Here is chapter nine! Some more serious stuff about Mikey and Toby. And we get a hint to what Tobias wanted in the villa area in the first place! Can you catch it?

Genius is no more
Than the ability to be patient.

Chapter 9

They all are scattered around the house. Don, after finishing his examination of Liza's ribs, apologized one more time for shocking her before he left into the direction of the training room in the cellar. He was quickly followed by Raph who found the whole situation more than a bit awkward. Leo tried to apologize, too- several times, actually. But every time he started to do so, Liza'd cut him off. She would then out of the blue start to talk to someone else extra-loud and about some random stuff (let me tell you here, everyone was quite impressed at her ability to actually find a new topic every time). No one really knew what to do about it, they were all a little caught on the hop, actually. So they just let her be, and eventually Liza turned around and left for her room, leaving Leonardo standing lost and alone in the living room.

The leader went towards the kitchen afterwards to help Antoine clean up the dishes and cooking utensils he used for making the soup.

Mikey disappeared somewhere in between, no one really knew where to; it was not as if anyone noticed, actually.

So, in the end, Tobias Miller was literally the last man standing in the living area, simply because no one cared about him enough or rather, no one dared looking at him.

Actually, even though everyone had been shocked he knew them, they had all quickly enough forgotten the red-head on the chair when Liza'd started screaming. And then, when she'd been able to get up, he had not moved a bit. He was just forgotten there.

Now eventually he stands up with a sigh and tries to search his way out of the way-too-big building. Which is not as easy as it may seem. (And in my opinion it doesn't even seem to be easy.) He really needs to go home now since it is already late, and during winter the dark comes fast on sneaky feet, as they say in Germany.

When he reaches a staircase, he knows he must've done something.. not quite right. With yet another sigh, he starts to turn and try the opposite direction, when all of a sudden he makes out a noise from upstairs.

Can as well ask 'em where to go, he decides and moves upstairs.

There is a long corridor at the end of the staircase with what feels like thousands of doors. The noise is gone and everything is perfectly quiet; after all, Tobias knows there's no one up here. Shaking his head in disgust, he turns around and starts to move downstairs once more. Somewhere in the middle of the progress, there is the noise again.

Aah, you gotta be kiddin' me! he thinks, but now that he's certain he's not imagining things he is also curious about the source. Once again, upstairs it goes. To his shame the boy has to catch his breath for a moment once he's reached the corridor again- but then again, there are really many steps and.. Never mind.

Muffled by the walls, Tobias can still make out a faint rustle coming from the right. Stopping in front of every door for a second, he slowly moves into this direction. And then he finds the right room and slowly, carefully opens the door.

On first sight it seems to be a simple storeroom. One as big as his own bedroom at home, but still, a storeroom. The lights are out, but there is enough of it coming in from the corridor to make out vague forms.

Somewhere in the back a shadow moves, but it's too fast and faint for Tobias to be sure. "H.. Hallo? Ist jemand hier?" he asks. When there is no reaction, he frowns and turns to close the door again. Then he remembers that it could very well have been one of the four american boys, and if so they did not understand his question at all. Reopening the door, he tries again. "Hello? Someone here?"

Again, there is no reaction; the shelves give no answer. But this time Tobias is very sure to have seen a movement from somewhere hidden behind them. "I'll turn on the light now", he announces while his hand searches for the switch.

Then someone appears in front of him and with a shocked sound, Tobias flinches backwards and stands in the corridor again.

It really is one of the boys; Mikey, to be precise. He holds up his hands in defense. A huge grin flashes over his face as he teases, "heya buddy, scared you with ma mad ninja skills?"

Tobias smiles back automatically, but he has not missed the tears glittering on the other boy's cheeks. "Yeah, pretty awesome, man" he answers in the same teasing manner and moves past the younger boy to take a look at the still dark room. "What did you do in here? Looking for utensils to play a prank on Raph?" and before Michelangelo can stop him, he switches on the light.

There is nothing unusual at first sight (besides the fact that this room is just freaking BIG). Eyebrows raised, the redhead turns towards the turtle-now-boy-whatsoever when from the corner of his eye he discovers it. There, hidden behind a shelf, is an impact sign in the wall. Big as a fist, and pretty deep.

"Sheesh", Tobias says as he switches out the lights. "Want to talk about it?"

For a second, Mikey looks as if he is going to deny everything. But the redhead won't give up this easily. He has siblings himself and thus he thinks he knows what to do. And Mikey has always, always been his favorite character from the series.. After all, he is so easy to take a shine on everyone.

And seeing him faking a smile with tears glittering on his cheeks is not just out of character. It's just plain wrong.

… … … … … … … …

"Why didn't you just go to the training room with your brothers if you had to let out some steam?"

They sit in another room, this one has a huge billiard table in it. Tobias tries to break through to his new "dude" with a half-mocking attitude; it doesn't work too well, though. Lips pressed shut, Mike simply refuses to answer.

