Author's note. Written by me and Transformerfan123 with a pairing that's a bit different.

Enjoy and please review.

Bumblebee groaned as he slumped down against a wall, he was utterly worn out. He'd just been on a triple shift and needless to say, he was exhausted. First shift had been boring watch duty and then he'd gone on patrol. Normally, that wasn't that bad but first it had rained heavily, he hated getting muddy. Secondly, some Seekers had flown by and started heckling him, keeping just far away he couldn't start shooting at them but close enough so that they could annoy him. He'd endured about three hours of this and was slagged off.

Cosmos looked down at the ground, feeling awkward as Ratchet's optics looked over his body carefully. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been! He'd been flying for years and years! He, of all mechs, should know how to avoid a meteor shower! Despite the fresh repairs, he was sore and stiff, and he didn't like it one bit. Ratchet sighed, bringing him out of his dark thoughts.

"Well, Cosmos, you seem to be all patched up. BUT I don't want you going back up in space for a while. You need rest and energon...and maybe you can get acquainted with the crew," he said with a smile. "In fact, let me call somebody in to show you around." Reaching up, Ratchet pressed his comm. link. "Bee? Could you come to the med-bay for a moment?"

Bumblebee groaned as he got the call, sure Ratchet was trying to trick him in there for a check up.

"Is it urgent?" he asked with a sigh, he really just wanted to rest and unwind.

"I need someone to show Cosmos around," Ratchet said sternly. "Tighten those bolts Youngling, get over here,"

Cosmos sat there silently, trying desperately to put a face to the name 'Bee' and promptly found that he couldn't.

"Err...who's Bee again?" he asked, trying to sound casual. However, this only reinforced Ratchet's idea that the space going Mech really needed to socialize.

"Bumblebee, he's a Minibot scout," Ratchet explained briskly.

"Oh...yeah," Cosmos lied. He honestly couldn't remember who the frag Bumblebee was. His question was answered when, a moment later, the door slid open to reveal the mech himself.

Bumblebee entered somewhat moodily, it was an effort to keep from outright scowling. He recognised the Mech behind Ratchet vaguely as Cosmos, that Autobot who spent all his time in Earth's solar system, keeping an optic on Decepticon activities. He'd never spoken to the Mech though; he doubted the other even knew who he was.

"Um, hello," Cosmos said shyly, waving half-sparkedly at the mech who was obviously not happy to see him.

"Hi," Bumblebee said a little more shortly than normally, causing Ratchet to cuff him around the head.

"Bee, behave," Ratchet hissed. "Cosmos doesn't often get to come down to Earth, I want you to show him around base, introduce him to a few bots and be friendly."

"If he doesn't feel like it then he doesn't have to," Cosmos protested weakly. "I don't want to be a bother."

Bumblebee felt a twinge of guilt, it wasn't this Mech's fault, he hadn't asked for Bee to come. So he quickly tried to smile a bit more and said.

"It's alright, I'm not doing anything. Is there anything in particular you want to see?"

Cosmos lowered his head, blushing beneath his facemask. "I...don't really know what there is to see."

"Well, why don't I take you round the main places where bots go?" Bumblebee suggested and as Cosmos nodded, said.

"Come on, we can visit the Rec Room first."

Cosmos hopped off the berth and followed, curious. He wasn't really sure what that was, but it sounded interesting. He stayed behind the yellow mech, keeping his head down and avoiding optic contact with the mechs down the corridor.

As bored as he got up in space, it was peaceful and he felt safe there. No one could really hurt him while he was there and it had been so long since he'd interacted with other bots, not counting speaking over the long range comm. He felt ashamed about this but just couldn't bring himself to meet anyone's optic.

"Hey Bee?" Cosmos asked quietly. "Is...there energon in the Rec room?"

"Uh...yeah of course," Bumblebee replied, turning to look at Cosmos on surprise. "Haven't you ever been to a Rec Room?"

"Maybe...I can't really remember. I've been up in space for a long, long time..." Cosmos wished the floor would swallow him whole as his blush spread up to cover his whole face; his facemask wouldn't cover all of that.

