Chapter Text
“Sari, quit it! That’s cheating!”
Bumblebee hunched over the game controllers, squinting at the video game screen. Sari copied his position, grinning widely as her car in the game slammed into his and sent it spinning out of control.
“That’s not true! You do the same thing all the time!” she yelled back.
Bee gripped the game controller tighter and grumbled. “Just you wait Sari! I’ve got a whole ton of power-ups saved just for the final lap!” The pair sat in intense silence for another minute, the only sound being the smashing of buttons.
The two had managed to waste the whole day on a racing game that Sari had rediscovered, after neglecting it in favor of carrying out Autobot duties. The spacious main room of the Autobot base was bathed in the synthetic blue light of the screen, stretching the shadows and making the atmosphere more intense for the gamers.
Prowl wandered into the room and stood silently, watching the two. Eventually, he walked over to stand beside the couch.
“How long have you two been playing this game today? You should’ve taken a break hours ago.” he drawled. He pointed to the night scene outside the base’s window. “Sari, it’s nearly midnight. Don’t you think you should be in recharge at this hour?”
“You mean sleep?” Sari scoffed as she once again drove Bee’s car off the road.
“Prowl’s right, Sari.” Prowl turned to see Optimus leaning through the doorway of the room. “You should have been to sleep hours ago. In fact, Bumblebee was responsible for not letting you stay up so late.” The Prime glowered at his teammate.
Bee chuckled nervously but didn’t look away from the screen, continuing to mash buttons.
“Sorry Bossbot! We got a little carried away with this game tournament thing…” he briefly turned to grin sheepishly over his shoulder. “What time did you say it was again?”
Prowl quickly checked his internal chronometer. “11:50.”
Sari jumped slightly when she heard Bee’s system give off a nervous beep.
He looked over at her apprehensively. “Uh, hey Sari? Maybe you should get to bed now! We can keep playing in the morning, okay?” Bumblebee reached over to the game system and hit the power button, shutting down the game just as Sari’s car was about to cross the finish line. She whined in protest as he stood up from the couch.
“Hey! You can’t just call it quits when you’re about to lose!” she protested and stared up at her friend defiantly.
Bumblebee looked down at her and shrugged. “Well...it is pretty late! Yeah, I agree with Prowl. You need to rest.” He grinned guiltily. “Sorry.”
Prowl scoffed and crossed his arms. “Since when have you been agreeing with me, Bumblebee?” he muttered.
Sari groaned but slid off the couch and began walking to her room. “Yeah, well, you better be prepared to lose when we pick up that last game tomorrow.” She turned to grin at Bee, but faltered when she saw him walking to the entrance of the base.
Optimus watched Bee go towards the door and crossed his arms. “Where are you going at this hour, Bumblebee? Shouldn’t you be getting your recharge too?” he asked with a suspicious tone.
Bee halted suddenly, turning very slowly to meet everyone’s gazes. “Oh, yeah. It’s just….” He scratched at the back of his head and looked at the floor.
Well, there’s a….race across on the other side of the city! Yeah.” He looked back up and met Optimus’ inquiring stare. “Y’see, I didn’t want to tell you guys about it, or Sari would want to go.” He chuckled and wrung his hands together. “A-and there’s going to be these new racers from the next town over! They’re apparently decked out with new...uh, racing gear. It’s going to be intense.”
Optimus and Prowl glanced at each other sharply, both raising an optic ridge at Bumblebee.
Optimus uncrossed his arms and sighed. “Well, just don’t stay out too late. We need you back tomorrow to help Bulkhead with another construction project.” Bee grinned and gave a thumbs up to the Prime.
“Sure thing, Bossbot! I’ll be back before you even know it.” Bee waved at Sari before turning back to the door and pushing it open, momentarily letting the light from the moon shine on the bots inside. Sari hummed pensively and trudged back into the base to her room.
Optimus and Prowl stood together for a few more moments in the empty room, looking at the door. Prowl back to the direction of his room, and to awaiting recharge, but stopped when Optimus called out “Hold up, Prowl.”
Prowl turned slightly to meet his eyes. “What is it, Optimus?”
The young Prime fidgeted slightly in place and cleared his voice. He recrossed his arms and walked over to where Prowl was standing. “Is it just me, or has Bumblebee been leaving the base for odd reasons lately? I don’t think he’s been telling the truth about what he’s doing, either.” he questioned, raising his shoulders awkwardly.
Prowl vented loudly in agitation, causing Optimus to raise an optic ridge. The ninja bot put his hands on his hips and scowled.
“Believe me, Optimus, Ratchet and I were just discussing it a few orns ago. That isn’t the first time he’s used the race excuse.”
