Never let anyone say that I neglect the niblings.
"Are you going to have cake at your wedding?" Mikey asked, sitting next to Louie, two nearly identical knitting projects in their laps.
"What kind of person doesn't have cake at their wedding?" Raphael scoffed.
"Your Uncle Huey had wedding pie," Louie commented, "And people who get eloped might not have wedding cake. Sometimes they have wedding ice cream from Dairy Queen." DJ narrowed her eyes at him, picking up on how specific and out of context of an example that was.
"I have never been so disappointed in my own father," Scarlett said dramatically, draping herself across the armchair where Azure was sitting.
"Get off of my book," Azure complained.
"Are you gonna get eloped?" DJ asked, "I think I would want to get eloped. Why wait when you've found the one?"
Louie laughed, "That's a compelling point, DJ. Sometimes it's hard to wait. But Boyd and I are going to have a fairytale wedding, something classy, and magical," Azure looked up at the mention of magic, "and there will in fact be cake."
DJ wasn't sure that that was an answer to her question but the conversation was already drifting back to cake.
"What kind of cake?" Mikey asked. He was happy for his uncles but he was much more excited for wedding cake.
"Hm. Not sure. I think I'll let Boyd choose."
"Who's going to be your best man?" Emerald asked.
"Dewey-" Louie began, Raphael and Leo cheering as if this were a personal victory, "-Because Huey will be Boyd's best man."
"Will you have like, a maid of honor?" Scarlett asked, trying to work out the logistics in her head.
"Uh, yes. I think Webby is going to be my maid of honor and Violet Boyd's maid of honor, May and June will also be in our party, and Gosalyn and Lena have the most important jobs of all- keeping criminals out of the wedding."
Azure laughed, "Like there are gonna be any criminals at the wedding."
Scarlett looked down, suddenly very interested in her boots, and Louie forced a laugh, "Well, better safe than sorry, right?"
"Are you gonna wear a dress?" DJ asked, plopping down next to her twin and almost disturbing his knitting.
"No, I don't think so. Boyd and I really want to get matching suits and Aunt Daisy said she'd make them for us."
"Aww," DJ beamed, a romantic at heart.
"And then you'll have a big party with everyone? And cake?" Mikey was not a romantic at heart.
"That's the plan. And then we'll go on our honeymoon or something. That part we haven't decided on."
"I bet it's gonna be perfect," DJ said, sighing dreamily.
"Unless all those criminals show up," Azure said with a laugh.
"Well," Raph said, "If anyone tries to mess with our family I'll fuck them up."
"Raphael!" Louie chastised the 12-year-old, horrified, "Watch your language!"
Raph stuck his tongue out at Louie and little Leo shifted in his big brother's arms, memorizing the word for later mischief.
"You can't punish me 'cause you're not my dad," Raphael pointed out.
"But I can tell your dad," Louie shot back.
"Well, maybe I'll tell him I learned it from you.," Raph countered.
"You did not." Louie had been extremely careful about not using inappropriate language in front of the niblings.
"Fine, I learned it from Uncle Huey."
Scarlett burst out laughing, Azure looked a little embarrassed, and Emerald didn't seem to care either way. Louie wasn't all that surprised, Huey was a stickler for keeping things clean and child-appropriate but he still had outbursts where things slipped out.
"Well, I'm having a long talk with my brothers tonight," Louie said, shaking his head.
"Please don't tell him," Raph begged, his expression changing, "He'll ground me for like, ever."
"You should have thought about that before you used bad language."
Raphael looked frustrated, "It's just a word!"
"A word you can use when you're older. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell your dad."
"Because I'm your nephew! You should want to protect me."
"Compelling argument, what else have you got?"
"Uh…" Raphael wrapped his arms tighter around Leo as he thought, "I won't do it again?"
"Bingo, I can work with that. You also have to get your siblings and cousins not to say anything," Louie pointed out. Raphael looked around frantically, his eyes settling on Mikey and DJ.
"Mikey, you wouldn't say anything, would you?"
