Despite the fact that they had a perfectly good farm house to sleep in, when Mikey asked everyone to camp out that night, no one could tell him no. Not after the disastrous hide and seek game. Although, they didn't have a tent, so camping out was pretty much just them sprawled out on the ground around a camp fire.
Leo lay on his shell and stared up at the dark sky. He could hear Mikey's voice nearby, telling a spooky story about attack chickens. Or attack pumpkins. He wasn't really listening. And honestly, he wished Mikey would give it up, considering he usually only managed to scare himself with his stories.
Besides, they'd already lived through enough scary events. Leo didn't see the point in trying to add in extra fright to their lives. Not when they were supposed to be out here relaxing.
But Leo kept his thoughts to himself, and just listened to the comforting sound that was a happy Mikey's voice, even if he wasn't listening to Mikey's words, and focused on the stars instead. He had to admit, today had been a good day, and he felt much more settled than he'd been the day before. He heard Raph groan in aggravation beside him and turned his head to glance over at his brother. He knew he owed a lot of his contentment to Raphael and he smiled at the other turtle when Raph's eyes met his.
Raph tossed his thumb in Mikey's direction when he caught Leo's eyes before rolling his own eyes. He watched as Leo actually smiled back at him and for a moment forgot about the ridiculous story Mikey was telling. If Mikey's story was lifting Leo's spirits, then he was going to stop his grumbling. He shifted on his shell and propped his arms behind his head, resigning himself to listening to how Super Mikey saved the farmhouse from evil attack chickens.
"So you defeated the evil chickens with corn seed?" Casey asked at the end of Mikey's very long tale.
April moved a checkers piece on the board she and Donnie had set up in the grass between them and smiled when she heard Casey's question, mainly because she knew Casey was one of the few around the fire who'd actually listened to Mikey's entire story.
"Special corn seed that tamed the wild demons inside the chickens," Mikey said, waving his fingers in the air.
Casey frowned. "Where'd ya get the corn seed? Did Donnie make it?"
Donnie raised an eye ridge and peered around April to send an amused look at Casey.
"You know those chickens are actually really sweet," April offered in the chickens' defense. She twisted to smile at Mikey behind her. "I have no idea why they don't like you. You should really just let Raph feed them."
"No way!" Mikey said. "I can't give up on them! They just need more time to learn to love me."
"Maybe ya should start by not tellin stories where they're evil demons," Raph grumbled from his spot.
"I bet they'd love knowin they were the stars of my story!" Mikey said a small pout in Raphael's direction.
"I thought you were the star of your story," Donnie said without looking up. His tongue stuck out between his teeth and he quickly hopped a checker piece over three of April's.
"Hey!" April said, as Donnie scooped up her three pieces and took them to his side. She narrowed her eyes at him in a mock frown.
Casey leaned over April's shoulder to eye their board. "I want to play the winner," he said.
"This game is not over yet," April said, her glare still focused on Donatello who only grinned widely back at her.
Leo let the farmhouse's front door swing shut behind him as he walked back out to the fire with his arms full of supplies. He stopped short when both Raph and Donnie suddenly moved to their feet and jumped in front of him when he was spotted.
"Where'd ya get that?" Raph asked.
Leo looked down at the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate in his arms. "The kitchen?" he said slowly.
"Yer not allowed in the kitchen," Raph said with a glare.
"Leo, I swear, if you touched anything while you were in there -," Donnie started.
Leo rolled his eyes and pushed past both of them. He tossed the bag of marshmallows to Mikey and sat himself back down by the warm fire. Donnie and Raph exchanged a look before returning to their own seats.
"Hey!" Donnie said, eyeing the checkerboard which appeared to be newly rearranged.
"Oh," April said innocently. "You left. I thought that meant it was time to set up a new game."
"Two steps! I went two steps!"
"Sorry, Donnie," April said, although the glint in her eye said she wasn't sorry at all.
Mikey speared some marshmallows on the sticks he'd collected earlier and began passing them around the fire to the others. Leo watched as Raph crouched closer to the fire so he could make sure his entire marshmallow caught on fire and had to smile at the familiarity of it.
April continued to stare back at Donnie in challenge. Younger Donnie would've gone along with whatever she wanted, whether she cheated or not. The Donnie in front of her was also going to go along with her cheat, even though she knew he remembered exactly where every piece had been. But this Donnie was also staring back at her in a way that said he was going to pay her back for this maneuver. It was making her insides twist in a way that immediately sent heat up her neck again and she could only be grateful that it was too dark for anyone to notice.
