Chapter two, for the first time in my TMNT series! So this is the chapter that contains all the photographs and the memories that come with them. Hopefully they are good ones, some are humorous and others are quite touching so a good mixture I think :)
The youngest brother fidgeted with the edges of the book as he watched his red and purple banded brothers for a reaction. Green and brown eyes widened at the sight of the family treasure, both stunned to see it actually there before them.
"Where did you?" Don asked breathlessly. Mikey unconsciously shuffled closer to the eldest.
"Found it in my room when we went back to the lair,"
Raph it appeared was in a mixture of awe at seeing the photo album and anger at it being kept from them, "And you didn't think to tell us you had it," He snapped angrily.
"I-I just, I didn't want to. You both seemed so sad when we got here, I didn't want to make it worse,"
The two exchanged a look, but after seeing the glare that the eldest was giving them decided that it was best to just let it go. They got up and knelt down in front of the sofa, reclining against the coffee table.
"So this was the surprise?" Raph asked, smiling as he reached for the album.
The youngest perked up immediately when he realised he wasn't in trouble, "Yeah dude, thought we could have a family night,"
"You thought?" Don asked smirking at the youngest, to which he received the characteristic pout.
"It was a joint effort," Leo said, nudging Mikey with his shoulder.
They were interrupted by a loud barking laugh. Raph had opened the album to a random page and was thoroughly enjoying its content.
"What's so funny?" Don asked, taking the album with no difficulty whatsoever as the elder was rolling around on the floor with mirth. The purple cladded brother took one glance and had to cover his mouth with his hand in an attempt to keep in the snort of laughter. He failed, though was perhaps in more dignified hysterics.
"What?" Leo quizzed, snatching the album off the floor to look as Mikey leaned over his arm. The youngest flushed scarlet at the picture, Leo not helping matters when his body starting shaking with repressed giggles.
April and Casey walked in behind them, each of them carrying two mugs of hot chocolate, and shared a befuddled look before walking around the turtles still rolling on the floor to put down the hot drinks. It was a good thing they did, for when Casey caught a glimpse of the photo on the open page in Leo's lap he too fell apart laughing. The red head teen walked behind the sofa to look properly and started giggling at the orange cladded turtle in the photo.
"What happened there?" She asked.
Raph tried to answer, but found himself too breathless to do so. She turned to Mikey who had taken one of the sofa cushions and pressed his face into it, his cheeks now a dark shade of scarlet. Donnie had just about recovered and wiped a tear from his eye before starting to explain. Mikey had pranked all three of them the day before, each brother with a different prank. He'd filled water balloons with pink paint and thrown them at Raph, attached a confetti cannon to Don's lab door so that he was covered in glitter when he opened the door and placed one of Leo's Katanas on the floor covered in glue, with the blue banded turtle ending up being glued to both his Katana handle and the floor. So the three of them had decided to get their revenge.
By combining the three pranks that had been played on them, Leo, Raph and Don had managed to get their own back on Mikey a few days later. Using pizza as the bait, they had set up a glue trap in the pit of the lair which Mikey had fallen for hook, line and sinker. The youngest had called for help, but was only met with three smirking brothers who did the complete opposite of helping him. Instead they had thrown paint filled water balloons, all with a variety of colours. Donnie had set up several cannons around the glue trap and they discharged, covering both the pit and the glued Mikey with glitter. In the end, the youngest looked like a rainbow had been thrown up on him. Raph had immediately searched out the camera they had and snapped a picture. Of course they got in trouble with Sensei afterwards and had to help clean up both Mikey and the lair, but it had been worth it.
"They got you so good Mike!" Casey managed through his laughter, having found a seat on the floor next to Raph. April sat next to Mikey on the arm of the sofa and took the album from Leo.
"Should we go from the beginning?" She asked, "Or just take turns picking a random page?"
"I say random," Mikey chirped, snatching the album back and closing it with a bang. Leo elbowed him roughly, the youngest muttering an apology to April for being rude, but nonetheless agreed.
"Why don't you go first Mikey," The eldest suggested.
He didn't have to tell him twice and the youngest opened the cover and grabbed all the pages, flipping them until he wanted to stop. He actually stopped quite soon and found one of the first few pictures that had been taken with a proper camera.
