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Optimus chuckled fondly as he watched the Terrans excitedly rush back from the paddock at the sight of him and Megatron pulling in. They jumped and squealed, giving an eager welcome as the two large mechs transformed into root mode.
“Settle down Terrans,” He smiled as the sparklings practically circled around them. “You’d think they’d get used to us by now.” He muttered to Megatron.
“I suppose some people can’t get over the righteousness of a Prime.” Megatron rolled his eyes.
Optimus scoffed at Megatrons still quite petty Prime jokes, but he’s learned not to prod the topic further. From experience of course.
“Wait, why are you two here?” Optimus heard a familiar, skeptical voice ask from the house, turning to see Dorothy eyeing him down.
“Not happy to see us?” Megatron jokes, smiling down at his human friend.
“No, it’s just usually when you two come, trouble follows. What’s the big bad catastrophe of the week this time?” She folded her arms as Alex stood next to her with his always bright, lighthearted smile.
Megatron barked a laugh, causing the Terrans to laugh with him. It always amused Optimus how the young transformers would always mimic the people around them, it reminded him of Bumblebee once upon a time.
“Don’t worry it’s nothing like that.” Megatron waved off Dottie’s comment.
“We are here to spend time with the Terrans.” Optimus answered.
The human woman raised an eyebrow as the sparklings around them expressed their delight.
“Yay!! We get to spend time with the big boys!!”
“They’re really here just for us? I feel so special!”
“I wonder what we should do!? Maybe a race?”
She hushed her children. “What’s the real deal?” She stared up at Megatron.
“You don’t believe we just want to spend time with the new generation of transformers? How hurtful.” Megatron smirked.
“Saying it like that just makes me more suspicious.” She smiled back.
“Well, to be fair Bumblebee had requested for a… ‘substitute’ for training while he takes some time for himself.” Optimus chimed in.
Dottie looked at him. “Bee wants some time away huh?”
Alex snickered, looking over to where Bumblebee was slowly making his way down the paddock towards them. “It makes sense, I’ve watched him practically get chased around by the kids everyday. Being a teacher can be overwhelming.”
Optimus nodded. “We thought while there is a lack of action, we could take over. We both thought it’d be nice to get out of the base, much like Bumblebee’s want to have a day off.”
“Is he sick of us? We aren’t that annoying.” Twitch huffed. “...Are we?”
“No no it’s nothing like that.” Bumblebee assured, a tired sigh in his voice. “Sometimes mechs just need time to hit the road, you know? Feel the wind, let the tires go wild.” He smiled at the prospect.
Optimus hummed at that, knowing well that that wasn’t the whole reason. Although it’s been millennia since their old lives back in Iacon, most of them had habits they still find hard to break to this day. Such as Optimus and Megatrons habit of standing close like how miners were forced to in their small barracks. Or how Bumblebee, having spent who knows how long down in the depths of Sub-Level 50 alone, got overwhelmed by social interaction easily. It’s been so long, and the Bumblebee today is almost unrecogniseable than the B-127 they found sorting trash, and Optimus couldn’t be prouder for how much the yellow bot has grown.
Having been stuck with the role of mentor and teacher for the erratic batch of sparklings must have taken a lot out of Bumblebee, Optimus almost felt stupid for not realising that might be the case sooner. No matter, a day or so of alone time always got the chipper mech back to his bright yellow self.
“Ok, before I go, here are the rules.” Bumblebee started.
Hashtag groaned. “We aren’t babies, Bee.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” He pointed, before turning to point up at Optimus and Megatron. “Their bedtime is 9:30, no later. No late night exploration, no water sliding down the river, no mud paintings on the walls, no tree uprooting, no ‘capture the sheep’, no cooking inside the dugout, no flooding the dugout, no fires inside the dugout, no battle royals, no bear hunting, and most importantly, no secret tunnel digging underneath the house.” He listed off-by-heart.
