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Bee ran through the war-torn terrain, blasters fired all around him as he dropped to the ground. Pulling himself against the rubble of a building, he shouted into his comm, “Prime!? Any bot?!” He was only met with static. He clung onto his bleeding shoulder pad and tried again “Come in, please! We’re pinned down- I-” He froze as a scream rang out through the battle field.
He looked towards the direction it came from, the sight instantly made him sick. A mech, no older than Bee was, had been forced to the ground by a group of Seekers. One toyed with the bot’s disembodied leg, while one stood atop him “Where is the Autobot command!?” The red Seeker interrogated, digging his heel strut into the bot’s wounds.
“I DON’T KNOW, I’M NOT AN AUTO-” The bot cried out, his vocalizer giving out as the Con pressed harder. “I’m not an Autobot..” he muttered, the blue mech passed a stray piece of metal to the one above the bot, a sadistic grin forming on his faceplate as he raised it above his helm. The bot cried out again “..PLEASE-”
Bee leaned back against the wall, covering his intake, unsure whether it was to keep his vents quiet or to hold back what little energon was threatening to purge itself from his tanks. His optics burned as he felt coolant start to trickle down his faceplate. He felt frozen, like something had put him into stasis. The mech’s cries filled his audio receptors, periodically cut off by the sound of the scrap metal landing against his helm. Bee cowered against that wall until he regained his composure, the distant blows growing quieter. Even after he’d gotten up, his pedes still felt unstable beneath him as he heard some bot behind him shout “GRENADE!”
Bee gasped. His spark hammered against its chamber while his optics slowly came online and adjusted to the darkness. He sat up and looked around the empty berth, trying to focus on the air pushing through his vents. One of these nights his processor was going to be the death of him. Rubbing his servos over his optics, he climbed out of the berth and approached one of the room’s windows. It was only a dream. He was okay, he’s safe. The war was over, there wasn’t anything he had to worry about.. It was almost funny, no matter how much he told himself, it never helped him on nights like this. If anything it made the pit in his tanks grow.
Bee nervously made his way out of the berthroom, and began searching for the small stockpile of energon candies he’d hidden away. The flat had been deathly quiet. Aside from Starscream muttering to himself a few rooms over, fixated on his work. It was something that was starting to become a problem, there were days where Bee had to force him to recharge, or to take proper care of himself.
Oh well, it was something he could deal with another night, right now all he wanted was to get his processor straight.. Taking a seat at their small table, he popped one of the candies into his intake. It tasted sweet, to a point it was almost disgusting. But it helped him calm his nerves, at least until he clenched his dentas and heard a faint crunch. Not unlike that poor mech’s frame. He froze at the thought, the dream, the memories pushing their way to the forefront of his processor.
Starscream, despite bringing his work with him, had made his way into the room, “Oh, I didn’t think you were still awake.” he muttered, only briefly glancing up from the datapad. He rounded the table and turned towards Bee “I’m sorry if I kept you-” Noticing his conjunx’s horrified expression, he set the datapad down and sat across from the mech. “Is everything okay..?”
“Huh?” Bee stuttered, nervously fidgeting with his digits “Oh, yeah, no. I’m fine just-”
“Nightmares?” Starscream asked. Bee stopped and looked down to the floor, that was enough of an indicator for Starscream. “..Do you.. Want to talk about it?”
“No.. Not really.” Bee looked back up to the mech, who gave him an understanding nod. The two sat in a slightly comfortable silence before Starscream reached over the table to take Bee’s servo.
“Well, c’mon.” He led Bee back to the berthroom, “I think we both could use a decent recharge.” Starscream climbed into the berth with Bee following after him, taking him a few minutes to get to a comfortable position. Starscream had begun to idly tracing the scrapes and dents in Bee’s plating, he ex-vented and felt himself starting to truly calm down.
But there was a part of him that felt.. guilty. He couldn’t take his processor off of his previous nightmare, or any of the other memories that plagued his data banks. How could he lay here and be so at peace after everything Starscream had done? Or after everything Bee didn’t do during the war? He knew Starscream had changed, they both had but..
“Starscream..?” Bee started, finding himself talking before he could even think about what he was asking. The mech gave him a faint ‘hm’ and he continued “Do you have any regrets? …About the war, I mean?” Starscream seemed almost startled by the question, taking a moment to answer.
“Don’t we all?” Bee couldn’t find himself arguing with that response. Starscream ex-vented quietly “I guess there’s.. A lot I do regret..” He wrapped an arm around Bee and pulled him closer. “..But there’s also things I don’t regret.” Bee’s spark sank at the revelation, his processor thinking of the million different possibilities for what he could mean.
“..Like?” He finally asked, Starscream thought for a moment,
“Well.. For starters, I don’t regret getting to know an annoying yellow bot…“ Bee slightly scoffed at the comment. Starscream started to toy with the poorly made ring on one of his digits, “..Or when said annoying bot had convinced me to indulge in certain earth customs.” Bee couldn’t help but laugh, resting his helm against Starscream’s cockpit windshield “..What?”
“Nothing just..” Bee looked up at the mech, a faint smile creeping onto his faceplate “..That’s really cheesy.” Starscream scoffed and turned his helm away.
“Oh goodnight!”
“No, No! in a good way!” Bee started to laugh again, resting against Starscream as he continued to silently pout. Bee reached up and pressed his dermas against Starscream’s cheek “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” He croaked out, stifling back his laughter the best he could. Starscream looked him in the optics before pulling him in for a chaste kiss.
“I’m sure you are..”
It didn’t take long for Starscream to fall into a recharge cycle, Bee merely watched him and listened to the air slowly leaving and entering his vents. He’d stopped thinking about his previous worries of the night, seemingly enraptured by the bot beside him. He ex-vented contentedly, wrapping his arms around Starscream as he finally drifted off.