A small disturbance made Bruno to scrunch up his nose in annoyance and moan slightly as he was pried away from his ever-so-needed sleep. The disruption came again making Bruno's eyes blink open. He nearly screamed when all he saw was giant amber orbs staring back at him.
Raph poked at the man's cheek again. "Hey," He whispered until he realized that Bruno was awake. Raph smiled and poked him again, "Hey Bwuno!" He said louder. "Get up! I wanna go find my brothers now!"
Bruno groaned and craned his neck to see the red numbers of his alarm clock. He narrowed his eyes at the 5:46 am that blinked back at him. "Dang kid!" He pushed Raphael off of the bed and flipped over, wrapping himself tighter in the white blanket.
Raphael landed with a thud on the ground. He quickly stood up, rubbing the now tender spot on the back of his shell, "You promise!" He cried, working his way back onto the bed. "We have to go while it's still dark outside!"
Bruno squinted his eyes open as the turtle had achieved getting onto the bed and was now climbing on him. He let out an over exasperated sigh. "If you can wake Jason up, then we'll go." He stated before burying his face back into his the pillows.
Raph gave a small cheer as he quickly jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, almost tripping on the small mound of blankets that had served as his bed for the night, and into the living room where Jason was.
A couple of minutes later, Bruno cringed when he heard a loud groan come from the living room and then a heavy thump. Tired footsteps followed and Bruno quickly buried himself further into the bedding. A small chant of 'don't come in here, please don't come in here,' rang through his mind as he squeezed his eyes tighter shut.
"Bruno! Wake up man! The kid won't stop bugging me!" Jason's groggy voice seemed to boom through the slightly cracked bedroom door. Raphael pushed his way back into the room and started to pull the blankets off of the bed.
He groaned when Bruno didn't respond, "Wake up, you fatty!" He whined, giving another tug to the blankets, making them come off and drape themselves over Raph.
Bruno sat up and rubbed his eyes. He shivered and looked over the side of the bed where Raph squirmed underneath the pile of blankets. Bruno quickly reached down and took back the blanket, wrapping himself back into it as he shivered. "I ain't fat." He declared, looking down at his bare chest to make sure he was right. He squeezed his eyes shut as a yawn forced its way out of his mouth.
"Are to!" Raph shouted.
Bruno swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, "No." He repeated as he stretched, letting the blanket fall. "I have about six abs. Count 'em for yourself."
Raph blinked, "Their covered in fat." He stated.
Bruno scratched his stomach as he walked over to a discarded pair of jeans. "They are not!" He shot back after looking down at himself again as he put on his jeans. "There's a big difference between being fat and lazy, kid."
"Are you both?" Raph asked as he watched Bruno hunt for a T-shirt.
"…no." Bruno sniffed a grey shirt before shrugging it on.
"Just fat then?"
"No, just lazy." Bruno grounded out as he walked out into the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast?" He asked.
"No breakfast! I want to go home!"
"I didn't want to make you breakfast anyways." Bruno said as he got out a bowl. "But I'm hungry and I'm pretty sure Jason's hungry," He jabbed a thumb towards Jason who looked dead on his feet as he waited for some toast. "So, you'll just have to wait then,"
The toaster gave a sudden pop sounding. Jason snorted, blinking awake, he grabbed his toast and zombie walked over to the jam.
Raph whined as he sulked his way over to the small table that sat next to a nearby window. He plopped himself down and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl in the center of the brown table. He peeled it, took a single bite and then let his head fall to the table. Bruno rolled his eyes as he set off for the pantry, pulling out some fruit loops with a loud yawn.
Leonardo glared intensely at the time that shown brightly on his T-phone. The sun would be coming up in an hour or so and he still hadn't found Raphael. Leo took another quickly glance around before pushing off the ground, putting himself into a full sprint as he ran across the roof he was on. He didn't hesitate when he jumped off the roof and onto the next one, which had been slightly higher than the previous one, landing and continuing his sprint without a fault.
He had been searching for hours, alongside Leatherhead who had stayed down low and searched on the streets. Every now and then a scream would erupt into the night when the large alligator was not able to duck into the shadows quick enough. And Leo couldn't help but smile each time.
They had already interrogated a small group of rookie Purple Dragons, and with the large mutant next to him, Leo was pretty sure they weren't lying when they said they had no idea where is baby brother was.
The blue-banded turtle skidded to a stop when his phone chimed. 'Any luck?' The text from Donatello read.
Leo sighed. He looked out of the glimmering city before down at Leatherhead who looked up also, slowly shaking his head. "Come on Raph," Leo whispered to himself, "Where are you buddy?"
He gave a gruff sigh and gestured to the gator before starting across the rooftop again. Determination coursed through him as he dashed through the star lite night.
"Slowpokes!" Raphael laughed as he raced out the door and for the stairs. Bruno was quick to sprint after the young turtle, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him into his hold. The man quickly glanced around to make sure nobody had seen before shoving Raphael into the same blue sweater they had used the other day. "We can't let you be seen!" He hissed, ignoring Raphael's protests.
Raph pouted as they descended down the stairs; Bruno never putting him down. They piled into the car, Bruno and Raph settling in as Jason pulled out of the parking lot and starting to go down the mostly empty street.
Jason drummed the steering wheel tiredly. He stopped late at a stop sign and turned towards the passenger seat. "So where we headin?" He asked. The car became silent as the two men stared at the humming turtle. Raphael's legs hung loosely off of Bruno's as he nodded his head up and down slightly to his own tune. His humming ceased and he glanced up and Bruno's impatient face.
"Why'd we stop?" He asked; his gaze going between the two gruff men. They shared glances before Bruno let out a long sigh.