But then she watched as his eyes moved to her neck and cursed herself again for not realizing that of course Donnie and his super senses would notice. His eyes on her neck only caused the blush to deepen and rise to her cheeks and the next thing she knew he was grinning at her in triumph and she was trying not to fan herself again.
"Well, I guess a new game means you get to play against Casey now," Donnie was saying to her and she smiled back at him. Because maybe this Donnie was too mature to fawn over her, but he was clearly still a sweetheart who wouldn't openly tease her in front of his brothers.
"Yes!" Casey said, jumping up and practically landing in Donnie's lap in order to take his spot.
Donnie laughed and pushed the hockey player off of him as he moved to the side. He accepted a marshmallow on a stick from Mikey and lowered his marshmallow at the perfect angle to start lightly toasting it. And he found that when he leaned back slightly, he could rest his shell against Casey. Casey was warm and solid against his back and since the hockey player didn't move or protest, Donnie stayed where he was and enjoyed the crackle of the fire with his brothers. He watched as a whistling Mikey sandwiched two graham crackers around his marshmallow to pull it off his roasting stick with a smile. Michelangelo had figured out how to make s'mores in their microwave when they were teens, and while it had been a nice treat, he knew they all preferred making them over a real fire. Outside.
A flaming, blackened marshmallow in the fire caught his attention and he practically rolled his eyes knowing that Leo couldn't be trusted to cook anything anywhere. His eyes traveled up to Leo and his other thoughts about how warm Casey was against his shell disappeared when he saw Leonardo's face. Leo's marshmallow was burning because Leo had clearly forgotten about it as he sat staring into the flames. And that's when Donnie saw it, the shadow that was hanging over their brother. The shadow that he realized Raphael had been able to see right away. Donnie glanced to Mikey and knew that Mikey saw it now too as he sat across the fire with his own eyes on Leo.
He leaned forward, away from Casey, which had Casey turning his head from the game with April to see what was wrong. Donnie wanted to say something to Leo, to pull him away from whatever thoughts were causing that strange look on their leader's face. But he stopped when Raph's hand suddenly reached over and pulled Leo's marshmallow out of the fire.
Leo jerked out of his trance and immediately met Raph's worried eyes. His mind had flashed back to their battle with Shredder. Again. There'd been a point during that fight where he'd actually been terrified. And then full of rage. And he knew by the look on Raph's face that those emotions were currently being openly expressed all over his own face. He ducked his head, feeling ashamed of himself for letting the thoughts take over during the family campout, when he was trying to make a real effort to celebrate with the others. He let his eyes close so that he could try to clear his expression, but his eyes popped open a second later when he felt something warm wrap tightly around his shell.
"What are you doing?" he murmured. Although he wasn't sure why he was asking. He knew exactly what Raph was doing.
"It's a hug, ya idiot," Raph muttered back into his neck, loud enough only for Leo to hear. "Just let me hug ya."
Leo nodded. He hadn't actually been protesting anyway. He tried to take a deep breath despite the tight embrace and felt the terror and rage slip away from him.
Raphael stayed right where he was until he felt Leo give into the hug. And then he stayed there a few moments more just because. He met Leo's eyes again when he released him and smiled at Leo's sheepish expression.
"Here," he said, handing over his freshly made s'more to Leo.
"That's yours."
"Yeah, well, ya just burnt the shit out of yer marshmallow and you don't like em burnt. Take this one. I'll make another."
Leo gratefully took the assembled s'more and smiled thoughtfully at Raphael. Raph only rolled his eyes back at him and pretended to grumble as he pulled out more graham crackers. But a moment later he glanced back at Leo and felt relieved as he watched him happily eating his s'more. Leo appeared to be concentrating on his treat instead of caught up in whatever thoughts had left the leader looking terrified and then full of anger only a few moments ago.
Donnie exchanged a look with Mikey, who had also been quietly watching their big brothers. Mikey's smile reflected his own. Leo watched out for all of them and they all tried to watch out for Leo, although he had to admit, Raph typically, and seamlessly, took on that role. He leaned back again against Casey, a move that was noticeable only to Casey, and April if her coy expression as she watched the two of them meant anything, and refocused on his own marshmallow and how nice it was to just sit and enjoy a night free of patrols or threats to an entire city.
"By the way, Donnie," Leo said, keeping his eyes pinned on Raph's hands as he watched Raph assemble a new s'more with the blackened marshmallow, "the fridge started making a strange sound while I was in the kitchen."
"What?" Donnie said as his tranquil thoughts quickly left him. "How did you break the fridge while you were in there? None of those s'mores ingredients were even in the fridge!"
"I know," Leo said, daring a glance upwards towards Raphael's face where he caught Raph doing his best to fight off a grin. "It's the strangest thing."
