"See Your Face In Golden Rays"
Have some quality time with my family; Smile more; Help the world; Do something scary; Act more mature; Help the people that always help me; Admit my feelings; Take my life into my own hands; Be proud of me; Make a new friend. Michelangelo has to make this year memorable for him. (TMNT HUMAN! AU)
Just a sucky fic because I have to release my pent-up stress somehow.
Warning: Crappy Grammar / Awful Dialogues/Completely Out Of Character
'I really need to buy some milk'
Were Mikey Hamato's thoughts as he walked across the hallways of Roosevelt High School. It was lunch break and while he could easily be at the school cafeteria, swallowing down Sloppy Joes, he found himself wandering idly next to the green lockers.
Today was a hard day, and especially after Ms. Campbell had announced the upcoming math test for Tuesday, Mikey knew there was no way he would have a relaxing and interesting weekend. It wasn't that Ms. Campbell was the kind of teacher that loved to assign a lot of material for their tests; no, it was just that math wasn't really Mikey's strongest class. Maybe he could ask Donnie for some help.
Donatello or Donnie was Mikey's brother, a twin as matter of fact. They were both fifteen years old, although Donnie was older, by only two minutes.
Mikey loved Donnie. He really did. But sometimes, it was sort of hard having Donnie as a brother. Donatello was a genius. He was probably the smartest boy in the whole school; most of the teachers adored him and was also the president of the "Young Inventors of New York" club at school, along with Irma Langinstein. Irma and Donnie had been best friends since, practically forever, so it was no wonder they had started their own sciency club together, although lots of students had joined them, too; the look on Donnie's face when he had seen that more than twenty people had completed application forms was the look Mikey always wanted to see on his brother's face.
But, Donnie being… well, Donnie, Mikey felt he had a lot of expectations to fulfill. Everyone expected them to be the same, and while they basically looked like each other, like a lot, save for the eyes, both with dark brown hair, glasses, freckles splattered across their faces and lanky figures (Mikey was still beyond excited he was actually a bit taller than Raph), they weren't. Mikey wasn't as smart as Donnie and sometimes did feel sad that Donnie was often dubbed as 'the smart twin'.
Still, though, Mikey was glad he had someone to count on when it came to math; he knew Donnie would try to help him as much as possible.
Mikey's thoughts were interrupted as his eyes scanned one of the many posters on the hallway walls and he smiled. "FOOTBALL MATCH NEXT WEEK" Mikey may wasn't the biggest fan of football, but he never missed a game, mainly because of Raph.
If someone were to guess, he probably would never realize Raph was Mikey and Donnie's older brother. And no one would blame them either, since Raph was actually their half-brother; or 'brother from another mother' as Casey liked to joke.
Dad had been married two times, one back in Japan. Everyone knew how much Yoshi loved the country; he was happily married, but unfortunately, a little bit after Raphael's birth, his wife, Shen, died. Raph still blames himself for it, although Leo continues to tell him it wasn't his fault at all.
After that, Yoshi decided to travel to New York, a place he knew his wife wanted to see and explore herself. And while he thought he would never find love again, his reflections were thrown away when he met Leo and Raph's pediatrician, Dr. Hazel McIntyre. Mom, Mikey thought, a sad smile creeping up on his lips.
Kind, sweet, Hazel had already been married and divorced, mostly because she was surprised to discover that her ex-husband's entire life did not revolve around her. Thankfully for her, she could depend on Yoshi.
Mikey would do anything to have his mother back, although he doesn't remember her well; but he knew he should probably feel happy and grateful that he and Donnie were able to spend eight years with her, much to Raph and Leo's dismay.
Even though, Mikey is sure Leonardo and Raphael felt him and Donnie's mother as theirs too, Mikey was certain of it.
Raph was literally the jock stereotype incarnate. He's short but big, strong, and built like a tank compared to most other guys his age, pretty much like Dad was at his age, and still is.
Really though, Raph, was easily able to get on the starting roster for the varsity football team as a linebacker and already had the capability to completely take down guys who were a couple grade levels above him, during the first year of high school. Even a few of the students and teachers were actually suspicious if Raphael was cheating and using performance enhancers since he was just this solid block of muscle, even though there was no way Raph would that. He may was extremely competitive, but he was always fair; he was actually pissed about it and if it weren't for Casey, Mikey was sure Raph would have killed the coach. Okay, not kill, maybe maim, a little bit.
But, then everyone on the conference athletics board got a look at dad and realized that maybe it was just genetics that made Raph who he was. Still, Mikey loved Raph no matter what and he knew his hotheaded brother was always up for a friendly game of football with him.
'Maybe that will cheer me up today' Mikey was for a bit excited until he noticed the date on a calendar on the wall; Friday.
At Fridays, Raph was working at 'Flovers', a flower shop a little bit down the street from their home. Some people may were surprised to see Raph working there, but that was just because they didn't know the whole story.
A year ago, Raph and his numskull of a friend, Casey Jones, were invited to the 'considered to be the most important event of the year' party of Buffy Shellhammer. Only cool people were supposed to be invited, and while Raph, Casey and even Leo were there, Mikey and Donnie weren't that lucky to get an invitation.