Optimus rubbed his chin in thought. “I was hoping that I wasn’t just being paranoid. It’s pretty obvious that he’s been lying to us.” He looked out the base window to see Bumblebee long gone from the area, no signs of vehicles on the main road.
“Just last week, he said he was going out to a drive-in theater. When he got back, and I asked him how it went, he said he didn’t know what I was talking about.” Prowl complained. Optimus nodded his helm in agreement and turned back to his teammate.
“That seems pretty consistent with what I’ve seen him up to lately.” Optimus said. Prowl nodded, his frown deepening.
Optimus put a hand on his colleague’s shoulder hesitantly. He vented slowly and met Prowl’s steady gaze. “I don’t know where he’s going, or why he keeps acting like this, but I want to get to the bottom of it before there’s trouble.” he said in a low tone, as to not potentially alert Sari or any of the other sleeping bots. “I have a favor to ask you.”
Prowl smirked slightly at the question. “Do you want me to follow him and find out what’s going on?”
Optimus’ optics widened in surprise before he grinned at his friend. “Exactly.” He took his hand off Prowl’s shoulder and returned it to his chin. “I don’t know if you’ll find him, since he’s fast enough to have gotten pretty far away from here by now…-” he trailed off, glancing at Prowl questioningly.
“It’s fine, really. If I don’t find him tonight, I can always try again some other time.” Prowl sighed. “I don’t think he’ll be stopping this act any time soon.”
Prowl stepped backwards a few steps and transformed into his motorcycle alt mode. He rolled up to the base entrance, and Optimus pushed open the door for him. The ninja bot flicked on his headlights as soon as he made it out into the moonlight landscape, lighting up the gravel and construction equipment surrounding the building.
Prowl turned slightly towards Optimus, revving his engine in preparation for the drive into the city. “I’ll comm you if I find him, but I’m not promising anything will happen. I’ll try and get some information from the humans on the supposed race before I do any extensive searching.” he said.
Optimus gave a nod of affirmation. “Thanks, Prowl. Good luck.” He pulled the door of the base closed, leaving Prowl out alone in the night.
Prowl drove along the deserted highway leading into the city, mulling over the recent situation with Bumblebee. After the arrival of the Cons on Earth, and the dispersion of the Allspark into the Allspark fragments, everyone had been more on edge than when the Autobots had been simply helping out around Detroit.
Prowl tried to remember back to when he first became suspicious of his teammate’s late-night outings. He had noticed the problem about a month ago. The specific incident that stood out in his processor was when Bumblebee had tried to sneak back into the base after the doors had been locked.
Prowl had been recharging in his room when he was woken by a loud crash and Bumblebee’s cry of distress. Prowl had jumped up, his weapons systems blaring to life, only to see the outline of Bee sprawled on the floor in the darkness. When he questioned what had happened, the younger bot had sputtered out apologies and a noncoherent reply, mentioning something about the the front door’s lock and the roof, before sprinting to his own room.
The youngest member of the team had always been prone to behaving in immature ways, often lashing out and acting childish at the wrong times. It was common for him the throw a tantrum and drive out, but he’d return quickly after cooling down to apologize. Ratchet had summarized Prowl’s concerns when they had their recent chat.
“It’s as if...he’s been keeping a secret for a really long time, and we’re all aware that Bumblebee’s an awful liar. Not to mention he seems preoccupied lately. Even Sari has noticed it.” Ratchet had confided to Prowl over a cube of energon. They then looked over at Bee, who was staring dreamily at the wall while Sari talked loudly about their plans for the days. He most certainly looked preoccupied, not even paying attention to his friend.
Prowl pulled over onto the overpass that would take him into the main district of the city. The roads had been nearly empty throughout his drive. Hopefully there’ll be some humans out at this hour. Prowl mused.
Driving up onto one of the streets of the city center, he observed his surrounding in his alt mode. No humans were out on the street, though a nightclub to his side was flashing with color and music. The Autobot transformed out of his alt mode and scanned the landscape from his regular height. He began walking along the street, calculating other areas he could check for late-night humans.
After nearly making it to the end of the street, Prowl heard the music of the club become louder, signifying that the door had opened. Turning around, he saw two college-aged humans stumbling out of the building. He strode swiftly to the pair, who were giggling and clinging tightly to each other.
The humans didn’t notice him until he was directly behind them. Prowl cleared his voicebox. “Hello. I was wondering if you could assist me with something?” he asked.
The two jumped in surprise, one of them yelling and pointing. They soon relaxed when they recognized him. “Check it out, an Autobot!” one of them exclaimed, grabbing his phone to snap a picture.