“Alright, I understand.” Optimus nodded a little dazed at the bombardment of rules.
“How did these rules come to be?” Megatron asked.
“I think it’s self explanatory.” Bumblebee grumbled, his doorwings lowered as he started walking towards the driveway.
“Bye Bumblebee!” Alex waved. “Come back soon! Or whenever you want! Take as much time as you need!”
Bumblebee curtly waved back before transforming. “Be nice to OP and Megatron, kids. I don’t want a note saying how troublesome you were when I get back.” He warned before letting his wheels skid and kick up a cloud of dust as he sped off.
“Bye Bee!”
“Cya BB!”
“Be back soon.”
The Terrans waved.
“I wish he had told us he was leaving. Is it weird I feel like we have a right to know?” Dottie complained, looking at Alex.
He shrugged in return. “It makes sense, I think we’re all splitting custody at this point.” He laughed. “Joint parenting.” He linked his fingers, giggling at the idea.
“Worry not, Ranger and Professor Malto, we will take good care of the children during Bumblebee’s leave. We will do our best to keep up the teaching agenda.” Optimus assured them, watching as the two humans started moving back towards the house.
“Keep them all out of trouble. Including Optimus.” Dottie ordered Megatron before closing the door.
Megatron chortled, but coughed it away at the look Optimus pointed at him.
“So, what are we gonna do?” Moe asked from Jawbreakers alt-form, sitting on his back like a steed.
“I have made up a lesson plan that I can only hope is up to Bumblebee’s standards!” Optimus smiled, pulling up a hologram from his wrist. “First we have a present-day report on Cyber-Human relationships we can skim over, then the study of Cybertronian culture becoming more present in newly constructed Witwicky buildings!” He said excitedly.
All the children hung their heads and groaned.
“They don’t want to listen to that stuff.” Megatron put a servo on Optimus’ shoulder. “Their teacher has taken a vacation, so they’re taking the opportunity to have one too.”
“Yeah, we wanna do something fun!” Thrash pumped his fists.
“Oh, well. We promised Bumblebee to be ‘substitutes’, and-” Optimus was cut off with Twitch flying up to his face.
“What’s one day of no classes? C’mon, you guys are here! That’s like. Cool and not really common, we need to seize the opportunity!” She flew around to Megatron. “Pleaaaassssseeeee” She begged with her large eyes.
The ex-warlord laughed. “You don’t have to beg me. Optimus can sit back and sulk if he wants to.”
“Megatron, this is very irresponsible of you!” Optimus frowned.
“And what, Bee will have my head for it?” Megatron rolled his eyes.
Optimus narrowed his eyes, watching as the Terrans and human siblings followed the large, grey mech towards the paddock. He slumped his shoulders in defeat, his lesson plan he’d worked so hard on now dissipating from its hologram.
“Bumblebee had trouble getting the Terrans' attention at first too.” Alex inputted from the kitchen window.
Optimus looked down at him.
“He eventually got the hang of it of course, but it just makes this little holiday of his all the more deserved. I can’t imagine having to wrangle seven children, let alone train them.” The human chuckled.
“I suppose if Bumblebee is taking a break from training them, then they can take a break from training.” Optimus admitted.
“Wow, that was quick of you to accept.” Alex looked up at the Prime.
“Is that surprising?” Optimus raised an optical ridge in confusion.
Alex waved his hands dismissively. “No no, it’s just. You have a lot of patience and sympathy I suppose. More than the average person. If my lesson plan was for nothing I would be pretty peeved.”
Optimus let out a click of his voice box as recognition of the words. He stared as the children ordered Megatron around as they prepared their game.
He watched closely at how Megatron’s calm smirk showed no hostility, only affection as he let the children order him around. It reminded Optimus of D-16 a lot. D-16 was always more than willing to help out a new miner, patient to teach them the equipment and protocols. Of course, after everything that’s happened, it has been a long time since he’s seen that patience show again in Megatron. And not to Optimus’ surprise, it was the Terrans that drew that old D-16 Optimus misses out of Megatrons shell.
