Not a Baby
Rated K
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Not now, not before and not later.
Down far under the streets, deep in the sewers hidden from prying eyes of even the occasional person who might have to come that way for repairs or what have you, was a home. It wasn't a large home but it suited those who lived there, four young turtles and their father who was a rat, all of them had mutated some years ago and Splinter who was older then they had been teaching them lessons in many things, math reading, writing and most importantly lessons in how to stay in the shadows.
Mike rolled his eyes "I'm bored" he groaned, "I wanna play a game" he declared.
Don glanced up from where he was reading a book, he had been perched on Splinter's chair since the Master had left reading the story of Robin Hood, while patiently waiting for their father to return from a trip to scavenge a few supplies, all of them knew Splinter didn't like going out during the day and leaving them alone. Their surrogate father was worried something might happen, the idea of getting into trouble might occur to one or more of them. Still when Mike got bored of sitting and doing nothing, then he was apt to start thinking of things to do. Don glanced towards Leo and Raph who were silently playing games of tic-tac-toe on scrap paper.
"I said I'm booooooooooorrrrrrred" Mike sang out, feeling that he was being ignored.
Leo and Raph turned to face him, and both sighed, almost in unison.
"I've enough of this Leo" Raph admitted.
"Okay Mikey what game do you want to play." Leo asked as he got up off the floor where he had been sprawled.
"How bout hide and seek?" Mike beamed. He loved hide and seek.
"That's a baby's game" Raph snorted he cast a dirty look at Leo. "We could play truth or dare."
Leo grinned, in agreement with Raph "Or blind man's bluff." He offered, "Face it Mike hide and seek isn't any fun."
"Yes it is" Mike declared.
"No it ain't. It's a game for babies Mike were seven now, not babies anymore." Raph corrected, "So we wanta play a game more our age."
Mike pouted a bit, his large bottom lip sticking out over the top, "Hide seek not baby game. It Fun!"
"Only if you are a baby. Besides there are no good hiding spots in here" Leo declared gesturing to the room.
"There's lots" Mike protested.
"Look Mike," Raph came over and rested a hand on his brother's shoulder, " You want to play with Leo and I you gotta play a big boy game with us. None of that little baby stuff game. You are the same age we are. So you ought to have lost interest in it." He explained as gently as he could.
Mike sighed crossing thin arms over his plastron "Why do you call it baby game?"
"Because it is Mike and only babies want to play it." Leo assured him. "You want to have fun with us don't you?" Leo asked as he crouched a bit before his brother.
Mike bobbed his head enthusiastically in response, Leo and Raph always played neat games but sometimes the games they played seemed a little scary even if they were fun, much as he wanted to play with them some of what they did made him uncertain about joining in, yet when Splinter was gone there wasn't much he could do because Raph and Leo played together and Donny liked to read, which meant he Mike could draw or read, he'd been drawing for what felt like hours and he didn't feel like reading because he knew Raph called the books he read baby books. Raph called a lot of things he did baby stuff.
Just the other day he had told Raph his special friend, who no one could see but him was going come play. Raph had told him "Don't be such a baby Mike."
"You play hide and seek when Splinter is here." Mike pointed out in last bit of protest.
"Yeah well that's kinda different Mike" Leo muttered, none of them felt like telling their father they felt they were above such games, and so when Splinter heard Mike asking the others to play he would encourage the rest of them to join in. Then of course they felt they had to, were absolutely obliged to, and so they would play but resented the very fact they had to oblige Mike in his demands. Mike loved hide and seek but their home was not overly furnished and it wasn't easy to find a good hiding spot, not like when Splinter took them to the park long after dark to let them play there. Then the game was a challenge and fun.
"So what's it gonna be kid, ya gonna play wit us?" Raph asked grinning at Mike as he placed an arm around his brother's shoulders.
"Yeah!" Mike cheered as he pumped a small fist into the air, feeling suddenly like he was a part of his brother's and their games, he really didn't want to let it go.
"Okay then" Leo grinned. He glanced towards Don "You in Donny?"
Don shook his head, "No thanks Leo" he said hardly raising his head from the book.
"Okay truth or dare first Leo" Raph gave a wicked grin.
"Sure Raph and I will start first. Mike truth or dare?" Leo asked.
Mike thought about it Truth he knew was playing it safe, but he wanted to show his brother's he wasn't a baby, especially after everything they said about hide and seek. "Uh...dare." he answered.
