Chapter Text
Small Mikey rubs his eyes before pushing himself upright in bed. He’s wearing a pajama that was originally white, but since it was too boring for him he added his own twist to it. Right now it’s the most colorful pajama ever, it is painted in different colors and art styles.
Mikey’s eyes needed to adjust to the dark bedroom. After missing the light switch three times, he flipped it. His room is, as always, a big mess. Or, as Mikey likes to call it, covered in art. Papers clad the floor and the smell of paint hangs in the air from the finger painting he made yesterday.
“Good morning, world!” Jolly, he rolls out of bed. “Yet another great day!” He chirps, twirling around in place, stopping when facing his bed. “Right? Mr. Cuddle-“
Mikey’s eyes widen as they become blurry. For his favorite teddy bear isn’t on the bed where he belongs.
One terrifying night, Mikey found out he was afraid of thunder, getting nightmares when he did manage to fall asleep. Master Splinter and the other turtles kept telling him there was nothing to be scared of, but sadly, this didn’t take his fear away.
So, Master Splinter decided to head to a toy store and buy him a teddy bear with money he found on the street. Mikey was overjoyed! Not alone was there no more need to sneak under the covers of his other brothers, but he had a new friend he felt safe with.
“M-Mr. Cuddles?” On the verge of crying, he searches around his blanket and pillow for his friend. Not having any luck there, he peeks under his bed. “Mr. Cuddles! Where are you?” He calls out, but no response nor sign from his trusty pall.
He scans the floor, looks under his drawings, and turns boxes full of supplies upside down, only to be disappointed.
With tears sliding down his cheeks, he ties his orange bandana around his head and sets off to Donnie’s lab.
Thumping through the hall, Mikey kicks down Donnie’s door.
“Donnie!” He yells with a sniff.
Donnie, being in the middle of mixing liquids in beakers from the chemistry set he got from Master Splinter, gets startled. Thanks to Mikey’s sudden shout, a huge amount of the pink water goes into the green liquid, causing it to blow up in Donnie’s face.
With now blackened glasses, he turns to Mikey with a sigh.
“How many times do I have to say it? Knock before you enter!” Donnie snarls, opening the drawer of the table the chemistry set is on. He takes out a piece of cloth to wipe his glasses.
Though Mikey is in too much distress to be considerate.
“Where is Mr. Cuddles?!” Mikey stamps his foot on the ground, his tears dripping on the floor.
“Mr. Cuddles?” Donnie ponders, putting his now clean glasses back on. “Ah, that teddy bear? Haven’t seen it.” He scratches his chin as his eyes dart away from Mikey.
“I know you have him! You always want to test stuff on him, but not this time! Give him back!” Angry, Mikey takes hold of Donnie’s collar with his two small hands. He shakes him back and forth.
“Calm down, Mikey!” Donnie pulls off Mikey’s arms, wrapping his hands around Mikey’s. Mikey’s pure and highly concerned shaking eyes cause Donnie to bite his lower lip. “Alright, I did take it, I was planning on seeing how it would react to certain experiments.”
“I knew it! Where is he?!” Mikey puffs his cheeks, ready to pull Donnie’s shirt again. Which Donnie avoids by stepping back.
“Don’t worry! I put him on that chair over there.” Donnie points to the dimly lit corner of the room.
“Which chair?” Mikey questions, tilting his head.
“What do you mean “which chair”? There is only one.” Donnie looks at the chair, pushing up his glasses to make sure his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him. But the fact doesn’t change, the chair stands vacant. “Wait, what?”
Donnie walks up to the chair with Mikey close behind him. They check around, up, under, and near, but there is no teddy bear.
“How is this possible? I was sure that I placed it there!” Donnie paces in place, feeling his distress rise.
Donnie is quite the opposite when it comes to Mikey. He likes things tidied. So when things go missing, even when it’s not his own, his anxiety spikes.
“He must’ve run away from you!” Mikey nods, crossing his tiny arms.
“Pfft, as if!” Donnie lets out a short laugh. “No, I can’t have misplaced it, and teddy bears don’t wander.” He holds his chin, closing his eyes. “Which leaves only one possibility.”
“Which…is?” Mikey questions, tapping his own cheek.
“Mr. Cuddles has been stolen!” Donnie’s eyes fly open as he presses his finger down on Mikey’s nose.
Cross-eyed, Mikey gasps. “No way! Who would do such a thing?!”
“I do not know…” Donnie reopens the drawer he got the cloth out of. “But!” He reveals a looking glass from the drawer. “We will find out!”
“Yeah!” Mikey cheers determined.
Set on finding Mikey’s precious friend, the two march out of the lab. Donnie already has a clue on who to interrogate first.