Happy New Year, everybody! I hope you had a great few days! I had :)
It's Monday again and you know what that means... An update! I'm still working on Leo's adventure, but today I have a nice Raph-centric story, where he kind of shows his soft side, as requested by JunjouRomanticafortheWinxoxo. I hope you like it :).
Enjoy!
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Distraction
Raph jerked his head up and sighed, rubbing his eyes. It was the third time in fifteen minutes he almost fell asleep on the couch and he knew if he gave in now, he couldn't sleep at night. With an annoyed grunt he stood up and walked to the kitchen, hoping he could find his youngest brother there to provide some distraction. Instead he found Leo, reading the newspaper while drinking a cup of tea.
"Dude, that stinks," Raph complained gruffly, pointing at the tea. Leo looked up and gave a smile. "I agree. But it tastes better than it smells."
Raph frowned questionably as he looked from his brother to the tea and back. Leo snorted and leaned back. "Alright, it tastes horrible," he admitted. "But it's really healthy."
"Says who? Splinta' or Don?"
"Sensei of course. Don isn't really interested in tea," Leo answered, looking at the tea. Raph nodded. "True. But still, don't believe that crap. Sensei also told us carrots help ya see in tha dark and that if we ate too much candy we would blow up."
"Haha, yeah. That was funny. Donnie only ate carrots for a whole week and Mikey already said his goodbyes to everyone." Thinking back of their childhood brought a smile on his face. "But come on, Raph. We were kids back then. And this is truly healthy stuff. It contains -"
"Whatever, Fearless. I don't care," Raph cut in, annoyed. Leo shrugged and turned the page on his paper. "Alright then," he mumbled and he took another sip of his tea. A couple of moments it was quiet until Raph cleared his throat. "So, where's tha goofball?"
Leo looked up again, a little annoyed he couldn't read the paper in peace. "Mike went out to get some… Stuff," he answered matter-of-factly.
Raph raised an eye ridge. "Stuff?" he repeated dryly. Leo shrugged as he looked back at his newspaper. "That's what he said."
"What kinda stuff?"
Leo gave a weary sigh. "It's Friday… So I guess he's getting some unhealthy fast food stuff. If you want to know where exactly, you should call him instead of asking me," he said in a concluding tone to end the conversation.
"Jeez, don't choke on yer cheerfulness, Sunshine," Raph grumbled sarcastically and he turned around, not hearing Leo's response.
IIIII
Walking into the living room again, Raph thought about the whereabouts of his youngest brother. Every Friday evening he went out to get some snacks to eat during a movie, a game or whatever they were going to do, problem was… Every week it was different. Last week it were cupcakes (very manly cupcakes, he might add), the Friday before that it was pie and before that Mikey came home with the most delicious homemade cookies. Even Master Splinter had taken two. But today…? Suddenly he remembered a conversation they had earlier this week about a craving for doughnuts. With a smirk Raph went to Donnie's lab and he poked his head around the doorway. "Yo Donnie. Where's tha nearest doughnut joint?"
Don looked up. "You want doughnuts?"
"Always, but that's not tha point. But I'm bored an' Mike might be there."
"What about Leo and I? Aren't we anti-boredom material?"
Raph just glared at him.
"Hey, I can totally be fun," Don mumbled slightly offended, but didn't elaborate further. He grabbed his laptop and started typing. A few seconds later he looked up again. "Instead of finding a - as you call it - 'doughnut joint', I've traced Mikey's phone, which is much more effective if you want to find him. Knowing Mikey, he wanders around town looking at everything and nothing, noting the fact he's almost out for two hours now. So he's probably -"
"I didn't ask for a goddamn story, Don. Ya know where he is or wha'?" Raph cut in annoyed. Normally he would know exactly where Mikey had to be when he was out for more than two hours in the weekends. A few weeks ago he had caught him red-handed peeking at an all-girls sorority party at the local university. Thinking back about that day almost brought a grin on his face. He'd always thought it was never going to happen, but finally Mikey was starting to grow up - to Raph's standards. Not just with the girls, but also other things he did. He couldn't really pinpoint it, but it was there. His little brother was growing up and he liked it. And that was probably the reason he liked to hang out with Mike nowadays. Problem was… He had to find Mikey first. Since the university was closed for the holidays, there wouldn't be any parties, so Raph had no clue where Mikey might be.
