Hey guys! This is a turtle tot one-shot for Raph, since I hardly have any one-shots that focus on him! This will be all his point of view! I am currently working on "Reincarnation" but need a bit of a breather from the usual stuff! Hope you enjoy!
Happy Reading! Turtle Tot Raph! :D
Turtles are all 10 years old in this one-shot!
I didn't always know what do with myself around my brothers. Every time we tried to talk, I'd end up getting angry. Every time we tried to play, I ended up hurting them. It got to a point where I was the silent grump, the hot-head, the violent child. Somehow though my youngest brother found a way to play with me anyways. It all started with dinosaur band-aides and a promise from a brother.
It was the third time in less than two days that my violent temper exploded again; only this time it was because of Donnie and his stupid blabbering mouth. Usually I fought mostly with Mikey, because my baby brother liked to try my patience, or even Leo, who thinks he's better than everyone else because he was deemed the oldest. But I hardly ever got this mad at Donnie before.
"Stop being a Meathead, Raph! I was only implying that my books are more important to me than some stupid movie!" Donnie said with growing annoyance. I glared at him, feeling the familiar shaking in my hands as they curled into fists.
"It's not a stupid movie and you're always reading books! I don't want to watch a movie with you anyway, Nerd! Go crawl back into your hole and stay there with your precious books! It's not like we'll miss you out here anyways!" I barked and watched immediate hurt blend into his brown eyes. Wrong. That was the wrong thing to say! That wasn't what I was thinking about telling him!
"I hate you!" Donnie glared through tears forming in his eyes as he rushed off to his workroom area, slamming the doors behind him just as Leo came out of the dojo with Sensei. I glared at Leo when he stared at me too long, in that way he did that felt judgy, and Sensei sighed as he looked from me to the doors hiding Donnie.
"My son, I have told you time and time again that you mustn't get so angry over little things," Sensei said softly to me as he walked closer. I resisted the urge to back away and couldn't meet his eyes, "You cannot get violent when things don't go your way."
I felt hurt by his words. I had only wanted to watch a movie with Donnie but he was just all about his books as usual! He acts like he loves those things more than any of us. It's almost as if it's so much effort for him to even think about playing with us. And that hurt, but not as much as Daddy thinking I was the bad guy as usual, "Donnie said mean things to me too, Daddy! Why don't you ever get on to him?! Why am I the only one that does anything wrong?!"
"Raphael-"
My eyes were burning with tears at this point and I could swear Leo took a hesitant step closer but I glared through tears and walked away, "Raphael, we are not done talking!" I flinched just a little but felt rebellious and too hurt to care.
I rushed into the bathroom and locked the door behind me, listening to Daddy try and soothe me so that we could talk again. I could hear the tiredness in his voice, the usual slight exasperation of having to deal with a problem child like me. Eventually Daddy told me that I could have my space to cool down but that we needed to have a serious talk about my behavior once I've calmed down.
I did nothing but curl into a ball in the large empty wooden tub that was our bathtub and let my eyes burn some more with tears.
It felt as though a good few minutes had passed but I wasn't so sure. I was only sure that I didn't want to have to deal with whatever punishment Daddy was going to give me once I left this room and talked with him. It just wasn't fair! Donnie said mean things to me first and it hurt! Why isn't he getting into trouble? Why am I the only one that has to feel so left out?
A knock at the door made me jump and bump my elbow against the wood of the tub. I winced and glared at the door, feeling my heart skip a beat as I rubbed my elbow, "Raphie? You still in dere?"
My glare fell a bit at hearing Mikey's voice. I hadn't heard from him since he threw some of his algae at me during breakfast, trying to be playful. But I had gotten mad and swatted him across the head, earning a scolding from Daddy as usual. He didn't have anything to do with what happened earlier, though, so I shouldn't feel mad at him, "What do you want, Mikey?"
"Can I come in, pease? I hafta pee," He replied honestly, mispronouncing words in a way that was secretly cute because of a lost tooth in the front of his mouth, and I blinked at the door before groaning. I moved to stand and unlocked the door, letting him in before I went back to the tub and turned around, "You not gonna leave?"