Prowl smiled stiffly as the camera snapped. “Yes, well. I need to ask a quick question.” he said curtly. “Do either of you know about any races taking place around the city? Specifically involving racers from other towns or cities around Detroit?” he asked.
The pair glanced at each other with confused expressions. The one with the phone shrugged and shuffled his feet. “I don’t think there’ve been any more since the police have been crackin’ down on street races lately.” he said.
The other human, a girl, hummed in agreement. “My friend actually did a lot of street racing here, but she said that races have been taking place outside of the city from now on. If you’re looking for a race, you’d probably have to leave Detroit.”
Prowl groaned internally, but kept his cool and simply nodded at the college kids. “Thank you for your cooperation…” he muttered. The Autobot transformed back into his alt mode and roared away.
Apparently, Optimus was right when he thought Bumblebee was lying to him. Prowl brooded. That was only one source, but I doubt I’ll find any other humans who know anything about street racing. He got back on one of the overpasses that would carry him to the other side of the city. He accessed his comm link a few minutes after reviewing the situation, sending a message to Optimus.
“Optimus? It’s Prowl. I talked to a pair of humans who confirmed that Bumblebee may have been lying about where he was going. I’m going to try and find out where he’s actually gone by-”
Out of the corner of his optic, a flash of yellow paint lit up in the streetlights on the adjacent overpass. Looking at the passing car more closely, Prowl could see the Autobot symbol located on it, identifying the vehicle as Bumblebee.
Prowl’s comm link crackled to life with Optimus’ voice. “What was that Prowl? Can you give me any other updates?”
“Actually, I just saw him...I’m going to try and not get noticed. I’ll comm you back as soon as I can.” he whispered. He then silenced his comm link, ignoring Optimus’ attempt to question him on what was happening. Prowl then transformed out of his alt mode to jump over into the other overpass. The taillights on Bee’s alt mode were disappearing fast, but Prowl continued to wait a few moments so he would have enough distance behind him to not be noticed. Transforming back into his alt mode, he shot forward after Bee.
Bee’s route through the city was taking them down to the docks. The city became darker as the number of lampposts decreased at the water’s edge. Prowl continued to stay at a calculated distance behind Bee, occasionally hiding or turning off his headlights when their distance became too close. Eventually, Bee pulled up to a warehouse on the edge, most likely used to store shipping cargo. The building was devoid of lights, inside and out, and was in fairly bad condition. Prowl felt a twinge of suspicion at the surroundings.
It’s almost like he doesn’t want there to be humans around. Prowl thought.
He continued forward but abruptly stopped when Bumblebee transformed out of his alt-mode and warily approached the warehouse's door. Prowl was forced to crouch behind a stack of barrels to avoid being spotted.He frantically searched for a gap in the barrels to see Bumblebee. . He could hear the creak of the door, the sharp screech of metal against metal, followed by a bitter curse from Bumblebee.
Prowl grimaced as he glanced around for a new vantage point. Is he seriously trying to get inside the warehouse? he thought. What are you getting yourself into, Bumblebee…
Prowl managed to peek over the top of the barrel stack just in time to see Bee pull out his stingers and blast the lock on the door. The motorcycle gaped at his comrade in disbelief. Bee simply grinned in his handiwork and stepped into the building.
Prowl immediately jumped up from his hiding place and purposefully strode toward the door. He felt a twinge of anger at his teammate for engaging in actions that would only lower the reputation of the Autobots. I can't even imagine what trouble he'd get himself into with the human's police force if he got caught breaking into human property. he fumed to himself.
Bumblebee's pedesteps could be faintly heard from the entrance of the warehouse. Prowl grimaced at the inky darkness inside the building, flicking on his night vision, and took a tentative step inside. The night vision revealed construction equipment, more barrels, arrays of cargo containers, and ship parts placed around the expansive room. The ceiling reached much higher than the average Autobot height, with small windows that left patches of illumination on the floor.
There were multiple corridors breaking off the main floor of the warehouse. Prowl apprehensively approached one to his right, listening closely for the sound of pedesteps. He frowned slightly when he couldn't detect any more noises coming from Bee. In fact, the whole warehouse seemed to be completely silent.
Is it possible that he left the building? That wouldn't make sense, considering that he went through the trouble of breaking the lock to get in... Prowl mused. He continued to sneak around, looking and listening for signs of Bumblebee's presence. The shadows of the corridor he stepped into created an extremely eerie atmosphere, even with night vision.
The sound of fluttering paper pierced the silence. Prowl whipped around, weapons systems activating.
“Bumblebee, is that you?” he called out into the corridor. Nothing was coming up in his visual range. Prowl's spark fluttered with nervousness until he heard the same noise come from directly below him. Glancing down, he saw a large mouse- maybe even a rat-scuttling among bits of trash and newspaper that had been scattered on the ground. Prowl vented slowly to calm his now-pulsing spark.
