A/N: This chapter was originally supposed to be a lot shorter, but I thought to give you a longer chapter, since I am really not going to be updating for a while. This semester is pretty hard. You guys have no idea how much I enjoy reading your reviews. I will always reply back to anyone who leaves a review ;)
Alright, on with the story! Have some awkward dinner galore and some B-team fluff!
"See Your Face In Golden Rays"
Have some quality time with my family; Smile more; Help the world; Do something scary; Act more mature; Help the people that always help me; Admit my feelings; Take my life into my own hands; Be proud of me; Make a new friend. Michelangelo has to make this year memorable for him. (TMNT HUMAN! AU)
Just a sucky fic because I have to release my pent-up stress somehow.
Warnings: Crappy Grammar / Awful Dialogues/Completely Out Of Character
Mikey let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and went for the kitchen with happy steps. He arrived at the dining table and was full of surprised happiness to see from the corner of his eye in the kitchen, Leo above the pot with a wooden, big spoon and Raph, of all people, next to him, with a genuine smile and raised brows.
His plan had worked!
Raph looked actually happy, joking with Leo with nudges and playful glances, his broody mood lost. Mikey felt that his phone call with Casey had worked out pretty good. He couldn't help himself but smile as he got in the kitchen.
The smell of food reached his nose and he made a pleased sound.
"Hey guys!" he said, as he put his elbow on Raph's shoulder, giving him a cheeky glance and Raph snorted out a laugh.
"Hey, little man."
From the stove, Leo gave him a curious look as he stirred the pot with the spoon, his wrist a little bit red. "Weren't you going to put your pajamas on?"
"Say a hello first," Mikey joked as he rolled his eyes.
"Hello," Leo deadpanned. "Weren't you going to put your pajamas on?" he repeated his question again with a knowing look and Mikey felt Raph hunching his shoulder, letting out a 'pfft' sound.
Mikey bit his lip. He knew he had forgotten something. Well, no reason to whine about it now. He could take a bath and put on his pajamas later. It wasn't like he had gym class today to be all sweaty.
"I will," he groaned and sat on a chair at the kitchen table. "What are you doin?" he asked.
"Helping Leo, who almost sEt US ON FIRE!" Raph cried, sitting on the table, literally, on the table and Leo widened his eyes, before getting back to his normal expression.
Mikey looked again at Leo's red wrist, realizing it was probably a burn.
"But I didn't," he said with a wink, knocking Raph with the wooden spoon to get him off the table and Mikey chuckled. It was nice to see his brothers getting along.
"Leo-," Raph rolled his eyes and Leo immediately turned, throwing his hands in the air.
"It was an accident," he exclaimed.
"Accidents don't just happen by accident," Mikey chimed in, trying to get in the conversation and was weirded out to see his brothers giving him amused looks. He played his words in his mind again and tried to resist the desire to slap his face with his hands as the realization hit him.
"You know what I mean."
Raph punched playfully his shoulder as he gave Leo a kitchen towel, probably to clean the moist around the counter.
"So, you're just helping him, where are the other six?" Mikey asked, rolling his tongue in his mouth as he got ready to fire out his incredibly imaginative joke.
"What other six?" Raph narrowed his eyes.
"I mean," he started, rubbing his feet on the floor, "does Snow White know you're here?"
The room burst into laughter.
"Are you calling me a dwarf?!" Raph asked, obviously irritated and Mikey threw his head back, "Yep!"
He always enjoyed getting his hothead brother annoyed. It was the few times that he actually felt that he was doing something right. As long as he didn't take it too far. He knew his brother's limits.
"Leo!" Raph shouted, and Mikey laughed even harder at the childish tone of Raph's voice that made him sound like he was a toddler.
"Don't 'Leo' me," Leo said, inhaling to shake off the laughter from his body and Raph pouted.
The laughter withdrew, and as much as Raphael wanted to show that he was angry, there was that playful gleam in his eyes that made Mikey understand he wasn't that mad. He looked in his eyes and Raph looked back.
"You seem in a good mood, though," he said, smiling. "Everything worked out?" he asked knowingly.
