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Donnie spent most of his day working in his lab. He like the peace and quiet. Most of the time. There were days when his brothers would come in and sit quietly in his lab, knowing that his lab was almost like his sanctuary and that there needed to be quiet.
Donnie of course didn’t mind. Usually, it was either Mikey or Leo who would come into the lab. They would sit on a bench, a chair, or one of the beanbags that he had in the corner. For Leo, he would usually read a comic, providing a sense of silent comfort.
With Mikey, it was a bit differently. Sometimes he would be quiet and watch Donnie work. Other times, he would get close to Donnie but not too close to where Donnie found it uncomfortable. Mikey would ask Donnie questions on what he was working on. Mikey didn’t do this to annoy Donnie, like Leo would, but rather he did it because he was truly interested in Donnie’s work
That was the thing about Mikey. He was truly interested in Donnie’s work, unlike his other brothers. Donnie knew there was a reason that Mikey was his favorite brother. Not that he had any favorites. But if he did, it would be Mikey as his baby brother was that small ray of sunshine
However, today seemed off. Donnie hasn’t seen his youngest brother since a couple of days ago. Normally Mikey would be coming into his lab all excited to see what Donnie was working on but Mikey hasn’t shown up in the lab for the past two days.
The first day, Donnie wasn’t concerned. But by the second day of no Mikey, Donnie was getting a bit concerned.
Donnie made his way out of his lab and went to Mikey’s room to see if he was there. He peeked into the room only to find it empty with Mikey’s drawings all over the ground.
Donnie could feel his worry growing. He thought about going to ask Raph or Leo where he was at but figured that he didn’t want to worry them. He was Mikey’s big brother too. He could find him on his own.
Donnie then remembered that he installed tracking devices on his brothers. He typed some buttons on his wrist communicator and immediately the image of Mikey popped up on his screen. According to the tracking device, Mikey was not in the liar but rather several rooftops over.
Donnie knew that it was getting late outside and that Mikey should not be out at this time of night. Once he found Mikey, he was going to have to give him a stern talking to.
Donnie carefully made his way out of the liar and followed the tracking device to where Mikey was located.
He found Mikey perched on the edge of the roof, staring out into the night sky. He seemed to be staring out into nothing and Donnie could hear sniffling coming from the young box turtle. As Donnie came closer, he could see that Mikey was indeed crying and had brought his knees up to his chest, trying to even out his breaths
Donnie was not at all prepared to deal with an upset Mikey. Honestly, he never was. Seeing his baby brother upset like that always broke something inside of Donnie. He tended to be the emotionless brother and was never good with dealing with emotions. However, sometimes he made exceptions for his brothers, especially for Mikey.
Donnie slowly approached Mikey and put a hand on his shoulder. Mikey immediately jumped back, which startled Donnie a bit, but he quickly recovered. “Calm down Angelo. It’s just me” Donnie said, putting his hands out to show Mikey that it was just him
Mikey’s breaths were still coming out shallow and his eyes were still wide. This concerned Donnie a little bit. “Mikey just breathe for me, ok? Like I taught you” and then Donnie demonstrated even breaths for Mikey to follow, to which he did.
Soon, Mikey got his breathing under control. He looked away ashamed and tried to wipe away his tears. “Sorry Dee” Mikey croaked out, his voice sounding hoarse. Donnie frowned. “It’s ok Michael” Donnie replied back.
“Can you tell me why you are up here on the roof in the middle of the night by yourself? Also, can you tell me why you are so upset?” Donnie asked his brother after a few moments of silence. They were now both sitting on the edge of the roof
Mikey turned his head away from Donnie. “If I told you, you think that it stupid” came Mikey’s quiet reply. “Why would I think it is stupid?” Donnie asked
Mikey took a minute to think it over. Just when Donnie was getting concerned Mikey asked quietly, “Donnie do you think that it would be in the best interest in the team if I just left?”.
Donnie looked at his brother like he just asked the stupidest question in the world. “What are you talking about Mikey?” he asked, sounding between a mix of hurt and bewilderment. Mikey slightly shifted, turning his body away from Donnie and avoiding eye contact
“It’s just…I don’t help out a lot with all of the… ‘crime fighting’ stuff. And when I do, everything goes wrong. It just ends up being harder than I… or what you guys need it to be. Sometimes I…” the words slightly died in Mikey’s throat, the threat of tears coming back up but he pressed on anyway, “…sometimes I feel like I don’t bring anything to the team. Like I don’t matter. Like…I’m useless”
Donnie could not just believer the words that came out of his little brother’s mouth. It felt like those words were directly at him. It felt like Mikey was speaking directly to him as Donnie also had similar issues
However, now was not the time to be worried about himself. Right now, his focus was on Mikey
“Mikey…” Donnie voice held nothing but concern as he looked at the small form of his baby brother. “Why are you thinking like this? Why in the world would you think of something like that?”
Mikey didn’t say a word and Donnie immediately thought back to a few days ago when he and Mikey dealt with Repo Mantis and Todd. Donnie was started to realize that maybe that event is what triggered Mikey’s negative thoughts. Or at least he hoped that is what it was. Because if Mikey had always been feeling like this, then Donnie felt like the worst brother in the world for not noticing sooner
Donnie placed his hand on Mikey’s shell, which caused Mikey to jump slightly but he still turned his eyes to his brother
“You are not useless Mikey”
“But_”
“Nope you got to let me finish” Donnie interrupted Mikey, prompting Mikey to shut his mouth
“Remember when we went to go rescue April from the Hidden City? You were the one who figured out how to open the gate at the construction site. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to rescue April”
“Anyone could have done that…” Mikey mumbled. “Yeah, and who knows who long it would have taken us before we would have figured something out. Who knows what could have happen to April in that time”. Both boys shook their heads at the thought.
“And do I need to remind you of the countless times when either me, Raph, or Leo have been bad days. You are always there to cheer us up. Even I have to admit that I enjoy your positivity at times Michael”
Donnie then grabbed Mikey by the shoulders, making Mikey look him directly in the eye. “If you think that I am upset about what happen with Repo Mantis, then I am here to tell you that I am not. I could never really be truly mad at you Mikey. You tried your best and that is all that matters.”
“You are the heart and soul of this team Mikey. You might not think you do a lot but trust me when I say that the three of us appreciate everything that you do for this team. Without you, we wouldn’t even be a team. You make us complete Angelo. Without you, it would be too quiet. We love you for who you are”
Donnie reached up to wipe away some of Mikey’s tears that were falling. “I love you little bro”. This prompted Mikey to fully reached out and hug Donnie, not even asking if it was ok with Donnie. However, it didn’t matter to Donnie. He just gave a fond chuckle and brought his arms around Mikey. No mechanical arms or anything. Just a genuine Donnie hug, which were hard to come by. The two boys sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s company
The boys soon extracted themselves from the hug. “I love you too Dee. Thanks for saying all of that. I really needed it” Mikey said, digging his palms into his eyes in order to wipe away the tears. Donnie was still a little worried about Mikey but smiled regardless. “No problem little bro. Anytime. You going to be, ok?”
Mikey took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’ll be ok”
Donnie then stood up and offered his hand to Mikey. Mikey took it without hesitation and the two of them set off for home