A/N: I typically write stories from everyone's different points of view. But I'll admit, I'm doing my best to stay out of Raph's head for this one.


Leo entered Raph's room first and allowed his shoulders to relax only after he heard Raph shut the door behind them. He took a moment to look around the room and found himself drawn to a bunch of pictures Raph had taped to one wall.

He laughed suddenly and put his finger on a particular picture. Mikey had taken a bunch of photos of them recently using some snapchat phone app that could change their faces into different creatures, and surprisingly to Leo, Raph had kept a few of them.

"You actually printed out the photo that made us look like evil demons."

"Yeah." Raph moved to his futon to begin clearing it off. He used it mostly to store gear and weapons. It was only ever cleared off on the occasions when Casey crashed at the lair.

Leo turned to Raph with a grin. "Imagine what people would think if that was the only photo ever discovered of us?" He wandered over to Raph's side and helped pull some free weights off the futon. "Mutant ninja turtle demons."

Raph huffed out a single laugh but then said, "Like they'd react so great if they saw real pics of us anyway. Almost every human we've met has thought we were monsters."

Leo shrugged in response and moved the free weights to a safe spot under the futon. "Not all of them. I mean Donnie is actually dating April now." Leo lifted a stack of magazines from the futon and paused. "Although, I suppose there aren't that many Aprils out there."

Raph hummed in agreement as he became overly concerned with aggressively fluffing the one spare pillow he kept on the futon. "I'm not really lookin for an April anyway."

Leo tilted his head as he watched Raph's fists punish the futon pillow. "Then who are you looking for?" he asked in a low voice. He watched Raph's green eyes finally leave the pillow in order to meet his gaze. But right when he finally opened his mouth to speak, there was a knock on Raph's door.

"It's me," Leonardo's voice came through the door. Leo turned away from Raph in order to answer it and Leonardo was soon handing over Leo's T-phone. "You left your phone out in the pit. I heard it beeping. You really should keep that on you at all times you know, especially with Donnie staying somewhere else."

"Thanks," Leo said icily. He took the phone from his counterpart and stepped out into the hallway to take care of it when he saw a missed call from Karai.

"I guess I won't tell him that the fierce leader glare doesn't work on me," Leonardo said as he took the opportunity to welcome himself into Raph's room. He watched Raph grab one of his magazines and let his shell drop into his hammock, and since Raph didn't appear to be bothered by his presence, Leonardo turned and began to peruse the pictures on Raph's wall, in much the same manner that Leo had just done.

He huffed out a laugh when he saw a picture of the four brothers made out to look like demons. "Snapchat?" he asked, indicating the demon picture. When Raph nodded, he nodded as well with a smile. "Michelangelo has taken dozens of photos of us with that dumb app." He moved further down the wall, sneaking glances at the lounging emerald turtle when he could.

"What's yer Raph like?"

Leonardo turned back towards Raph, although he found himself pausing for a moment as he took in the sight of the muscled emerald turtle sprawled out on his hammock. Whether he was shorter than Raphael or not, it was still a rather enticing sight, although he suddenly found himself wondering if his own brother would prefer a hammock back in his room.

He forced himself to clear his throat before answering as he watched Raph use one of his feet to push against the wall and start a swinging motion. "He's a behemoth." He grinned when Raph grinned. "Seriously, he's the biggest out of all of us."

"But what's he like?"

"According to Michelangelo, he's a violent teddy bear."

"What about accordin to you?"

Leo's eye ridges rose and he turned back to look at the pictures of these turtle brothers again as he considered the question.

"According to me, Raphael is the strongest, toughest - ," he paused as the word sexiest drove its way into his mind. Not to mention all the teddy bear-like things Raph did around the lair when he thought no one was looking. Like brewing Leo's and Master Splinter's tea every morning so that it was always ready in the kitchen when they were finished with morning meditation. Leonardo had always thought it was Michelangelo who did that for them until recently when he'd actually caught Raphael in the act.

Raph's voice broke into his thoughts. "Wonder if that's all Leo could come up with about me."

Leonardo focused on one picture of the four brothers. Based on Mikey's arm placement, it was clearly Mikey taking another picture of the group huddled together. But Leo's big smile wasn't for the lens. He was focused solely on Raph next to him. And even Raph, who didn't appear to smile often for photos based on the other pictures, had a small smile on his face. In fact, it looked like the two of them had just shared a private joke.

Leonardo turned back to Raph and focused on those green eyes again before he shook his head. "I wouldn't count on it. I bet there's just a lot he wouldn't dare say out loud."

He watched Raph frown at that, but before he could say more, Leo came back into the room and tossed his T-phone on the futon.

Leo looked back and forth between Raph and Leonardo, but refused to ask them what they'd been discussing.

Leonardo cut through the awkward silence first. "You meditate with sensei first thing in the morning?" Leo kept his small frown, but nodded slightly in response. "Mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all." No one could say Leo didn't know how to be polite.

