they're sitting around a bond fire in the backyard. all drinking and talking about this or that. Cade had been welcomed with open arms after telling an embarrassing story about his lover.

Bumblebee isn't sure when the conversation turned to weddings, but suddenly his dads are talking about their wedding.

"yeah but we had the cutest little ring bearer. MIchael was just learning to walk back then. just about tumbled onto his face when he dropped one of the rings." Wheeljack chuckles softly.

"and remember when he stood up in the middle of the vows when he stood up and screamed he had to go to the bathroom?" Ratchet snorts. "DADDYYYY!!! I HAVE TO POTTY!!!!!" the entire audience had laughed while Orion had quickly moved out of place as Rafael's best man and quickly taken the child to the bathroom.

"I was like two." Bumblebee huffs. he's pouting and his face is a bright red. Sam chuckles softly beside him.

"I couldn't keep my shit together and I almost passed out right there trying not to laugh!" Ironhide laughs. Will chuckles at him a moment.

"we didn't have a ring bearer." Will says, thoughtfully. Ironhide frowns holding him gently.

"there was a lot of things we didn't have." Ironhide frowns a little.

"hey, uh, speaking of your wedding, how come I wasn't allowed? I was like 5 when you guys got married and I never got to meet Will until I was 10." Bumblebee frowns. his fathers, Will and Liam, and Orion go quiet instantly. "did... did I say the wrong thing?" Bumblebee asks.

"nah, you're curious Michael." Ironhide murmurs, though his hand squeezes Wills thigh hard.

"wait you weren't at the wedding?" Cade asks, curiously. "I thought you were their nephew." he frowns, sipping his beer.

"we should talk about something else now." Orion says firmly. everyone looks over at his tone.

"I don't get it, whats wrong? you guys always talk about your wedding in a happy tone." Bumblebee says, confused.

"no. kids curious. he's got a right to know." Will frowns a little, leaning against his husband. Ironhide looks at him before sighing. "it is a happy memory now, don't get us wrong, but it wasn't always that way." Will sighs.

"alright, so we'll skip the unimportant stuff and go straight to the wedding. it was December 16th and the was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground." Ironhide starts.

"and we were in Nebraska." Will says. "I didn't really have any friends of my own... so Liams friends kinda became mine." Will murmurs.

Will stares in the mirror nervous, before turning to look at Wheeljack and Jasper.

"am I sure I want to do this? I'm only 17..." Will murmurs. Wheeljack snorts, reaching out to adjust his white bow tie. Will stares at him nervously.

"oh come on, you and Liam are literally meant to be." Wheeljack murmurs. "like me and Rafael." he chuckles softly.

"how can you be sure?" Will ask.

"oh come on. yer meant t' be." Jasper chuckles softly, fiddling with the radio. "I've never seen a happier couple than you two. well, 'cept Raffie and Jackie." Jasper chuckles. Wheeljack rolls his eyes.

"I mean, you mentioned once that you wanted a winter wedding in the middle of a snow storm and Liam immediately brought you a list of states. you chose Nebraska so he set up a wedding for you two." Wheeljack chuckles. "try not to panic so hard. don't you remember giving me a speech like this when Ratch and I got married last year?" Wheeljack chuckles.

"no. that was different, and honestly, I can't remember anything, I'm drawing a blank. I'm panicking. I don't have any friends or family. all I have is Liam." Will says, nervously. "a-and what if Tony-" Will starts. Jasper whips around.

"we don't talk about him you know that." Jasper says, firmly.

"no. stop right there. this is a happy day, you're not going to mention him." Wheeljack frowns.

"I promise you he won't be here today." Jasper assures. "I'll be right back. promise." Jasper murmurs, before leaving the room.

"Tony? I've never heard that name before." Bumblebee says.

"we don't talk about it." Ironhide says firmly.

"who was he...?" Sam asks, hesitantly.

