The clatter of weapons beating against one another echoed throughout the lair. The ring of steel and the thud of wood became an almost ritualistic sound to hear in the subterranean home. They were the sounds of the training the brothers went through on a daily basis. Inside the dojo the four brothers were sparring against each other, a rigorous workout created by Master Splinter.

Raphael and Michelangelo were paired together, while Leonardo and Donatello were the other set. It was obvious they had been working out for a while now. Sweat shone on their brows, and their breathing came out in heavy pants. Yet having such an exhausting workout was something they were accustomed to.

Raph and Mikey stood across from each other and bowed, preparing for their next sparring match.

"You ready for another beat down?" Raph taunted.

"Hey, I already got you once today," Mikey twirled his nunchucks into their ready position.

Raph spun his sais."Yeah, to my two wins and here comes number three," Raph grinned and then lunged at Mikey.

Mikey ducked and rolled across the floor to avoid Raph's first attack. He then tried to sweep Raph's legs out, but Raph jumped to avoid the attack. Mikey popped up and whipped a nunchuck at Raph's sais in an attempt to knock them from his hand. However, Raph anticipated the attack and sidestepped. His sai caught in the chain of Mikey's nunchuck and he ripped it out of his grip. The weapon was flung across the room, and smacked Leo in the shell.

"Hey!" He turned away from Donatello. "Watch where you're throwing your weapons."

"Sorry Leo," Mikey tried not to laugh. "It was Raph's fault."

"That's because you weren't able to hold onto your nunchucks, butterfingers," Raph rounded to face Mikey.

Mikey rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, you mean like this?" Mikey twirled the remaining nunchuk once in his hand and let it loose. It spun out and smacked Raph right in the chest. "Haha, oops."

The nunchuck didn't hit hard enough to hurt, but it certainly managed to irritate Raph. "You little…come here!"

Donnie sighed as he leaned against his bo staff. "Here we go again."

Mikey ran giggling across the room and flung the doors of the dojo open. Raph was in hot pursuit as they raced out into the common room of the lair. Leo and Donnie just watched with amused expressions as the chase continued.

Raph launched himself forward with extra force and tackled Mikey to the ground. Mikey let out a strangled yelp as he was suddenly grabbed and thrown to the floor. He twisted around and landed roughly on his back. Raph straddled him, pinning Mikey to the floor.

"You're gonna be sorry you did that, Mikey," Raph smirked at him.

"No, don't…" Mikey stared wide-eyed up at Raph.

Raph grinned, but before he could do anything else Mikey twisted himself knocking into Raph's legs. He gained enough leverage to push Raph to the side and escape. Mikey saw his other two brothers watching from the dojo's doors and ran over to them.

"Hide me!" he said ducking behind their backs.

"He knows you're there, Mikey," Leo said dryly.

Mikey huffed. "You're no help!"

Raph charged at them so Mikey pushed Leo from behind. Leo stumbled forward and crashed into Raph, sending them both into a heap on the floor. Donnie and Mikey laughed at them, but as soon as Raph was freed, you could see the anger burning in his eyes. On top of that Leo was even irritated now.

"You are so asking for it!" Raph shouted.

"Eep," Mikey grabbed Donnie by the wrist and threw him into the crossfire too. Realizing that didn't really solve his problem of having a rampaging Raphael after him, but instead made it worse, Mikey decided to run away again. He flipped into the pit of their sitting area and out to the other side, standing by the turnstiles. He could flee into the subways tunnels if it came down to that.

Now he had three upset brothers glaring at him from across the room. Mikey needed somewhere to hide, but they all knew his favorite places. Then out of the corner of his eye, Mikey saw something in Donnie's hand.

"Uh oh," Mikey mumbled.

Donnie threw one of his smoke bombs at the ground. A flash of purple smoke erupted and then they were gone a second later. Mikey knew they would be coming for him. He dashed towards the kitchen but suddenly tripped. When Mikey looked up from the ground, Donnie was standing behind him with his bo extended, a smirk on his face.

