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Michelangelo tumbled into a roll after jumping off another rooftop, only to spring up again and sprint towards the ledge of the building and leap across again. His breathing was sharp and every time he exhaled he could see his own breath like a puff of smoke in the chilly New York weather. It was Early January and the rooftops were slick with ice and a thin fresh coat of snow blanketed over the entire city. Mikey skidded to a stop, catching his breath, and taking a long glance over New York from his perch on a particularly tall apartment building. He smiled slightly, looking over his bright and beautiful (at least to him) home. The orange banded turtle always loved winter. It was the time for Christmas, snow, and sugary hot chocolate. His brothers, especially Raphael, did not share his intense love for the cold seasons. Donnie would complain about his allergies, Leo would get obsessively frustrated with the increase of people constantly gathered in the streets, and Raph would never cease to grumble about how cold the snow was. These complaints are exactly why Michelangelo decided to just go pick up the pizza by himself this time. Well that and a few other reasons….
The atmosphere was getting increasingly tense in the lair the past few days. The whole Christmas joy had worn off and Leo and Raph were back to butting shells every time one of them breathes too loudly. Donnie was also getting agitated with their lack of self-control and had been locking himself in his lab for the past few days. Michelangelo, ever the peacekeeper, tried to resolve their argument once but was promptly pushed aside and ignored with the screaming match continued. Their father, Master Splinter had reassured Michelangelo he would talk to his sons and get them to sort out this petty fight. So far, he’s had no such luck.
Mikey blamed it on the cold. When the temperatures dropped like it did, it always seemed to make them all a little moody, even more so the moodiest of them all, Raphael. Donatello once explained to the youngest that it had something to do with their reptile DNA, but he didn’t really understand any of it.
Michelangelo didn’t mind having to come out alone this time. It was nice outside, at first it was getting a little too cold for his liking, he cursed himself for forgetting his jacket, but eventually it seemed to not affect him as much. He was running anyways, that generates body heat right? Mikey slid down the fire escape and grabbed the pizza on top of the dumpster just where he requested the pizza guy to leave it. Thank God for New Yorkers who don’t even bat an eye at requests to leave pizza boxes in dirty alleyways.
“Good ol’ New York.” Mikey muttered to himself grabbing the box and launching himself back up the fire escape. As soon as he made it to the top of the roof, he noticed a few snowflakes land on his hands. “Better get back before the pizza gets cold!” he shook off the few snowflakes and started running back towards the manhole he had crawled out of a few blocks away.
“WoAH!” Mikey quickly side stepped as he caught a glimpse of something shiny flying towards him in his peripheral vision. Looking behind him, a shuriken was lodged in an AC unit. It was on a trajectory for his head had he not moved. He turned back around, shifting the pizza box into one hand and took out his Nunchaku with the other. A group of foot soldiers were perched on the taller buildings surrounding him, and more continued to jump out revealing themselves. “Oh come on…” He muttered as the swarm just continued to grow in numbers.
Mikey slowly put the pizza box on the ground, keeping his eyes on the foot above him. As if someone announced the start of a race, the recruits suddenly launched themselves at Michelangelo. The turtle spun his weapon and made contact with the robotic skulls of the first few who dared come close. The shriek of metal and sounds of powering down machinery filled Michelangelo with a little relief. The robots were always easier to take down than the people. Not to mention cracking 50 people’s bones just to get a pizza didn’t really sit right with him. He quickly became overwhelmed with the sheer number of soldiers surrounding him who began to launch from all angles. He flipped over an oncoming foot soldier and crouched down into a leg sweep land to knock over three more enemies. He pounced up back into a standing position, punching one on his way up. A leg seemed to come out of nowhere and kicked him dangerously close to the edge of the roof.
“ho ho-okay….” Mikey shakily laughed. “This is getting a little too intense for my taste.” Anxiety creeped up in his throat as more recruits landed on the roof. He reached for his T-Phone to call for backup, but a shuriken was thrown from behind him and shattered the phone right in his hands. “Hey! Not cool, dude!” He turned around, cartwheeling out of the way of more sharp projectiles which lodged into the foot behind him. Michelangelo dug out his own throwing stars and with one throw, lodged three into the foot on the roof above him. “HAH!”
