"And you promise one of you will be with me?" Mikey whispers lowly and I smile, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently.

"Every class is with either of us, and we won't leave you in between classes okay? The teachers won't mind if we're a bit later if it means getting you to the next class safely"

"I just.. it's been so long since I've gone to a place with so many people" Mikey adds shyly, watching the teens that were walking past us with almost narrowed eyes, his muscles tensed. But as expected no one looked at us, they just walked around us. Didn't care, didn't notice Mikey's distress.

"We understand little bro, and that's okay. High school is a scary place for everyone" Don says with a grin and Mikey reacts by giving a smile as well, even if it was less, it was genuine. "You'll be fine" Don tries to reassure his only little brother, looking up as the first bell rang.

Without saying anything, and Raph and me exchanging some looks, we start heading towards the school. I feel Mikey creeping closer to me, whether consciously or not, but I didn't object. He had first and second period with me, Don joining us for second period. And throughout the days we all had combined classes.

I glance at Mikey as Raph and Don both go their separate ways and I can see he's tensing when a crowd of high school students walk past him on either side. I snake a hand around his hand for a second, not visible in the crowd surrounding us but it makes Mikey look up.

"Daijyobu desu" I whisper and he nods shyly, understanding the statement even if it was Japanese. We've been teaching him a lot of that, and It's okay was a sentence we often uttered.

"Hey Leo" I beam at the voice when I enter the classroom, looking over at the approaching figure of Karai.

"Hey Karai" I greet her, stepping sideways slightly and looking back at Mikey, who seems to be horribly out of place right now, blue eyes darting around the classroom. "This is my little brother Mikey, he's in the same class"

At the mention of Mikey Karai's smile falters a bit for a second, knowing who Mikey was, and his background. But she quickly recovered, putting on a smirk instead, not the one to fake a smile just for the heck of it.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Karai, his better half" She grins and I gape as Mikey snickers at the reaction. He looks up at me, cocking his eyebrow. Seriously, what happened to the boy who just came to live with us? It was a pleasant change, but right now he was abusing that change, using it against me.

"You wish Karai" I snort, and Karai snorts as well, hitting me in the chest. I was about to retort when the teacher scraped her throat, catching our attention. "Right.. come on" I say, flashing an apologising smile to the teacher before leading Mikey to the back of the class, where I usually sat next to Karai.

I flashed her a grateful smile when she sat down one table behind mine, allowing Mikey to sit next to me.

Luckily the teacher had enough sense not to announce Mikey as being new, and it wasn't unusual for students to be transferred to another school after Christmas, so not even the students were all that surprised by Mikey's sudden appearance. And most knew about the newest addition to the Hamato family.

I could see Mikey wasn't at ease, constantly glancing around the glass as laughter boomed through the class, shrinking in on himself. Eventually the teacher shushed the class and gave us our assignments to do.

"Michelangelo?" I look up at the voice, gazing at the teacher standing next to my table and looking at Mikey. "Is it okay if I talk to you for a second in the hallway?" She glances at me for a second but I just look over at Mikey, who in turn looks at me.

"I'll go with you" I assure him, standing up first and holding out a hand for Mikey as an invitation. The class didn't even pay attention, they had seen it more than enough when Raph was just enrolled 5 years ago, and we generally weren't afraid to show our love for each other by hugs or holding my brother's hand.

"I talked with your counsellor yesterday but I wanted to hear it from you so I can help you the best I can" I smile gently, nudging Mikey almost as we both stood in front of our teacher. She was sweet, and genuinely caring, and she was also the one who Raph was the most comfortable with. Even if she didn't teach him.

"What do you want to know?" Mikey asks softly, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Jessica, as she was called, smiled gently.

"I don't want you telling anything you don't want to tell me, but how far is your education?" I'm glad she didn't ask, or didn't add the sentence 'as you were in a brothel for 5 years', but the silent addition was present.

Mikey frowns for a moment before looking up. "During the day we were allowed to be together.. one of the girls was a college graduate and taught us everything she knew to pass the time." Jessica listened, mixed emotions on her face but didn't say anything. "They allowed it because it kept us busy, which meant we wouldn't cause trouble"

I blink a couple of times, surprised Mikey would say this much, but at the same time, Jessica had this effect on Raph as well, and other students. It wasn't weird that she was that one teacher everyone went to to talk about their problems. And her being a woman helped as well, since Mikey still had trouble facing older man as they hurt him.