Luckily his techno-geek brother was there, who wasn't really disconcerted by Raph's usual gruffness. Instead Don smiled and looked at the screen in front of him again. "Sure, he's just ten minutes away, moving in this direction. So I guess he will be home soon," he answered to Raph's question about Mikey's whereabouts.
"Which passage?"
Don scanned the blueprints quickly. "12th Street run-off, going towards the tunnel of the main entrance."
"Hmm… Kay." With that Raph walked away again.
"You're welcome!" Don called sarcastically after him. Ignoring his genius brother, Raph went to the lair's entrance. "I'm off!" he yelled to no one in particular and he walked out, slamming the door behind him shut. Automatically he checked his surroundings, even though he knew everything was safe. Satisfied, he took off and ran towards the run-off, hoping to find his youngest brother.
IIIII
Roughly seven minutes later he finally saw a very familiar silhouette coming into his direction. He opened his mouth to yell something to him, but suddenly he got an idea and quickly he closed it again. Grinning mischievously he decided to scare his little brother a bit. Silently picked up an old empty soda can from the floor and threw it to the wall next to him. Immediately the hard clunking sound vibrated through the almost empty sewer tunnels, creating a very nice echo. With the same grin on his face Raph looked up to his brother to see what his reaction was, but instead of seeing a startled Mikey like he expected, he had to duck quickly for a well-aimed shuriken flying swiftly in his direction. "Holy crap," he breathed as he pushed himself to the wall, not expecting this un-Mikey-like reaction.
"Who's there?" the very resolute voice of the youngest called out. There was a small pause. "If you're here to take away my food - I've got more where that came from!"
Raph breathed out relieved. That was the Mikey he knew. Retrieving his grin, he pushed himself from the wall and came out of the shadows. "Chill, bro. It's just me," he said, holding his hands up defensively.
"Raph?" Mikey asked surprised as his brother walked towards him. A little unsure he got out of his fighting pose. "Whatcha doing here?"
"I was lookin' fer you, ya dipstick," Raph answered, regaining his casual tough-guy pose. He leaned against a pillar, crossing his arms. Mikey cocked his head. "Why? Did something happen?" he asked slightly worried.
"No, just thought I'd do somethin' nice. Yer always annoyin' me when yer alone an' bored, so.. Ya know… I jus'..." Raph tried to explain, but couldn't really put it into the right words without feeling slightly embarrassed. Instead he got a scowl on his face and looked his younger brother over. "An' what about you, huh? Since when ya attack first, question later?" he asked point-blank, leaving no room to react to his previous statement. Mikey hold out the white box in his hands and gave a gentle and affectionate stroke over the lid. "Well, duh! I've gotta protect these sweeties," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, retrieving his trademark smile on his face now he was reassured nothing happened with his family. "They can't defend themselves, you know."
Raph rolled his eyes good-naturally. "Fine, but next time ya should pass tha passive-aggressive pills fer breakfast," he said jokingly. Mikey waved his comment away with a grin and he walked forward. "Heh, don't worry." He looped his arm around Raph's neck and pulled him close in a playful semi-headlock. "You're the PA of the family, and I'm not going to take that away from you."
Immediately Raph reacted by pushing away his brother and preparing an attack himself. Mikey saw it and scrambled back. "No, Raph. Raph! Think of the doughnuts! The -" At that moment Mikey got tackled to the ground, the package flying out of his hands. "No! The food! The delicious sugary food!" he yelled, slamming to the ground shell-first as his gaze followed the square box until it hit the floor with a smack. He locked his eyes on Raph, trying to look somewhat angry, but the amused twinkle in his eyes revealed his true feelings. "You monster! You'll pay for what you've done!"
