"Don't you think it's a little too early to think about names? We don't even know their gender."
Leo watched in amusement as his little brother scribbled on a notebook, tongue sticking out cutely in concentration.
Donnie looked up from the documentary he was watching to glare at Leo, just as Mikey did the same from his place on the ground in front of the coffee table.
The oldest's mouth twisted at their stares. He cleared his throat, making a point to stare intently at the television, where a dirt covered turtle was climbing down a mine.
His little brothers were not happy at all. They were annoyed with him and Raph. A week ago they've been ambushed by those dimwits from the club, and their mates had taken measures so it won't happen again.
Donnie wasn't allowed to go to Telon anymore without Raph or Leo accompanying him. Once he was safe inside he was 'free' for a few hours. He was only allowed to leave when his mates would pick him up. Telon had to swear he wouldn't let him go alone. It grated on the genius' nerves, especially since the doctor was taking Raph's and Leo's side.
"If Kion had been attacked like that, I wouldn't let him out of my sight either." He had told him.
Mikey had it even worse. Leo had tried to ground him, that he wouldn't be allowed outside of their apartment, but well, doctor's orders were that he'd get some fresh air every day. So he was allowed to go for a small walk to the park and back, also only when Raphael or Leonardo were with him.
And, as soon as it got dark, the both of them were strictly forbidden to leave the apartment. Of course they had voiced their opinions, rather loudly after three days of being copped up inside the apartment, but their mates had been relentless. So Donnie and Mikey were on strike.
Raph came from the kitchen with two large bowls filled with various kinds of ice-cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Even some sprinkles and a cherry on top.
Mikey eyed the bowls, licking his lips. It looked really delicious...
Leo took one of the bowls, smirking at the way Mikey's eyes followed it. Seeing the smirk, the pregnant turtle frowned and began scribbling again, a pout on his face. Leo sighed soundlessly and leaned back on the couch, using the spoon to dig some of the whipped cream aside.
"Oh, there's strawberry ice-cream baby..." The leader scooped up a spoonful and let out an exaggerated moan when he put it in his mouth. "So good..." He tried hard to keep a smile off his face when Mikey's wide blue gaze was on him again. The pout was way too cute.
Locking eyes with Mikey, Leo filled the spoon again and waited. He could see his baby brother's internal battle as they stared at each other. Finally Mikey gave in, clutching his notebook and pen as he walked over to the couch, the pout firmly on his face.
Leo opened his arms, smiling when Mikey lowered himself on his lap, grabbing the bowl from his big brother's hand. The older turtle was content to wrap his arms around him, around the baby bump and nuzzled his neck from behind while Mikey enjoyed the taste of the ice-cream.
Meanwhile Raph had sat down next to Donnie, staring at the genius as he ate his frozen treat.
He could tell Donnie was getting agitated the longer he stared. The olive turtle had been quite mean to them, in his opinion. They were only trying to protect them, and yet Don was mad enough to deny his older brothers any physical contact. No cuddling, no sex. Not even talking.
He even snatched Mikey from them at night, cuddling him himself. When Raph tried to get his way the day before, Donnie had socked his shoulder enough to bruise. He was really really mad. In this state, there was only one thing to pacify him.
"I have plenty of chocolate ice-cream here, babe..." Raph smiled even though Donnie only glared at him. "With chocolate chips..."
Donatello bit the inside of his cheek, gaze flicking down to the bowl for a tiny second before focusing on Raph again.
"And so much chocolate sauce..." Donnie clenched his fists before reaching for the bowl, scowling when Raph put it out of his reach. He was unimpressed by his brother's smirk and leaned back, folding his arms.
"A little kiss and it's all yours."
"No, thank you." And with that Don's attention was at the TV again. Raph frowned, grinding his teeth. Finally, he sighed.
"Okay... Maybe we exaggerated a tiny little bit."
That got Donnie to look at him again with a raised eyeridge. Raphael cleared his throat, shrugging. Mikey and Leo watched him too, the latter with a firmly set jaw.
