#this isn't gonna cure the whole it bouncing around in my head thing but

[androidcharles]

I'm going to go ahead and VOMIT as much as of this story idea out of my head as possible because if I don't it's gonna rattle in my head forever and ever and I'm not gonna be able to rest easy.

ANYWAY, remember the Valiant Hero ending... wait don't touch that dial! OK, so I always go on and on about my Charles is an android AU, but what about this? Charles barely survives the explosion, his body is pretty badly damaged, but what isn't damage is easily repairs. He ends up spending one whole week repairing himself with wrecked parts that have somehow made their way to the moon...

AND SO for like one and a half months, after trying to repair a very OBVIOUSLY broken transmission device, he uses it as a video journal to collect his thoughts and hopefully leave it as a memoriam for him in case no one EVER finds him and he just ends up completely and utterly dying.

BUT SURPRISE! He's not alone! Amelia is there! And literally pissed off because wow, you don't remember me, wtf the fuck? She just as badly damaged as he is, but he ends up helping her repair herself because she didn't do such a good job. A for about a week or so, there's a sort of awkward and malicious air around them until Amelia finds out that Charles is the one who wrecked the Toppat Space Station. SURPRISE! She's pissed off because HALF OF HER FAMILY was killed in that explosion and she's like "here's a line in the floor if you cross it, I'm going to kill you."

One mental breakdown later though, they're best friends! And they start to work together to hopefully get a proper rocket up in the air so they can possibly go home and see their friends and family members when they run into ANOTHER GUY who was abandoned on the moon. He was actually a CCC test subject/intern that very unfortunately got caught in a horrible accident that left the crew that was taking care of him dead. He was helping with a CCC project on the moon, but I'm not going into details about here, all that matter is they HAVE A NEW FRIEND!

And also Jaques is there because his painting is magic and managed to reassemble itself after the crash and the CCC intern is actually magic too and manages to "half break" the seal on Jaques' painting, so he can move around, it's just his torso and stuff.

And they all work together to try to get off the moon and back home and shenanigans ensue and such and there's a lot of heartwarming junk.

Yeah...

[alfi-always-writes]

A Distraction

Summary: Mikey just wants to be distracted for a minute, and Donnie isn't good at talking about feelings anyways.

Author's note: Based on this anonymous prompt! Anon, thank you for the prompt and for being so patient with me! I'm (sometimes) not a huge fan of "cheer up tickles" because I feel like it isn't a cure for problems, and might feel dismissive of the sad person's feelings. However, we support open and honest communication in this household, so I worked that into the story. Enjoy! (also peep the super creative title, I'm so good at this /s)

Warnings: This fic does contain tickling between two characters, so scroll on if that's not your jam :) Also some angst in the beginning, and I apologize for that.

Word count: 1,394

—

"Seriously, Mikey, when are you gonna grow up like the rest of us?"

Mikey still couldn't shake Leo's words from his memory. His brother's angry tone clouded his mind and churned his stomach uncomfortably. It hadn't been the first time Leo had blown up, but it was a rare time that Mikey was the sole target of Leo's anger.

They had talked it out already, twice, and Leo was more apologetic than ever on both occasions. Like, the kind of apologetic where he didn't try to split the blame with Mikey, he took it all. He told Mikey to forget everything he said, he didn't mean any of it.

But Mikey could still hear the words bouncing around in his skull. He worried that he was being dramatic, but as much as he believed Leo's sobered words, it wasn't enough to distract him. For this reason, he was already on his way to Raph's room when he remembered that Raph was out for the night helping Splinter with something. Mikey stared at his feet for a long moment, weighing his options.

Although Donnie wasn't his first choice to go to for comfort—it wasn't really the brainiacs expertise—Mikey knew that it would be far better than talking to Leo about it again. The last thing he wanted to do was continuously remind Leo of his mistakes.

Leo probably didn't need help doing that.

—

Mikey stopped at the threshold of Donnie's lab, showered in the purple glow of the neon lights. He rubbed his forearm and popped up on his toes, trying to spot his brother before he entered.

"Um, Dee?"

"Enter," came the typical, curt response.

Mikey shuffled into the lab, locating Donnie and stopping a few feet away from him. He pressed his fingers together anxiously. "Hi," he said meekly.

"Hello Michael," said Donnie, not looking up from his work, "What brings you to my domain?"

"It's just that, well..." Mikey trailed off and winced as Donnie dropped one of his tools, "I just—"

Donnie finally paused his work to address Mikey properly, flicking his goggles up as he turned to his brother. "Is this about what we discussed yesterday?" he asked in the same bored drawl he often spoke with when his work was interrupted. He mentally chastised himself when he saw his little brother shrink back.

Mikey's shoulders sagged. He was being dramatic, and everyone thought so, he knew it. "I'm sorry I'm still not past it."

"Wh—no no, don't be sorry, I'm sorry for the way I asked. Just—come here." The metal arms from his battle shell whirred to life and pulled Mikey in close. He wrapped his arms around Mikey, resting a tired hand on the back of the box turtle's head. "You know he didn't mean what he said, right?"

