Authors Note: Hey guys so this might be the lat update for a while. NANOWRIMO or National Novel Writing Month is coming up in November and while I won't be writing a novel I will be trying to write something everyday. No matter if it's crack, a haiku, or an actual story, I'll be trying to write something. Some of those things I will be posting so while SAM isn't going to be updated you'll still be getting some content. I'll only be posting the fan stuff here, but I might be posting some of the original work on Archive of Our Own. I'm twerdgirl over there so come check my stuff out.
On Monday Mikey was thinking of a place he could talk to Leatherhead about how he was feeling. Mikey had been told by all three of his brothers that they would be out and he'd have the apartment to himself. Mikey knew what they were telling him was that if he needed a quiet moment with Leatherhead he'd have it. Mikey and Leatherhead were allowed at the apartment by themselves, but they had to stay in the living room or kitchen. It had been the same rule for April and Donnie. Even if the teens thought they could get away with it Splinter would know right away. They'd rather follow the rules and get to keep the very generous offer than have it gone completely.
"So we've got the apartment to ourselves I was thinking we could study there today. I kind of want to talk to you about something."
Leatherhead seemed surprised, but nodded. "Okay," he said and they headed to lunch. After school Leatherhead and Mikey met at the library like normal, but left the school headed to Mikey's place. When they got their couple sat on the couch and put their books on the coffee table.
Leatherhead looked nervous. "So what do you want to talk about?"
Mikey smiled and cuddled close to Leatherhead. This surprised the taller teen, but he wrapped his arms around Mikey.
Mikey and Leatherhead didn't cuddle often. They went out on most of their dates and movie theater seats weren't designed for getting close. They did cuddle when watching movies with his brothers and their friends. April and Donnie did the same thing so Mikey felt comfortable doing it as well. Still Mikey kind of wished they could do it more. "I… I wanted to ask you why are you so gentle with me?"
Leatherhead looked confused so Mikey explained. "You said we could take things slow and I've liked that, but I think I want to speed things up a bit. I'm not saying I'm ready for sex, but you don't have to be so chaste when you kiss me."
Leatherhead seemed to understand. "I'm just worried I'm going to scare you off by being to… aggressive."
Mikey smiled. "I know you'd never hurt me. My brothers know you'd never hurt me. When you kissed me after that fight with your mom I really liked it. I….I love you." Mikey looked at Leatherhead worriedly. Leatherhead look surprised then kissed Mikey with passion before pulling away "I love you too Michelangelo," he said softly.
Mikey smiled and kissed Leatherhead. Leatherhead kissed back his hands rubbing Mikey's back. Mikey ran his hands through Leatherheads hair. They kissed on the couch for what felt like hours, but it was really just a few minutes. Mikey rubbed against Leatherhead and wasn't surprised to find him hard since he was pretty aroused himself.
Leatherhead stiffened and pulled away. "I think that's enough for now." Mikey blushed, but nodded agreeing that too much and they might do something they regretted.
By some miracle they managed to get some work done and by the time they were done his brother were back. They were wrapping things up by then, and Leatherhead needed to head home anyway.
Mikey walked his boyfriend back home and they kissed once there.
"I'll talk to my parents to about dinner tomorrow," Leatherhead said.
Mikey smiled brightly. "Great." He hesitated before saying: "I love you."
Leatherhead smiled. "I love you too," he said softly before kissing Mikey one last time. Mikey headed inside with a big grin on his face.
When he got home he headed to his room. Donnie saw the smile and chuckled. "So you told him?"
Mikey nodded still smiling.
"I'm guessing by your smile he said it back?" Mikey nodded again and with a bit more force. Donnie laughed and smiled. "Good," he said and went back to his computer. Mikey got out his sketch book out wanting the finish a drawing he was working on.
Wednesday morning Leatherhead was waiting by his locker with a smiling face.
Mikey smiled back. "Happy to see me?"
Leatherhead nodded, and caressed Mikey's cheek. Mikey smiled not caring of the people around him. "Very happy and I have good news. My mother agreed to have you over for dinner. Saturday night if that's a good time for you."
Mikey nodded. "Yeah, I'll shower at the dojo and change there before heading over to your place."
Saturday had been scheduled into small pieces. Wake up have breakfast and head to the dojo to meditate. Warm up and practice Katas until lunch where they had a small break. After lunch was sparing and then Master Splinter worked with them one on one with whatever needed work. Mikey was last which was fine with him. He'd bring his sketch book or some comic books while waiting.
Splinter had a strict no electronics in the dojo. Cell phones had to be off and stored in lockers along and any other electronic devices was banned. He claimed it messed with the chi of the place, but everyone knew that it was because phone and other devices distracted people.
