(3879 Words)
Donnie and Mikey stare at their father, both completely shocked. "W-We might not know the whole s-story b-but we know R-Raph did-didn't do anything!" Donnie stutters out, getting panicked. "H-He couldn't have d-done anything!" Yoshi stands and turns, walking to his room in the upper left corner of the room.
Donnie makes a distressed noise and feels a pressure in his legs. He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell at his father that he wasn't being fair. that it wasn't the right choice. Mikey watches Donnie, still stuck in shock. He could see it going down and he knew it was just a matter of time. Donnie walks back and forth for a moment before his arms pound down on on his legs like they were held back by spring locks.
Mikey tries to go over to him, knowing that this was one thing he could do. "D-Donnie-" He starts but Donnie hits his legs again. "Donnie. Donatello." He says, taking hold of Donnie's shirt sleeve, not actually touching him. He pulls him to the couch and has him sit down, putting a pillow on his lap. "It's not fair." Donnie says almost robotically. "He didn't- He didn't." Mikey starts to have a painful expression, wanting to just reach over and hug his brother.
Mikey wanted Leo to help calm Donnie down but he just wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere. Mikey wanted to be able to cry, to freak out, to straight up yell but he couldn't, not while Donnie was having a meltdown. "I know, I know Donnie." He says, not touching Donnie but sitting half a foot away. "S'not fair." Donnie says, folding his arms into his stomach and leaning over them.
Donnie makes another noise and Mikey restricts himself from holding him right then and there. "Donnie, can I give you a hug?" He asks tentatively. After a couple seconds Donnie nods and Mikey envelopes him in a tight hug, letting Mikey get some of his feelings out while helping Donnie at the same time. Mikey feels something tap his leg and he looks down, tears welling in his eyes.
Spike had put his two front feet up onto his leg, looking at him like he was a puppy. Mikey lets go of his brother and picks up spike, holding him up by his chest. "Don, d'you wanna hold Spike?" Mikey asks, wiping the tears from his eyes. Donnie rigidly nods and Mikey passes the turtle to Donnie and Spike sits nicely on his lap. Donnie continues nodding and scoops Spike in a little closer before starting to rock back and forth.
Mikey could tell he was extremely distressed, he was too. Anyone would be, he just had a different way of showing it. Mikey feels his own throat tightening and his stomach twists. He could feel himself wanting to start bawling but he only lets out a couple small squeaks and crocodile tears sit on the rim of his eyes. He just had to wait it out. Wait it out or hope that someone who cared came to help.
Mikey turns away after a minute, sucking in a quick breath. He couldn't hold it in much longer and he knew if he started crying more than he was Donnie would feel horrible later. Mikey feels the couch dip all the way on the other side of Donnie and he looks up, meeting eyes with their father. That was it. Mikey lets it all out, his anger, his sadness, it all comes out.
He pulls his feet up onto the couch and hides his face in his arms, sobbing. He hears his father stand and walk to his side, a hand on his shoulder and slides it to his back, rubbing it up and down. "I'm sorry my son." He says quietly. "I am sorry."
Mikey had quickly retreated to his room after a few comforting minutes with his father, leaving Donnie with him just rocking and holding the small turtle. "Donatello, I am sincerely sorry." He says, looking to try and meet eyes. Donnie shakes his head, over and over and over. "No. No y-you're not. Raph... It's not fair." He says quietly.
Yoshi tries touching Donnie's shoulder but he violently shoves him off, nearly dropping Spike and stopping his rocking. "It's not fair."
Leo sits in his room, door unlocked and cracked open. Just like it had been for a week. He could feel guilt boiling in his stomach. He had a garbage can sitting next to him, feeling like he could throw up at any moment. This had to be the worst Leo had ever felt in his life. Neither Donnie nor Mikey had spoken to him since the day Raph left. Mikey actually had said a word or two if he was forced but Donnie would not open his mouth to anyone but teachers or Mikey.
Leo glances out his door as Donnie walks past, his arms up by his chest and his hands fidgeting. "H-Hey Donnie." He calls awkwardly. Donnie doesn't pause in the slightest, walking straight past to his own room, going in and closing the door with the click of a lock. Leo sighs and looks down at his hands. A new feeling hits him and it makes him jump in his seat when he identifies it.
Self hatred.
