Chapter Text
“Cmon, cmon, we gotta go faster! We’re loosing him!”
“Hold tight!” Twitch answers pushing her rotors to spin faster, harder, smoother, cutting the air to her will. She can feel her brother adjust his hold more securely, allowing her to maneuver into a less air resistant angle. The trees blur and smear into the background keeping her gaze only on the trailing lights in front of her. The red glow grows fainter somehow going even faster despite her increased pace.
“Oh no, he’s almost at the tree line!” Her brother’s voice is nearly lost in the wind, barely registering against her sensors. The roar of her rotors growls louder as she pushes forward. A flair of determination coursing threw her lines fueling a new wave of speed. Her spark thunders as the back lights grow brighter as she reclaims lost distance.
“Almost…there…” she strains with effort, the bond pulsing with excitement powering her on.
The tree line approaches fast, the sun light blinding and all consuming as they barrel through, inches behind the yellow trunk of Bumblebee. The pair of siblings let out groans of disappoint as they shoot past at last, but only because Bee has skidded to a stop having won the race.
“Twitch waterfall!” Robby calls flattening against her, a thrill of panic tainting his voice. Twitch flairs her rotors and tilts backward to cancel her momentum, Robby’s grip tightens while his legs slip off her back. Her spark flips and stutters, too close to the ledge and not enough drag to stop. Robby’s grip slipping as the cliff only gets closer, “Hold on!”
The sounds of transformation and cool hands engulfing the two out of control bodies sends a shock of relief to her systems. Robby releases her with a great sigh as he sinks into Bumblebee’s hold.
“You two okay?” He asks brow raised but a small smile present as he studies both kids in his hands. Twitch sags slightly, the rush of the race and near disaster leaving her winded.
“Thanks for the save,” Robby answers patting the hand holding him gratefully, eliciting a light chuckle from Bumblebee.
“Anytime,” he responds moving them a safe distance away from the drop and into the little clearing. Robby and Twitch hop down turning to the trees just as their remaining siblings come barreling out.
“Dang it! Last ones,” Thrash pouts in time with Mo’s groans of disappointment. Boastful chuckles fill the air around them, Bumblebee smirking down at the group who wallow in their loss.
“You guys gave a good chase I’m impressed. You two almost had me, but I’m still a racer,” he tilts his head with a smirk.
“It was rigged from the start!” Cries Thrash pointing a finger up at his grinning mentor.
“Boo! Rematch,” Mo pipes in taking up position at Thrash’s side. Twitch and Robby aligning themselves in the line facing off against their teacher. Bumblebee lets out another chuckle holding up his hands in surrender.
“Alright, alright, we’ll take a little break and then we’ll go another round.”
“No way, we get to choose this time,” Robby protests while Bee pouts slightly but gives a nod regardless.
“Yes! We choose-!” Twitch cheers jumping into a hover before pausing, “uh, what do we choose?”
The trio below her look amongst each other, saved by Mo pipping in with, “hide and seek?”
“Yeah! Hide and Seek! What is hide and seek?” The motorbike declares before quickly turning back to his small sister.
“It’s a game, we will go hide somewhere and then Bee will have to try and find us,” Mo explains the others nodding along.
“Works for me, breaktime and then we’ll start,” Bumblebee announces leaving the kids to their own devices, his attention turning toward their environment. The Maltos are quick to flop upon the ground and talk amongst themselves. Of course, that quickly devolves into a small game of keep away once Mo finds a shiny rock, which turns into hot potato which then turns into tag.
Bumblebee stands with his hands braced against his hips, the sun glinting off his armor as he stares out over the waterfall. Twitch hovers around his shoulder her gaze fixed on her siblings, their games now devolved into stretching theatrically. She grins as it slowly turns into a contest of who can strike the silliest pose. Their laughter floats upon the wind along with the quietest voice she’s heard, “Now this is a prime spot for date night. Ha, nah he would hate it.”
Her head whips to the side, almost wondering if her audials were glitching, seeing Bumblebee smiling faintly to himself. It was quiet, far too quiet, as if he meant only to speak it to himself and the wind. His gaze soft and far away as if he’s picturing something entirely different in front of himself. She wonders if he’s even aware she’s close enough to hear.
“Who-“ she starts, guilt and curiosity burning at her spark. Her sentence is swept away crashing across the rocks below as Thrash announced his presences blindingly loud.
