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Chapter Text

Donnie had never been particularly affectionate. If he had ever bothered to check his love language it was probably either acts of service or quality time. He had never felt more loved then the time Mikey had agreed to watch the entirety of Fullmetal Alchemist with him or the time Leo had gone out of his way to get him the latest volume of Jujutsu Kaisen after he accidentally dropped his into the depths of the sewers. 

That’s not to say Donnie didn’t like physical touch or was adverse to affection from his family. Donnie adored his family and was happy to show it from time to time just preferably on his own terms. Which was something the family all understood about him. Donnie would come to them when he wanted a hug and as long as he got a warning beforehand he would be happy to give them all one whenever they needed it. 

Suffice to say, Donnie hugs were pretty rare, especially when they came out of seemingly nowhere. So when Donnie came home from computer club an hour early and immediately went Raph, who was sitting at the desk in their bedroom trying to catch up on homework he was behind on,and wrapped his arms around him from behind; it was clear something was up. 

Donnie had his face buried into his shoulder, not saying a word. Raph, to most people’s surprise, was actually a big fan of physical touch and hugs so he immediately wrapped his arms around Donnie’s shell and tugged him close. 

At first Raph thought maybe he was still just a bit shaken up after Bishop’s attack with her mechazoids from a few days ago. Raph knew he was certainly still feeling a bit uneasy after the whole ordeal. He had tried to convince Splinter to let him bring some shuriken and his sais to school but apparently that was against the school handbook or something. He felt naked without his sais strapped to his belt. 

“You good, Man?” Raph finally asked after they had been glued together for a long enough silence. Donnie just shrugged and mumbled something that Raph couldn’t understand. 

“What?” 

“I think I have a concussion.”

What?

Donnie had said it so bluntly, Raph almost didn’t believe him. Was this seriously Donatello his supposed smart brother, casually dropping that he might possibly have a concussion? Thanks to his newly formed bond with star senior hockey player, Casey Jones, Raph was all too familiar with the seriousness of concussions. Even minor concussions could lead to things like confusion and memory loss. 

“Don’t you think that’s something important to lead with!?” Raph spat. 

Donnie lifted his head to look at Raph with bleary eyes, “What?”  

Raph furrowed his brow, “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” 

Donnie just stared back at him with a vacant expression, blinking to reveal his concerningly dilated pupils. Raph thought he was going to have to repeat himself again, when Donnie finally answered. “‘M just a bit dizzy ‘s all,” he mumbled, pressing his face back against Raph’s shoulder and letting out a relaxed little sigh. 

“Oh, just a little dizzy,” Raph mocked. “When’d you hit your head?” Raph’s heart skipped a beat as he remembered giving Donnie a pretty gnarly kick to the head during one of their 5:00AM training sessions that Splinter still roped them into doing every Saturday. Raph wouldn't forgive himself if this was because of him. 

“Well, when the mechazoid was chasing me through the subway a few weeks ago, I ended up hitting my head pretty badly in an elevator,” he paused to let out a little groan when the light started to bother his eyes. Raph turned out the desk light. What little natural light made it into the lair would have to do for now. Donnie relaxed a little, finding some comfort in the darkness. “I may have passed out for like ten or fifteen minutes.” 

Raph’s brow furrowed. He felt a little better knowing it wasn’t him that caused the concussion but he couldn't say he was pleased that this was because of Bishop and one of her stupid robots. If he didn’t already hate her, he really did now. 

He knew Leo wanted to look past her mistakes. He always tried to see the good in people even if there was hardly any to find but Raph wasn’t like Leo. He had a hard time forgiving anyone that crossed him and especially if they messed with any of his brothers. Bishop could rot away for all he cared. 

That’s what she deserved. 

“And you didn’t mention this before because?” 

“Prob adrenaline,” Donnie replied, his words slurring ever so slightly at the end. “I didn’t even realize my head was hurting so much until we got back to the lair and by then we were all so exhausted. I just wanted to sleep.” 

Raph couldn’t be too mad. The adrenaline had gotten to him too. It was easy to forget about all your injuries after an adrenaline crash when you were so tired and all you wanted to do was sleep. Raph hadn’t exactly mentioned all or any of the injuries he had received that day to his brothers either. As if to drive the point home even harder, he felt a slight pain in his ribs. 

A check-up would probably do them both some good. Without a second thought, Raph grunted as he scooped Donnie into his arms bridal style. Though he was the biggest and dense with muscle Donnie wasn't that much smaller than him. Certainly not enough for him to be easy to carry; plus the weight of his shell wasn’t doing them any favors.  

Donnie let out a squeaky yelp as he was lifted. “Hey! Put me down!” 

“Yeah, sure,” Raph said as he carried Donnie out of their bedroom. “ I’ll put you down, once we’re at the hospital!” 

Donnie was about to protest, when he let out a low whimper of pain and buried his face back into Raph’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his brother’s neck. He let out a weary sigh then nodded, “Yeah, okay,” he paused. “That sounds like a good idea.”

Chapter Text

“It doesn’t hurt?” April asked as she tied a bit of gauze around Leo’s arm. He’d gotten into a bit of a tussle with the Purple Dragons after they had attempted another robbery of a local bodega. Leo had told April over the phone it wasn’t anything too bad, just a few cuts, scrapes, and only one stab wound. She hated how casually he talked about it. No one should ever be that casual about getting into a fight with a gang. Even if it was the Purple Dragons. 

Leo shook his head, “Nope,” he said confidently through gritted teeth. . 

April sighed as she continued to dress his wounds. She’d known him long enough to know when he was lying. 

The gauze she had just wrapped around his arm was already soaking deep with crimson red blood from the cut in his forearm. Angel had cut him pretty deep with her karambit, leaving a messy jagged cut in its wake. April felt nauseous just looking at it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain Leo was in. 

No matter what he tried to convince her. 

April didn’t understand it but she could tell Leo put on a bit of a facade in front of her. It was as if he was afraid to show off his more vulnerable side to her. 

April dug around for another roll of gauze in the first-aid kit she had spread out across her bed. Never in her life had she imagined she would own this many first aid supplies but it was a necessary thing when you were best friends with four ninjas. 

April grabbed a roll of gauze and then walked back over to Leo, who was slumped over in her desk chair, holding at his arm. “You being real when you say it doesn’t hurt,” April asked as she knelt in front of Leo and began wrapping more gauze around his bloody arm, tying it as tight as she could without causing him more pain. 

“Uh-huh,” Leo said, nodding his head, wincing as soon as it caused a bit too much movement.“I mean it doesn't feel good but I can handle it,” he said as he rubbed a small bruise on his cheek with his good arm. 

April tied the gauze into a knot then went back over to her bed to grab an instant cool pack. She squeezed it between her fingers then began to shake it until it felt cold. “Here,” she said as she pressed the pack to his cheek. He immediately relaxed as the cool plastic made contact with his skin.

He gave her a soft smile, “Thanks.” 

“No prob,” she said as she let out a sigh. “How’s the cut–the one on your arm, I mean.” 

Leo looked down at his bandaged arm then held it up to April to show that it was still dry. April let out an internal sigh of relief. She was pretty sure the bleeding had stopped so that meant he didn’t need stitches. 

Probably. 

April wasn’t exactly a medic but she did her best to recall everything she had learned in the mandatory first aid class she took during her freshman year as well as the assistance of some helpful Youtube videos. She was amazed at how many online tutorials there were on how to fix a cracked turtle shell with common household items or how to properly stitch up an open wound on a reptile. 

“And you’re sure you're not in too much pain,” April tried again. “Cause I got Advil if you want it.” 

“I’m good!” Leo insisted, still holding the cool pack to his cheek. April could tell he was holding back tears. She wished he’d just get over himself and just admit he was in pain. This whole tough guy facade was not a cute look on him. Leo shot her a big smile, “Thanks for all your help, April. You’re the bes–”

Before he could finish talking, April cut him off, “I can tell you're in pain! Stop lying to me.” 

Leo froze and just stared at her for a moment as a shameful blush spread across his bruised cheeks. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.” His voice was quiet and a bit strained. 

“Well, of course it’s a big deal . Leonardo, you were stabbed!”

Leo looked down at the ground, “I shouldn’t have gotten stabbed in the first place.” He looked back up at her tears forming in the corners of his eyes, “I should have seen Angel coming. I should have knockedher down or blocked her or something,” he sniffed. 

“Hey-hey,” April knelt down in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders, “I know you're good but you’re not perfect , Leo.” 

“What if my brothers had been there?” He said with a bit of panic in his voice, “Or my dad or you? What if one of you gets hurt because I miss a hit or a block or-” 

“Hey, breathe,” April instructed, taking her own deep breath and letting it out to demonstrate. “That didn’t happen and it’s not gonna happen.” 

Leo frowned,“How do you know? TCRI or Cynthia could come after us again and I need to be prepared.” 

“But there’s been no sign of them since the whole Superfly-Mega-mutant thing.”

Leo just stayed quiet, averting his eyes from hers. April let out a sad sigh. He wasn’t totally wrong. It wasn’t impossible for a small sector of TCRI to still be out there. The boys weren’t exactly hidden so if they wanted to find them, they could. 

“Okay, you're right,” April relented. 

Leo popped his head up to look at her, “Really?” 

April shrugged, “I mean TCRI could still be out there and it’s good to be prepared and all but,” she paused, emphasising the last t, which got Leo’s attention. “That doesn’t mean you can’t admit you're hurt now.” 

Leo glanced back at the ground, cradling his injured arm to his chest. He grimaced then looked back at her with tears in his eyes. “It hurts like hell.” April pulled him into a hug, letting him bury his face into the fabric of her sweater. “I promise I’ll train harder. I’ll do better next time.” 

“Shut up,” April muttered as she lightly wrapped her arms around him, careful of his many injuries. “You did your best. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Leo let out a relieved sigh, “I think I’ll take that Advil.”

Chapter Text

Leo woke up early that morning with a crushing soreness coursing through his body. Ever since joining human society and beginning high school, the boys hadn’t had as much time for their usual training. Splinter was worried about them getting rusty so he was beginning to make them do 5AM training on Saturdays. 

It wasn’t exactly what any of them wanted to do on one of the only days they actually got to sleep in. Leo usually loved training and was often one to advocate for more practice but even he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic to be waking up at 4:30AM every Saturday. 

That particular Saturday Splinter had really worked their asses off. They started off with some stretches and then jumped right into warm up exercises which included wind sprints across the dojo, 50 flutter kicks, 50 box jumps, and then ending with 50 push-ups. 

Maybe Splinter had been right to worry about them getting rusty because Leo was already feeling winded after just the warm-up. 

Once they finished, they moved onto running through katas. Leo hoped Splinter would choose an easy one so they could slowly get back into the swing of things but of course luck was not on his side. Leo practically collapsed on the floor once he heard the words, “Kanku-Dai,” pass his fathers lips. Not only was it one of the longest and most physically demanding forms they knew, it involved a lot of quick stance changes and 180° turns all without a moment to take a breath. 

