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It was late, well past midnight and closer to dawn when the turtles opened the grate on the pier to start their walk home. Raphael could feel the vibrations through his shell as Mikey groaned. “Raaaaph~” he whined, “are we home yet.”
After a roll of the eyes, Raph responded, “Mike, you don’t get to complain about the distance if you’re not walking.”
More groaning was his only response as Mikey clung to Raph shell ridges. After fighting Meat Sweats on the pier, Mikey had taken to Raph’s back, claiming: ‘it is my birthright as the youngest to demand piggy-back rides. Anytime. Anywhere.’ Amd as the eldest, Raph had complied.
“Hey, how come Mikey gets to ride on your shell,” Leo whined.
Donnie walked a bit behind Leo, mindlessly twirling his staff. “Because Mikey got there first,” he said matter of factly.
“Well, I think it would be very leader-like of me if I hitched a ride on the ol’ Raphael express,” he cooed, playfully elbowing Raphael in the arm with a sly expression.
“Hey, no fair,” Mikey shouted from Raph’s back, “you already used your three leader cards of the night!”
“Well, I think it would be very leader-like of you to carry me!” With a quick leap Donnie was already on Leo’s back, immediately wrapping his legs around his torso and putting his head in a loose headlock with a laugh.
They tussled for a moment before they both collapsed off of the walkway and into the flowing water below. Raph rolled his eyes as a grin stretched across his face and Mikey laughed from his back, watching as they both raised out of the water only for Leo to push Donnie back down under with a jeer.
After a few loops and turns, they returned to the warm atmosphere of their home, more or less more soaked than they had been when they had left. Mikey hopped off of his brother's back, already heading towards his room.
“Night, Mike.” Raph called.
Michelangelo yawned, waving lazily over his shoulder as he walked out of sight. “Night, Raph.”
Leo yawned as he walked past. “Well, my super-amazing brothers, I'm off to get my beauty sleep ,” he sang.
Donnie only snickered at that as he walked past as well. Raph did a double take, leaning backwards as Donatello passed to spy the steaming cup of coffee in his hands. With a grunt and some ninja prowess the cup was confiscated from his younger brother's hands.
“Ey~” Donnie whined.
He may not be the leader anymore, but he was certainly still the eldest. “Nu-uh. Bed.”
Donnie made an annoyed ‘tch’ in response. “C’mon, I just want to do ONE more hour on the carbonite replicator.”
“I don’t know what that is and I’m sure that it’s important, but for now you need sleep.” Donnie contemplated with a groan. After another moment he nodded with a sigh and stumbled off towards his room.
Raphael smiled as he changed his grip on the cup. “Goodnight, I love you!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” After a moment, Donnie muttered, “I love you too.” And left for bed.
Raph only smiled as he walked towards the kitchen. He flicked on the lights before pouring the mug’s contents down the drain, in another minute he washed the cup and set it to dry on the rack.
He yawns loud enough for it to echo through the chamber and does a little shimmy to wake himself up enough to get to his room, but as he turns, Mayhem is sitting in the kitchen doorway. The memory is like a punch in the head. Mayhem was currently the temporary guest of the lair while April was out on a school trip, and tonight, all four of the brothers had forgotten that the magical cat-dog-yokai was here.
“Uh-oh,” slipped from Raph’s mouth without thinking. He scratched the back of his head as he tried to think. “Uh…”
Mayhem cocked his head to the side. ‘Oh dear,’ he thought, he was stuck with the Red one tonight.
Raph chuckled nervously. April had dropped Mayhem off a few days ago, but the “pet-sitting” part had been mostly handled by Mikey and Donnie. What were they supposed to do again?
For a moment Raph considers going to Michael for help, but then remembered how exhausted he was just trying to get home. No, he was more than capable of taking care of his little buddy tonight, all three of his brothers were practically masters of taking care of Mayhem, so how hard could it be! “Alright, I guess it’s just you and me!” He walked back into the kitchen and began to open and close cabinets, looking for the supplies stored there.
