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They had been fighting again.
Mikey could tell because the air seemed to crackle and snap with tension between the two. Despite Leo’s easy grin and the confidence in his stride, he never once looked Raph in the eye or really acknowledged him at all. It was worse than Leo’s usual tactic of needling others to get a rise out of them; purposefully blowing them off and making it known that they weren’t worth his time. It was arrogance and cruelty and Mikey wanted to hate him for it.
But Raph was acting no better. He glared at Leo’s shell, huffing and snorting and stomping around with his fists clenched and the furrow between his brows deep with shadow. He was angry and it festered in him, a growing pressure that threatened to overflow and erupt at any second. With every argument, every bitter word, Raph’s temper threatened to burst. It was only a matter of time before he lost control.
Even Donnie had taken to avoiding being in the same room with both of them. He would indulge Leo’s shenanigans and enjoy Raph’s curious company, but never at the same time. The tension between the two was unbearable and sour.
Mikey tried to help, he tried to get them to talk about things in a reasonable way, breaking out all the tactics and skills he had. But Leo refused to be mature, becoming obstinate and mocking, and Raph only allowed himself to simmer in his anger, stewing until he couldn’t take it anymore and stomping out of the room with a snarl.
Their teamwork was suffering for it, but they were still getting jobs done. So what was Mikey supposed to do?
They’d gotten word that Big Mama was on the move. Even without her Hotel in place, she was still a formidable powerhouse that could not be ignored. Donnie had managed to track down some of her goons and the turtles had immediately set off in pursuit , following them through the shadows to an antique mall. If Big Mama was after something, it was probably a dangerous mystic artifact and that was not something the brothers could let her get her hands on.
“There’s five big mystic signatures in there,” Donnie murmured, peering through his goggles at the building across the street, “And at least a baker’s dozen of smaller ones; probably various mystic artifacts that have wound up here.” He flicked his goggles up, casting a glance at the others, “So what’s the plan?”
“Easy,” Leo smirked, standing up on the edge of the roof, “Ninja in, ninja their faces, grab the doohickey, and ninja on home before our pizza gets cold.”
“Leo—” Raph began with a growl.
“That’s not a plan, Leo,” Donnie’s unimpressed voice had an edge to it, one that begged Raphael not to start something. Raph hunkered down on the roof with a low rumble in his chest but said nothing.
Leo rolled his eyes, “Uhg, fine . Me and Mikey will look for the mystic thing. You two keep Big Mama’s guys occupied. Happy? Good. Let’s go.” He didn’t wait for a reply, just swung himself off the roof and towards the antique mall below. His siblings followed, each with different forms of trepidation, and all of them slunk into the shadows.
They slid into the building through the back door with a busted lock, breaking into two parties and heading their separate ways. Mikey watched Leo as they slunk along; he was being stealthy, rolling his steps and treading feather light through the shelves, but he wasn’t inspecting any of the items that they passed. Even with the white film over his eyes, Mikey could tell that Leo was listening for sounds of a fight rather than paying attention to their surroundings.
“You’ve been awful quiet, Miguel,” Leo hummed in a low voice, peering around the corner of a shelf, “Somethin’ on your mind?”
Mikey chewed the inside of his cheek and thought about all the things he could say to Leo—why do you keep antagonizing Raph? Why do you act so stupid on purpose? Why are you being like this? Why are you hurting everyone? This isn’t funny anymore, Leo...
Instead, he swallowed and whispered, “What are we even looking for?”
“No idea,” Leo turned to look at Mikey with a grin that flashed his teeth in the dark, “I was gonna wait for one of Big Mama’s guys to grab it and then we could nab it from him but,” He shrugged, turning away as his grin became snarky and bitter, “That plan got vetoed out the window…”
“Maybe if you just explained your plans instead of—”
“Are we gonna do this? Right now?” Leo stopped and turned fully around to scowl at Mikey.
Anger and hurt flared in Mikey’s chest as he squared up against Leo, hissing back, “I’m just saying you never talk to us! You never explain your plans! You just run off! How are we supposed to trust you when you don’t explain anything!?”
“What, you saying you don’t have any faith in me as a leader?” Leo sneered, lip curling in a nasty expression of vitriol and mock pride.
“That’s not what I said and you know it!” Mikey snapped and was furious to feel his eyes start to burn with angry tears. Leo always knew how to get under everyone’s skin; he knew each of them so well and it was a trait that would have made him an effective leader. If he could just get his head out of his ass.
“Why do you keep trying to pick fights with all of us!?” Mikey continued, emotion building in him, breath heaving as he struggled to control himself, everything that had been building up since they’d defeated the Shredder beginning to spill over, “We trust you, Leo! You’re out brother! And we wanna support you but you’re not exactly giving us the chance to! I know you can be a good leader, you just—”
“Maybe I never wanted to be leader!” Leo snarled, knuckles white where they clenched tightly on the hilts of his katana, “Maybe I was fine with Raph being in charge! Maybe I want things to go back to the way they were!”
“Then talk to us instead of being such a jerk!”
Leo opened his mouth, an ugly look of pain and rage twisting his face, but he never got the words out.
A crackling bolt of mystic energy slammed into Mikey, sending him crashing through the store shelves and burying him under a pile of antiques.
It took a minute for Mikey’s brain to catch up to what had happened.
His head was spinning, his arm was singing with a burning pain, and the wind had been knocked out of him, making him gasp and wheeze as his lungs struggled to inflate. Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear fighting and shouting, the clash of steel and the distinct thud of fists and kicks connecting with solid bodies. He shifted with a groan and winced when objects pressed against him from all sides, digging into his limbs and tangled in his legs.
There was a pained yelp that Mikey recognized as belonging to Donnie and then a loud crash. Someone cackled and it was not one of his brothers.
Heat and adrenaline flushed through his veins and Mikey exploded out of the pile of antiques with a wild yell. He swung his nunchaku, glowing chains unfurling in a blaze of molten gold, and whipped it across the room to coil around one of Big Mama’s hired muscle. The bulky cat-looking yokai that had been leering over a prone Donatello suddenly found itself flying through the air and smashing into the floor hard enough to crack it.