“Hey Bumblebee are we set to start yet? We’re gonna crush it this time!” He declares throwing his fist into the air.
“I was the best Hider when we played back in Philly!” Mo cheers following along closely her eyes alight with excitement.
“Yeah? Lets see how well that holds up to my skills,” Bumblebee grins all traces of softness wiped away, as if it were never there to begin with. Twitch studies him, her brows pinched with concentration, but Bumblebee is back to his confident strut as he goes about explaining the rules of their training exercise.
“Ready? Go!” He shouts and the whoops of her siblings shock her out of her study. In a sparkbeat she’s transformed and scooping up Robby as they scatter to the tree line. She casts away all other thoughts as she puts her all into finding the best place to hide.
~~~
The sun hangs low in the sky once the group arrives back to the Malto farm. The kids gather by the house while Bee wanders into the barn satisfied with the day’s training. Orange stains the sky as the summer sun recedes for the night. The malto children lounge in the grass watching the night clouds roll in, picking out shapes and talking amongst themselves. Twitch squints up watching as the rabbit slowly breaks apart leaving a smooshed heart in its wake. Her eyes shoot wide as Bee’s words renter her mind.
“Guys! I almost forgot- Bee is dating someone!” Twitch exclaims shooting up into a hover, sending thrash to ground who had been leaning on her. Her siblings glance at her, the clouds abandoned in the wake of this new development.
“What? No way!” Robby shakes his head with a scoff leaning back on his hands. Mo’s grin is wide as she clasps her under her chin shifting closer to her younger sister’s hovering form.
“Way! I heard him say that the waterfall would be a good spot for date night but then said ‘no he would hate it’! Which means he totally was trying to plan a date night!” Her rotors give a loud hum as she spins in the air recalling the moment from earlier.
“I didn’t hear it and I was right there,” Thrash says crossing his arms with a brow raised.
“He said it under his breath, you weren’t that close,” she answers placing her hands on her hips. Thrash perks up, a challenging frown on his face. Mo stands quickly hoping in between the two youngest, defusing the incoming one upping contest.
Robby who shifts closer to the group with a huff,” Bee doesn’t seem like he could handle a relationship.”
“What do you know about relationships?” Mo teases with a smirk thrown at her brother. Twitch grins taking up her side the two dwarfing the eldest who flushes.
“Wha- well-,” Robby stutters out before ignoring the comment entirely, “look, he was in hiding for years! No one knew he was alive, so there’s no way he’s in a relationship.”
“That’s a good point,” Twitch sighs her feet finding the ground once more.
“In hiding from the public, maybe whoever he’s dating knew,” Mo shrugs, but its returned with two skeptical brows.
Twitch squeaks, “maybe they were together the whole time!”
“Then why hasn’t he said anything before? Better yet, why hasn’t this mysterious lover shown up here?” Thrash pipes in earning a nod from Robby as the two face off against their sisters.
Those were valid points. If he was planning date nights wouldn’t they have seen someone at this point? If he was keeping it a secret, surely they would have seen him sneaking away to go meet with them. Sure they’re meant to be a secret to stay off of Ghost’s radar, but does that mean Bee had to put a pause on his life? Are they keeping Bumblebee away from his lover? Or Did she actually mishear Bumblebee earlier?
Twitch frowns her spark sinking, glancing at her sister in hopes she has any ideas only to get a defeated shrug sent her way.
A small silence falls upon the group before a sharp ping catches their attention. Robby looks down at his watch and quickly rushes to his feet dusting off his pants as he rises.
“We can ask Bee about it later, I’ve got a game tournament you guys wanna watch?” He asks tilting his head back toward the house.
“Yes!” Thrash cheers bolting to his feet,
“Can I choose your avatar?” Twitch asks pushing away the heavy feeling dragging at her frame. Hopefully watching her brother play will help clear her mind.
“I can veto if its not good,” Robby states but she’ll take that as a win. She’ll make the best avatar for Robby to play! She grins and lets out a cheer giving Mo a quick high five as she passes.
“Can I choose it if her’s is bad?” Thrash pipes his hand shooting into the air. The drone shoot him a glare while he shoots her a devious grin.
“Sure, meet you guys up there,” Robby shouts as he and Mo take off into the front door, leaving Twitch to help Thrash up the roof by Robby’s bedroom window.