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"Prowl, over here!" Optimus called out, Prowl swiftly dodged another electric blast.
Today was supposed to be a calm day, nothing was supposed to happen. And yet, there was the Autobot team fighting Nanosec, who decided to put up his weird energy-draining machines around the city. He was also accompanied by the other speed-manipulator, Slo-Mo.
"We need to cut off the generators, that way he won't have energy to strike with." Prowl declared, he got out his shuriken-hubcaps and aimed for the thick wires connected to the elevation that the defensive metal towers stood. The tower let out another strike of electricity on the hubcap, reflecting it in the opposite direction. Before it even hit the ground, Nanosec snatched it and spun it in his hand, making it act as a saw. He charged at the two again.
The sky grumbled, grey clouds becoming darker. The storm was approaching, making the whole situation more urgent with each minute. Metal towers made to attract and utilize electricity in the middle of the city was not a great idea.
At one point, Bumblebee managed to get away from the main fight. He snuck around the bulidings and climbed up the tower on one of them. This one was bigger than the rest, it also had a control panel at the top. His plan was to get on it and cut off the controls from there. He was almost at the top...
"Not so fast!" Slo-Mo was right at the bottom, pointing her slow-time-machine thing at him. Bee barely dodged the shots, maneuvering on the outliering support beams of the tower. Slo-Mo aimed and shot again, but this time the beam was blocked by Ratchet who threw a metal container in its way. It stopped mid air, blocking the vision of Bee to Slo-Mo. She returned her focus to Nanosec and the other Autobots.
Bee finished climbing up and was standing over the control panel. There was more thundering from above, he'd have to act fast. And he did, the obvious power-off button sat right in the middle. He slammed it down and the sound of machinery powering down was present.
"Guys! I got it!" He exclaimed, "GREAT! NOW GET DOWN FROM THERE!" He heard Optimus shout. He was about to step back from the machinery-
A bright flash accompanied by a loud crack appeared right before his faceplate.
"BUMBLEBEE!" A lightning struck the platform Bee was on, next thing they saw was Bumblebee falling down the tower, hitting almost every support beam and ledge in the way before finally plummeting on the ground level.
All he saw was darkness, was he offline? He remembered being almost-struck by lightining.
He heard familiar voices, they sounded worried. He tried to open his optics, but there still was darkness.
Bumblebee groaned and the voices quieted down. "Hello?" he asked weakly.
"He's awake!" Sari's voice seemed louder than usual, "Welcome back, glad to see you're still functional." Ratchet spoke in his gravelly vox.
"You took quite the tumble after that lightning struck." Prowl explained, "We were worried!" Sari added. "How are you feeling?" Bee heard Bulkhead ask.
Bee sat up on the bed, expression unclear. "Where am I? Why it is so dark?" He asked, to everyone's confusion. "You're in medbay- what do you mean 'dark'?" Optimus inquired, "The lights are all on."
Bee's statement brought Ratchet's attention quickly. He stopped whatever he was typing on the med-station's console and walked over to the berth Bee was on.
He put his servo on his shoulder, Bee looked dezoriented. Upon closed look- his optics were greyish, almost clouded. The old medic's usual scowl turned more into worry, he brough up his other servo up and waved it in front of Bee faceplate.
No reaction.
"What's wrong, Ratchet?" Sari quaked, she used the key on him after he fell, did something go wrong? "I don't know kid, I'd have to take a look inside manually. Everyone, out the medbay." Ratchet ordered.
Bee heard pedesteps, "Wh- what is going on? Where is everyone??" he panicked, was he gonna offline??
It took a bit for Ratchet to calm him down and put him in temporary stasis so he could work.
Around 20 minutes passed and Ratched came out of Medbay to inform the rest of the group about the situation.
"Is he okay? What's wrong? He's gonna be fine, right??" Sari bombarded him with question about Bee's status until Ratchet spoke up. "He's perfectly functional, however, it looks like when the lightning struck, a part in his processor responsible for image input short-circuted and burned."
"Is he gonna be okay?" Bulkhead asked worriedly, "It's an easy fix but there's nothing I can salvage from that piece. I could get a replacement, but..." Ratchet trailed off.
"'But'??" Sari urged. "Those kind of parts are very difficult to get, it might take a while before I even find one that fits. Until then, he'd have to function without vision." He explained.
While Ratchet was explained few other things to the rest, Sari snuck past him back into medbay. Bee was sitting in the same spot, though the cables weren't plugged into his helm anymore.
Sari walked closer, Bumblebee looked sad- his optics were all grey now. No color. Despite not being able to see, his helm was tilted down, as if to look at the floor.