From the doorway, Mayhem sits feeling more awkward than he’s used to. It was late, and although he never really had a bedtime, he hadn’t been fed yet and wasn’t in the mood to hunt or beg for snacks. He huffs as Red rifles through the cupboards aimlessly, and with a swirl of blue magic he transports himself to the Orange one's room, landing square on the youngest turtle's chest. They had expected the kid to wake up with that, but Mayhem was only met with a light snore. With a huff, Mayhem gets closer to his face before tapping his cheek with his paw. Nothing. He tries again only for the turtle to turn on his side, almost rolling Mayhem off of the bed. There’s a growl of annoyance before he teleports just outside of Purple’s room. ‘They never sleep,’ he thinks as they stride into the room, only to be met with shut down machines, off screens, and another sleeping turtle. Mayhem rolls his eyes, ‘of course.’ The one night Mayhem needs him during the late hours and he’s asleep at a decent time.
Poofing back to the kitchen, Mayhem finds that Red has finally found and secured the food bag that Mayhem’s darling keeper, April, had left. Red was currently examining a colorful piece of paper stuck to the bag.
Alerted by the spark of mystic blue, Red smiles.“Alright, it says here that bath comes first,” he notices Mayhem’s wince at the word ‘bath.’ “Yeah, I know, not your favorite but it says here, that you can’t eat until you take a bath.” Red squints at the note, “something about training?” he mumbles.
Raph walks past Mayhem and into the bathroom where he turns on the sink. Quick on his feet, Mayhem rushes across the lair, stopping in the garage before racing to the gaming room, and then into the living room. They stop, out of breath before scrambling under the couch. The rush of water echoes from the bathroom and Mayhem quickly begins to force his breathing to slow. After what feels like hours, the water stops.
“Mayhem, waters ready!” Red calls from the bathroom. After a few seconds of silence, he calls again. “Mayhem?”
There was never anything wrong with hiding. The eldest child was tired, more tired than his brothers were, Mayhem could just wait him out, slip into the cupboard for food once he was asleep, and skip the bath all together. He could hear Red move out of the bathroom and walk around the lair. Red’s ankles came into view as he walked into the room, taking a quick search before he left to go search another. Mayhem breathed a sigh of relief. Bath time sucked. It always sucked, and although it wasn’t as bad when April bathed him, Mayhem still absolutely loathed getting soaked and scrubbed by anything other than his own tongue. Soon he stopped hearing Red altogether and settled in, they’d just stay under the sofa for a few more minutes before they ventured out, just to be sure.
His nose picked up something. He quickly scanned the floor, spotting one of those dog treat meat strips beside the projector stand. Mayhem narrowed their eyes, perking their ears upwards and heightening all their senses trying to find the eldest. There was no sense of movement, no sound besides the lairs normal electrical hum, not even the Red one's usual musk that he paraded around with. Mayhem waited a minute, then two. Nothing. Attempts to think of the possibility of them missing the treat earlier came up blank, there was no way, but their senses detected nothing. Another minute passed and Mayhem felt their stomach growl. Tentatively, Mayhem poked their head out and smelled nothing, and then strode fully out from under the seat.
In one quick motion Mayhem was swept off the ground and into the air. He growled menacingly and began to unleash a flurry of scratches at their attacker, only to be thwarted by the thick protection of oven mitts. Red grinned brightly, although apologetically, as they entered the bathroom. “Sorry about the trick little buddy, you can still have the treat?” He offered. Mayhem responded with a pout as he went limp in Red’s hands. They approached the full bathroom sink and Mayhem growled, glaring bitterly at the gargantuan child.
