Mikey skirted the side of the sewer tunnel on his skateboard and swerved around Raph when he began to catch up with him, his older brother leaping to the side in surprise as a grin lit up the jokester's face. He swerved down a nearby tunnel, turning left before leaning on the tail of his board and spinning back around, kicking himself forward and emerging from the tunnel just as a fuming Raph had begun to walk past.

"Boo!"

The startled cry Mikey received caused him to burst out laughing as he expertly swerved from his brother's attempt to grab him, beaming in response to his frustrated growl.

"Can't touch this, brah!"

"We'll just see about - gah!" Gritting his teeth, Raph suddenly gripped his left arm and a concerned frown creased Mikey's face as he circled to his left. Glancing to his arm and then back to his older brother, he asked. "Dude, it's still buggin' you? I thought you told Leatherhead it was fine."

"It was - I mean, it is." Raph snapped stubbornly, turning away from him and continuing the trek through the tunnel. Mikey rolled after him as he admitted "It just feels weird when I move it around. Probably just the aftereffects of that stupid ray, it's nothing."

When Mikey opened his mouth to argue otherwise, Raph stated. "Besides, you know fearless is going to have a conniption fit if we don't get back soon."

The jokester nodded in agreement and the brothers began to descend into the silence that had originally brought about Mikey's jump-scare attempt to get Raph to talk to him again.

His temperamental brother had been extra moody since they'd left the Mutanimal's lair, and his irritation made a lot more sense now that Mikey knew his arm was still bothering him. After taking a moment to wonder how much Raph would kill him if he told Donnie about it, his thoughts drifted back over to the conversation that he'd had with Mondo Gecko.

It hadn't strayed from his thoughts since his rad friend had brought up what day it was and no matter how hard Mikey tried, he couldn't stop wondering and spectating. Deciding it was about time that he got his thoughts out into the open, Mikey pushed off the wall that his distracted boarding had led him to and swerved back over to his brooding older brother.

"Hey, Raph?"

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't talk to me so you could keep your shell intact." Raph grumbled, rubbing his arm in a preoccupied motion. Disappointed that he'd remembered this bit of information, Mikey made sure to swerve out of Raph's reach and glanced over his shoulder. "But I have a question."

"And I don't care."

"But it's important." He insisted, sparing a glance forward before turning back to Raph.

"I doubt it." Raph replied dryly.

Mikey was nothing if not persistent and he leaped off the board so he could match Raph's pace. Tucking the skateboard under his arm and beginning to walk backward so he could meet his brother's frustrated gaze, Mikey offered. "Just one question. Then I'll be quiet."

He received a sceptical look and offered an innocent grin, hoping that his brother didn't actually take him up on this agreement and crossing his fingers behind his shell as an extra safety measure. Giving an exasperated eye roll, Raph snapped. "If it'll make you shut up, then fine. What is it?"

"Do you ever want a mom?"

Raph seemed to trip over his own feet but caught himself before he hit the ground, turning to Mikey with a startled expression. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Mikey tried to figure out if there was any secret meaning behind his question, but it sounded straightforward to him. Shrugging in response, Mikey explained. "Exactly what I asked, I think."

Shaking his head, Raph elaborated "No, I mean, where did a question like that even come from?"

"Well, Mondo was talking about how he was gonna call his mom or somethin' to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and it got me thinking about what life would be like with, you know, a mom." Mikey replied as he turned around, throwing out his arms and balancing on rails of the old subway tracks that led to the entrance of the lair.

Realizing his tries to walk and stay balanced were making him lag behind, Mikey decided to leap off at the last minute and dashed back to Raph's side. Reassuming his backward pace, he impatiently asked. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Don't you ever want one?"

"No." Raph replied as he glanced behind the visibly shocked Mikey

"No?" Mikey parroted, trying to see if his brother was pulling his shell. "Never, ever in all your life? Not even once?"

"Not really. Don't need one." Raph replied simply, pushing through the turnstile with his right arm and entering the lair.

Leaping over the turnstile, Mikey gave his skateboard a careless toss to the side and it rolled over to the punching dummy as he dashed after Raph. Plopping down on the couch when Raph did, he ignored the irritated glare that he received and demanded. "How come?"