"Aaargh, I give up. You win. 1000 points for the turtle titan, everyone's favorite hero", Tobias finally shouts out in frustration and throws his hands into the air. Mike gives him the tiniest smile about it. "You see," the redhead goes on, "this is just not.. right."

"Are we talking about the 'turned into humans'-, the 'different dimension'- or the 'me being damn cute'-part?" Mike shoots back for the first time. He still has this 'everything's-fine' grin plastered across his face, but his hands are balled to fists and twitching nervously. Tobias then realizes that while watching the series and the movie, he had never paid any attention to their movements other than mimic and fighting style. Maybe they hadn't been shown there anyway, but still. Right now knowing their habits and such would really be helpful.

"I'm talking about the 'hiding in a dark closet while punching the wall'- part", he says softly.

Michelangelo's grin fades away for a second. It is obvious he needs some expenditure to put it back on. "I- I didn't punch no wall in no house that's not mine" he denies. But Tobias shakes his head. All of a sudden, he's angry about it. "Ah hell yes you did! The question is not the if, it's the why! You afraid to cry in front of the others? Are they teasing you?"

Mike shakes his head and opens his mouth but the other boy interrupts him. "What is it? Sick of being the clown? Need time for yourself? Just wanting to crash a fist into someone's wall? TELL ME NOW!"

The orange-haired boy's blue eyes have gone wide. "Whoa, pal, calm down" he says and then frowns. "Uh, I am not sure we are talking about the same thing here, though. Why does everyone in this world keep referring to me as the clown?"

The seriousness of this question somehow takes the wind out of Tobias' sails. (German for 'stops him' :-P) "Ah, because you are?" he asks back, really confused now. Mikey answers this statement with a frown and another vehement shake of his head. "No, I am not. Actually, no one really laughs about me. Raph's the secret fun-maker in the lair" he corrects.

The two of them just stare at each other in confusion for a minute. Then Tobias speaks up. "Raph. Is. The clown."

Michelangelo nods, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON" plastered across his face in bold letters. They continue to stare. And frown. And stare a little longer.

And then they laugh out in synchronization. They laugh until the tears stream down their faces and their stomachs hurt, and then they still don't stop.

… … …

"So why did you hide in that closet after all?" Tobias asks after they both have discovered a bathroom behind one of those million doors. They wash the traces of tears off their faces and cool their swollen eyelids in trustful companionship. Mikey rubs his face with a towel the redhead hands him before he answers.

"Why are we washing our faces now?" he asks back. Tobias frowns a little when he thinks about this. "I guess because we don't want to let the others know that we are crying?" he answers. "But.. They are your brothers, after all!"

Michelangelo shrugs. "Crying's an embarrassing thing, no matter where or in front of whom", he says. Tobias nods in agreement. "Guess so", he whispers. "And why were you crying in the first place?"

Mikey hides his face when he hears that and his companion realizes he may have asked too much. "Oh, I am sorry.." he says but is interrupted by Michelangelo's answer. "I was just.. It's a little much to take after all" he admits quietly.

Tobias bites his lower lip in agreement. Of course it is. "Sorry", he says again but Mike shrugs once more. "'s okay, ya know, it's not your fault." He finds back to his old annoying grin. "So what is your role in this game? Quite a crush on da girl, haven't ya?" and he gives the other boy a friendly punch to the shoulder.

Tobias almost chokes on his own breath. He actually stumbles before he can recollect himself. "Crush on LIZA? Aah, please! She doesn't even recognize me." As he sees the questioning gaze Mikey gives him, he explains. "We met once in the central.. this is where I live, you know." They reach a corner of the corridor and make a turn to the left. "I helped her out.. This girl does not even know how to use the bus." They both chuckle a little at that thought. "So.. I had a job to do around here. But since you kind of finished it for me, I figured I could as well try and help her." He smiles. "Though I guess Michael will be worried about me by now.."

Mike stops him. "Wait. Who is this 'Mi-schah-ehl' guy?" He has some trouble with the German pronunciation. Once again Tobias can't help but chuckle. "It's Michael", he pronounces it different to make it sound English, "like your name. He's my boyfriend."

"Ah", Mike says and scratches his head with a grin. "Seems I'll have to learn some German after all, befo- wait, what?" He takes a step back and the redhead automatically ducks his head. "Uh, my, ah, boyfriend?" he repeats unsure. His head is racing through memory files about America. New York is in which state and homosexuality is allowed there yes or not?

"You mean best friend or something?" Mikey already jumped to his own conclusions. "Boyfriend's not the right word for it." Mimicking a teacher, he holds up his pointing finger. "It is only used for partnership." Tobias secretly rolls his eyes but decides to leave it at that.

"Maybe I can give you some English lessons in exchange for German lessons later on", Michelangelo goes on. "I do that for Raphie all the time."

Tobias stares at him with disbelief as they walk down the stairs and back in the direction of the kitchen. (Or at least it's what they hope they're doing..)

"Oh, Mike, you are SO out-of-character!"

As they turn around another corner, Mikey throws up his hands in defeat.

"Why does everyone keep saying me that?"