Hey guys! I've got some good news, and some bad news. Good thing is, I tried to make this chapter as long as possible! (and 5700 is pretty much for me xD) Bad news is the reason for the long chapter. I'm going to France/Spain tomorrow morning with some friends. So I won't be able to write for a couple of weeks. So there won't be an update the upcoming weeks either. I try to work some things out on paper, but I honestly hate doing it because it takes so long (but I'll have enough time during our trip ^^)

It also means that I won't be able to review other stories, or respond because of not having and internet connection. (Though I'll be able to read the reviews *hint hint* *innocent face*)

For now, please enjoy this chapter! And I just want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed etc. this story so far! Thank you so much!

TMNT

"And?"

That was the first thing that left my mouth once Donnie left Mikey's room. His skin seemed pale and his face was flushed. I didn't like it, Don looked so defeated, tears twinkling in his eyes. He slowly looked up to me, sadness clearly present in his eyes and he sighed miserably. Unconsciously I gripped the fabric of the couch, trying to calm myself, which wasn't working very well.

My other hand was still wrapped up with some bandages, because yet again I couldn't contain my anger and I went pushing the wall, and Joe's face. Not like I was regretting a single action, those assholes deserved every punch I gave them. In fact, they deserved so much more. Don took a deep breath and he casts his eyes downwards.

"Joe was right" Numbness spreads over my body and I could practically feel the color leaving my body, the little color that was still left. "There were surgical scars on his tail, the same he has on his limbs" Don continues with sadness in his voice, refusing to look any of us in the eyes. They… they fucking cut his tail. I knew.. I was expecting it already but Don just confirmed that they really mutilated his tail.

"Those….BASTARDS" I yelled in frustration, my hands itching, begging for me to hit something. "We killed 'em too fast Leo. They deserved ta suffer!" I exclaimed, walking over to my dummy before rapidly starting to pound it, ignoring the stinging pain it gave my right hand. They deserved to suffer, they deserved the pain. We killed them too fast, too soon.

I can feel anger radiating through my body but this time it's different, it isn't just anger. It's sadness, pity. I don't feel anger, it's not the only emotion I feel this time. Unlike any other times my mind isn't clouded during my rage-attacks. No, I can still think right now. Just the moment I need it, just the moment I don't want to think, my mind decided to fuck with me again and allowing me to keep my consciousness.

And every damn time the familiar pain shoots up my arm from hitting my right hand, Mikey's face pops up again. Each time it's different. I see his blood, I see his scars, the terrified screams, the whimpers he let out, the nightmares he suffers from. Those fuckers who fucking tortured him for a whole fucking year! And we let them go, we killed 'em too quickly. They deserved the pain. Why?! Why did we, they deserved the pain.

"Because Mikey wanted it Raph. He didn't want any of us turning into a monster" Leo says calmly. He's trying to comfort me, I really understand that. And I honestly appreciate him because I know, even though he tries to hide it, that's he's just as broken as we all are. But it ain't helping, in fact his calm attitude only pisses me off even more. He's pretending like he ain't bothered by the news, and it pissed me off.

"Mikey didn't want us to do the same thing as they did. Give them pain while they couldn't defend themselves"

Leo's voice is just as soft as his first statement, just as calm. I hate it, and I hate to admit that he's right. I bare my teeth slightly, pressing my forehead against my dummy and pulling at the fabric on the side of the dummy. A sudden tiredness makes its way through my body and I fall to my knees. My body is shaking slightly with the effort of keeping me on my knees. I just want to crumble right here and now.

My fingers are digging into the stone ground, pain shooting up my right arm as I put pressure on it. They deserved the pain. But no… Mikey didn't want us to. I hate this, I fucking hate it. I don't know what to do anymore. The sound of steps is the only indication of Leo approaching me, the only warning before a sudden hand is placed on my shoulder, nudging me slightly. He's gonna lecture me or something, give a speech about the whole situation. Not this time Leo. I grumble slightly, glaring at the ground.

"I fucking know that Leo, but they deserved it. They fucking cut 'is tail Leo, they broke it. Ya know what happened when ya injured your own tail a few years ago. It fucking hurts, ya told me yerself" I snap. Great, add guilty to the list of emotions I'm feeling right now. I didn't mean to snap, they just need to leave me alone right now, why couldn't they just understand?

I didn't want to talk.

