Thank you everyone who reviewed it! The response was overwhelming, and because y'all seemed to like it, here's the second chapter already ^^
TMNT
Don's POV
"What are you doing?" I ask, frowning slightly when I walk into the room. Photo albums were scattered all around the living room, and in the midst of all the photos was Mikey, sitting cross-legged. He doesn't look at me, glancing around the room instead as if he was taking in every photo again.
"How different do you think our lives would've been if mom hadn't died?" Mikey mutters, and I frown, slowly walking over to him. I glance at the pictures as well, sitting down in front of him and taking one of the books he had placed besides him.
"Very different" I respond, fingers ghosting over one of the pictures. It was one of mom and dad together. Mom's belly was swollen quite badly, probably in the last month of her pregnancy, and dad was standing in front of her, a proud look on his face.
I look up slowly, watching as Mikey was almost fixated on the pictures in front of him. It was the album that had photographed our birth. One page was mom laying in the hospital with dad kissing her. The date was two days before our birth, the last photo we had of mom, the last picture of an affectionate dad.
The next picture was us in the hospital, at least, Leo, Raph and me laying in beds next to each other.
Mikey was in the next picture, sleeping soundly in an incubator.
"Do you think mom would've hated me?" Mikey whispers, and I look at him with horror in my eyes, a cold feeling spread through my body.
"N-No.. no of course not Mikey" I almost cry out. "Mom would've loved you, she wouldn't be mad"
"But I still killed her" He mumbles and I reel back slightly. I thought he was talking about his behaviour right now, that mom would be disappointed... I never stopped to think he would be worried mom would hate him because she died while delivering us.. and him being the youngest..
"Mikey… from what grandma and dad told us, mom was the sweetest person in the world. She cared about us, and refused to get an abortion even though she knew the risks" I tried to convince him, but he didn't seem convinced at the moment.
"But I was the one who didn't want to come out" He mumbles but I shake my head.
"There was nothing you could've done Mikey, you were a baby. If I would've been last to get born the same could've happened" I try, and Mikey shakes his head softly, tears lingering in his eyes. "Why the sudden interest?" I ask. We hadn't looked at these albums in years, our mom had always been a weird subject.
We hadn't known her, ever. Sure, we still missed having a mom, but we hadn't known mom to miss her, if that made sense. And it wasn't like dad often talked about her, he didn't really talk about her in the first place, or about his life really. But that was just who he was, but not how he had always been apparently.
Our grandma on our mother's side, who passed away a couple of years ago, told us how he changed after mom's death. Can't blame him really, he lost his wife so close after cutting ties with his brother, and had to look after four babies at the time. Didn't help that Mikey was also deprived of a healthy amount of oxygen in the belly.
One of the reasons he had to go into an incubator the first 3 days.
"I don't know" He answers, shrugging slightly.
"Did something happen with dad while we were gone?" I ask, and much to my surprise, he stiffens in fear. So something did happen with dad when we were on that trip.
"No… nothing happened" He mutters after a second of hesitation, but I don't believe it for one bit.
Something happened with him and dad, and I was going to find out what.
TMNT
1st day of the trip
"Where have you been?" Dad asked harshly as I close the door, I cringe, slowly turning around. "I told you he was an disobedient little bastard" He continues and I frown, slowly walking over to the kitchen table where dad was sitting with another man.
"Studying at the library" I mumble and dad looks up with a sceptic look, taking another sip of his beer.
"You missed dinner for studying?" He asks with a frown and I nod softly. "You would never miss dinner for studying, unless-" He stops himself, a small smile tugging on his lips and he stands up, stalking over to him. I gulp, taking a hesitant step backwards when he towered over me.
"Unless you were avoiding me now your brothers are gone" He states and I swallow harshly, shaking my head.
"No I was studying, I swear" I try but dad doesn't seem convinced and he looks back at his friend with a menacing grin.
"You know why this trip is the perfect opportunity?" He asks and now I am the one frowning, shaking my head hesitantly. I take another hesitant step, but dad reaches out, grabbing my shirt and pulling me closer. "No brothers to intervene" He hisses in my face, throwing me away and into the wall.
