Tension Lines

"Dude I can't believe you were working for Fishface for a whole year! " exclaimed a freckled green turtle.

The turtles were in the Shell Raiser, on their way to the lair. They had just dropped off April and Casey at their homes, and were on their way to ask Master Splinter if Mondo could stay with them for a while until he found his own place to stay. The older three turtles were in their respective spots, Leo was driving, Raph was at the weapons stations and Donnie was in his corner. Mikey, on the other hand, abandoned his station and was sitting on the side of Raph talking to his new friend.

"You were pretty much one of the bad guys," he said without any tact at all. Mondo slightly flinched at these words, and was about to agree when a loud smack was administered. Even though there was no accusatory tone in his voice and he thought it was an innocent enough statement, the words showed that Michelangelo still lacked certain social cues.

A loud "ouch" and whine followed by some loud obnoxious laughing filled up the battle vehicle. Mondo was pretty much on rolling on the floor laughing out loud at this point

Mikey glared and pouted at his brother while rubbing his head. Raph just smirked "I give you permission to smack Mikey when he says something stupid".

It was around 11pm when the boys arrived at the lair. It was quiet, which meant that Master Splinter was most likely already sleeping or meditating. Leo decided to go check, and explain the situation at hand. It would be better if Sensei didn't wake up to a random mutant in their home, especially one that he himself did not know well.

At first Leo did not even want to bring the eyeball-licking mutant into their humble abode, he only had a brief encounter with him, and was not too sure if he could be trusted. From what he gathered, Jason was 18 when he was hit with the mutagen from the sky, and was kicked out by his parents and taken into custody by Dr. X aka Xever aka Fishface aka one of Shredder's henchman.

After living with a criminal for a whole year, could this kid be good only after a few hours? What type of influence would he have on his impressionable youngest brother?

But the insistent pleas from said brother got to Leo, and he agreed to bringing Casey and Mikey's new friend into their home. Now he had to break the news to Master Splinter, which would be a whole different story. Master Splinter was not as easy to please, especially if it risked the safety of his sons.

"Everyone stay out here and be quiet, I'm going to go see Sensei and tell him about tonight's events" Leo hushed as he stalked off to his father's room.

"Our Sensei is the coolest, he's like the ultimate Ninja Master. He can take down anyone in one move" Mikey then proceeded to show him his own ninja moves as he jumped on the sofa "and he trained us, we're pretty much the best in the business".

"You're so modest Mikey" Raph said while attacked his punching bag. It was the first thing he did when they returned from an uneventful night. Sure the night was eventful for his brother and friend, but to Raph? No head bashing, no saving the helpless? There was so much pent up energy he had, that he needed to release.

"Thank you" responded with a huge grin, which caused the sarcastic turtle to roll his eyes and continue abusing the poor unfortunate sac in front of him.

"Dude that's awesome, I wish I knew how to fight" Mondo responded, but quickly amended his statement "I mean, I can fight, but I know more of um, you know, Karate, Tae kwon do, boxing and pretty much every other major fighting technique. I would love to learn how to be an actual ninja," he said as he did a pathetic karate chop in the air.

Donnie rolled his eyes at the obvious lies the Gecko was spewing, but bit his tongue and decided not to call out Mikey and Casey's new friend. He knew they needed someone to hang out with when everyone was busy, and he didn't want to ruin their fun. Growing up with Mikey proved to be a task, when Leo and Raph would push Mikey away he would always come running to his brainy brother. At first Donnie would welcome his energetic brother but he soon realized that was a mistake when his lab and work would get destroyed. Mikey would always end up touching something he wasn't allowed to because he was curious, and would end up getting hurt. And guess who always got in trouble for it? Donnie. It would never be Mikey's fault for being naughty; it was Donnie's for not preventing his younger brother from doing something dim-witted. Hopefully this new friend would distract Mikey from bothering his brothers.

But something about this new mutant didn't sit quite well with him. He didn't dwell on these feelings though, he was probably being paranoid ever since the younger turtle's last friend didn't turn out to be who he said he was. Donnie shook his head and headed to his lab, he needed to finish his research on creating a better more effective retro mutagen for Karai.

Master Splinter has been very distant and withdrawn in recent days. Not knowing what has become of his daughter was very distressing. In addition he was getting mad and snappy at him and his brothers ever since they almost revealed themselves to that news reporter. Donnie knew that once he found a cure, Master Splinter, would go back to normal. Everything would be better and the tension in the lair would be lifted. Yes, there was a little stress on his own plate, but he could handle it. It's not like the others could create retro mutagen. Well, everyone except his youngest brother, but that was just dumb luck. He had spend hours drilling Mikey on what he used to create such a rare concoction but to no avail. He had gotten frustrated when Mikey mentioned he had used whatever chemicals he saw, it made him furious that Mikey was playing around with very important dangerous chemicals. Donnie sighed as he got back to work, at least he knew how NOT to make retro mutagen.