But Leo wasn't going to, instead he wraps two strong arms around me, pressing me closer to his own body. My eyes widen and I start to struggle weakly against his hold, I just needed to be alone right now.. I just needed.. I needed air. I harshly pushed Leo away, immediately jumping up. Leo's eyes sting with betrayal as he looks up to me. Fan fucking tastic. Add regret to the list as well. Ya can only hurt your brothers, can you Raph?

"Leo… I'm…. I'm sorry" I stutter, mentally cursing myself for being so weak, in front of my brother nonetheless. My eyes lock with Leo's for a second before turning away and dashing to my room. I immediately jump onto the bed, burying my face in my pillow. And only then I allow the tears to fall. I cry, I cry for Mikey's fear, his wounds, his nightmares. I cry for everything that is going on right now.

Mikey's death, spending a whole year without him. The depressed mood throughout the lair, missing him. And then finding him like this. Afraid and scarred. I cry for every moment Leo, Don and me spent together, moments without Mikey. Moments he couldn't participate. The forced fun we had while Mikey was suffering over there. For once I allow to make myself cry, and I cry.

I cry for Mikey, and for our whole family that is falling apart.

TMNT

"Leave him for now, he just needs some time on his own" I sigh, watching my little brother running off like that before turning towards my second youngest brother. "Come on Don, you're tired as well. It's already pretty late. I'll stay with Mikey tonight" I say, a slight ordering tone in my voice. I hated using it honestly, but for now I couldn't help it. Even though his mask covered his eyes, I knew he was having bags.

The last few days have been hard on all of us. But Don was the medical over here. He claimed that he was the one to look after Mikey, his health, both mentally and physically. He was the one helping Mikey with his wounds, and it was slowly taking its toll. He needed his sleep right now, I could watch Mikey for tonight.

"Stop doing that Leo"

My eyes narrow in confusion as I hear my younger brother speak like that. His eyes are filled with tears and he stares at me with pleading eyes, like he wants me to do something. Problem is, I had no idea what I needed to do. Or what I needed to stop doing.

"Stop what Donnie? I'm just .. trying to look after all of you." I say, confusion lacing in my voice. I try to reach out for him, comfort him like I had done with Raph just minutes ago but before I could even touch him he slaps my hand away. He never even bothers to wipe away the tears in his eyes but angrily takes a step back.

"You pretending like you're fine. Newsflash bro, you're not, okay? We're broken Leo, don't you see it?!" He suddenly yells, throwing his hands in the air to emphasize his point. I try to open my mouth to say something but Donnie is faster than me, a chuckle leaving his mouth.

"No no no no.. scratch that. You do see it, you just don't want to face it. You don't want to face the truth." Donnie says, suddenly narrowing his eyes again and doing a step forwards. "The truth is right under your nose but you pretend like nothing is happening, you try to act tough but I can see it in your eyes Leo. Why do you keep your emotions locked up like this.. let us help you Leo"

I blink slightly in confusion, all the anger is gone, just like that. Anger being replaced by a soft whisper, fear, hope. All of a sudden he turns around, just like that. Let us help you Leo. The thought continues to replay itself in my hand. Let us help you Leo. I appreciated it, but that wasn't their job. It was like asking a son to care for his parents. It isn't the job of the son to care for his parents.

It isn't the job of the little brothers to care for their leader.

They didn't have to worry, they didn't have to carry the burden of seeing me crumble. I had to remain strong right now. I needed to be strong for my younger brothers. They needed me, and I would be there for them. I couldn't let those emotions cloud my judgement. I should be caring for them, not the other way around.

"I'm fine Don, honestly"

My voice is soft and I carefully wrap my arms around him. Unlike Raph, he doesn't pull away this time and accepts the hug though he doesn't return it. His arms handing limply at his side.

"I do face the truth little brother but you gotta do the same. I'm fine okay? I'm just looking after you" I gently say, tipping his chin up slightly. He huffs slightly and avoids my eyes. "Sleep for now Don, we'll talk about this tomorrow okay?" I smile slightly when Don accepts with a small nod before disconnecting himself from my grasp. He gives me a last look before turning around and walking towards his room.

"Night Leo" He whispers before opening his door.

I sigh slightly, mumbling a goodnight back before I walk over to Mikey's room. The door creaks a little but luckily Mikey doesn't wake up. I quickly sneak inside of his room and close the door. There is a small light next to his bed, and I recognize Donnie's lamp. He must've placed it there at Mikey's request. He never really liked sleeping in the dark but right now he hated it, for obvious reasons. He must've asked for it.