"Bee?" Sari called out quietly, Bee perked up. He looked around as to try to find the source of the sound. He stopped and looked ahead when Sari climbed on the medberth and held his servo. "Don't worry Bee, it's gonna be okay." She soothed him.
Later Prowl led him back to his room to recharge. Bee didn't even know if he was recharging or not, everything was just- black.
The following days were hard, Bee was put off-duty until he was fixed, meaning he'd be sitting around in base all day. Even tho he'd been living in the plant for few earth years now, walking around the place with no visual reference was difficult. He'd constantly bump into walls and trip on random objects, the others often had to lead him to and back from his room and hand him stuff he asked.
His first day after the accident was certainly unlucky; he tripped on his mess in the room multiple times and mistakenly made his oil incredibly spicy instead of sweet. The others were having trouble getting used to him being blind too. Everytime someone slipped and said something like "Come look at this!" his evergon would boil and spark sink. It wasn't fun...
It was already a week since the accident, Bee was sitting on the berth in his room- now that he was blind it was difficult to move around in there, Prowl and Sari had helped him clean it up.
Said ninjabot just knocked on his door and entered, "Morning Bumblebee." Prowl greeted with oddly happy tone.
"Hey." Was all he got in response, Bee was holding one of the plushes Sari gave him few months back. The smile that was always on his faceplace still not present.
He heard Prowl walk and sit on the berth beside him, "Are you gonna sit in your room all the time now?" Bee scoffed, it was such a stupid question. "Well, there's nothing else I can now, is there?" He hissed. Why was Prowl out of all bots bothering him? He thought Prowl would be grateful that Bee wasn't bothering him while he meditates now. Was it to get back for all the times he's been bothered by Bee?
"Just because you lost sight does not mean there's nothing you can do without it." Prowl spoke. "I was thinking we could go somewhere-"
"Where? I can't even walk around base without tripping over random stuff!" Bee barked back, how was he supposed to drive when he couldn't even see what was right in front of his faceplate?!
"Look, I know you're pessimistic about this whole situation, but I think it could help you if you came with me." Prowl's calm voice somehow soothed Bee's nerves, he sighed. "Fine." It's not like he had something else to do, so why not?
Even tho it looked almost impossible for Bee to not get lost on the road, Prowl had it figured out. Bee could still read his GPS to tell where he was and with having Prowl's signal on it he could easily follow him. They drove awfully slow so Bee wouldn't crash.
At one point, Prowl asked him to turn off the GPS and keep driving. Soon he said to slow down and stop, Bee heard him transform and he did too.
"Okay, why are we wherever we are?" Bee asked, putting his servos on his hips. "I learned earlier that some of earth's animals don't have a sense of vision at all. They use smell and hearing as well as touch to know where they are and where to go." The ninjabot explained, "I was thinking you could try to do the same." Maybe Bee didn't see it, but he could most definitelly hear the smile in Prowl's voice.
"Really?" Bee was unenthusiastic about the whole trip already and now this? "Come on, it won't hurt to try." Prowl argued. "Now focus- listen in to your surroundings and try to guess where we are."
Bee sighed and did what Prowl suggested.
He closed his optics- not that it mattered really- and listened in. He heard running water, the splashing was more echo-y to the left. The more he listened the more he heard- there was a sound of tires in the distance, wind rustling in the leaves. He slowly rubed his pede on the ground- gravel, the little rocks clicked against one another and dug up into the tire on his ankle.
Bee was completely focused on his surroundings, "Detroit river- near the bridge?" he guessed. Prowl smiled. "Correct." Maybe this idea was not entirely stupid...
The two drove into a couple more places before heading back to the plant. The next day when Prowl woke up from recharge, Bee was already waiting for him in the kitchen, sipping on his oil- he has learned to taste the ingredients before dumping them in the cube.
Before the ninjabot could even say anything Bee spoke. "358 kliks."
"What?" That caught him off-guard, "I waited 358 kliks for you to finally wake up." Bee explained, "Get your oil and let's go." he urged.
After initial confusion Prowl smiled, at least Bee wasn't sulking around anymore.
In the next days Bee was becoming more used to having no vision, one time his team caught him doing pede-to-pede steps actoss the base and counting how mamy steps is each room. He had the layout of the base in his digit, he even started going outside to the parking lot. Sari gave him a stick for that- not just any stick but apparently, it was a cane that blind humans use, but larger. And foldable so it can fit in his subspace easily. He did end up smacking Bossbot in the stabilizers while learning to walk with it few times.
Bulkhead managed to get Bee to paint with him. His big friend guided his servos to where the canvas and each can of paint were. Bee, of course, couldn't see the actual colors or the canvas so he just had to guess where on it he was painting. Bulkhead would tell him what colors were in the cans, but sometimes he didn't, letting Bee go on an abstract rampage. Even Sari and Bulkhead tried to do it blind, they'd always say how cool Bee's pieces looked and tried to describe them the best they could. Bee wished Ratchet would get that replacement part soon so he could see those paintings.
Sari also came up with a game called "What is this thing", it was mostly Sari and Bulkhead that played with Bee. They would hand him different objects to touch and guess what they were based on the shape and texture. He also started listening to some movies with dubbings for blind people, he never thought he'd be happy to have an unenthusiastic voice telling him what happens on the scene.
Despite still being bummed out about not being able to do much, things started to be better for him.
Until one night came...
Bee has successfully snuck out of his room and outside to the parking lot. It was nearing autumn, the nights were starting to get colder.
He was nervous, whenever he was outside base it was with Prowl or someone else. This was the first time he would drive outside on his own. And if he got lost he couldn't call for help.
Still, he had to... it's been too long. He took a deep vent, transformed and paid every bit of his attention to his GPS. Hopefully, he remembered where each turn was.
Blitzwing waited at the meet up warehouse. He checked his chronometer- it was 1am earth time. He growled.
Bumblebee has not shown up to their meetings in three weeks. At first Blitzwing was worried if something was wrong, he wasn't present in the Autobot-Decepticon encounters at all. But then he saw him with the other bot- Prowl, was it?- at the docks the other day, and then another day, so clearly he was fine! Why wasn't he showing up then?!
Fiery anger tickled his mind as he waited. He thought of all the different non-violent ways he could make that bug explain everything on his knees...
His scheming was interrupted by a car engine. Soon he saw a small yellow car roll onto the sandy clearing in front of the warehouse and stop.
Blitzwing crossed his arms and decided to give him the silent treatment.
Nanokliks passed and there was just silence. Bee didn't say anything nor transform, he just sat there in his alt mode.
After a whole klik of Blitzwing glaring at the car, he decided enough was enough, "Vell? Are jou gonna transform?" He hissed.
"Ah- Blitzwing! Hi! Yes, sorry-" Bee stuttered visibly being caught off-guard. He quickly tranformed and apologized, "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so late." Bee wasn't even looking him in the optic, instead he was facing the warehouse. "I'm over here bug!" He barked, making Bee jump and quickly turn in his direction and apologize again.
There was something odd about him tonight, Blitzwing didn't know why. He seemed... lost? He couldn't quite place it. There was a famous whirr of his faceplates spinning and a cold voice spoke up. "Is everyzhing alright?" Despite being annoyed, he still was worried. He made his way towards the minibot, "Uh- y-yeah, I'm fine, just-" Bee felt the heavy pedesteps come towards him, he didn't even know why he was feeling scared- Blitzwing would never hurt him!
The Decepticon knelt down and looked at Bumblebee. When Bee didn't look up at him, he put his digit under Bee's chin to make him look up at him.
His anger was almost completely replaced by a mix of worry and confusion.
Bumblebee's optics were different. His pupils were unfocused, almost blurry. They were also wider than usual. But the biggest and most important detail was that instead of the blue, there was grey. Sad color of concrete replaced the pretty azure he always saw and adored.
"Hummel,.. vhat happened to jour optics?" Blitzwing asked, his tone uncertain. This wasn't what he expected. More so was the answer Bee gave him. "Oh, I can't see anything."
"I had an accident on the emergency call a month ago and a part of my processor got fried-" What? "-but don't worry! It's not serious! Ratchet just needs to install a replacement and I'm good! It's taking him a while to get it though..." Bee explained, his oddly happy tone faltered at the last part.
Blitzwing was silent. Bumblebee- couldn't see? He had an accident?? His processor got fried?! Blitzwing couldn't wrap his own processor around it. Why- how- who- why?! What even happened?!
"Blitz?" Bumblebee's voice broke him out of the trance. Blitzwing hesitanly answered, "I'm sorry zhis happened to jou, hummel..." There was sadness in his voice and Bee could tell he was upset. And if he could see, he'd notice the deep sad scowl on his blue faceplate.
"Yeah, it sucks... anywho, let's get inside." Bee said, already moving to walk towards the warehouse- but before he could take the first step, he was scooped up into Blitzwing's arms.
"H-hey! What are you doing??" Bee stammered, having lost his sense of balance before gripping to the nearest solid surface- which happened to be Blitzwing's shoulder attachment. "I can still walk on my own, ya know!"
