A/N Just help you keep up, Leo's good brothers go by their nicknames: Raph, Donny/Don, and Mikey. His former brothers always go by their full names. In any case, I hope to get to the actual butt kicking in the next chapter or so. Until then, I hope this tides you over.
Mikey was not a happy turtle. As soon as he had seen those creeps in the colored masks, he'd know they were the ones responsible for the crap Leo had gone through. If his gut feeling hadn't been enough to go by, the scary way Leo had cringed and backed away from them when he first saw them would have been enough to tell him. Mikey was turtle enough to admit that he was jealous that Raph had gotten a punch in on his evil twin; Mikey would have loved to do the same. And then Leo had gone all noble on them and invited the cretins into their home. Well, as far as Mikey was concerned, they could stay, but that didn't mean they were welcome.
Donny's thoughts were along similar lines, though he was more concerned with how Leo was going to respond to his former brothers' presence than with the actuality of their being here. It was clear from the way Leo had backed away from them that Donny's older brother was still very vulnerable. Not that that would be a problem; as long and Donny, Mikey, and Raph were around, the interlopers would not have a chance to reinjure their brother.
It was a rather subdued group that arrived back at the Lair a quarter hour later. The first thing Leo did was remove his katanas with a sigh of relief. The weapons needed cleaning, but that could wait until morning. Besides, Leo had bigger issues to worry about. Leo wasn't happy about inviting his former brothers back to the Lair, but he had done so to prove a point: they may have misplaced their honor somewhere along the path, but he had not. Besides, Leo acknowledged to himself, his brothers, his real brothers, the ones who had taken him in and provided all the nurturing he needed, had his back. As long as he had them, he had nothing to fear from his past. Well, at least it sounded good in his head; if only he could get the rest of him to believe it.
Looking at the solemn group of assembled turtles, Leo sighed again. He was about to take up the rather unwanted mantle of leader once more, when Raph spoke up.
"Okay, here's the deal. I don't really want you here; I think that's pretty clear. But, my bro invited you, so I'm not going to make an issue out of it." Yet. "That being said, we need to make some sleeping arrangements. Personally, I'd rather let you sleep out in the sewer, but somehow I don't think that'd pass muster with Leader over here."
"My…Donatello can have my room," Donny volunteered, though none to enthusiastically. "I have a cot in my lab that will suit me for a couple of nights."
"And Michelangelo can sleep in my room," Mikey said. "He'd just better keep his hands to himself."
Everyone looked at Raph, but he refused to budge.
"Nope, no way. Jerk face over there can either sleep in Master Splinter's old room, or here on the couch. I'm not giving up my room for him," Raph said.
"He can have my room," Leo said suddenly. "I'll take the couch."
"The shell you will," Raph interrupted. "The tough guy over there can sleep on the couch; you certainly won't be. And if you absolutely insist on giving up your own bed, though he doesn't deserve it, then you can just come share with me. My bed's plenty big enough, and it certainly won't be the first time we've bunked together."
Before Raphael could make a snide comment about the brothers sharing a bed, Mikey suddenly popped up with
"Hey, Raph, can Don and I move the cots into your room, too? We could make it a bunking party."
Raph's first instinct was to refuse his youngest brother, but the look in Mikey's eyes stopped him. Just like Raph, Mikey was furious at the interference these trans-dimensional pests created in their lives. But beyond that, Mikey was desperate to protect his big brother, and right now this was his answer for that need. With a smile, Raph turned to Donny.
"Hey Don, you in?"
Donny gave a small nod. "Allow my to gather my things, and I will be along shortly.
TMNTTMNT
Half an hour later, the Lair was finally dark and quiet. In Raph's room, Leo was sound asleep, surrounded by his brothers, none of whom were sleeping. It had taken a while to get Leo calmed down enough to go to sleep, but after a complete "Mikey-massage," and the calming sensation of Raph rubbing soothing circles on his shell, Leo had finally relaxed enough to go to sleep. Of course, the fact that he was literally surrounded by his brothers helped. Once everyone was ready to get settled, Raph had immediately placed himself on the side of the bed closest to the door, thus between his brother and their resident nuisances. Leo had been given the far side of the king sized bed, against which Mikey had tucked his cot. Donny had then placed his cot right up against Mikey's, so that the two cots formed almost a double bed. Thus encircled by his brothers, Leo was able to slip away into a relatively peaceful sleep.
Once he was certain Leo was out, Raph sat up on the bed, though he never removed his hand from his brother's shell. He was immediately joined by Mikey and Donny.
"I don't like this," Raph whispered to his younger brothers. "Those good for nothing dirt bags are gonna be trouble." He recounted for his brothers what he'd overheard as the group was traveling home that night.
"What have they been smoking," Mikey exclaimed softly. "After what they did to Leo, there's no way he's gonna want to go back with them."
"Unless they guilt him into," Donny said. "They very well could try to make Leo feel guilty for not going back with them."
"Uh-uh, not gonna happen," Raph said. "I will gut every last one of them before I let them heap anymore guilt on Leo than they already have."
"So what do we do," Mikey asked.
"A little plan I call 'Brotherly Interference,'"Raph said. "To begin with, Leo is never left alone with any of those jerks. One or more of us stays with him at all times. Next, we don't let them mess up our schedule. We'll just keep living our lives as if they weren't here. I want them to see just how happy, and more importantly, successful Leo is here with us. And last, but not least, we beat the crap out of them if they cause Leo one nanosecond of hurt. I've already got a date with my counterpart as soon as I can arrange it without arousing Leader Mine's suspicions."
Donny and Mikey exchanged looks. "Sparring session," Donny suggested.
"Sounds about right," Mikey agreed. "Leo couldn't get too suspicious if those idiots got the snot kicked out of 'em during a normal sparring match. Especially if we were oh, so sorry about it afterward."
Raph gave a cold laugh.
"Bros, I like the way you think" he said. "So here's to operation 'Interference,' and a little 'harmless' sparring session our counterfeits will have the displeasure of facing in the near future."
