Finally! Some Opt and Hide antics! Sweet! There's so much I had to break it down into two chapters. Here's the first.

Misadventures in sparkling sitting in the play room round one

And so everyone left Bee and the twins alone with two fully charged sparklings. Neither of the three could recall exactly how they acted when sparklings. They could only guess that it was something horrible. They had never seen that kind of smirk on Magnus' face before when he told them they were on sparkling duty.

Little did they realize just how horrible two sparklings could be.

"So, do we just sit here and watch them?" Sunny asked, sitting on the couch.

"They do seem content for now," Sides said, sitting beside his brother.

Bumblebee, on the other hand, decided to take a more interactive approach. He honestly wanted to have his own sparklings one day and saw this as an opportunity to learn. So, he plucked Optimus out of the toy bin with the intent of sitting on the floor with him and Ironhide to play.

Mistake number one - never interrupt a sparkling when he or she is playing.

Total sparkling irritation erupted and loudly!

Sunny and Sides stared in disbelief. They never thought that their Prime, their leader, a well respected mech wrecker was capable of throwing a temper tantrum! Even Bumblebee was in total shock as Optimus kicked wilding in his hands and screeched loudly.

Then to all their dismay, Ironhide climbed out of the bin, actually tipping it over due to his hefty weight, crawled over and head butted Bee in the ankle…hard. Then he growled. Although, Hide's growl was nowhere as menacing as it would have been if he were fully mature, sounding more like a high pitched mecho-puppy growl. But it was enough to get his point across.

Bee carefully set Optimus down next to Ironhide. Little boss bot was livid! Small blue orbs flared as he ripped of a string of harsh clicks and chirps at Bumblebee.

"Bee, you just got put in your place!" Sunny laughed uncontrollably.

Not to be outdone, Ironhide added his own comment to the situation.

"Fragger!"

"Where did he learn that word?!" Sides asked, optic covers blinking rapidly. It was almost too much for his cerebral processor to process.

"Knowing Hide, he was probably born with the knowledge of every known swear word in the universe," Sunny snickered. He thought the entire scene was too funny!

"Bee, don't take it to spark," Sides said, noticing the somewhat hurt look on his friend's faceplates. "They're sparklings and don't know exactly what they're saying."

"Seemed very clear to me!" Sunny laughed.

WHACK!

"OW!" Sunny cried, rubbing his head.

"Stupid aft!"

Sunny had it! He pounced on Sides and started punching him in the face! Bad enough Magnus gave him THE lecture. He didn't need any slag from his brother too! But of course, Sides wasn't going to sit there and take it, so he retaliated. He was getting tired of his brother's wise cracks.

Three sets of baby blue optics curiously watched. Their optic covers blinked slowly as the twins wrestled and punched each other on the couch. Curses were hurled. Fists were flying. And two innocent sparklings were taking in every astrosecond of it.

Mistake number two – no fighting or swearing in front of the sparklings.

"Aft!"

"Slagger!"

"Fraggin aft!"

"FRAGGER!"

Bumblebee was mortified at how fast sparklings could pick up on that kind of talk! Thankfully they didn't know what they were saying and were actually giggling at each other as they said it. They were even laughing as they pushed each other.

However, Bumblebee had a feeling that Elita was to blast some afts for that. So he decided to take control of the situation before the twins actually started hurting each other and before two sparkling processors were corrupted any further.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" he bellowed. "You're supposed to be on sparkling duty! Not acting like sparklings! If you want to act like sparklings then so be it! Sunny in that corner, Sides the other…NOW!"

The brothers paused in mid swing and blinked up at him. Wow, Bee was serious.

"Frag, Bee, I'm glad you're not my father! Corner now!" Sunny joked, making Bee smile.

"Just help me out with the sparklings and try to control yourselves. Remember who they are, they still deserve our respect."

"Ok, Bee. We'll behave," Sides agreed as his brother helped him to his feet.

"Sorry bro, no hard feelings?"

"Nah, don't worry about it."

It never ceased to amaze Bumblebee how the brothers could hate each other one astrosecond then love each other the next. But then, he doesn't share a spark bond with anyone like they do with each other.

"And you two, no more bad words," Bee said, bending down and pointing at the sparklings.

They both grinned and giggled. Little blue optics filled with mischief stared up at him.

Bumblebee stood up and turned around with the intent of sitting on the couch with the twins and just watching Optimus and Ironhide play.

Mistake number three – never turn your back on a sparkling.

With a shriek and whistle Optimus rapidly scaled up the back of Bumblebee startling the mech. Sunny and Sides laughed as poor Bee kept trying to grab Optimus but the little mech kept dodging Bee's hands.

