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Their mail, just like almost every character in Disney world, consisted of fan letters in the hundreds. Every week, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey would make their way down to their own little post office, a small basket in hand because holding them all would be too much of a mess.Mickey's was simply just an ordinary mail basket, red in color. Goofy's had a new one almost every month, the reason why was self-explanatory. This month it was orange.Donald's own basket was a little thing, hand made by Huey, Dewey and Louie from what felt like ages ago. It was made of flexible wooden splints that were fraying on certain ends, and the handle itself was a just a bit longer than necessary and it barely held his fan mail, but Donald refused to buy a new one.Mickey walked in front of them, chatting away, waving at passing cast members as they prepared for the park opening.Donald had his basket on the crook of his elbow, going through his letters as they walked back to the castle (as he skimmed through the addresses he silently thanked Panchito and Jose for teaching him at least some Spanish and Portuguese).Absentmindedly nodding along to whatever Mickey was talking about (he caught the name Miguel and something about a new show that involved a guitar).And that's when Donald saw it.It had a striking resemblance to a draft letter.Donald froze in his tracks, and for a moment neither Goofy or Mickey noticed."Uh... Donald?" Goofy asked as he made his way back to the duck.A million thoughts were going through his head."You okay there pal?" Mickey asked worriedly, looking at the letter Donald held. "Oh..." Mickey added faintly. There was a moment of silence. Mickey and Goofy stared worriedly at him, they could only wonder of what he was thinking. Mickey narrowed his eyes, "wait, let me see that-", Donald didn't protest as Mickey took the letter right out of his hands.Mickey set his basket down and quickly tore open the letter, Goofy leaned over to read what he could. A minute went by. "Oh..oh!" Mickey said as he looked up from the letter. "It's just a letter asking you to visit some troops overseas!" Mickey placed a hand on Donald's shoulder. "I've done a few of these before, it's just to give them some encouragement". Mickey handed the letter to Donald, who simply went over it. "Well-" Donald began after finding his voice, "I'll tell them yes.." "Well golly Donald, ya did seem a little spooked there for a second" Goofy began as they resumed their stroll through the park. "It's nothing" Donald simply answered back
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mickey was not jealous.He was not jealous of Panchito and Jose.He wasn't Jealous of the fact that Donald seemed more relaxed with them around, how he seemed to be Happy when they were just there, next to him.And as Mickey eyed them from across the room, he watched Donald breakout into a fit of laughter over whatever Jose had said (he hasn't seen Donald laugh like that in ages) Panchito had been resting his arm on the shorter Ducks shoulder, leaning against him for well over a few minutes (Mickey couldn't hug Donald for more than 3 seconds without the Duck making a move to get out of his hold) Mickey would deny with every ounce of his being that the feeling bubbling inside him was Jealousy."Mickey?"
Mickey blinked a few times as he was taken out of his thoughts. He turned his head to the source of the voice "yeah, Minnie?"
Minnie looked at him curiously, "Are you alright? You looked upset for a second..."
"Nah, I'm fine Minns', I was just thinking about...something." Mickey unconvincingly trailed off.
Mickey completely turned himself away from the Three Caballeros.
"Mhmm" Minnie replied, Making a face at him to indicate that she didn't believe him.
Mickey sighed, he could never hide anything from her.
"I'll tell ya later, I promise"He went back to his original position in an attempt to seem like nothing was wrong.
Mickey saw Donald lean against Panchito as he talked excitedly to both if them.
Mickey was not Jealous.
And maybe if he kept telling himself that, he'd start to believe it himself. Surprisingly, the three had left before Minnie and Mickey.
It turned out (Mickey wasn't that surprised) that Donald had invited the two birds to stay at his own place for the duration of their visit, The kids had gone for the week with Scrooge To Greenland, something about searching for an old explorers treasure.
Mickey stirred his drink absentmindedly (No, it wasn't alcohol, It had been a root beer float; the Ice cream that remained had melted and left behind swirls of white). "So.." Minnie began as she swiped some sand off her pink sundress (which she had worn during their trip to the beach earlier, which is why they resided in a small local restaurant).
"What's the matter, Mickey?" She asked, pushing for an answer.