Leatherhead smiled. "Great, can I walk you to class?"
Mikey nodded and after putting his things away while grabbing the books he needed headed to his first class. His second class was history and while Tom had clearly told everyone about his encounter with Leatherhead he didn't even look at Mikey. This led Mikey to believe that while Tom might be a creep and not understand what the word 'no' meant he wasn't a complete idiot.
Mikey was surprised that Raph and Casey hadn't done anything to him, but maybe they had just nothing physical. Both could be scary and intimidating as all hell. It would have surprised Mikey if they'd cornered Tom and had a nice talk about respecting others. The rest of the day was fine and practice was great. Mikey had bested Donnie in a sparring match.
When Mikey had won they'd all congratulated him, but Mikey began to worry. It was becoming clear that Mikey was not only catching up to his brothers, but in some aspects surpassing them. He was able to learn katas much faster even though they were getting more complex.
Where Raph had problems with agility Mikey surpassed him. Where Leo and Donnie still struggled to think without thinking Mikey excelled at it. It made Mikey scared that his brothers would come to resent him.
Mikey knew that Leo and Raph wanted to go pro with fighting while Donnie was trying extra hard so he'd have a good shot in the competitions. Mikey had always been just able to keep up with his brothers and now he was at times better than they were. Mikey didn't want them to resent him. He could only imagine how it would feel to be bested at your own game by the person who had always fell behind.
Splinter congratulated Mikey, and commanded that he and Donnie have another match. From the moment they started Mikey knew he was going to win, but fear of his brothers coming to hate him caused him to decide to lose. He did what he could to make it look like he was trying, but in the end he lost.
He stood up from where Donnie had knocked him down and smiled. "Great job Donnie," he said, but all three of his brothers looked confused and when he looked to Splinter he saw his father looking upset.
"Michelangelo would you care to tell me why you threw the match," Splinter asked calmly, but with a sharp edge to his voice?
Mikey looked at his brothers who all clearly wanted the same answer. Leo looked like Splinter disappointed, but with a hint of worry. Raph looked confused as did Donnie though his brother also looked hurt.
Mikey opened his mouth and then closed it. He sighed and opened it, but again closed it. He finally shrugged. Splinter frowned, and Mikey knew he was going to be in trouble, but he'd take it if it meant not having his brothers hate him.
Splinter walked over to Mikey and kneeled down next to him surprising the blue eyed teen. Splinter looked concerned and Mikey felt awful. Splinter clearly knew something was wrong and normally this would be the time where Mikey would break down about what was bugging him, but his fear was too strong.
So far his brothers hadn't seemed to notice just how good Mikey was getting and he was frightened that if he explained what he was worried about then they would realize just how much better Mikey was getting and how he was no longer someone to see as a brother, but just another opponent that they had to beat at all cost even the relationship they shared.
Part of Mikey knew he was being stupid, but another part of him just wouldn't let go of the fear. Mikey was not one to keep secrets about what was bugging him, and after coming out his family had seemed to constantly doing small checks on him. Nothing evasive or annoying just making sure that Mikey truly was happy and that his smile wasn't a mask.
Splinter's frowned deepened. "Michelangelo… what's wrong?"
Mikey looked at Splinter with those big blue eyes of him and before he could stop himself he blurted out: "I don't want to be resented."
Splinter looked surprised and then confused. "Why would you thing that?"
Mikey frowned. "Because I'm getting so much better at fighting. I can do high level kata's with ease, I'm better at agility than Raph, I'm better at thinking on my feet than Donnie and Leo. I can hold my own against Raph even when he's at his best and when Donnie and I started fighting I knew I was going to win right away. I'm getting better than them, and I don't want them to see me as an enemy." By the time Mikey was done talking he'd felt for a brief moment of relief which was crushed with fear.
There was a moment of silence before his brothers all started talking at once. Mikey couldn't understand what they were saying, but they sounded concerned and hurt.
Splinter managed to quite them down. "Each of you will get a turn to say something, but not all at once." He was quiet for a minute "Donnie you may go first since it was your fight that Michelangelo threw.
"Mikey that's insane. Look I think I speak for all of us when I say were proud of you," Leo and Raph nodded. "Mikey we've already had the talk about different talents, but I'll repeat it again. Everyone is better at something than other people. You are naturally talented with agility and have a knack for picking up kata's. That's good in fact that's great. Just because we might have to work harder doesn't mean we'll resent you."
"You've been working so hard though," Mikey protested. "You train so hard and yet I knew how to win before we'd even really begun to fight. Doesn't that make you angry? Don't you feel upset that you're little brother can best you so easily." Mikey bit his lip as he realized he might have just given Donnie a reason to be upset.