"Oh," Bumblebee said, not sure what to say to this. He couldn't imagine living alone for so long, in the empty voidness of space, he'd go mad. "Well...I'm sure you'll like it, it's a bit quiet this time of day but there's still plenty of Mechs about."

Bumblebee probably thought that would make him feel better, but it didn't. It made him even more nervous and he started playing with his hands.

"How...how busy will it be?"

Bumblebee frowned at this question, this Mech really was jittery.

"Not too bad, probably no more than a handful, just enough that it doesn't feel empty."

Glancing at Cosmos's worried expression, he said quickly.

"Hey don't worry about it, you'll be fine."

Cosmos just nodded and followed the mech into the Rec Room. Glancing around, he noticed that there was only three tables occupied. The mechs sat in groups of three and four, chatting amicably. Bumblebee directed him to a table and he sat there while the yellow mech got him energon. He could feel optics on him and was embarrassed; many mechs didn't even know he existed.

In fact, he was pretty sure the ones in this room didn't know who he was at all, not with the way their optics were boring into him. Finally, a red Minibot said loudly and aggressively.

"Who's the slag's that?"

Cosmos jumped and answered shyly. "I-I'm Cosmos," he muttered. "I-I'm a r-reconnaissance mech. I work up in space."

The green and yellow mech looked around for Bumblebee, but the yellow mech had mysteriously vanished.

He didn't realise Bumblebee had had to rush off to the waste extractor, he'd suddenly needed to go and completely forgot about Cosmos. But even if he'd thought about him, he'd have imagined he was perfectly safe in the Rec Room for a few minutes.

"How come we've never seen you before?" the angry red Minibot now demanded.

"I don't come down often," Cosmos replied. "I don't really have any need to, except to refuel, and my fuel reserves are pretty large, or for missions, and Prime usually just comms. me."

This didn't seem to placate the angry Mech at all, shoving himself to his feet, he now said suspiciously.

"Really, you spend ages up in space completely alone? How do we know the Cons haven't gotten to you?"

Cosmos blinked. "Cons? I-I don't...What are you talking about?" he asked desperately.

"Then why are you stuttering?" The Mech said cruelly as though Cosmos had just confessed to murder. "You wouldn't do that unless you were guilty."

"I don't even know what a Con is!" Cosmos exclaimed, pressing back against the wall. "P-please, just leave me be!"

"Ha, that's a good one, don't know what a Con is," the Mech laughed sarcastically, coming even closer now. "You think I'm stupid or something?"

Cosmos felt something wet rushing out of his optics and he reached up to touch it. After a second, he remembered what it was called: crying. It was a reaction to extreme emotions. He didn't like it as it only made Cliffjumper smirk meanly.

"What, you crying? Little freak, you're probably a Con reject, they probably don't even care about you."

Cosmos huddled back as little noises started to come from his vocalizer. He didn't like this. Why were they being so mean? He really didn't know what a 'Con was! He didn't like this red mech who made him feel lower than dirt.

He could feel the other Mech looming over him and some sixth sense told him he was about to get hit or worse. He squeezed his optics shut, waiting for the first blows to fall...

"Hey, what's going on here?" a new smooth but angry voice said loudly.

Cosmos flinched and let out a sob, expecting the new mech to come at him with more harsh words. He flushed and whimpered, cowering away.

"N-no more!" he squeaked. "P-please! I r-really don't know what a 'Con is!"

"Cliffjumper," the new Mech growled and Cosmos heard footsteps marching over. "Leave him alone, what has he done that's so bad?"

"I've never seen him Jazz! He could be a damned spy for the 'Cons!"

Cosmos hid his face, shuddering fearfully. He let out another strangled sob.

"Do you really think a con would just walk into the Rec Room like that?" the Mech called Jazz demanded. "Man, you have some serious issues if you jump on every long distance Autobot that comes visting."

Jazz? That name sounded familiar, and now that he thought about it, so did that voice. Within a second, he knew who the mech was: third in command to Prime himself.

"J-Jazz!" Cosmos whimpered thankfully; he often was debriefed by the mech. "W-what did I do wrong? I don't understand!"