"he was my Nathan." Will murmurs.

"Nathan?" Cade ask.

"Sams abusive ex boyfriend. the reason he moved in with us was to get away from him." Ironhide explains.

"wait, is that what you mean when you call me 'another rescue for Ironhides list'?" Sam ask. Will nods a small smile on his face.

"yeah... Tony punched the hell out of me in front of Liam and well..." Will trails.

"I lost my fucking shit. I broke the kids nose, his arm. I broke his leg. I beat his head in." Ironhide growls.

"they had never even met until he did that." Orion says.

"I should've killed that bastard the day I met him, he caused so many problems for us, thats why I didn't hold back on Nathan." Ironhide growls. Sam nods slightly.

"well, while I was panicking, Liam was having his own issues." Will mutters.

"issues is an understatement." Ratchet snorts.

"Liam! you've got to calm down! I'm sure its here somewhere!" Orion says, looking under the bench.

"calm down!? here somewhere!? I gave the ring to you Orion and you lost my fucking ring!" Liam snaps.

"I did not! Rafael knocked it from my hand!" Orion huffs.

"stop shouting, shouting isn't finding the fucking ring!" Ratchet shouts, getting down to look on his hands and knees. "it had to be here it didn't just fucking vanish!" Ratchet snaps.

"I'm gonna fucking puke. I'm going to go out there without the ring, and puke and probably ruin this entire day." Liam mutters head in his hands.

"everyone relax!" Jasper shouts, walking in. they all look up at him. "look, I think you're looking for this. I was grabbing my music set up and I saw it on the floor. must've slide under the door." Jasper murmurs, holding up the ring.

"the ring!" Liam shouts, snatching it from him. "fuck Jazz you're a life saver!" Liam grins hugging him hard. Jasper snorts and lets the nervous man hug him.

"easy." Jasper chuckles. "an don' call me Jazz. only Will can do that." Jasper chuckles softly.

"wait, who's Jasper?" Sam ask.

"an old friend of ours. Will nicknamed him Jazz because of his love for music and his amazing hearing. he's got perfect pitch." Optimus says.

"perfect pitch my ass, that guy can't carry a tune in a bucket." Ironhide snorts. Will chuckles softly.

"anyway." Will snorts.

"you just have to relax." Wheeljack murmurs. the man is practically hyperventalating.

"I can't relax! didn't you see this!?" Will snaps, showing Wheeljack his phone.

"we're four states away. I don't care what the texts say Will, Tony cannot and will not ruin this day. you know we won't let that happen." Wheeljack assures gently.

"you can't exactly stop him. I mean, he broke Liams nose when he found out we were getting married." Will frowns.

"eh. we can take him." Jasper assures. "besides, Henry is gonna guard the door." Jasper murmurs.

"Henry?" Will ask. Wheeljack chuckles a little.

"that guy you call Hound. he and the twins will be guarding the door." Wheeljack assures gently.

"which twins?" Will ask.

"the ones that own the mustard and ketchup colored Lambos." Jasper says. Will nods a little.

"okay." he mutters.

"wait, you mean the two you guys refer to as 'Sunny and Sides'?" Bumblebee ask.

"yeah Sunny, Spencer, earned the nickname Sunstreaker when he lost a bet and had to go streaking across campus in broad daylight. Sides, Simon, earned Sideswipe because he literally would sideswipe every car he could. it was a game to him." Wheeljack explains.

"and Henry...?" Cade asks curiously.

"uh, well, he earned the name Hound because dog sounded rude." Will frowns. "he was... eccentric." Will snorts.

"he would bark at people in elementary school and he became obsessed with guns in highschool. he would start barking orders at people on the football team. Will started calling him Hound." Ironhide snorts.

"hey he got in my face and literally barked when I saw a dog and got excited." Will grumbles. Ironhide chuckles.

"so this guy... he broke your nose?" Sam ask, looking at Ironhide. the bigger man nods a little.

