Little [Transformers Prime]

Little Changes

Bumblebee woke up to the sound of Bulkhead's footsteps passing his door, and decided it was probably time to get up for real now. It wasn't until he walked into the main room that he realized he was the last one up, which didn't normally happen, as he usually went with Arcee on perimeter before most everyone else was getting up. He probably had slept a little longer than he should have...
"Oh, there you are, Bee," Arcee said with a small smile as he walked over. "You didn't get up for patrol."
"Yeeaah, I guess I slept a little longer than I normally do," He shrugged. "But I was also up earlier cuz I couldn't sleep, so I kinda did it then, I guess."
"Couldn't sleep?" Arcee repeated. "How come?"
"I dunno, maybe I'm just stressed or something and didn't realize it," Bumblebee shrugged again. "And then when I did get back to sleep, it was deeper than normal. Cuz I can usually wake up just fine to the sound of your footsteps in the hall, but this time it took Bulkhead's passing my room to wake me up! Er, no offense, Bulk."
"None taken," Bulkhead laughed, waving him off. "I already know I make way more noise than Arcee in just about every area."
"But that does sound very unusual," Arcee frowned, looking Bee over, as if trying to see what was wrong with him. "You are normally a pretty light sleeper, and this seems like a pretty drastic change to happen overnight."
"It certainly does," Ratchet agreed, coming over and scanning Bumblebee. "But the readout doesn't show anything wrong with you, perhaps your systems are just tired and you needed a little more time to recharge."
"But then why would I wake up at the crack of dawn wide awake if I need more sleep?" Bumblebee countered, mostly thinking out loud.
"That...is a good question, to which I'm afraid I don't know the answer," Ratchet frowned, his expression thoughtful.
"It couldn't have anything to do with what was in that vial, could it?" Smokescreen suggested, once again jumping into the conversation with his magically really good ideas.
"Maybe?" Bumblebee shrugged, turning to Ratchet. "Did you ever manage to figure out what it was?"
"Ugh, no I did not. Instead, the analysis machine decided to overheat and burn out before I could get a proper readout on the sample."
"Perfect," Bumblebee said sarcastically through gritted dental-plates. "Do you think you can salvage that? Because I doubt the kids are gonna want to do that again."
"Well, I can try to fix it, but without proper spare parts I can't promise anything," Ratchet frowned. "For now, I guess we'll just need to keep an eye on you, and make sure it doesn't keep happening, or get worse. If so, then I'd say it's definitely linked to whatever was in that vial."
"Hey, hold on a second," Smokescreen suddenly exclaimed. "Bee, since when were you shorter than Ratchet?"
"What?? I'm not-"
"Take a look!" Smokescreen insisted, turning him to face the Medic. To Bumblebee's shock, he actually had to look up at Ratchet a little. Not much, but definitely more than before, more than he had in a long time.
"What the Allspark?!" He exclaimed, stepping back in shock. "How did I not notice that before?! I haven't had to literally look up to you since I was a youngling!" Ratchet was surprised too, and quickly scanned him again, though he got the same results as before: perfectly fine condition.
"By the Allspark...!" He gasped under his breath, the way he always did when he couldn't believe something was happening or had happened, and had absolutely no explanation for it.
"How could Bee suddenly get shorter?" Bulkhead asked, scratching his helm in confusion. "That's not possible, is it?"
"I honestly don't know, Bulkhead," Ratchet replied, still looking down at Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, I think maybe you should go back to your room and rest, maybe you're just very tired and not standing up straight." Bee could tell Ratchet didn't actually believe that, but decided perhaps this was all just a very crazy dream, and if he went to his room and rested he would wake up eventually...