A/n:
Phew! Finally written after taking so long (blame it on the writer's block). Here's the next oneshot, y'all. Enjoy!
The boys are 6-7 years old in this one.
Warning: Contains injury and a tiny bit of angst.
Disclaimer
I sadly do not own these adorable tots.
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Cast
Leo held his baby brother close, shushing and comforting him as the freckled turtle hiccuped and sniffed. Mikey had begun crying after they finally brought Raphael home and had been bawling ever since.
Leo too, was worried sick about his immediately younger brother.
The four of them had went out in the sewer tunnels and didn't notice that they have unknowingly ventured into the old catacombs which held unstable, rusted pipes on the roof. They didn't realize that playing Echo could shake the whole place and huge pipes could start falling, or that one of those pipes would happen to fall on Raphael's arm.
As soon as they heaved the heavy, rusted metal pipe off of their brother, Donnatello accessed his condition. Raph had a few bruises and scrapes, and his arm was fractured... badly. He looked pale and had started shaking, his eyes filled with pain which he tried to hide.
They immediately set to work on bringing their hurt brother home and called for their father as soon as they arrived. After that, Raph had been taken to the lab to get treated by Donnie and Sensei, while Mikey had started crying, upset about his brother's condition.
Leonardo's eyes drifted towards the closed doors of Donnie's lab once more.
They had been in there for nearly an hour now.
He hoped with all his heart that his little brother would be alright.
He turned back to Mikey when he felt him shifting to rub his puffy, reddened eyes. Leo gently stroked his younger brother's head.
"He is gonna be just fine, Mikey."
Mikey numbly nodded, not really having the energy to talk at the moment.
The sound of the lab's door opening drew both of their attention and they watched with anticipation as a weary looking Donnie and Master Splinter trudged out, Raph trailing behind them with a downcast expression. He had his bruises treated and his left forearm was secured in a thick white cast.
"Stay here, my sons. I will go find some medicinal herbs for Raphael that could help with his pain."
Saying that, Splinter headed to his room in order to search for said herbs
Mikey and Leo shared a look before running to join Raph who now sat at the steps of the pit alongwith Donnie.
"Raphie... are you okay?" Mikey got no response to his question but he didn't deter in the slightest, "Is your arm hurting? Are you feeling bad about it? Is the cast bothering you? Or you don't like Sensei's herbs because they taste-"
"SHUT UP!"
The three stepped back at Raph's sudden outburst.
"OKAY?! Just shut up! I'm fine! I don' need your pity and I don' wanna talk to any of you right now!... Just leave me alone!"
Breathing heavily and having one fist clenched, he stood up and marched towards his room, slamming the door shut behind him.
For a long moment nobody spoke or moved, their gazes fixed on the hallway leading to their rooms. It was Mikey who finally broke the silence.
"What are we gonna do?"
"I think we should leave him alone for now." Donnie muttered, "He is pretty upset at the moment and reaching out to him now will only make him angrier."
"But I don't want him to stay sad! I want to cheer him up!"
"We all do Mikey, and we will." Leo said, putting a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "But Donnie is right, Raph needs to be alone right now."
Mikey whimpered a little, not liking his strong brother being so upset.
%%%%%
"They look at me with pity and I feel like I'm so week and useless!"
The young turtle paced back and forth as Spike watched from a nighstand beside the bed, eating from a lettuce leaf Raph had given him.
"Stupid injured arm! I can't do anything because of it! I can't use my punching bag, I can't lift anything heavy and I can't even train!" He kicked a toy car lying on the floor, sending it flying to the other side of the room, towards his drum sets.
His eyes fell on his left arm and glared at the pristine cast. "I hate this cast! I hate that I have to wear this stupid thing! It's tight and itchy and annoying and makes me feel like a sick patient but my brothers just don't get it!"
He stopped his pacing and headed towards where his pet turtle was.
Raph sat down heavily on his bed, bouncing it a little.
