Chapter Six – Complications

Bumblebee's Point of View

2:30pm

I transformed into my Camaro 2009 vehicle form once Darren had waken from his short nap, and the harsh realities of Optimus' words still heavy in my spark. I tried my best to ignore them, but my processor usually refused to let me. They were too true. I had to give Darren up, soon, and I couldn't believe it. We had only met the day before. So, I have to make best of the time we have left.

I feel Darren squirming around in the driver's seat, accidently brushing his small hands over the dark leather as he repositioned himself deeper into the fabric. Whenever he does this, it tickles, and I can't help but laugh. Hearing this, Darren uses it to his advantage, lightly stroking my steering wheel with his fingertips, curving them around its circular shape. I rev my engine softly, and he chuckles under a breath.

I'm taking him to Tranquility Lake, not too far from the Adonis III. We haven't been talking much, most of that my own fault. With everything buzzing through my transmitters, it's hard to not feel like you're alone…thinking by yourself somewhere where you're undisturbed.

I keep zoning out…probably like right now.

"Darren?" I call for him, pausing at a stop sign.

A few seconds pass as he yawns, then he answers.

"Huh?"

"We're nearing the lake. We should be there in, approximately, two and a half minutes."

Darren nodded. He folded his arms and sat them at the sill of the window, sticking his head out. Strong wind blew, and locks of his golden blonde hair delicately twisted with one another, his bangs tickling his forehead. He sighed, closing his eyes as I started to drive again.

"Thanks, Bee, for bringin' me out," he thanked. I felt his hand pat my seat twice.

I revved my engine quietly. "Anything for you, Darren."

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

Tranquility Lake

As soon as I came to a complete halt, Darren unfastened his seatbelt from around his lower waist, and then hopped off the seat, opening my left door with eager hands. His tiny footsteps thudded quickly down a grassy hill and he kneeled by the lake's edge, gazing into it as if he were a young child. I transformed into my robot mode and started to follow him, but then, I remembered Optimus' warning. I stepped behind a tree.

I closed my optics, and cleared my processor with a sigh. I felt my body receive many awkward twitches and jolts as my internal systems calmed, converting to become more like a human's. My metal skin felt prickly as each plate merged into one, then melted, cooling and forming into a creamy white skin. Everything inside me revved, then faded. I opened my eyes and blinked many times. I was so much shorter…at least a good twelve feet below my normal height.

I looked down and gasped. I had no clothes...

My cheeks suddenly received a weird heat surge, I think what human's call blushing. I heard Darren rustling in the grass. I prayed to Primus he wouldn't come over.

"Bumblebee?" He called me.

"Great..."

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

Darren's Point of View

I tiptoed to where I'd last seen Bumblebee, arching an eyebrow as I saw no trace of the giant robot. I titled my head and looked around more, my bare feet against the warm dirt. How could I lose an eighteen foot tall transformer?

"Bumblebee?" I called out again, spinning in a slow three-hundred-and-sixty degrees.

Someone's footsteps crunched in the grass, snapping a twig.

"Fraggin'…," Bumblebee swore under his breath. "Darren, don't come over here!" I heard him gulp. "I'm warning you!"

I furrowed my brow and walked over towards the tree anyways.

"Why, what's – " I stopped suddenly, widening my eyes. "Oh my, God! Who're you?!" I immediately turned and covered my eyes with both hands. "Bumblebee?! What the fuck?!"

Bumblebee's cheeks reddened again, worse than before. "Darren, I didn't know this would happen!"

"How the hell are you a guy, too?!" I practically screamed, shocked. "Okay, okay…Hold on. Where's the real Bumblebee and what the hell have you done with him?"

Bumblebee sighed, lifting a hand in innocence. "Darren, let me explain."

"No, Bee. First, get some freakin' clothes!" I shuddered. "Jesus..."

"I don't have any," he said, embarrassed. "Don't you have something in that backpack of yours?"

I turned his back completely, refusing to meet eye contact with a naked Bumblebee. "Y-Yeah, yeah, just stay here," I sighed, laughing. This was too weird. "I'll get you somethin'…" I knelt beside my backpack, rummaging through its contents with a hand. My lips curved into a smile and I chuckled again, shaking my head. This was certainly not on my plans for our afternoon.

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

Darren's Point of View

I shut my eyes and turned my head up and away as I slowly lowered a slightly-oversized yellow tee shirt over Bumblebee's head. He poked his head through the hole, tossing wisps of his hair from his forehead with a jerk of his head before he ran his hands against his muscular stomach and chest, smoothing out wrinkles in the shirt. His eyes, a deep-blue, upturned at gentle angles as he smiled.

"It fits nicely," he complimented, turning himself slightly to admire his backside. "Very nice..." He ran a hand down his lower back.

"Just, don't wrinkle it, Bee," I sighed, smiling at my friend even though I couldn't see him. "That's really my pajama top."

Bumblebee chuckled, balling up the already-short sleeves, making the shirt a muscle tee shirt. He gazed down at his pale, bare legs, then up at me. I didn't notice of course.

