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Oh, this day couldn’t get any better, Bumblebee thought as he waited outside of the nurse’s office located in the camp.
He glared at the mech sitting two chairs away from him every few minutes, in Bumblebee’s opinion this was all Wasp’s fault. If said mech hadn’t started fighting, like he normally did, with him both wouldn’t be here sitting outside of the office after being chewed out by Sentinel Minor for their behavior.
He groaned in a mix of pain and annoyance by just remembering. He was just trying to push Wasp back, unfortunately, he didn't measure his force, which as a result made Wasp stumble into the floor. Everything went downhill from there with Wasp and himself punching each other back. He recalled the other recruits from the other classes circling them to see the fight, some even began to call dibs on them.
Of course, it didn’t go unnoticed by the teachers at the camp, how can you even try to ignore a bunch of bots yelling and calling dibs on two cadets fighting.
Part of him told him he should’ve ignored Wasp but the other part, the one he liked the most, was constantly reminding him of Wasp’s face after he delivered the first punch, he looked stunned for some seconds before slamming into Bumblebee to hit him back, which was the less pleasant part of the memory.
Then the rest of their class arrived to see the scene they were making. Ironhide had tried to grab Wasp and drag him away while attempting to talk him out of the fight, Bulkhead had put himself in the middle of the two minibots to try and cease the fight. Both efforts from Ironhide and Bulkhead were in vain as Wasp was able to get off from Ironhide’s hold and Bumblebee equally heated up pushed Bulkhead aside and there honestly was no one who could tear them apart…
Except for Sentinel Minor who had been the one to put an end to it, dragging both cadets while lecturing them on their way to the nurse’s office, he ignored most of what he had been rambling about, and Wasp with no doubt had been doing the same, both more focused on glaring daggers at each other while getting dragged across the camp’s hallways.
Bumblebee pulled out of the memory by the throbbing pain in his eye, it hurt like the pit, he was sure Wasp had broken the inner optic circuitry when his fist impacted the glass.
He turned around to where Wasp was supposed to be but to his surprise he wasn’t there anymore. He stared confused at the now empty chair, how long had it been since the bot left? Bumblebee didn’t have time to think of an answer for himself as he was called inside the office, he sighed and entered, his hand rubbing the damaged eye softly.
He got out of the office after an hour of getting his eye fixed and hearing the chewing the nurse had ready for him for fighting, he had enough with one from Sentinel for his “reckless behavior”.
He was walking to his barracks when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder, jumping a bit he quickly looked back.
Relieved that it wasn't Sentinel, Bumblebee smiled. “Hey, Longarm,” He turned around. “Do you need anything?”
Longarm lifted his hand away from his shoulder. “No, just wanted to know how you’re feeling, everything good?” He said worriedly while pointing to the minibot’s eye with his digit.
“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m fine, nothing I can’t handle,” Bumblebee shrugged it off.
“Didn’t see you around the fight when Bulkhead and Ironhide tried to tear Wasp and me apart, where were you?”
“I was there, just didn’t want to get involved, Sentinel Minor looked more pissed than usual”
Bumblebee groaned. “He was, you can imagine the lecture he gave us”
“I can imagine…”
“Well,” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m going back to my room now, see you later.” Bumblebee turned his back and started to walk away but was quickly pulled back by Longarm grabbing his hand.
“Wait! Are you doing anything tonight?”
“Why are you asking?” Bumblebee looked back again, puzzled.
“Just wanted to know because I thought we could hang out after training”
“Um, sort of? But you could come with me if you want to?”
“Where are you going? There’s not much to do in camp-”
Bumblebee moved closer to Longarm and whispered, “I’m going out for a few hours.”
“Do you want to tag along?”
“Sure. Wait, you mean at night? They don’t let anyone out at night-”
Bumblebee leaned even closer to Longarm with a smile “I’m sneaking out!” he whispered confidently.
Longarm found himself walking in Cybertron's streets and he wasn’t sure how he ended up agreeing to Bumblebee’s plan, but it was far too late to think about that now, they already were on their way to whatever Bumblebee had invited him to.
"C'mon Longarm! We are close to the race, just a few more minutes and we'll be there."
Longarm halted and stared at him for some seconds. "You…have tickets for a race?" He asked, confused. As far as he was aware the credits the cadets were given were, as kindly as it could be said, miserable, with the excuse that the camp would provide basic needs to the cadets, like energon, which honestly was watered down and tasted horrible. Thank the council for being so generous to their cadets.
"Uh, no. But I know a building where we can watch it, no one really goes to the area so the outer stairs don't have guards around, we just climb there and enjoy the race!"
"And you're sure this is a good idea because?"
Bumblebee shrugged. "Oh don't worry 'bout it, I have gone there a few times already and nothing has happened,"
"Just be careful with one of the handles in the middle, it's kinda damaged and you could fall if you grab it."
"...Did you fall down the building-?"
"Pfft, no-"
"Is that why you were limping two weeks ago?" Longarm asked baffled.
“ Maybe , but I’m fine.”
“Just trust me, I know what I’m doing,” Bumblebee said reassuringly as he grabbed Longarm’s servo and continued walking with Longarm by his side.
Longarm followed Bumblebee, a faint blush adorning his face as he felt Bumblebee increase the grasp he had on his hand when he noticed it was slipping away from him.
They walked for a while passing the main buildings and stores before Bumblebee guided him to a sector that seemed to be filled with old buildings that were definitely abandoned judging by their looks.
