#Raph's old bandana is no longer on the sword but on their side

[veearrifarrariboom]

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THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE SUPPORT ON MY SILLY CAPTAINX2 COMIC! I giggle and stim at every comment and repost, IT ONLY GETS SILLIER FROM HERE GUYS!!! specifically from the next page on actually

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[remmushound]

My spooky gift exchange to @nightneko!!

Content warning: Blood, decapitation, character death, trauma

Leonardo was running. He was running but it wasn’t enough. The rain pounded all around him like the song of his own demise, the stone under his feet growing slick and the purchase hard to find, but that didn’t matter. As he long he kept going forward, that didn’t matter. The momentum was needed, and he couldn’t slow. Not for a second. The moment he slowed, he knew he would get caught.

It had all started out so innocently. He had been practicing his portals after a bout of insomnia seized him in the night like the claws of a great raptor in flight, and he had to do something to pass the time. Sleep didn’t come after an hour, or two, or three. On the fourth hour came resentful training up on the rooftops of his city, so beautiful and bright when compared to the suffocating fog and black sky of this doppelgänger world He found himself in.

Time after time, he had traced a circle in the air and step into it. Time after time he thought of the places he wanted to go— from the Bronx to Brooklynn to Queens... to Tony’s Pepperoni’s and Murakami’s Place; the blind salesman would always leave out leftovers for the Yoru ni kuru hito, the ones who came in the night, who he couldn’t see but knew where there and would make sure he got home safely. Then Leo had gotten reckless. He started testing his speed. How fast he could teleport. How fast he could think of new places to go. Testing the limits of his weapon, fueled by a cocky sense of invincibility that most teenagers had. Hueso had warned him of such things as portal jackings and the horrors they could hold for the one attacked. How, the more times you teleported, the stronger the signal you sent out, like a beacon to your coordinates. How it made it so easy for them to find you.

When Leo had finally decided to go home, he had such a clear image of the lair in his mind. Bright and colorful, the walls covered by Mikey’s increasingly impressive graffiti, some of the older examples drawn over by Donatello’s equations whenever he’d have a breakthrough without paper handy. Numbers and symbols traced over colorful pictures of old, worn from the years but still carrying so many memories in the peeling paint. Leonardo imagined everything down to the last detail; every last crack left by Raphael by accident or on purpose. The groove worn into splinters chair by years of repeated use. The kitchen filled with leftover pizza, the snore of three sleeping turtles and an old rat echoing down the halls. But there was none of that when he stepped through the rift and landed on the other side.

Instead of the warm invitation he had expected, the air was cold and lifeless. The walls were gray and the floor stone, with no mat or rug to block the barrier of frigid ground. Instead of comforting light, there was dim gray, and his breath came out in heavy plumes of fog. There was no gentle snores— no sound at all, in fact, apart from the distant sounds of running water. The air didn’t smell of breakfast, but of rot and decay. It smelled like death.

“Wha... guys?”

His voice echoed in a haunted melody that returned to him from all directions.

“This is a surprise.”

Leonardo jumped and spun around to face the figure approaching him, not quite at tall as Leonardo, but regardless was walking in such a way that made him feel small. Hands folded behind his back, a peculiarly designed white lab coat draped over his bulked form, and a mouth frowning. A mutant. A turtle. With a purple bandana.

“Who are you...?” Leonardo had asked once his body allowed him too. The other was so familiar to him, yet somehow... monstrous. Maybe in the way he didn’t smile— nothing like when the Donatello back home rarely ever offered the gesture. When Donnie did that, it was just Donnie being Donnie. But this frown seemed almost sinister, somehow.

The other mutant only hummed. On his three-fingered hands were red gloves— no, they were white. They must have been, at least, under the layer of glowing crimson that coated them top to bottom in a A viscous layer. It was then Leonardo noticed that the pattern on the lab coat wasn’t just a pattern— it wasn’t a pattern at all— it was blood.