About half an hour later Leo appeared from their father's room. He looked pissed, stressed, and tired. He walked into the main room to see his immediate younger brother still going ham on his punching bag, letting out the pent up aggression he wasn't able to since he'd been home all day and missed all the action. He glanced to the TV and saw Mikey and Mondo sitting and playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

"Mikey go to sleep" he finally said in a commanding voice "Master Splinter said Jason could stay for tonight, but he wants to talk to him, actually he wants to talk to all of us tomorrow".

"It's only 11.30! We've stayed up much later before, we were going to watch a movie after this" replied the orange-masked turtle without looking up from his game, his hands hurriedly pressing on the buttons trying to attack and block. He was playing with Captain Falcon while Mondo was playing with Snake.

"Master Splinter wants you to go to bed right now, turn. it. off" Leo was now behind the sofa, emphasizing each of the last words.

"That's not fair, Donnie get's to stay awake!" at this point, Mikey had paused the game and looked at his eldest brother. Mondo quickly un-paused and proceeded to beat up Mikey's character, Leo glanced at the Gecko for a second but quickly glared at the smaller turtle.

"Donnie is actually doing something useful while you're out here making noise, plus Sensei said he's upset at you for not calling for help or answering your T-Phone tonight. I'm upset about it too, but we can discuss that tomorrow" chided the Leader.

What Leo coincidently forgot to mention was that his head just got chewed off by their father because he failed to inform his him that he was leaving the lair, and for letting Mikey and Casey go out for so long. His father had been in an extra protective mood ever since they were almost discovered a few weeks ago; he did not like it when any of them left the lair before it was dark. Of course Leo would get most of the heat, he was used to it. But tonight's lecture made him grumpy; sometimes he wished that his brother's would get in as much as trouble as he did. Or at least get properly punished by their father. Sometimes Sensei gave Leo responsibility to reprimand his brothers much to his and their dismay. He always ended up being the bad guy.

"But Raph is awake, and he's making more noise than I am! It sounds like he's making love to that thing!"

"Watch it pee-brain, after I'm done with this, I'm coming for you" growled Raph.

"Raph is going to sleep now too, we all are," Leo interjected while glancing at Raph, hoping his brother would get the hint and help him out. If Sensei heard all this commotion, he would wake up and not be too pleased.

"No he's not, Raphael is about to get a drink and watch some TV and pummel Mikey into oblivion" was the reply he received the second oldest turtle.

Leo groaned, he didn't have time for this.

"No he is not, he is going to bed before Master Splinter comes out and-"

"Piss off Leo, you can't tell me what to do"

This specific comment made the young leader's eye twitch. He was already in a sour mood and he didn't need the extra stress of disobedient younger brothers.

"EVERYONE IS GOING TO BED RIGHT NOW. MIKEY GO TO YOUR ROOM, RAPH STOP PUNCHING THAT STUPID BAG" he quickly stopped yelling when he saw Jason drop the controller "and Jason, do you mind sleeping on the couch? I'll get you some blankets, sorry you had to see that" he said with an awkward smile, slightly embarrassed. His voice and tone had gone from furious to sweet in a few seconds.

"I actually do mind sleeping on the sofa, I just have back problems you know"

"Oh, well we don't really have another-"

"He can sleep with me! My bed is big enough for the both of us" a familiar voice suddenly appeared.

"What makes you think a 19 year old will want to be in the same bed with someone who's mentally 10"

"HEY I'm not-"

"Mikey I told you to go to sleep, if you don't go now I'm going to tell Sensei you were being difficult"

"What is up with all the noise? Don't you know I'm working!" as new exasperated voice joined in.

Leo wanted to face palm right then in there. How hard is it to get 3 turtles to sleep? He himself was tired, but he couldn't go to bed unless everyone else did.

"It's just that Mr. X gave me a nice bed when I was with him, after my parents threw me out I slept on a old moldy sofa in the junkyard, I just have bad memories," the Gecko replied in a matter of fact tone.

"Well, we don't really have any extra beds, usually guests stay on the sofa, and it's actually not as bad as it looks, it's pretty comfy"

"For the love of- , Mikey will sleep on the sofa and he'll sleep in Mikey's room, okay? Good." the genius said as he mumbled back about stupid brothers into his lab.

Author Notes-

This is going to be a two-shot! I already have half of the next chapter written, so the next chapter will be up this week. I was planning on making this a one-shot but I wanted to get this story up before the next newest episode, which is tomorrow~ Will everyone going to be watching?

Also there will be more Raph in the next chapter! :D

My other story, Imaginary Friend, is on a definite hiatus. If anyone wants to take it or continue it, please do! You will be able to write a better story than I could.