.:Tickle your troubles away:.

It was a calm and peaceful day at the Ark, the sun shining cheerfully upon the gleaming orange metal of the Autobot base and its inhabitants locked away inside. Far from the inviting warmth of the sun, the Autobots spent their day doing what had to be done or taking a nice break from their duties. Some were already off on patrol, some were training in the weapons room, one was being rushed to the med bay because of an explosion from his failed experiment, and others were just relaxing in the rec. room and having a good time.

All except three of the local humans.

There was a soft sigh as a young girl, aka Lauren, stared at the human twins on either side of her, aka Katy and Geni, or the “Dynamic Duo of Randomness!” as Sideswipe often referred to them. Each of the three had varied looks of sadness on their faces, Lauren being the concerned/sad one while Geni was the one with the more hurt/sad look. As Geni rested her chin on the table, staring at the can of soda in front of her with empty eyes, Lauren watched her sadly before turning her attention to Katy for a moment and sighing again, looking at her lap as her shoulders slumped down. She really had no idea who to try to comfort who first, let alone what to really say.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

At the sound of the footsteps, Katy and Lauren lifted their heads up while Geni rolled her eyes to stare at the familiar black and white shape in front of them. “’ey, wha’s goin’ on her’?” Jazz asked in concern as he knelt down to be a little more level with the three. “Wh’ th’ long faces?”

Glancing between her two friends real quick, Lauren looked back up at her guardian sadly and said, “Internet problems, Jazz. There are these people on there that are accusing them of doing something they didn’t do, and no matter what either of them do, they keep coming back.”

This caught the attention of nearby Autobots as they listened in, Jazz frowned down at his charge and asked, “Well, what ar’ they pesterin’ these two fo’? Unless they’re wit’ the Lambo twins, they don’ do anythin’ tha’ gets ‘em in trouble.”

She only gave him one word: “Tracing.”

“Tracin’??” Jazz repeated in disbelief as some of the Autobots sat up straighter, similar looks of shock on their faces.

“And copying their ideas,” Katy spoke up in a tired but angry growl. “They say we’re stealing their ideas, but we’re not. We’re just drawing!”

Flashing his optics in what could be taken as a blink, the musician sat down in front of their table and stared intently at them through his visor. “Now hol’ up,” he said sternly as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’ known these two fo’ very lon’, but I know that they don’ do any of thos’ things.”

“Try telling that to them,” Lauren groaned as she planted her forehead on the table with a loud ‘thunk!’ and growled. “But if you do, they’ll just hound you and throw everything you tell them right back at you in the worse possible way they can until you’re so confused in what you’re trying to say that you just surrender. And even if you do that, it’s pointless as they’ll keep rubbing it in…teme!”

Noting the Japanese word she had used, Jazz shook his head and muttered in a disapproving tone, “It sounds lik’ these guys ar’ wors’ then th’ Decepticons.”

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Katy spoke up again, glaring at her can of soda in annoyance as she slumped into her chair. “If you were to read their chats, they’re so vulgar! And they’re the same gender! What’s worse is that they’re a couple years younger or older than one another and they have never seen each other face-to-face!”

“When I talked to them, one of them had commented that they were more mature than me,” Lauren said quietly. “But if they’re so mature, then why are they going around trying to pick fights with Katy and Geni?”

Another shake of the head, but this time it was from Skyfire. “It’s strange,” he commented sadly. “Your race ages, yet some retain the mentality of a youngling?”

“Yeah, real sad there, ‘fire,” Katy snipped a little harshly, but then apologized to him, which he accepted with a nod of understanding.

“They’re going as low as they can just to make Katy and Geni miserable,” Lauren added, having lifted her head up earlier and turning her laptop on, typing in a few things before turning the screen around so that the Autobots could see it, despite the tiny words.

As he read it, the look on Jazz’s face turned from thoughtful pondering into just plain annoyance. “Now tha’s jus’ low, even by th’ Decepticon’s standards, an’ I’ve seen ‘em go low!”

Another voice joined in, causing everyone’s heads to turn to stare at the silent twin as she blankly watched the tabletop. “What?” Lauren asked softly.