Mikey pulled the nunchaku back to him, glancing around to quickly take in the battlefield. He nodded once to Donnie once he saw his brother getting to his feet, and then skipped up to the top of a towering wooden wardrobe to get a better vantage point and figure out where he was needed the most.
But the fight was already starting to peter out. Raph was subduing his opponent with an arm around their neck and pinning them to the floor, Leo had flung his into a wall via clever use of portals, and Donnie had bashed another over the head with his staff. Mikey squinted into the dark store—that was only four goons accounted for and they’d counted five. So where was the last one...
The floor creaked and the scales on the back of Mikey’s neck prickled.
With a wicked laugh, he launched himself off the top of the wardrobe and spun into the remaining yokai with a vicious kick that whipped their head to the side and sent them to the ground. Mikey rolled out of the move and flipped expertly to his feet, smiling despite himself. That had been pretty fun and cool.
The yokai he’d just knocked out was slumped into a puddle on the flood and their hand had loosened, dropping the object they’d been clutching. Mikey swept it up with a curious hum—it must have been the mystic artifact they were looking for!
It was a curious thing. It look like it could have been a pendant for a necklace, or a brooch without the pin back. The silver was tarnished by time and age, but the delicate work was still beautiful and elegant to behold. Thin strands of silver woven together to form a dandelion head, the kind where it was a white puffball of seeds ready to be blown away in the wind. Little slivers of cloudy white quartz formed each seed’s white tufts and a dull cat’s eye stone made up the center piece. It really was a beautiful little work of art, all delicate swirls and soft curls. It looked far too innocent and sweet to be something the likes of Big Mama would be after.
“And that takes care of that!”
Mikey looked up to see Leo sheathing his swords with a smug smile. The store around them was wrecked, but the yokai were laid out cold amid the chaos.
“I think I found what these guys were after,” Mikey called, holding up dandelion pendant, “Does this thing have mystic energy, Dee?”
Donnie pursed his lips, flicking his goggles down to peer at the pendant, “Yes, I’d say that’s our target. It’s surrounded in a high concentration of mystic energy and—Angelo, pray tell, when were you going to let us know about the second degree burns on your arm!?”
“Eh? Oh…” Mikey glanced at the arm that had been hit with the mystic projectile, grimacing at the blistered and peeling scales. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain was starting to come back full force, “Uuuuhhh, I kinda forgot. It hit me when we were looking around on the shelves.”
“It hit you because you guys were being noisy.” Raph growled between his fangs and Mikey saw Leo’s expression darken, “We could hear you two fighting. What was going on?”
“Just a minor disagreement,” Leo had schooled his face into a lazy smirk, cocking himself at an arrogant angle, “Because apparently, nobody’s happy with me calling the shots. Looks like the majority rules; you’re leader again Raph, I graciously give up my throne to you.” Leo gave a mocking bow, one hand on his middle and the other gesturing to Raph with a flourish.
Raph seethed, “Are you kidding me with this, Leo!? I know you’re uncomfortable being in charge, but Dad gave it to you for a reason. Every time you pull one of these stunts, you put us all in danger! Just look! You got Mikey hurt!”
“Oh, what, it’s fine if Mikey’s yelling at me during a stealth mission, but when I do it, it’s a problem? Talk about double standards,” Leo’s sneer was back, mean and bitter underneath his smarmy grin, arms crossed as he rolled his eyes.
“This ain’t about Mikey!”
“Yeah? When are you gonna lecture him then, huh? You gonna lecture Don too?”
“Leo, I’m trying to tell you—”
“That you could do a better job, right? Good! Fine! It’s yours! I never wanted it anyway!”
“You can’t just—you need to start taking responsibility for your actions, Leo!”
Mikey watched his brothers fight with a tired ache in his heart. Leo just kept needling and picking until Raph lost his temper and it would all inevitably collapse into a shouting match. It was exhausting. And it always hurt to watch the seams splitting on their family ties.
A hand touched his shell and Mikey looked up to see Donnie standing in front of him, blocking his view of Raph and Leo. Donnie wasn’t looking at Mikey but had gently taken Mikey’s hand and was examining the burns on his arm, his face blank and clinically cold, but his eyes sharp and glinting in the dark. Mikey’s lip trembled and he bit it hard; he didn’t want to cry about this anymore.
“It’s hard to tell without better lighting,” Donnie murmured, “But I think your arm should be okay. We’ll take a look at it back home.”
“A-are you hurt, Dee?” Mikey asked softly and Donnie met his gaze for a brief second before his eyes dropped again. They both knew what Mikey was actually asking.
“I’ll be fine,” Donnie cleared his throat and straightened up. He was still holding Mikey’s hand loosely in his own, and he gave it a reassuring squeeze, “Are...mm...this…” He struggled for a moment, working his jaw, “On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, how would rate your pain?”
The corner of Mikey’s mouth twitched in a little smile. Data collection; classic Donnie calming technique, “Um...I think maybe a 5 or a 6 for my arm...but it feels like a 10 in here.” He pressed his free hand over his plastron, fist still curled around the artifact, “I just...want you guys to be happy. I wish you could be. I wish I could see you all smile and laugh again...I miss you…”
Donnie’s shoulders slumped, as if the weight of his battle shell was suddenly too heavy a burden. He reached up and rubbed the top of Mikey’s head,
“We’ll get there eventually, Angelo, don’t fret too much. Let me just get these dumb-dumbs back on track so we can go home and get that arm taken care of.”
Mikey let out a heavy sigh as Donnie turned away to bark at Raph and Leo. The two had been inches away from each other, snapping in each other’s faces until Donnie shouted that Mikey needed medical attention. Raph immediately cooled off, hurrying over to coo over his youngest brother. Leo glared at the back of Raph’s shell, met Donnie’s eye for a half second, and looked away with an angry kind of shame twisting his features.
