AUTHOR'S NOTE:
The following chapter includes slight sexual references (Raph/female human OC).
FOLLOW THE LEADER I - IT'S NO GOOD
VII – SYMPTOMS OF PUBERTY AND OTHER THEORIES
Leonardo watched Donatello being busy at his lab area in the corner of their living room. His table was covered with a huge pile of wires and other little stuff Leo wasn't sure he recognized. With incredibly steady hands Don put pieces together, apparently improving shell cells. Don's patience and exactness kept amazing Leonardo.
I only wish he'd perform katas with such accuracyLeonardo thought amused.
"Spying on me nowadays?" Don joked right after noticing his brother's presence.
"I don't think you do need spying, bro", Leo laughed approaching him,
"Not unless you're building an atomic bomb there."
Don looked at his elder brother with an icy glance. There were issues that just didn't make Don laugh. Nuclear bomb was one of them.
"So", Leo cleared his throat after realizing the joke didn't amuse Donatello,
"I came to apologize."
Don blinked at him.
"Why on Earth?"
"Because of the morning, you know. And because we were kind of like grounded we didn't have Splinter's afternoon lessons."
Don chuckled, and Leo was having hard time to decide was it a sarcastic 'ha-ha' or had he really said something funny to his brother.
"Like that was the part that bothered me or Mikey. I think the morning exercises were lesson enough for today."
Oh, that, Leo thought relieved. After all as far as Leo was concerned there was nothing funny about his fight with Raph.
"I don't doubt that", Leo admitted slightly grinning. Don nodded to him smiling, and for a second there was an understanding between them. But then Don's tone changed:
"Hey Leo...it's not you who should be apologizing. And you should know that too."
Leonardo eyed his little brother shaking his head.
"No Don, I know I went too far with Raph", he insisted. After a small pause Leo continued, sounding like he talked more to himself than Don:
"Can you actually believe, that for a while I considered he was right?"
Now Don looked confused.
"Right about what? You drinking the last of milk? Well, I can assure you there's one almost full carton in the fridge..."
"Eh, not that part. Something else."
Leonardo suddenly turned his face away from Donatello, who instantly got worried.
"Is there...it seems that there's something I'm not aware of..?"
"I..." Leo started quietly, then clearing his throat again and continuing:
"I don't think it's a big deal but I'm just wondering..."
"Yes?"
"The night when Raph was missing. I...Hothead and I had an argument after he came home."
I would be worried if there hadn't been a fight, Don thought sarcastically, fighting against the urge to roll his eyes. Instead of it he just nodded, still investigating his brother with both curious and worried look on his face.
"I was just trying to express our worry to him, but you know him, his not listening to me."
"What else is new", Donatello snorted, deciding to give a new view to the matter instead of plain witty comments,
"Raph acting like an idiot may be a due to his puberty hormone systems", he continued, pressing his fingertips together like he always did when he was about to have a chance to keep a lesson about something he was familiar with,
"I did some research concerning hormones a while ago, and it seems that increasing levels of testosterone might --"
Leo was most honored, that his little brother, who clearly liked to keep his own space, and who seemingly required a lot of time to be all by himself, had always welcomed Leo's company. It wasn't something Michelangelo or Raphael could say about their intellectual brother. Usually Leo drained every drop of information Donatello was sharing with him, after all they were both widely interested in different kinds of phenomenons of the world. But at the moment Leonardo was a bit too impatient to listen to the lecture all the way.
"Raph had been with someone. Woman. I mean they had...apparently...you know, that certain intercourse. You know what I mean, don't you?" Leo burst out, thinking for the first time that the good sense of smell of the turtles should be considered as a curse instead of a blessing. Donatello blinked at the information before laughing dryly:
"Oh, that. Well, certainly symptoms of puberty, normal in --"
"Let's stay focused here, Don: we're mutants. Giant turtles."
Donatello sighed deeply.
"I know what you're meaning. That there's someone new who knows about us."
Leonardo nodded a little, then looking a bit ashamed.
"I'm sorry Don. Didn't want to worry you, but I guess I'm pretty helpless without your brain work here."
Donatello smiled a little at the compliment before continuing:
"I think your worry is justified. The last thing I want is that our 'Ninja drop-out' here does something stupid because of his heat."
"That's my point exactly."
"So do you have any idea who the 'lucky' one is?"
Leo shook his head.
"I have no idea is this person someone that can be trusted. I just wish Raph would stop acting like a horny bull."
Don looked thoughtful, and after few quite moments he asked cautiously:
"What if Raph's...like in love or something?"
Leo's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean 'in love'?"
Don knew his brother understood very well what he meant. But still he gave an explanation:
"If Raph's romantically involved with the person in question, do you think it's ethically justified to ask him to give up his relationship? I'm sure that you're aware of that it's not like everyday turtles like us have a chance to meet someone...special in that romantic way."
Leonardo swallowed, lowering his glance. Don seemed to be painfully right.
"But on the other hand there's safety of our family in question", Leonardo said firmly, then gently touching the little cut in his chin.
Although togetherness is a feature to be valued too.
"So it was Raph who gave you that, huh?" Donatello asked. Mike had noticed the cut in Leo's chin during the morning practicing, but Leonardo had refused to reveal where it was from. Leo nodded, Don sighed.
"Yeah, but kind of like my mistake. I should've disarmed him", Leonardo answered dryly, his eyes wandering hazily at the balcony where the fight had taken place.
"Things are just getting worse and worse between you two."
"Hey, it's nothing. Don't you dare to worry about this, Donny", Leonardo tried to convince. Then he seated himself next to Donatello, trying to change the subject,
"So, what are you working on?"