“I never wanted this to happen,” Geni repeated a little louder, but still quiet as she tilted her head over so her cheek was pressed against the cold table. “I only want to draw, not get ridiculed for something that I already gave credit to…”

The Autobots in the room were silent as they stared, some of them looking angry, some sympathetic, and others just watching with unreadable expressions. Even Jazz was silent…until a thought occurred to him and he smiled. “Forget abou’ ‘em!” he suddenly said, the loud tone of it making everyone stare at him in surprise and confusion. “If the’ can’ take a hin’, don’ giv’ it to ‘em! They’re probably jus’ wantin’ attention an’ buggin’ ya because you’re listenin’ to ‘em. If they keep at it, then they’re jus’ wastin’ time!”

“Yeah, just ignore them,” Sideswipe spoke up, surprising the others with his attitude. “I know I may be annoying sometimes, but I’m not a menace that keeps hounding people all the time. So, again, just ignore them!”

The biggest annoyance in the Ark was actually telling someone to ignore annoyances? That’s a big shocker!

“For once, I actually agree with my brother,” Sunstreaker, the vain yellow twin to the red annoyance known as Sideswipe, said slowly as he crossed his arms over his newly waxed chest-armor. “They can go frag themselves for all I care, so don’t bother trying to deal with these pests.”

Again, a shocker that Sunstreaker agreed to his brother, but at the same time what he said wasn’t really that much of a stunner. Pretty typical considering the guy hates humans touching his paint job. “I don’t want them touching my new finish with those oily, greasy hands of theirs!” he once said when Lauren had asked him.

Looking down at the girls again, Jazz smiled and said, “Ya see? We’re all behin’ ya, no matta’ what they or anyon’ else says.”

This seemed to bring a smile on their faces, but he could still see the doubt in their eyes. Still thinking, another idea struck him that caused a huge grin to form on his face. “Ya know wha’ I think?” he began in a sly tone that only Lauren seemed to recognize, said person stiffening slightly in a defensive position. “I think that someone…needs a tickle!”

As he said that, he lifted his hands up in the air and wiggled his fingers in a tickling motion. “ACK! Nuuuuu!!!” Lauren yelled as she bolted from her seat and startling the twins, the chair falling with a crash that was muffled by the loud bangs made by Jazz’s feet as he stomped by.

“Come’er kid!” Jazz called out playfully as he chased after the tiny human. “I jus’ wanna tickle ya!”

“EEEEEEEK!” Lauren squealed as she her legs moved faster, a grin on her face despite her panicked running. Everyone just watched the two run around in shock, all of them with their eyes or optics wide in surprise at the girl’s speed.

When the doors to the rec. room opened up to admit two new bots, their optics flashed in confusion as both Lauren and Jazz zipped past them. Watching for a moment in surprise, Prowl shook his head in disapproval and turned back to his data pad. “I swear to Primus that those two act like sparklings,” the police cruiser muttered as he walked over to the main computer Teletraan-1.

Optimus Prime, however, was watching in amusement as his Second-in-Command chased after their “little mascot”, as Sideswipe once called her on Halloween when she dressed up as an Autobot…although it was a shock when she combined both Prowl’s and Jazz’s designs into one. It was good to see her in good spirits.

Another sound reached his audio receptors and he turned to see the human twins giggling a little bit at the chase that was going on. Katy was apparently enjoying it so much that she pointed and said, “You two are nuts!”

Lauren, dodging another swipe from Jazz, managed to turn her head around to shout out, “You think this is funny?! You two try getting chased by aaaAAAIIIIEEEEEEEE-!!!”

Her sentence was cut off by a loud squeal as Jazz caught her and swooped her up into the air much like a parent would do with a child. “I gotcha!” he crowed triumphantly before he switched her to one hand and tickled her stomach with the other. “Coochie-coochie-coo!” he teased as the girl started laughing like crazy.

“Jazz! Haha! Heehee! S-Stop it!” she cackled like a hyena as she squirmed around in the palm of the bot’s hand. “Hoohoo! Gahahaha! Uncle! UNCLE!!”

“Nothin’ doin’, kid,” Jazz replied teasingly as he switched to holding her upside down, still tickling her mercilessly. “I won’ stop until yo’ friends ar’ happy!”

Snapping her head around to look at the organic set of twins, both trying to bite back their laughs, and yelled, “Katy! GENI! BE HAPPIEEEEAHAHAHAHA—!!!”

Her gleeful squeals and excited laughs took whatever breath she had for any other words, the room bursting out into a raucous of laughter. Even Jazz joined in on the laughs as tears of joy began to fall down the girl’s face. Katy and Geni were laughing so hard, they literally fell out of their seats laughing, pounding the floor with their fists or rolling around on their backs.

