Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I wasnt aware that the number of people who lived in this house doubled overnight.” Splinter's tone was calm, yet lingered a little too long in the air around the big mahogany table.

16 people came for dinner tonight, most of them were already there while some of them arrived just in time for food. Mikey had spared neither effort nor money and fabricated a huge dinner with specialities from all around the world, a wonderful fit for the last day of summer.

“I can pay right now if you want-” A boy with white hair offered as he put down his chopsticks and turned over to his jacket to get his wallet.
He had a quite lean frame, yet, toned abs were visible through his blue tank top. The man was an albino without a doubt, the white hair was not bleached and his eyebrows and eyelashes were another indicator of that. But the father just rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Eat your food, Usagi. I’m just joking.”
Another boy to his right snickered, only to earn a nudge into the ribs from said albino. His hair was blond, but unlike his boyfriend, it wasn't natural. Brown roots were shining through the already outgrown colour, while loose strands of hair were falling onto his face, which the boy easily knew to fix with a lazy run of his hand through his hair.
His nearly perfect caramel skin was tainted by lighter marks over his eyes and on his shoulders, thanks to his vitiligo, and the red eyeliner on his left eye was slightly smudged.

Leonardo gave a lazy grin before returning to his sushi. There was a period of silence in which everyone just continued eating - a rare thing to happen in the Hamato household, but what is there left to say when you spent nearly the entire summer together?

“Mikey, are you excited about your first day?” Oh yea. One thing was left. The younger male's head snapped up, curls with colourful tips following its direction. But Jennika gave him a warm, reassuring smile, which made him smile in return.
“I’m quite nervous, to be honest. New teachers, people, stuff like that.” Yes, he was nervous, but he wasn't scared. Because being a freshman meant finally being with his brothers again in school - something they all missed out on ever since Raph went to High school.

“In his gracious nature, Casey already offered to take you to school tomorrow with them.” Splinter commented, but didn't look up to meet the shocked expression on the man's face. They all knew Casey certainly did not offer such a thing, given the rides in the morning he gave to Leonardo and Usagi were usually meant for… other stuff, but the man also knew better than to decline. He was grateful enough that the businessman let him stay under his roof until things at home settled. This was the least he could do.

“Then be ready at seven, not a minute later.” The man chirped as he stole another heavily spiced chicken tender from a plate in the middle, throwing the same lazy grin as Leoanrdo in Mikey's direction.
“But doesn't school start at eight?” Sheena, Jennikas girlfriend commented and cocked a brow. Venus had to hold back laughter and managed to keep it to a sarcastic snort. One look from her big brother was enough to shut her up completely though, but still grinning.

Snitches get stitches , as an unwritten rule amongst the majority of the Hamato siblings says. No snitching to Dad, no snitching to Mom, no snitching to Drax and the important part: no snitching to Jenn or Raph.
They would rip Casey's ovaries out if they knew what the senior was tolerating and hiding from them, all in favour of the younger siblings.

“The early bird catches the worm.” The raven spit back with a tooth-rooting sweet tone, and their gazes met, but they both just erupted into laughter.
The confused stares they got from half of the table were definitely worth it, and Mikey quickly went back to the kitchen to grab a bit more oregano.

Yes, he was very nervous, to say the least. But he didn't even know why! It was so unlike him to be nervous, so why were his hands shaking? And why wasn't the uneasy feeling in his stomach not going away? He was a big kid now. No more middle school, no more being the oldest. Now, he was the youngest again: a freshman, who just so happened to be the brother of three already successful students of the school. A

nd he always knew it was gonna be one hell of stress to live up to those expectations: he just always managed to push this thought away.
Back into a box, deeply hidden inside his brain, never to appear again. But now that the day was so close, he could not think about this.
His siblings were awesome. Probably even beyond a comprehensible amount of awesomeness.

Not all of them were related, of course, Splinter and Big Mama adopted them through the years, but Mikey, Donatello, Leonardo and Raphel were. And Venus, Jennika and Lita were.
All of them were orphaned once, in and out of the system, but were eventually saved by a kind family of three.
None of them knew exactly what weird polyamory-thing Draxum, Big Mama and Splinter had going on between them, but all of them were good parents - given the weird circumstances.

