Rating: K+

Word Count: 1,632

I do not own TMNT.


07. Night

Mikey hated the dark.

It was a dumb fear to have - even Mikey knew it. Splinter practically taught them to live and breathe in darkness, so the fear was unfounded by all means. Darkness kept him, kept all of them, safe. Darkness is a ninja's greatest ally, was the mantra that Splinter had told them since the first day of their training. But Mikey couldn't trust the darkness the way his brothers did. The darkness was not an ally, it was a tool. A tool that anyone could use. Some used it better than others, of course, but the darkness favored no one. Anybody could sit in the shadowy corner, anybody could stalk in the inky black cover of night.

Anything could be hiding in that black crevice between the large pipe looping out of the floor and the wall behind it.

The pipe had always been a part of his room. When he was little he used to think monsters crawled inside it because it always made weird noises. In reality, it was just water being pumped through, but the fear of the pipe had never completely faded. Sometimes, in the darkest, most silent hours of night, when a foggy and almost surreal feeling lays heavy in the air and minds are filled with fantastical and horrible thoughts, he would look at the pipe and a shiver would run down his spine.

He used to imagine creatures of every kind skittering through the pipe, angry scaled monsters with fangs and claws or black little animals with grins as wide as their face. All manners of demons were conjured up in his overactive mind. Sometimes he still looked at that pipe and for a moment, thought he saw a flash of movement behind it. Only now, his monsters were not imaginary.

Instead of dreaming up fantastical creatures to haunt him, Mikey pushed back thoughts of much more terrifying, but much more real things. The Kraang. The Foot. Mutant wasps. Mutant squirrels. A ninja assassin. A mutant tiger. Shredder. Mikey let out a shudder at the thought. If Shredder ever found their home - which he had come dangerously close to - he would wipe them out in an instant. In the darkness Shredder would kill them off one by one without so much as a scream. There could be a quiet assassin, lying in wait just behind that pipe, and as soon as he fell asleep there would be a knife in his chest-

"Ugh-" Mikey sat up rather jerkily and flipped on his lamp, flooding the room in a warm glow. His muscles tense, he swung his legs off the bed and hopped to the floor, slipping over to the pipe and poking his head behind it. Nothing.

"Ok. Calm down dude," Mikey told himself sternly. "There are no Foot creeps hiding in your bedroom." Everyone was still trying to adjust to being back home. Mikey's bed, once so familiar, provided no comfort. His room felt foreign and strange. All he could think about was how unsettlingly normal everything felt since their feud with the Foot Clan had finally ended. Like his life had been turned up to eleven since age sixteen, and in a day suddenly dialed back down to one. There was no way he was going to get a good night's sleep in this room. There was only one thing for it.

Mikey quietly snatched the blanket and pillow off his bed, sending one last furtive glance behind the pipe before he snuck out of the room. The lair was dark, the echo of water lapping at stone unsettlingly loud. Mikey ducked down and crept down the hall, beelining for Donatello's room. Donnie was always a pushover. If Mikey couldn't sleep, Donnie would let him set up the air mattress in his room.

Michelangelo's intentions, however, were quickly interrupted when he heard a noise like the whine of a wounded dog, subdued but raw in its pain. The youngest turtle's head whipped towards the source - Leonardo's room. His muscles instinctively tensed. For a moment he just stared, almost unbelievingly. Then with slow, methodical steps, he crept over to the door, pressing the side of his head against the cool wood.

There were a few moments of silence, where Michelangelo almost doubted he heard anything at all - then he caught the faintest noise, drifting through the cracks. It was the harsh sound of choked tears, forcing their way out in sharp bursts before being furiously snuffed out. Mikey's mouth twisted downwards.

Leo was crying.

It wasn't exactly unexpected - more so, it was distressing. They had all had nights where their nightmares caught up with them. Mikey had certainly had his fair share of those. The problem was that Mikey, being the youngest, had never been the one to knock on his brother's doors to ask if they were alright. Mikey was there in the mornings to dissipate the last tendrils of fear with bright smiles and warm food, but he was rarely, if not never, the one to pull them out of their dark memories in the dead of night.