He didn’t say anything as he drew them a portal home and remained just as silent as he wrapped up Mikey’s arm. He didn’t even wish them a goodnight before he vanished into his room.
Mikey lay awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling and wondering where he’d gone wrong.
He expected for breakfast the next morning to be very awkward and cold. Lately there had only been two moods with family meal times; pretending everything was fine with forced smiles or bitter, icy silence and no eye contact.
Mikey puttered around the kitchen, quietly preparing a breakfast for himself as quickly as possible so he could avoid the potential fallout from the night before. He usually enjoyed sharing meals with his brothers, but the tension had been a lot lately and he was tired. He just wanted some peace.
His hopes were dashed when Leo slunk into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes with a wide yawn. But as soon as he saw Mikey, Leo smiled, gave him a warm, if groggy, hello, and shuffled about to pour himself a bowl of cereal. Mikey hesitated, clutching his plate of jam and toast, still considering fleeing to his bedroom. But he ached for the familiarity of sharing a meal and sitting alone was the least appealing thing in the world. So he slid into a seat at the table and started munching on his toast.
Leo flopped into a chair across from him and reached across the table top, “Mm, lemme see that arm. Check your bandages. How’s it feeling? Any pain? Trouble moving it?”
“Mm-mm,” Mikey shook his head, “Just kind of feels like a bruise sometimes. It’s healing fast.”
“That’s good. I’ll keep an eye on it, just in case…” Leo hummed still holding Mikey’s hand, rubbing his thumb over Mikey’s knuckles. There was still a small smile on his face but his eyes were looking somewhere else, “Listen, Mikes, about yesterday—”
Leo snapped his mouth shut as Raph stepped into the kitchen, already wearing his gear. He had a lopsided, sleepy smile but it twisted oddly when he caught sight of Leo sitting at the table. Both he and Leo stared at each other with their pleasant smiles until Raph tore his gaze away and beamed at Mikey.
“Mornin’, big man, how’s your arm?” Raph shuffled further into the kitchen, opening the fridge to gather his own breakfast.
“Fine, just kinda feels like a big bruise,” Mikey took another bite of toast, watching the tension climb steadily as Leo hunched his shoulders and started shoveling his cereal into his mouth. Mikey glanced at him and hesitated before he spoke again, “Actually, um, Raph, could I talk to you for a minute? About a...personal thing?”
“Sure, buddy,” Raph straightened up from the fridge, giving Mikey an encouraging smile, “Your room or mine?”
“Uh, yours is closer so…” Mikey stood from the table and trailed Raph out into the lair. He could feel Leo’s gaze burning into the back of his shell but he didn’t dare turn around. The walk to Raph’s bedroom felt like it stretched on for miles that passed in the blink of an eye and Mikey found himself fidgeting in front of Raph as his big brother sat on the edge of his bed.
“So, what’s up Mikey? You doin’ okay?”
Mikey stared at his feet, chewing on his lip as he carefully picked his words. When he looked up, Raph was still smiling at him and something in Mikey’s heart twisted—he didn’t want to be the reason his brother stopped smiling. But someone needed to do something about the disaster that was causing them to fall apart. And if his big brothers weren’t going to take responsibility, then it was up to Dr. Feelings.
“It’s...about what happened last night…” Mikey took a deep breath, bracing himself, “I think, maybe, you should try and lay off Leo a little bit. I know! I know he’s being stupid, but you starting fights with him is just what he wants!”
“I know that,” Raph’s smile looked strained, like he was trying to be patient but the effort to do so physically hurt, “I know he just wants to fight and I know he doesn’t want to take charge. But we gotta respect Dad’s choice and—”
“No we don’t!” Mikey shouted, stomping his foot on the floor, “We don’t have to do anything! Dad’s not in charge of this team! We are! He didn’t start caring about what we were doing until the Foot were involved! Raph, please! Leo doesn’t want to be in charge, it’s stressing him out! He’s not sleeping, he’s scared of screwing up so he acts out to piss you off and make you take charge again!” Mikey was pleading with his brother, grabbing Raph’s hands and squeezing them as tightly as he could, “Please, Raphie, just be our leader again! I know we worry you and make you mad, but this is so much worse!”
Raph shook his head, his expression a bit bemused, as if he were entertaining a petulant child, “Sorry, Mikey, but I’m not takin’ charge again. It’s up to Leo.” He rested his big hand on top of Mikey’s head but Mikey smacked it away in aggravation, “Whoa, little buddy, no need for that…”
“Would you just—I feel like you’re not taking me seriously!” There was indignation and hurt frothing in Mikey’s chest as Raph smiled down at him.
“’Course I’m taking you seriously,” Raph beamed, eyes crinkling up, “Raph knows serious business when he hears it!”
“Then why’re you just—would you stop smiling, this is important!”
Raph’s grin only widened, showing off his sharp teeth, and it had the impression of a snarl behind it, “Sorry, Mikes, I can’t help myself! I’m just...really happy to be talkin’ with you!”
The hurt prickled closer to the surface and Mikey felt his eyes burn, “Why won’t any of you listen to me!? I’m not a little kid! God!” And he threw his hands up in the air, stomping out of Raph’s room. Raph didn’t try to stop him, but Mikey heard him chuckling to himself and it turned Mikey’s stomach somehow.
Mikey stalked across the lair and ducked into his own bedroom, throwing himself onto his bed with a scowl and a huff. He didn’t feel like finishing his breakfast anymore.
He wasn’t sure how long he lay there stewing in acidic feelings before Donnie came knocking at his door.
“Oh dear sweet Angelo~” Donnie sing-songed, leaning until Mikey’s room with a smirk on his face, “Wouldst thou care to join us for a little leisurely exercise upon a skateboard, mayhaps?” He snickered at his own joke and Mikey couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
“Yeah, okay,” Mikey rolled off his bed, popping up to his feet with a flourish, “Leo said my arm’s okay so skateboarding should be nnnooooo issue! Gimme that sweet, sweet half pipe, baby!”
