Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just the plot and OCs.
Oh the messes younglings will get themselves into. :)
Enjoy.
Chapter 18
Click, click, click, click, click.
Slide.
Pitter patter.
Click, click, click.
Well.
This was different.
Tilting his little head to the side Bumblebee's antennas flickered back and forth in thought while at the same time trying to make sence of the sounds that kept bouncing to his highly sensitive sensors.
It was a weird sound.
Like footsteps, but at the same it wasn't. Because that was impossible.
Nothing besides him—maybe—was small enough to fit in the air vents that ran through the ship.
Oh wait!
Maybe it was a scrap-rat!
Yeah!
That made sense.
Now that they'd landed and been down here in these tunnels awhile it was possible that a scrap-rat or two found their way onto the ship without being noticed. Jazz's high-tech security systems didn't catch everything after all.
Little foraging scrap-rats were—wait!
What if it was hungry?
It was probably hungry. Didn't Prowl tell him once that scrap-rats were always hungry? Always looking for something to eat because there metaboli—. . . something ran so high.
Yeah! That was what Prowl had said.
Ha.
And the SIC thought he didn't pay attention when he talked. Bee would show him.
He'd feed the little scrap-rat and then it would trust him. If it trust him maybe it would let him pet it, and if it let him pet it then maybe Hide would let him keep it.
Then he'd have another friend!
Bee tilted his head the other way letting his antennas fall back down to their notched places as he quickly did a sweep of his surroundings.
Trailbreaker was snoring on the couch.
Big shocker there.
It seemed every time the big mech ended up watching him he fell into recharge. Bumblebee didn't mind though. Trailbreaker was always busy it seemed, always doing something for somebot with Hound. They were nice, taking other bots shifts when they were too tired and they always tried to have something new to give to Bee when they did get to see him.
So the youngling didn't mind that Trailbreaker was tired.
Couldn't have been that entertaining anyway, watching him play with his little cube puzzle that Wheeljack had made him a few vorns ago that he had yet to figure out. Who would have thought a bunch of colorful squares making up a bigger twisting square would take so long to figure out?
The inventor had made Prowl one too and the tactician figured it out in less the three orns.
Bee had thrown his across the room when he found that out.
Now though he had taken up trying to make sense of it again since he had nothing better to do. Seven orns had passed since he invented his cape game—a game he was still playing in full force, the red fabric still tired loosely around his neck—and no matter how hard Ironhide was trying to convince him to take the thing off he was having none of it.
He liked his cape.
He could fly with his cape.
He was keeping the cape.
However, his cape wasn't much use to him when he was stuck sitting on Trailbreaker's chest as it rumbled out snores below him while he twisted his cube and listened to the strange sounds in the vents.
It seemed he might have something better to do now though.
If there really was a scrap-rat in the vents then he was going to find it, and he was going to feed it, and then he was going to keep it no matter what Hide had to say about it. He'd stash it in Bluestreak's room if he had too, but he would have his new pet.
Once he figured out how to go about doing all that that is.
If he told anybot there was something in the vents he was pretty much one hundred percent sure they'd kill whatever they found. His family had a bad habit of shooting first asking questions later.
But there were mean bots out there so Bee didn't really blame them.
However, if they shot his soon-to-be pet though there would be the fit to end all fits soon to follow that cannon blast.
It would just be better for everybot involved in the long run if he just found his pet before they figured out he was looking for it. Once he had it, then it would be much harder to tell him he couldn't have it.
Sounded like a plan to him.
So . . . he placed his cube down scampering forward to stare into the peacefully recharging faceplate of the big black mech that was supposed to be keeping an optic on him. All he had to do now was get down from Trail's thick chest, out of the rec room, to the mess hall to find some energon, and then find away to feed his soon-to-be pet, and then figure out how to keep it.
. . . this was going to be interesting to say the least.
But Bumblebee wasn't the master of hide and seek for nothing.
Turns out, ditching Trailbreaker was easier then he thought it would it be. Even when he lost his balance and tumbled the last few feet off the couch to the floor landing with a rather painful 'thud' the big mech didn't even stir.
He recharged harder then Bee thought he did it seemed. He made a note of that.
Then it was relatively simple. He'd long since figured out how to reach the keypad locks for the doors, but the rec room door was motion activated so he didn't even have to worry about that. He simply bounced around in front of the large silver door until the sensor picked him up as he spun around waving his red cape behind him. It took a bit of bouncing, but eventually it picked him up and then he just strolled on through the sliding doors slipping down the hallway like a little yellow ghost.
It was what Bumblebee loved about hide and seek.
He wasn't a helpless little youngling when he was like this.
Nope.
He was an itty bitty little yellow ghost that no bot saw when he wanted to be. He was untouchable—in his own mind—and he was happy. Sneaking around cameras, skipping by right under mechs' noseplates, and just slipping on by whoever he didn't want to find him.
His clumsy little feet were suddenly not so clumsy.
It amazed the little youngling—he had no idea how it worked, it just did— and he didn't question awesome things. He just peaked around halls and skittered on around the shadows along the dark painted hall walls taking in all the obstacles with his big baby blue optics before bouncing on along with his cape fluttering behind him.
His quest went uninterrupted while he slinked his way on along until he finally ended up crouched in a tiny ball in the shadow in the corner of the cross sectioned hall that held the mess hall. A large open door he was currently watching very closely.
It was still early in the orn, so there shouldn't have been any bots on break, but that didn't mean those that weren't on shift this orn weren't hanging out in the mess hall talking and drinking. If that was the case then there was no way he was getting any energon.
That in itself was going to be a tricky task, but with bots in there he wouldn't even have a chance.
And so he did the only thing he could do.
Flicking up his antennas he listened carefully to what was going on down the hall from him, and it seemed that Primus was smiling on him this orn. There wasn't even a click of a cube in there.
Lucky him.
Checking down both halls around him Bee quickly made sure nobot was around before giggling quietly to himself and bolting for the open door of the mess hall. Bolting through the door he did a quick sweep while he stumbled just a bit and found it just as empty as he thought it would be. With a bright grin he got down to work.
Toddling toward the energon dispensers in the back of the hall Bumblebee skidded the last few feet of tiles to find himself staring up at the things that towered over his tiny head. He'd done this once before and ended up strung up by his ankle dangling several dozen feet in the air staring down at the tiles below him until Ironhide found him. The incident had sent his guardian into quite a fit of raging and yelling and threatening that if he ever did something that stupid again he'd lock him up in their berthroom for the rest of his life.
But now it was the only option Bee had of getting any energon.
And besides . . . what Hide didn't know wouldn't hurt him right?
Quickly getting to work—there was no telling when somebot would drop by the mess hall—Bumblebee got busy. Grasping hold of the legs of one of the stools near the energon dispenser he tugged, yanked, drug, pushed, pulled, wheezed, and said words Optimus and Hide would spank him for orn if they heard but he did manage to get the towering seat under the first spout.
Now to climb it.
