Rating: Overall story rated T

Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.

Warnings: Overall story contains disturbing imagery such as blood, gore and the like, and highly disturbing situations.

Summary: The world as they knew it has gone to ruins. The shadows, once their greatest allies, now harbour threats so great it's safer to risk walking in open daylight and Mikey and April will do anything to keep what remains of their family safe; even if it means abandoning home and everything they knew. This story is AU and is a collaboration between sampsonknightand Zelgadis55.


A/N: Bonding and discoveries abound in this one.

T420000: I would never hurt Mikey *cough*permanently*cough* He's too precious. There's a great scene in 2k3 season 2 episode 12 'What a Croc' which shows the guys swapping weapons and showing just how capable they are. Also, Mikey may push the line a lot but he knows when not to cross it. Usually.

Minnie1015: It sure is, though they still need to talk more yet.


Sekai no Owari

Ch 25

With the sun having come up by now, Donnie removed the tablecloth from the window and wandered over to the bed to check on Mikey once more. As the night had worn on, the recovering turtle had thankfully begun to settle and finally, his fever had abated once more.

Exhausted from the long night of keeping watch, Donnie yawned widely and contemplated waking April to take over again but then decided not to, knowing that she hadn't been sleeping well the last few nights either. Instead, he went to his duffle and pulled out his tablet, opening a file he'd started reading the other day before feeling the need to run from home with his brothers. He had so much knowledge to catch up on and he realised he wouldn't have much chance once they left this place.

Sighing in exhaustion, Donnie leant back, fighting to keep his eyes open when someone stirred at the bed. He looked up to see Leo sitting up and looking confused at being in April's arms.

"Hey," Donnie said softly, tiredly. "Try not to be loud, okay, Leo? We don't want to wake anyone up."

"Why am I sleeping with sis and not Mikey?" Leo yawned quietly.

"Because Mikey was restless through the night," Donnie replied, not wanting to explain the full depths of the problem. "We were worried you might get hurt if Mikey moved too much and rolled on you."

"I would be a pancake," Leo shivered before crawling carefully out of April's arms.

Donnie smiled and smothered a yawn, "You would and not of the edible type like Mikey used to make."

"Mikey made pancakes?" Leo asked in shock, coming up to Donnie and peering nosily over his shoulder to see what he was doing

"Oh yeah, really delicious ones. Chocolate chip pancakes when father wasn't home for breakfast to stop him," Donnie grinned. Seeing Leonardo straining to see what he was looking at, he tilted the screen, showing off the physics document he was reading.

"Really?" Leo licked his lips then suddenly sighed and backed off when he realised he had no clue what he was looking at. "But he can't anymore can he..."

Donnie placed the tablet down, turning it off to conserve power as he did and threw his arms around the small turtle, yanking him forward into his lap and hugging him fiercely. "Probably not," he admitted, "but we might get lucky and maybe we'll find the ingredients for him to make them again someday."

"With chocolate chips?" Leo said excitedly.

"If we're really lucky," Donnie replied softly, squeezing tighter and making Leo squeak.

"Or," April's voice interrupted softly in a slightly teasing lilt. Donnie looked up, startled to see her standing before them with something wrapped held in her hand; he hadn't noticed her wake or get up. She'd probably have made a great ninja if she'd had the training, he mused. "You start collecting now, here is your first ingredient. I was going to give this to you on your birthday, Leo but I think you should have it now so you can start searching for the rest of the ingredients." April handed the item to Leo.

Opening it up, Leo's eyes widened, "Chocolate!" he squealed in delight.

"Shh! Mikey and Raphie are still sleeping," Donnie reminded Leo. He looked up at April in astonishment. "Where did you get that?"

"In one of the desks," she admitted. "Someone left it behind and it would be great for pancakes. Now the thing is, the two of you need to work together to find the rest of the ingredients, which should hopefully be easy enough." April sat down beside them and stretched.

Donnie raised his eyebrow ridges questioningly.

"You have to help him, Donnie, you would know what to look for," April smiled. She then turned and winked at Leo. "Think of it as a quest," she added, knowing that would make Leo excited as his eyes widened even more.