But nevertheless, the four brothers had always stuck together, through thick and thin. The little man had witnessed all of their success and competitions, and now it was his time to shine.
Not to brag or something, but he had quite a few talents lined up he could expand on, but was only too lazy to do so.

Art was a huge passion of his, and Casey said he had already put in a good word for Mikey, so maybe he would join the art club?
But he was also quite gifted at martial arts, not as good as his brother Leonardo of course, the reigning junior Thaijutsu champion, but quite decent.
Maybe he would join the boxing club instead? Photography would also be an option, but the journalism club had to close two years ago due to a lack of members. Even April had to resort to other clubs as she realised this decision was final.

Maybe the theatre club with Usagi and Leo?
Maybe something with Donnie? No, he wasn't good at any kind of science subject.
Maybe the culture club with Casey, Usagi and Leo? But wouldn't that require him being fluent in at least one other language other than English?
And why was he only realising now in how many clubs his big brother was in?
And why were his hands shaking again?

“You good Angelo?” A monotone voice echoed through the spacious kitchen and Mikey could hear the doors of the fridge open.
“Yea, what’cha need?” He answered with a wide smile, already ready to get his brother anything he might need.
“I’m good, just gettin’ ice cubes for my water.” Donatello answered as the artificial light ignited the exposed dark brown skin of his arms and his dark dread curls fell softly on his shoulders .

“You’ve been gone quite a while, are you sure you're good?” His big brother asked him again, but Mikey only shook his head, grinning.
“Everything alright Don, just hyped for tomorrow.” His brother gave an approving nod before he left the room again, Mikey soon following him.

“So, which club you wanna join Mike?” Raph asked him innocently and pushed his plate away, indicating he was done eating. Now, his curious eyes rested on his little brother.
“Oh, I dunno-”
“Oh, you should definitely try auditioning for the school play this year!” Leonardo chimed in from across the table while tilting back in his chair, keeping him balanced on the two wooden legs in the back while gripping the table nonchalantly.
“I don't know if I'm gonna audition tho, last year was fun and stuff but rehearsals were boring when you were the only one actually knowing their lines-” He then lifted up his cup and took a sip from his coke.

“What a shame.” Draxum commented from the other side of the table without looking at the boy or lifting his gaze at all as he grabbed another bottle of water to refill his glass.
“They are doing Hamilton this year. Thought you were interested-”
This made the boy choke on the sweet liquid in his mouth, causing him to lose balance and before Usagi could catch him he fell over backwards, hitting the floor hard. The reactions were very different from the table, while Casey and Venus broke into hysterical laughter, Raph was quick to help his brother up. But Leonardo jumped up on his own, pain forgotten, and his hands hit the table harder than he intended.

“SWEET MOTHER JESUS OF COURSE I’M GONNA AUDITION!” He exclaimed with a grin, drawing an exhausted sigh from his boyfriend who picked up his chair before sitting down with a little peck directed at the albino. This made Mikey smile.
He would never audition in a million years of course, but seeing his big brother's love for musicals finally coming in handy was satisfying enough for him.

“I’m probably gonna try out for the art club. The people there seem nice.” Raph nodded acknowledging, and the rest of the dinner went on silent with no bigger conversations. At the end of it, when everyone had stopped eating, they started collecting the plates and started to clean up. After a while, they were done and the table had parted.

Leonardo and Usagi were sitting on the couch, together with April, Sunita, Kendra, Venus, Lita, and Donnie while Casey, Raph and Sheena were focused on the conversation they were having at the empty table. Big Mama, Splinter and Draxum were busy in the kitchen, so there were only Jennika and Mikey left to talk.

Michelangelo liked his big sister, even if they weren't blood-related. She was always good to have conversations with and used to comfort him at night whenever Raph was asleep and Mikey didn't want to wake him up, knowing his big brother already had trouble falling asleep all the time.

“Little insider tip if you wanna join the art club:” His sister said as they sat down while picking her nails. She would go back to college tomorrow, so Mikey would probably not see her for the next months again. Her hair had grown quite a bit again, especially for the fact that she had given herself a buzzcut like four months ago. Now, blonde hair was showing again, and if Mikey didn't know any better he would have mistaken her for a man in public. A butch lesbian, as Casey had called it once.

“Never make any vegan jokes around Mr Leatherhead. He will give you detention. Believe me, Sheena had to spend half of her school time in detention because of this.”
“Oh damn, how will I only survive that?” They both shared a laugh before his sister stood up again, leaving the boy alone and walking over to the door.

