"Knock knock," Leo said, cheerfully narrating his own actions, "We're gonna play some MarioKart to celebrate being un-grounded. You in?"
"Hmm?" Mikey said, distractedly, "Oh, yeah. Be right there."
Leo blinked. That didn't sound like Mikey.
"You okay?" he asked, carefully climbing into Mike's room, watching where he placed each step, lest his foot land on something…unsavory.
"Yeahhhh," Mike said, stretching out the word in such a way that it was obvious he wasn't.
"Spill," Leo said, sitting on the edge of Mikey's bed. Mike rolled onto his side and leaned on one elbow.
"I dunno," Mike shrugged, sullenly, "Muckman is a mutant…and he gets to be a hero, and be on TV, and people actually like him. I mean…I know we're mutants, but…at least we're not…y'know."
Leo grinned. He had to love Mikey for drawing short of calling Muckman "ugly" or "stinky" or "terrifyingly repulsive" or a host of any other adjectives that would be perfectly accurate.
"It's just, sensei got so mad," Mikey pouted, "Would it really be so bad if people knew about us?"
"Sensei just wants to keep us safe," Leo said, patting Mikey's knee.
"Yeah, but - maybe if they actually got to know us… they'd like us," Mikey said, hopefully.
Leo sighed.
"Mikey, anybody who got to know you would like you."
"Yeah?" Mikey grinned.
Gah. Puppy eyes.
"Yeah," Leo smiled, "Besides, we're friends with April and with Casey now, right? And we even made friends with Muckman."
"True," Mikey nodded, thoughtfully.
"So maybe we'll make more friends soon."
"Yeah…hey, yeah!" Mikey said, grinning widely, and just like that, all the gloom and doom was tossed casually aside like it never existed.
Mike sat up and flung his arms around Leo's neck.
"You're the best, Leo!"
He skipped lightly out of his room, knowing exactly where to place his feet out of habit.
"Hey, wait for me!" he hollered.
Suspiciously eyeing a pile that looked like it might have just moved, Leo carefully picked his way through the mess to rejoin his brothers.