AN: First ever TMNT story I decided to publish (I have more, but am too shy about them...) and with it managed to swipe 2nd prize in Dark Closure's Under my Umbrella contest on turtlecest community on livejournal.
I've been on a happy cloud all day.

Now, on with the story!

Can't rain Forever

'T was a rainy late October day.

It had been raining more than a week now.
The heat of summer had slowly cooled down in September, and had radically dropped when the clouds wept almost continuously in October.
Puddles were forming everywhere on the street and the gutters of New York city were beginning to resemble narrow rivers more and more.

The adult citizens were only annoyed by the weather because it interfered with their daily routine and children merely hoped that it would at least stop raining on All Hallows Eve.

But all this rain made Donatello a very unhappy turtle.

Oh yes, as an amphibious creature he loved water. Needed it actually.

Yet, although the lair was being kept successfully dry (well as dry as one could get a sewer lair anyway) most tunnels leading to the world above had become too dangerous to travel.

Meaning no going topside for training runs, which made Leonardo sullen.

Meaning no visits from both Casey or April, which made Mikey grow bored even quicker.

Meaning no busting heads with Casey, which made Raphael grumpy.

And it also meant no visits to the junkyard to search for parts that he needed to fix the stuff caused by a bored Mikey and a grumpy Raph.

Don thanked whatever Deity up there that at least Leo knew how to keep himself busy without breaking their precious few machinery.
But it did little to lighten Don's mood.

This rainy October day, found the purple clad terrapin sitting hunched over at his workbench, small parts scattered all over the table, screwdriver in hand and goggles on his head.
He had his tongue between his teeth and a frown marred his features as he slowly and carefully pieced together yet another remote that had met the dulcet tone of Raph's character for what seemed like the fortieth time this week.

The many repairs in the lair caused by his brothers had left Don in an extremely foul mood.
It delayed his own projects and honestly, got on his nerves.
Much as he loved inventing and building new stuff, he really despised fixing stuff.
It got so monotonous.

Not that his opinion mattered on this subject anyway.

He just hoped that his brothers were merely ignorant of his fact.
Because if they were doing this on purpose…

Sighing he let the angry thought unfinished and instead focused on the poor abused remote, trying to let all negative thoughts fade.
Luckily for him, there had been no big casualties thus far.

At the moment things were calm for once.

Raphael and Leonardo were in the make-shift dojo, sparring.
Though their training session had ended hours ago, boredom drove them to volunteer for an additional sparring match, supervised by Splinter.

"At least now they're spending their energy not breaking stuff." Don thought darkly.

Curiously, Michelangelo had been uncharacteristically quiet these last few days. Right now he was sprawled out on the floor in the living room part of the lair, mask less, surrounded by paper, pencils, pens and ink.
Having tired of playing the same games over and over again on their worn out Nintendo, Mikey chose to put his artistic talents to use, and continue working on his comic.

And there was certainly no doubt at all that Mikey lived up to his namesake.

During his moments of inspiration, he hardly made any noise at all.
Right now, the only sound coming from the normally hyper turtle was the occasional humming to the songs on his walkman and the scratching of pencils on paper.

Needless to say these moments were cherished by the rest of the family, for they didn't occur as frequent as they would've wanted.

Putting down the (finally) finished remote, Donatello stretched as far as his shell would allow.

Wistfully, he longed for a spine not attached to his shell, just to be able to make it crack.

He smiled gleefully as he noticed no additional repairs on his desk.
True, there were still plenty of repairs to be done around the lair, but those could wait another day.

Ever since the rain started 8 days ago, he'd busied himself almost constantly with repairs brought on by his brothers' boredom and clumsiness.
He needed, and surely deserved the day off.

April had lent him this book he'd been dying to read.
'1984' by George Orwell.

"It's a classic, Donnie." she'd said, and had regarded him with amusement in her eyes.
"I'm surprised you've never heard of it."
Slightly offended, he'd reminded her they grew up in a sewer, had had no human contact in 15 years, only had TV since they were 11 and books (especially ones without missing pages) were a luxury.

Of course, he never could take much offence from his pseudo-sister.

Quickly making way to his room/lab, he grabbed the book and a blanket and returned downstairs to make himself comfortable on the couch, stretching his cramped legs out.

Halfway through page one, Raph and Leo finished their sparring session.

Splinter walked into the kitchen, no doubt to prepare himself some tea, with Leo in tow.
Raph went straight for the living area, jumping over the couch's back and landed on Don's legs.

Donnie let out an undignified yelp as Raph's heavy bulk crashed on his legs. Rubbing a sore spot on his ankle, he shot a venomous glare at the turtle in red.