When Leonardo’s eyes began to adjust to the dark of the sewer tunnel, more patterns and items came to his view. Strewn up on the walls and on showcase in dim, glass cases— in jars, fermenting in some kind of liquid, and on the floor and even some hanging from the ceiling. Body parts. Mutant body parts. Fur and scales and skin— organs and bones and... shells. Three of them. Hollow and empty of the lives stripped from within them, adorned with ribbons and weapons. The pelt of a mutant tiger laid on the floor, mouth opened in an eternal cry of agony. A rat— an old, mutant rat— was stuffed and positioned in such a pose it were as if he were alive; mediating in an eternal slumber. Leonardo had almost called out to him until he saw the stitches. The stiff and limp tail, the unmoving body. And that’s when Leo ran.

He splashed blindly through the waste-infused water, charging through the blackness parted only by the odd storm drain offering lamplight from above. Quite often he’d stopped to catch his breath and to try and listen through his heaving and the pound of rain from the surface. Every time he did stop, he was faced with the heart wrenching sound of the second set of foot steps getting closer. Closer. Closer.

The five minutes it took him to find the nearest manhole felt like five hours, and the time it took him to scale the ladder and escape through it felt like even longer. Longer for the blood-splattered mutant to catch up. The first thing he has done once he crawled out into a trash-strewn alley was to find the nearest fire escape— if he could just get away long enough to stop for a moment, long enough to think, maybe a plan could be found in the chaos. There was always an escape. There was always an escape. There was always...

Three buildings crossed and Leo looked back. Three building down he saw the sick, perverted Donatello standing there silhouetted in the light of the street, bō staff in hand. Grinning at him. Leonardo ran on.

Seven buildings crossed and he turned to look back. The monster was even closer now and Leonardo could make out the features more clearly. He could see the other turtles eyes. He didn’t know what to expect when he gazed into them. The red, glowing eyes of a monster, perhaps? Eyes void of any sanity or sense? Maybe! But no. They were just eyes. Just normal eyes. Bronze, gleaming with life. Leonardo ran on.

Ten buildings down. Thirteen. Fourteen. Leonardo couldn’t run anymore. His legs gave way and he crashed to the ground, yet still his pursuer kept on going. His pace did slow when he saw the other mutant collapsed there on the building, but he didn’t stop. Leonardo tried to crawl. If he could just get into the sewers again, or the streets, if he could just disappear!

It was too late.

“Wow.” The donatello—no, Leo couldn’t bare to think of him like that— the mutant stood over him with a partial smile. He wasn’t panting, hardly even breathing. It was like he wasn’t even alive, and with the appearance of him it was easy to believe. “Y’know, I would’ve expected you to put up some sort of fight. My Leo sure did.”

Fight— fight! Leonardo reached behind his shell. The Mutant clicked his tongue and laughed, shifting his body to show off the gleaming sword supported on his back.

“Probably shouldn’t have dropped this either; just, in hindsight, you know.”

“What— please—“ Leonardo couldn’t get full sentences out; breathing was far more important.

“I know, I know.” The mutant laughed and waved his hand, “but hey— it’s all in the name of science, huh? I’ve never worked with a Trachemys scripta elegans, so you're something entirely new to me!”

He pulled out a needle filled to the brim with hot pink fluid.

“And here’s something new to you!”

Leonardo crawled to the ledge and tried to escape over it, only to be met with a sharp kick to the middle of his carapace that pinned him to the stone.

“This is just a little something to make you sleep...”

“DONATELLO!”

The voice sliced through the night like a knife. A woman’s voice. The Mutant’s force on Leonardo’s shell lifted, and when Leonardo turned to look, the turtles back was turned to him, staring at a girl. A girl with ginger hair and a pale face speckled with brown freckles.

“April!” The abomination gave a grin.

April? This girl was April?

“Donnie this has to stop.”

Leonardo could escape now if he wanted to. Sure, his legs were still numbly sore, his chest still heaving, but there was some sort of energy returning to him. He couldn’t just leave April though...

