Stronger

Chapter Two

   Muffled voices floated through the closed door, sealed with blankets and pillows. Mikey listened to it with a small sigh. It had been four days since he passed out from the machine, and nothing has gotten lighter. 

   He shuddered at the thought of the bright light he had seen in Donnie's contraption. When his brothers had asked, he could never recall what he had seen, all he knew was that he had been in a lot of pain. He could see the frowns and quick glances his brothers gave him when he told them of his experience. Without asking, he knew they had each tried the VR system themselves to see what it would do to them. Based on the lack of screaming, they had been all fine. 

   "Yeah, well, maybe there was a bug that you did not notice at first!" he heard Leo shout at Donnie. 

   "How could I be that stupid?" Donnie shouted back. "I checked through every bit of coding hundreds of times!"

   "You were hecka pissed after the war," Raph argued. "Why wouldn't you take your anger out on somebody? Besides, most of your inventions never work anyway." 

   "Am I an ANIMAL!?" 

   Mikey shut his eyes and buried himself under his pillow. If only he could tell them to stop. If only they would listen. 

   "Am I the one with anger issues?" Don continued. 

   "Well--" 

   "Exactly! Why would I try to hurt somebody, especially Mikey, when I am upset. Have I done it before? I told you! The machine is unpredictable about what it shows each person. It is just the way that he is made, that the machine freaked out. I did not do anything!" 

   "Well it was still your machine--" 

   "Guys! Stop it!" Mikey shouted, after pulling his head free. A much needed silence filled the house. Good thing Master Splinter's not here, Mikey thought. I hope whatever he's doing in China takes long enough for things to chill out here. 

   Somebody knocked lightly on the door. "Mikey?" 

   "Will you all stop trying to get at each other's throats?" he asked the door. "I told you, don't blame Donnie for anything!" 

   The door handle jiggled and tried to swing inward, but the pillows blocked its path. Leo frowned at the sight. "Why do you . . .?" He looked at Mikey. 

Mikey looked at the floor. "I hate it when you guys argue." He curled himself up, with his head on his knees. His mountain of blankets curled around him protectively. 

   Leo pushed against the pillows and settled himself beside him, giving him a one armed hug. He sighed before saying, "I know you want us to stop, but we got really freaked out when you passed out." 

   "But it has been days!" 

   Leo hummed and drummed his fingers on Mikey's arm. "Mikey, we get that you are not a baby."

   He straightened, feeling like Leo was about to say something important, though something he would not really want to hear. 

   "But as you are the youngest out of us four, we feel a special obligation to protect you more than we would protect ourselves. So if you get hurt and another one of us was the cause, we kind of clash off. Usually, we always let it slide when Donnie attacks you because most times you deserve it. But when stuff happens like this--" 

   "Donnie did not do anything!" 

   Leo held out his arm. "Just listen to me, okay? We get that it might have been your body which made you feel in pain, like Don says. But it could also have been an accident, if he did not check something properly." He paused. 

   "But all this is excessive!" Mikey protested. "All this war. I passed out for ten minutes!" 

   Leo shifted. "It would have been for longer if Donnie had not been freaking out, trying everything and anything to wake you." He opened his mouth to say more, but slowly closed it.

   Mikey harrumphed. "See! Donnie does care about me. But why me?" 

   "What do you mean?" 

   "Why are you guys fighting all over me, when if the same thing happened to the rest of you, the arguing would have lasted one day. One. Day. Whereas this seems to be ongoing." 

   Two voices started talking to each other in the living room, getting louder and louder. Mikey curled deeper into his blankets. Leo watched him with a slight frown, got up, and shut the door, piling the pillows back into its seal. He came back to Mikey as the fighting grew into an all out war, and he settled beside him again. 

   "You know what I like the most about you, Mikey?" 

   His younger brother looked at him. "No, what?" 

   Leo leaned back. "I like that you never fight with your voice. Instead, you try to patch things between us whenever we have an argument. You like to spar, of course, but only with your weapons, and only when it would be okay to use them. Well, for the most part.

   "I hate it when you guys fight," Mikey said simply. "It feels like the world is splitting whenever you do." He sighed. "But I bet you're gonna shout at Donnie again before the day ends."

   "Why do you say that?" 

   "It happened before." 

   Leo stared at the floor, lost in thought. After a minute, he sighed and tightened his grip around Mikey. "Well, I think it won't happen this time." 

   Mikey gave his brother a weak smile. "I hope." 

   With a last smile, Leo stood up and walked out of the room. Mikey got up to fix the seal before hugging his bundle to himself. 

   Half an hour later, he walked into the kitchen to refill his cup of water. Raph and Donnie were still at it, and he wondered how their voices were not hoarse yet. As the clear water spilled into the cup, Leo started snapping at both brothers. 

   Looking at the floor while he took a sip, Mikey heard Leo's voice getting louder as Raph and Don layered insults to him and each other. 

   Closing his eyes, he lowered the cup and just stood there for a little, wishing there was something he could do to stop their arguing. When he heard the door open to the dojo, he looked, and Leo stepped out. As soon as he saw him, Leo froze, stuttered, and stared at the couch. 

Mikey refilled his cup and walked out, giving Leo a somber look. It felt like this would last forever.

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Sooo, this one is shorter, but I hope I outlined the love Mikey feels for his brothers. Let me know how I am doing please! I am really into Stronger right now, so I might post the third chapter later today. Anyway, hope you enjoy!!!

*Note, I do not own TMNT or ROTTMNT. I just steal their characters for myself. >:)