"yeah. we weren't spreading the news about the wedding but it got leaked." Ironhide frowns.

"I didn't want my parents to hear about it, homophobic bastards, but someone told Tony about it." Will adds.

"we got those three to block the door and guard everything just in case." Ratchet says.

"but it didn't work." Optimus frowns. Sam looks confused.

"let us explain." Will says.

Will flushes standing in front of Liam.

"glad your mom could make it." Will murmurs softly.

"I'm her only child. gay or not, she wouldn't miss this for the world... thank you for letting me invite her." Liam murmurs back.

"hey just because my parents suck, doesn't mean she can't join us." Will chuckles. the look over the small group of people. other than Liams mom, its really just Liams friends that have taken in and accepted Will as one of their own.

"we ready?" Liam ask. Hound and the twins stand immediately.

"we're on the door." Hound grumbles.

"aww man we're gonna miss the vows!" Sideswipe pouts.

"we'll have it on tape... we really appreciate this guys. thank you." Will says. the twin nods and follows the others to the door. Liam turns back to him.

"hey, you okay? you're... shaking." Liam frowns.

"you know what could happen today." Will mumbles.

"and you know they won't let that happen." Liam assures gently.

"your parents are homophobic?" Sam ask.

"yup. they've never met Liam and I haven't seen them since we got married." Will says.

"no skin off my nose. after my mom died, its kinda like both of our parents are dead." Ironhide shrugs.

"so they got up to block the door, you guys were... terrified." Bumblebee murmurs.

"and it certainly wasn't a safe place for a five year old Michael. things happened that day." Wheeljack murmurs.

"what happened?" Cade asks, hesitantly.

"well it started after Liam messed up." Will grins. Ironhide rolls his eyes, but he's chuckling too.

"I, Liam, take you, Will, to be my waffley, fuck, lawfully," Liam starts. the entire room breaks into snickers, Will is covering his mouth, looking away. he's giggling so hard his shoulders are shaking. Liam shakes his head. "I have been terrified of something stupid happening since we got engaged." Liam admits. the room snickers again, Will is trying to get himself together. he's still giggling, he takes a half step back, turning away so no one WIll see him struggling with his laughter.

"would you like some syrup with that?" Ratchet snorts. Will bursts into laughter and Liam shakes his head chuckling.

"are you okay?" Liam asks, chuckling at Will. the man shakes his head, struggling to get control of himself. most of his laughter is brought on by nervousness so LIam shakes his head again. "just, just give him a minute." Liam chuckles softly.

Bumblebee is giggling. Will is laughing just as hard as he had that day.

"wait, so you guys weren't joking then? that actually happened?" Sam laughs. Will nods.

"everyone was on edge and nervous." Wheeljack laughs.

"I slipped up. he has never let me forget that either." Ironhide smirks a little, looking over at the man laughing beside him. it takes a moment for Will to get himself back under control, still giggling quietly. the smile falls from Ironhides face. "but the laughter didn't last long, we had just finished the vows." Ironhide murmurs.

they pull back from the kiss grinning at each other.

"told you everything would be fine." Liam murmurs softly. before Will can respond, there's a loud pop from the front doors of the building.

"wh... what was that?" Will ask, looking over at Liam.

"get down." Liam murmurs. "everyone get down!" Liam shouts, running for the doors. Wheeljack pulls Ratchet down, phone to his ear.

"there's been gunshots fired!" Wheeljack shouts into the phone. there's another gun shot and the window on the door is suddenly spattered with blood.

"oh god." Will murmurs, curling up. Orion gets up and runs over to Will, grabbing him.

"come on. we have to get you out of here." Orion murmurs gently, taking his hand and pulling him out of the room.

"Orion took me to a bathroom and locked me in one of the stalls." Will murmurs.

"and stood guard until it was over." Optimus frowns.

"when it was finally over and the cops came to get us out of there... it was a bloody mess." Will murmurs.

