37…
38…
39…
Each number mentally ticked off in his head was paired with a brutal punch to the worn-down sandbag. Vaguely aware of a stinging sensation pricking his hand, he glanced down and hardly took into account the crimson liquid seeping from his knuckles. Whatever; he'll just patch those up later.
40…
41…
42…
4–
"Great," he muttered as a small tear in the thick fabric split further. He's going to have to stitch that back up.. again.
It's a frequent consequence when he attempts to blow off steam after an infamous argument with the leader. That day, their verbal fight had shot through the roof and he had taken a swing. Leonardo was really pushing his buttons with that smug look of his and that know-it-all posture he strutted around with. His blue mask was the perfect target for a fist that was itching to punch it in. But, of course, Mr. Perfect Child (who wasn't so perfect anymore considering the purple-bluish tint between his eyes) had their sensei's support, which led to two hours of meditation and too many chores to count for the hothead.
His blind fury overriding his common sense, he struck the punctured punching bag, not giving a second thought to the golden sand pouring out in heavy streams.
44…
45…
46..
The door of the dojo slid open, but he continued his merciless rampage. Having an audience didn't make him self-conscious like a certain blue clad turtle – in fact, it gave him motivation to show his brothers not to mess with him.
47…
48…
49…
50…
A figure slipped into the dojo, carefully strode over to the corner of the room, and just… sat there, watching him. What the shell?
51…
52…
53…
54…
He felt the eyes boring into him, and the curiosity finally killed the cat.
"What the hell do you want?" he spat, never faltering in his uncalculated attacks. He bet that if Fearless were there, the leader would have a few choice words about his sloppy form. It's okay; he wouldn't have listened anyways.
He saw the figure shuffle on the floor in his peripheral vision. "Nothing," the voice plainly stated. "Just making sure I know who spilt all this sand over the floor so Sensei doesn't make me clean it up later. I can blame it on you."
"Fuck off, Mikey," Raphael growled. He had lost count by this point and was blindly pummeling his poor opponent.
"Okay, okay, I'll be good," Michelangelo complied. He watched his brother relentlessly tear the sandbag to shreds and frowned in disapproval. "Whaddya think is shoved up Leo's shell lately?" the youngest questioned after a few tense moments. Raphael barked out a bitter laugh.
"Surprised you're talking so lowly of Fearless," the older of the two breathed, punctuating each word with another punch. "Everyone seems to enjoy kissing his ass lately."
Michelangelo slowly stood and stretched out his limbs. "I dunno, he just seems a lot more irritating than usual, don't you think?" he yawned as if uninterested.
"For once, I agree with you," Raph growled. "If he would've just kept his mouth shut and didn't spring Splinter into our own personal problems, everything would be just fine - but no!" With a final brutal swing, the punching bag tipped off it's stand and fell to the floor. Raphael practically howled in irritation. "He's such a 'hotshot leader' up on the surface, taking down enemies three times as big as me, but when it comes to our measly little fights, he's suddenly doesn't have the balls to fight for himself?!"
When Mikey didn't respond, Raphael spun around to face him and continued, "I swear, every time we get into an argument, he always says he's 'taking the higher road' but he's really just fucking running away! It's so goddamn annoying!"
"Well... maybe he just doesn't want to fight with you, Raph," Mikey quietly stated. His serious tone of voice and the sympathetic glint in his soft blue eyes stopped the hothead short in his heated tracks. "I mean, he's always going on about us being a good team and working together, and that could be kinda hard when you guys are knocking each other's brains out."
"Pfft, whatever," Raph scoffed, glaring into the baby blue irises. "If Fearless really didn't want to fight with me, he wouldn't be as stuck up as he is."
Mikey shrugged and moved his thoughtful gaze away from his brother's fiery eyes. "He could say the same about you being temperamental all the time, you know."
"Since when did you start saying reasonable sentences?" Raphael snapped, turning back around to reset his fallen punching bag. It was a low blow, but he didn't know how else to respond to his brother. What he said was probably true, as much as Raph hates to admit it.
"Well if you guys ever actually listened to me, you would realize that I'm pretty smart," Mikey grinned with pride on his every feature.
Raph released a breathy laugh. "I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, there's a microscopic possibility." He stood back as the sandbag was back in place and raised his fists. Without hesitation, he effortlessly threw a punch. And another. And another.
"Poor punching bag, what did it ever do to you?" Mikey soothed as he faked concern.
Without wavering in his actions, Raph grumbled, "Better than Leo's annoying face, ain't it?"
A small tug worked its way onto the corners of Raphael's mouth as Mikey laughed. "Yeah, probably. Why didn't you realize that earlier? I'm 99.9 percent sure that the bruise on his face is gonna be there for the rest of the week."
Raphael ignored that comment and continued to release his anger, but the youngest couldn't help but notice that his punches were a little less meaningful. His features lifted into his trademark mischievous manner. "Wanna spar, Raphie?"
At this, Raph slowed down his actions and looked over his shoulder at his baby brother. A deadly wicked smile etched onto his face as he challenged, "Sure. You've done a lot more to me than this stupid punching bag ever will."
Michelangelo beamed widely as he took his defensive stance. "Well then, come at me, bro."
A/N
Welp, I guess I am just going to update this sporadically(: These ficlets help when I am writing my other fluffy stories.
Thank you for the kind reviews! I'm glad you all enjoyed it. Who doesn't love a puff of fluff every once in a while?
Also, I hope this chapter was okay; I wrote what I believe the brothers would do in these situations in order to keep them in character. So no kissing or giggling or any stuff like that, sorry..
Reviews are welcomed !