Donnie grinned at Mikey’s enthusiasm and the pair headed towards the mini-skate park that had been constructed in one of the lower levels. Some of it was still being finished up, but for the most part it was a smooth pit of concrete and steel, already heavily decorated with graffiti from the whole family. It was a dream space for the boys, with vert ramps, funboxes, half and quarter pipes, grindrails, bowls, and all manner of other skate park must-haves. (They were in the process of constructing a mega ramp on the far end that Donatelloswore would not end in a loop.)The“park”had been an effort between the four of them, building it together, and they were immensely proud of it.
Leo was already building momentum on a half pipe, twisting his board on the edge of each deck to rotate himself with every pass. The tension that had been sitting heavy in his shoulders at the kitchen table was gone, loosened with the thrill of the adrenaline rush, the grin on his face daredevil bright. Mikey got a skip in his step, picking up the energy of his eager brothers, and raced ahead of Donnie, throwing down his board and making a beeline for a nearby vert ramp. He heard a little whoop come from behind and the clatter of wheels as Donnie followed after him. The two of them raced each other over hills and across rails, laughing and teasing, until Mikey hit a landing wrong and wiped out.
He tumbled across the floor, bounced off his shell, and landed on his plastron still giggling at his predicament. It hadn’t been a hard fall and would likely just result in a few bruises at most. He grinned up at Leo as his brother skidded to a stop in front of him, hopping off his own board and holding out a hand to help Mikey up. There was a wide smile on Leo’s face, bright and young, an infectious brilliance that caught on Mikey’s own grin and made it wider. He grabbed Leo’s hand and pulled himself up, laughing, and Donnie skidded to a stop beside them, kicking his board up and chuckling himself.
“Nice wipe out, little brother, got any other sick moves you wanna show off?” Leo teased, prodding at Mikey’s shoulder.
Mikey shoved him back playfully, “Only the sick moves that will leave you eatin’ my dust, ha!”
And they took off again, pulling tricks and chasing one another through the obstacles. At one point, Mikey caught a glimpse of Raph sitting on the edge of park, watching them with a smile on his face. He looked happy and relaxed, perfectly content to just watch his little brothers have fun. It made Mikey’s heart bloom with warmth and he smiled so big it felt like it was taking up his whole face.
Riding the high of the moment, Mikey swerved towards one of the ramps and proceeded to show off some of the flips he’d been practicing. He wobbled and almost fell when he came out of the last one, but still thrust his fists into the air and was rewarded with cheering and clapping from his brothers.
“Beat that, Leon!”
Leo’s grin was devil-may-care wild and he charged headfirst into the challenge, whooping and hollering as he shot past Mikey. He spun as he trailed the edge of a bowl, almost dipping in but catching himself on the tail of his board. But his balance must have been off because his board flipped out from underneath him and he slipped. Mikey saw Leo’s leg crumple, ankle caught on the lip of the bowl before he went tumbling down head over heels to sprawl at the bottom.
“Leo!”
“Oh no, Leo!”
“Leo, are you okay!?”
All three of the brothers were immediately sliding down the sides of the bowl to assess the damage. Leo was sitting up, hands flying to a leg that was already starting to discolor. He let out a rather manic sounding giggle as his fingers skimmed his ankle,
“Haha, fucking ow!”
Donnie snorted, expression twisted up like he was losing a battle not to laugh at Leo’s predicament, “When Angelo told you to eat his dust, he didn’t mean it literally, Leo.”
Leo’s giggling was climbing into something hysterical, the laughter slowly building as he clutched his leg. His eyes were wild and bright with pain but the grin never left his face.
“Dude, stop laughing, you’re starting to freak me out,” Mikey crouched down to inspect Leo’s leg and hissed in sympathy, “Oooohhhh, dang, that looks nasty. We should probably get some ice on that. Hey Raph, can you—Raph?” Mikey had turned to look up at Raph, only to find Raph with his hands over his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut, “Are you okay? There’s no broken bones or anything, it’s okay to look…”
There was a scream of laughter from Leo. He was doubled over his injured leg, howling with laughter, gasping for air as he cackled. His mirth rocked him back and forth, body jerking with convulsions of expelled air. Mikey lurched backwards in startled fright, eyes wide as he watched Leo break down into a fit of absolute hysterics. His chest heaved, his eyes blown wide, and then, worst of all, Donnie and Raph started laughing too.
Raph was trying to keep it muffled but it escaped him in a torrent of sound, a laugh that had him bracing his hands on his knees as he howled. Donnie just threw his head back and laughed, that wild cackle of his that sounded borderline mad scientist.
All three of them were just standing there and laughing.
Leo was hurt and they were laughing.
“Guys…?” Mikey glanced between his brothers, backing up a step, “Why are just laughing? Leo needs help! He’s hurt!”
“Hahaha! Rellaaaxxxx, Mikey, I’m fine!” Leo’s smile was too wide as he grinned up Mikey, “In fact, I feel better than ever! I’m just! Feeling so good!”
“Yeah, chill out, Angelo,” Donnie’s voice trembled with his own laughter, his mouth twisted into a maniac smile that showed his sharp teeth, his eyes glittering with a kind of panicked madness, “He said he’s fine!”
“...Raphie?” Mikey turned to his biggest brother, the foundation, the solid support he knew he could always count on.
But Raph just giggled behind his hands like a child who didn’t care they’d been caught doing something naughty.
Confusion butted heads with fear and tangled into a knot with anger, and anger came out on top.
Mikey clenched his fists, “Stop laughing! This isn’t funny!” He was only met with a gale of laughter from his brothers and it stoked the frothing fire in his chest, “If this is a prank, it’s not a funny one! So cut it out! Or I’m telling Dad on you!”
“Hee hee, don’t be a tattle-tail Miiiiiiikeeeyyy~” Leo drew his name out like taffy, still clutching at his leg. There was a grin on his face but it faltered at the edges with a grimace, his eyes bright with pain.