Mickey laid his head on his hand that wasn't holding the plastic spoon in his drink. Mickey opened his mouth, hesitating before Minnie decided to continue "Did something happen earlier?, Was it because Mortimer showed up and tried to convince me and Daisy to Join his spot on the beach?"
"No...hey, wait a minute," Mickey blinked, "When did Mortimer-"
"Mickey, don't change the subject" Minnie cut him off with a pout, crossing her arms as she leaned back against her chair. Mickey straightened himself out as he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I..uh..." Mickey said as he tried to get himself back on topic at Minnie's request.Mickey fiddled with his gloves for a moment, looking down to avoid Minnie's Stare.
"It's just.... ever since Panchito and Jose came Donald's been acting...different than he normally does" Minnie gave him a confused glance, but he took the silence as a hint to keep going. "He hasn't lost his temper once in the two days they've been here" Mickey looked and rested his head on the palm of his hand. "And..." he hesitated "he seems to be Just happier with them".
Minnie leaned forward towards him, taking both of his hands into her own "oh Mickey, is that why you've been so silent today? Do you feel like you aren't a good friend to Donald?" Mickey sighed as he looks back down to the table, at their intertwined hands. "A bit and maybe...just a bit Jealous" he finally admitted as he gave her a small smile.
"Oh, Mickey-"
But whatever reassuring words Minnie was about to say to him were suddenly caught off as the two doors to the small restaurant suddenly slammed open with a great force.
To both of their surprise, Uncle Scrooge walked in (or rather ran) with Donald's nephew's (and honorary niece Webby) and close behind them were...Jose and Panchito?.
"Donald!" Scrooge shouted as he frantically looked over the nearly empty restaurant, before landing on Mickey and Minnie who just looked on in utter confusion.
"Mickey, Lad!" Scrooge quickly went up to him, bringing Mickeys attention away from the two Hispanic birds who looked equally panicked.
"Do ye know where Donald went?"
Mickey blinked a few times before answering "He said he was going back to his place" Scrooge cursed underneath his breath "Uncle Scrooge what's going on? Donald left with Panchito and Jose half an hour ago how are they with-"
"Lad, no time te explain," Scrooge said as he gripped his cane just a bit harder as he Made to leave "but-"
"Look, lad, if ye really want te know just come with us" he turned back for a split second "but you have to pitch in for gas money" and with that, he ran.
Mickey looked at Minnie, who nodded. He quickly gave her his car keys and promised her to tell her everything later.The limo was a bit crowded, to say the least. Mickey sat squished against Panchito and Webby.
"Alright, so to make a long story short, one of my enemies found out Donald's friends' over here were visiting-"
"Magica" Huey interjected. "-So in an attempt to get closer access to meh the First dime she somehow managed te create copies of them to trick Donald into taking them to it"
Mickey blinked "but wait, weren't all of you in Iceland? how did you find all this out?""Greenland" Scrooge corrected "by utter chance We encountered Magica while out exploring for some magical relics, she was so confident of her plan she told us everything" the car suddenly swerved to the left and Mickey narrowly avoided squishing Webby even more.
Jose turned to him "We just arrived a few hours ago, when Donald hadn't shown up at the airport we called them to ask where he was."
"And then to be told that we had arrived yesterday was a real surprise, why if Donald's hurt in any way when we find him I'll- Matar essos chingando malditos impostores-" Panchito spewed as he balled his fists, Jose gasped as he seemed to be scolding him in Portuguese "Panchito! há crianças neste carro!"
The rest of the passengers looked on.
After what seemed to have narrowly avoided crashing into everything on the way there as soon as Launchpad pulled up into the entrance they all busted out and ran through the front door almost colliding with Ms.Beakley who had gone to open the door for them.Mickey followed them through the Mansion, straight to the pool where Donald's boat had been for the past year.They are greeted with the front door bashed in.
Mickey looks around them, a replica of Jose's Umbrella laid broken on the ground. For a moment Mickey feared the chance that Panchito's clone could have his signature pistols.But just before they could react, a Figure emerged from the houseboat.
It was Donald, to their immense relief.
He looked a bit ruffed up. The only remains of whatever encounter he had dealt with were messy feathers and a black eye.
Panchito was the first to move. He full on sprinted towards the duck, sweeping him off his feet in a hug which had Donald lifted almost a foot off the ground.