After running through the kata for the fifth time in a row, all four of them collapsed on the ground, sweaty and out of breath and they still hadn’t even gotten to sparring. 

Once training was over, Leo was sure every muscle in his body was screaming. Even a good night's sleep hadn’t helped because his whole body was still throbbing with soreness. 

Leo tried to close his eyes to ignore the pain and catch a bit more sleep but all he could focus on was the overwhelming pounding in his temples and the aches in his muscles. He let out a weary moan and rolled into his plastron, pulling his pillow over his head.  He was not looking forward to school that day. 

When Leo woke up again it was to the sound of his alarm. Which only reminded him of the hell that the school day was gonna be with his body so sore. He hugged his pillow tighter to his head to drown out the annoying noise. 

He almost managed to fall back to sleep, when a pillow hit his head from the direction of Raph and Mikey’s bunks. “ Leo ,” Raph shouted with a certain tiredness to his voice. “Turn off your damn alarm!”

His brothers were probably just as sore and exhausted as he was but they were all gonna have to get up and face the day eventually. Leo would admit he didn’t really know much about school attendance records but he knew he didn’t want a single tardy on his.   

With a weary groan, he reached over to the bedside table where his phone was plugged in and pressed snooze. He just needed a few more minutes. As soon as he pressed the button, the alarm immediately stopped. Leo let out a satisfied sigh and then fell back into his bed to catch a few more minutes of peaceful rest. 

Fifteen minutes later, Leo sat up in his bed and let out a weary groan, his body screaming at him to lay back down. It was 6:24AM and he still needed to get dressed, do his morning bathroom routine, and walk to school all by 7:20AM. 

Leo swung his legs over the side of his bed, letting out another groan as his muscles continued to scream at him. He looked around the room, half expecting to find his brothers’ beds empty but was surprised to see all three of them still sound asleep. “Guys,” Leo muttered as he stood up and headed over to their shared bureau. “We need to get going or we’re gonna be late.” 

His brothers all responded with groans. Raph and Mikey both pulled their blankets over their heads and turned their backs to Leo. 

“Go back to bed, Nardo,” Donnie griped, then zipped up his tent. 

“Fine,” Leo grumbled. He really didn’t have the energy to fight with them about it. Splinter would eventually be in to wake them if they didn’t get up soon. 

Leo buttoned up his blue plaid top then pulled on a pair of khakis, before heading toward the bathroom. If his brothers were gonna sleep in, at least there would be no one to complain about him taking too long in the bathroom. 

Twenty minutes later, Leo emerged out of the bathroom feeling a bit refreshed though still quite sore. He rubbed at his shoulder blade as he walked into the kitchen. 

Splinter was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of tea while he did a crossword puzzle. “Morning, Leonardo,” he greeted as soon as he saw his eldest son. 

Leo took a seat at the table, “Morning,” he mumbled, now rubbing at his opposite shoulder blade. He knew he should get up and make himself some breakfast or at least grab a granola bar or a pop tart but he just felt so tired . But he was already gonna have trouble getting through class with his sore muscles, he didn’t need to add being hungry on top of that. 

“Do you want some tea, Leo?” Splinter asked. 

Leo looked to his dad and gave a sleepy nod. Splinter stood up then went to fetch the tea kettle and another cup. Leo let out a weary sigh and let his cheek rest against the table. His head was starting to hurt and his calves were aching. All he’d done was walk from his bedroom to the kitchen and it felt like he’d run fifteen miles. 

Splinter returned with the kettle and a tea cup. He placed the cup in front of Leo and began pouring the drink. “You’re up early today.” 

Leo shook his head as he rubbed at an eye. “Not really,” he mumbled. “I’ve gotta leave in like ten minutes or I’m gonna be late for school.” 

Splinter blinked, almost over filling the cup of tea, “What?”

Leo picked up the cup to take a small sip. “I said I need to leave soon or I’m gonna be late for school. You should really wake the others. I tried but they won’t listen to me.” 

Splinter let out a small laugh then set his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “My son, normally I would agree with you.” 

Leo stared back at his father with a bewildered expression. He couldn’t understand why Splinter wasn’t acting with a bit more urgency. They were all going to be late if they didn’t wake up soon. Leo set the empty tea cup on the table, “But?”

“But today is Sunday.”

Oh. 

Oh. 

Leo froze in place, his cheeks beginning to heat up.  “Right,” he muttered. They had training on Saturdays so of course today was Sunday. Leo plopped his head in his hands and let out a weary groan. He’d just been so caught up with how sore his body felt and worrying about how he was gonna make it through the school day, that he had never stopped and considered what day it even was. 

Splinter gave his shoulder a loving pat, “Why don’t you go back to bed, my son?”  Leo just nodded and trudged his way back to his bedroom. His brothers were never gonna let him live this down.

Chapter Text

Leo was the oldest. 

Raph wasn’t quite sure how exactly Splinter had figured that out considering he hadn’t even been there for their hatching. Splinter would say it was just his father’s intuition. Raph didn’t really have an argument against that so as far as the family was concerned Leo was the oldest and Mikey the youngest with Raph and Donnie being stuck in the middle and everyone knew that being a middle child was the worst. 

Raph couldn’t begin to count the number of times Leo had pulled the,“Cause I’m the oldest,” card. It drove him absolutely up a wall because what did it matter if Leo was the oldest. They were quadruplets so he was probably older by like five minutes at the most. 

Leo may have been the oldest but Raph was the biggest. He had just been born that way. It was one of the few things he got to hold above Leo so he took absolute advantage of it. Whether that be by moving the peanut butter to the top shelf just to mess with him or by holding their toy train above his head when they were little. 

As Raph grew older, he learned that being the biggest meant he was also the strongest and that came with its own slew of responsibilities. Sure Leo had leadership skills to lead their little clan but Raph had the strength to protect it. Which was something he took very seriously and that didn’t change when they started high school. 

Raph never really understood the archetype of a character who abandons his family or friends for popularity and now being in high school he still didn’t understand it. Sure, his brothers all did cringy and embarrassing things from time to time but Raph couldn’t imagine a reality where he chose to abandon them for a shallow friendship with some try hard high schooler, who just happened to have a lot of friends. Raph honestly thought all of them were taking this high school thing too seriously. 

Maybe it was because he was on both the hockey and the wrestling team but for some reason the popular crowd was just drawn to him. He got invited to a lot of parties which by turn his brothers were also invited to because Raph didn’t want to go to any parties without them. He was sure Splinter wouldn’t let him anyway. Always stick together was the number one rule in their family after all. 

One night Raph found himself alone at a party. All his brothers had plans and he was bored on a Friday night so he thought it would be fun to go to Joey’s party. After a bit of begging and promising to be safe and back before curfew, Splinter allowed him to go. 

Joey was a senior and also on the wrestling team. He was funny and smart and everyone seemed to like him. Raph considered him a bit of a try-hard and not in the way that Leo was a try-hard. Joey was a try-hard in the sense that he cared way too much what everyone thought of him, which made him come across fake as all hell. 

Recently, he and a bunch of his other try-hard-y friends had broken into the school on a Sunday and let loose a bunch of chickens that wreaked havoc all over the building. It was supposed to be a harmless senior prank but apparently chickens and computer labs don’t mix and it ended up costing the school a fortune to repair the damaged computers. Not to mention they had to cancel school on Monday and the faculty was still scrambling to figure out who did it. 

Joey and his friends had been smart enough to get one of the tech kids involved, who managed to turn off all the school’s cameras. The only reason Raph knew they did it was because Leo and April had been there that night practicing for the morning announcements. It had been a bit of a shock when Leo had arrived home hours after curfew covered in chicken feathers and with peck marks all over his body. 

At the party, Raph found a group of his friends from the wrestling team and they all sat together in a corner and hogged the snack table while they complained about homework and matches they had lost. 

Raph was having a pretty good time until he overheard Jo group of guys talking. 

“Did you see this?” One of the guys laughed, shoving his phone into another’s face. 

“Dude, that’s so embarrassing.” 

Raph wouldn’t have thought anything of it, if he hadn’t accidentally peeked at the phone screen, while he was refilling his soda. It was a clip of Leo and April on the morning announcements. 

April put on a big smile as she finished reciting that week’s lunch menu. She’d come such a long way since the whole Puke Girl incident. Joey and his friends had been the ones to spread that awful viral video in the first place so it was a little weird they were watching the morning announcements, especially at a party of all places. 

In the video, Leo smiled at April then looked at the camera, “Today is a B-day as in beautiful,” his voice wavered a little then he looked back at April with a dorky grin, his cheeks dusted with a light pink. 

Raph gave a little smirk. He had been too busy trying to catch up on his math homework that he hadn’t paid any attention to the announcements that morning. He was gonna have to grill Leo for this later. 

B for beautiful, seriously!? And then he goes and looks at her like that . Could he be any more obvious? 

“That’s sick,” One of the guys laughed. 

“At least he’s not going for the pretty ones.”  

Raph’s heart stopped. 

What?

One of the guys zoomed in on Leo’s face and took a screenshot. It was a particularly unflattering image. Leo was mid blink, mouth open as he was still talking and his face red as ever as he stared over at April. “Dude, it’s so obvious.” 

“I bet she’ll go for it.”

The other shook his head, “Nah, even she’ll be freaked out by it—I mean he’s not even human.”

Raph had heard enough. Sure, what Leo did was a bit cringey and Raph would absolutely tease him about it later but he would not stand for anyone to be making fun of Leo or April . “Hey,” he said as he approached the two boys. 

The two looked up from the phone and then greeted Raph with a bored, “Sup, Man.” 

One of them held up the phone to show Raph the screen. “You see your brother this morning on the announcements?”

Raph just narrowed his eyes at them, “Yeah so what? He’s doing the announcements.”

The three boys looked to each other and then back at Raph. “But dude, it’s so obvious.”

“Does he seriously like her?”

“It’s no wonder he follows her around school all day like some kind of creep.” 

Leo’s crush on April was obnoxious and embarrassing and Raph would absolutely make fun of Leo for it until he either got together with her or moved on to another crush. Leo would happily take every opportunity he could to hang out with her but never had he pushed the limits into creep territory. There was no doubt that Leo was attracted to April but his crush was built upon an overwhelming respect for her. Sure it was cringey but at the end of the day Raph was always team #Aprilnardo. 

“Hold on,” Joey pinned the photo to a text message and began adding recipients. “I gotta send this to everyone.” 

“Delete that photo,” Raph said bluntly, arms crossed over his plastron. 

“What?”

Were they seriously trying to play dumb. 

“Delete the photo,” he repeated, a hint of anger sneaking into his tone. 

Joey rolled his eyes, turning to smirk at his little posse. “Why are you making such a big deal out of it?” 