Donnie, though had said, "Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect, little brother."
Mikey assumed he was right; besides, he wasn't the one being called 'the genius'.
Either way, during the party, Casey and Raph had found a way to make a simple and innocent game of darts way more interesting. Raphael had bet that if he won, he would make Casey come to his home and clean his room; and everyone knew how messy Raph's room was.
Casey, though, had something else in his mind.
That year, Casey's mother had married April O'Neil's father. Both single parents and a little bit of prompting from both Casey and April, were all their parents needed to realize that they actually had much more in common than just going to the Parents and Teachers Association.
Casey's mother, a spirit of nature, after the wedding, had decided to open a flower shop. She was a firm believer in the 'every flower is a soul blossoming in nature' view, as Mikey had seen at the poster outside, on the window of the shop many times. Unfortunately, they weren't people crowding out of the shop to get a part-time job and she and Casey couldn't do all the work alone. They needed another employer.
So, after Raph's pathetic loss at darts, he was apparently engaged to work there. Although, Mikey was aware that this wasn't necessarily true, since no one could force Raph to do anything; deep down, Mikey knew that Raph enjoyed working at the shop, along with the flowers and Casey's company.
Mikey tried to compress his chuckle as the thought of Raph in his flowery uniform filled his mind, when his eyes fell on yet, another poster. "Are single-sex schools better for students?"
'No,' Mikey thought in a rush, although he knew the answer wasn't up to him, but the debate team, part of which was his eldest brother, Leonardo.
Leo may was a seventeen- year- old boy, yet he wasn't an amazingly social person; he enjoyed and craved solitude and usually was fond of staying away from arguments. (except when it came to Raph) But, since a debate was literally an argument with rules, which showed great initiative and leadership on the college application and Leo basically ate, drank and breathed rules and regulations, it wasn't a surprise that he was the best at it.
'Not completely the best,' Mikey said to himself as he turned his head to a tall woman with black and blonde hair with an angled bob and long ear-tails; her eyes were covered in black shadow, several black earrings on her ears and her amber eyes shined as she was leaning on her locker;
Oruku Karai.
From what Mikey had heard, Karai was quite a rebellious teenager. Yet, that didn't stop her from being on the debate team. She didn't have many friends, just like Leo, with the exception of a gothic-looking girl named Shinigami. Rumors said they had bonded over fighting for the same shade of a lipstick. But that were just rumors; they couldn't be trusted enough; Mikey knew that himself from first hand.
And while he did not know her as much as Leo did, he knew her father.
Back when Yoshi was looking for both a job and bigger apartment since his second wife was pregnant, he had found out an abandoned two-storey building and that was when the idea had hit him; a dojo. And while Yoshi's past in Japan was, for reasons no one knew, pretty much a secret, it wasn't a lie that he knew how to fight.
Apparently, though, another dojo existed in New York, whose owner was Karai's father. The two dojos had developed some kind of a vendetta over the years, but Mikey did not know the exact reasons why.
But, just like how a vendetta had been developed between the two dojos, another vendetta had been developed between Leo and Karai. Both of them were dying to be the best and hated each other's guts, or so most of the students thought. Karai and Leo were excellent masters at fooling people.
While they acted like the biggest rivals at school, they actually worked outside together.
Leo loved to work next to his father at the dojo and was probably the only one of the four brothers that respected the martial arts that much. Donnie was not a huge fan, although he still tried to keep fit; Raphael, being on the school football team, he did most of his training at school, even though he still came to the dojo to blow off some steam or do some light sparring with Casey; and Mikey, well he had a knack for it, as Dad had said, not in those exact words, but he wasn't really interested in it.
But Yoshi had tried to encourage his eldest son to socialize more and finally had convinced him to take a job, like his youngest brother, Raph, had at the time, at the closest animal shelter, only to find out that Karai worked there too. Apparently, she had a soft spot for animals. She and Leo worked there over a year now and Mikey was certain Leo was having a good time, if his babbling every time he returned home from work was any indication.
Mikey had heard from one of those babblings that Leo would not immediately return home after school today, since he and Karai would help some turtles that had got hurt, or something like that; honestly, he hadn't paid much attention to him.
Mikey reached to his locker and started shuffling his books in quickly, thinking he perhaps had some time to grab something to eat, until he heard a familiar voice and felt a pat on his shoulder, "Hey, little man!"
He giggled and shook his head; as it seemed, his brothers were always able to boost his mood, "Hi to you too, big guy," that was a thing he and Donnie still told to each other after all these years. When they had first got born and they didn't have their names picked yet, their mother would call them like that to tell them apart. Dad said it was because Donnie had a big head when he was a baby and Raph had laughed and said "probably cause of your huge brain" and for a second, Mikey wished he was the one with the big head. Only for a second. "How are you?"
"Oh, I am great, Irma and I were just talking about how microelectronics can be used to help people with chronic ailments and I-," Mikey didn't want to stop listening but his mind flew off as he realized with widened eyes that all of his brothers had more interesting lives than him. He was the energetic and outgoing one; where was his interesting life? What would he remember from this year?