His victory was short lived as he had to hurriedly duck as a sword tried to impale itself in his head. “Come on guys can’t we all just CHILL?” Mikey laughed a little at his own pun, before striking the foot in front of him with his nunchaku, spinning into a roundhouse kick to take another off the roof. “We can just sit down, eat some pizza, and think about this yeah???” He was running out of stamina as another got a good hit in, a slice through his shoulder. The orange banded turtle grunted in pain as he stepped back, trying to get some space between him and his opponents. He jumped over a kick and punched the attacking foot soldier. When he landed he didn’t have time to move as a metal staff was wacked across his head.
Mikey rolled for a little before halting himself, trying to lift off the ground. He groaned and gave a whimper as a white-hot spike of pain exploded in his head. Luckily, a sword aimed towards the ribs was enough incentive to get his struggling body to move as he rolled again, deciding that he needed to get out of this swarm immediately unless he wanted to be turtle soup. Now that he had taken out at least a third of the group, he could see an opening to make his escape. Michelangelo bursts into a sprint, throwing a few smoke bombs on his way out to stall the foot a little longer. He jumped off the roof and rolled into an alleyway, crouching behind a dumpster. Peaking over the brick corner, he saw the purple smoke clear and the foot robots looking around uncertain. Once pointed to the direction Mikey fled and they ran across the rooftops, passing right by the hiding turtle.
As soon as they were out of sight Mikey let out a huge sigh of relief. He was coming down from his adrenaline high and he suddenly felt the immense aching in his body. He could already see several bruises forming and the slash in his shoulder had yet to stop bleeding. What hurt the most was his head. Every time Mikey breathed he could feel the spike of pain. Slowly he seemed to collapse into the pile of snow underneath him, the coldness feeling nice on his beaten body. “I’m just… gonna rest for a moment.” He muttered to himself. “I’ll get back to the lair soon, I just… need a minute…” He tried to convince himself he would move in just a moment, but he knew he was not rising up from that snow pile without help. The turtle’s limbs began to feel stiff and he was overcome with an intense exhaustion.
Mikey tried to fight it as long as he could, but soon enough his eyes fluttered closed and the world around him was no more. His last thought hoping his brothers wouldn’t be too upset with him being late to dinner.
Leonardo finished his kata, wiping a few beads of sweat from his forehead. He slid the dojo door open and walked down the stairs headed straight for the kitchen. The leader rummaged through the fridge before suddenly remembering Mikey said he was going to go get pizza a couple of hours ago. Turning around and glancing over the kitchen he saw no pizza boxes. Mikey would usually set some aside for his oldest brother if he were in the middle of training. Leo scoffed assuming that Raph had probably taken his slice out of spite and instead grabbed a granola bar from the pantry. He unwrapped it, shoving half in his mouth and reaching for the cabinet under the sink where the trash can was tucked away. Throwing away the wrapper, Leo noticed there was no pizza box in the trash can. Now glancing over the kitchen a second time he noticed there were no signs anyone had even eaten dinner yet. There were no plates in the sink and the counters were free from any crumbs or grease. Leo walked out of the kitchen into the main room, eating the rest of his granola bar. He spotted Raphael sitting in the pit that they transformed into a giant sitting area.
“Have you seen Donnie and Mikey? I think they were gonna go get some pizza earlier.” He questioned stepping down onto the couch.
“nope.” Raph mindlessly answered scrolling through his T-phone. “They might have stopped by April’s or something, little jerks want to hog all the pizza to themselves.”
“I think I’m going to call them, just to make sure they’re okay.” Leo pulled out his phone and was dialing in Donnie’s number while Raph made some snide ‘mother hen’ comment.
“Call who?” Donnie called out as he shut the large door to his lab. He was sipping a cup of coffee and sporting a towel around his neck which was covered in motor grease splotches, obviously being used to wipe himself off. A telling sign he had been zoned into one of his projects and probably hadn’t left the lab all day.
“You guys never left?” Leo turned off his phone a little confused. Raph put down his phone as well, a little intrigued by the conversation now.
“Left? I’ve been working on the Shell Raiser since…” Donnie trailed off clicking on his phone for the time. “Yikes, a while. Why didn’t Mikey come get me for dinner?”
“I thought you and Mikey went to go GET dinner.” Leo straightened up a little. “He told me he wanted pizza tonight and I told him to take you with him.”
“Mikey never asked me to go topside with him.” Donnie sounded a little concerned. “I was never aware he left the lair…”
That was enough to get Leonardo up on his feet. “He told me he was leaving 3 hours ago!”