Bee felt Blitzwing move, "As hilarious as it vould be to vatch jou valk into a vall, I don't vant it to happen." Blitzwing joked, concern still present in his voice. He entered the warehouse and headed for the cuddle spot. He settled down on the pile of pillows and fabric and let Bee get comfortable in his arms. Bee sighed, at last he was with Blitzwing, he let the comfort of being with his sparkmate take over as he snuggled close.
Blitzwing listened as Bee explained what happened and what he's learned in the past days they didn't see each other, "It's really weird, like- I can hear things I wouldn't usually notice." Bee said.
"It's natural, jou lost one of zhe senses so zhe ozhers got sharper." Blitz commented.
Silence fell over the two of them, Bumblebee decided to sink into his beloved's embrace further. He placed his helm on the cockpit and listened. Blitzwing's sparkbeat was much louder than any of the times he'd listened to it. Soft crackles and even pulsing brought a sense of calmness and safety to him. Everything about Blitzwing did, actually. His giant frame, his voice, the way he would hold him, the way he talked to him, the strong arms capable of decapitating the toughest of mechs with one servo, the large weaponry he once feared, now a sight of protection. A fortress that could not be infiltrated no matter what. He loved Blitzwing, and Blitzwing loved him.
Bee didn't notice when he started trailing his digits over the outlines of Blitzwing's cockpit; he touched the glass, felt the edges of the Decepticon insignia. He moved his servos up his shoulders, feeling the bottom edges of the heavy shoulder attachments. If Blitzwing noticed, he didn't say anything. He just let his little hummel touch him, it was kind of soothing.
Bee moved his digits to Blitzwing's collar piece, then to his neck. He felt every little fiber and traced the energon lines that laid beneath the exposed mesh of his protoform. He traced one servo up Blitzwing's helm and rubbed his thumb on the goggle-like details on it. With the other servo, he felt the edge on Blitzwing's helm and traced the outlines of his monocle. He traced the sharp lines of Blitzwing's face and rested both his servos on his cheeks. Slowly, he gently pulled Blitzwing forward and kissed him.
When they parted, Bee rested his forehelm against Blitzwing's, optics closed. "I missed you." He confessed and Blitzwing was quick to reply. "I missed jou too."
Later Bee told Blitzwing about other stuff that happened and the game Sari came up with- they played a round of that, but instead of objects, Bee was touching Blitzwing's faces to guess which one was fronting. Despite the initial sadness, the two had a good time. Eventually, Bee had to leave. Blitzwing was worried how his hummel was gonna get back, but Bee explained that he just has to stick to the GPS and drive slow- that's how he came all the way out here, after all. Still, Blitzwing offered to drop him off somewhere in the city, which Bumblebee accepted. They landed in one of the parks and Blitzwing couldn't help but feel anxious as he watched Bee slowly drive off.
And so, more weeks has passed and Bumblebee still had no vision. Ratchet kept promising he'd find that part soon, but "soon" was never the case. Bee might have been trying to keep the positive attitude recently, though he couldn't help but wonder; Will he ever get to see things again? Was this how it was gonna be? Was he gonna weigh his team down if he stayed blind? Will he just be a useless kind of pet to them?
Each of these questions and many more plagued Bumblebee's mind, he didn't wanna be useless- and the fact that Sentinel has decided to pay them a visit the other day was not helping at all. He could practically feel the mech looking at him disgusted. "How could he be even more of a problem?" Bee guessed what Sentinel thought. At least the Jettwins and Jazz were somewhat respectful.
Meeting with Blitzwing was the only thing that cheered him up a bit. Blitz tried his best to come up with various activities and topics to talk about. Still... the intrusive sad thoughts made their way into Bee's processor. What if Blitzwing got tired? What if he didn't want a sparkmate that couldn't see a thing? Would he leave if Bee would be blind forever? One time he stated his worries, but Blitzwing was quick to react and deny everything. He was needed and loved, no matter what. "Even if jou stay blind, I vill still love jou. Ve'll find a vay, love. Ve always do." Blitzwing said and Bee cried into his hug.
Blitz was right, things will be okay. Even if he did stay blind forever.
'Another day, another challange.' Bee thought as he got up from his berth. It was near 5 months since he was blinded. Things he struggled with in the first few weeks felt like a routine to him now; he got up, made his oil and used the stick to gently move and guide himself around and outside the plant. Ratchet was out the base- today was this week's supply shipment day, so he got up way earlier than usual to go take it. The other bots woke up and went on about their day when he came back around noon.
When Ratchet did come back though, he was unusually happy. He and Optimus got to work with checking and organizing the big crates.