Perhaps he can let the old Orion Pax out a bit in exchange.
He strolled up the slope into the paddock, immediately thrust into whatever game they were playing. His role was ‘damesl in distress’, in which all he had to do was sit tight and wait for Megatron, the ‘knight in shining armour’ to come and save him, all while the kids did everything they could to keep him from getting close.
Optimus wouldn’t lie, it made his spark feel light watching as Megatron play-fought, but he couldn’t help that hitch in his vents whenever he feared the mech had hit too hard. But that was never the case.
Many games had conspired throughout the day, sometimes Optimus and Megatron were on the same team, sometimes they weren’t. Either way, the Prime never knew he could have this much fun. He thought all these games were a time of the past, a blissful past where all they worried about was reaching quota. But here he was, letting the rambunctious Orion Pax seep through his smile as he became more and more competitive.
Before he knew it, the sun was starting to hide behind the forest around them, the sky casting a gradient of orange and purple ambience light over the farm. The hours of play had reasonably left everyone tired, yet it wasn’t quite their bedtime yet, not for another few hours.
The kids seemed to be stubborn to stay up as long as they could, not allowing themselves to submit to sleep before their bedtime. So after dinner, instead of turning in for the night, they all sprawled out in front of the barn – as Optimus and Megatron were too big to comfortably shuffle their way into the dugout.
“Optimus, I have a question.” Nightshade spoke up from their perch atop a hay bail.
The Prime raised his head from his star gazing to face the owl transformer. “Yes, Nightshade?”
Since everyone had been quiet, mellowing from their energy draining day, all attention was on Nightshade's voice.
“How did the war start?” They asked.
Optimus and Megatron both looked over at them, and they reworded their question.
“I know- We all know it was a matter of political views and fighting against the system, but what really happened to… spark it all? I’m sure you were both there at the very start of it all, so surely you could provide us insight into what it was really like.”
Optimus looked over at Megatron, who seemed reluctant to talk about it. But who was Optimus to neglect such a curious question. He came here to teach, what better than history? Optimus’ favourite subject!
“Well, you’re right. Megatron and I were both there during the start of it all. But you know who else was?” He smiled down.
All the Maltos had leaned in at this point, including Dottie and Alex. He loved seeing the faces of wonderment on peoples faces.
“Elita and Bumblebee.” He answered himself.
All the Maltos softly gasped and oo’ed.
“Bumblebee was there? And he’s still only a scout?” Hashtag said.
Optimus shrugged. “He always refused promotion. He was just happy to be next to his friends.”
“No wonder Elita is so punchy to Megatron. Everyone else is too scared to even raise their voice at him.” Thrash noted.
“Yes, well. History will do that to people. She used to be our manager, she took no slag from bots who didn’t pull their weight in the mines. So naturally, we’re used to her putting us in our place as she is making sure we don’t get out of line.” Optimus chuckled fondly.
“You guys were miners? This is a huge upgrade!” Moe giggled.
Megatron scoffed. “Miners forced to work to pay off a false Primes debt.”
Alex tilted his head. “I don’t remember reading this stuff in the comics. I thought I’d know if you were miners.” He muttered.
“This is old Cybertronian history dating back to millions of years ago.” Optimus offered. “Some of our history may have not made it to Earth for many reasons. A reason that comes to mind is because it’s not… our proudest point in history.”
“Even worse than your whole war?” Dottie pointed out with an unimpressed tone.
“Because we were fooled for years .” Megatron snapped, his voice startling some of the children. He calmed himself and exvented. “We worked our afts off under the leadership of a mech who deemed himself a Prime. He had a debt to pay off, and made us do all the work. He betrayed the Thirteen Primes, everyone , and we didn’t know until damage was already done.”
The night air went silent for a moment.
