Warnings :

- Swearing, angst, flashbacks are in italics -

"I hope you all break your legs, except you Mikey. You're gonna be my wing-man when I'll be Romeo."

It was the Afternoon of the auditions. The four brothers met at the auditorium.

"You mean 'if' you become Romeo," retorted the eldest.

"You're no better Leo, trying to impress Karai. You've been boasting all weekend."

"Yeah? Well what about you and April?" This comment made the tall teen blush.

"Alright guys, quit your petty squabbles and get to it!"

"Easy for you to say, Mike, you're not in love."

A round of teasing lasted for about a minute. The Romeo's were called on stage, leaving Mikey to himself.

"Yeah, well it's not like you would know, since we don't talk anymore. Not like we used to."

He made his way backstage.

...

The auditions lasted for a good two hours. It was almost Michelangelo's turn, except there was a girl right before him that was struggling with her lines. The pure want to help others overruled all of his common sense, so he decided he was going to help her.

" 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone. And yet...and yet-"

"And yet no farther than a wan-ton's bird, that let's it hop a little from his hand. Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, and..."

"And with a silken thread plucks its back again, so loving-jealous of his liberty!"

"I would, I were thy bird."

"Sweet, so would I. Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I should say good night-"

"-till it be morrow."

Ms. Hearth, the drama teacher, started clapping.

"Bravo! That was simply wonderful. I have never seen so much character played into Juliet before. My dear boy, what is your name?"

"Michelangelo Hamato, but you can call me Mikey."

"Well then, Mikey, I'll be sure to remember your name."

"Actually, I-"

"And you, Ms. Tilly, I see you as Juliet's nurse. How would you feel about that role?"

"That would be great! Thank you Ms. Hearth."

"Ms. Hearth, I actually came to audition for the role of Benvolio, so-"

"Oh none of that. I have seen your talent, now you'll just have to wait for the cast list to come out. Now, let the others give their best, yeah?"

"Oh right, sorry. Thanks again!"

The two exited the stage in excitement.

"Hey, sorry about ruining your-"

"Thanks for saving my audition! I surely thought I was doomed."

"Oh..no problem. You seemed like you needed a small push."

"Yeah. Hey, I'm Renet by the way."

"Mikey, nice meeting you."

"You were a great Juliet by the way."

"Haha, thanks. But I don't think I'll get a role, she didn't even want to see me try the part of Benvolio.."

"What if she wants you to play Juliet?"

"What! Me? Pf, I don't think so. I'm a guy, plus I don't have what it takes to pretend to be as sweet or pretty as Juliet."

"Sure, sure. But if you did get the part, would you be against playing it?"

He took a moment to think.
"Nah, I think it would be awesome actually. I don't know how other people would take it, namely my brothers, but I seriously doubt that anything like that would ever happen."

"Did you just challenge fate? Because let me tell you something, fate is not a force to be reckoned with."

They both burst out laughing. Anything like that was too crazy to happen. Or was it?

...

His brothers auditioned as Romeo an hour ago. He had watched them and tried not to laugh. His brothers were so cheesy. He hadn't even realized that this was the first time in months that he had laughed. It felt good being all together again. Well, partially together. This was just the beginning of things and he dearly hoped things would go back to normal.

Anyways, his brothers were obviously not going to wait an hour for him to audition. Leo said he would drive back to get him after he auditioned, but he didn't see him anywhere. He knew Leo was always on top of thing, but sometimes he forgot. But even then, Donnie would surely notice and do something, right? He honest to god did not trust Raphael to remember trivial things like picking him up. So, waiting it was.

Half an hour later, and Mikey was convincing himself it was just traffic. Just traffic, yeah?

An hour and a half later Mikey was considering walking home. Only problem was that he didn't know how. He had a vague notion of where he was, but it was better than waiting forever on the school steps. By this time he was sure his brother forgot.

Mikey was officially lost. He had searched and searched and searched, not finding any clues or landmarks. Nothing. He felt like screaming, or crying, or going back to the school. But he did none of those things. He cleared his mind by meditating peacefully on bench. The stars were going to lead him home.

"Michelangelo, if you ever get lost follow the stars. Follow the big dipper to find the north star. That will lead you home, home is north. Do you understand?"

"Okie, Dad. But why wouldn't 'Weo or 'Waph or Donnie be with me?"

"Well, sometimes you might find yourself alone. Okay?"

"Okay."

This reasoning seemed totally bogus, but it was all he had. If he couldn't rely on any of his three big brothers, he would rely on himself. And when he would arrive home, his brothers were in for it.

He started his journey home, as the sky got darker and darker, and he wasn't feeling very comfortable. He hated the dark, always scared as a child and well now. He kept following the constellation until he finally reached the local grocery store. He knew where he was.

As he reached the front door he could hear yelling. It wasn't just Leo and Raph, it was all three of them this time. Who knew what they were fighting about, it was unimportant. Mikey was sick of it. So he opened the door to confront his brothers.

"Can you all just shut the fuck up for one god-damn minute?! Since Splinter's death you have all gone off the edge and I'm just so sick of your shit! Maybe if you hadn't been fighting, Leo could have actually gotten to get me at school. Yeah, remember me? Your little brother? He almost got lost and hit by a car (which wasn't a complete lie) and he's done with all of you being against each other! Why can't we act like brothers? Is that so hard to ask for? Why can't we be nice to each other for one week. One day. One second! We used to be so close. Now we're...now we're acting like we're not brothers. Not family. Family doesn't act like this. Not all the time. So you better get your acts together or I'm going to move to uncle Saki's house."

He made his way past his dumbfounded brothers and locked himself in his room. Why did things have to be this way?