Shouldn't be that hard.
He'd done it before so no big deal right?
Well, turns out it was a little harder then he remembered it being about halfway up the smooth metal, crisscrossed under the seat to form the base, he figured out the sorta smooth hallway walls were a whole lot easier to find tiny handholds in then a metal rod was. It took him a bit of wiggling with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth but he finally got a grasp of the squishy seat and hauled himself up onto the round black surface. Once there he plopped his little self down and went to panting a bit over the not so small workout for somebot his size.
However, he knew quite well he didn't have forever until Trail woke up and found him gone, freaked, and Hide found him. He had to get going. Pushing himself back to his tiny feet the mechling reached for one of the large cubes placed ever so helpfully beside the dispenser and then stood on the very tips of his little toes reaching and fumbling with stretched to their limits short fingers for the flip switch onto of the spout.
A few frustrated whimpers later and he finally latched onto it with a warbler of victory as the switch fell over and out poured the bubbling liquid he was after. He ended up splashing a lot of it over the cube and down to the floor below him, but really he didn't make all that much of a mess. Once the cube was mostly full he balanced it against his tiny middle and the dispenser he was pressed against to once again struggle with the switch until he got it off. That was when the little mechling found himself standing on a stool in the back of the mess hall holding a cube of energon and staring down at the floor a good dozen feet below him.
Well . . . he really should have planned this out better.
How was he supposed to get himself and a half full cube of energon back down to the floor without breaking it . . . or himself?
Huh.
"Well scrap." He mumbled, antennas flicking back and forth in thought he chewed on his bottom lip while running over the options he had in his head.
Jumping was a horrible idea.
Not only would he probably not bounce he was almost one hundred percent likely to break every part in his frame. An event that would not only hurt it would also lead to most of the ship yelling at him. After the initial glitch out that would follow his cries of course. Hide and Optimus would flip, Ratchet would be fragged off, and Trailbreaker would be in trouble for letting him get hurt.
Yep.
Jumping wasn't going to work.
He guessed he could climb back down the way he got up, but then . . . what would he do with this cube that was half as big as he was? Carrying it and just standing still was a big enough issues in and of itself. How was he going to scamper back down those slick bars with a huge cube in his grasp?
He puffed out an annoyed breath.
"Scrap."
His little head tilted to the side as he thought. What would Jazz do?
He was the master saboteur. He could get out of anything and he could do it with style. Bumblebee wanted to be able to do that with every fiber in his little being, and some orn he would. He was going to be the best Autobot there had ever been.
And the first step of that would be figuring this out for himself.
That was when it hit him and a grin bloomed across the little mech's faceplate.
That'll work.
And worked it did.
Ten klicks later found Bumblebee bouncing himself to the floor after having kept the jostling cube of energon squeezed as tightly to his front as he could get it between his pulled tight inner arms while he held tight to the bars of the stool and slid his way down without spilling the whole cube on himself.
He spilt a lot of it, but not all of it and that was all that really mattered.
Once he was back on the floor he placed the cube down and then pushed, yanked, and wiggled the stool relatively back where he found it, then with his cape waving out like wings behind him while he scampered back to the cube, plucked it up and returned to his quest.
It only took him a few more klicks of slipping down hallways again for him to find a place he figured no mech would bother for a little while, and had a air vent outlet on the floor.
That was handy.
Plopping the cube down in front of the large vent, Bumblebee maneuvered himself around until he was to the side of said vent and went to shoving with all his tiny might until with a rather loud creak the slit cover slide back a few inches until Bee could poke his head through and stare down into the cool darkness that greeted him.
His blue optics cast an ambient sort of glow into the long tunnel that stretched on before him that smelt strongly of stale air and . . . hydraulic fluid. Bee wasn't completely sure why it smelt like that, but maybe that meant his soon-to-be new best friend was close by somewhere.
Letting out a happy click he pushed himself a few feet into the vent tunnel letting his antennas flicker up to try and catch some sort of sound. From somewhere not too far into the system that wormed through the entire ship he could hear a faint click, click, click. He smiled brightly.
Softly he called out. "Hi,"
The clicking came to an abrupt halt and the air itself seemed to stiffen.
It made Bee listen just the slightest bit harder to maybe hear something, anything, but the noises had stopped as if they—or actually whoever made them—was listening to see what he would do next.
"I'm Bee," He kind of liked the cool way his voice bounced around the walls around him and came back to him. "Me, um," A glance backward toward the energon that sat just outside the vent. "Me brought some energon. Thought maybe might want some."
Still nothing.
No more clicking or pattering.
Just a tense silence in the air.
Well it might take a bit more work than just one gift. Bee was okay with that. He could do it again.
"Me gonna leave it right out here if want it." He wiggled his way backward until he was out of the vent again looking in for any type of movement. There was nothing, but that was alright. He would try again. "So yeah. Bye."
Slipping back out into the hall he bounced to his tiny toes. A part of him wondered should he put the vent back like it was supposed to be, but then he figured, what were the chances the big mechs would even look down? Their world was yards above his.
They hardly spared the floors or anything near them—besides him—a passing glance.
It would be fine.
So, Bee toddled on hurriedly to the corner of the hall and hid himself around it, peaking out just enough so that he could watch the vent while he flicked his antennas back up and listened as hard as he could.
For a few more klicks there was nothing other than his quiet breathing and then pitter patter, swish, click, click, click, pause, and then a rather large for a scrap-rat—Bee thought though he'd never actually ever seen a scrap-rat—silver paw tipped in wicked claws reached out, latched hold of the cube, and yanked it back into the vent. The hurried clicking told Bee that his interesting new friend was gone again.
But the mechling was pretty convinced right then that he was an absolute genius.
Wheeljack should take notes.
Giggling to himself he turned away from the vent toddling back the way he had came. It was probably about time he was getting his little self back to Trailbreaker. The mech was a sound recharger, but not even he snored forever. Sooner or later somebot was going to realize he had gone and vanished again.
It was right about then he felt the whole level of ship he was standing on vibrate as a rather familiar deep voice boomed out.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE HE FRAGGIN' IS!?"
The mechling cracked a smile and scampered a little faster. It was defiantly time to be getting back.
And so over the next few dozen orns Bumblebee developed himself somewhat of a new routine. If his family had thought he was good at hide and seek before well they were certainly aware that he was the king of it now.
Every orn Bee slipped off, no matter who was watching him.
He even managed to ditch Optimus.
Optimus Prime!
For thirty-eight klicks the Prime couldn't find him, and then where does the little pest show up? Sitting outside his office door like he'd been there the whole time.
And the Autobots were at their wits end.
He was only playing a game—as much as they hated it—he really wasn't doing anything dangerous—that they knew of—and unlike when he use to play and they'd spend joors looking for him he was only gone maybe half a breem or more before he popped back up again grinning a self satisfied little smirk.
It was like he'd figured out that he was capable of doing something on his own now—because everybot in the faction knew how much the little mechling wanted to be able to do for himself—and now he was just going with it. Trying to make himself better at it.
