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A lot of crazy things have happened to Bumblebee since he and the space bridge repair crew he got saddled with found the Allspark. Seriously, they find one special rock then suddenly they’re crashed on a distant planet fighting the Decepticons led by the Megatron. But! A lot of great things have happened to him too! He befriended a super cool human child named Sari, the repair crew he crashed with have become bots he can fight the Decepticons with, and they’re heroes of Detroit!
When he’s not being a hero though, his preferred pastime is playing video games. Which he is doing today as he does most days. You know, the usual.
“I swear this B button is fragging broken!”, Bumblebee yells out, the frustration beginning to make his faceplates flush energon pink.
Or at least it would be “the usual” if he wasn’t losing!
Optimus turns away from the terminal of Teletraan-1 to shoot Bumblebee a reprimanding glare, “Language, Bee.”
The yellow minibot waves his servo for a second before going back to the game. He knows Bossbot will get huffy if he doesn’t respond in some way, but he needs to focus on the game here!
“Only bad players blame the controller Bee!”, Sari said with, frankly, a far too smug look.
Ohh, Bee wanted to shoot his own comeback so badly, but he needed to focus! As the match of the stellar cycle continued, Bulkhead walked in using a tarp to wash off the paint from his latest project.
The green bot looked over, “Hey guys! Who’s winning?”
Sari quickly looked back to give Bulkhead a smirk before returning her focus to the game, “Yours truly! I’m kicking Bee’s skidplate!”
“Woo! Way to go, Sari!” Bulkhead cheered. Only for him to chuckle nervously when Bee shoots a glare at the large bot.
Bulkhead holds his servos up placatingly, “Game’s not over yet, of course. Keep at it little buddy!”
Bumblebee returns to the game with a huff. He’s mostly gotten used to Bulk calling him “little buddy”, but for some reason the nickname currently rankles almost as bad as when Bulk first started calling him that.
(He’s ignoring it, honestly. It’s not like the nickname still actually bothers him. He has to focus!)
Then the team medic, Ratchet, walks in looking grumpier than usual. He was rubbing his helm. Not long after the medic walked in, Prowl walked in too. He also looked annoyed.
(Bee was pretty sure he could pick up annoyance despite the cyberninja’s tendency to give very little away. It made him pretty hard to read, but he’s annoyed Prowl so often he’s pretty sure he knows when the black and gold bot is fed up. Especially when that pointed, disapproving glare is directed at him.)
“Why is that game so fragging loud?! Can’t you both turn it down?!,” Ratchet yelled.
“Agreed,” Prowl said much more calmly.
Bee shook his helm before responding, “No way! I’m not messing up my combo to just turn the game down!”
Can everyone stop interrupting my focus here?! It’s not like I already suck at focusing as it is or anything! Also, Optimus, don’t think I didn’t notice you not telling Ratchet off for his language!
(Has Bossbot tried to stop the medic in the past only for the medic to never heed his reprimands? Yes. Does Bee care right now? Not really!)
Lost in his own thoughts, he is only able to focus back on the game in time to see Sari’s character land the finishing blow on his character. He lost.
The young girl starts jumping up and down before cheering, “OH YEAH! Bow down before the queen of Super Epic Ninja Fight Force 3!”
“Good job, Sari!,” Bulkhead says while clapping his servos.
Prowl silently walks over to turn the game off while Sari is celebrating and Bee is mourning with his helm in his servos. The cyberninja grabs the remote, lowers the volume, and changes the TV over to one of his documentaries.
“At least I don’t have to listen to that racket anymore,” Ratchet grumbles.
“Now we can watch something that could actually teach you two something,” Prowl says before quickly moving the remote out of Bumblebee’s reach.
“Hey there’s plenty to learn from Super Epic Ninja Fight Force 3!” the minibot grounds out while still trying to grab the remote.
The ninjabot just looks at him plainly before stating, “Bumblebee I have never seen any move from that game used in an actual fight in real life.”
Sari was already sitting on the other side of Prowl looking quite unimpressed by whatever nature channel was turned on. Bee sits with a huff, giving up on the remote. The nerve of this bot! It wasn’t his fault he preferred video games over these boring documentaries! Nature was boring and that was all these documentaries were about! They just spend forever talking about some plant or animal! Nothing in these things have ever caught his attent-
“-day’s episode we will talk about the life and times of the bumblebee!”
Suddenly Bee found himself much more interested in what was on the screen. In fact, all of the bots were now focused on the TV with various looks of confusion. Sari was the only one that still looked bored.
“Turn it up,” Bumblebee says, slightly shaking the ninjabot. Prowl does while Sari looks over at him confused. Her confusion only increasing seeing the other three Autobots standing behind the couch watching too.
