It was nearing evening in the city of Detroit. The sun was just starting to set, filling the skies with brilliant colors.
Prowl was coming back from a day at Dino-bot Island, and he leisurely drove through the city. He knew his moments of peace would end almost immediately when he got back to base, but until then, he would enjoy what time he had.
He slowed to a stop as he came upon rush hour traffic. Hours blared around him as people impatiently tried to get on their ways.
He sighed. Humans seemed to always be rushing about, never taking time to enjoy the great beauties that are all around them.
Thoughts of Cybertron came, and it's own beautiful land. How different it was from Earths organic life... Prowl briefly wondered if he would be able to grow some of the plants he found here back on Cybertron.
A honk from behind him brought him out of his thoughts. It seems like he'd been holding up traffic. He started down the road and found himself quickly back at base.
He let out a sigh as he transformed and walked in. When he failed to here their sound system blaring at obnoxious levels, or any of the other bots yelling about some prank Bumblebee just pulled, he looked around, trying to find the yellow speedster.
There was no sign of him...
Prowl quickly found Optimus Prime.
"Ah, I see your back." His leader welcomed the ninja.
Prowl nodded, then cast another glance around. "Where is Bumblebee?"
Optimus laughed. "He's been with Sari for the past few hours. You probably still have a bit longer to enjoy the peace and quiet till he comes back."
Prowl smiled, and told Optimus he would be in his room. He then turned to and started towards it, ready to meditate with no chance of an interruption.
It had been days since Prowl had gotten through a whole session without Bumblebee coming in and annoying him.
What a perfect way to end the day.
He opened the door, and was ready to relax, but the sight before him almost made his spark stop. The shock of it made him lose his balance, and he had to grab the side of the door for support.
His room looked exactly as it always did, except for the fact that his tree was missing!
There was still a hole in the roof where it once was, but beside that there was no sign of it.
It was like it had never been there...
He racked his brain for some sort of explanation for what was going on, but it was like his processor wasn't working right now.
I... Wha- How did this... How did this happened?!
T-this... this is impossible!
He didn't understand.
He found himself moving into the room, his pedes moving on their own accord.
He had been gone all of this morning, something must have happened then. Had his team gotten rid of it? No, they knew how much he liked it, besides; there was no reason for it. The tree was only in his room, and didn't bother the others.
He was coming up with nothing. How could no one have noticed this?! It had to have happened while he was out. Trees don't just disapp-
An invisible force against his leg made him lose his train of thought… as well as his balance.
"Agh!" He exclaimed as he tried to catch himself.
His hand hit something as well, and he was able to stay upright.
"What?!" Prowl felt around the strange force and thought he saw a brief wave of some kind of static or disturbance as his hand moved around.
A snicker from behind him cause him to turn, though this time, he did fall to the ground as his pede hit that…thing again.
"BUMBLEBEE?!" He shouted as he looked up towards the corner of the room. There was the smaller bot, trying to hold in his laughter. The thing that drew his attention though, was the device right next to Bumblebee.
There, on the floor, was his holograph machine… and it was on.
Bumblebee, meanwhile, was holding his chasis and trying not to collapse. "O-oh! M-man!... You… you should see your face!" He laughed out, not noticing Prowl's faceplates slowly grow dark with anger.
A sudden flash of gold shot past the yellow bot, and he let out a yelp as the machine by his foot slammed into the wall, instantly falling to pieces.
Prowl turned slightly as he heard it shut down, and felt a wave of immense relief as the air around his room distorted, revealing his tree exactly as it should be.
Now that that was taken care of…
"H-hey? Prowl?" Bumblebee took a nervous step towards the black mech, but instantly stopped when Prowl slammed his servo against the trunk of the tree.
"Get Out…" He said quietly, still having his back turned.
That scared the smaller bot. Bumblebee was beginning to think this wasn't his best idea… He hadn't really expected this from Prowl… But the ninja had seemed pretty freaked out when he had first came in.
"Look, Prowl, I-"
"Now! Bumblebee!" He shouted, turning to face him. His visor narrowed dangerously, and Bumblebee immediately shot out of the room, not daring to push Prowl anymore.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
"I didn't mean for him to freak out so much. I mean, he was at the door for, like… 5 minutes, just standing there in shock." Bumblebee explained to Optimus as he slumped down on the couch.
