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Mikey threw the water balloon.
He’d been aiming for Leo since he was normally the best natured about it and it may have brought some form of a smile to his face.
He missed.
He hadn’t meant to hit Raph, not while he was so worked up. Sure, he liked to mess with him, but he didn’t like being so out of control of the situation that it ended up hurting, like the last time he’d tried to get him with a balloon.
“You’ll like this show, Spike, it’s called ‘Does Mikey Bend That Way?’!”
That really hurt.
So no, he wasn’t trying to bug Raph. He hadn’t been, lately, and he especially didn’t want to break the streak while he was so stressed. Raph being stressed meant Raph being irritable, and Raph being irritable meant that he didn’t pull his punches. Well, he never did, but he never put full force into it.
The point is, he’d been aiming for Leo and ended up hitting Raph.
He stepped backward, apologies spilling out of his mouth, explanations and excuses all moulding together in one big pile of gibberish, but it was useless.
Raph stomped up to him, hand already raised, and Mikey flinched away, but it was, once again, useless.
He accepted the three punches Raph dealt to his head, bracing himself for the next, desperately fighting the instinct to tuck into his shell.
“Lay off, Raph, he didn’t mean to,” his saviour called.
“What’re you gonna do about it, dork?” Raph snapped back.
“I shouldn’t need to threaten you for you to logically understand the situation,” Donnie argued, crossing his arms. He thought for a second before shrugging. “If you’re even capable of doing such.”
I’m not going to threaten you because you should understand … you can’t do something.
Did Donnie just insult Raph? While he was mad?
“Don’t think I’m afraid of pounding you, too, Donnie,” Raph snapped, moving away from the youngest slightly, just enough to release some tension from Mikey’s shoulders.
“I don’t care, just give him a break for a little, he already apologized.”
“What, you offering?” Raph asked, chuckling a little at the end, crossing his arms back.
Donnie glanced up at his younger brother, as if he was actually considering it and- oh, shell, he was, wasn’t he?
Mikey debated running away while he still had time, but the conversation was already almost over.
“Alright, next screw up he makes, you get the consequences,” Raph said, humour lacing his tone.
Donnie nodded and the older walked away, ramming into Donnie’s shoulder as he passed. The purple-banded turtle pretended not to care until he was gone, then he grabbed his shoulder and mouthed the word ‘ow.’
“Dude, what the shell is wrong with you?” Mikey cried. “You know I can’t go a day without screwing up!”
“That’s why we’re gonna go into my lab for the rest of the day,” Donnie sighed, the post-fight wariness Raph always left behind him seeping into his features. “Go grab some comics or something.”
Mikey did just that. Next Crognard the Barbarian comic, T-phone and a sketch book in his hands, he started making his way to the lab. He placed one foot down on something smooth and uneven but it was too late to backtrack object slid, crinkling and tearing under his foot as he stumbled back, catching himself before he fell and looking down at the culprit.
A comic.
Raph’s comic.
Well maybe he could just bring it to Donnie to fix it and then return into the same spot? Yeah, that would work! It would be absolutely fine, nothing could go wrong with that idea whatsoever. Donnie’s a genius, he could fix anything.
“Mikey, what the hell is wrong with you?” Raph screamed and Mikey jumped backward. “It’s been five minutes!” Raph’s hand raised up, open palmed, ready to strike, but he paused. “You’re a lucky little bastard, you know that?”
He slammed against Mikey’s shoulder as he walked away and the younger suddenly understood Donnie’s reaction to it earlier. Mikey chased Raph down the hall, stopping just in hearing range of the door.
“Mikey, it’s unlocked- oh.”
Mikey felt so bad. Donnie had actually believed in him, actually thought he could last.
“That fast, huh?” Donnie mumbled.
Raph nodded and Mikey ran.
Later that night, the two youngest turtles were sitting together in Donnie’s lab as said turtle worked on something or other to distract himself from the black eye Mikey kept mentioning.
“I’m really sorry, Dee,” he whispered, still staring at the ground, leg bouncing anxiously.
Donnie hummed. “You’ve mentioned.”
“I am, though. I didn’t mean to, I just slipped, he left it there and I-”
“Can you shut up for one second?” Donnie snapped, head shooting over to meet his eye. “Oh- Mikey, I didn’t mean- I just have a headache and I-”
“S’fine, Donnie,” Mikey interrupted, getting up to leave. “Everything’s fine.”
“Mikey, wait,” the taller called, reaching out after him. “I don’t-“ the door slammed. “-blame you.”
Donnie sighed and went back to his work. Leo was expecting him to be on top of it 24/7, after all.