Jazz sighed heavily as he came closer and gently laid a hand on Cosmos's shoulder, who flinched.

"Ya didn't do nothing, this here Mech thinks that every stranger that walks in here is a Con...Decepticon," he explained, sending a glare at Cliffjumper. "Go and report ta Prowl, ya can explain ta him what ya wer doing," Jazz snapped before turning back to Cosmos.

"What ya doing here on ya on, ain't no one with ya?"

"The little yellow mech was but I don't know what happened to him! He told me he was getting energon then disappeared!"Cosmos whimpered, wiping at his face. "I-I don't like being here anymore. I wanna go back up in space!"

"Little yellow Mech...that must be Bumblebee," Jazz said with a frown as an angry Cliffjumper left. "Ain't like him to leave just like that, I'll call him."

"Bee?"

"Yeah Jazz?" Bumblebee answered a moment later.

"Care ta explain why ya left Cosmos all alone in the Rec Room?"

"Had to go to the waste extractor. Urgent. Um, why?"

"Because CJ decided tah have a real go at him, that's why. Calling him a Con and stuff."

"Slag!" Bumblebee gasped. "I'll be right there!"

Bumblebee cursed as he raced down the corridor, how could he have been so stupid as to leave Cosmos there without warning? But he really hadn't thought, he was sure the Mech would be fine in the Rec Room but he'd forgotten about Cliffjumper.

As he skidded into the Rec Room, his Spark thudded with guilt as he saw the state cosmos was in.

Cosmos still couldn't stop crying, even though he was wiping at his face. He was pressed into Jazz's side looking like a lost puppy.

"Cosmos...I'm really sorry," Bumblebee hastened to apologise. "I really had to go, the waste extractor, I'm sorry for leaving you, I didn't think..."

"Ya babbling Bee," Jazz said gently and the yellow bug shut up.

Cosmos simply sniffled. "I just want to recharge...How am I supposed to do that with gravity?"

"Hmm, how bout a hummock?" Jazz suggested with a grin. "That's a sheet you hung from the ceiling, sort of swings as you lie on that, you might find that more comfy than a berth?"

"Sounds good. Thanks Jazz," Cosmos said, a smile on his voice. "But...which room am I sleeping in?"

Jazz shot Bumblebee a meaningful look prompting the minibot to say quickly.

"You can sleep with me if you want, I got plenty of room. My place's quiet quiet too, you can get some real peace there."

Cosmos nodded. "A-alright. Thanks. C-can we head there now? I-I don't wanna be around a lot of mechs right now."

"Okay," Bumblebee said sheepishly, offering a hand to the other, he looked like he needed it. Cosmos gratefully took his hand, mumbling a goodbye to Jazz as they exited the room.

Cosmos walked silently, feeling miserable. He knew it wasn't Bumblebee's fault, but he was still hurt by Cliffjumper's words.

"so uh...I got some Energon stored in my room, you want a cube while I set up your hummock?" Bumblebee asked nervously.

"Sure," Cosmos said quietly, scuffling along. Bumblebee moved ahead of him and he kept his head down, not noticing the oncoming mech until he crashed into him.

"Ouch!" Cosmos exclaimed then looked at the mech he'd bowled over. "Optimus! I'm sorry sir! I was just..."

Cosmos cursed his stupidity as he hurried to help the Prime up.

"It's alright," the Prime said with a small chuckle as he was helped up. "I wasn't paying attention, apologies."

He looked kindly down at the both of them as he said.

"Are you enjoying your time on Earth, Cosmos?"

Cosmos looked down. "No," he said after a moment; he couldn't lie to his leader.

Optimus frowned as he looked from one to the other.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

"A red mech started asking me funny questions and...I don't really know what happened. I started...crying?...Yeah, that's the word, and he just got meaner."

"Cliffjumper," Optimus said with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry about that, he gets paranoid about new Mechs, thinks their Decepticons spies. I'll have a word with him about not jumping to conclusions and bothering guests."

