Although Master Splinter never made a lot of noise around the lair, now that he was gone, everything just seemed quieter. Maybe it was because the brothers were still in mourning and spent a lot of their time alone, whatever it was Mikey was going to set out to change this, he knew things would never be the same but they were young and had a great deal of their lives in front of them and couldn't spend every waking moment mourning.

Everyone but Mikey skipped breakfast the next morning before practice, which Mikey guessed they would so he had only made something for himself to eat, although had turned the coffee machine on for Donnie just in case. When Donnie didn't come into the kitchen for coffee he was worried, but he turned up at practice, dragging his hunched and very tired self into the dojo.

Donnie did better than he had been, but was still in no way fit to go up to the surface and Leo spoke to him privately after but luckily there was no shouting and neither looked angry when they came out of the dojo not long after.

"Hey Leo!" Mikey called out after his brother once Donnie was in his lab.

"Yes Mikey?"

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"Of course, what about?"

"All of us, I think it's time we started doing more things together, we all seem to be avoiding each other which is the last thing we need at...this time." Mikey explained.

"What do you suggest we do together?" Leo asked, crossing his arms, which was not a good sign, Leo was closing himself off.

"I dunno, watch a movie or have a games night, just something that'll get us all together." Mikey said, smiling brightly, hoping that his enthusiasm at having the four of them spending time together would catch on.

"Well I would happily do either Mikey, I'm just not sure about Donnie and Raph."

"Well we won't know until we ask." Mikey said and Leo remained silent for almost a full minute before replying to his brother.

"Would you ask Donnie?"

"I can if you want to ask Raph." Mikey countered back, knowing where this conversation was going to go if he didn't direct elsewhere.

"I'll ask Raph and you can ask Donnie." Leo said and walked away, much to Mikey's relief.

Suddenly in a very happy mood, the youngest turtle made his way over to his brother's lab to get Donnie out and to spend the night with his brothers.

"Donnie?" Mikey asked after banging on the closed lab door several times and getting no response. "Donnie, you in there bro? We're gonna have a bro's night, maybe watch a movie, maybe play a game, you can decide if you want!"

"Mikey, I'm busy."

"Come on bro, Leo and Raph will be there, it'll be fun if we can all do something together!"

"Maybe another night Mikey."

"But-"

"Go away Mikey!" Donnie shouted from inside and the orange banded turtle backed away from the door, defeated.

Hoping that Leo would have better luck getting Raph out of his room, Mikey decided to busy his mind looking through their DVD collection to find a film to watch.

"Donnie not joining us?" Raph asked as he jumped over the couch to sit on it and Leo walked around to sit down next to him.

"No, he's busy and won't come out of the lab." Mikey said without looking back at his brothers, so he missed the look that the two shared.

"So...what film are we watching?" Leo asked.

"I've got a few films that we've never seen before, you guys wanna choose which one we watch?" Mikey asked, turning around and holding out a few films to his brothers to choose.

"Sure." Leo answered, picking a film which Mikey popped in the player and joined his brothers on the couch.

Mikey had managed to get his brothers to sit through another film, but both Leo and Raph called it a night after that, leaving Mikey alone to watch his third film, be he was quickly losing interest in the movie, it was a big disappointment despite the hype up the film had been given, he would have turned the film off and went straight to bed if Donnie hadn't come out of his lab and started walking towards the couch.

"Hey Donnie!"

"Hey Mikey."

"Still can't sleep?" Mikey asked and Donnie stopped by the couch to talk to his brother.

"No, I thought maybe I could throw myself into a new project and tire myself out but...obviously hasn't worked...I'm sorry I shouted at you earlier Mikey, I'm getting a bit frustrated at the moment."

"It's okay bro, wanna watch this movie with me? It's super boring, so it might send you to sleep." Mikey said, wanting to spend time with his brother and he genuinely thought the movie might be enough to bore him into some well needed sleep.