“It’s just a dumb picture,” one of the others said with the same stupid knowing smirk as Joey smothered across his face. 

“If it’s just a dumb picture, why are you trying to send it to half the student body?” Raph asked. 

“It’s just a joke,” one of the other friends said. 

“Yeah, why are you being so serious.” 

“I didn’t know you were so sensitive.”

Raph tried not to let his anger show, recalling a lesson from Splinter. He took a deep breath, “You send that picture and Principal Owen may just find out who was responsible for the senior prank.” 

At that Joey’s face fell. “Are you trying to threaten me or something?” 

“Are you gonna delete it or not?” 

For a moment, the two boys just stood there, glaring dagger at each other, their noses practically touching. Joey’s little posse just watched as they waited to see what they would do. Realistically, Raph knew he could take him. Sure, he may have been a senior on the varsity wrestling team but Raph had at least fourteen years of ninja training under his belt and he would be the first to admit he had a pretty mean right hook. 

Joey must have realized this too because he backed off. “Fine,” he snapped, deleting the photo. “I guess I just didn’t realize you mutants were so~ emotional.” 

Raph let out a deep breath ignoring the comment. Though that didn’t make him want to punch this kid any less. “Whatever,” Raph grumbled as he walked away back over to his group of friends. “I don’t care what you guys do, just leave my brothers out of it.”

Chapter Text

Donnie wished he hadn’t watched so many Vsauce YouTube videos growing up because of course he ended up testing into honors chemistry. His brothers and Splinter had all encouraged him to take it even though that meant Donnie would be in a separate class. If only he had known just how much additional work honors chemistry would be, he may have saved it for at least his second year of school. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the material or couldn’t keep up with the fast pace. It was just quite literally a lot of work and Donnie still wasn’t quite used to the fact that he couldn’t spend all his free time scrolling anime forums on his phone or wracking up more hours on Forza Horizon.  

His teacher expected them to make extended outlines of two-three chapters of their textbook with vocab words and definitions per week and that didn't account for the other homework and lab reports they were still required to do. It was like his teacher failed to remember he had other classes with homework too. 

Donnie sat at the kitchen table at around 9:00PM, kicking himself for procrastinating once again. He pulled out a few binders and his laptop from his school bag then cracked open an energy drink and took a big swig. 

“Is Dad seriously letting you drink that?” Leo asked as he dunked a tea bag into a cup of hot water. 

Donnie wouldn’t classify Splinter as a health nut type of parent but energy drinks or an overconsumption of caffeine tended to make the boys all jittery and hyper so it had been banned in the lair. They were allowed soda with caffeine but coffee or energy drinks were usually a no-go.  

“Well, not if you tell on me he’s not,” Donnie muttered, allowing a bit of irritation seep into his tone. 

“That stuff is so bad for you.”  

“Well, I have a massive lab report due tomorrow so I need it to stay awake.”

“Why didn’t you start it earlier?” 

Donnie glared back at Leo, hating that he was right because yeah maybe he should have started his report at least before the sun had gone down. The call for an afternoon nap and a few hours of mindless scrolling had been too strong and he was majorly regretting it now. Even after a sip of the energy drink, the desire to go to bed was still tempting. His tent was cushy and homey with soft blankets and fluffy pillows. His head was dying to be tucked in, his eyes closed and some relaxing rainstorm sounds playing on his lap top. 

For a moment, he considered taking the bad grade or rushing it during homeroom but he had two lab partners, who he promised he would finish the report to. It wouldn’t be a great look for him to turn in mediocre and clearly rushed work.

So Donnie cracked his knuckles, took another sip from the energy drink and began typing away on his laptop. The lab report itself wasn’t too hard, it was just the whole actually doing it part that was annoying. That was the problem with a lot of Donnie’s schoolwork. He found most of his classes fairly easy; it was just hard to find the energy to do his homework after draining his social battery at school all day. 

He knew he needed to find a better routine because pulling these late nights only made it hard to focus at school the next day. Plus with his current straight A’s, he knew his teachers and probably Splinter were going to push him to take more advanced classes next year. His math teacher mentioned putting in a recommendation for him to take AP pre-calc next year, if he continued to get perfect scores on the chapter tests and quizzes. Which so far he had. 

It was a little overwhelming. 

His teacher had talked his ear off about how AP would do him so much good. It would get him a head start at gaining college credit and would set him up for a successful future. Donnie had all but passed out when he mentioned college. 

Couldn’t he have a moment to enjoy being in high school before he even thought about college? It would be a lie to say it had never crossed his mind in the past but those had all been silly little dreams about going to MIT, majoring in computer science and then starting up his own indie game studio. 

Now, with college being a very real possibility, he didn’t feel ready for it. He didn’t want to leave home. He didn’t want to leave his brothers or his Dad or April. He was just starting to get the hang of this new life and people were already asking him to think about the next step. 

He wasn’t sure how to tell his teacher that he wasn’t sure he wanted to take AP classes. 

The weeks that followed were much the same. Donnie would procrastinate his homework after school until the very late hours of the night. He would rely on energy drinks and pure willpower to keep him going. He knew he couldn’t keep this up and that it was bad for his health but he just couldn't seem to get himself to stop. Everyday after school, he didn’t want to think about homework; he just wanted to nap for a bit, maybe play some video games, scroll on his phone, or even just nag his brothers. 

Leo being Leo, tried to get Donnie to stay after school to do his homework with him and April. But he found being alone with April and Leo, even if the two weren’t technically dating, made him feel like a third wheel. Plus there was only so much of Leo embarrassing himself that he could take before the second hand embarrassment became unbearable. 

Splinter had taken notice of Donnie’s near constant exhaustion too and tried to get him to drink some Sleepytime tea and go to bed early, but it didn’t help much. Donnie would still end up procrastinating his homework and having to stay up late to finish it. He didn’t understand how his peers had already been doing this for eleven years and none of them seemed completely exhausted. To be fair, he hadn’t been doing himself any favors by procrastinating so much but he just couldn’t seem to break the cycle.

One night Donnie was up late, studying for a big test for his Honors Chem class. After receiving a B- on his last test, he knew he was actually going to have to study for this one and not just review his notes the period before. He had told himself he was gonna start studying as soon as he got home from school but as was routine, he got distracted. 

It wasn’t until after 11:00 that he finally sat down at the table to study. He popped open an energy drink then poured it into a mug and discarded the can so Splinter (and Leo) would stay off his case about his overconsumption of caffeine. 

By the time he had finished rewriting all his notes and completed the study guide, he had lost track of time. He let out a wide yawn, his eyes feeling so heavy, that it hurt to keep them open. The energy drink really wasn’t doing him much good. He took off his glasses so he could rub at his eyes, a weary moan slipping out of his mouth as he set his head on top of his books. 

“Donnie?” 

Donnie looked over at the curtain that led to their bedroom, Mikey was standing there holding up a portion of the curtain with one hand while using the other to rub sleep from one of his eyes. “Donnie?” he repeated, “It’s like 3AM.” 

“Oh, hey, Mike,” Donnie mumbled, then went back to staring at his notes. His head felt so foggy that the words were beginning to blur together. It didn’t help that his handwriting was atrocious from his hands being so shaky while he was writing. 

He could faintly hear Mikey saying something but his ears felt clogged and the pounding in his head made it difficult to focus. Before Donnie knew what was happening, Mikey was pulling him by the arm and leading him toward the couch. “Where we going?” he slurred. 

“To sleep,” Mikey said sternly. 

Donnie wanted to argue that he still needed to study. He still needed to do his practice test and maybe review his notes a few more times but the allure of sleep was too strong.

Once the two of them sat on the couch, Donnie’s head fell to Mikey’s shoulder and his eyes slipped shut. Mikey draped an old blanket over the two of them and wrapped his arms around Donnie’s shoulders pulling him closer to his plastron.

Donnie knew what he was doing and it was evil. Everyone knew Mikey gave the best cuddles. It was getting harder to resist the overwhelming urge to fall asleep. “Did Leo send you?” Donnie mumbled against Mikey’s shoulder. 

“Nah, I sent myself. I notice things too ya’ know.” There was a slight hint of offense in his tired voice. 

“Yeah, I know,” Donnie sighed. “You’re smart.” 

“Just go to sleep,” Mikey insisted. “It’s embarrassing sitting next to you in class when you do it there.” 

Donnie didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed. He just let out another sleepy sigh and nuzzled his head against Mikey’s plastron, finally allowing himself to succumb to sleep. 

Splinter found them like that the next morning. They were a tangle of sleepy turtle limbs, intertwined together on the couch. The blanket was half on them and half on the floor.  Donnie was on the top and being bigger than Mikey was squishing the smaller boy half to death, but Mikey didn’t seem to mind. He kept his arms wrapped around Donnie and his face nuzzled into the crouch of his brother’s neck. 

Splinter shook his head and chuckled under his breath then snapped a photo of the two. He was grateful Donnie was finally managing to get some much needed sleep. For a moment he wanted to let them stay like that for the rest of the morning but then he questioned his abilities as a parent if he let them skip the first half of school. He also doubted he’d be able to let them get away with that if Leo and Raph had anything to say about it. 

Splinter picked the blanket up off the ground then tucked it back over his two youngest boys. For now, he would let them sleep.

Chapter Text

Owww.

Mikey sat on the edge of the curb rubbing his ankle.When he tried out for the improv team, he wasn’t expecting much. He certainly wasn’t expecting to be offered a spot on the varsity team as a sophomore. He had been so excited for his first club meet that he’d spent hours practicing material on his brothers. Which ended in a sai being thrown at his head. 

When the meet finally came, Mikey was pulled aside by the club president, Nikki Brenner and told he wasn’t officially a member yet and he would have to prove his dedication before he could start attending meets. He was told to meet Nikki and the rest of the cabinet on the roof of the school next Thursday so they could initiate him. 

Mikey thought it was a bit odd that he wasn’t told about the initiation sooner but thought nothing of it. He really wanted to be a part of this club. So the following Thursday he did exactly as they said and met with the group of them on top of the school, where they dumped a bucket of ice water over his head and made him recite a monologue he had memorized. 

He thought that would be the end of it but things only escalated from there. Nikki urged him to perform more elaborate things all while they filmed him. It made sense at the moment. Mikey assumed they needed to see that he could embody the physical side of improv so when they asked him to demonstrate his flexibility, he did it without question. 

Everyone was mildly impressed that he could do the splits and a perfect back handspring even with his clunky shell. He thought the whole ninja thing would have made that obvious but apparently even being a mutant turtle carried with it the slow turtle stereotype. 

It was a bit annoying but not worth getting too upset over. He just laughed it off and asked what they wanted him to do next. Nikki handed him a blindfold and instructed him to do the back handspring again. 

Mikey was really starting to question if all the club members' initiations were like this. He took the blindfold and tied it around his head then performed a near perfect back handspring. Splinter making them run katas while blindfolded hadn’t been completely useless! 

