Chapter Text
“SNOW DAY SNOW DAY SNOW DAY!”
“Not a chance,” Raph glared down at the two youngest turtles he had grabbed by the shell, “You both know topside is off limits.”
“Not for you and Dee and Lee and Daddy,” Mikey pouted, arms crossed, “I wanna see the pretty lightsssss!”
“Yeah!” Leo stopped his squirming, dangling from his shell, “It’s snowy! Lights in the snow are pretty! We wanna see them! Pleaseeeeeee, Raphieeeeee!”
“Pleaseeeeeeeeee!”
Raph refused to look at the pair of watery little brother eyes staring his way. Instead, he glanced over at the one person he could always count on, holding onto that glimmer of hope.
“The snow has begun its descent and temperatures have dropped to sub zero, hence the weather can be described as freezing, which, my reptilian brethren, happens to slow us down and be potentially life-threatening.”
The softshell’s mostly illiterate brothers gaped at him.
Donnie rolled his eyes, “Cold can kill us.”
“Thanks Dee!” Leo grinned. He turned to glare at the older turtle still keeping a tight hold of his shell, “Let us go and come with us! Keep us safe like you always do!”
“You heard Donnie,” Raph glared at the slider, “No. This is dangerous Leo! The cold can kill you, kill Mikey!”
Leo’s open mouth closed, a sign he was more affected that he was willing to share, taking his time as he tested the words on his tongue, “But... but you say that a lot and we’re always okay. Like when you said not to climb the pipes-“
“You fell. I caught you. If I hadn’t...”
“-or that time you said to not swim in the sewers-“
“You were sick for weeks! We had to go up top multiple times to get the medicine!”
“-or when you said not to eat Donnie’s pepperoni.”
“He bit you. For an entire minute. You deserved that.”
“My point is no matter what we look after each other! We’ll be fine! Just have to keep ourselves warm and go home before we get too cold!”
Donnie sighed, “As much as I loathe to admit it, Leonardo is correct. A small amount of time in the snow shall not bring us much harm other than a sniffle or two.”
“See!” Leo gestured at his dearest twin, “Even Donnie agrees! With his nerdy words!” Leo glanced over at Donnie and crossed his arms with a grumble, “I do wish you’d stop calling me that though. Sounds too nerdy.”
“My apologiesss, Nardo,” Donnie hissed, ignoring how said turtle lit up at the special nickname, “What do you say, big brother? A short period of time galavanting in the snow?”
Raph sighed, “I don’t know what that last part means, butttttt,” Raph smirked, “It’s sounds fun! Let’s do it!”
The two youngest turtles cheered, running to embrace each other and jumping up and down the moment their big brother had released their shells. The purple clad brother smiled, his joy not as obvious as his brothers, but he was clearly pleased with this new development, lower arms shaking back and forth as he held back a squeal.
“Butttttt,” the three younger turtles groaned, deflating, “we need to wrap up. No one’s getting cold on big brother Raph’s watch! Dad doesn’t even have to know if we stay nice and warm and don’t get sick.”
“Yeah,” Leo grumbled, scuffing the ground as he kicked his foot, arms crossed, “because Splinter notices that stuff.”
“Leo...” Raph sighed, putting an arm around his younger brother’s shoulder and squeezing him into his side. Mikey followed the eldest’s lead, chubby arms wrapping around Leo as he squished against the slider’s side. Even Donnie joined in, shell resting against Leo’s.
It was no secret that Leo was a Daddy’s boy. They all were, technically, since they only had their dad, but Leo was the one that always went to their dad for everything, shadowing his every move, copying him, like Mikey started doing with Raph around the same time Leo stopped doing that.
Dad had gotten more and more tired with time and Raph tried everything to help, his brothers right there with him, but Dad just got worse. Leo insisted on tucking Dad in every night, wishing him goodnight, kissing his forehead and telling him “I love you, Daddy,” just like their dad used to do for them.
Every night, Dad always responded with a “I love you too, Blue. Goodnight.”
One night, Splinter responded with “Goodnight, Purple.”
Leo stopped after that.
“Soooo,” the three turtles on the outskirts of the hug looked at their middle member grinning up at them, tears wiped away, “Snow day hooray?”
“SNOW DAY HOORAY BABY!” Mikey cheered, running off.
“Mikey!” Raph called, chasing after the youngest, “Let me help you! You still can’t do zips!”
Leo and Donnie watched them disappear from view. They turned to each other and stared for two seconds, before bursting into laughter.
“H-how lo-long pfft,” Leo gasped for air, “‘till Raphie realises Mikey is heading for the kitchen?”
“I give him four... three... two... one,” Donnie lowered the last finger on his two hands.
“MIKEY! PUT THE KETTLE DOWN!”
“Ready to get our snow on?” Leo swung an arm over Donnie’s shoulder.
“Oh, you are on dear brother,” for once, the softshell didn’t push Leo off, “Maybe we can dabble in the snow arts...”
“Snow arts?” Leo’s head tilted as he looked up at his annoyingly slightly taller and therefore slightly older twin.
“Indeed, Nardo,” Donnie smirked, pushing his glasses up his snout, not that they moved back, only jiggling up and down, being taped on and all, “Snowballs, snow angels, snow people-“
“THERE ARE PEOPLE MADE OF SNOW!” Leo gripped Donnie’s shoulders hard, eyes sparkling and Donnie was well awww his needed nipping in the bud.
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Donnie cleared his throat and his brother released him, allowing Donnie to head towards their shared room for the book of winter activities, “Snow is soft, but it can be compacted- pushed together- to make... things. Take, for example, my magnificent clay sculpture of my incredible countenance- my face Nardo. My face.”
“Ohhhhh,” Leo remembered that. Donnie had spent hours perfecting the eyebrows. Leo still thought that the forehead needed to be bigger, but it was the first of many, Donnie assured them. Leo was looking forward to Donnie’s future projects.
And maybe Donnie and Leo should’ve been looking through winter clothes and not pictures of snow snow sculptures. And maybe Mikey was a little more antsy and Raph was stalling. And maybe they all got sick from the cold and had to stay in the warm living room, cuddled up under blankets, watching Lou Jitsu movies with their dad as they sipped hot cocoa, but all that is a story for another time.
It was a good winter.
One of the best. One they would always look back on with fondness.
Or they would, if the thought of them being happy once upon a time stopped repulsing them.