"Oh cool I remember that," Mikey said, turning the album so everyone could see it. The other turtles murmured affirmations and Raph explained the photo to the human teens. It was one of their made up games they played before having a proper TV. It was something similar to capture the flag, only they were using one of their masks as the 'flag'. They also took it in turns using their colour for the flag, though the decision wasn't always made universally. The four worked together to make a place to play, using whatever furniture they had to make two dens and a middle that was harder to navigate. They'd split into two teams, or go all against each other sometimes with four dens, and try to keep the 'flag' in their area for more than five minutes.
"Maybe we can play it again while we're here," Leo commented. Casey scoffed at the idea.
"Isn't that a little kids game?"
"It was, but I'm sure we can make it harder and adapt it into our training," The eldest replied, smirking evilly.
"Like Turtle Hunt?" Raph asked smirking just as much, if not more sinister, than Leo.
"Exactly, give me a few days to plan it out and you can help me set it up for them,"
"Sounds like a plan Fearless," They fist bumped while the others sweat-dropped, all too familiar with how calculating and cruel Leo could be in his training.
"Okay moving on," Don said quickly, grabbing the album from Mikey and passing it to April, "We'll go around the circle," He said matter-of-factly.
April closed the book again, briefly inspecting the leather covering before repeating what Mikey did. She went a page or two further than he did and was overcome by the cuteness of the photo.
"Awwww," She crooned, clutching the album in one hand and tracing the photo with the other.
"What?" Raph asked, curious what could have caused such a reaction in their collection of photos.
She turned the album around and this time it was Leo's turn to flush scarlet. For on the page was a sweet photo of him in Splinter's arms as a turtle tot. Everyone aww'd simultaneously, Mikey leaning over to pry Leo's hands away from his face.
"That's sooo cute," April exclaimed.
"I remember that," Don said, "Isn't that when you..."
"No!" Leo yelled, "You guys promised,"
"It's nothing to be embarrassed about Leo, we were only eight," Don reassured him, patting his knee.
"What happened?" April asked, rubbing Leo's shoulder before going back to looking at the cute picture. It was cuter than kitten pictures!
"I had a nightmare," Leo mumbled, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.
"Aw," April cooed again, earning a glare from the eldest, "Nightmares are common when you're a kid,"
"It wasn't the nightmare that was embarrassing," Raph said, "It was the bedwetting,"
"Raph!" Leo exclaimed, curling up in a ball and covering his face again, cheeks flushing furiously. Casey started laughing, incoherently mumbling how funny it was that the fearless leader wet the bed. April thumped the human teen, knocking him over where Raph proceeded to whack him upside the head and wrestle until the teen was pinned under him.
"Raph I can't breathe," Casey managed to say. The red banded turtle was literally sitting on him.
"Say you're sorry," Donnie said in a sing-song voice. He was enjoying seeing Casey trapped like this as punishment for laughing at the eldest and because it was funny. But mostly for Leo.
"'M sorry," He wheezed out and the heavy turtle got off him. Though he still pushed him over again when he sat up.
Mikey tried to pry Leo apart again, but wasn't having much luck. Raph smirked when an idea crossed his mind. Sneaking up beside his older brother, the red banded brother snaked his hands down Leo's sides, causing the elder to jump and squirm at the ticklish feeling. All three brothers joined in, attacking the eldest all over, and soon enough the blue banded brother was heaving on the floor.
Still giggling, Leo told the teens that after the nightmare he'd had, Splinter taken him into his arms and was trying to sooth him to sleep. Their father had figured out how to get each of his sons to sleep after a rough night. For Leo taking him into his arms, gently rocking him and singing a Japanese lullaby almost always did the trick. Needless to say that when the picture was taken he was fast asleep in his father's comforting hold.
"I don't know who took the picture though," Leo looked around at his brothers and noticed Donnie wouldn't meet his eyes, "It was you wasn't it," The purple banded brother just smiled and shrugged, but the mischievous sparkle in his brown eyes said it all.
April meanwhile was still cooing over the picture, so Leo took the album away from her. He looked at the photo himself, not having seen it in a while, and couldn't help but smile himself.
"You miss Splinter?" April asked tentatively.
