A/N: Here's a quick something that came to my mind today. Takes place a few days after the key ceremony and Kraang injured Mikey. Brotherly moments abound in here.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them.

Mikey knew he was being watched. Even though he was still half asleep, he could feel eyes on him. It was that feeling that brought him out of his deep slumber to begin with...that and the sound of someone's breath hitching every time he moved.

He knew he was at home, and that he was comfy in his bed, so the feeling didn't make him panic as much as confuse him. He slowly opened his eyes to figure out just who it was that woke him up. And even more, to find out why.

"Ummm, hi?" Mikey said, eyes still half closed towards the intruder in his room. He rubbed his eyes a bit to clear his vision, and was surprised to see not one, but two brothers sitting in chairs next to his bed. He sat up a bit and winced at the pain in his side, leaving him gasping from the pain and leaving Donnie to make the sound that was partly to blame for him waking up in the first place.

"Lie still, Mikey." Donnie whispered. "You'll hurt yourself more if you keep moving."

"I swear it's more like you'll be hurt if I move. You woke me up with that weird breathing of yours by the way."

"Sorry Mikey," Donnie apologized, "but every time you moved you looked to be in a lot of pain."

"I told you to be more quiet." Leo admonished quietly, while Donnie shook his head. "He was out cold, Leo!" Donnie whispered back. "I didn't think he would have heard me. And for the record, I was being quiet!"

"Hey dudes," Mikey cut in, "why are we whispering?"

"You want to wake up the sleeping beast above you?" Donnie asked raising an eye ridge.

"Good point. But then, why are you two here?"

"We, ummm, wanted to make sure you'd be ok despite the injuries."

"Oh." Mikey shrugged and managed to keep himself from wincing from the pain that caused. "It's all good D, I'll be good as new by morning."

"Hey, Mikey?" Leo began, "Rub the sleep from your eyes and have a good look at Donnie again."

Mikey looked up and saw that Donnie had on his goggles, not just his glasses, and he saw what looked like test results on one of Donnie's screens. "Whoa! Dude! Get those things off your eyes. You look super creepy with those scanner things on!"

Donnie removed them while shaking his head. "Creepy or not, they are useful. I couldn't really check you out while you were awake and moving, so I waited until you were asleep to do a more thorough check-up."

"And?"

"You have some broken ribs and a shell that's cracked pretty badly in a couple places." Donnie informed him. "Please stop moving because it not helping them heal, and you are only hurting yourself."

"Well, that sucks." Mikey was now fully awake after that news, and tried not to be too saddened by the thoughts of what his injury would keep him from doing. "So no skateboarding huh?"

"None."

"And no soccer, basketball or training?"

"Definitely not. Those will only worsen your condition, and possibly puncture your lung, further damage your…"

"We get it Donnie, thank you." Leo cut him off. "Go back to sleep Mikey. We'll figure out what you can and cannot do in the morning."

Mikey looked at Leo for a few moments before laying back down. "Fine, guess that works. G'night guys."

"Night Mikey."

"Goodnight, little one."

Mikey closed his eyes and waited to hear the footsteps of his brothers leaving to go to their own rooms, but only heard chairs creaking from the weight placed on them. He waited for a few minutes and opened his eyes again, only to find his two older brothers in the same positions that he found them in when he woke up the first time.

Mikey stared at them, confused. "Why are you guys still here? Aren't you guys tired too?"

"Yes, but we're fine where we are. When we get too tired, we'll just go to sleep here."

"But Leo, wouldn't your bed be more comfortable?"

"It would be, but I'm perfectly comfortable here right now."

"Me too." Donnie agreed. "These chairs are pretty comfy once you find the right position to sit in."

Now Mikey was even more confused than ever. "So let me get this straight." He started, staring at both of them. "You guys are tired and know that your beds are a hell of a lot more comfier than those chairs, but yet you still choose to sit in them and stare at me?"

"That's correct, Mikey."

"Sounds about right. And don't swear again."

"Sorry, Leo."

"Get some sleep, Mikey."

"But I…"

"Good night, Michelangelo."

"Nope. Uh-uh. No way, bros." Mikey sat up in bed, wincing at the pain in his side, and making Donnie do that sound again. "I'm not moving until you tell me why you're not moving. Am I dying or something and you just don't want to tell me?"

Leo and Donnie simply stared at their baby brother.

