Archive of Our Own ^beta

Michelangelo could not sleep. Which was odd. Michelangelo had a habit of dozing off at any time. He would close his eyes while playing video games- trying to give his poor little eyeballs a break from the blinding light he had been focusing on for hours- just to pass out, controller still glued to his hands.

He would lean onto Leo, and blink- suddenly sitting up in the bottom bunk of his bed with Klunk kneading into the soft flesh bubbling out from the sides of his shell bridge.

He even fell asleep standing up once- he was bored and tired of cleaning the lair, and managed to fall asleep. Spray bottle in hand as his body swayed for a good few minutes before he fell- waking up when his skull made painful contact with the floor.

But now- in the middle of the night.

Michelangelo could not sleep.

And neither could Raphael. Who sat beside him, anxiously tip-tapping his fingers against the arm of the couch. Mikey being restless was strange. But everything about Mikey seemed strange now. Even when he did things he used to do- his entire flow was different. Nearly Insipid. Nobody else seemed to notice…

But maybe it’s because Raph was paranoid, and he was looking for some sign that wasn’t truly there, twisting his own perspective and falling further into this delusion. It had to be in his head- nobody else seemed to notice anything. But Mikey did act weird when they were alone. He never outright admitted anything, but his implications lingered eternally in the air. Every space his breath touched was infected with an eerie chill that never faded.

Maybe Raph was the one who fell and smashed his head open. That would explain his strange week.
“Hey so uh.. I have to ask..”
Raph began, and his youngest brother turned to him. face empty. He looked like an automated machine Donnie would program. He was surprised he didn’t hear bolts and metal twist together as Michelangelo turned to him.

Slowly- so slowly, Mikey began to smile. His eyes usually looked like the bright summer sun. but now- his gaze felt dull and smogged over. Empty. His eyes crinkled up, as if Raphael being unable to speak in his presence brought him great amusement. His grin became mocking as it writhed its unnaturally onto Mikey’s expression. It looked like the grin would snap his face in half at the seams, revealing whatever parasite was inside.
“What’s up, brah? Cat got your tongue? I told you to quit petting his fur the wrong way or he would get his revenge! Meow!”

Michelangelo flung his wrist forwards and spread his fingers, mimicking kitty claws. It was sooo like Mikey. But something about it was off. To Raphael, Mikey’s digits did seem to sharped like talons for just a moment. His wide grin going sharp and wavy for a fraction of a second. If his pupils were visible, Raphael was sure they’d turn to
cat-like slits. Raph flinched backwards like his brother had spat fire at him.

There was either something very wrong with Michelangelo, or very wrong with Raphael. Raphael assumed Mikey was the problem here. He usually was… and Raph was not going crazy yet, he refused such a thought. The brute sighed, feeling the fire inside of him turn to ice as Michelangelo stared at him. Not saying a word more to fill the silence, nor looking away with a nervous giggle like his true brother would have… Raphael managed to bring power back to his throat.
“No… Why do you sit here and torment me with his face!? We both know you’re not my brother!”

Michelangelo’s destitute gaze overflowed with a sudden puissant glimmer, that cut through the growing shadows of the lair.
“What a odd thing to say-“
Michelangelo said, his leering glower turning Raphael’s senses to lead as he stayed lamely still.
“We fight like Cain and Abel, dude! But I’m still your brother.. It’s just hard to act yourself when you’re dead.”
The minuscule mutant uttered with a rictus grin that broke open Michelangelo’s face like a gaping wound.

“Dead tired, that is…”
Michelangelo finished, his Vapid expression drilling into Raphael. It was odd to look at a face so empty- yet so filled with a deep knowledge you yourself could not comprehend. It was as Petrifying as a mortal man looking upon the face of a god.

Michelangelo clambered over Raphael, forcing him into the cushions as he sat atop him, making the elder brother grunt at the heavy and uninvited weight. It felt like a bout of sleep paralysis. Unable to move while the eldritch presence of Michelangelo sat atop his lungs and drained them.
“You wanna feel like a sucker so bad! It makes me remember what Master Splinter used to say. ‘How nice it is to see the rain, yet not get wet.’ You haven’t hit your head nearly as much as me, but you’re acting like you’ve lost your mind somewhere! That’s my thing dude- and you totally stole it! What a tragic end to my main gig!”

Michelangelo dug his fingers into Raphael’s shoulders with the vigor of a cat sinking its claws into the hide of a rat. Everyone falls eventually. But first- someone has to loosen up the screws holding up their pedestal. And here Michelangelo was, ripping down the scaffolding. He had to know what he was doing. Every word choice made Raphael’s skin crawl. Made a flash of gore erupt in his mind.

Michelangelo was driving him crazy, and he was doing it on purpose. Filling him with shame and fear like a pestilence. Raphael didn’t get the chance to push Michelangelo away before his reptilian relative jumped off of him, leaving Raphael feeling like he had been submerged in ice. He shivered as he sat up. Michelangelo’s expression seemed sharp enough to dissect his brother with every flicker in his stare.

“Nighty night Raphiee! Don’t stay up too late- I hear it makes you start to totally lose it… Maybe that’s why Don is such a mad scientist!”
Mikey giggled and disappeared impossibly fast as he rounded a corner, leaving Raph alone on the couch. The turtle let out a long sigh, as if Michelangelo’s presence genuinely suffocated him.

It sure felt that way.

Raphael got up and immediately booked it out of the lair. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep now. Not when a glimpse into his brother’s eyes was worse than having every horror movie ever made zapped into your brain! He ran across the streets until he made it to April’s apartment, breaking in with the deft silence of a spider spinning silk.

He collapsed onto her couch, it already felt a million times more comforting than anywhere in the lair. He would have to tell April in the morning. Mikey and her were best friends. Closer than anything. If anyone could notice the weirdness that Raphael saw, it had to be April. She would feel it. She would assure him that something was off about Michelangelo. She would be able to do something. She had been a scientist after all!

Raphael wouldn’t be haunted by whatever parasite had taken his brother’s skin like a bargain bin T-shirt. Someone had to help him. Believe him. Save him.

But for now,

Raphael slept.