"Like a knight?" Leo asked, almost jumping out of Donnie's arms in his excitement.

"Exactly like a knight and for this quest you have to work together as a team," April instructed. "The rules are, Leo, you have to take Donnie's advice on what can be used. However, you need to instruct Donnie on how to get it. For example, say one of the ingredients is on a top shelf, you and only you Leo, have to tell Donnie how he can reach it, using what is in the room or the skills Donnie would have."

For a moment, Donnie had to suppress a groan at being roped into this but then he realised what April was doing. How she was trying to encourage Leo's natural talents he'd had in their previous lives so he nodded, agreeing with an encouraging smile to work with Leo and do as he asked.

"You will really help me, Donnie?" Leo turned around with a wide grin and puppy eyes that made the normally cold colour look warm.

"Of course I will, Leo," Donnie smiled softly. Then he turned his head to look back up at April apologetically. "I'm sorry we woke you."

"Don't worry, I was meant to be up a while ago but I guess you decided I needed more sleep?" April asked, then turned to Leo, "Leo, you should let Donnie hold onto the chocolate so it doesn't melt or get wrecked or... Mikey eats it."

Taken aback in horror, Leo held his precious chocolate out to Donnie quickly, "Protect it with your life, big brother."

"Of course," Donnie replied solemnly. He gently took the treat and walked over to tuck it into the inner pocket of his duffle bag where it would be as safe as anywhere else. Then he yawned as he sat back down in the chair near the window.

"Donnie, go to bed, you're too young to start these all-nighters," April said gently, "I'll make sure Leo and Raph get breakfast."

"Alright," Donnie nodded gratefully. He picked up his tablet and put it away before practically collapsing onto the mattress April had vacated it. For a minute, he stared across at Mikey, relieved once more to see his brother sleeping peacefully once more and then he too, went to sleep.

-:-

"Mikey... Mikey," a quiet, scratchy-sounding voice called.

"That's seriously creepy," Mikey muttered, shuddering slightly as he turned over, going straight back to sleep.

"Mikey... Mikey..." the voice whispered into his ear again.

"Ugh..." Feeling exhausted and just wanting to sleep more, Mikey raised a hand and sluggishly swatted at the space the annoying voice was coming from. "Lemme alone Audrey. No blood for you today..."

"Audrey? Is she your girlfriend?" the voice singsonged obnoxiously.

"Carnivorous plant," Mikey mumbled petulantly. "Now go 'way and let me sleep."

"Why would you be with a con... plant? What is carniverouseseless mean anyway?" the voice questioned, creeping closer to Mikey's ear.

Mikey grimaced as something wet touched his skin and he shuffled away. Then suddenly awake, he snapped his eyes open to see a drooling infant turtle being held in the air with spit stringing from its mouth and hands frisking the air wanting Mikey to hold him. His eyes widened, suddenly brought back to reality and his heart sank inside his shell as he remembered the events of the last week.

Pushing himself up, Mikey jumped as something fell off his head into his lap. He looked down to see a tea towel and he frowned, wondering why it had been on his head. As he picked it up, a sudden squeal from Raph had him look up again to see Leo struggling to hold their baby brother up and Mikey reached out to take him, making sure to use April's shirt to wipe the drool from the baby turtle's mouth.

With a squealing happy chirp, Raph snatched the t-shirt, sinking his mouth on it to teethe, loving the texture and taste even as Leo blinked and looked up at Mikey, "So what does... carniverouseseless mean?" he asked again very curiously.

"What does what mean?" Mikey asked with a confused blink. He looked around the room to see the sun streaming in through the window he'd covered up the night before. Neither April nor Donnie were anywhere to be seen.

"The plant, you said it's conververous," Leo tilted his head at him.

"The plant? What plant?" Mikey asked, still confused by Leo's question. "Where's Donnie and April? And what time is it?"

"Don't know," Leo answered with a shrug. "They said stay here and left."