I groan in pain, sliding down the wall until I was fully in the floor, ears ringing. I close my eyes for a moment, riding out the pain. I was used to this, this is nothing. I tried to tell myself, tried to make it hurt less. But the harsh reality was still right there in front of me, the reason I didn't want my brothers to go.
Without them, dad didn't have to worry about them finding out about my beatings.
"Where do ya hit 'im?" The stranger on our table asks nonchalantly, taking another sip.
"Places that clothes cover up, only bruises though" Because my brothers couldn't know.
"I used to burn mine" The man shrugs and I whimper, struggling out of the hold. But dad doesn't let go, holding me only tighter before letting me go.
I fall to the ground and he kicks me in the stomach. I wheesh, curling up tight.
"You better be home tomorrow, and don't think I forgot about your punishment for your math test" He grumbles, pushing me away with his foot. "Now get out of my sight" He says, turning back to the table.
"Tomorrow? Did ya forget we had dinner tomorrow with the boys?" The man asks and dad chuckles.
"Not at all, but that's why I want him home. He could serve us drinks, cook for us, and the others probably have more.. creative ways to punish him" The other man laughs along with dad.
"You're cruel" He laughs. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing myself to stand up and get the hell out of here, just crash onto my bed and not wake up for days.
"He deserves it, good for nothing killing bastard" Dad mumbles and I wince at the sentence. I scramble upwards, putting a hand on the wall and walking towards the stairs.
TMNT
"So you're sure he's here?" Casey asks, looking around as always. I roll my eyes, shoving him to the side slightly.
"I'm sure, but if you'd rather talk to the girls.. knock yourself out" I mutter, walking over to the living room, and letting Casey alone with the girls that were exiting the house.
"Raph wait!" Casey barks out a laugh behind me, quickly catching up to me. "I'm sorry, I just.. we go to parties all the time, still not sure why we ain't going to this one, but what's so special about Mike?" He mutters the second sentence under his breath, but I still catch it. I roll my eyes.
"It's different cause Mikey doesn't know his fucking boundaries. Something happened when we were away.. he's in a fucked up state right now"
"Which means?" Casey presses, grabbing a drink while he's at it. I don't even react to the drink, me and Case have been drunk many times before. Not usually on parties, mostly at his home though, but we've drank our fair share of alcohol at parties.
"Party, no adults, alcohol-" I stop, gesturing to the red cup in his hands. "..and knowing our school, enough drugs for him to try"
"Shit man, ya brother's really a junky?" Casey says and I glare at his sentence, shaking my head before turning around.
"He's not a fucking junky, Case. But we gotta find him before he does something stupid" I growl back, heading into the kitchen instead. But just like the hallway and the living room, Mikey was nowhere in sight. I knew he was here though. Mikey had slipped out of the house with a stupid excuse.
Studying he had said. He was lucky dad was away for 2 days on a business trip, but Leo, Don and I had immediately agreed that we would stop Mikey from making a big mistake. Two parties were going on right now, so Don and Leo went to the other one while Casey and I went to this one.
But I had already spotted Jason amongst Mikey's usual gang of friends, so I was pretty confident Mikey would be here as well.
"I'm sorry Raph. Look, I know yer worried. I'm just a little confused why Mikey of all people would act out"
"So are we Casey, trust me" I mutter back, turning around. Casey lifts the cup again, emptying it in one go. "Something happened with him and dad.." I trail off, checking the garden real quick but only two people were outside right now, and it seemed like the two were getting along just fine.
I grimace, shutting the door again.
"Ya think your dad like… hit him?" Case asks softly, and I whirl around in horror. But not because of the suggestion, not because he had the nerve to question dad like that… but because I couldn't feel those things… I couldn't feel horrified or mad at him for suggesting it to me.
Fuck! Why did I really consider this as an option?
"He may be gone a lot Case, but he would never" I mutter, but I was doubtful. I never thought Mikey would turn to drugs, or act out worse than I would… and here we are. And dad… he was already neglecting us basically. He never attended my basketball games, never attended our school meetings.
He never loved us like other parents would.
Could he really have hit Mikey?