“Definitely not Bumblebee...” he muttered, continuing back down his route.
The motorcycle stopped to peer into another room. He began to look back up, but immediately glanced back when a flash of motion appeared in his peripheral vision. He squinted into the corner where the motion occurred, but couldn't make out anything specific, even with the night vision. Prowl was instantly suspicious. He considered just comming Optimus and reporting Bee's behavior, but found himself sneaking into the room anyways.
The newest room was significantly better lit than the others. The lighting was good enough that Prowl was able to turn off his night vision. Looking up at the ceiling, he immediately noticed a large hole, the source of the moonlight pouring in. The metal of the roof looked as if something big had dropped down on it and smashed the hole in.
The room also held an abundance of barrels, huge containers, and supplies. Prowl had to sidestep a spare anchor that was lying in front of him. The amount of material made it hard to move about, and Prowl grimaced as he waded through the mess. Narrowing his optics, he could see a large clearing in the stuff a few yards away. He stepped around a pile of wood, placing his servos on a row of barrels for support, and slipped onto the cleared section of pavement.
Prowl scanned the area to his left, noticing no other signs of motion. He turned to survey his right, but immediately sprang back into the cover of the barrels when he spotted the source of movement.
Standing in the right side of the clearing was one of the Decepticons on Earth, Blitzwing. The materials scattered around, along with Prowl himself, were easily dwarfed by the presence of the huge cybertronian.
Prowl ducked behind the row of barrels and crouched low to the ground, spark racing. A sharp pang of anxiety sprang through his systems. He stayed in the crouch for what seemed like megacycles.
What on Cybertron would a Decepticon be doing in a place like this? Prowl thought. He managed to calm his sparkbeat and ventilations enough to peek over the edge of the barrels.
Fortunately, Blitzwing hadn't noticed Prowl. The Decepticon had been facing away from him. Prowl noticed that Blitzwing's Icy personality was on display, though he still looked slightly irritated. His wings twitched and he vented in an annoyed way, shuffling his huge pedes. Even when the Decepticon wasn't rapidly switching through his erratic personalities, Prowl still felt nervous at the unpredictability of the mech.
Prowl scowled and internally groaned at the situation he was in. He sunk back behind his cover and smacked his palm to his forehelm. Of course Bumblebee led me right into trouble. I need to find him before he runs into-
“Hey there, Blitzbrain!”
Prowl shot up to desperately peek over his hiding place when he heard Bee's voice. Squinting, he could see his fellow Autobot stumbling through the mess scattered about the floor. A guilty smile adorned Bee's faceplate as he tripped and climbed over the materials in his way.
Every instinct in Prowl was telling him to jump up and stop Bumblebee from approaching, but his energon lines froze when he saw Blitzwing turn to the smaller bot. Prowl onlined his weapons systems, pulling out a blade and preparing to engage the Decepticon, but he froze when he heard the larger bot answer back.
“You're certainly late.” the Decepticon said, his usually monotone voice laced with slight annoyance. He crossed the clearing in only a few steps to where Bumblebee had stumbled out of the mess.
Prowl felt utter confusion at the scene taking place. They set up a meeting?! Is this where Bumblebee has been disappearing? he thought, feeling anger replace the confusion. Optimus needs to know about this now.
Bumblebee scowled up at the Decepticon, huffing loudly. “Hey, take it easy, I accidentally got caught up with Sari. Plus,” he gestured around the room. “This place is a dump! I tripped over half the slagging scrap in this place just trying to get here.” Blitzwing stooped down to Bumblebee's height and hummed in a bored way.
Prowl ducked down when he realized that the pair were close enough to easily see him. He didn't want to be noticed and potentially face Hothead Blitzwing's wrath, or ruin any chance for clarification to what was going on. He remained as still as possible to be able to hear everything happening.
He heard Blitzwing- still in his Icy personality- clear his vocalizer slightly. “I didn't think you Autobots were so irresponsible as to get distracted by your pet.” he said smoothly. An exasperated sigh from Bumblebee followed.
“Don't be such a crankshaft, she isn't our pet.”
Prowl flinched at the click whir sound of Blitzwing's face changing. Random Blitzwing's cackle echoed loudly in his audials.
“Crankshaft! That's a good one!” the Decepticon shouted, before collapsing back into annoying, maniacal laughter. “You always come up with the best insults!”
“Well,” Bumblebee's voice was slightly smug. “I guess it's one of my many talents.” Blitzwing cackled again but soon ceased into a gleeful rumble of his jet engine.