The group of officers absolutely lost their minds. Nikki gave him a clap on the back of his shell, “That was so sick!” 

“So I’m in?” Mikey asked hopefully as he pulled the blindfold off his face. 

“Welll,~” the officers looked at each other then back at Mikey. One of them placed a hand on his shoulder, “ Almost.” Nikki placed the blindfold back into his hand and smiled. 

From there things only continued to escalate to more and more dangerous stunts. Even he knew that performing a blindfolded triple backflip while wearing roller skates and his arms tied behind his back wasn’t a good idea. It felt like something that Raph would dare him to do and he would jokingly pretend to do it just to get a reaction out of Leo. 

But being surrounded by his new club officers, he felt an odd desire to impress them. What if they didn’t let him join if he refused? 

Looking back on it, he wished he had. It wasn’t worth all the cuts, bruises, and maybe broken ankle. If this is what he had to do to be a part of the varsity improv team, then he didn't want to be a part of it anymore. Maybe the Junior Varsity team still had spots available? 

Mikey stared down at his ankle. It was swollen and beginning to turn several different shades of purple and blue. Further up his leg, were a series of cuts, scrapes, and bruises. There was a particularly bad cut on his calf that had blood oozing out of it. 

He had hoped the swelling would have gone down by now. He’d already received several texts from his dad asking why he wasn’t home for dinner. Mikey had bullshitted an excuse that he’d gotten caught up with the club meeting and was on his way home but he’d sent that over half an hour ago and his ankle wasn’t feeling any better. 

Mikey poked at his ankle which immediately caused him to wince. 

How was he supposed to get home like this? 

“Mikey?” he heard a familiar voice call out from behind. 

He shot his head back towards the entrance of the school then forced a smile, “Oh, hey, April.” She had just exited the school, carrying her helmet under her right arm and spinning the keys to the moped with her left hand. “What’s up with you?” 

She shoved the keys into the pocket of her jacket then took a seat beside him. “I’m more concerned about what’s up with you.”  

Mikey gave a nonchalant shrug, “Oh, y’know nothing much.” 

April glared back at him, “That’s,” she poked his ankle, “not nothing.” 

Mikey tried to hold in a yelp but the pain from her touching his swollen skin was too much and he let out an embarrassing high-pitched squeal. His cheeks tinted a deep red and he averted his eyes, “I just had my club initiation,” he muttered. 

“Sorry,” April cocked her head, “Club initiation?” 

Mikey nodded, turning his head to look back at April. “Uh-huh,” he proudly patted his chest. “I was proving my dedication to the improv team!” 

“Dedication?” 

“Yup!” Mikey nodded, “I was doing some stunts for the cabinet and it got a little out of hand and I ended up having a bit of an accident,” he mumbled the last bit but then quickly switched back to smiling. “It’s no big deal though! My ankle’s just kinda swollen.” He wigged his foot as to show her. 

“Yeahhhh,” April stared back, her eyebrows pinched with worry, “That’s not normal. I think they were hazing you, Dude.” 

Mikey blinked. She had to be mistaken. There was no way. “Are you sure? Maybe it’s just something the bigger clubs do– no offense but the newspaper club only has like ten members .” 

“Well, where are all the cabinet members now?” April asked, looking around the empty parking lot. “Why didn’t someone someone help you get home or gotten you ice or–”

“Okay, okay,” Mikey muttered, his cheeks tinting a deep red. He should have trusted his instinct that something was off. “I guess I should have known. Why else would they have offered me a spot on the varsity team?” 

April paused, “No,” she helped him to his feet, making sure to keep any weight off his ankle. “You wouldn't have known. Which is exactly why they did it.” She gave the ground an aggressive kick, “Uggh, what assholes! I’m gonna have to give Nikki Brenner a piece of my mind the next time I see her stupid face.” 

Mikey let out an awkward laugh. It was kind of weird. He was used to having his brothers as his protectors; he never imagined that he’d be adding a fourth one to the mix. “You and Raph both after he finds out about this.” 

“I’m sure,” April said, then let out a heavy breath. She brushed her locs behind her ears then smiled back at Mikey, “Let’s get you home. I’m sure everyone’s worried.” Mikey nodded then allowed her to wrap his arm around her shoulders so he could keep any weight off his ankle. 

Within a few minutes, Mikey was situated on the back of April’s scooter with his arms wrapped around her waist. 

Leo was gonna be so jealous~

Chapter Text

Leo was still trying to wrap his head around the last twenty four hours. The day had been a lot to say the least. Superfly had been mutated into some kind of mega-mutant-kaju-thing and then went on a rampage through the city. Through the help of their fellow New Yorkers, they managed to de-mutate him, saving the city, and in return had been accepted into human society. 

They were featured on the news, in a positive light this time. Just as the sun was rising, the boys were being bombarded by reporters for answers to questions and by random citizens asking for either photos or autographs. One lady even asked Mikey to sign her baby, which he gladly did with no questions asked.

Cursive wasn’t a skill Splinter had found important enough to teach them so none of the boys had very elegant looking signatures, besides Mikey who had been practicing his autograph for the day he became famous. Leo felt a bit embarrassed that his autograph ended up being a bunch of chicken scratch and he wasn’t quite sure if he was supposed to sign Leo or Leonardo. 

The humans had accepted them.They wouldn’t need to hide anymore. They wouldn’t have to steal to survive. They could go to high school and Leo could ask April to prom, if he managed to muster up the courage that is. It was everything they ever wanted and yet it was simultaneously one of the most overwhelming days of their lives. 

Leo had never been around this many humans before, well, humans that knew he was there at least and something about it was making him excited and nervous all at once. He tried to push down the nervousness as a reporter shoved a microphone in his face and asked for his name. 

“You, blue turtle,” shouted another, trying to shove the other reporter out of the way. 

Another microphone was shoved in Leo’s face, “Just how long have you been living beneath the city?” 

“Umm, fifteen ” Leo looked to his right, expecting to see his brothers but they had been lost in the swarm of reporters that were surrounding him. 

Another microphone was pushed toward him, “Are you the ones behind the series of grocery robberies in downtown Manhattan?” 

“How did you come to be?” 

“Are you aliens?” 

“Are there more of you?” 

“Where are your parents?” 

Leo’s heart was beginning to race as he was asked question after question. He kept looking to his sides for his brothers but all he saw was a crowd of unfamiliar faces. “Umm,” he muttered. Then he heard the familiar sound of Raph yelping and someone shouting for medical attention. Leo desperately wanted to escape the barrage of reporters and get to Raph but he could barely move in the crowd that surrounded him. 

“Raph!” He called out, his voice was a bit strained, but he shouted again for his brother. 

“Alright, back off all of you,” April said as she pushed her way through the crowd. “This is my exclusive!” She stood directly in front of Leo to block him from their view. ”And if you want a quote you can message me on instagram @AprilO’Neil07!” 

April grabbed Leo by the arm and pulled him out of the crowd. He felt his cheeks flush slightly as her skin made contact with his. She grumbled something under her breath about reporters not understanding personal space or boundaries then looked back at Leo with a small smile, “You good?”

Leo nodded, staring at her hand on his wrist, “Uh-huh,” he squeaked. Then cleared his throat, “Is Raph okay?” 

“He will be.” 

When Leo was reunited with the rest of his family, they were surrounded by several police cars and ambulances. Splinter was speaking with a few officers, using a stick to keep his weight off of one of his feet. 

It looked broken. 

Leo pulled away from April and ran up to his father, “Dad , what happened!?” 

Splinter turned away from the cops. “Leo!” He carefully cupped Leo’s cheeks in his palms, seething at the mix of grime, dirt, and blood he was covered in. “Are you in any pain,” he narrowed his eyes, “and don’t you dare lie to me, Mister.” 

“I’m fine . Where are the others? Are they okay?” 

Splinter let out a frustrated sigh, “Yes, they’re in the ambulance getting looked over which you should be too. I saw those cracks in your brothers’ shells. I imagine yours is much the same.” Leo let out a loud yelp, tears stinging his eyes as he felt Splinter’s cool fingers brush up against the injury. 

The crack. 

Leo hadn’t thought much about it since he’d been squeezed in between Superfly’s palm with his brothers and now that he was thinking about it, it was all he could focus on . He could feel the cold morning wind worming its way into the crevice where the two halves of his shell had split. The scutes that surrounded it were caked in a layer of dried blood. 

The adrenaline from the fight must have worn off because suddenly he was very well aware of every injury he had sustained in the last twenty-four hours. His whole body felt like it was on fire. His head was pounding, his cuts burned, and his bruises ached. He never thought he would long to be back in their old little sewer home after being accepted into society. He thought he’d want a nice apartment in the Bronx with his own bedroom and bathroom. 

He let out an involuntary sniffle. He wanted to be back in their homey little lair more than ever. He wanted to crawl into his bed and sleep until he didn’t hurt anymore. He wanted to feel safe knowing that his brothers were only sleeping a few feet away and his dad just down the hall. 

Leo bit down on his lip as hard as he could without drawing blood. He didn’t want to cry. Splinter was already worried enough and April was nearby but he couldn’t help it when a few tears slipped. 

Splinter pulled him into a tight embrace, while still being careful of the crack. Leo leaned into the touch and let his eyes fall shut as a few more silent tears fell down his cheeks. 

The next hour was a blur to Leo. He was rushed into the ambulance, where his brothers were being looked over by paramedics. It wasn’t set up for multiple patients so the three brothers were all squished together in the one bed. A thick layer of white bandages had been wrapped around each of their shells. The bandages had been tinted a deep burgundy, where the cracks were on their shells.

“Leo!” Mikey winced as he tried to jump up to hug Leo but was quickly told to sit back down by one of the medics. Leo took a seat beside him, intertwining their fingers together as the paramedics wrapped Leo’s carapace in layers of bandages. Mikey’s hand felt unusually cold and yet also sweaty.  It hurt as the bandages were tightly wound against his crack. He tried to shut his eyes to ignore it but that only made him feel more sick and a bit dizzy. 

Leo looked over at Mikey when he felt the younger’s grip loosen on his hand. Leo felt his heart skip a beat, Mikey was slumped over, his head leaning against the wall of the ambulance. 

“Mikey!” Leo tried to shout but his voice ended up getting caught in his throat so it came out more like a hoarse cry. 

“Holy shit!” 

“My son!” 

The paramedics took immediate action. Raph, Leo, and Donnie all got off the bed and huddled by Splinter in the opposite corner so the paramedics had room to lay Mikey down. 

The three boys each held tightly onto the scratchy fabric of Splinter’s makeshift kataginu. Donnie buried his face into their father’s chest and sobbed. Splinter muttered something that Leo couldn’t quite understand as he carefully held Donnie closer to his heart. Leo and Raph exchanged a worried glance then grabbed on to each other’s hands and  squeezed tightly. It was all they could do to not join Donnie in his loud sobbing. 