"But you understand me, don't you Spike? Chew on your leaf if you understand me."
Said turtle took a bite from the lettuce he was eating and chewed, making Raph smile.
As he patted Spike's head with his finger, the door of his room opened and his father stepped in, carrying a tray with a steaming cup of tea on it.
"How are you feeling, my son?"
Raph considered the question; now that he had vented out his feelings to Spike, he felt a little better, a little less grumpy but not quite happy either. Plus, his arm wouldn't stop aching with a pulsating pain.
"Better, I guess? Arm is still hurting a lot."
Splinter hummed in acknowledgement and sat beside the green-eyed tot, handing him the cup.
"Perhaps a little tea would help."
Raphael hated tea, especially the herbal one which Sensei made for them when they were either sick or injured. It tasted horrible but he accepted the cup nonetheless, not wanting to upset his father too.
"Raphael, why did you yell at your brothers?"
Raph stiffened, despite his father's voice being calm and soft without any hint of anger.
"S-Sensei I-I..."
"Yes?"
"I just..." He sighed, "I don' want their pity, Sensei. They think I'm weak because my arm is fractured."
"They do not pity you, my son. They are, in fact, concerned for you."
"Really?"
"Hai. Understand that they care about you very much."
Raph's face scrunched up in a thoughtful expression, considering those words when only after a moment, his father spoke again, more sternly this time.
"Now Drink."
The tot looked down at the cup in his hands with horror, like he was staring at a giant cockroach and not some herbal tea his father had brought.
"Do I have to?"
He gave the best sad/scared puppy eyes he could manage but only recieved a stern look, making him wince and turn back to the horrendous task at hand.
He slowly brought the cup to his lips and very, very reluctantly took a tiny sip.
Almost instantly, his face morphed from displeasure to confusion and he squinted at the tea like he was searching for something in it, before he took another sip, checking to confirm if what he tasted wasn't just his imagination.
Again, the tea tasted different than he had expected and he smiled.
"That actually tastes pretty good! Why does it taste so good?!"
The ninja master chuckled at his hotheaded son's enthusiasm.
"Michelangelo convinced me to put honey in it. He didn't want you to drink 'funny tasting tea' as he prefered to call it."
He refrained from telling Raphael that all three of his brothers had given suggestions to add something in his tea, some so that their brother would like it and some even questionable; they were definitely up to something.
Raph finished his tea and handed the empty cup to his father. Splinter took the cup and stood up to leave but before he stepped out though, a hesitant voice stopped him.
"Uh... dad?"
"Yes, my son?"
"Can you... um... tell Mikey that I'm sorry, for me?"
The ninja master smiled, "Of course, Raphael. Rest now, you've had a long day."
" 'kay."
The second eldest lied down on his bed, being careful of his casted arm as his father switched off the lights and closed the door. There was a soft light coming from under his door and he watched as his father's shadow walked away.
Raph yawned and closed his eyes, succumbing to the pull of sleep that he had suddenly started to feel.
%%%%%
Sometime around midnight, when the lair was dark and only a few lights were left on, the door of Raphael's bedroom slowly swang open with a low-pitched squeak. The hothead was snoring loudly, seemingly unaware of everything going on around him.
From the slightly opened door, three dark shadows baring deadly white eyes snuck in.
"Donnie, turn on the lights."
"But what if he wakes up?"
"Trust me, he won't."
"Why are we whispering?"
"I don't know, Mikey. Why are you whispering?"
"The lights, Donnie."
"But Leo-"
"Hehehe... you guys are whisper-arguing~"
"-Raph might wake up if it's too bright."
An exasperated sigh.
"Fine... I'll do it by myself."
"Don't!"
"It's okay, D. Leo asked Sensei to put Sleepy-leaves in Raphie's tea, remember?"
"Sleepy-leaves?"
"Well, they are leaves and they make turtles sleepy so-"
"We get it."