When Jazz wasn't pissed as he ran around looking for him he was smiling proudly at the antics. Bumblebee had a talent.
That was for sure.
He could be gone without a trace as well as Jazz ever could, and maybe it was the saboteur's pride that was keeping the mechling out of any real trouble with the rest of the closest of his family. Because it was Jazz that had shrugged while Sunstreaker ranted to Optimus about him vanishing even from them an action that made both the fragged off twins and the Prime turn to him in confusion.
He'd just smiled at them and said. "One orn its going to be what keeps him alive."
And the room full of stressed mechs had gone very quiet at that.
So Jazz had gone on.
"He's gonna grow up, mechs. Whether we like it or not it's gonna happen. And when he does we all know damn good and well where he's gonna end up." A thumb was jarred upward toward the battle destroyed city that lay in ruble over their heads. "Right out there. With us. We can't keep him locked on this ship forever."
"Watch me." Ironhide had grumbled lowly, but the pain filled flash in the mech's optics told just how much he knew that wasn't true. No matter how bad he wanted it to be.
"What ya gonna do, Hide?" Jazz lifted an optic ridge above his visor. "Lock him in a closet for the rest of the war?"
"We can do that." Sideswipe had put in.
Jazz had glared at him and his nodding twin.
"Ya the one that said it, Sunstreaker." He said. "Sooner or later he's gonna end up a soldier."
The golden mech had just scowled at him before looking away with a snort. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."
"None of us like it." Jazz had tried to reason. "But we all know its gonna happen. This war ain't ending no time soon and he's grown up every fraggin' orn. We can't just pretend that there isn't a whole other faction out there that will kill him just because it would hurt us."
"He's right you know." Prowl had sighed out tiredly. "He's a target, and he always will be."
"All the more reason to lock him in a closet." Sideswipe concluded with a very serious nod.
Ratchet had shot him a look. "This coming from the mech that got into so much trouble taking him on fieldtrips because we treated him like a prisoner."
The red mech shrugged. "He was with us. With us is different. We're not going to let anything hurt him."
"What you're talking about is not with us." Sunstreaker half growled, just trying to make it seem like the very idea of one orn Bumblebee being out there in the middle of a fire fight on his own without one of them there to protect him didn't scare him deeper than anything really had before. Deeper then Sideswipe, because he knew—deep down inside of him, because they were connected—that Sideswipe would always be able to take care of himself. They were better together then they ever would be apart, but apart they could still toss seekers out of the sky and take Constructicons apart piece by piece.
Bumblebee?
Bumblebee was tiny, and innocent, and sweet, and open, and brilliant, and bright, and bubbly, and everything that none of them would ever be again. He was hope.
He wasn't scarred with vorns of living through everything Cybertron had become.
He was so blissfully ignorant of the true horrors that surrounded him.
The very idea of shattering that. Of letting him find out just what it was that was happening around him.
Of . . . of letting him see what it was they were each fully capable of doing.
Of him becoming as tainted as each and every one of them were.
The simple thought made Sunstreaker want to purge.
It was just to awful to put into words.
"Sunny," Jazz had let his own defeat fill his tone with what had come out next. "No matter how bad we want to be—one orn—we're not going to be able to be there to protect him."
Both twins had snarled at that.
Ironhide had let his cannons whirl too, but he knew as well as the twins did that Jazz was very right. It had happened before.
They hadn't been there to save him from everything.
They wouldn't always be able too.
Especially as he grew.
Because no matter how bad they wanted to keep him safe they knew very well that they couldn't lock him away. They couldn't do anything that would make him unhappy.
None of them could.
They lived for that bubbly laugh far too much to ever do something that would take it away.
Primus, the thought could make each of them shudder. What would they ever do if they could never hear that laugh again?
It wasn't something any of them could think about.
Silence had taken over again at the saboteur's words until Prowl let out a heavy breath.
"Maybe his games are not so bad after all."
Hide growled. "Him vanishing is not a good thing."
"He knows better than to ever leave the ship again." The words leaving Optimus were a bit shocking, and they made the guardian along with the twins spin on him so fast it was possible they might have sprained something.
"Really?" Sides hissed. "You're okay with hide and seek every fraggin' orn!?"
"No," Optimus lifted an optic ridge at the tone the frontliner took with him, satisfied when Sides' scowl fell away out of respect. "I'm not big on looking away for three nanos and him being gone. I want to know how he does it frankly, but the point is Jazz is right. He has quite the little talent of disappearing without a trace. It is something that would be wise to nurture. I'd rather him want to be a spy or such then I would him want out on the frontlines."
That muted the twins pretty fast.
Because that hadn't accrued to them before. It was now though.
That if Bumblebee wanted to be a spy, or a scout, or something along those lines he'd be far less lily to end up in the middle of a fire fight. He'd be actively avoiding them. He'd do what he was already very good at. Slipping away without being noticed, and if Jazz taught him everything the silver acrobat knew then there was no telling how good Bee would get.
But then again . . . .
"If he wanted to be a scout or a spy, Optimus." Sunstreaker narrowed his optics in contemplation. "Then he would be alone."
"Most times." Jazz nodded for the Prime. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing."
"This is all hypothetical in the first place." Prime finally put in a bit of reason. "He's got vorns before any of this ever comes into play, and we have no idea what it is the little mechling will want . . . well we know, but there's nothing we can do about that. In the end it's his choice. You all know it is. We will give him what he wants; we will let him be what he wants to be. Besides, as the vorns go by do any of you really think that a single one of us isn't going to be teaching him everything we know every chance we get?"
No.
They already were.
"Learning everything we have to teach him is the only thing that's going to keep him alive. You all know that. I don't have to tell it to you. And Jazz has a point. If he's good enough to vanish from us, he's good enough to vanish from anybot. Him having the ability to make himself disappear when he really needs it is not something I'm all that appose to him being able to do. I'm not foolish enough to think Megatron will be kind enough to not kill on sight twice."
The air in the room darkened with the notion, but the commander was heard.
The mechs were quiet lost in their own thoughts before Sideswipe just let out a tired breath and shrugged.
"I still say Wheeljack has got to make a tracker or something for the little pest."
In all actuality, it wasn't that bad of an idea.
Peaking around the end of the hall with another cube of energon—over the last few orns Bee had perfected the art of his new game—the little yellow youngling stared at the pulled back vent at the end of the hall. He could fear a faint 'swish, swish' from inside the vent.
His new friend was waiting.
Maybe this time he'd actually see him.
Doing another check around him to make sure Jazz hadn't caught up with him yet Bee quickly toddled his tiny self to the vent slipping in with his cube of glittering purple liquid. Checking behind him once he was inside he made absolutely double sure that he hadn't been noticed before plopping down in the big middle of the dark tunnel placing the cube in front of him while he fought back his giggle.
This orn was going to the orn.
He was going to see who it was he was bringing energon too.
Maybe.
