Leonardo was very confused. His youngest brother had told him that he had a plan to help him stop worrying, but Leo couldn't help but be a little wary. There was a reason why the eldest turtle came up with the majority of their plans and not the youngest brother. However, the reason as to why he was confused was that Michelangelo had told him to get rid of any plans he may have for that evening as they were going to Angel's place during that time.

Leonardo had spent the afternoon trying to get Mikey to tell him what he had planned, but the orange masked turtle refused to say anything. For a while, Donnie and Raph had tried to get the information out of him (despite not knowing what sort of information they were trying to find out about), but the pair had eventually grown tired of Michelangelo's stubbornness. Donatello had declared that he was going to do some research on the laptop and had gone into the kitchen to make himself some coffee. Raphael had grabbed a trench coat from the coat rack and had left the lair without saying where he was going. Master Splinter sat in his armchair, reading an article in the newspaper about the death of one of his favourite actors. He didn't say anything about Donnie isolating himself in his room or Raphael departing from their home without explaining where he was going. Splinter thought that the turtles, now that they were nearing adulthood, needed to have privacy and didn't need to write down every action they planned to do in advance. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but he needed to try to not be overly protective.

They were growing boys, after all.

"Why are we going to see Angel?" Leo asked for the fifth time that hour. He was trying to read his favourite book, 'On the Art of War', but found himself unable to concentrate. Leonardo couldn't keep his mind at ease knowing Mikey had plans for him.

Michelangelo, who was watching 'The Turtle Titan' on the television, rolled his eyes. "Look, you'll like, find out when we get there."

"Patience is a virtue, Leonardo," Splinter replied from behind his newspaper. He turned the page before continuing to read the newspaper.

"Yeah what he said," Mikey said, earning himself a dark look from his brother. "But… uh… we can go now, if you want. Angel's busy preparing-"

"Preparing?" Leonardo repeated suspiciously.

"- But she won't mind if we pop by early," Michelangelo finished. He took a deep breath before handing the TV remote to Master Splinter. "Do… do what you will with it Master. I don't think I'm able to turn my favourite cartoon off. It… it would be too painful."

Master Splinter smiled at his son, putting the TV remote to one side. Although Michelangelo said and did things that he didn't understand the logic of, it more often than not brought a smile onto his aged face. Splinter waited for his eldest and youngest son to leave before he picked up the TV remote and changed the channel to the Discovery Channel.

TMNTNMT

Angel was laying a black low-cut dress on her bed when she heard a quiet tapping sound coming from her window. Having a rough idea who it was, she walked up to her window and opened it. To her surprise, it wasn't Michelangelo and Leonardo, but Raphael. She was happy to see him, mostly because he was one of her closest friends, but she couldn't help but wish that he had chosen a better time to visit.

"Raph!" Angel forced herself to smile at him, moving her body so that she was blocking as much of his view of her bed as possible. "Wow, what a surprise! I didn't expect you to visit right now."

Raphael smirked, perched on her windowsill. "Can I come in? It's freakin' freezin' out here."

"Oh…" Angel looked over her shoulder at her bed, her heart thumping loudly. "I… I have friends coming over soon. It wouldn't be wise to stay for very long."

Raph let himself in anyway, landing heavily on her carpeted flooring. He sniffed, rubbing his beak with the back of his hand. "I didn't know ya had any friends, Angel. Ya used to have the Purple Losers, but then we helped ya get on the right track ages ago. And ya told me dat everyone else still thinks yer weird."

Angel narrowed her eyes at him, her cheeks turning pink. "Yeah, but maybe I made some friends recently. Did it ever occur to you that-" Raph pushed past her and looked at her bed. Various dresses were laid out, and her box of makeup was sitting on top of a thin red cardigan. Raph picked up a pair of black high heels, a strange expression on his face. Angel watched him, unsure what to say.

"You goin' on a date or somethin'?" Raph asked after a few minutes of awkward silence, dropping the shoes onto her fluffy white pillow.

Angel stared at him, speechless. Raphael crossed his arms, waiting for her to say something in reply. Realizing she was expected to explain herself, Angel told him, "I'm just clearing out my stuff. Nan reckons I have too much junk and she wants me to throw some of it out."

"It looks like," Raph said, as though she hasn't said anything, "Yer goin' on a date." He gestured towards her bed. "Ya gonna get all dolled up, are ya? And ya didn't even tell me who the lucky guy was." He smiled at her, but Angel couldn't tell if this was because he was happy or not. The smile seemed too forced to be natural and it sent a wave of dread through her body. Raphael leaned closer to her, opening his mouth wider. "So who is he?"

"No one." Angel stepped backwards. Raphael widened his eyes, grabbing hold of her wrists. He moved his face closer, so they were practically touching. She could smell alcohol in his breath, and the alarm bells in her head began to ring furiously. Angel began to struggle, but the mutant turtle was far more powerful than her and refused to let her break his grip. "Raph, you're drunk."

"I ain't," Raph insisted, letting go of her wrists and stepping backwards. "I ain't-" He bumped into something, knocking him and whatever it was to the ground. However, when he sat up and checked to see what he had crashed into, he discovered it was not a something, but a someone. And he knew perfectly well who this someone was.