I carefully move Mikey slightly so I could sit next to him on the bed. Luckily Mikey had always been a heavy sleeper, he rarely woke up. He even fell asleep on the couch one time, and he didn't even wake up when Raph pushed him off the couch because he wanted to sit on that spot. My breath hitched slightly when Mikey stirred slightly in his sleep and for a second I was afraid he would wake up again but he didn't.

A soft whimper escapes his throat before he calms down, curling up against me. I don't even know if I should smile or be sad right now. Pushing him off a piece of furniture never woke him up before, he just slept.. didn't even make a single movement, apart from falling that is. But right now he stirred when I moved him, he almost woke up just because I moved him a little bit, and that worried me.

And at the same time, seeing Mikey curled up against me brought a smile on my face. Seeing that he still trusts us made me smile. Even after all I've put him through during the past year, he still trusts us enough to be this close to us. And that made smile, because I knew that we couldn't help Mikey otherwise, if we could help him at all.

I quietly close my eyes, taking a deep breath. All those scars, all memories he was carrying, all because of me. If I had just forbidden him from going topside that day. If I had just been a responsible leader that day, a responsible brother then maybe..… No! I mentally scream, my fists curling up. I couldn't think like that. Tears were burning behind my eyes but I bit them back, not now. I couldn't burden him with my sadness, and neither could I wake up Mikey.

He was clearly exhausted, both mentally and physically. His life got turned upside down, three times in the past year. First getting kidnapped by the Shredder, then kidnapped by those scientists, and then returning to us. It was a lot to take in, and Mikey was obviously struggling to accept everything. To accept he was finally safe with us again.

My face drops slightly as my eyes yet again trail down his body. His arms are still heavily bandages and I know that beneath the covers are his just as bandaged legs. I'm just can't believe… I always knew that humans hated us, or wouldn't accept us because we were different. I never thought that they were capable of doing such a thing.

Even though we had a shell, and a green skin we were still teenagers, we were still children. And they took Mikey, the did the one thing that Master Splinter had been afraid of his whole life. He had always warned us about the dangers of going topside, that people wouldn't accept us, not all of them that is. But we didn't listen.

We became arrogant, careless. We thought we could go topside on our own, thought we could defend ourselves. We were ninja's after all. But even we couldn't go up against the humans with guns and authority. And Mikey eventually had to pay. It should've been me. Mikey didn't deserve any of this, he was too innocent.

Not anymore, that feature has been taken from him. A heavy sigh leaves my mouth, trying to shake off that particular thought. Mikey would never be the same little brother again but we couldn't do anything about it other than to accept it. The damage done by those humans was too big to be fixed, but that wouldn't stop me, or the others from trying to get Mikey back, one way or another.

TMNT

"Hey Mikey, can I come in?" I quietly say, keeping my voice as low as possible so I wouldn't startle my immediate little brother. From the other side of the door I could hear a humming sound, Mikey's way of saying it was okay. I took a deep breath before entering the room. This was the second time in a whole year I had been here, yesterday being the first time.

The memories that was stored in this room was just too much. So many nights we had spent in this room together, with the four of us, or just with the two of us, laughing and just goofing off slightly. Just like teenagers. It was too painful to return to the place where your little brother used to sleep, used to laugh and joke around. Not anymore, Mikey was back, finally back weird us.. and even though he was back, it was weird.

It felt weird coming into the room, not right. It wasn't Mikey's room, not really. His room would always be filled with things, toys scattered all across the ground, pizza boxes on the ground and so on. His room wasn't clean, but this time it was. There wasn't a single drop of dust on the ground, everything was neatly stacked on the rightful place, the single comic book being an exception.

"How do you feel Mikey?"

The move wasn't instant but it took Mikey a few seconds before he lifted his eyes from the comic book in beneath him, twisting as much as his shell would allow and smiled slightly. It wasn't his usual smile he would always wear around the lair, or used to wear, but it was a true one.

"Better" He croaks slightly, before casting his eyes downwards again. "My legs still sting a bit though" He quietly adds, and despite the news it brings a smile on my face. It was still something getting used to, the last few days Mikey rarely talked but after avenging his capture yesterday, he had been visibly better and he even started to talk more. He rarely started a conversation, but he responded more. Instead of shakes and nods, and occasional sentences, he would speak more. Things that weren't really necessary.

