Hey, I can't believe I'm already on the third installment of these collections! Hope you enjoy this. Have fun! I know I did!

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Mikey tossed a bag in the back of the turtle van, smiling. "Aw yeah, boy! He shoots, he scores!"

He turned to a black duffel bag behind him on the floor and glared. "Oh yeah? You want a piece of me? You wanna mess with the Mikester?!" He kicked it up into the air and punched it into the back of the van. "Take that Duffel-breath!"

Michelangelo's baby-blue eyes scanned the room. He chuckled and put his hands on his belt.

Donnie trudged into the room, carrying a stack of blueprints taller than he was. He leaned over so that he could see Mikey's face.

"All done?"

Mikey smiled. "The last of the bags has been vanquished—I mean, packed," he said.

Don rolled his eyes. "I'm sure they were. I hope you didn't break anything this time."

"Nah, 'course not." Mikey said, beaming innocently.

The brainiac wasn't easily fooled. "Uh-huh. Well, I won't be the one explaining to Leo and Raph why their stuff seems to have been mysteriously disorganized."

"Raph's wasn't organized to begin with."

"There's order to even Raph's chaos, Mikey. Even if you and I will never really understand it."

"Yeah, I guess."

A door-slam echoed through the lair and the two younger turtle siblings' good humor dimmed a little. Mikey frowned.

"I don't get those two sometimes, Don. One minute they're so close and the next, they're not even talking to each other. I worry about them."

Donnie slid next to him so their shoulder's touched.

"Don't, Mikey. It's their problem. They'll get over it soon enough like they always do." He said, wanting very much to bonk his two infuriating older siblings over the head. It was one thing when those two fought, those fights put the entire family on edge, but it was something else entirely when those two starting shutting everyone out. Donnie patted his little brother's shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess. Sometimes I wish we could just beat some sense into their heads." Mikey said, wistfully.

Donnie smiled. "That works when they use it on us, Mikey, but I think if we tried it on them, they'd just get angrier."

"There's got to be a way."

The purple-masked turtle didn't like the look on Mikey's face. The youngest was getting far too involved in something that shouldn't even be his fight.

"Let it go, Mikey."

Michelangelo wasn't a very aggressive turtle, not by any means, but he had a temper. If there were two traits the Hamato brothers all shared, it was stubbornness and the ability to blow up in each other's faces if the right buttons were pushed. Donnie had unintentionally prodded one of Mikey's more sensitive ones. The youngster hated being told what he could and could not do. Especially when it came to his family.

"Just because you're a genius, Donnie, doesn't mean you're always right! I'm not an air-head! And I'm not just going to stand by and let this go on. So stick it in your shell!"

Don's jaw dropped. He'd seen Mikey get mad before. He knew how sensitive his younger brother was, but he hadn't expected Mikey to react this way. He was fed up with Leo and Raph's behavior and as a result, he'd decided to keep as far away from them as possible and let them deal with things on their own. On the other hand, maybe Mikey was right. Those two had been avoiding each other all week. Enough was enough.

He sighed at the pouty look on Mikey's face. "I'm sorry, Mikey, I didn't mean—"

Mikey's shoulder's relaxed. "I know. I'm sorry, too, D. I guess the way Leo and Raph have been lately is stressing me out."

"But you're right."

Mikey looked up.

"We do have to do something. Do you have a plan?" Don's brain jarred. Had he really just asked Mikey for a plan? Yes, yes he had, and he was okay with that. Mikey was better at relating to their brothers on the emotional level than he was. Intellect wasn't what was needed here. It was sensitivity.

Mikey bit his lip. "We gotta do it like a turtle do: divide and conquer."

"You sure?" Don asked, his brain immediately running the possibilities.

"Yup."

"So who takes who?"

Mikey frowned and thought it over carefully, his mind picking apart his older brother's personalities. "I'll take Leo. You take Raph."

Donnie blinked. He didn't have a problem with taking Raph, but—he really wasn't used to dealing with the hothead's moods.

"Are you sure?" he asked, uncertain. "You can relate to Raph in a way that I don't usually—"

"Exactly, Don." Mikey interrupted. "Raph and I are emotional, ya know? Squish-squish. But this isn't an emotional problem."

Both of Donatello's eye-ridges rose. "What? How do you know that?"

"Donnie, if something hurts Raph's heart he explodes, he doesn't quietly avoid people. He only does that when he gets stuck on an idea."

"So you think I'll do better with him because I can negate that idea?"

Beaming widely, Michelangelo nodded. "Nobody's better at killing bad ideas than you, Don!"

The brainiac laughed. "I've certainly killed enough of yours over the years."

"Just you wait, bro. One day I'll come up with a master-plan so solid even you won't be able to break it."

"There's always the bro card, Mikey." Don teased.

Sometime during the past couple of years, all Don's refutations of his wild prank or invention ideas had become a challenge to Michelangelo. Since then, he'd made it his mission to come up with an idea so bad it was irrefutable. So far, no success, but he would get there eventually. The bro card was the term Don used for the combined variables of Raph and Leo.

Mikey glared and tackled the brainiac to the floor. He tickled his purple-masked brother's sides and Don chuckled wildly.

"Ahaha! Mikey get off! Get off!" His arms flailed wildly for a few moments before he managed to latch on to Mikey's shell and return fire. Soon, Mikey was laughing hard enough that Don was able to switch their positions.

Mikey squealed and shrieked. "Aaaah! Help! Help! Ahaha. Donnie! Get him off! Get him off! Heh-Heh-HELP!"

Despite Mikey's painfully loud cries, Don held firm. Two pairs of feet came running to the lab and shoved open the door.

