Chapter Text
Mikey's dreams were about Raph and Donnie dying, that exploded building crushing them. He couldn't save them. His psionics didn't work.
He sat up in bed, shivering. His head was full of a quietly familiar fog. Wait, his bed was empty…
Oh, right. That had all been days ago. After that day, he had gone to bed with Gaia and Don, but that was then. This was today.
He breathed in and his chest wall ached. Blinked and his eyes burned. Tilted his head and his skull burst into fireworks.
Fibro flare.
Michelangelo screamed "FUCK!" at his bedroom, and it made his own ears throb.
Two years ago, during their adventures in outer space featuring time travel six months back, Mikey had been poisoned, mutilated, and scarred in a battle with a reptilian alien. After a coma, surgeries, multiple deaths, One of the permanent disabilities had been fibromyalgia, something Don and April hadn't thought could happen in animal mutants. The epilepsy, sure. That had also been a side effect of psionics, caused by his accident contact with an alien energy that interacted with the poison, giving him permanent telekinetic and clairvoyant powers. The price was chronic pain and seizures.
But there was also the fibromyalgia, which went beyond chronic pain.
And right now, Mikey's nervous system was on fire.
Mikey's bedroom door banged open. An aura full of blue barrelled towards him and he cringed. He genuinely hadn't been expecting that. His shields seemed to be way too thick and-
The aura filled the room almost immediately with a sense of solid defense. An air of calm came with the presence, yet the presence itself demanded such attention that it could only be blue.
Panting, Mikey slowly, achingly swung his legs over the side of bed and tried to rise. A shriek escaped him. And then Leo was there, physically reaching for him, worry and fear wrinkling his brow, and Mikey felt his own aura retract, his skin burn. Leonardo gently held his biceps and Mikey couldn't stop the whimper.
"Oh, Mikey," Leo murmured, and for some reason it felt irksome. Mikey sighed and met his brother's eyes.
"It's all good," he managed. "I'm okay."
Leo's eyes narrowed. "Don't lie, Mikey."
"I'm not," and in his mind he reached for the steel claws of fire that were wrapping around all his body systems, flung a web of healing energy and felt the flame and lava of pain heave and shudder. It started to lay still, but not enough. As Leo lifted him up, Mikey yelped and buried his face in his shoulder.
"I can do it. Leave me alone."
"Stubborn brat," Leo murmured fondly, wrapping his arms around him.
"Mother hen." Mikey clung to him. A burst of pain shot through his legs and he yelled through his teeth.
There came another aura, bright and dazzling, an embodiment of the color purple and of his most logical brother. Metal and coffee and ozone sparked around it like electricity— every element of the spirit was scattered, but connected together in a never-ending process of thought that sucked you in almost like an whirlpool. Mikey smirked against Leo's shoulder. Donnie's surface mind never stopped. Mikey had had to sit with him the longest in their telepathic training.
Donnie's hand immediately pressed against the back of his neck, expertly massaging the exact pressure points and avoiding the trigger points. Mikey whined.
"Deep breath," Donnie said.
"I am breathing," Mikey muttered.
"Not really," Leo smiled. His blue energy became a shawl settling around Mikey's shoulders.
Mikey's shields definitely were too thick, because he actually missed the signals between his brothers and he startled as he was lowered to a cushioned seat. Ah, his beloved wheelchair. Created back on the Fugitoid's ship just for him. Back when he was recovering from a three month coma with his left leg ripped to shreds, lung collapsed, heart bruised, brain damaged. Back when Honeycutt had to extend the time travel from six months to nine even though he'd said he couldn't, Donnie had worked with him somehow to defy physics…
Mikey sank back into it and glared at his brothers.
"You are the worst patient," Donnie smirked.
"Shut up, I'm an angel." And Mikey smiled, just a little.
"Sure," a gruff voice said, "one of those angels made of wings and eyes and on fire."
This was an aura that Mikey could sense a mile away. An aura that hung over him almost constantly like a mother bear over her cub. A vicious, fervorous aura that nonetheless held the utmost care and affection to the younger ward it protected. A spirit of ambition, like anger and passion and love and courage all wrapped together in a tight, powerful package. A spirit of red.
