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Michelangelo carefully removed two dozen sugar cookies from the oven before moving to free up a few cooling racks. He stacked the pink hearts in a takeout soup container so his brothers wouldn't eat them yet – he was not about to let another batch of royal icing go to waste because of those heathens. Well, not to waste exactly. The last one kept the toaster pastries safe from Donnie for a bit, at least.
Speak of the turtle. He had just come into the kitchen to steal one of Raphael's protein shakes, as he often did when he'd been working too hard in the lab to remember to eat. Spotting the bowl of icing on the counter, he made a beeline for it, laughing when Mikey snatched it away and practically did a pirouette to keep it out of reach. “What are you making?”
“Valentine's cookies!”
“Why? It isn't as though any of us have other people, significant or otherwise, to spend it with. I'm not sure it's really meant to be a 'family' day.”
“Yeah, unless you're talkin' about maybe startin' one.” Taking the drink out of his brother's hands, Raph made prolonged, awkward eye contact as he inserted a straw and started moving it up and down.
Donatello averted his eyes and stared very intently at the brickwork. “Do you need to be so crass?”
“No. But it's really fuckin' funny.” He crossed the room and started going through his extensive selection of jerky. “Besides, I'm not the one who was about to stick my fingers into what looks like -”
“Please, do not. I would rather not lose the ability to eat one of the few things I actually enjoy.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He emptied the bottle and tossed it toward the trash can, watching as it bounced off Leo's plastron before it landed with a satisfying swish.
“What was that for? I literally just got here.”
“Exactly. You're in the way.” Taking a handful of bright red cookies from the still-hot baking tray, he headed for the door.
“Really, bro?!” Mikey grabbed his wrist and squeezed, causing the flower-shaped confections to fall and crumble against the stovetop.
The others stepped forward to break things up before Raph's brain could catch up with the situation.
“I think he was hoping to decorate those before we got around to stealing any of them. At least, that's my assumption based on how he reacted when I attempted to pilfer some of the icing.”
“Didn't even take that many. And besides...” He gestured toward the rest of the room, where every flat surface was covered with festive cookies in an assortment of fitting shapes and colors. “Not like he'd miss 'em.”
*****
Turns out, Mikey did have plans for every, single cookie he had baked – though he refused to let anyone else in on what those plans were – which apparently meant that Raph owed him. And that meant the brothers would be spending the night watching cheesy rom-coms. Raphael was convinced the punishment didn't really fit the crime, but Donnie and Leo had already agreed for him and, for once, he wasn't really in the mood to argue.
This time of year always put him in a bad mood. Sure, every drug store dumpster would be overflowing with chocolate by this time next week, but it came with a reminder of what he and his brothers would never have. Hell, they barely had friends, let alone someone who would even consider...
He gave his heavy bag a solid punch, It wasn't anger he was feeling, not really. Another punch, and the bag split along an already busted seam. Anger was something he knew how to deal with – arguably, anyway – you just hit things until there are no more things to hit. Anger was easy.
But sadness? That bone-deep feeling of loneliness that comes with being one of a meager set? Knowing that they were too different to ever find someone who could love them, even conditionally. How was he supposed to reconcile that?
Sure, April liked them all well enough. But Raph had long since lost track of how many times they'd saved her life. Not that she owed them anything – of course not – but it's nice to think it might have at least earned them some brownie points.
Plus she treated them more like younger brothers, despite Mikey's best efforts.
With one last punch to the bag, and a sigh as the sand once again formed a neat pile on the floor, he steeled himself for a night of painful reminders.
At least he had the cookies to look forward to.
*****
Donatello looked over the list of movies he was expected to procure for the evening. It seemed like everyone had a different idea of what Valentine's Day was all about. April chose something that showcased the many ways the holiday could go – for better or worse. Raph, on the other hand, had apparently decided love meant maintaining velocity in a Los Angeles bus.
Mikey's pick was yet another retelling of Romeo and Juliet that centered around rival pizzerias of all things, and Leo had gone with a true classic.
As for his pick? He didn't have one. Donnie didn't know the first thing about romance, and he wasn't really sure he wanted to. How could anyone function if they were so hopelessly enamored with another person? A person who consumed their thoughts every waking moment, and – should the object of their affections be particularly ambitious – their dreams.
Was it even worth it? Entwining oneself so completely with another that any who looked on would be unsure where you ended and your partner began? That even you couldn't tell anymore? He'd seen a number of films, and even some nature documentaries, that had given him a good idea of what it might be like.
As far as he could tell, it really wasn't for him.
*****
Leonardo was in his bedroom, trying to clear his head enough to meditate. Unfortunately, the day was making it difficult for him to concentrate. But he didn't share Raph's frustrations, or Don's apathy. Quite the contrary – the leader in blue was a hopeless romantic.
Not that he'd ever let his brother's know that. There was already enough they would never let him live down, he wasn't about to give them ammunition. And they'd have it in spades if they ever learned who his first crush was.
Yes, it was April.
To be fair, he's pretty sure that every one of them had had a crush on April at some point. Except maybe Raph. Though he didn't immediately try to put her through a wall, so maybe him, too.
She was the first person – of any species – they had met outside of immediate family, so that naturally led to grappling with some new and interesting emotions. Once said grappling was over, most of them were happy to welcome her into their strange little family.
Mikey had taken a little longer to convince that she wasn't interested. It had taken her engagement to Casey to finally deter him completely. April, for her part, had never held it against him. Had never held it against any of them, assuming she'd known. They hadn't exactly been subtle. Leo laughed to himself as he remembered a time not long after they'd met her.
