Mazes

Truth be told, it made him jump in absolute terror – but only a little bit!

In his defense, the shadowy figure of his brother was indeed frightening. When Mikey flipped on the kitchen lights, the last thing he'd expected was to see the slouched figure of Donatello sitting (somewhat menacingly) at the wooden table, chasing around a grape on the table's surface halfheartedly with his forefinger. But unlike his startled brother, Donnie didn't seem to notice his presence. He didn't even flinch when the blinding lights flooded the dark area and Mikey gave a small screech of surprise.

"Dude, what're you doing?!" Mikey exclaimed with a hand over his furiously beating heart. "I think I just died a little on the inside!"

"Sorry," Don's voice replied, scratchy with the lack of sleep. "Couldn't sleep very well."

Heart slowing to a fairly reasonable pace, Mikey walked over and pulled out a chair next to his brother, lazily plopping into it with a sigh. "That makes two of us, I guess."

That's strange. Donnie looked up past the large bowl of fruit and the untouched box of cereal sitting between them, studying his brother's face. "Why're you up already?" he asked as he noted Mikey's half-lidded raccoon eyes. "You don't appear very well rested to me."

Mikey shrugged. "Nightmare. Wasn't that bad this time, but I couldn't fall back asleep after I woke up so I went to go get some chocolate or something."

"Chocolate at..." Donnie glanced at the oven lights, "four in the morning?"

"Hey, why're you questioning all my life choices?" Mikey pouted, sticking out his tongue in defiance. "Besides, I'm not the one who's moping around in a dark kitchen, singing sad songs and crying to myself while eating nasty old fruit."

As Mikey eyed the massive bowl of fruit begrudgingly, Don blinked in confusion. "I'm not moping," he argued, gaining a dubious eye ridge from his baby brother, "and I'm not 'crying' or 'singing songs' either. I just couldn't sleep, period point blank. And sitting in the dark is actually helping me, thank you very much! In case you didn't know, having dimmed lighting around you stimulates a part of your brain which –"

"Dude," Mikey breathed, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "I didn't ask for a lecture; no need to get all defensive."

Donnie's face flushed when he was called out on his unnecessary self-justifying behavior, but Mikey either didn't notice or chose not to mention it. Either way, Donnie was inwardly grateful.

"Plus, if you're just upset about April again, then why don't you just –"

"April? What does this have to do with April?" Don quickly interrupted; maybe too quickly. He mentally punched himself for being pointlessly defensive once again, especially when Mikey slowly blinked in confusion at his outburst. If his actions weren't screaming 'I'm suspicious', then Don didn't know what did.

Then, his brother's face suddenly broke into a wide mischievous smile, oblivious to Donnie's inner turmoil. "When is it not April, bro? Usually you're all 'woe-is-me' when one of your invention-thingies break or something blows up and stuff like that, but that hasn't happened – well, as far as I know. So that just leaves April obviously. It's not rocket science dude."

Donnie rolled a few defensive arguments over his tongue, debating which would be the right words to say in order to prove his innocence. But after deciding it was hopeless, he settled on: "You're impossible," before turning away, resting the side of his burning face in his hand as he continued to chase the grape around with his finger.

…his finger…

Oh God, his finger…

His large, clumsy finger. The calloused finger connected to his rough hands. The same hands that won't be able to gently hold a human's without crushing it. The ones that will never compare to the small, smooth counterparts of Casey Jones…

"It could happen though. You and April. Raph's just a bully; you shouldn't listen to him."

Donnie looked up with a start, his eyes closing in on Mikey's optimistic face despite the lack of sleep the youngest received. The baby blue orbs were filled with hope, happiness, and curiosity. Meanwhile Don could practically feel the self-pity, despair, and jealousy reflecting in his own eyes. And after a few moments, the scientist looked away, sighing. "Mikey, we both know that –"

"No, really, I mean it," the youngest insisted. "I mean, I'm not some kind of mushy-gushy romance expert or anything, but when you think about it… April with Casey? Dude, that's like putting pizza with algae and worms!" Mikey abruptly frowned to himself, shaking his head thoughtfully as he stared off into space. "Just doesn't seem right, bro. It isn't right."

Donnie couldn't stop the small chuckle from escaping his lips. Mikey's brain works in odd ways, but it works nonetheless. It (miraculously) gets him through life, and that's all that matters. Besides, the peanut-sized organ in his head always gave Mikey the ability to make the Hamato family smile despite the mountains of hell they've been through. And that unique skill was simply amazing, in Donnie's opinion.

At his brother's small happy sound, Mikey grinned wider, and the sudden burst of extra cheerfulness spread through Don like an incurable disease. Smiling while playfully shaking his head in mock confusion, Don somewhat-rhetorically murmured, "How do you do it, Mike...? How do you always manage to make everyone happy?"

...But Mikey didn't understand the meaning of rhetorical.

Said turtle suddenly froze at the question, a thoughtful expression replacing his grin in just a matter of seconds. Donnie curiously eyed him and wondered what had made his brother so suddenly distant. He didn't say the wrong thing, did he? But he soon got his answer when Mikey finally replied:

"Here, I'll show you."

Then the youngest turtle was everywhere at once. He snatched the grape away from Donnie's probing finger as he jumped out of his chair, ignoring the halfhearted cries of protest as he pushed away the large fruit bowl, successfully clearing a space on the tabletop. Then, without warning, Mikey suddenly took hold of the cereal box and dumped a good portion of the frosted flakes onto the table. The small pieces of food flew everywhere; some even landed on the floor and skittered away across the tile.

