Rays of Sunshine (Michelangelo X Depressed!Reader)

11 | Square Root of a Gummy Worm

Your PoV

Mikey and I sit on his bed, stomach-down, our feet waving in the air. He shows me comic book after action figure after old pizza box, each with their own interesting topping combo attached.

"Yeesh Mikey," I comment, "if you live down here, then how the heck did you get all this stuff?"

Mikey wiggles his fingers in front of my nose. "Magic," he responds. I laugh.

He stretches out on the bed, dripping over the side. "So, how you likin' it down here?"

I nod, walking through the memories I'd already made. "Your brothers seem cool," I say. "And it's nice to finally see your family in general. Do you think they're okay with me?"

Mikey grins. "Yeah, they're fine! There's nothing wrong with the way they're acting, so I'm gonna say it's cool. They're just jelly that they didn't find you first." He squishes my whole torso in a hug, leaving me feel a bit thinner. I giggle again, pushing him back. "That's ridonkulous."

"Is not!" he retorts. "I'm serious! You are so totally adorable and sweet! Who wouldn't want a friend like you? Besides, all we've got for human friends are our big sister and April O'Neil. And Casey Jones, too."

"I feel like I've heard their names before," I muse. "How old are they?"

"Still in high school," he tells me. "April's sixteen and I think Casey's seventeen. He's not good with school though." Mikey bonks himself on the head. "Kinda like me. Only I kinda want to see what school's like."

I sigh. "So that's why you want to know every single detail of each school day I'm forced through?" I give him a noogie. "School's not all it's cracked up to be. And didn't you say that... um, Donnie, right...? that he's a smart dude?"

"Yup, it's Donnie," Mikey says, nodding. "But Donnie's... you know, occupied with his own activities. And he's too smart for me sometimes. I just needed someone smart, but in the middle. Like you! Now I know tons of stuff!"

I roll my eyes playfully. "In your dreams, turtle boy. What's the square root of eight hundred forty-one?"

His face blanks. "Uhhh... what's a square root?"

"When you multiply a number by itself, you can put a lil square root sign above it and the square root'll be that number," I explain. "Twenty-nine times twenty-nine is eight forty-one. Now you can astound Donnie with your new math skills."

Mikey looks ecstatic. "Okay, smarty pants, what, then, is the square root of a gummy worm?"

"There's no square root of a gummy worm," I reply, swallowing my laughter. 

"Oh yes there is!" he protests. "If you put half a gummy worm with another half, you get a whole! That's a square root right there!"

I sigh again, laughing. "Okay, Mikey. Half a gummy worm it is."

"Darn right it is," he mumbles, gently hitting me with an action figure's fist. "Wish I had some square root gummies in here. We could practice."

"Unfortunately, in my math class, there are no gummy worm square roots, so there's no need to practice." I tell him.

Mikey crosses his arms. "I'm going to find some gummy worms so we can eat them, at least," he reports, dropping from his bed. "Be right back!"

He slips outside, closing the door behind him. After a couple seconds the door creaks open again, and a different turtle pokes his head in.

"Hey," he greets me. "I just saw Mikey walk out. Um, I wanted to tell you that you're welcome here, you know, whenever you need it. Splitting up sounds awful."

I look down at the floor. "Thanks. Uh, you're Leo, right?" He wears a blue mask, and if I remembered correctly, that's Leo, right?

He smiles. "Yeah, that's me. Heard you were teaching Mikey square root of a gummy worm."

I laugh a little. "He's so funny. It must be really interesting to live with him all the time."

"It certainly is," Leo replies. "Just wanted to say hi, so I'll go now. Have fun with those gummy worms." He backs out of the room, and Mikey replaces him in another minute. 

"How awesome is this?" he declares, tossing a bag of gummy worms into my lap. "One for each of us, and another to share! Whoever just went shopping is the second best!"

"Who's first best?" I ask curiously, ripping open the package.

Mikey boops my nose. "You, of course. Don't be silly." He flops back down on the bed, wiggling around to try and get warm again. 

I push him. "Don't say not to be silly! I AM silly! I am the definition of silly!" To prove my point, I leap from the bed and do a little dance in front of him. "La la la!"

Mikey pulls me back onto the bed. "Okay, Silly (L/n)," he laughs. "Eat up your gummy worms, they're good for you."

"I doubt that," I contradict. "You have the weirdest eating habits."

Brushing it off, Mikey puts an arm over my shoulder. "Now, what kind of nickname should I give you?" he muses. "It's gotta be something sweet, and smart, and silly, cuz you, my friend, really are the definition of silly!"

We both laugh, then settle down with the sugary worms as he thinks.

"A, B, C, 3," he mumbles to himself. "Uhhh... Curly-Q? That's kinda cute... Nah. Too cutesy. What about Jelly Bean?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I say skeptically.

"Someone who's tough, but soft at heart..." he says, still thinking. "Nah. How about Button?"

I grin. "That's silly. Button it is, then."

Mikey hugs me again, stealing a gummy worm while I'm distracted. "All right! I am the best at namin' stuff. That's one thing I'm smart at."

"And putting weird things on pizza," I add, snatching one of his. 

Mikey shakes his head, grinning. "You'll see, Button. I'm a smart dude too." 

~