Chapter Text
Mikey.
Miiiiiiikey.
"Hey Michael, you good?"
"Hh—wh—" Mikey's head snaps up, blinking sleepily in the morning—
Oh no.
Morning.
"I'm awake!" Mikey yelps, scrambling up from his desk, grabbing at the scattered papers. "Is it morning?"
His blue-clad brother yawns, thumb jerking in the direction of the door. "'s morning alright. Gram-Gram's already awake. She made breakfast about fifteen minutes ago."
"Fifteen minutes???" Mikey's voice reaches a new octave. "Omigosh, I promised I'd help her with the cooking!"
"Hey Miguel, you left your—" Leo gestures futilely to the half-finished project on Mikey's art desk. "Huh. Oh well."
"I'm here!" Mikey crashes through the kitchen door. "I'm here! Sorry! I overslept!"
His grandmother looks up from the pancakes she's piling onto the plate. Donnie is already at the table, absentmindedly shoving a stack of three into their mouth while they scroll their computer. Mikey bounces over, holding his arms out, asking for a hug, and his brother nods.
"Whatcha up to, Dee?"
Donnie groans and thunks their head on the keyboard. "Computer science."
Mikey tips his head. "Is it hard?"
"No! It's too damn easy!" Donnie throws their hands up, drawing a 'Language!' remark from Gram-Gram. "This is basic information! A 9-year old could do this!" They smoosh their face against the counter. "I'm just going to drop the class."
"Absolutely not!" Gram-Gram waves a wooden spatula in the softshell's direction. "It's only been a week!"
"Gram–Gram, I could teach the class!" Donnie protests as Mikey skirts around the counter and piles a stack of pancakes high on his plate. While he's sitting down, Raph wanders out of his room, mumbling a sleepy "G'morning". Leo follows close behind, and Gram-Gram switches her attention to the slider.
"Oh for goodness sakes— get over here— have you been sleeping? At all??"
"'M fine," Leo protests, though he lets himself be poked and prodded and getting pancakes slid across the table. "Really. I just had homework last night."
"Mm, I see. What class?"
"Spanish." Leo beams. "Been doing way better."
"Good, good, keep up the good work." Gram-Gram smiles. "¿Cómo se dice eso en español?"
"Hhhhhhhhhhold on it's too early for this." Leo rubs his forehead. "I know. I swear. Trust me guys."
"He's lying." Donnie mumbles through a mouthful of pancake. Leo gasps in pretend offense.
"Betrayal!"
"Alright, alright." Gram-Gram pats him on the back. Leo winces, just barely. "You have an hour. Don't waste it, you want to get to school on time, yes? April will be here soon."
"Ok Gram-Gram!" Leo springs up to give her a hug. "Hey Mikey, wanna join me on the roof?"
"Alright, let's do this one last time."
"Booo!" Mikey cups his hands around his mouth, hanging by his legs off the railing. "Pick a new line!"
"You're booooring!" Leo whines, draping himself dramatically across the ledge. "It's cool! It's a totally cool catchphrase!"
"Incorrect." Donnie barely looks up from his computer. "The origins of said catchphrase belong to someone much cooler."
Leo gasps dramatically, pressing a hand to his plastron and sitting up straight so fast he looks like he's been pulled by some invisible string. "Cooler than me??? Oh, you wound me Donatello. Wound meeeee!!!!"
"Uh huh." Donnie nods solemnly. "Once you find a way to shoot webs out of your fingers, call me. I'd love to see that.
"Mikeyyyy," Leo whines. "Our brother is bullying me againnnn…"
"Yes," Donnie deadpans. "Your twin is bullying you. What a tragedy. What would you do without me."
Mikey giggles, quickly dropping his gaze and scribbling something in his sketchbook again. Leo's head snaps towards him and he shoves himself up on both elbows, then flops over with a dramatic groan.
"Whatcha drawing?" He chirps, looking at Mikey upside down. "Can I see?"
"Come over here!"
"Awww but I'm tired."
"Oh well, too bad!"
"Boys!" Gram-Gram's voice floats down from the window below. "Come on! You're going to be late!"
"Mikey!" Donnie pokes the back of the box turtle's head. "Come on you dum-dum, didn't you hear her?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!"
"Raphael and April are already waiting at the door!" The voice calls again.
"We're coming, we're coming!" Mikey scrambles down the steps, two at a time, and throws open the door to the hall.