There was a click and the lights were finally turned on, brightening the room. The three young turtles had their arms laiden with paints, markers, brushes of different sizes, 2 pallete trays and even some snacks which they rarely got besides Algae and worms. Donnie also held a green plastic cup, half-filled with water. They walked towards their sleeping brother and deposited the art supplies on the ground, the nightstand and even on the mattress. The passed out turtle didn't even stir through all the commotion.
"See?" Leo said smugly, "Told you he won't wake up."
When his eyes fell on Raph's cast, however, his smile vanished, replaced by a sad frown and eyes containing a huge amount of guilt. Mikey and Donnie noticed the change in their eldest brother and shared a worried look.
Donnie put a hand on his shoulder, "Leo?"
"It's my fault..."
"No, it's not."
"It should have been me who got hurt, not Raph...Not my best friend."
Grabbing his other shoulder, the genius turned Leo so he was facing them.
"Leonardo, listen to me! This wasn't your fault! Understand?"
"Yes, it is! If I had noticed where we were going sooner or stopped us from playing that game, then this wouldn't have happened! Raph wouldn't be lying here with a broken arm."
Tears collected in the eldest's eyes and he furiously wiped them away before the others could notice. He was their big brother, he wouldn't cry in front of them.
"Sensei gave me the responsibility to look out for you guys and I-...I failed. I didn't keep my brothers safe. I-I... "
...
The whole roof was shaking like there was an Earthquake over their heads. Old and rusty metal pipes, weakened by decades of absorbing moisture, groaned and fell, sending huge vibrations across the cement floor at their impact.
"GUYS, MOVE!"
They ran towards the small entrance from where they had come inside when another groan sounded behind them. The sound of another pipe coming down was heard and they ran faster, not realizing that Raphael was a little ways behind the others. Seeing only two of his younger brothers beside him, Leo twisted around to look for Raph, a second too late.
THUD!"
AAAAAAAAHH!"
"RAPH!"
...
A hand on his arm snapped Leonardo out of his flashback and he looked at Mikey who was staring at him with big, baby blue eyes.
"Leo... About what happened to Raph? It wasn't your fault, okay? And you did keep us safe. If you hadn't ordered us to move, we all would have been injured... or worse. You saved us, Bro."
"He's right, Leo. We were practically frozen with fear back there. And you didn't even know we were in the catacombs, so you couldn't have known playing 'Echo' would be dangerous."
"Yeah! We were all too busy having fun, none of us noticed. So hear this, nothing that happened was your fault." Mikey declared, pressing Leo's cheeks with his palms.
"M'key, yor squishhing ma face."
The freckled tot giggled at Leo's attempt to talk with squished cheeks.
"I will release you from this prison if you promise to stop with the guilt trip. Okay?"
The blue-masked turtle's head moved up and down with an enthusiastic nod. But who's to know whether it was Mikey moving his brother's head or Leo nodding by himself?
"Good! Now repeat after me: I promise I will not go on a guilt trip till Raph is healed."
"I p'omichh I will not go on a gilt t'ip till 'aph iz healed."
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Mikey said, finally releasing his big bro's face.
"You guys are insufferable."
Donnie grinned, throwing an over the eldest's shoulders.
"That's us!"
Leo just sighed, shaking his head with amusement and gave them a small smile.
"Thanks guys."
"No problemo, bro!"
"Yeah! It's what brothers do. And now that you aren't gonna be drowning in guilt any time soon, how about we get back on deciding what we should make on the cast?" Donnie pointed at the scattered markers and paints, drawing their attention back to the task at hand.
"Speaking of which," Mikey started, giving his brothers a confused look, "why are we using the acrylic? Wouldn't water paints be better for making lots of colors and shades and blends and cool effects and- mmmph!"
"First off, you were rambling. And when you start rambling, you don't show a sign of stopping." Donnie said dryly, not taking his hand off Mikey's mouth who was giving the genius a dangerous glare; Donatello ignored it.