"Thank you for telling me this Mikey" She stopped, glancing at the both of us at the use of his nickname but I just shrug, it was okay for people to call him Mikey, he preferred it actually. "How far are you with history?"

There was a glimmer in his eyes, and I laugh silently as I knew history was his favourite subject. "Everything mostly, Middle Ages, the Old ages, the two World Wars. She wasn't American originally, so she studied history differently." Jessica nodded.

"It is, but luckily for you this is World History, we're at the second World War right now" Jessica explained. "That was everything I wanted to ask, if you ever feel like you're falling behind or you don't understand something, you can ask me any time. Okay?" She asks, looking at Mikey.

Much to my surprise Mikey smiled, nodding before the smile disappeared, but a grin kept plastered on his face. He looked at me for a moment before turning back to the classroom again.

"How are you doing?" Jessica suddenly asks as Mikey enters the classroom, I frown, watching Mikey but he just sits down, undisturbed by my absence almost so I turn to Jessica again.

"A bit overwhelmed honestly" I tell her, knowing she was talking about the whole situation. "He's come a long way already but it's still walking on eggshells sometimes" I tell her honestly and she nods.

"You'll get through this, I see how he looks at you sometimes, he trusts you, your bond is better than your bond with Raph all those years ago." I wince slightly, but nod nevertheless.

"Well Raph didn't know how to trust at all, Mikey had.. people he trusted back there" Jessica smiles but shakes her head slightly.

"Still, from what I've heard he had it rough.. I'm surprised to see him trusting you this much" Jessica says, putting a hand on my shoulder for a second. "Take care Leo"

TMNT

"You survived?" Raph asks the moment we sit down at our table. Mikey lets out a dramatic sigh.

"You weren't kidding" He says quietly, looking at Raph, who in turns smirks.

"High school's horrible isn't it?" Mikey nods in confirmation, grabbing the lunch dad has made him from his bag. "At least dad spares us from further torture by making us lunch" Raph remarks, glancing at the tray of food that Karai had carried to the table.

"Raph" Donnie suddenly says, sounding quite alarmed. Raph looks up, eyes focused on something. I turn around, noticing his team walking over to our table, before immediately looking back at Mikey, who was tensing and glancing around already.

Raph sends me a look, silently assuring me.

"Raph!" Another voice exclaims, slapping Raph on the back and grinning at us.

"Casey" Raph grumbles, looking at the approaching team. "Can ya like sit somewhere else, now is not really a great idea" Immediately Casey looks over at Mikey and a look of understanding crosses his face.

"Sure thing man, see you at practice?" Casey almost whispers, fist bumping Raph, who sends him a grateful nod. "Come on boys, Karai is talking girly things, we don't want to be part of that" Casey jokes and Karai glares at the boy.

"Jerk" She says, throwing her apple at his head, hitting him head on but Casey just grins, leading the team away from their table to another table. A few teammates glance at both Raph and Mikey, knowing and undoubtedly understanding the story. Despite popular belief, the team wasn't made of bullies, and were great friends of everyone.

And they knew of Mikey, and his background. Just as they knew what Raph had gone through.

"Casey?" Mikey asks softly, looking at his older brother.

"Best friend of mine, known him ever since I stepped foot in this school. He had some issues at home as well so we instantly bonded I guess" Raph shrugs.

"They're both mentally unstable, you don't want to get between them" Donnie voices, with a snicker.

"Let's not mention you and April" Raph retorts and Donnie rolls his eyes, grabbing his lunch as well. Mikey seems to relax slightly at the bickering, and the fact that he knew everyone at the table except Karai, but somehow they had both talked quite a lot during history for some reason.

I was glad, Karai was one of my best friends. And it pained me to not invite her to my house anymore because I was afraid of Mikey's reaction. But despite all my, our, expectations, Mikey seems to be handling school quite well.

TMNT

"I don't get it" Mikey groans, letting himself fall onto the bed with a dramatic sigh.

"History again?" Donnie asks, not looking up from his own desk where he was making his own homework.

"Yes" Mikey almost shouts, frustration bleeding from his voice. "The World War was started and fought by Germany basically, and yet there's barely anything in here about Germany. No NSDAP, no nationalism, no Nazi's"

"It wouldn't have been a World War without America" Donnie comments. "And America did supply countless weapons, and fought in Asia"

"True but there's nothing about Europe, not even Stalingrad" Donnie smirks at Mikey's complaints.