“Come on April, you know I have to.” The Mutant walked toward April with gentle demeanor that betrayed the darkness inside him. “Sacrifices have to be made in the name of science!”

“How many is it going to take, Donnie?” Tears flowed freely through April’s eyes like water spickets. “Leo, Raph, Mikey, Splinter... am I next?”

“I would never hurt you, April.”

His sword— if Leo could just grab his sword he could save himself and the April! He could grab the sword and he could...

No. He could never go through with it. Not with that monster looking like it did. Not with him looking like Donnie. But if Leo could just chase him off...

“Splinter didn’t didn’t even fight back, did he?” April went on. “He didn’t even try to stop you!”

The mutant shrugged. “He could never hurt his son.”

“You’re a monster...”

Leonardo pushed himself slowly to his feet and crept forward. His hand out in front of him, ready to grab for his swords hilt, just praying this April kept the Mutant distracted long enough.

“I’m not.” The Mutant shook his head, “I’m a scientist.”

Leonardo bit his tongue in his focus with enough force to draw forth the metallic taste of blood. Just a little closer...

Then his wrist was seized when the other turtle spun around with lightning speed, gripping him tight and hoisting him up like a ragdoll. The Mutant fixed Leonardo with an amused stare. “And I’m also a ninja.”

Leonardo tried to struggle away. “Please— please just let me go!” He had no shame, he had nothing to lose but his life, “Just let me leave! I wanna get back to Donnie and Raph and Mikey!” His cheeks were stained hot with tears, and his chest felt as if it were being constricted by a python. “I WANT MY DAAAAD!”

The Mutant stopped. Leonardo gave a soft whimper as he was dropped violently and landed with a hard THUMP. He wiped his eyes to try getting a better read of the other turtle. To look in his eyes and try to decipher what thoughts were hidden behind the dark pools.

Then the Mutant laughed. The turtle dressed in purple laughed. A laugh that made his eyes close and called forth a few snorts between breaths. It was wrong— it was all wrong. A laugh should be gentle and lighthearted, drawn forth by a genuine joy. A noise meant to make your heart flutter a bit, especially when it was you who called that heavenly sound to release. But not this noise. This noise was a sinister one, a cold pleasure that made the surrounding air drop at least a few degrees. A monster like that didn’t deserve to laugh.

“You should see the look on your face!” He howled the evil tune of Leonardo’s demise. Then, all at once, the laughter stopped.

Leonardo’s ears rang. Though it took his mind several moments to process what had just happened, his body registered everything at once. A warm wetness all over him and the rooftop around him. The sound of a blade had come first of course— unmistakable to the swordsman— flashing through the air and slicing flesh. Slicing bone. And it was that which expelled the red fluid off in all directions. Then there was a thump. One loud, powerful thump that set Leonardo’s heart to continue the pattern and beat in his chest far too fast, far too hard. Surely it would jump out at any moment and leave him there, bleeding out with a gaping hole in his chest.

Then sound exploded back into his ears. The taste of iron flooded his senses, drowning out everything else. He touched his hand to his face and when he withdrew it, green had turned to an oozing red. The teenage girl stood there behind the headless corpse, holding Leonardo’s sword in shaking hands, just as bloody as Leonardo was. Her bosom heaved. Her breaths came out in soft whimpers, and her arms soon gave way and let the sword clammed to the ground. In the next moment she was gone, down the fire escape and leaving Leo there with the body.

He didn’t know how long he sat there waiting for his legs to regain strength, but by the time he was able to move, the blood had already begun to dry on his skin and flake off in a brownish powder. He picked up his sword and his numb arm guided the blade to make a portal. He gave a chuckle. Almost perfect.

He just about stepped through it before he remembered he was only holding one sword. He turned back to the dead mutant, a slight blood still oozing from the severed neck. Pillaging it’s body like a vulture made Leonardo sick, and he had to make a dash for the ledge of the building to hurl over it. He had his sword though. He could go... home?

