavor slid over his tongue. Sitting down on his berth, he shifted the bag from side to side, trying to find out who had sent it to him.
Once he found the card, he felt his spark soar. "From Bumblebee, to Sideswipe. Happy creation day." Checking his internal calendar, the red mech was surprised to find that it was his creation day, as he normally didn't pay attention.
Smiling fondly as he thought of the yellow minibot, he grabbed another treat and slowly sucked on it, savoring the taste. "I'll have to thank him!" His smile became devilish and he stood up, quickly making his way to the door as his processor ran over all the different ways he could 'thank' Bumblebee.
Then he remembered the second bag in the mail slot. Picking it up, he shifted it from side to side until he found the card. This one said much the same thing, but it was addressed to Sunstreaker. Sideswipe felt his spark sink as he remembered his twin's hatred of minibots.
But as his thoughts ran back to Bumblebee, he felt a passion building for the adorable bot. Torn between the two emotions, he fell back on his berth, glaring hatefully at the ceiling. "I can't do it." Muttering as he glanced down at the bag in his hand, Sideswipe growled.
"I can't fall in love with a minibot."