Optimus sighed, not knowing exactly how to help him. "Well, Bumblebee… I think that that was a bit much for just a simple prank."
'Bee nodded sadly. It was just suppose to a fun little thing… like all the other times. When he first came up with the idea, he thought it was brilliant! It was hard enough getting the hologram machine, but he finally got it without Prowl noticing. Then he just had to wait for a time when he knew Prowl was going to be gone for awhile. This morning was the perfect opportune moment…
Now, though, it felt nothing like his other pranks. The look on Prowl's faceplates when he first saw it... it almost made Bumblebee stop it right then... But then he tripped!
Ha! That was great. Seriously, how many times did Bumblebee get to see the ninja bot do something that is not graceful and perfect? And he had no idea what was going on!
Man! This one was great-
Bumblebee shook his head. No. Stop it. This one really got him mad. I should probably go apologize...
"That's a start... but I think you should wait till tomorrow." Optimus said.
Bumblebee looked up, surprised. Oh... he hadn't realized he said that last bit out loud.
"Bulkhead already tried to get him to come out of his room, but that didn't work. I don't think you would would do any better tonight." His leader added.
Bumblebee nodded and headed back to his own room, silently promising himself to go straight to Prowl the next morning.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
"Prowl? Hello! I know you're in there," Bumblebee knocked on the door again, only to have no replay.
"Come on!" He whined, once again pounding on the door. "I want to apologize!"
The was a moment of silence, and Bumblebee thought he heard some movement from inside the room. "Prowl?"
A swish of leaves told him that Prowl had jumped outside from his tree.
He let out a sigh. It seemed he'd have to tell the ninja later.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
Prowl was gone the entire day. Even when he came back, he wouldn't even look at Bumblebee. The yellow-bot would try to talk with him, but it seemed like Prowl had decided to ignore him for awhile.
Even when morning came for the next day, Prowl still refused to even acknowledge Bumblebee. He had tried playing another prank on the ninja, to see if that did anything... but in the end it just made it worse.
It wasn't until almost 3 days since the incident when Bumblebee and Sari finally figured out what to do.
The two of them had been trying to think of way to earn the ninja's forgiveness but in the end Sari was the one who came up with it. They both agreed it was the best thing to do, and were going to put it into action almost immediately.
"Okay... it says here that it will take almost 24 hours of non stop driving to get there and back. That is without any stops and only a bit of traffic." Sari said as she read off of her computer screen.
"What? That long? What if I drive really fast?" Bumblebee said with a smirk.
Sari quickly shook her head. "No, you can't do that. It might get damaged if you go to fast. Then the whole point of going would be ruined."
The yellow-bot sighed, and slumped down on the couch again. "Man.." he whined.
"Don't worry. I know you can do this." She gave him a pat on his armor, giving a bit of encouragement.
"Yeah, but why can't you come with me? It would be so much funner."
"Bumblebee... My dad said I can't, besides, I think it would make the trip longer since you'd need to stop so I could eat." Sari pointed out. "This is all you. I think it will mean more if you do it by yourself."
Bumblebee nodded, though his spirits seemed low. "You think this'll work?" His voice still filled with worry.
Sari, on the other hand, felt very confident in this. "Yup." She gave an enthusiastic nod. "Now all you have to do is do it." She gave him a push towards his door, signaling that he should get going now.
"Alright." He stood up, feeling a bit better. "I just gotta tell boss-bot where I'm going, then... I guess I'll see you in two days?"
Sari laughed as Bumblebee kept trying to stall. "Yes! Now go, otherwise it will just take longer."
Bumblebee smiled at her, and was out of the room in a flash. She sat waiting on his bed for a moment, listening as she heard the muffled voices of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. When she heard tires squealing outside the base, she knew that Bumblebee was finally on his way.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
As Bumblebee drove, he tried to ignore the slight irritation coming from his wheels, especially from the front left one. He had just run over a particularly bad pot hole, and almost lost control for a second. There was a moment there when he had almost collided with a passing car, but he managed to swerve out of the way. It gave him a scare, and the other car had seemed a bit freaked out as well.
