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"Mikey! You're back!" Raph exclaimed, rushing up to his baby brother. "So, how was your day with Todd?""It was fun! We hung out with each other all day!" Mikey replied cheerily."What'd you do?" Leo asked, glancing back at Mikey from his game of checkers against Donnie."Do? Oh! We... well, we... walked around the Boardwalk...? Yeah! A-and after that, we rented a canoe, and sailed on the lake for a bit!" Mikey replied."IN OPEN VIEW?!" Raph screamed, stopping the twins' game."Of course not! We stayed in the shadows! Just like you taught us!" Mikey responded, smiling widely.And almost nervously.Raph hummed, but his suspicion soon faded as Mikey continued to talk about the Boardwalk. According to the young teen, the day had been presumably normal, and a bit less exciting than anyone expected to hear. But, no one complained. The brothers simply returned to what they'd been doing. Which made Mikey as relieved as could be. No concern over him, meant that Mikey could go on without his brothers pressing about how Mikey should have known better. Now, obviously, the statement was more than true, but Mikey handled the situation perfectly!Though, he had cried once he'd found out about Meat Sweats' trick, and Mikey did have to be saved by Todd. But, even still! Mikey took out Meat Sweats! Er, wait. That was Todd. But, Mikey did come up with the idea of throwing the "friendship hammer" at Meat Sweats! Then again, Todd was the one who threw the hammer.Mikey then drew in a sharp breath, realizing that he had actually done almost nothing to assist in taking Meat Sweats out. Besides providing the weapon to do so, and letting Todd be the temporary periscope."Talk about standing up for yourself." Mikey muttered, walking to his room and crawling into his hammock.This was insane! It was the Auction House situation all over again! Mikey was exposed, and he let his guard down! He allowed himself to trust the untrustworthy, and it got him hurt in exchange!"Nothing new on my part." Mikey sighed, turning in his hammock and sniffling, grabbing his phone and swiping through his photo album.Of course, by chance of vile cruelty by his own phone, Mikey was met with the mind-numbing picture of him and Meat Sweats, both smiling, and both looking genuinely happy. It was somewhat difficult to tell if this was during, or after Todd's power wore off, though.Saddened thoughts poured through Mikey's mind, and his memory of once happy moments, were replaced with the thought that it all could have been some sort of trick. Some kind of ruse... some kind of joke. The kind of joke that's only understood by a specific group of people. The kind of joke that was aimed towards a specific person or persons. The kind of joke that made your gut twist and turn once you realize what the joke is. And Mikey knew what the joke was.It was him.All of it was him. In no way had Mikey been a good friend. He had abandoned Todd, just to hang out with a villain who just so happened to be under some happy spell! Todd sacrificed his life for Mikey, and, in response, Mikey simply left the guy! What kind of true friend would do that?! Certainly not one like Mikey!And this brought a whole new wave of questions.Was Todd upset with Mikey? Would Todd ever truly forgive Mikey for being so awful? Would Mikey be able to forgive himself?These questions were bound to go unanswered, and mainly because Mikey was too upset to go and find out the answers. Todd probably wouldn't want to see Mikey after today. The guy was nice, but he wasn't a pushover. Unlike Mikey. Sure, Mikey would get mad at times, and would go off when he was offended, but he wasn't nearly as good at telling people off as calmly Todd was.Mikey sniffled, dropping his phone, and beginning to cry, snout wiggling in the same way it had when he'd been insulted by that douchebag chef. Such an embarrassing thing to do! Mikey isn't four! He's thirteen! And thirteen year olds shouldn't cry and sniffle like scared little bunnies!How stressful it was, to be in his room, crying behind his brothers' backs. They probably thought that Mikey was doing something artistic, or playing on his phone! If one of them were to walk in and find him like this-"Hey Mikey? Have you seen my... Mikey? What's wrong?" Raph asked.Mikey gasped, wiping at his eyes harshly before sitting up and smiling at his eldest brother."Nothing's wrong! I'm all good Raphie!" Mikey chimed sweetly, doing his best to keep himself from doing his 'Sad Snoot Wiggle,' something that would most definitely send Raph through the sewers with worry."You sure? You've got tear stains on your mask." Raph pointed out.Damn it."Yep! Everything's good here! I was just watching videos of a cute puppy saving a duckling!" Mikey replied."Really?! Can I see?!""NO!" Mikey hissed, hiding his phone and growling, shaking his head and clearing his throat awkwardly once he'd realized his mistake. "I mean... I'm getting kinda sleepy. Maybe later.""...Okay...?" Raph murmured."I'm sorry, Raphie." Mikey sighed, rubbing his arm sheepishly.Raph smiled, walking up to Mikey, and placing a brotherly kiss on Mikey's cheek."It's cool. Just get some sleep." Raph chuckled softly. "Want me to tuck you in?"Mikey nodded, removing his mask and gear, before lying back and sighing happily. Raph smiled widely, waiting for Mikey to fall asleep, before rushing out of Mikey's room, demanding a Big Brother Meeting. The twins rolled their eyes, moving from their respective places in the lab and living room, towards Raph, whom had sat down in the main atrium."Why'd you call us in here?" Leo asked, obviously uninterested."Something's up with Mikey." Raph replied, earning groans."Raph, he's thirteen. He can handle himself." Leo huffed, preparing to stand and leave."He was seconds away from a Snoot Wiggle." Raph announced, drawing in the twins' attention immediately."Do you know why?" Donnie inquired, pulling out a notebook to take notes. "Were there any clear signs to indicate why he's upset?""Well, he had been crying. I could tell by the fresh tearstains on his mask. He told me that it was because of watching a cute video. When I asked to see it, he... growled at me." Raph explained."He... growled? Why would he do that?" Donnie asked."Because he's hiding something! Obvi!" Leo replied, standing up. "And we're not gonna get the truth out of him. We have to ask someone who knows about it."Donnie then gasped, pulling out his phone, and hurriedly dialing a number. Raph and Leo watched with intrigue, unsure of what to do or say at the moment."Come on... pick up... pick up..." Donnie whispered."Hey friend!""Todd! Do you think you could meet us down at the Run-Of-The-Mill in 20 minutes?""Anything for a friend!"