“And he’s not back by now?!” Raphael stood up as well.
“I’m calling him.” Donatello pulled his phone up to his ear while the phone rang. They didn’t have to wait long however as it was sent straight to voicemail. “that’s not good. I think his phone is offline.”
“Then what’re we waiting for? We gotta go up there and drag his scrawny ass back home!” Raph grunted.
“My sons, what is the meaning of your haste?” Master Splinter trailed from the dojo, his cane making a small echo as he tapped the floor with it.
“Mikey went for a quick pizza run but he’s been gone for over three hours, Sensei.” Leo explained as he and his remaining brothers were throwing on their jackets and hats. “He won’t answer his phone so we’re going to go find him.”
Hamato Yoshi hummed in understanding as he stroked his beard. “This is concerning information, Leonardo. Please hurry my sons, find your brother and confirm his safety.”
That was all the affirmation that the brothers needed. They flipped out of the lair and began sprinting through the sewers. Donatello brought up his T-phone while running. “His phone is definitely offline; it won’t give me a current GPS location.”
“Is there any other way you can track him?” Leonardo asked, his leader voice hiding his worry.
“I can get the coordinates of the last place he was before it went offline but considering the last ping it received was hours ago he’s not guaranteed to be in the same spot.” The Brainiac informed his brothers, already punching the location into his GPS.
“It’s better than nothin’.” Raph hummed.
The brothers pulled over the manhole cover as they crawled out, and jumped up the fire escape, running towards the direction of their regular pizza joint. It had been snowing all evening and Raph complained loudly when he nearly slipped off a rooftop, cursing the weather and all it brings.
When the three brothers landed on a rooftop, a few buildings away from the restaurant, Donnie called for them to stop. “It says this is the place.” Donnie looked around at the vacant rooftop that had been cleared of any evidence of the fallen foot soldiers.
“I found the pizza…” Raphael brushed away a small pile of snow atop of a cold pizza box, it’s continents cold yet untouched. The concern bubbling in his chest just about exploded. Mikey would never leave a full box of pizza behind for no reason.
“And I found his T-phone…” Donnie pipped up from across the rooftop as he dug pieces of a smashed phone out of the snow.
What was most concerning however, was the shuriken still lodged into its screen. Leo walked over and pulled the weapon out, staring at the foot symbol engraved into the metal. The brothers all looked at each other, not knowing exactly what to do.
“He’s gotta be around here somewhere, Leo!” Raph huffed and started looking over the edge of the building. “Mikey’s a knucklehead but there’s no way the foot managed to take him down.”
“Agreed, we should split up and check every rooftop within a three-block radius from here.” Leonardo didn’t know if he was lying to himself, but he wanted to believe that Mikey was okay and not in the hands of the foot. “He might be hiding out somewhere.”
Raphael had already jumped off the rooftop, searching his designated direction. Leo was about to do the same when Donnie’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. “I’m worried about this weather Leo… even with a jacket if he’s been out here for three hours…”
Leo understood what he meant. While their human DNA did help their weakness to the elements, they were still turtles. If their body temperatures dropped too low they would be sent into a hibernation state, which would be dangerous exposed in the middle of New York. “Then we’ll just have to find him quickly.” Leo nodding to Donnie before running his own direction. Donatello watched him pass before running off himself.
After about twenty minutes of searching, Leonardo became increasingly worried. He didn’t want to think of the possibility that his little brother was caught by the foot knowing the horrors they would do to him. He HAD to have escaped, but as every minute passed it was hard to maintain hope. Leo shivered and wrapped himself even tighter in his large puffy coat. In these months they often limited the amount of time they spent topside, Donnie said it was too dangerous for them.
The T-phone buzzing in Leo’s pocket snapped him out of his concerned thoughts as he dug it out of the coat and answered. “Raph? Have you found him?”
“No… nothing Leo…. Donnie and I met up and are about to head back towards you, Donnie thinks we should get April and see if she can sense where he is.”
Dropping down into an alleyway close to where he originally started searching, Leo hummed in acknowledgment. It was considerably darker in the alleyways, not getting as much moonlight as the rooftops were. “Okay, I’m going to keep searching though…” He shuffled around in the few inches of freshly fallen snow and began walking towards the end of the alley. “He’s gotta be around here somewhere, I just kno-“ he suddenly tripped over an object buried in the snow.