Mikey nodded, holding onto Donnie tightly. "I just keep thinking about it."

Donnie acknowledged his comment with a soft hum, placing a gentle hand on the back of Mikey's head. He desperately grasped for the right combination of words that would help Mikey feel better. Raph was always so much better at this.

"You know he cares, he's just an arrogant, selfish, thoughtless—ehm, he's a dum dum. But he uh, cares about us, you know? That's why he can get so... severe. He just doesn't want anything bad to happen to you."

Mikey looked up at Donnie for a moment. The soft shell gave a defeated sigh. "How am I doing at the whole... 'feelings' thing?"

A small smile cracked across Mikey's face. He ducked his head under Donnie's chin and clung to his older brother for a moment longer. For Donnie to say such nice things about his twin, Mikey knew he couldn't just be making it up for his sake.

Donnie patted Mikey's head for another moment before he spoke up again, more awkwardly this time. "Do you... Do you need me to keep saying things?"

Mikey shook his head with a giggle. He pressed his face against Donnie's shoulder and let a moment of comfortable silence fall between them.

"Is there anything else that I can do?" Donnie asked. He felt a pang of guilt. He didn't mean to push his brother away but he did have work to do.

Mikey stayed silent for a beat before he pulled away from his brother. Truthfully, he just needed to stop thinking about the situation. Even though Leo has cleared the air with him yesterday (and then again this morning) he still couldn't stop hearing his brother's angry voice every time he let his mind wander.

"Maybe just a... a distraction?"

Donnie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Oh so many years ago, that request meant something incredibly specific. Memories came rushing to the front of Donnie's mind: a small, giggly Michelangelo asking for a "distachon." He wasn't sure if the same request still applied now.

Until Mikey took off running toward the arcade. Donnie smirked and took off after him, catching up to him in a matter of seconds. He tackled Mikey to the ground, which earned a scream from the box turtle.

"You asked for this, Angelo! Literally!" Donnie said, struggling to gather Mikey's wrists. Mikey was a lot less coordinated in Donnie's memory—a stark reminder that his little brother wasn't so little anymore.

Mikey was already giggling, grabbing at Donnie's hands to postpone the inevitable. He could only keep the ruse up for a short time before Donnie's frustration was too amusing. His strength was lost to laughter and Donnie swiftly pinned his wrists above his head.

Mikey shook his head, pleading with Donnie's unforgiving glare. "C-c'mon, Deehe, dohon't do this!"

"You can't ask for me to tickle you and then fight me when I try to tickle you!" Donnie said, using his free hand to poke and scratch at the sides of Mikey's shell.

Mikey shrieked before dissolving into childish laughter, kicking his feet uselessly. "Dohohohonald!"

"Yes Michael?"

"Stohop!"

"Stop what?"

Mikey tried to move away from the pokes but Donnie only alternated sides, depending on the way Mikey squirmed. "Yohohou knohow whahat!"

"Is it because I'm tickling you because you asked me to tickle you?" Donnie deadpanned, though he was giddy inside as he basked in Mikey's loud laughter.

"YeheHEHES!"

"I'm failing to see how I'm doing anything wrong here. Please explain." Donnie moved to brush his fingers against Mikey's neck, going right in for the kill and bringing Mikey's laughter up an octave.

Mikey was losing his mind. He attempted to crush Donnie's fingers between his head and shoulders, but his big brother was persistent. His brain couldn't form complete thoughts, aside from the obvious stop, please stop.

"Ihihit tickles!"

Donnie hummed, releasing his brother's hands to flutter all ten fingers against Mikey's neck. Despite now being free, Mikey couldn't muster up the strength to do much more than weakly hold Donnie's forearms and laugh his heart out.

"I see. So, because it tickles, I shouldn't tickle you, even though you asked—"

"DOHOHONALD! Nohoho mohohore!"

Donnie actually had to try to hold back a grin now as he ceased his attack, rolling over to sit next to his giggly brother. It was nice to hear that classic Michelangelo giggle again, completed with the toothy grin and squinting eyes.

Mikey sat up and leaned against Donnie, embracing the moment of brotherly affection. Though the genius took pride in his aloof, "bad boy" exterior, he always had a soft spot for his little brother. Leo always said it was unfair, but Mikey thought it was the coolest thing ever.

"Thahanks, Dee," Mikey said, still overrun with giggles.

Donnie patted Mikey's head. "Of course, Mikey. Now, which Jupiter Jim movie should we watch before bed?"

Mikey gasped, perhaps a bit dramatically. He knew how much Donnie hated changing his plans at the last minute. To be someone that Donnie changes his plans for was an impossibly high honor. "OMIGOSH! I'll make some popcorn, we can watch Seven Galaxies!"

They both knew that nothing but time could really ease the bad feelings, but being able to laugh and not think about anything for a moment was refreshing for Mikey. The tension that previously had a vice grip on him had disappeared for now. It was small, but it was an improvement.

And that was enough for him.