"Let's just check upstairs" I mutter eventually, not waiting for a response before walking up the stairs. The party was mostly downstairs, so the noise had died down significantly once we reached the first floor. I look around, there was another set of stairs. "You check this floor, I'll take the next. Sound fair?" I ask, turning around to face Casey.
He looks at the stairs as well, nodding silently and making his way to the first door. I follow his lead, walking up the second pair of stairs. The attic was smaller, no straight walls because of the pitched roof. But there were still two rooms to be seen, excluding the bathroom.
Just for the sake of being thorough, I checked the bathroom as well, but other than a horrifying smell, nothing was there. The first bedroom didn't hold anyone. I sigh, quickly checking my mobile. Leo had texted me a minute ago.
'We checked the house, Mikey's not here' It simply read, before I got another one. 'Heading over there right now'.
I curse under my breath, Mikey better be here, or we'd have to call dad. And after what Casey had suggested… I really didn't want to before we got Mikey's side of the story. So I walked around the stairs, to the last door. I heard sounds coming from the other side of the room, so people were definitely in there.
What I saw was something I definitely didn't expect.
My first instinct was to attack, protect my little brother. Mikey was laying on the bed, on his back with someone else on top of him. But I was frozen, frozen as Mikey smiled, grabbing a handful of the shirt and pulling the boy closer to him and locking their lips again. There was another girl in the room.
But she wasn't really paying attention to what was happening. Instead she was sitting near the open window, playing with her phone and sometimes bringing a joint to her lips, as if this was a normal occurrence.
".. Mikey?" I ask shakily, but my voice still resonated through the room. Immediately the boy on top of Mikey scrambled back, who I distinctly remembered as a classmate of his, Woody I believe. Mikey did the same, scrambling upwards and staring at me with wide eyes. The girl, however, didn't seem fazed, merely looking up for a moment.
"Is this my que to leave?" She asks, her voice low and husky.
"No Shini, he's.. my brother" Mikey says hurriedly, still looking at me with wide eyes. The scent of weed and alcohol was strong in the room, but Mikey, and the others, still seemed lucid enough to know what was going on.
"A very confused one" I growl out. "Are you high?!" I exclaim, and Mikey redirects his gaze, not daring to look at me. I sigh in frustration, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Are you mad?" Mikey whispers softly, and Woody places a comforting hand on Mikey's shoulder. I shake my head, looking at him.
"I'm not mad little bro, just worried" I mutter, stalking over to him. He flinches slightly, but I still sit next to him on the bed, reaching out for his hand. "I just want you safe, I don't care ab-"
"We.. I was just experimenting.. I don't know if I'm.. y'know.." He stops himself, but I smile slightly.
"Again, I couldn't care less Mike. You know Mona is gay, and you know none of us have any problems with that" I tell him, and despite the situation, but not entirely unexpected, Mikey starts snickering. I roll my eyes, knowing the reason behind his joy. Mona had been in the closet still two years ago.
And she knew I was having a crush on her, so she asked me out. To prove to her parents she was still straight or some shit like that. But the moment our relationship.. progressed, I started to notice how reluctant she was. And eventually, figured out she liked girls instead of boys.
The guys had teased me at first, about how I turned her gay, of course not meaning it, and at first our friendship had been a bit awkward, but we overcame that, and became really good friends.
"Please don't tell dad" He whispers, leaning forwards to place his forehead against my shoulder.
"I won't buddy" I whisper, wrapping an arm around him and drawing him closer. "But we have to go home now" I continue and he nods heavily against me.
"That's fair I guess" He mutters, a chill wracking through his body. "See you guys Monday?" He continues, taking his face from my shoulder and looking at Shini and Woody in the room.
"Bye man" Woody acknowledges, and Shini just nods. I help him up, waving at the two remaining friends before helping him out of the room. He seemed pretty much able to walk himself. For which I was grateful as I watched him walk down the stairs. Something I had rather not done for him.
'Got him, go have fun' I quickly text to Casey, hoping he would take the hint, that it was time for family bonding right now. Besides, he was probably already back in the living room and partying.
I continued to follow Mikey, who seemed to understand we were headed outside the house.
"Leo's picking us up?" He asks, turning back. I nod, catching up to him and sitting down, dragging him with me until we were sitting down on the sidewalk. "I'm sorry" Mikey mutters again, but I immediately shake my head, wrapping my arm around his form again. He happily leans against me.
