Raph grunted as he lifted the large statue back in place. “Why did you bring only me?”
Renet shrugged, “I figured that one of you would be enough and didn’t want to bother all of you so I asked the time scepter to bring the strongest.”
“Yeah?” Raph flashed her a toothy grin. “The strongest huh?”
“I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this,” Renet heaved a sigh of relief. “Lord Simultaneous would have been so mad if he found that statue on the ground like that. It’s his great grandfather or something like that.”
“How did you even manage to knock it down?” Raph asked, shaking the feeling back into his hands.
Renet snorted, “You don’t even want to know. I owe you big time for this.”
“I’m here without my brothers. I’m sure we can think of some way you can pay me back,” Raph wiggled his eye ridges.
Renet laughed, “Not gonna happen. And besides, you’re with Donny.”
“No one knows that,” Raph froze and glared at Renet. “We’ve kept it secret and I know I didn’t bring it up.”
“Oh, yeah,” Renet giggled.
“How do you know?”
“Well,” Renet blushed. “I check up on you guys every now and again.”
“You watch us?” Raph yelled.
“Nononononono,” Renet backed away. “I always turn it off before your start. I have not seen your… ah… penis.”
“Renet,” Raph growled.
“I swear,” she cowered a bit. “I don’t watch you guys have sex.”
Raph blushed and looked away, “You couldn’t have watched something that hasn’t happened yet.”
“Really?” Renet tilted her head to the side. “You two are really hot and heavy when I turn it off.”
“It’s a new relationship and where still trying to figure things out,” Raph admitted. “It’s not an easy task when it’s all in your tail.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Renet waved it off. “I mean there are Turtle creatures in other dimensions who have figured it out, so Donny should have no problem with it.”
“Renet!” Lord Simultaneous’ voice echoed off the walls.
“You gotta go,” Renet panicked.
“Yeah okay,” Raph placed his hands on his hips. “What’s he gonna do to you anyway?”
Renet held up the Time Scepter, “I don’t know. He treats me like a kid.” She pointed it at Raph, “Time Scepter, send Raph home.” The portal opened and pulled Raph through. Renet sighed, “A five year old kid,” she complained, mumbling to herself.
**
Leo was getting frustrated and Donny could see it in his eyes. Raph was late for morning practice, again, but Donny couldn’t understand why. They didn’t spend any time together the night before, which was usually the reason for Raph’s tardiness.
“Raph,” Leo finally bellowed. Ever since Splinter relinquished full leadership to Leo, the animosity between Raph and Leo only grew. Raph often went off to do his own thing just to push Leo’s buttons. “Get to practice now!”
Donny was assisting Mikey with his morning stretches by pushing gently on his carapace so that he could touch his toes. They youngest Turtle had grown significantly in the past year and was having troubles with his flexibility. The rapid growth caused his balance to be off and his joints to hurt so Donny helped him as much as possible to get his body moving in the morning. Mikey was now the tallest of his brothers and slender do to the increased metabolism and Raph liked to give him a hard time about it. The oddest part was that the pitch of his voice went up and softened.
The shuffling of feet coming down the hall had a small smile form on Donny’s face and he readied himself for the argument that was about to happen. He just knew that Leo was going to lay into Raph for being late and then Raph would do his best to work Leo into a frazzled state. He knew he shouldn’t find it funny, but his love for Raph had him enjoying some of his antics more than he really should.
“You better have a good reason for being so late,” Leo chided with his back turned to the entrance. A soft yawn had Donny looking up. He felt Mikey go slack under his hands as they looked up to see their brother. “What?” Leo breathed, looking over his shoulder.
Raph stood in the entrance to the dojo, rubbing his eyes, his mask hanging loosely around his neck. Tears filled Donny’s eyes as he processed that his larger brother now looked to be no older than five. “Raph?” Donny gasped out.
Sleepy eyes opened more to look up at his brothers, then widened in surprise. “How did you guys get so big?” Raph looked around, “I wanna be big.”
Donny walked over to Raph, “What happened?”
Raph looked up at him, “What?”
Leo walked over to stand next to Donny, “How old are you?”
“I’m five years old,” Raph answered with a grin.
“I’m gonna go check his room,” Donny choked out before runny past Raph.
“It’s clean,” Raph called after him. “But I didn’t make my bed.”
Donny rushed into Raph’s room in hopes of finding whatever could have caused him to turn into a five year old. Tears streamed down his cheeks while he frantically searched. “There’s gotta be something,” he yelled at himself, dumping out the contents of a box. “This couldn’t have happened without a reason.”
Mikey walked into the room, “If it was clean, it’s not anymore.”
Donny turned to look at him, “Do you see anything strange?”
“Yeah,” Mikey looked around then back at Donny. “You. You’re crying and tearing through Raph’s room. This is something Raph would do, you’re usually more in control than this.”
“I’m trying to find answers, Mikey,” Donny snapped at him. “Our brother is inexplicably five years old again. If you’re not gonna help then leave.”
“Splinter sent me to get you, so I’m not going anywhere until you agree to come,” Mikey stated flatly.
“Fine,” Donny said, standing up. “Let’s go.”
When they got back into the dojo, Donny’s heart sank at the sight of Raph playing in the corner. How could he regress in age fifteen years over night?