Mikey knew I couldn't do anything about his legs, all because he was refusing any drugs. And yet he told me what bothered him.

"That's to be expected, it will disappear soon enough." I assure him with a small smile before walking over to his bed, sitting on the edge. I can see Mikey tense slightly but he looks up to me nevertheless, still lying on his plastron and the comic book beneath him. I'm quiet for a split second, trying to find the right words before finally opening my mouth.

"I wanted to ask you something, but I want you to be one hundred percent honest." I start, looking at my little brother with a serious expression. He frowns slightly and turns on his shell, unable to stiffen a his soft pain as he does so. He carefully sits up, looking to me with a worried and yet scared expression.

"It's about your arm.. it has healed well enough for me to get the stitches out but there's one thing I want to do" I slowly continue, closing my eyes for a moment. "Leo's acting different lately, did you notice anything weird?" I ask, not wanting to get to the subject right away. I didn't want Mikey to get the wrong idea about this, and I would never do something against his will.

"Not really Don, he just seems… quieter around me. It isn't because of me is it?" He whispers, looking at me with a sorrowful expression but surprisingly there are no tears in his eyes. I force myself, and my face, to relax slightly and give him an apologizing smile. He looks confused for a second and I carefully place my hand on his shoulder.

"It is.. but it isn't your fault. You couldn't do anything about this little bro" I quickly try to assure him. "Listen, Leo blames himself for what happened to you, and even as we speak he's keeping his emotions inside. He refuses to talk to us about it. He has this idea that he can't show his emotion"

Mikey shifts slightly, looking away. I know why he does it, he doesn't like to hear about what happened to him. If he could decide, he would just try to forget all about it. Cook like he always did, train with us and just play games, but we don't work that way. Mikey needed to heal, not conceal the wounds. Point is, he didn't like it when we talked about the things that happened to him, it would always bring back memories, we tried to avoid it when it wasn't necessary but sometimes we couldn't.

"I talked with Raph.. and we both think it's a good thing he'll be with you.. while removing your stitches. So he'll be confronted… But seriously Mike, only if you want to. If you want to be alone, or you want Raph or dad to be with you, that's fine. It's your choice"

Once again Mikey casts his head aside, biting his lip slightly. I don't know if he even notices it anymore but his hand slowly trails to his left arm, trailing his thick finger along the surgical scar. I gently reach out for him, taking his right hand in between mine, squeezing it slightly. Still, he doesn't look at me but I know he wasn't ignoring me.

"I don't want Leo to do it.. but I want him with me"

I blink slightly, trying to process what he had just said. He slowly trails his gaze towards me again, his eyes twinkling with fear and patience. I smile slightly, that's Mikey. Of course I was going to remove his stitches, the point in asking Leo to stay was to make him see, to confront him so he would finally open up, instead of breaking down in a couple of days or weeks.

"Of course I'll remove them. And Leo will be there to hold you, it'll be over in no time and you'll feel better afterwards. Promise"

Before I knew what was happened I had two arms wrapped around my neck, Mikey's face buried in the crook of my neck. I slowly reach across his shell, hugging him back and burying my face in his neck as well, closing my eyes in the process. Now I only had to convince Leo. Some way I felt bad for confronting Leo like this but it would eventually help him. He couldn't carry this burden any longer, it would eat him away from the inside out.

TMNT

"If this has anything to do with the talk we had this morning, you can save your breath"

The voice came too unexpected and I jumped backwards slightly when the voice boomed through the dojo. Dang it! I knew Leo was good, in fact all of us could sense others but I never expected Leo's voice this early, or this fierce. I mentally snort, guess he was really afraid to show his true feelings, trying to avoid confrontation in any way possible.

"I'm not Leo, I'm removing the stitches in Mikey's arm, someone needs to be with him"

I roll my eyes slightly, only after this sentence he decides to turn around and face me. Instead of, I don't know, turn around when I approached me and he clearly knew I was here. Still, I knew why he was doing it, and all that mattered right now was getting him to Mikey. A shudder went down my spine, I felt like using him at the moment, using my little brother to help my older brother. But I couldn't think about that, Mikey cared for Leo as well. And he wouldn't want Leo to do this to himself.

"Can't Raph do it… I'm busy with meditation" Leo replies, trying to keep a straight face. Any other day I would've yelled at him, and be truly angry at my older brother for saying this. Not wanting to help Mikey when he needed his older brother. But I knew why he rather didn't do it, and it was exactly the reason why I wanted Leo to come with me.

