"Mikey!" Speed and agility have got no power over them, because despite the fact that they're running at the speed of light, and have already ran 4 miles across the streets of New York City just to keep up with their youngest brother, they're all still slacking behind and Michelangelo's more motivated than ever to get away. "Mikey! Seriously! Quit it!"
"Stop following me then!"
Leonardo huffs out a breath, catching up right behind Raph and nearly crashing into him as a result. "Dude, can we at least TALK?"
"I don't want to talk. I wanna get home." Mikey retorts, eyes darting to the ground as he runs.
Leo groans, loudly.
"We can go home and talk! It's not a pick one option!"
"Mikey, bro, please," Raph tries.
Their youngest brother, more than once referred to as the heart of the team, throws a glance over his shoulder. He's still running and they're still desperately trying to follow his lead. And he knows it's sweet his big bros care, but at the same time it's absolutely annoying and he just wants to be left alone for more than five seconds. Why can't they understand that?!
"I just want to go home, okay?"
Mikey slams to a stop above the hatch. Raph slides back, making sure he's not gonna slam into their currently distraught team member, but Leo actually does crash into him at that point, followed directly by an already wobbly Donnie.
They shift and pull apart from the tangled mess of limbs they've found themselves in. Donatello rubs a hand over his head. Raphael stands, and Leonardo leans up and tries not to lose his balance all over again.
He's glaring daggers in Raph's direction for no more than five seconds, when Donnie's the first of them to return his focus to Mikey. "Well, you're in luck," he says with that subtle attempt of humor he always tries to use. "because we're about to be home. But I really do think it'd be best to talk about what we just witnessed."
"I'm good, Dee. I'm fine."
"...Okay, but—"
"—I want to lie down."
Donnie's eyes soften. He nods, and they're all down in the sewer within seconds just like that. Trudging through water and dirt, they walk in silence with nothing more than Mikey's quiet, desperate to steady himself, breaths.
Leo mouths something to Raph, trying to prompt him to check and see what Mikey's face looks like because when they were eavesdropping on that one New Yorker and Mikey heard all the wonderful word choices he just had to use about mutants, Mikey looked absolutely crushed. Leo used to think he had seen all of Mikey's sad faces, but that was a new one for the books.
It especially didn't help that they all already knew just how self conscious Mikey could get. They've all had their moments, but with Mikey it just always seems to be there. He's insecure, and it's understandable but horrible all the same. And Leo's tried giving him pep talks before, and Raph's more than once attempted to take his mind off of things, and Donnie has gifted him more than a dozen new inventions to brighten his day before.
But none of those things could be used now, because they've spent the whole night running around town and it was fun and it was fine until they just had to overhear that one asshole, and then just like that the fun was gone.
Mikey won't listen to Leo's pep talks, or Raph's subject changes, or even Donnie's speech about his newest invention that he'd be willing to hand over. So they tried to mask what they knew was hurt feelings with humor, and wow had that backfired on all of them when Mikey took off running.
"It's not like I care. People are people," Mikey announces all of a sudden, in the seconds when the quiet apparently gets too quiet and it's obvious that Leo, Raph and Donnie are still trying to pry his thoughts out of him, albeit in a more silent manner. "They can believe what they want."
Leo pauses, glances at Raph who's still eyeing their youngest brother. "Yeah, I mean, you say that, but I feel like you actually do care."
"I don't care. We're the ones that went spying on that guy's private conversation. If he wants to insult all mutants everywhere, its his right to do so."
Raph frowns. "No its not. He had no right to say those mean things, Mike."
Donnie's physically the closest to their youngest brother, and if he looked hard enough, maybe he'd see the tears pooling in Mikey's eyes.
"Yeah, he did." Mikey murmurs, and automatically all 3 of his brothers are at his side. "He did."
"He didn't," Donnie says, seriously. His eyes are on Mikey with the sureness typically reserved for revealing his finest technology. "Humans are assholes. Even April admits to that and she is a human."
"April's nice," Mikey sniffs. He adjusts his knee pad as they walk into their home. "April never called us a freak of nature."
"Mikey..." Raph trails off.
"That I know of, at least, I guess."
Leo's got one hand on Mikey's shoulder as their father waves them over.
"Boys, you are home early." He comments, eyes only leaving the television for a couple seconds at a time. He looks them over, glances back to see what he's missed, and then just like that his eyes are back on his children and the whole process repeats itself.
"Yeah," Mikey agrees, nodding furiously as he does so. "I got tired. I'm gonna turn in."
That does get Splinter's complete and full attention, because for all the years he's raised his sons going to bed at a reasonable time has never, ever been an option, much less even a concept. So he eyes his youngest suspiciously, looking him over. Mikey smiles and beams, maybe with much less passion than he'd normally possess, but it still looks so real. Splinter keeps watching him, but eventually when it's clear he's not gonna get a explanation, he nods and tells him his goodnights.
"Night, dad!" Mikey wraps his arms around his father, nods at his brothers, then heads to his room.
Raph, Leo and Donnie all exchange looks.
"Mikey, you are not a freak of nature." Raphael promises, standing before Mikey's bed and refusing to leave until he at least talks to them.
