Because Mikey's brain is just too cute. Thanks to AlexHamato for the idea. I copped it from her. Not really. She gave it to me. I think I may have topped the Mikey cuteness factor here. Let's say that this is turtletot-ish because of how cute Mike is. Just to cover myself.
The song is "Fireflies" by Owl City.
Mikey planned his dreams carefully. He didn't like having bad dreams and every night he told himself that he would dream about something really cool. Something he couldn't do in real life. He could do all sorts of cool things in real life, so he chose his dreams carefully.
Tonight he would dream about fairies.
You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
"Have you ever seen a fairy?" he asked Raph.
His brother didn't respond for a while. "I don't know. What do they look like?"
Mikey didn't really know either. "I think they're little tiny people with wings."
"Like bugs?" He could hear the revulsion in his voice.
"I think they're really mischievous and they play tricks on people in the woods. But they're really pretty. Like Tinkerbelle. Only really tiny."
"They sound an awful lot like bugs to me," Raph said. "I'd probably just swat it with a newspaper."
"If you ever see one, then let me know first. And don't tell Donny. He would want to do an autopsy on it and make it live in a Skinner box or something."
Raph was already snoring. Mikey wondered if Raph's mental life was as dull as it seemed.
He closed his eyes. He would dream about fairies tonight.
Cause they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude, but I
Would just stand and stare.
Well, it worked. He'd dreamed about fairies. But now he was aware of a new and disturbing possibility. Something that he should have thought of before. How would he explain his suspicions to his brothers? What would he do to protect them all from this threat? It all made sense.
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly.
He knew that his brothers would never believe him. They always wanted proof and numbers. Raph tended to believe him more easily than Leo and Don, but he was usually too impatient to listen to him. And even when he didn't believe him, he would usually pretend just to annoy the others.
Why was it such a far-fetched idea? They were mutants after all. They weren't human. Why did they have trouble believing in other things? Like when he thought that Raph was a vampire. Nobody believed that. Of course it had turned out to be wrong, but he thought that it was worth investigating. He sleeps all day. He hates garlic. They don't know what he does most of the time.
It's hard to say that I'd
Rather stay awake when I'm asleep,
Cause everything is never as it seems.
That night he made sure to leave a pair of scissors open under his bed. Leo had been dropping off clean bed sheets to their room and caught him.
"What are you doing? Are you actually putting scissors under your bed? I thought I told you to clean in here? And why are they open. Somebody could trip and get hurt." Said the agile ninja to the other agile ninja, Mikey thought.
"Oh, it's just an experiment."
"Uh, huh," Leo said, picking up Raph's garbage off the floor. He couldn't resist picking up garbage. "Just be careful."
Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightening bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance.
But what if it was true, Mikey thought. Surely it wouldn't be so bad. It would be so cool to meet a fairy. He would have to keep an eye out for fairy rings and stake one out. But where would you find a fairy ring in the sewer? He was forbidden from sitting in Central Park at night. Especially after he'd tried to contact aliens with a laser pointer that time. Raph told him that he'd caused the crash of the jetliner that night in Ohio because he'd blinded the pilot on his way through and then he lost his vision.
A foxtrot above my head,
A sock-hop beneath my bed,
The disco ball is just hanging by a thread.
"I wish I were with my REAL family," Mikey said as Leo forced him spar with Don again. For the sixth time that day.
"You're so distracted. You keep letting him… what other family?"
"The family that gave me away."
Don whacked him on the shell with his bo. "Oops."
"I wish you were with your real family too," Raph said as he lounged against the wall, watching them.
Mikey dropped his defenses and Don stumbled to avoid bowling him over. He said dreamily, "Wouldn't it be nice to just live in the woods and sing songs all day and just have fun? No training. No crime fighting. No ninjas bent on revenge. No crazy robots."
Yeah. That would be the life. Why was he here instead of there?
Leave my door open just a crack.
(Please take me away from here.)
Cause I feel like such an insomniac.
(Please take me away from here.)
"Raphie," Mikey said from his bed. Raph made a loud and disgusting snoring sound. "If you found out that we weren't really brothers, would you want to find your real brother?"
"What kind of stupid question is that? How many mutated turtles are out in the world?"
They were silent.
"Raphie, have you seen any rings of mushrooms anywhere?"
"Any whats?"
"Mushrooms in a ring. Like in the grass?"
He looked over at Raph, who sat up and checked his alarm clock. "I have to be up at 5am. Leo's trying to kill me." Raph threw himself back into bed. "And no, I wouldn't want the other brother back. So shut up."
Why do I tire of counting sheep?
(Please take me away from here.)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
Mikey checked the scissors under the bed again. He thought twice, closed them and put them on his desk.
To ten million fireflies.
I'm weird, cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell
"Why are you wearing your coat inside out, Mike?" Don asked. "You look like an idiot."
"Because he looks so chic normally when he wears nothing at all," Raph grumbled. He was still mad that he had been forced to wake up so early just to go search for a leaky pipe that was robbing them of precious water pressure.
"I'm trying something new," Mikey said, his eyes darting about shiftily.
"You've been acting really weird for the last few days," Leo said. "Weirder than usual anyway. Out with it."
Mikey took off his coat and sat heavily at the kitchen table. "Okay, but you guys aren't going to like it."
"If you don't tell us what's going on," Raph said. "I will put this sai through your stomach."
Mikey winced. He knew Raph was good for it.
"Well," he said slowly. "I figured something out the other day and I've been afraid to tell you all. I don't want you guys to laugh at me though."
"Oh, we won't laugh," Don said, laughing already.
"Okay," Mikey said. "This is what I think."
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
Cause I saved a few,
And I keep them in a jar.
"You think we're changelings?" Leo said. "What the heck is a changeling?"
Don was laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe.
Raph wasn't laughing. He was thinking.
Mikey jumped to his feet. "Well, I'm sorry that you guys think I'm so stupid."
"It's not stupid," Raph said. "Now tell us why you came to this conclusion?"
Mikey had half a mind to punch Don, who was sitting on the floor choking. "Well, changeling children are green."
Leo considered. "Yeah, I can see that, I guess."
"Yeah," Raph said. "And who wouldn't want to think that their parents are really fairies floating around in the trees someplace. It's better than living in this dank hole. I'm with you, Mike. I think we're changelings."
"Really?" he asked. He knew he didn't, but it made him feel better anyway.
"Sure."
Leo held up a hand, as if he could part the silliness with a simple gesture. It actually worked and Don was quiet. "Why did you have those scissors under your bed?"
Mikey hunched up. He felt like he was being investigated for a crime. It was embarrassing to be revealed as stupid and gullible. "I read that you can keep fairies away by putting an open pair of scissors under your bed."
"And wearing your coat inside out?" Don asked. "This is better than that time that you tied garlic cloves your nunchucks."
"Shut up, Don!" Raph yelled. "And I suppose you've never had a stupid idea!"
Mikey started to cry. He cried a lot. Maybe that's what changelings do. They cry.
Leo rushed forward to shield him from his brothers' doubt. "Guys, leave him alone. You're not stupid. Just stop crying and come on. We have work to do."
That night he lay down in bed and tried to think of something to dream about. He would dream about being an only child. He wondered what that would be like.