Prowl once again flinched, this time nearly covering his audials, when Blitzwing suddenly shouted. “Ooh!! Guess what I got today!” Prowl heard the jet rummage around, along with Bumblebee demanding to know what he had.
Click whir
Icy Blitwing's voice returned. “Lord Megatron sent me out on a mission to retrieve this Allspark fragment today.”
Prowl was instantly on edge at the mention of the Allspark. The thought that Bee might be a traitor sprang into his processor, but he quickly decided he needed more information before he made that assumption.
Maybe Bumblebee and Blitzwing are collaborating on restoring the Allspark for neither the Autobots nor Decepticons? he theorized. But Blitzwing did refer to the fragment in a way that suggests it isn't the point of their meeting... Prowl decided to peer over the barrels to see the Allspark fragment and how Bumblebee would react to it.
Slowly, Prowl lifted his helm into view of the pair. Nothing about the scene had changed, except Blitzwing now held the glowing Allspark fragment in his palm. The fragment itself was surprisingly big; it resembled a shard of glass that might come out of a broken window. Its soft blue light illuminated the two bots.
Prowl shifted his focus over to Bumblebee. The Autobot was staring intently at the fragment, smiling slightly. He looked up at Blitzwing. “They're really pretty, aren't they?” Bee said, and reached out to touch the glowing shard.
The personality change on Blitzwing was instantaneous. The calm Icy was immediately replaced with Hothead, who jerked the fragment away from Bee swiftly.
“DON'T TRY AND TAKE THAT FROM ME, AUTOBOT!” Blitzwing yelled, making Prowl jump and sink back behind the barrels. The room was dead quiet for a few tense nanoclicks. Prowl expected an equally angry retort from Bumblebee. Surprisingly, he just heard a slight chuckle from his comrade.
“Yeesh, I'm not tryin' to swindle you out of anything,” Bee said smoothly. “'Just thought I would touch it ok?” Prowl could hear Hothead's angry venting slowly dwindle to a normal rate. “I just wanted to get a closer look, since it's pretty.”
More tense silence followed.
Click whir
“You're right, it is pretty! We could make gorgeous jewelry out of it. Oh!! Or put it in a tiara!” Random Blitzwing screeched with delight. Prowl was overwhelmed by how annoying the mech was in that state.
Bumblebee laughed. “That's something Sari might like, at a tea party or whatever.” he said.
Random Blitzwing then launched into a speech about throwing an “Decepticon tea party,” the plan growing more insane as he carried on. Prowl looked around for escape routes, but didn't notice any where the two wouldn't notice him. He was tempted to record the conversation, but concluded that Optimus wouldn't want to hear the Decepticon's ramblings.
After a while, Blitzwing calmed down and switched over to Icy, and the conversation between the two changed to talking in low tones. Prowl struggled to hear what they were saying at some points, but they mostly stayed within casual topics. Sari's name was mentioned a few times, and Hothead Blitzwing briefly complained about his comrade, Lugnut.
Prowl checked his internal chronometer. The time was nearly 1 AM, meaning that the two had been talking for quite a while. Prowl sighed internally, extremely annoyed at the situation he was in.
It appears that Bumblebee and Blitzwing have some sort of friendship or alliance, seeing as they aren't fighting and are behaving quite friendly towards each other. he mused. I doubt that they're interacting because they actually like each other. Autobots and Decepticons don't get along at this level. It's likely that they're either planning something, or have some sort of deal worked out. Prowl thought.
Prowl's theorizing was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a comm unit crackling to life. He took the chance to peer over the barrels. Blitzwing's Decepticon insignia was flashing, signaling that it was his comm unit in use. Both Autobots in the room jumped when Megatron's voice spat out.
“Blitzwing! Have you obtained the Allspark fragment as I requested?” Megatron asked through the comm link. The sound broadcasted loud and clear, echoing around the room.
Blitzwing, currently in his Icy personality, cleared his vocalizer. “Yes, Lord Megatron. I will now return to base.” he said, and cut the comm link. The Decepticon looked apologetically at Bumblebee. “When are we going to meet again?” he asked.
Bumblebee tilted his head in thought. “How about...tomorrow night? Or maybe the night after that. I have to help Bulkhead with some construction stuff tomorrow.” he said, groaning at the last part.
Blitzwing smiled slightly, shocking Prowl. “Autobot duties are so boring.” he muttered. The Decepticon stood up, once again towering over Bumblebee. “Is this a good meeting spot?” he questioned.
Bumblebee shook his vigorously. “Slag no, not after you fragged up the roof.” He pointed upwards at the gargantuan hole, obviously made by the Decepticon. “How about... the woods outside the city?”
“Sounds good.”