Leo gave a chuckle and leaned forward whispering something to Mike before sitting back trying not to laugh, Raph watched his eye ridges as he saw Mike's puzzled look wondering what Leo had asked him to do.
"Go on Mike you heard me" Leo goaded.
"Okay" Mike heaved a sigh as he went over to where Don was, he stood in front of the chair waiting until Don looked up then he leaned forward and kissed Don, causing Don to sputter and try to pull away from the kiss, then Mike yanked the book out of Don's hand taking off with it as fast as he could go to the delight of Leo and Raph.
"Hey what's the big idea?" Don snapped.
"Got your nose out of the book" whooped Leo between his laughter.
"You told him to do it. You get it back for me" Don ordered sharply.
"Spoil sport" Raph commented.
"Okay Mikey, that's enough give Donny back his book" Leo called out.
Mike grinned glad he had handled the dare so well, he willingly came back and handed the book to Don, "Sorry I had to." he beamed innocently.
Don muttered and grumbled over having lost his space and settled back to find out where he had been.
"Raph's turn now" Leo announced.
"Okay Mike truth or dare?" Raph asked.
"I just did it" Mike moaned.
"Yeah for Leo, my turn I get to ask who I want and I pick you, so which is it?" Raph said.
Mike scowled feeling that wasn't quite right, it almost seemed if his brother's were purposely picking on him. But still he didn't want to seem like a baby, even though the last dare had been very hard, grudgingly he said "Dare."
"Okay go in the dojo and bring back a weapon." Raph stated.
Don looked up "No Mike you know Splinter wouldn't..."
"Shut up your not playin' member?" Raph shot out, "It is for Mike to do or he's gotta suffer the con...conse..."
"Consequences" Don finished for him.
"Yeah that." Raph agreed. "So Mike gonna do it?"
Mike shifted uneasily on his feet, "I can't Raph. Splinter would...well...uh-uh" Mike shook his head backing up having an angry brother, even three angry brother's wasn't quite as bad as angering Splinter and they had two very strict rules that Splinter would reprimand them for quite harshly, one was they were never to leave their home when he was gone, the other was they were never to touch the weapons in the dojo. Mike felt nothing could be worse then Splinter perhaps finding out he had broken one of the rules.
"Okay well that means you hafta be punished by us cause you didn't do the dare." Raph informed him, he looked at Leo "What do ya think Leo?"
Leo and Raph whispered ideas back and forth and Raph laughed "Yeah that will do it. Okay Mike bring us a blanket from off your bed."
"Why?" Mike asked.
"Just do it" Raph demanded.
"Okay" Mike heaved a sigh, he decided he didn't like this game, he'd rather play hide and seek, but he fetched his blanket, though he did so hesitantly for he had no idea what his brother's had planned for him.
Leo took the blanket from him "Okay just stand there Mike." Leo wrapped the blanket around Mike's waist area and between the legs, tying it in place so it looked like a strange diaper, "That ought to do it."
"Now we turn your mask so you can't see." Raph said.
"No" Mike whimpered. "I don't wanna play no more."
"What backing out now because you're a baby?" Raph asked.
"No I just don't like this game" Mike complained.
"We aren't going hurt you Mike" Leo crooned, "Honest, it will be just for a little while" he assured his brother.
Mike groaned wanting a hole to open up as he finally relented allowing his brothers to turn his mask around so all he could see was darkness, it wasn't that he was afraid of the dark he just didn't like it.
"Now for the last bit, soon as you do this it is over" Raph said, "You have to suck your thumb and say I'm a big baby."
Mike balked at that, he had done everything he could to prove he wasn't a baby. He didn't think he was a baby, and he wasn't going to say it "I won't say it and you can't make me" he snapped, "Now let me go. I've had enough of this game."
"No, not till you do as we say" Raph declared firmly.
Don glowered "Let him be. Let him go"
"You gonna make us" Raph sneered.
Don got out of the chair and came towards his brothers, "Come off it Leo you know this isn't very nice."
Leo shifted a bit and glanced at Raph who shot him a dirty warning look, "It's just a game Don." Leo said nervously.
"Not a very fun one either, from the looks of it" Don grouched as he grabbed Mike's bandanna and turned it, "Go on Mike."
Mike glanced uneasily between all his brothers he could tell Leo, Raph and Don were all upset and he felt embarrassed and humiliated he gratefully scuttled off to his bedroom, where he unwrapped the blanket and flopped onto the bed crying.