"Cheap shot," Mikey said.

"And you throwing me to the wolves wasn't?" Donnie responded.

"Your sacrifice was necessary…uh," Mikey scooted backwards across the floor, until he backed up against one of the support pillars of the lair.

"You're stuck now, Mikey," Leo moved closer and grabbed onto Mikey's shoulder so that he couldn't get away this time. Donnie came up on his other side and held Mikey down.

"And you're gonna pay for messing around," Raph made a fist and punched into his hand.

Mikey's eyes darted around the room, but he knew this time there was no way of getting out of this. "Aw, come on guys. It was just a joke."

"You can't talk yourself out of this one, Mikey."

"Nothing too severe, Raph," Leo warned.

Raph ignored Leo and moved closer to Mikey, wringing his hands like a villain in an old cartoon. Before Mikey could make anymore protests, Raph jumped at him and began to tickle him. MIkey squealed as laughter began to bubble up inside of him. Raph knew he hated to be tickled, especially since he was extremely sensitive, specifically behind his knees and neck. Mikey's kneepads were ripped off and tossed to the side.

Leo tickled him behind the neck, and Donnie found a spot and Mikey's side right above his shell that was extremely ticklish. Mikey squirmed trying to get away, but couldn't manage anything more than a pathetic flail. He couldn't stop laughing; tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"G-guys, stop" Mikey gasped. "Please!"

"Should we?" Donnie asked.

"I don't think he's had enough yet," Raph smiled. "Besides this is payback."

Mikey was now lying on the floor, wriggling as his brothers continued to tickle him. Tear tracks from laughing so hard trailed down his face. Just as Mikey was starting to think his lungs would burst from the sheer amount of laughter he was subject to, a loud roar erupted in the lair. Donnie and Raph were ripped away from Mikey, while Leo was forcefully pushed aside.

Leatherhead had Raph and Donnie by their shells. He was glaring at them, teeth bared, and they stared up at him with startled expressions.

"What are you doing to, Michelangelo?" Leatherhead growled.

"U-um…"Donnie stammered. "Mikey, a little help."

Mikey sat up, wiping the tears away from his eyes. "Leatherhead, it's okay. They were just goofing off."

Leatherhead looked at the two turtles in his hands for a moment, and then set the down on the ground. "Oh, then I am sorry I acted so forcefully. It looked as though you were in trouble."

"It's all good, dude. No one got hurt." Mikey smiled at him.

"Except, for you know, almost giving us a heart attack!" said Raph. "We didn't even hear you come in."

"I'm sorry," Leatherhead looked sadly down at the floor. "I didn't mean to alarm you."

"But you have good timing, LH. I didn't know how much more I could take." Mikey grabbed his knees pads and strapped them back on.

"Leatherhead," Leo started. "What are you doing here anyway? Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. I was invited over by Michelangelo for dinner. Did he not tell you I would be coming?"

His brothers looked over at him. Mikey shrugged. "Oh my bad. Sorry, forgot to mention it."

"Next time don't forget, Mikey. It's nice to know when we're going to have guests," Leo said.

"Sure thing, bro," Mikey gave him a thumbs-up, and then turned his attention back to Leatherhead. "Come on, Leatherhead, you can help me set up in the kitchen for dinner."

"I'd be happy to assist you," Leatherhead said happily. He followed Mikey and they disappeared behind the curtain that served as a door. They were indeed an unlikely match as friends, but in a way made the perfect pair too.

"At least your face was safe this time, Donnie," Raph joked.

Donnie punched him in the arm. "Shut up, Raph."

"Knock it off you two," Leo said before they could start arguing. "Let's go join them." Raph and Donnie shrugged and moved to the kitchen after Leo.

Set during season 1. It's just an old story I found while looking through my files. Enjoy!