Happy Birthday, Guys! I-I mean, happy birthday to me? Agh, you know what?! Forget it. Of course my birthday isn't on April Fool's day! Don't even think about posting: "Oh, Happy Birthday… April Fools!" You hear me?!
Okay, okay, I'll sadly admit it. My Birthday is in April Fools :,( You know how many times people tricked me into wishing me a happy birthday? I'd always be like: -_- , or dying on the inside. But I'm trying to make it positive this year, and gift you this angst-y, hurt/comfort story that's been going on around my mind these past days.
Sorry for the bad summary. This is based on the 2012 show and inspired by… probably the stories that I've been reading lately. I re-watched the Gauntlet and realized how the turtles were hella-rude and mistreated Mikey. And I just couldn't let that pass.
Side note: This has NOTHING to do with the following episodes, and I specifically mean 'Panic in the Sewers'. I'm just giving my own version of the post shredder fight scene, so everything that has happened in the next episodes aren't with me.
How many chapters will it be? I'm not entirely sure. I was thinking about making it a one-shot, but somehow it expanded? XD I just hope it doesn't become too long.
WARNING: This story contains blood, violence, some mild swearing, misunderstandings, fluff between the brothers (especially Mike and Raph) and no T-cest.
It was late in New York City, the chilly air blowing the surface as it announced that rain would start falling soon. For some people, it was time to make up the bed and tuck themselves under the blanket to sleep. For other people, it was their time to commit any kind of robbery then vanish before the police would come.
While for our four mutant siblings, it was time to go on patrol after a long day of waiting.
The turtles cheered while hopping from one building to another, receiving fresh wind blowing on their skin. It refreshed them greatly after hours staying under the sewers, and it renewed their energy to be able to fight whoever stood on their way.
"Wheehoo!" Michelangelo hollered in excitement, feeling like a new turtle all over again. Aside from that fact, he was also trying to feel some enjoyment as much as possible. It may sound weird, but what was happening in the lair these days was really taking a toll on him.
Since their first encounter with the Shredder, things began to slowly change between the small family of five. Master Splinter started giving them intense training for hours, with short intervals between them that roughly lasted 30 minutes. Furthermore, he forbade them from going topside, and grounded them for three days. That, of course, led to exhaustion and tension. Their Sensei became very strict; and Mikey understood why. It was their punishment for becoming overconfident. But it just became unbearable.
Apparently, Mikey wasn't the only one feeling this way. He noticed the stress that was overcoming his three brothers as well. Leo and Raph, for example, fought a lot more with each other. Donnie became more distressed and uptight, always shutting himself in his lab, and distracting himself with new discoveries or inventions. Sometimes Mikey would try to settle some arguments -either if they were between two of his brothers, or all three-, sometimes it worked; but other times, he received harsh comments like: "get lost" or "who invited you here?" or even get engaged in the argument himself until Master Splinter cooled off the heat.
A slight frown crossed the orange-clad's face, disappearing as soon as it came. He wouldn't think about the bad stuff right now. He just needed to enjoy his moment and focus.
Huh… focus. Something that he had been missing lately. Was it because of the strain that was put on him from his brothers and father? Or the amount of time he, and specifically he, spent training? Or because he never even reminded himself to do that before? Maybe all… But now, he really needed that reassurance of staying focused. He wouldn't bare being blamed or called out by his brothers one more time. He wouldn't want to be the reason for them to fight again.
In anyway, he wouldn't even try to settle it if it happened. Raph was about to punch him the last time if it weren't for Don to stop him. Eventually, the red-clad cooled off and gave a flat apology later, but Mikey made a promise to himself to not get into arguments unless it involved him.
The youngest shook his noddle while running. Man, this was really getting over his head.
All of a sudden, while the ninjas were running at full speed, Leo came into a halt, raising a hand as a sign for the other three to stop as well. Raph and Don quickly hit their brakes, while Mikey, too distracted in his own thoughts, didn't realize in time and bumped into Raph, who bumped into Donnie, who bumped into Leo; almost causing him to fall off the rooftop before Donnie caught his shell.
After short yelps, Mikey rubbed the part of his head that came in contact with Raphael's back and glanced up, to receive angry eyes glaring at him.
"Mikey!" They all hissed, and the freckled turtle shrank.
"S-sorry, I-" He began in an inaudible whisper.
