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Optimus heard the camera shutter click nearby, his audials twitching at the sound.
It came from what Bumblebee was holding, a camera.
It was a new hobby the smaller bot had apparently picked up on Earth.
Though he wasn’t sure why, Cybertronians could look upon a memory of something they had seen far better than humans.
Gathering photo and video data was something typically only often used in after-reports.
Optimus decided to ask after he heard the camera shutter click once more.
“Bee, why are you taking photos of the surroundings?”
The little golden mech paused at the Prime's question. “Cause I like to! Humans were right in that it’s fun.”
The Prime tilted his helm at the mech's claim.
“In what way is this fun? Your memory bank should make an external device to take photos unnecessary.”
Bumblebee finally turned to look at the larger bot. “Because of moments!” He claimed with a grin and bright optics.
“One of the humans was talking about photography, how humans seem to enjoy having physical still frames of past events.”
“That seems slightly illogical, but I suppose if it makes them happy.”
Bee nodded “I thought it was weird too, but they ended up bringing a bunch of Earth things back to the Ark. Jazz and Blaster took the boombox and music cassettes & cd’s, Ironhide took the paintball guns…I think he’s gonna use them for training next week. And the camera was left over.”
He looked at this little device in his servos.
“I ended up grabbing it.”
“I asked a couple bots what to take photos of, some said of themselves, some said of Earth's flora or fauna. The humans said to just, walk around and take a photo of whatever catches my optic.”
Optimus nodded his own head in response
“And what has caught your optics my dear scout?” He asked as he leaned over to look at the screen of the device the small bot was holding.
Bee grinned “Tons of things!” He began as he scrolled through the photos and explained them to Optimus.
“This one was of a cat chasing a dog which I thought was funny because on earth it’s supposed to be the reverse apparently.”
“This one is Ratchet scolding Wheeljack when his newest invention made the cafeteria a mess.”
Bee continued on and on, explaining when he took each photo and why.
“And look, this one’s of you!”
Optimus blinked in minor surprise, he didn’t think he had done anything special enough to warrant Bumblebee taking a photo of him.
He examined the photo.
It wasn’t a particularly memorable moment.
He was in a field with some of the other bots, relaxing, an energon cube in his hand as he spoke with Cliffjumper.
“I liked the way you smiled here.” Bee stated as he looked up at the large mech. “You looked happy.”
Optimus’s face plate warmed. “Surely there are better things to take photos of than me relaxing.”
Bee hummed “Nah, I like the human method of taking photos of what I like.”
He grinned up at the Prime
“And I like your smile.”
His spark skipped a beat at Bumblebee's words, Bee always had a way of tripping the Prime with such genuine fondness.
“Thank you…for enjoying my smile.” He responded awkwardly.
Bee laughed kindly “No problem, it’s a good smile after all.”
As Optimus stared at the golden bot with a laugh like music bells and a smile like the Sun, his internal processor took a photo.
The humans were right, photography is a wonderful hobby.