Story Title: Changes and Chances Pairings: Don/Leo, Raph/Mikey Synopsis: The boys find out that they’re not actually all related. Leo and Mikey are real brothers and so are Raph and Don, but what kind of implications will this mean for their makeshift family? Complications and chaos ensues.
Chapter 1 - Family Portrait
“Say, Leo...”
The said turtle was pouring over the recent news on the internet, steel grey eyes flitted back and forth in front of his laptop while a hand tapped absentmindedly on their dining table. It was the early morning hour and the occupants of the lair were yet to come to the kitchen where both Michelangelo and himself currently occupied.
The youngest tended to wake up before 6:00 a.m. and would dutifully prepare their breakfast before practice. Contrary to popular belief, Mikey was surprisingly a morning turtle - scratch that, an energetic and happy morning turtle. Though, Leo was of course eternally grateful he didn’t have to cook for the whole family. The late toaster was a painful reminder of his more, ah, adventurous attempts a few months ago. A part of their ceiling was still blackened from where it exploded quite dramatically.
Engrossed in his musings, Leonardo replied with a distracted “Hmm?” and reached out for a drink of his hot morning tea, still quite preoccupied on skimming through the reported criminal activities in Lower Manhattan.
He heard the orange banded turtle make awkward shuffling noises before timidly asking in a small voice, “Do you, uh, like have romantic feelings for Raph?”
Whatever Leo expected to hear from his usually cheerful and annoying baby brother was definitely not it. Leonardo was so caught off guard with the question that he actually spat out tea all over the screen and keyboard. Damn! Donnie was going to kill him for this. The laptop was the genius’ birthday gift for him when he turned 18 last year and it won’t do him good by breaking it just because of Mikey’s ridiculous question. And shell, Mike didn’t look energetic nor happy this morning. What was going on?
Before the leaf green terrapin could make a move to wipe the drenched screen with his bare hands, Michelangelo was beside him in an instant, mildly apologizing with a rag in hand and expertly wiped the spilled drink on his older brother’s device. Leonardo sighed in relief for a disaster averted, but then Mikey was looking at him with an uncertain look on his face.
Incredulous and more than just a little affronted, Leo fixed his little brother with a withering glare, “Care to repeat that again, Michelangelo?”
Mike gulped audibly and scratched the side of his head right above his orange bandana. It was his tell and Leonardo was growing worried. Was this serious enough to make Michelangelo... Dare he think it, insecure?
“Do you like Raphie?” He chuckled nervously and peered at Leonardo’s expression. Leo did not look amused. Thinking he had to spell it out, the sea green terrapin clarified, “You know bro, like, like like the dude.”
In spite of himself, Leo let out a childish snort and twisted his face like he sucked on a particularly unripe lemon.
“I know what you meant and no, Mikey. I do not like like Raphael!” He scrubbed a palm on his face and stayed there, an eye wearily observing his brother. He knew Mike had an overactive imagination and had a abundant streak of horrible jokes. He briefly wondered if this was actually a prank. Nope... The kid looked sincerely troubled and that revelation further scraped at his nerves. It was still the early morning and his self-control was already suffering. Great.
Ignoring the fact that they were talking about the potentially traumatic possibility of him liking his hothead of a brother and how immature they sounded for two young adults, Leonardo bowed his head in defeat and beckoned Michelangelo to sit next to him.
“Okay Mike, I’ll bite. What’s this really about?” The orange banded turtle opened his mouth as if to say something but was discouraged by a, “And no, for the last time, I don’t have a crush on our brother. That’s absurd.”
“But that’s the thing, Leo!” Mikey suddenly cried in a loud voice, wildly waving his hands above his head and a shit-eating grin on his face. “Raph’s our brother but not really. Remember what Donnie did three weeks ago?”
Mikey was up and bouncing on his toes now and Leo was a little uncomfortable with the change in demeanor. His youngest brother never really could stay sad or quiet for long.