"Of course not!" Mikey was loyal to a fault
"DJ?" Raph pleaded.
"I won't tell dad if you load the dishwasher for me and Mikey for the rest of the month."
"That's almost worse than being grounded," Raph protested.
"Would you rather be grounded?" DJ asked, smiling sweetly. Raphael considered his options, glancing at his cousins (who had taken on the appearance of hungry hyenas) and his littlest brother (whose mouth couldn't be restrained) and he let out a long sigh.
"Fine, just tell him."
"Owning up to your mistakes is for the best," Louie said, "your dad might go easy on you if you tell him yourself."
"How's that conversation gonna go? Hey dad, I said a bad word today, even though it really is just a word, do you want to take away my Xbox now?"
"That's exactly how it's gonna go. You have until tomorrow to tell him or I will. Alright?"
"Fine." Raphael seemed dejected, pushing his baby brother off on Emerald (who was unprepared to hold a four-year-old) and getting up to go sulk in the kitchen.
"Should I go check on him?" Louie asked.
"Nah, give him a few minutes. He gets like that sometimes," DJ said. Louie felt a little bad about mildly disciplining his oldest nephew but Raph was a role model for the others. He couldn't just be careless about what he said or did.
"Uncle Louie? Can you take Leo?" Emerald asked, trying to stop him from pulling the decorative pins off her jacket.
"Yeah, of course," Louie set down his knitting, glancing at Mikey, "You're doing great, bud, you've probably got it from here." Then he pulled Leo into his arms and cuddled him.
Boyd would be home in a few minutes with their lunch, but Louie felt he was managing his niblings pretty well, save for the Raph situation. He felt pretty confident in himself as a mature, pulled-together uncle.
Mature and pulled together as he was, he was overjoyed when his partner returned. He traded Leo for the pizza, set it on the dining room table to be ravaged by little ones, and then went to check on Raphael.
"Hey, bud, the pizza's here."
"Don't call me bud," Raph snapped.
Louie took a deep breath, "You know why you're in trouble right?"
"Because I said a bad word," Raphael said in a snarky voice.
Louie sighed and leaned against the counter, "It's because you're a role model for the younger kids. You have no idea how much I got in trouble for introducing Webby, May, and June to questionable material. You're the oldest, they look up to you."
"I didn't ask for that!" The words burst out of Raphael like a dam breaking and he turned away, "I didn't ask to be a role model. I didn't ask to be the big brother. I c-can't do it all the time."
Louie's heart broke for Raph and he pulled him into a hug, expecting the preteen to resist. Raph didn't resist, he just turned and melted into Louie's arms, beginning to sob.
"Oh, Raph, I'm here for you. I've got you. Listen, we'll talk to your dad, okay? We'll tell him how stressed out you've been, feeling responsible for your younger siblings. Dewey wouldn't want that, he loves you, kiddo. He wants you to be safe and happy."
"I want to keep them safe," Raph whispered, "I do, I do… But sometimes I wanna say fuck. Sometimes I wanna swear like no one's listening."
"Listen," Louie said, "If you ever need a break, call me, or call Boyd. We'll get you and we'll say bad words in the car. But you can't swear in front of your siblings, okay? I still have to let your dad know you did that, but when it's just me and you I'll give you a little leeway, okay?"
Raph smiled a little, rubbing the tears out of his eyes and pulling away from Louie's embrace.
"Thanks, Uncle Louie."
"Of course, kiddo. I love you. If you're feeling overwhelmed, I want to do whatever I can to help."
"I love you too," Raph said, looking a little awkward.
"Now, let's get some pizza before it's all gone," Louie suggested.
For the rest of the afternoon, they played Mario Kart, though Mikey mostly worked on his knitting project, excited to learn. Louie noticed when they chose their racers that Azure did get really stressed out by choices, just like Boyd had said. Louie felt bad, but he didn't know how to help, though he made one attempt before their parents came to pick them up.
"If any of you need to talk or vent or rant about something, if something's upsetting you and you need someone to come to, you can always come to me or Boyd," Louie said, gathering his niblings into a hug right as the doorbell rang.