"So, I thought that- hey, are you okay?" Donnie asked with a frown of concern that Mikey was more used to seeing on Leo, the biggest worrywart in the family; Mikey must have been very spaced out.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I mean I-," he responded, pushing his glasses back up; man, why they always fell? And they were foggy two? I cleaned those minutes ago, he thought with annoyance when he realized he had been spacing out again, "I just-Ms. Campbell told us there's a math test next week and I thought maybe, you know…"
He didn't manage to complete his sentence when Donnie interrupted him with a huge smile, "Way ahead of you, Mikey. I just ran into April and she told me about it. So, I've already organized a study session for us three this weekend."
Mikey made an approving sound. He had forgotten that April would probably tell Donnie about it, since she was in Ms. Campbell's class. April was a really good student, but more into English or History; stuff like that. It made sense, since she was on the school newspaper. She had moved close here a bit of a year ago, when her father married Casey's mom, but she had to change schools. Thankfully, she quickly became best friends with Irma, who may never had any close females friends until now, that she has both April and Renet, but she pretty much knew everyone around the school. That's how April met Donnie.
April's father was a scientist, so Mikey was surprised she had asked Donnie's help.
"Thanks, D, you're the best!" Mikey yelled, probably louder than he should have, since a lot of people around the hallway turned their heads to look at him. Mikey could have sworn she saw Karai with an amused, yet actual genuine smirk on her face.
Checking his clock, Mikey realized he had few minutes before the bell rang, so he did his usual 'hug-attack' to Donnie and ran towards the vending machine to eat something, ignoring Don's muttered sigh.
"You forgot your locker open…," Donnie rolled his eyes in amusement as he closed Mikey's locker.
Mikey sighed happily as he went out of the mini-market, hours later after he had finished school.
"Got the milk"
He thought as he went through his usual route for the coffee shop. It was owned by his best friend's, Woody O'Connor's, parents.
Woody had been a part of the student exchange program and Mikey had been assigned to show him around, two years ago. The teacher had told Mikey that she thought he was the best for it, being a ball of energy and golden rays of sunshine.
And Mikey had to admit that it was a blast.
Woody was a great guy and they had a lot of fun together. The time he was here, Mikey had sworn to himself that he would make sure Woody had a lot of fun here in New York. And, of course, that included pranks on Mikey's brothers, races to the school classrooms, skateboarding lesson, watching fireworks and much more.
Mikey had to admit that he had started to like, like really like Woody. But that didn't matter since Woody didn't like him that way; he had told him himself. And Mikey would rather stay friends with Woody than lose him completely. Sure, things were a bit awkward at first, after the confession, but their friendship was stronger than they thought.
It was so strong that Woody had convinced his parents to actually move to New York from Ireland and Mikey was ecstatic about it.
The doorbell rang as Mikey pushed the door of the coffee shop and left his bag with the milk on the counter. "Anyone here?" he asked and it didn't take long to hear a muffled reply coming from the kitchen.
"Yes, Michelangelo, wait a minute!" and before even a minute could pass, a short woman with red hair, cut in some short of a pixie cut, came out of the kitchen, rubbing her hands on her apron and broke into a smile as she saw Mikey.
"Hello, Miss O'Connor, is Woody here?" he greeted politely. When he was younger, Mikey was a very blunt and direct kid, filled with childish excitement and while that was cute, it often made things awkward. Both Yoshi and Leo wanted him to be more respectful to his elder ones, as they had said, while Raph had been shaking his head with amused disappointment. But, Mikey really looked up to Dad and Leo, and figured out that they were probably correct.
"Oh, I am afraid no. I believe he has gone to Murakami's; it has been his favorite place since you showed it to him," she giggled loudly and added, "And how many times have I told you to call me Kassidy, Michelangelo?"
"As many times as I have told you to call me Mikey," he responded with a satisfied grin as Miss O'Connor tousled Mikey's brown curls with her hand and said, "I have to check on the brownies in the oven, would you like to try one when they're done?"
Mikey shook his head, answering a simple 'no, thank you', surprising himself that he actually flat out rejected free food and was about to leave when something on a table caught his eye.
It was a small, black notebook and Mikey wouldn't even have noticed it if it weren't for the awesome sauce stickers that covered the front. He took it carefully in his hands and turned his head, trying to look for its owner. But, there were no customers in the shop.
Mikey had always been a curious person. So, it wasn't surprising that he opened the notebook, gently grasping the pages, until he found letters written.
"A to-do list to make this year memorable," Mikey read to himself and titled his head, eyes narrowing in confusion and surprise at the same time.
"1. Have some quality time with my family
2. Smile more
3. Help the world
4. Do something scary
5. Act more mature
6. Help the people that always help me
7. Admit my feelings
8. Take my life into my own hands
9. Be proud of me
10. Make a new friend"
Mikey scanned the words cautiously with wide eyes and raised brows as he made his way out of the coffee shop, heading to Murakami's.
'Huh'