"Raph's getting dinner so no Leo, and Mikey asked for you." I retort, glaring slightly at him. Leo narrowed his eyes at my gesture but eventually nodded. Our eyes stay locked for a few seconds before he slowly stands up, our eyes still not parting. Eventually it's me who breaks the contact, turning around and walking straight to the lab.

"Mikey's in his room, I'm going to get the equipment"

That was all I said before walking into my lab. Trust me, I don't think Leo is a bad brother but I honestly thought it would take more to convince him. Leo had always been persistent, if he wanted to do something, or in this case hide something, he would stop at nothing. Heck, he even scarified himself because he wanted to keep us safe.

But I also knew that this time was different, this time there was no one to rescue, no secret to hide from us. This time it wasn't a secret nor a rescue option. No, it was a severely traumatized little brother who needed him. And no matter how much Leo wanted to keep his little 'secret', he couldn't ignore Mikey's want for comfort. No matter how much we wanted to keep his emotions away from us, he wouldn't avoid Mikey, especially when said turtle needed him.

Leo wasn't a bad brother, in fact I understood why he was doing it. He didn't want us to know his weakness, he thought that we needed a solid rock, something to rely on with all the shit going on right now. If Leo were to expose his true feelings, we wouldn't have that rock anymore. The thing was, we didn't need a solid rock. We didn't need one person to hang onto. We needed each other, we needed each other as a whole family, not just one.

We needed Leo to open up because he needed us as well.

The moment I came back into Mikey's room the bandages were already removed from Mikey's left arm, said turtle deliberately avoiding his stitched arm. I swallowed slightly as I looked at the amount of stitches running from his upper arm till his wrist. 45 stitches, they dared to give my little brother 45 stitches on his arm.

"Just get it over with please" Mikey whimpered slightly, only resulting in Leo tightening his hold on him slightly. Leo was sitting next to him, on his right side. He had one arm around Mikey's shoulder, forcing him closer to his own body and his cheek was pressed against the freckled scalp. I nodded bluntly and walked over to him. I sat down on the other side, gently taking Mikey's arm.

With a tiny scissor I carefully cut a few stitches, pulling them out with a pair of tweezers. Mikey tensed slightly, obviously feeling the stitches being taken out of his arm but didn't utter a single word. Instead he buried his face in Leo's embrace, trembling slightly. The whole process took less than 5 minutes and by the end of the procedure all that was left were the remains of the black stitches and the long, thick scar running down Mikey's arm.

I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it looked… too visible. I carefully ran my finger down the scar, feeling the rough texture. It was like it was sucked inwards, the scarred part of the skin being pushed downwards. And to my surprise Mikey didn't even flinch when I ran my finger down his scar, only keeping his face buried in Leo's hold.

"Mikey?"

My voice was dangerously low, and I winced slightly at the sudden disruption of silence. I keep holding Mikey's arm, trying to give him some assurance but by the shaking of his body I knew that I was doing a bad job, a very bad one.

"I-I c-can't feel it D-Don" He eventually hiccups which made me frown. He can't feel what? I slowly look down at his arm, at his scar and then it dawns on me. "I c-can't f-feel it… m-my scar." He continues, suddenly turning around and wrapping his arms around me, burying his face in my plastron before I had a chance to stop him.

I quickly wrap my arms around Mikey's shivering body, looking up to see Leo's face. I don't even know if I should smile. Leo's face was filled with tears, but I couldn't smile. Mikey was breaking down in my grasp, but surprisingly there were no tears. I want to open my mouth to say something but Leo beat me to it, suddenly standing up and looking away.

He too struggles, open his mouth and tensing slightly but eventually his mouth shuts and he walks out of the room without saying a single word. He didn't need to say a word, I knew what was going on in his mind. The plan had worked. Tears were streaming down Leo's face, that's why he didn't want to face me, that's why he ran out of the room. It worked.

"He's gone isn't he?"

For the second time in 15 minutes an unexpected voice fills the rooms and I jump back slightly. While I had kinda expected Leo to scare me like that, theoretically speaking, but I had never expected to hear Mikey's voice after what happened. Though when I looked up again, I was looking at Mikey's face, tear-free and smiling slightly. The same smile he wore when I walked in on him.