Possibly.
Hopefully.
Scooting himself a little bit forward on his skid plate he smiled into the darkness pushing the cube a few more inches forward.
"Hi," He giggled. "It me again."
There was the faintest of swishes from deeper into the long expanse of metal tunnel that stretched on out before him.
He fought back a louder laugh.
"Me brought more energon." He started, but this time no sound answered him.
It drew out a pout, but Bee was not detoured so easily. He'd been leaving energon outside this vent for almost a decacycle now and as far as he was concerned it was about time his new friend showed his faceplate.
Bee had already figured out this was no scrap-rat.
He wasn't sure what it was now.
He just knew that whatever it was it was hungry, so he was feeding it.
He'd only been kind of hoping that it would come out from where ever it was it was hiding for him to actually see. Because how were they going to be friends if it never let him see it?
"Me was thinking," Bee tried again when the silence had lasted too long for his liking. "Maybe you come out here and get this time. So we can say hi. Just wanna say hi."
An almost silent 'click, click' as if something shifted its weight from foot to foot, but Bumblebee heard it all the same.
Perking up he let out a happy whirl as he flicked his antennas. "It okay. Can come out." He looked back over his shoulder. "Me not gonna tell nobot you here. Just wanna be friends."
"You have odd choices in friends."
His antennas fell back in surprise and for a moment he sat there in shocked silence trying to figure out what just happened.
His new friend could talk . . . huh . . . that wasn't what he had been expecting.
Risk had been able to talk in his spark with Bee, but never out loud. Never like a big bot.
However, the little mechling was not detoured for long.
A friend that could talk?
Well this just got a billion times cooler.
"Why say that?" Bee questioned.
A snorted followed by a bit of clicking and then a red glow lit up the end of the tunnel in front of him. There was still too many inky shadows for him to make out much else, but the youngling was aware that he now found himself staring into one single burning red optic. That watched him back with calculated interest.
Bee blinked.
The red optic did not.
"I am not a good choice for a friend, mechling." The voice echoed in a pitch not really deep, but not high either, and it rumbled at the end of each word in an almost purr kind of note. It didn't scare Bumblebee though. Even if it probably should have. "Go back to your family."
He ducked is head a little unsure of what he was supposed to do next.
"But . . . me want to be friends."
There was a strong hiss, the ex-vent of which puffed against the mechling's plating in a hot wave, and the red optic narrowed.
Bee didn't move an itch.
Where was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to do?
He knew—deep down—that if he flared his spark he'd have the most powerful mechs in the universe here in a sparkbeat, but he didn't do it. He wasn't scared.
Not yet.
Well . . . maybe he was a little scared.
But he'd work so hard to make a new friend. Was he just supposed to turn and run now?
That red optic watched him harshly. "We cannot be friends."
To that Bee let his antennas pin back as he glared as darkly as he could back to the red optic before him. "Why not!?"
Another snort. The words were on the edge of the mech's tongue.
Because I was sent here to spy on you. Because my faction wants to kill you. Because my Lord wants to swipe you.
Because . . . just because.
But he didn't say any of that.
He just crouched there hidden in the shadows as he stared down at this tiny yellow thing.
So innocently stupid.
It was pathetic.
Laserbeak was right.
He was a stupid runt that didn't know enough to know Con spies when he was looking at them. That didn't stop the bird mech from taking the energon they were offered by the mechling though.
Their stupid suppliers had failed to show up within the last decacycles and they had been left to fend for themselves. No energon, no nothing. Ravage and Laserbeak were on their own until they had enough to satisfy Megatron, which they did not yet have. Even if the thing they were here to spy on was currently down a vent shaft from him.
Was this Primus playing with his damn processor or what?
Because he could spring forward, sink in his fangs into weak protoform, and drag his little skid plate back to his Lord. Wouldn't the tyrant rather have the whole thing? It wouldn't be hard.
Snatch him up, slip out, and the foolish Auto-freaks wouldn't be the wiser until they were long gone.
The problem the robo-cat like mech faced was their transport had vanished. Without Skywarp and Thundercracker to pick them up they'd never make it back to Decepticon lines with the youngling. The Prime would have them torn apart before they made it ten miles away from the ship.
It was a pointless endeavor; one Soundwave would scold him for.
Just like he would scold him for laying here in this vent talking to the thing he was supposed to be spying on. Taking energon from the Autobots' little pet. It was disgraceful.
But his tanks rumbled despite that thought and the flicking antennas down the dark vent heard it.
Bumblebee leaned forward just a bit, pushing the cube of energon a few inches closer before he sat up right again. "Me not care what you says. Can still has energon."
A part of Ravage that he had never known before stirred a bit at the words and try as he might to ignore it the cold and sparkless Decepticon just couldn't. He'd been watching the youngling long enough to know what he was like. How bright and open he was.
He wasn't going to make it twenty more vorns.
The small silver mech would bet on it.
And he never bet.
He was going to die, quite violently probably, and most likely by the claws of somebot of Ravage's own faction. It would be better to just slice his throat now; quick, easy, and painless. It would be the kindest course of action.
It was logical.
It made sense.
It would be easy.
It . . . was not in his mission parameters.
Taking a deep breath the silver mech slowly rose to his wickedly clawed feet watching as the little mechling didn't move the slightest bit. He merely watched with huge blue optics as Ravage slowly stepped into the dim cast of light that the open vent cover behind the mechling cast into their small meeting place.
Bumblebee felt the plating all over his tiny self shrink down to lock together tightly. It was a defense mechanism, an instinctive one. Bee was only made up of protoform metal. Weak, bendable, and breakable. He wouldn't have armored plating to cover what it was the originally made him up until he grew enough to be in his second frame.
And that felt like a lifetime away.
There was nothing on Bee that was strong enough to stand up to those dagger like claws that slid into the light, nor the huge fangs that glittered at him as a very big, sleek, silver robo-cat mech that was now standing just three feet away from him. Jagged plating rose like knives all over his frame, from his claws to his fangs to the long spines that stood along his back down to even the swishing . . . thing at the end of his tail.
The mech pretty much summed up really, really scary.
Bumblebee would most definitely admit to that, but he didn't move. He just watched as the large robo-cat like mech came to stand over him. Staring down with that single glowing red orb leaving Bee to stare up at him.
That long dangerous tail flicked back and forth in irritation as Ravage gazed down at the runt. "This," He hissed out the word letting his tail thrash a bit harder, his claws dig into the soft metal of the vent floor, his perked ear like audio receptors folded back, and his head lower so that his razor filled smile was level with those big blue optics. "Is why we can't be friends. Go back to your protectors."
Bumblebee was quiet for a long few nanos before very carefully and very slowly reaching up with short stubby yellow fingers to lightly place his palm on the end of the silver mech's snout.
Ravage startled at the touch, his instincts torn between the need to lash out with a snarl and a strange need to plop down to his belly and let the youngling pet him.
He . . . didn't know how to respond.