“GaH!” Leo shuddered, pulling himself up quickly and brushing off the cold substance.
“Leo???”
Looking back to see what it was that caused his fall, his heart nearly launched into his throat. “Oh no.”
“Leo, what’s wrong?!” Raph’s voice echoed again from the phone.
Leo got onto his knees, ignoring the cold snow that he initially was avoiding. He anxiously brushed away a few inches of loose fluffy snow to see the familiar pattern of a shell. “Shit-“ He muttered under his breath “Get Donnie and come to my location now!”
“What’s going on?! We’re on our way now!” Raph sounded like he was already running.
“I found Mikey.” Leo’s voice cracked as he hung up the phone before Raphael could respond.
The blue banded turtle quickly brushed away the remaining snow and flipped his youngest brother over, so his plastron was facing upwards. He quickly noted the dark bruises that were forming on his limbs, especially the one on the side of his head… he didn’t even need Mikey awake to know that probably caused a concussion. His shoulder was also red with dried blood and a slash that was no longer bleeding but obviously had been judging the red snow underneath him. What was most concerning however was the utter lack of movement. Mikey was pale and slightly stiff… he looked dead.
In panic, Leonardo put his head to Mikey’s chest trying to hear any sign of life. He was so cold. After an intense few moments he could feel the shallow breathing of the turtle below him. The leader let out the shaky breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding.
Donnie and Raph had dropped from the fire escape, into the alleyway, making more noise than ninja probably should. They sprinted over to where their leader was crouching slightly hidden by a dumpster. “How is he Leo?!” Raph huffed out of breath.
“Not good.” Leo moved out of the way for Donnie who skidded to his knees and was immediately checking Michelangelo’s pulse. “He’s barely breathing.”
“He’s freezing.” Donnie announced as he started pealing off his jacket. “Mikey why didn’t you wear a jacket, god dammit. You know we need to stay warm!”
Raph and Leo helped sit their unconscious brother up so Donatello could zip the oversized coat onto him. “We need to get him back to the lair immediately, Leo help me get him on Raph’s back.”
Leo instantly obeyed. When Donnie entered doctor mode, there was no questioning, only doing. They helped situate their youngest onto Raph’s shell before making a beeline to the nearest manhole cover.
“Call Sensei, tell him to run a lukewarm bath.” Donnie commanded Leonardo again. “Not too warm, if we heat him up too fast he’ll go into shock.”
Leo nodded, pulling out his T-phone and doing as instructed.
The intense silence in the lair was broken as the turtles stumbled in, their meditating father quickly rose from his seat in the living room. “I have run the bath as you instructed, my son.” He came to greet them as they entered the lair.
“Thank you, Sensei.” Donnie nodded as he led Raphael, who was still carrying their brother on his back. “Leo go get my med kit and then bring all the extra blankets we have to Mikey’s room!”
Leo nodded and ran off while Donnie helped Raph take off Michelangelo’s gear and set him into the slightly warmed tub. Touching his skin just reminded them how ice cold he still was. “He’s not even shivern’ Don.” Raph announced as he held Mikey steady as to not slide under the water.
“That’s not a good sign, Raph.” Donnie frowned.
Leo quickly entered, handing Donnie the medical kit before racing off again to complete his other task. The designated “doctor” of the family opened up the kit and started patching the long cut on Mikey’s shoulder. It wasn’t deep enough to need stitches but being thoroughly bandaged was necessary. Once Donnie was satisfied with the amount of time Mikey was soaking in the bath he pulled the drain and grabbed the fluffiest towel they owned, handing it to Raph. While Donnie went to go help Leo set up Mikey’s room, Raphael dried off his younger brother, being gentle around his bruises and wound. The red clad turtle wrapped Mikey up gingerly and picked up the smaller turtle bridal style to carry him back to Donnie and Leo. Once they got him all wrapped up in blankets and pillows they finally stepped back and allowed themselves a moment to breathe.
“Is he going to be alright, Donnie?” Leo gingerly asked watching the delayed breathing of their younger brother. It wasn’t normal to be breathing so slowly was it?
“I think so…” Donnie clicked on a thermometer and stuck it into their brother’s mouth. “I’d have to do a full vitals check but I’m almost certain that he’s entered a state of hibernation.” He took out the device and wrote down the number onto a clipboard of sorts.
