The Sewer Twins [PAUSED]

Chapter 16 - Talking possibilities

⚫ - "So.... we're all cool now?"

🔴 - "I suppose so, if they stay in line."

🟡 - "Heh, do you think Mikey will let bygones be bygones soon?"

🔴 - "Probably, but I'm sure he'll keep his guard up for a while, a short one."

🟡 - "True."

⚫ - "Hey, Raph?"

🔴 - "Yeah?"

⚫ - "Do you think Mikey will treat you differently now that you have more brothers?"

🔴 - "Uh... No..? I don't think so... why?"

⚫ - "I don't know, a lot of friends I had told me I changed a lot after I got a little sister, I wonder if the same can happen to you or Michelangelo."

🔴 - "What kind of changes you're talking about?"

⚫ - "Some minor stuff like... suddenly you might be too busy to hang out with people because you'll be hanging out with your siblings, you can start getting more drained out, stuff like that, but that's just my experience, I had to help my mom with my sister for a long time, gladly though, once she started going to daycare and school I managed to get loose and go back to my own stuff, I'm trying to figure out how this situation would affect Mikey since... well, you're too much of a caretaker to actually not prioritize Michelangelo, he's the youngest still, so..."

🔴 - "Are you saying I am unable to have any relationship with my brothers except Mikey?"

⚫ - "Well, not really, you can, but Mikey will always be the favorite, right?"

🔴 - "I guess so, I mean, he was litterally my only friend and family for a good part of my life, when pops passed away he was all I had, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for him."

⚫ - "Oh, come on, isn't that a bit much?"

🔴 - "No, literally, he was the one who took care of me when I was sick or hurt, he was the one who always had to care for me when we were kids, nowadays, I kind of return the favor, and compensate for the troubles I caused too, I was really a really brash kid, it took me a while to learn how to manage myself, I was like a bomb, put too much pressure onto me and I would explode, Mikey had to put up with a lot."

🟡 - "Really? I knew you had quite the temper, but I never thought you would have been a difficult child."

🔴 - "Neither did Mikey, I don't know if he just doesn't remember it or if he denies to himself that... well... I was pretty much a brat, pops used to say we wer like ying and yang."

🟡 - "Complementary opposites?"

⚫ - "A good and a bad child?"

🔴 - "Yeah, Mikey was a calm and well behaved child, didn't had a single bit of malice in his mind, meanwhile, I was a bit of a brute kid, always up to cause trouble or make a mess, I even used to pick on Mikey for no reason at all."

⚫ - "YOU?! Picking on MIKE?! I'm gonna have to doubt that."

🟡 - "Wow, really? I guess it shouldn't be as much of a surprise, the closer the siblings are in age, the more likely it is for them to pick on eachother."

⚫ - "For real?? Damn... I always tought people that bullied their younger siblings were just mad, I stopped being friends with a few guys back in the day because of they way they talked or treated their little bros or sisters, I thought they were just cruel."

🟡 - "Maybe for you, you were already a teen when you got a sibling, you... as much as it might sound surprising, you were more mature, you developed a strong bond of love with your sister and pretty much helped raising her, when a kid gets a sibling though, they usually see them as an intruder in the family, or even a rival, they don't have the maturity to understand, or maybe the parents just neglected them after the sibling was born and the kid felt abbandoned, there's many reasons why a lot of people have sibling rivalry or just straight up beef with one another up until their adult life, and even then, there are cases where the rivalry lasts almost a lifetime."

🔴 - "You humans can be really messed up, huh?"

⚫ - "PFFFFT- LOOK WHO'S TALKING?!"

🔴 - "OH PLEASE, MIKEY AND I ARE ALMOST TWINS!! You're the weirdos that are building beef with newborns!"

🟡 - "Heh, you're right, but there's a lot of factors that can cause this, is not entirely our genetics' fault."

🔴 - "Yeah, I know, it just seems so weird, once I started working on my anger, I watched how siblings on tv were always having these big arguments, even though they were grown ups, I didn't want to end up like that with Mikey so..."

⚫ - "So you decided to fix your act and save your relationship with your brother?"

🔴 - "Well, uh.... y-yeah, I'd be lying if I said that those tv shows didn't make me reconsider the way I treated my brother."

🟡 - "That's actually quite sweet of you, Raph. Did you ever told Mikey about that?"

🔴 - "Yeah, kinda, I told him once that I was worried that we could one day drift apart and... that I was scared of ending up alone, at the time, I was too focused on providing for my brother and I and... I suddenly realized that I was overworking myself and that... I wasn't spending much time with my little brother, who was always worried about me, but I realized I was so focused on doing my job that I ended up pushing him away, I kept him alone at home and wouldn't let him out, I apologized like crazy once it all broke down on me, I was hurting myself and my brother, that was when I started taking Mikey outside with me, and also letting him go out on his own sometimes, it was a nice little change of pace."

⚫ - "Oh.... did you ever consider the idea that Mikey is so welcoming towards new people because he not only gets a new friend, but also gets YOU a friend?"

🔴 - "What?"

⚫ - "Yeah, like, you said you were afraid of being alone in case he wasn't around as much, what if he basically forced me onto you just to make sure you could have more people on your side?"

🟡 - "Huh... that's actually an interesting idea."

🔴 - "You think that?"

⚫ - "Probably, considering he saw how you relied on him and him alone as emotional support was harming you, maybe he wanted to get you more people to help you both."

🔴 - "Mmm... I never thought of it that way.... it kinda does sound like something Mikey would do."

🟡 - "Did Mikey ever came to you about his emotional problems?"

🔴 - "Kind of... sometimes... I noticed that when he wants to talk serious about something he pinches the topic subtlely and then starts to build up on it until I comfort him and ask him to open up, he's a bit sensible in that regard."

⚫ - "Wow... you can read him like a book, can't you?"

🔴 - "A bit."

🟡 - "You know... you guys are making me want a younger sibling."

🔴 - "Ask your dad for one."

🟡 - "You say that like it's an easy thing to do."

⚫ - "Hum, kids are a life investment, dude. Besides, they're expensive to keep."

🔴 - "Ah right.... capitalism..."

🟡 - "I wonder if I would make a good sister."

🔴 - "Ask Mikey."

🟡 - "What?"

🔴 - "You can ask Mikey about it."

🟡 - "Why?"

🔴 - "Well, he already sees you like an older sister, so he might have an answer."

🟡 - "He... does?"

⚫ - "HE DOES?! What about me? Does he see me as a big bro too?"

🔴 - "Nah, he sees you more like a partner in crime, a sneaky fox that he goes to when he wants something he knows I won't let him do, you're the friend he goes out with to screw around, not that he doesn't care about you, he does, that one time you got grounded and didn't came over for a while, he was really worried about you."

⚫ - "Oh, so THAT'S why he suddenly showed up at my house at 2 AM?!"

🔴 - "He did WHAT now?!?"