Work Text:
Mikey wasn’t a fan of the cold.
Personally, his favorite season was summer. It was the only time of year he could eat popsicles all day long without being judged by his brothers.
Well…
not as judged as he would be during winter. He also just wasn’t a fan of the cold seeing as he was (along with his brothers) cold blooded.
Which leads to their latest predicament.
They were currently locked in one of Meat Sweats freezers. The chef had managed to trick them into running inside after a fire broke out in the main kitchen they were all fighting in.
“YOU IDIOT” Donnie yelled at Leo, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him vigorously.
“THERE WAS A FIRE! I PANICKED!”
“SO YOU LEFT YOUR SWORD?! THE ONE WEAPON THAT WOULD HELP US OUT OF HERE?!?” Donnie screamed back at him.
Mikey could hear the panic in his voice. Should they actually be scared? Were they in danger? They would be able to get out of here right?
Right?
As if practically reading Mikeys thoughts Raph started one of those leader speeches he always does “You guys, fighting isn’t gonna get us out of here. We gotta work together, as a team.”. Gathering the team up they huddled around each other. “Alright. Donnie have anything?”
“Well the most logical thing to do would be to use Leo's sword- BUT OH WAIT? SOMEONE LEFT IT BEHIND.” It looked like Raph couldn’t prevent the fighting in the end because Leo proceeded to jump donnie and start a wrestling match.
“YOU GUYS KNOCK IT OFF.” Raph yelled at the twins, pulling them apart.
“We already tried breaking down the door with Raph’s weapon…” Looking at the door as Mikey said this, you could see light dents in the door indicating where raph had punched and kicked. “What if we just keep trying to knock it down? It has to break down eventually?”
“If Raph were to keep punching at the door at the same force every punch he would fall to exhaustion before we could escape due to the temperature we are being kept at.”
“huh?”
“Raph would pass out before breaking the door.” Leo nodded, actually understanding what Donnie had said this time. “I think the wisest thing to do would be to send an sos to April and Splinter and conserve the rest of our energy.” Donnie typed on his wrist tech sending the sos as he spoke.”
…
“oh god.”
Mikey panicked “What? What happened?”
“there’s… There’s no internet. I can’t send the sos.”
Leo walked up to Donnie “then what do we do? We can’t actually be trapped in here!”
“We wouldn’t be trapped in here if SOMEONE-“
“STOP”
Everyone turned to face Mikey who at this point was shaking with tears. The room went silent.
“WE”RE STUCK! We can’t get out and you guys won’t shut up! I’M SCARED! So please! STOP FIGHTING.” Mikey was sobbing at this point. He didn’t realize until he was being squeezed a little too tight that Raph was hugging him.
“I think.. The best thing to do right now would be to conserve heat. Huddling together would be the most efficient. I think?” Leo confused himself with his suggestion. Had it not been a life threatening scenario donnie definitely would have made fun of him.
Mikey who had finally stopped crying replied “like.. a big group hug?”
“Yes, exactly mikey. Only until we can think of a better solution.” Raph responded, giving Mikey a little squeeze.
“A hug? Do we… Have to? You know I don't like physical contact…” Raph gave Donnie a look and Donnie gave back a heavy sigh walking towards the forming huddle.
It didn’t take long for what remaining body heat Mikey had to dissipate. Not less than ten minutes in the huddle did Mikey start to shiver, seeing the condensation coming out of his mouth every time he had breathed. Hearing his older brother's voices through the chittering of his teeth faded as he eventually passed out.
-
Mikey had woken up in a room-temperature bath. His entire body is sore with hazy memories. He was still very cold but he was able to take in his surroundings. He was in the same kitchen that was on fire earlier. The charred walls prove that he hadn’t imagined it.
There was a vat of boiling water next to the counter. Getting out of the tub he used the heat radiating off the vat to warm himself up. Looking at the counter he could see a bunch of chopped up vegetables along with a whole bundle of Meat Sweats secret truffle. Next to said truffle was a cooking book.
Which was odd considering Meat Sweats was basically the best cook in the world.
Reading the page the book was open to, Mikey had to back away and cover his mouth.
Turtle soup.
Specifically snapping turtle soup.
Mikey hadn’t known what to be more upset about honestly. The fact that Meat Sweats was trying to cook him and his brothers or the fact that he had taken him instead of Raph. I mean come on. If you’re gonna try and cook them, at least cook the right species.
Gathering courage, Mikey looked through the rest of the book. To his horror the entire book was just multiple recipes on how to cook different types of turtles. Even endangered ones! Those monsters.
Apparently Meat Sweats wasn’t very skilled at cooking turtles. Mikey closed the book and threw it in the trash.
Meat Sweat wasn’t here. So Mikey took his chances and went back into the Freezer. Making sure the door stayed open and unlocked. Just in case he brought Leo's sword, even though he didn’t know how to use it. He was sure Leo would be able to get them out of there.
He didn’t even have to step one foot into the room to figure out where his brothers were. They were separated unlike before. Seemingly tossed to the side by Meat Sweats in his attempt to grab mikey.
