Chapter Text
Optimus stared at the reflective surface of the metallic wall. A lot of other beings caught in a situation like this may panic, but Optimus managed to maintain completely calm, slowly processing how the frag this could’ve happened. It was before long that he sighed, caving in to the desire to work through this situation with his husband. Everything just seemed simpler when he was with Ratchet and that’s what he needed.
It took him a solid forty five minutes to get out of his room and, with a stride no form would ever prevent, descended the hallway, approaching the common area. The closer he was to the room, the more sounds echoed. Screaming. Fighting. Crying. A part of him, the part that had fought wars, lost friends and witnessed the dismantling of others, with the unbearable weight of leadership pressing down, feared the worst, but there was a second, more prominent part that assured him this was his family making all the noise and it was alright.
As the common area crept closer, the sounds became more clear and the voices easier to assign.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW?!” That was Arcee.
“I FEEL SO WEAK!” Bulkhead, most likely sobbing.
“EVERYONE SHUT UP!” Ah, Ratchet.
Optimus hummed softly, even when Ratchet was mad, he found his partner’s voice so calming. A constant reassurance. If Ratchet was there, it was okay.
The Prime took a deep breath, stepping forward into the more lively room. In the main space there were four humans in a panic. Optimus took the time to assess the situation. There was a teen, Arcee, if Optimus had to guess, pacing back and forth along the wall. On the floor was another teen, Bulkhead?, curled up on his side crying. Then there was a man, Ratchet, clearly too focused on the child trembling in his arms to care about the panicking teens.
Optimus hurried over to Ratchet and Bee, his stomach turning as he watched the, now human, Scout sob in a sickening silence.
Ratchet managed to tear his gaze away from the boy to eye Optimus, his glare full of scepticism.
“Optimus?.” He snapped, in case it wasn’t the Prime. The Taller man nodded.
“Ratchet, do you have any ideas on how this could have happened?” He asked, knowing Ratchet prefers when they skip the whole song and dance, his voice the same silky, steady and smooth tone it usually was.
Ratchet hesitated, but sighed,
“Not a clue. You?”
“Unfortunately I’m just as unaware.”
Before anyone could do anything else, Fowler showed up.
“PRIME!” All five bot turned humans jumped in surprise, Ratchet holding Bee a little tighter.
“PRIME, I NEED YOU TO- WHAT IN THE SAM HILL?!”
“Agent Fowler, we have an issue.”
“Is that you, Prime?!”
Optimus sighed, already done with Fowler. The agent groaned, shuffling some papers.
“I’m going to have to come in.” Fowler scoffed, “And I want you to have an explanation for this.”
The Prime groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Has Agent Fowler always been so…” he rolled his hand, trying to find the word.
“Annoying?” Arcee huffed,
“No.”
“Punchable?” Optimus eyed Bulkhead,
“Not quite.”
“Aftholey?”
Optimus looked at Ratchet, a soft blush crossing his face. The medic grinned, knowing that his ‘perfect’ description hit the nail on the head, but the Prime is too polite to want to call someone that.
“He has, you’re just too sweet to notice it.” Ratchet looked down, feeling Bee squirming in his hold, “seems you’ve calmed down.” The kid shot Ratchet a glare before continuing to wriggle, reaching out to the Prime. Optimus noticed this, and didn’t hesitate to take his scout into his arms.
“So we need some theories.” Optimus announced, his gaze drifting over his crew.
It had been roughly 20 minutes and the bots were already sick of being human. Optimus tapped the pen against the notepad he was holding,
“I think Bee’s right about it having been the effects of a relic, but I think that Ratchet has a good point that it could be Primus thinking we’ve had it too easy.”
Bee quickly took the pad from Optimus, writing on it,
'If Ratchet’s theory is true than I swear, I’m going to start following Unicron’
“Bumblebee!” Ratchet yelled, rolling up some discarded paper, then whacking the back of Bee’s head. The kid rubbed the sore spot, glaring at Ratchet while the rest of the team laughed.
While all five were distracted, the groundbridge powered on. All autobots turned around swiftly, Optimus pulling Bee and Ratchet behind him and standing up defensively.
“Bulkhead!” yelled a rather pitchy voice, scaring the scrap out of the turned humans.