"And second, water paint will easily be removed by water or any other dissolving agent so whatever we might have drawn will be ruined if Raph's cast gets wet. With acrylic paints, once they dry, they are not ruined by water and most of the liquids. You can even clean something that fell on them with water and they will be- mmmph!"
"You know, Donnie," The blue-masked turtle grinned, his hand on Donatello's mouth. "Mikey isn't the only one who rambles non-stop."
The eldest recieved a dangerous glare in response, similar to the one Mikey had given Donnie only moments ago.
"I believe we were going to decide what to draw?"
Leo said, taking his hand off of his brother's mouth.
"Yeah... umm..."
A sound of clearing the throat was heard and their gazes snapped towards Mikey who had his arms crossed and was glaring pointedly at the genious, Donnie's hand still on his mouth.
"Oh right! Sorry Mike! I totally forgot about that."
Donnie gave a sheepish smile and dropped his hand, practically removing the seal of peaceful silence.
"Yeesh! Finally! And I thought you were never gonna let me speak! Anyway, what I was trying to say-" Another pointed glare toward the genius, "-is that I got an idea about the painting."
"What do you have in mind?"
"I was thinking that instead of making boring cast drawings, we should paint only one thing that covers the whole cast. Like... you know, make it look like something else!"
His brothers shared an impressed look before both grinned at him.
"This is brilliant, Mikey! What should we draw?"
Mikey gave a nervous chuckle, "I... kinda haven't thought that far ahead."
"Oh..." Donnie looked slightly disappointed but he perked up again, "No worries though, one of us will come up with something... hopefully."
As the three of them began thinking about what to paint, Leo's eyes lit up, a lightbulb suddenly forming in his head.
"Hey, how about we draw Ember?"
"Ember? Oh! You mean that Ember! I totally agree with this idea, Leo. Raph would definitely like it, that's for sure."
"I know, right?! What do you think, Mikey?"
"I think it's a Booyakasha awesome idea!"
Leo nodded and handed each of his brothers a marker, taking one himself.
"Ember it is, then."
They carefully positioned Raph's cast and started working on the base sketch. After a couple of minutes, Raph kicked his blanket off in his sleep and it fell on the floor. Donnie put his marker down before moving to pick the blanket and drapping it over his sleeping brother. Then he returned to his previous position to continue with the sketching.
After another few minutes of working in silence, Mikey spoke up, tapping one end of the marker with his cheek.
"Uh... bros? I forgot how it looked like from this side."
"Me too. Wait here, I'll try to get the book from Sensei's room."
"Thanks Leo! And be careful not to wake Sensei."
"That's impossible to achieve, Mikey. Even for the master of stealth here."
A muffled voice floated down from the hallway of their rooms:
"I heard that."
"Wait! He's already gone?! But he was just here a second ago!"
The purple-masked genius rolled his eyes with a sigh.
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There was a small scuffle and Mikey's head snapped up at the noise.
"Oh C'mon! Just how many times has he kicked that blanket off?"
"6 times in this hour, 19 times in the last hour and 2 times after we came, so that makes 27 times in total."
Both eldest and youngest stared at their gap-toothed brother with wide eyes.
"You were counting? But you didn't even look around you all those times it fell."
Donnie shrugged, not taking his eyes off the part he was painting. They had finished on one side and were working on the other, the casted arm lying beside Raph's head now with it's lower side facing up.
Instead of answering his brother's question, he reminded him of something else.
"It's your turn to put the blanket back on him, Mikey."
"Why can't you do it?!"
"Busy."
"Why can't Leo do it?!" He pointed at said turtle who was currently sketching extra details on the cast to be painted on later.
"Sorry Mike, also busy. And I did it the last time."
"But I am busy too!"
Leo took his eyes off from what he was doing and gave the youngest a deadpanned look.
"You've been playing with Raph's toy car for the past 20 minutes."
Mikey opened his mouth to retort but before he could get a sound past his lips, Raph shifted in his sleep, mumbling incoherent words and turning his head from side to side.