"Y-yeah, um, it did," Raph said, rubbing the back of his neck, the silent 'thank you' floating lightly in his tone.
"What?" Leonardo asked, even though his smile showed that he definitely knew what was up and Mikey shook his head.
Dang it, mother-hen Leo.
"Nothing, mind your ramen before you create an explosion," Raph gave him a dismissive hand and Mikey titled his head, wondering how Raphael couldn't understand Leo's obvious lying.
"You know," he said, shaking off the liquid from the spoon as he lowered the temperature, "you're not pleasant when you're like this, Raph."
"I'm always like this."
"My point exactly," Leonardo sighed and Mikey had to again resist the urge to slap his face with his hand.
"How long are you gonna be mad at me?" Raph drooled on, raising his eyebrow and Leo pressed his lips into a thin line. "Ten minutes."
Mikey snorted, before his brow furrowed in curiosity. "Speaking of minutes, how come you came home so early?"
"The shelter was closed."
Ah, Mikey thought, but Leo's strange look made him realize that wasn't the whole truth and an evil smile was formed on his face. He cleared his throat, starting his babbling nonsense for one more time again this day. "But then, how you didn't come home immediately? And you texted me you were done with Karai-,"
"Well, yeah," Leo started taking plates out of the cupboard, wincing as his voice cracked, "Karai and I hung out to get some tea-"
"Oooohhh…," Raph gave Mikey a nudge with his elbow, "you were having fun with your girlfriend…"
Leo glanced to the side at his brother with a 'not in the mood' type of expression as he looked back at the plates, cleaning them with a towel and said, trying to sound like the mature one in this situation, "She's not-,"
"Not as in taking it slow? Or not as in you don't have the guts to tell some chick that you want to get serious? And here, I thought you were braver than that, older brother." Raph persisted with a snide smirk.
Mikey didn't know what was really going on with his brother and the gothic girl.
They were friends, for sure, even though they fought pretty much all the time, as Mikey had taken a look at the very heated debates they had in Mrs. Baker's class. But, except that, Mikey had no idea what else was going on.
Not that he hadn't tried to learn.
More than one time, Mikey had tried to find out more by snooping Leo's phone to check his texts with Karai. And after all the time he had used to find out Leo's password (which was 'Space Heroes' by the way, how he hadn't thought of that in the first place), he had felt like disappointment had slapped him on the face when he realized that Leo and Karai texted in… Japanese.
Mikey had no idea what the letters and words meant and all his hard work had come to nothing.
Maybe he had to have taken Dad's suggestion back at thirteen and had chosen Japanese for his second language at school. Well, too late now, he guessed.
"Hah, look who's talking…," Leo gave Raph a look and Raphael crossed his arms, eyes wide.
"What? Shutting up?" Leonardo made a proud face, as he started getting the forks and spoons out of the drawer.
"Yeah...," Raph sighed.
Mikey shook his head in amusement as he stood back up, going back to his room to change with a happy expression on his face.
Things were going well.
After freshening up, hot water soothing some of his worries, he went back to the kitchen to help set the table as Leo started serving the ramen. Once everyone was seated, they started eating and licking plates like hungry animals (mostly Raphael) or not eating that much, kind of staring the plate (mostly Yoshi). Mikey wished his dad would eat more.
Sure, Leo wasn't the best cook, but not eating wasn't a good. What was troubling their minds?
He tried to get in the conversation, forcing himself to listen to what his brothers were talking and not just staring their lips moving in awkwardness. He realized that Donnie and Raph were the ones doing most of the talking (no surprise there), as Leo remained mainly silent, only butting in the discussion a few times and Dad hadn't talked, literally at all, since the dinner had begun.
Talk about awkward.
"- and then, as we were studying the fish mold, Irma-," Donnie was talking, trembling with anticipation, until Raph interrupted him with a mouth full of annoyance and ramen.
"Why would you study mold?" he spatted out the words, before cleaning his mouth with a napkin.
"Were you even listening to me, Raph? Ah, also, it isn't nice to talk with your mouth full."
"I don't listen to your rants about your nerd club. Ah, also, you're a dork. "
"Raphael, show some respect!" Yoshi spoke for the first time since the dinner had started, his voice steady and firm.