All he could do was stand there as those tiny, warm, fingers spread across his noseplate rubbing curiously before those brilliant optics of his staring into that one red orb.
"You look like robo-cat." Bee muttered.
Ravage snorted, but made no move to remove the tiny hand from the front of his faceplate. "I am no mere robo-cat."
Bee tilted his head. "Look like cat."
That single red optic narrowed. "My creator wanted the stealth."
"So," Bee rubbed his little hand down to the jagged teeth that were visible. They gave new definition to the word sharp. "What is you?"
A Decepticon.
But that little fact would probably make him scream, and then Ravage and Laserbeak wouldn't live another breem.
Soundwave would not be happy about that.
"I am Ravage."
No connection of the name to who he really was flashed in the mechling's optics. He just tilted that little head again as if drinking in all the information he possibly could while Ravage was left standing there trying to figure out why he was doing this.
"Me Bee."
The red optic rolled. "I know who you are."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"So . . . ." Bee let his hand fall back to his lap leaving him to sit there—Ravage would admit, though never out loud—kind of adorably cross-legged with a beaming smile and bright optics. "We . . . friends?"
A deep breath ran through the Decepticon before he just lowered his head a bit to nudge the little yellow thing. He was here to spy. So he might as well take advantage of this.
Laserbeak was going to freak, but then again, when wasn't he glitching about something?
Ravage sighed even deeper. "Why not?"
Bumblebee lit up like a full blown supernova before a voice in the distance called out.
"Bee! Lil' Bee," Bee twisted around at the sound of Jazz's voice. "Alright, Bee, enough games for this orn. Where are you?"
"Gotta go." Be swung back around to give Ravage one final pat on the noseplate to which he snorted in surprise at. "Bring more energon soon. Bye."
Ravage watched the little yellow thing slip back out into the hall and disappear without a trace. He stood there for a moment lost in his own processor before he dipped down to snatch up the cube in his jaws before he spun to wonder back into the ventilation systems to find his 'brother' and wonder what the frag he'd just gotten himself into.
"You are nothing but a pain in my aft you know that?"
Bumblebee just snickered while he wiggled around on Sunstreaker's chest while the big golden mech leaned back in a chair with a paint brush twirling between two of his fingers as he studied the swirling design on the wall before him.
"Not know what do without me." Bee sassed Sunny right back as he maneuvered himself around to where he was perched in Sunny's lap watching the golden bot's work. Sunstreaker paused in his stroke of orange against the white paint of the wall in the spaces that wasn't covered in hand-prints.
It was true, what the mechling said.
He really didn't.
And he didn't want to think about it.
"I'd have far fewer headaches." Sunstreaker used his free hand to pet the youngling affectionately between the antennas as he swirled the brush against the wall. Bumblebee just giggled in response, scooting forward as much as he could dip his fingers into the jar of paint resting between the golden mech's knees at the edge of the chair before he started tracing swirls onto the wall trying to match what Sunny was doing.
"What paintin'?" He asked happily.
Sunstreaker swirled the brush down closer to the tiny fingers. "I'm not sure yet. What do you want to paint, Half Pint?"
Bee chewed on his bottom lip while he danced his fingers across the wall. "Me like swirls."
"'I'," Sunstreaker corrected softly, getting another dip of paint before bringing it up to let it swirl around Bee's fingers.
Bumblebee mouthed the word he'd been corrected over a thousand times before nodding and going back to tracing his twisting designs. It was only when Sunstreaker pushed his free hand a little harder into the soft panels of his back that the mechling rolled his optics and repeated his statement.
"I-I like swirls."
"Yes," Sunstreaker nodded tugging the little mech closer to his abdominal plating in a hug. "You're getting' there."
"Just hard."
Newly learned facts flashed through the frontliner's mind before he shook them away pretending that he wasn't holding his youngest brother just a tad closer. "I know, Half Pint, but we'll help you figure it out."
Bee huffed. "Just words. Don't 'stand why so hard."
Sunstreaker rested his chin on top of the mechling's head. "We all learn differently, Half Pint. There's nothing wrong with it."
"Ratchet says should know how by now."
Sunstreaker made a note to chunk something at the mech he considered Sire later. "Ratchet doesn't know everything."
Bee snuggled backward into Sunstreaker's warm, safe, strong, and thick armor. "M-me . . . I . . . I gonna tell him you said that."
Sunstreaker chuckled a warm sound deep in his chest while he nuzzled the tiny thing in his arms. "Go on. Do it. I'm not scared of the Hatchet, little one."
Bee whirled a happy sound tipping his head up to smile at the seasoned warrior. "Maybe should be. Ratchet scary when him want to be."
Sunny chuckled even more. "Alright mechling I'll give you that one. When he wants to be he is pretty terrifying."
"But Sunny not scared of nothing." Bee praised snuggling into the mech he saw as one of his big brothers.
"That's right." The golden mech snuggled right back. "Because nobot messes with me."
"Except maybe Sides."
Sunstreaker smiled against his soft metal. "Yeah . . . except maybe Sides."
There was a swish of then Sideswipe came strutting back into their berthroom. "Except maybe Sides what?"
Bee lit up at the sight of the crimson twin—or maybe it was the energon goodies he was holding, one could never be sure when it came to younglings—and quickly went to wiggling out of Sunstreaker's arms. Not at all caring about the paint he smeared all over the golden mech's thighs in the process.
Sunstreaker fought back the urge to growl about it.
Bee hadn't meant too.
But Sides saw his brother glare at the orange that now smeared his perfect paintjob, and quickly moved forward snatching up the tiny mechling and swirling him around making the red cape still tied around him flutter like he was flying.
Bumblebee because a wiggling, giggling mess.
"Yay! Flies!"
Sideswipe went to laughing along with him as he twirled him around the room holding him up by his chest. "Yeah, yeah, you got wings. Leave it to you to want to fly, Half Pint."
Bee smiled down at the big mech as he twisted around on the palm that was holding him up. "What wrong with flies?"
"Autobots don't fly, Half Pint." Sunstreaker leaned back in the chair watching his pair of little brothers.
Bee twisted in his fluttering to smiled back at the golden twin. "Aerialbots fly."
Well . . . he definitely had point there.
"Them is Autobots." Bee went on.
Sides snorted out a chuckle letting the youngling make one more flying past over his shoulders before bouncing him back down to settle in his arms against his chest. "Alright so maybe some Autobots fly."
"Me gonna fly." Bee grinned up at him, blue optics sparkling. "Some orn."
Sides leaned forward to nuzzle the little mech. "Maybe."
"Gonna have wings." Bee assured him. "You see."
"Alright, alright," Settling with Bee on the couch the red mech sprawled back keeping the tiny thing comfortable on his thick armor. "We'll have to talk to Jack about it, but before that happens you're gonna have to ditch the cape."
Bee's smile melted into a pout as he huffed at the warrior. "Me like cape."
"'I like the cape.'" Sides corrected him.
Bee just pouted more. "Whatever."