"Would you look where you're going?!" The hot-head scolded with a light push on Mikey's shoulder, "Fearless was about to get his shell broke because of your clumsiness!"
The smartest turtle stepped in the way, "Hey, don't talk to him like that!"
"Oh, and why do you defend him so much, genius?" Raph crossed his arms while scoffing, "You too were about to turn into turtle-stew down there."
"I didn't mean it, okay?" Mikey defended himself.
Donnie nodded, "He probably wasn't focusing, Raph. Don't make a big deal out of nothing!"
"Well, the big deal here is that Mikey wasn't focusing!" Raph yelled a little bit loud.
"Guys! Would you mind?!" Leo whisper-shouted with a motion of his hand, "Something fishy is going down there!"
Donatello approached Leo to look down, and Raph didn't come closer before giving Mikey a disgusted roll of an eye. Mikey ignored it for the moment, busy scolding himself for being -yet again- the reason of another fighting. He too approached the edge with no words, trying to shrug off what just happened. Gosh, he wondered how Raph did it so easily.
In the vast alleyway were a van and one guy standing in the back of it, holding a large tree branch and tapping it onto his hand, clearly guarding the vehicle. Beside the van was a jewelry shop, and two men suddenly came out running from it, holding massive bags from inside the dark store.
"Purple Dragons…" Donnie scowled upon realizing the purple tattoos on every arm of each robber.
"Oh, they picked the wrong night to throw off a party." Raph smirked, pulling out his Sais.
"No, wait." Leo held up a hand before the red-clad could get up, causing Raph to look up at him quizzically.
"The shell, Leo? They're right there!" He argued.
"We need to have a plan." Leo said without taking his eyes off the men.
Raph's exited form dropped, "Oh, c'mon!" he covered his eyes while still holding the Sais in his hands, "We can just get this over with!"
This time, Leo turned to look at him, "I give orders here!"
'Here goes…' Both Don and Mikey thought, predicting what was going to happen.
"Well, I don't know why you give orders, anyway!" Raph scoffed.
Leo couldn't keep his cool anymore, "And I don't know why you're such an annoying hot-head!"
"I'm sure Splinter's still questioning why he chose you to handle leader-ship!"
"As if you would do any better!"
"Of course I'd do better. At least I don't wait for the bad guys to have tea in order to kick their butts!"
"Well, a plan is necessary to perform everything perfectly!"
"Who cares about performance when they're dealing with criminals and robbers?!"
"GUYS!" Donnie interrupted, making both elders glare at him, "The van is getting away!"
Leo immediately glanced down, and indeed, the sound of the van engine was fading, while four Purple dragons down the alleyway were cornering a woman with a purse.
"Happy now, Splinter Jr.?" Raph asked sarcastically.
"I'll deal with you later." Leo hissed in a threatening tone, "Don, you're with me. We'll chase the van to the next alleyway and give them a piece of our minds. Raph, you're with Mikey. We'll communicate through our T-phones."
"Why am I with Mikey?!" Raph yelled, not noticing the slight wince of hurt from the youngest.
"No time to argue, help that woman!"
Raph groaned in irritation as he watched Leo and Donnie hop to the opposite rooftop. Without even glancing at his brother, he took down the fire-escape ladder and landed in front of the alleyway entrance, the shadows making him look like a monster. Mikey tried to shove everything in the back of his mind to be able to fight. Landing down as Raph already started beating up the guys, Michelangelo quickly picked up the woman who fell unconscious to a safer place outside the alley.
"MIKEY, ARE YOU WANDERIN' OFF AGAIN!?" Raph yelled roughly with his Sais in front of him, trying to defend himself from a quite strong thug. He couldn't understand what Mikey had been doing as he saw him empty-handed while getting back inside the alley. Mikey ignored the fact of using the word 'again' as if he'd ever done that before, and didn't even try to explain himself. He just mumbled a "sorry" and got into fighting stance.
Just as Mikey approached, he heard Raph let out a yelp. The youngest turned to behold Raph's upper-arm with a knife inside, and an ugly gash, letting out blood. Mikey immediately took out his ninja stars and sent it flying towards the thug's head over his brother, causing him to fall limp, dead.
Raph groaned, taking the knife out for it to splash more blood on the asphalt. Mikey winced as he saw red coating his brother's arm, but decided to focus on the other three gang members before checking on him.