“Yeah, don’t be a spoil sport!” Donnie leered deep into Mikey’s personal space, “We’re just having fun! Don’t you enjoy a good laugh now and then?”
“Stop it! Stop being weird! It’s not funny!” Mikey shoved Donnie away and Donnie stumbled backwards with a manic giggle, tripping over his own feet and crashing into Leo.
The sound Leo made definitely started as a shriek of pain but it wrenched into a scream of laughter. His wide eyes were sharp and wet with tears he didn’t shed as he bucked on the floor, trying to shove the giggling Donnie off of him. Raph staggered and pushed Donnie away, making the softshell sprawl on the bottom of the bowl beside Leo. All three of them were laughing again, Raph howling and collapsing against the sides of the bowl, Donnie with limbs akimbo next to Leo, and Leo spasming with his swelling ankle.
There was something ugly about the scene.
It was not a picture of three brothers sharing a joke or playing a prank.
It was madness.
The bottom dropped out of Mikey’s stomach and he fled, scrabbling up the sides of the bowl and spilling onto the concrete floor. He bolted across the skate park, heart pounding, chest heaving, his eyes burning as he ran. His brothers’ laughter chased him down the tunnels, echoing and clamoring to be heard, haunting him as he raced back into the lair proper. He tripped into the kitchen, grabbing for a baggy with shaky hands, his breathing ragged.
“Orange? What is wrong?”
Mikey nearly jumped out of his skin, spinning around and slamming his shell into the counter to face the rest of the kitchen. Splinter was getting into the fridge, reaching for something that was likely someone’s leftovers. But he stopped and his expression grew serious when he saw the look on Mikey’s face.
“D-Dad,” Mikey’s voice hitched and he swallowed the frightened hiccup that tried to press through his throat, “Something’s wrong with everyone! Leo got hurt and they’re just—”
“Blue is hurt!? What happened!?”
“He fell on his board, hurt his a-ankle pretty bad! I was getting some ice. But that’s not the problem!” The words cracked as he shouted them before Splinter could get another word in, “Leo got hurt bad and they’re all just laughing about it! They just stood there and laughed!”
Splinter was frowning in concern but his attention was pulled away by shuffling footsteps and the sound of voices. Splinter and Mikey stuck their heads out of the kitchen just as Donnie and Raph, carrying Leo, walked into their little movie room. But it was enough for Splinter to get a look at the nasty swelling and bruise on Leo’s leg. He made a soft noise and turned back to Mikey,
“Let’s get that ice together for Blue and you can show me what you think is wrong with your brothers.”
Panic and confusion bubbling, churning, pounding against the walls, desperate to be heard.
Breathlessness and an ache in the chest from laughing too hard for too long, heart pounding, lungs gasping for air.
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt
IT HURTS
Mikey trailed after Splinter into the movie room, a cozy little off-shoot the boys had set up for themselves so Splinter could hog the projector all he wanted. It wasn’t much yet, just a television stacked on some boxes and their beanbags piled in front of it, but it was their space and that was the important part.
Leo was sprawled on his beanbag with his leg propped on a couple pillows; his ankle had definitely started swelling and was turning a nasty, mottled purple-red. But Leo had a lazy smile on his face like he wasn’t bothered at all, chuckling lightly and gesturing at the air. Donnie was slouched beside him, wearing a bemused smirk as he listened to whatever tall tale Leo was spinning, and Raph was snickering on Leo’s other side, that good-natured grin wide on his face.
Nerves still prickled uncertainly under Mikey’s skin and he lingered a few steps away as Splinter hurried forward to press the ice over Leo’s ankle. Leo let out a sharp yelp that dissolved into a fit of giggles, pressing his palms against his cheeks like he was trying to smother his own smile. Donnie snickered at him, sliding down in his beanbag, burrowing into it and wrapping his own fingers around his muzzle—that mad gleam was still in his eyes.
“Stay off of that leg, Blue,” Splinter ordered, patting Leo on the knee. Leo just beamed at him, lips pressed together, a stuttering sound coming from like he was trying hard to suppress his laughter, “I knew letting you boys have that death trap was a bad idea!”
“Aww, come on, Pops, we’ve gotten hurt worse fightin’ bad guys!” Raph’s smile was so wide it was almost threatening, every sharp tooth on display, “It was just a little spill off a skateboard! He’ll be fiiinnneeee!”
Both Raph and Leo burst out laughing again, like they were in on some kind of secret joke. Donnie was nearly folding himself in half, fingers biting into his snout, a grin twisting his mouth into something ugly and manic. Splinter shook his head with small smile and stepped away, heading back towards the door. Mikey glanced between his dad and his brothers and made a noise of distress.
“D-Dad! Don’t you—look! They just keep laughing!” Mikey tugged at Splinter’s robe, still half turned towards his laughing brothers to keep an eye on them, “There’s something wrong with them and—!”
“Michelangelo,” Splinter frowned at him, “Just let your brothers have fun!” His ears lowered and he sighed heavily, “At least they are not fighting for once.”
And he walked away, leaving Mikey standing helplessly in the door to the movie room, his brothers laughing behind him. Mikey felt like the floor was dropping out from underneath him—he knew, without a doubt, that something was very wrong with his brothers. Why couldn’t Splinter see that?
Mikey clenched his fists and spun to face the rest of the room, drawing himself up. No more goofing around! He’d stop them laughing! He’d fix this on his own!
“We’re watching a movie!” He announced, skipping past his brothers and reaching for the remote, “So everybody shut up!”
Leo giggled and Mikey whipped around to glare over his shoulder until Leo clapped a hand over his mouth, trying to look innocent. Mikey sniffed and returned his attention to their television, flopping back into his own beanbag and navigating to the one film he knew would get to all four of them. It was guaranteed to make even Donatello get choked up and teary-eyed.
He expected a collective groan from his brothers when the title Lou Jitsu and the Forever Sea appeared on the screen. But Donnie just let out a breathy laugh and the other two just kept smiling. Mikey frowned, crossing his arms and slumping further into his beanbag. He’d break them; this stupid prank or whatever it was couldn’t hold up against the emotional devastation of the Forever Sea movie.