"That's what Jazz said. I like him. He looks just as nice as he sounds," Cosmos said with a smile beneath his mask; he didn't feel shy around the Prime, as he was one of the few mechs he ever talked face to face with. It was nice, and Optimus never made fun of him for doing things that weren't socially normal. He understood the fact that Cosmos got very little interaction with other mechs and truly didn't understand the finer socializing points.

Prime's gaze grew warmer as he said.

"Jazz certainly is a good Mech, that's why he's TIC. Now, why don't you run along with Bumblebee, he'll take good care of you."

Bumblebee blushed, he knew Optimus was placing a lot of responsibility on him, he couldn't fail.

Cosmos nodded. "Thanks Optimus. See you later."

Cosmos watched as Optimus walked away and immediately grew less confident. He slouched and sighed miserably.

Bumblebee smiled sadly, wishing he had Optimus's gift of making everyone feel better. Oh well, he'd do his best, hopefully Cosmos wouldn't be too traumatised by the end of this.

Cosmos followed Bumblebee to his quarters and was pleased by what he found. It was small and quaint, but comfortable and there were no other mechs around. He smiled.

"I like it," he said quietly.

"Thanks," Bumblebee said with a small smile. "I like to keep it tidy, feels better when I come home and it's all done."

Cosmos nodded and looked at the berth. "Is this the thing you sleep on?" he asked, plopping on it and discovering that it was soft.

"Yep, that's my berth," Bumblebee said with a nod, going over to a cabinet to get what he needed. "You like?"

"It's soft," Cosmos said with a giggle. "I can't remember recharging on one of these things!"

"Really?" Bumblebee said in surprise before blushing slightly, of course Cosmos probably wouldn't.

"Here's your cube," he said softly, handing the other the cube, he had a large canvas flung over his other arms. "I'll just put this up for you."

"Oh, thanks," Cosmos said appreciatively then took off his mask and drank deeply; it had been a long while since he'd refuelled.

Bumblebee started setting it up, he knew how to do it as he and Spike had once had a fun weekend experimenting with human things. A hammock had been one of them and although it took Bumblebee a while to secure it, once he was finished, he was pretty pleased with the result.

Cosmos sighed as he finished the cube. It felt nice to have fresh energon in his system.

"You're being awfully nice."

Bumblebee flushed as he said.

"This is what I'm normally like...I'm sorry I was grouchy earlier, I just got off a triple shift and was really tired. I didn't mean to snap."

"Oh...Sorry. I wish I could relate, but my shift never really ends," Cosmos said with a smile curling his lips.

Bumblebee winced.

"That must be rough," he said as he came to sit on the bed.

"Not really," he said quietly. "It's nice. I don't really have much to do most of the time so I entertain myself by exploring."

"I like exploring too," Bumblebee said. "There are so many amazing places here on Earth, it never gets tiring."

"Oh? Maybe...you could show me around sometime? I don't get to hang around on planets very often," Cosmos said quietly. He looked down at his empty cube. "Is it alright to ask if I can have more?"

"Sure, no problem," Bumblebee said, taking the empty cube to go refill it. "So...do you get a lot of Decepticon activity up in space?"

Cosmos snorted. "Back on Cybertron, yes, but not here. Few can exit Earth's thick atmosphere, including the Decepticons."Cosmos looked down at his hands. "I know this probably sounds selfish, but...sometimes I wish I could live down here. Then I get down here and just want to go back up into space. I don't understand the little social cues and things that other mechs do. I'm so alone all the time...I'm sorry," the mech said suddenly, a blush darkening his cheeks.

"I didn't mean to ramble. Prowl gets on to me when I start to do that, but Optimus doesn't seem to mind that much...Do you mind me, Bumblebee? I know I'm different and all so I'd completely understand if you do mind me and my odd ways..."

Cosmos trailed off and glanced up at Bumblebee with his big blue optics.

"I don't mind you," Bumblebee said softly. "We all have our little quirks. You should meet Bluestreak, once he starts talking, it's almost impossible to get him to stop. As for Prowl, well, he goes a little nuts if he's faced an illogical, like some of the ridiculous pranks the twins pull."

Cosmos blinked slowly and took a swig of his fresh cube. "I know who Prowl is, but who are the twins?" he asked curiously.