When Splinter arrived home he could sense the tension in the air and saw no sign of Michaelangelo "Where is your brother?"
"He went to his room Master" Don answered getting out of the chair and glaring at the other two turtles.
Splinter nodded, he could tell that Don did not want to tattle and the other two were not about to confess. "What happened today?"
"We just played a game" Leo replied looking away.
Splinter nodded and headed for Mike's room he entered and found his son on the bed crying tiny heaves wracking the turtle's frame. "Michaelangelo what is wrong my son? What has upset you?"
Mike looked up sniffing and wiping his eyes with a hand, he didn't want to tattle but he was at breaking point after the mean things his brothers had done and he wanted to get back at them, he had been lying in his room plotting how to get back at his brothers, except for Don who had been nice. "Leo and Raph keep callin' me a baby. We played truth or dare and I kept going dare to prove I'm not a baby but..." Mike's breath hitched and he hiccupped, "When I didn't do one dare they wanted me to say I was a baby and suck my thumb like one."
Splinter sat down on the bed, and gathered his son into his arms pulling him close "Michaelangelo you are as far as I know the same age as your brothers, for we all mutated at the same time, and you have all grown learning the same thing at the same time as well" Splinter comforted.
"But I don't read as well." Mike pointed out, "Not like the others."
"You don't read as much, you do not concentrate, because your imagination gets ahead of you, you start to read and then think of what might happen." Splinter smiled, "You get so busy thinking of what might be, you stop reading all together. Different people learn different ways. You can not be expected to be exactly like your brothers." Splinter soothed as he stroked the child's carapace. "You make wonderful drawings and fantastic stories those are your strengths, the others can't do as well as you there."
Mike sniffed, "Is it possible I am younger then the others though?"
Splinter bowed his head, "I suppose anything is possible my son, but you could also be older then them. None of us will ever know when you were hatched or who hatched first or even if your eggs were in the same clutch. We can only go on what we know. I know you were all the same size when I found you, so that tells me you had to be around the same age for if one of you was even a few weeks older then you would have been larger then the other three. You all walked and talked around the same time, though you spoke first."
Mike sighed and hiccupped again "I don't like it when Raph and Leo tease me calling me baby" he confessed as he looked up in the rat's whiskery face.
"Names can hurt and it isn't nice to be called them" Splinter agreed, "Or to say them. Come Michaelangelo." Splinter took Mike's hand and the two went out to the living room. "Raphael and Leonardo, I believe you owe your brother an apology it isn't nice to call others names."
Raph was about to speak but Leo smacked him, causing Raph to hit him in return.
"Enough!" Splinter barked, "Your behaviour is unacceptable. I will not have any more name calling. You four must learn to work together to become a team. All of you are essential and all of you are needed to help the others. Each of you have strengths and weaknesses that can aid or hinder you. You must learn to rely on those who are strong where you are weak."
"Yes Master." Leo agreed even though he didn't quite understand what his Master was getting at, he had been feeling pretty bad about how they had treated Mike so willingly apologized followed by Raphael who didn't seem as willing. Leo felt so low for his part in it though he was willing to protect Mike from any flak Raph might give to Mike over this.
Sure enough when Raph tried to corner Mike later that evening Leo and Don came up behind Raph hearing Raph call Mike a baby and a tattletale.
"You are a bully Raph. Mike isn't bad at all" Leo declared, "Tell you what Mike want to play hide and seek with Don and I?"
"Really no kidding?" Mike asked timidly.
"Really no kidding" Leo grinned "I know we weren't nice with truth or dare Mike I'm sorry about that."
"That's okay Leo I don't mind" Mike beamed he was willing to forgive and forget now.
"I won't call you that any more. Hide and seek isn't too bad, I just wish we had better places to hide." Leo confessed.
"Yeah me too, you playing Raph?" Mike asked.
"Naw he probably wants to be a baby and pout in a corner" Don said.
"I ain't a baby." Raph growled.
"Then I dare you to play hide and seek. Your it!" Mike shouted gleefully as a large smile played about his face.
"Okay I will" Raph said.
Splinter watched his sons and smiled secretively that was much more like it his four sons learning and playing together. He knew for a fact hide and seek was one game they would never grow out of for they were ninja and they would need to hide and they would need each other, and it didn't matter who was older or younger or even if they were the same age for their age didn't make a difference to him, or to the life they all had to lead.
The End