"C'mon, scoot over. You've been sitting on your lazy ass all day." Raph said in way of an apology, missing the flash of rage that appeared on Don's face momentarily.

He picked up the remote and turned on the TV, quickly settling on Monster Trucks and turning the volume up.

The noise grated on Don's nerves, since it disturbed his reading.
Even Mikey paused in his work to scowl in their direction and then turned up the volume of his walkman.

Trying to shut out the commentator and the sound of engines, Don turned back to his book, knowing all too well that either Splinter or Leo would interfere soon.

"Please let it be Splinter." Don thought.
Raph still obeyed Splinter without arguing like he did with Leo. Especially now that they've been cooped up here so long.

"Raph, are you trying to deafen us all prematurely?" Leo's voice piped in suddenly.

Ok, there went that hope. Don resisted the urge to rub his temples.

Instead of replying, Raph merely turned the volume up even more.
Not wasting a second, Leo marched right up to the TV and turned it off, putting a stop to the horrid noise.

And Raph being Raph of course met the challenge head on and clicked the TV back on, again filling the lair with obnoxious engine noises and the nasal commentator's voice.
In response, Leo's scowl deepened and he clicked the TV off again.
And Raph, his fierce amber eyes fixed on Leo's intense brown ones, clicked it back on.

Off.

On.

Off.

On.
Off.
On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off…

"Oh for shit's sake, make them STOP!!" Don thought as he tried, TRIED to concentrate on his book, but failing miserably. He'd been staring at the same passage ever since Leo got involved.

On. Off. On.*POOF*

"Poof?" Don blinked. Did he hear that right? Did the TV just say poof?

He glanced over the edge of his book and had his suspicions confirmed.
Both Raph and Leo were looking at the TV blankly.
And the TV in it's turn, stared blankly back.

Both of them repeatedly clicked the button to no avail.
Leo shook it, as if trying to encourage it to live.

Suddenly Raph stood up and stalked over to Leo, remote still clutched in his hand.
"Great work, oh fearless. Now we ain't got no TV at all. Congratulations, you win."

Before Leo could retaliate, Raph turned on his heel and stalked towards the kitchen.
Without slowing down, he tossed the remote in Don's lap with and casually called over his shoulder: "Here, make yourself useful."

Leo quickly followed Raphael into the kitchen, leaving a pissed Donnie sitting on the couch with his mouth hanging open.

"Did he just say what I heard him say??" Don couldn't believe his ears.
Ok, this was Raph, who often said things without thinking them through beforehand. But these last few days had been so tiring that Donnie's unnatural patience was running dangerously low.
After the damn TV was fixed, he'd have a serious conversation with Raph.

Because no matter that Raph had not meant it, that comment had STUNG.
Especially coming from him.
And Raph KNEW this, damnit.

Closing the book, he put his tired limbs to work and made his way over to the kitchen, about to make himself a cup of coffee.

He'd need it to remain sharp.

He threw a last longing glance at the couch .

"I should've gone to my room." he thought, while entering the kitchen.

There he was met with the sight of Raph and Leo arguing by the sink and Splinter sitting at the kitchen table with this tea, observing his oldest sons with a frown on his face.

"…really had no reason to keep disobeying me li…"

"DISOBEYING??" Raph growled. "Last time I checked you ain't my master or anything. So I ain't gonna jump at every one of yer fricking whims."
Leo pinched the space between his eyes.
Don in the meanwhile had made his way over to the coffee machine and had finished prepping it.

"I don't expect you to 'jump at my every whim', Raph. Honestly, I just asked you to turn the volume down a notch…"

"Asked?" Raph interrupted once again. "My tail, you DEMANDED the moment you sauntered in the fricking room, feeling high and mighty."

"Will you stop interrupting me when I'm…"

"Or what, ya gonna send me to my room, fearless? Lemme tell ya…"

"Enough!" Splinter didn't shout, but it still had the desired effect on both the terrapins.
He stood and fixed both his sons with a stern glare.

"If you must continue shouting at one another, then take your arguments someplace it won't bother the rest of the family. Settle this, as adults, and then I want to see both of you in my room."

That being said, Splinter picked up his cup of tea and walked out the kitchen, to his room.

They stood there in a tense silence for awhile, the eldest two stubbornly not meeting each others eyes.
Raph pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, his arms crossed over the back.

Don sighed quietly. Arguments between Raph and Leo weren't as frequent as they were 2 years ago, but they certainly weren't any less intense.

Leo was the first to speak again.