The still awake turtles froze and watched the fourth with panick-ridden eyes, thinking they might have somehow woken him up.
The red-masked turtle began fidgeting which broke his brothers out of their stupor. They quickly moved to hold him down so he wouldn't, accidentally, aggravate his fractured arm.
Mikey swallowed and looked at his other two brothers. Donnie answered his unspoken question, "He's having a nightmare."
"We need to calm him down somehow."
"How, exactly?"
Remembering what Sensei used to do when one of them had a nightmare, Mikey grinned.
"I know what we should do!"
A simultaneous 'Shhhhh!' was addressed his way.
"Oh, sorry" He lowered his voice to a whisper, "I know what we should do."
The elder two shared a skeptical look and Mikey quickly reassured them. "Trust me, it'll work. I promise."
"Alright." Leo nodded hesitantly, "Just... don't do anything crazy."
"Psss, when have I ever done anything crazy?" A pause, "Don't answer that."
Raph's movements became more erractic and restless making his brothers increase their efforts to keep him still.
"Mikey-ouch!" Their brother had just punched Leo's shoulder in his struggles. "Anytime now!"
"I'm on it!"
Mikey quickly moved towards Raphael's right and stood beside him, stroking his head and murmuring comforting words to him. As the hothead calmed down a little, Mikey switched to stroking his arm instead and began humming a Japanese lullaby Master Splinter used to sing to him when he was younger and had nightmares. Infact, their father sang that lullaby to all of them when either had a nightmare or if they couldn't sleep.
Donnie and Leo watched in wonder as Raphael calmed down even more, his frantic movements lessening and the scared look vanishing from his face. Finally, after a few minutes, their brother had settled down again, sleeping peacefully without having anymore nightmares. They slowly relinquished their hold on him and allowed themselves to relax, having no reason to be stiff and on alert.
Still stroking Raph's arm, Mikey grabbed the blanket from the ground and gently covered his brother with it. There was a moment of peaceful silence as he made sure the hothead was comfortable, and then;
"So you put the blanket on him, afterall."
Mikey stuck his tongue out at Donnie making Leo snicker in the background.
%%%%%
Their masterpiece was almost complete. The lower layers of paint had dried and now, only a few finishing touches were being given; the shadings, a few blends and effects, a couple of tiny strokes here and there.
Finally finishing with his part, Leonardo sighed in relief and deposited his paintbrush in the plastic cup containing brownish, muddy-looking water. As he placed his pallete beside the cup on the nightstand and stood up, his gaze drifted towards his left and the corners of his mouth quirked up in a smile.
"Looks like Donnie is down."
The mentioned tot was lying on his plastron, sprayled out over Raphael's legs, fast asleep.
"Yeah? Well, I'm about to go down myself... and soon."
Mikey yawned after saying that and rubbed his eyes with a small green fist.
"Just finish with those last few shades Mikey, and then you can sleep. Don't worry about the mess, Okay? I'll clean it up."
" ...thanks leo... "
The orange-masked turtle mumbled in a tired voice and after blinking a couple of times, moved the brush to give a few extra touches to the painting and get done with his part.
As Michelangelo worked, Leo collected the scattered markers and the small bottles of acrylic paints along with the pallete he had just used. Juggling the objects in his arms so they wouldn't fall, he pushed the door open with his foot and left the room.
Mikey made one last stroke, completing the masterpiece and placed the palette he was holding on the nightstand.
Without really looking, he moved his brush over the same cup where Leo's rested and let it drop. It's bristles hit the edge of the green plastic and it toppled to the outside of the cup, splattering droplets of orange paint on the wooden surface. Mikey paid no heed to it as he was already nodding off. He lied down right where he was sitting, falling asleep before his head even hit a solid surface.
After a few minutes, Leo came back to the sight of all three of his brothers passed out and the painting now complete. He took note of an extra pallete and another panitbrush on Raphael's nightstand.
