#*clenches fist* valve please make him real he could have appeared on screen

[hop-a-lot]

What if Bidwell appears in Jungle Inferno

[cy-fi-theansweris42]

These Fears Keep Dragging Me Back The Squirrelanoid nightmares were always the worst ones.

Tw: Nightmares and very brief mentions of a panic attack and blood

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20498240  < AO3 Link if you want to read it there

He had to run faster. The Squirrelanoids were right on his tail, their high-pitched screeching echoing off the sewer walls as Mikey ran with the bag of popcorn clenched in his hands. He had to get to the drain, just had to make it that far and hope that his idea worked, if it didn't then he...he didn't want to think about that. He also didn't want to think about all the horror tropes that played out in his comics that could play out right now, like him tripping and falling or turning the corner to be met by a wall and be trapped or-

Focus Mikey

He needed to focus, he couldn't afford to mess this up. So he ran faster, trying to ignore how the screeching and sounds of claws on cement were getting closer and closer to him.

Finally he reached the drain, turned around and waited for just a moment for the Squirrelanoids to catch up (too short of a moment, they were so close and if he had taken any longer he'd definitely be meeting the great pizza in the sky right now) before catching their attention with the popcorn and throwing it into the water. The moment all three were in Mikey rushed over to the valve, turning it and then watching as the creatures began swirling down the drain, relief flooding through him. 

"Booyakasha!" He turned and started walking, smiling because heck yeah his plan worked, just wait until the guys hear-

Something wrapped around his ankle.

Mikey shouted as he was suddenly whipped backwards and into the whirlpool the Squirrelanoids were also caught in, the tendril that had caught his ankle wrapping further up his body until he was fighting to keep it from constricting around his throat. He couldn't take a breath in as he was dragged under water, could only keep struggling as he was pulled further and further and the world started going hazy. One hand reached out and he saw a silhoutte above, saw as a red stripe came into focus and a hand reach for his, both of them reaching and-

They missed.

The world went dark as he heard a muffled shout.

-TMNT-

As Mikey came to, he was aware of a soft green glow and chittering, making him bolt upright and sent his heart racing. It was so dark in the small room, the only light that illuminated the metal walls coming from the heads and open mouths of the three creatures across from him that were slowly walking closer.

"No, get away from me!" Mikey cried out, scrambling backwards until his shell slammed into the corner. The Squirrelanoids only screeched in response, the sound so loud and echoing in the small space and forcing Mikey to cover his ears. Suddenly all three of them lunged, mouths gaping and inner mouths shooting towards him and latching onto his arms as he threw him in front of his face, tearing through the scales as the actual heads chomped down and-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Mikey screamed, shooting up in bed. There was nothing but darkness around him and he quickly grabbed the flashlight next to his bed, turning it on and whipping it wildly around the room as he gasped for breath.

A nightmare. Just another stupid nightmare. 

He wasn't new to them, not at this point, he'd read far too many horror comics to be new to nightmares. Most of the time he could shrug it off, laugh about how it was something that happened in a comic he'd read earlier, and then go back to sleep.

Right now though? With his breaths still coming in short gasps, his heart racing, and the very idea of closing his eyes while he lay still in the darkness send ice-cold terror rushing through his veins? Yeah no, sleep wasn't happening any time soon.

So Mikey got up, flashlight gripped tight in one trembling hand while he held his nunchucks in the other, and walked out of his room. Head on a swivel and light zooming around to cover as much area as possible, he made his way through the darkened lair to the one place where he knew someone would be awake.

He quickly opened the lab door and zipped inside, closing it behind him with a sigh of relief. He placed his nunchucks back in his belt as he looked around the well-lit room where his immediate older brother worked away while everyone else slept most of the time. (That was a habit he needed to get onto D about, the guy was way too stressed. He saw the bags that formed under his brother's eyes that were mostly hidden by the purple mask, how he'd cling to that fist cup of coffee like his life depended on it and how his grip only loosened on the mug by the end of the second. He could see that Donnie was running himself to the ground, his brother never did know when to stop and put his own health first.) Speaking of, Donnie sat across the room, shell to the door as he mixed chemicals, never even looking up.

"Leo, I swear if that's you again then next time you break the toaster you can fix it yourself."

"Just me, D." Mikey chuckled, thinking about that poor toaster that hated Leo with a passion as he walked over towards Donnie. "Whatcha working on?"

"It's just an experiment and you should be sleeping, not wandering into my lab in the middle of the night."

"I could say something similar to you dude." Mikey replied, his stomach flipping at the idea of going back to sleep.

"I'm an insomniac and we all know it. You however, aren't, so go back to bed shell-brain, getting a healthy amount of sleep is-"

"Drop it, Donnie." Michelangelo cut him off, eyes cast at the ground and arms wrapping around himself. "Please."

For the first time since his younger brother walked in, Donnie looked at Mikey, saw the flashlight still clutched in one hand, the faint tremors that still shook his shoulders, and how he seemed to be trying to curl into himself, and put two and two together.

Shit, he was an idiot. "What was it this time?" Donatello asked, his voice taking a slightly softer edge. They all knew about how Mikey would get nightmares, too many horror comics and too many real life horrors to avoid them, for any of them to avoid them really, but Mikey got them the most. 

"Squirrelanoids." Mikey whispered, the hand not holding the flashlight moving to scratch at his arm.

Fucking shit, he was an idiot.

"Hold this, I'm packing this up and then you and me are going to watch some cheesy b-movies, ok?" Donnie shoved an empty beaker into Mikey's hands, giving him something to hold before the scratching got worse. The Squirrelanoid nightmares were always the worse, both to have and to shake afterwards for Mikey, leaving him too shaken to go back to sleep.

(There was one time Donnie just ignored him, too sleep-deprived to care and too focused on his experiment at the time to be willing to spare a moment to see why his younger brother was awake at that ungodly hour as well, just snapped at him to get over whatever woke him up and go back to sleep. It'd taken him too long to realize that Mikey didn't respond and he never heard the lab door close again. He'd turned around to see Mikey just standing there, eyes wide and staring at nothing as he shook from tremors that wracked his entire body and scratched his arms until the scales were irritated and specks of blood began to form. He didn't know how long it took him to drag Mikey out of whatever he was seeing but eventually he did, the younger turtle curling up on the floor and crying softly as Donnie held him and assured him that everything was alright.)

"You don't have to." Mikey said softly, eyes still on the ground.

"You're right, technically I don't have to, but I want to." Donnie quickly replied as he finished putting away the chemicals. He'd heard how the Squirrelanoid nightmare went, how it was bad and then sometimes varied to worse. He wasn't about to let his only little brother be alone after a dream like that.

"You sure, Donnie?" Mikey asked, looking up at Donnie as he ushered him out of the lab, eyes wide and expression open and vulnerable, and Donnie felt his heart break a little. His little brother shouldn't be so scared, and yet he was.

"I'm sure." Donnie smiled, turning away for just a moment to turn on the TV, it's soft glow filling the room. "You find a movie, I'm going to make some hot cocoa."

They both quickly set about their separate tasks, Donnie filling two mugs with fresh hot cocoa (he even added the mini marshmallows, an extra treat), and Mikey finding some movie they both knew was bad in the family tape collection and grabbing a large blanket from nearby. Quickly they both settled in, title card of the black and white movie appearing on the screen as they sipped their hot cocoa.

"Thanks D." Mikey said softly, eyes not leaving the screen as he leaned against his older brother for just a moment.

"Any time Mikey."