“Miko?” The teen replied, running over to the girl. Miko, Raf, Jack and June all froze, staring at him.
“We can’t explain-”
Miko grabbed a nearby pipe, holding it up and preparing to hit the kid.
“WHO ARE YOU?! HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!”
“Miko! It’s me, Bulkhead! We were turned human!”
Miko hesitated, keeping the pipe at the ready,
“Prove it.” She snapped. Bulkhead blinked,
“I.. how?”
“How many detentions have I run out of?”
“This term? 7.”
“MIKO.”
Miko cringed, but ultimately ignored June. She put down the pipe, wrapping her arms around her guardian,
“It is you!”
June sighed, walking with Raf and Jack to see the other humans. She watched her son go up to the only girl in the group, rolling her eyes when she noticed Jack’s blush. Raf went over to the remaining three humans.
June could feel her heart drumming against her chest, her eyes fixed on who she could only assume was Optimus.
The Prime was on his knee, gently pushing Bee’s hair away from his eyes. Once satisfied, his hands moved to cup the younger boy’s cheeks. Bee’s little hands held onto Optimus’s wrists, squeezing his eyes closed when the man pressed a kiss to his forehead. The Prime mumbled something to the scout, before Raf went over and Optimus got up to allow the kids a bit more privacy.
“He’s so good with children,” She mumbled, her palm pressed against her chest.
“Oh, Ms Darby.” The Prime smiled, walking over to her with Ratchet trailing behind him, hands locked together in a firm hold.
“Optimus! Yes, hello.” She coughed, the blush getting overlooked by the two men, “How are you?”
“I’m very well, thank you, still trying to get used to this new form.” He laughed.
“I’d have to admit, I’m very surprised how quickly you’ve all accepted this is how you are.”
“Nurse Darby,” Ratchet huffed, “We’re currently stuck on a primitive rock populated with many beings that consistently show that they require constant assistance, yet our greatest allies are three children. We’ve learnt to adapt with great haste.”
The piercing glare June shot the man was not missed by the Prime, who unconsciously tightened his grip on his husband’s hand.
Ratchet’s breath hitched at the action, looking up at his partner. He silently observed the way Optimus’s jaw tightened, holding back a protective nature. Cautiously, Ratchet brought up his second hand, placing it on the back of the Prime’s hand, a subtle smile creeping onto his face as his partner calmed.
“How exactly had you all gotten here?” It was only now that Ratchet realised none of the bots had opened the groundbridge. June shrugged,
“Raf did something on his laptop, you’ll have to ask him.” She vaguely gestured at the young boy.
“Helpful.” Ratchet scoffed, standing on his toes to kiss the Prime’s cheek, before walking over to the scout and child.
“Awfully cosy with Ratchet.” June hummed, pretending that she couldn’t tell the two were in a relationship.
“We’re partners, Nurse Darby.” Optimus responded calmly, assuming that June’s just bad at picking up indicators.
“Yes, yes, I can tell, but I’m not even that affectionate with my closest friends.”
Optimus’s brows knitted together in a confused and slightly frustrated manner,
“We’re not just friends, Nurse Darby.”
“Best friends? Interesting I didn’t take-”
“Husbands.” Optimus snapped, his hands finding themselves propped against his hips, a slight tilt to his posture, clearly unamused by the woman’s forced ignorance.
“Heh.. sure.” The Prime was almost certain that the woman had hissed that final response, before watching her walk away.
The Prime sighed, shaking his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. His chest and head hurt, not used to feeling so negatively towards others. He couldn’t quite understand the source of all this anger but had come up with some conspiracies, his most promising idea being that when he had become human his ability to subdue the his emotions had been weakened and, apparently, he had a deep routed frustration towards the adults they had to deal with on a day-to-day. If this was the case, he had significantly more appreciation for the ability of the rest of his team, how they manage to conceal their own annoyance with minimal to no training was to be admired.
“PRIME!”
“Agent Fowler.” Prime forced on a smile, turning to look at the personnel as he made his arrival apparent to all parties.
“Do you have an answer to how this has happened?.” He snapped, not wanting to play around.
“We’ve made theories, Fowler.” Bulkhead announced, drawing the man’s attention away from the Prime, much to Optimus’s relief, “we had a notepad.. Somewhere.. Uhh..” Bulk trailed off, looking around the room, accompanied by everyone else.