For a moment, Mikey felt a thrill of panic shoot through him but then he calmed, realising they were probably just scouting the area. Shifting Raph slightly on his lap, he reached down to his belt and pulled out the Shell-cell. Then he froze in shock. "Two thirty-eight in the afternoon?" he squeaked. "We were meant to leave just after dawn!"

"Sis and Donnie said we are to stay until tomorrow," Leo pointed out what he overheard. Personally, he didn't mind because he didn't want to see any more zombies anyways. They were scary.

"Really?" Mikey asked doubtfully. He thumbed open the tracking app on his phone to see where the others were. To his relief, he saw they weren't that far away by the look of it, probably in the other, larger building. "Why? And why didn't they wake me?" he asked in disbelief.

"You were sick," Leo whimpered.

Mikey looked up in surprise; that explained the exhaustion and run-down feeling he woke up with. His gaze drifted down to the shirt Raph was happily chewing on and realised he must have had a fever and they dampened it to help him. He felt sick all over again as he realised how much of a burden he must have been. If they'd been attacked while he was down... Mikey shuddered at the thought.

"Mikey?" Leo asked squinting at him and getting very close to Mikey's face as if trying to read him.

Mikey blinked and backed away slightly. "What?" he asked, strangely uncomfortable at the proximity and intense stare.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked with a hint of worry, leaning forward even more to place his small, forest-green hand on Mikey's head and blinking at him, "Mikey, you can lay back down if you feel sick, I promise not to bug you and keep Raphie happy."

Realising he was upsetting Leo, Mikey replied with a warm smile. "I'm okay now," he quickly assured. "I'm still kinda tired though. And hungry," he added with sudden realisation.

"Sis said you can have this if she is not back," Leo walked to the counter. He carefully picked up a plate of food and brought it to Mikey.

"Thanks, Chibi-chan," Mikey replied gratefully. He took the plate and set it down beside him. There wasn't a lot, just some stale bread, a small amount of canned corn and some more cold baked beans. Using the fork that came with the plate, Mikey scooped it all onto a slice of bread as best he could and ate it one-handed while trying to keep Raph from grabbing at it and making a mess.

"Did they leave anything made up for Raph?" Mikey asked as he chewed hungrily.

"There is the cup," Leo all but skipped back over to the counter to grab the cup and bring it to Mikey but before Leo could pass the sippy cup to his big brother, Raph had his hands on it quickly, abandoning his chewing and slurping his favourite drink with ravenous hunger.

"Cool cool. So how long have they been gone?" Mikey asked as he finished his open sandwich. He then used the other piece of bread to wipe up the sauce on the plate and ate that too.

"Don't know, last week?" Leo shrugged.

Mikey chuckled, "I'm sure it felt like weeks but they wouldn't leave you alone that long." Biting his lip a moment, he contemplated sending a text but decided against it just in case they were trying to keep hidden. Instead, not quite trusting himself to stand while holding Raph, he placed his brother down on the mattress beside him and stood. For a moment, he felt a little wobbly on his feet but managed to make his way to the sink with the empty plate with little problem. After rinsing it off, he then walked to the window and peered anxiously out of it, thankful that it faced the other building. Mikey stared intently at the building, willing himself to see any sign of April or Donnie but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Mikey, are they okay?" Leo asked anxiously, tugging on his elbow pad. He could tell there was some uncertainty in his big brother's eyes and that made him worried. Leonardo knew his big sister and Donnie could kick butt but if Mikey was acting like this, could there be something wrong?

Mikey glanced down at his phone, gratified to see movement show on it. "I'm sure they're fine, bro. I just don't like being left behind without knowing what's going on, that's all."

"It's okay Mikey. If they are okay... can we play a game? The shell game?" Leo asked eagerly.

Mikey grinned as he looked down, "Sure, Leo. That's a great idea." Not only would it distract them both but it would be fun. "Just one question, do you even know what the Shell Game is?"

-:-

Suddenly there was a knocking at the door which Mikey recognised as his secret knock to April and Leo bounced up, running to unblock the door handle. As Leo opened the door, April, followed by Donnie slipped inside with the latter turning to reblock the door behind them.

