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It wasn’t normal for Mikey to still be in his room this late in the day. Normally by now he’d be out, already have cooked his family breakfast, and have waltzed into the lab, sketchbook in hand, to draw while Donnie worked on his latest invention. But by now it was nearly noon. And Donnie had yet to see him.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Or maybe, since Donnie had been the only one who’d seemed to notice, it did.
Raph and Leo had fought before. They’d always squabbled here and there, ever since they were both old enough to talk. But things had gotten worse since the leadership change. Much worse. And the only way the pair seemed to communicate with each other anymore was through a screaming match. And there was only so much of that junk that Mikey could take.
Donnie didn’t know what they were fighting about today. Frankly, he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to him was the fact that the arguing had kept Mikey locked up in his room. Mikey, who rose before the sun. Mikey, who was always the first to get cabin fever and beg to go up to the surface. Mikey, who only hated one thing more than isolation: fighting.
Stupid, selfish, dumb-dumb brothers.
In their old lair Mikey hadn’t really had a door. He’d had a curtain to give him the semblance of privacy, but you couldn’t really knock on that. To fix that problem Mikey had begged Donnie to build him a doorbell. He could still remember his brother's tiny, squishy face when he’d presented him with the finished project. His little brother was only five years old at the time.
He’d brought the contraption with him to their new house, and with Donnie’s help, had affixed it to his new door.
Donnie stared at it, a small orange button with a smiley face haphazardly drawn on it by Mikey’s tiny hand all those years ago. Back when things were easier. Back when their dad still helped them with stuff. Back when Leo and Raph did more than fight.
Shaking himself free of his thought, Donnie pressed the button. It only took a few seconds for Mikey to appear at the door. A smile was plastered to his face, but Donnie could tell from his red-rimmed eyes that he’d been crying.
“Morning, Donnie,” Mikey said quietly.
“Good morning, Micheal,” Donnie said, shifting his backpack to better fit over his Battle Shell. “Would you care to accompany me to Draxum’s?”
Mikey’s eyes lit up. Donnie could acknowledge that Draxum had been invaluable during their fight with the Shredder. But that still didn’t mean he had to like him. Mikey did, though. And apart from wandering the New York City streets aimlessly (not exactly the safest thing to do, especially in broad daylight), his apartment was the only place they could really go.
Besides, he was done listening to all the fighting too.
“Really?” Mikey asked. “You’ll come with me?”
“Yes. I know you’ve been going over there to practice your mystic stuff and I figured I could come too.”
“You want to practice with me?” Mikey said, his voice climbing at least three octaves. That wasn’t what Donnie had meant. He’d planned to sit and work on Shelldon’s new body while Mikey and Draxum practiced. But he wasn’t about to extinguish the light that had just returned to his little brother’s eyes. He wasn’t that mean.
“...Of course” he said with some struggle. “I would love nothing more than to spend my time working on something not useful.”
It must’ve been a good lie, because Mikey shot forward and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing as tightly as he could.
“This is gonna be so much fun!” he said. “We can practice our Ninpo! Ugh, I’ve been trying to help Draxum unlock his, but he just hasn’t gotten it yet. I wonder if–”
Mikey continued talking, but at that point Donnie started to tune him out. He desperately hoped he hadn’t just gotten himself in over his head.
“What are you doing?” Draxum asked.
“Exactly what you told me to,” Donnie bit back. “Are you sure the problem isn’t your teaching? Maybe we should try something else.”
“You need to master the basics first,” Draxum said. “I already told you, if you can’t do this then you’re not ready for anything more advanced. It can be very taxing on the body. Do you want to turn to dust?”
Donnie rolled his eyes. He’d prefer turning to dust than spending one more minute doing this.
“Your brother got this easily,” Draxum muttered under his breath.
“You know what, work with him for a bit,” Donnie said, walking over to the table and opening his backpack. “I’ve got other stuff to work on.”
Draxum didn’t argue.
As stupid as he was, Draxum was right about one thing. To Mikey, this stuff was easy. In the past few months Mikey had blown past the basics and was now working on some more advanced things with Draxum, particularly learning how to fly. This was where Mikey had hit a roadblock.
He’d tried explaining it to Donnie on the way over. But, considering that almost none of this made sense to Donnie, he hadn’t been much help in discovering a solution. Something was keeping Mikey from unlocking his true potential. They just couldn’t figure out what.
Luckily, Draxum was a bit kinder in helping Mikey with his issues than he had been for Donnie. But, if he appreciated one thing about Draxum, it was his honesty. Even if it meant that Draxum didn’t try to hide his favoritism. Besides, out of all of the brothers, Mikey was a good pick.
In between their practice sessions, it looked like Mikey had a good amount of time to work on sprucing up Draxum’s apartment too. The last time Donnie had been here (that horrible family dinner) the place had been nearly empty. Now there was a vase of fresh flowers on the table, the pantry was stocked with snacks, and pictures of their family that Mikey had sacrificed from his own room hung on the walls.
One of the first things Mikey had done when they’d got there that particular day was start making lunch. He’d cut up some meat and vegetables for a soup and set it to cook. When it was finished, it would signal it was time to take a break and eat.
The pleasant aroma of the soup filled the air around Donnie as he worked on his designs for Shelldon’s new (and hopefully indestructible) body. He had been smart enough to not ask what was in the food. Another thing Mikey had been learning from Draxum was how to cook with Hidden City ingredients. And as much as he enjoyed that most…eccentric dishes at Run of the Mill, he figured he would enjoy the food a lot more if he didn’t know what was in it.
“Have you brothers been practicing their exercises too?” Draxum asked. Donnie resisted the urge to sigh. Leave it to Draxum to bring up the one topic that they’d come here specifically to avoid.
“I think they’ve just been too busy,” Mikey said. A familiar tone had returned to his voice. It was the same one he used whenever he talked about Raph in Leo. A quiet melancholy that he was trying desperately to cover up.
“Well, moving is time consuming,” Draxum said.
Donnie paused what he was working on. Despite the fact that they’d been in their new house for months, they hadn’t really started “moving” yet. They had their rooms, sure. Their necessities. But most of the rest of their things still sat in stacks of brown cardboard boxes, scattered around their new lair. A good amount of their stuff was still at the old one too. Had Mikey not told Draxum any of this yet?
Then again, maybe that was a good thing. The stuff that was going on at home was family issues. And as much as Mikey tried to include him, Draxum wasn’t family. He never would be. Not to Donnie.
“The soup should be ready by now,” Mikey said, cutting the conversation short and walking over to the stove. He grabbed three bowls from Draxum’s cabinets (before Mikey he’d only had paper dishes) and ladled soup into all three.
Donnie cleared the table in front of him, shoving all of his stuff back into his backpack. Back home Raph, Leo, and Splinter would all be eating lunch separately. If they ate it at all.
The only times that the Hamatos bothered to have a meal together was when Mikey insisted upon it. He’d always been like that. The family’s glue.
Donnie looked across the table at Mikey. And then suddenly it clicked. Why he cared about Draxum so much, why he was so insistent on bringing them together. No matter what he did, Mikey couldn’t get Raph and Leo to get along. He couldn’t bring his family together. He couldn’t restick the bonds that had begun to sever. He felt useless without his job. Something Donnie understood all too well.
He wasn’t gonna let his little brother keep feeling like that, though. If getting along with Draxum, if playing family with him was what it took to help Mikey, then he was willing to do it. He’d do anything for his little brother.
“Draxum?” Donnie asked. “After lunch maybe I can try that exercise again.”