“Bee’s got it.” Raf announced casually, having previously observed the Scout drawing in it. In complete silence, Bee got up, offering the notepad to agent Fowler.
The agent gave Bee a look of pure disgust, snatching the paper from him.
“You know you’re supposed to apologise when you put someone out like that.” Bee tilted his head slightly, then shrugged, unsure of what Agent Fowler was expecting from him.
“Well?.” He snapped. That’s when it clicked, at least for Ratchet.
“He can’t talk, Fowler.” Ratchet groaned, annoyed by the idiocy of the human.
“Fine.” Fowler grunted, then walked into his own secluded space to read the notes.
Raf hummed softly,
“So whatever happened to you guys has me stumped, especially considering that you’re all normal human weights.”
Bee looked over at Raf quizzically and the little human smiled. “Basic chemical science tells us that mass cannot be created nor destroyed. For you all to have less mass means that something else has formed with the missing particles.”
Bee’s eyes lit up as an idea formed in his head and before anyone knew it, he had run off. All present people looked at each other, uncertain as to if the boy wanted them to follow.
Bee had run back in around a minute later, waving around his hands, clearly having something to share.
“Here, type it in this.” Raf instructed, presenting his laptop to the kid. Bee quickly typed in his words, a little confused as to why it was set up in google translate, but trusting his friend.
“Done?” Bee nodded. Raf took his laptop back, pressing the audio button and the digital voice spoke.
‘From what I’ve learnt about cars, bots in vehicle mode weigh a bit more than just normal vehicles, most likely due to the Cybertronian parts.’ Raf handed Bee the laptop again while the rest of the room tried to predict where the Scout was going,
‘If our mass is accounting for the Cybertronian factors, that would leave the mass of the average vehicle.’
That got the cogs turning in everyone’s head. Optimus took it upon himself to voice the one question that formed for almost every party.
“So we just have a bunch of cars hidden somewhere in the base?”
Bee nodded violently, making the Prime concerned that his head might just snap clean off. He then ran away once again, before marching back in looking annoyed.
“We were supposed to follow you this time, weren’t we?” Arcee questioned, a slight tease in her voice. Bee pointed at the teen before pressing his index finger against what was assumed to be his nose, it wasn’t easy to tell due to the black face mask hiding away all of Bee’s features that were positioned below his eyes.
“That means yes,” Raf started, a soft laugh breaking up the sentence “It means ‘she knows’”
“Oh, because ‘nose’ sounds like ‘knows’” Ratchet mumbled to himself. Bulkhead and Miko still didn’t understand, but didn’t care enough to say anything. Everyone followed behind the small boy, a thin wave of excitement drifting above the group.
“Should we have told agent Fowler we’ve left?” Raf asked, dampening the mood a bit.
“We’ll hear him if there’s a problem, he’s rather loud.” Optimus groaned, making the team stop in place, eyes wide as they all stared at the Prime.
“I know, I know, this is weird for me too. Please, let us just carry on.”
After a final second of shocked stares, the people continued in their journey to the cars. The longer they walked for, the more they suspected Bee didn’t actually know where the cars were, or if they even existed, that was until he raised his hand, indicating he needed everyone to stop, before he went over to a box that was conveniently placed below the keypad for the room. The doors opened, revealing the treasure. 5 vehicles of the bots’ same size, colour and model.
Optimus placed his hand on Bee’s back, smiling warmly.
“Incredible job, Bumblebee.”
Bee diverted any eye contact, not wanting to make a fool of himself by beaming with pride.
“Pride is nothing to be ashamed of, little one.” Optimus laughed, gingerly lifting the child into his arms. Bee let out a frustrated huff, but snuggled into the Prime’s embrace, “now let’s take a look at these- woah.” The leader was taken aback by the size of the truck that he once was, “I never realised how large I was.”
Bee pulled on the collar of Optimus’s jacket, gesturing in the direction he wanted to go. The Autobot leader gladly fulfilled the scout’s request, walking until they came across the yellow camaro with black racing stripes.
The Prime couldn’t help but laugh as the child’s hands drummed against his chest in excitement.
“Even now I stand by my vehicle decision. I mean look at it. Clean and simple as all things should be.” Ratchet beamed, before walking over to his partner and the team’s scout.