"Sure, why not?" Donnie laughed and took a seat next to his brother and focused on the television. Mikey wasn't lying about the movie being boring, it didn't take long until his eyelids started to feel heavy and he felt his head drop down to near Mikey's shoulder, only not reaching it because of their height difference.

Mikey shuffled so that he was sitting up straighter, giving him more height and less of a reach for Donnie. The taller turtle understood what Mikey was trying to do and shuffled himself also so his while body was laying on the couch and he was able to rest his head on his brother's warm shoulder.

Mikey's presence was soothing and he was comfortable and Donnie started to drift off to sleep. Once Mikey noticed that Donnie was starting to fall asleep, he did his very best not to move, not wanting to wake him, but this wasn't the most comfortable position for either of them.

Mikey shifted slightly and Donnie, half asleep, found himself being moved so his head was sitting in Mikey's lap. The position was much more comfortable and Donnie fell asleep in seconds, a small whistling noise was coming from the tall turtle, which brought a smile to Mikey's face.

Mikey couldn't stop looking at his brother and how much more relaxed he looked now that he was finally getting some rest. He was also happy to have his brother so close to him, he'd missed having his brother this close after all that had happened, he hoped that this would be a step towards them fully working out their problems that had arisen from their night together.

Despite telling their brother that they didn't want to watch another movie because they were going to bed, neither Raph or Leo has retired to their rooms.

Leo was standing into a darkened corner of the lair on the second floor, he'd been watching Mikey sitting alone since he and Raph had left and was about to leave when Donnie came out of his lab and stopped to talk to Mikey. He'd listened to them talk and watched as Donnie joined Mikey on the couch and leaned against him, apparently falling asleep.

The look on Mikey's face when he looked down at Donnie was one Leo had never seen on his brother's face before but he did know it from movies and television, it was a look of longing.

Out of the corner of his eye Leo could see his red banded brother walk towards his hiding place. Once Leo looked at him Raph motioned to the room they were standing closest by, which happened to be Leo's.

"Do you know what's going on between them?"

"If they're hiding something...they're doing a very good job of it." Leo said, crossing his arms over his plastron.

"Well, I think I know what happened."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"They had sex." Raph stated bluntly and Leo almost choked on his own saliva.

"W-what? They can't ...they wouldn't…" Leo started stuttering and Raph rolled his eyes.

"Look, I saw some stuff and I heard some stuff, that I can't fucking un-hear, that points in that direction. Having sex obviously fucked them up and that's why they've been acting the way they have. Ain't my problem, and it ain't yours, they just need to work it out between them. They obviously don't want us to know, so I'm keeping my nose out of it."

"Oh." Was all Leo could reply as he thought over his brother's words. He had suspected something had happened between his two youngest brothers but he didn't think that had happened between them.

Raph sighed and went to leave but Leo stopped him, holding him in place by his shoulder. Raph turned back around to face his brother.

"I thought something had happened between them...like that but I thought eventually they would come and talk to me...or you or both of us and we could help them work through it." Leo admitted.

"Why would they?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Leo contradicted.

"Look Leo I don't wanna talk about this, I wish I'd never even learnt about it but I have, the best we can do is just let them work it out between them, if they haven't come to us by now they obviously don't want our help."

"Raph we need to help them."

"No we don't, maybe they will get over whatever this is and everything can go back to normal." Raph said, growing angrier as he spoke and turned to leave before he started shouting.

"Raph?" Leo asked, so quiet he barely heard it.

"What?"

"Would it be so wrong if they just wanted to be happy together?" Leo asked and Raph sighed, resting his head on the door in front of him.

"I dunno Leo, I mean, who the fuck is gonna know or care?" Raph said and left the room.

Leo stood in the corner of the dark room with his arms crossed over his chest thinking about all that he and Raph had spoken about. He had more that he had wanted to say to Raph, why couldn't he just stay and listen to what Leo wanted to say to him?