“guys?”
mikey was a glass half full kinda guy
“Raph”
the most optimistic out of the entire team
“leo?”
hell he believed Draxum could be a good person!
“donnie?”
but no matter what he believed.
Nothing. No movement. They were probably asleep. Mikey was until Meat Sweats had put him in the tub.
He knew deep down
Mikey had dragged all three of them outside the freezer. Pouring the luke-warm tub water onto them. He hadn’t realized he had started crying until he couldn’t tell who he was pouring water on.
He was too late.
He checked for a pulse every five seconds. Switching from brother to brother. Praying for a miracle. He attempted to used Donnie's tech but it was glitchy.
It said that all three brothers' heart rates were at zero. Which obviously was incorrect. That would mean they were dead.
The tech was obviously malfunctioning.
He did the only thing he could do. Not being able to figure out how to use Leo's sword.
He waited.
He perched his brother close to the fire. Not close enough to burn them but close enough for a pleasant warmth to radiate against them for when they woke up.
-
When Meat Sweats had arrived back inside from wherever he went he was met with Michelangelo standing a mere couple of feet in front of him.
“WHAT?!? HOW- HOW ARE YOU ALIVE!??” Meat Sweats staring confused, putting down the bag of groceries he had been carrying. Perhaps he had gone to a mystic market. “YOU WERE DEAD! NO PULSE. I WAITED TWO DAYS BEFORE PULLING YOU OUT OF THE FRIDGE!”
“My brothers aren’t waking up. What did you do?” Mikey said, staring dead straight into Meat Sweats eyes. Meat Sweats back broke into shivers. Never seeing this side of Mikey before.
“You’re reptiles. You need heat to survive. They’re dead. They must’ve froze to death 5 hours after being locked in that freezer. It’s a scientific wonder how you’re still standing!”
They stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time.
Until Mikey picked up Leo’s sword.
That day 4 people died. But Mikey only cried for three of them.
-
using Donnie's tech he had them carry his brothers home.
It wasn’t until he had to explain to Splinter what had happened that he finally processed what had happened and broke down.
He kept all three of his brothers in their respected rooms checking on all three of them constantly. Not talking to April or Splinter as he passed from room to room.
What Meat Sweats said constantly replaying in his head.
“YOU WERE DEAD! NO PULSE!”
If he had died. If he had no pulse and then just magically come back to life like that? Then so could his brothers. He was so sure of it.
It wasn’t until the lair started to smell of rot that Splinter and April had to interfere.
Dragging Mikey away from his brothers. Sobbing and screaming bloody murder as they were re-located.
-
You would think Mikey would be a sobbing mess at the funeral? Not a word. Not a single tear.
April couldn’t help but look into his empty eyes. Knowing that in the end she lost all of her brothers.
They were buried in Cherrywood. It was the most expensive wood they could afford. They actually almost couldn’t. April had to pick up two extra jobs to pay for it.
They couldn’t exactly bury them in the human realm so they had to transport the coffins to the mystic world and buried them in the closest field to their favorite pizza place.
It was a small memorial. The funeral being for half of the family made it feel isolating.
-
After a lot of turtle research Mikey had finally figured out why and how he was a “scientific wonder.” Turns out box turtles are able to freeze up to 80% of themselves as a way to prevent freezing to death. Which included having their heart stop. Mikey didn’t know if this information comforted him or upset him.
But at least now he was informed. Donnie would have been proud.
-
The first month without his brothers was definitely the worst. Him and splinter ended up moving out of the sewers and into a small apartment in the mystic realm. It helped it feel a lot less isolating being able to walk around without hiding.
Mikey ended up getting a job at an art store not too far away from the apartment to help splinter out with rent. Turns out retirement for a superstar did not pay well.
Mikey no longer saved the world. As guilty as it was to stop he couldn’t actually fight very well whenever any of the villains asked about his brothers. Fighting while crying was very difficult.
Actually, after finding out what Mikey had done to Meat Sweats a lot of the villains started to fear the turtle. So on top of that it was also harder to find someone who wanted to put up a fight. So in the end he retired the mask. Living his life as a common yokai.
April is visited often. Being his only remaining sibling left. Constantly bringing him and Splinter food and staying over on the weekends. They became a lot closer.
Trauma will do that to you.
-
After the first year had passed things had definitely gotten a lot easier.
He could finally look at pictures of his brothers without having a panic attack again. He even started to wear their bandanas on his apron at his job.
You would think New York would be in shambles by now with no one to fight the mutants. It turns out that he and his brothers weren’t the only vigilantes out there.
Celebrating their shared birthday was hard. Very hard. Lots of crying. But they did it. April brought a cake.
They celebrated Mikey.
Celebrated their brothers.
And celebrated life.
Mikey even ended up sheltering foster kittens.
And if he color coded them, no one batted an eye. Let the man cope. He lost half of his family. So what if he had a red cat?
The only thing Mikey really struggled with after all this time was low temperature. The ac couldn’t be lower than 60 degrees. And he never went up to the surface when it was snowing.
Mikey wasn’t a fan of the cold.