Home. Warm and bright. By now it would be filled with the bustle of his family getting ready for the day. The whistle of Splinter’s morning tea... Mikey making breakfast. The sound and scent of sizzling bacon became so alluring it was almost real— and then it was. When Leonardo opened his eyes after stepping through the portal, Splinter sat at the head of the table, sipping his tea as he clasped it between two paws. Raphael and Donatello were bickering about something or other, and it was like the sweetest music. Leonardo looked down at himself and he was as clean as he was when it left— somehow the blood had left him, even though he swore he could still feel it slipping across him. A nightmarish sensation. Mikey, bright-eyed and yet to reapply his shell paint, turned to Leo with a smile and offered a plate of eggs and bacon and toast.

“Hi Leo!” He grinned. “You’re late for breakfast, mister! Here— eat.”

Leonardo smiled and almost broke into a sob as he accepted the plate. “Thank you, hermano...”

His eyes flashed to Donatello. The words that fell from the softshells lips were silent upon Leonardo’s ringing ears. When he blinked, all he saw was the blade slicing down— slicing him.

Suddenly, Leonardo wasn’t so hungry.

[spectrumscribe]

brothers = den mothers

a rottmnt ficlet, set directly after Repo Mantis. word count 3,510; rating Gen. pure & sweet family fluff, banter, and caretaking. :”)

AO3 link

“Three of hearts?”

“Go fish.”

“Aw, come on. It’s been go fish the past five times.”

“’cause I don’t got your cards, genius. That’s how the game works.”

“I have ten cards in my hands, I’ve asked you about half of their matches- no way you don’t have any.”

“Nope.”

Leo narrows his eyes. Raph avoids them.

“You’re cheating,” Leo exclaims, and lunges forwards to look at Raph’s cards. His brother just catches him with one hand and holds him down, lifting the four cards out of his reach. “Raaaph.”

“Just ‘cause you’re bad at cards don’t mean I’m cheating.”

“Lemme see and then I’ll believe you.”

“No.”

“Then you so are cheating-”

A distant sound of something exploding echoes through the walls, and they both go still. Nothing else explodes after a few beats, and Raph and Leo exchange looks.

“Wanna bet that was a Donnie related explosion?” Leo says.

“I would put good money on that bet,” Raph replies. He lets go of Leo and stands up; dropping his cards on top of the other scattered ones.

Leo glances at the cards as he stands too, and splutters. “Hey- you were cheating!”

“Please, Leo, we got priorities right now.”

Leo scowls at the back of his brother’s shell, but grumbles and follows along. They both grab their weapons as they head to investigate- mildly wary of the chance it’s not a Donnie related explosion (for once), and someone’s somehow found their home and busted in.

“What was that?” Splinter calls as they pass the living room.

“Probably Donnie,” Raph replies offhandedly, “maybe a human militia here to kill us all.”

“Well tell them to keep the explosions down; I can hardly hear my gameshow.”

“Will do, pop,” Leo promises with a wave, and keeps pace with Raph as they leave the lair at a jog. “So what do we do if it’s not Don and Mike?”

“Raph’ll kick their asses back to where they came from, that’s what. You can help, too.”

“Oh, I get to help?” Leo says sarcastically. Their conversation comes to a halt as they do; both of them staring at the collapsed portion of a tunnel wall. What looks like the rear end of an unusual vehicle is stuck through it, covered in dust and stray brick.

Leo sticks the tip of his sword in the stone under his feet, leaning on its handle. “Huh,” he says mildly. “Yeah, no, that’s not supposed to be there.”

“Ey! Wall breakers!” Raph bellows at the vehicle. “Who the hell are you, and what the hell do you want?”

“We really don’t have anything decent to steal, if that’s what you’re here for,” Leo adds, cupping his mouth to get his voice to carry. “Well. Donnie’s lab has some okay stuff. You can have that.”

A disgruntled green and purple head pokes around the corner of the broken wall. “Excuse you,” Donnie says irritably, “we do not offer my lab’s contents to hypothetical robbers, Leo.”