Mikey's got his head stuffed in his pillow, avoiding his brothers' sharp stares as he repeats his mantra about wanting to go to sleep.
"You can sleep after we talk, dude." Leo fumbles around at his feet. "It's not even late."
"Yeah, but I'm tired," Mikey argues in a hushed whisper.
"If you want some coffee..." Donnie offers, and Raph and Leo are shushing him all at once.
There's silence, and then Raph repeats, "you are not a freak of nature."
Mikey's no doubt tearing up now, and it's quite hard to comfort him when he's trying as hard as he can to hide. But they've never quit on things before, so why would they on their little brother?
"Mikey," Leo lays down. Face next to his bro. "You're not. None of us are. We're all pretty awesome, if you ask me."
Mikey sniffs, and shifts his body away from the blue clad turtle. "Then why does almost EVERY human we see have to think of us like that?! We didn't even do anything wrong!"
"To be fair," Donnie comments. "He wasn't speaking directly to us. He was talking about all mutants everywhere."
"Because that makes it SO MUCH better, Donnie!"
Don avoids looking up when Raph and Leo both frown in his direction, but he shrugs nonetheless.
"Look, Mikey, we've all felt the way you have. It's gonna be okay." Leo voices.
"You don't even care that he said all those things! That we're a problem the police need to get rid of! That we're gross and we're freaks and ruining society and—and—" Mikey's hyperventilating now. Donnie's never been good at comforting, but he reaches out and rubs a hand on Mikey's shell.
"Hey... we do care." Raph replies, honestly.
"None of you wanted to talk about what he said! You guys just kept laughing like everything's FINE! Everything's NOT fine!" Mikey whispers, dramatically pushing the pillow over his face with much more force than necessary. "And I shouldn't care, but I do, okay?! Back off!" His voice is muffled, but it makes it no less heartbreaking.
Leo, Raph and Donnie look at each other again. Leo frowns. "Everything's not fine," he repeats, processing this to himself. "I know.. I know, it sucks. But Mikey, bro, making jokes about it doesn't mean we don't care."
"Yes, it does."
"No. It doesn't." Raph confirms. "Bro, do you have any ideas how many insults I've heard? People are always... I'm huge. I've felt bad before, you know! We all have about something. And what are you talking about? You shouldn't care? If you don't care, you've got no feelings!"
Mikey wipes the side of his face. He sits up and pulls the pillow down. "You're the perfect size, Raph."
"Thanks, Mike. Really."
"It's not that we don't care," Leo tries again. "It's just joking about these things is how I personally deal with them." He stares up at the ceiling, then adds. "I'll lessen up on the jokes. Promise."
"I don't.. I don't mind the jokes." Mikey mumbles. "And I like humans." His eyes dart to Donnie, who smiles while rubbing the tech on his wrist. "They're obviously not ALL terrible. April's one of them, after all."
"I know that, but the one we overheard today clearly was." The purple clad turtle retorts.
"I guess," Mikey sprawls out on his bed.
"I'm sure a lot of humans are fine. But so much suggests that they don't do well with change or differences. Believe me I have studied—"
Donnie holds his hand up when Leo opens his mouth.
"—I have studied all of the data about their hatred of change, along with their behaviors, and it's just... we don't look like them, Mikey. And it's one thing when they're idiotic enough to believe we're wearing costumes, but when they know... they're gonna be terrified. Statistics prove this. It's not something you should take personally, it's in their DNA."
Leo groans at the increased mention of statistics and data, because truthfully he could say all that without even searching for any bit of research like his nerdy, technology addicted brother, but Mikey nods like he gets it so Leonardo keeps his thoughts to himself. And Mikeys telling Donnie he knows and understands and he's trying not to let it bother him, and Donnie beams.
"I just wish they'd meet us before they judge us," Mikey says, quietly. "Like April did. She likes us."
Leo nods at that. April's the only human they've ever known personally, and she's their best source of proof that humans can be friends with mutants. They're living that fact every day.
"And it's not—it's not like I care if we laugh about it or not. Normally it can be kind of funny, but there are times where it just feels.. too weird. Too serious. to make fun of. You know? You don't know."
"I get it," Raph replies. "We get it. Just tell us if you're feeling like that, bud." He playfully nudges Mikey's shoulder. "And we can be serious."
"Yeah," Mikey answers softly. "But it's also like sometimes I don't want to be serious.. I don't know guys. I'm tired."
"Then we'll let you sleep," Leo hushes. "And hey, moods change. You're gonna be just fine."
They fist bump, and then Mikey crawls up on his knees to fist bump both Donnie and Raph too. Everyones smiling at that, as Mikey makes his way back into the covers of his bed just in time for Leo to scoot over.
He lets out a sigh. "Thanks guys," he announces, softly. "Sorry for trying to ditch you earlier."
"It's all good," Leo swears, fiddling with the light. "Glad you talked to us."
"Yeah," Mikey nods eagerly. "Me too."
"Night, Mikey.." Donnie whispers, when the lights flicker off and the three oldest's are at the door.
Mikey waves, and they shut it.