Leonardo raised a brow but indulged the sea green terrapin, “Yeah, he finally had time to test our blood with that fancy DNA fragment analyzer he managed to fix. It was a nightmare to drag him out of the lab after three days of obsessing over it,” he frowned at the recollection.
The turtle in orange whined “Anayzer Schmizer. You’re missing the point here, Leo! C’mon, quit doing this to me and be the smart turtle I know you are under all that honor and leader stuff.”
He was seriously losing the small patience he had and the older turtle was persistently wishing that Raph and Don could wake up soon so Mike would stop this nonsense. But as turtle luck would have it, time was not on his side. It wasn’t even halfway to six o’clock. He groaned internally.
“That ‘honor and leader stuff’ you’re talking about is our code of Bushido Mikey,” Leonardo scolded but then shrugged, “so what? We’re not blood related to Raphael, but so is Donatello and Master Splinter... Casey and April too, and we’re still family.”
Michelangelo huffed but he looked giddy with excitement. He spread his arms wide, gesturing animatedly like a stage magician unfolding his favorite magic trick. The leaf green terrapin was still wondering if this was all really just that - a pointless and ridiculous trick.
“I’m not talking about our family dynamics bro. I’m talking about you and me, and Donnie and Raphie. The possibilities, Leo! I’m talking about the what-ifs, and the if-whats! Do you see?”
“I... I think I do... see,” Leonardo mumbled, suddenly struck with an uncomfortable thought but surprisingly not at all repulsive. “So you’re implying that...”
His baby brother made a ‘go on’ gesture with that playful twinkle in his eye. The turtle in blue could even feel Mike’s boundless energy trying to bleed out of his skin. Of all things considered, Leo officially declared this day as “Totally not my day.”
“That’s just crazy, Mikey. I can’t even imagine Sensei would-”
“Ha! That’s where your wrong, big bro. Sensei and I actually talked about this,” Mike smugly cut him off. Noting the bug-eyed and slack-jawed look Leo was sporting, the orange banded turtle smirked.
He assumed a Splinter-like pose, one hand groping the air like he was holding a walking stick and the other with one finger raised. Even his voice imitated their father’s Japanese accent and wizened tone, “It is a blessing, my son. I cannot wish for anything more than all of your happiness. It will certainly change this family, but it is in embracing change where us ninja thrive and succeed.”
The katana wielder’s eyes glazed over, his features turning blank. It was no mystery that Leo was attempting to understand and accept this revelation. Mikey had to give his older brother some credit, Leonardo doesn’t break easily under pressure and this conversation could surely be put under that category. Shell, when Splinter approached him and discussed this inside his Sensei’s shoji, Mike was rattling in his shell, he swore his father could hear it through Raph’s explosive snoring. Even he still had trouble believing their Sensei gave his blessing. Maybe it was just the embarrassment after a repeated talk of the ‘birds and the bees’ but he wouldn’t tell Leonardo that.
He snapped his fingers in front of Leo repeatedly, “Look. What I’m trying to tell you here is that we don’t have anything to worry about, Leo. And uh... Crap. This is totally hard to say dude, but I kind of have a crush on ol’ grumpy Raph and wondered if you felt the same, ‘cause you guys have been really tight for a while now. No screamin’ and fightin’ for a week, and y’know...”
Michelangelo flushed bright red after admitting this little secret. He didn’t know what Leo’s reaction was right now, too concerned staring at the burnt socket where their last toaster found its untimely demise.
Leonardo found it a little funny and a little sweet that his baby brother felt that way, even if it was Raphael, of all people.
“Why didn’t you say so from the start, baby bro?” he chuckled good-naturedly. “I can guarantee that a week without fighting with Raph won’t make me develop a crush on him. I have 19 years of personal hell from that hothead and I don’t think it’ll be changing any time soon.” He rubbed Mikey’s head and grinned at him.
“I’m happy for you, Mikey. Though I have to ask... Raph? Really?”