Arcee hummed, looking over her alt form, her hand running along the handle.
“You don’t get to appreciate your vehicle until you’re looking at it again.” She grinned, sitting on the bike.
“I agree!” Bulkhead yelled, he was already in his car with Miko, so wasn’t sure how well everyone else could hear him.
“PRIME! WHERE ARE YOU NOW?!”
Optimus sighed at Fowler ruining the moment.
“I told you.”
“So we’re supposed to just… stay here?” Bulkhead asked.
Agent Fowler had told his superiors about the whole situation, the verdict was that there was nothing they could do but hope everything could go back to normal. Although the agents were advocating for the bots to be relocated for the moment, to allow them some time to live life as humans and make the best of a bad situation. Agent Fowler chose not to mention it, instead he claimed that the bots had to stay in the silo and all their necessities would be delivered to them.
Bee looked at Optimus, distress present in his features. The Prime tenderly took the Scout’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.
“Are you positive that there are no alternate options?” He questioned. Fowler felt a sudden nervousness, a slight fear that the man had overheard the whole conversation.
“What if they stay with me?” June suddenly offered.
“I’d have to call my superiors.” Fowler scoffed.
“Then do it.”
Agent Fowler would’ve protested more, but realised that he was arguing a losing case.
“Fine. Give me a moment.” He pulled out his phone, quickly glaring at the Prime, “and don’t move .”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He grumbled, rolling his eyes, deeply unamused by the human.
“I don’t think I could ever get used to a moody Optimus.” Jack stated,
“You’ll have to try, Jackson Darby.”
“Ooooh~ He full named you.” Miko taunted, punching Jack’s arm, making the boy recoil. Jack grunted, rubbing the sore spot, positive it was going to bruise.
“If Will says it’s okay, then we’re going to need to work out how to transport everyone there.” June pondered.
“ Ahem .” Miko gestured towards the inactive groundbridge.
“Absolutely not.” Ratchet declared, “You are already out of line by connecting it to your laptop.”
“Come on, Ratchet! It’s more criminal to have access to it and not use it!”
“No.” He looked down at the nagging teen, “Besides, as long as we don’t know what’s happened to us, the groundbridge could be very dangerous. We’ll have to drive out of here.”
“We can take the truck and the camaro.” Optimus suggested,
Bee eyed the Prime, not sure how he felt about driving his alt mode as a human . Rather than attempting to voice his uncertainty, he simply shrugged.
“Alright, I got an answer,” Fowler announced, strutting into the room, “You’re able to stay with the Darby’s, but there’s going to be some rules.”
Everyone waited silently for the agent to continue. Once the silence overstayed its welcome someone spoke up.
“Are you serious right now, Agent Fowler?.” Optimus’s voice was significantly harsher than it was in the morning. He crossed his arms to properly reflect his frustration.
“Right, the rules.” The man coughed, clearing his throat as he flicked through the notepad he had, “I have to check in on you every morning and every evening, without failure. For as long as you are human, you have to abide by social expectations, such as children going to school, adults going to work. Following tomorrow, to drive you will require a driver’s licence. Finally, you will have weekly medical checkups.”
The once bots didn’t seem even slightly phased by the rules, waiting for more.
“That’s it.” Fowler huffed.
“So a bunch of obvious rules, got it.” Bulkhead grumbled.
Bee kicked the back of Optimus’s seat, frustrated with the Prime.
“Bumblebee, stop it.” He warned, “I understand you’re upset, but if this behaviour continues you’re going to be in deep trouble.”
The Prime locked eyes with the scout in the rearview, giving him a wary look. Bee glared daggers at the man, but begrudgingly stopped, pulling his legs to his chest instead.
“Thank you.” he praised, allowing for the road to take his attention once more.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t let him go with Ratchet.” Fowler commented.
“Because I wanted company.” Optimus forced his tone to remain as polite and formal as possible, but couldn’t help the way his grip on the wheel tightened, his knuckles going white.
“Am I not enough company for you?.”
Optimus bit the inside of his cheek, trying to prevent himself from saying something rude.
The three vehicles had been on the road for no less than ten minutes.
