TMNT x Reader - In a Turtle World

That moment when you realize your brother's secret and get shoved off a roof

*As promised: an update! 

**Also thank you to everyone that has been following this story, despite me not updating this fic regularly <3

Mikey had no clue what was going on.

Raph might have said that wasn't any different than usual, but he was preoccupied with brooding in dark corners instead of kicking his shell - and it wasn't like Mikey was going to go and bug him to get him to go back to his jerk self.

Or maybe he would. Something was wrong with Raph, and somehow that was worse than any of his insults (Raph really needed to step up his game). In fact, there was something wrong with everybody:

(Y/N) kept shutting herself up in her room after training, Leo chased after her occasionally and they would talk in hushed tones in her room (conversations Mikey was unfairly kept out of, no matter how much he tried).

Sensei spent more time in his room meditating than he ever had before, burning through twice as many candles than he did usually.

Casey popped up a lot less now and talked a lot less too (especially when April was around, who he avoided like the plague. Once, Mikey found him crouched behind the pinball machine when April was visiting, which Casey quickly explained was because he couldn't stand the light due to "the most massivest hangover since Lohan" - whatever that means - Mikey suspected it was likely distasteful and also a lie.)

And Donnie poured all his effort into running experiments on the white mutagen (Y/N) had stolen, rarely emerging from his lab and seemingly surviving on cold coffee and stale pop tarts (which, true, was normal for Donatello, but Mikey had a hard time believing that Don wasn't also suffering from the same contagious crisis everybody else had picked up on.).

At least they were still going on missions: scouting out new Kraang bases and letting Don fiddle with their tech for info. The best part was blowing up the Kraang machines afterwards with Donnie's new "System Hacking Intel Terminators" - whose name was unfortunately changed to "tech bombs" by Leo who got fed up of Mikey yelling "EAT SHIT!" whenever he threw one.

Currently they were leaping across the rundown factory buildings just south of the lair. The air smelled vaguely of hot tar and garbage but had a cool breeze that whipped across Mikey's face when he ran. When Leo gave the command, they stopped abruptly at the edge of the decaying fortune cookie factory.

Mikey peered down over the side into the dark alleyway, "So, this is nice." he turned his head, "Wow dudes, it looks like someone took a bite out of the cookie factory!"

Leo ran his hand along the side of the roof, "Donnie, check for cloaking. I know we've got the right location."

Don tapped something into his T-phone and scanned the empty space in front of them. "This is it. I can't see an entrance," he mumbled, moving around the roof with the device stuck out in front of him, "there might be one on the ground..."

Leo straightened up before leaping off the side of the building. The three brothers looked over the side and watched the blue masked turtle perform several flips, grab onto a light post with his right arm, spin down gracefully, and lean his back against the metal pole with his arms crossing smugly in front of him.

Raph hooted and shouted, "Nice pole work there Leo! When has Splinter been teachin' ya that?"

"Well, let's see how you guys do then." Leo spluttered, Mikey swore that even through the dark he could see his older brother scratching the back of his neck. "Impress me." He ended confidently.

"I hate when he gets like this." Donnie rolled his eyes, gave Mikey and Raph a sharp salute, and hollered over his shoulder "Don't buzz out yet Simon!" then leapt backwards into an arch to plunge into the alleyway.

Mikey nudged Raph with his elbow as he tuned out Leo's criticism of Donnie's landing, "Glad to see you're back to normal dude."

Raph narrowed his eyes and shoved Mikey away from him, "What are you on about this time? I've been fine, you're the one sticking yer nose into everyone else shells." He gripped one of his sai behind his back and then quickly dropped it to instead ball his fists. "So back off."

Mikey grinned, at least Raph was talking to them again. Mikey had a pretty good feeling why, (Y/N) wasn't here. Raph now went mute around her. Maybe he thought that if she knew he could talk, (Y/N) would try to throttle an apology out of him. Which was stupid, because (Y/N) didn't want to talk to him at all after what he did (according to what Mikey overheard a couple of days ago). It was weird having Raph going from saying nothing to suddenly spewing out insults. He and (Y/N)'s fight must be bothering the turtle more than he let on. Why, Mikey didn't quite know – but he was sure of one thing: Raph wanted (Y/N) to like him.

"You're in denial." He said sweetly, spinning around Raphael to stand on the edge of the roof.

"Yer insane." Raph snapped back. Mikey couldn't read his expression through the dark but heard Raph beginning to breathe more heavily and was willing to bet his face was going red too.

"Just admit it," Mikey sang, "You've got a crush on – "Raph's fist went right into Mikey's gut.

After a second of shock, and realizing he was falling, Mikey's natural ninja ability kicked in and he was able to flip down to land next to Donnie to gave him a weird look.

"What?" Mikey asked, tightening his mask.

"What were you saying to Raph?"

"Oh, just a little heart to heart, ya know?" Mikey grinned again, "And then a fist to stomach."

"You must have really set Raph off to get him to punch you." Donnie sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I'd rather you didn't do that." He started walking off towards the Kraang base entrance that his T-phone said was in between a locked porta-potty and a garbage bin. The beauty of living in New York.

"You didn't even ask if I was okay!" Mikey huffed indignantly, running to catch up with his brother.

"Well, you're clearly fine. No harm, no foul."

Mikey had honestly forgotten that Leo was there and started when the leader cut in, "I'll head in first. You guys wait until I give the signal and then follow." He quickly turned to look back up at the factory behind them, "Is he ever coming down?"

Donnie shrugged and Mikey looked down at his feet. Maybe bugging Raph like that was a bad idea, but he had only been teasing.

"Let's just head in then. Raph can catch up when he stops being so sensitive." Leo's eyes went white as he carefully stepped through the wall, drawing his katana.

Mikey couldn't help but look up behind him, trying to catch a glimpse of Raphael's shell. Raph was fine. He had to be fine. They always did this sort of thing, it was only a joke. Raph couldn't actually like (Y/N).

Mikey's guts were squirming even more than when he had eaten that burrito he found under the couch, and he didn't know why. Well, Mikey did know why – he just wished he didn't.