Mikey frowned as he peered through the camera viewfinder before refocusing on the group in front of him. "We're gonna have to squeeze closer together."

"I don't think we can get any closer."

"Are you complaining?" Leo turned his head so he could nuzzle his nose against Raph's cheek in response to his mate's grumble.

"Not at all." Raphael said with a sigh as he scooped Machi up in one arm and then looped a tight arm around Leo's shoulder.

"Maybe we should just take individual family photos?" April suggested as she watched Casey chase after Shadow.

"Yeah, we could find a frame that would fit a bunch of smaller group pictures," Donnie added. "Then they'd all be in one place."

Michelangelo's immediate puppy dog eyes stilled their tongues from trying to talk him out of this large group shot and Yoshi smiled quietly as he watched the group of them go back and forth. His eyes focused in on baby Gabriel and he had a sudden image of his four boys as turtle tots. He wished he'd been able to take pictures of them when they were that small. But, he could only be happy now to think that their current family was too large to fit in a single photo frame.

"Raph I want you to smile."

"I am smiling." Raph's voice was gruff as he rolled his eyes at his little brother.

"Look at your son. Raised by you and yet still able to smile for a photo."

"Akito could sneeze the second you take the picture and he'd still look like that."

"That's not actually technically possible," Donnie muttered.

Akito just tried to keep smiling at the camera, doing his best to be cooperative so they could get this over with and he could spend time with Violet before she had to go home.

"Are you sure I should be in this?" Violet whispered up to Akito.

Akito rubbed a nervous hand across the back of his neck, but still wrapped an arm around her to keep her close. He could hear the complaints about their group already being too large, and he knew she technically wasn't a member of the Hamato family. Not yet at least. But he still wanted her to be in the photo. He opened his mouth to reassure her, but his dad beat him to it.

"Yes," Leo murmured over to the two of them before he glanced their way. "You stay right there."

"Hai, sensei," Violet whispered back before shooting a small smile up towards Akito.

"Oh! I brought boxes for some of us to stand on!" Woody said before running over to where he and Mikey had left them. "I bet we'll fit better in two rows."

"Pizza boxes?" Master Splinter asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"We've been saving them!" Mikey pitched in and began stacking boxes behind his brothers.

"Uh, Mike." Leo's eyes were wide with worry as he watched their father climb up on a stack of pizza boxes. "Maybe we should stand on the boxes, instead of-,"

"Don't you move, Leo. Clan leader stands front and center."

"So I get to be clan leader in the picture, but don't get to give any instructions here?" Leo asked while cringing until it was clear the boxes were going to hold their father's weight.

"Yup. Just. Stand. There." Mikey instructed as he moved onto the next stack of boxes for Miwa.

Leo scowled at the back of Mikey's head as he heard Raph chuckle next to him. But he didn't move from his spot. Or offer further suggestions. Mikey had been bugging all of them for a group photo for weeks now and while he wasn't sure the pizza boxes were the safest idea, he was too interested now to see the final result to put up much of a fight against their little brother.

Miwa also stared dubiously down at her own stack of pizza boxes and exchanged a small shrug with Casey and April as she climbed up on top of them. At least in her new spot she was behind Machi and she shared a warm smile with her small niece from where the small fox sat perched on one of Raphael's arms.

Donnie adjusted baby Gabriel in his arms when the little one started to fuss and Sadie turned towards Mikey and her brother. "I'm not sure he's going to let us stand here much longer."

"Leo, go talk to little G about the importance of patience."

"I thought I wasn't allowed to move from my spot," Leo said dryly.

There were a few soft chuckles from some of the group members, a much needed break from the tension as they watched Mikey actually shoot Leo an evil side eye. It didn't help that Leo's only response to the baby brother's irritation was a wide grin as he made a show of planting his feet further where he stood.

"Hey, if a crying baby gets us out of this picture, my baby is starting to look upset as well," Raph said right before he dug his fingers into Machi's side.

"I'm not a baby!" Machi tried to squeal through her giggles. She managed to push her papa's tickling fingers away while staying perched on his other arm.

"That wasn't really the response I was goin for," Raph said with a deep sigh, doing his best to appear disappointed. "I need ya to cry, Mach."

"I'm going to smile for this picture and so are you." Machi tugged on the tails of his red mask with a grin.

"Thank you, Machi," Mikey muttered as he adjusted April and Casey once more so they could be seen behind Leo and Raph.

"Just look at daddy," Machi whispered to her papa. "He always makes you smile."

"You make me smile, too," he whispered in response. Then he nuzzled his face against Machi's before rewrapping his other arm around Leo. He turned to see if Leo was still engaging in a mini glaring war with Mikey, but found that Leo had turned his complete attention back to him.

"I love you," Leo whispered over to him. He loved his favorite turtle anyway, but seeing Papa Raphael in action always did fun things to his insides.

Raphael froze. While he enjoyed Leo's whispered words, he was once again struck by the clear love and adoration he could see in Leonardo's blue eyes. Leonardo's darkening, darkening blue eyes. He growled softly at Leo, doing his best to keep it between the two of them despite the large group that surrounded them. And when Leo's face turned innocent and his eye ridge raised in question at Raph's attempt to warn him to stop teasing him, Raph could only smile deviously back at him. "Aishiteru," he murmured as he silently planned out that night's activities with his mate.

Shadow took off once more as April climbed onto her own stack of boxes, prompting Casey to chase after her again. He swung the tiny girl up on his shoulders and quickly returned to the group. Then he hopped up on his own stack of boxes and did his best to smile as Shadow chomped down on his head.

"Ya got two minutes, Mike," Casey announced.

Feeling satisfied with everyone's new placements, Mikey sprinted back to the camera and peered at the group through the viewfinder once again. Finally, he grinned up at the group.

"Twenty seconds!" he announced before making a mad dash back to his own spot next to Woody.

A/N: Since getting this many family members in one photo is always so much fun, this is pretty much how I imagine this scene would go. Although in reality this took so much time and work and effort from Sakycchan to create something with so many characters, that I'm sure it was really no less of a hassle!

I've honestly always wanted a real family photo with not just the guys, but some of my OCs included as well, and I knew Sakycchan would bring them all to life in way that was warm and adorable and real. I know this was a work trade, but I still can't thank you enough, Saky. This means a great deal to me.

(Sorry FanFiction site folks, you'll have to head over to the Archives site or Tumblr to see the end result – Reader115 on both sites.)