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"So, what is it you wanna talk about?" Todd asked cheerfully."Well... we've noticed that Mikey's been a bit... upset, ever since he came back from hanging out with you. Could you think of any reason why that is?" Raph inquired."Oh, well that's easy! I'd be pretty upset too if I was insulted by that mean Meat Sweats fellow!""I KNEW IT!" Leo screamed. "Well, not that specifically, but I knew that he was lying about something!""Mikey lied about something? What did he lie about?" Todd asked."He didn't tell us that you two were attacked by Meat Sweats on the Boardwalk!" Raph replied, slamming his hand on the table."If that's the case, then it's starting to sound like he did more than just lie." Todd muttered."What... do you mean by that?" Leo asked."Why, I wasn't the one who Mikey was hanging out with on the Boardwalk!" Todd responded. "Mikey was hanging out with Meat Sweats for a majority of the time!"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mikey groaned, tossing and turning in his hammock anxiously. It seemed that, somehow, some part of him knew that he was in trouble. And, with how quickly this intuition had appeared, Mikey easily concluded that he was in big trouble. Like, full-on choose your belt trouble.A multitude of footsteps were then heard walking towards Mikey's room, and he squeaked, throwing his cover over his entire body in an attempt to escape. A pretty dumb move on his part, but it was better than trying to run past what sounded like three angry brothers, and... TODD?! Yes! It was Todd! No one else the turtles knew wore shoes that clacked against the floor like Todd's did. This wasn't good. Mikey was gonna feel quadruple-fury!"So, who's gonna-""I'll do it."Mikey tensed, afraid of what was going to happen next."Mikey? Hey, buddy. You wanna come on out and tell us what's wrong?" Leo asked."Mm-mm!" Mikey replied.Leo chuckled, pulling Mikey's cover back. The younger squeaked, covering his face and whimpering. Nothing negative was happening so far, but Mikey was sure that something negative was coming after this!"How about you tell us about your day again?" Leo suggested.Mikey refused to do that as well. So, Leo simply smiled, waiting- along with the others -for the young Box Turtle to do something. Ten minutes passed, before Mikey burst into tears, babbling about how he was sorry for letting himself fall for such an obvious trick. These words were ignored, and Mikey was suddenly wrapped in a tight hug, his brothers all holding back loud sobs. A few tears slipped onto Mikey's shoulders, but he said nothing about it."To Hell if you fell for it! We're just glad that you're okay!" Raph cried.Leo giggled, nuzzling against Mikey's cheek. Mikey sniffled, reciprocating Leo's action. This wasn't what Mikey was expecting.But, he wasn't complaining."I hope you realize that you're not going anywhere outside the lair without one of us until you're twenty." Donnie whispered.Mikey pouted, but it faded at the sweet- but still sort of gross and sloppy -kiss on the cheek he received from his genius brother. Soft whispers of "We're so happy you're okay," and "We love you so much" were consistently repeated, and Mikey very nearly went insane with the excessive praise."Guys, I get it! You're happy! But you're smothering me!" Mikey whimpered, ending the hug there."Sorry." Raph chuckled."Michael, why didn't you tell us the truth?" Donnie asked."Because I didn't want you to think I was a baby..." Mikey whispered. "I can take care of myself.""Says the silly little boy who got caught by a tree!" Leo chimed."WHAT?! Todd! You told them about that?!" Mikey sobbed."He told us about the puppies stealing your food." Donnie chuckled, kissing Mikey's cheek once more. "Don't be embarrassed. We all make mistakes.""Even you?""Of course not!"The group then laughed, all tension having faded."I hope you realize that I forgive you. You're my friend." Todd assured.Mikey sniffled, smiling and accepting the sticker that was placed on his forehead. The sticker read 'Best Friends!," and had two puppies next to each other. It was absolutely adorable, but Mikey still felt a bit bad."Oh, don't worry! Here! Let's take a best friend picture!" Todd offered, pulling out his phone and turning towards the brothers, sticking the phone out in selfie position. "Everyone say: Brothers!""BROTHERS!"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mikey hummed in thought, gasping before moving one of his Chess pieces forward. Leo smirked, moving his King, and immediately winning the game. Mikey whined, but didn't do anything beyond that, looking out to the sewer tunnel that the brothers used to go topside.It had been a week since Mikey's encounter with Meat Sweats, and he was still upset with the whole 'no going out without an older brother' rule. It made him feel somewhat like an eight year old on a sugar rush, who needed his parents on his back every five seconds."We just want you to be safe." Leo sighed."I can be! If I can just show you-""Mikey." Leo simply huffed.Mikey sighed, but nodded. It honestly still seemed unfair, but there truly was no need to go against it."Hey! How about we go down to Central Park and hang out?" Leo suggested."Really?" Mikey asked, cheering at Leo's nod. "When can we go?!""Well, I'm not doing anything right now-""LET'S GO!" Mikey screamed, gripping Leo's arm and dragging the Slider off. "Away we brothers go, to view upon Central Park!"The brothers raced past Donnie, who raised a brow."No time to talk! We're off to Central Park!" Mikey shouted.Donnie chuckled, shaking his head. Mikey would most likely never get over the rule, but it was always nice to know that he'd never get tired of hanging out with his older brothers, and Todd.The best of Best Friends Mikey could ask for.