Finally, Jazz stopped tickling Lauren and laid back on the ground, allowing the exhausted girl to rest on his chest with his hand resting on her back. There was nothing but peace in the room as everyone calmed down, each one trying to catch their breath or circulate air through their vents. When she caught her breath, Lauren looked up at Optimus and smiled. “Ya know, Optimus,” she began slowly as she gave a sidelong glance at Katy. “If I’m the only one that gets tickled, Katy and Geni will be left out of the fun.”

Seeming to ponder this, Optimus nodded and turned on his comm. link. “Ratchet, can you come to the rec. room for a minute? It’s a matter that involves our friends Katy and Geni.”

Both mentioned girls froze and stared up at him in horror. “Run!” Katy shouted to her sister before they both tried to take off.

“After them!” Lauren roared in a mock-Megatron voice, pretending to be the tyrant leader but failing as an unusually large grin spread across her face.

In an instant, Autobots were diving left and right to try and catch the two girls, shouts of “Over here!” or “Come’re, you!” or “They’re heading for the couch! Grab ‘em before they get under it!” There was complete and utter chaos in the room as giant robots ran around, trying to catch the two while still being careful not to step on them. Then—

“Got ‘em!” two voices shouted simultaneously.

Everyone and everything stopped as they stared at who had spoken up. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were holding up the escapees, the red twin holding up Katy in both hands while Sunstreaker pinched Geni’s shirt in between his fingers. Both girls were trying to escape the Lambo twins, but neither of them was successful at it. The doors to the rec. room suddenly opened to admit another white Autobot with white armor and a red cross on both shoulders.

When he spotted the two humans and who they were with, he frowned disdainfully as he looked at Optimus and growled, “If this involves another prank those four pulled, I’m leaving.”

“No, my friend, it’s not,” Optimus said to the CMO as he motioned the Autobot twins forward. When they reached him, he picked up Katy, who looked up at him with dread. “This is merely a request from Lauren that Katy and Geni be…‘treated.’”

The medical officer crossed his arms over his chest in what would have passed for annoyance, but there was a smile on his face as he said, “Oh? And what treatment did she suggest?”

If Optimus’ battle mask had been retracted, he’d have, literally, a big smile on his face. But since it wasn’t, he reached up with one hand and pointed one finger into the air. “The treatment, my friend,” he began as he moved his finger over to the girl that was cowering into hand. “Is a good old-fashioned—”

He poked Katy in the stomach, making her squeak. “—tickle torture,” he finished, his tone revealing his smile as he continued to tickle the helpless girl.

Ratchet shook his head in amusement as he reached out for the remaining human, which Sunstreaker gleefully dropped into his red hand. Smirking at the girl in his hand, he said reassuringly, “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit!”

Right when he said that, he poked her in the stomach and began the tickle torture, Geni yelling and laughing at the same time as she waved her arms around and kicked with her feet. Not even a minute had passed before the twins shouted at the same time, “We’ll get you for this, Lauren!!”

Lauren merely laughed at the threat and curled up tiredly against her guardian’s chest as he moved over to the couch and sat down heavily on it. Jazz gave her a light poke in the side, but otherwise left her alone as he watched the twins laughing like madwomen.

Sometime later on the twins had passed out from exhaustion and were curled up in the hands of their ticklers, a smile on their sleeping faces. Katy had one arm up above her head and the other on her side, a light snore coming from her nose pressing against some part of Optimus’ hand while her glasses laid lopsided on her face. Geni, however, was curled up into a tight little ball in Ratchet’s hand, her glasses in her hand as she used her right arm as a pillow. Nearby, Lauren was only half-conscious, her head bobbing up and down slightly as she struggled to stay awake.

“Go on,” Jazz said as he stared down at her. “I don’ min’.”

A grateful smile ghosted itself onto her face as she snuggled closer to his chest, enjoying the warmth of his spark emitting from his chest-plates. “Thanks, Jazz,” she mumbled before she drifted off into sleep.

As he cradled the girl against his wide chest, Optimus turned to his Second-in-Command and asked, “Now that they’re asleep, what was going on earlier that caused you to use the ‘tickle-torture’ tactic?”

Jazz gave a knowing smile to his boss, deactivating his optics for recharge and said, “Nothin’. Jus’ focusin’ on the good stuff in life.”