Sides flashed a grin. "Whatever? Whatever! Did you just whatever me?"
Bee smiled brighter before burrowing his little head into Sides' chest. The red twin was having none of it though. Snatching him up again he went to tickling the tiny thing until he was a laughing mess of flailing protoform trying desperately to escape the torture that was Sideswipe's fingers.
"Sunny!" He cried out around his laughter. "Help!"
The golden mech watched the pair with a quiet chuckle before he shook his head. "You got paint on me, Half Pint."
Bee gasped mid giggle and realized that . . . slag he did do that.
"Me sorry! Save me!"
"I've got ya now, bratling." Sides rumbled a faked growl as he continued he attack. "Sunny can't help you."
There was a few short nanos of gasping laughs before Sides' sensitive audios caught the sound of a chair scooting back before he looked up just in time to squeak out a rather pathetic sound of terror and yank the youngling to side curled into his fist before Sunstreaker slammed into him after leaping over the end of the couch.
"Fraggin' damn it, Sunstreaker!" Sideswipe hissed out in slight pain and confusion as his brother's bulk crashed into his middle before the golden mech snatched him up by the shoulders and tossed them both to the side sending them crashing to the floor with a bang highlighted with giggles from the tiny mechling safe in Sides' fist.
They didn't stop there though. Even with one fist full of giggling youngling Sides wasn't done yet. Kicking up his right leg he off balanced his twin enough to land a good kick into his hip and send them both rolling again, crashing through a table they never really liked in the first place, they grappled through their own laughter rolling and snatching hold over and over again until eventually Sideswipe managed a lucky shot of twisting his twin around to slam him back into the fuzzy rug that lay near their door and they found themselves with Sunstreaker pinned on his back and Sideswipe perched on his chest with a grin before he released the wiggling mechling in his free hand and let his plop down on Sunny's chest with a victorious little squeal.
"Me win!"
Sideswipe burst out laughing while Sunstreaker rolled his optics.
"Now how in pit did you win?" The older twin rumbled.
"I think he won." Sideswipe laughed.
"All he did was giggle." Sunny argued.
That response got the little mech to slap a palm down in the center of Sunstreaker's strong chest as he smiled down at the golden warrior he was perched on. "Then why me here, and you there?"
Sideswipe threw his head back laughing all over again while Sunstreaker narrowed his optics playfully up at Bumblebee. He was about to sass the pip squeak right back before the door of the berthroom slide open making all three on the floor look up in surprise to find Optimus Prime and Jazz staring down at them.
For a moment the four mechs and the single mechling blinked at each other. That is until Bee grinned happily up at the towering blue and red mech. "Hi Opti!"
The powerful Prime smiled down at the tiny creature in return. "Hello, Bumblebee. Just out of curiosity, what are you doing my little one?"
"Me winning."
"I see." Optimus let his gaze rake over the pair of frontliners. Sideswipe smiled sheepishly at being caught in a brawl while the youngling was around again but Sunstreaker just glared. Jazz was too busy snickering to be of much help in this situation.
"Sideswipe," Sunstreaker growled. All optics returned to him.
"Yeah?"
"Would you kindly . . . GET. THE. FRAG. OFF. OF. ME!?"
Stumbling up and back Sideswipe leapt off his twin snatching up Bumblebee as he went and letting the golden mech spring back to his feet, brushing off imaginary dirt while glaring daggers into the other half of his soul before turning said glare turned to peal the paint off of the snickering saboteur.
With a mischievous flash of his bright blue visor Jazz just tilted his chin up to stare into those burning dark blue optics. "So what you been teaching Lil' Bee this orn, Sunny? How to get bested by both your little brothers?"
"No. Apparently I'm teaching him how much of an idiot my brother is." The frontliner hissed.
Sideswipe bristled. "Hey, you started it! I just finished it."
"Nope," Bee shook his tiny head from where he was hanging around Sideswipe's arm. "Me finished it."
The mechs cast their optics to the bright ones of the mechling and couldn't help the small laugh that rose up in all of them. A laughter that only increased when Bee twisted around in Sides' hold to grin up at the red frontliner letting his antennas flick up to make his adorableness all the more powerful.
"Sides?" He questioned.
"Yeah?"
"Me can have energon goodies now?"
Even Sunstreaker couldn't help but let his head fall forward in laughter.
Turns out Bumblebee did get his energon goodies, which was what he was munching on now as he sat on Ironhide's knee in the rec room watching Wheeljack and Swoop argue over some bit white tarp thing in the middle of the floor. He still wasn't all that sure what it was the inventor and the Dinobot were doing, and from the looks of it, neither did they.
"It not that hard!" Swoop whined as he spread the white tarp covered in colorful dots out over the floor while Wheeljack huffed at him. "Me Swoop think it work."
"Yeah, well I think you're gonna get somebot broken and then Ratchet is going to bust a hammer over my head." Wheeljack snapped back.
"You better believe it." Said medic chuckled as he leaned his chin onto his palm on the other side of the table from where Ironhide was sitting watching the two in the middle of the room argue.
"See!" Wheeljack threw a hand back toward his friend.
Swoop just snorted and took the board of dots and a spinner out of subspace before tossing it to Grimlock who was standing over his shoulder.
"It be fine." Swoop assured the inventor as he gazed up at the larger form of his oldest brother who held the board between thick, dangerous claws while he flicked the little black spinner around watching it land on one dot and then another.
"What you Swoop make anyway?" The King rumbled. "Me Grimlock not get it."
"It game." The flier replied happily before turning to glare at the inventor. "One him Wheeljack lost."
"I didn't lose it." Wheeljack huffed. "I misplaced it. I told you I'd find it and I did. But I'm still not sure this is a good idea. Somebot is going to get hurt."
"Not if don't be stupid." Swoop rolled his optics. "Just about moving and twisting. Good practice."
It was then that Jazz hopped off his chair he was sitting in beside Prowl and came to look over the game Swoop had found while scrolling universal transmitted satellite programming. It appeared to be a simple, very large, white tarp with painted circles of red, blue, yellow, and green lined up down it. The only other piece was the white board that Grimlock was holding with the small black spinner and the same colored dots. Only on the board there was sections listing off; right foot, left foot, right hand, and left hand.
Jazz lifted an optic ridge behind his visor. "I'm with Grimlock. I don't get it. It's just a tarp with dots painted on it."
"Hey," Swoop glared at the saboteur. "Me Swoop worked hard on that."
The four other Dinobots let their red gazes heat as they stared down at the shorter silver mech. It was not wise for somebot to insult the work of their youngest brother.
Jazz grinned brightly while rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck. "And it's wonderful, Swoop."
The flier smiled in return while Slag, Snarl, and Sludge snorted out a hot breath while Grimlock glared a few nanos longer before returning his gaze to the form of his youngest brother.
"How play Swoop?"
"Yeah," Bee chirped around the purple sucker he had stuck in his mouth. "How play Swoop?"