"Where the heck do you live kid?"
"I can't tell you." Raph said bluntly, giving Bruno a slight glare.
"Well, you gotta." Bruno replied with annoyance.
"Nope, it's a secret" Raph stated, folding his arms across his plastron and tipping his nose to the air.
"Kid," Jason sighed, a bit more calmly; glancing over his shoulder to make sure no cars were waiting for him to go; his gaze turned back to Raphael "We can't take you home if we don't know where to go." He pressed on the gas and started down the street again; expecting an answer.
Raph only closed his eyes and shook his head. He looked up at Jason "My brothers will be up here," He gestured to the city that moved outside of the car "looking for me"
"Ooook…" Bruno said exasperated, "Where do we find them 'up here' then?" He asked.
Raph looked around at the darkened city in front of them, his gaze shifting up to the rooftops. He pressed his lips together in thought, "Ummm." He looked back towards the streets before looking over at Jason. Raphael suddenly started to climb off of Bruno's lap, reaching his hand out as he tried to reach the steering wheel.
"Raphael!" Bruno shot as he hooked his hands around Raph and brought him back onto his lap. "What the heck! You're gonna make us crash!"
Raph squirmed, trying to reach the wheel again, "No! Stop! We need to stop! Stop! Stop!"
Jason rolled his eyes as he obeyed the turtle's pleas and pulled over.
Raph sighed, "K," He said satisfied. "Now let me out."
"Wait, what?!" Jason and Bruno shot in union as their eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"You just gotta let me out!" Raph whined as he began desperately tugging at the locked door handle. "I have a plan-!" He dragged out. He closed his eyes tight, quickly taking in a large amount of air and holding.
"What are you-?"
"LET ME OOOOUUUTTTT!"
"Ok, ok!" Bruno quickly replied. He opened the door and stepped out into the frost bitten night. It was October and snow was already chancing its way over to New York any day now. Bruno placed Raph on the ground, "K, now what's your plan?"
Raph looked around for a moment, his gaze going back up to the rooftops. His face scrunched up a bit when he didn't see anything. "DADDY!" He began screaming again. "LEO! DO-" His shouts were muffled as Bruno quickly placed a rough hand over the turtle's beak.
"Shuddup!" He hissed, "Someone's gonna call the cops and then we'll all be in trouble."
"Uh… g-guys." Jason called from the car.
"I don't care!" Raph snapped as he pushed Bruno's hand off of his mouth. Raph spit onto the ground, smacking his lips in a disgusted manner. Bruno glanced down at his hand and noticed the saliva that now covered it. He wiped it off on his pants, grumbling something unpleasant.
"I wanna go home now!" Raph cried.
"If you haven't noticed, that's what we're trying to do!" Bruno ground out
"I really think that you guys should get in the car-" Jason started warily.
"Well try harderer!"
"It's 'harder'! At least try to get your English right!"
"Ok, this is seriously not the time! Get in the-"
"Harderer! Harderer! Harderer! Harderer!"
"If you don't shut up I'll shut you up myself!"
"You're not the boss of me!"
"Yes I am!"
"Na-uh!"
"Yeah huh!"
"No you're not!"
"Yes. I. Am!"
"Well I'm not listening!"
"Why I outta-!"
"GET IN THE CAR NOW!" Jason snapped making both man and turtle jump. Bruno glanced up at Jason who was grinding his teeth and staring straight ahead. Bruno followed his gaze and froze.
"Leatherhead!" Raph yelped as he started to race for the gator about a block away, but was suddenly stopped when two strong hands grabbed him. The large gator's head flipped over to where he heard the shout and a relieved expression filled his face. The relief immediately turned into anger when he saw the red-banded turtle being carried away from him. "Let go!" Raph squirmed as Bruno ripped the car door open.
A flash of blue and green filled everyone's vision. Bruno and Jason stared dumbfounded as the large green turtle slowly stood up from the crouched position he had landed in. He looked back at Leatherhead who was trying to control his breathing, and then turned it back to the filled car.
"Leo!" Raph cheered as he wiggled more excitedly in Bruno's grasp. Leo glared at the man that held his brother.
Bruno's eyes widened. The deathly blue eyes of the all too familiar blue-banded glared daggers at him. Bruno quickly scrambled out of the car and placed Raph onto the ground. Raphael stumbled, but quickly caught himself as he sprinted as fast as he could to his older brother. Leo's scowl turned into a relieved smile as he crouched back down and held out his arms. Raph jumped into the open gesture and immediately buried his head in the crook of Leo's neck. "Leo!" His muffled cry came.
"Raphael…" Leo sighed; closing his eyes as he brought his younger brother into a tight hug; standing up, Leo didn't even notice as the sun peeped its way over the buildings. "Raphael, you're ok" He whispered. Raph nuzzled his head against his brother; Leo returning the gesture.
"I missed you" Raph whispered.
Leo pulled Raph arm's length away and smiled at the toddler "I missed you too, buddy."
"Well, duh" Raph laughed as Leo pulled him back. He rested his forehead on his little brothers.
"Let's go home" Leo whispered "I'm not going to lose you again." Leo turned his head and smiled happily at Leatherhead. They both nodded in a silent agreement, and ran down the street; disappearing into an alley not too far off.
Completely forgetting about the two smiling men.
Bruno stretched; he turned and frowned at the beat up thing his partner called a car. He hummed and jammed his hands into his pockets, spinning on his heels and meeting gazes with Jason, who had gotten out of the car, resting on the car door and watched the reunion.
Jason's shoulders slumped slightly "What now?"
Bruno shrugged. "I feel like we did some real good in the last 24 hours."
"Yeah"
"…"
"…"
"Let's go steal something"