"Now, I need to talk to Dewey and I need to talk to Violet so either way, give me a minute. Make sure you have all of your stuff. Mikey, do you want to take your knitting or leave it here?"
"I want to take it."
"Alright, well, gather your things, make sure everyone has their shoes. Make sure all the joycons are charging."
Louie stepped over to the door and found his brother.
"Hey, Dewey, can we talk outside for a minute?"
"Yeah, sure, are the kids okay?"
"Yeah, they're fine, but I want to talk about Raph."
"Oh, yeah, sure."
"Well, you need to know that Raph said fuck in front of the younger kids. He might tell you that himself and if he does you can pretend I didn't tell you. But it's not just that- Dewey I know you're a good dad, no, a great dad. But you also have a lot on your plate and you might not notice, and I wouldn't blame you for not noticing- Raph gets really overwhelmed being the role model and the big brother all the time. I think he needs some time to himself occasionally when he can just goof off without worrying about who's watching."
"Did he tell you that?" Dewey asked, looking shaken.
"Yeah."
"If Raph is bothered enough to open up about something, to you of all people, no offense-"
"None taken."
"-then something is clearly wrong. I'll talk to him. And I'll try not to be too mad about the swearing, kids slip up."
"Uncle Donald washed our mouths out with soap, remember?"
"I remember it like it was yesterday. I never ever buy that brand of soap, even today."
"I respect that. It is pretty good soap though."
"Good tasting or good for washing hands?"
"Both," Louie said with a laugh.
"Anyway, thanks for the heads up, Louie. And thanks for looking after my kids. Mikey was really excited to learn how to knit. I like it when my kids are excited about stuff."
"And I love hanging with my niblings. If you ever need help, Dew, we've got your back."
"And when you and Boyd get hitched and start a family I will offer the same to you."
"Thanks," Louie said, noticing Violet pull up, "Go ahead inside, I have to talk to Violet for a minute too."
"Why, did Azure also say fuck?"
"No, this isn't about the kids. It's personal."
"Ah, alright, I won't pry." Dewey slipped inside to gather the turtles and Louie waved to his sister-in-law.
"Hey, Vi, can I ask you something on the spiritual side of things?"
"Do you have a ghost in your house, Louie?" Violet asked.
"No, just some skeletons in my closet, and… Well… I've been having these nightmares. Different than the ones from before I got shot. Worse, somehow. I keep falling, alone and desperate, knowing Boyd is supposed to be there and he isn't."
"And you've spoken to your therapists about this? And to Boyd?"
"Yes, multiple times. I think it's more than psychological, Vi. I think I may be having like, premonitions," Louie sounded a bit frantic and Vi picked up his hand, studying it and rubbing her fingers over the palm as he talked, "Think about it. Last time I had nightmares full force was before I got shot. What if the universe is trying to tell me something? What if I should be preparing for the worst?"
"Well, a good Junior Woodchuck always prepares for the worst," Vi said, continuing to rub his palm.
"Are you reading my palm? What does my future hold?"
"I have no idea, Louie. I do this to calm down Huey when he gets paranoid about the future. I cannot predict what will happen next and neither can you. The dreams aren't a prediction of something bad happening, they're a manifestation of your worry that something will go wrong. As for the gunshot corresponding to nightmares, that's correlation not causation or prediction. These dreams aren't real. You don't have to give them power."
"Thanks, Violet. I'll try to remember that."
But they felt pretty real when he woke up sweating that night, sure that his wings had finally melted, that something bad was on the horizon.
Boyd didn't even have to open his eyes to know something was wrong. He tightened his embrace around his partner, trying to make Louie feel secure. Boyd hadn't gone on night patrol since hearing about the attempted break-in here. He couldn't risk it.
"Louie? You have another nightmare?"
"Yeah," Louie shivered.
"It's alright, love. I've got you. Go back to sleep, you're safe, I'm safe, we're going to be okay."
Louie settled into Boyd's embrace but he couldn't sleep. Not when he felt so utterly alone in his nightmares.