Series: TMNT

Title: Rocky Road

Author: Zelgadis55

Rated: K

Word Count: 683

Warnings: There is no consumption of ice-cream or chocolate in this ficlet. (Seriously, I was just stuck for a title and saw the Voodoo Mint Rocky Road bar on my desk and it kinda worked _)

Disclaimer: Despite being self-delusional since about 1990, no canon character belongs to me :-(

For RachelErica's Bi-weekly challenge week 3 (Aug 18 – Sept 1) – April and Michelangelo on Deviant Art.

Summary: Mikey is a little down and April comes to check on him.

Rocky Road

Patrol last night sucked. It wasn't that anything had gone terribly wrong, it was just everyone's moods. Raph had been more irritable than normal; that stick had somehow mysteriously wedged itself further up Leo's shell than usual and Donnie... Donnie had been distracted by thoughts of whatever he had been working on before he was unceremoniously dragged out for an uneventful, 'waste of precious time' patrol and was therefore quite snippy all night.

Mikey tried, he really did, to lighten everyone's moods. None of his brothers wanted a bar of it, they even went so far as to snap at him to just leave them alone. Multiple times! In the end, Mikey gave up and fell silent, gazing up instead whenever he got a moment, even sometimes when he didn't, to watch the thick, fluffy clouds scudding frantically across the late night sky.

Training this morning really wasn't much better either, no one's mood had improved at all with sleep, though Mikey doubted if Donnie had got much, if any, based on how cranky he was earlier. That led to this afternoon and Mikey had long since settled onto his bed to read comics and just stay out of everyone's way.

He sighed, he'd read the first five pages four times already and still needed to flip back and re-read them! Mikey closed his eyes, wondering just how he could brighten the day for everyone. As he mused on his problem, he didn't notice the knocking at his bedroom door.

After a few minutes, Mikey opened his eyes again. There was a face staring in concern at him, not even thirty centimetres away from his own. He stared back for several seconds in confusion. There was a face in his face! His light blue eyes widened dramatically as he jumped in sudden shock!

"April! Where did you come from?" Mikey all but squeaked in surprise.

The red headed teenager smiled, amused by Mikey's delayed reaction. "Sorry, I did knock, three times in fact. I finished my lesson with sensei and you still hadn't come out so I was worried about you. Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay, just been reading comics." Mikey shrugged nonchalantly.

April glanced to the untouched pile beside him and then at the comic still sitting open at the first page in his hands. "Uh huh." She sat down next to him as Mikey scooted over to make room for his friend and put the book down beside him. "Leo said something about you sulking but he didn't say why."

Mikey's eyes widened again. "Why would I be sulking? It's my bros that have been in a mood." The young turtle sighed and took a deep breath. "Nothing I say or do has helped. They even told me to get lost last night," he muttered shrugging.

"Oh Mikey..." April murmured softly, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not really," he answered honestly. "They just get like this sometimes, just not usually all at once." He cocked a sudden grin at her before it faded again. "You know what brothers are like. I can usually find some way to make them laugh or smile, it's just harder when it's all of them that are upset at once."

The two looked at each other for a bit in silence before April reached out, wrapping a single arm gently around his shoulders, not noticing him stiffen in surprise for just a moment.

Suddenly brightening, Mikey turned to face April better and threw both his arms around the girl. April twisted into his embrace where she sat and wrapped her other arm around him in return. For several minutes the two friends just clutched each other, their embrace becoming gentler as the hug continued. Finally, Mikey pulled away, beaming brightly. "Thanks April! I feel heaps better and now I know how to fix things for my bros!"

April watched Mikey with a bemused smile as he bounded energetically to his feet and accidentally knocked his comic off his bed as he raced out the room.