"Gooood morning again Gram-Gram!" He cheers, throwing his arms up as the three turtles enter the house. The woman in question looks up from her spot near the door, fussing over Raph's crooked tie. April waves cheerfully, giving him a high five.
"There you boys are! Hurry, come on, don't want you to be late now." His grandmother presses a kiss to each of their heads and hurries them along. "Come now, Michelangelo? Have you finished packing for school?"
Mikey freezes.
"…Yes?"
Gram-Gram sighs and shakes her head, though smiling a small bit. "Well hurry then, alright? Don't be late."
"Ok Gram-Gram!" Mikey bounds over to hug her before darting down the hall, flinging open his door, and grabbing his backpack discarded on the floor. He hesitates for only a minute before finally just settling on throwing stuff in at random. His sketchbook. Pencils. Folders. His—
"Hey, have you guys seen my computer?" He calls down the hall.
No one answers for a minute, but then Raph calls back, "it was on the living room table when I last saw it!"
"Thanks Raphie!" Mikey does indeed spot the offending object— covered in stickers— and snatches it up to stuff in his backpack.
"Sure thing Little Man!" Raph ruffles the imaginary hair on his head. Mikey yelps and gasps like he's offended, jumping up to try and grab his hand to no avail. The older snapper just chuckles and pats him on the shoulder instead.
"Last chance for me to drive you down there," Gram-Gram says from the hall. "I have free time, you know."
"We can walk, it'll be fine." Mikey answers, and then, because he feels bad, adds, "thank you though!"
"Alright," she raises an eyebrow, then turns back. "Leonardo! It's time to go!"
There's no response.
Gram-Gram frowns and looks back to the other four hovering uncertainly in the doorway. "You all go," she waves a hand. "Hurry! Don't be late!"
Mikey is the only one who hangs back. Because he is a Very Good Younger Brother, and also because he is Rather Concerned about his older brother. As one is.
And sure, he feels a little bad for eavesdropping, but hey, he can always apologize later. Right?
"–rry Gram-Gram I'm just…"
"You can't keep skipping." Grandma Karai's voice floats from behind the wooden door. A minute later, Leo hisses in what sounds like pain and Mikey tenses, but then Karai speaks again. "And these new scrapes and bruises are no good. You—"
"I know!" Leo bursts out, louder this time. "I fucked up! I'll….be more careful next time."
Next time?
"Language!" Karai scolds. "How are—"
"They're fine."
"No side effects?"
There's a long pause.
"…No."
"Good." Mikey can practically hear the frown in Gram-Gram's voice.
"Please," Leo says, quieter so that Mikey has to strain to hear him. "I really don't want to go today. I'm just…I don't feel well."
A pause.
"I just…I miss him."
Mikey's heart sinks. Suddenly, listening into the conversation feels like a crime.
How could he forget? How could he go about his day…
Gram-Gram sighs.
"Alright. But just for today, you understand? This is a good school. Your father wanted you all to get into it. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to fail, hmm?"
A rustle of fabric. "Thanks."
Then,
"Ok well technically he never would have—"
"Yes, yes, I know." Mikey can practically hear Karai's eyeroll. "I'll text your brothers and April. How about some soup?"
Mikey scrambles away from the door as he hears footsteps, looking around frantically before diving into the doorway of his room and grabbing one of his extra sketchbooks, carefully placed near Raph's boxing gloves. His grandmother opens the door opposite the hallway and stares at him.
"Sorry!" Mikey holds up his sketchbook, hoping she can't see the nervousness in his face or in his voice. "Forgot something."
Silence.
"See you Friday!" Mikey calls, running out the door. Donnie is leaning against the wall, typing furiously on his phone. Raph looks the kind of worried you'd feel if your house was on fire.
"Hey, everything good?" April tips her head. "Is Leo coming?"
"I don't know." Mikey lies. "I just went to get my sketchbook."
April doesn't look convinced. "Alright. Raph, I'm going to go check on him. Meet you there?"
"We're literally going to be late." Raph puts his head in his hands.
"Skill issue." Donnie mutters underneath his breath. Mikey catches his eye and they both giggle.
"You know…" Mikey starts as they descend the front steps, taking them two at a time and reaching the bottom in record time. "If we're so late…"
"No, Mikey." Raph pats him on the back. "C'mon, the school isn't that bad."
"Darn." Mikey huffs, but brightens when they round the corner into the flood of students. Raph's eyes light up as he spots one of his old wrestling friends and momentarily breaks off from the group.
"How's that new school, Mikey?" Mona waves from behind the fence. Mikey waves back
"Easy!"