As he was passing by Donnie to pick up those items, Leo noticed his purple-masked brother shivering in his sleep and recalled that Donnie feels more cold then the others. While the three of them didn't have much need of using a blanket on moderately warm nights, the second-youngest still got the chills in his sleep.
Grabbing the blanket bunched up on the floor (courtesy of Raphael), he covered Donnie's lean form with it, tucking him in. His younger brother stopped shivering and settled down, turning his head to the other side while whistling through his tooth-gap.
Leonardo smiled and stroked Donnie's head a couple of times. Then he walked over to the nightstand to pick up Mikey's pallete and the cup of brown, tainted water. Grabbing the paintbrush along with these items, he once again left the room.
The blue-masked turtle returned shortly afterwards, holding a clean, damp rag. Moving to Mikey's side, he placed it on the nightstand and gently eased his youngest brother in a more comfortable position against Raph. Once that was done, he picked up the rag and used it to clean the small splatters and tiny strokes of paint from Mikey's fingers and face.
His movements were gentle as he cleaned the paint off the sea green skin and freckled cheeks, being careful not to rub too hard.
Once the paint was removed, Leo placed the rag he was holding on the nightsand and lovingly stroked Mikey's head like he had done with Donnie. He stood, watching all three of his little brothers sleeping peacefully.
Leo fondly gazed at them for a few moments, with a protectiveness only an eldest sibling could muster. His little brothers were the most important thing in his life to him, and if he could help it, he would never let them get hurt like that ever again. Whatever might be thrown their way would have to go through him first.
A steely resolve formed in the eldest's eyes; he would give his life for them if needed.
With that thought in mind, Leo moved to the other side of Raph's bed and laid down beside him, curling an arm around the hothead. Lulled by the sounds of his brothers' soft breathing and Donnie's light whistling, he soon drifted off to sleep.
%%%%%
The next morning, Raph slowly blinked his eyes open and looked around, his senses still groggy after such a heavy sleep. He vagually remembered Mikey's voice humming a lullaby but that thought left his mind as he saw what lay before him.
His three brothers were all cuddled up against him; Donnie was sprayled out over his legs and had his blanket covering him while Mikey was on his left side, slightly below the casted arm and had his head rested on Raph's plastron. Leo was on his right, snuggling close with an arm curled around him.
He let a small smile form at the scene when something red and orange caught his eye in the peripheral. Looking to the left, his gaze fell on his cast which looked nothing like the white cast he had on the previous night.
It was painted into a fierce red dragon shooting flames through it's mouth. The dragon was so detailed, having brick red, crimson, scarlet and, at places, maroon scales; all those having intricate shapes. The fire was drawn using 7 different shades of yellow, orange and red. There were shadings on the dragon, showing small shadows on one side of each scale and light of the flames reflecting from the other side of most scales. It had flashing, golden eyes with dark pupils in a slit, and with so much shades and small details; it looked real.
And if he noted carefully, this wasn't just any dragon; it was Ember! From his favourite bedtime story!
How his brothers had managed to make such an amazing piece of 3D art of one of his favourite story characters was beyond him. But he didn't think about it too much as he was too touched by their effort to cheer him up. His brothers truly loved him... a lot. All the thoughts he had the day before seemed pretty pointless now, they were just his frusterations talking.
Mikey shifted slightly and blinked open his eyes, closing them again, yawing, rubbing his eyes and then opening them before they fell on the now awake hothead.
"Mo'ning 'Aphie."
"Good morning to you too, Knucklehead. Sleep well?"
"Yeah...You're a nice pillow."
Raph half-heartedly growled, in-fact enjoying his baby brother's playful teasing.
"If you say that infront of the others, I'll personally beat the green off of you."
"He doesn't have to, we already heard what Mikey said." Leo's sleepy voice mumbled from his right, surprising him (although he'd never admit it).
"Weren't you supposed to be sleeping, Fearless? And what do ya mean by 'we'?"
"Yeah Leo! Donnie is still sleeping!"
" ...no a'm not..."