"I need some pants…"

I groaned quietly and knelt again, patting his palm against the grass many times as he tried to find the pair of black jeans he'd lied down. My eyes were still closed. I know I looked like an old blind man looking for his wallet at a park. Bumblebee folded his arms and clicked his tongue thrice in the oh-so-familiar "tsk," sounds, shaking his head.

"Darren, you can open your eyes," he told me with a smile. "Here…" Bumblebee turned his back to Darren. "See? I'll even turn for you."

I furrowed my brow, keeping my eyes shut tight.

"Bee, I don't want your ass in my face," I shot at him.

Bumblebee chuckled. "We do have the same anatomy, you know. I don't understand why it's so appalling…" He turned to look over his shoulder and down at me. His lips curled in a smile. "Really, Darren. Let's be real, here."

I scoffed in a light chuckle, finally gripping my hands on one leg of the jeans as I rose. I held out one of his hands, offering him the pants, my head turned in the other direction still.

It was silent for many seconds.

"Hellooooo?" I called, waving the pants.

"What?"

"Take 'em!"

"Why?"

"Put them on!"

"How? Can't you do it for me?"

"Bee!"

"Okay, okay…!"

Bumblebee turned and took the jeans in his hands, turning his big blue eyes down at them. He studied them for a moment before looking up at me, even though I had my back turned. I felt his eyes on me.

"…." Bumblebee only blinked.

I tapped my foot, impatiently waiting. "Are they on yet?"

"…N-No."

"What're you waiting for?!" My hands shot up.

"Help me!" Bumblebee looked at the pants as if they were some foreign object.

I slapped my forehead before turning around. I shook my head like a pissed off parent.

"I'm going to open my eyes…" I muttered. "Just don't…do anything weird er whatever."

Bumblebee smiled, staring deeply into my eyes with his own blue pair once mine opened. I made a face and snatched the jeans from Bumblebee's hands. I sighed heavily.

"Alright, put one of your feet in the air."

Bumblebee blinked twice. "One of my…feet?" He looked down and pointed at his foot. "This, right?"

I nodded. Bumblebee leaned a palm against a tree for support before lifting his foot a few inches above the ground, balancing on the other almost perfectly. I caught a glimpse of that one special spot between his legs and immediately looked away, nearly throwing up as I held my breath and shut my eyes. I hadn't remembered to get him underwear from my backpack...but, what did it matter. He wouldn't notice.

"Now, slip it through here," I instructed, pointing. Bumblebee looked to the hole in the jeans where his leg was to be inserted, then slowly eased his leg into it, feeling the rough denim brush against his skin. Assuming that he was to do the same with his other leg, he inserted it into the slot alongside the other one, then found himself standing on his own two feet again.

With a smile, he watched as me as I leaned forward to zip his fly up, and fasten the little silver button quickly with two fingers. Bumblebee pulled his shirt down over the top of the black denim jeans, then lifted a hand to smooth down his hair. He let his black accented bangs fall naturally across his forehead as he titled his head down.

"Thank you, Darren," he said softly with a polite nod.

I smiled at him. "Yeahh, I guess it wasn't that bad." I shrugged. Bumblebee giggled, patting my shoulder.

I looked up at him as he turned his head away to regard Tranquility Lake, reflecting the rays of the afternoon sun across its blue waters. I noted Bumblebee's eyes, the deepest blue I'd ever seen, almost creepy. And there was something about them... When he blinked, something inside them rotated silently, like they were zooming or scanning. I narrowed his eyes at this, then shook my head slightly as a mental stab to snap out of it. I'd let it pass. The guy was a robot in disguise after all.

Bumblebee's skin was a creamy white, his bone structure merely perfect. His jawline…hard and firm, his nose picture perfect like the one you'd see on a male model in a magazine, his cheekbones what every guy what want. His face was just one a girl would die for. And his hair was deep gold with its bangs dyed black. Bumblebee stood well over six feet tall, towering me by a few inches, almost a whole head. His body was pure muscle, rock hard, and he only looked like a teenager. Like my age, now that I think about it.

"Is something wrong?" Bumblebee's voice broke my thoughts.

I blinked many times, noticing that Bumblebee had caught me staring. I shook my head too quickly.

"What? No, it's just…I never knew you were a human, too." I looked down. "S'different…"

Bumblebee nodded and blinked, twisting his lip. "Yes, I wanted to show you some time later today, but now seemed appropriate enough." He looked down at his own body, admiring his framework. "Do you like my protoform?"

Darren let his eyes wander to various parts of Bumblebee for only a couple seconds.

Was I jealous? Of course not. I was happy for him. Maybe he could come to my school some day... The chicks would melt over him.

"Yeah," I finally said through a grin. I slapped a palm against Bumblebee's spine. "You look great, man."

Bumblebee's eyes flashed softly and he wrapped his arm around my waistline, pulling me against his side. He tugged me forward as he started walking towards Tranquility Lake.

"C'mon," he said, jerking his head in a direction. "Let's go sit down, huh?"

I nodded quickly, walking side by side with my friend toward the lake's edge.

"Yeah," I agreed with a smile. "Let's go."