Title: A Big Brother's Weight
Author: MidnightRosePrincess
Summary: One night, Raphael overhears a lecture between Leonardo & Splinter. Confusion about what he hears from his older brother presses him to try to understand the brother he so often forgets is behind the role of leader.
Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT and I never will. They belong to Laird and Eastman, as well as other copyright holders.
Author's (Old) Note: Hey everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update, but I had surgery on my mouth that put me out of commission to do anything except sleep and drink liquids for two weeks. For those whom it may concern, I'm all right and recovering nicely (though I admit, having no carbonated drinks in two weeks is utter torture-I want my CocoCola!). Your reviews made me happy, especially your agreements with me on Leo and Splinter. Seems I'm not the only one who isn't fond of characterization decay.
Author's (Current) Note: Same as with the first chapter, this one was pretty basic and too close to my original draft notes of the fic for comfort. So I've gone back and tweaked it here or there without really changing to core of it. Doing this for the first two chapters also put me back into the zone I guess for this fic. More of an explanation as to why it's taken so long to update is in the brand new chapter (chapter 4). Anyways, hope you enjoy.
Chapter 2: Crazy Coincidences
Raphael woke up late in the afternoon, much to his dismay. It shouldn't have been surprising that he was going to. After all, he was used to having late nights playing vigilante with Casey or tuning his bike in secret, away from Splinter's ever-constant gaze (for the ways of ninja were that of silence, and motorcycles—and anything else motorized—'howled' as Splinter put it). Due to this unanticipated use of his stealth, he usually slept in until this time of day or, in Leonardo's absence, all day. Apparently, old habits were hard to break.
He got up from his hammock and sighed. He'd planned to get up early like Leonardo usually did and talk with him then, before their younger brothers woke up. Despite the awkwardness that would naturally come with him and Leonardo trying to have a heart to heart talk, having their two younger brothers be aware it was happening just added to it exponentially.
Donatello and Michelangelo would probably be anticipating a fight to break out. Despite the somewhat shaky but mutual truce of no arguing he and Leonardo had silently agreed on after the Winters Incident, it seemed like their two younger brothers were just waiting for something to upset the balance enough for them to have to use their interference and influence to mellow out the situation like they had in the past. Which wasn't to say that they wanted their older brothers to fight, as they obviously didn't. However, routines were easily fallen into, and any deviations always came with uncertainty until one could see the results.
Raphael rubbed his eyes. This was way too much thinking so soon after waking up. He wasn't the type of ninja to plan everything out in advance, and overthinking took too much energy. Too late now to worry about it, Raphael thought, Might as well go along with it.
He tied his bandanna mask back on and put on his pads before putting his sais into place and exiting his room. Taking a glance at Leo's door, he jumped down from the second level, landing on all fours. He stood and looked to see that for once, Mikey wasn't playing video games or watching the tv while sitting on the couch. He did, however, hear tinkering from Donatello's nearby lab. He walked over, stopping in the doorway to see Donatello going back and forth between a pile of what Raphael referred to as junk and some blueprints.
"Hey Don, where's Mikey?" he asked.
"He's at April's," Donatello said, not looking up from his work.
"What's he doin' there this time o' day?"
"Oh, Angel's visiting again and asked him over for pizza and a video game challenge," Donatello replied, giving a small smile.
Raphael smirked knowingly, "You think he's gonna realize how much she digs him yet?"
"Not any time soon," the genius replied. He took one last look at his work before growling. "Darn it, of all the things I don't have, it has to be a regular Edison cable," he said grumpily. "I'm gonna go ask April if she has a spare one." He grabbed the blueprints and put them in a duffel bag. "Mm.. I could probably ask April for some critique on the scanning program as well..." he muttered.
Raphael made way as the purple-clad turtle rushed by him and out of the lair.
"I'll be back later!" Donatello said just as the lair's brick door closed.
Raphael blinked comically at the quiet and empty lair. You gotta be kiddn' me... That's one shell of a coincidence, but I'm not complainin'.
Still feeling the last vestiges of sleep on himself, he made his way into the kitchen to down a glass of orange juice and help himself to some toast Michelangelo had left out. A used herbal teacup by the sink told him at least Leonardo had gotten a decent breakfast as well. As he ate, he tried to think of how he could approach his older brother. Their talk wouldn't even get started if Leonardo was too angry at him for listening in the night before. Surely there was a way to talk to Leonardo without revealing that little tidbit? It was times like these Raphael wished he was better at subterfuge.
As he was putting his plate and glass in the sink, his Shell Cell buzzed, causing Raphael to fumble answering it while not dropping the plate. Darn it, I'm still too groggy.
"Hey Raph!" It was Casey.
"Hey Case, what's goin' on?" Raphael asked, putting the plate gently down onto the dishes rack thankfully without incident.
"I was goin' to tell you that I can't go out on the town tonight. The hockey championship's on the tv later. Can't miss it."
"That's alright," Raphael said. "Believe it or not, I don't think I'm goin' out tonight either."
"For real?" Casey asked, surprised. "Why not?"
"Let's just say there's family issues I gotta help with," Raphael whispered in a low voice that no one else in the lair except Splinter, who had really acute ninja hearing, could have heard.
"With who? Mike's here with Angel stuffing his face with pizza—" there was a pause as a window or a door opened and traces of April's voice were heard before Casey continued, "—and now Don's here, too."
"It's Leo," Raphael answered.
"Oh," Casey replied, knowing well from Raphael's rants and their talks on the rooftops what the usual deal was between the two eldest brothers. "What's up with him?"