To Mickey's surprise, Donald Almost immediately hugged back.
Jose was the second to react, running towards the two as Panchito talked in rapid Spanish, translation lost to the others (except for Jose and Donald, who could somewhat figure out a few words) but they could guess that he was happy that Donald was alright.After being put down, the kids ran up to Donald for a hug of their own.Mickey simply walked up and expressed how he was glad Donald wasn't too hurt.With that Donald began to explain how he suspected something was off and when the clones tried to force him to take them to the money bin they attacked and he fought back. They simply seemed to disappear afterward and Scrooge voiced his wonder on whatever Magica had done to create them.Donald continued to rattle on about what had set him off, the lack of Spanglish from Panchito to the fact that Jose's clone never kept his umbrella on him (and Donald joked that Jose hadn't mentioned Bahia once, to which Jose rolled his eyes with a sigh, not in a negative way, but In a way that Mickey got the impression that this wasn't the first time he had been teased of constantly talking for his love of the place)
Donald was lead away by Panchito and Jose, his arms linked with Jose's as Panchito began to tell their side of the story.
Mickey watched them walk back into the mansion. He almost felt forgotten.
"Mickey" Scrooge turned to him, as he stuffed his hands into his pockets "ye still own me that gas money"
Scrooge didn't seem to forget about him at least.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was two days later and overdue, at Goofy's house of all places.It was night time, the stars loomed over them and if Mickey thought hard enough he'd remember that the last time he saw a clock it had read around 9:00 pm, which was a good hour ago.
Mickey had excused himself from the gathering and seated himself on the picnic table Goofy owned.
the worst part was that Donald had come to check up on him.
Look, Mickey hadn't meant to start yelling.
It just happened.A little known fact was that whenever he yelled loud enough his voice would begin to crack, and Mickey hated that.It was a well-known fact that Donald's voice was at times difficult to understand in general, especially when he got emotional.At first, the argument had been about Donald, Jose, and Panchito, about how Donald acted with them.
Mickey explained it all (The close touches, the dancing, the small adventures they went on that not even Goofy, Mick and Donald did and just the overall closeness the bird trio had that they never did) to a confused Donald."They're different" was all Donald had said,"Because when I'm with them there's an Us" Donald had yelled at him when Mickey began to pry.
There was a beat of silence between the two, the leaves from a tree close by rustled and some mariachi music played from the house.
"What?" Mickey said as he uncrossed his arms.
He actually didn't remember standing up.
Donald in return crossed his own, looking like he wanted to curl into a ball."When I'm with you and Goofy it's always the same. You're the hero, Goofy's the klutz with a heart of gold" Donald sighed "I'm just the duck with all the bad luck" Donald kicked at the dirt underneath his feet "It's always been about you".
Mickey stared on at the duck, "me?" Mickey began pointing to himself "Donald what are you talking about? You have more shows than I-"
"It's not about the shows!" Donald yelled at him as his arms dropped to his sides, "it's never been about the shows, the series, the comics, any of it..."
"Then what?" Mickey finally asked.
The corners of Donald's beak twisted down and for a moment he said nothing.
"Mickey it- whenever I'm with Jo and Panchito they never-" Donald sighed
"They understand more, when I'm with then it's not Just Me, Jose and Panchito, it's just the Three Caballeros"
When Donald saw Mickey's face he turned to face him completely.
"You and Goofy haven't done anything bad" he added quickly "it's different with Jose and Panchito, t-they listen to me when I'm Angry or upset, they try to include me in everything they do, they actually show that they care abo-" Donald suddenly cut himself off."It's just different" he finally settled on."Donald..." Mickey said as Donald avoided his gaze.
That's when Mickey finally plopped back down on the picnic table and buried his face into his gloved hands.
"I'm a terrible friend," He said into his hands.
Donald sat down, close to him.
The music continued to play from Goofy's house and Mickey wondered if anyone had heard them or even questioned on where they had gone.
And his thoughts began to delve further into what Donald had said.
But before Mickey had the chance to become completely upset over himself, Donald leaned in Hugged him.
It felt a little awkward since he hadn't moved his head from his hands, Donald's arms were wrapped around his middle and his head played on top of his own."You're not" he whispered to him.