“I’m gonna run to the store real quick, anyone need something?” She then exclaimed loudly over all the chatting in the living room, making it go silent for once.
“Is this one of your allistic devices where you offer to run errands for others but when I actually ask you to get me some stuff you will be annoyed because you only offered it to be nice?” Donatello asked her without looking up from the videogame he was currently playing on the big screen against Venus and April.

His big sister sighed.
“No Donnie, it's not. What can I grab you?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to know it.” He gave back, causing Jenn to roll her eyes.

“Actually, can you grab me a box of tampons? I think mine is empty!” Leonardo asked after turning around, giving her puppy eyes. A second sigh escaped her mouth.
“Sure, but if you need any, you can always take mine.” To that, her little brother gave a lighthearted chuckle.
“You would kill me if I even went near your room.” The blonde thought for a moment before humming.
“Yea, I’ll grab you some. Size M?”
“Very much!”
“Bye!”

And with that, his big sister left the house and everyone went back to their previous doings.
Mikey for his part had seen enough and heard enough. He was tired and one glance at the clock told him it was 10:30 pm - 30 minutes before their normal bedtime on school days. Lita was already asleep so he would have to be quiet and get going now if he wanted to actually get his bathroom stuff done - 13 people in the house meant eternal waiting time for the restrooms. Even with four five different bathrooms in the house.

“Going to sleep so soon Mike?” Leonardo exclaimed over the loud chatter as the youngest boy approached the stairs and suddenly all stares were back on him. He gave a tired smile.
“Yea, gotta mentally prepare myself a bit for waking up so early.”
Sleeping problems were an open secret in their family, with Donnie and Leo constantly switching between Insomnia and Hypersomnia, Raph barely being able to sleep through one night and Mikey having to take two sleeping pills to even get his brain to be quiet enough to sleep.

“Alright, good night big man!” The tanned boy chanted and a chorus of ‘good night’s’ echoed through the living room before he disappeared.
His bathroom stuff went by smoothly, and before he knew it he was already laying in his bed. He could clearly hear the others going to sleep half an hour later, but they didn't do too much to cover their noises anyway. At twelve, silence had stretched over the Hamato household and Mikey finally felt himself drifting away.
He didn't know what to expect for tomorrow, but he hoped for the best. 

And with that thought in mind, he finally closed his eyes.

Mornings in the Hamato household were more than just chaotic.
Usagi apparently had gone home for the night, probably to check in with his exchange family, but 12 people who had to get ready for the first day of school was a responsibility no parent would want to have. And to no one's surprise, Splinter and Big Mama didn't either.

Draxum woke up around 4:30 am and was already at school by the time the rest stood up.
Raph, Mikey and Donnie (on a good day for the boy) were up at five, six was the time when they would wake up the rest.

Michelangelo was sipping on his Matcha latte by the time their fourth brother came down the stairs, very sleep-drunken and with huge bags under his eyes. The youngest brother had already prepared another cup of Matcha latte, steaming hot and only waiting for Leonardo. But instead of sitting down at the table, the boy pulled himself to the fridge without even acknowledging one of them.

He then got out a can of white monster energy, slumped back to the table and barely managed to dump half the thing into the cup.
“Ew.” Donnie commented flatly, but his twin was far too tired to respond to that.
Instead, he took a large sip from the cup before letting his head fall down onto the plate.

It was 6:48 am at that point, and somehow, only Mikey was ready to go. Today he opted for beige cargo pants, a dulled-out orange sweater and a baby blue jacket, nice and simple and one of the few things he possessed without acryl paint splattered over it.

Still sipping his latte, Leonardo had slowly begun to wake up and not even seven minutes after he went up to get dressed, he too was ready to go.
It was a miracle how his big brother was able to look like he did right now, even when he only woke up less than ten minutes before.

Mikey wasn't aware if there was a dress code in that school, but if there was, Leonardo was about to violate it in every single possible way.
Hair up in a messy bun (Mikey was having awful Y/N flashbacks from the stories he had read) and held together by a long, blue headband, Leo had opted again for the red eyeliner and a huge, red ring shoved through his tunnel earring hole on his left ear.
Baggy black shorts were hugging his hips and a tight blue tank top decorated his upper body, effectively showing off the abs he had worked to for so long.

