Fic: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Title: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Author: Leslie
Pairing: Optimus/Bee
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, wish they were. Will return them when I’m done with them.
Summary: Just after Mission City, Bumblebee wants to know why Optimus is avoiding him.
A/N: So this is written for
lita_ann_kino who asked for a story with Prime and Bee… hope you enjoy! And… for the time being, I’m not taking any more requests. My queue is full so to speak but once I get done with a few other stories, I promise to come back and take more requests.
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Bumblebee had dropped Sam off at school that morning and was headed for the make shift base the Autobots had begun building after the battle at Mission City. Ever since Bee had asked if he could stay with Sam, Optimus had been doing his best to avoid the scout and Bumblebee wanted to find out why.
He got to the base and quickly reverted to bipedal mode, walking inside. It seemed empty and the little scout frowned slightly. He knew Ratchet was working in the city with his human counterpart and that Ironhide was with the Lennox family. Jazz still wasn’t fully operational and Ratchet had him in stasis. Bumblebee moved further into the base and finally saw Optimus standing at the far end of the building, looking out through a large window.
He knew Optimus had to have heard him unless the older mech was just that lost in his own thoughts. He moved closer and reached up, resting a hand on the leader’s back.
“Prime?” he said quietly. Prime turned to look at him then looked away again quickly.
“Bumblebee,” he said, his voice rumbling and low. “I didn’t expect you today. Is something wrong?” Bumblebee dropped his hand and stepped around to Prime’s side.
“Why are you avoiding me?” he asked softly. There was an underlying tone of pain in that voice, a fear perhaps of losing someone he respected a great deal.
“Things have been busy,” Prime answered, still looking out the window. “And you’ve been busy with Samuel. Since Mission City we’ve all had a great many things to get done, myself included. Forging out a treaty with the human government hasn’t been all that easy.” Bumblebee nodded slowly.
“Then, I’m sorry for bothering you. I thought, perhaps, you’d just been avoiding me on purpose.” He stepped away from Prime slowly. He knew… he knew the older mech was avoiding him but if Prime wouldn’t face the issue, then Bumblebee wasn’t going to push him to do so. “I’ll leave you then and get back to the school,” he whispered softly. Prime heard the pain and regret in that small voice and bowed his head slightly. He heard Bumblebee turn and begin to walk away from him.
“Bumblebee,” he called out quietly, turning around to watch the younger mech. Bee stopped but didn’t turn back. Prime watched him a moment longer then walked over to him. “I’m sorry if my not being around has hurt you in some way. That was not my intention.” Bumblebee nodded slowly.
“Just… tell me what I did wrong,” he whispered softly. Prime sighed heavily and rested his hand against the back of Bee’s neck.
“You did nothing wrong, Bee. I suppose it felt as if we were losing you when you asked to remain with Samuel. I figured that meant you didn’t want to remain here with us any longer and I didn’t want to deny you that request. After all you’d done for us, after everything you’ve suffered in this war, I wasn’t going to take that away from you. Even if it meant losing you…” Bumblebee turned around slowly.
“So it was easier for you to just withdraw from me all together? You didn’t think I’d notice or that it wouldn’t hurt?” Prime sighed softly.
“I didn’t think it would matter,” he said quietly. “You’d made your decision when you chose to remain with Samuel. I wasn’t going to make you choose between us.”
“No,” Bumblebee said quietly. “You decided to make that choice for me.” He looked up at his leader and rested one hand against Prime’s chest plates. He could feel the warmth beneath, the pulsing of Prime’s spark just behind the Matrix. After a moment, he pulled away and slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“As am I,” Prime answered softly, a hint of desperation in his tone of voice. “I should have trusted you, but I didn’t trust myself to do so.” Bumblebee nodded slowly and looked up at him, the pain clear in his optics now.
“You didn’t ask,” Bumblebee said quietly. “And I just couldn’t tell you…” He leaned up, pressing his mouth softly against Prime’s before pulling away. “I’ll see you around, Prime,” he whispered softly before turning and walking away. Prime watched him leave, feeling the spark inside his chest shatter just a little bit more…