"Yeah," Leo replied, looking up to see his brother echoing the same sentiment, "But we'll find him," They shared a moment of silent prayer, hoping that wherever their father was, he was safe.
"My turn," Donnie said, accepting the album from Leo. He repeated the actions that the others had, but this time went a lot farther. Here the photos were more high resolution due to the fact that he had managed to get either a better camera or the pictures were taken by their T-Phones.
The purple banded turtle snorted at the picture he found, turning it so everyone could see. Everyone started giggling and laughing at the soap covered turtles depicted in the photo.
"When I was trying to wash the Shellraiser and someone kept getting in the way," Don commented, glaring at the orange banded turtle now giggling uncontrollably, though there was no malice behind it.
The photo depicted three sudsy turtles, Donnie, Raph and Mikey, in front of the Shellraiser, with lots of cleaning supplies around them. Mikey had been messing around earlier that day and so as punishment Leo had sent him to help Don and Raph with cleaning their vehicle. But because it was Mikey, he decided to put waay too much washing up liquid into the tubs and they ended up with a soapy mess.
Leo watched them actually cleaning the Shellraiser until the youngest had gotten bored and started either spraying one of the hoses at his brothers or messing with the soap to make funny beards or other shapes. The blue banded brother snapped the picture just when Mikey had pointed the hose at Raph, stating the hot-head needed to cool down. Donnie was trying to cover himself from the residual spray behind Raph, the cloth he had been using to scrub his baby now being used as a makeshift shield.
"That was the best punishment ever dude," Mikey said, having controlled his giggling.
"Yes I know, it reminds me never to use it again," Leo replied, Don and Raph agreeing.
"Oh never again," Donnie added, "Here Raph," He passed the album to his immediate older brother. Raph paid no attention to how the others had chosen a page, opening the album and continually flipping through the pages until he found one. The youngest whined about the red cladded turtle breaking the rules, but he was soon silenced by a glare from Leo.
"Raph?" The eldest asked, concerned about the melancholy look about his immediate younger brother's face. Leo scooted over to Raph, the latter shifting to hide the photo from view. The elder placed a comforting hand on the younger's shoulder and gave a reassuring smile. With a quiet sigh, Raph showed Leo the photo.
There were only two turtles in the photo, and neither Raph nor Leo could remember who took it. Sitting on one of the sofas in the lair was the red cladded turtle feeding his old pet Spike. Raph still hadn't really gotten over losing his best friend, especially since he had tried to do away with his brothers. Though they had seen him again after that and had almost made peace, Raph always prayed that Slash was safe and would eventually come round to join their side. In the photo Raph had been feeding Spike some lettuce, but it was the serenity adoring his face that made Leo smile.
Leo gently took the album from him, closing it as he did, and nudged him with his shoulder. Raph forced a smile, watching as Leo handed the album to Casey for his turn. The eldest two would talk about it later, when there was no prying eyes around.
Not commenting on the strange performance they just witnessed, the raven haired teen thought it best to stick to the beginning of the album. He looked at the first picture in the album and turned it round.
"Is this you guys?" He questioned.
Mikey and Donnie leaned in to take a look. Leo hung back a little to subtly rub Raph's arm soothingly before the two of them joined the others.
"Yeah we didn't have a camera until I fixed one, so Sensei used to draw us,"
"Sleeping?"
"Well it was probably the only time we all stood still," Leo explained.
"Yeah, Mikey would never sit still for long," Raph added.
"Hey!" Mikey protested, "I wasn't the only one!"
"Yeah, but you were the world's worse for having a short attention span," Don reasoned. The youngest pouted, but soon started smirking as he tackled his immediate elder and the two started rolling around wrestling. They ended up taking Casey with them and Raph dived on top when they rolled over to a more open space.
April jumped up on the sofa to avoid getting caught in their dog pile, Leo joining her. He would have dived in too, but didn't fancy another lecture from their family doctor about injuring himself, so settled for laughing at them instead.
He noted that the hot chocolates that the human teens had brought in earlier had barely been touched. Nodding to April, he gathered two of the mugs up, April grabbing the other two, and headed into the kitchen to dump the now cold liquid.
"Well that was fun," April commented, earning a chuckle from the turtle.