(It had been widely panned by critics as being “too sappy” for an action film and was still one of the lowest rated Lou Jitsu films of the franchise—something which Splinter refused to speak about and would get pissy as hell if they kept pressing. But it had been a big hit among a certain demographic. And it certainly got to the turtles in the few, sparing times they’d watched it.)
Mikey kept an eye on his brothers throughout the movie, waiting for cracks in the armor to show, waiting for them to crumble. But they just. Kept. Smiling. Even the parts that would normally make Raph tear up only enticed a wobbly giggling out of him.
And then the climax of the film, the moment that usually had all four of them clutching at each other in tears. Mikey was making a valiant effort not to cry, fists clenched and jaw tight, trying to keep watch on his brothers. He expected at any moment for one of them to break and start bawling (his money was on Raph). This would do it, this would ruin their stupid game, wreck their stupid prank, or end whatever stupid nonsense they’d gotten themselves into.
Then Raphael started to laugh.
It started as a strangled whine that trembled its way up into muffled giggling as Raph buried his face in his hands. The attempt to keep his humor in didn’t last long because the next second he was heaving with laughter, nearly tumbling onto his plastron as he broke down. Mikey stared at him, his own tears forgotten as he watched his biggest brother fall into a fit of laughter.
Another bark of laughter made Mikey jerk around to stare at Leo, who had thrown his head back and was laughing like he was choking on air. His fingers were dug into his face, dislodging his mask, almost jabbing into his own eye sockets. His laughter was halting, like he was trying hard not laugh at all, but it still ripped out of him, making his chest buck and his body tremble as he clawed at his own face.
A high pitched keen snapped Mikey’s attention to his third brother. Donnie was curled in on himself, face hiding in his knees, heels digging into the edge of his beanbag, toes curled in something like pain. His entire body was trembling, his keen warbling into strangled giggles, and his nails scratching at the back of his neck.
“Guys…” Mikey drew his arms and legs towards his shell, hugging himself, the world tilting as something slides out of place, “Okay, that—that’s enough, the joke’s not funny anymore…! Hey! Stop! This isn’t funny!” The laughter just built around him, clamoring into a wall of overwhelming noise that had Mikey almost ducking into his shell, “The joke’s over now! Stop it! Just stop laughing!” He leapt across the space and grabbed Raph’s shoulder, shaking him, “Stop it, stop it, stop it! Stop!” He whirled on Donnie, shoving his brother hard enough that Donnie spilled out of his beanbag and was sprawled on the floor, shuddering, fingernails scraping down the scales of his face.
Donnie’s wild eyes snapped to Mikey’s face, his voice jittering with laughter as he tried to speak through his twisted grin, “Whhaaaaaaaat’s wrong with a guh-g-g-good laugh, Angelo!?”
Mikey choked on the lump in his throat and scrambled backwards, putting distance between himself and his laughing brothers again. His heart was racing, his breathing rapid and short. Every single one of his senses was screaming at him that his was wrong, this was so very, very wrong. But Splinter didn’t see it, Splinter couldn’t see it.
Mikey needed help.
He pressed himself back against the wall, the movie still playing in the background as his brothers howled with laughter. He fumbled his phone from his pocket and he’d meant to just text, he really did, but being stuck waiting for a response with only the sounds of laughter made him feel cold and alone.
“Wassup, Mikey?” April asked, “What’s with the noise? Leo do somethin’ stupid again?”
“I need help!” Mikey squeaked, would have been ashamed of the fear in his voice any other day, “There’s s-something wrong with everyone! I dunno what to do!”
April’s tune immediately changed from casual chatting to serious business, “Are you safe? Is anyone hurt?” He could hear he clattering around in the background of the call, heard Mayhem’s chittering trill fuzzily over the phone.
“N-no, I mean, yeah, I think I’m safe, they haven’t tried to hurt me,” Mikey glanced at his brothers, chest tightening as he watched Raph wheezing for breath on the floor, “Leo messed up his ankle a little skateboarding b-but that’s not the problem!”
“I’ll be over there in ten minutes,” April replied, and Mikey heard her draw in a breath to say more, except there was a crackle from the phone and then a flash of light as Mayhem and April both appeared in front of Mikey. April blinked rapidly, “Oooorrrr I’m here now.” She hung up and shoved her phone in her pocket, holding out a hand to pull Mikey up from the floor, “Now gimme the deets, what’s going on?”
Mikey stumbled, ducking a little behind April as he turned her around and pointed over her shoulder at his brothers, “Them! They just keep laughing! When Leo got hurt, all they did was laugh! And we were watching Lou Jitsu and the Forever Sea and they just—just laughed through it!”
April frowned, gaze flicking from Raph flat on his front and giggling into the carpet, to Leo with his own fingers in his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut with muffled snickering coming through his teeth, and to Donnie who was still on his side on the floor and was leaving dents in his snout with how hard he was digging his nails in. Then she stepped away from Mikey with a disappointed scowl,
“What the hell, Mikey, they’re just having fun. I know it’s been rough seeing them fight but—” At her feet, Mayhem bristled, all his fur standing on end, and hissed. April glanced down at him, “Mayhem? What’s wrong?”
A scream made them all jump.
Donnie’s mouth was wide open even as he scratched his face, like he was trying to pull his own jaw shut. His high pitched scream cracked and broke into an explosion of shrieking laughter instead. There was something almost painful about the sound, a wretched and gasping wail buried in howling mirth. Mikey clapped his hands over his ears with a whimper, unable to handle listening to his brother make such a broken sound.
“Whoa, Donnie! Breathe!” April dropped to the floor, wincing at the level of noise, and heaved Donnie up so he was slumped on his knees, head lolling on his shoulders as he laughed, “Donnie! DONNIE! What the hell are you laughing at!? Why are you laughing so hard!?”
