Chapter Text
Bumblebee groaned, resetting his optics. He didn’t remember when he first sat down in the office, but it was long enough for the glyphs to start blurring on the screen. He brought a servo up to his helm, trying to ease the helmache that was starting to brew.
“I. Am. Sick. Of. Datawork.” Bee bemoaned, illustrating his misery by banging his helm on the desk after each glyph.
He tried flapping his sensor wings but to no avail. Knock Out, after learning of Skywarp and his escapade, had set him back a step. The flexible braces Bee had been using were replaced with uncompromising stints. He wouldn’t be able to take them off until the Decepticon Medic deemed Bee in perfect health.
Which meant no more outings until that time. Bee made the foolish mistake of griping to Starscream about his worries about dying of boredom.
Since their talk, Bee had been given more luxuries. He could walk freely through Krusher and had access to the entertainment center now. Bee had made use of the new boundaries well. Still, the scout was used to moving around. Without a proper unit, he would usually be bounced around all over Autobot territory. These stringent confinements to New Kaon’s capitol were proving to get on Bee’s sensors.
Of course, if Bee knew Starscream would dump him in this office, he would have kept his oral cavity shut.
- - - - - - - - - -
“You are now an Elite, dear Bumblebee,” Starscream purred, “it’s completely official. No takebacks. The broadcast has gone out all over the planet. That means you’ll have to start taking on some responsibilities.”
“...Right.” Bee fidgeted, looking around the office. It wasn’t the one he had used to speak with Ironhide. This one was smaller and cluttered with stacks of datapads.
“As the only civilian Elite currently-”
Bee jolted, at Star’s glyphs, sensor wings trying to twitch in the stints. “Wait, what?!”
Startled himself, Starscream looked up from a stack of datapads with a tilt of his helm and narrowed optics. “What’s the problem?”
“Uh, you called me a civilian. A civilian Elite?” Bee scoffed, folding his arms over his chassis. “I haven’t been considered a civilian since my final youngling upgrades.”
“Yes, well, unless you decide to vow your allegiance to the Decepticon cause-”
“As if,” Bee sneered, tensing up.
“Then we can’t have you aiding the war effort,” Starscream continued, optics gleaming. “So it is now up to you to help with civil matters.” He looked over the stacks of datapads. “I must admit, my trine has been slacking off in this area. Whenever we found the time for the upkeep of New Kaon, something urgent came up. Such as the coming of Unicron."
Bee cringed away at the reminder. Instinctively, he reached out through the bond. Starscream’s spark rushed to his aid, soothing over the sting.
They’d been working on Bee’s control on the bond. So far, Bee learned a simple buffer and how to reach out to Starscream. Actually blocking out the bond seemed to be an impossible feat, but Starscream and Skywarp assured him that level of control took time.
“But not to worry,” Starscream went on, blatantly ignoring what just went on at their bond level. That was another thing Bee had to decipher. Multitasking comm transmission and oral speech had been bad enough, now he had this new communication system with Starscream. “Now that you’re here, we can delegate a little more.” He let out a happy sigh looking at all the clutter. “New Kaon will finally have someone responsible who will have their undivided attention to help it prosper. Oh, why didn’t we do this sooner!”
Before Bee could protest, Starscream was patting him on the shoulder pauldron before exiting the room. Bumblebee was left with stacks of datawork, unsure where to start.
- - - - - - - - - -
Blessedly, a ping came requesting permission to enter. Bee jerked upright, sensor wings trying to perk up. He scrambled to find the button to unlock the door. He had locked it to spite Starscream. However, now he was desperate for anyone to take him away from this pit.
Finding the button, Bee hit it with his fist. Immediately, the door slid back to show Skywarp propped against the entryway. He smirked when he saw Bee’s frazzled form at the desk chair.
“Hey, there,” he grinned. The black and purple Seeker stood up and breezed into the room. His optics roved around the small office. Warp’s wings flicked in surprise at the sight. “Dang, mech. I’ve never seen this place so organized.” As Warp got closer, Bee could feel the amusement flaring in his field. “How long have you been here?”
Bee gave the Con a flat look. “Since after Starscream dragged me off after refueling this morning.”