“Hey, guys!” Mikey cheers, popping out next to Donnie. He beams at them, covered in dust and band-aids. “We’re home!”

Raph makes a delighted cry and Leo does much the same. Both their weapons are sheathed as they hurry over and give their siblings welcome home hugs. Ten days apart is a lot longer than they’ve ever done before, and it feels better all-around to be back together.

“Man, I missed you guys,” Raph says, squishing all three of his brothers in a hug. “It’s been totally boring, and I was runnin’ out of ways to cheat cards with Leo.”

Leo gasps and thrashes in the hug, pissed enough that he’s hissing. “I knew it! You’ve been cheating this whole time!”

“Awww, we missed you guys, too,” Mikey says, looking pleased as peach despite being squished against an exasperated Donnie and irate Leo. The goofily happy smiles he and Raph are both wearing prove their relation.

“I’ll concede to having missed you two, too,” Donnie admits, craning an arm to hug Raph back. “Even if you’re all crushing me right now. Raph, if you would.”

Raph lets them down, but not before one more firm hug. “Sorry, just- I’m glad you guys got back safe. You kinda ghosted us bunch of the time. But, you got all your limbs still, and,” he says, glancing at the mostly obscured vehicle his siblings brought home, “came back with some serious booty! This is the surprise you talked about?”

“Sure is,” Mikey chirps, grabbing Leo- the closest brother- and dragging him towards the wrecked wall, “and you’re not gonna believe how cool it is!”

They do not believe how cool it is. The two brothers who’d stayed home also cannot believe they somehow didn’t recognize what the surprise was, even semi-buried under rubble.

Raph and Leo quickly become intensely jealous they missed out on the adventure that led their brothers to not only hang out with puppies all week, but also resulted in them coming into possession of the Jupiter Jim moon buggy.

“I mean, we kind of stole it,” Donnie admits as they’re all fawning over the buggy, “but that was only after Repo tried to back out of the deal. Also we’ll fix the wall later, and considering I’ve only ever driven in controlled environments and not during a high-speed chase in rush hour traffic, this is a decent parking job.”

“He forgot which was the break,” Mikey explains from up on the buggy; draped over the lip of the cockpit, head on his arms.

“I only forgot for a moment.”

“A moment too long, according to the wall,” Leo says with a grin, jerking his thumb at the wrecked structure. Mikey laughs, but it turns into a yawn halfway through.

“And it seriously has all the weapons from Return to the moon 3?” Raph asks, touching some of the oil slick that’d splattered the buggy mid-fight.

“It does,” Mikey confirms, nearly in a mumble, though his smile remains bright. “I bug-zapped a guy an’ everything with ‘em. It was awesome.”

He yawns again after that, long enough his eyes water a little. Mikey settles more comfortably on his arms, eyes hooded as the others keeps talking.

“They’re not too shabby for a movie prop, buuuut…” Donnie rubs his hands together, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I have full intention to overhaul them all and increase not just their efficiency, but the diversity of attack options and double the firepower output. Maybe triple it. Depends how many compatible parts I can get my hands on in the next twenty-four hours.”

Leo walks around the top of the buggy, nodding in approval. “Awesome, awesome- please tell me you’ll re-do the upholstery inside, too? Old pleather sticks when you sit on it too long.”

“Uh, a-duh?”

“Sweet. Classic fuzzy dice gonna be included?”

“I have some!” Raph offers excitedly.

“Are they the ones that went missing from my room a few months ago?” Donnie questions dryly.

“Maybe.”

Donnie rolls his eyes. “That- figures.” His words are interrupted by a wide yawn, and he gives his slightly bloodshot eyes a rub. “We can start with them as a base for the colors scheme of the interior. Mikey, I’m guessing you’ll want to handle that?” No answer. “…Mikey?”

They all glance over to their youngest sibling.

Mikey’s eyes are shut and his mouth slightly open; soft breaths coming from him as he sleeps.