The paramedics administered a shot with some medicine into Mikey’s arm and then he woke up several minutes later. Everyone felt a wave of relief spread throughout the ambulance. The three brothers rejoined Mikey back on the bed, tossing their arms around him eagerly. Splinter cupped his cheeks in his palms then nuzzled his nose against Mikey’s beak. 

“Daad,” Mikey giggled as Splinter’s whiskers tickled his skin. 

“What the hell was that about?” Raph demanded, looking over at the paramedics, who were cleaning up the syringe they had just used. 

“Mild hypovolemic shock,” one of them responded. 

Raph, Leo, and Mikey all looked to Donnie expecting a translation. 

Donnie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his plastron. “You all act like because I like computers, I know everything.” 

“You’re the smart one,” Raph argued, a bit playfully. 

Donnie let out a huff, rolling his eyes once again. “Last I checked, I’ve never been to med school.” 

One of the medics chuckled at their banter, “He passed out from blood loss. We gave him a bit of Epinephrine so he should be feeling better at least until we get you all to the hospital.” 

“We just aren’t sure how he lost enough blood to pass out,” another medic added, “His shell didn’t seem to be bleeding that much.” 

The brothers all exchanged anguished glances. 

The milking. 

Mikey had experienced the brunt of it. Leo kicked himself for not checking in on him earlier. He had to have lost at least a few pints of blood. It was no wonder he passed out. 

“We sorta,” Raph started. 

“Had our blood milked when we were captured by TCRI,” Donnie finished. 

The two medics exchanged sick looking glances, both unsure how to respond.  “Yeah, that’d do it,” one finally said. 

When they arrived at the emergency room, it became clear just how much medical dramas had embellished things. They assumed it was going to be chaotic with a lot of frantic screaming and rushing around as they were rushed to the operating room. Instead, they were each helped out of the ambulance and into wheelchairs and slowly taken inside. It was all very casual. It actually helped Leo relax a bit that all the doctors and nurses were acting so calm. 

As soon as they were inside, things felt even farther from the medical dramas Leo had seen on TV. The hospital was either overpopulated or understaffed, maybe even both because there were hardly enough open rooms available.

Leo had to bite down on his lip to prevent himself from tearing up as he was wheeled down the hall from both Mikey and Donnie. He felt even worse for Raph who ended up on a completely different floor and he didn’t even get to see where his dad went. 

Leo sat alone in his hospital bed. An IV had been poked into his arm to administer some medicine for the pain and he was told by a nurse that the doctor would be in soon. For the time being all he could do was sit and stare at the ceiling while he tried not to let himself get too overwhelmed thinking about the last twenty-four hours. 

He was doing his best to hold it all together but he couldn’t help the few tears that stung his eyes. He didn't want to be in this cold, sterile hospital room. He wanted to be with his brothers and father, back at their little sewer home. Leo tried to shut his eyes to sleep while he waited but as soon as he got close to dozing off, the doctor entered. 

The older man introduced himself then immediately began asking Leo a barrage of questions that he didn’t know the answers to. Was it not obvious by the situation that this was his first time ever being seen by a doctor? How was he supposed to know his blood type or average resting heart rate? The most medical attention he’d ever had was Splinter giving him stolen over the counter drugs for the flu or cleaning up a few cuts from rough housing with Neosporin. 

Miraculously Leo was in good shape for someone who had just fought a giant kaju monster.His cuts and scrapes were minimal, nothing was deep enough to need stitches and he had somehow escaped a concussion, despite having been knocked out by a hit to the head.

The biggest concern was the massive crack going down the center of his shell. Leo didn’t have a doctorate and even he knew that. 

“I’m not familiar with turtle shells,” the doctor began. “But I know it’s fragile and vital for your survival so I’m not comfortable operating on it.” 

Leo felt his heart sink, “But we can’t just leave it like this.”

“Right,” the doctor reassured, “We’re gonna call in a reptile specialist so you'll just need to hang tight for a couple of hours.” 

A couple of hours!?

“Can I at least see my brothers or my dad?” Leo asked in a small voice. 

The doctor let out a sympathetic sigh, “I’ll see what I can do, Kiddo.” 

Since Splinter had only broken his foot, he was able to visit each of the boys while a nurse pushed him in a wheelchair. 

“Dad!” Leo shouted as he saw the familiar rat enter the room. 

“Don’t you dare get up, young man!” Splinter ordered as he limped over to Leo’s bed, ignoring the cries from the nurse to stay off his foot. 

Leo tossed his arms around Splinter’s neck taking in his familiar scent. “How are Raph, Donnie, and Mikey?” 

“They’re all doing just fine,” Splinter replied as he released the hug so he could get a look at Leo’s face. “Have you eaten yet?” 

Leo shook his head. Food had been the last thing on his mind but now that Splinter mentioned it his stomach was feeling pretty empty. “I’m not hungry.” 

Splinter’s brows furrowed, “Leonardo, you need to eat something.”

Leo leaned back against the bed, letting his head fall to the pillows as he let out a miserable groan, hoping his dad would take the hint that he was not in the mood. But Splinter refused to leave him alone until Leo ate a few pieces of toast. It was dry and a bit burnt but he had to admit he did feel a bit better with something in his system. 

Soon later, a veterinarian came to fix up his shell. Leo had been given the good drugs and was out for most of the process so he didn’t remember much of it. When he woke up, the crack in his shell had been sealed with a light blue epoxy and reinforced with a few staples. It looked like an old piece of pottery that had been repaired with kintsugi. 

Leo had been a bit nervous about any possible scarring on his shell. He didn’t want to sound narcissistic but he liked his shell and was worried that some ugly scarring would make his already low self-esteem sink even lower. 

He craned his neck to look at the blue splintered pattern across his carapace and smiled. It looked pretty sick, like a rad battle scar. Maybe even April would find it cool? Heat rushed to his cheeks as he thought about how she would react.

What if she thinks it's pretty? Or cute? Or handsome? 

Leo sank back into the bed. Whatever she thought would come later. For now, he just wanted to be discharged from the hospital so he could be reunited with his brothers and go home and sleep. Besides the brief bit of time he was out for the operation, he hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. 

Sleep was calling to him.

Chapter Text

Leo hadn’t managed to fall asleep. 

The closest he got was a light doze that was quickly interrupted by the nurse coming to discharge him. While Splinter signed some release forms and spoke to the nurse about medications and post-hospital care, Leo ran off to find his brothers in the PACU. 

A big, dorky smile spread across his face as soon as he saw the three familiar figures standing around a vending machine. Leo could faintly hear them arguing over which snack to get with the measly three dollars and fifty cents Splinter had given them. Donnie was in favor of Cool Ranch Doritos while Raph was all for the much more respectable Garden Salsa Sunchips and poor Mikey was just begging for them to choose already because he was just absolutely famished. 

Leo shook his head, chuckling to himself. Then broke out into a run and pulled the three of them into a tackle hug from behind. They each let out a flustered high-pitched yelp of surprise as soon as Leo made contact. Raph grunted and almost landed a heavy punch directly on Leo's beak but as soon as he realised who it was he relaxed and pulled back his punch.

“You idiot,” he muttered as he wrapped his arms around Leo. Mikey and Donnie both quickly joined the embrace as well, worming their way to either side of Raph and Leo. They each nuzzled their noses against each other and churred just as they had as tots. Usually they found the involuntary noise embarrassing and a bit too animalistic but they were all simultaneously too happy to see each other and too tired to care. 

“You guys need to train more,” Leo mumbled into Donnie’s neck. “My footwork was so sloppy you should have totally heard me coming.”

“Oh, excuse us for being a little rusty after just waking up from surgery,” Donnie muttered. 

Raph was the first to release the hug. “Lookit!” He turned his back and pointed to the scarring on his shell. Just as Leo’s had been, the splintering in Raph’s shell had been filled with an epoxy, his being red, and then reinforced with a few thick staples. Mikey and Donnie’s were the same as well but theirs filled in with their own signature colors. Leo wondered if the vet had done that on purpose or if they had requested their colors when they had been loopy on the good drugs. 

“Pretty sick, right?!” Raph said as he flexed a bicep. 

“We have battle scars, guys!” Mikey cheered as he shook Donnie by the shoulders. Donnie swatted him away then adjusted his glasses that were slipping off his beak.

“Ready to go boys?” Splinter asked as he limped into the room, a crutch under his arm to keep his weight off his injured foot.

“Dad!” Mikey called out, releasing his arms from around his brothers to hug Splinter. The other brothers followed suit. 

“Are you okay, Dad?” Leo asked, eyeing his wrapped up ankle. 

“Yes, I’m fine,” he waved it off. “How are you boys?” He bent down to nuzzle each of their heads with his nose; his whiskers tickling their skin. They all leaned into the touch, not caring if anyone was around to see. It’d been an eventful twenty-four hours. It was only fair that they indulged in some fatherly affection. 

“Let’s go home, boys,” Splinter said, putting his arms around the four of them as he released the hug. The boys just nodded and let Splinter guide them back towards the sewer. He stumbled a few times but kept insisting he was fine. By the third almost fall, Raph tossed the crutch to the side and helped him walk the rest of the way home. 

Once they made it home and helped Splinter to his bed, the boys ran straight to their room and collapsed in their beds. It was a testament to just how exhausted they were that Raph didn’t say a peep about Mikey crawling into bed with him. 

They all just wanted to sleep. 

Leo had assumed it would come easy. His eyes were so heavy they hurt, his head was foggy and there was a persistent ache in his temples; yet no matter how long he kept his eyes closed he just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. 

Leo rolled over on his side to face the wall then pulled his pillow over his head. He shut his eyes again but his mind began racing. He hadn’t realized just how anxious he’d been feeling. His heart was racing, his palms sweating, and his brain was flooded with a slew of anxious thoughts. 

What if the humans change their minds about us? 

What if they realize we’ve been stealing groceries for years? 

What if we have to go to prison?

If they went to prison they wouldn’t be able to attend high school. They could say goodbye to anything even resembling a normal life and any slim chance there was in April even being remotely interested in him beyond friendship. She was a career woman. There was no way she would even consider dating someone without at least a GED. 

His life was over. 

Leo rolled onto his other side then let out a deep breath. He needed to chill out. The humans had been nothing but kind to them. Well, at least since April revealed they were fighting against the mega mutant. They didn’t make them pay for the hospital visit and with the healthcare system in America that was really saying something. So maybe years of stealing groceries for survival could be forgiven?

Leo squeezed the pillow tighter around his head. He just wanted to sleep . He hadn’t had this much trouble dozing off since he had been little. Back then Splinter would make him some chamomile tea and let him rest in his lap until he was finally asleep. 

That sounded like heaven. 

Well, maybe not the being in his dad’s lap thing. He was much too old for something as childish as that. Though he wouldn’t say no to a nice cup of tea, while snuggled up with his dad and his brothers on the living room couch together. 

