Chapter 6: Not As Easy As it Looks

Mikey never understood why his older brothers acted as if being older was difficult. This was easy! The tots were practically wrapped around his three fingers, he could do this blindfolded with his hands tied behind his shell. Of course, this also disappointed Mikey a bit. He was expecting a challenge, but it was so easy he was starting to feel bored.

And where was Splinter? He had been gone for hours. Should he go look for the rat? No, he can't leave the tots alone. They had no way to defend themselves. They were still learning their ninja techniques and had not yet earned their weapons.

Mikey and the tots were watching a superhero movie{it was Mikey's choice}, and Mikey noticed his 'little' brothers snuggling up to him. It had been a long day of play and learning, so they were tuckered out. Aww, they were so cute, even Raphael! Maybe it was time for their bedtime?

Mikey took the tots to their bedroom, but the little turtles did not want to go to sleep. Donatello held on to Mikey's arm tightly.

"No!" he whined. "I wanna stay with yooouuu!"

"You can't leave us here alone!" Raphael agreed, but he was failing in acting tough. Leo said nothing as he held on to Mikey's leg.

"I'm not going anywhere," Mikey told them, trying to pry them off. "I'm staying here in the lair."

Their grip was still pretty strong for little turtles!

"Come on," Mikey told them once more as he tried to tuck them into bed. "It's bedtime."

"I'm not sleepy!" Raph growled, holding onto Mikey's neck.

"I'm not either!" Leo chimed in with a giggle.

"I wanna play more!" Donatello tugged at Mikey's arm.

Mikey found himself not sure what he should do in this situation. Should he try one of Donatello's methods of reading an educational, but boring book like he would read to Mikey whenever the younger turtle couldn't sleep? Or should he apply Leo's, which often resulted in the oldest turtle singing to Michelangelo to soothe him to sleep whenever Mikey had a terrible nightmare? Surprisingly, even Raph had a unique method of soothing Mikey to sleep. He would often hold Mikey close and stroke him gently,{yes, gently} until his baby bro fell asleep.

"What should I do? What would my bros do?" he thought to himself

Mikey was never good with the idea of putting kids to sleep because playing should not end...ever.

"I know you don't like it," he told them. "But you have to sleep. It's important. Without sleep, you won't have energy. Then you'll be mad and have health issues." Whoa, sounds like something Donnie would tell him.

The tots wouldn't listen, which was actually starting to get annoying.

"I'm not going to bed!" Raph declared and ran off, followed closely by Leo. Donnie was glued to Mikey's arm. Mikey had to get his brother to let go before going after the other two. He promised a bedtime story to Donnie if he behaved and let him go. The tot hesitated, but he let go. Now for the other two.

Leo and Raph decided to scuffle about on the floor as Mikey tried to gather them up. The tots knocked over things and Mikey had to make sure nothing broke.

"Come on, you two. Stop it!" Mikey told them, trying to pull them away from each other. He held his brothers in each arm, but they squirmed and kicked.

"Hey, Mikey!" came Donatello's little voice. "Look at me!"

Mikey shrieked. Donatello had climbed up on a shelf and was playing around with a hammer! Mikey thought he had left him in the bedroom!

"Get down from there, Donnie! You could fall and hurt yourself!" Donatello ignored his 'older' brother and was unintentionally knocking objects down. Mikey let go of Leo and Raph and tried to get Donnie Down. Poor Mikey couldn't reach Donatello, the little turtle was sitting out of reach.

Leo and Raph were getting into trouble again, and Mikey was getting overwhelmed by trying to keep everyone organized. Leo opened the refrigerator and was looking for a late night snack, but he was making a big mess everywhere by tossing food out. Raph was watching something on TV that involved a lot of shooting.

Mikey took the remote control from Raph and shut off the TV.

"Hey!" Raph glared. "I was watching that!"

"Not for children!" Mikey told him as he picked up the boy, despite the squirming and bite threats. He then gathered Leo, making note to clean the mess later, and headed to the bedroom.

"Stay here until I get back!" Mikey told them, shutting the door. He put a chair in front of the door handle to prevent the two from getting out. Now that things have slightly calmed down a bit, it was time to gather Donatello.

The little turtle was luckily where Mikey had left him, but still out of reach. Donnie seemed to know that his brother couldn't reach him and was staying out of reach. Mikey will have to find a way to climb up and get Donnie down from the high shelf.

Donnie was curious about the hammer and began hitting the head on the wall.

"Donnie, please don't do that," Mikey begged as he looked around for something to stand on. "You could drop it and hurt your toes."

"What does this do?" the tot asked, picking up and waving around a wrench.

"I have no idea," Mikey told him. "But I prefer we don't find out." He found a chair and stood on it. He was able to reach Donnie now.

"Put the...whatcha call it down and come to me, Donnie. It's dangerous up there."

Donnie giggled and wrapped his arms around Mikey, but took the wrench down with him. Mikey tried getting him to let it go.

"It's not a toy, Donnie. Let me have it."

"But I'm curious!" Donnie protested. Mikey managed to get the wrench out of Donnie's little hand and set the tool on a table. Donnie struggled and tried reaching for the tool again.

"You can't play with tools, Donnie," Mikey told him firmly. "You could hurt yourself."

Donnie decided to listen to his 'older' brother and Mikey took him to the bedroom to join the other tots.

It took a few minutes, but Mikey managed to get the tots settled down for bed. In the end, it was a science book that got the tots to sleep and it was all Mikey could do not to fall asleep himself, the book was so boring!

The tots were cuddled up together and Mikey put the blanket over them. He was relieved things have quieted down. He left the bedroom and now it was his turn for some R&R. He never expected the tots to be such a handful. He noticed the mess and sighed, he still had to clean everything up from the run around.

By the time he was finished cleaning up the mess, Mikey was exhausted. He smirked as he realized he could do whatever he wanted now. He took out a quart of ice cream and went to the TV to watch a monster movie.

"Hey, bros!" he called out to his older brothers, as if they were present. "I'm having a quart of ice cream and watching monster movies. Come out now if you don't want me to have indigestion from being scared!"

There was no response, but Mikey knew there wouldn't be. He giggled and dug into the ice cream.

"If this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up!" Maybe he will have indigestion, but that was his future self's problem.