"five people were injured, but thankfully no one died." Ironhide frowns.

"seven." Will murmurs. "Hound took a shot to the stomach, the twins received similar wounds, Jazz and Ratchet were both shot as well. Liams mom wasn't shot but she busted her head open. Tony ran out of bullets and broke Liams orbital socket with his gun before the cops managed to pry him off." Will says softly. "it was like a war zone. there was blood everywhere." Will murmurs.

"when everyone got to the hospital, Henry ask why no one was celebrating the wedding... I told him because our friends were shot and injured." Ironhide grumbles. Will smiles a little.

"he shrugged and told us he didn't get shot so we could not celebrate the wedding." Will laughs a little.

"so we celebrated in the hospital. the nurses got a kick out of it." Ironhide snorts, pulling Will to his side.

"so thats why I wasn't allowed at the wedding." Bumblebee murmurs. Will nods at him.

"Liam really fought me on that. he wanted you there so bad, but I refused to let you come. turns out I was right. I didn't want you in a mess like that if it happened." Will murmurs.

"you were, however, in our hotel room with a sitter." Ratchet says.

"and you met Will that day, but you probably don't remember." Wheeljack murmurs. Bumblebee looks confused.

"I did?" Bumblebee ask.

"remember how we told you that you fell down some stairs as a kid and thats why you have a scar on your head?" Wheeljack ask. Bumblebee nods.

"well, the caregiver was attempting to bring you to the hospital so you could see me and you fell down the stairs. you busted your head on the host desk at the bottom of the stairs. needed six stitches. when I came out of surgery I was pissed." Ratchet growls lowly. Wheeljack chuckles.

"you knocked yourself out and I stayed with you as long as a could." Wheeljack murmurs.

"but when Ratchet came out of surgery, and Ironhide was still in surgery, I went and sat with you. you were pretty out of it." Will chuckles. "but we watched Blue's Clues and talked about dinosaurs for a few hours." Will murmurs.

"huh, I don't remember that." Bumblebee murmurs.

"you weren't old enough for the whole story and just part of it wouldn't have made sense, so we just didn't tell you." Ratchet says.

"wow... so what happened to everyone else?" Bumblebee ask.

"everyone was fine. Hound and the twins have matching scars and if you look carefully, " Will says, turning to face Ironhide. the man leans his face closer, turning his head so Will can point it out. "right here, is where Liam got his face beat in." Will murmurs, running his finger over the scar gently.

"wow.... so... you guys didn't get the wedding you wanted?" Sam ask.

"I regret we invited our friends and they got hurt, but I don't regret the wedding." Will says.

"I don't either. c'mon. if we hadn't been that nervous about someone showing up, I never would've messed up so hard." Ironhide chuckles softly. Will laughs and hugs him tightly.

"for our first wedding anniversary, Optimus sent us a gift certificate to waffle house." Will snorts. Ironhide chuckles.

"Will made fun of me the whole day because Jasper had also sent us a video clip in an email of my fuck up." Ironhide laughs.

"and we sent you guys a bottle of maple syrup." Ratchet smirks. Will laughs, leaning against Ironhide.

"the joke has continued over years." Ironhide mutters.

"is that why you mail them a bottle of syrup every year?" Bumblebee ask. Wheeljack nods, grinning. "wow, I seriously just thought you guys liked syrup." Bumblebee laughs.

"Liam does apparently." Will chuckles.

"Henry took the first bottle Raf and Jack ever sent us and had it bronzed. so we now have a bronzed bottle of maple syrup that has waffley wedded with our wedding date on it." Ironhide snorts. he leans back sipping his beer. "so there you go. our wedding story." Ironhide murmurs.

"wow that... that was not what I was expecting, but hey! you're happy right?" Sam smiles at them.

"very." Will murmurs, leaning back against Ironhide with a smile. they were happy and thats all that mattered