"G'morning!" Mikey called cheerfully from where he was seated at a table, three upside-down cups in front of him.

April almost jumped in surprise; she'd figured he would be out all day at least. "You're awake! How are you feeling?"

"A bit tired and lightheaded if I move too fast but otherwise okay," Mikey admitted with a shrug. "Leo said I was sick and that's why we didn't leave?"

"You had a fever and it's due to the fact you've overworked your body. It wants to heal but to do so you needed rest," April explained, looking to the counter to see if Mikey had eaten.

"I really don't remember," Mikey confessed, his gaze following her movement. "I know I was pretty wiped last night but that's about all. By the way, you might wanna wash your shirt before wearing it. It became Raphie's favourite chew toy after I woke up."

April sighed in resignation, "Of course it did. Leo, did Mikey eat everything on his plate?" she asked him. When he nodded, she turned back to Mikey. "Good boy, Mikey. Now you need to take some more antibiotics."

"Ugh... more?" he whined in disbelief.

"Ugh, yes, more! Do you want to get sicker and keep us here even longer?" April asked, crossing her arms and tapping one finger as she stared the stubborn mutant down.

"No, of course, I don't. But..."

"But what?"

Mikey sighed and fiddled with one of the upside-down cups in front of him. "I know our supplies are really limited. What if they're needed later but I used them all now? Besides, they taste disgusting."

"Mikey, we can't think like that and besides what good will it do if you become sicker? You already had another fever! Your arm is trying to heal but looks like it could get infected again if not treated right." April let out a sigh, not believing this was even a debate. Yes, it was important having the supplies but it was also important that he used what he needed when he needed it. "Mikey, I'm no doctor, however, I do recall the last time I had an infection I was told to take the antibiotics for ten days and not miss one nor stop taking them even once I felt fine. You need to be healthy, Mikey and missing them you will only use up the supplies more if we have to start you over again on these drugs."

"April's right, Mikey," Donnie piped up softly, sitting beside his older brother and touching his uninjured arm. "It was no fun being woken last night only to be told you were sick again. We need you so can you please stop arguing and just get better?"

"Sorry, Donnie. It's not that I'm trying to argue, just... I'm worried too, okay?" Mikey leaned back in his chair and sighed. "So how long are we staying here now?" he asked, turning to look at April.

"I figured we could start off again tomorrow or the day after, depending on how you fair tonight. As I see it, we are safe here for now and yes this definitely isn't a suitable place to make it permanent but going out there before you're ready is riskier than seeking shelter here. We have fresh water which will be harder to come by later and we can survive on what we have for supplies. If I must, I can set some traps to hunt some wild game if this lags on a couple of days," April answered, taking a seat as well and placing the bag she carried on the table.

Mikey nodded, once again wishing he wasn't slowing everyone down yet again, but also grateful no one was pushing him further when he wasn't fully up to it. "Actually, much as I hate to say it, it might be a good idea to do that anyway. If we catch anything, I can always turn it into jerky so we have meat for the road," he said, feeling sick at the thought. April had been right though when she caught that rabbit and it wasn't like it was the first time they'd killed for food. Well, his brothers had, he refused to help but he had cooked it after.

"Okay," April agreed, looking relieved at the idea. "I'll work something out and set it up a bit later."

"Cool," he said. Then, changing the subject, he nodded to the bag. "What did you find? Anything interesting or useful?"

"A few things, but first," April turned to Leonardo, "Leo, your father taught you the importance of not treating a weapon as a toy, correct?"

Leo nodded and parroted, "Yes, a weapon should be respected and is not a toy to be played with without supervision."

"Good, I found a weapon and I want you to treat it like any other weapon. It is not a toy and I don't want you to touch it under any circumstances, okay?" April said sternly. Then she reached into the bag and carefully pulled out a hand revolver.

"Yes sis," Leo promised, blinking at the gun. Before this, he'd only seen one in books.

Mikey stiffened at the sight of it, unable to hide his distaste.