The nunchuck master pouted at his older brother, “Are you intervening with my love-life now too, bro? And what’s up with that question? Isn’t it obvious? It’s the muscles dude, the muscles!”
Leo shook his head slowly, amusement present in his grey eyes. “I wouldn’t understand even if I tried, Mikey. And why not Donatello? You two are pretty close,” the leaf green terrapin was honestly curious.
If anyone was ‘tight’ in the family, it would be the younger two of the brothers. Mikey practically clung to Don 24/7, so it was a wonder to Leonardo why he wasn’t pursuing their local genius, and instead turned his affections to the turtle who’s basically been his bully since birth. In a logical standpoint, it really didn’t make any sense.
Michelangelo slyly grinned at the clueless look on his big brother’s normally stoic face. Maybe he should leave the poor guy alone and let him do the math instead. Anyway, he could already hear Raph and Donnie stirring and it’ll be a few minutes before they come barreling into the kitchen. He really should get started with the eggs and the coffee. “Leo’s case can wait for later...”
Nah, it was too tempting not to do anything fun about it. The turtle in orange slowly approached the stove, passing his brother in the process. He casually spoke, “I don’t know, Leo. I thought you were into Donnie.”
The Fearless Leader spun around so fast, Mikey was sure he got whiplash.
“W-what?! Wh-why would you say that?” Leo’s face was white as a sheet but it slowly gathered color, and now Mike could hold up a tomato beside his brother’s face and you won’t even see the difference.
The playful turtle started mixing the eggs on a bowl and without turning around replied, “Well, you totally don’t like like Raph, so there must be a reason, right?”
“And you think it’s Don?” Leo’s tone was a little too hysterical but Mikey decided to ignore it.
“Dude, it’s your love-life. You should know.”
The blue banded turtle spluttered gracelessly, his calm and collected image absolutely thrown out the window. Mikey giggled, Leo was really, really so fun to tease! He didn’t know what kind of ammo to throw at his all-mighty big brother off his game, until now. “But with this,” the pizza-loving turtle carefully flipped the omelets, “I could totally ruffle his feathers as much as I want,”he thought in glee. Being Leo’s blood-relative was just an added bonus, really.
Leonardo had just finished freaking out and was staring dejectedly at his cold tea when Raph and Don ambled through the open door and each took their respective places at the table. Don facing Leo, and Raph facing Mike’s chair. They were just waiting for Master Splinter now. Michelangelo served their steaming plates of food and feeling a bit courageous after his talk with Leo, the sea green terrapin winked at Raphael and greeted him with a chirpy, “’Morning, Raphie! Dig in!”
Raph was understandably confused with this odd behavior but he shrugged it off and gave his little brother a wolfish grin, “’Morning to ya too, Mike and thanks for the grub! Ya know I’ll pound ya later for that nickname, right?”
Michelangelo flinched and the red banded turtle snickered and proceeded to scarf down his plate. [i]“Er... Maybe the wink was a bit too much.”[/i]
He could feel the ghost of a grin on Leo’s face and stuck a tongue at him. Apparently, this little act caught their purple banded brother’s attention because he lifted his face away from the coffee and was looking more like a turtle than a zombie. Donatello half-smirked at Mikey’s antics and turned to Leo with a real smile on his face, much to the other turtle’s surprise.
“Good morning, Leo,” Don’s eyes crinkled a bit by way of greeting then turned his attention to his breakfast.
Maybe it was Mikey’s brainwashing that did it, or he was seriously coming down with a fever, because Leo had never felt so flushed and lightheaded without a damn reason. He swallowed convulsively and muttered a quiet, “Good morning, Don,” before trying and failing to regulate his breathing. He managed to calm down and not draw further attention to himself, except maybe a pair of baby blue eyes, light with mischief.
Yep, the great Mikester was never wrong. Don and Leo would totally make a cute couple! Second to his handsomeness and Raph’s hot bod, of course.
