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There was something special about the planet Earth. Sure, Cybertron had the feeling of predictability and comfort: the feeling of being at home. Bulkhead occasionally felt a nostalgic ache for the dark, soothing sky, the constant neon glows all around, the spacebridges of Iacon rising above the rest of the city. Everything was familiar. There was something calming in the familiarity; at least, it seemed to have been calming when you didn’t have it anymore.
Earth was the polar opposite of Cybertron: constantly changing, constantly unpredictable. (Bulkhead didn’t think he was ever going to get used to the fact that liquid fell from the sky ?) Still, even if it wasn’t easy to adjust here, there were plenty of things to love about the little blue planet.
Bulkhead brushed a servo over the leaves of a tree. Dew rained down from the waxy, dark green leaves. (Oh, that looked pretty. He’d have to remember and sketch that later.) He looked up the foggy hill of the forest. Prowl had invited him out for a walk in the woods outside of Detroit to show him something. Secretive as ever, Prowl wasn’t telling what it was. He noticed the ninja bot was farther ahead than him, kneeling to look at a patch of wildflowers.
The other bot must have known he was looking at him, as Prowl glanced up and flashed him a small smile. A warm feeling spread through Bulkhead’s circuits. (It felt like sunshine, another thing he loved about Earth. He liked how comforting it felt. Like a big group hug with all your friends.)
“H-Hey Prowl! Wait up!” Bulkhead strode forward to catch up to his friend.
Maybe he was too eager to reach the top of the hill, because next thing he knew, he’d accidentally trodden on the wildflowers Prowl was examining. Too bad Earth wasn’t meant to fit Cybertronians. It was much too easy to take a wrong step and crush the delicate plant life peeking out in the corner of one’s optic.
Bulkhead tentatively raised his pede. Crumpled lilac petals drifted off and back to the ground where they came from. The sunny feeling immediately dissipated into gloomy thunder.
“Oh. I-Um, I’m so sorry, I should have been more careful.” Bulkhead sighed.
He was expecting a deep sigh, maybe even a facepalm, but Prowl just patted his arm gently, giving a reassuring squeeze.
“It’s okay. No need to worry.” Prowl turned away, looking back to the forest path. He walked forward. “Let’s keep going.” he said, his servo on Bulkhead’s arm pulling the larger bot along with him.
The pair walked along the hiking path in comfortable silence. The soft layer of fog made the woods look almost ghostly, and the leaves blanketing the ground dulled any noises around them; in the back of his processor, he knew it’d be very, very easy for one of the Decepticons to ambush them. Normally he’d be nervous, but he felt cheerful, refreshed even.
Prowl often had that effect on him: comforting, like home. Bumblebee was Bulkhead’s best friend, but anyone on Team Prime could secretly admit (or maybe not secretly, if you were Ratchet) that the yellow speedster’s hyperactivity and crassness was a lot to handle. Prowl was sensitive, quiet, and very reserved, but also kind and friendly once you got to know him closely.
Bulkhead had found him and Prowl hanging out together more frequently over the course of their stay on Earth, doing anything from competitive races through empty streets to napping quietly together. Prowl had also picked up on his affinity for art: they’d both spent many hours painting on glass, making short stop-motion animation projects, or anything that piqued their interest, really. He was also talented at arts and crafts, regularly gifting Bulkhead with little presents of charms made from rocks he found or origami animals.
“Why’d you make all these?” Bulkhead had asked one day, pointing to the origami and other trinkets carefully placed around his room. The two were hanging out there, reading datapads taken from the ship. “Not that I mind, of course! I appreciate them a lot. It’s just that you give all of the ones you make to me!”
Prowl had shot him a quick glance before looking back at the datapad in his servos. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re my friend. I like making you happy.” he’d mumbled, pulling the datapad closer to his face and obscuring his expression. This had made Bulkhead’s tanks feel like they had butterflies inside them. (What if he actually had real butterflies stuck in there? Maybe he should see the Docbot about it.)
Back in the present, Bulkhead looked down at his friend. “So...what exactly do you have to show me?” The air around them seemed to be getting cooler. He heard something in the distance: it sounded like soft static?
Prowl grinned up at him. “You’ll see. We’re almost there.”