"Oh, shaddap, knucklehead," Raph grumbled, pinning Mikey down with his knee. "It goes into yer mouth in pieces anyway."
Mikey gave a pout. "But they're less tasty when they're broken or dented," he said in a soft and disappointed voice. Raph raised an eye ridge. "That doesn't make any sense. Tha taste is exactly tha same."
Mikey thought about that. "Well, yeah, in theory..."
"So yer -" Raph started, but Mikey started to talk right through it. "But in practise it's totally different. For example… You like your sandwich better when you cut it diagonally instead of straight. Leo likes his tea better in a stone mug instead of a glass one and Don likes his fruit better in little pieces instead of the whole thing." He paused, seeing his brother actually think about it. "And I don't like perfectly good food damaged. It's all the exact same, dude."
Raph gave a defeated sigh. "Ya know what… I'm not even goin' in discussion with ya." He stood up straight and reached out his hand. "I ain't gonna win this anyway."
With a grin Mikey grabbed his brother's hand and let himself being pulled to his feet. "You know it," he said, dusting off his thighs. His gaze went to the box upside-down on the floor and he gave a sad sigh. "They were perfectly topped, dude. And sprinkled."
Raph gave him a shove in the direction of the box. "Friggin' drama queen. You'll get over it."
Mikey gave him a glare and grabbed the carton from the floor, carefully turning it over. "Heh, that's Drama King, or Drama Battle Nexus Champion for ya," he said with a smirk, which fell pretty quick when he opened the case. "Ah, man. They look horrible!" He stood up and hold out the box so Raph could look inside. Curiously Raph gave a peek, seeing the sixteen sugarcoated rings of which the topping was now stuck to the lid of the box. He gave a careless shrug. "I bet they're still good. C'mon, let's -"
"No!"
The fierceness in his brother's voice made Raph stop his sentence right away. He raised his eye ridges in surprise and looked at Mikey's determined face.
"Apologise!" Mikey demanded, shoving the box further in his brother's face. Raph heaved a tired sigh and looked his brother in the eyes. "Yer serious? An apology ain't gonna make them betta."
"Yeah, seriously. Apologise," Mikey insisted, leaving no room for arguments. Raph grumbled, knowing he had to express his regret, otherwise he would be sorry later. "Fine.. I'm sorry fer -"
Mikey shook his head. "No, not to me… To the doughnuts."
Raph stepped back. "What tha… No way I'm gonna say sorry ta freakin' doughnuts!"
"You have to -"
"Ferget it, ya fruitloop," Raph said, turning around and he started to walk away. "Friggin' dipstick."
"Rahaph!" he heard Mikey whine behind him, but he chose to ignore it. Who in his right mind would actually say sorry to food…
"Think fast, grumble-butt!" Mikey yelled and the moment Raph wanted to turn around the see what his brother was up to, he felt the sticky, greasy sensation of a doughnut sticking to the side of his head. Immediately Mikey burst out laughing. "Hahaha, looking good, Raph." Quickly he closed the box with the remainder of the doughnuts and he started running towards home, knowing Raph wouldn't be too happy about the fact he was being pelted with food. "You should've apologised when you had the chance!"
"Mikey!" Raph called out angry as he peeled the sticky doughnut off his head. "C'me here so I can kill ya!" He wanted to throw the pastry on the floor in irritation, but thought better of it. Quickly he stuffed it in his mouth. "Shell, this is good stuff," he mumbled approvingly before taking off after Mikey, knowing this evening wasn't going to be boring anymore. His youngest brother would make sure of it.
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C'est tout (no, I'm not French xd). I really hope you liked it. Let me know!