“You look like a slut.”
“Casey!” The raven laughed tiredly at Raph's scolding as he made his way down, only half-dressed. This man was getting way too comfortable in here for Mikey's taste.
Leonardo only laughed.
“Jealous?”
“I mean, kinda.” Casey threw a wink at him before grabbing the man's cup and taking a large sip.

“Ew.” He stated but after some hesitation, he took another sip.
The clock was showing 6:57 pm now and Mikey was getting a bit uncomfortable. He wasn't used to waiting that much.
Normally he left the house fifteen minutes before he even had to.

Casey threw a glance at him and lowered the mug, noticing him shifting from one foot to the other.
“Don’t worry Mike, I’ll hurry up.”
With that, he emptied the mug much to the disdain of Leonardo, who gave him a slap on the shoulder as he went the stairs up again.
Two minutes later, he came down in a white tank top and black cargo pants, with chains around his neck and a bandana in his hair.

“Ya comin’?” He then asked, gesturing to the door.
But before any of them could do something, a high-pitched whine came from upstairs. Seconds later, Lita came running down, her white hair bouncing as she threw herself at Michelangelo. Luckily, the boy was able to catch her little sister before she could get hurt.

“Why are you leavingggg?” She whined as she buried her head in his shoulder, making him smile apologetically. The girl was normally shy and would never dare to scream like that, but realising Mikey going to high school meant he was walking her to her preschool anymore must have hit her hard.

“Jenn and Sheena will walk you to school today, Lita. I thought you were okay with that!” He asked in a soft tone and looked at her, but she only shook her head.
“But Vinny just told me it was permanent! I’ll never get to see you again!”
“Oh nooo!” Mikey cooed but Casey only chuckled and before Raph could say something, he did. 

"Venus, stop being mean to your little sister!” The raven shouted upstairs, earning a groan from the young teenager.
“I wasn't trying to be mean! Drive her to school if it makes her that upset!” At these words, Litas eyes brightened up and she looked at Casey.

“Can you please do that?” Mikey heard Raph and Venus wheeze in the distance and Casey just looked distraught. It wasn't a secret amongst most of the Hamato children what Casey's drives were like, having Michelangelo with them was already one thing, but with Lita, they even had to watch out which music they were allowed to play!

But it also wasn't a secret that the raven had a soft spot for the same younger children, especially Lita and Venus - and Mikey at times. So he couldn't bring himself to decline when the girl looked at him with big puppy eyes. He gave a defeated sigh.

“Alright, but hurry up. Mikey here is already getting fed up with the fact that I am late.”
The girl nodded wildly as her big brother sat her down, and run upstairs again, probably to get herself ready. Mikey laughed at the enthusiasm, but also to overplay his creeping nervousness. Because fuck was he nervous. In not even one hour he would sit with other kids his age he didn't know.

All his friends went to other schools, and the only reason he was going to this one was that his brothers were there as well.
How would high school be different from middle school? Would it be harder? Would it be more boring? Would the people there be nice? All those questions had been flying through his mind at lightspeed ever since last evening, and if he wasn't going outside of that door soon the boy would probably explode.

Suddenly, someone taller rested an arm on his shoulder.
“Nervous?” His older brother asked with a smug grin on his face, looking down at him. The height gap had closed a bit over the summer, yet, Leonardo was still half a foot taller than him. Mikey gave him a bright grin.
“A bit, but nothing for you to worry about.” His brother gave him a grin in return, but this one looked genuine. A rarity, even for his brother.
“I don’t worry about you, believe me.” The arm that rested on Mikey's shoulder soon lifted and was instead replaced with a hand in his curls, playfully pushing him down.
“I know I don't have to. You are gonna rock this!”

Normally, Mikey was Leonardo's hypeman, but the reversal of roles drew a loud laugh from the younger boy. He enjoyed the company of his older brother, personality disorder or not, and he knew his brother loved him in his own special way.

“Thanks for believing in me Leo!” Not even a second after that, Lita came running back down, hair now tied together with a baby pink bow and a matching dress framing her little body.
“Lita wait-” Jenn tried to call her from above, but she didn't even look in any of their directions as she bolted for the door, giggling and laughing.