"Well... at least it happened on the way here, and not the way back. That definitely wouldn't have been good." He mumbled to himself as he kept going down the road.
Eight hours passed without incident, and Bumblebee was starting to get bored. Now, more then ever did he wish Sari was here. They could at least talk... maybe think of some games to play while on the road. Yeah... nope.
It was just him.
Driving for hours...
Alone...
…
"Gah! This is so boring!" He shouted to the open road that surrounded him.
He sped up, hoping to shorten the time. He knew he couldn't do it on the way back, but he could at least make the trip there shorter.
It wasn't too long till he heard a siren.
"Aw, man..."
He slowed to a stop, and waited for the police car to pull up beside him.
"Excuse me. Did you know you were going almost 40 miles above the speed limi-?!"
The officer stared at the empty car he had just pulled over.
"...What?" He cast his eyes around, wondering if the driver had somehow slipped away.
"Sorry... I guess. I hadn't realized I was going that fast..." Bumblebee quickly transformed, and bent down to talk to the man. He completely forgot that outside Detroit, they were no longer every-day occurrences that walked around whenever.
The cop, almost completely new to the job, and so not ready to face alien robots that could transform from cars, feinted from shock at the sight of him.
"Opps..." Bumblebee mumbled.
He gently picked him up and put him in the police car. The Autobot then transformed and decided to leave him there to wake up on his own. Bumblebee had to get going. This time, though... he'd follow the speed limit.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
Hours later, and Bumblebee was still on the road. Now, he was having a hard time keeping his optics open. Night had fallen long before, and all this driving was tiring him out. He needed a break!
Bumblebee shook himself awake, trying to keep himself from dozing off.
He passed a road sign, and glanced at it, wondering how much long he had to go.
"What?!"
He screeched to a stop, but failed to do so without tumbling off the road. He quickly transformed to catch himself, but ended up in the ground anyways. He lay there for a moment, getting over the small pain that seemed to come from everywhere.
His optics gazed up at the sky, surprised at how many stars were out. They all seemed so bright. He didn't often see so many, must be because of the city lights.
Another minuet was spent just laying there before he remembered what he had seen.
The yellow bot jumped up immediately, and ran back to the sign to reread it.
Yup.. there was no denying it. He had passed his turn almost 35 miles ago.
UGH!
Stupid unfamiliar roads!
He whirled around, and drove off once again, not caring if he was speeding. He was so off course! He doubled checked his map to see if there was a faster way then going back.
…Of course there isn't!
It was his own fault though... He hadn't been paying attention these last few miles...
Driving was boring though!
Gah, seriously, the whole way there was just 'drive on this road for about one hundred miles, take a small turn, then drive on this other road for almost two hundred miles'.
Oh well...
Bumblebee drove on. He wouldn't give up now. He was going to see this through to the end. No more stops and delays this time. He had to make this whole thing right.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
Prowl walked down the hall towards him room, just getting back from talking with Optimus. He had mentioned Bumblebee, and now Prowl couldn't think of any one else. It still irked him... thinking of what Bumblebee had done.
He had only just finished fixing his holograph device, though... technically that had been his own fault.
No, Bumblebee had gone to far with that whole thing.
"Prowl?" A voice called from behind him.
He let out a sigh as he recognized Bumblebee's voice. It seems that the smaller bot was back from... when ever he had gone to yesterday.
Prowl turned around to face him and was a bit surprised to see the yellow-bot standing awkwardly, holding out a batch of flowers. His paint had small scratches on it and there were mud steins all over him, but he didn't pay them any attention. Bumblebee's eyes were fixed on Prowl, nervous, pained, but also a bit hopeful.
The ninja remained silent, not able to think of anything to say.
He had been furious at the little bot for a couple of days now, and had ignored him almost completely. Looking at him now, Prowl realized just how much he had been pushing the Bumblebee away. He turned his gaze to the flowers, their bright color shining in the afternoon sun that came in from the roof. They were in full bloom.
He brought his servo up and took the flowers from Bumblebee, trying to recall which type these were.
Purple Hyacinths.
In the Victorian language of the flowers… they meant 'I'm sorry… Please forgive me.'
Prowl took a quick breath then looked up at Bumblebee.
The smaller bot looked away, and brought his servos up nervously as he started to talk. "Look, I'm really sorry about the whole 'disappearing tree', and I know I shouldn't have done that, since I know how much you like your tree. As a kind of token of apology, I just kind of thought that since you like nature and stuff, I could give you something like it, but trees were too big, and you kind of already had one, so I thought flowers, since they small and there were a bunch of different kinds…"
Bumblebee continued to ramble on, not noticing the small smile coming to Prowls face.
"…Well, I told Sari about it, and she mentioned that some flowers have certain meanings, so I looked up the one I needed and found that purple one, and thought it was perfect so I tried to see where I could get some."
Prowl was surprised at the amount of thought put into this gift. It surprised him even more that it came from Bumblebee. The younger bot continued to talk.
"I looked it up, and found this one guy selling some. I saw some samples and they looked really good, and full. I don't think they were wilted or sick or anything, but I wasn't sure… Anyways, I decided that I would get some from that guy, since he was real close. He was just right around the corner in Hayward, Wisconsin, so I went to go get some-"
Prowl almost dropped the plant right then and there. Despite his earlier promise to himself that he should ignore the other bot for a week, he just had to say something.
"Bumblebee… Did you just say Wisconsin?"
Nah, there no way he said that. Prowl just probably heard it wrong. Why would he have gone all the way to Wisconsin? Not even he was that stupid…
"Yeah, why?"
Prowl could have face palmed. Of course he did, this was Bumblebee…
"You went all the way around to the other side of Lake Michigan?"
Bumblebee, by this time, was looking confused. Sure, he was happy that the ninja was talking to him again, but couldn't Prowl just appreciate the work he did to get the plant? These questions would be understandable if Prowl's tone was a bit more like 'oh, you went through all that trouble for me? That's amazing', but instead it was more of a 'Are you serious? I can't believe you're that stupid' kind of tone.
"Yeah, I mean, I was really sorry for doing that to you, and thought it was a great way to show it since you wouldn't talk to me."
A pang of guilt hit Prowl, but it was quickly gone because of the fact that Prowl was trying to hold in his laughter. "How long did you look for flowers being sold?"
'He probably didn't even search for 5 minutes' Prowl smiled at the thought as Bumblebee tried to recall the answer.
"I don't know… maybe 3 minutes? Me and Sari found the guy real quick, and I knew it would take a while to get there, so I headed out almost right after that."
Prowl had to let out a small chuckle. When Bumblebee heard it, he frowned slightly. "What?" Now the yellow bot was getting frustrated. "So I didn't spend hours looking for a seller. Why would I if I had already found one?"
The ninja bot looked up and placed a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. "Bumblebee… These are common flowers. They are all around this area. There's a store that sells them in just the neighboring town."
The yellow bot looked up in surprise at that. He tried to say something but nothing came out of his mouth. Heat rose to his faceplates.
"Yeah…well… I-I, they weren't as pretty... A-and they didn't have the right color!" He stammered out. He shrugged off Prowls hand and turned away, trying to hide his embarrassment.
How was he supposed to know that they were sold there?! Ugh! Stupid! If they were so common, how come he didn't see any as he was driving, huh?
Prowl laughed again, but decided to spare Bumblebee from further teasing. Instead, he decided to say something else.
"Thank you."
That just made Bumblebee even more embarrassed. He didn't look back at Prowl, but released a sigh. "I just didn't want you mad at me any more."
Prowl grabbed Bumblebee and turned him to face him. "Bumblebee… I should apologize as well. I over reacted, and shouldn't have treated you like that." He almost instantly saw the little bot perk up.
"So… we're cool?" He asked, looking hopefully up at that black ninja.
Prowl nodded, then suddenly found himself being hugged.
"Great!" Bumblebee let him go, and looked up with a smile.
They stayed like that for a moment... neither knowing what to do now, and not wanting to make it awkward... though it was starting to become so...
Bumblebee's optics suddenly widened. "Oh! I just remembered. Sari has this new game she bought yesterday while I was away. I told her I'd try it out right when I got home!" He then ran off with a final wave to Prowl.