As he stood, hand lingering on the knob of the door, he wondered if his comfort would even be welcome. But the sound of his brother's distress was overbearing. One more strangled cough, and Mikey had made up his mind.

Michelangelo cracked open the door slowly and tiptoed into the room. Leonardo glanced at him briefly, a moment of surprise flickering in his expression, but his older brother couldn't even find the energy to wipe away the tears in his usual show of false strength. The mattress creaked when Mikey sat down beside Leonardo.

"Hey man," Mikey began unsurely. "I've been having a rough night too. Wanna put on some movies and sleep on the couch?"

"Yeah," Leonardo gargled out through tears. "Sounds good."

Leonardo got up, still gripping his blanket around his shoulders, and Michelangelo trailed behind him into the open area of the pit. His older brother fell limply onto the couch, his eyes glazed over, and Mikey could only guess what place his older brother was revisiting. Mikey chose some popcorn flick - he barely paid attention to what it was - and joined Leonardo on the couch. He rested his back against his brother's side, hoping that just the act of physically being there could provide some comfort.

They were halfway through the movie when Leonardo snapped back into the present. He shifted in his seat, pulling away from Mikey. Michelangelo looked up at his brother, the blue light of the television screen casting sharp shadows across his features.

"My arm's falling asleep," Leonardo grumbled.

"A small price to pay for your brother's love and affection," Mikey said lightheartedly, unable to stop himself from grinning. "And I'm the baby Leo. I get whatever I want."

"Oh, so you're going to play the baby card?" Leo scoffed. "You're just as old as the rest of us, and a pain in the ass to boot."

"You wound me," Michelangelo gasped, dramatically clutching at his chest. "How will I recover from being called a pain in the ass? I'll never forgive you." Leonardo couldn't stop himself from laughing, and Mikey softly smiled.

"Feeling better?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah," Leo nodded, but his expression melded into something vaguely troubled. "You're doing okay, right? I know you said you were having a rough night-"

"Leo, you've been there for me a thousand times over," Mikey reassured him firmly. "Let me be here for you this time." Leonardo looked like he might resist, but instead he just curled back up into his blanket, looking a little more somber than before.

"Thanks," he said quietly. They watched the movie for a while in comfortable silence, crammed together on the beaten-in couch just like when they were kids. Mikey was just starting to fall asleep when Leo's voice interrupted.

"You're a really great brother, you know that?" Leo's voice was tight. "I'm so lucky to have my family. I just...if anything happened, I don't know what I'd do."

"M' lucky to have you too," Mikey mumbled, closing his eyes. "Nothing's gonna happen though. No more brains from outer space, no more mutants, no more Shred-head."

"He's not dead," Leo rebutted. "Saki is still out there, somewhere."

"Yeah, eating from tubes and peeing in a catheter." Mikey couldn't stop the hint of smugness in his voice. "He got what he deserved." Leonardo went strangely silent. Mikey sat up, the sleepiness melting away into an uneasy feeling.

"Hey, he can't hurt us anymore. He can't do anything," Mikey reassured. "It's over Leo. He'll be dead within the year with those injuries."

"He should be dead right now. He can still set plans in motion, he can still send someone after us. He has money left from the Foot, he has a few people that might be willing to do him a favor-"

"And we'll deal with it if that happens. We wanted to get rid of the danger, right? And we did. Even got bonus points because we didn't have to kill anyone. We won and we didn't have to sacrifice our good conscience."

Leo looked back at the television, his face unreadable. "Yeah," he said absentmindedly. "You're right."

"Course I am," Mikey yawned, falling back into the couch. "Try and get some sleep Leo. Everything will be fine."

"Okay," Leo sighed. "I love you Mike." Mikey smiled, cracking open his eyes to take a last look at his older brother.

"Love you too, dude."