Leo considered getting up himself to brew some tea but he was sure his brothers were already fast asleep and he didn’t want to make too much noise getting up. Raph was a notoriously light sleeper. 

After tossing and turning for what felt like an hour, Leo finally decided to just give up on sleep altogether. He quietly crept out of bed, careful not to let his mattress squeak too much. He made his way into the living room and sank into the couch. 

A small childish part of him wanted to wake up his dad and ask him to brew some tea but the more mature part of him wanted to let him sleep. The doctor had given pretty strict orders for Splinter to stay off his foot unless absolutely necessary. Getting up to make Leo tea certainly wasn’t on the list of necessary tasks. 

Leo rolled onto his plastron and covered his head with a pillow. He squeezed his eyes shut, begging for sleep to take him.  As soon as he was finally beginning to doze off, he was startled by a gruff, “Hey,” coming from the direction of their bedroom. 

Leo sat up and glared at Raph standing in the doorway. “I was just about to fall asleep.”

“Sorry,” Raph muttered as he took a seat beside Leo on the couch. “I can’t sleep either. Mikey’s taking up like half my bed.” The top bunk used to be something the boys fought over but it was on exhausting days like this when Leo and Raph were both grateful they had been landed with bottom bunks. 

Leo lazily rested his head against Raph’s shoulder and hummed. “You can be my pillow then.” 

Raph rolled his shoulder to push Leo away, “You’re gonna drool all over me.” 

“Yeah and I’m gonna have to listen to you snore so we’re even,” Leo said as he replanted his head against Raph’s shoulder. 

Either Raph agreed or he wasn’t up for arguing because he didn’t put up any more of a fuss. He leaned his head against Leo’s and then pulled a spare blanket over them. Neither of them managed to fall asleep but they both felt enough at peace to sit leaned up against each other like a pair of sleepy puppies. 

“Can’t sleep?” 

Leo and Raph both popped their eyes open and peered over at Mikey and Donnie standing in the doorway of their bedroom. Donnie looked disheveled and half asleep, and by his lack of glasses, it was clear Mikey had dragged him out of his tent once he noticed their older two brothers were missing. 

“No,” Leo admitted as both Mikey and Donnie sat down on the couch beside him. 

“Yeah,” Mikey said through a wide yawn, “Me either.” He leaned his head against Leo’s shoulder, “I keep thinking, what if I wake up and it’s all just been a dream?”

“Definitely not a dream,” Raph whined as Donnie situated himself across Mikey and Leo’s laps. “Even with the anesthesia I felt every one of those damn staples going into my shell and last I checked you can’t feel pain in dreams.”

“Well, actually,” Donnie spoke up. 

“Don’t give me any of that lame nerd shit, Donnie,” Raph said with an irritated huff. “This wasn’t a dream.”

“No, I agree with you,” Donnie yawned, then squinted to get a proper look at who was speaking. He was pretty sure it was Raph but with his fuzzy vision it was hard to know for sure. “I was just gonna say it is possible to feel pain in dreams. I watched a YouTube video about it!” Donnie rambled as the other boy’s blinked sleepily, struggling to keep their eyes open. Donnie’s incessant rambles had their perks. “It’s extremely rare and the odds of all four of us experiencing it together is even more rare. Unless we were all having a folie a deux but that’s probably just as unlikely.” 

Just as Raph was about to bash his face into a pillow and tell Donnie to shut up, Splinter entered the room. “Boys?” They all looked back at Splinter with guilty smiles. He was standing in the doorway to his bedroom, hopping on one foot. “What are you doing out here? You should all be in bed,” he scolded lightly as he hopped his way across the room. 

Leo cringed as he watched his father struggle to cross the room. He should have just stayed in bed. He would have eventually fallen asleep, probably. “Sorry, Dad. I couldn’t sleep,” Leo admitted, a bit of a blush appearing on his cheeks. 

Raph flicked him on the nose, “ None of us could sleep.” 

Splinter let out a tired sigh, “Frankly neither can I.” 

The boy's eyes all widened at that. “Really?” Mikey asked. 

Splinter nodded, “I was about to come check on all of you. I figured it would help me sleep better.” 

“We’re fine, Dad,” Donnie said as he reached out to squeeze Splinter’s hand. 

Splinter looked down at him and gave a loving smile as he patted him on the head. “I’m glad but really you should all be in bed. This can’t possibly be good for healing your shells.” 

They all groaned. Mostly because they knew he was right. The doctors had instructed the boys to sleep on their plastrons for the coming weeks until their shells healed up a bit more but that didn’t make them want to go back to their room anymore. They were comfortable on the couch and being together was making them feel more and more sleepy. 

Leo finally felt like his eyes were gonna shut on their own. “Just for tonight?” He whined, looking up at Splinter with his best pair of puppy dog eyes. 

Splinter sighed again, this time it came out heavier and a bit more exhausted, but they all knew he was immune to sad turtle faces. “Alright, but just for tonight.” Leo nuzzled up against Raph’s shoulder feeling proud of himself. 

Splinter grabbed the ends of the blanket that was covering Leo and Raph and carefully tucked it around them. Raph snored and a bit of drool began to dribble out of Leo’s mouth but neither seemed to notice. 

 Then he grabbed another blanket from the top of the couch. This one being a big thick orange blanket that Splinter had scavenged, stolen, from an open apartment. It had served them well for many years. He wouldn’t have been able to survive the frigid winter of 2015 with four seven-year-olds without it. 

It was a tight squeeze but Splinter managed to join the younger two brothers on their end of the couch. He carefully tucked the thick blanket around the three of them. Mikey let out a satisfied sigh and nuzzled his cheek against Splinter’s shoulder. Donnie moaned as the blanket ended up covering his entire head. He crawled across Splinter’s lap so he could poke his head out and lean his cheek against Splinter’s other side. 

Now, that they were all squished together on the tiny couch, sleep came easy. 

Chapter Text

20,365 followers. 

April couldn’t believe it. All her hard work was finally paying off. Ever since the whole Superfly scenario, she had been uploading daily to her YouTube channel. Leo had been helping her film after school in the school’s darkroom and had become her unofficial cameraman and editor. 

It was nice to see someone as dedicated as she was. Leo had pulled a few all-nighters to finish editing in time for the 3:00 daily upload and he was always down for whatever. If April told him she wanted to film whilst wading through the Hudson or inside the museum of natural history after closing, he would be there. If she said she had a wild conspiracy theory about what was turning the walls in the cafeteria green, he would listen. 

April had never been the most popular or the best at making friends and most people found her conspiracy theories or investigations a little too out there. 

Of course her mom had always been there for her and been supportive of her ambitions but this was different. 

Leo was a friend who was her age and with enough modern pop culture knowledge to understand the references she made. He was an amazing partner and April couldn’t imagine doing her show without him. 

She was so lucky to have such a good friend.  

Another successful week later and April entered the dark room after classes, carrying a cup of coffee and her notebook. She had been up all night writing down ideas for leads on the whereabouts of TCRI. They just couldn’t completely gone. It just wasn’t feasible. She’d received word back from one of her contacts, a city power washer who mostly worked near the TCRI lab, that he heard from one of his co-workers who heard from her wife’s friend’s uncle that TCRI had fled with Cynthia Utrom to a smaller lab location somewhere in the Northern New York suburbs. 

April set down her coffee on a table and began flipping through her notepad. Somewhere she had made a list of possible suburbs to investigate. 

“Hey,” Leo mumbled as he entered the dark room, carrying a large binder to his chest. “Did you have Mr. Harris for Algebra I?”

“Hey,” April looked up from her notebook to give him a small smile. “Yeah, it’s an easy A,” she said flippantly. “Just do the homework and you won’t have to study for the tests or quizzes.” 

Leo gave a little nod, “Right, thanks.” He set his school bags on the table and then reached inside to pull out a quick snack of pretzels. “So, are we just filming here today?” He asked as he bit into a pretzel stick.  

April nodded, her smile spreading wider across her face as she finally found the list of towns. “Yeah, I wrote a quick fluff piece on the new tables the cafeteria is getting.”

Leo gave her a puzzled look, “But I thought you hated fluff pieces?” 

“Oh, I do but we need to keep this upload streak going or the algorithm is going to forget about me,” she began to rant, stepping closer and closer to Leo, “and then none of my videos will get any attention and my career as a journalist will be over!” 

“Right,” Leo said as he backed away. “But is anyone really gonna care about the new cafeteria tables? I mean we go to school here and I don’t even think we care.” 

April let out a sigh, “I know–I know. It’s dumb but we have to post something! Besides–” She held up her notebook, “I’ve got a big lead for a video next week!” 

“Do you still think aliens are somehow involved in TCRI?” 

“As a matter of fact, yes ,” she stated bluntly, “But this isn’t about that. I made a list of all the nearby towns with TCRI sightings and I think this could be our big break for April Tonight! Think you could come with me this weekend and film some on the scene investigative journalism?” 

Leo blinked, “Us? Alone? On a trip?”

April let out an awkward chuckle, “Well, yeah? Unless you wanna bring one of your brothers?” 

“ No-no-no,” Leo frantically shook his head, letting the tails of his mask slap him in the face. “I mean—I,” he stumbled, “I think they’re busy and like remember that time Mikey dropped that light and Raph and Donnie’ll get bored and—“ 

His face was turning bright red the more he rambled. It was kinda cute , how nervous he got. April was never sure quite why he got so nervous but it happened so often she just assumed Leo was an anxious person. She could relate to that. No wonder they got along so well. 

“ Leonardo,” April said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. 

That immediately shut him up. He let out a puff of air then forced an awkward smile. “I’d love to, April.” 

“Yes!” April cheered, then pulled Leo into a tight embrace. “You’re the best. This is just what the channel needs!” 

Leo hugged her back, practically melting away in her arms. “Yeah, I just need to ask my dad.”

A few days later, April was sitting in the dark room, after school as she always did. She had her laptop in her lap, an iced coffee in one hand, while using the other to scroll her channel analytics page. 

Her views were down. 

Her subscriber count was stagnant. 

Leo had been right about the lunch table fluff piece, no one cared and it was evident in the lack of engagement the video had garnered. She groaned and smashed her face into the keyboard. 

What had she done wrong? 

She had been sure to upload a video every single day since she started. She was sure to mention the like button and the subscribe button in every video and she even provided links to all her recent uploads on all her other social media as well as each of the turtles’ and Splinter’s. 

April’s hands shook as she took a sip of coffee then pressed her thumbs into her temples. Her head was killing her. She knew it was probably the lack of sleep or lack of water or maybe a bit of both but she didn’t have time to worry about frivolous things like sleep and hydration; she needed a good and interesting story. 