"Americans probably complain about the lack of America in European text books." Don continues and Mikey puts his book down, glancing at his immediate older brother. "That Dutch friend of mine told they only learned about the European side of the war, nothing about America except D-Day and Pearl Harbour"

Mikey is silent for a moment before he glares. "Fine, you win" He scowls playfully and Don grins, turning around to his younger brother.

"Are you gonna bleach your hair forever?" He suddenly asks, putting his arms over the chair and looking at the newly bleached hair of his younger brother. Mikey's face falls slightly and he sits up fully, legs crossed on Donnie's bed. He ruffles slightly through his own hair, as far as he comfortably could with the light spikes he had in his hair.

"I don't know" He admits but it's not sad, his voice is light. Unsure about the future of his hair but not unsure of answering the question and Don smiled at that.

"It suits you" Don says and Mikey beams. "When did you… bleach it?" At this Mikey's smile falters, and he stares down, looking at his hands that were now resting on his lap. Don kept silent, knowing that interrupting now, and telling him he didn't have to tell, was worse than letting him decide for himself.

"They saw I was partly Asian and they thought.. it would affect my likeability.. so they bleached it to make me more American" Don could only stare at the confession, shellshocked at the realisation that they bleached his hair to make him more attractive to customers.

It sickened him.

"Is that why you keep it like that? Because you think .. we like you more this way?" Don eyes at the newly bleached hair, feeling his stomach turn at the possibility, but Mikey's eyes widen at the question.

"No, definitely not. That would be weird, wanting to be American in an Asian family.." He chuckles slightly. "I actually like blonde better.. black hair never suited me"

Instead of replying, Don stands up and walks over to the bed, sitting down next to him. Mikey silently accepts the gesture, laying his head on Donnie's shoulder, and in return Don wraps his arm around Mikey, bringing him even closer.

"Mikey" Don asks after a few silent minutes, and Mikey hums. "What were you like when you grew up?" Before your adopted parents were murdered. Mikey is silent for a moment.

"Hyperactive is what mom used to call me" Mikey chuckles softly, shifting slightly. "My teacher said I was eager to learn but lost concentration too quickly, drove her crazy" This time Don chuckles, somehow he could see Mikey like that, as he quite often acted this hyperactive lately.

"Would you like to visit your old town again?" Don asks and Mikey untangles himself from the hug, looking at Don with questioning blue eyes. For a second Don is sure Mikey is going to decline his offer but slowly he nods, a smile on his face.

"I'd like that"

TMNT

"Are you sure it's a good idea Donnie?" I scowl slightly at the worried tone of my older brother.

"Yes Leo, I'm sure" Fact was, I wasn't sure at all, I wasn't sure if this was the right idea, but Mikey seemed to like the idea, so what could I do? Deny him the right to visit his old home. His old town when he wanted to?

"Just be careful 'kay?"

"I will" I chuckle, hanging up the phone and putting it in my pocket again, looking over at Mikey. He was currently staring out of the window, earbuds in his ears with music on. I sigh, making myself comfortable as well as the train moved on, bringing us closer and closer to Lancaster with every second.

Lancaster.. it was weird to think that's where Mikey grew up for most of his life, not New York, but Pennsylvania, not New York City or Manhattan but Lancaster. I chuckle slightly again, luckily it wasn't as far as Raph's old town. For our sake and Raph's sake. Florida was a 15 hours ride after all.

Dad would freak out if I were to take Mikey on a 15 hours ride to his old town. He already freaked now that I take Mikey on a 3 hour train to Lancaster. He didn't not approve, he just… he was worried.

I smile, reaching for my own earbuds and making myself comfortable for the rest of the ride.

"You lead the way little bro" I tell him as we arrive in Lancaster, we both look around the station, Mikey almost beaming as he takes in the familiar sight.

"Just gimme minute, I haven't been to the station much when I was younger" He tells me and I feel hope surge through me at his upbeat voice. He looks around for a little while longer before we both take a bus towards the end of the town, Mikey leading right now. Eventually he grows a little silent and he takes an unconscious step towards me.

"Where are we?" I ask as we get out of the bus, walking down the street. He's quiet for a moment before he stops, looking to his right.

"My old house" My breath hitches slightly as I look at the house. It wasn't a particular fancy house, quite small actually but it looked nice.

