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Ever since Splinter's announcement that Leo was leader, he'd become even more insufferable; at least that's how it looked to Donnie.
Leo would charge in headfirst, not listening to the others' ideas because, "I'm the leader!" Where he got the idea of the leader having supreme power was a mystery; Raph had never acted like this, and Leo didn't either back when any of them could potentially lead the charge.
Speaking of which, that rarely happened now, and it was practically only ever Raph who could be the substitute leader, and that's only because Leo never picked up on it if Raph was subtle about it. Leo was so obsessed with being the one to lead everything that he didn't even notice when the rest of the team were listening to someone completely different.
It was always about himself.
Raph had somehow become even more overprotective after this, mostly towards Donnie and Mikey. He saw Leo being an idiot and his immediate reaction was "protect the others so Leo doesn't get them killed."
Because of that, Leo could get ticked that Raph didn't listen to his plans; he only ever noticed Raph not listening to him. Then Raph would get mad because they're all supposed to have input on plans. Then Leo would bring up the times Raph ignored everyone else, not even realizing he was doing the same exact thing. Then, the arguing would just go on and on and on, and that's when the yelling would start.
They never argued or fought much during a villain fight, mostly because they'd get distracted by the villain. But when they got back to the lair...well let's just say Donnie was glad he'd soundproofed the whole place. It didn't stop the yelling from being heard inside, but at least NYC as a whole didn't have to listen.
And the yelling would go on and on and on. How their vocal cords weren't dead was a mystery. They'd fight about the big things, then it would devolve into little things. Then things no one cared about. They just wanted an excuse to yell more. The yelling was better than the fighting, though. First time they had a physical fight, and it was clear that it needed to be stopped, Raph nearly knocked out his other brothers trying to get a swing at Leo. Now they avoided physical fights, because again, Raph's whole thing now was being even more overprotective. But then Leo would try to pester him into a fight.
Because he's a self-centered idiot.
And every single yelling match would end the same way. Leo and Raph going to sleep angry and festering, and Donnie and Mikey together trying to block out the noise. Sometimes they'd end up in Mikey's room, sometimes Donnie's lab, but everytime, they be in the same room, doing their best to protect the other.
Donnie thought Mikey would be scared of the yelling, so he made some noise-cancelling headphones for the younger turtle; he didn't know how to comfort well, but he did know tech, so he hoped it would be enough. Mikey knew Donnie had no clue about the deeper reasons for the fights, all he could hear was that it was loud, so Mikey would just stay with his older brother to keep him calm.
The one time Mikey was out when the yelling started, he came home to Donnie having a meltdown from the noise; the only thing keeping him from hurting himself to drown it out was Shelldon essentially acting as a glorified heating pad/white noise machine.
So, Leo and Raph would fight and yell and hurt each other, mostly emotionally and, on rare occasions, physically. Neither seemed to realize how badly they hurt their other brothers with the fights.
The day after the fights would always go the same. Mikey and Donnie would stick together, not wanting to set the other two off in any way. Leo would leave to go to Run of the Mill to pester Huesuo, or sometimes be a substitute waiter or chef, just to avoid any reason to go home. Raph would leave to go to his friends so he wouldn't be alone. Mostly, he went to April, but Cassandra and even Sunita were potential options. He'd never go to his little brothers. So everytime, said brothers were left at the lair, not knowing when anyone would come back.
Donnie would spend the day soundproofing even more of the lair. If there was a way to make it quiet, he'd be damned if he didn't do it. Mikey would spend the whole day reflexively going into Dr. Feelings mode, trying to have the one brother left actually talk about how the yelling bothered him. Donnie never did, ironically, because he didn't want to be a bother on his brothers.
And so, it went. A few days would pass, Leo would be less of an idiot, so then Raph would loosen up a bit. Mikey and Donnie wouldn't hide away as much, and things seemed to be fixed. Then, something would happen, and everything would be set off again.
But, like metal being reheated and quenched over and over, warps, cracks, and breaks were more and more likely everytime.
The yelling hurt everyone, but Donnie was always more worried about it hurting Mikey than his other brothers. It was the one trait he really had in common with Raph; keeping his little brothers safe, although Leo rarely counted towards that category nowadays.
Mikey was always worried the next fight would be the one to break his brothers. He could hear Leo crying after the fights more often. He could hear Raph sobbing over the phone to April more often. And he could see Donnie breaking in front of him. If said brother noticed Mikey's attempt to keep him from shattering, he never said anything. He honestly might not have noticed; he was always more worried for Mikey.
Mikey knew that everyone needed to talk, but he could never muster the courage to try and set up conversations. He shouldn't be scared of his brothers, but yelling and fights and arguing can cause damage, even unintentionally. The only thing he knew he could do was keep one brother from breaking. Because if he didn't, Mikey would have a front row seat to the final break, and he was terrified that next time would always be the last. The only question he had was if Leo and Raph would even notice. Somehow, Mikey doubted they would.