What Defines An Elder Brother?
Part way through dinner, Leonardo happen to look over in Michelangelo's direction. The orange clad turtle was staring down at his plate; a un-touch piece of pizza lay there. "What's the matter Mikey?" The blue clad turtle asked. He was still trying to perform his older brother duties, even though he knew otherwise.
Michelangelo came out of whatever trance he was in. "Huh?"
Leonardo pointed down at the plate. "There's still a whole piece of pizza in front of you." The elder turtle got up from his place at the table and makes his way to Mike. "You've only had half a pizza." He put a hand on his head and a hand on Mike's. "Are you feeling alright? You don't feel warm."
"I'm fine Leo." Michelangelo said as he brushed brother's hand away. "I just don't feel very hungry at the moment."
"Perhaps all those in between snacking finally caught up with you Mikey." Donatello suggested.
"Maybe." Michelangelo sighed. "If you'll excuse me." He got up from the table and leaves the kitchen for his room. Once inside Mike found Clunk asleep on the poster that laid on his bed. Carefully he picked up the little cat and placed him gently in the small drawer he had turned into a bed.
After making sure Clunk was comfortable, Mike went back over to his own bed and picks up the paper before flopping on his back. He held the poster up in the air above his head.
"Shellot and Shellock are twins." Michelangelo read aloud. 'Don and Leo were always my older bothers, but this means that one or both could be the eldest brother.' He mused. 'I can believe. Would explain a lot.' Mike let his hand fall onto his chest, with the paper lay on his face. 'Don was always there when I need him.'
As Mike thought about things more, he realized that he was and always will be close to Don. Raph tolerated him to a point and Leo watched over him, but Don was the one who took care of him.
The purple clad turtle was usually the one to defend Mike and stand up for him on occasions when the orange clad turtle wasn't putting his own foot in his mouth. He was always willing to fix Mike's broken toys…and to fix Mike when he hurt himself. Whether Mike was sick or just needed someone to talk to, Don was there for him.
A knocking on the door interrupted Mike's thoughts. "Hey Mikey, can I come in?" Donatello called in.
'Speaking of the turtle.' Michelangelo thought as he quickly grabbed the paper off his face and stuff it under his pillow. "Sure dude." He called out.
The door opened to reveal Donatello holding a steaming purple mug in one hand and a steaming orange one on his head. "I made some hot chocolate. Thought you might want some." He said as he took the cup off his head, walked into the room, and kicked the door closed with his foot. "I made it just the way you like it. Lots of mini marshmallows, honey, and a third cup of sugar."
Michelangelo jumped down from his bed and kicks stuff out of the way so that there was a place for them to sit. He managed to un-bury a couple of beat up beanbags. "Thanks." He said when he takes the orange cup from the tech-wizard.
"No problem. I figure either the warm milk in it will help you sleep or the amount of sugar would keep you wired so you would have to worry about sleep." Donatello joked. Both turtles took a seat on the beanbags. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You left the table kind of abruptly."
Michelangelo looked down at his reflection in the brown liquid and ran one of his fingers long the edge of the mug. "This is all…kind of sudden, you know?"
"What? The poster?" Donatello asked before taking a sip from his mug.
"Well…yeah." Michelangelo gave a slight shrug. "I mean, I never really thought about trying to go out and look for the human that took care of us before the ooze and all that."
"We barely lived a year with the kid Mikey." Donatello said. "Besides, you were too young to remember him anyway."
"But I want to remember something." Michelangelo exclaimed as he shot his head up to look at his brother. "At least, what he looked like."
"Why?" Donatello questioned, arching a confused eyebrow at him.
"I dunno…" Michelangelo sighed. "Maybe cause I wanna have what Master Splinter had with his owner."
"What brought this on?" Donatello asked.
Michelangelo rubbed the back of his head. "Again, I dunno." He shrugged. "I was just thinking about Master Splinter all of a sudden. He had an owner and he considered the dude family. Why don't we?" He looked at Don with a plea for some kind of explanation.
"Well…uh…" Donatello was taken back by this strange behavior his young brother displayed; it was weirder than usual. "It could be a factor on many levels Mikey." The purple clad turtle sighed. "Our owner was a kid and treated us more like we were toys than actual beings. We had a short time with him, yielding more not so pleasant memories than pleasant ones." Looking over at Mike, he could see that none of his replies seem to be helping any. Don leaned over and put a hand on the young turtle's shoulder. "Look Mikey…I maybe smart, but even I can't have an answer for everything." He said as he gave the shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"I suppose not." Michelangelo sighed once more. He reached up to the hand that was on his shoulder and squeezes it in return. "Thanks anyway." The young turtle gave a brave, yet weak smile.
Donatello gave the shoulder one more squeeze. "Sure." He got up to leave. "You going to be ok?" Don asked as he looked back down at Mike. "Do you want to come camp out in my room or something?"
"Nah. I'll be fine." Michelangelo said, shaking his head. "Thanks for the offer though." He handed his mug to Don. "And thanks for the drink."
Donatello nodded. "Ok." He took both mugs in one hand and opens the door. Before leaving, Don looked back at Mike one more time just to make sure everything was going to be fine.
Once Don had left the room, Mike climbed back up to his bed and took the poster out from under his pillow. Laying on his back once more, he let the paper rest on his face so he could look at it while he drifting off to sleep.
A/N: Yeah, it's kind of a short chapter, but one I thought should be written. I've been watching the new TMNTs and it kind of shows Don being more of the older brother to Mikey.
By the way, I knew having Don get mad at Raph was kind of farfetched, but I figure it could happen once and a while.
Thanks for reading, until next time.