Prowl nearly sighed in relief when the Decepticon turned towards the ceiling hole, jet engines rumbling in preparation to take flight and leave. His relief was short-lived when he heard Bumblebee call out “Hold up.”
Blitzwing turned back to look at the tiny Autobot, an optic ridge raised.
Bee tilted his head and grinned smugly. “Aren't you forgetting something?” he said.
Prowl was very confused at Bee's words, especially when he watched Blitzwing sigh and step back over to him. The Decepticon knelt back down to his level and pulled Bee closer. Prowl flinched at the contact between the pair.
“You Autobots and your constant need for affection...” Blitzwing mumbled. Prowl felt a wave of apprehension through his systems at the contact between the two bots. Apprehension turned to anxiety when Bee placed his servos on Blitzwing's face, grinning up at him.
Pure shock flooded Prowl when Bumblebee brought Blitzwing's faceplate to his own and crashed their lips together in a kiss.
Bumblebee slowly eased open the front door to the warehouse, checking to see if there was anyone around before slipping out of the building and closing the door behind him. The remains of the blasted lock still sat on the ground. He felt a small pang of guilt over breaking it earlier, but quickly pushed the feeling away.
The small Autobot transformed into his alt mode and turned on his headlights. The aged lampposts in the vicinity hardly provided enough light to see clearly. Fog had begun to form, and the temperature had also dropped since Bee had entered the warehouse. He shivered as the chill crept across his plating, then began the trip back to base.
The roads of Detroit were completely empty along Bee's route. The silence and boredom of his surroundings prompted Bee to reflect on his most recent meeting with Blitzwing.
Giddiness spread through his spark at the thought of the kiss at the end. Kissing the Decepticon always left him completely breathless. The two had remained liplocked for what had seemed like an eternity, breaking apart when Blitzwing stood up and asserted that he needed to leave. The Decepticon had then transformed into his jet mode and flown away through the hole in the roof.
Meetings between the two always ended in a kiss or hug, as started by Bumblebee. Blitzwing insisted that Autobots were known for being overwhelmingly affectionate, claiming it to be disgusting, but never resisted in reciprocating.
Bee sped down the deserted road, the giddiness fading slightly when he thought about what he'd have to tell Optimus when he got back to base. I'm gonna need to make up something about a race... he mused. Maybe I can mention who won? Oh, and I'll say that it lasted a long time. That'll give a reason as to why I was out so la-
His scheming was interrupted when he heard the sound of a rapidly approaching vehicle. Looking through his mirrors, Bee noticed a motorcycle speeding towards him, going way over the speed limit. He was about to turn his attention back to the road but paused when he recognized the motorcycle as Prowl.
His fellow Autobot pulled up next to him, and the two sped along in silence for a few moments. “Hey Prowl, what's goin' on?” Bumblebee called out, feeling a little nervous at the presence of his teammate.
“Bumblebee, pull over.” Prowl commanded, coming to a rapid halt and transforming to his root mode.
Bumblebee braked hard, immediately suspicious of Prowl's intentions. He transformed and walked over to his teammate, cocking his head in confusion. “Is everything ok?” he asked. Prowl grimaced. The ninja bot dragged a servo down his face and vented hard.
Prowl met Bumblebee's optics. “I saw you and Blitzwing.” he said, frowning deeply when he mentioned the Decepticon's name.
Absolute fear flooded Bumblebee.
“Don't tell anyone!” he shouted. Prowl hushed him hastily, glancing around to check if there were any humans. “What did you see? Don't tell Optimus!”
“Calm down, calm down.” Prowl whispered. “You're going to wake up the humans, Bumblebee.” He led Bee over to the side of the road, out of danger of potentially being hit by another vehicle. “I was there for everything tonight.”
His fear heightened, and he vented harshly. He reached out and gripped Prowl's shoulders. “Please, please don't tell Optimus.” he whispered. Wide optics met with Prowl's narrowed ones.
The older Autobot sighed. “I think you need to explain to me what's been going on lately between you and the Decepticon.” he said.
Bumblebee grimaced, the awkwardness of the situation flooding over him. “Yeah, like what?” he replied with a stubborn edge to his voice.
“How long have you been meeting? How did this...thing start?” Prowl asked. He crossed his arms and glared down at the younger bot. “And what exactly have you been doing? Please don't tell me you've been interfacing with him.”
Bumblebee's faceplate heated up, and he quickly pressed his servos against Prowl's mouth. “Shhhh!! Prowl, cut it out!” he yelped. His cooling fans clicked on as his temperature rose with embarrassment.
Prowl muttered something into Bee's servos before shoving them off his mouth. “Answer my questions, Bumblebee,” he said forcefully. “Or I'm going to comm Optimus right now and-”
Bee groaned and waved his servos in protest. “Ok, ok! Relax already!” he said. The two stood in silence for a while. The only sound was Bee's cooling fan, which eventually clicked off. “What...what do you want to know first?”
“How long have you been meeting with the Decepticon?” Prowl replied. “Also, what's the nature of your relationship?'
Bumblebee paused to consider the questions. He tried to remember when he and Blitzwing had first started meeting, though his memories of the events were sort of hazy. “I'm...not sure. I think about 4 months? Maybe 5...” he answered sheepishly. Prowl's mouth dropped down slightly in shock.
“That long? Primus...” the motorcycle said, putting a servo to his forehelm while he absorbed the words. “And your relationship?”
“What do you mean by that?” Bumblebee asked.
“I mean, the nature of your relationship. I assume it's romantic, from what I saw.” Prowl snapped, getting frustrated that he needed to even have this conversation. “I don't think kissing a Decepticon makes you two just friends.”
Bumblebee wrung his servos and fidgeted. “I guess that's right...” he trailed off. The question sort of stumped him. His systems gave off a nervous beep. “We usually...talk, and hang out. Sometimes I listen to music with him.” A slight blush appeared on Bee's faceplate. “One of Blitzwing's personalities really likes to sing.”
Prowl growled at the blush on Bee's cheeks, making the smaller bot flinch. He felt his panic begin to return at the interrogation.
“How did this even start? I can't imagine how this could have ever been possible.” Prowl exclaimed.
Bee wracked his processor for an answer. “To be honest, Prowl, I don't think I even know.” he said, shrugging.
“This is so bizarre.”
“Hey!” Bee protested, feeling attacked. “Blitzwing isn't that bad, okay?”
He stepped back when Prowl shot him a deathly glare. “Are you kidding me, Bumblebee? Blitzwing is a Decepticon. If you haven't noticed, he's tried to kill all of us multiple times.” he ranted. “Not to mention that Cons are masters of deception. How do you know Blitzwing isn't using you?”
Bumblebee huffed angrily at his comrade. “He just isn’t, alright?.”
They stood together in silence once again. Awkwardness hung in the air like a fog. Both mechs glanced at each other and frowned.
Bee broke the silence by clearing his vocalizer. “You aren't gonna tell Optimus, right?” he asked. “I can't imagine what he'd do to me if he found out, amirite?” He chuckled awkwardly.
If Optimus ever found out, I’d probably never leave the base ever again! Bee thought. He’d definitely flip out. Maybe even drag me back to Cybertron on the Elite Guard’s ship.
Prowl raised an optic ridge. “Actually, I'm planning on telling him as soon as we get back to base. He needs to know about this, Bumblebee.” Prowl put a servo on Bee's shoulder, looking slightly sympathetic. “This affects the wellbeing of you and the team.”
Bee's optics widened in horror. Oh scrap! I'm in so much fragging trouble!
Prowl glowered when Bumblebee once again gripped his shoulders, optics wide and desperate. “What can I do to make you not tell him?” he said, denta clenched. “Seriously, Prowl, don't tell him.”
Bee stared up into his teammate's face. Prowl was attempting to maintain a straight face, but it was obvious that he was crumbling under Bee's pathetic attempt to keep his secret. If I play my cards right, maybe I can get Prowl to stay quiet. he thought.
Bee widened his optics more, forcing coolant to appear at the edges. “Please, Prowl. I don't want Optimus to punish me.” he pleaded. He smirked internally when Prowl bit his lip at Bee's fake crying display.
“Well... I guess I won't.” Prowl said slowly. Bee began to smile and opened his mouth to spew thanks, but stopped when Prowl continued talking.
“Only if you promise to stop meeting Blitzwing after tomorrow.”
Aw, frag, this'll be tough to get out of. Bee thought, already planning around the deal Prowl was offering.
He stuck out his servo and sighed dramatically. “Fine, whatever. Blitzwing won't take it well, though.” he said nastily. The two mechs shook on it. Prowl seemed satisfied with the reaction, and he transformed to his motorcycle mode.
“Let's head back to base, Bumblebee.” he said, revving his engine. Bee also transformed, and the vehicles sped back to the direction of their base.
Bee vented heavily while they drove back. Slag, this is awful. Having Prowl stalking me is gonna make covering this up much harder. he thought, feeling intensely irritated at his teammate. If it had been Bulkhead or Sari who found out, I could have easily gotten them to keep quiet! Lucky me for getting the ninja on my case…
Upon arriving back, Prowl eased open the entrance door slowly. Bee entered after him, letting the door slam. Prowl clenched his servos into fists and glared at Bee, who just stalked back to his room.