“Sentinal is a… sore subject for us.” Optimus whispered, giving a sympathetic glance to the children.
They all nodded, thinking better to question further. Another silent pause before Robbie spoke up.
“What was Bumblebee like?”
Optimus was sure the question was partly to lighten the mood, but he knew from the sparkling fields glowing with cheeky curiosity that they were eager to get their hands on anything remotely embarrassing for their big brother.
“Well, he was certainly very different from who he is now.” Optimus quickly blurted out with amusement.
Megatron huffed his vents. “Crazy, more like.”
“Crazy? Like, he used to be more fun?” Jawbreaker tried to understand.
“Oh no, crazy as in talking to bodies he made out of scrap crazy.”
Optimus nudged Megatron’s side.
“What? It’s true, you were there! You killed Steve!”
“That’s not the point, Megatron.” Optimus exvented.
“Wait, what?” Hashtag held her hands up, trying to backtrack them.
Optimus grimaced, but he continued. “Bumblebee back then was. Uh. A little socially challenged. But it’s not his fault.”
“It’s Sentinals.” Megatron butt in with a sour look on his face.
Optimus nodded, not wanting to argue with Megatron – though it was true.
“You see,” He turned back to the children. “Bumblebee was cogless like we were, we all couldn’t transform at first because of it. But unlike most of us who got put to work in mines, Bumblebee was sent far further down to levels we didn’t know even existed.”
“Why did they send him down there? What was his job?” Nightshade asked, their eyes wide as they usually get when they show interest.
“He uh. Sorted trash.” Optimus said curtly.
Everyone hesitantly nodded at the rather unremarkable revelation.
“The point is, he had no one down there with him, and he couldn’t leave. So, naturally, his mind started paying the price.”
“What do you mean?” Twitch asked, her optic brows scrunched in confused worry.
Megatron leaned over, resting his elbows on his knees. “Imagine being stuck in a hot, dirty little hole for only Primus knows how long. You’d eventually lose yourself with boredom and loneliness.”
The Maltos frowned with the perspective, having realised this seemingly innocent question did not in fact lift the mood. Both of the large mechs seemed to notice this, but before Optimus could reassure them, Megatron beat him to the punch.
“Hey, sure he was a little scrambled in the processor. But he was still a remarkable little mech. He could talk your audials off with how much he had to say. Never a moment of silence when he was around.”
“Bumblebee being a chatterbox? That’s new.” Thrash snickered.
“He first introduced himself with the name Badassatron .” Megatron added smugly.
The children all burst into giggles at that, and Optimus knew well that they would be using that against the poor yellow bot.
“Elita hated him for it for the longest time, it sure took a while to get used to him and his lack of inside-voice. He would say whatever popped into his processor.” Megatron continued, seemingly nostalgic as he recalled the few days the four of them spent together.
“That is to say to his fairness,” Optimus chimed in again. “That it took a while for him to get accustomed to us, too. To be outside with other transformers around him.”
Megatron looked at him with a cautious look. Optimus only then realised that Megatron wouldn’t have been around during that time of rebuilding Iacon, having been banished.
“He wasn’t used to the noise of chatter around him, voices that didn’t belong to him. There were many times he had just hidden away for days just to defragg his processor. The amount of doors me and Elita broke looking for him was… an avoidable loss of resources.” Optimus explained both to the Maltos and to Megatron.
The ex-warlord put on a stern, thoughtful face at that, looking down at the ground.
“He would often say how much he missed D-16, one of his first friends.” Optimus continued quietly.
“And now he hates me.” Megatron spat out reluctantly.
Optimus had done these conversations so many times that his responses were practically exhausted, but it’s at the point that he and Megatron both know what he’d say.
“Ok. I think we may have unearthed some not-so-fond history tonight.” Dottie stood up. “Let’s stop bothering them about it, ok kids?”
The kids in question all moaned with frustration, flopping from their stiff stances that accumulated when listening intently to Optimus and Megatrons words.