"Look, Raph, I honestly don't mean to demand anything. I just want you to show some respect for others around you. And really, with the volume up that high you…"

"Oh, so now I ain't got any respect, that it?" Raph threw his brother a threatening glare, who scowled even deeper.

"That's not what I said, and will you stop interupt…"

"That's exactly whatcha said!" Raph said, raising his voice again, and abruptly stood.

Only to knock into Donatello.

Who was carrying a steaming, full pot of coffee.

The result could have been funny. If today just weren't today.

Donnie was knocked backwards and the scalding contents were poured over his face, neck and plastron, dripping down to his legs.
The moment the liquid made contact with his face, he let out a pained yelp and raised his hands to try and stifle the pain.
That caused him to drop the almost empty can, which bounced off his right foot and gracefully shattered on the floor with a musical KLING.

Stunned and unable to say anything, Don looked up at his brothers.
They looked about as shocked as he did. They were standing with their mouths hanging open and eyes wide. And it was then that Raph decided to break the stunned silence.

"Sheesj, Don, I thoughtchoo was fixing the damn TV. Give a turtle a heart attack, why dontcha."

That. Was. IT!!

At a velocity that would make a black mamba jealous, Don's clenched fist met Raphael's jaw.

Not prepared for such a violent response from the normally calm turtle, Raph could do nothing but stare dumbstruck at Don from his spot on the floor, hand on his jaw.
Leo's only change in expression had been taking a step backwards, as he could practically feel the rage radiating from Donatello.

Don was breathing heavily.

"You son of a BITCH!" he yelled. "Is that all I'm good for to you? Fixing your damn mistakes?! Go to Hell, Rafaello!"

And before anything else could be done, Don stomped out of the kitchen and only seconds later they could hear the entrance to the lair opening and then closing.

Both brothers looked at each other, too stunned to say anything.

Suddenly Mikey's mask less face appeared next to them.

"Dudes, what did you do to Donnie?"

"Nothing!" Raph sputtered. "I accidentally spilled some damn coffee on him, and suddenly he's punching me!"

Mikey raised an eye ridge.

"Dude, you and me both know it takes a hell of a lot more to piss off Don than that. What did ya say to him before that?"

Opening his mouth to protest, Raph suddenly closed it. His eyes widened in realization as he mentally replayed today.
He sighed heavily and hung his head.

"I'm screwed aren't I?"

Leo crossed his arms.

"Well, considering he called you Rafaello, I'd say yeah, you're pretty screwed."

Mikey whistled.

"Hope you like the couch, Raphie-boy."

Raph glared at his younger brother.

Though his and Donnie's relationship wasn't exactly secret, it was rarely brought up in conversation.

"Couch or not, we better go after him. When Donnie's this angry, he doesn't think straight. And with the tunnels the way they are, he might get in trouble." Leo slipped smoothly in his leader role again.

He extended his hand towards Raph, to help him get up.
Raph took it, after a second of hesitation.

They headed towards the entrance, where Mikey was already waiting on them, dressed in an orange hoodie and grey baggy pants, holding two black umbrellas.

At his brother's questioning stares he merely shrugged and said: "It's cold out there. And wet."

He offered one of the umbrellas to Leo, and the three of them set off after notifying Splinter.
They quickly spit up, to cover more ground quickly.

Michelangelo took the opportunity to go topside. He had an idea as to where Don would be. He hoped he wasn't mistaking the date.
He'd forgotten to check the calendar these last couple of days.

He lifted the lid of the sewer entrance and exited the ally cautiously. He quickly scanned the street, which was empty. Well, it was still raining, albeit not as much, so most people were probably snuggled up inside their warm houses.

He opened the umbrella and made his way across the street and entered the park.
He let out a relieved breath when he ran across a group of costumed kids who braved the rain to go trick-or-treating.

So he was right about the date after all.

He spotted his purple clad brother from afar.

Don was sitting on a bench near a pond, staring into the water as if it offered all the answers to the universe.

Without speaking, Mikey sat down next to him, holding the umbrella over them both.
And still Don continued to stare into the water.

They sat like that for awhile, listening to the sound of the rain hitting the water and of the frogs jumping in and out of it.

"I made an ass of myself, didn't I"

Mikey turned his head at Don's quiet question. He smiled.

"Don't know about that, but you certainly made an impression. Especially on Raphie's jaw."

Don's cheeks turned a brownish-red colour, a sign that he was blushing.

Mikey laughed out loud.

"Aw dude, Raph's a big boy. He's had worse. And besides, he probably had it coming."

At this, Don sighed.

" He was just being Raph. He didn't say anything more than he usually does. I guess I overreacted. I'm probably just overworked. The spilled coffee was just the last straw." He hung his head some more.

