Chapter Text
Mikey grimaced as a bowl of what looked like green slop was placed in front of him.
It seemed like that was the only food, if you could even call it that, that existed in the future.
Everyday they would make the same thing and Mikey couldn't understand how everyone else could just eat it without issue.
Just staring at it made him feel nauseous. The texture was off putting. It looked smooth but also bumpy and felt terrible against his tongue and the taste.....
He didn't want to think about it.
He remembers the first time he had tried some he had almost thrown it up but had to stop himself so he wouldn't do so in front of everyone else.
Mikey looked around the table and his brothers were happily eating it all up and talking, not even noticing him with his bowl still full.
His stomach growled at him and for a moment, just a moment, he considered eating some but that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.
While everyone was distracted Mikey grabbed his bowl and got up. No one noticed as he dumped his food in the trash and placed it in the sink. And no one noticed as he left the room, with his stomach growling as another day was going to pass without him eating.
--
"Where's Mikey?" Leo asked as he grabbed the bowls from the table as everyone else was leaving the room. They had been taking turns helping out with cleaning and doing basic chores around the penthouse.
And what that really meant is that after one too many incidents involving the many vases Serling had around for decoration their father had made them take up more chores as punishment.
"Probably in his room or playing video games. Or both." Donnie shrugged as he scrubbed the dirty dishes in the sink. Even with all of this technology that could clean this up in an instant they were forced to do it all by hand.
Leo accepted that answer and brought the last of the bowls over to his brother.
"This one still has some food in it." Donnie handed Leo back one of the bowls that wasn't fully empty. Leo grabbed it and walked over to the garbage, the sensor on it lifting the lid and he was about to dump out the bowl when he noticed there was a large amount of food already in there.
Enough to fill an entire bowl.
"Donnie," Leo was starting to put two and two together.
"Hm?" Donnie didn't look over but just hummed in acknowledgement.
"Did you actually see Mikey eat anything?" Leo asked. Donnie paused from the dish he was scrubbing, silent for a few seconds as he thought.
"I don't think I did. Why?" Donnie turned to look at Leo now with a questioning look.
"I don't think he ate anything. His entire meal is in here." Donnie had put down the sponge and bowl he was cleaning and walked over to see what Leo was talking about.
"Maybe he just wasn't feeling well?" Donnie suggested, shrugging, but Leo was thinking.
When was the last time he saw Mikey eat?
"I don't think he's been eating at all, Donnie." Leo was trying to remember a time since they've arrived in the future that he saw Mikey eat anything and he just couldn't.
"Are you sure? I mean this is Mikey we're talking about. He will eat pretty much everything." Donnie chuckled as he resumed washing the dishes but Leo wasn't listening.
Worry was starting to creep in and maybe he was overthinking but his mind was trying to go through every scenario he could think as to why his youngest brother wasn't eating.
Was he feeling sick?
Was he hurt and didn't tell them about it?
Was...he doing it on purpose?
"I'm gonna go check on him." Before Donnie could respond Leo was already out of the kitchen.
It didn't take long for him to find Mikey. The loud sound of gun's blasting and monster sounds coming from the living room was a clear giveaway to where he was.
As Leo entered the room he saw his brother standing in front of the tv with a VR mask on, using the controllers to shoot at the fake monsters.
"Mikey!" Leo called out but his younger brother couldn't hear him over the game. Leo was starting to get impatient. Glancing around he found the controller to the game and grabbed it, pressing pause.
"Hey!" Mikey whined as the words 'PAUSED' appeared in bright flashing letters in front of him. He lifted up his head set to see Leo standing in front of him with his arms crossed and the remote in one hand.
"Leo! What gives? I was in the middle of this round! The boss was just about to come out." Mikey huffed as he took off the headset and tried to grab the remote from Leo but he was too fast and lifted it out of his reach.
"We need to talk." Leo said as he held his younger brother back by placing his hand on his chest.
"About what? I didn't do anything." Mikey pouted and stopped trying to reach for the remote in favor of crossing his arms.
"You're not in trouble." Leo started and he noticed that Mikey had relaxed slightly but was now looking at him confused.
"Have you been eating?" Leo did not beat around the bush. Mikey was visibly taken aback.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I've been eating bro!" Mikey laughed awkwardly as he began taking off the rest of his gaming equipment as he suddenly didn't feel like playing anymore.
"Mikey, this is serious." Leo was trying to get his brother to talk to him even though it was obvious that Mikey was trying to avoid having this conversation. "I saw the food in the trash."
Mikey had turned away from Leo as he was quickly trying to get the rest of the equipment off, ignoring his stomach growling at him and his rising anxiety.
"And I haven't seen you eat anything since we got here." Leo kept pushing.
"Of course I have!" Mikey responded as he put the final piece of gaming equipment down. “Do you really think I haven’t eaten anything?” Suddenly he felt lighter and he had to briefly put a hand out to grab the couch.
"Tell me one thing you have eaten then." Leo crossed his arms.
"Uh...you know I've had the green...stuff at dinner." Mikey was a terrible liar. He had turned to face Leo now and woah, when did the room start moving?
Leo was saying something but Mikey couldn't make it out. The room was spinning and it felt like it was getting worse.
He placed a hand near his face and closed his eyes, Leo's voice still sounding muffled and next thing he knew Mikey was looking up.
"Mikey!" Leo's voice was more clear now and he realized that he was on the floor.
"How did I get on the floor?" Mikey groaned.
"You fell." Leo looked worried as he was helping his brother to sit up. "Here, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two." Mikey rubbed his head as things started to feel more grounded. "Everything just started spinning."
"That was pretty scary watching you almost faint." Leo said softly as he was rubbing small circles against Mikey's shell.
They sat there for a few moments in silence before Mikey spoke, "I don't like the food here."
Leo didn't say anything, he just listened.
"I tried eating it Leo but I just can't." Mikey confessed. He didn't look at Leo, he just felt embarrassed.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Mikey shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I didn't want to cause any problems. I mean we're all kind of dealing with the future issue here."
"You have to tell us these things Mikey. If you don't eat you could hurt yourself." Mikey looked down but nodded.
Leo got up and extended his hand to help Mikey up. "Let's go talk to the others, see if we can get some different food that you like, okay?"
"Okay." Mikey smiled as he grabbed his brother's hand and got up. "You think we could get them to make some pizza?"
"I don't even know if pizza still exists here." Leo chuckled as they began walking out of the room.
"Man, the future sucks! How can you live without pizza?" Mikey said in mock exasperation with his brother just smiling and shaking his head, and the two just bantering back and forth as they walked.