"That's it isn't it!?" Mikey gasped. "I'm dying and you want me to go to sleep so I won't feel the pain of death! You're staying by my death bed to say your goodbyes! Why me!? Why now?!"

"Oh for God's sake numbnuts, you ain't dying!" He looked up to see Raph's head appear from the top bunk. "So stop your damn whining!"

"Eh, I know that Raphie!" Mikey grinned. "But there's something they're not telling me and I'll just make up reasons until they tell me. That one was pretty good if I do say so myself."

"Yeah sure...great one." Raph rolled his eyes and looked at his other brothers. "Would someone say something to him to shut him up so we can all get back to bed."

"They weren't sleeping Raphie." Mikey told him. "They were wide awake...just staring at me."

"Ok, that's just fucking creepy guys." Raph deadpanned.

"Raphael! Language!" Leo admonished him. "You're influencing Mikey to swear too!"

"Nah, the squirt does a good job of swearing on his own. I had nothing to do with that."

"Raph!" Mikey squealed, and shrinking back when he saw Leo staring in surprise at him.

"What? So you swear, big deal. Fearless here needs to get his panties out of a bunch and live with bad words being said once in awhile."

"It's uncultured."

"Right...because being a mutant ninja turtle and living in the sewers is the height of culture."

"It does not mean that we have to resort to such colorful language."

"Oh please Fearless…"

"Hey guys!" Donnie interfered. "Do you think we could stop arguing about this for now? Or ever again? How about we just all get some sleep hmm? Good night Mikey."

"See!? There you go again!" Mikey shouted raising his arm in his brother's direction, then gasping from the pain it caused. This time though, he didn't hear Donnie's breath hitch, he was too busy trying to catch his own breath.

Donnie was by his side in an instant, rubbing circles on his shell, trying to coach him on how to control his breathing to minimize the pain. Mikey felt his brother sit next to him on the bed, and leaned his head on his tallest brother's shoulder while trying to get over the pain.

Two more sets of hands joined in a moment later, a hand rubbing his leg, another rubbing his arm, all trying to comfort him and help him as best they could. It took a couple of minutes, but the pain finally subsided and Mikey slowly came back to his senses.

He looked up at his older brothers and saw on all of them looks that he fully expected; worry, fear, anger. However, he didn't expect to see, of all things, guilt. It was written all over their faces, all over their actions. Mikey couldn't understand why they would feel that at all.

"Hey bros?" Mikey started, his three big brothers crowded over him, each one asking what it was that he needed from them. Mikey shook his head and gently pushed them away. "What's wrong? Stop telling me to just go to bed and then stay sitting there staring at me. What's wrong? Is it something I did? Did I do something so incredibly stupid that this time you're just going to kick me out!?"

Donnie hugged his little brother closer to him. "Oh, no Mikey. You did nothing wrong, kiddo. And don't ever think that we'd kick you out. Ever. You have no idea how much you mean to us."

"Then, what's wrong!? There's something. Just tell me!"

His older brothers looked at each other, none of them sure how to answer their baby brother. Eventually, Raph shrugged and turned away, making it clear that he wasn't going to answer the question. Donnie stared at his little brother for a few moments, eyes full of love and pride for his baby brother, but eventually he too shook his head and looked away. Leo sighed and reluctantly nodded his head. He didn't want to, but he didn't have a choice.

Mikey looked down at Leo, who was currently sitting in front of him, rubbing his knee. He gave Leo a silent plea to tell him why his brothers were acting so strangely towards him. It was silent again for a few minutes, the silence eventually broken by a quiet "we are so sorry, Mikey."

"Sorry?" Mikey stared at his brother, confused again by his older siblings. "What are you guys sorry for? Why are you saying sorry to me?"

"Because we...we haven't been the best big brothers to you, and we apologize for that."

"You're losing me, here." Mikey stated. "How did you get to thinking that you guys haven't been good brothers to me? You guys are awesome!"

"We let Kraang injure you. Badly. That shouldn't have happened to you, Mikey. That should have been one of us." Leo shook his head and looked down at the floor in defeat. "Our job was to keep him away from you while you got the beacon, and we failed."

"Yeah, but, I'm fine now! Well, ok, I have some injuries but it could have been worse." Mikey smiled. "It's all good bros! I'm still here!"

"But you could have died!" Raph growled. "Gone! Just like that!"