"Not hard." Swoop bounced up to grin at the little mechling. "Just spin spinning thingy and do what spin on spinning thingy say."
"Did that make any sense to you?" Sunstreaker mumbled to his twin from where they were sitting backward in a pair of chairs not far from Ratchet's left.
"Uh . . . nope. No. Not really." Sideswipe shook his head back and forth slowly.
"What hard 'stand about that?" Swoop huffed over to the frontliners.
"Speak plain Cybertronian, mech." Sunstreaker snorted right back at him. "What's so special about your painted tarp?"
The flier hissed and a growl rumbled through Grimlock as well before Wheeljack laid a hand on both of them and tugged on them slightly to keep them from starting a fight while Ratchet rolled his optics, cut the pair of glitches a glare, before reaching into subspace, yanking out a pair of screw drivers, and bouncing them off their heads.
"OWW!" Sides yelped out.
"What the pit, Wrench!?" Sunny snarled.
"Stop causing trouble." The medic rumbled at them.
"We're not causing trouble!" Sideswipe whined as he rubbed at the scratch on his black audio horn.
"I'll be the judge of that."
Sunstreaker just snarled at him.
Bumblebee rolled his optics as he wiggled on his guardian's knee sucking on his goodie before he twisted himself around to gaze around the table to the massive two tone Prime that sat on the other side of it.
"Optimus?" He chirped.
The Prime let his attention drift back to the present, his musings of what Megatron could be up too forgotten for now in preference to see what it was his youngling needed.
"What is it, Bumblebee?"
Popping his sucker out of his mouth he pointed it across the room. "Can me play?"
Swoop lit up like a solar flare. "Yeah! Itty Bitty play with us Dinobots!"
"If you Swoop think me Slag getting anywhere near you crazy game you Swoop got screws lose." Slag huffed from where he leaned against the wall.
The flier pouted at his brother. "Awe,"
"Dinobots not flexible. You Swoop know that." Sludge tried to remind his brother.
"Me Swoop is."
Grimlock snorted. "You Swoop can fly."
The smaller mech cut him a glare. "And you Grimlock can breathe fire. What point?"
Sideswipe threw his head back laughing while a few others snickered about the rec room, including Jazz who was currently poking at the red circle closest to him with a clawed toe. Bumblebee thought he looked pretty silly.
"Me wanna play." Bee let out another chirp, but the rumble that echoed in the powerful mech behind him hand him peaking up timidly with pulled back antennas.
"First some mech his explaining to me how this works." Ironhide said. "Most stuff you make, Jack, blows up."
The tri tone inventor scowled at his old friend. "Not everything I make blows up. I make pretty cool slag sometimes damn it. For you most times!"
"Yes Wheeljack," Prowl didn't even look up from the data pad he was reading. "And then Ironhide blows them up."
The weapons specialist growled while Bee started giggling as his guardian threw daggers at Prowl's spark via his optics. "That's my job, glitch."
"One we all know you do very well." Prowl responded. "But as much as Wheeljack does blow himself and lots of others up every now and again, we do have to give him credit. Not everything he makes blows up."
"Thank you!"
"Just most things." Prowl finished.
The smile fell of Jack's faceplate while he glared at the strategist. "I hate you."
"Hey!" Bee snapped, kinda loudly for a mechling with a vocal processor his size, drawing every optic in the room back to him in one quick snap. The youngling swore he head at least a few neck cables pop with how fast a few heads turned his direction.
No matter though.
It got him what he wanted.
"Me still wanna play." He sounded downright exasperated now and it got quite a few around the room laughing.
"Swoop," Optimus chuckled as he turned his warm smile from the bright blue optics on his by far the most precious—and little—possession. "Do please explain it again for us if you would."
The Dinobot gave his bright red optics a roll before explaining it all to them.
Again.
It only took the flier about ten klicks more to get the rest of the gathered off shift mechs to understand the really rather simple rules of the game he had found on some radio wave of some far off distant mud ball.
And now that they all understood the jest of what was going on, there were a few that were more than willing to show everybot else up. The only real problem with the game was there were very few Autobots that were limber enough to attempt something as simple as a game meant to tie them up in notes.
Optimus and Ironhide for example; as much as Bumblebee wanted his too powerful pretty much Sires to play with him both of the massively built mechs were all too aware if they didn't crush the mechling on accident they were most defiantly going to hurt themselves of somebot else. It only took one warning glare from Ratchet and the swift 'whatever you break I'm denting ten times worse before I fix' to have both the mechs knuckling the bright yellow bundle of happiness between his antennas before Hide scooted him across the floor with a foot and warned the flying Dinobot that if he was so much as scratched it was coming out of the beast mech's protoform.
The agreeing rumble from Grimlock was surprising, but no less honest.
Swoop told them Itty Bitty would be perfectly fine.
That didn't stop Ratchet's rumbled warning to the few other mechs that sprang up to see who was who was the most agile of the Autobots. His warning was simple, and the same one he gave to the Prime and his old friend, but it held a little extra punch for Jazz and the Twins. He promise to leave them to their pain for a few orns to think about their stupidity before he even bothered with fixing them.
Since none of them were all that big on calling Ratchet's bluff they promised to be careful.
Funny how good intentions go astray sometimes.
It wasn't half a breem later that the twisting mass of metal and protoform in the middle of the room made of up Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Blaster, Blurr, Swoop, and Bumblebee weren't really 'in trouble' per say, they just had Ratchet worked up into quite the fuming fit.
"I am going to dismantle every single one of you and stuff you down a trash compactor!" The yellow and red medic hissed. "What in the fraggin' pit makes you think you can twist that way, Jazz!?"
"Vorns and vorns and vorns of practice." The silver saboteur chuckled as he placed his left foot down on the red dot at the end of the mat next to the giggling yellow mass that was Bumblebee who was currently draped over not only Sunstreaker's stretched out right arm, but also Blurr's as well. Both the mechs having somehow ended up on same green dot. Unfortunately for the speedster who was currently far too close to a growling frontliner—he may or may not have been scuffing the golden mech's paint where their limbs were sharing space—because he was currently rethinking the intelligence of not dropping out of the game.
"Sorry Sunstreaker." Blurr smiled sheepishly.
"I'm gonna kill you when this is over." That was not a threat. That was a promise.
"Next spin, Grimlock." Swoop squeaked from where he was sprawled out holding himself up on limbs stretched far more than they were supposed to be at the moment. He was ignoring his snickering brothers.
Grimlock, who was perched on the end of a couch that bent under his weight, snorted at his youngest brother's predicament as well as Sideswipe's who was not very gracefully balancing himself over the larger beast mech as he sprawled out for the dots and poor Blaster who was trying to compete for space with Jazz.
Really the only bots in that whole jumble of limbs that was really doing any good at his was the scarily flexible saboteur—but that was what Jazz did—and the tiny form of Bumblebee.
And it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that every mech twisted together on that tarp were going out of their way to make sure the youngling was one, not in harm's way, and two stayed the game. Because really, what was the point of playing if they couldn't play with Bumblebee?