"Yeah, we miss you guys!"
"Miss us? We still live here!" Mikey pauses before he passes the door. "Wait, you miss wh—"
"Mikey!"
"Alright, alright!" Mikey mimes a high five to Mona and runs to catch up with his brothers. "Hey Don…is Leo alright?"
"Dunno." Donnie rubs the side of his head, leaving Mikey worrying if he's got a headache again. "He hasn't told me anything."
Mikey lingers at the back of the group as Visions Academy rises into view. It's not hard to miss— it takes up twice the space East Side Middle does. The news blaring in his headphones about Spider-Shock, again, distracts him enough to the point that when he notices, he's fallen far behind his siblings.
Maybe it's no wonder he gets lost.
"Hey, did you guys hear about what happened with the Spider guy yesterday?" Mikey runs up to walk alongside Donnie. "There was some weird earthquake near Brooklyn."
"Did he?" Raph looks back, and Mikey holds up his phone. "Huh. That's what that was. You think everyone's ok?"
"Says no civilian casualties." Mikey scrolls up. "Huh. Ever think it's lonely being the only vigilante saving everyone?"
"Seems like he's…got it covered." Raph says uneasily. "Maybe? Probably. He's young, right?"
"A true hero never reveals his personal information." Mikey says primly. Donnie rolls their eyes.
"Idiot's gonna get himself hurt sometime." Donnie grumbles, adjusting their shirt collar. "Have you seen the way he flings himself around? That's asking for trouble."
"Huh." Mikey shrugs. He supposed so, but he can't help but think of how cool some of the stunts were.
He's distracted on the steps leading up to the huge double doors when several kids' chatter picks up, turning from casual to laughing, surprised. He turns around in time to see none other than Gram-Gram's car pulling up to the front of the school, lights off, but still leaving him able to see the clear silhouette of his older brother in the back of the car. April gets out first, making a beeline towards them, but Leo hangs back.
"Leo's here!" Mikey grabs Raph's arm, grinning widely. Raph looks up and grins, waving at the red-eared slider.
For a moment, Mikey catches the glimpse of Leo's expression as he gets out of the car. Tired, the bags under his eyes barely covered up with makeup. Limping slightly, the barest wince of pain covered up by his characteristic Leo smile.
But most of all, he looks angry.
"Miguel!" Leo spots him and beams, bounding over to press a messy kiss on the top of Mikey's head while he squeals and ducks away. "Hey man, come on, you want to be late?"
"I—" Mikey blinks. Donnie, April, and Raph have already disappeared into the crowd of people into the school. "Yeah. Ok. You alright?"
Leo's smile slips, briefly.
"I– I mean you didn't come with us. So I was just wondering."
"Yeah." Leo tugs his backpack straps tighter. "Yeah, it's fine."
They're just heading up the steps when Mikey hears the sharp, unmistakable sound of the police siren.
"Leonardo." Gram-Gram's voice blares over the loudspeaker. A few kids around them let out an 'Ooooo'. "You have to say 'I love you' back."
"Oh my god." Leo's eyes roll skyward. "Gram-Gram are you serious?"
"Yes. I want to hear it."
"I got out of the car ages ago and you're just saying this now?"
"'I love you, Gram-Gram'."
"You wanna hear me say it–"
"'I love you, Gram-Gram'."
"Seriously, you're dropping me off at school—"
"'Gram-Gram, I love you'."
Leo sighs. Everyone stares at the two of them.
"Gram-Gram. I love you."
Mikey can practically see her smile from the car. "Copy that. Oh, and Michelangelo?"
Mikey freezes.
"Tie your shoes, please."
Yeah. Ok. It'll be fine. No one will be talking about it.
Mikey pushes open the glass-paneled front doors and into the main hall. Aaand yep everyone's talking about it.
Leo, of course, brightens right back up and bounds over to his friends, though whether they're laughing at him or with him, Mikey can't tell.
"Morning!" He waves to the few people he recognizes from some of his classes. "Hey, cool glasses, are those new?"
"'That's a copy'." Someone snickers behind him. His grin flickers.
"Hey." Someone taps him on the back. "Shoe's untied."
"Yeah." Mikey mutters, turning away. "It's a choice."
Before he's even halfway through the day, Mikey is loaded down with five textbooks, a teetering stack of papers, and a pencil case.
Who knew art class could require so much…studying.
"Need some help?"
"Dee!" Mikey beams around the stack of books. The hallway is already emptying out, students hurrying to their classes as the bell gets closer and closer to ringing. "Hi! I thought you had—"
"I have an off period." The softshell lifts the stack of textbooks from Mikey's hands. "In which I need to study for a test, but dearest April told me to take a brain break. Eugh. What are these for?"
Mikey grimaces. "…Math. Science, Art history, Sociology, French…"
"And Physics." Donnie reads off the top book. "Luckyyy…"
"You took Physics last year!"
"Scoff!" Donnie turns their snout upwards as Mikey giggles. "And it was one of my favorites!"
Donnie immediately turns back to him, practically bouncing on their toes. "What do you think? Is it enjoyable?"
"Um." Mikey starts, then hurries on as Donnie's wide grin flickers. "I mean! It's a great subject, don't get me wrong! It's just…not my thing."
Donnie shakes their head. "Ah, well, alas, my dear brother, you only have a year. Good luck." They pat Mikey's head.
"Dee–" Mikey ducks away. "You good?"
"Yes!" Donnie claps their hands. "They said totally convincingly. Got space in your backpack?"
"Well, ok, in my defense, I was rushing." Mikey places his books on the floor and shrugs off his backpack. "Look, I'm sorry—
"—Yeah, trust them to leave us with five whole entire minutes to get halfway across the school. Shudder." Donnie interrupts, stuffing the textbooks in Mikey's bag while Mikey frantically tries to clear out the scattered art supplies. Clearly, they don't want to talk about it.
"Thanks Donnie," Mikey hefts his now ten times heavier backpack onto his shoulders. Hey, his hands are free though. "You have that tech club after school?"
"Indeed."
"With that guy you like?" Mikey continues in a sing-song. trying to ignore the pit in his stomach. Donnie's upset now, he knows it.
"Michael, I swear I will—" Donnie's gaze slides to one of the open classroom doors. "Insert a totally not genuine threat here."
Mikey snickers. "Yeah yeah. See you later, Dee!"
Mikey makes it to class. At least seven minutes late, but, you know, well.
He doesn't have an excuse for that.
"—countless other splendiferous possibilities." The lady in the video drones on. "There could be a universe where I am wearing red. Red! Just think, the audacity—"
"Mr. Hamato." Ms. Calleros pauses the video. "Moving in the dark. You're late. Again."
"Sorry!" Mikey straightens up. "Sorry. Um. I mean, you know." He racks his brain, trying to think of something. "Einstein said time was relative, right? Maybe I’m not late. Maybe you guys are early."
Crickets.
The only person who chuckles, who breaks the silence, is a boy in the middle row, with doe-like brown eyes and short, curly black hair. He blinks at everyone's stares, and ducks his head.
"Sorry."
"Right." Ms. Calleros turns back to Mikey. "Would you like to keep standing there or do you want to sit down?"
"Sorry," Mikey mumbles again. "Sorry. I'll be on time. Tomorrow."
The projector switches back on as Mikey stumbles through the dark classroom, bumping into desks and mumbling apologies.
"I liked your joke."
"Hm?" Mikey turns his head to the new guy sitting across the aisle. He grins. "Oh. Thanks!"
"No problem." The guy smiles back, warm and friendly. "It was smart."
"That's me!" Mikey beams. "Hey, just— I don't think I've seen you bef—"
"Shhh!" His teacher moves in between them. Mikey snaps to attention again only looking back once.
"—choice that we make, would create countless other possibilities. A What-if to infinity."
"A zero?" Mikey taps his fingers on the desk as Ms. Calleros slides the quiz back. "If I get any more of those, you'd have to kick me out, right?" He side-steps towards the door. "Ya know, maybe this school isn't the right—"
"If a person wearing a blind fold picked the answers on a true or false quiz at random, do you know what score they would get?" His teacher interrupts him, pulling out a red pen. Mikey blinks.
"Uh. Fifty percent?"
"That's right."
"Wai–"
"The only way to get all the answers wrong, is to know which answers were right." She makes a final mark on the quiz and slides it back. 100/100.
"You’re trying to quit." She raises an eyebrow, lowering her voice even though there's no one else in the room. "And I’m not going to let you."
Mikey sighs, and slumps back in his chair. The classroom is eerily silent. "I—"
"Look, Mikey, you're a smart kid." Ms. Calleros' voice gets gentler. "I saw your schedule. Are you handling everything ok? Is everything alright at home?"
"Yeah!" Mikey steels his face into a bright grin. "Yeah, I'm good! Thought it would be fun to branch out, you know? I didn't have very many options at my old school."