The camaro was being driven by Ratchet, at the request of Bumblebee. Navigating from the passenger seat was June. And occupying the back seats were Bulkhead, Raf and Miko. Optimus was driving the truck with Bee in the seat behind him. In the ideal situation, his scout would be sitting in the passenger seat, but when Fowler insisted he would go with Optimus, Bee was booted to the back.
Then finally there was the motorbike, with Arcee in the front and Jack behind her, holding onto her waist with an iron grip.
"We're coming up to a left turn,” June announced through the talkie each vehicle had.
“Copy that.” Fowler replied, then switched off the microphone and turned to Optimus, “You’re actually a pretty good driver.”
“Thank you, Agent Fowler.” Although not entirely a compliment, Optimus chose to interpret it as one. The same could not be said for the child, who kicked the agent’s arm.
“Ah! OW!” Agent Fowler swiftly shifted to face the kid, his temper growing as he watched Bee laugh in silence, “You little brat-”
“Fowler,” Optimus growled, “I would recommend that you refrain from being rude to Bumblebee.”
“Are you threatening me, Prime?.”
“No.”
Not yet .
Ratchet felt so weird driving the camaro. But as much as there was discomfort, there was also something so soothing about it. The car was settled in a comfortable silence as Bulkhead and Miko had fallen asleep, with the bot leaning against the door and the girl leaning against him. Raf was staring out the window, watching as the plain stretched further than the average eye would allow. Oddly enough June was fairly quiet, only really speaking whenever her role as navigator called upon it. With the way the vehicle muted the outside environment and rolled smoothly along the dirt track as if it was made of tile, Ratchet found himself engulfed in the peace.
“Nurse Darby?” He asked, voice gentle as to not break the tranquil space.
“June is fine, Ratchet.” her tone mirrored Ratchet’s, cautious to not rile up the mood.
“Would it be alright if you contacted Optimus?”
June nodded, holding down the microphone button.
“June to Optimus. Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, Nurse Darby.”
Ratchet couldn’t help the smile that crossed his features when he heard his partner’s voice.
“How’s everything on your end, Prime?” Ratchet questioned, trying to make sure that once the conversation ended, the peace would remain.
“Let’s just say that I’m eagerly awaiting this trip to end.” There was an exhausted annoyance in the Prime’s voice, June and Ratchet both heard it. The two snagged a glance of concern at each other.
“It shouldn’t be too long, just another-”
“Fowler, leave him alone.”
Ratchet shifted in his seat, not liking all the scenarios he came up with that could prompt Optimus to say that. June noticed this, placing a comforting hand on Ratchet’s leg.
“Optimus, we’ve got, at most, five more minutes.”
“Thank Primus.” Optimus muttered, “How are you all doing?”
“Really well, actually.” June noted,
“Bulkhead and Miko have gone into recharge so it’s very quiet.” Ratchet quickly checked to make sure the two were still asleep, “And tell Bee that he made a very smart choice with this alt mode, it’s incredible.”
“Heh, couldn’t wait until after the drive to tell him that?”
Ratchet laughed, imagining just how excited the Scout got.
“Optimus, see those lights up ahead?”
“Yes, I do.”
“You’re going to want to turn right at it, then left on the fourth street along.”
“Will do, thank you Nurse Darby.”
June turned off the microphone, relaxing back in her seat with a low sigh.
“You know, you’re not all that bad. Bit of a pain in the backside, but you have redeeming traits.” She teased. Ratchet rolled his eyes,
“Same for you, June.”
She covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing too loud, settling back into the friendly silence once more.
As each person exited their respective vehicle, it was obvious how they felt about the trip. Arcee glared at Jack, wincing any time she started to move.
“He was holding onto me too tight!” She whined, “He should’ve gone with Optimus.”
“Ugh. He would’ve hated having been in the truck with Optimus.” Fowler complained, “He let his impudent child torment me the whole time.”
Bee rolled his eyes, flicking his hand in Fowler’s general direction, before walking over to Raf.
“Enough of the chatter, let’s go inside.” June announced, unlocking the door and walking inside.
“Just a minute!” Ratchet pulled Optimus back, gently grabbing the Prime’s face by his jaw, making sure not to hurt him, “Are you alright?”
“Mhm.” Optimus’s gaze drifted slightly, but returned back to the medic, “Fowler’s just been getting on my nerves. I wish you were with me in the truck instead of him.”