Raphael bit the inside of his cheek to try and stifle his laughter as Mayhem tucked their tail to their body and picked their legs up as their butt got closer to the water. His growls increased, and he began to shriek and flail again, almost making Raph drop them. His butt hit the water and he stopped, looking confused as he untucked himself. Raphael sighed in relief as he set Mayhem fully in the water. He removed the mits and hung them on the door and removed his hand wraps before uncapping the shampoo. It was a bottle of oatmeal Dog shampoo that April had brought over before she left, none of them - except for Dad, of course - had hair so he didn’t have a lot of experience with the stuff. It felt weird in his hands as he rubbed it between his fingers but he shrugged it off as he began to lather it into Mayhem's fur.
The water was the perfect temperature. April always had the water warm, but this was cool to the touch without being overwhelmingly cold. Red’s touch was a bit heavy, but still gentle as he went to work rubbing the soap into his fur. Mayhem occasionally growled when Red would touch a particularly tender spot, but overall the bath went smooth and Mayhem resisted the urge to teleport. After just a few minutes Red rinsed Mayhem and they were done!
Raphael removed the stopper from the sink before gently moving Mayhem to the sink counter. “Alright, ready to dry off?” Mayhem huffed and began to shake the water off, only for Raph to immediately slap on an old baby towel. Raph made sure to be gentle as he removed the excess water from their fur, starting with the head as he moved down the rest of their body.
Going under the sink Raph reached for his Dad’s hair dryer and plugged it into the wall. “Okay, I'm going to use the blow dryer now, okay?” Mayhem didn’t give any sort of response, only turning away and flicking his tail a bit as he stood back up to all fours. Raph aimed the dryer and clicked the button.
Mayhem whipped around, slicing his claws into Red’s hands, making him drop the machine onto the floor with a loud clatter. Red hissed, taking a step back as he turned sideways and pulled his hand to his chest. Mayhem breathed heavy, panicked as they watched Red’s reaction. Red grunted, squeezing his eyes shut as he tightened his fists.
Raph sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then released it with a shake. “It’s alright,” he flexed his hand, forcing a small bead of blood to drip down the side before he turned on the sink and rinsed the wound. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, we’ll go back to the towel.” The sink was shut off before he reached for the towel again and placed it back onto the small yokai.
Mayhem let him reapply the towel as regret sank into their stomach. They stayed like that for at least ten minutes, with Raph rubbing off the water and Mayhem sitting quietly to let him do it.
“All done!” Raph smiled as he hung the towl up to dry.
At his seemingly happy demeanor, Mayhem relaxed and hopped off the counter and onto the floor. He trotted to the kitchen where he sat by his food bowl, but Red wasn’t behind them, peering around the corner, Red emerged from the bathroom with a bandage on his hand. Mayhem watched as Red walked to the cupboard to retrieve their food. The food was poured - maybe more than April had recommended - and Mayhem began to eat.
With Mayhem cleaned and fed, Raph finally retreated to the living room where he fell into his father's chair with a sigh. The soreness of tonight's excursions was finally catching up with him and it was making him feel like garbage. He softened against the sofa, satisfied to just sit in the dim room and not move for the rest of the evening.
Mayhem happily munched away in the kitchen, finishing within minutes. With a resonating burp, he trotted into the living room to head to his bed where he spotted Red sitting quietly against the sofa. He caught sight of his hand, already treated with a patch-like bandaid to cover the cuts that they had inflicted. With tentative steps, Mayhem walks up to Red and rubs against his leg.
It takes all of his ninja training for Raphael not to jolt in surprise as he feels the warm and furry contact. Looking down without moving, he sees the edge of Mayhem as he rubs up against his calf. Mayhem jumps up into his lap before curling against his stomach with a quiet chitter. Raph gasps, feeling a rush of excitement in his stomach. With bated breath, he carefully places his hand onto his little buddy, and gently strokes his fur.
-
April rose to the echoing ping of her phone. She groaned in the darkness as she reached for her phone, slapping the surface of the nightstand a few times before she felt the cool case under her fingers. The light made her flinch, but she blinked the pain away until she could see enough to punch in her code. When the photo pulled up, her eyes widened with a sleepy smile. Michelangelo had sent her a photo of Raph asleep on his Dad’s sofa, and under his hand, sleeping contently, was Mayhem.