Chapter Text
Enjoying a job well done and Mikey enthusiastically skipping through the kitchen, the three brothers can finally breathe.
‘’Well, good, you’re officially a hero now.’’ Donnie dismisses the crew with a low wave. ‘’I’m going back to my show.’’
Leo turns tail, putting his hands on the back of his head in a playful manner.
“It’s no fun if I have to get the drink myself. Guess I’ll have to crush you in Turtle Traps again, Raph!” He snickers while eyeing Raph.
“That was just a fluke!” Raph growls.
“Wait!” Mikey pleads, causing his brothers to glance over their shoulders.
“Ah, Mikey, you wanna play with us, too?” Leo sneers. “I won’t go easy on you though!” Just imagining beating two of his brothers raises his excitement.
The orange turtle shakes his head fiercely.
“No! I’m not a hero yet!” From his shell, Mikey shares an issue of Green Teen. “Issue 3!” He slaps the comic.
“Oh, boy..” Leo mutters under his breath.
Leo feels the stare of both Donnie and Raph prick into him like sharp needles.
“It’s not dangerous, is it?” Raph leans in, his tone threatening.
“It better be quick.” Donnie chimes in with a whisper.
“Well, it uh-“ Leo’s eyes slowly drift to the corner of the room. “Is not.. dangerous..?”
Not trusting the pause in between at all, their attention shifts back to Mikey, who has been trying to find the page that explains the next step.
“Here!” Proudly holding up the worn comic, he shares the page where Green Teen shoots sparkly lasers from his eyes. He creates a billboard with the text ‘Bad guys be nice!’.
Blinded by Mikey’s pure confidence, the three stare at the page for a moment before the realization hits.
How.. How are we going to fake this?
Donnie, Raph and Leo fall silent. Leo feels excited, but at the same time, afraid to get into trouble if he helps Mikey out. Donnie did anticipate this scenario, but was kind of bummed it came true. Raph, on the other hand, freezes up like a deer, shaking his head to focus on the task at hand.
Raph brings out his best forced smile.
“Mhm! I see!”
After the single response, Raphael’s facade fades as he brings his two brothers into an aggressive huddle.
“I gotta be honest, I have no clue what to do.” The classic Raph nerve sweat builds up on his palms and face.
Both Leo and Donnie remove the sticky big brother hand from their shells.
“First of all, gross.” Donnie sticks his tongue out. “Second, I say we bail. We already joined his shenanigans once and I don’t feel like it’s going to end if we say yes.” He nods to his own judgement.
“You just want to go back to your dumb show!”
Raph’s sharp remark hits hard.
“You just think it’s dumb, because you don’t understand it!” Donnie shoots back.
“Guys, guys!”
The two’s anger flies to Leo who tries to intervene.
“This is all your fault!” The two snarl.
“Wha-?! Me?! I only showed him a comic! We all did that at some point!”
With the three at each other’s throat, Mikey stands at the sidelines, he feels himself choking up. The little hiccups catch Raph’s brotherly sense.
“Mikey..?” Raph’s head turns.
“You.. don’t wanna help me become a hero?” The little orange turtle can’t stop the tears from falling any longer. To cover it up, he flips his cape over his head.
The intense guilt feels like an anvil dropping on their back. It was enough to break their fight instantly.
“Ah! Mikey, don’t cry!” Unsure if Leo should hug his little brother or not, he instead kneels down in front of him.
“So, what do we do, Leo? This is your fault, you fix it.” Donnie’s eyebrow furrows.
“Why, yes, of course I will help out! Thanks for asking, D.” Leo scorns his purple brother before switching back to his happy go lucky self.
He jumps forward, lifting the cape off Mikey’s running face. Taken aback by Leo’s smile, Mikey quickly rubs his eyes to remove the tears.
“Of course we can help! Right, bros?” Leo shares a confident glance with his two brothers.
Raph responds with a hesitant: “Yes?” While Donnie shrugs.
Leo decides to take the small trust he gained. He takes hold of his little brother’s shoulders. “We were just worried!” Leo ponders for a second, nerves rushing up his brain. “Worried that.. we wouldn’t be of much help with how great of a hero you already are!” Giving himself a pet on the back for the good save, he nods proudly.
The glimmer that went from Mikey’s eyes return with newfound fire.
“Really?! But I’m not that great, I need your help!” Mikey presses his hands against Leo’s chest, determined to become even greater.
“Let’s do it!”
The two share what feels like a genuine moment from a comic book, but Leo gets unceremoniously pulled away by Raph.
“Come here for a second, Hero 2.”
Donnie follows suit. While being dragged into the living room, Leo finger guns at his orange brother.
“D-Don’t worry! We’re just going to prepare some stuff for you!”
Mikey’s slight concern turns hopeful.
“Oh, ok! I will wait herol- heroly.. Hero-ly!” He waves.