He shutters and snatches up his phone, his hands shaking slightly and dialing a well know number. He sits, tapping his foot and leaning over, letting his elbow rest on his knees. It rings three times before there was an answer. "What do you want Leo?" Karai's voice comes through Leo's phone. "I need to ask you something." Leo says. "I know we're not together but I really need an answer."
Leo could almost hear Karai roll her eyes. "Fine. What is it?" Leo shifts his weight back and forth for a moment. "What happened that night? The night with the fight?" Karai scoffs. "You mean with your freak of a foster brother? He didn't even let me do anything. I got up there fooled around a little but the second I got him on the bed he freaked out." Leo groans.
"You instigated everything?" He asks, a small hint of panic in his normally calm voice. Karai sighs, annoyed. "Yeah, he was no fun. You done now?" Leo shakes his head, knowing she couldn't see him. "No, you-you need to come forward with what happened. Raph, he got sent away- Karai-" Karai cuts him off. "No. No way Leo. I could be caught- will be caught and then I could go to jail or something!"
"Karai please! He-He was sent away and now I saw him at the store and he's hurting himself Karai, you don't know how guilty I feel right now. My brothers won't even talk to me and Donnie- Don has been doing so much worse since he left. He's melting down more and I'm afraid if we don't get him back soon Don might start going down the wrong path-"
"Leo, none of this is really my problem. I'm done with the whole dating thing but if you want..." Karai pauses. "We can still be friends with benefits." Leo furrows his brow. "No- No! You can just go screw off okay!? I really needed you to help me out here! I'm going to try to make things right and if I have to do it without you then fine but I can't live with this whole thing on my back. I have no freaking idea how you can but I guess you'll have to figure that out on your own too."
Leo hangs up the phone and chucks it against his pillow, flopping back on his bed. "How am I going to fix this...? I didn't know... I didn't know... I wanted to keep them safe..." Thinking back to when he was at the store just earlier that day. His father needed him to pick up some calming tea for him while he went through his families old mourning process.
He didn't know why he would say all those things to Leo other than him having to leave. Now he understood. He didn't do it. Just like he said. "I gotta fix this." He stands up and quickly swings his door open. He had kept it open just in case one of his brothers wanted to talk to him but they never did.
Leo rushes down stairs, mind set on going to his father's room and fully intending on interrupting his father to set things straight when he hears something shatter in the kitchen. "Aannggghh!" someone shouts from inside. Leo takes an unexpected right turn into the kitchen, seeing Donnie clutching his head and crouched on the ground with Mikey beside him. "Hey, Hey, it's fine Don, it's okay. We can clean it up."
Leo stands in the doorway for a moment, watching. Donnie makes another noise. "It's okay, here, look, you don't even like jelly that much." Donnie shakes his head. "T-The jelly- I-I was- Ngghh..." He closes his eyes and shakes his head again. He had been so stressed for the last week it was like he was deteriorating.
Leo cringes and walks in the room, crouching down beside Donnie along with Mikey. Mikey glares at Leo but doesn't say anything. "Hey Don?" Leo says, scooting a little closer. "Do you want me to help clean the jelly up?" They all are silent for an awkward amount of time before Donnie answers. "Mm-Hm." He mumbles, nodding his head. They all stand and Leo takes some paper towel, picking up the chunks while Donnie stands next to the mess, looking like he wanted to pull his fingers off.
"Donnie, how about you get a rag and clean up the residue and I'll take care of the glass." Mikey says, ripping off more paper towel and picking up the shards from the jar. Donnie stands still, processing for a moment before finally getting himself to start the action. Donnie cleans up the residue and stands up, dropping the rag in the sink. Leo feels the urge to congratulate his brother but knows he hates being treated like any little thing he did was an accomplishment.
"Thanks Don." Leo says, giving him a small pat on the back. "I d-don't have a sand-witch now." Donnie says, raising and lowering himself onto his toes. "Well, we can make a new one." Leo says. Mikey shakes his head behind Donnie's back. "No. T-There's supposed to be jelly." He says. Leo purses his lips. "It can be a different kind of sand-witch." Donnie shakes his head.
"N-No. It needs to be a peanut-butter and jelly sand-witch. That's what I have on Saturdays. Saturday at one forty-five I make a peanut-butter a-and jelly sand-witch." Donnie says, tapping the counter three times. "Maybe you can try a different one?" Leo asks. Mikey rolls his eyes and turns away from them. Donnie stays quiet for a minute.