They heard their big sister sigh from the upper floor.
“Leo, Lita's homeroom teacher said she wanted to talk about something school-related when I picked her up before summer break.” Jenn shouted down and the boy already knew where this was going.
“Told her I’d send dad after the break, mind having a little chat with her?” Leonardo groaned.
“Actually, I do mind-”
“Too bad for you then. Now fuck off!” The slam of her bedroom door indicated she was done with the situation, but her younger brother was not. At least not entirely.
“Fuck you too!” He screamed back before aiming for the front door as well, opening it with a loud bang.

“Language, Leo!” Raph scolded from behind after he put his protein drink aside, but his little brother was already out of the door and out of reach for him.
Mikey sighed, but followed.
Yea, mornings in the Hamato household were more than just chaotic.

The clock displayed 7:03 am when they finally entered Casey's car, Lita for the first time without a child seat.
Mikey dutifully put the seatbelt around her in the back before putting on his own, fully aware of the fact that the raven was not a particularly good driver. But at least he was better than Leo, and that was everything that mattered.

“We have to pick up Usagi as well tho.” Leonardo suddenly said as Casey started the car, causing the man to groan, but not complain.
The ride was fairly quiet, except for some music coming out of the speakers. Mikey noticed it was different from what the other two men normally listened to, and figured it was because of Lita. Because there was no way you could play ‘Mindless Self Indulgence’ on full volume in a car with an eight-year-old in it. 

Give yourself prudence and love your friends

Subway kid, rejoice your truth

In the religion of the insecure, I must be myself respect my youth

“Oh, I like that song.” The voice of the little girl was now quiet and shy again, but it was enough for Casey to pick up.
“Oh yeah?” The boy preened and looked at her through the mirror, causing her to grin.
“Yea, her voice sounds cool!”
“You want me to turn it up?”
“Yesss!” Lita cheered as Casey opened the windows in the car, causing her bow and hair to wildly flutter around.

The music got louder and louder, and by the end of it, astronauts probably heard them.
Or at least Usagi did judging by the annoyed look he gave the teenagers as they pulled up to his house.
“I’m sorry, did we wake up sleeping beauty?” Casey smugly smiled as the foreigner approached them while yawning. Mikey looked over to Leonardo and noticed his brother's eyes were glued to his boyfriend. He found it kinda sweet.

“Not really, but you faggy bastards probably wake up the whole goddamn fucking neighborhoohhh- oh, hey Lita!” The boy suddenly looked very guilty and Mikey had to do everything in his power to keep himself from cackling at the stare Lita was giving Usagi now. They had a strong ‘No swearing around Lita’ policy implemented by the student himself when he first met her, him breaking his own rule was more than hilarious to the rest of them. Especially to Mikey, who had never really heard him swear up to this point.

“What- what are you doing here?” He asked awkwardly as he put on his seatbelt and Casey started driving again.
“They are dropping me off at school!” She exclaimed cheerfully, everything the boy had previously said in her presence cast aside and forgotten. This made Usagi loosen up again and the boy smiled.
“Are they? I bet Casey loves chauffeuring you around, you should ask him for it more often.” The boy said while staring straight into the mirror at the front, meeting Casey's cold eyes. If looks could kill, he would have already been six feet under by now. But the raven was smarter than to argue.

“You know Lita, Usagi told me he loved your last tea party with your dolls and can't wait to join you again after school!” he said with a voice way too sweet for him, but Lita only got excited at that.
“Wait really? Because I just got a new doll and you have to meet her! Her name is Andromeda, and she is-” The rest of Lita's babbling was cut short by Michelangelo's brain as he had to suppress another laugh. From a glance into the mirror, he could tell Leonardo was doing the same.

Mikey had known Usagi ever since he was a freshman here in New York, and ever since the first day he and Casey could just not stop bickering and pandering. The boy had really enjoyed that for a while, just classifying it as friends being friends, but ever since Usagi had started dating Leonardo, the insults never seemed to end. Despite that, Mikey kept telling himself those two cared for each other - because at the end of the day, they would still walk arm in arm after drinking a little too much. So naturally, he didn't question it. Why should he, after all? It was not his business.

Two songs and one inappropriate joke Lita was way too young to understand, they found themselves in front of the girl's primary school.
Usagi had gotten up from his seat to let the little girl pass, but suddenly all confidence she previously had gained from talking about her special interest was gone. Oh, how Mikey felt for her.