“Is it...an allspark fragment?”
“Nope.”
“A crashed spaceship? Ooh, a crashed Cybertronian spaceship?”
“Definitely not.”
“Uh...how about-”
Prowl shushed him with a wave, smiling good-naturedly. The static-like sound was much louder now; in fact, Bulkhead could see something moving through the dense leaves. The air was cold and...damp? But it wasn’t raining…?
“I found this place a few weeks ago. I’ve been coming to practice meditation without any distractions, but I thought I’d share it with you.” The ninjabot pulled back the curtain of leaves to reveal-
“Oh! This is a waterfall, right?” Bulkhead exclaimed. He dipped down and shuffled through the foliage. A column of frothing water towered over them, falling and sliding over rocks and into a wide pool in front of them. Icy water droplets sprayed Bulkhead’s frame, and he blinked them out of his optics.
He felt Prowl put a servo on his arm. He looked down at his friend and grinned. He felt warm inside: it was nice to know Prowl had wanted to share this place, since he was usually so reserved. He felt light and bubbly, like the energon in his tubes had suddenly become carbonated.
“This is really nice!” Bulkhead beamed at his friend. “Maybe we can take Sari out here sometime. I bet she’d love swimming.”
Prowl edged down towards the pool. Bulkhead was acutely aware of his friend’s servo holding onto his to keep him steady on the slippery rocks, warm metal on chilled, wet plating.
“That sounds fun,” Prowl said, voice tight with concentration. “Though she’d have to wear some water wings so-”
Scritch
Prowl’s pede slipped on the wet rock under him and he hit the ground, tumbling helm over heels into the pool. The wave from his fall splashed over Bulkhead’s legs.
Bulkhead waded into the water after him before his processor could assess what happened. The freezing chill of the water climbing through his circuits, creating a painful numbness. He winced, squeezing an optic shut, but kept moving forward.
“H-hey, are you okay? Prowl?” He reached out his servos to the form of his friend under the water. Unease gripped his spark. The water wasn’t that deep (for a Cybertronian), but what if he’d hurt himself on the rocks? What if there was some kind of...weird water monster in there? You never knew when it came to Earth.
Warm relief spread through his circuits when Prowl came back up, coughing and gasping to expel water from his vents. He couldn’t help giggle. Prowl looked like a cat in water: hilariously miserable. The ninjabot groaned, optic visor pulled down in an embarrassed scowl, but smiled back and chuckled good naturedly. Bulkhead’s spark danced a frantic, happy rhythm.
Bulkhead held out his arms. “C’mon, I’ll pull you out.” he chuckled. He hauled Prowl to a standing position, careful not to slip on the slick rocks beneath the moving water. Shuffling backwards, they moved back to the edge of the pool.
“Okay, so maybe we won’t take Sari here.” Prowl croaked. It wasn’t even that funny, but Bulkhead giggled anyway.
Kneeling down, Prowl settled on a large patch of moss, patting the ground to invite Bulkhead to sit next to him. The two settled next to each other and gazed out at the waterfall in silence, listening to the moving water. Bulkhead could swear it sounded like whispering, but he couldn’t catch it saying anything. (He’d have to ask Sari if waterfalls could talk back at the base.)
Prowl abruptly broke the silence just as Bulkhead started to doze off. “Optimus and Ratchet went out to the ship to work on repairs today.” he blurted out.
Bulkhead glanced down at him. “Cool. Maybe we can move it out of Dinobot island soon.”
Prowl nodded slowly. “Yes.” He looked away, staring at the waterfall. “Maybe we’ll be leaving for Cybertron soon.”
A cold feeling traveled through Bulkhead’s energon lines. He missed Cybertron, but the thought of leaving Earth made him sad. Just thinking about it made him already miss Sari, the base, and other things he’d come to love on this planet.
“What are you planning to do if- I mean, when we get back to Cybertron?” Prowl grimaced at his slip up. He flopped down on his back. “Sorry, I just- I mean, I doubt it’ll happen, but there’s always the chance one of the Decepticons could…” He trailed off. The hum of the waterfall filled in the silence.