"Why would you do that Leo?" Donnie says out of the blue. Leo furrows his brow. "What? The sand-witch?" Donnie shakes his head. "No-No. Why would you send him away? He didn't do anything. Why did you tell Dad he did something? He- Don't you know how hard it is to be sent away. It's so-so hard and you made it happen like it was no big deal."
Leo stands there, not completely shocked that his brother was saying this but shocked that he was doing it now. "Leo, why would you do that? Why would he make him out like he was some sort of sick gross person when he didn't even do anything!? Leo, he didn't- He didn't- He didn't-" Donnie repeats, almost stuck.
"Donnie, I know, I'm sorry. I'm going to fix it okay?" Leo says in a calm, almost patronizing voice. When Donnie was sure Leo was done talking he starts again. "You're not supposed to interrupt people when they're talking." He says, recalling it as a memory linked social rule. Leo nods. "yeah, yeah, I'm sorry Don. You're right." He glances over at Mikey. "But I promise. I'll make it right."
Mikey sits with his arms crossed. He didn't believe Leo in the slightest. "Uh, Donnie, can you bring some tea to Father for me?" Leo asks, taking out a box of tea bags and pulling two from the box. "He's been using the portable stove top to heat the water so you can just bring him the bags." Donnie takes the bags and walks out of the room and down the hall towards their father's room. Leo turns to Mikey and frowns. "Mike, I know you don't want to talk to me. I know you don't believe me but I'm going to fix this okay?"
Mikey slams his hand down on the counter and glares at Leo. "No. You don't understand Leo. Since you lied about Raph and he was sent away I've had to keep an eye on Donnie. He's so stressed out all the time and the only thing he really does like he used to is school. I don't even have time to be sad myself because I have to make sure Don isn't having a meltdown every three seconds."
Mikey throws his arms up in the air, taking a step forward. "You're no help with your door open all the time and neither is Dad, no matter how hard he tries he just keeps saying it was for our family but what neither of you get is that what you did is tearing us all apart!" Mikey shoves Leo back and stomps from the room, going up to his room and slamming the door.
Leo sighs and throws away his paper towel. Mikey was never this outwardly explosive. Leo goes out of the kitchen, heading into the living-room with his mind back on track. He knocks on the far door and waits patiently. "Come in." His father calls from inside. Leo opens the door and wanders inside the dimly lit room. He spots his father and Donnie sitting quietly in the center of the room, cups of tea in both their hands. "I don't like tea." Donnie says, holding the cup up to his eyes. "You may like this tea." Yoshi says, sipping. "I don't like it though." Donnie replies.
Leo waits for their conversation to finish but he doubts it'll end with Donnie drinking the tea. Yoshi takes another sip. "You could try-" Donnie shakes his head. "I don't want to try anything new today!" He says, putting the cup roughly down on the short table. Yoshi nods silently. "Okay." He says before motioning to Leo. "I am sorry to keep you waiting my son. What is it that you need?" He asks.
Leo lances at Donnie who was sitting with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "Can I talk to you- uh- alone?" Leo asks. Yoshi looks to Donnie. "Could you give us a minute Donatello?" Donnie shakes his head and tenses up his muscles. He wasn't moving. Leo sighs and Splinter stands and takes a couple steps over to Donnie, pulling him up from the floor and trying to look him in the eye. "Just for a moment, then you may come back in." He says, walking to the door with him.
Donnie doesn't say anything, just walking slowly out of the room and sitting down right beside the door. Leo closes it and goes with his father into the room a bit more before they sit down in front of each-other. "Father I need to ask you something." Leo says, fidgeting with his hands. "Yes?" Yoshi asks. Leo remains silent for a moment, not meeting his father's eyes. "Why... Why did you send Raph away? Why did you not want to hear his side of what happened?"
Yoshi nods. "Yes. I knew this would come up sometime." He bows his head slightly. "I trust you Leonardo. I believe that what you say is truth but that wasn't the only reason." He takes a long pause and Leo tries his best to be patient. "We may lose the dojo." He says solemnly. Leo's eyes widen. "But that's- that's your job?! That's where we train!" He exclaims.
Yoshi nods and takes up his cup once more. "The payments on the dojo have gotten far too much, even with the extra payments coming in from Raphael's stay. If we lose the dojo then it will take those payments off but there are still more bills to pay and I will be out my only job. Having one less person in the house, no matter how horrible it sounds to say, would help very much."