Raph was here.
Mikey's energy perked up, reached up to spread out, before the pain yanked it back with curved claws and a cheeky bloody grin.
When Mikey groaned, Raph's strong hands pressed on his shoulders and his forehead bumped against him. Mikey blinked a couple of times before grinning. "What a weird mythology, huh Raphie?"
"Whatever distracts ya from hurting."
Yeah, his brothers had gotten really good at distracting him from pain.
He was wheeled out and into the intense familiarity of the lab. He closed his eyes and let his other senses take over. Except it wasn't working. Everything was pain. Ice behind his eyes, fire across his plastron and down his legs. He sighed.
"Talk to us," Donnie said, attaching electrodes.
"Just… figuring out how to shove it all back before patrol tonight."
The air itself inhaled. He opened his eyes. Donnie looked doubtful and sad, but Leo had crossed his arms. Uh oh.
"You're not going."
"Awww, Leo, come on."
"Stay still, I'm almost done…"
The split screen of Don's tablet - created out of Kraang parts and desperation - began blipping already. Don bit his lip and tapped the screen rapidly.
"What is it?" Raph demanded.
"It's a chronic pain flare," Donnie muttered, "with intense neurological activity."
Mikey cringed and peeked up at Leo.
"Yeah," Leo nodded. "He's staying home."
"But I'm okay," Mikey whispered.
"No you're not," Raph said firmly.
"Yes, I am." Mikey's fingers tightened against the arms of the wheelchair. "I can do patrol standing on my head."
Raph folded his arms. "The one ya fractured a bunch of times?"
"Shush! I've healed."
Raph's face scrunched up into a bitter, sour expression. "What do you want in exchange for being benched, anyway?"
Mikey looked up at him, eyes as round and bright as a kitten's. "Me? Want something?"
Donnie hid his smirk behind a cough into his fist. "Mikey, you might as well be a trickster archetype. You love bargains."
Mikey looked at each brother. Leo was still being indulgent and patient, massaging pressure points along Mikey's shoulders and neck. He sighed.
"Well, it's free comic book day at the comic store near Casey, and the new issue of Silver Sentry Beyond is on the list…" Mikey relaxed and settled back, like a godfather.
"Mikey, I don't think we'll have time-" Leo began.
Mikey held up a hand. "Hush. Lemme text my inside guy. He'll leave it in a padded manila envelope on the back step. You just gotta grab it."
Leo stopped and moved to stare directly at him. "You have an inside guy at the comic shop. Of course you do."
Mikey's other hand was already busy with his T-Phone. "Of course I do. Don't worry, he's cool. He's colorful."
Raph gave a relieved exhale, and Donnie nodded.
Colorful was Mikey's new codeword for humans who managed to truly see and accept mutants, particularly the four of them. Most humans reacted with disgust or even anger to their very existence. And while these colorful humans were few and far between, Mikey was grateful for each and every one of them.
Most had family or friends who had been mutated, which always sent a jolt of guilt through Mikey's guts if he accidentally thought about it too much.
Leo hummed, then very gently pressed his hand to Mikey's shoulder. "Okay. I'd rather not have to stealth into the store just for a comic book."
All three of his brothers looked at him and tilted their heads.
Leo opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. "And I just heard myself."
Donnie patted Leo's head. "A master ninja not wanting to stealth. That's cute, Leo."
"And when you get home," Mikey added, "You're gonna give me a full shell scrub, a cranial massage, and Donnie's new batch of weed gummies he's been hiding in the left hand desk drawer with the different lengths of wire."
Donnie inhaled. "Traitor."
Mikey grinned. "Clairvoyant."
"Exactly!"
Leo crossed his arms. "Donnie, have you been holding out on us?"
Donnie pointed at Raph. "He ate half the last batch."
Raph rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, you ate the other half and we fell asleep on the couch."
Mikey pointed between them. "You so owe me."
Raph scoffed. "Oh come on, we're all in pain-"
Donnie made a throat-cutting motion.