"Donnie shook his head. "Mikey it can be frustrating when I lose a match, but I just try harder. I'm not as athletically gifted as you, Leo, and Raph. That's fine with me though. I love ninjituse and want to keep practicing, but it's not a major goal in my life to win a tournament or anything. Even if I did fighting with you is good for me because with you being more skilled you challenge me. You force me to think on my feet which as you stated I need to improve on. You shouldn't have thrown the fight just because you thought you'd win. For all you know I might have surprised you." Mikey frowned as he thought about this. It was true that Donnie and Mikey's fights were getting longer, and Donnie was getting better at moving without thinking. Mikey hung his head as he realized that Donnie was right. How many times had he used Raph's over confidence to win a match?
Splinter put a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "Leo would you like to speak next?"
Mikey frowned and lifted his head slightly to see Leo smiling.
"Mikey I can't tell you how proud and amazed I am at you're progression. You've really improved and while I'll admit I am sometimes jealous with how fast you manage to master a kata even when I still struggle you push me to practice harder. I can't wait to see you compete because I know you'll do amazing."
Mikey was shocked. "Really," he asked kind of in awe? Leo had always been the best and to hear his oldest brother that he thought Mikey would do great in competition was the best kind of compliment he could get.
"Really," Leo replied smiling.
Mikey then looked to Raph and felt his fears reappear. Raph was the most competitive of them all. He and Leo had always been close, but put them in the dojo and that close bond turned into a rivalry. Raph had gotten better over time. He was starting to understand that he didn't need to be the best student, just be the best he could be. He still struggled with it and now that they were getting ready to compete he sometimes forgot that lesson.
Raph sighed. "Mikey I won't lie and say it's not infuriating at times to see how fast you're improving. The fact that you've been improving so much just by applying yourself could drive anyone mad. I get jealous just like Leo, but I also am proud of you. I won't say I'll never get mad or frustrated with how good you are, but I do promise to never turn that jealousy and frustration into resent. If I do I give all of you the right to kick my butt until I remember that promise."
Everyone chuckled at the tension Mikey felt left him. He looked up at Splinter who was smiling. "We are all proud of you Michelangelo and we want you to do your best no matter what. Since you seem to be focus on how good you are let me point out some of your own flaws. You are not as strong as Raphael, or as good at strategy like Donatello, and while you are making progress with your weapons Leo is much more adapted using his. Do you now understand things better?'
Mikey nodded and thought things were settled.
"Good. Now you still threw you match with Donatello which is unacceptable. For two weeks, when you are not training you will be meditating. Mikey groaned, and his brothers all laughed as they knew how much Mikey hated mediating. He got why they did it, but he was never good at it and sitting still for so long was hard. Still he knew Splinter would have given a similar and suitable punishment had any of his brothers done something like that. Splinter was fair and it would make the lesson stick. Still he wasn't looking forward to it.
"I think that is enough training for today," Splinter said and they brothers got up to shower.
At dinner Mikey told his brothers and father how they were on their own for Saturday night.
"So are you nervous," Donnie asked?
Mikey shrugged. "Kind of, but I'm sure things will be fine. He's always said him mom seems to be coming around. I'm hoping that seeing us together will help her see how happy Leatherhead is. His dad I have no doubt will like me. He's been the one trying to get Leatherheads mother to go to PLFAG meetings."
Donnie nodded and said: "if things go well maybe we should invite them over."
Splinter nodded in agreement. Mikey smiled. "That would be great," he said. Conversation drifted to something else and the rest of the night went as normal.
The rest of the week went well. The rumors at school were slowly dying down though a few were still around. One claimed that Splinter was actually a Yakuza boss and was trying to take over turf from another gang. He was using his sons to do so and Leatherhead was actually working as an underground boxer to help him make money.
Mikey had supposedly started out at making sure Leatherhead had everything he needed to be happy which included sex. He and Mikey had fallen in love and secretly planned to run away together to live honest and crime free lives. When Mikey had first heard the rumor he blushed bright red as did Leatherhead. It was pretty crazy which a good thing was. The crazier the rumors got the closer they were getting to ending. The craziest rumor always came up just before they died. Mikey was looking forward to them just going away.
A few times some of the more realistic rumors had gotten to the teachers and all four boys were brought into questioning by a CPS worker. It had been upsetting to the boys and they knew the only reason the rumors were even considered was because they were adopted.
The boys wouldn't deny that a single man adopting four boys was unusual, but they would defend their father no matter what. Splinter loved them and while they were his students they were first and foremost his sons. Splinter had told them that he taught them ninjituse not so they could fight, but so they could learn discipline and how to focus.