“Wow,” Leo says, coming over to crouch by Mikey. He gently pokes his brother’s cheek, testing for any chance of wakefulness, and gets nothing. “You know, you’d think he’d be bouncing at the walls right now. This is the coolest thing we’ve ever stolen. Besides my sword, obviously.”

“Eh, give him a break,” Donnie says, stretching his arms above his head and yawning again. “He’s been- been working with about five or less hours of sleep per day. Puppy paradises don’t build themselves, after all. Let ‘im sleep.”

His battle shell extends its spider legs, and Donnie goes scuttling up the sides of the buggy to start poking at machinery. Raph watches him for a moment, and then follows him up. Not for the same reasons, though.

“Alright, c’mere, Mike,” Raph says quietly, scooping up his brother. Mikey starts a little, eyes opening briefly, but then he sees Raph’s familiar red bandana and settles again. He’s asleep a second time around before Raph’s even dropped back onto the ground; tucked in close and held in one arm.

Leo is watching Donnie start pulling apart the engine, taking note of the slight jitter to his brother’s movements and the amount of dust and unbandaged cuts on his limbs. If Mikey has been running on five or less hours of sleep per day, then without a doubt Donnie has been running on even less. And, given how Mikey has medical care to his small injuries and Donnie doesn’t- Leo’s technical twin has only paid any attention the needs of their brother, rather than the both of them equally.

Leo and Raph share a look; Raph having been eyeing their genius sibling with a concerned expression, and holding Mikey a little closer to himself unconsciously.

Raph gestures at Leo, then at Donnie pointedly. Leo nods, moving into position as his big brother does.

“Hey, Donnie,” Leo says, crouching right in front of his twin.

Donnie looks up, goggles down over his eyes and a distracted frown on his face. “What?” he says shortly.

Leo shoves Donnie backwards. His brother tumbles off the buggy with a strangled shriek.

Raph catches Donnie with ease. Their sleep deprived sibling is startled enough he actually stays still for a whole minute; which is enough time for Raph to bundle him up, and start carrying both his little brothers back towards the lair.

Leo hops down, grinning smugly and skipping over to aim that grin at his brother. Donnie scowls, flipping his goggles up to get the full look across.

“I sense that was plotted,” Donnie says.

“Closer to spur of the moment ambush,” Leo corrects. “You know how Raph works.”

“It’s called getting shit done now, not later.”

“Like I should be doing, with the moon buggy-”

“Uh, no?” Leo cuts in. He clicks his tongue. “What you an’ Mikey are gonna be doing is sleeping, obviously. We’ll go patch the wall and haul in the buggy later.”

“I can keep working,” Donnie protests, twisting to get out of Raph’s grip. “I’ve got to assess the engine, and then the undercarriage, and-”

“Quit wigglin’,” Raph snaps mildly. “You’re gonna wake Mike.”

“’m ‘wake already,” Mikey mumbles faintly, but his eyes don’t even open fully. Leo and Raph both stare at Donnie until the guilt of disturbing their youngest brother’s sleep sets in, and Donnie stops protesting. He allows Raph to carry them along without further interruption, and with the last of the fight going out of him, Donnie sags under the weight of his exhaustion.

Raph is more than happy to carry that weight, right back into the safety of their home.

…He’s a little less happy to carry Leo’s, though, as their red striped sibling hops up on Raph’s shell and demands to be carried, too.

“You can’t play favorites with your little brothers, bro,” Leo chides as Raph growls. He sets his chin on Raph’s head, looping his arms around his brother’s neck and making himself comfortable as he hangs there.

“Watch me,” Raph grumbles, but makes no move to dislodge Leo from where he is. Leo smiles to himself all the way back into the lair, hardly even mad anymore that Raph had been cheating all week at cards.

Inside again, they’re met by their dad. Splinter is waiting in the main atrium, hands in his robe’s sleeves and a mild expression on his face.

“So I’m guessing you weren’t worried about the militia of killer humans?” Leo asks dryly.