Raphael sighed, "That's what I'm goin' ta find out. Wish me luck, 'cuz this isn't my territory."
"I hear that," Casey said. "Anyway, tell me how it goes later, 'k?"
"A'ight Case," Raphael said, "Catch ya later." He hung up the Shell Cell and started to make his way back upstairs, contemplating how he'd get Leonardo to talk to him, of all people. One wrong choice of words and his older brother might figuratively pull back into his shell and refuse to talk about it.
He reached Leonardo's room and took a deep breath before knocking. "Hey Leo, it's me. Ya got a second?"
The door opened to reveal Leonardo, who looked worn and yet confused as to why Raphael was at his door. "What is it, Raph?" he questioned.
"Could I come in?" Raphael asked, well aware that if he said what he wanted to talk about now, Leonardo would shut the door and it'd just make things worse. When his response was an arched eye ridge, he elaborated, "I need to talk to ya."
Leonardo considered for a moment before nodding, and making way for Raphael to come in, shutting the door behind the red-clad turtle once he was inside.
"What do you need to talk about?" Leonardo asked, not used to Raphael coming to him for a conversation. He was used to Mikey, even though the energetic kid brother was closer to Raphael, and he would always listen to Donatello's latest ideas for an invention since he was the only one out of their quartet who wouldn't jest at his inventions. Raphael's way of speaking was usually through action, usually resulting in a fight. Even now, he was preparing himself for one, though he doubted he'd be up for one after last night.
"About last night," Raphael ventured, already feeling the tension.
"Last night?" Leonardo replied, nervously hoping that Raphael didn't mean the first thing that had come to Leonardo's mind.
"Yeah." Raphael sighed. Honesty might be the best policy here. Leo wouldn't take it well if I beated around the bush. "I'm gonna be honest with ya, Bro. I heard Splinter's lecture last night."
"You... heard that?" Leonardo asked, a slight hint of panic entering his voice.
"I had a front row seat, Leo," Raphael said, finally turning around to face the older turtle.
"You eavesdropped?" Leo hissed, anger flitting through his emotions.
"Because I was worried about ya," Raphael clarified, making sure his motive for the breach of privacy was known. If Leo can empathize with any reason, it's worry. He always worries, Raph thought.
It seemed he was right, as Leonardo was now smiling ruefully in spite of himself. "I thought Mikey was the one that made you worry."
Raphael smirked. "Usually, yeah, but last night ya weren't your usual self during katas, and then I found out why."
Leonardo went over to sit on the blue bedspread of his bed and sighed. "No one was supposed to hear that," he muttered, hanging his head.
"Don't work yaself into a panic attack," Raphael said. "I was the only one who heard. Don an' Mikey were asleep an' I haven't told anyone what ya said."
A bit of the tension seemed to ease out of Leonardo at that. "Well then, what are you here for? Want to brag?" he asked sarcastically.
"No way, Bro," Raph said, coming to sit next to him. "Ta be honest, I want ta get a few things through to your head and hope ya don't try to deck me while I'm at it. Not to mention ask ya a few things."
Leonardo smiled at that, but nodded. "Well, what's your first question?"
Midnight: I know, a cliff-hanger. For those who thinks Leo sighs a bit much, if you watch close enough in the 2k3 series, he sighs A LOT more than you'd expect. The only time I didn't see him sigh was when that Renet's staff didn't work and he did a facepalm out of irritation. LOL. The hint about Angel and Mikey ship was included because a good peep of mine ships them and I think it's a pretty cute ship. Lastly, I'd like to specifically reply to a few of you who reviewed. I don't know why, but I can't do it in the beginning of a fic like most authors do: it messes with my fanfic layout.
*To Livi-Love: I'm the only one of my pals who has Leo as a favorite if they like TMNT at all, so it's good I'm meeting more Leo-lovers like you here on ffnet. And I agree with you, Raph's role in the movie was understandable, but he did some things wrong and so too did Leo. Both made mistakes that didn't out-weigh the others.
*To Party-Shoes16: Hope this update was quick enough for you. Glad to know my views aren't that out there on the movie.
*To majorbookluver: First of all, love your pen-name. 2nd of all, like I've said, it's glad to know my views on Splinter weren't that outlandish.
*To Alluring Alliteration: I'm glad my fic is giving you a new perspective on Leo. For people who can't really relate with him, they sort of treat him like a stranger and find it hard to see behind the usual behavior. So since I do see Leo's side, it's great when I can get others to understand him a bit more.
*To nata92: You have three siblings? Wow, just like Leo. Still, you should keep your siblings as close as you can, and don't forget that sometimes, they feel bad when they actually see you get into trouble when they feel guilty. I've never met your siblings so I can't say for sure, but since you seem so nice I bet they do care.
*To ponygirl-loves-mcqueen: Your review definitely made me laugh :D Glad to see a Raph-lover in the midst of us Leo-lovers, too. So let me know if I get Raphael too out of character. Though, since he is a softie, showin' his big brother some love isn't gonna be so hard in this fic. (Raph comes up and wacks her too.) And since we both got wacked, here's a cookie. (munches happily on cookies together w/ you).
*To LenniluvsBrian: Really? A good start? I actually kinda don't like the 1st chapter much. This one's better. But thanks anyway!
*To The Dragon's Scribe: Wow, and I thought I was mad at Splinter. And really? A type of item? At first I only thought that was a cliche saying in films with plots of these types-it's a given line to say. But when I rewatch the dvd and listen again to the tone he said it in, I really get what you're saying. And don't die from waiting! Here's the update bu please don't Dieeeee! (snaps back to normal) :)