The fighting did sometimes come in handy living in New York and all, but they were only supposed to fight if there was no other option.
Leatherhead had taken the opportunity of being out to hold Mikey's hand. Both weren't comfortable with doing anything other than that though. They didn't want to put on a show and kissing would only make the rumors last longer.
The rest of the day and following week went well and soon it was Saturday.
Mikey had asked April for help again when it came to clothing. Leatherhead told him to dress casual, but he still wanted to look nice. April picked out a burnt orange t-shirt with dark wash denim jeans. He didn't bother with his hair knowing it would be useless to fight it.
He headed over and took a deep breath before pressing the buzzard. He was let in and greeted at the door by Leatherhead.
He ushered Mikey into the living room where his father and mother were. Mikey now knew where Leatherhead got his tall built from. The man who was Leatherheads father was huge and Mikey wondered if he'd been a body builder at some point. Leatherhead's mother was smiling though it didn't reach her eyes.
"Mom, dad this is Michelangelo Hamato, my boyfriend."
"Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Heinz and please call me Mikey," Mikey said greeting them.
Mr. Heinz smiled. "Nice to meet you Mikey, I heard you're quite proficient in ninjutsu."
Mikey smiled. "Yeah, though it kind of comes with the territory of being a Hamato. What with Splinter being a master and all. I love it, but probably would have never gotten into it if it wasn't for my dad."
This seemed to interest Mr. Heinz even more. "Are you referring to Yoshi Hamato? I didn't know he had a son."
"Actually there are four of us," Mikey replied
This seemed to surprise Mr. Heinz even more.
Mikey smiled at Mr. Heinz. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of us. My father hasn't been in the spotlight for a long time. He's happy running a dojo."
"Why don't we continue this conversation over dinner," Mrs. Heinz said. They all walked to the kitchen and sat at the table.
"So you're father is the one who taught you ninjutsu," Mr. Heinz asked?
Mikey nodded. "Yeah, he taught all four of us. My oldest brothers Leo and Raph are the most serious about it."
"Raph… is that short for something," Mrs. Heinz asked?
Mikey blushed slightly forgetting these people didn't know him or his brothers. "Raphael. We all have names relating to Renaissance artist. "Leo is short for Leonardo and Donnie is short for Donatello. I know it seems odd that all our names are connected, but really only me and Donnie's full names are uncommon and it's not like Michelangelo is completely unheard of. Mrs. Heinz nodded and Mikey felt like she wanted to know everything about him, but simply so she could judge.
"It must have been hard for one man to take care of four young boys."
Mikey shrugged. "We weren't all adopted at once. Raph and Leo are 17. Donnie's 16, and I'm 15. Leo was adopted first then Raph then Donnie than me. We've always had the best care and he did a great job at making sure we all felt like a family."
Mikey took a bite of his food. It was good, but he decided to save the compliments for latter.
"So Mikey what do you like to do besides ninjutsu" Mrs. Heinz asked? "
"Well I love music, video game, comics, cooking, and drawing."
Leatherhead smiled. "You should see some of his work. It's wonderful."
Mikey blushed. "It's okay. It takes me a long time and a lot of paper to produce anything good."
Leatherhead rolled his eyes. "That's not true. You are very talented."
Mikey smiled. "You know you already my boyfriend you don't need to complement me to get me to like you."
Leatherhead laughed as did Mr. Heinz. Mrs. Heinz didn't seem to find the joke amusing.
"So Mikey what do you plan to do after graduation," she asked politely?
Mikey blinked at the question unsure about how to answer. "Ummm I'm not sure. I mean I have time to figure it out since I'm just a freshman. I think I'm just kind of waiting to find my calling. My brothers all know what they want to do with their lives after high school. Leo and Raph want to compete and then take over the Dojo while Donnie has plans to be a scientist though he hasn't narrowed down a specific filed. I'll be going to college no matter what. So will Leo and Raph even if the make it big. Our father wants us all to have a good well rounded education."
Mrs. Heinz didn't exactly seem happy, but she didn't say anything. Mikey was getting the feeling that she was deliberately finding reasons not to like him so she could set Leatherhead on a date. Mikey wouldn't be surprised if she even had a girl picked out.
"Do you have a desire to compete, "asked Mr. Heinz?
Mikey nodded. "Yeah I'll be competing this year and hopefully for a while longer, but I don't want it to become my life. Donnie's doesn't plan to do it for very long though." He explained the intern opportunity and how Donnie wouldn't have the time for school, his internship and the demands that training took. "I love training and the thought of competing is exciting, but it's not easy. Some days we get home grab a bowl of cereal for dinner and sleep till morning."