“I know.” Ratchet murmured, “But one of us had to drive the camaro for Bee’s sake.”
Optimus nodded, aware of the scout’s demands. The medic moved, wrapping his arms around the Prime’s neck. Optimus was quick to hug Ratchet back, feeling better already.
“Thank you.” he mumbled, making Ratchet chuckle.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Just being here is enough.”
“For the night we can set up the basement and tomorrow we can work on your actual sleeping arrangements.”
“Woo! Autobot sleepover!” Miko cheered, throwing her hands up into the air.
“I can’t stay the night. We have school tomorrow and my mamma would be mad if I stayed over.” Raf sighed. Bumblebee rubbed his friend’s back in a comforting manner, making the boy smile at him, “Thanks, Bee.”
Miko groaned,
“I was hoping you wouldn’t bring that up so I could pretend that I forgot about school.”
“Besides, we’re already accommodating five guests, I’m not risking extra unnecessary stress.” The nurse mentioned, “Miko, Raf, I can drive you home in half an hour. In the meantime would you mind going with Jack to collect blankets and pillows?”
The three kids nodded, running off to go find the desired materials.
“I bet it’ll be so weird for you to be living with the bots in the basement.” Raf laughed,
“Yeah but she’s really hot.” Jack responded, making his friends shoot him highly confused looks.
“Jack..” Miko got really serious, “Are you thirsting over Arcee right now?”
The eldest coughed, his face flushed.
“Shut up.” He then stormed up the stairs, Raf and Miko chasing after him.
“She’s like a million!” Miko called out, “Are you down so bad you want to date someone that’s ten times your age??”
“Actually sixty-two thousand, five hundred times his age.” Raf informed, before looking away awkwardly when Miko gave him a judgy look.
Ratchet picked up one of the pillows, inspecting it until it was snatched from his hands.
“Bumblebee, we’re supposed to be doing this together.”
Bee shook his head, waving his hand dismissively at the medic. Upstairs, Optimus was assisting June in the kitchen while Bulkhead, Arcee and Jack were relaxing, all three having given up on setting up downstairs after Bee whacked the frag out of them for ruining his pillow arrangement.
“I know you want things to be perfect-” Ratchet playfully rolled his eyes when Bee gave him a cheeky look, “Pun not intended- I know you want everything perfect, but it won’t last. We’re staying here, not creating a model room.”
The man sighed when he noticed the child ignored him. Ratchet then walked over to one of the blankets that was yet to be placed and held it close to his chest in a firm grip. It was barely a second after he did this that Bee tried to take the blanket from the adult, but Ratchet didn’t give it to him.
Initially he was going to just hold onto it until Bee gave up and moved on, but realised he had to change up the strategy when the child started getting angry and kind of aggressive.
“Bumblebee.”
Bee didn’t even acknowledge him, pulling on the soft fabric.
“Bumblebee.” Ratchet growled, lifting the blanket and the child attached.
Bee held onto the blanket tighter, but finally looked Ratchet in the eyes.
“Let go of the blanket.”
Bee shook his head, trying to pull it away from Ratchet.
“Don’t make me get Optimus.”
Bee’s eyes widened, quickly letting go of the fabric, landing on his feet. He focused on the cloth he just gave up, forcing himself to look, then walk away.
Ratchet grinned, satisfied that he won against the child, turning away to fold the blanket. That’s when Bee tackled him to the ground, snatching the blanket then sprinting up the stairs.
“BUMBLEBEE!”
Optimus walked out of the kitchen, looking at the three teens in the living room, then looking at the stairs that lead to the basement. Bee suddenly jumped out of it, using Optimus as cover, followed by the sound of a furious Ratchet storming up the stairs.
“Uh oh..” Bulkhead muttered, shooting up with Arcee and hiding behind a couch.
“Bee, you little afthole!”
“Ratchet, language.” Optimus said calmly, before pausing, staring at the red mark on Ratchet’s cheek, “What happened?”
“Bumblebee decided to tackle me when my back was turned to him because of a blanket .”
Optimus then stepped behind Bumblebee, forcing the child to face the consequences of his actions.
Bee looked at Optimus, betrayed, then looked back at the medic, immediately shaking under Ratchet's piercing gaze. Ratchet grabbed the blanket from Bee, slinging it over his forearm, suddenly extending his hand out to Bumblebee.