"Don't be sorry little bro.. I just wish you'd tell us what was going on in that thick skull of yours" I rumble, nudging him slightly. He doesn't react however, simply staying quiet. "Did dad do something?" Immediately he tenses, which only proved that Don was right when he mentioned his conversation yesterday.
Did dad really hurt Mikey?
TMNT
Second day of the trip.
"More beer" Dad grumbled, and I immediately hurried over to the fridge, taking out a bottle and rushing back to the table. "Mostly useless but at least he can get me a beer" Dad continued, directing his gaze to the men around the table once I gave him the bottle. He took of the lid, immediately taking a sip.
The other men snickered at the remark, sending me glares or not even paying attention to me in the first place.
"Boy, get me some food" Another man rumbled, and I nod silently, hurrying back to the kitchen. My muscles were still rigid, expecting something any moment. Dad had said I was still due for a punishment for the math test. And I knew he was trying to make me more afraid, all to play with my mind.
And it was definitely working.
My heart was racing as I got to the kitchen again, shortly debating what to get one of the men but I quickly grabbed something, making my way back to the table again.
"So have you decided on his punishment yet?" One man grumbled, and I was ready to leave the room quietly but he shot out his arm, latching onto my wrist. I yelp, feeling a twinge of pain run up my arm but I didn't dare to pull away. This was unfamiliar ground, dad had never invited friends over.
Because I was never alone with dad for a whole day. Either Don, Leo or Raph would be home.
"Suggestions are welcome" Dad muttered, taking another sip of his beer, his fifth one of the evening. Add that to the shots they had already taken and the joints they had smoked... it was safe to say they weren't in their right mind anymore.
"I could think of one" Another men suggested. I shudder at his gaze, whimpering.
"Please dad" I feel myself whimper, but that only seemed to please dad, a grin spreading on his face. Within seconds I rip myself free from the man's grip, but before I could even exit the room one of his friends bolted out of his chair, grabbing my by the shirt and pulling me back.
"NO!" I cry out but the grip is strong, and the man grabs my arms to root me in place.
"Don't bother, no one can hear you in this house" He says, and I shudder heavily.
"I will tell them" I whimper, trying to twist my way out but my body wasn't cooperating anymore.
"We both know you won't boy, I will hurt your brothers if you don't. And you know you deserve everything I give you" Dad stresses the last sentence, and I shudder again. He would, he would turn on them, turn on my older brothers. I couldn't let them, I couldn't let them be punished for my mistakes.
Dad hated me because of me… for good reason.
I killed mom, the love of his life, I burdened him with having to raise four babies on his own.
I could feel a hand lifting up my shirt, and the man stopped. "No scars" He remarks, and dad grunts.
"His brothers" He explains, slurring slightly. His brothers, they couldn't know… but now.. they couldn't know, because they were away.
And for the first time in my life, I was truly afraid that dad would hurt me, even if it meant allowing his friends to do so. For the first time, I was afraid that he would truly beat me. He had hit me before, one hit or two, enough to leave a bruise, or two. But never a full on beating…. until now.
And then the first hit came.
…
I don't even know how long it had been, but I was just so glad he had stopped and dad had allowed me to go upstairs, leave…. but not before hearing the last sentence.
"He won't be acting out anytime soon, Saki" The man snickers
I walk upstairs, into my tiny room and crashing on the bed before curling up. Saki, dad. I squeeze my eyes shut, wrapping my arm tightly around my throbbing body. And even if he didn't hit me, he consciously allowed it. What started out as neglect, quickly turned into abuse.
And I never told anyone.
Dad, father.. Oroku Saki.
TMNT
So figuring I'm already going to hell for writing this story, and putting Mikey yet again through something horrible and abusing him once again, I decided to just write out another headcanon of mine. I don't even know why I never wrote it, probably because to me it's not worth mentioning in other stories. But in my opinion Mikey is Bi, or even pansexual. The others are straight in my opinion, but they fully support whomever Mikey likes, regardless of gender or something.
Also, their dad is Oroku Saki! :D Told ya that them being OOC would make sense eventually.