“There would have been many more explosions if that was what happened,” Splinter sniffs, whiskers twitching. “You, my boys, are many things. But stealth fighters you are not.”

“Thanks, pop,” Donnie says sarcastically, as Mikey quietly, sleepily laughs.

“Purple, Orange. You’re home.”

“Hi, pop,” Mikey says, smiling at their nicknames.

Splinter takes one arm out from his sleeves and extends a claw, crooking it in request that Raph bend down and let him see the exhausted turtles in his arms. His nose twitches as he sniffs, eyes squinted and careful as he examines his sons. Other than being dusty and a little banged up, Donnie and Mikey are perfectly healthy.

“Hm,” Splinter mutters, still casting a dubious eye over the both of them. Then, he nods, expression calmly accepting. “You two have been gone quite a while. Welcome back.”

“Happy to be back,” Donnie replies easily, not minding the scrutiny of his father. It’s comforting, being back in an environment that’s completely and truly safe. Splinter, satisfied with the brief checkup, pats Mikey’s cheek and goes to wander back into the living room.

“Seeya later, pop,” Mikey says, waving. “Love ya.”

“Yes, yes, I love you, too- and remember to fix whatever you blew up!” Splinter scolds over his shoulder, tail flicking irritably as he disappears through the doorway.

“I think he really missed you guys,” Raph says, resuming his trek to their rooms. “He asked like, four whole times if we’d heard from you.”

“Aw, I missed him, too…” Mikey says softly, words trailing off into a yawn. His eyes are heavy as their journey continues, and when he halfway wakes again, Donnie has been dropped off along with Leo and Raph is setting him down on his bed.

“Gear off,” Raph reminds, fingers going for the buckles of Mikey’s weapons holster. Mikey brushes them away, fumbling with them himself.

“I got it, I can do it myself…” The holster comes undone and Raph sets it on the chair by Mikey’s easel and paints. Mikey yawns, but feels awake enough he can manage the remaining steps to get to bed. “Go wrestle Don into bed, Raph,” he says, starting to shove his kneepads off. “I can brush my teeth n’ stuff on my own.”

“You sure?” Raph questions, hovering a little.

Mikey makes shooing motions. Raph goes, but silently promises to swing through again just to check in one last time. A few rooms over, voices are mingling in Donnie’s bedroom; the sources the two turtles flopped over each other on the bed and procrastinating one of them getting to sleep.

Raph knocks on the doorway, drawing their attention. “Ey, Leo. You’re supposed to be helping him into bed, not schooling him on Jupiter Jim lore.”

“Can you blame me?” Leo says haughtily, sprawled across Donnie’s stomach to keep him from wandering back to the buggy. “He mixed up Return to the moon 8 and Return to the moon 10. I couldn’t let that stand!”

“I am more than half asleep right now, Leon. Gimme a break.”

“You might as well have mixed up Lou Jitsu and Bruce Willis, you heathen.”

Raph rolls his eyes at both of them. “Donnie, either you get up and brush your teeth or I’m just kickin’ Leo out right now and turning off the light.”

“Gingivitis is a very serious condition to treat. I’m going right now.” Donnie doesn’t move for a moment, then reaches over and flicks Leo’s skull. “That means you get off of me, Leo.”

“Ow, god, you coulda just said you wanted me to get up.”

“It was strongly implied between the lines.”

They heckle each other a little more, but Leo does eventually roll off Donnie’s stomach. Raph steadies their second eldest sibling as Donnie stands, wobbling a little as low blood pressure puts sparks in his vision. Food will be the next step, after he and Mikey get at least a few hours of sleep.

“I can put that away,” Leo offers, tapping Donnie’s battle shell. Donnie mumbles something of a thank you and a yes please at the same time, unlatching the protective shield from himself and handing it off. He stretches, groaning as his shoulders ache.