"Wha-.. what did you… I don't… Leo .. he.. you"

I knew I was stuttering right now but I just couldn't help it, I didn't understand what was going on right now.. how could Mikey be like this after he practically broke down when he found out he couldn't feel his scar? When he found out that those scientists dealt so much damage that he couldn't even feel his damaged skin any more.

"It's my body Don, I already knew" Mikey eventually answers my question, and still I can't help but to stare at Mikey'. "Don't cry D, it wasn't real y'know. I already knew" he quietly adds, reaching out for me, wiping his finger along my cheek. I frown again, bringing my finger to cheeks and feeling the wet substance dripping out of my eyes, I hadn't even realized I was crying until now.

A slow smile made its way on my face when my brain finally realized what just happened. He was acting like it was something new, like he didn't know his damaged skin didn't have any nerves anymore, just so our plan could work. And only then I realized Mikey had just pranked Leo, he pranked Leo. I allowed my tears to fall, but they weren't out of sadness, and I wrapped my arms around Mikey.

"I'm so proud little bro, so proud" I muttered in the hug. Mikey tensed within the hug, surprised by the sudden physical contact but surprisingly didn't pull away. Even if Mikey was obviously not healed, far from it, but he was gradually getting better. Mikey snuggled close to me, eventually accepting the hug.

"Can I talk to Leo..? I actually feel kinda bad.."

Eventually it was Mikey who broke the silence, and the hug, untangling himself from me and looking at me with hopeful eyes. I quickly wiped away the remaining tears on my face and smiled towards him, nodding in approval.

"Of course little bro, just remember that this needed to be done. He will eventually feel better" I add and stand up, walking over to the corner of his room to get the crutches. "Do you want me to bandage your arm again..?" I ask in a low tone as I hand Mikey his crutches. Said turtle gratefully accepts them and clumsily helps himself up, wincing slightly when putting pressure on his legs. They were still very weak, the pain was minimal, but it was the lack of exercise that made him wince.

"No, I need to get used to it one day" He says, shaking his head to emphasize the point. I give my little brother another short hug before walking over to the door and walking outside, Mikey closely following me. I gave him one assuring nod before we split, Mikey heading for Leo's room, and me walking towards the kitchen to help Raph with dinner, a smile plastered on my face.

TMNT

Hours later Leo and Mikey still hadn't shown up, hadn't eaten any dinner. In fact, neither of us had heard anything coming from their room, no sound, no voices, nothing. April and Casey had left long ago after dinner, it was a normal school night after all. Dad had shown up for dinner but after that he had gone into his room again to meditate, something he did a lot these days.

Point is, Leo and Mikey never showed up again. I knew Mikey was talking to Leo, or was supposed to do it. I had explained everything to Raph, what had happened and how everyone reacted. He already knew what we were going to do, I talked to him before I confronted Mikey with the idea. And to say we were getting a bit worried was an understatement.

But what we saw was nothing we had expected.

Leo's blue blanket had fallen off the bed, leaving the two turtles on the bed without anything to warm them. Mikey was laying on his side, his shell against wall and curled up against Leo's shell. The latter was curled up as well, with his face towards the wall. They were both breathing softly, and their eyes were closed, sleeping. Behind me Raph snickered slightly.

"What an…" he started but shook his head instead, simply smiling at the two sleeping turtles. Obviously satisfied with the view.

"-Idiot Raph, I know" Leo suddenly whispers, cracking one eye open. His eyes were blood red, and in the dim light you could vaguely see dried tears on his cheeks. "I'm sorry guys, for shutting you out. I was trying to help you… but I was being an idiot" He adds, his voice slightly hoarse. He doesn't move however, just keeps a single eye on us and it was clear he was tired.

"Darn right you were" Raph snorted but couldn't hide the smile that was creeping on his face. I shook my head slightly, waling over to the two of them. Mikey mumbled a bit in his sleep, repositioning himself along Leo's shell but didn't wake up at all. Leo however sighed and closed his eyes in exhaustion. I crouched down to grab the fallen blanket and for a second he cracked his eyes open again, looking at me with a small but tried smile.

"Sleep for now Leo, we'll talk about this tomorrow okay?" I playfully mock, Leo sticking out his tongue in response. I laugh slightly, ignoring the confused look I was getting from Raph. He wasn't there when Leo said the exact same thing to me, he wasn't there when Leo still wanted to keep this from us. I placed the blanket on top of Mikey and Leo. The latter hummed slightly but didn't open his eyes again, falling asleep again before we could even leave the room.

TMNT