“Can you walk me in?” She asked while looking up to the Japanese boy, who in return only gave Leonardo an unsure glance.
Getting the hint, the boy sighed and stood up as well, but not before giving Mikey and Casey a signal to follow them as well.

Mikey, being the good big brother he is (and remembering his time alone in preschool) immediately jumped next to the girl, who quickly took his hand.
“You too.” Leonardo hissed before shutting the car's door closed, only to get flipped off by Casey. But the raven also complied.

So now, this little albino girl was escorted by four high schoolers into the sad, empty brick-stone building they called a school.
Eyes of parents, teachers and students alike rested on them as the group approached Litas homeroom, only to be greeted by a smaller, older lady, who Lita recognized as Mrs Bookers.

The girl hugged her brothers, Usagi and Casey for one last time before running off wordlessly, and as soon as she left, Mrs Booker's expression went from warm and gentle to quite confused.

“And you are?” While especially eyeing Usagi, who, thanks to his albinism, looked more like Lita's brother than anyone else out of them. But before the boy could answer to clarify this misunderstanding, his boyfriend had already taken over.
“We are her brothers.” He explained, earning confused glances from two of them.
“Jennika sent us regarding some problems with Lita, but could you please make it quick because we have to get to school as well-”
The old lady blinked twice and eyed each of them before a lightbulb went off in her head. Yea, Lita was adopted, after all.

“Sure sure, I’ll make it quick.” She reassured them and signalised the group to follow her.
“Wait here for me please.” The lady said before leaving them standing at the front of the classroom, in a hallway full of children arriving and getting woven off by their parents.

It was awkward, to say the least, as it was obvious none of them belonged here nor chose to be here.
Mikey lost track of time about how long they had been standing there, wordlessly, and just waiting for the lady to return.

The silence was unbearable and he soon found himself fidgeting with his hands out of nervousness. He glanced over to his brother and friends, who also seemed quite uncomfortable around all those children. Without swearing, inappropriate jokes or non-children-friendly topics, their options were very limited regarding what to talk about.

But suddenly, as Mikey thought things could not get worse, he felt a tug at his jacket, causing him to flinch around and face another kid. He was young, probably not older than Lita, and he was staring at him with big eyes. But the sentence that followed was something neither of them would forget so soon.

“My Mama and my Papa say homosexuals like you will burn in hell and will perish for the sins they committed in the mighty eye of the lord.”

...

There was a period of silence between the teenagers. Mikey turned around wordlessly, staring at the rest of them to get a confirmation from them that they just heard the same thing he did. His glance was met with equally shocked expressions, and Mikey knew it was just a matter of time until they all would burst into laughter and look like maniacs in a primary school.

Casey surely looked like one already, but he somehow managed to swallow his amusement and got on his knees in front of the boy.
The child just looked at him with big eyes and Mikey could see the mother staring at them, unsure if she should intervene or not.
But Casey just gave him a big, genuine smile, the same one that was usually exclusively reserved for Lita.

“Hey little buddy, can you tell your mother something from me? It is very important that she knows that information. Can you do that?”
The boy, now less scared of the man in front of him, nodded enthusiastically, proud that he was entrusted with such an important task by the stranger.
“Okay okay. Come closer, this is very important.” The boy did as he was told.

“Okay. Tell your mother that she is a raging cunt and that her pathetic cuck husband probably watches black dudes fuck girls he is attracted to while edging his micropenis in a chastity cage, alright?”
“CASEY-” The slap Usagi delivered this time was far away from friendly and almost caused the man to fall over onto the child, but lucky for the boy, Casey was able to keep his balance while grinning smugly.

Leo for his part was practically in tears, clutching his stomach as one wheeze after the other ripped from his throat.
Just at this moment, Mrs Bookers returned to witness the boy repeating what Casey told him to his parents, with scary accuracy.

After that, everything broke into chaos. The parents were shouting, Casey was grinning, Leo was still wheezing, and the last thing Mikey felt was a firm tug on his arm indicating they should leave.

Because as it turns out, this little boy's parents had been ‘concerned’ about Lita's wellbeing with two fathers and only one mother, as well as so many ‘immigrants’ in the household. The teacher had noticed the boy making snarky remarks about her situation, as well as for the fact that she was adopted and ‘abandoned by her real parents’, as the boy put it.