“Glad I wore one with solar power options,” Donnie tells Raph, once Leo has headed back to the lab to tuck the battle shell into its charging station. He rolls his shoulders again, grimacing as the extended use of the false shell comes back to bite him. “Though, ugh, I wish it’d been a lighter model, too. I think I’ve got bruising, and not just from dropping wood planks on my foot three fuckin’ times.”

“Klutz,” Raph teases, but then adds, “You want some painkillers?”

“Please. God please.”

When they make it to the bathroom, Mikey is there slowly brushing his teeth; mask and gear all left in his room, leaving him bare and visibly dusty everywhere the equipment hadn’t been. Donnie is equally dirty, but neither of them have the energy or willpower to clean themselves properly at the moment. Baths, like food, will come later.

Mikey mumbles a greeting around his toothpaste and brush, and then makes an annoyed grunt as all three of them crowd around the sink and cabinet. Donnie going for his toothbrush and Raph reaching overhead to rummage in the mirror cabinet for necessary drugs. There’s some squishing and shoving involved, but everyone gets what they need done with minimal grousing or paste spat on each other.

“Hey, Raph?” Mikey asks, stopping in the doorway as he’s leaving.

“Yeah?” his brother answers, still leaning against the wall. He’s holding a waiting cup of water and two Tylenols for Donnie, and also making certain their genius doesn’t try anything ‘smart’ and sneak off to look at the buggy. Donnie knows this is why he keeps being watched by his brothers, and is tolerantly accepting the den mother attitudes.

“Come rub my shell afore I sleep?”

Raph smiles warmly. “Sure. Go get in bed an’ I’ll be there in a minute.”

Mikey rubs his eye, nodding. He disappears as Donnie spits in the sink; the second eldest sibling wiping his mouth and holding out a hand for the painkillers.

Raph drops Donnie off in his room again, just as Leo comes strolling back from his trip to the lab. Raph  leaves them both to their own conversation as Donnie flops onto the bed; Donnie rambling a little about some kinks in his battle shell he’d found through its overtime during the week, and Leo listening from his comfortable sprawl at the foot of the bed. Raph will shoo Leo out of the room again when he comes back through one last time, so Donnie puts a pause on the science for a while and actually sleeps.

Mikey is set up in bed when Raph gets there; his side table lamp the only illumination and a battered but loved comic in his hands, reading it absently while he waits. When he sees Raph, he puts the comic aside and rolls onto his front.

Raph sits on the edge of the mattress, hearing it squeak under his weight as he moves the covers off his brother to expose the patterned shell. Placing his large palm against its cool surface, Raph starts a firm but soothing rub of the scutes. It only takes a few passes for his littlest brother to start a gentle purr; Mikey wholly happy to have the indulgence of a shell rub before bed, especially after a long week of hard work.

“Aight, g’night, Mike,” Raph says after a bit, finishing the rub with a few pats to Mikey’s back.

“G’night,” Mikey says, mostly asleep and face buried in his pillow. Raph reaches over and turns off the lamp, and shuts the door quietly behind himself as he leaves.

Leo is still hanging out in Donnie’s room when Raph comes by, but their brother’s tech and gear are in a pile by the bed and Donnie’s eyes are shut. Leo is just choosing to remain on top of his brother’s feet a while longer, eyes hooded as he himself wonders about a catnap.

He also sincerely missed his brothers, like Raph did, like their brothers missed them. It’s not the time for grilling them on details of the puppy RV and moon buggy shenanigans, but they can spend a few quiet moments with their siblings before they drop into slumber. It sets the undertone of being off kilter, with their pairs having been apart so long, back to rights again.

Still, Leo leaves Donnie’s bed as Raph whispers for him to, and the family genius is left in his dark room to get much needed rest.

“Feel like another game of cards?” Raph asks as they hop back down to the bottom level.

“Not in your god damn dreams, you swindling asshole,” Leo hisses without heat.

Their father’s gameshow plays an ambient soundtrack to the lair as they search for something new to amuse themselves with. Other than their good natured banter and padding feet on the stone floors, there’s no other noise to disturb the turtles sleeping in their beds.

Commission info & Kofi link.