I was practicing dialogue and my hand slipped. Whoops.
The Control Freak, the Narcissist, and the Liar
"You never listen to my advice and it always costs us, Raph!" Donnie yells, his fists clenching, like he's just barely holding himself back from reaching across the table and throttling his red-banded brother. "If you hadn't jumped in like that, they wouldn't have gotten away!"
Raph shoves an indignant finger in Donnie's face that the genius bravely doesn't back down from. "I told you before and I'll say it again. I was handling it just fine before you dunderheads decided to crash into me!"
"If we hadn't, you would've been clobbered!" Don is practically spitting now as he pushes away Raph's finger. "Besides, at least we were there to back you up! Leo didn't even-"
"Leave me out of this," Leo says, not daring to look up from his slice of pizza. "I wish I'd been there to help, but I was running an errand."
The worst part is that Leo is lying, and everyone in the room knows it. But Raph knows it the best, his eyes narrowing in on their leader like he can glare the lie away. He can't—both Raph and Leo are stubborn idiots—but that doesn't mean he isn't going to try. Butting heads is what Raph and Leo do.
"I've got a bone to pick with you, Leo," Raph growls. "Way to pull another disappearing act on us! Some leader you are!"
"I was busy!" Leo defends himself, but his voice is too high, too stressed to sound believable, and he isn't fooling even a single turtle. Leo shifts nervously, blue eyes darting up to meet poison green before he chickens out completely and lets his gaze settle on the wall.
They're all fighting and it's stupid. They're supposed to be a team. If one jumps in, the others back them up, keep each other safe. Because no one wants to lose any more family than they'd already lost.
And Mikey—he should probably step in, stop this train from completely wrecking, stop his family from splintering. But he doesn't. He can't. He just sits there and watches as his family falls apart around him.