Now standing near what appeared to be the tallest building in the sector Bumblebee tugged Longarm's shoulder and pointed at the stairs he had mentioned before. The minibot went up the stairs first, Longarm shortly followed him after looking around the building and quickly scanning the surroundings. Midway up the stairs, he glanced back nervously, the last thing he needed was to get arrested for trespassing on private property.
Bumblebee waited for him at the top, offering his hand to help Longarm up to the building. With both on the top of the building, Bumblebee walked away and sat down near the edge of the building where they had a somewhat decent view of the racing circuit, a part of the finishing line, and one of the screens that was peeking out enough to be seen from the building.
Swiftly opening up his subspace, Bumblebee grabbed two cans of carbonated energon, he smiled kindly and offered one of the cans to Longarm "Here, I brought some energon to watch the race!"
"Oh, thanks!" Longarm answered back, trying to copy Bumblebee’s tone before grabbing the can.
Bumblebee patted the empty space next to him and looked at Longarm. “Come sit, I think they’re still on the standing start intermission.”
“The standing start intermission?”
“Yeah, they are waiting for the marshal to wave the green flag”
“…I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Longarm admitted while sitting in the space next to Bumblebee.
Bumblebee’s eyes shined as he shifted closer to Longarm, “Do you want to know? I can explain it to you! I know everything about this circuit and who’s participating tonight!”
Longarm blushed slightly, “Yeah that would be nice.”
As soon as he answered Bumblebee had gone into a complete ramble explaining how the race was being organized, switching to point at the racing circuit and racers preparing themselves.
He smiled warmly as he stared at Bumblebee, Longarm didn’t hear nor understand half of what Bumblebee was explaining to him while they were waiting for the race to start, he was far more preoccupied with Bumblebee’s face, it was full of life as he explained whatever was happening to him, he looked so happy and had his lovely smile Longarm loved so dearly .
Longarm wasn’t aware of how long it had been since the race started nor how long they had been sitting there, the only indication of time passing was the loud cheering and the voice of whoever was the current race caller, but he didn’t mind as long as he was able to hear Bumblebee’s voice and see his smile.
He really loved that smile, it made Longarm’s spark flutter around every time he saw it, and alongside his smile his eyes shined beautifully when he talked, making Longarm melt by just seeing him. Longarm was kicked out of his thoughts by the owner of said smile shaking his shoulders as he pointed at the race circuit and the distant sound of bots cheering.
“She crossed the line! Look!” Bumblebee said cheerfully, his smile getting bigger.
Longarm smiled back and turned around to see on one of the screens a bot standing proudly looking at the public that cheered for her, Bumblebee probably told him who that was when he was far more distracted on the minibot’s face.
Bumblebee stopped shaking his shoulders after some seconds as the rush of excitement died down. He quickly removed his servos from Longarm’s shoulders, a little embarrassed by the sudden outburst.
Bumblebee went back to sitting in his place. “Thanks for coming with me to the race,” he said softly.
“Thank you for inviting me”
They both stayed in comfortable silence watching the circuit’s screen show the rest of the racers, they shared a few short glances from time to time before Bumblebee decided to break the silence.
“I hope it’s not...not too awkward to say this,” Bumblebee shifted in his place to look at Longarm face to face. “But thanks for being my friend and sticking with me. It’s nice to have someone close to you to lean on…”
“And y’know I like hanging out with you.”
“I like hanging out with you too,” Longarm answered softly.
“You’re always so…so nice to me and I really appreciate that, I really appreciate you for being there for me.”
Bumblebee looked away when he finished talking, pink faintly coloring his cheeks. Longarm looked at him expectantly for some minutes, eyeing between their servos, which were close to each other now that he noticed, and his face, almost begging to continue the sentence, to tell him he cared about him, to tell him he needed him, he wanted to hear those words and then answer back with the same feelings that always made his spark fluster in his chest.
He wanted to tell Bumblebee how much he loved his cheerful smile, his gorgeous eyes, and cocky grin, all those things that made him melt in place every single time he saw them, he wanted to be by his side all the time and never get tired of his voice and stupid jokes that never failed to make his day better. He wanted to tell Bumblebee how profoundly in love he was with him.
But deep down he knew Bumblebee wasn't going to continue the sentence. Bumblebee didn’t share the same feelings and probably never would, he never had hinted anything about it even after Longarm had tried his hardest to show his feelings, their relationship was only a close friendship and that’s what it could ever be even if he tried his hardest. He also knew he was a fool, an idiot that had fallen in love, and on top of all during a fragging mission he was expected to accomplish in the most perfect way to avoid being uncovered.
For Allspark’s sake, he was so stupid, how did he even let this happen? When did he start caring so much for him? What was he even thinking when he approached the minibot? That he could hide behind this fake persona and forget his life to live a better one? How did the minibot manage to bury himself so deep into his spark ?
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Bumblebee's voice. "We should probably return to camp before anyone notices we're gone," Bumblebee said softly, elbowing Longarm's arm to catch his attention.
Longarm looked at him puzzled. "What?" He had been far too deep in his thoughts to process what Bumblebee told him.
"Lost you for some seconds there, Longarm," Bumblebee grinned. "I said we should return, y'know before they notice we're gone."
"Ah yes, of course, we should get moving."
Both cadets walked quietly in the hallways that were directed to the barracks, luckily for them, no one had noticed them when they arrived back at the camp.
Bumblebee yawned while he playfully leaned his head on Longarm’s shoulder. “I’m gonna head back to my barracks, see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, Bee”
Bumblebee smiled at him one last time before he started walking away. Longarm smiled back but it slowly disappeared and formed into a frown as he watched Bumblebee disappear in the hallway, he sighed deeply, making his way back to his barracks.
This was going to be a painfully long mission.