Michelangelo had a phobia.
Actually, he had more than one phobia, but this was the strongest one. Maybe could get over the others someday, but not this.
After their fifteenth mutation day, he had been seeing nightmares for a while. They were about his family falling apart over a fight, and although bad dreams didn't last longer than a week, they were so realistic that Michelangelo considered them as possibilities, and eventually found himself phobic.
For some reason, in those nightmares, it was always Leonardo and Raphael who fought. That's why Michelangelo couldn't help his shiver right now. The older brothers' arguments were too often to be actually afraid of, but this one was no argument. It had been lasting for almost three hours now, and the fear of the images from the nightmares hit Michelangelo from inside. Hard. Donatello was in his lab, April was at school, Splinter was meditating; therefore there was no one to comfort him before he snapped.
He really was afraid of the family tearing apart, and fear could make two things: tears of sadness or flames of anger. Michelangelo was usually too positive to be angry or to cry, so he usually just chickened out when he was scared.
But phobia was stronger than fear.
He finally snapped.
Throwing the remote aside, he got up on the sofa and screamed "ENOUGH!"
Oldest two turtles suddenly went from angry to shocked, turning their heads to Michelangelo's direction. Even Donatello had opened his door to slide himself out of the lab to see what was going on to make his careless brother scream, he didn't have such a neutral face either.
"'You know the worst, I know the best, you aren't my boss, I am your leader'… All you two know doing is just fighting!" Michelangelo was still shouting. "And it's making me sick!"
"Mikey, we were just argu-" Leonardo started, but he was cut by an angry Michelangelo.
"Don't lie to me, Leo!" He exclaimed. "Believe it or not, I am not as stupid as you think. I am younger than you just by a few hours, and I know the difference between arguing and fighting just fine!" Although he had more to say, Michelangelo couldn't keep this going any longer; screaming and scolding wasn't something he did before, and he just wanted to be away from them rather than talking to them. He rushed towards the exit, he needed to get out. "I hate you both," he said with an emotionless, harsh tone before he jumped off the toll bars.
"Mikey-" Leonardo tried to follow him, but he was stopped by Donatello.
"Give him an hour or so, Leo…" Michelangelo heard Donatello say, but he couldn't hear the rest of the sentence after he grabbed his skateboard and turned from a corner.
As soon as he got out of sight, he ran as fast as he could, trying to get rid of the memories from his nightmares.
(…)
He would prefer to be topside, but it was still daytime. So Michelangelo just laid under a manhole which allowed some sunlight to pass through its holes, regretting that he forgot taking T-Podv2 with him.
He had been skating and he had lost track of time. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he left the lair, but whether it was long or not, he didn't want to go back. Not yet.
No, he wasn't mad. Not anymore. What he needed to calm down was his phobia. He feared that Leonardo and Raphael had continued fighting, and he had only poured salt on open wound by snapping like that. Michelangelo even hoped he would find the TV gone when he was back to the lair, it was better than finding a brother gone.
He shivered as he remembered one of the nightmares. Leonardo had gone to somewhere in Central America, refusing to interact with his brothers in New York. Raphael had founded a strong gang on streets; a weird type of gang which worked to stop other gangs committing crimes, but still a psychopath gang that is completely irrelevant from other turtles. Donatello didn't care about anything else besides the huge laboratory he directed, and Michelangelo had become "Booyakasha Bob" to clown around in children's parties. The team was apart because Leonardo and Raphael were blaming each other for Master Splinter's death. Every single detail was terrifying, and it had felt so realistic that he woke up sobbing – not something he had done since he was nine. He had wanted to go to one of his brothers, but he didn't want to be mocked for being a 'crybaby'. So he had just kept staring at a family photo as he waited for his tears to dry out, trying to think the photo as the proof that it wasn't real but a nightmare, and the nightmare was never going to come true.
It was when Michelangelo became phobic.
"Mikey?"
Michelangelo reflexively stood up and grabbed his nunchakus; but after he realized the voice belonged to his oldest brother, he put them back on his belt. He sat down, not bothering to reply. After all, his brothers had already spotted him anyways.
"What were you thinking, nutshell?" Raphael sounded angry, but not angrier than usual. "We spent an hour looking for you; we were worried out of our shells."
Leonardo put a hand on Raphael's shoulder, stopping him. "What's going on, Mikey?" He said softly. "It's not like it was the first time Raph and I were arguing. What's the matter?"
"I know the difference between argument and fight, Leo," Michelangelo repeated his words from the lair, but he was calmer than that now. "I enjoy your arguments, I really do. Angry Raphie is funny, and it feels like something real brothers do."
"I'll show you funny-" Raphael started as he lunged towards Michelangelo, but he was stopped by Donatello this time.
"But after he passed an hour, it was no longer argument, dudes. You were fighting, and the more cartoons passed, the more I feared it was going to be permanent..." Michelangelo sighed sadly. "…and our family was going to fall apart."
"Mikey, I'm sorry to say this, but that's just ridiculous."
"Donnie got a point. Some volume up isn't enough for me to let you shellheads go."
"You don't get it, Raph… I… I saw this was going to happen."
"Saw?" Leonardo seemed confused, as well as his brothers.
"In my… nightmares. Not just one, I kept seeing them for over a week. They were different… but they were same, too. Details were different all the time, but it was always Leo and Raph who fought. Sensei would die, you two would fight, and booyakasha, everyone was everywhere except each other's side. No turtle cared about another. No turtle but me." Michelangelo's voice slightly trembled in the last sentence, and he hid his face on his knees.
"Mike… They were just nightmares."
"I know Leo, but they felt so real. Once I even thought I was dreaming when I was actually awake, and the nightmare I saw was my real life. Since then, everytime you and Raph fight, and I don't mean argue, I… get… maybe a little bit scared."
Three older brothers exchanged glares, before they all started laughing.
"Wait- Hey! Don't laugh!" Michelangelo exclaimed with his arms moving nonsense. "I am being all serious here, dudes! How many times you've seen me actually serious?"
"Mikey…" Donatello cleared a tear from his eye. "I know how you're feeling, and that's completely normal, but… You know it's not likely, right?"
"Fine, we were fighting, so what?" Raphael rolled his eyes, grinning. "But that's all. Unless Leo stabs us on our shells, like he had to me on our fifteenth mutation day, I won't leave that bastard behind no matter how many times or how long we fight."
Leonardo smirked at Raphael. "I can say the same about Raph. We are brothers, and will be, no matter what."
Michelangelo chuckled. Now he was feeling stupid for getting scared that much for something that wasn't even possible. Their brotherhood was stronger than that, and knowing this, the phobia was washed away without any effort of Michelangelo's.