Raph sat down, grimacing because of his throbbing limb. He scowled at Mikey when he wasn't noticing, blaming him for everything. Yes, Mikey saved his life, but if he just focused a little more Raph wouldn't be in such condition. He'd lecture his younger brother later.
The red-clad got up and started kicking shell with Mikey. And soon, the four thugs were unconscious. Raph got out a rope and tied all four of them up then called the police, vanishing with his brother before the siren sounds got close.
Once they landed on the upper roof, Mikey got close to inspect his brother's wound "A-are you oka-"
"DON'T… touch me." Raph spat as he spanked the younger's hand away.
"Raph I-" Mikey said as he attempted to touch him again.
"I said, don't touch me!" Just as Raph growled at him, he took off running towards the rest of his brothers.
Mikey stayed put for some minutes, wondering what to do to let his brother listen to him. He hung his head as he ran after the hot-head, choosing to be in the back in order to not receive any more comments.
The journey back to the other two was dead silent, as Raph was shooting venomous glares, making the younger shrink with each glance. Mikey knew that he'd be able to explain himself once he got back to Leo and Donnie. At least they would listen to him.
The moment Mikey noticed the blue-banded and the purple-banded on the opposite roof, he picked up his pace in the sake of arriving at the same time as Raph; to not let the others jump into conclusions. Unfortunately, that didn't work, because as soon as Leo and Don took notice of Raph's gash, they gasped in horror.
"Raph! Are you alright?" Leo was the first to ask.
"What happened?!" Don exclaimed in question.
Raph huffed, "If you wanna ask someone, why not shell-for-brains over there?" He snapped while turning around to glare at the youngest.
The other two followed Raph as well,
"Mikey…?" Leo questioned in a scolding tone.
"What did you do this time?" Don asked in a tired tone.
Mikey opened his mouth to justify himself, "I-I was-"
Raph cut him off before speaking, "He wandered in the middle of the fight! I can't believe he lost focus again!" The hot-head started pacing while swinging his good arm, "Now, my blood's pourin' out because of him!"
Leo was now really glaring at orange-clad, "Did that happen, Mikey?"
"No, no, that's not what happened! I-"
"I'm sick of his irresponsibility, Leo!" Once again, Mikey's speech was cut off by Raph. "I'm not gonna get paired up with him again! Donnie can be with him. I'm done!"
The three were focusing on the hot head too much that they didn't notice the pained expression from their youngest brother.
"Oh, so I just keep getting stuck with Mikey again?!" Donatello complained, "Not gonna happen! Leo can have him."
Mikey flinched.
"NO!" Leo bellowed.
"Why not?!" Raph interjected.
"I-I don't know… I don't want him…" Leo stated hesitantly.
Mikey's knuckles balled.
"And I'm not risking my life because of him," Raph yelled, "You're the leader, you just said it, you have him!"
"Well, Donnie should be responsible for him as well, since he's also in the B-Team." Leo said.
Mikey gritted his teeth.
"If you're just gonna throw away your problems on me, then fat chance!" Donnie crossed his arms.
And that was the last straw,
"WHY DON'T YOU JUST SAY THAT YOU DON'T WANT ME IN THE TEAM?!" Mikey hollered in a mix of pain and anger, running off to the opposite roof then using his smoke bombs, and vanishing.
"MIKEY!" Leo called out after coughing.
Raph's expression was indifferent, "Oh, great. Look at what you did!" He stormed, targeting Leo.
"I did?!" Leo shouted in incredulity, "You were the one who started complaining!"
"Guys, shouldn't we focus on the bigger problems right now?!" Donnie yelled angrily, "Mikey's getting away!"
Raph rolled his eyes with a wave of a hand, "Leave him. He's probably gonna be back before the sun rises."
Leo rose an eyebrow in disbelief, "Can't you just have some culpability?!"
Raph scowled, "I'm sick of him. And you know what? I'm not gonna chase after him! If he wanna be a whiny baby, then let him be…" he turned around, walking away.
"Where are you going?!" Don asked.
"I'm heading back to treat this." Raph responded while pointing at his wound, "Have fun you two."
And with that, Raph landed down the alleyway, leaving both Leo and Don sharing glances.
TMNT
Michelangelo was running, just running. Where to? He didn't know. He just wanted to stay away from his brothers as much as possible.
He sprinted in a dark empty street, feeling tears threating to fall. Mikey didn't let them be, and quickly wiped the salty drops off his eyes.