She needed to go big . She needed to wow people. Fluff pieces weren’t going to cut it. She needed to have breaking news for each and every upload. She needed to have everyone on the edge of their seats. She needed—

Leo

Where the hell was he? It was already well past three and school ended at 2:15. It wasn’t like him to be late. He was supposed to be bringing the edit for that day’s upload. It was another fluff piece this time on new treadmills at the Coexisting Center. It wasn’t anything special but it was important to keep up with the upload schedule so the algorithm didn’t leave her behind. 

Just as she was about to text him, he entered the dark room looking a bit disheveled. His school bag was hanging onto one of his shoulders, wide open and spilling out. He clutched his math book to his chest and held his head low. 

“Leo!” April said with a big smile across her face. She sprang up from her chair, setting her laptop to the side. “I thought you were flaking on me for a sec.”

“No,” he said in a small voice, his eyes darting downwards. “Of course not.” He hugged the book tighter to his chest. “I just had to stay after class today. Sorry, I’m late.” His eyes stayed fixated on the floor. 

“Nah, It’s cool,” April said with a wave of her hand. “Teachers be like that sometimes. You have the new edit?” 

Leo pursed his lips then averted his eyes as he curled his arms tighter around the book. 

April’s heart skipped a beat. 

This couldn’t be happening. 

She might as well kiss goodbye all her dreams of being a real journalist. 

“Are you serious, Leonardo ?” she snipped, “do you know how far back this is gonna set me?” 

There was a slight crack in Leo’s voice as he apologized. 

“All of the hard work we’ve done these past few months is all gonna go to waste!” It’s gonna take me forever to get picked back up by the stupid algorithm.” 

There was a pause then Leo looked up at her with teary eyes, “Is that all you care about!?” He tried to discreetly wipe the tears away, “Can’t you tell I’m trying my best here,” he snapped with a harshness that April had never heard come out of his mouth. “Sorry, I just can’t keep up with it all. I clearly can’t handle homework, editing, filming, and also keeping up with my usual training.” He tried to suppress a sniffle. “Now, I’m failing math, my dad’s disappointed in me, and I probably won’t ever get into a good college and April,” he paused to catch his breath, “I can’t even remember the last time we hung out just as friends and not about the show.” 

April’s heart skipped a beat as she stared back at him. He was right. They hung out practically everyday but it was all in regards to April Tonight. She couldn’t remember the last time they hung out to just be silly teens. There had been so many places around the city that she had wanted to introduce Leo and his brothers to but that had all been put on hold in order to focus all her attention on her silly Youtube channel. 

April looked back at Leo. His skin was pale and his eyes looked tired and lifeless with too many bags to count underneath them. His blue polo top looked slightly disarrayed and was oddly untucked from his khaki pants.

 To put it bluntly, he looked an absolute wreck. The complete opposite of the clean cut teacher’s pet look he usually gave off. 

He’d done this for her. 

He’d overworked himself to the bone. He had sacrificed his own good grades and sleep schedule all to help her with her silly internet news show and this was how she showed her gratitude? By scolding him for missing her unreasonable deadline one time. 

This. 

This had to be the reason why she hadn’t had many friends before the turtles. She was too driven, too focused, too obsessed that she lost track of being a good friend in the first place. 

She was cruel. 

She was heartless. 

But most of all, she was a bad friend. 

“I’m sorry, April,” Leo let out a sad sigh, “I really wanted to help out but I’m—-“

“Stop, stop,” April cut him off, “I’m the one who should be sorry.” 

Leo stared back at her blankly, blinking away the tears that were still forming in his eyes. 

April averted her own teary eyes, “I’ve been a terrible friend to you,” she finally admitted in a small voice. 

Leo opened his mouth to correct her that no , she was an amazing friend. She was his best friend but he just couldn’t get his mouth to say it.  

“I guess I just wanted this so badly.” April admitted, a slight waiver to her voice. “And when our views and follower count started going up I thought I was really gonna achieve it. I never knew numbers could make you feel so good." She let out a deep breath, wiped away her tears then adjusted the beanie on her head before finally looking Leo in the eyes. “But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I’ve been a shit friend to you.” 

“It’s okay—“ Leo started to say but then April cut him off. 

“ No, you’ve been sacrificing so much just to help me. That’s not fair and I’m sorry.”  

Leo didn’t reply, he just hugged his math book closer to his chest and stared at the ground. 

“Let me tutor you,” April said abruptly. 

“What?” Leo shot his head up to look at her. “But then when are you gonna have time to–” 

“We’ll take a break.” 

“A break? But April–what about that big story you were working on? The one with TCRI and–”

“I’ll still keep working on it,” she said. “I just,” she let out a sigh. “I think I’ve hated just about every single video we’ve posted this last week and I think our audience agrees.” It felt simultaneously good and shameful to admit but it was the truth. 

The past few videos they had uploaded were rushed, boring fluff pieces and April had hated them. She hadn’t wanted to admit it before but deep down she had known it was the reason for the low views. 

“But what about the algorithm? The next time we upload it’s not going to do well, right?” 

April shrugged, “Maybe.” If she was being honest, she wasn’t even quite sure she understood exactly how the algorithm worked. All her knowledge came from what she saw other people online saying and maybe that wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy source. “But when people hear about the exclusive tea we have on TCRI, they’ll have no choice but to come flocking back to our channel!” 

A big grin spread across Leo’s face but quickly faded, “Will you still want to hang out with me if we’re not filming everyday?” 

“Of course,” April replied immediately, “I’ll be your math tutor afterall. Did I mention I got a 98 in Mr. Harris’ class?” 

Leo’s cheeks reddened slightly and he couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his face. “Right, yeah! That sounds amaz–,” he faked a cough to cover his overexcitement. “I mean that sounds cool.”  

April couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Why don’t we grab some froyo and I can help you with your homework?” 

Leo gave a double thumbs-up, “Yeah, sounds cool!” He said awkwardly. 

“But you know, Leo,” April said, her voice a bit serious. 

Leo’s heart skipped a beat, “What?” 

“I would want to hang out with you even if I wasn’t gonna help you with math.” She elbowed him in the side playfully, “You’re fun to be around, you know?”

“Oh,” Leo said in a small voice, cheeks reddening. “Well, you’re fun to be around as well.” 

April’s smile fell ever so slightly. A part of her didn’t believe him. She had been so awful to him. She had been a terrible friend. It was difficult to fathom that he didn’t hold at least a little bit of malice toward her. 

She needed to make it up to him. To prove that she was a good friend. 

“And I-uhh,” Leo stuttered. “ I noticed you changed your lipstick shade and I just wanted to tell you I think it looks really really nice ,” Leo blathered. 

April blinked

That. 

That was not what she had been expecting him to say. 

One thing was sure, Leo held no malice toward her. He was just sweet like that. He always looked for the good in people. She felt so lucky to have met him.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t easy balancing everything in their new lives from school to extracurriculars to keeping up with their martial arts training but as the often overlooked middle child, Donnie was determined to be the first to get his license.

Having a license was another major step toward adulthood and freedom. Donnie loved his family and wouldn’t ever dare say he didn’t but goodness could they drive him up a wall. Being able to take a drive whenever home or his brothers were getting a little too on his nerves sounded like a dream.

Six months to the day after his sixteenth birthday, Donnie passed the driving examination on his first attempt. Splinter had been so proud, that immediately following the test, he went out and bought Donnie a used car.

Well, technically it was for all four of them but as the only licensed driver Donnie considered it his.

It was a 2015 silver Subaru Outback and it was his ticket to freedom. Sure, it wasn’t exactly the most sleek or modern car; it had over 100K miles on it and the previous owner must have been a chainsmoker because the stench of nicotine had practically been baked into the seats.

For a nine-year-old car it was in pretty rough shape but all that mattered was that it was a car and it was going to give Donnie a new found sense of freedom and a step toward adulthood that none of his brothers had reached quite yet.

Mikey claimed he was perfectly happy being a passenger princess or taking the subway. Though Donnie was sure that was just an excuse to deflect the responsibility that came with driving a car.

Raph and Leo both had their permits, but Raph was caught up in wrestling matches and hockey games that he hadn’t even touched the wheel of a car since they all had gotten their permits; and ever since they watched those videos in Driver’s Ed, Leo was convinced driving a car was a death sentence. It wasn’t until April offered to start driving them home from school once the weather got colder, that suddenly Leo’s irrational fear of automobiles dissipated.

Splinter declared the car off limits until it was taken in for a maintenance check but Donnie wasn’t exactly patient to get on the road so the first weekend with the car, the boys spent their Saturday fixing it up.

Through the power of YouTube tutorials and sheer will power, they successfully changed the oil, battery, and coolant. Then spent the rest of the evening giving the entire car a good deep clean to rid it of that pungent cigarette smell. To finish the day, they each added their own special touch.

Donnie hung a few anime keychains off the rear view mirror then Leo added blindspot mirrors to the wing mirrors because you could never be too safe. While Mikey practically drowned the trunk with dinosaur stickers he won for being crowned the Kahoot Champion of 10th Grade Lit, which was a title he took incredibly seriously. Raph then painted some flames on the sides, claiming the car needed something cool to balance out all the cringe.

It wasn’t perfect. There was still a dent on the lower part of the passenger side door and it made a weird grinding sound whenever they started it up but it was the best they could manage.

Splinter was still a little uneasy about the car not being perfectly road safe but after a little bit more begging and promises to be safe so so so safe, Splinter finally gave Donnie the keys.

At first, Donnie loved his new found freedom. He could come and go wherever he pleased; he could blare k-pop and anime OSTs as loud as he wanted without any complaining from his brothers, and there was something relaxing about taking a solo drive through the more suburban parts of Brooklyn.

The only downside was that he had become Splinter’s go to errand boy. From picking up groceries to dropping off and picking up his brothers from after school activities Donnie had become the go to driver

It was annoying.

But he couldn’t find it in him to say no. Splinter gave him gas money whenever he asked and was willing to pay for any further car expenses. It made Donnie feel a bit guilty.

He knew they didn’t have a lot of money. The city had given them a grant for their service to the city, and they received small pay for making public appearances but other than that they were living off whatever money Splinter managed to scrape together through odd jobs and martial arts lessons.

Donnie had offered to get a part time job but Splinter turned him down because school was his full time job.

A part of Donnie felt a bit patronized because he felt plenty responsible enough to handle both his schoolwork and a part time job. Though based on the essay he had to stay up the night prior finishing, maybe Splinter was right?

Donnie let out a sigh as he turned the key in the ignition. He was running late to pick up Raph from an away hockey game. Which wasn’t his fault! He just hadn’t realized quite how long the new season premiere of his most recent K-drama obsession was.

The engine made a loud garbled noise as it started up. Donnie had become familiar with the car’s peculiar sounds. They were all part of its charm but these particular noises were louder and rougher sounded. Thank goodness the appointment with the mechanic was only a few days away.

Where the hell was he?

Of all days for Donnie to be late, this was not the day.