Raph seemed to be considering whether it was worth his time to answer when Leo came into the room behind them, piercing sapphire eyes narrowed in disapproval as he approached the couch. "There you two are! I've been looking all over for you guys, where have you been?"

"Raph got invited to patrol around with Mutanimals!" Mikey blurted, missing the waring glare that Raph was now sending his way. "And I made him take me along if I promised not to tell you and - oh."

Distracted with his query about what Raph had meant, he hadn't realized he'd blurted everything that he'd been specifically told not to tell until he had. Passing Raph a sheepish smile, he added. "Sorry, dude."

Raph let out an exasperated groan as Leo snapped. "Raphael! You snuck out to hang out with the Mutanimals when you knew how close dawn was and you brought Mikey with you?! Do I even need to tell you how irresponsible that was!?"

"No. But you'll do it anyway." Raph replied, glancing around for the television remote.

"Because apparently saying it over and over a million times a night is never enough to get it through your thick skull." Leo snapped. "It's practically noon! Please don't tell me you were out in the daylight!"

"Nah, bro, we went to the Mutanimal's lair when it started getting light out. Slash wouldn't let us leave for a while on account of Raph got shot and all-"

"RAPH GOT SHOT?" Leo demanded, arms falling to his sides as he scanned his immediate younger brother over for injuries

"Mikey, would you shut up!" Raph seethed with a hateful glare.

"Heh..." Mikey replied as he scooted out of hitting range, mimicking zipping his mouth closed and throwing away the key.

"It was just a Kraang stun ray. I'm fine." Raph snapped stubbornly.

"But it could have been way worse! Geez, Raph, this is what happens when you guys don't listen to me!"

When Raph rolled his eyes and slumped in his seat as a response, Leo threw both hands on hips in his usual commanding statute and mused, "Maybe it's about I had a talk with Slash about team boundaries."

Raph spun around and stared at him like he was insane. "Team boundaries!? Could you be any more embarrassing!? It was just a stupid patrol!"

"The Mutanimals are reckless! They can turn a simple patrol into a life-threatening disaster! What if something worse had happened to you or to Mikey?"

Mikey meekly shrunk in his seat and Raph bristled at the accusing tone. "Oh, come off it! It was just as dangerous as every single mission we've ever gone on! Besides, nothing did happen cause we're ninja! We can handle anything the jerks of New York can throw at us!"

"You don't know that!" Leo argued.

"Yeah, I do."

Piercing sapphire gaze narrowed dangerously. "Don't take up that tone with me, Raphael."

"This is the same tone I always use!"

"Well, maybe you should try using a different one."

"Now, why should I care enough to do that?"

Leo gritted his teeth furiously and Mikey decided to take advantage of the distraction the argument was providing and see if he could sneak out of the pit before it turned towards him.

Unfortunately, the second he moved to get off the couch, Leo, without breaking eye contact with Raph in their impromptu glaring contest, snapped. "Stay where you are, Michelangelo."

The guilty jokester froze and offered an innocent smile when the steely gaze shifted to him and Leo added. "Don't think I forgot about you."

"Yeah, I couldn't get that lucky, could I?" Mikey asked nervously.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Leo gestured towards the turnstiles and snapped. "I expect Raph to sneak behind my back and go do something that stupid, but not you. What on earth were you thinking?"

"I was thinking Raph was sneaking out to hang with the Mutanimals and I wanted to see Leatherhead." Mikey admitted with a shrug and tone void of any trace of regret. A gleeful grin spreading across his expression, he added. "And that it sounded like fun!"

Leo stared between the two of them in exasperation and then glanced behind him, the way he proceeded to throw both hands into the air signalling that he was way past done with the conversation. Giving them both a stern glare, he stated. "Look, I don't have the patience to deal with you two right now. It's way past late and I still have to try and drag Donnie from his lab before he decides to go another twenty-four hours without sleep."

Pointing to both of them and then gesturing firmly to the hallway, he snapped. "Both of you. Bed. And Raph, if you get even the smallest of strange symptoms, you better tell someone. Understood?"