“Hibernation? You mean like what we used to do when we were little?” Raph questioned.
“Yes. His breathing has slowed immensely as well as his heart rate, but it’s not decreasing, it’s holding steady.” Donnie explained. “We just need to gradually warm him up and he should wake up on his own in a few days.”
The turtles have hibernated before when they were younger, but it’s been over a decade since the last time they hibernated the winters away. Having one of their own fall into an unintentional brumation period was a new experience for them all and they didn’t quite know how to feel about it. “The only thing I’m worried about is the concussion… I’ll have to do more research and make sure that won’t complicate the reawakening process.”
“Do not worry my sons.” Their father appeared in the doorway behind them. “I have taken care of you four for numerous winters, and Donatello is well informed on the biological process that your brother must go through. He is in good hands.” He put a paw over his eldest’s shoulders. “Please rest my sons, it is late.”
They all bowed as Splinter shuffled back to the dojo to retire for the night. Yet as the minutes passed none of them seemed eager to leave their youngest alone. The silence was broken by Donatello slipping into Michelangelo’s bed, covering himself in one of the extra blankets they brought in. “I think I should stay… just in case his vitals change overnight…”
They all knew that wasn’t why he wanted to stay but neither said anything. Raph followed suit soon after and crawled onto the other side, wrapping Mikey in a Donnie and Raph sandwich. Leo gave a small smile and laid beside Donatello, tucking all of his brothers in before settling down himself. It reminded him of when they were younger and would often huddle into one of their rooms while Donnie read stories to them until they all passed out from exhaustion. The nostalgia was a comforting feeling that filled Leo’s chest with warmth. He snuggled his beak into the back of Donatello’s neck as his arms reached over his brothers as far as they would go in a protective hold. The exhaustion of that night’s search had caught up to him and as his brothers drifted to sleep Leo soon followed.
It had been two days since the three brothers had found their youngest half buried in the snow, and he had yet to awaken. The lair was tense, but this time it was with anxiety and concern. Donatello assured them he would be alright, they just had to be patient. To keep his mind off things, Leo would train in the dojo non-stop. Splinter would often try to convince Leo to rest but had only succeeded a few times. Donnie was still locked in his lab, doing endless research about their turtle DNA, yet he already knew everything the internet had to offer. This did not stop him from searching and researching again just to be sure he didn’t miss a single thing. Raphael spent his time either by his brother’s side or by a punching bag. Currently the punching bag was still waiting to be patched up again, so he was slouched in a beanbag in Michelangelo’s room, keeping watch over the injured turtle. When soft footsteps entered the seemingly deserted lair, nobody even noticed.
“Guys?” April called out, seeing nobody was in the main room or walking around as their usual lively turtles were.
“Where is everybody?” Casey questioned from behind her as they both leaped over the turnstiles and walked deeper into the main room.
“I don’t know… I’ll check the lab; you check the dojo.” April instructed as she turned off to go look for the purple clad turtle. Usually you would hear the clanking of whatever it was Donatello was working on from the entire lair. This time however it was silent. Just before April was about to knock on the bulky metal door, it slid open, making April jump back with a small gasp of surprise.
Donnie sprung into a defensive stance, pulling out his bow in the blink of an eye, but when he recognized the ginger human before him he immediately relaxed. “April?”
“Donnie!” The girl smiled, relaxing from her earlier scare. “Sorry for just barging in like this, Casey and I haven’t heard from you guys in a while… We were getting worried.”
“Yeah man, Raph and I were scheduled for patrol yesterday and he was a no show.” Casey came walking up behind April with Leonardo in tow, whom had obviously been interrupted from his vigorous training. “I tried to call and see what was goin’ on, but he wouldn’t answer his phone either.”
“Oh…” Donnie sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry about that, we’ve been a little… preoccupied here at home.”
“What’s goin’ on in here?” Raph peaked from out of the hallway where the brother’s bedrooms were located. He trudged over to the small gathering of teens by the sitting area, looking completely drained. His mask was hanging around his neck revealing dark bags underneath his eyes.
“Is everything alright?” April looked back and forth between brothers. She noticed they all had various levels of sickly appearance to them. “You guys look exhausted.”
“Honestly?” Leo raised a non-existent eyebrow. “no, not really. But we’re working through it.”