“Wait, what?” Skywarp looked up from the padweight he’d been fiddling with. “Bee! That was a shift and a half ago!”
Although Bee’s first reaction to that wanted to be rage, he was too tired to be dramatic. Instead, he groaned, flopping back down on the desk. He glared at the flickering holoscreen in front of him.
Warp sat on the edge of the desk and peered over at Bee’s screen. “What have you even been doing all this time?”
“Mostly just organizing the datapads,” Bumblebee groaned again. He turned his helm all the way down and reached his servos up to rub at the back of his neck cables. Suddenly, another pair of servos joined his, working their way down to his sensor wings. Bee went liquid, slumping completely and giving a little purr of his engines.
“I’d say you did a good job,” Skywarp exclaimed. Bee pictured him looking around the office in approval again. “I don’t know when the last time this place looked so clean, probably when it was built.”
Bee gave a dismissive hum. He picked his helm up, sitting forward and flaring his wings out as best he could while Skywarp rounded the desk to properly massage him. “After getting everything categorized, I started picking apart the census records. I’ve got all the casualty counts from the Unicron Battles off the datapads and stored onto Krusher’s servers. I’ve just started getting to the history of occupancy of New Kaon.”
Bee paused to make a pleased sound as Skywarp started working on the mesh surrounding his sensor wing hinges. He glanced back, flooding his thanks and approval into his field. “You should consider a job change to wing masseur.”
Warp smirked, glancing up at Bee. He wiggled his wings. “Glad you approve.”
With a chuckle, Bee turned back around, lowering his helm into his servos as he focused on the tingles going up his struts. “No, really, if you just follow me around doing that all cycle I wouldn’t complain.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” Warp agreed. “I actually did that for Starscream once. Back in the early vorns of trining.”
“Oh?” Bee proclaimed, grunting in surprise when Warp unclasped one of the stints and started maneuvering his sensor wing. He recognized the stretches Breakdown did during physical therapy. “How’d that go over?”
“Surprisingly, he was a lot more hissy,” Skywarp confessed. “To be fair, we were leading a revolution against the Vosian Functionalists. It was hard to yell at subordinates being idiots with me behind him teasing his seams.”
Despite himself, Bumblebee couldn’t help but sputter out a startled laugh. He could picture Starscream trying to be a confident, threatening leader while also attempting not to melt under Skywarp’s ministrations.
Bee moaned in protest when Skywarp reclasped the brace before undoing the next one. “Did he at least return the favor?”
Skywarp snorted, “Oh, yeah. Best damn spark interface of my life. And trust me when I say I am experienced on the matter. Although I’ve given and received some mind blowing stuff, having Starscream practically worshipping you has to be servos down the best way to overload. I’m sure he’ll go down on you tonight if- hey, what’s wrong?”
Bee had tensed up the more Warp talked. He was intimately aware of his bond with Starscream at this point. Before his bonded could pick up on his souring mood, he shifted a buffer between him. Before it solidified, Bumblebee caught Star’s surprise. However, no matter how curious he was, Bee knew the Seeker would respect the buffer and not pry.
Unlike blocks, buffers were more of a filter that diverged emotions. It muted what was received and given between bondeds, but not completely cut off. If prompted, a bondmate could tear through a buffer to reach their other half. However, it was definitely a faux pas to do so.
The buffer was the first thing Starscream taught Bee. It was a little difficult for the scout to master. He just didn’t understand the realm of bonds yet. When he first started, he could only hold a buffer for a breem, and it wavered the whole time. It was honestly sickening how the emotional regulation fluctuated, making constructing and maintaining the buffer all the more difficult.
However, after those first few cycles, Bee thought he was better at it. He could properly regulate a solid buffer for a couple joor. Though it still took the full attention of his secondary processors to maintain or else it’d slip.
“Bumblebee?” Skywarp suddenly asked, jolting Bee out of his musings.
“Sorry, what?” He said, shaking his helm. He internally opticked the buffer, wondering if it’d slipped. But it was still in place. Bee turned his full attention outward to see Skywarp looking at him in concern. He replaced the brace on his sensor wing at some point and was kneeling in front of him.