Leo looks down. "I-I'm so sorry father." He says. "For what Leonardo?" Yoshi asks honestly. "I lied. I called Karai and made sure. She instigated everything. She tried- She tried to get Raph to have sex with her after we fought." Yoshi's eyes widen and he stares at Leo. "I"m so so sorry. I-I wanted to do what was best and I thought that he would just cause us more trouble but then the guys, they just stopped talking to me and I felt so bad and then Donnie was- was-... And I-I had to..." Leo's words sizzle down to nothing before his father, feeling so low.
"I can not believe you would do this." Yoshi says, his voice stern. "This is very serious. You know this. I would have thought you to be more responsible than this Leonardo." Leo puts his hands on his knees. "I know. I'm so sorry. I'll never do anything like this ever again." Yoshi looks as if he was ignoring everything Leo was saying. "Go to your room. I will come up in a minute to tell you your punishment." He says plainly.
Leo nods and stands quickly before rushing out of the room, leaving the door open. Yoshi puts his head down and holds the bridge of his nose. He hears soft foot steps and looks up, seeing Donnie walk back in and sit across from him again, seemingly enjoying the calm atmosphere of the room. Yoshi moves around the small table and sits next to his son. "Donatello, come here my son." He says, pulling Donnie into his arms.
He pets back his messy brown hair and squeezes his arm. "Why are you hugging me?" Donnie asks, staying still but ridged in his father's arms. "I think we all need a hug right about now." Yoshi says.
After a few minutes of being with Donnie Yoshi found a way to get away for a while to speak with his eldest son of his punishment. He opens the door without knocking and Leo's head snaps up. Yoshi walks to his son and stares at him disapprovingly. "Leonardo. You have betrayed my trust and that action has affected much more than just you." Leo nods, his head low once again.
There was silence and then Yoshi hardens his voice. "You will not use the car for two months. You will apologize to your brothers, Raphael and Mr. Gregory. You will not speak to Miss Karai ever and you must not go anywhere other than school and training as long as we have the dojo. You may not use your cellphone other than to call for emergencies and you may not use your laptop nor the television."
Leo nods, feeling he was getting off easy with this. Yoshi leaves the room and Leo feels his stomach twist. He felt like the lowest of the low. He felt like there should be more punishment, like he needed more. Maybe he could do something? Do good things, cancel out the bad? Leo looks around as if to pick up on something he could do. "What was it that Mikey said? He-He watches Donnie now? Maybe I could do that, help him out so that he has time to calm down." He whispers to himself.
He stands and starts downstairs. He knew Donnie was with their father but he also knew their father would want to be alone. He stops just outside of the closed door and takes a deep breath. He had to apologize to him anyways. He knocks quietly and the door opens a moment later. Donnie was standing at the door. "H-Hey, d'you want to go hang out for a while?" Leo asks awkwardly.
Donnie stands there staring at him for a minute before starting to close the door. "Donatello, it is rude not to answer someone." Yoshi says quietly from inside. The door opens back up and Donnie reappears. "No." Leo holds the door open this time. "Come on Don." He whines. "I'm sorry. I-" Leo stops as Donnie turns to go back into the room.
Leo grabs his arm and Donnie immediately tries to get him off. "I'm trying to fix things Donnie. I told the truth and I'm trying my best. I don't know if we can get Raph back but we can try. So I'm sorry okay?" Leo finishes. Donnie finally being let go looks at Leo. He sighs and blinks a few times. "Okay." He says quietly, walking out of the room.
They start up the stairs together, silence bouncing between them. Donnie was relatively easy. Mikey would be a different story.
It's fun and games until we both get hurt
We play with fire 'cause we like the way it burns
No use in patching up a sinking ship.
This is the last time we do this, baby
This is the last time you taste my lips
I know, I know how to drive you wild
You know, you know how to make me smile
But I need you to be
My ancient history
I know, I know who you really are
You know, you know how to break my heart
But I need you to be
My ancient history.
Ancient History
Set It Off
EEEEEEP! Please don't be mad! There's more in store for Leo I promise! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! The reviews are much appreciated and hey- Just so you guys know the ones who review and have it allowed to PM back if you ask questions I can normally answer. You'll a lot of the time get extra or early info on the story!