“This is what you guys call working through it?” Casey grimaced a little. “You all look like shit.”
“Gee thanks.” Raphael grumbled back.
April elbowed Casey in the ribs before returning her focus to the brothers with a more empathetic expression. “What happened, and where’s Mikey? He’s usually bouncing off the walls by now.”
“Yeah… that’s sorta the thing we’re working through.” Donnie looked down.
“Oh my God, is he okay?!” April gasped a little and Casey perked up with sudden concern as well.
“He’s fine!” Leo waved his hands in front of himself to try and calm the humans. “Well kinda? He was attacked by the foot when he was alone topside.”
“It was nothing too bad, just a few bruises, a cut on his shoulder.” Donnie began explaining the situation. “He escaped but I think he ended up passing out in the snow. His body temperature dropped too low, forcing him into a hibernation state of sorts.”
“Hibernation????” Casey blurted out in confusion. “I thought only bears n’ shit hibernated. You guys hibernate?”
“Wild turtles hibernate, you idiot.” Raph teased. “We don’t. usually… not anymore.”
“You see while we may have part human DNA, we are still mostly cold-blooded. The mutation allowed us to be able to regulate our temperature to a degree, but usually we have to rely on outside factors to keep us at a satisfactory temperature.” Donnie began to ramble about their inner mechanisms, which he had figured out when they were fairly young. “When we were young, Master Splinter usually let us hibernate through the winter considering how scarce food was. It was just easier for us to be asleep through the winter months. As we got older we eventually grew out of it and we had a more stable environment. Now we just use space heaters and lots of extra blankets to keep us warm in the colder months.”
“Because if you get too cold then your turtle DNA will kick in and send you into hibernation?” April guessed. She had done a lot of research on turtles to try and understand more about their reptilian friends.
“Yes, exactly!” Donnie smiled. “It hasn’t happened to us in a long time though. The last time we hibernated it was completely purposeful, Mikey slipped in by accident. That’s why I’m worried… not to mention he may have a slight concussion so what if he’s actually in a coma and not hibernation and all my calculations are wrong and I-“
“Woah calm down, Donnie.” April put a hand on the Brainiac, halting his rant before he sent himself into a panic attack. “I’m sure you’re doing the right thing. We all trust your judgement.”
With a small smile from Donatello and a moment of silence from the others, Casey pipped up. “So is he gonna be conked out for the rest of winter or?....”
He was met with another jab in the ribs, this time by Raph. “Ow! Stop doing that!”
“No, Casey.” Leonardo answered. “We just have to warm him up to bring him out of it. Donnie says it should only take a few days.”
The brothers signed looking around as if they didn’t know what to do with themselves in that time. They were all so worried because of this new experience.
“Tell you what, why don’t we all have a movie night or something?” April started to pull Donnie to sit down on the couch, the others following her. “It’s been a good while since we all just sat down and enjoyed a cheesy movie together.”
“That sounds like a great idea, April.” Leo gave a tired smile, grateful for her attempts to cheer them up.
“Okay fine but no more space heroes.” Raphael grumbled, sliding onto the couch next to Leo.
“I’ll go make some popcorn!” Casey pipped up running to the kitchen while the others got settled to pick out a movie and snuggle with blankets that had been thrown about the living room for these occasions.
The following day, the three older brothers were well energized after a night of rest. April and Casey had left late that night after a couple of movies and the boys all passed out in their actual beds for once. It was around noon and Raphael had found himself back into the messy room of his little brother. He changed the bandages on Mikey’s shoulder for Donnie and put a hand on his forehead. Mikey was back to his usual temperature, yet he hadn’t stirred a bit since they brought him in. It was weird seeing someone that is usually so hyperactive become so still. Raphael sighed and got into the bed with his brother. Sitting up against the headboard, he leaned the turtle snuggled in numerous blankets against his side, wrapping an arm around him. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, tilting his head backwards towards the ceiling when he felt a sudden pull of the blankets. Looking down Raph witnessed his little brother shift slightly, clenching and unclenching his fist.
Raphael froze, not even daring to breathe as he waited for another movement. Just for any sort of confirmation what he saw was real and not just his mind playing tricks on him. Sure enough, Michelangelo moved again, letting out a small sigh as he smuggled into Raphael’s side.
“Donnie! Leo!” Raphael shouted as loud as he dared, eyes still trained on his younger brother’s slight movements every now and then. “I think he’s waking up!”