"Hai," Raph sighed out, taking another spoon of ramen, and then looked at Donnie with a smirk "really, though, Don-boi, you should really do something between you and Irma."
"You know it's not like that," Donnie rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his water and Mikey lowered his head down.
Maybe it wasn't like that, but it could have definitely been like that. Mikey knew that for sure.
Raph (and Leo and Dad) may not knew, but Donnie had actually tried to create something between him and Irma. Not that Irma hadn't been cooperative back then.
Mikey had known from the second Donnie had walked into the apartment that he and Irma had kissed.
Maybe he wasn't a mind-reader like Leo and Dad, but if someone knew Donnie better than anyone, that was his twin. Don and Irma had known each other forever and trusted each other more than anyone and a lot of people actually just had that thought and kind of weird hope in the back of their minds that Irma and Donatello would date eventually.
And Donnie had admitted to Mikey that there was a time where both he and Irma had thought about it. When people usually tease some others about being a couple, at some point, the idea starts to get into your own head, too.
They were twelve and curious. But, really, logically on the outside, it seemed like something that could have worked.
They were best friends and they always got along really well, so why shouldn't they try to see if they had those kinds of feelings for each other?
Mikey had thought that Donnie had come home, finally with a girlfriend. But when, except from the blush on his face, he saw a little bit of disappointment, he realized that hadn't happened. As Donnie had said, once they kissed… there was nothing. It wasn't mentally scarring and horrible or anything, but both of them had the mutual feeling that their chemistry wasn't supposed to be like that.
"You sure about it?" Mikey had asked back then and Donnie had given him a small smile and had shrugged his shoulders.
"Let's just say both of us might as well have been kissing a wall and that we both pledged that the only way we would ever even consider it is if we were the last man and woman on earth and the human race depended on us seeing each other that way… and maybe not even then. Irma sees me like her second brother and I see her as like my only sister and that's it."
It wasn't meant to be. The chemistry just wasn't there. And Mikey had respected their decision, even if he had been kind of disappointed back then.
Mikey stopped his train of thought and smiled to himself as he snorted out a laugh, trying to inject humor into the situation as he was still processing everything.
"If you say so," Raph snorted.
"So, does fish mold really stink?" Mikey asked, trying to get the conversation off of Donnie, glad to see Donnie's eyes giving him a slight 'thank you'.
"Well, yeah-,"
"Can we not talk about fish mold while we're eating?" Leo spoke up, licking his lips.
"I would appreciate that, as well," Dad's quiet tone was, amused or angry? Mikey couldn't tell exactly.
"Ohkayyy…," he drooled on, "So, how's your debate team going?" Mikey asked, remembering the mental note he had written on his mind to ask Leo.
"Good…"
"Hard theme this week?"
"Absolutely. And since I didn't get to do the work at the shelter today, I have to go on Thursday. But hey, at least, we are doing something really interesting!" Mikey couldn't help but smile at the look of anticipation that his eldest brother had put on, an ample grin on his face, his blue eyes shimmering with excitement.
What a dork.
Leo rarely acted like the teen he was. Mikey always cherished the moments his brother would let down his mature façade and the juvenile look would cover his face. So, he probed, playing along with his anticipation, "What is it?"
Leonardo inhaled deeply getting ready for the big reveal, "We are going to help turtles hatch eggs!"
"Wow." Mikey definitely didn't expect that. Not that he wasn't a fan of turtles, he just hadn't really seen them from up close, laying eggs or not.
"But, I don't know if we are able for this thing," he continued on, "We could really use another set of hands-," And that was when the idea struck Mikey. If he was a cartoon, a lighting bulb would have definitely appeared above his head.
His list! He certainly remembered a 'Help the world' step on his list. That would be an awesome sauce way to check it off. And then, he'd have two things out of his list. (if the family quality time worked out well) "I'll do it!" he exclaimed.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Mikey straightened his back, giving Leo a confident smile.
"But, it sounds stupid," Raph said with a full mouth.
"Sorry for trying to help the world…," Leonardo rolled his eyes and Mikey raised his eyebrow because of Leo's words. It was like he had read his mind.