In the meantime, Bee, Sari, Prowl and Bulkhead were playing the Blind Man's Bluff, with Bee being the seeker of course. He already caught Bulkhead, who was sitting on the couch now- poor mech didn't really know how to move quietly. Bee was stalking the main room, listening in to any sound his friends would make. Sari tried her best to not laugh and give her spot away, and you would think she did but no- Prowl, despite being trained in the arts of grace and stealth, has knocked a can off the counter he was sitting on by accident.
Bee immediately walked over to check that out, he tried to escape onto the higher shelf but Bee managed to latch onto his wheel and stopped him. "Ahah!! Not so stealthy now, huh?" Prowl tried to break free but couldn't, Bee's digits brushed over the sensitive part of his wheel and he gave up while holding in the giggles.
"Alright, you got me." Prowl admitted. Before he could walk over and sit with Bulkhead on the couch, Ratchet entered the room.
"What's happening here?" he asked, "We're playing Blind Man's Bluff!" Sari cheered, not long after she said that Bee picked her up from behind the random barrels there. She gave away her spot... damn.
"You're really bad at this, huh?" Bee teased, he set down Sari on the floor and turned to Ratchet. "Ya need something, Docbot?"
"Not really, but I do carry good news for ya." Ratchet replied, a tiny smile cracked on his faceplate. "The part I need to finish your repair has finally arrived. I checked ahead and it should match with your systems without any problems."
That- woah, Bee froze. Did he heard that right? He couldn't possibly have misheard with better hearing, right?
"Bee's gonna see again?!" Sari beamed and so did the others. "That is very good news, right Bumblebee?" Prowl put him servo on Bee's shoulder. Bee blinked out of the shock and answered. "Y-Yeah! VERY good! AWESOME!!" He laughed- he's gonna see again!
"Come into medbay when you're ready so I can install it." With that Ratchet returned to his workstation. The other bots present gathered around Bee, they were happy for him. Bee was happy of course, but he was also nervous. He got used to being sightless by now, is he gonna be okay once he gets it back? Will it really work though? Would it possibly create more problems for him?
The others stayed with him for a while, telling him it's gonna be okay and the there's nothing to be worried about, Ratchet was the best mechanic known to Cybertron after all, he knows what to do.
Bumblebee build up the courage to finally step into medbay and report ready for the procedure.
Around half an hour has passed and the others were waiting for Bumblebee to wake up from stasis. Ratchet was typing on the console beside the medberth, adjusting some things in Bee's system.
All attention was directed at Bee once he hummed and opened his optics. His expression unclear, he glanced around then sat up. "Give him a moment to adjust." Ratchet remarked before Sari could speak. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly.
The scout blinked a couple of times and looked all around, optics wide. As he looked, his faceplate lit up and smile grew until he was laughing. "I CAN SEE AGAIN!!"
The worry and tension lifted from the group, as Bee cheered. "I can see you! And you! Everything! I can see!!" At one point coolant started leaking from his optics. All of the team was glad to see Bumblebee so happy again.
Blitzwing was flying to the meet-up spot, another night another meeting. He was going slower so that he wouldn't have to wait for his love too long. He landed on the small clearing at the warehouse and to his surprise, Bee was already waiting for him. He walked over to the small bot, holding something in his servo. "I did not expect jou to be here so soon."
"Yeah, I know the way here like the back of my servo." He replied, another odd thing was that Bee had his optics closed. Not that it mattered, really. Blitzwing knelt down and hugged the minibot, "It's good to see jou again." he spoke softly. Bee giggled and opened his optics-
"Well, it's good to see you again too." Bee spoke, joy radiating from his expression. Blitzwing's optic widened, Bee's optics were blue- "Awwh you brought me flowers? How sweet of you!" The scout beamed as he took the bouquet of many different flowers in all shapes and colors from Blitzwing's servo. Truly a beautiful sight...
"Vait, jou-" Blitz began but was cut off by Bumblebee rejoicing. "I CAN SEE AGAIN!"
The smile never went away from Bee's faceplate. He looked around the warehouse and inspected everything that caught his attention. He cherished the bouquet Blitzwing gave him- even if Blitz's original idea was to play the guessing game with them, he kept his intake shut. Bee was happy, and that's all that mattered.
The two spend the night chatting abour things and cuddling. Eventually Blitzwing noticed Bee staring at him while he ranted about what Lugnut did again. Bee had this dreamy gaze set on his faceplate and was intently watching Blitz. "Is somezhing vrong?" Blitzwing asked and Bee blinked, "No, just- I kinda forgot how handsome you were..." He confessed. Primus, did Blitzwing's frame heat up in that moment.
The rest of the night was filled with giggles, hugs, teasing and rather loud kissing. Bee could not have been happier.