Bumblebee shook his head with a smile. "If you stay here for any length of time, you'll soon know. Their names are Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, their pranksters who drive Prowl insane with their pranks."

He shot Cosmos a grin, saying.

"I'm sure you can imagine Prowl after his office has been painted pink."

Cosmos frowned. "...Not really, but I believe he would be very angry," he finally said. There was a pause. "You know, you're really nice."

"Thanks," Bumblebee said with a soft smile. "You're nice to talk to Cosmos; I never get to talk to anyone new."

Cosmos blushed. "I-I appreciate the lie, but there's no need. I know I'm not the best conversation. I don't understand enough to be," he muttered, making it very apparent that he had very low self-esteem.

"It's not a lie," Bumblebee said with a frown. "That's why I enjoy living on Earth, there are so many different people to meet and talk to. We're such a small group of bots that everyone gets to know each other pretty fast and we miss the chance at meeting others. It doesn't matter if you're great at talking, you can still listen and comment."

Cosmos smiled and ducked his head, still half unsure, but willing to believe the bot. "Thanks Bee...Um, aren't you hungry? You haven't touched any energon."

"Huh, oh, almost forgot," Bumblebee said with a smile, lifting his cube up and taking a deep gulp. "Thanks.

Cosmos shrugged. "A lot of mechs need energon more frequently than I do," he stated simply as he took another swig of his own.

Bumblebee nodded, that made sense. He knew all the flyers needed a higher level of Energon and more of it to function.

"So...um...how was your day?" Cosmos asked awkwardly after a pause.

"Good, apart from failing to look after you," Bumblebee said with a heavy sigh. "well, actually even before that, I'd just come off a triple shift, I was shattered."

"I'm sorry. I...Am I a burden? I could just go to recharge if you'd like. Let you rest?"

Bumblebee bit his lip, he didn't want to be a bad host but he was tired.

"How about...we rest and listen to a little Earth music, you can see what you think of it?"

Cosmos blinked. "Music? Blaster likes music. Umm, is it all that...loud? I don't know if I could recharge to that..."

Bumblebee chuckled. "Some music is loud but some is really soothing, there's actually some that's designed to help you go to sleep. Here, I'll show you."

He went over to his music deck and selected an appropriate track.

Cosmos smiled softly at the gentle music. He rather liked this kind. Downing the rest of his cube, the mech jumped up into his hammock and lay down.

"You know, I hope I get to stay for a while if a lot of the mechs are like you," Cosmos said quietly.

"I hope you do to," Bumblebee said honestly before saying," Cosmos, we sort of got started on a bad foot, why don't we start tomorrow over? I won't be slag tired and we can have some actual fun. Jazz will make sure no one bothers us.

"Sounds good to me," Cosmos murmured tiredly, off lining his optics.

"Great, it's a date," Bumblebee said, settling on his berth with a sigh, still holding his cube of Energon. He took careful sips, if he drank too fast, he wouldn't fall into recharge.

Cosmos hummed and listened to the calm music; it felt strange to not just be floating, but not unbearable. He felt himself sliding into recharge.

Bumblebee glanced over just as he was finishing his cube, and saw that Cosmos appeared to be in recharge. He smiled to himself, he hoped Cosmos slept well because he really did want to make an effort tomorrow, give the Mech a really good time.

Cosmos yawned as he awoke, stretching pleasantly. He hadn't had that good a recharge in ages. He sat up in his hammock and looked around the room, his gaze finally settling on his yellow host. The mech looked peaceful in recharge, face relaxed and pouty. All in all, he wasn't that bad looking, though Cosmos would never say that out loud.

He hadn't been with anyone since before the War and only because there were more Mechs like him once upon a time. But then, there had been bots for everyone, when Cybertron was thriving but now there were barely enough bots to keep the species going. Whole cultures had been reduced to barely nothing and while it meant more interaction between those who wouldn't normally go out, it also made things awkward.

Cosmos just couldn't see an attractive Mech like Bumblebee wanted to go out with a mech like him.

Author's note. How do things progress the next day? Find out next time, until then.