Chapter Text
“What abouuuut….. this one?” Leo said turning around.
“Haha! You look like a clown! Why do they even sell those?” Mikey laughed loud enough that it would’ve turned heads had the two of them not been menacing this Target for the past 30 minutes.
Leo grinned and put the novelty sunglasses back on the rotating display.
Shopping trips were a classic past time for Leo and Mikey now that mutants could go out in public without fear of being “discovered” and all the supposed dangers that came with that. Everyone knew about mutants now and after saving the city and world a few times they were pretty much accepted. Occasionally they’d get weird comments from passerby on the street and once or twice they’d been denied entry to a couple places (stupid jerks), but overall they could walk among the public freely.
“Okay I think I’ve seen everything I want to here. And if you want we can just skip the craft store and go straight home.”
Leo smirked and slid his eyes back to his brother to see exactly the reaction he was aiming for. One of five of Mikey’s classic Death Glares. This one was the one with a razor sharp smile. One of Leo’s favorites because it weaponizes Mikey’s natural cuteness in a terrifying way.
“Come on Mikey, you know I’m joking,” Leo laughed and nudged Mikey’s arm as he walked down the aisle to start their trek to the registers. Mikey’s sinister look dropped into a lighthearted smile.
“Yeah I know,” he said and followed Leo to the registers to watch him check out the faux leather-bound journal he had picked out for himself, as well as the backlit keyboard he picked for Donnie.
“Are you sure about that one? I think Donnie would like purple more than red.” Mikey said incredulously.
“Nah nah, check it out,” Leo said pulling the box out of the plastic bag as they walked through the sliding doors into the chilly autumn night. “See on the back it says you can customize the colors. He’s gonna love it.” Leo had a set grin and a determined look about him but Mikey was doubtful.
“But what if, hypothetically,” Mikey said carefully, “it doesn't work?”
“Why wouldn’t it? He can’t ignore me if I'm giving him a present!”
Outwardly Leo was resolute but inside he was totally stressed out. Donnie had been giving him the near silent treatment for weeks now and it was starting to get… well, it was starting to get a lot of things. Concerning at first, then confusing, then annoying, then frustrating, and now everything at once. What was his deal?
He thought maybe it was a relapse of his extreme depressive episode after the Kraang invasion. Back then he was isolating himself almost constantly until he couldn't get away with it anymore. Everyone was pretty fucked up around that time and they all started going to therapy. But that was over a year ago now. Not that it didn’t still happen. Leo himself still had bad days. All of them did. But they were there for each other. They had agreed as a team to be honest about that kind of thing.
It wasn’t long though before he realized he was the only one Donnie had essentially shut out. And Leo did not understand it. As far as he was aware the two of them were closer than ever. They’d been hanging out a lot! He would come by Donnie’s lab and they’d watch the shows Leo had been recommending to him or Leo would bring him along to concerts in the Hidden City.
By all accounts, there was nothing wrong! Then all of a sudden, Donnie just stopped giving him the time of day. Leaving his texts on read and always claiming to be too busy to hang out.
The doors of Mikey’s favorite craft store, Michaels (for totally unbiased reasons), swished open to let them through.
“I’m just saying. Donnie’s not easily swayed by material possessions.”
Leo cocked his head and gave Mikey a “really?” look.
“Well not when he’s really sure about something.” Mikey led his brother to the paint aisle and rubbed his hands together before rapidly grabbing dozens of colors until his arms were totally full.
“Alright, Angelo, slow down. Here I’ll grab you a basket” Leo chuckled.
By the time he got back though his smile faded.
“Hey, Mikey?” Leo asked.
“Hm?”
“Do you know something I don’t? About Donnie? Like why he’s been avoiding me?”
Mikey has always been terrible at keeping a poker face, and that was never more evident than when he was forced to lie or keep secrets. Which was happening right now, clearly.
“Oh, uhhhhhh-“
“Wait is he actually mad at me?”
“Ummmm…”
“I knew it!” Leo threw his hands up and started pacing in short line. “Ugh this is just like him! I asked him what I did yesterday and he just blew off the question! Why can't he just be brutally honest and straightforward about this like he is with literally everything else?” Leo crossed him arms petulantly.
Mikey sighed.
“I think he’s just frustrated that you don’t already know what it is that upset him.”
“Well how am I supposed to know? I'm not a psychic!” Leo paused and then quickly turned and grabbed Mikey by the shoulders, boxing him in.
“Mikey you gotta tell me if you know, I’m never gonna get it out of him! Like, I haven’t done anything lately, I have zero clues!”
Mikey tensed up and gently shooed his brothers hands off of his shoulders, moving back a step.
“Leo you know how much I’d love to fix this. You know, Dr. Feelings style!”
Leo nodded. Mikey turned back to the wall of paints and started calmly selecting more colors as he spoke.
“But you remember last week when I was telling you about what my therapist said?” Mikey asked pausing to look at Leo after his question.
Leo squinted and looked to the side awkwardly. “Uhhhhhh.”
“Triangulation?” He prompted, and moved on to the paintbrushes. “How I have a habit of mediating too much? She said I need to let people have their own one on one relationships without trying to problem solve for other people.”
Mikey stopped and faced Leo fully for his next words. “And I think you need to do some self examination to find out where you went wrong.” Mikey said softly.
Leo frowned and looked at the spray paint on the lowest shelf. They both stood silently for a moment. Leo was starting to feel like he was being lectured for something.
“So it is something I did?” Leo said snapping his head back up to stare hard at his brother. Mikey’s eyebrows shot up and then he immediately deflated realizing he said too much.
“Ugh. Yes, but that’s all you’re getting out of me." He pointed at Leo. "Let's talk about something else. I saw a comic book store on the other street back there. Wanna see if they have the new Jupiter Jim comic?”
Leo pouted and sneered at the ground, then quickly shook off his sour expression and tried at a smile.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”