"Please, can you get him off," Bee requested with a heavy sigh, arms down at his sides in defeat.

"Sure, turn around," Sides said getting to his feet.

Ironhide was curious about what they were doing to his friend Opt so he moved closer for a better view.

Mistake number four – always look where you're stepping when a sparkling is in the room.

"Sides look out!" Sunny shouted only it was too late. His brother's foot came down on Ironhide's fingers.

The scream was audio receptor shattering. Sides froze not knowing what to do. Bumblebee, not thinking but just reacting, whirled around to see what happened to Ironhide.

Mistake number five – never make any sudden movements with a sparkling clinging to your armor unless you have a firm grip on them.

There was a loud crash. The three mechs held their breath as they watched Optimus laying face down on the floor. He immediately rolled over they knew it wasn't good. His optics cover were shut tight, his mouth wide open, and his chest had expanded as far as it could go. The wail that sounded was even louder than Ironhide's and reverberated off the walls.

Bumblebee, who was well known for his quick thinking, went into action. First he lifted Sides' foot up off Ironhide's fingers. Then he picked up Ironhide and plopped him in Sides' arms. Sides juggled Ironhide trying to figure out how he was supposed to hold a sparkling. Sunny was there giving him pointers even though he didn't know how to hold a sparkling either.

"You two try to get him to stop crying," Bee ordered then hurried across the room and picked up Optimus. "Shh, I'm so sorry, Optimus. There, there. I got you now."

"How do we do that?" Sunny asked looking very concerned, gently holding Hide's injured hand up.

Frag! Their sparks were racing so fast! Last thing they ever wanted was for two of their leaders to be seriously injured. Not when said leaders had femme sparkmates with itchy trigger fingers!

"I'm calling, Ratchet," Bumblebee said, he wasn't going to take any chances.

For once, the twins didn't make a quip about it.

Meanwhile, as they waited, Ironhide quieted down a bit. He still had huge tears rolling down his faceplates as he sucked on his trampled fingers. He resorted to grunting and moaning instead of crying. Optimus stopped wailing but was continually whimpering with his bottom lip sticking out while being cradled in Bee's arms.

"That has got to be a record," Ratchet said as he came in. "Ten minutes! We left you alone for ten minutes and already the sparklings got hurt!"

The three young mechs were in shock. Ten minutes? They had to check their internal chronometers for verification. Frag, this was going to be a long day.

"From the tears I take it they were both crying," Ratchet observed. "So who's the most damaged?"

"We don't know," Bee answered. "Sides stepped on Ironhide's fingers and I…well…I kind of flung Optimus to the floor. But it was all on accident!"

"Don't worry Bumblebee," Ratchet smiled, moving over and examining Hide's fingers. "You got guys got stepped on and dropped a number of times too when you were sparklings. Sunny always managed to land on his head, we could never figure out why."

"Oh, that explains it," Sides commented receiving a hiss and glare from his twin.

"No damage to Hide's fingers. And my scans show Optimus is fine too. He was probably more scared than anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

And like that the three young mechs were once again alone with the two quiet sparklings. They suddenly laughed.

"Bee, you were so scared! I think you were actually shaking!"

"What about you, Sunny?! I've never seen you so worried for Ironhide before!" Bee countered.

"Can I put him down? He's fraggin heavy."

"Sure, Sides. They're quiet now," Bee said, gently setting Optimus on the floor. "Hopefully they'll go back to playing." Bee rubbed the top of Optimus head. "You feeling better now?"

Optimus sighed looking a bit sad. Even Ironhide was looking depressed sitting quietly next to Prime.

"Do you want to play peek-a-boo?" Bee asked.

Optimus shook his head no.

"What about you, Hide?"

Ironhide grunted, shoving Bee's hand away.

On impulse, Sunny got up and sifted through the toys, grabbing a couple of what the humans call action figures, nothing the size of the toy bot Bee had set aside until Optimus asked for it. Then he knelt down in front of Optimus and Ironhide.

Sides and Bumblebee curiously moved off to the side and watched. Neither of them had a clue what he was about to do.

"Does anyone dare challenge me, the mighty Megatron, from conquering the universe?" Sunny said, changing his voice to sound like Megatron holding up one of the action figures.

"I, Optimus Prime challenge you!" he said holding up another action figure, imitating a mature Optimus' voice.

"You can't stop me, Prime! I'm indestructible."

"You're old Megatron, yesterday's model. Ready for the scrap heap!"

"We'll see who's ready for the scrap heap!"

Sunny imitated the sounds of laser fire making the two action figures fight each other. At the same time, Optimus and Ironhide were watching intently, optics wide and mouths slightly open in awe. They'd never seen toys do that before!