Bee wasn’t sure what he was feeling looking at footage of a black and yellow insect that apparently lives on earth and was called a bumblebee.
Of course, it’s just some weak, little bug
, but it kind of reminded him of a-
Optimus interrupts Bee’s thought and unintentionally completes it by saying, “You know those bumblebees look a lot like circuitbees.”
“Yeah! These guys are way fluffier though,” Bulkhead agrees, nodding.
Sari looks around at the bots before asking, “What’s a circuitbee?”
Prowl turns to her and responds, “They are insectoid creatures on Cybertron that are known to shock Cybertronians with their stingers. Though, a similar species called waspinators are known to be more aggressive and have stronger stings.
The human girl looks up thinking before saying, “That pretty much sounds like bees and wasps here on Earth.”
Seriously there's Earth waspinators here too?! Why is it a constant that they’re just better than bees too?!
Bee shakes his helm to clear his thoughts. He comes back into focus just in time to hear Sari ask, “But wait if you guys don’t have bumblebees, then why is that Bumblebee’s name?
Bee swears that he feels all of his joints lock up as he stares at the Sari. Out of the corner of his optics he sees Bulkhead tense up too. The other three bots just look considerate.
Prowl speaks up first, “I have always assumed that “bee” came from circuitbees considering his stingers.”
Ratchet speaks up next, “I just guessed “bumble” was from him talking all the time.”
Sure, just talk about me like I’m not here.
Sari then seems to have a realization because she asks, “Wait, how do you guys get your names anyway?”
Optimus is the one that answers, “When Cybertronians are made Autobots they are sent to the academy or boot camp where they’re either given new names or their first names.”
“First names?”, Sari questions.
Optimus continues, “Newly forged bots have serial numbers instead of sparked bots that are given a name by their creators.”
Bee could feel himself twitching from the conversation going on around him, and no Bulk the looks you keep shooting at him are not helping! He barely contains a flinch when Sari turns her attention to him.
“Which one is it for you Bee?”, she asks.
Okay… I can answer that.
He clears his intake before answering, “Bumblebee is my first name from when I went to boot camp. Before that I was B-127. Just one of many forged minibots.”
(Common, small, and insignificant.)
Sari just looks even more curious. “Who gave you your name?”
He cringes. Bulkhead, looking a little nervous, decides to answer instead, “Oh, we just got them from our drill sergeant!”
Optimus puts his servo on his chin, considering. “Ah, that’s right. I forgot you two went to boot camp together. Who was your drill sergeant anyway?”
“Oh! No one that important just…S-Sentinal,” Bulkhead finishes lamely.
Immediately, the others’ faces twisted into grimaces. Though Optimus’s expression also held some concern.
“Ugh! That guy is the worst! Did he seriously name Bumblebee that because of how much he talks?”, Sari asks.
Bee sinks further into the couch while Bulkhead starts stuttering, “Uh…n-not really it was b-because…uh.”
Frag it!
He interrupts Bulk, “I tried to show off by shooting some targets with my stingers and completely messed it up. Sentinel marked me as a screw-up and named me Bumblebee.”
He’s not looking at the others. He doesn’t want to see pity, or even worse: agreement. He’s totally over it anyway! He and his team have saved Detroit so many times!
(He’s a hero with friends, a family. He’s not a failure that no one ever wanted to be around. He refuses to go back to that.)
A servo on his shoulder has him looking up at Optimus. Unlike the looks he feared, the red and blue fire truck just looked reassuring.
“Well, as usual, Sentinel was wrong.”
Bee blinks before looking at the others who looked like they agreed…with Optimus.
Prowl nods before saying, “Clearly.”
“That rustbrain struggles to recognize a Decepticon much less a perfectly good scout,” Ratchet grumbles.
Sari bounces up with a huge smile and says, “Yeah, you're awesome Bee! That jerk doesn’t know anything! Besides, I like your name!”
He feels frozen in shock. Bulkhead seems similarly shocked before grinning. The green bot turns to him and says, “You know they’re right, Bee.”
It feels like his spark is about to burst out of him. He has to turn away, so the others don’t see his flush or the stupid grin he’s sure he has.
I really do love them.
Sari yoinks the remote from Prowl (though he feels like the cyberninja didn’t try that hard to stop her).
“I say we watch a super cool action movie instead of boring stuff!”, she says before flipping the channel.
Bee smiles wide. “Now you’re talking!”
If the rest of the team stays to watch with them, then he doesn’t say anything. He just basks in the comradery of the ones who have become his family. Whose opinions actually mean something to him.
Yeah! What does Sentinel know about me? Nothing! He wanted to insult me, but Bumblebee is my name now. The one my friends call me, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.