"How do you get your homework done," Mrs. Heinz asked and Mikey could hear her judging him.
"We don't spend every day training. Like I said school is looked on as something very important. It's been a little tough trying to fit in training with school, but it's a balancing act were getting use to. Our father made it clear that school comes before training. None of us will be getting anywhere near a completion come mid-terms and finals. We were all kind of worried that Donnie wouldn't be able to handle all the work from his advanced classes and training, but he's doing fine. Still I can see why he's decided to not try and juggle training and internship and school all at once."
"Have you, and your brothers ever been to your father hometown," Mr. Heize asked and Mikey was glad for the change of subject.
Mikey shook his head. "He says he'll take us after we all graduate. We've basically taken on his heritage as our own. We know about all the customs and even celebrate a few holidays. When we were younger we celebrated children's day which was basically an excuse to have a day off from school and go to Coney Island."We were actual raised bilingual. I'm actually pretty good with Japanese though Leo's the go to when it comes to knowing the most about traditions."
The fact that Mikey could speak Japanese seemed to be something that piqued Mrs. Heinz interest. Mikey decided to run with it. "I remember when we first invited Casey over and decided to watch a movie. We turned it on and were watching it for almost a full minute before Casey asked where the subtitles were. We were confused for a second before we realized that Casey had no idea what the characters were saying. We fumbled with the menu screen before finding English subtitles and ended up correcting the translation a few times. Now anytime we watch anything in Japanese Casey reminds us to turn on the subtitles.
We can also read kanji though Donnie's the best at it. Apparently dyslexia isn't reserved for the English language." Mikey blushed at this and felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see Leatherhead giving him a soft smile.
"You're getting better with writing all the time. Remember that paper I helped you with? You were able to spell most of the words and I only had to remind you once about which was the B's and D's faced."
Mikey smiled softly and the blush faded slightly.
Dinner continue and while Mrs. Heinz didn't seem interested in fully interrogating Mikey though her like for him hadn't grown.
During dessert they talked for a little longer. Mikey learned Mrs., Heinz was a lawyer and Mr. Heinz owned a small, but important company that made medical supplies.
When they finished eating Mikey offered to help with the dishes. Really he just wanted to talk to Mrs. Heinz for a few minutes.
One they started Mikey was quiet for a minute before speaking. "I know you're not happy about Luke being gay, but I hope you can see that he's happy." Mikey decided it was better to use Leatherhead's given name since that seemed to be what his parents preferred to call him.
Mrs. Heinz frowned. "He'd be happier if he could find a nice girl."
Mikey frowned at that, but instead of arguing asked: "why do you think that."
"Luke wants to be a doctor he'd have an easier time finding employment if he had a nice wife instead of a boyfriend."
Mikey shook his head."Maybe when you were young, but the world's changing. While he might not be accepted at some kind of Christian hospital it's likely that by the time he needs to start looking for a job that it won't be such a big deal."
Mrs. Heinz was quiet for a long while. "Even if that's true you're not really doctor's spouse marital."
Mikey mentally flinched, but decided he was making leeway."Right now I'm not, but I've still got most of high school and all of college to live. People change and while I doubt I'll ever be the perfect homemaker I'm also not quite done being a kid yet. I don't even know if me and Luke will still be dating in a year let alone get married, but even if we aren't him being gay isn't going to change and you need to accept that now."
Mrs. Heinz looked at Mikey and for the first time really smiled though it wasn't very big. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for. I guess I have some thinking to do."
Mikey would take that small victory and they finished he dishes in silence.
When it was time to say good bye Leatherhead got up to walk him home and Mikey thanked the Heinz's for dinner and a nice evening.
Once outside Mikey looked at Leatherhead. "So do you think she'll still set you up on a date?"
Leatherhead shrugged. "I was at first, but now I don't know." Mikey nodded and they walked hand in hand to Mikey's in a comfortable silence.
"I'll call you tomorrow," Mikey said before leaning forward and kissing Leatherhead.
The taller teen kissed back before pulling away. "Love you," he said softly.
"Love you too," Mikey replied before giving his boyfriend one last kiss before heading inside.
When he got inside his apartment he saw his brothers in the living room. He entered and sat down on the couch. His brothers didn't waste any time asking questions about the dinner. Mikey answered as best he could.
"Do you think you'll be invited over again?" Leo asked Mikey shrugged. "I don't know I'm still not sure what his mom thinks of me."
"I'm sure things will be fine Mikey," Donnie said reassuring. Mikey smiled in thanks and the boys returned to watching TV.