She happened to mention in passing how much she enjoyed Indian food, and he ran with it. Against all odds, he'd managed to convince his nosiest brother to teach him how to prepare murgh makhani without being interrogated about his motives.
He learned everything he could about the spice blend, worked out a way to prepare close-to-authentic naan using a pizza steel, and how to boil rice to perfection. Then the big day came. The plan was to impress her with his (admittedly limited) kitchen prowess before moving on to things he felt he was significantly better at, but how often do things go as planned?
He'd forgotten to wash the rice, so it sat defiantly on the serving dish in a starchy, pot-shaped brick. Somehow the naan was the only thing he didn't burn. And the meal was so spicy that she had to chug – and then ended up reverse-chugging – half a gallon of milk.
None of his brothers had been around that day, so that whole situation was thankfully little more than an embarrassing inside joke.
*****
Mikey stood in the family room, slowly spinning in place. Every conceivable spot was filled with trays of cookies, save for the one he left clear for incoming pizza, and every small crevice between the trays was filled with homemade chocolates in everyone's favorite flavors. He picked up one of the orange ones that was spilling out from between the meticulously decorated treats and popped it into his mouth.
Then Donnie snuck up on him and he bit his tongue.
“I was able to find everything except Pizza My Heart, so I downloaded Mystic Pizza instead. Which is, by all accounts, the superior film.”
“Tha's okay, dude. I juss picked it for the pizza.” He tasted a bit of iron mingling with the chocolate and citrus. “Speaking of, April should be here any minute with the rest of the food.”
Donnie took in his surroundings, as he sometimes did when he could be bothered, and tried math out exactly how long it would take to make enough cookies to fill Ferrara's bakery cases twice over. His best off-the-hip estimate, taking into account their substandard kitchen setup, was around three days. And then there were all the chocolates he knew his brother had also spent hours on. “Mikey?”
He quickly shoved the stack of cookies he was holding into his mouth and turned around. “'Sup, bro?”
“Seriously, why did you go through all this trouble?”
“Wanted to share the love. That's what today's all about, right?”
“I suppose.” He adjusted his glasses before helping himself to a heart decorated with lavender icing. It read 'lick me' in neat pink letters – he was truly never going to live that down. “It just doesn't make sense. Why do all of this to celebrate a day that, by all accounts, represents something we are statistically unlikely to experience?”
“I dunno. Guess I thought we could maybe turn it into a family thing? I know we're probably never gonna... y'know, unless April maybe has some really open-minded friends, but that's not the only kind of love there is, bro! We've got friends. We've got each other!” His usual smile twisted into something pained, much less confident. “Who says that can't be enough?”
Pulling him into a tight hug with one arm, he handed Mikey a conversation cookie. 'Buy me pizza' was written across the orange icing – it didn't really convey the sentiment Donnie probably should have been going for, but dealing with emotions was not his strong suit and he knew pizza made his brother happy.
*****
April showed up way later than expected, which derailed their movie plans – they'd only have time to watch two at most. Since her lunch date with Casey had been the reason for the delay, she insisted they take her movie out of the rotation.
“Raph makes us watch Speed, like, ten times a year.”
“Yeah, and? It's a good movie.” He rounded on Leo. “If I have to hear 'as you wish' one more time, I'm gonna hurl.”
“We could always watch this riveting documentary I found about anglerfish mating practices.”
“Fine. Princess Bride it is.”
Having finally chosen a movie to watch, they piled their plates high with pizza and cookies and huddled together on the couches to stave off the winter chill. Mikey stirred within the bundle of linens he'd been napping in when Donnie waved a plate in the general direction of his nose. A hand emerged to snatch two slices before disappearing again.
“Hey, dumbass. You're gonna get sauce on my fuckin' blanket.”
A sleepy mumble of “'s already red,” followed by equally sleepy chewing was the only response he got.
During the course of the movie, Raph rolled his eyes every time he heard that line – then rolled his eyes again every time he watched April swoon over it. Donatello spent the time scrolling on his phone unless Vizzini was on screen and politely ignored the way Leo quoted the entire thing word-for-word. Mikey woke up just in time to catch Miracle Max before falling asleep again, softly snoring and drooling a bit on his brother's shoulder. As the credits started to roll, everyone simultaneously checked the time.
“Do we want to try and watch something else, or should we follow Mikey's lead and call it?”
“Honestly? I wouldn't mind getting some sleep. Casey and I had a pretty long afternoon -”
“No details, thank you.” Donnie pulled the blanket up under the youngest's head, both as a pillow and a shield. “I do think we should get him to bed, though. Get home safe, April.”
“Shouldn't be a problem – Blue already said he'd walk me home.”
“I'm sure he did.”
“Shut up, Raph.”
*****
When Leonardo made it back home half an hour later, his brothers were all leaning against each other in varying states of consciousness. Donnie, being the most alert, was the only one to welcome him back.
“You guys look cozy.”
“I couldn't bring myself to wake Mikey – he worked so hard on all of this, he completely missed it. Pretty sure Raph's just here for the heat.”
A grumbled profanity came from his direction before he continued snoring.
“Room for one more if you want.”
“Yeah. It's been a while.” Resting his gear against the armchair in the corner, Leo joined them in the heap of blankets. Just as he was getting comfortable, the youngest stirred again.
“This. This is what love is all about.”