Leo shivered repeatedly in his sleep. He realized in the back of his mind that their camp fire must have died, but he was much too cold to get up and try to revive it. He cursed every single one of them for not thinking to bring blankets outside with them or setting up some sort of schedule to keep up the fire overnight.
He cracked an eye open and gauged how far away Raphael was before rolling himself to face Raphael and scooting himself across the dirt. He shifted his bent legs forward until he made contact with his space-heater of a brother. Having just his knees and shins pressed up against one of Raph's legs wasn't the same as having the fire going, but he was thankful to be immediately warmer as he pressed his eyes shut again.
Raphael woke as soon as he felt something touch his leg, although he was glad he hadn't jerked away when he realized it was just a heat-seeking Leo and not some forest monster. He could feel Leo's legs shiver against his own and shifted himself until he could throw his arm over his pitiful, cold brother. He half expected Leo to protest against the extra weight, but found himself pleased when Leo's only response was to burrow further beneath him. So he threw a leg over Leo's legs and ducked his head, instinctually trying to protect Leo's face from the cold air.
He waited for Leo's body to stop shivering. And for Leo to fall back to sleep in their new positions. And as he fell back into sleep himself, Raphael realized that he'd never truly appreciated that he was so naturally warm before.
Casey didn't really notice the cold air. What he noticed were the two beings who were trying to both leach all of his natural body heat away from him. Normally, he might not mind April, at least, trying to cuddle with him. But the shivering wasn't in any way sexy. Or conducive to sleep.
Casey pressed up into a sitting position and rubbed at his eyes before standing. He pulled April up and took a second to look back down at the other being who'd been trying to steal his body heat. He was slightly impressed with Donnie's sudden ability to try to cram his long legs up into his shell. He shook his head, knowing there was no way he would leave Donnie out here to suffer, and reached his free arm down to pull Donnie to his feet as well.
Neither friend protested as he began to drag them towards the front of the farmhouse. In fact, neither even really opened their eyes at all as they walked. He glanced around the dead fire and grinned widely when he spotted Raph and Leo cuddled up together. Raph was totally hearing about that shit from him in the morning. But he left them there since neither of them looked cold. He was slightly worried when he realized Mikey was no where to be seen, but that worry disappeared two steps into the farmhouse when he spotted Mikey under a heap of blankets on the couch.
He almost laughed out loud as he realized Mikey had convinced all of them to sleep outside with him, only to at some point abandon them all to the cold.
Despite their ability to cling to him, Donnie and April both seemed to remain mostly asleep, and he vowed that they both owed him big for making him practically carry them both up the stairs simultaneously. He turned into the closest bedroom, which also happened to be the room April had claimed the previous night. He let go of the both of them, which led to actual vocal protests as he pulled the top blanket back and moved himself onto the bed. And Casey didn't fail to notice how quickly they both followed him and his warmth onto the mattress. He lay on his back, and was soon covered in a tangle of arms and legs that didn't belong to him. And as he listened to their breathing a short minute later, he realized that they were both already back to sleep.
April had her head tucked on his shoulder and he thought about how much he liked it when she wore her hair down, even if it was currently tickling the arm he had wrapped around her shoulders. April was all soft curves against him and as he dared to rest his hand on her hip, he felt her sigh and sink further into him.
He turned to eye his second bedmate. Casey's other arm was currently trapped under Donnie's neck, although Donnie wasn't using him as a pillow like April, but was instead sharing a pillow with him. Which wasn't to say they weren't cuddling, as Donnie had managed to curl the rest of his long body up against Casey's side. With his hard shell, Donnie was pretty much the opposite of April's soft curves. But Casey realized he didn't really mind as he watched one of Donnie's muscled arms move to wrap around his middle. Casey watched as one of April's hands instinctually reached out and wrapped around the green arm on Casey's stomach.
While they both seemed warm and happy in their sleep, Casey tried to ignore the fact that he felt like he was overheating with the two of them pressed so closely to him. He turned his head towards Donnie and was soon wondering if he'd ever been this close to the turtle's face before. His hand curled up, and although it was an odd angle, he managed to gently pull Donnie's purple mask away from his head. The dork was kind of cute, he decided, especially when he wasn't rolling his eyes or making snitty comments in Casey's direction. He tilted his head enough to rest the side of his head against Donnie's forehead and was instantly more comfortable with Donnie's cool skin acting as an ice pack against his hot skin. He found himself sighing happily as he let his arm curl around the turtle's shell so that his fingers could trace along the different grooves.
Casey's lips twisted into a smirk as he wondered how both of them were going to react in the morning when they found themselves tangled up against Casey Jones.
Then he squeezed them both tighter to him, because he could get used to this.
