Work Text:
Mikey’s face was already a mess of smeared tears and snot before he’d even made it off his hammock, his hands shaking like earthquakes as he stumbled out the door in a blind panic, hugging himself through the lurch of terror at an empty hallway. A vast expanse of void waiting to swallow him up, keeping him from his destination. A pit of nothing he plunged into because he needed to see, needed to know—
Leo’s door was closed when he made it to the boxcar, but it wasn’t locked, and it allowed him access to his target, and it supported his weight when he froze at the sight of his big brother, curled up on his bed with a free stuffed animal squeezed to his chest. It was the one Raph gave to him for his eleventh birthday. A cute, fluffy panda that never left the bed except for sleepovers and movie nights.
Except now Leo was startled, jolting awake to the sound of an upset baby brother—the equivalent of another world-ending event for any older-brother shaped turtle within a twenty mile radius.
“Hey, sunshine,” Leo rasped, voice all thickened with sleep as he rolled onto his side and flapped the corner of his blanket open, half-asleep and automatic. “What’s wrong?”
Mikey all but rocketed into the offer, crashing into the slider with an oof and an instinctive cling around his neck, choking through sobs and completely inconsolable until he had some real , definitive proof of life. A heartbeat, warmth, anything.
What he got was an arm wrapped protectively around his shell, squeezing him just an extra fraction of an inch closer. “What’s got your sky all cloudy, kid?” Leo wondered, the worry-line of his shoulders going up when Mikey barely managed to produce a tiny chirp, all but screaming his utter distress. “Was it a nightmare?”
Mikey hiccupped and nodded. It had been awful. He dreamt of Leo’s death, over and over, and over, stuck in a time loop like he was in a movie, trying desperately to fix it, to change it somehow, but no matter what he did, every outcome was the same. Leo died on the Technodrome; Long before he could execute his plan to save the universe. He died, miles away from home and family, in vain. Painfully. Torturously. Viciously.
And Mikey had watched, over and over again. He could see it, Leo’s cracked and bloody shell bashed against the rocks, his lungs crushed mercilessly, held aloft by his neck until it snapped, struggling, bleeding, and hurting, and Mikey was helpless.
“Aw, kiddo,” Leo said, sympathetic as the cute little panda was thoroughly squished between them. A hand cradled the back of his head, pulling him close enough for a kiss to the forehead. “I’m sorry, that sucks. You wanna stay the night?”
Mikey grabbed Leo’s wrist with all the strength his arm would allow, holding it in place. “It- it was—You were—There was—I couldn’t—” he choked out, nonsensical, but Leo’s free hand came around to brush the tears away, thumb against his cheek.
“Hey, hey, I’m okay. I’m here,” he said softly, cupping Mikey’s face. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You- you died,” Mikey managed, trying to find Leo’s face through all the tears and shadows. “You d- died and I– and I couldn’t do anything about it, I just—I just watched you die, I watched you die.”
He couldn’t stand the way Leo’s face absolutely dropped, turning his head down to look at where he pressed his fists against the slider’s plastron instead, miming hitting him instead when Leo’s hands drifted away.
“I-I tried s-so hard to keep you alive, but it just- I was just caught in a time loop, and you died again, and again and again. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I was s-so scared, and it- I h- had to know if you were alive, I just—I wasn’t thinking, I’m sorry I woke you up.”
“Wha—Hey, no. None of that.” He ducked down to his level, hands on shoulders now. “Don’t apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong. Hey, look at me, baby. Come on.” He waited until Mikey met his eyes to smile, sad and soft. “I’m alright, see? I’m home, in my own bed, and I’m warm, and I get to cuddle the cutest, most amazing little brother in the whole world.”
Mikey hiccuped again, lips wobbling. “But you—”
“—are perfectly fine,” Leo cut him off. “I’m not hurt, and I know for a fact that I am just about the safest turtle on this planet, because I have an awesome family that loves me, and would protect me at any cost. Nothing’s gonna even come near me with you guys around, and look at that! Here you are, worried for me and ready to fix whatever’s wrong, right?” he said, clearly trying to lighten the mood with the change of tone and a playful poke to Mikey’s nose.
Frustratingly, it worked just enough. Leo had that sort of way of worming under everyone’s skin, and playing their emotions like a fiddle until he got the result he wanted. And right now, the result was a tiny giggle, and the tight band of anxiety around Mikey’s chest loosening, eased by the presence of his brother, who was not dead and proving it with every breath. He helped prove it more when Mikey curled closer, pulling the smaller turtle up close to him in a tight hug.
“I’m alright, Mikester. You don’t need to worry about me,” Leo hummed softly, breath ghosting over the top of his head. It tickled a little. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’d better not,” Mikey mumbled, muffled against Leo’s chest. “Because I’ll find you, wherever you go.”
It was Leo’s turn to laugh, clutching him impossibly closer. “I know you will,” he said, a little punched. “I’ll count on it.”