The team had lost the game by a single goal. A single goal that Raph had missed.

He had frozen for a split second, once he saw an opening. Then just as he was about to score, two of the home team’s defensive players came out of nowhere. One hit him on the back of the thigh and then the other stole the puck. Before Raph had even understood what had happened he was overwhelmed by the loud sound of the buzzer signaling the home team had scored.

Raph stormed into the locker room, slamming each open locker shut as he passed by until he finally arrived at his own. He tossed his skates and hockey stick to the ground with a loud clatter then reached inside his locker and struggled to pull out his duffel bag.

How had he missed that goal?

He gave the ground a petulant kick as he continued wrestling with his stupid bag.

The team probably hated him.

He couldn’t really blame them either. He already knew he wasn’t exactly in high favor by a majority of them for being given a varsity spot as a sophomore over the more well liked senior, Raj Waltz, who had played on the varsity team last year.

He knew what it looked like to them. He had only gotten a spot on the team because of the whole mutant turtle, somewhat professionally trained in ninjutsu, who helped save the city thing.

He would have quit the team ages ago if it weren’t for their captain, the cool and laid back upperclassmen, Casey Jones. Casey apparently saw something in him. Raph wasn’t exactly sure what that meant but apparently it was enough to land him a spot on the team and this was supposed to be the game where he proved to the rest of the team that what Casey saw in him wasn’t just a mutant turtle with way too many instagram followers. You save the city one time and it’s like everyone wants to know your business. That he was actually a talented and skilled player that was an asset to the team.

He had zero excuses this time. It was an away game so his dad and brothers weren’t in the audience making him nervous and he had spent the entire weekend practicing. He even managed to convince Leo to take a break from what seemed to be an endless amount of homework to come practice with him.

It mostly involved Raph shooting the puck at Leo’s head with Mikey and Donnie playing offense. Leo was a pretty good goalie when he wasn’t shouting useless advice about proper stance or grip on his hockey stick. It only pissed Raph off and made him hit the puck harder at Leo, who was stupidly good at blocking. If Leo hadn’t been so obsessed with his grades and spending time with April, he would have been a pretty damn good goalie.

Raph let out an exasperated sigh, once he finally got his bag out of his locker. He kicked it to the ground then took a seat on the bench, placing his hands on his knees.

He needed to calm down.

He had done his best. There was no use being this angry. He couldn’t change the past. He slowly let a deep breath out and then one back in just as Dad had shown him.

Raj wouldn’t have missed that shot.

He was only making the team hate him more. He was being a tryhard like Leo.

Eww.

Screw Splinter’s meditations.

Raph jumped to his feet then threw his fist straight into the surface of one of the lockers. His knuckles burned as he felt the flimsy metal envelope around his skin. His eyes widened when he pulled his fist away and saw the massive dent he had left behind. He stared down at his throbbing fist, not sure whether he had underestimated his strength or if the lockers were just that fragile.

“Hey, man.”

Raph looked up from his fist and felt his cheeks begin to heat up.

Had Casey Jones really seen him throw such an overly dramatic temper tantrum?

Raph forced a smile over his angry face. “Heyyy, what up?” He greeted with an awkward crack in his voice only made worse as he added finger guns.

Damn it.

Casey snorted then slicked back his grease and sweat filled hair into a ratty black bandana.

Raph only felt more embarrassed. He leaned a hand against the lockers and plastered a fake smile across his face in both an attempt to look cool and to hide the massive dent he had made.

“Shit luck today, huh?” Casey said as he opened a locker a few down from the one Raph had wrecked.

Raph grabbed at his arm, anxiously, “Yeah, right,” he muttered, averting his eyes to the floor. He hoped Casey hadn’t noticed the locker. He really didn’t want to have to explain that or be held responsible for property damage.

Raph crossed his arms over his chest then glanced back over at Casey, who was hastily pulling things out of his locker. He wanted to say something but he couldn’t seem to get his mouth to move so he mostly just stood there staring at Casey like some kind of maniac.

Casey shut the locker then looked up at Raph with an unreadable expression. “You need a ride or something?”

“No-no, that’s not it. I was just-uh,” Raph stumbled. “I’m really glad to be on the team!” Raph blurted out.

Casey stared for a moment, seemingly unsure how to respond. “Kay,” Casey paused, giving Raph a look over. “We’re glad to have you too, man.” He glanced toward the wrecked locker, “Though maybe take it easy on the locker next time. We don’t need any more reasons to not make the playoffs.”

Raph’s cheeks grew red and his eyes widened. “That,” Raph slowly turned to look at the locker to buy some time to come up with a fib. “That wasn’t me.”

Real smooth. Casey stared back at him with a blank expression. “Seriously, Dude?” He finally said, “I could hear you screaming all the way out on the ice.”

Raph scrunched up his face, hoping it would miraculously hide how embarrassed he felt. “Uggh, whatever,” he grumbled with a bit more teen angst than intended. He could just feel the glare from his dad. “It’s just a dumb locker and by the size of their gym, I bet they’ve gotta have plenty of money to replace it.”

“You’re not wrong but still.” Casey zipped his bag shut then swung it over his shoulder. “I’m gonna hit the showers. I’ll see ya at practice.”

“Uh, yeah, right!” Raph nodded. “See ya!”

After thirty minutes of waiting, Raph was pissed.

He was freezing.

He was tired.

He still had homework to do.

He just wanted to go home.

A bit of snow fell from a tree branch, directly onto Raph’s beak. Raph swatted it away as a series of expletives escaped his mouth. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began spamming Donnie with a barrage of “Where the hell are you?” texts. He was really beginning to regret turning down Casey’s offer for a ride. Though to be fair, Raph hadn’t seen him leave yet.

After ten minutes with no response, worry began to settle in.

Donnie hadn’t been in an accident, had he?

As soon as the thought entered his head he shook it away and replaced the worry with anger. Donnie was a good and safe driver.

There was just no way.

He probably had gotten distracted by some stupid nerd shit on his phone and forgot he was even supposed to pick him up.

Raph adjusted the black beanie on his head and tried to bury his hands deeper into his pockets as a bit more snow fell onto his beak. He was going to give his brother absolute hell for this later, he really hadn’t planned on spending the majority of his evening standing around in the beginnings of a blizzard. If he caught even the inkling of a cold, he was making Donnie wait on him hand and foot.

As the minutes continued to tick by and there was still no sign of Donatello, Raph couldn’t help but begin to worry as much as he hated to admit it. His heart began to race, his palms began to sweat and his mind wandered to all the worst possibilities.

Car accident

Run in with the Purple Dragons

Or worse, Kitsune

Or even worse an abduction by TCRI

Raph tried to take some deep breaths to center himself just like Splinter had shown him but his mind wasn’t having it. He was supposed to be the tough one not the worrier; that was Leo’s claim to fame and Raph was proud to be nothing like Leo.

Donnie was fine.

“You’re still here?”

Raph looked over his shoulder at Casey, now clad in a dirty jean jacket and a beanie on his head. “Hey,” he muttered, then stuck his hands back into his pockets.

“You sure you don’t need a ride?”

Raph nodded, “Nah, my brother’s picking me up.”

“Oh, which one?” Casey asked with sudden interest, taking a seat on the metal bench beside Raph, leaving an awkward sliver of space between them. “The nerdy one? The dorky one? The annoying one?”

Raph frowned. “It’s uh, Donatello. He’s uh the one with the glasses.”

“Nerdy one. Got it,” Casey said with a click of his tongue. He looked down at his phone then frowned at the screen. Raph couldn’t help but be a little curious.

What do cool older teenagers do on their phones?

He tried to discreetly peer over at Casey’s phone, but he only managed to catch a glimpse of him declining a call before he averted his eyes.

“So, well,” Raph muttered, “You don’t gotta stay here with me. You know I can take care of myself.”

“Sure you can,” Casey said as he lit a blunt between his fingers. “Doesn’t mean I can’t make sure your brother shows up.”

Raph let out a huff then tightened the draw straps around his hoody to hide his face. He wanted Casey to think he was cool, not treat him like a dumb underclassmen that needed to be watched after. “I have my permit,” Raph blurted out.

Without looking up from his phone Casey mumbled something that sounded like, “Cool.”

Raph wanted to bang his head against the wall. He was always on Leo’s ass for being cringey and embarrassing him in front of cool people and yet here he was doing it to himself.

Raph bit down on his lower lip, “Soo,” he drew out, struggling to wrack his brain for a conversation topic. Anything was better than the painful silence. “Some game, huh?” He didn’t exactly want to talk about the game but it was better than sitting in painful silence.

Casey finally looked up from his phone and pulled the blunt out of his mouth, “Yeah, it fucking sucked.”

Raph’s cheeks dusted a light burgundy. He couldn’t help but feel that it was partially his fault.

“Sorry,” Raph muttered, clenching a fist by his side, “I don’t know what happened.”

“Well, that official was shit for one.”

What?

“I mean I and everyone else on the team totally saw that one guy hit you with his stick. It was a clear penalty!” Casey ranted. “Going after a rookie player is totally lame.”

Raph had been so focused on what he thought his own failings were. He hadn’t even considered that the other team may have been playing a little dirty. But now that he thought about it, someone definitely did hit him.

Those assholes.

Whenever Raph played hockey with his brothers they always played dirty with little to no rules besides getting the puck in the net at all costs. If that involved pushing Leo into the dirty sewer water or whacking Donnie off the back of the shell with a hockey stick then so be it. Honestly, the team was lucky Raph, himself, hadn't managed to end up in the penalty box at least once.

“The rest of the team agreed?”

Casey nodded, “Of course.” He gave Raph a playful punch to the shoulder. “You’re one of ours now.”

Raph felt a flutter in his heart. He still felt like it was his fault they had lost, even if the other team had technically broken the rules. “Are we playing them again?”

“In like two weeks.”

“Well, then they better be ready,” Raph jumped to his feet, “because if they don’t wanna play fair then neither do I.”

Casey smirked, “I’m gonna hold you to that.”

Before Raph had the chance to reply back, his phone rang. The screen illuminated with Donnie’s contact photo, a terrible blurry close up of him asleep at the kitchen table. His arms were sprawled across the table and his face was smashed into a manga, making his glasses fall slightly off his snout.

“Donnie,” Raph shouted into the receiver. “Where the hell are you–you’re like so-” Before Raph managed to get the rest of his words out Donnie began frantically shouting on the other end. “Whoa, Don, chill out, man.”

“Chill out?” Donnie spat out, trying to catch his breath. “I crashed into a damn tree and now I’m on the side of the road in the middle of who knows where! So sorry I’m not feeling super calm right now.”

“Crash?” Raph jumped to his feet, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just smashed my head into the steering wheel. I’ll probably have a nasty bruise but that’s about it.”

“Yo,” Casey cut in abruptly. “Everything okay?”

“No,” Raph spat. “My stupid idiot brother got into a car accident.”