Mikey's Worst Move Ever

Chapter 3 - Seeing Red

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: I'm back with chapter 3 of 'Mikey's Worst Move Ever,' and as you can probably guess from the title, a certain hotheaded turtle makes his first appearance. 

I'm really sorry for taking so long to post an update. Hopefully the chapter is worth the wait . . .

A huge thank you to everyone for reading, voting on, and/or commenting on 'MWME.'  I appreciate your support so very much. You are all awesome. *hugs* 

Thanks for reading. ;) CJ

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Chapter 3 - Seeing Red

After sliding the doors to Donatello's lab open, the two youngest brothers walked out into the main living space of the lair, making sure to avoid the sunken area in the center of the large room, as that was where Raph was currently sitting. Donnie kept his fingers crossed that Raph would just ignore their presence altogether as he so often did when he was engrossed in something.

No such luck . . .

"And where are you two heading off to?" Came Raph's gruff voice just as they were about to scale over the long sewer pipe that stretched across the straightest path to the stairs that led to the dormitory area. The pipe jutted out from the wall and down through the couch that bordered the pit of the lair.

Donnie and Mikey both froze in their tracks for a lingering moment, hoping that if they stood stock still long enough, Raph might forget that they were standing there.

"Well . . . " Raph said, sounding irritated over being forced to wait for an answer.

Aw, sewer apples, Donnie mentally groaned, looking up towards the ceiling as if to question the ethical conduct of whatever being was up there allowing all of this bad stuff to keep happening to him. He wondered what he had done to deserve this?

Donnie then looked over at Mikey and gave him a small, reassuring smile. Well, at least he hoped it came off as reassuring and not apprehensive, like he was feeling inside at the moment. The truth was, he wasn't feeling all that confident about Mikey's ability to keep a secret. After all, Mikey had an extensive history of blurting out the truth at the least opportune times.

Knowing that the longer they kept Raphael waiting for a response, the more disgusted he would get, the two little brothers slowly turned around to face their hotheaded brother.

"Oh! Hey – hey, Raph! Whatcha doing?" Mikey asked, acting as though he had just noticed that Raph was in the same room. All the while, Mikey was trying his best not to show fear, but as hard as he tried, it was still painfully obvious that the youngest brother was scared out of his shell. Mikey's poker face was in definite need of an overhaul. Fortunately for him – and Donnie – Raph didn't bother to look up, presumably because it would have been too much effort for him to make eye contact with his brothers. He just kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.

"The TV's on and I'm sitting in front of it. What do you think I'm doing, meathead?" Raph asked snidely, still not bothering to tear his eyes away from the television screen.

Never in all of his life had Donnie been so thankful for Raph being his rude and inconsiderate self. For once, Raph blowing them off had actually worked to their advantage.

"Probably watching TV," Mikey responded without need, completely oblivious to the fact that Raph's question was meant to be both belittling and rhetorical. In Mikey's mind, there was no such thing as a rhetorical question. That was because he didn't have any inkling what the definition of 'rhetorical' was.