"Mikey?" Raphael exclaimed in disbelief, blinking. "Why the shell are ya here?"

Michelangelo must have climbed through the window without him noticing. He blinked a few more times, before a sense of realization dawned onto his face. His eyes darted between Angel and Mikey, his rage building as his eyes flickered between the pair. He stood up. His eyes weren't shooting daggers at his youngest brother…

They were shooting swords.

"I get it now." Raph picked up Mikey, who was too shocked to say anything. "I understand completely." Without any warning, he slammed Michelangelo into the nearest wall. Angel nearly screamed, but then she remembered that her grandmother was sleeping in the room next door. She couldn't risk waking her up.

"Please, Raph." She put her hand on his shoulder. She pleaded, "You need to calm down. You'll wake Nan in a minute, and then you guys are dead."

Raphael dropped Mikey to the ground before rounding on her. Michelangelo rubbed his behind, hoping that his shell wasn't damaged. Raph breathed loudly, his body shaking. "Yer right, I have better things to do than be here. I'll leave ya to have fun on yer date."

He growled, running to the open window before disappearing through it. Angel ran after him, but didn't go further than her window. She sighed, turning back to Mikey.

"Are you okay?" She helped a dazed Mikey to his feet. "Raph didn't mean it. He's drunk."

"Drunk?" Michelangelo repeated, his head spinning from the impact it had had on the wall moments before. "But I thought Sensei banned him from having any alcohol."

"What Master Splinter doesn't know can't hurt him," Angel remarked, repositioning her black high heels so that they were lying against each other. She looked at the open window, before turning her attention back to the orange masked turtle. "Where's Leo?"

"He'll be here in a minute," Mikey grinned at her. "I told him to take a detour. Why was Raph so upset when he thought we were dating?"

The image of Raph confessing an undying love to Angel entered his mind.

"He thinks I'll pick up some loser," she said casually. "He's like a really overprotective father."

"One that lets her drink beer?"

She shook her head, narrowing her eyes. "He takes every bit I have and drinks it so I can't have any. He's a jerk." She didn't sound cross though.

Mikey wondered whether this was why Raph drank as much as he did, or at least contributed towards it. He decided to change the subject. "So, are we ready to go?"

"Yep." Angel returned an equally excited look. "Man, I've always wanted to do this. But I never had the chance… Leo!" She clapped her hands together at the sight of Leonardo, who was carefully climbing through the window. He nodded at her, before seeing what was on her bed.

"Wow," Leo remarked. "You're going on a date or something?"

Angel shook her head, her mouth clamped shut. This didn't stop the giggles from leaking out her lips, unfortunately. Mikey pinched his mouth, his eyes watering from the effort. Leo, puzzled, looked between the pair. Then, he looked at Angel's bed again. Now that he was paying more attention to the items scattered on the piece of furniture, he could see that all the dresses had a large rip at the back. Leonardo transferred his gaze to the pair of giggling teenagers, his stomach dropping to the floor.

"Oh no." Leonardo held up his hands, more scared than disgusted. "Oh no… no no no no no. There is no way I agreed to this."

"Come on." Mikey tilted his head upwards. The lighting was dim and it created a series of shadows on his face, giving him a more sinister appearance. He grabbed a loose dress, its hot pink colour burning Leonardo's eyes. "You want to move on in life, don't you? You want to rise out of the blanket of guilt you've created for yourself, right?"

"But how will this help me?" Leo asked him, not able to take his eyes off the clothes arranged on Angel's bed.

"You have to stop thinking about what's expected of you." Angel picked up her box of makeup. "Look, it's hard to explain this sort of thing, but it'll work. "

"And I'll have a date," Mikey said devilishly. "Look, Leo, doing this will help me and you."

Mostly me, though, Mikey mentally added.

Leo crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face. Angel sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "It's only a little fun. You can't keep moping around in the past. You have to face today and make the most of it. Lighten up a bit, you know?"

Leonardo narrowed his eyes, staring away from them. He tapped his foot against the ground, waiting for one of them to say something else. Michelangelo threw himself forward, skidding across the carpet on his chest. He wrapped his arms around Leo's ankles, before saying, "Please please please Leo you've always been my favourite brother and if you do this for me I will do whatever you want me to do even spar with you and do boring meditation and-" He cringed, jerking his legs. "Ow! I gave myself friction burn!"

"Mikey..." Leonardo lifted his left leg and removed it from his brother's arms. Then, with his right, he shook Michelangelo off. "Is this so important to you?"

Mikey nodded slowly, staring up at his brother with his big blue eyes. Angel watched Leo, unsure of what his next reaction was going to be. Leo sighed. "If I, for some mad reason, was to say 'yes'… what would you be willing to offer me?"

Mikey allowed himself to smile slightly, realizing he still had a chance to persuade his brother. "Whatever you want, bro."

Leonardo helped Mikey to his feet. "Close your eyes."

Michelangelo did so, wondering what his brother was planning on doing. Then, he received a sharp smack on the side of the head.

"Never spy on me again."