It's been over a month now, Mikey has been away from home nearly 2 months, 43 days have already passed, Mikey has been disguised as a human while working on the bookstore that belongs to Miss Barbara, he gets along with the costumers just fine, his life is taking a new route he never even thought it could be, it's been an interesting experience ever since he took his own path, but somehow.... the image of his brothers just doesn't leave his head, he never stopped considering the idea of going home, but as more time he waits, more he fears the results, he fears what is going to happen, how his family and friends would react, they'd probally be furious with hi, he just faked his death to get away from his responsabilities, surelly unforgivable.
His brothers specially would never forgive him for this, he was already very much a nuisance to them, that act woulb be the final straw to them, so in his mind, he had no choice but to stay, he had nowhere to go and the only places he could possibly think of were unacessible, or dangerous, or are places his family also knows, so he could be found if they ever went there, the feeling was like guilt, but mixed in with fear, regret, like if he made a monster that was taking him hostage against himself and his actions, he felt cornered and surrounded by a dark abyss, he couldn't scape or retreat back where he came from in the first place.
he hid this gap in his heart in order to move on, there was no other option after all, right? So he just wanted to try and make the best out of it, until one day, a familiar face showed up in the store, Casey Jones in flesh and bone, he was hanging out with a girl that was a regular at the place, for what he was able to eavesdrop on their conversation, she was some kind of cousin of his, he was probally visiting the rest of the family to check up on everyone after the near end of the world, Mikey thought, Barbara attended the two teens and as they left, she noticed her boy seemed a little tense so she asked if Michelangelo was okay, upon hearing Mikey's name, Casey stopped by the door for a moment, turned around, looked at Michelangelo dead in the eye, making it clear he knows something is up, or atleast he might.
Casey was confused about what he had heard, but didn't think too much about it, he hadn't looked at his phone for a while now, the town barely had any phone signal, let alone wifi, so he wasn't able to received any possible message so far, he walked off with his cousin and her new geology books, Mikey in the other hand was shocked, he froze before the presence of his friend, if he only knew, if he found out about the disguise or saw him without it, he would definitely tell the others, which would make them come personally just to hunt him down, they would turn him into turtle soup for sure!!
He didn't speak a single word for almost the whole day, at night, Miss Barb went to check up on him before bed, that's when he finally decided to open up to her, she was shaken by the declaration, she did her best to be understanding of his situation but her mother side couldn't help but cry, Mikey apologized, thinking he made her feel guilty for thi, but she grabbed his hand and said it was okay, she couldn't expect that after all he went through, that he would just be able to leave everything behind so easily, he was technically a teenager but he was also still a child in a way.
Mikey feels like he has a tendency of creating emotional dependency on people around him and that makes him feel like a parasite, when he let's someone down... it feels like it's his fault, and he can't help feeling guilty for making people upset, he blames himself for when Raph yells at him, he blames himself when his brothers fight eachother, he blames himself when they get sad or angry, it's all his fault, all his brothers have a role and a purpose on the team, Leo is the leader, so he takes a stand and tells everyone what to do, Donnie is the brains, so he helps everyone with his knowledge and smartness, Raph is the muscles, so he heads on to a fight to attack the enemy and protect the others, but what's left for him to do? All the important roles are already covered, the "balance" has been made.
His role in the team is reduced to a emotional support kind of role, whether this means he has to be a punching bag for his brothers, or to do some out of place stupidity to distract his brothers from fighting or moarning, that's his job, try to keep the peace in the family, if Raph is angry about something and there's a chance he'll start a fight, Mikey steps in and either distracts him to calm him down, or simply lets him take out his frustrations on him, it's better than let him take it out on Leo or Donnie, for example, since they're probably not gonna be ok with it and it will cause a conflict, so better let him lash out on him, since he is going to take it and stay quiet about it, and that was mostly it, he always put himself in a position of inferiority at these situations for the sake of having a reason to be there, to be around his brothers, he remebered that when he was a kid, he just became a ninja in order to spend time with his bros, and overtime it became like a game they would play together as a team to one day face the real world.
But now... is there any chance they would take him back? Would he have to lie his way out of trouble? Play "The dumb one" as always, what could he do? He wasn't sure, until Miss Barb rested her hand hand on his shoulder and said:
🌻- "Well... maybe the best way to fix this... is talking to them in person, right?"
Michelangelo was stunned, and anxious about it all, he didn't know what to do if he came back, let alone what would their next meeting be like, but Barbara reassures to him that everything would be alright, they share what felt like a last hug and Mikey decided, he was going back home!!
(Things are getting good!)
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A gentle runaway
FanficMikey reaches his final straw and decides to scare everyone off by "disappearing" for a while, but he realizes something interesting (Main story finished)