A bitter laugh jerked their attention to Leo as he yanked his fingers out of his mouth, blood welling from some of the bites, red staining his mouth as he gave April an off-kilter grin of pure madness, “BECAUSE WE CAN’T CRY!”
And he threw his head back and laughed even harder, kicking his feet into the floor, smearing his own blood on his face from his injured fingers as he grabbed his head. Raph roared with a new wave of laughter, pounding his fist into the floor, coughing when he tried to take a breath. April’s eyes widened in alarm as she watched the chaos unfolding around her, her horrified gaze darting to Mikey whose panic was growing to overwhelming proportions.
April let out a startled noise when Donnie’s hands suddenly clenched into her upper arms, his grip tight enough that Mikey knew it would leave bruises. Donnie lurched forward, struggling, his eyes wild and dizzy and darting everywhere, looking for an escape, before they locked onto April’s helpless and frightened face. His smile twisted and, for the first time, Mikey could see the terror beneath the his brother’s laughing fits. Donnie sucked in a breath and screamed in April’s face,
“HELP ME!”
And then he collapsed again in a fit of shrieking laughter, tumbling backwards to the floor in a heap.
Mikey let out small cry, diving to Donnie’s side and grabbing him up into his arms. Donnie’s laughter shook through Mikey, the softshell’s screaming mirth piercing his ears like an ice pick. But Mikey just held on tighter.
“Please! Please stop!” He begged, his eyes hot, “Stop laughing! I don’t like this anymore! Please, Donnie, please!”
“Stop?” Raph wheezed, looking up from the floor, shoulders trembling. His eyes were tight with pain and his mouth was stretched far too wide in an awful grin, “Buh—hahaha!—but didn’t you want us happy?”
“Yyyeeaaahhhhh, Mikes,” Leo’s giggling was tangled in his own voice, his bloodied fingers staining his beanbag as he half crawled towards Mikey, “Everything just mmmmhahahaha! Makes us ssssoooo happy! We love you aaaannndddd Apes and each other!” His head canted to the side, a little too far to be Leo’s usual arrogance, “We’re ssssahaha—so much better this way!”
“This isn’t right!” Mikey yelled, holding tighter onto Donnie even as Donnie shrieked and laughed and tried to squirm out of his hold, “This is scary! I want it to stop!”
“You wanna go baaaahahaha! Aahahaa! BACK! To how things were!?” Donnie had to force the words out through his gasping laughs, “W-with all the fffff—fighting and ahaha! Anger!? Wouldn’t you like to lllll-let us juh—ahaha--just be hhhhhahahaAHHAHAHAHAHA! HAPPY!?”
Mikey shook his head, tears welling in his eyes, “This isn’t right! This isn’t you! Please!”
April grabbed Donnie’s face, his mouth twisting under her touch, the ragged breathing hot against her palms, sticky with drool and blood—he must have bit his tongue or the inside of his cheek. April ignored it, clasping Donnie’s face tightly and making him look at her,
“Donnie, stop this! You have to stop! Why are you doing this!? You’re scaring me!”
A manic whine squeezed its way out of Donnie but whatever words he was trying to say were buried under another torrent of laughter. April made a noise of desperate hopelessness and pulled Donnie into a hug, pressing his face into her shoulder, her arms wound tightly around him. He shuddered in her grip, his screeching laughter never ceasing as he gasp for air, his own trembling hands clutching at April’s jacket like a life line. He turned his head, pushing against April’s grip to keep his face tucked away, that too-wide grin stained pink with a bit of blood, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he pinned Mikey with that manic smile. When he forced the words out through his gritted teeth, they were frightened and strangled and shook with more than laughter,
“Yuh—yyyyyoooouuu wished for this, M-Mahah—Michael!”
Cold dread filled Mikey from head to toe and he plunged into an icy sea of horrible realization.
For a second that stretched for an eternity, the rest of the world stopped existing. And through the ringing in his ears and the haze over his mind, Mikey saw himself in the antique mall last night, clutching that mystic artifact, his heart aching as he’d listened to Leo and Raph fighting again.
And making that stupid, selfish wish to Donatello.
It was his fault.
“Mikey! MIKEY! HEAD IN THE GAME MICHELANGELO!” April’s yell and the heel of her shoe kicking him in the thigh jolted Mikey back to the present. His head jerked up to stare at her, and she looked back at him in concern and maybe not a little frustration, “What the hell was that about!? What did he mean!? Did you do this to them!?”
“I—I didn’t—it wasn’t—” Mikey tried to breathe, tried to remember how his lungs worked, a process that had seemed to easy and natural before was suddenly impossible. The room was starting to spin as the panic and despair and regret dug ugly little claws into his mind.
Something warm landed on his lap, jolting Mikey out of his spiral, and he looked down through watery eyes to see Mayhem staring back him. Mikey swallowed hard and scooped Mayhem into a hug, something the little yokai shockingly allowed with little protest. Mayhem purred and nuzzled the side of Mikey’s face as the world settled back into something resembling stability. The mad laughter and gasping cries of his brothers still unfortunately very loud.
“Michelangelo,” April’s voice was hard where she still held Donnie to her and Mikey couldn’t look at her, “What. Did. You. Do.”
“Ih—it was an a-accident,” Mikey choked on the words, voice shaking as the realization that he had caused this hit him all over again, “We went after some of Big Mama’s goons last night, to—to stop them getting a mmmm—mystic artifact. And…and I think I accidentally used it! I didn’t mean to!” He cried, pressing his face into Mayhem’s fur, catching the scent of building lightning, burning ozone and the petrichor of the oncoming storm, “Leo and Raph were fighting again and I just—I just wanted us to be happy and a family again!”
“O-okay, so!” April was doing a fantastic job of keeping the emotional tremor out of her own voice and Mikey chanced a glance up at her warily. She was looking around the room, grimacing at Leo and Raph still sprawled on the floor and gasping for air between their laughter, “We just gotta find that mystic thing and reverse it! Right? Where’d you guys put it when you got home?”
Mikey leapt to his feet, still clutching Mayhem to him, “Donnie keeps all the mystic stuff locked in his lab to analyze it! So it’s gotta be in there! Keep any eye on the guys, I’ll be right back!”
“Wait, don’t leave me here with—!”
But Mikey had already taken a half step out of the room. Then there was a flash and the tingle of mystic power over his scales and he found himself in Donnie’s lab, blinking the aftermath of teleportation from his eyes. He grinned at Mayhem,
“Thanks, little guy! I owe you so many treats after this!”
Mayhem preened and settled himself on Mikey’s shell, watching over his shoulder as Mikey dove towards the containment where he knew Donnie kept the mystic stuff. Donnie kept it under lock and key most of the time, knowing what kind of people his brothers were, especially when it came to some of the cooler artifacts they’d snagged. (They’d found a flaming sword once—there were still scorch marks on some of the walls from Raph getting too carried away with excitement.) Hopefully Mikey wouldn’t need to break anything or Donnie wouldn’t speak to him for a week at least—not that Mikey had any hope of any of his brothers speaking to him after this.
Luck favored him this time, however. Donnie must have been studying the artifact before he’d abandoned it for skateboarding, because it was sitting on his desk surrounded by tools and papers scribbled in notes. Mikey snatched it off the desk, the wire and gems biting into his palm as he squeezed it, sudden anger at the innocuous little thing flaring inside him.
Mayhem churred on his back and that was all the warning Mikey got before he was teleported back into the movie room.
April had moved to try and encompass all three brothers in her arms, trying to hold all of them together with all her strength. She had one arm around Raph’s head, tucking him into her side, Leo was on her lap and clutching at the hem of her jacket, and her other arm was around Donnie’s shoulders, holding him as close as she could while he buried his face in her shoulder. The three turtles had been chuckling rather quietly when Mikey and Mayhem popped back into the room, but as Mikey hurried over, their laughter escalated once again. Gentle giggling climbed into howling laughter and poor April was nearly shook to pieces as she tried to hold onto them all.
It was with sick dread that Mikey realized that he was the cause. The closer he got to them, the more manic they became.
He took a step backwards, eyes hot, breath hitching. He’d done this to his brothers. He’d hurt them. All because of a selfish, stupid wish.
“Mikey!” April jarred him back into the present, her expression desperate, “Is that the thing? The artifact? What do we—how do we stop this!?”
“I—I dunno!” Mikey opened his hands, looking down at the dandelion design, searching for some kind of sign, some kind of clue, anything to help him, “Do you think I should try making another wish?”
“That might make things worse!” April was shouting to be heard over the noise the brothers were making, still trying to hold all of them close to her, unwilling to let them go, “Try smashing it!”
“What!?” Mikey’s voice cracked and he clutched the artifact to his chest, “B-but what if breaking it means we can’t undo it! What if it makes them stuck like that!?”
“What are we supposed to do!? Call Barry!? I dunno if we’ve got time for that!”
Mikey stared hopelessly at his family. Leo now sprawled bonelessly in April’s lap, his limbs exhausted, his laughter sounding almost like sobs as his body shook against his will. Donnie nearly screaming, convulsing and clawing at himself even as April tried to use her one hand to bat his scratching nails away. And Raph—
Raph was collapsed on the floor next to April with his mouth open, his eyes nearly rolled back, his hands at his throat.
He wasn’t making any noise at all.
He wasn’t breathing.
Radiant golden fire erupted down Mikey’s arms, his eyes burning white as his Ninpō roared in defiance. The strength of his family poured into him, power thrumming through his veins, the bandages around his injured arm sizzling beneath the heat of his rage and love in equal measure.
Mikey clenched his fist around the intricate dandelion and it creaked in protest and then shattered in a rush of released mystic energy. The silver that had held it together burned cherry with the fire of Mikey’s power, melting as he clenched his fist tighter, crushing the once beautiful artifact into a tangled slop of metal and stone, burning the quartz into dust and cracking the cat’s eye into pieces.
He was breathing heavily when he let his Ninpō go, the rush and thrill that power gave him seeping out of him and leaving him with the dizzying vacuum of his own mortal shell. His breath scraped up his throat as he teetered slightly, the congealed mess that had been the mystic artifact thudding to the floor in a useless lump.
There was silence except for harsh and heavy breathing and the occasional cough.
No one was laughing.
With a sound of a breaking heart and a desperate plea, Mikey staggered over to April and his brothers and collapsed to his knees on the floor between Raph and Leo. He dropped his face into his hands and finally allowed himself to cry.
Shuffling movement and a protesting rasp and then Mikey was smothered in hugs. The arms were trembling and the breathing was raspy and there were tears and blood and probably a little spittle. But his brothers were saved and they were hugging him and April was all right and they were fine.
Mikey didn’t realize he was gasping out apologies through his tears until Leo’s shaking hand patted at the side of his face. Mikey blinked at him through wet, dripping eyes, and almost started bawling against when he saw Leo’s mouth twitch towards the smallest hint of a smile,
“Later, hermono,” Leo mumbled in a hoarse voice, looking exhausted but content to just lay there for the moment, “Deal with it later…”
And they would. And it would probably get a little ugly, these things always did. But it would more likely end in lots of hugs, and April smacking them all upside the head for being idiots, and Donnie helping Mikey bake the Absolute Best Most Supreme Cookies Ever, and Raph keeping them all close, and Leo being insufferably nosy about everything because that’s how he worried. And Mikey would probably get a lecture about mystic artifacts and how he knew better than to use the “w-word” in the presence of mystic things. And Mikey would cry and apologize and things would probably go back to how they were before in a couple of weeks at most.
Raph and Leo would start arguing again because they’d made a damn Olympic sport out of it.
Donnie would hide in his lab, pretending not to notice the growing gap he was nurturing between them all.
And Mikey would desperately try to pull them all together again, remind them that they loved each other and that they were family.
But for now, the conflicts were set aside and ignored or forgotten in favor of the warmth of each other’s company.
For now, they just held each other and enjoyed the silence.