"We would have had to watch you die, Mikey." Donnie added, quietly. "If it had taken us just a few seconds longer, your shell would have cracked open and you would have died. And nothing we would have done would have brought you back." Donnie sniffled and wiped at his eyes as he spoke again. "Just knowing how close you came to dying is too much. We failed you, and we are so, so sorry."

Mikey looked at each of his big brothers, too shocked to say anything. He wanted so badly to say something positive to lift their spirits, but it seemed like everything he said, or wanted to say, wasn't enough. He decided to not say anything, instead slowly wrapping his arms around his now crying, genius brother. After a few moments, he tried to reassure his brothers again.

"I could have died, and sure maybe I came close. But I knew I wasn't going to die. I had no doubt about it."

Donnie returned the hug. "How did you know for sure?"

"Because I know my big brothers, as macho and emotionless as some of them like to act, got my back and would come to help me. I knew you would be there for me when I needed you, and I was right. There was never a doubt in my mind that you guys would be there in time."

The purple banded brother smiled through his tears, hugging Mikey tighter, being careful of his injuries. It didn't take long before he felt four other arms wrapping around both him and Donnie, and that alone made him smile despite the discomfort he was in. His brothers rarely hugged and he was not going to make them stop because of a little pain.

Eventually his big brothers released him from the hug and smiled fondly at him. Mikey looked back at them smiling. "All good now, bros?"

"Yeah. Sure, kiddo. It's all good now."

Fortunately for Mikey, he knew Donnie well enough to know when he was lying or avoiding a topic, and it seemed to Mikey that there was something else his brothers weren't telling him.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Really? Because you look there's something else you want to say but really don't want to."

"Well, yes." Donnie sighed. "No….what I mean is...there is...but I don't…"

"Oh for God's sakes Don, I got this. How can a genius not be able to say one simple sentence!? Seriously, is that too much for your brain…"

"Raphael." Leo cut the giant turtle off. "Get to the point."

"Fine, fine, whatever." Raph looked over to Mikey, who was patiently waiting for him to tell him something that seemed very important.

"See, we overheard you talking with dad one night, squirt." Raph told him. "And we really didn't like the things we heard."

"When I was talking to Sensei one night?" Mikey paused and thought over the last few days and when he would have talked to their father without his other brothers around. "How much of it did you hear? It was supposed to be just me and papa at home. You guys were supposed to be at the junkyard for a while."

"We had heard enough," Leo sighed. "Look, Mikey, I know we don't say it often, or nearly at all for that matter, but you do know that we love you and that we need you, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Mikey nodded and smiled.

Unfortunately for Mikey, his brothers know when he's avoiding a topic, and when he gives answers to end a conversation quickly. "You sure?"

"Of course bro!"

"Then why tell dad that you think that you get in our way and you're worried that we don't like you because of it?" Leo probed further.

"Y-you heard that?" Mikey looked away from his brothers, embarrassed.

"Yes, we did." His genius brother confirmed, wrapping his arm tighter around his only little brother and laid his head upon Mikey's. "Why would you think that? Have we ever given you the impression that you get in our way? Or that we don't like you?"

"I-I just…" Mikey sighed and said something under his breath so low his brothers couldn't make it out.

"Didn't hear that, squirt." Raph smirked. "Try your outside voice so we can hear you."

Mikey sighed, knowing that they weren't going to let this go without him talking about it. "Fine. I always bug and annoy the hell out of all of you." Mikey felt Donnie nod his head in agreement. "And I always ask everyone to do things with me even though they're busy doing other things." Again, Mikey felt Donnie nod in agreement. "And all I do is play all day and do nothing to help out anyone else around here. You guys have to resent me at least a little for not contributing or doing anything around here. Hell, why wouldn't you not like me? I mean I..."

"Ok, ok, that's enough right there." Donnie pulled his brother away shaking his head. "You really can't believe all that, can you?"

"Huh," Mikey chuckled, "Sensei asked me the same thing when I told him that."

Leo laughed at his baby brother, making Mikey blush, embarrassed. "So you ask us to do things with you, nothing wrong with that. You're more social than any of us are so we know that you like to have someone around you. Does that bother us sometimes when we want to have time to ourselves? Yes, but you'll never hear us say that we don't like you for it."

"And you contribute too, Mikey." Donnie chimed in. "You cook, you clean your share of the lair, although you seem to forget to clean your part of your bedroom most times; but you always do what's on your chore list, no matter how much you complain about it. So there's no way we can resent you for anything."

"You guys seem to do so much more than me, though." Mikey noted. "You guys always seem to be working while I'm playing around."