"Look, we don't want to imprison you or anything..." Leo started, sighing as he rubbed Mikey's outer thighs.
Raph bit his lip, clearly uncomfortable.
"We're fucking scared, okay? We know you can take care of yourselves, but this stupid fear... it just won't go away."
"The 'what-ifs' are constantly plaguing our minds, you know...?"
Raph's eyes were suspiciously misty, that alone was a deal-breaker for Donnie. He sighed and leaned forward to wrap his arms around Raph's neck, nuzzling him.
Mikey rubbed his eyes with his free hand and snuggled his face into Leo's shoulder, smiling through tears when Leo squeezed him tight.
"We don't mind you guys playing bodyguard when we're out." Donnie whispered, pressing a short kiss to Raph's lips. "But we don't want to be prisoners."
"Yeah," Mikey spoke up, "I want to be able to visit Kion and Elia, or go out for dinner and stuff."
"For almost a year nothing happened, and just because those idiots went crazy it doesn't mean everyone is going to attack us..."
Raphael and Leonardo sighed and exchanged glances, shrugging.
"Okay, yeah..." Leo tilted his head. "You're skilled enough to do what you want without our hovering."
"Though we'd feel better if you'd let us follow our stupid instincts to protect you."
Donnie laughed, snatching the bowl of ice-cream from Raph's hand and settling to lean against his plastron.
"Let's finish this and then we can follow some of your other instincts." At the way Donnie licked the chocolate sauce from the spoon Raph's eyes dilated already and he couldn't help but smirk.
"Does that mean we're forgiven?"
"Not fully," Mikey answered, feeding Leo a spoonful of vanilla ice-cream, "but like, 70%. We'll see if you can earn our full forgiveness." He yelped when Leo poked his side and giggled.
Leo gave a tender smile and grabbed the notebook, reading the scribblings.
"What's that?" Raphael asked, leaning over with Donnie leaning against him, contently eating the ice-cream.
"Mikey tried to think of a few names for the babies." Donnie explained through a mouthful of chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
"Mh... well, why don't we follow the theme of renaissance artists?" Raph suggested, chuckling at some of the names Mikey had scribbled down.
"That's booooring, Raph. We have a new life here, we need fresh names.. It would be cute if they fit together though, like ours."
"Something Japanese would be nice." Leo sighed, a shadow passing over his eyes before he cleared his throat. "But I guess that reminds us of too much of..." Nobody wanted to be reminded of their past. Mikey was right, they started a new life here. They wouldn't let the past haunt them.
"Colors can be nice names too." Donnie offered after a few moments of silence, focusing on getting as much chocolate sauce as possible on his spoon.
"Oh, I like that." Mikey smiled, taking the notebook and his pen. "Like... Magenta... Indigo... Amber..."
"What about flowers? Lily, Rose, Daisy, Violet..." Raph raised an eyeridge.
"Too girly. What if it's three boys?"
Mikey accepted the last spoon of ice-cream from Leo and tapped the pen on the paper.
"We could go with Disney names!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Nemo, Dorie, Peter Pan..." Leo chuckled, shaking his head and placing his hands on the baby bump.
"How about giving them names with the same first letter? Bonnie, Ben, Billy, Bella. Or Tina, Tim, Tania,..."
Raphael scrunched up his face, thinking that over. He could already see himself confuse the names in the future.
"They're gonna sound too similar..."
"There's too many to settle on three..." Donnie rolled his eyes, resting his head on Raph's shoulder, paying attention to the documentary again.
The turtle from the mine was back up again, holding something in his hands that he cleaned and showed to the camera. Diamonds.
"What about gemstones?" The olive turtle suggested, sitting upright again and placing a hand next to Leo's on Mike's bump. "Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Obsidian, Jasper... there's so many."
Each of the turtles thought about that, imagining little turtle toddlers running around. Mikey smiled and absentmindedly rubbed his belly.
"I like that... They're gonna be precious and beautiful..."
Raph grinned, joining his hand to his brothers' on their unborn babies.
"Our little gemstones."