Web of Lies

Confessions

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT TO THEIR ORIGINAL OWNERS

Chapter 15: Confessions

The next morning, Leo woke up to find Michelangelo soundly asleep, not on top of him but rather in Raphael's arms. Leo knew that Raphael did this since he loves Mikey so much as it made the eldest smile with glee to see his baby brother asleep peacefully and not waking up from a nightmare or suffering from the after effects of the belladonna poisoning that was cured.

He then sees Donnie slowly getting up and yawning until he notices Mikey asleep and happily gasped out:

"Mikey! He's still here"

Leo firmly shushes Donnie who sheepishly whispers an apology before the eldest gently strokes Michelangelo's shell as the middle brother whispered: "I'm just so happy he's going to be OK"

"Physically, yes but what about his mental health?" Leo whispered quietly so he wouldn't wake the other two up.

"That might take a long while to help Michelangelo regain his self-esteem and happiness but we cannot allow ourselves to ignore or hurt him again" Donatello softly replied.

"I know; we swore to each other that we're going to help him through this and that's what we're going to do" Leonardo nodded.

"Do you think he'll forgive us for how we treated him?" The smart turtle sadly questioned.

"I really don't know, Donnie. All we can do is be there for him and help him recover no matter what" Leo replied.

Donnie nodded before smiling at Raphael holding Mikey close, quietly chuckling out:

"This is just like Raph and Mikey when we were younger, whenever Mikey gets sad from a nightmare or a storm, Raph would pick him up, still being the grump that he is and puts Mikey into his bed with him, no argument or excuse, he would just do it"

"I guess in the end, despite his tough persona, Raphael loves Mikey so very much," Leo chuckled as well.

Donatello then grins widely at Leo and snickered: "Hey, let's take a quick photo of them asleep together before they wake up"

"Good idea, that would make a cute photo for Splinter" Leo snickered as well.

"Do that and I swear I'll break ya both out of ya shells"

The two look over to Raphael who opens his eyes, firmly looking at his bros as a warning before he looks down to see his baby brother asleep still in his arms. The second eldest sighs out in relief that his brother is still here as he smiles at the sleeping turtle and gently strokes his head

"Were you uncomfortable lying there with him on top of you last night, Leo?" Raphael asked.

"Nah, he was actually comfy and really light to be honest" Leonardo shrugged.

"Oh" Raphael nodded.

"Why? Were you jealous of Mikey being cuddled by Leo?" Donatello playfully teased.

"N-No! He came to me while I was asleep" Raphael excused himself while blushing red.

The other two frowned that Raphael would immediately go back to coming up with lame excuses before Raphael sighs out, knowing he couldn't do this to his baby brother and admits:

"Alright, I wanted to keep him close with me"

"That's kind of you, Raphael. You really do care about him" Leonardo replied and pats Raphael on the shoulder.