OPERATION: Steak Cuts! - A BotBots Fic Series

Memories and Feelings - PROLOGUE

Love.
A wonderful, fleeting, beautiful concept.

He expertly dodged the sword's swings, before he was struck in the back, smacking face first into the computer.

"Painnnn..."

Stumbling back onto a lamp's on button, it illuminated his attackers.
Four other Bots, all staring back at him. A flashlight, a soccer ball, a bonsai tree, and a plunger.

Every moment you speak, it feels like my circuits are aflame,
My processors thrum louder and louder with every display of poise and grace you demonstrate.

He watched as the bot practically tore apart the studio, knocking into the camera as the footage fuzzed to static, staring in disbelief.
Holy Primus, she was skilled. Reckless, and maybe a little too happy to swing at whatever she felt like, but skilled!

"Enlightening, is it not? My blade is so sharp, it can slice through our concept of reality itself." Her smooth voice cut through the thick silence as he looked at her, bewilderment in his flustered face. "The ending might be a little...offputting?" He shrugged.

I want to scream at you, I love you! From the top of my robotic lungs.
The way I want to love you burns.
It fills my throat, it makes my eyes water, it feels as if I'm drowning,
But not in a way that kills me. It keeps me going.

He sat there as the tree gingerly tended to his wounds. "Why would you even consider slamming yourself into a vending machine to be a remotely good idea?" She huffed. "I thought it'd work! Honest." He groaned.
"It very clearly didn't after the first time, I don't see why doing it again 14 times over would yield different results." She pressed ice up against one of the bruises on his face, the burger-bot nearly recoiling from the cold against his skin.
"You don't have to do this, you know. I can put ice on it myself," he started.
"No. You are in no way qualified to be doing this yourself. Let me help you."
Her voice was soft, the usual sharp tone dissolved away into something warmer.

He felt his face heat up as she leaned in a little closer.

From the start, I found myself falling in love.
I just wish you knew how much I adored you.
How much I want to hold your hands, tell you you're everything to me.

"Hey, Bonz-Eye?"
The bot stepped into the other's cubby space, awkwardly standing there. She was in the middle of meditating, opening an eye to stare at her visitor. "Yes?"
"If it isn't too personal, when you... said you didn't have a squad, what did you mean?" The other bot sat down next to her. "What did you see over there... ?"
The tree-bot exhaled deeply.
"I-I'm sorry, was that too personal-?"
"No. It was not." She responded curtly.

"I found an abandoned gardening store that had a bonsai sale sign at the front. It was cleared out and any sign of life was long gone before the energon cloud ever hit, leaving me alone in the lost and found, alone." Her voice was calm, but there was... something. Clouded behind the tranquility there was sadness.
"I am not upset about it. It allows me to choose who and where I want to be.

She was lying. And he knew that.
"Bon. You don't have to hide how you feel," he put a hand on her shoulder. "I know that this is probably really hard for you, and I know how much our squads mean to us. I can't imagine not having somewhere to go where there's others like you."
She averted her gaze. She didn't want to accept that he was right.

"Hey."
She looked back at him.
"I promise, whatever happens, you'll always have a place with me. With us. Even if, or... when, we're accepted into our squads, you'll still be our friend, okay?"

There was a faint smile on her face as she nodded. "Thank you, Burgertron."
The darkness of the room made it that she couldn't see his facial features, but his cheeks were tinged red.

"You're welcome."

I betray my emotions. I hold my tongue, not wanting to ruin our friendship with my feelings.
I ask for my soul to be still,
for my brain to stop letting the image of you creep into my thoughts when I try to sleep.
But every time I close my eyes, you're there.

In my wake and in my rest, you are a constant.
And I find myself longing. For you, for the way you speak.

For You.

I will never tell a soul that I feel this way, these words will not leave the paper that it is etched onto.
But I do love you.

My only other wish
Is that you felt the same as me.

Burgertron scooped up the pieces of paper, organizing them into a neat stack, before tucking them away inside of the desk at the back of his cubby, glancing at the words on paper one last time before he closed the lid.

Nobody had to know. Nobody could know.
He already had a girlfriend, and a friend of his who he was considerably close with. These feelings were just a phase.
Just a phase, he repeated the phrase to himself.

"Hey, coach!" A voice rung out from below as he looked over the edge at the floor. One of his teammates, a soccer ball, stared back at him, eyes full of excitement.

Shoving his dilemma to the back of his mind, he responded. "Hey, Kikmee! What's up?"
"Me and the others are gonna go to the toy store to play!!! You wanna come with?" She hollered back.
He could deal with his feelings later. And besides, a little romp with his buddies never hurt. "Of course! Let's go!" He hopped down, greeting his fellow Lost Bot eagerly, who grabbed him by the hand and nearly dragged him out, barely giving him any time to process his surroundings.

He didn't notice the bonsai staring at him, a look on her face as she watched them from her cubby.


I find myself longing for you, too.