“Let’s go.”
Bee stared at Ratchet’s palm, then up at him, cautiously placing his hand on the medic’s. Ratchet then led Bee back down into the basement.
Jack looked horrified as the two disappeared down the staircase. He turned to the two hiding teens, worry present on his features.
“What’s Ratchet gonna do to him? Should we be worried?” He asked in a panic.
Bulkhead and Arcee shared a look, then started giggling.
“No, no. Bee’s going to be fine.” Bulkhead reassured, “We just didn’t want to be in the way of an angry Ratchet.”
“Unlike Bee, we don’t have angry medic immunity.” Arcee hummed.
“DINNER!” June screamed, making Optimus flinch.
“Nurse Darby, was that really necessary?” the Prime sighed.
“You’ll get used to it.” She dismissed, putting the plates down on the table. Optimus’s urge to punch someone got stronger.
“For your own safety, let’s hope that is true.” He grunted, turning away from the lady.
The bots and Jack came in shortly after June called for them, each finding a seat at the table.
Once everyone was seated, Optimus found his own place beside Bumblebee.
“So Nurse Darby-”
“June.” She quickly corrected, to which Optimus nodded,
“June told me that, as humans, we’re required to eat a minimum of three meals a day.”
“What?.” Arcee looked down at the food, “This? Three times a day ?”
“Not this meal exactly, ‘cee, but just food in general.” Jack explained, slightly amused by the way Arcee misinterpreted it. She nodded, though still perplexed at the amount of times they’re going to be required to eat.
Bumblebee stared down at the plate, unsure of how to even begin with eating, let alone three times a day. He looked up at Optimus, nudging him slightly to get his attention.
The Prime looked down at him, laughing softly as he handed the child the fork. Bee then looked across the table at June and Jack, copying their actions of stabbing anywhere on the plate, but paused.
What do I do now? He mentally asked himself, realising that the mask was acting as a barrier to eat.
“Bee, you're going to need to take off your mask,” Jack pointed out, going back to inhaling his own food. Hearing that made Bee drop the fork and get out of his chair, immediately leaving the room.
“Bumblebee?” Optimus got up, following after the child. He went down into the basement, trying not to get distracted by the amazing job Ratchet and Bee had done with dressing up the room. He went over to the corner of the room where Bee sat, legs drawn up to his chest, head resting on his knees. Optimus knelt before the upset scout.
“Little one, what’s wrong?” He checked over his scout, his hand hovering above the child’s head, now aware that stroking his head would feel different from stroking his helm. Gently, he ran his hand through Bee’s hair, surprised by the texture, “Your hair is very soft.”
Bee leant into the contact, closing his eyes.
Optimus looked down smiling slightly, but still trying to work out why his scout had left the table. He closed his eyes, replaying the evening’s events.
“The mask..” He muttered, his eyes snapping open, “You don’t want to take off your mask.”
Bee nodded, trying to move away from Optimus’s embrace. The Prime let him, sitting back on his heels, watching his scout curl in on himself.
“Do you want me to leave you alone for a while?” He offered. His chest hurt as Bee nodded, but he respected the child’s wishes, getting up, “When you’re ready, come upstairs.”
Optimus walked back into the dining room, sitting back in his seat, not saying anything so that the conversation that already occupied the space could continue. Ratchet leant over to the Prime, whispering to him.
“What happened?”
“The mask,” Optimus whispered back, “He doesn’t want to take it off.”
“Oh.. Right..” Ratchet replied, trying to think of a solution.
“Let’s discuss this later. Don’t want to ruin the mood.”
Ratchet then nodded.
Bee didn’t end up coming back upstairs, but at 10:30 at night, if he was staying downstairs to be alone or if he just didn’t feel like going back upstairs it didn’t matter because all the bots were downstairs now.
“So we’re supposed to change out of these clothes into these clothes.” Optimus explained, holding up the pile of pyjamas that June had given him.
“Clothing?” Arcee paused, looking down, “These are customisable?!”
Bee scrunched up his nose, not liking the idea that if clothing was customisable, but the kids were always wearing the same outfits, then they’ve either got multiple copies of one outfit or came to the base in very dirty clothes.
“Ew.” Bulkhead huffed, having the same thoughts as Bee.