"It only has three bullets," Donnie piped up, "but it could be handy in an emergency."

"A very rare emergency when dealing with humans," April reiterated. "As for zombies, not a good idea unless desperate. Other than that, I wouldn't even bother with it otherwise but considering the amount of effort to get into the room where the guy uh... kicked his own bucket..."

"Why would he kick a bucket? Why would he do that?" Leo suddenly asked, not understanding.

"Well um... Ask your big brother when you're older," April coughed, quickly moving on. She then took out a few more items they found while scavenging. She pulled out a few packages of peanuts, chips, corn nuts and cookies that were surprisingly in good shape that they found in a vending machine that someone had broken into. However, luckily for them, they hadn't taken everything.

"The chips are a couple of months past their best before dates but they should still be fine," Donnie noted helpfully. "It wouldn't be the first time we ate food out of date," he shrugged.

"Cool," Mikey nodded, reaching out for a bag of the chips. It was so long since the last time he'd been able to eat true snack food he was almost salivating at the thought.

"We also found some more items. Not much but they might come in handy and we also found a few things to pass the time with." April brought out a Swiss army knife, a small pair of collapsible binoculars, a few books and a deck of cards.

"Damn, April! You're a lifesaver!" Mikey cheered upon sight of the cards and a book he'd been wanting to read forever. When Leo looked up at him in confusion, Mikey waved the pack around, "This is so much better than the Shell Game," he exclaimed happily. "There're heaps of games you can play with cards and I'll teach you all of them! Plus, they're light and won't add much to the weight we're carrying!"

"Well, that's all we found that was still useful or in one piece but that said there is still more of the place we haven't explored and also, we need to establish securing this building since there are too many hiding places. I for one don't want to open the door and come face to face to a zombie, even if we do only stay for one night," April pointed out. Then she slammed her fist in the palm of her opposite hand, suddenly remembering something, "Oh that's right! Also, sometime today we need to go through everything we have so we know who has what. I'd prefer to know in case we need an item someone else has and so on."

"Yes," Donnie agreed, nodding. "We were meant to go through that last night before going to bed."

"Yeah, about that... sorry," Mikey cringed sheepishly, remembering he was the one who went to bed first, even if he didn't really mean to. Before anyone could reply, Mikey looked up at April. "How are we supposed to secure this building though? The window's smashed and unless you found planks of wood and a hammer and nails, there's nothing we can do about that."

Donnie looked up, hesitating slightly.

"Do you have an idea, Don?" Mikey asked encouragingly.

"Maybe," Donnie admitted. "From what we saw, this is a maintenance centre for farm equipment and trucks. I did see some metal sheeting stocked in one area. If they have that, they're bound to have a rivet gun and rivets somewhere. If we can find them, we can use that to cover the window," he suggested.

"That would keep us safe if it comes to it that we need to stay a few days and also help shelter any other survivors that travel this way after we're gone," April pointed out.

"Then how about Donnie and I go find what we need?" Mikey suggested, eager to leave the room and stretch his legs a bit.

"I don't know Mikey," April said hesitantly.

"Well, you said we need to secure this place, even if it's just for the night," Mikey reminded her, a hint of a whine in his voice.

"Yes, but I also said you need to heal and I'm not..."

"Maybe Mikey should go," Leo interrupted, having the others look at him. Swallowing, he shifted his feet nervously, "Mikey will get upset if he can't help... If you let him do this, he will be good after, I know it but he won't if you don't let him help. He will only get sicker 'cause he is worried and feels helpless."

Mikey nodded eagerly. "What the wise leader said!"

Donnie looked doubtful.

"Who is five," April rolled her eyes.

"I'm almost six sis..." Leo protested.

"See? The wise, fearless leader who is only days away from being six thinks me helping is a good idea," Mikey teased, showing how full of energy he felt.

Buttering her up, Leonardo placed his hand on April's, giving her pleading puppy eyes, "Please sis," his lip trembled. Then, having her undivided attention, flashed a look of horror in Mikey's direction, making sure she saw it clear as day and then turned back to her with the most heart-wrenching sadness in his eyes. "Mikey will be a pain! If you don't let him help... he will annoy you and make you wish you let him go. Don't sis... don't make him sad too..."

