Author's Note: Just a 'slice of life' one-shot I wrote for Tori Angeli... Happy birthday to one of my best friends! Thank you Aubretia Lycenia and Nekotsuki for your last minute help with beta-type feedback!

XOXO

Winnychan

o O o

Gotta get out of here…

Raphael had only fled the lair about thirty seconds ago. His fists uncurled, flexing open and closed anxiously. His snarl had become an unhappy grimace.

Gotta clear my head before I fucking lose it. He didn't deserve ANY of the crap I was startin' up back there. God, the dumb-shit things I almost said…

Without halting, he flashed a paranoid glance back towards the hidden entrance to his home. It remained an unassuming expanse of brickwork, solid looking and completely still.

Good, he thought to himself, facing forward again. Don't follow me.

He shrugged into the trench coat he'd grabbed on his way out the door and picked up the pace of his troubled strides. His large, thickly calloused fingers fumbled with the buttons as he walked, trying to fasten them. Fucking buttons…

Raph hated buttons. Fucking hated them. These hands could handle a plethora of ninja weapons with natural precision, and could use shuriken and sai with nothing short of unearthly grace. But when it came to buttons, he was suddenly butter fingers. Clearly it was the fucking buttons, and not his hands, which were to blame here.

Why do humans still use this outdated shit even after they invented zippers and Velcro, which are way better? It was just one of the millions of things about humans that he would never understand.

He was nearly through with them when Raph noticed that the hem of his trench coat now seemed to be longer on one side. Tugging the fabric taut to investigate, he spat a frustrated curse as he realized he'd done them up one button off. Seizing the collars of his trench coat in his fists, he prepared to tear the jacket open savagely. Pop off every one of those mother fuckers in a single, satisfying--

Raphael froze, stopping himself in time. Slowly, he forced his fists to unclench and release the jacket. His hands fell to his sides.

Geez… Nearly destroyed the only disguise I got left for goin' to the surface.

Without the buttons to keep it fastened he wouldn't be able to ride. The tattered old thing would be flapping in the wind behind him like a goddamned cape. Destroying this coat would leave him trapped. Trapped within walking distance of the lair. Trapped within easy reach of his brothers.

Least I saw it comin', this time. Actually felt my skin startin' to creep all over with restlessness. Air seemed almost too thick to breathe. Then I was this close to tearin' into him.

Still, it feels like a rare thing, he thought glumly, even just noticing ahead of time. Let alone stoppin' myself in time to get away.

Raphael stood on the edge of a shallow drain channel and stared at his murky, bobbing reflection in the dark green and grey waters.

Guess I was lucky tonight.

o O o

Leonardo crouched beside the motorcycle, head tilted to inspect some of the chrome detailing, when he heard the interior door open behind him. He rose quickly, posture stiff as he turned to face --- well, it had to be Raph. Who else would be leaving at this hour?

And sure enough, there was his brother. Leo could tell by the look on his face that Raph had caught the movement as he rose to stand. The expression he wore now was one of confusion and growing outrage.

"What the fuck…?" Raphael stalked closer. He eyed Leo, then the bike, then Leo again.

Leonardo swallowed. "Eh. Hey, Raph." He kept his face carefully neutral, racking his brain for some valid excuse to be poking around in Raph's garage. So far he was coming up blank.

"Are you… how did you get here before me?" Raph demanded.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Leo replied, quite truthfully.

"So one of the others didn't…?"

"Raph, if something happened—"

"NOTHING happened!"

"Okay, okay! Well whatever didn't happen, I wasn't there for it."

"Then… fine. So tell me what the fuck ya were just doin' to my bike?"

"Nothing! I wasn't—"

"Are you kidding me? Don't even play it off! I caught ya red handed, Leo!"

"You did not," Leo returned sternly, narrowing his eyes. "You didn't catch me doing anything, because I didn't touch your bike, okay?"

"Like hell you didn't! I SAW you!"

"You did NOT!" Leo threw up his hands in exasperation. "What is it about conversations with you that make me feel five years old?"

"Hey, you're the one acting like Mike!" Raph accused, advancing on him aggressively. He shoved past Leo to circle the motorcycle with suspicious scrutiny. "So, what'd you do to it? Fuck with the tires? I swear to God, if you poured anything in the gas tank…"

"I didn't do ANYTHING!" Leo insisted hotly. "I didn't even TOUCH it!"

"Bullshit! You took the tarp off, didn't you? Or was that the wind? In a closed garage? Yeah right!"

Leonardo hesitated. Then he allowed, "Okay. So maybe I touched the tarp."

"Uh-huh. But not the bike?"