"You want to ring the bell?" I ask but Mikey shakes his head.

"They surely sold the house to someone else."

"But we can always ask if we could take a look?" Mikey bites his lip slightly at the suggestion so I take his hand gently, walking up to the house but allowing Mikey to stop me anytime he wants. He doesn't. I release his hand to press the bell, hearing a ring echo through the house and I feel Mikey tense again.

"Hello boys" A sudden cheery voice answers the door and I blink a couple of times at the woman. She was around 40, blonde hair with green eyes, a kind smile on her face.

"Hello ma'am" I greet politely. "I know this is impolite to ask this but we were wondering if we could come in." A weird expression crosses the face of the woman.

"Why if I may ask?" The woman inquires but the voice is still welcoming. I glance at Mikey for a second.

"My little brother got separated from us when we were babies and was adopted by another family, he grew up in this house.. " Slowly her eyes widen, looking at Mikey.

"I know you" She breathes out. "Not personally but.. I know about the couple that lived here before. We bought the house a year after they died.. they said their son had disappeared"

"That's me" Mikey grimaces and the woman softens her expression again.

"We found him 4 months ago, but.." I stop, not feeling comfortable to be talking about Mikey's trauma's in front of a strange woman. "He wanted to see his old house again"

"Oh of course honey, come in" The woman says, holding the door opening. "I'm afraid that the house has changed slightly. We didn't paint anything but we changed the furniture."

"I understand" Mikey whispers, looking around the hallway in wonder, following the woman inside the living room. "The couch is the same" He whispers and the woman nods.

"It is, we bought some along with the house because the previous ow-.. your parents left them" The woman says. "Feel free to look around, would you like something to drink?"

"Oh we don't want to bother you too much ma'am. And are you sure we can look around? You don't think we will .. well betray that trust" At this the woman laughs.

"You're roughly the same age as my daughter, I can tell you're good kids" She says, walking up to Don and both watching Mikey testing the couch. "I can see the way you look at him, you're his older brother right? I can see you're very protective of him"

Don looks at the woman, feeling surprisingly at ease with her. "We're twins, quadruplets actually. We're the youngest two, but he's the youngest, yea" Don breathes out.

"Fascinating." The woman smiled. "As long as you're careful you can look around, my brother died when I was just 10 years old. I know looking through his old stuff helped me cope. Hopefully this will help him as well, I can see he's traumatised, his eyes give it away" She says softly.

"I am very sorry for your loss" I just mumble.

TMNT

"This was your room?" I ask, looking around the room. Mikey nods slowly, turning around and looking at me.

"My bed was on the other side of the room though, next to the window" Mikey gestured me to come closer, which I did. "Mom would read stories to me here, made up stories" Mikey continued, looking at the garden below them. A park to be precise.

"Thanks for taking me out here" Mikey whispers, leaning against me. I smile, putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Anytime little bro, anything to make you more comfortable" I nudge him slightly and he looks up with a smile, and I ruffle his hair slightly. Something the three of us have been doing much lately, ever since we noticed he was flinching less and less every time we did ruffle his hair.

Mikey fiddled slightly, gazing out of the window before turning to me again. "I'm ready to go I think" I nod, respecting his wishes of wanting to leave. He handled this so well already, of course I hoped this would happen. But somewhere I had this deep fear that this could also swing the other way.

That this could affect him in a negative way, cause him to break down as well. But he seemed content with seeing his old home. Emotional but content.

So they thanked the woman sincerely for letting them into her house, Mikey's old home, and left. Not taking the bus right now but walking down familiar, or at least familiar to Mikey. We didn't speak as we walked, and both were comfortable with that. Mikey was only looking around in wonder, sadness.

"Is there anything else you want to see?" I ask him as we both sit on the swing. He is mindlessly swinging his legs back and forth, not looking at me.

"I don't know if… if it's still the same but my teacher used to.. because this wasn't a rich neighbourhood she used to volunteer to watch the kids on Saturday, other teachers did on other days."

"And you wanted to check it out?" I ask him and he nods. "Let's go then, you're calling the shots today"

"Is that a wise choice?" He snickers and I laugh, shoving him slightly and he grins towards me. I shake my head but I don't comment on it, content with his smile as we walked down the road again.

TMNT

To clear it up, Mikey grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Raph grew up in Gainesville, Florida.