"Wow, you make me sound awful, chibi-chan! I'm not that bad!" Mikey laughed. Then realising he shouldn't be laughing at his brother's efforts to help him, he somehow managed to school his laughter, turning on his own wide, pleading eyes and quivering lip. "Please April? If I don't get out for a bit, I'm going to go stir crazy, and then you'll have to deal with Raphie. You know how he gets when he's woken up before he's ready."

"So it comes down to blackmail?" April asked dryly, raising an eyebrow and leaning back in her chair as she crossed her arms.

"There is no black mail sis," Leo pointed out in confusion as he looked about the room.

Donnie sighed. "Might as well let Mikey join me. It's not like we're going far and I doubt he's changed that much since he was twelve."

"Meaning?" April gave Donnie a questioning look.

"Meaning that he's a royal pain in the shell when he's bored and it's not like we have much entertainment to occupy him while he recuperates," Donnie replied flatly, resting his head in his hand as if already tired of dealing with Mikey. "And unfortunately, he's obviously at the stage where he's well enough to need occupying."

Letting out a sigh, April gave in. "I was afraid you would say that. Fine..." April groused. Then narrowing her eyes, she zeroed in on the injured turtle, "but Mikey, you promise me not to overdo it or we will be staying here longer than we anticipate."

"Turtle's honour!" Mikey replied excitedly, saluting April as he did. "Trust me!"

"That trust goes about as far I can throw you at this moment," April said dryly.

-:-

Mikey followed Donnie through the other building as he led the way to where he'd seen the sheets of metal. Donnie pulled one free and stared at it critically. "It doesn't really matter if it's oversized," he murmured. "We aren't staying so long as to waste time making it look pretty."

Mikey nodded numbly as he leant back against the wall, watching his younger brother.

"Are you tired again, Mikey?" Donnie asked, glancing up in concern.

"A bit," Mikey shrugged noncommittally, "but I'll be okay."

"Not if you push yourself too much too soon," Donnie replied sharply, turning away to pull another metal sheet aside.

"So you and April keep saying," Mikey huffed in annoyance over the repeated sentiment. So he'd had a bad night according to everyone else, he hadn't meant to and he certainly didn't remember it; although, he'd definitely had a few jacked up dreams he preferred not to remember. "Dude's gotta get out for a bit, you know."

"I know," Donnie replied, dragging the sheets over to the wall beside Mikey. He began to wander around, looking for the rivets and rivet gun he knew must be nearby.

Mikey pushed away from the wall to keep at least somewhat near Donnie as he searched. "So you and April seemed to be getting on okay this afternoon."

"Yeah, I guess."

"But last night things seemed a bit strained between you both."

Donnie stopped dead in his tracks. "Is that why you wanted to join me so badly? To talk to me about how I was acting last night like I'm some child?"

"You got me, but it's not as bad as you're making out," Mikey shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you last night when we switched shifts, but... I guess I flaked too hard."

"Flaked too hard?" Donnie asked incredulously. He whirled around to face Mikey full on. "You had a high fever, Mikey! Thankfully April noticed early on and cleaned and redressed your damn wound! Ugh! You should have done that or let one of us do it yesterday before leaving the bus, or better yet, the night before! If you had... then maybe things wouldn't have..."

"I'm sorry bro," Mikey said softly, cutting him off. "I wasn't thinking about that, I was too worried about you guys."

"Because we can't look after ourselves anymore?" Donnie retorted in annoyance.

"I know you can, Donnie, but Leo and Raph sure can't. As for you and April... I thought you'd put that not trusting her thing behind you after she found you in the woods the other day?"

Donnie just stared up at his much taller brother. "I did! Or... I tried. I am trying, okay?" he replied, frustrated. "But then... last night... she started acting all secretive again after she promised to stop hiding things."

