More than a Beast (oc!reader x tfa!Optimus) (On Hold)

9: Tales of Trust: Bulkhead

"What are you doing?" I asked Bulkhead one afternoon when I found him fiddling around with bits of scrap metal.

"Huh?" He said as he looked up from his work and nervously shrank back at the sight of me. "Oh, um. It's nothing important, heh."

"He's working on that stupid sculpture." Bumblebee called from where he was doing what Sari called 'playing video games', whatever that meant.

"It's not stupid!" Bulkhead argued to the yellow mech. "It's art!"

"Art?" I questioned curiously.

"It's a human thing." Bulkhead said. "They have unique ways of expressing themselves, and one way is by making things."

"I... am afraid I do not understand. What do you mean by that?"

"Well... it's hard to explain." Bulkhead said. "Humans like to create things for decorative purposes or to express emotions in ways that words can't."

"And this... art." I said with increasing confusion and curiosity. "How does one perform such things?"

"It's up to the creator." Bulkhead said. "And there are a bunch of different genres of art and stuff. It's really cool. Im currently trying to create a sculpture of Sumdac tower out of scrap metal."

"May... may I try?" I asked hesitantly. Bulkhead was a bit surprised at my hesitation but gladly gave me a few pieces of scrap metal. I went over to my sort of makeshift work station I had built to hold various repair tools I had scavenged from around the base, and I laid them all out. I separated the pieces of metal by shape and size below the tools. I then carefully studied each one as closely as i could in the hopes of gaining some inspiration.

'Create something, huh?' I thought to myself as I stared at the metal pieces. 'But what?'

I then remembered the moth I had seen with Prowl, and I immediately got to work. I started off by taking one of the cylindrical metal pieces, heating it till it was soft, and then forming the general shape for the moth's body. Once I was happy with that shape, I took some metal wiring and bent it over itself around the body to create the sort of fuzzy texture the moth had. I then used some more wire to create the feather like antenna, and, with the help of a welder, I secured the parts to the body. I then went to work on the wings, which took a bit of fumbling about since the metal would not flatten how I liked. It took hours, but I eventually got the wings perfect. After a bit of welding, I held up my metal creation and quietly grinned.

"Bulkhead," I said as I turned around with the moth in hand. "I believe this qualifies, does it not?" Bulkhead turned his attention to my creation, and I swore I saw his optics grow twice the size as they usually were.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed in excitement at the metallic moth in my servos. "That's so cool! How did you do that?"

"I... kind of just let it happen." I said with an awkward rub of my neck cables. "It's really easy, and I can see why humans enjoy it." I then handed the moth to Bulkhead and simply strode away, leaving the green mech completely bewildered.