Leo rushed to break up what he thought was a fight between his little brothers. A hand caught his elbow and yanked him harshly back. He glared over his shoulder at his red-masked sibling.

Raph rolled his eyes. "Let 'em go. They're having fun."

Fun? Leo took a second look. Oh, Michelangelo had a huge smile on his face, so did Donnie. Apparently it was some kind of tickle war. He relaxed and turned to leave. As he did so, his eyes scraped over his hotheaded brother in the doorway. What he saw made him pause.

Raphael was openly smiling, paying absolutely no attention to Leo. A scoff left his lips when Mikey finally tossed Don off and punched him playfully for good measure. He chuckled.

Mikey and Donnie looked up when they heard that familiar chuckle. They hadn't realized that their older brothers were watching them. Seeing the smile on Raph's face made them grin. The youngest looked past Raph over at Leo. Leo was also looking at Raph. He seemed pretty deep in thought, but he also looked like he wanted to say something.

"Raph." Leo called.

Donnie noticed that Raph's shoulders tensed before the hothead responded.

"You need something, Leo?"

"Yeah." Leo said, nodding confidently. "I need to apologize."

If Raph was surprised, he didn't show it. He said nothing. Leo swayed foot-to-foot nervously. Mikey's eyes narrowed. Shell, if those two didn't patch things up right now, he was going to smack them both in the face!

"What I said was unfair to you and completely out of line, so I'm—"

"Ya don't have to apologize." Raph said.

Leo grinned and started to put a hand on Raph's shoulder, but Raph jerked away.

Don bit back a growl. Couldn't those two reconcile simply just once?

"But you ever say anything like that about me or my brothers again and I'll shellac you! I avoided ya this whole week because anyone who'd say something like that to their brother, anger or no anger, doesn't deserve that brother. I ain't asking  much, Leo."

"I know. That's why I wanted to say—"

"Don't start. Ya learned yer lesson, I learned mine. For shell's sake, let's just let it go."

Raph and Leo were painfully reminded of their little brothers' presence when a bō staff bonked them both over the head.

"Well, it's about time." Mikey said. His voice was relief, exhaustion, and annoyance all rolled into one.

"I concur. After all, I wouldn't have wanted Mikey to hurt himself trying to pound some sense into you two." Don agreed, putting his bō away.

"Mikey was gonna do that?" Raph asked, smiling.

"You two were driving Donnie and me out of our shells!"

Leo frowned. "Guess I should apologize to you, too. Sorry guys."

"Yeah, same." Raph said.

Leo rolled his eyes, but grinned. Raph wouldn't say sorry unless he had no other option. Fearless had given him the easy way out this time.

Raphael chuckled. His three brothers stared questioningly at him. "Imagine, Leo. The kid brothers trying to get the drop on us." He said, a little patronizingly, though his brothers all recognized it for what it was: teasing.

Don huffed. "In case you didn't notice, we did get the drop on you."

"It'll never happen twice, brainiac."

Mikey's angry face was making it hard for Raph not to crack up. For some reason whenever Mikey made that face he had the overwhelming urge to laugh. Maybe because it was such a poor attempt at mocking his own angry expression. He held the laughter in.

"Oh yeah? Donnie and I want a rematch!"

"Oh yeah?" Raph echoed, leaning over Michelangelo, smirking.

"Yeah!" Mikey asserted.

Raph's neon-green eyes drifted over to his older brother and his smirk intensified. "What do ya say, Leo? Up for a rematch?"

Leo's smirk matched Raph's.

Mikey and Donnie suddenly grew very afraid.

"Um, on second thought, let's just head out to the farmhouse. If we leave now we can get there before it gets light." Don said in a rush, blending some of the words together.

Raph couldn't take it anymore, he burst out laughing. He punched Donnie affectionately in the shoulder. "You should have seen the looks on your faces!"

Leo also doubled over with laughter and had to lean on Raph's shoulder for support.

Mikey smiled past them to look Donnie in the eyes. From behind his big brothers' backs he gave the brainiac a thumbs-up. Donatello smiled and nodded. Mission accomplished, though not the way they'd planned it.

The next thing Leo and Raph knew, they had brothers coming at them from both sides. Raphael blinked and Leo's laughter died down as the two of them were trapped in the center of a group hug.

"I love you, bros." Mikey said, rubbing his face against Leo's carapace.

"Ditto," Don murmured, struggling to keep a grip on Raph, who had a reputation for wiggling his way out of group hugs.

"Aw," Raph said, shifting so that he could pat the back of Donnie's shell. "We love you, too, little brothers."

Leo smiled softly. "You can say that again."

Three turtles cried out as they were unexpectedly thrust backwards. Leo quickly stabilized himself and steadied Mikey and Don to keep them from falling. Raph sighed in relief and turned toward the younger turtles.

"That's better." He said, turning towards them. He lunged. "Now come here, you two!" He shouted, trapping them both into affectionate headlocks.

"Raphie!" They protested.

Leonardo rolled his eyes and started to turn away, but was suddenly yanked back into the fray. He yelped. The chuckle that met his ears wasn't the one he expected. Mikey had a playful and mischievous look on his face.

"Where do you think you're going, Fearless leader?" He asked.

Leo laughed and allowed Mikey to pull him back towards the others and with his help they gradually managed to overthrow the red-masked captor and pin him to the ground so he could get his fair share of tickling. Leo's turn followed soon after, and then Raph and Leo each took a turn at ambushing Mikey and Don.

Mikey laughed whole-heartedly, feeling lighter than ever before. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, better than big brothers.

His brothers were all thinking the same thing...but about little brothers.

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Well, there's the first chapter! How was it?