"Not the bike."

Raph threw one leg over the motorcycle and started it up experimentally. The engine turned without a hitch. He looked back at Leo warily.

"There, see?" Leo gestured to the proof of the purring motorcycle. "Satisfied?"

"Yeah, great," Raph muttered, cutting the engine, "Guess you were just snooping around."

"I don't believe this!" the older brother exclaimed, thoroughly annoyed by this point. "I'm out of here."

He climbed off the bike and frowned at Leo. "Well if you'd tell me what you were DOING out here…"

"NOTHING!" Leo exploded. "Nothing, okay? I was – just – LOOKING!"

"But WHY?" Raph matched his volume, but there was something different in the way he was staring now. At first Leo was too incensed to notice.

"I don't know. Just forget it! I'll never set foot in your garage again."

"Look, I wasn't tryin' to run you off for good. It's just – you gotta admit, it's weird! You don't give a shit about motorcycles."

"Well, normally I don't! But…" Leonardo felt his anger quickly being replaced by the embarrassment he'd felt when Raph first walked in on him. "I don't know. Maybe…" His cheeks began to burn. He wanted to play it off more than anything. But he was Leo – which meant he was honest, even when it pained him. "I've just never seen one this cool before," he concluded in a mumble, looking away.

Raph said nothing, staring at him.

"I should get back…" Leo turned to go, but Raph shot forward and put a hand on his shoulder. He paused and looked back at his brother warily.

"You really mean that?"

"Yeah, I do," Leo sighed. "I look at that thing, and – believe it or not, I almost want one."

His brother broke into a brief grin. Somehow this made it harder for Leo, who grimaced and pulled away. "Yeah, okay," Raph agreed. "Hey, I didn't really mean to jump down your throat like that."

"It's fine. I shouldn't have been messing around in here without asking you first."

Raphael bobbed his head once. "Well uh, look. You're gonna have to ogle it some other time, 'cause right now I need it."

"You're going out on it?" Leo wondered.

"Naw," Raph said, rolling his eyes. "Thought I'd just drive it around in circles, right here in the garage."

Leo hesitated, seeming to think this over. Then he winced and shook his head, "Look Raph, I hate to do this but I'm going to have to put my foot down…"

Raphael stiffened. Here we go, he thought. Just when he'd thought they might actually walk away from this without coming to blows…

Still using that reluctant tone, Leonardo continued, "Raph, we've talked about these needless risks you take, and this is just a perfect example. I mean, the carbon monoxide levels alone… Look, I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to take it out onto the street and drive around looking for thugs to beat up like any other night, okay?"

Raph's mouth worked. His puffed up posture deflated and he stared at Leo again before finally barking a laugh. "Damnit, Leo! You spoil all my fun."

"I know, I'm such a stick in the mud," Leo agreed wryly. "One more thing before you go, though. Come here."

"Now what?" Raph grumbled. He'd already started back towards his bike, and shot Leo a questioning glance.

"Just, get over here!"

Raph shot the ceiling a long-suffering look but came to stand before Leo. Leo looked him up and down, then leaned forward and began quickly undoing the buttons of his coat.

"What… are you…" Raph was so surprised and confused by this, he couldn't even finish the sentence. He started to reach for Leo's hands instinctively in order to stop him, but was batted away. Raph continued to stare in disbelief but eventually caught on to his big brother's intentions… Leo was doing his jacket up properly.

Then his eyes narrowed. Leo's fingers deftly worked the buttons of the trench coat with what looked like expertise… like he'd received some kind of special button training. Another ten seconds tops and the task was done.

"There," Leo announced, straightening and grinning at him sheepishly.

"I hate you," Raph muttered. The worst part was that he probably wore clothes less often than ANY of them! But that's Leo for ya: perfect at anything and everything. Geez.

Leonardo winced, misunderstanding his annoyance. "I know, I know… I'm sorry, okay? But I had to. It was driving me crazy!"

"Yeah, yeah," Raph grumbled, smirking at him. "Thank you, mommy." He pulled the helmet off the hook behind his seat and fitted it onto his head. Pushing a button on the opener clipped near the handlebars, the garage began to open.

Raph turned and looked back at Leo through the visor of his helmet. All of a sudden his desire to be alone had completely vanished. He wondered at what Leo had said, wanting his own motorcycle. Had he really meant it? It wouldn't be hard, to put one together. He needed a new project to work on anyway…

But he was already on the bike, ready to take off. He could think of no way to reverse things.

"Be safe," Leo called after him, but it was lost beneath the roar of the engine as Raph's motorcycle tore off into the night.

o O o