Donatello and Leo were in the doorframe in an instant staring with wide hopeful eyes. They crept closer slowly, and both piled into the bed, sitting at the foot of it. They watched for a few more moments as their youngest stirred and began to groan a little.
Donnie let out an excited gasp. “He’s totally waking up!”
Michelangelo’s eyes fluttered open and it took everything Raphael had not to immediately scoop him up into a bone crushing hug and yell at him about how worried they’d all been. Michelangelo hummed a little in frustration as he squinted, pulling his head into his shell slightly, obviously not accustomed to the brightness of the room just yet.
“Hey buddy?” Leo whispered rubbing Mikey’s shell a little to whom initially flinched at the touch but eventually relaxed into the embrace.
Mikey slowly pulled his head all the way out of his shell and looked up at the turtle he was snuggled against. “Raphie?” He croaked, his throat a little scratchy from lack of use.
“Hey lil man.” Raph smiled with relief. “How’re you feelin’?”
“…Tired….” Mikey thought about it for a moment, letting out a harsh cough. “kinda achy.”
“It’s to be expected.” Donnie assured his brothers. He plopped down face first next to Mikey and Raph with a loud sigh. “I’m just so glad you’re back.”
“back?” Mikey smiled chuckling a bit which turned into a cough. “Where did I go?”
“Nowhere lil bro, nowhere.” Raph smiled patting the back of Mikey’s shell.
“I Should probably tell Sensei you’re awake…” Leo started to get off the bed before the three other turtles started voicing their complaints and pulling him back into the turtle pile.
“In a minute Leo, Im comfy and Mikey doesn’t have the energy to talk my ears off just yet.” Raph snickered as the small turtle snuggled against him elbowed him gently in retaliation.
“Wanna bet?” Mikey smirked before getting shoved by Donnie.
“Let me have this moment!” The purple clad brother laughed while Leo got settled back in.
There was a moment of silence before Mikey pipped up. “I’m sorry I went topside alone. I didn’t realize how much trouble getting a pie would be.”
“It’s okay Mikey… I just really wish you would’ve asked me to come with you like you told Leo you would.” Donnie hummed. “I like spending time with you, and you know the rule about going topside alone.”
“I know, I know…” Michael shuddered. “It’s just…. You were being all grumpy and Raph and Leo had been fighting so much and I didn’t wanna cause anymore friction between us…”
“Oh Mikey…” Leo sighed.
“I know I’m sorry!” Mikey pulled his head sheepishly into his shell slightly. “Everyone has been fighting so much, I just wanted to get away from it all for a minute. I know it was stupid…”
“It’s not stupid, Mikey.” Donnie hummed. “Your feelings are never stupid; don’t apologize for them.”
“If anyone should be apologizing it’s me.” Raph grunted in regret. “I admit I’ve been a little hard on fearless… I was just too prideful to finally back off and stop trying to get in the last word.”
“It takes two to have a fight.” Leo put a hand on Raph’s arm. “I should have stood down as well and stopped throwing fuel onto the fire. Yet just like Raph, I allowed my pride to cloud my judgement and just drew our petty argument out way longer than necessary.”
“And I know I can get agitated with everyone fairly easily, but I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t come to me when you needed me.” Donnie hung his head in shame.
“guys, guys,” Mikey stopped them. “Come on, it’s alright! It happens.”
“But it shouldn’t.” Leo said sternly with no room for argument. “We’re siblings, we fight sometimes, that’s pretty much guaranteed. But for it to escalate like it has recently is unacceptable. I am ashamed of my behavior and my inability to recognize how out of control things have gotten.”
“Here here.” Raph pitifully agreed. “I know I can lose myself in my temper sometimes… I’m trying to be better. I’m sorry guys.”
Their apologetic rambles had come to a halt as a small sniffle erupted from the brother squashed in the middle of the turtle pile. “You bros are the best bros ever.” His voice cracked obviously signaling that he had begun to cry.
“Always the waterworks with this one, eh?” Raph hugged his youngest brother even tighter.
They continued to laugh and joke around lazily, letting their embrace chase away the chills from the snowstorm raging topside. A rat, whose presence was unknown to them, peaked on from beyond the doorway, allowing a smile to grace over his lip. He stroked his beard knowingly, feeling the aura of his family drift back to its usual energetic warmth.