“I asked if you were okay,” Warp said warily, fanning out his wings. “You got really tense and space out for a moment. What did I-”
“Oh, it’s fine. It was just… nothing.” Bee admitted, giving Skywarp a sheepish smile.
The con definitely didn’t believe Bumblebee. His field didn’t waver in his concern. Warp continued to gaze up uncertainly into Bee’s optics. “Are you sure?”
No. Skywarp bringing up interfacing made Bee realize he would have to face in his future. Sure, spark merging didn’t necessarily have to be sexual, but it was still intimate. And it usually went servo in servo with interfacing.
Bee didn’t really have any negative experience with interfacing, but he also didn’t have much experience in general. He wasn’t a virgin. He was in the military, for Primus’ sake. He’d partaken in sharing charge before.
But it had been a long time ago. The last time he interfaced was…
…was before Squad Chi-60 was decimated.
Interfacing was encouraged between squadmates. It was seen as a bonding exercise. But Bee hadn’t had a squad for some time. The only mech he’d be comfortable sharing charge with now was probably Hot Rod. They both experienced their first together.
However, Bumblebee likely would never see Hot Rod again. And he now had a spark bond with Starscream. Interfacing aside, he’d need to spark merge with Starscream at some point. Without merging, bonds easily destabilized and could deactivate the pair.
Nevermind that Star and Bee haven’t even technically merged before. Actually, that might make it even more detrimental for them. Bee wasn’t for sure, but he thought he would sometimes feel… flare ups of pain. Only a twinge! Bee couldn’t tell if it was all in his helm or his bond actually starting to strain.
Even if it was the latter, Bumblebee was determined to ignore it. He just got to an amicable place with Starscream. He wasn’t going to mess it up because of a stupid spark merge.
So he continued to smile at Skywarp, giving a nod of his helm. “I’m sure.”
Primus, I better look natural.
Before Skywarp could react, Bee stood up, shaking himself out. “Uh, I’m guessing you came here for a reason? Did you need me for something?”
Warp slowly stood up, looking Bee over before nodding. “Yeah, we were looking for a guard rotation for you. And TC thinks you’ll get along with this one mech. We haven’t verified anyone else yet, but it is a start. If you two hit it off, you could go downtown on scheduled outings starting the cycle after tomorrow.”
“That’d be fantastic!” Bumblebee exclaimed. He knew once his place as an Elite was solidified, it’d be the pit to get proper relaxing time outside of the capitol to himself. He’d like to soak it up while he could before his designation became a household name. Bee glanced over at the door. “When can I meet them?”
“He’s actually in the conference room next door,” Skywarp said, heading toward the exit.
Something about his tone made Bee rethink his eagerness. He followed after the Seeker hesitantly. He looked over Warp, noticing his tense frame. They walked a few paces over to the neighboring door. Bee was just starting to think his weird stance was over their previous conversation when he paused.
“Is… something wrong?” Bee prodded, feeling his uncertainty grow.
Skywarp looked to the ceiling, huffing out an ex-vent before turning his gaze to Bee. “I think this is a bad idea, considering… But TC thinks you two could get along. Just,” Warp scratched at his helm vent, “give him a chance, okay? He really is a cool mech, but I could see why you’d have a vendetta against him.”
“O…kay?” Bumblebee drawed out, unsure what else to say.
With a nod, Skywarp pinged the door. It slid open, allowing them to enter.
Warp entered first, taking up the doorframe so Bee couldn’t see the mech in the room. He caught a flash of black plating, making him more curious. He wasn’t a mech to hold much of a grudge. And he wasn’t really close to any Decepticon yet to resent a certain mecha. It must be someone infamous to the Autobots. But after rooming with some big designations already, Bee wasn’t sure if any Con could-
Bumblebee froze when Skywarp stepped to the side. He immediately recognized the mech who lounged in one of the chairs at the conference room desks. Purple optics snapped toward him before widening in vague recognition. Black and gray sensor wings perked up in a traditional Praxian greeting.
Bee didn’t return the gesture, continuing to gape at the mech.
Before that was Barricade: Traitor of Praxus.