Splinter sighed, “Out of all of you, why did it have to be Raphael?”
“What do you mean, Master?” Leo looked over at Raph.
“Raphael was such a hand full,” Splinter explained. “I don’t have the energy to deal with that again.”
“You have us,” Mikey smiled. “How hard could one kid be for four adults?”
Donny spent hours searching Raph’s room only to end up finding a small box of mementos from the few ‘dates’ they were able to go on. Tears filled Donny’s eyes as he looked through the small items. He had no idea that Raph was so sentimental. He placed the box aside so that he could take it to his room later then found Raph’s porn stash.
“There’s the Raph I love,” Donny chuckled and placed the box of porn with the other; he wasn’t going to leave it to where Raph can find it but he wasn’t going to throw it out either.
Unable to find anything in Raph’s room, that could lead them to any answers, Donny took Raph into his lab to run some tests. Raph’s eyes went wide in wonderment as he looked around at all the computers and various devices. That wonder was quickly lost the second Donny stuck him to draw a vile of blood.
Raph kicked and pulled away from him, “Don’t do that again!”
“I’m sorry Raph,” Donny soothed. “I need to run some tests.”
“You hurt me,” Raph glared at him. “Don’t touch me.”
“Okay,” Donny nodded. “I’m done. Why don’t you go out and play with Mikey.”
Raph stomped his way out of the lab and stayed in a huff for a while longer, sitting on the sofa with his arms crossed over his plastron and glaring at Don anytime he got too close. Raph behaved, for the most part, the rest of the day though he stayed away from Donny. He played video games with Mikey, did his lessons with Splinter and Leo but dinner time brought on a new set of problems when Raph refused to eat and kicked the table when they insisted on him trying it, spilling everyone’s drinks in the process.
Leo had to stand in order to keep his hot tea from spilling into his lap, “Raph!”
Raph sat frozen in his seat, looking up at him.
“If you don’t want to eat it, then you can go without,” Leo yelled at him, picking his plate up off the table. “You’re done, get up.”
This caused Raph to let out a long wailing cry and tears to stream down his face. “You don’t have to yell at me.” Leo picked Raph up and carried him into his room. “No! No,” Raph cried out as Leo place him in his room.
“You can stay in here until you’ve calmed down,” Leo told him before shutting the door.
Raph sat in his room crying for a good ten minutes before settling down. When Leo went in to check on him, Raph scowled up at him and pointed, “Don’t do that again.”
Leo felt himself flush in anger, “You don’t talk to me like that.”
“You’re not father,” Raph crossed his arms over his plastron and huffed. “You don’t talk to me like that,” he shot back.
“You can just stay in here then,” Leo blurted out before shutting the door.
Raph stayed in his room gently crying for another hour then started to bang on the door. “Let me out,” he cried. “I don’t wanna be alone.”
Donny opened the door and Raph hid from him under the hammock, covering his arms as best he could. Kneeling down, Donny tied to sound as gentle as possible, “Why are you hiding from me?”
“I don’t want you to hurt me again,” Raph answered in a small voice.
“I’m not gonna hurt you again,” Donny soothed. “I promise.”
Uncurling himself, Raph crawled out to Donny. “Can I come out of my room now,” Raph begged.
Donny nodded, “Yeah.” He stood and was surprised to see Raph lift his arms. “You want me to pick you up?” When Raph nodded his head, Donny lifted his brother. Raph nuzzled close to Donny, resting his head on Don’s shoulder and wrapped his arms behind Don’s neck.
By the time Donny got back to the common room, Raph was asleep. He sat down on the sofa, keeping Raph in his lap. “What are we gonna do?” he mumbled. He had to fight the tears that threatened to flow as he held his love in his arms. “I couldn’t find anything wrong with him.”
“I have been thinking about it,” Splinter spoke. “Maybe The Ultimate Daimyo can help us.”
“How?” Mikey asked. “We don’t even know how this happened.”
“I am hoping that the Daimyo can find that out for us,” Splinter answered. “He has a team of mystic healers who can examine Raphael in ways that are unheard of in this realm.”
“If you think it best,” Donny nodded his head. “I’m willing to try anything.
“Then it is settled,” Leo stood. “In the morning we head to the Nexus to seek the Daimyo’s help.”
“That is if Raph doesn’t turn back into an egg overnight,” Mikey added tartly.
“Mikey,” Leo sighed.
Mikey grinned up at him, “Sorry. I don’t handle stress very well. That was my attempt at humor.”
“We are all concerned for your brother,” Splinter placed a hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “We will do all that we can for him no matter the outcome.”
“I’m going to bed,” Donny stood. “I’ll let him sleep in with me.”
“He should sleep in his own room,” Leo crossed his arms over his plastron.
Donny glared at him, “When we were five, the four of us slept together because none of us wanted to sleep alone. I’m not gonna force him to now.” Without waiting for a reply, Donny headed back up to his room.
He laid Raph down on the bed then ran his hand over his head. “Why did this happen?” For the first time he let himself cry. “I want you back. Will you still want me when you grow up? Fifteen years is a big age gap.”
Climbing into bed, Don wrapped his arms around Raph and pulled him close. “I won’t give up on you.”