But Lita, in all her greatness, just declared the boy as stupid and never seemed to be affected by it in any way. Still, Mrs Booker wanted to talk with a guardian of Lita about it - and instead, she got a whole shitshow going down. 

It was 7:38 am when they finally left the school, some of them still wheezing and some of them still annoyed.
Mikey for his part just wanted to get out of there and finally go to school, and he was very thankful when they finally reached the school grounds five minutes later.

“You guys can go without us, we will look for a place to park!” Casey suddenly exclaimed half a block before the school building, and Usagi was already getting ready to leave the car.
“Why? There is plenty of space around us.” Mikey questioned but the raven only sighed dramatically and looked at him through the mirror.

“Mikey, I think it's time that you learn some things-” But Leonardo was quick to shut him up with a harsh nudge into his ribs.
“Nope, he doesn't.” He stated harshly before giving Mikey a grin.
“Ow!”
“We will soon come after you, don't worry. Just gotta talk about a few things.” Mikey cocked a brow but said nothing.

“You know If this was my sister, I would want her to know it instead of having her discover it randomly one day.” Casey hissed out between clenched teeth as he held his side, but Leonardo was unimpressed by that.
“And this is why they don't let you talk to your sister anymore.” A really low blow, even for Leonardo. Everyone knew the divorce of Casey's bio parents was a mess, and his foster family was even messier. The raven looked like he was about to hit the younger man, but hitting a junior Thaijutsu champion was maybe not the smartest thing to do in the morning - even if he really deserved it.

“Remind me of what happened in your first foster home, Leonardo.” He spat back instead, and somehow managed to land an even lower blow than the boy before him. Everyone also knew what their first foster home had been like, and Mikey definitely did not need a reminder of that. Now Leonardo looked like he wanted to dislocate the man's jaw, and the young boy hurried to leave before joining Usagi on the sidewalk, just to put as much distance between him and the car.

Because while he knew what his brother and Casey were about to do ( it wasn't really a secret anyway) he had still hoped to somehow stop them. Because doing it that obvious in a parking car? Gross and unhealthy, period. No way he was driving back in that car.
Like, how could those two not understand smoking stuff did more harm to the body than it helped them? Absolutely disgusting.
But then again who was he to intervene?

As they arrived at the school building, the rest of the group was already waiting for them in front of the stairs where they usually sat. Raph and Donnie were focused on a conversation with April and Sunita, while Kendra talked to two new faces Mikey didn't recognize while still clinging onto Donnie's arm.

As the group noticed them approaching, Kendra wasted no time introducing the young man.
“Jason, Jeremy, this is Mikey, the fourth brother I told you about. Mikey, those two are Jason and Jeremy.”
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Hi.”

Great, what a conversation. But by now, Raph had noticed them too, giving Mikey an encouraging smile as he signalised his little brother to come closer.
“How are you feeling Mike?” His big brother asked and put a hand on his shoulder, practically glowing out of pride. His little brother was finally here with them, at the same school.
“Good, got into a bit of trouble at Litas school, but Dad will receive a call from her homeroom teacher in the evening about this as well.”

April chuckled.
“And let me guess, Casey was the one who initiated it. Or did Leo need to compete against a child again to feel better about himself?” Sunita grinned at that, and Mikey could not help but chuckle too. But before he could answer and give clarification, Raph’s older-sibling senses were already tingling.

“Where are they anyways?”
“Oh, they stayed back to smoke their stuff.” As soon as those words left the mouth of the young boy, the whole group fell silent.
At first, they were looking at him, then at Raph, then at him, and then at Raph again.

Meanwhile, Raphs expression darkened and a sharp sting of guilt hit Mikey, fearing he already messed up somehow.
“Raph-” He tried to call out, but his big brother had already pushed past them and was quick to disappear off the school ground, leaving all of them looking dumbfounded.
April was the first one to catch herself again and turned around to Mikey.

“You know about that?” She asked with such genuine surprise that the boy raised a brow. “I mean, wasn't it obvious? I’m not stupid, and neither is Venus.” The girl just looked at him with a stern expression, but it quickly turned into guilt as she took a deep breath and turned to Donnie and Usagi.