The incoherent mumble sounded tired and agitated.
"Wow, Donnie! I didn't even realize you were awake dude! It looked you were sleeping."
"How can anyone sleep when you meatheads won't stop talking?"
Mikey face twisted into a thoughtfull expression before he non-challantly shrugged. "Fair point."
"Seriously Mikey, how many times have I told you to keep your voice down when I'm asleep?" Apparently, a sleepy Donnie was a cranky Donnie.
"Hey! I'm not as good at counting endless numbers as you are."
"My point still stands.You're so loud that the whole New York would..."
Raph blocked out the rest of their conversation and focused his attention back on the painted dragon, admiring it's realistic look and art.
"Do you like it?" Leo asked in a hopeful voice.
Raph looked at his elder brother with sparkling eyes and a huge grin.
"I freakin' LOVE it!"
Leo laughed in mirth for a moment before calming, the smile on his face bigger than the one he has while watching Space heroes. His arm was still curled around Raph and he tightened it a little, in a way hugging him.
"I'm glad."
The youngest two were also beaming at him, their little squabble forgotten. They already knew that their artwork was amazing and their brother would love it but for the three of them, hearing it from Raph gave them a special kind of satisfaction and joy.
Donnie settled down on his previous position over Raph's legs as Mikey crawled back beside the hothead and curled next to him, his head resting on his brother's plastron. This confused the red-masked turtle, as he wasn't expecting them to lie back down. He actually wanted to get out of bed.
" ...We love you Raphie." Mikey said with a yawn, closing his eyes.
He smiled at Mikey's words, forgetting his confusion for a moment, but then noticed that the youngest was dozing off, his posture completely relaxed and limp (if slightly clingy). The other two were in the same prediction.
"Wait, Are you guys just gonna sleep now? We only just woke up."
Silence greeted him.
"Uh...guys? Can I get up now?"
No response.
"Mikey? Donnie?" A slight whistling sounded from the purple-masked tot, indicating that he was asleep already.
Huh... that was kinda quick.
Raph thought and turned his head to the right, seeing the closed eyes of his big brother.
"Leo?"
"...Hmmm?"
"Can you help me out?"
Deep, ocean eyes blinked open, half-lidded and drowsy. Leo watched him for a moment and closed them again, further tightening his hold on Raph.
"Just go to sleep, little brother."
Raph watched incredulously as his only awake brother also dozed off, the tight hold never faltering. He was just trying to get out of his bed but instead, his brothers had trapped him in-between them and fallen asleep. How was he supposed to get out of their cuddle pile which made him feel so warm and fluffy and safe and content and happy and- Wait... what did he want to do, again?
Suddenly remembering that he was thinking about going out, Raph's forehead creased in confusion. Why would he want to go out? He didn't have to go to the bathroom, his brothers had placed snacks on his nightstand alongwith a cup of water which was covered to keep out any dust so there was no need to go to the kitchen, training was cancelled for today and he felt perfectly content, lying here with his siblings.
Raph gave up on his previous idea and relaxed, head lolling to the side. The painted cast came in his view and he, once again, smiled; his emotions from a while ago, when his brothers were still awake, returning with full force.
Funny how he hated his cast just a few hours ago and now, thanks to his brothers, it had become his most favourite thing.
%%%%%
A/n: And that's the end of it(or is it?). Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot.
Please review! Reviews are like a fuel for us writers.
For those who might be wondering about what happened to the cast: Raph wanted to forever keep the masterpiece his brothers had given him so when his arm had healed, he insisted that his cast should be removed in large pieces so he could glue them back easily. Once the cast was removed, Donatello sprayed all the pieces with disinfectant and spread some plaster on their inner sides. It was then glued back together and Raph still has it, kept in a box in his room.
The 3D painting of Ember, made by Leo, Donnie and Mikey is one of his most prized possessions and he gets inspiration from it whenever he gets an artists block (If you didn't already know, Raph is an artist. The episode "Return to New York" from season 3 proves it).