Ms. Calleros looks at him for a few seconds before nodding and rummaging around in her desk.
"Alright. I’m assigning you a personal essay." She hands him a paper. "Not about physics, but about you. And what kind of person you want to be."
Another project? Mikey groans inwardly but takes the paper anyway and stuffs it in his binder. "Alright. Thank you."
"Take care, Mikey."
"—sorry Mikey, but I can't extend this further." His art teacher shakes their head. "You were assigned this a week ago. That's plenty of time."
"I…" Mikey's teeth dig into his bottom lip. "Yeah. I'm sorry."
"You can make this up through other assignments later in the semester," they mark the paper with a large 0/100. Mikey's stomach twists. "But it's going in as a zero for now."
"Alright." Mikey makes his way back to his desk, the stool screeching out with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. Mikey winces. Looks like today they're finally, actually drawing.
"Hey, it's you!"
Mikey looks up to see the guy from his physics class waving for him to sit next to him. He can't remember his name— something starting with an 'M', maybe?
"Sorry, I didn't think I caught your name earlier," he says as Mikey sits down. "I'm Miles. Morales, I mean. Miles Morales."
"Mikey." He points to himself with his thumb. "You just transfer here or something?"
"Uh." Miles briefly blanks. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. From out of state."
"Oh cool!" Mikey beams. "Where from? I haven't been out of New York yet."
"…California!" Miles bursts out. "Yeah. um. California."
"Ooo, California seems really fun!" Mikey claps his hands together. "They have so much cool sounding stuff."
"Yeah," Miles shrugs, reaching across the table for the art paper. "Yeah, it was pretty fun."
Mikey looks up at the projector, starting to sketch the flower that's nearly as tall as him. The teacher's talking, but he's not really paying attention.
"Got any siblings?"
"Hm?" He looks up. "Oh, yeah, I have three brothers. Uh…Sophomores and a Junior? I have a sister too, though it's more of a found family. kind of thing." Smooth, Mikey.
"Oh, nice." Miles erases a line, then again when it doesn't fully erase the first time. "I wish I had siblings. Do they go here?"
"Yep!" Mikey swings his legs against the stool, tongue sticking out as he draws. "We're all in the same theater class, April too. She helps out with tech, Raph and my friend Casey help with costumes. We. Haven't done anything yet though."
"Mm, yeah. I did a few plays in elementary school." Miles squints at the projector. "What is that, a woodpecker?" Mikey bursts out into silent giggles, trying to stop as the teacher looks over to their table. "Hey, look, it's not my fault! Ok! In my defense!"
"What defense do you have??? That doesn't even look like a woodpecker!"
They get so caught up in their friendly banter, Mikey hardly notices when class ends and the bell rings. Many of the students who were in the middle of their projects groan and start shoving their papers into their backpacks. Mikey carefully slides his sketch into his art folder and slings his backpack over his shoulder, chatting with Miles all the way until they get out of the classroom.
"Mikey!"
"Raph!" Mikey cheers as his older brothers and sister weave through the crowd. "Leo!!! April! How were your classes?"
"We dissected a frog." Leo pulls a face.
"…Oh !"
"Hit a bit close to home." Leo winces. "Except, you know. not really."
"Yeah no, not really." April elbows him lightly in the shoulder. "Really??"
"Ok, in my defense, I was trying to make a joke—"
"Who's your new friend Mikey?" Raph interjects. Mikey groans
"Oh my god, please do not." Mikey puts his head in his hands.
"Listen—"
"You did this with Mondo too! And Mona! And Casey!"
"Casey tried to kill you that one time!" Raph protests.
"W—" Miles blinks. "Pardon?"
"It's a whole," Mikey waves a hand at him, Raph, and Leo. "Situation. It was a while ago anyway. Raphieeeeee. Come on, seriously! Can't a turtle have a friend without his brothers breathing down his neck? I'm not a baby!"
"It wasn't a while ago, it was literally last month."
"My point! Still stands!"
"You are thirteen." Leo holds a finger in the air dramatically. "Ergo, baby."
Mikey shoots his brother a death glare. "I will bite you."
"Hey now, that's Donnie's job."
"Oh my god."
"No biting people." Raph separates the two. "Come on, we have to meet up with Donnie for class."
"Ok. Bye Miles!" Mikey waves as they go their separate ways, daring Leo to race down the hallway before the bell rings.
Mikey wins, as he always tends to do.