Snickering a sound that didn't really seem to belong coming out of a mech Grimlock's size, the King of the Dinobots spun the spinner around the board again watching it until it landed on right hand yellow.
Glancing toward tangled mess he grinned an evil smile before telling them just what it landed on.
A collective groan went through the playing mechs while the room broke down into laughter.
Because all the yellow dots were currently under Swoop.
They weren't for long though.
Sunstreaker was so fed up with getting scuffed. Hissing out he yanked his arm up from where it was rubbing against Blurr and twisted in a way that most the mechs in the room wouldn't have thought the armor heavy mech could move, shoving his hand under Swoop unbalancing the poor flier and sending him crashing to the side taking Blurr with him.
Sideswipe snorted out a laugh while Sunstreaker grinned wickedly down at the pair of bots.
"You're out, mechs." Sides chuckled.
Swoop pouted but scrambled up all the same pulling a disoriented Blurr with him to leave the twisting game behind. Now that the dots were cleared up it wasn't that hard for the others to figure out how to twist themselves around to do as they were supposed to next. Though Blaster did have a bit of trouble getting around Jazz. Seems him and the silver mech were now in the same place Sunstreaker and Blurr had been not nanos ago.
"If you push me," Blaster smirked to his boss. "I'm taking you down with me."
"You can try, Blast." Jazz snickered. "You can try."
"Me got it." Bee announced proudly, smacking his little palm down on the circle that Blaster and Jazz were now sharing. Sides and Sunny twisted to see—and flinch slightly—that the youngling had managed to get himself placed right under the carefully balanced weight of the two espionage mechs.
Jazz cast his visor covered gaze down to the little smiling thing looking up at him and sighed heavily at his stretched out over the dots. He ignored the warning rumble that echoed from where Ironhide was watching carefully not but a few feet away at a table. Jazz wasn't going to fall on the mechling. Though it was true the mechling really could have picked a better place to be.
The game went on for a few more dozen klicks before Blaster got himself bent in a way that not even he could move and slipped. With him out there was a lot more room for the Twins and Jazz to try and stealthily shove the others out of the game while making sure Bee was fine wiggling around under their balanced game of shove each other while the youngling isn't looking.
Surprisingly, it really was a lot of fun. Bee really did like this new game. It was easy for him. He might have to stretch a bit more then he maybe should to reach out to all the dots, but he was small and flexible enough to twisted around his big brothers with hardly any trouble of all.
It probably helped that they were making sure he had easy access to the places he needed to be, but Bumblebee didn't know that and the trio had no plans on spoiling his fun. So the game went on with a whole lot more laughing, snickering, hushed cursing, Ratchet fuming at them, and giggling until the three big mechs were twisted close in each other's space again. This time it being Sunny's own brother he was promising to kill if he didn't get the pit off his paint. Jazz, Sides, and the rest of the room were so busy laughing at the golden mech's growling that they failed to notice something in the far corner of the rec room catch Bumblebee's attention.
The little mechling had just balanced his left foot on a blue dot when a click, click, click caught his audios and he twisted his self to gaze up at the vent across the room where he found that burning red optic of his new friend watching them.
He grinned brightly up at the vent, holding back a happy squeal when the optics dimmed a little in response. He could make out the dark outline of the big robo-cat like mech he'd been secretly pestering in the ventilation system and forgetting all that was going on around him just then and waved the slightest bit at the vent.
"Who are you waving at?"
Bee's whole little world ground to a halt.
Glancing up slowly to the big red mass of frontliner that was holding himself upright in a funny angle above him he looked into those dark blue orbs that were looking down at him in confusion. The room was still full of laughter at Sunstreaker's bickering so they didn't notice the youngling and the red twin, but Jazz and Sunny did. Glancing around and back to see the oh so very guilty look that had taken over Bumblebee's faceplate.
Sideswipe's optics narrowed at it. "Half Pint?"
Bumblebee forced out a soft and very fake chirp. "No bot."
"Don't you dare lie to me." Sideswipe warned, his tone darkening as well as it deepened drawing the laughing around him to a stop as all optics settled on that look they each knew very well.
That was Bumblebee's 'I did something I shouldn't have and I know it look'.
Try as he might the little mech was not a good liar—not that any of the Autobots had a problem with that—and now was no different than any other time.
Bee knew he was found out.
He knew by the way Sideswipe gazed down at him, the game forgotten.
Oh well . . . might as well come clean about it.
He still hadn't really figured out how he was going to convince them all to let him keep is new friend. Prowl, Hide, and Optimus were going to be the real problem.
Maybe if he started with Sideswipe it would be alright.
"Um . . . me new friend."
Every pair of optics around the room narrowed while Sideswipe tilted his head in confusion. "New friend? What new friend?"
"New friend been playing hide and seek with." Bee admitted.
It was then every spark around the room wound a little tighter and a single red optic still unseen up in the corner widened.
"Bumblebee," Optimus stood up, unease settling in his tanks. "You've been playing hide and seek with somebot?"
"Umm . . . yes." He whispered.
"Who?" Sunstreaker growled the same time Sideswipe did.
A tiny yellow hand was flung up toward the back air vent the same time Bee mumbled out. "Him name Ravage."
"RAVAGE!?"
It all happened so fast that Bumblebee's young processor really couldn't make sense of it. All he knew was one nano he was pointing back toward his new friend and then there was a blur of red and Sideswipe had him trapped against his chest and sprang behind Jazz and Sunstreaker as the room came alive with a course of snarls and curses before a very familiar pair of cannons blasted a whole in the wall where a single red opticed Decepticon was currently crouched.
The silver robo-cat like mech came crashing to the ground in an explosion of metal and plasma before snarling out a breath at the mechs that sprang for him while he twisted bolting out the open rec room door with half the Autobots hard on his spiked tail.
All the while Bumblebee just hung there in Sideswipe's hands trying to figure out why there weren't playing anymore.
Oh I love that little yellow trouble maker too much.
This chapter was so much fun. I laughed pretty much the whole time I wrote it. So I hope you guys enjoyed it too.
All of you who left me a review, you know how much I love you, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about this chapter. A few of you guessed it would be Ravage and you were right, though I wonder if it played out like you thought it would.
Also, some news.
This update schedule of both stories every week . . . is kinda starting to be a bit overwhelming. Classes are starting soon and at the moment its not practical to think I can get two quality chapters out every week. So what I've decided is that I just do one chapter a week and switch back and forth.
So the next update won't be next weekend, it will be the next.
I hope you guys understand.
And don't worry they will come, they might still come every weekend if I can get both chapters done and up to par with how I think they should be, but then again it might take me more then a few days with everything else that is starting back up.
So please don't give up on me, I will update. This story and everywhere its going still has a long, long way to go, and I hope you all still stick around with me to follow it there.
Because you guys are the best readers in the history of ever. You should know that. You keep me motivated more then you know.
Thank you.
-Jaycee