The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

37 || The More You Know

"Hey, Mikey?"

"Yeah RaiyRaiy?" I smiled as I added shading to areas on his face.

"How'd you get that scar on your chin?" I asked without looking up from my work. Leo snorted at my question from his place in his own bed beside me, hands fiddling with a Rubik's Cube.

"A cat attacked me," Mikey said. I choked on a laugh and lifted my pencil off the paper, not trusting myself to draw in this state.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Donnie and I were setting up security cameras outside the lair and we found this cat stuck in a rat trap. Donnie disabled the trap and when it got free it pounced on me, then ran off. Man was that cat mad! " He ran a thumb over the scar and shrugged. "Makes me look tough though."

I nodded in agreement. "Very."

Mikey grinned and leaned across the gap separating the two beds we sat on. "How's it goin?"

I flipped my sketchbook shut before he could see, making him sit back with a pout on his face.

"Why can't I see it?" He whined.

"Because," I said simply, "I'm not finished yet."

"Well when will you be finished?" He asked, flopping onto his back tiredly. I glanced over at Leo and we shared an eye roll.

"I dunno," I laughed. "But I need to see your face."

He sat up in confusion. "How come you could draw Raph without having to see his face?"

I froze, both Mikey's and Leo's eyes falling on me. Feeling a blush creep up my cheeks, I quickly looked down and began to draw again.

"I...I guess because I saw him a lot throughout the day I remembered his face easier."

"Oh...That makes sense." He nodded in agreement. We remained silent for a few minutes, the only sounds being the scratching of my pencil and the clicks of Leo's handheld puzzle.

"Okay," I said at last, causing Mikey to glance up hopefully. I looked down at the drawing in satisfaction, then traded my pencils out for coloured ones. "Now for the eyes."

He tilted his head back and groaned. "When does this end!?" He cried.

"Mikey," Leo chuckled. "This isn't torture, you know. You've been wanting Raiya to draw you forever."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would take five years," he argued, crossing his arms.

I rolled my wrist in an attempt to rid it of building aches and stiffness. "Don't worry, it won't take much longer to finish. I just need to look at your eyes." I leaned forward to inspect them, only to find them barren of their usual joyful shine.

"How 'bout you tell a story?" I offered.

Mikey practically leaped with joy. "Oh, which one!? There's so many! Do you wanna hear about the time I hid one of Donnie's science books and he couldn't find it for two months? Or about how Raph dared Leo to follow Sensei above ground when we were little? Oh! Or the time when me and Raph tried tattooing Donnie in his sleep!?" He exploded with laughter at that last one, making Leo chuckle and shake his head as well.

"Huh? What about me sleeping?" Donnie asked, looking up from my mother's astronomy book he was reading in his bed.

"Remember when me and Raph tried giving you a tattoo when you were asleep?" Mikey repeated once he'd calmed down.

"That was not funny," he muttered and I grinned.

"Yeah, tell me about your guys' tattoos. How'd you get them?"