“...Offline us?” Bulkhead finished his sentence. It was true. He hadn’t thought about it much, but in the back of everyone’s processors, they all knew the Decepticons weren’t like the cartoon villains from the shows Sari liked to watch. They’d kill an Autobot in an instant. They’d even come close not once, but multiple times.
“Yes.” Prowl murmured. They sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the nature around them. Bulkhead settled on his back too beside his friend, the moss providing a relaxing cushion.
Bulkhead hadn’t considered what he’d do back on Cybertron. It was likely that he’d have to return to spacebridge repair duty, unless fighting the Decepticons gave him a promotion. Working with spacebridges was nice, but being out by yourself in space wasn’t ideal.
“Well, ideally I’d like to work on maintaining the spacebridges in Iacon, to answer your question.” he said. “I don’t know how likely that is. I mean, they’re the most famous spacebridges on Cybertron, being in the capital and all, so getting on the team for them is probably pretty challenging…” he trailed off.
He looked over at Prowl. The ninjabot shot him a kind smile. “I’m sure you can do it. I’m positive there’s no other bot suited for the task.” he assured, patting Bulkhead’s servo. Prowl let his servo linger on Bulkhead’s, holding it gently for a tender moment.
A zap of energy seemed to careen through Bulkhead’s systems. His spark was fluttering in his chassis. “O-Oh, thanks. I really appreciate it.” he mumbled. He nervously pulled at the moss, but pulled his servos back when he realized he was ripping it up.
He couldn’t fathom why he was feeling so silly. Prowl was just his friend; he shouldn’t be feeling so… romantic about him.
This wasn’t an isolated incident: he’d slowly realized he had a bit of a crush on his friend a few months ago, when they started hanging out more. No matter how much he tried, his spark seemed to tapdance every time the ninjabot was around. He hadn’t told anyone; not only would Bumblebee and Sari tease him about it, but he figured that if he ignored it, the feelings would go away.
Prowl didn’t even seem the type to want a relationship outside the realms of simple friendship. It wasn’t like he’d be interested in him anyways. Bulkhead’s spark sank. He’d probably just break the relationship between them, just like he broke everything else.
“What are you thinking about doing back on Cybertron?” he asked back, trying to redirect his train of thought. That was too painful to think about now.
Prowl bit his lip plating, appearing to be deep in thought. “Optimus told me the Cyberninja Dojo has been defunct since the Great War. There are efforts to rebuild it as a memorial and restore the Cyberninja Corps, so I’m thinking of joining in.” He glanced at Bulkhead. “So that means we’ll both be living in Iacon then?”
“Yeah!” Bulkhead cheered. Oh, that was wonderful! Even when Team Prime inevitably had to split up (Bulkhead definitely didn’t want to think about that), he could still visit Prowl! “We can hang out more on Cybertron! And with Bumblebee too, since he’s from Iacon.”
Prowl chuckled. “Well, maybe not with Bumblebee .” He teased. Bulkhead rolled his optics but chuckled anyways.
Cool mist from the waterfall drizzled their frames. Bulkhead closed his optics and let his fans spin low and quiet. Prowl’s presence beside him felt so, so soothing, he had to admit. It’d been forever since he felt this relaxed, with the Decepticons causing so much trouble lately.
He heard Prowl shift beside him. “Bulkhead, can I askyousomething….” Prowl trailed off, voice becoming an imperceptible murmur. Bulkhead opened his optics and immediately noticed the pained expression on Prowl’s faceplates. They were tinted with a deep blush, and his frame was tensed up.
Bulkhead tilted his helm and raised an optic ridge. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I just-” Prowl shook his helm and sighed, warm air expelling from his vents. “Can I ask you something? It’s kind of serious.” he said, drawing his mouth in a firm line.
Uh oh, that couldn’t be anything good. A hot bolt of fear hammered into Bulkhead’s spark. “If I broke something, I promise I’ll replace it!” He stammered, pushing himself up to a sitting position.
Prowl sat up too, moss drifting off his back. “What? No, no, that’s not what I meant!” His sentence dissolved into a soft chuckle and he leaned his helm on Bulkhead’s arm. The sensation sent flutters of nervous energy through his frame, but Bulkhead leaned into the touch anyways.
“So, um,” Bulkhead tapped his servos together nervously. “What did you need to ask me…?”
The ninjabot pulled his helm back and glanced up at Bulkhead. “We’ve been hanging out lot together recently. First, I wanted to say…” Prowl trailed off, sighing heavily and shaking his helm. It made sense: he wasn’t the type to easily express his emotions to others.
“I wanted to say I-um.” Prowl paused, looking uncharacteristically at a loss for words. “I really appreciate and treasure the time we spend together?” he blurted out. “You’re a good friend and I felt like I needed to tell you, in case something happens to any of us at the hands of the Decepticons.” Bulkhead almost didn’t catch what he was saying.
Before he could react, Prowl kept going. The ninjabot seemed to regain his composure, raising his chin confidently and looking Bulkhead right in the optics. “I also really like you and I wanted to know if you- um, if you wanted to be more than friends.” he said matter-of-factly, before turning his helm away, the blush returning to his faceplate.
Bulkhead’s processor felt like it’d shut down, taking the rest of the systems in his frame with it. He wasn’t able to form any coherent thoughts, except for a resounding Huh?
He must have remained paralyzed too long, as Prowl cringed and stood up. “I’m sorry, Bulky. I didn’t mean to ruin anything between us.” He turned away and began picking his way over the rocks and back to the path they’d came from. Bulkhead caught a brief look of sheer embarrassment flicker across Prowl’s faceplate.
A spark of unidentifiable emotion broke through the shock of Prowl’s confession. That...had to be a glitch, right? There’s no way Prowl would actually say that, not in a million stellar cycles. The disbelief was fading away to the realization Prowl actually, as humans said, liked him?
Electrifying excitement hit Bulkhead. He jumped up, feeling almost dizzy from his spark beating so hard. His frame felt like it was on autopilot, but he managed to take a few steps forward on the slick rocks.
“Yeah! I mean, yes!” he called out. Prowl looked back at him, optical band scrunched in a hurt expression. Bulkhead mentally kicked himself.
“No, wait, sorry... I just-ugh.” He shook his helm, trying to clear his scrambled processor. “I meant to say yes to your question. Like, the one you just asked.”
Prowl stared back at him, expression unreadable. “You mean, you want to be more than friends…?” he asked, taking a few steps forward back to Bulkhead.
“Yeah!”
Prowl made his way back over to Bulkhead. The awkwardness almost felt like a real, physical presence between them, but he couldn’t help but chuckle a little out of nervousness.
The two eyed each other shyly, standing apart from each. Bulkhead noticed Prowl slowly inching his pedes forward, drifting slightly closer every nanoclick. He wanted to reach out to him, but the awkward tension around them held him back.
“Um...how long have you wanted to ask me that?” Bulkhead blurted out. He tapped his servos together nervously, jittery energy coursing through his frame. No one had ever asked him out before - how was this supposed to go? He didn’t have social-savvy Bumblebee there to guide him through this. What if he messed up and Prowl didn’t like him anymore? What if-
Prowl reached out and placed his servos over Bulkhead’s own, lowering them to calm the nervous gesture. “I don’t know. It feels like a long time, though.”
A nervous giggle erupted from Bulkhead. “Y’know, I was actually just thinking about how I, uh, like you too before ya asked me out.” he said between gasps of air. For some reason, now that he’d started laughing, he couldn’t stop. Primus, he sounded like a...what was the human term? A “dork?”
“Is it okay if I kiss you?” Prowl asked, flashing him a shy grin. His servos tensed on Bulkhead’s own, prepared to let go.
That shut him up quick. Bulkhead’s cheek plates immediately broke out into a hot blush. Admittedly, no one had ever asked him that before. (Not that he was going to tell Prowl.)
Prowl let his servos slide off of Bulkhead’s. “It’s okay if you’re not comfortable-”
“No, it’s fine!” Bulkhead blurted out. “Go ahead.” He leaned down to Prowl’s height, unable to stop the sweet smile creeping onto his faceplate.
Prowl, standing on the tips of his pedes, gently placed his servo on the side of Bulkhead’s helm. He felt Prowl’s lipplates gently press against his cheek, lingering for a few moments before Prowl pulled away.
For Prowl, it was a surprise when Bulkhead suddenly wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, the warmth radiating from his frame erasing all the chill of the forest around them.