"As usual Optimus your aim is terrible, let me show you how it's done," Sunny said, picking up a third action figure, making his voice sound like a mature Ironhide.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ironhide, and I'm gonna blow your fraggin aft all the way back to Cybertron, Megabum!"

The sparklings shrieked and giggled wildly.

"Decepticons retreat!"

"Yeah! Optimus and Ironhide saved the day!" Sunny cheered using his own voice.

The sparklings clapped excitedly.

"Wait a second, what are those, Ironhide?"

Optimus and Ironhide froze. The toys were looking at them!

"Those are sparklings, Optimus! Let's get them!"

Shouting. Screaming. Trilling. Laughing. Sparkling fun erupted as Sunny chased after them on all fours. Bumblebee and Sides weren't going to remain idle and joined in the fray. And for a couple of hours the three mechs chased the two sparklings around the room and vice versa.

They were all into the game so much that they never noticed they had a brief visitor in the doorway watching them for a few minutes. Magnus was concerned when he heard all kinds of shouting and screaming echoing down the hallway so he looked in on them. Then he walked away laughing to tell the others what he'd witnessed.

"Frag! I'm pooped!" Sunny gasped laying flat on his back on the floor. "Where do they get all the energy?!"

Ironhide grunted and crawled his way up onto Sunny's chest. Sides came over and grabbed Hide's little hands, raising them up high.

"And the winner by knock out is Ironhide!" Sides cheered.

"And the crowd goes wild!" Sunny added, tickling Hide's stomach making him giggle hysterically.

"Well, it's quite clear who Ironhide's favorite is," Bee commented with Optimus firmly perched on his shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Sunny asked.

As if to answer, Ironhide pulled his hands free from Sides, lay down on Sunny chest to chest little arms as wide as he could get them, and started purring.

"Ah, that's so cute!" Sides chuckled.

Sunny sighed. Oh well, at least he was useful for something.

"I think while they're quiet I'll go get us some energon," Sides mentioned. "I need a power boost after all that."

"Good idea. Get a couple of bottles for them two while you're at it," Bumblebee suggested setting Optimus down on the floor. "I'm sure they worked up an appetite too."

"Sure thing."

"We don't have to tell Ironhide about this do we?" Sunny asked after his brother left, watching as Ironhide nuzzled his face against his armor.

"Think of it as ammo for blackmailing him," Bumblebee grinned wickedly as he sat down on the couch.

Optimus had followed Bumblebee. He didn't want to be on the floor. He wanted Bee to hold him. Only when he tried to climb up onto the couch he fell down onto his aft.

"Bee," he wept, reaching up for help.

Of course, Bumblebee didn't hesitate to lift Optimus up onto his lap.

"Is that better?"

Optimus didn't answer. He nuzzled his face against Bee's chest armor as if to try to get comfortable. A few moments later Optimus was curled up in a snug ball and in recharge. Bumblebee smiled, wrapping an arm protectively around the sparkling, sighing contently. Moments like this only reinforced his desire to want to be father some day.

"I think he's snoring now," Sunny whispered, feeling a heavy weight now totally relaxed on his chest.

"Looks like he's in recharge like Optimus," Bee said looking down at the duo on the floor.

"What do I do?"

"Just keep still for now. They might not recharge for long."

"Are we sure it's safe? I mean, you know what happens when Ironhide recharges. Stink happens."

"At least you're downwind," Bee laughed softly.

"Oh yeah," he smiled, gently stroking Ironhide on the back. "Keep your aft quiet…for Bee's sake, ok?"

"What you did today, Sunny that was very good. You might not be such a bad father after all."

"Nah, I only did what Ironhide used to do to get me to stop crying."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he even made sound effects too."

"Sounds like he'd be a good father. I wonder why he's so adamant about not producing a sparkling with Chromia."

"His reputation, Bee," Sunny snorted. "It'd be ruined. He'd be a target for so many jokes. I know I wouldn't hesitate to tease him."

"Optimus isn't worried."

"Because everyone knows Optimus would be a wonderful father. He's like a father to us all being our leader. And he can take a joke much better than Ironhide."

Bumblebee's optics blinked in surprise. He never thought of that.

"Wow, Sunny. I didn't realize you were so smart."

Sunny giggled softly, keeping still so he doesn't disturb Ironhide.

"I'm not that smart. Just very observant. You have to be in order to know who you can prank and who you can't!"

"I should have known," Bee said, rolling his optics.

They were quiet for a few moments. Each one content in watching the sparklings recharge.

"You know Bee," Sunny grinned. "Sparkling duty isn't all that bad."

Up next: Round 2