Prowl shook his helm in disgust. He reflected on the horrible night he had had. The ninja bot was still slightly shocked at the realization that his teammate- especially the youngest, smallest, and most annoying teammate- was in a covert relationship with a Decepticon. Not only was it a dangerous situation, but the nature of the Decepticon himself would make everything about it risky and unpredictable.
Bee's reaction had also been unsettling. Optimus wasn't known for being a harsh leader; he was usually very calm and kind towards his subordinates, though occasionally melancholy. The Prime only lost his temper in extreme situations. Though this might actually count as an “extreme situation..." Prowl thought. He doubted that Optimus would do anything that warranted Bumblebee's panic. The most likely reaction would be scolding, extra monitoring on Bee, and preventing him from going out to see Blitzwing.
Prowl had fully intended to tell Optimus everything until Bee had actually started crying. The coolant in his optics had shocked Prowl. He didn't think that Bee would be that afraid of Optimus. The reaction would have been expected if Prowl was going to tell someone like Sentinel Prime, who would have probably yelled his spark out at the young bot. It was an issue he would probably have to bring up as well.
Perhaps most of his fear came from not being able to see the Decepticon anymore? The time they had been together hadn't been that long. Bumblebee tended to get bored easily, making it difficult to comprehend why the relationship was still going. How had they not managed to fight or injure each other in run ins with the Decepticons? They had still been occurring since the return of Megatron. The Decepticons, aside from occasionally stealing construction supplies, were also looking for Allspark fragments.
Prowl felt fear hammer against his spark when he thought about how easy it would be for Blitzwing to offline Bumblebee. Decepticons were typically huge, and Bee was already small for an Autobot. His frametype was meant for speed and stealth, but provided a disadvantage when facing a world much larger than itself. The morbid image of Blitzwing firing upon Bee with his cannons sprang into Prowl's processor before he pushed it away. This makes ending this relationship even more important, before Bumblebee gets hurt...
A slight noise brought him out of his musings. Looking up, Prowl noticed Optimus coming out of his room. The team leader yawned and rubbed an optic.
“Hey Prowl. How did everything go?” Optimus whispered. “Did you find anything out about Bumblebee?”
Coldness flooded Prowl's body when he realized that he would need to lie to his leader. He desperately wanted to tell Prime the truth, but he also wanted Bumblebee to learn to be responsible and end the relationship himself.
As long as this ends quickly, Optimus will never need to know. Prowl forced down the guilt and looked his leader in the optics. The incident with the Dinobots jumped into his processor. That secret had ended relatively well, with the Dinobots living peacefully on their island. Optimus had ultimately found out about their existence, but the incident had ended without any major consequences. If that had turned out okay, surely this lie would too?
“Uh...” Prowl hesitated. “I found out...he was telling the truth.” He nearly cringed at the lie. “He went out of the city for the race. I had to follow him all the way out there. He was pretty surprised to see me.” Shame bit against Prowl's spark, and he almost scowled at his own words.
Optimus nodded, completely trusting in Prowl's words. “That's very good to hear. Thank you for going out of your way to do that for me.” he said amiably, patting Prowl's shoulder. “I'm heading back to recharge. I'll make sure and ask Bumblebee about it in the morning.” he said, turning back into his room.
Prowl stood alone in the Autobot base. Everything was completely silent, as if nothing unusual had even happened that night. Prowl sighed wearily, exhaustion started to nag at him. He strode to his room quietly, careful not to wake up any of the sleeping Autobots.
Upon entering, the massive tree in the middle of the space seemed to call out to Prowl to recharge. A slight breeze ruffled the leaves. The sound soothed Prowl's processor, which had begun to ache slightly. The wildlife that liked to hang out in the branches had disappeared, presumably to return to their own nests. Prowl crouched down and leaped precisely onto one of the largest branches. It shook under his weight but held steady.
Prowl carefully sat down, crossed his legs, and lifted his arms in a meditative position. He vented slowly and evenly, attempting to clear his processor. Various systems powered down until the room was in complete silence, aside from the wind and leaves. Prowl's body relaxed as calmed down. The events of the day still nagged at him, but he tried to push them down.
It's fine, it's fine, it's fine... he chanted internally. Everything is alright. The soothing thoughts still didn't stop Prowl from returning back to his worrying. He felt slightly sick as the memory of the kiss jumped back into his processor. The mental image of Blitzwing pulling Bee suffocatingly close, both bots practically melting into each other,made his tanks roll from anxiety. He felt himself sway on the tree branch, and he gripped it to steady himself.
Prowl shuddered when he thought about what else the two might be doing. A mental image of Blitzwing's servos drifting down Bumblebee's body shocked Prowl entirely out of his calm state. He shook his helm and put his servos in his hands.
“This is disgusting.” he said out loud.