Or maybe the mysterious notebook was Leo's, Mikey's subconscious echoed in his head, but Mikey answered himself with an amused quick, 'There's no way.'
"Well, brothers don't let brothers do stupid stuff alone," Mikey retorted, giving Raph a toothy grin and then looked to Yoshi, "What do you say, dad?"
"I think it would be a good way to get your mind out of your school worries," he said with the faintest of smiles, his expression otherwise unreadable.
"Cool! Okay?" Mikey said, as his mouth spread into a grin, looking at Leo with pleading eyes.
"Okay," he gave in and Mikey made a fist pump in the air, "I'll tell Alopex, and if she agrees, then-,"
"Great!" Mikey sang, wiping himself with his flowery-decorated napkin. It had been a present from Casey's mom.
Last year, on Thanksgiving, all the Hamatos had celebrated the holiday (and the one week off school, duh,) along with Casey's family, that included, of course, his mom, April, and her dad. It had been a blast. Mikey loved it when people got together to celebrate and have fun.
He wondered for a second what would they do for this Thanksgiving, that was coming up in sixteen days (not that Mikey was counting or anything). Mikey hoped he would have the chance to cook something. (and was excited to get the week off school, duh, again).
There was a short pause of barely a few seconds, but to Mikey, it felt like an entire period of Geometry.
"So, um, Leo," Donnie said and Mikey smiled, happy to see his brother trying to talk with his family, (and that's why he's my twin) "have you thought about what you want to study in college? I mean, senior year has started already and-,"
Ah, yes. College. It was only like number one-hundred on the long list of things that should worry him right now. He had enough on his mind already.
"Uh...," Leo said drily, apparently not looking forward to a discussion on that exact matter, but he never got to finish his sentence as Yoshi interrupted him and Mikey looked at him with wide eyes as he said firmly,
"Leonardo doesn't need to go to college, Donatello. He has a business already set up here."
"Yeah," The obviously, irritated groan had tumbled out of Leo's mouth before he could stop himself, and Mikey saw his father giving Leo a measured look, the food on both of their plates forgotten.
What had the heck just happened?
Leonardo and Yoshi rarely fought, or argued, almost never. Right? So, what was that tense moment back there?
Mikey was lost for some minutes and didn't realize that the discussion had moved on, until he heard the annoying tone in Raph's voice as he spoke.
"Like, just because Shini has problems with her family, that doesn't mean she can stick gum to my HAIR and then Beckman doesn't even say a thing-," Raph was complaining.
"Mr. Stockman. He's our teacher; I think you should pronounce his surname correctly," Donnie said, as a matter of fact, chest out.
"See this?" Raph motioned to his face. "That's my 'I don't care' face," he said and took another full spoon.
"That's your normal face," Donatello retorted, only to have Raph give him a crooked smirk, "Hughh…," he made out a barely human noise.
"Can't I just shoot him?" Donnie leaned to Mikey, whispering, trying to bit back a groan.
"Not in public," Mikey whispered back playfully, in an almost sing-song voice, hiding well, hopefully, the awkward shift he felt between all of them, ramen sitting like a rock in his stomach.
The dinner continued more quietly, chewing, the only noise echoing in the kitchen and Mikey bit the inside of his mouth as he looked at Yoshi's unreadable expression, Donnie's rolled eyes, Raph's crinkled nose, and Leo's pressed lips, thinking about how much of a disaster this dinner had become.
The first thing on the list and he had already screwed up, hadn't he?
Hours later, almost twelve o'clock, Dad had gone in his room and so had Raphael. Mikey had finished writing his essay for Monday at the dining table, since apparently, the light from his desk lamp back in his room was bothering Raph because he was trying to get some sleep. (and cause the light attracted insects but anyway…)
Mikey closed his books and left them on the table. Either way, he would have to study tomorrow here. He made a long-suffering sigh and started going to his room, leaving Leo alone to watch TV in the living room, not wanting to bother him.
Everyone knew you shouldn't bother Leonardo while he was watching 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' for the millionth time. Dork.
He was about to open the door of his room, until he heard noise in the attic in the hallway.
I guess somebody isn't sleeping and is working in his lab…
"Donnie?" he called, slipping into his lab.