After Bumblebee left, Prowl turned to where he had put the flower. It looked beautiful, and he knew that Bumblebee had been taking good care of it as he traveled.
He thought a moment on the hard work that Bumblebee put into the gift, but one thought stood out among all the rest.
Wisconsin?
Really?
He let out another chuckle as he watered the hyacinths.
Yes... he had been too hard on Bumblebee. He felt he should find a way to make it up to him. A smirk found its way onto his faceplates as he came up with a great way to repay Bumblebee.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
"Prowl, there's a package for you." Optimus Prime said as he handed small box to the ninja.
"Thank you, Optimus." Prowl said as he took the box and looked inside, smirking when he saw the contents.
The Prime didn't like that look at all. Trouble often came when Bumblebee had that look… what would come when Prowl had it?
"Uh… Prowl. What exactly is it?" Deep down, Optimus wasn't sure he wanted to know.
The ninja sensed the other's worry, and comforted him. "Don't worry. It is just a small 'Thank You' present for Bumblebee for the flowers he gave me before."
Optimus relaxed slightly, but was still confused as to why Prowl would be smirking because of it. Oh well… he doubted it was something too horrible.
"Well, I think he is in his room right now." He said as he started to walk away, deciding it'd be best to just return to monitor duty.
Prowl nodded, and headed that way.
When he reached the room, he knocked and let himself in. "Bumblebee?"
The younger bot had been talking with Sari on his bed, but when Prowl came in they both looked up at him. "Hey, Prowl. What's that?" Bumblebee said, noticing the small box in his servos.
"Actually, this is for you." The ninja offered the gift to him.
Bumblebee stood up, confused, but a bit excited. "Cool, what for?"
"The hyacinths."
It was a simple answer, but it was all that was needed.
When Bumblebee took the gift, he looked slightly confused, but a bit touched. "I was going to give you the real flower, but I thought that you would appreciate this more." Prowl said, as Bumblebee gasped in surprise.
It was a glass blown flower, pretty big compared to normal flowers, but to the Autobots, it was the perfect size. The detail was incredible, with the colors bright. Some of the flowers were a pinkish, but there were red ones as well.
It was beautiful.
He looked up at Prowl, and smiled.
"What kind of flower is it?" Before all this, Bumblebee wouldn't have cared. It was just a flower… nothing special. Now, though, he knew this must mean something special. Prowl gave his this flower for a reason
The ninja turned and started walking away. "It's an Oak-Leaf Geranium."
"Prowl wait!" The door shut before Bumblebee could ask what they meant.
"Stupid Prowl… I wanted to know what it meant!" He yelled, hoping the ninja heard him.
Sari came up beside him. "Don't worry, 'bee. We can use my laptop to look it up." She quickly sat down and brought up a google search, typing in the name.
The first results popped, and Bumblebee instantly had to smile.
Oak-Leaf Geranium: True Friendship.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
Alone in his room, Prowl couldn't stop the smile that came to him even as he was meditating. He couldn't seem to empty his thoughts… and once again it was thanks to Bumblebee.
He turned his gaze to a table by the side of his room. On it, shining in the sun, were the flowers Bumblebee had gotten him. Next to them, right by an empty box, was another glass flower. A purple Hyacinth. Now, even when the first ones died, he would still have them with him.
The language of Flowers is a beautiful thing. He truly meant it when he had given the flower to Bumblebee. Even if it doesn't seem like it, they were the best kind of friends… He meant it from his very spark. The first meaning of the flower, as well as the second…
Smirking, he stood up and decided to leave the base for a few hours. He hadn't been out yet, and the sun was very inviting. If he didn't get out now, he had a feeling it wouldn't happen today.
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
"Hey, look!" Sari said, pointing to the computer. "There is another meaning to your flower. The first one was just for the pink flowers, but the red ones mean something else too."
"Oh, really?" Bumblebee sat down again, eager to see what the red meant. He put the gift down, and got a closer look at the screen.
Scarlet Geranium: Stupidity.
"PROWL!"
~:::~:::~:::~:::~
A/N: I may or may not do more one-shots just based around flowers and their meanings. They would be put as other chapters to this... hmm, I'll have to see what I can come up with.