“I think it’s bedtime, come on Robbie and Moe.” Alex gestured his human children back towards the house.
Optimus and Megatron looked at the barn, then back to the road. Perhaps they should head back to base.
“Will you stay the night? We can wake up and help mum herd the cows into the outer paddocks!” Jawbreaker asked the older mechs.
“Well, we’d love to but there isn’t much room for us.” Optimus replied weakly.
“We can have a sleepover outside! It’ll be fun! We can stargaze and everything!” Hashtag offered, already gathering hay bales into something resembling sleeping arrangements.
“Uhm. If you insist, I suppose we have nothing keeping us.” Optimus smiled, making himself comfortable on the ground, pulling a hay bale over as a pillow.
Megatron slumped next to him with his own hay bale, and the two silently listened as the Terrans arranged themselves, fighting over who got to sleep where.
In the end, Twitch and Hashtag curled up to Megatrons side, Thrash at Optimus’ side, Nightshade perched themself on a haybale above their heads and Jawbreaker curled up in his dino form between Optimus’ and Megatrons legs.
This kind of reminded Optimus of sleeping in the mining barracks, and he felt Megatron thought the same.
At first, they were all quiet, letting the cold night air seep into their plating, staring up at the starry sky and listening to the rustle of trees.
“Sometimes,” Twitch said, barely above a whisper. “I hear Bumblebee mentioning these names. It’s like he’s talking to someone, but I never see anyone there.”
The two older mechs stayed quiet at that, not sure how to answer.
“But I think he finds it relaxing. Like he’s cooling down, telling these names about his day. Then he’d tell A-A-tron to shut up. Or EP-508 to speak up.”
“He still sounds crazy to me then.” Thrash concluded. “Maybe he never went un-crazy.”
Megatron let out a chuckle. “Maybe so. Maybe he’s just better at hiding it.” he jokes.
Optimus nudged him again.
“What? It’s not bad , I think his craziness is part of his character now.” Megatron defended.
They fell silent again.
“What else was he like?” Jawbreaker asked.
Optimus hummed, staring up at the sky. “He was thoughtful, very energetic. He always considered other people around him, and tried to cheer people up with little jokes or songs he’d come up with on the spot.”
“Wow. That sounds way different from our Bumblebee.” Twitch said amused. “Why is he so… quiet and grumpy now?”
“I’d call it more timid and cautious.” Nightshade piped up.
The question hung in the air.
“Since war, I suppose.” Optimus answered sheepishly. “War does things to people.”
He tilted his head to look at Megatron, who may aswell have been glaring up at the stars.
The Terrans seemed to accept that answer, and slowly started drifting to sleep, letting the ambience of the night fall over them again.
Optimus answered as plainly as he could, knowing that it was overall true, but he and Megatron both knew that there was another factor at play that led Bumblebee to be who he was today.
War did things to people, that was true. It drove people insane, depressed, and hopeless. Bumblebee was a large mech at play who lifted his fellow soldiers spirits with his voice. Bumblebee’s crazily positive attitude kept everyone sane, but take his voice away, you take his only way to express himself.
His voice was the only thing that kept him from pure insanity in Sub-Level 50.
Take that away, and you’ve taken his only strip of stability away.
When Megatron did just that, it caused him to crumble almost instantly, as without his stability, he has nothing to stop himself from caving in.
So he crumbled.
Optimus watched helplessly as his friend broke apart, grappling at his neck with suffocating greif anytime he tried to speak. It shattered his spark to see the once bright and loud mech fall into the claws of war many had already fallen victim to.
He couldn’t let that happen.
After years and years, they finally fixed what was taken, and Optimus couldn’t be prouder to watch Bumblebee pick up his broken pieces and rebuild himself. He may be different now, as it was more of a patch job, but Optimus can still see the same spark in his eyes as he did when he first met him.
He couldn’t be prouder.