"Well, if you mean that you always see me building stuff for the lair," Donnie added, "I don't consider it work. I enjoy building things and if they can be used to improve our lives, than all the better."

"We don't mind you playing around, Mikey." Raph continued where his younger brother left off. "You do the shit that you have to do…"

"Language!"

"Get over it, Fearless. I swear I will go over there and make you regret harping on this!"

"Guys! We're supposed to be cheering Mikey up here, remember? You're both not helping."

"Whatever. Anyway Mikey, just do the shit that you have to do…" Raph emphasized the word while looking at Leo and smirking when his oldest brother looked just about ready to explode. "And we're good with you doing whatever you want with your time. You're still a kid, play the games that you want to play."

Mikey thought it over and smiled up at his red-clad brother. His smile disappeared though when he thought about what else bothered him. "But what if one day I bug you so much that you have enough and leave? What then?"

Leo sighed and took his brother by the shoulders, making Mikey turn to him with a questioning look. "You're our baby brother. We know there will be days that you will bug us more than usual, but there is no way that we will ever get so tired of it that we leave you." Leo stared at him, eyes very serious. "Get that thought out of your head, now. I never want to hear you say it again, do you understand me?"

Mikey gulped and nodded in agreement. "Good. You're stuck with us for the long haul, we aren't going anywhere. You won't push us away just by being yourself. Got it?"

"Yeah, bro, I got it." Mikey hoped that his voice didn't sound choked up, because he was trying very hard to keep his tears of joy hidden from his brothers. When Leo gently brushed a finger under his eye, he knew that he cried despite his best efforts, but he found he was ok with that.

"We don't ever want to hear about you thinking something like that again, you got that?" It was Raph's turn now to admonish him. "We wouldn't have tore that Kraang robot thing apart like we did to get you out of there if you didn't mean anything to us."

"We're so sorry for leading you to even think anything like that was possible, kiddo." Donnie apologized yet again to his baby brother. "You keep us from getting lost in our own problems and remind us to do things as a family; there's no way we'd ever want to lose something like that. You're stuck with us."

Mikey found himself back in Donnie's embrace and he found himself hugging his brother even tighter than before. "Thanks, D. You guys are all pretty awesome too you know."

"Ok...now that the air is all cleared out, let's get to bed...again."

"Really Raph? Just a 'well, this is done, goodnight'? Seems a little cold doesn't it?"

"Did I just hear that coming from you, Leo? Wow, pot, meet kettle."

"Umm guys?" Both older brothers stopped their bickering to look at their baby brother who was now laying comfortably in his bed. "I am a little tired now. Could you guys, I don't know, maybe stop fighting for once?"

"Fine, fine, squirt. Just 'cause you're tired."

"Of course Mikey." Leo nodded and sat back in his chair, getting comfortable.

"You guys are still going to stay there?" He got a nod from both brothers. "But…"

"Don't bother, Mikey." Raph told him. "They're just being stubborn now and will stay just to make a point. Anyway, I'm going back to bed. If you need me, just knock on the bottom of the bunk like usual. Night squirt."

"Night, Raphie." Mikey smiled as he watched his brother disappear to the top bunk. His other brothers seemed to be drifting off as well in their chairs; Mikey opened his mouth to say something when he was cut off by his genius brother. "No, Mikey, we're not moving. We're staying here and keeping an eye on you and making sure you're ok with those injuries. Yes we'll be fine here and no, we're not uncomfortable." Donnie looked at his baby brother with a warm smile. "It's nice of you to worry about us, but really kiddo, we'd rather be here than in our beds. Ok?"

Mikey knew it was useless to get them to leave and accepted it for what it was; big brothers that were worried about their little brother. He smiled at the purple-banded turtle and nodded. "Ok, as long as you're sure. G'night guys."

"Good night, Mikey."

When he awoke the next morning, his brothers weren't in their chairs but rather having breakfast in the kitchen. He carefully got out of bed and went to his father's room, ignoring his brothers' calls to come eat. Mikey knelt in front of his master and Splinter smiled fondly at him.

"Thank you, papa. You were right."

A/N 2: I may make a chapter between Mikey and Splinter to give a backstory as to what they overheard. It's not a guarantee, but a possibility.

Also, I am still working on my other story, I swear! I've been having a bit of a block as to where it should go to next, but I'm trying to write stuff out and update it soon. Thank you all for reading! Reviews make me happy!