Coming into a halt after getting tired, the freckled turtle panted in exhaustion, not even looking around to know where he'd arrived.
"Not the first time they toss me around like that…" He growled under his breath, remembering the similar incident three days ago at the Kraang's base.
Michelangelo got out his T-Phone and threw it with full force at the side of the building, thus breaking it, "If they don't want me, they won't find me."
The jokester panted in fatigue, trying to steady his breaths. He was just so… angry with them. He was so angry with himself. Making the right thing caused rebuke, then what the hell would they do if he actually did the wrong thing?!
"Why don't they just say it to my face!?" Mikey continued scolding, kicking the ground hardly.
"I'm trying my best to not snap, and they're only making fun of me!" He punched the side of the building hardly.
"They think that I'm weak!" Another punch.
"They think that I don't care!" A kick.
"They think that I'm a burden!" A third punch.
"Leo doesn't want me…" Mikey's eyes started turning white with fury, his knuckles beginning to scrape.
"Donnie believes that I'm a problem…" The wall started to crack.
"And Raph thinks that he's risking his life being with me!" The crack deepened
'"And that's why no one wants to be with you!"' Upon remembering the second-oldest's cruel words at the Kraang's base, Mikey let out a strong howl, giving the poor wall a final punch.
The wall crashed as rubble fell, and Mikey stood there, watching as the bulwark came down, revealing a dark empty room on the other side.
Mikey's blue eyes reappeared again, looking over his throbbing knuckles that started letting out blood.
His exhaustion and emotions came over him, and he started tearing up, falling to his knees, "What am I doing?" he chocked, holding his hands together to stop the bleeding. He turned to the communicator he just broke, as his lip quivered, letting the teardrops wet his mask and then roll down his cheek. He never knew that there would be a day where he acts exactly like his hot-head brother.
Rain started pouring down like bullets, getting mixed with Michelangelo's salty water. He didn't move, didn't even flinch, but embraced his emotional roller-coaster while still grasping his hand.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded, and Mikey whipped his head towards the doer, who were seven men looking down at him with wicked smirks.
"Oh, look at what we have here…" The closest one to Mikey scoffed.
Mikey got above his knees, scowling when spotting the purple tattoos on their arms.
"Hey, isn't that one of the frogs who took our stolen jewelry?!" Someone in the back yelled.
The closest one frowned, and inspected the ninja to try to confirm the statement. But Mikey beat him to talking, "Yes, it's me."
The leader glowered, getting angry, "So you're brave enough to admit it, freak?" He clicked the chains in his hands, "You don't know who you're talking to, do you?"
Mikey sarcastically looked down at him, "Mmhm, probably a member of the stupid gang whom I kicked their butts."
Some of the listeners gasped while the boss growled, but his scowl quickly faded and turned into a smirk, "And you're one of the four turtles whom my gang mates stabbed one…"
Mikey's eyes widened as the flashback of Raph screaming in pain echoed in his mind, resulting into a deep frown on his face. He spun his nun-chucks, ready to fight, "Why don't you just bring it on?"
The seven guys yelled with their weapons, targeting the youngest ninja. The boss was the first to strike, aiming his chains to catch Mike's abdomen. Mikey dodged instantly, smirking, "You can't play old tricks on me, dude." He hopped fast between the crowd and stuck on the side on the building for a femtosecond, his eyes whitening as he let go and spun in the air, welting the leader's hair with a heel kick, and landing on the ground.
The leader froze for some seconds, before his skull poured down blood, and dropped unconscious to the ground.
Scared glances landed on the orange-clad, some screamed as they approached their motionless leader, while some grabbed their weapons, ready to attack the youngest. Mike's eyes narrowed with a grin.
He's gonna have so much fun.
Oh, boy! I hope it's exciting enough to keep you hanging. Don't worry; it only goes downhill from here!
Gotta admit, Raph's lines were pretty trippy. I'm not very good with slang language.
I'm sorry for making the Purple Dragons kinda OP, but I like them as the main monsters in this story. I don't like the way the 2012 show portrayed them as weak-ass three guys; 2003 did them better in my opinion. If you're wondering whether Hun is going to join the chat or not… I'm not sure. You can give me your opinions about this. If no one votes for Hun, then I'm not going to include him *sad Hun noises*.
The updates might be a bit slow… my exams are coming soon, wish me luck! Love ya guys! xoxo