Mikey was silent for awhile, eyes on his brother's face.

"Look, I know you don't really talk about this, but troubles in paradise maybe?"

Don's head shot up to look at his brother. He then shook his head.

"No, that's not it. It's still the way it always was." He frowned and looked up at the sky, pensive.

"Maybe that's it." he whispered.

"What's it?" the turtle in orange asked.

Don turned to look at Mikey.

"Everything is exactly the same as before. Raph is still the same." Another sigh. "Maybe I expected him to change now that we're…closer."

"You wanted him to change a bit towards you. Act a bit un-Raph-like." Mike inquired.

Don smiled ruefully at him.

"I guess. Maybe I've been watching too much of those drama shows with Splinter. I'm getting brainwashed by the whole romantic nonsense. It rarely even turns out well in the shows."

Mikey gave him a knowing smile.

"So basically, you're just missing some textbook romance."

Don laughed, letting most of his tension leave his body.

"Yeah, maybe I am."

"And combined with a lot of work, lack of sleep and a coffee shower, I can understand how tonight turned out this way. I'm just glad you chose to snap on Halloween, bro."

This made Don laugh even more.

"Heh, I already got 2 offers to buy my 'costume'"

They both laughed at this.

Looking up, Mikey noticed Leo making his way over to them.
Standing up, Mike quickly said goodbye to his brother.

"Gotta go now, bro. You'll be fine here?"

Don nodded, his eyes on Leo now, who stood in front of him watching Mikey take off.

Leo looked at his younger brother in front of him. But before he could start to say something, he was cut off.

"If you're going to lecture me, Leo, save it. I'm not exactly in the mood right now."

Leo gave him an amused look.

"I suspected as much when you sucker-punched Raph. Plus I happen to know you only refer to Raph as Rafaello when you're in an extremely good or extremely foul mood. And considering the bruise on Raph's jaw right now, I doubt it's the former."

Don blushed a bit upon hearing this piece of information. He hadn't been aware of his use of his favoured nickname for his brother-turned-lover.

The nickname was something that had stuck from their childhood, when Splinter's Japanese accent had led them to believe Raphael was actually Rafaello.
When they'd learned to write, Splinter had corrected them on this, but the name had stuck, especially with Donatello.

"I did, huh?"

Leo nodded.

"You know Donnie, you could avoid situations like this if you would take a break every now and then. These last couple of days, you've been at your workbench almost 20 hours a day."

Don snapped his head up and scowled at his older brother.

"I would if I had the chance! Every one keeps breaking stuff, then expecting me to fix it ASAP. And then I haven't even started on the updates on the security system of the lair, or the Battleshell. I can't quit when there's so much to do, Leo!"

"But the world won't end 'cause you're taking a break, Donnie. The security system works fine now, so an update could wait that extra day. We were fine before, without the security system. I highly doubt anyone can slip by 5 trained ninja, even if they tried. And maybe you should wait a few days with fixing every little thing that Mike and Raph break."

At his brother's dubious glance, Leo winked.

"Maybe that way they'll learn to be more careful in the future. You're being way too nice sometimes."

Don smiled at his blue banded brother. It sure sounded like a nice plan.

"You go on home, Leo. I won't be out much longer. Just want some more time to myself right now."

Reluctantly, Leo agreed.

"But If you're not home in an hour, I'll drag you home personally and you're in for an extra hour of training, understand?"

Don mock saluted him.
"Sir, yes sir!"
Leo then turned and made his way home.

Exiting the park he spotted two familiar figures.
Looked like Mikey and Raph were discussing something.
Mikey then handed Raph his umbrella. Raph promptly turned and walked in the opposite direction of Leo.

Mikey waved at him and started towards him.

"Where's Raph going?" Leo asked when Mikey reached him, and they both moved towards the next alley. Mikey merely grinned.
Leo decided he didn't really want to know.

"Let's go home, bro, and snuggle up on the couch to watch some sappy romantic movie." Mike said, walking closer to Leo than was necessary.

"TV's broke, Mikey."

Mikey let out a dramatic sigh.
"Oh woe is us. Whatever shall we do to occupy us with until the TV get's better?"
Leo responded by leaning over and rubbing his beak with his little brother's, who smiled gleefully in return.
They walked the rest of the way home with their hands entwined.

Meanwhile, a certain red banded terrapin was making his way back to the park.
He kept glancing around nervously and kept glaring at the gift he was holding.

This was just…stupid.