"Yeah it was,"
The two jumped at the sound of a loud crash, April charging into the lounge to find out what had been broken. She bumped Raph on her way in, leaving the red banded turtle with his elder brother.
"Hey,"
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Leo glared, "Nothing that can't be fixed," The elder rolled his eyes and set about washing up the mugs they used. Raph came over, grabbing the tea towel from the counter to dry up the mugs as they were washed. With that done he turned to face Leo, awkwardly rubbing his arm. He never was the best at this.
"Thanks," He said.
"No problem,"
The younger shifted from one foot to the other, then stepped forward to engulf Leo in a warm embrace. Leo stood shocked for a moment before returning it. He smiled and rubbed the younger's shell. It was rare that Raph physically asked for comfort like this.
Leo waited until Raph pulled back, but held his shoulders still, giving them a squeeze, "I'm sure he's safe," He knew that the younger was probably worried about his old pet being captured during the invasion. Raph smiled and nodded.
The two rejoined the other in the lounge to see April dragging Casey to the bottom of the staircase. Apparently he was the one to break one of the vases and so was being banished to his room.
"Aw c'mon Red,"
"You heard her Casey," Leo said sternly, trying desperately to hold in a smirk. Casey glared at the turtle, but trudged up the stairs obediently, albeit making sure to bang his feet loudly on each step. April followed, saying she was going to bed as well.
Leo and Raph joined the other turtles in the lounge and started laughing at the fort the younger two had started to build.
"C'mon bros help us out!" Mikey exclaimed, taking Leo's hand and dragging him over. Raph shook his head and headed for the stairs, to the protest of the youngest.
"I thought I'd fetch our pillows and blankets," He replied and Mikey brightened considerably. Don went up to help him, leaving Leo to help Mikey set up the foundations of the fort.
The youngest pushed the coffee table out the way and the armchairs nearer to the sofa, making sure their backs faced it so they would be able to lay sheets over them. Leo grabbed the cushions and started making a nest. He smiled as it reminded him of the times when they were younger and built forts. Don and Raph came back downstairs, arms loaded with pillows and blankets, and helped to arrange everything.
The four crawled into their newly built fort and although it was a bit of a squeeze, they didn't mind huddling together. Leo snaked one arm around Donnie's shell and brought him closer, using his other hand to pull a blanket over them. Next to him Raph pulled another blanket over himself and Mikey, allowing the younger to cuddle him for tonight only. The youngest wrapped his arms around Raph's waist and snuggled to his side contently. Leo smiled as both Donnie and Raph laid their heads on his chest, Don because he was coaxing him to and Raph apparently still wanted some comfort from earlier. Though he made sure to hide it by pretending to coax him down all the same.
"Leo?" Mikey asked, laying his own head on Raph's chest and nuzzling every now and then.
"Yeah Mikey?"
"What was that song Splinter used to sing to us?"
Leo smiled softly, "The lullaby?"
"Yeah,"
Instead of answering, Leo reached a hand over to rub the younger's head affectionately and started humming a tune. It relaxed the orange cladded brother, who snuggled into Raph's plastron, pulling the blanket tighter over them. Leo kept humming, tightening his hold on his other younger brothers, then started singing softly in Japanese the lullaby their father used to sing.
When he finished the song, the eldest was happy to see all three brothers sound asleep and settled down himself, falling into a blissful sleep besides his brothers.
None of them had noticed a certain red head sneak back downstairs armed with a T-Phone. She managed to snap a picture of the four of them in their fort when the eldest had been singing. She was successful in keeping her aww's contained and tiptoed back up to bed. Today really had been a wonderful trip down memory lane.
And that's another story finished and I'm quite proud of this one.
I must give credit to I Love Kittens too who inspired the idea for the picture of Leo being cradled in Splinter's arms while singing a lullaby. I think Splinter would be a great father when they were younger and it's just so cute an image :D I imagine him singing a Japanese lullaby, since that's where he's from, and I think Leo would probably be the one most likely to remember the words. He seems to be the one who knows the most Japanese and about its culture.
And you guys know what I'm like with the fluffy brotherly stuff! I couldn't resist adding in Leo singing to his brothers ^^
Anyway, the next story I plan to write is outside the season 3 series. It's a request and it's set after the 'Fungus Humungous episode, the aftereffects of the mushroom incident. See you next time :)