Ratchet scoffed, then got up, walking over to an ominous door.
“Careful Ratchet, we don’t know what’s behind that!” Bulkhead warned. The medic rolled his eyes, opening the door.
“Yes we do. It’s a bathroom.” Luckily for all the bots, they know what a bathroom was and how everything inside it worked. Although it had taken quite a bit of scarring research to find out how to use it.
“June suggested we each have a shower and get cleaned up.” Ratchet mentioned, walking into the room and attaching laminated instructions to different utilities.
While Optimus was having a shower the others inspected the clothes they were given and the bathroom bag. One thing that was both incredibly helpful and undeniably suspicious was the towels June had given them. Each towel had a colour that matched a colour from each bots’ colour palette.
“Why did June have these?” Arcee mumbled, inspecting her blue towel, “I understand why she’d have blue and blank towels, but Green? Red?? ORANGE?!”
“What’s wrong with Orange?.” Ratchet tested, making Arcee jump.
“Nothing! It’s a beautiful colour! You’re beautiful. Very pretty!”
“Shut up, kiss aft.” Ratchet moved away from Arcee, sitting beside Bumblebee instead, handing him a box full of black masks, “June said that it would be wise for you to change your mask regularly.”
Bee nodded, picking up a notepad and writing in it, handing it to Ratchet.
‘I’m sorry for being so difficult today.’
Ratchet put the paper down, pulling Bee into a tight hug.
“Today we were turned human and because of that you completely lost your ability to verbally communicate. How you’ve acted all day is incredibly tame compared to the way anyone else in your position would have acted.”
Bee cuddled close to the medic, nodding along to what he said.
Bulkhead wrapped his arms around one of the many pillows.
“As weird as this all is, I see why humans like to stay in bed.” He buried his head deep within the memory foam, “It’s cosy-” He was then cut off by something hitting his face.
“Shut up, some of us are trying to sleep!” From the darkness came the hushed but furious voice.
“Arcee, no need to be so aggressive.” Was the groggy reply from Optimus, too tired to care about the hypocrisy of his statement.
The femme huffed, violently tossing over, yanking one of the blankets with her.
Bee and Ratchet were already fast asleep, the latter having coaxed the former with the promise that he would sleep too and would be there if the child awoke.
Optimus positioned himself beside Ratchet, the medic now between the two. It wasn’t long before the Prime drifted into a peaceful sleep.
One moment he was sitting by the water’s edge, watching the stream flow past him. The gentle breeze brushed against his metal skin. Moments like these were rare, but much appreciated by the Prime. Everything about it, the temperature, the sensation, the calming sounds, everything made the experience feel like a dream.
Because it was.
The Prime slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with darkness. He took a deep breath, rolling onto his back, waiting for his eyes to adjust. His head fell to the side, smiling when he saw different shapes standing out against the abyss, meaning they were brighter colours.
Optimus propped himself up, looking down at the medic,
“Ratchet, are you awake?”
When no reply came, the Prime left the man to sleep. He looked around the room, trying to determine what each colour indicated. Only once he settled on where Bulkhead and Arcee were, did he start to feel concerned about where the youngest was.
Bee was wearing quite dull colours, but he still should’ve stood out.
That’s when the bathroom door opened.
“Why didn’t you turn on the light?” Optimus whispered when Bumblebee got back onto the makeshift bed. The child simply shrugged, making the Prime frown, “Are you alright?”
Bee nodded, lying back down beside Ratchet.
Prime sat up a little more, wrapping his arms around Bee and hoisting him into his lap.
Bee squeaked, his eyes wide, staring at the older man. Optimus held Bee close to his chest, lying back down.
“Comfortable?” He whispered, smiling when the child slowly nodded, a tight hold on the fabric that covered the Prime’s chest, “I promise you, you won’t get any nightmares while I’m here.”
Bee lifted his head, looking incredibly shocked, unsure of how the Prime had known.
“I’ve always been able to tell when you have nightmares, little one.” He hummed, pulling the blanket up to the scout’s shoulders. His hand settled on the child’s back.
Bee sighed, comforted by the steady drum of Optimus’s heart and the warmth from the mentor. His eyes got heavy when the Prime traced circles on his back. Right before he fell asleep once again, he heard Optimus quietly laugh,
“Works every time.”