"Mikey!" Donnie reprimanded in a horrified astonishment. "You are going to clean this up, right now!"

"Okay, okay, just gimme a moment…" With that, Mikey continued to work, sliding pieces of cereal here and there on the countertop. It took Donnie a moment to realize that his brother wasn't just aimlessly making a mess; rather, he was actually creating something.

In a matter of seconds, all the food pieces were arranged neatly on the table and a proud Mikey came to stand by the other turtle. On one end of the tabletop, furthest away from the two brothers, Donnie's grape rested at the beginning of the cereal masterpiece. On the other end, in front of Donnie, lay a large strawberry which Mikey had snatched from the fruit bowl.

And after moments of curiously studying, Donatello realized with a start that the intricate, neat lines of cereal/crumbs formed…

…a maze of some sort?

"Mikey, what in the world –?"

"Wait, wait! Let me explain," Mikey eagerly insisted, walking around and picking up the grape from the other side of the table. He then proceeded to put the single fruit in the middle of the cereal maze, and the grape stood in its lonesome within the intricate puzzle.

"See, this is you," the youngest said, pointing at the grape, "and you're lost in a maze that you created for yourself."

"But I didn't create this, you d–"

"Just listen," Mikey scowled. When Donnie shut his trap, he continued. "Anyways, you're all sad and afraid and stuff 'cause you can't find the way out. All you see are walls, right? But me… I have a bird's eye view, just like we both have right now on our little grape friend. I can see what it needs to do to get out and where it needs to go and stuff like that. But the grape can't; its just frustrated that it can't get out and keeps going in circles and meeting dead ends.

"So with all this awesome info from the bird's eye view, I can tell it which way to go to get out of the maze. I can keep telling it to walk forwards or backwards or side to side. So basically, without all this metaphorical junk, I help you with your problems when I'm not stuck in the maze with you 'cause I have a different view of things. Get it?"

With that, Mikey happily rolled the grape along the maze; moving left and right, twisting and turning in directions which the scientific turtle couldn't comprehend fast enough. Donnie stared in amazement as the fruit briskly rolled right out the maze exit and in front of Donnie as if it were the easiest thing in the world. In all honesty, it surprised Don that his goofy baby brother had the intelligence to create such an intricate maze in such a short matter of time, but he didn't voice his questions. Instead, he watched as the grape came to a gradual stop beside the large, mysterious strawberry that rested placidly in front of him.

"What's… What's the strawberry for?" he murmured. He picked up the red berry and rolled it between his fingers, his dumbfounded mind slowly slipping back into reality.

"That's April."

The answer made his breath catch and his fingers cease their movement.

Donnie looked up, his soft brown eyes locked onto Mikey's proud, grinning face. He tried to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. In fact, it felt as if his throat had a snake wrapped around it. Why he suddenly felt like a caged animal is something he'll never know, but he felt like one nonetheless.

"She's at the end of your maze," Mikey gleefully continued, seemingly unaware of Donnie's speechless state. "She's kinda like your 'prize'. But you just haven't got there yet, and I'm still trying to help you. We all are 'cause you're our bro, D."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Mikey gently picked up the grape and set it back where it began in the maze. Donnie managed to tear his gaze away from his baby brother and focus on the lonesome fruit for a few puzzling - shocking - moments.

Smiling, Mikey softly added, "But you'll get out one day, bro, don't worry 'bout it. Besides…" Mikey leaned down to Donnie's level, warily looked left and right as if there was anyone else up at four A.M. to hear what he was about to say, and slowly whispered, "Casey's a jerk."

Donnie burst into a small fit of laughter, but before Mikey could pull away and laugh along with him, Don absentmindedly wrapped his arms around his little brother and pulled him into an embrace. Being the touchy-feely kind of turtle he is, Mikey happily accepted the brotherly affection and fully returned it in the process. His childish giggles were muffled into the skin of Donnie's shoulder, and just as he was about to warn his older brother not to ever let his words leave the room in fear that Casey would break their friendship (considering he was quite the sensitive human despite his tough-guy demeanor), the scientist gently tugged them apart.

"Michelangelo," Donnie said as he pulled an arm's length away, stifling a few lingering chuckles, "you are really something else, you know that?"

"So I've been told," Mikey winked. And regardless of Donnie's earlier threat, the scientist leaned down to help pick up the fallen pieces of cereal as his brother gladly began clearing the tabletop.

A/N:

Ring the bells, praise the freakin' gods! I am indeed alive.

I'm almost positive that you would rather not hear my excuses as to why I disappeared off the face of the Earth for almost a month, so I'll just keep this A/N short and sweet. In the end, all I want to say is I'm entirely sorry. The current stories I have previously posted are not abandoned, but I am having extreme difficulties with getting back into the swing of writing (which is evident from this sloppy piece of writing you just read. But hopefully no flames?). Please bear with me despite my lack of author skills. It's going to be a tough few days...

But words cannot describe my pure happiness due to the feedback I received from you guys during my disappearance! Every single one of my fics received a review/follow/favorite during the past month of inactivity, and it warms my heart to know that you guys are able to sniff out my works and take the time to make a few clicks on the keyboard! Thank you so much; I think my entire week has been made c:

Until next time - and I swear it will be a lot sooner than last time(: