The winter air was bitterly crisp, biting against the shivering flesh of the two ninjas. Nonetheless, they swiftly jumped the rooftops of New York with ease. That is until one of the shadows slowed to a stop, hoping to regain his breath.

"Gimme a sec," Michelangelo panted, resting his shell against a large metal box that sat on top of an apartment rooftop. Donatello briefly looked over his baby brother before giving a slight nod and settling next to him.

For a few short moments, the only sound was the harsh breathing of the youngest turtle tearing through the silence of the night. Donnie, on the other hand, was perfectly okay. Although he found it odd that his brother was reacting so violently towards a simple patrol run, he didn't point it out. Mikey had enough on his plate as it was.

Instead, the scientist simply stated, "Do you think you're going to be able to work things out with Leo and Raph before we get back to the sewers?"

His harsh breathing gradually slowing to a reasonable pace, Mikey shook his head. "Nah. I mean, we're not gonna meet up for another hour or two. Maybe sooner 'cause it's so cold out here, geez." His freezing body shivered, proving his point. He hugged himself in an attempt to gain some warmth. "Besides, they won't listen anyways. If Splinter wants to chew my head off again, I guess I can't do anything about it."

"You don't know that." Donatello chanced a glance at his brother, but Mikey's baby blue irises were refusing to meet his as they scanned every inch of New York. Donnie inwardly sighed. "Well actually, Raph never listens, but Leo can be understanding."

"Understanding enough to realize that I really didn't mean to let those Purple Dragons get away?" Michelangelo breathed so quietly that Don almost didn't hear him. He let his hands lazily dangle to his sides as he rested his head against the cool metal surface behind him. "Man, it's like they expect me to screw up now – Leo didn't even give me a lecture this time! He was just like 'Go with D and get your head straight again'. That's totally not like him."

"Did you want him to give you a lecture?" Donnie questioned. "I thought you would be happy that he let you off easy this time."

Mikey shrugged, his eyes focused on the beautiful night sky above them. "I dunno. I guess I would rather have him yelling at me than just brushing me off like I'm nothing, you know? By this point, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to ever get them to understand what goes on in here." He raised a hand and tapped the side of his head before letting it drop back down again.

Donatello released a drawn-out breath, vaguely watching the puff of white that floated through the cold air as he did so. When it disappeared, he turned his head to look at his brother.

"Nothing's impossible," he simply stated. "There's always a chance of an event happening, even if it's fairly small."

"Yeah well, my chances are like so microscopically small that I'm sure you don't have a number for it in that big brain of yours, D," Mikey said. He focused his eyes on a bright light overhead. "I'm pretty sure that if a freaking star fell right now and hit us head-on, the chances would still be greater than having Leo and Raph actually listen to me for once."

Don blinked a few times at his brother's somewhat depressing words. It's not normal for the youngest, brightest, and goofiest turtle to look at life as anything but the glass being half full. He guessed that everyone had a dark side in them, even his bouncy baby brother.

"As a matter of fact," Donatello said after a few long moments, "having a star come intact with the Earth's surface is so improbable that I don't have a number for it." When Mikey opened his mouth to presumably argue that he was right, Donnie interrupted. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible either. Highly unlikely, but not impossible."

With that being said, a few more silent moments passed. And a few more. And a few more. Until finally…

"Do you think it's possible that they will ever – or do – hate me?"

Donnie outright punched his little brother straight in the arm. Mikey gave out a yelp of pain but soon recovered to look questionably at the other turtle. He almost melted underneath the intensity of the chocolate brown glare.

"Now you're being dramatic," Donnie lightly joked, shaking his head. "Of course they don't hate you. You're our little brother; the younger siblings always tend to annoy the older ones. It's not rocket science."

"Well you also think rocket science is easy." Mikey winced and rubbed at his slightly bruising arm. He directed his gaze back towards his genius brother, who gave him an apologetic smile.

"I'm just saying, Mikey, that we will never get tired of you as a person. Sure, you can be entirely annoying half of the time, such as when you managed to break all twelve of my beakers –!" Donnie glared down at his baby brother who guiltily smiled, " – but we couldn't ask for a better brother than you."

"Gee, thanks D," Mikey appreciatively murmured. His eyes, however, still did not have their familiar bright glint. "Just wish Leo and Raph could say something like that every once in a while so I don't feel like a complete idiot all the time."

"Why do you need to hear it in order for it to be true?"

Michelangelo sheepishly shrugged. "I dunno. Guess it would just give me peace of mind to know that you dudes actually mean it."

Donnie bit the inside of his cheek, directing his gaze up back towards the sky as he contemplated a response. After a studying his brother for a good while, Michelangelo also gazed up in wonderment at the white speckled scenery above them. The bright lights seemed to smile down at him, and they managed to make the corners of the turtle's mouth tug slightly upwards as well.

"Think about it this way," Donatello gently spoke, never tearing his gaze away from the hypnotizing lights above. "Do you truly believe that if a star fell to Earth and hit you head-on right now, all of us – Splinter, Leo, and even Raph – wouldn't care that you died?"

Mikey swallowed hard. He reluctantly looked at his brother as he gently bit his bottom lip. "I –"

His hesitated response was cut off as the faint echo of his name reached his ears. Both the turtles turned their heads to be greeted by the sight of their two brothers racing towards them. As Donnie took off to meet them halfway while mumbling something about the freezing temperature, Michelangelo glanced upwards one last time.

"Mike! Come on; we don't need you getting sick!"

"Coming!" With that, the youngest raced towards his shivering brothers. And as Leo cautiously checked his fingertips to make sure they weren't too terribly cold, he smiled.

He found his answer.

A/N

Ah, yes. A puff of fluff for the B-Team is nice, isn't it?

I have to say that this isn't my best work. I'm so sorry. This little idea suddenly came to me for no apparent reason and I just jotted down the first things that came to mind. Heh, yeah... welcome to my life(: