Guest: I agree with you; Turtle tots really do melt our hearts. Thanks for the review!
A/n: Takes place during the first season.
Disclaimer : I don't own the turtles.
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Ninja
"If you had to keep a secret from someone who knows you too well, how would you do it?" The youngest wondered out loud as he stirred the soup he was cooking.
Raph snorted, "Ya can't hide something from us, Mikey, no matter how hard you try."
"I know I won't be able to but," Mikey put a lid over the pot and lowered the flames before joining his two brothers, "I'm asking what would you do?"
"Well, it depends." Donnie grabbed his chin in a contemplative manner, "There are numerous variables here that require consideration to maximize the chance of success and for such purpose, I would analyse the effect of each strategy and then decide which one has the highest probability of-"
"Ahem." The genius sent Raph an annoyed glare at the abrupt interruption of his hypothesis but the second-eldest ignored it, "English, Donnie."
Donatello sighed, "I said that I would think through everything and then decide my next move."
"See? Wasn't that easier to say?"
"Well, technically..."
"Ughh, here we go again." Raphael threw up his hands in exasperation.
Michelangelo snickered at the typical Raph-scowl that appeared as soon as the purple-masked turtle had said, 'technically'.
When he listened for a few more seconds, Mikey realized that Donnie's techno-babble wasn't making any sense to him either so he interrupted his immediately elder brother's rant as his curiousity won over.
"What about you, Raph?"
The hothead raised an eyeridge, "Me?"
"Yeah. What would you do if you had to hide something from us?"
"That's pretty simple, actually." Raph hooked his hands behind his head and leaned back as his younger brothers listened in interest, "If it's Donnie or you, I'll shrug you off. If it's Sensei, I'll act casual like nothing had happened."
"What if we don't want to be shrugged off?" Mikey pried, not ready to accept such an easy answer.
"Well in that case..." Raph sat straighter and cracked his knuckles, sending Mikey a devious grin, "Action always speaks louder than words."
The orange-clad turtle 'Eeeped' and immediately backed down, hiding behind Donnie.
"Hiding secrets from people who know you too well isn't easy, Raph."
" 'Course it is, genius. I just told you how."
"Really? And what if you have to encounter a suspicious Leo?" Donnie pointed out to his immediately elder brother, "What will you tell him?"
"Tell me about what?"
Leonardo suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a spot that was vacant just a second ago, startling the other three turtles out of their shells who, on instinct, released loud and terrified screams and clung to each other for dear life, their eyes blown wide in shock and fear.
The blue-masked turtle acted unfazed at this hilarious reaction and casually sat on his seat with a cup of tea in his hands, now understanding the reason why their father loved to sneak up on them all like a ghost; It was fun.
When the boys finally registered what had happened, they stopped screaming and slowly released their holds on each other, stepping away with their eyes still wide and their breathing heavy, as if they had just ran a marathon. They worked to catch their bearings as their heartbeats drummed into their ears, caused due to the sudden rush of adrenaline.
After what felt like an eternity but in fact was only a minute, the adrenaline bagan to die down and the three brothers relaxed.
As Donnie and Mikey exhaled shakily, Raphael's eyes landed on the reason behind this terrifying jumpscare and he glared at Leo who sat there calmly and sipped his tea, watching them silently with not a single expression appearing on his face besides utter innocence.
Then he saw it.
It flashed for just a milisecond and was masked immediately but he had seen it; a flicker of amusement on the blue-clad ninja's face.
With a low growl escaping him, Raph pointed an accusatory finger at his sneaky brother.
"You're enjoying this. Aren't ya?"
"W-Wha? Who? Me? No, I'm not enjoying it. Not at all. Never." Leo explained hurriedly while avoiding eye contact and raised his cup to hide the barely contained grin, "Why would I ever do that?"
The younger three just stared at him with deadpanned expressions.
When Leo lowered the cup after taking another sip, his gaze involuntarily darted towards his brothers who were all staring at him with a hint of annoyance.
His cheeks puffed out as he saw their expressions, trying his best to hold back his laughter. The images of the looks on his brothers' faces and their girlish screams when they got startled flashed through his mind and he couldn't hold it back anymore.
"Pff-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The cup of tea was set on the table, forgotten as it's owner lost the battle to the hilarity of that moment, "Y-Your... faces! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Leo fell back on the floor with one shaky finger pointed at his younger brothers and one hand holding his stomach, his eyes squeezed shut as he laughed nonstop.
The other three turtles watched him for a moment before they shared a look and gave each other a collective nod. And before anyone could discern what was happening, they all pounced on their leader, restraining him at once.
"G-Guys?!" Leo squeaked out in surprise as he was suddenly being trapped by his younger brothers, "What are you- mmmmph!"
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"Leonardo?"
Splinter called out as he walked into the living area, searching for his eldest son.
Leo was nowhere to be seen and the ninja master had been waiting for him to arrive for his extra training. After sitting patiently for quite a while, he had decided to go search for him himself.
But Leo wasn't in the pit either; Only Raphael and Michelangelo were present, with Raph beating the colourful daylights out of his unfortunate, practice dummy and Mikey being busy playing a video game.
"Do any of you know where Leonardo is?" Splinter inquired the two boys and Mikey simply shrugged in response, his eyes never leaving the screen.
"Don't know, Sensei." Raph answered casually with a shrug before he paused in his punching to look at his father with confusion, "Haven't seen him."
Yoshi hummed while stroking his beard, getting a little suspicious about Leonardo's absence and Raphael's strange behaviour. It wouldn't seem strange to anybody else but Splinter knew his sons better than they knew themselves. And right now, it seemed that Raphael was hiding something from him.
He shook it off and decided to leave the matter as it was, heading to the kitchen for a refreshing cup of jasmine tea.
He could teach Leonardo about more stealth techniques some other time; It seemed to be the boy's favourite lesson these days. The reason was lost to him.
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Behind the soundproof doors of Donatello's lab, a teenage mutant ninja turtle sat on the floor, covered from head to toe in duct tape with all his weapons placed out of his reach while his genius brother merrily worked on inventing something new, explaining the whole process to his exasperated and constrained brother who wasn't able to escape no matter how hard he tried; or talk for that matter.
A scuffling sound caught Donnie's attention and he turned to see the pointless struggles and a mixture of angry and agitated expressions on the elder's face, "Don't worry, Leo. We'll let you out... eventually."
He paused and seemed to reconsider something before he looked down at Leo, wearing an innocent, gap-toothed grin.
"Maybe."