"Yeah, yeah." Raph consented with a bored wave of his right hand, the left hidden from the leader's line of sight. It was obvious he was only consenting to get rid of Leo and the leader scowled in response.

Walking around the couch and swiping the remote from it's spot wedged between the cushions, Leo gave one last point towards the hallway and then made his way out of the main room, headed towards Donnie's lab.

Mikey relaxed the moment their irritated leader was out of sight, well-aware that the conversation could have gone much worse. Luckily, Donnie's terrible self-care habits had gotten him a higher priority in Leo's radar and left them home free. He jumped slightly when Raph suddenly grumbled. "And that is exactly why we don't need one."

"Huh?" Mikey asked as Raph got to his feet.

"A mom, knucklehead." Raph replied, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to handle two of them."

It took a full minute for Mikey to process what Raph had said, and by the time his eyes widened and mouth curved into an O of realization, Raph had already stomped off to his bedroom. After a glance to the hallway as the hothead's door slammed shut, Mikey mulled over memories of every time Leo was a tad too bossy or worried about all them to an almost obsessive extent.

He didn't know how long he sat reminiscing on the couch, but he was snapped from his nostalgic thoughts when a familiar annoyed shout rang out from the lab. He turned around in time to see Donnie throwing the lab door open and stomping his way down the steps.

"Fine! Fine, I'm going to bed!" Shouted the clearly furious genius, who Mikey had learned the hard way did not take kindly to any interruptions to his work. "You happy now!?"

"Do you really want an answer?" Leo replied from the entrance. Donnie gave a guttural growl that Raph would be proud of before he spun around and began heading towards the hallway.

"Calm down!" Leo called after him. "You know you don't sleep well when you're tense-!"

His reminder was cut short by a door slam and the leader gave his head a weary shake.

"Good night to you too." Leo huffed, turning around to shut off the lights and then pull the lab door shut. Mikey saw Leo jump in surprise the moment that he turned to discover that his younger brother was just leaning on the edge of the couch, silently watching him.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Leo demanded, arms crossed as the youngest nodded, still seeming to examine him. After a couple seconds of the uncharacteristically thoughtful silence, Leo started to become self-conscious and hesitantly asked. "Do you... Need something?"

"Nah." Mikey replied, grinning and slipping off the couch. "I mean, I thought I did, but I guess I already have it."

"....What?" Leo questioned blankly, which only made Mikey's sly grin widen. His response was to walk over and slip Leo into a tight bearhug that his confused oldest brother returned after an uncertain moment.

"I love you." Mikey whispered under his breath, grateful that he had something other than a glowing container of alien chemicals to tell it too. And this time he knew he really meant it.

He gained a return squeeze and Leo's previous harsh tone melted away as he replied. "I love you too, little bro."

His older brother allowed the hug to last another minute before he separated them, completely aware that if he let him, Mikey could probably make the hug last all night. Looking him in the eyes, he gave his voice a stern edge as he added. "But you realize you're still in big trouble, right?"

"I can live with that." Mikey agreed causally. "Besides, you'll forget about me when you find out what Raph's hiding - oh, wait, I did it again, didn't I?"

Mikey tried to dive away but Leo was quick to grab his wrist before he could duck into his bedroom. Eye narrowed in suspicion, Leo demanded, "What are you talking about? What's Raph hiding? It's not his arm, is it?"

"Would you believe me if I said no?" Mikey asked innocently.

"RAPHAEL!"

Leo released his wrist and headed over to Raph's door, the youngest scrambling over to his room and turning the handle's lock as an extra safety measure.

He didn't close the door just yet and peeked out, watching as Leo threw their temperamental brother's door open and disappeared inside. Shouting erupted almost instantly and Mikey distinctly heard his name shouted along with a couple death threats.

Pulling the door shut with a proud grin, the plotting turtle was satisfied that Raph would be taken care of, whether he was willing to admit something might be wrong or not. The lair's mother hen would see to that.

Falling backward onto his bed, Mikey smiled to himself in the darkness.

Mother hen.

He'd never realized how perfect that was before.