Like he was some high school kid with a crush. But he had some making up to do, and Mikey had advised him to do this.
He cursed again. He was officially insane. Taking relationship advise from Mikey of all people proved it.
But as it was, he didn't really know what to do, so any suggestion had been welcome. It wasn't until he was outside the flower shop, holding a bouquet of beautiful red roses that he realized what he was doing.

"This had better work, or Mike is in for a tough month" he thought darkly.

At the moment he was on his way to where Mikey had told him Don would be.
True to Mike's word, Don was still seated on the bench next to the small pond.

He recognized the place.

It was here, after beating some thugs, that he had first kissed his brother.
He remembered being nervous, a bit like he was right now.

And he decided he certainly did not like the feeling.

Cautiously he approached his violet clad brother.
Don was apparently enchanted by the pond and did not look up.
Raph cleared his throat to obtain his attention.

Upon hearing the cough, Don mentally steeled himself for the conversation that was about to take place, and turned.

But he was taken back by the sight.

He actually did a double take.

Before him stood his brother turned lover, Hamato Raphael, Hothead supreme, Mr Macho Turtle himself, holding a bouquet of red roses, blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush.

It took some will power not to giggle. He managed though.
It would ruin the mood.

Raph coughed again. Opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut.
And cleared his throat again.

Again resisting the urge to laugh, Don reached out a hand to the flowers.

"I never took you for a flower-giving kinda guy."

Raph blushed even deeper at that, scowling at the same time.

Don thought it was cute.
"Even during a time like this he's trying to be the tough guy"

"Yeah well, neither did I. Guess you never know a guy through and through." Raph growled and sat himself down next to Don, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Never knew you were the flower-loving kinda guy."

Don circled one of the flowers with his finger.

"It's nice, every now and then. Though it doesn't have to be flowers, you know."

Now Raph did look at him. Don held his gaze for a few moments. Then Raph broke eye contact and sighed.

"This crap ain't me, Donnie, an' ya know that. Why d'ya expect me to change now all of a sudden? You never mentioned to me you're into this romantic movie stuff.

"It's not that I want you to change, Rafaello. I've known you like that for 17 years now. It's kinda what endears me to you." Don paused.

Raph regarded him curiously.

"But…?"

"But ever since we left this exact spot here 2 months ago, I somewhat hoped that things would change between us."

Raph frowned.

"Haven't they? We're sharing a room an' stuff."

Don regarded him solemnly.

"Yes, but beyond that, you've hardly paid any more attention to me than usual. Which is close to nil, outside of the garage. And scenes like before are becoming more frequent everyday. I'm not a machine, Raph. I'd rather not spend my day fixing everything you guys break."

"I thought you liked that kind of stuff."

Don groaned.

"I like inventing and building stuff, but not fixing the same damn things over and over again. And especially if it gives others the impression that I'm sitting on my lazy ass all day." He glared at Raph while saying this.

Raph looked away guiltily.

"Yeah well, sorry 'bout that. Ya know I don't mean stuff like that."

He looked so guilty right now, that Don couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, I know." he said and leaned over to nuzzle his beak against his lover's.
Raph closed his eyes and smiled contently.

"So, we good?"

"Mmmmm," Don mumbled "just promise not to spill any more coffee on me."

Raph snorted, rubbing his still aching jaw.

"Don't worry, that's a well learned lesson."

"And you owe me a new coffee can."

"Agreed."

They stood, and slowly started to return home, Don still holding the flowers. He'd treasure these.
If only to remind Raph not to take him for granted.

Or blackmail…

Just before jumping down the manhole, Don wistfully looked up.

"I hope the rain will stop soon."

Raph gave his hand a tender squeeze.

"Can't rain forever, Donnie."

Returning in the lair, they found Leo and Mikey curled on the couch.
Leo was lying on his shell and Mikey was lying on top of him, in a loose embrace.

Don smiled at the sight, but his sudden yawn reminded him how utterly exhausted he was.
Taking the stairs he quickly retired to Raph's room, where he slept nowadays.
His own room was transformed into a lab, to keep his more fragile inventions.
Unlike the one downstairs, his old room had a door that could be locked to keep clumsy brothers outside.

Putting the flowers down next to the nest of pillows, Don stripped of his gear.
When he reached his mask, a pair of calloused hands halted his movements from behind.

Turning his head, he saw Raph standing behind him.

He allowed Raph to undo his mask, watching as his brother then undid his own gear.

They settled down on the make-shift bed and snuggled close, facing each other.

"Oyasumi, Donnie."

The soothing sound of their first learned language made Don snuggle even closer.

"Oyasumi, Rafaello."

And no further words were exchanged.

They weren't necessary.

FIN