Mikey sighed and picked up a nearby fallen stool to sit on. "It's not that she's hiding things as such bro, it's more that she doesn't know in the first place and it's hurting her not knowing. April's been discovering new things about herself really recently, changes, and she doesn't know how to talk to you about it because you're the one who should have known them in the first place."

Donnie just stared up at him incredulously.

"She can't even really talk to me either, because I don't get that stuff," Mikey continued seriously, picking at his single still intact elbow pad. He really needed to fix the other one, if he ever found material or time, to do so. "We joke around a lot but it's not the same thing. It helps me cope with the way things are and I think it helps her a lot too, but not as much as it does me."

Donnie pushed himself up on a nearby worktable to sit facing Mikey. "Yeah, you were kinda that way when you were my age, but..."

"Not as much as now?" Mikey smiled knowingly.

"Yes," Donnie replied with a sigh.

"Yeah, we've been through so much the last seven years or so. I don't think I could have coped without my 'stupid jokes' as Raph called them," Mikey laughed, remembering how Raph would come after him whenever he opened his mouth or slap him upside the head.

Donnie's face twitched as if trying not to smile.

"Look, I know things are hard right now and I can't see them getting much better any time soon," Mikey said softly. "The five of us only have each other so please try not to give April a hard time if she doesn't open up and explain something straight away. Everyone has private parts of themselves they don't or can't share until they are ready. It's not intentional, it's just... sometimes hard. And personal."

"Yeah, I guess..." Donnie frowned, his gaze meeting the ground.

"Besides, April's got nothing on Raph! Now there was a dude who kept shit mostly to himself!" Mikey snorted, a smile beginning to play on his face once more. "Like you know how he'd always had a temper problem?"

"Yes," Donnie nodded, remembering all too well the bursts of temper and tantrums over the years.

"Weeelllll," Mikey began, his secretive little smile growing exponentially, "One of Master Splinter's attempts to help him with that was to teach him to knit."

"To knit?" Donnie asked incredulously. "Seriously?"

Mikey nodded eagerly. "For sure! And after that, every Christmas he'd give the rest of us hand-knitted scarves, mittens and beanies but said they were all store-bought. It was hilarious how he thought he was getting away with it when we all knew the truth."

Donnie's shoulders started shaking as he tried to hide his amusement.

"And then there's Leo," Mikey continued, his grin growing impossibly wider. "The most uptight guy we've ever known. He had his little secrets he couldn't tell anyone either, simply because he didn't know how to bring them up or knew we'd make fun of him for them."

"What kind of things would Leo have kept to himself?" Donnie asked in amazement, remembering how Leo became more serious, working harder than ever immediately after being named team leader and clan heir.

Unable to help the burst of laughter, Mikey choked out, "His choice of leisure reading material. He always slipped the dust jacket of some more serious book he knew Master Splinter would approve of over the top to hide what he was really reading, but I could tell thanks to how he reacted. His skin would be flushed and his eyes lit up and he would pant ever so slightly in a way 'The Art of War' could never make anyone do."

Now Donnie joined in the laughter also. "What the shell was he really reading then?"

"Cheesy romance novels!" Mikey burst out in delight at being able to share. "Total 'Bodice Rippers' as Ape calls 'em!"

"And then!" Mikey gasped a few minutes later, half surprised he hadn't fallen off the stool from laughter, "there was the secret little vice that you thought you kept to yourself too!"

Red in the face from laughing until he was almost sick, Donnie immediately stopped, instead gaping and staring at Mikey in worry. "And what was that?" he asked in sudden trepidation.

Mikey just grinned and waggled his finger mockingly in Donnie's direction. "That would be telling, little brother."

-:-


A/N: Leo's 'dirty little secret' is actually a long-held headcanon of mine. I actually have a story half-written based on when it's discovered by a certain nosy pair of brothers. Unfortunately, I uh... started writing it straight onto the computer instead of paper like I normally do, got distracted and am now having trouble getting back to finishing it. Usually what I do in those circumstances is start typing up the story and that pulls me back into the headspace for it. Maybe I'll have to print it out and retype or just handwrite what I have so far? haha

Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.