"-and weed grows like weed, so maybe I'm allowed!"
Raph was oblivious to one of his sai seamlessly falling out of his belt and landing between his toes, upright and vibrating.
He cut himself off and looked down. He looked at Mikey.
"Oh, whoops," Mikey said dryly. "I dropped your sai." He rotated a finger, and the sai floated up and settled back in it's slot.
Raph glared at him. "And what did that imply?"
Leo folded his arms. "That he has better control on the drugs."
"Control? That was flawless!" Raph waved his arms.
Mikey wrinkled his beak. "You kidding? I was shaking."
Raph scoffed, harder, and pulled out both sai. "You were not, you were fine." He dropped one and Mikey startled. The sai jerked clumsily.
"Mikey, stop," Leo murmured.
"He challenged me," Mikey snarled.
Raph's eyes widened. "No, hey, come on, I didn't mean to. You need to rest, bro." He took hold of his weapons, pulled lightly against the telekinesis, and exhaled as Mikey let go with a pout.
"Look," Donnie mumbled, "maybe I miscalculated that batch and I shouldn't have let Raph eat half, but we were both having really bad days and I -"
"SHUSH," and Mikey held up a hand, like a Mafia Don. "I get it. I'm teasing, dudes. I don't care about your dosing."
Raph blinked. "What would've happened if you did care, by the way?"
"You really think you could've kept them there?" Mikey's smirk was very sharp.
Donnie stared. "Yeah, good point, might as well tape a Mikey No Telekinetic Stealing to it if I really wanted to hide it."
"You're learning," Mikey nodded.
Leo rubbed Mikey's scalp. "Okay, well, you have fun by yourself. We'll see you later tonight. We'll watch whatever movies you want." He ignored the exaggerated gestures from Raph to cease and desist.
The smile Mikey beamed was worth it.
The guy at the comic shop was actually there, casually leaning against the wall, vaping from a weed pen. “You're right on time, Mike's brothers.”
He handed out the envelope, peeking up cheekily from under messy black hair and a white baseball cap.
“Yeah yeah, so you know us,” Raph frowned.
Leo took the envelope and squinted at the kid's name tag. “Thank you, uh, Keno. How long have you known Mikey?”
Blowing the long straight hair out of his face, the youth shrugged. “A few months. He's super friendly.”
Leo's eyes narrowed even more.
Keno just smiled and took an inhale from his vape. “Makes ya feel protective.”
“Damn right,” Raph snarled.
“Hey, what strain is that?” Donnie blurted out.
Keno exhaled at him. “Green Dream. The parents are Blue Dream and Green Crack.”
Donnie hummed and tapped on his phone. “I'll add it to the list. Mikey loves the Blue Dream lineage.”
“It's awesome for ADHD,” Keno said.
Leo was gently holding the mylar bag's edge as he read the comic's cover. “Hey, this issue features one of my favorite characters. I bet Mikey will like it if I read it out loud.”
The boy laughed, a soft wind chime noise, and he sighed. “Of course he will, Leo. Mikey likes everything. Well. Not polka.”
That got a ripple of laughter through the three turtles, imagining their little brother howling in pain over polka while cackling in joy at almost every other genre.
“So, how's our boy feeling today?” Keno asked.
“Pain flare,” Leo said. “We're gonna cheer him up.”
“You better, you're his everythings.” Keno grinned.
“That's profound,” Donnie said.
“Dude, I'm stoned,” the boy snorted. “Of course it is.”
Raph, still staring, softened just a little. “Yeah. Well. We've all been through a lot.”
Keno just nodded at him. “Take care of each other.”
“Always,” Raph said.
From Keno’s pocket came a chime. Keno pulled out his phone and thumbed the screen. “Hey, I need to go back to work. It was good meeting you. And be careful going home, there's gonna be a downpour starting any minute.”
Raph lifted his head, inhaling. “Yeah, smells like rain. We need it after it's been so dry.”
Leo tucked the envelope under his arm. “Let's go, guys. Looks like it'll be a quiet night.”
Keno waved at them as he went back into the store. They found the nearest manhole, and the three jumped down just as the rain began.