“Ah, he meant to say heroically..” the three think at the same time, all feeling a little joy from the cute word stumble.
Once they achieved a safe distance from their orange brother, Donnie and Raph both shun Leo with a harsh glare. A bead of sweat rolls down Leo’s cheek as he tries to ease their worries with a grin.
“What were ya thinkin’?!” Raph growls as he narrows the gap between him and Leo, causing his grin to fade.
“Can we just give up? Because, besides being able to use mind control to make him believe he can shoot a glitter beam or use surgery on his eyes, I don’t see a way to do this.” Donnie says half-jokingly as he moves towards the remote to unpause his science show.
“We are not doing any of that!” Raph’s tone takes a sudden plunge. “I just.. don’t want him to be disappointed..” He then lunges for Leo’s shoulders, rocking his brother back and forth. “Please tell me you actually got a plan!”
“I-I do!” He shifts his glance to Donnie. “And it’s not as bad as Donnie’s!”
Donnie flinches, forgetting about the remote he wanted to grab, he changes focus.
“Bad?! Crazy, maybe. But bad?!” He stomps back to his two brothers, pointing his finger at Leo’s smirk. “Your idea better be a good one or I will invent something to wipe that grin off your face!”
Leo’s grin only gets wider. “Challenge accepted~!” He beckons his brother in closer with a whisper. “Alright, so, here’s the plan.”
Five minutes of plotting followed, with some alterations to Leo’s idea, the three all agreed. Leo runs to Mikey’s room to gain supplies and puts the plan into action. Once done, they feel as if they’re being watched.
Mikey, who has been secretly lurking around the corner of the kitchen, reached the limit of his patience. He slowly steps in the living room.
“Everything ok?” He asks, trying to peek over Raph’s shoulder.
Leo and Raph form a stiff turtle wall while maintaining a nervous smile.
“Yep, yep! All good!” Raph’s teeth jitter.
“Mhm! Ready to unlock your powers, little bro!” Leo lifts a shaky thumb, knowing that if this plan doesn’t go well, he will have one angry and one condescending turtle to make amends with.
“Great!” Mikey hops in place. “What do I do?” He asks, peering at his brother Donnie who’s putting a sheet of paper on a canvas stand.
“Well,” Leo takes this chance to veer Mikey’s attention away from the scene. Now with their backs turned to the paper, Leo continues. “To start, we brought out a normal piece of paper that you can practice your glitter eye beam on. I’m sure you will get it on the first try knowing how you flew in the kitchen!” He smiles.
Mikey squeezes his little fists. “Alright!”
“That’s the spirit!” Leo quickly peeks over his shoulder, getting a nod from both Donnie and Raph who each stand on one side of the canvas.
He flips his brother back to the paper display. “Remember the steps?” Leo asks.
“Uhm.. do this!” He forms tiny binoculars with his hands to look through. “And uh.. think glitter thoughts!”
Leo nods proudly with his arms crossed. He would be lying if he doesn’t feel like dad right now.
“That’s right! And don’t forget to take a deep breath.” He leans in. “Just a little tip, closing your eyes for just five seconds helps you focus!”
Mikey nods. Now only seeing the paper sheet through the hand binoculars, he breathes in as his eyes come to a close. In his mind, the little hero counts down.
“5.”
Mikey hears someone snapping his fingers.
“4.”
“That’s it, Mikey, now slowly breathe out.”
“3.”
Doing as instructed, Mikey’s thoughts only fill with glitter.
“2.”
Mikey hears a “woosh” sound from ahead of him. Though, he can’t quite place it.
“1.”
At the final number, the orange hero feels a light touch of fear brush over him before opening his eyes.
The fear he felt is washed away in seconds when he watches a rain of colorful glitter fall down in front of him. Three excited brothers greet him, all pointing to the piece of paper that now reads: “Let’s be friends!” in different hues of bright glitter.
The orange hero gasps, clasping his hands on his mouth in disbelief. “It.. it worked?”
Beelining for the sign he created, he stares at it in awe. “It worked!”
“I knew you could do it!” Leo spins Mikey around in place.
“Way to go, bro!” Raph smiles, tapping Mikey’s shoulder with his hand palm.
“Thank you!” Mikey smiles back.
As Raph takes his hand off, Mikey notices that some glitter residue is caught on his shoulder.
“Raphie? Why is your hand covered in glitter?”
Raph gulps, his voice cracking up. “Ah! It uh, must’ve been because I was so close to the paper you shot your beam at! Right, D?”
“Correct.” Donnie lifts his hand slightly to show the same glitter on his palm. “When you.. ‘fired’ your ‘beam’ it spread to our hands.” Only uttering the non-scientific sentence caused mental damage to the purple turtle.
“Oh! I see! Gotta learn to control that better..” The hero ponders to himself.