“I thought you guys talked about telling him this!”
“Well, I wanted to, but Leo was all like ‘no, not yet, he's too young, he will only tell on us’ yada yada. Didn't want to argue against that.” Donnie halfly defended himself, but he still looked unimpressed with the situation. April, looking quite upset because of this, turned around to Mikey again who gave her a questioning stare. She just put her hands on his shoulders and lowered her voice.

“Listen, Mikey. There are some things about your family you will soon get to know, but you will not yet understand them. And in those cases, it is very important that you tell those things to me or Usagi, and we will explain them to you. But never ever go to Raph with those issues, you dig me?”

Mikey nodded out of instinct, but if he was honest, he did not understand.
Venus and he had seen Leo and Casey smoking several times already, sometimes with their friends, sometimes without them, but had already kept quiet about it to their parents. Donnie had been present more than one time as well, despite never smoking himself. He was just there out of boredom or to keep a conversation going.
So Mikey had come to the conclusion that Raph had to know about it as well, given the fact that the four brothers told each other everything - or at least Mikey had told them everything over the years and just hoped he would receive the same trust.

“Okay good. Good.” April muttered as she let go of him and turned around to her girlfriend and Donnie again.
“The rest is something for your brothers to tell you.” Mikey opened his mouth to ask about it immediately, but before any words could come out the loud ring of the bell echoed over the school grounds - and the image of Raph, pushing Leonardo and Casey to keep going followed it.

He looked angry, probably angrier than Mikey had seen him in a while, while Casey and Leonardo were just laughing and grinning. An unusual reaction for two teenagers who just got caught smoking stuff in their car, but then again, those two teenagers were Leo and Casey. No reaction was ever appropriate from them.

“Damn, chill your balls Raph-” Casey exclaimed as they were being pushed up the stairs, way too harsh to be considered playful anymore, only to meet a deadly gaze from his lowerclassman. Usagi had meanwhile grabbed Leonardo's arm and they were making their way up as well, but not without a light flick to the back of Mikey's head.

“Your lucky I can't stay mad at you Mike.” His big brother exclaimed with a wink and huge smile after being dragged up by his boyfriend and his twin again. Casey turned around as well and tried to playfully nudge Mikey with his foot, but the young boy instinctively took a step back and dodged the gesture, which only made Casey laugh more.

“If it makes you feel better, it was only skullcap. So don't be too disappointed in your big brother.” Then, they disappeared into the hallway, tightly followed by their friends, leaving the freshman alone.

This was… weird.
But surprisingly, Mikey did feel a bit better. He was scared of what would happen if he already messed up this big on his first day, and was scared of his brother and Casey being mad at him. Mikey was familiar with skullcap, hell, he gifted Donnie the seeds to grow it in his garden for his birthday. I t's a well-known herb for the nervous system, helping with sleep and easing stress - two things Mikey knew Leonardo struggled with greatly. He actually thought about smoking it as well once or twice, but always felt bad at the thought of stealing from Donnie.

He tried to shake the thought off and concentrate on his first day of high school, but it was a bit difficult when suddenly the entirety of the stress he managed to surpass the entire morning resurfaced with no warning. The boy could feel his heart pumping faster and his knees weakening, but there was no going back now.
But right as he wanted to take the first step, he was unceremoniously pushed to the side, but fast enough to catch himself on the railing.

“Watch where you going, idiot.” A guy, probably a head taller than Mikey, spat at him as he turned around. And there it was, classical first-day interactions.
If it wasn't for the fact that Mikey wasn't looking for trouble right now, he would have corrected the boy, telling him it's ‘you’re’ instead of ‘you’, but he luckily managed to keep his mouth shut. This made the boy in front of him just roll his eyes and give an annoyed sigh, but he ultimately left him alone.

Mikey waited for a few moments until the boy disappeared from his sight before he continued walking, this time without getting pushed or anything similar - much to his relief.

It didn't take long for him to find his homeroom and as he opened the door, the stressed feeling immediately returned.
He was alone in here, without his family and without his friends.

And it certainly didn't help that the same guy from outside sat at the back of the class.
But he had to keep his cool.
This wouldn't be so bad, right? After all, they didn't interact that much and starting a beef because of one simple misunderstanding was stupid.

They would get along just fine, if not as friends, then as classmates. Because all the high school cliches from sitcoms were just cliches, meant to keep the story interesting and the ball rolling. This wasn't how things went in real life, right?