"I'll see you in the morning, then," Leonardo said, shooting Raph and only Raph a quick smile before excusing himself from the room.

Leo glared at the closed door as he began to push off his gear for bed.

"Why don't ya trust him?" Raph's voice reached him. "He's you."

"He's not me."

"He's basically you." Raph moved his eyes back to his magazine and pushed off the wall again.

"He's a stranger, Raph."

"That why yer in here guardin over me?"

Leo turned away from the pile he was making with his gear. "I'm not guarding you," although his voice was a little higher than he would prefer, making the statement sound completely unbelievable. "You have the spare bed. If you'd prefer to have a stranger sleeping in here with you, just say the word and I'll go down and trade places with him."

Raph grinned over at him. "Yer funny when yer mad."

"I'm not mad," Leo plopped down on the futon and stared up at Raph's ceiling. "Besides, if I really felt the need to guard over you guys while this guy was here, I'd have dragged Mikey in here too."

"If ya say so, Fearless." Raph's tone was smug as he turned a page. A Leo in denial was not a new concept to him. "What'd Karai want this time?"

Raph was giving him an out and he was going to take it. Still, he groaned when he thought about Karai and wrapped his arms over his eyes. Karai had taken over the Foot clan a few years ago and spent most of her time now in the public eye working with charities and cleaning up the city streets. However, being in the public eye sometimes meant she couldn't visibly be seen cleaning up the city streets. In those cases, she called in her Hamato brothers to see if they'd be willing to help her – or the city – out. Each request had been considered on a case by case basis. They were willing to help stop thugs terrorizing a community center. They were not willing to be used as moving men when Karai found a building she'd prefer to use for her headquarters.

"She's coming over in the morning. She has a request. I didn't get the details."

"Ya didn't?" Raph was rightfully surprised. Getting all the details as soon as possible meant more time for leader Leo to plan out their course of action. Raph raised an eye ridge in Leo's direction as he thought about how preoccupied Leo must be to have hung up with Karai without asking all the usual questions.

Leo only shook his head beneath his arms. No, he did not get the details. He didn't want Leonardo in this room alone with Raph for too long and Karai had said it wasn't an emergency. He moved one arm slightly and shifted his head, vaguely aware that Raph was using one of his feet to push against the wall and swing his hammock. Leo had honestly always wondered if Raph preferred the hammock for shell comfort or the possibility of swinging. Maybe it was both.

"What is it that you like so much about that hammock? I'm not sure I'd like sleeping suspended like that."

"Only one way to find out." Raph spared a quick glance in Leo's direction.

"You want to switch?"

Raph lowered his magazine and turned his head completely in Leo's direction. "No. I'm not givin up a good night's sleep. But I'll share." He shrugged. "This once."

Leo felt his stomach do a small, excited flip. He did his best to appear to be considering the offer for a moment, but was soon sitting up. "Is there enough space for two?" He didn't know why he was asking. He was already crossing the room with his pillow in one hand.

Raph dropped his magazine to the floor. "Hit the lights," he instructed before Leo could get too far away from the light switch.

Leo jerked quickly in that direction and soon the lights were off. Still, he was able to move easily through the darkness and back towards the hammock.

"The bigger question is, do you think you can get in here without flippin it?"

Leo felt another stomach flip as he heard Raph's gravelly voice now in the darkness.

Once he reached the side of the hammock, he could see Raph moving to edge himself towards one side.

"Just do what I say," Raph said with a grin that he was sure Leo could see.

Leo nodded and followed Raph's instructions on how to edge himself into the hanging bed, instructions that at one point included putting a lot of his weight against Raph's side before he pulled his second leg up. The bed swung with his efforts and he froze for a few seconds until he was pretty sure they weren't going to flip. His eyes rose then and he met Raph's very amused eyes before he finally shifted to his side of the bed.

Now that he was fully encased in the hammock, he could confidently say that the thing was not meant for two. Despite their shifting, they were still squished into each other's sides. But he wasn't about to complain. At all. And in the darkness, pressed up against the warm turtle, Leo was able to breathe in slowly through his nose and enjoy Raph's scent. He almost forgot to pay attention to how nicely the hammock supported his shell while allowing his neck to rest comfortably against the pillow.

Raph sat up briefly in order to pull forth his blanket from the end of the hammock, and Leo smiled in thanks as Raph covered both of them as he settled back in next to him. Leo shifted slightly with the movements and thought maybe he'd heard a small grunt from Raph as their legs slid against each other.

"What if I move too much in my sleep?" The closeness of their faces led Leo to whisper. "Will we flip?"

Then Raph's arm wrapped around his middle and he was pulled tight against Raph's side. Leo bit back his own grunt of pleasure as his stomach did the funny flip once more when it was clear that Raph's arm was there to stay.

"I'll make sure ya don't."