"Yes?" Donatello appeared with a tired yet excited expression, dressed in his pajamas, yet different kinds of mechanical stuff were in his hands and on the metallic table.
Mikey looked around at the space, which looked like almost some kind of freakishly futuristic place, and was that smoke?
"Hey, want to see what I'm working on right now?" Donatello asked, and Mikey looked at him with surprise.
"What is it?" he asked curiously, yet happy his brother trusted him with his invention.
"Just come with me," Don kept glancing back and smiling as he took out a carrying case and set it on the table. He sat Mikey down on a stool next to the large and wide table, as he smiled and said, "Just hold still."
Mikey gave Donnie a weary look. Not that he didn't completely trust his twin, but as he just felt him stick something to the back of his neck with short wires coming off it, he had no idea what's going on.
"Nothing's going to electrocute me, is it?" he asked jokingly, just making sure Donatello wasn't using him for some neurological experiment like he was some rat he had found in the sewers.
He gave Mikey a knowing look before letting out a short laugh as he replied, "Mike, c'mon. When have I ever steered you wrong with my inventions?" Michelangelo crossed his arms and gave him a knowing look as he raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, don't answer that." Donatello immediately defended, pointing a finger at him and they both laughed, before Donnie shushed him.
"Shh. It's late."
"But seriously what is this?" Mikey asked after he stopped laughing.
Donnie lifted a finger as if to motion for him to wait as he lifted something out. "I give you the Automated Reinforcement Mediary or A.R.M," he said as he pulled out this crazy looking device that Mikey now saw resembled a metallic arm.
"A.R.M as in arm?" he asked for clarification with an amused smirk as he studied it.
"Yep, just see how it works. Just let me set up the interface here," he said and then flipped a switch on this small box.
"Okay, now, just look at the A.R.M and I want you to think about curling your fingers like you were making a fist. Got it?" he instructed with a voice of a teacher who was dealing with an impatient student.
Mikey gave him a weird look and he just kept urging him to do it. "Okay… fine..," he gave in, doing what he said.
He stared at the arm and thought about what he said and…
No way.
Mikey watched as the fingers on the robotic arm curled inward as smoothly as the real thing. Holy chalupa!
"D, this is incredible! How…" he whispered in shock, breathlessly, completely amazed.
"April and I came up with the idea," he started, a proudly sheepish smile covering his face, "You see, we used this new fiber optic, wireless neural interface sensor at the inventing club the other day, which is able to pick up signals in the neurons of the brainstem and transfer those signals to the motor units in the arm."
Mikey bit his lip and Donnie gave him a small smile.
"In other words," he said after a minute with an ear to ear grin, tilting his head, as if he was thinking about something, "someone born without or who lost an arm in an accident can now be equipped with an A.R.M and have their style of living virtually unaltered. Fascinating, right?" he gave Mikey a toothy grin, looking totally proud of his work.
Michelangelo just smiled at him. He had known Donnie for 15 years, and yet, he still never ceased to amaze him with his mind. "Donnie, this is fascinating. Have you any idea how many people you could help? This deserves, like, I dunno, an Oscar!"
Donnie smiled brightly at his brother's comment, "Nobel prize, I hope you mean."
"Yes, that!"
"I have to go to sleep, but promise me you will go to bed too?" Mikey said after a minute.
Donatello tapped his heart and gave Mikey a cheeky smile, "I promise, do not worry."
Mikey made the way to leave when he heard his brother's quieter than before voice, "Mikey?"
Mikey turned and looked into his brown eyes, as his twin said, "Thank you… for the dinner. For urging me to eat with all of you. We don't do that very often and… it was nice," he licked his lips, "I really enjoyed it. And the other did too. You know how those two are with feelings. It feels good to have some family time every now and then."
Mikey gave Donnie a grateful smile, before going to his room, as his eyes widened, and he finally felt sure to check off the number one on his list.
He fell on his bed with a silent flop, careful not to wake up the Yeti named Raphael. He was in a need of a good few hours of sleep before he could function properly and see anyone and a 'Have sweet dreams' text from Woody sent him to sleep with a smile spread on his face.