"No, I don't want to. I won't look at you so just go to the bathroom," I snapped and grabbed the edges of the tub before squeezing as hard as I could to control myself. I wasn't mad at Mikey...I wasn't mad at Mikey...I repeated to myself over and over so I could avoid saying anything that would hurt him.
For whatever reason, Mikey let out a sound of confirmation and went to the bathroom as I stayed there, curled awkwardly in the opposite direction. As soon as he finished it was quiet again and I felt a bit tense around the silence. Silence with Mikey in the same room was never a good thing. I was just about to turn around when Mikey let out a huff of breath, the way he did when he was pouting.
I blinked and turned around, seeing him struggle to reach the sink. It would have made me laugh any other time, because Mikey was always the smallest of the four of us, but I felt a little bad for him because he looked a bit embarrassed. I wordlessly stood again and shifted over to him, being silent as he stared at me in surprise.
"Here," I offered as I grabbed him under his arms and pushed him up with a loud huff of breath. He was tiny but he still had a weight that was hard to adjust to right away. Mikey yelped at first, "Just hurry up and wash your hands."
Mikey did so faster than I've ever seen and I put him down when he was finished. He looked at me with wide eyes as he hands dripped wet so I grabbed for the towel that Sensei always kept by the sink and began to dry his hands, feeling embarrassed when he continued watching me.
"I was mad at Donnie too," He suddenly spoke and in the silence it made me jump a little, but he didn't say anything. He continued on with a hesitant look, "I heard you when you asked Donnie if he wanted to watch that movie with him. It was wrong of Donnie to brush you off like that. I don't think you should get into trouble."
My eyes widened at my youngest brother and he just looked determined. I shrugged after a moment and shifted my eyes away from him, "But I said mean things to Donnie...just like I always do to you guys."
"But you don't always do that, Raphie," Mikey replied, sounding honestly confused and I whirled up to look at him again, "You always know what to say when I get sick or have nightmares. Or even when I get mad at Leo, Donnie, or Sensei, you're always the one that understands."
My heart skipped a beat as I blushed in embarrassment but I felt warmed by my brother's words, "I...I don't ever say much you chucklehead..."
Mikey smiled, his freckled cheeks looking much bigger, "But you do, Raph! And you're fun to play with too! The others are missing out!"
"Well...you're not that bad to play with either when you're not whining," I teased a little, unable to help the big smile on my face. The tease went right over my brother's head as he beamed brightly at me; so brightly that it was almost too embarrassing to look at him. It usually was like that though.
After another moment Mikey's eyes shifted away and one of his feet drew patterns in the floor, which I knew form experience meant he was keeping a secret, "Will you keep a secret from the others, Raph?"
"Sure," I agreed, feeling too curious for my own good. Mikey was never good at keeping secrets unless they involved himself. Mikey hesitated, which surprised me.
"You promise you won't get mad at me, Raphie?" He asked looking a bit scared and I blinked,feeling a little bit concerned.
"I won't get mad unless you don't tell me," I retorted with a frown, crossing my arms. Mikey watched me before turning to the side a little and showing me his leg. My eyes widened and my mouth parted in surprise when I saw the cut that was on his leg. And it was bleeding, "What tha shell, Mikey?!"
"I...I was out practicing the skateboarding," Mikey stammered, looking at me fearfully, "I came in here to wipe away the blood because I knew Donnie would get so mad...so would Sensei and Leo if they found out I snuck out!"
I paused, knowing he was right. We weren't supposed to be alone in the sewers in case something went wrong or someone came along. Plus when we discovered the skateboard, Sensei had told us that he wanted someone with us when we practiced on it, "Sit down on the toilet. Lemme look at it."
"Okay, Raphie," Mikey nodded almost tearfully as he did what I said. I followed after him and he extended his leg for me to see. I know Donnie could do better than me or even Sensei...but I didn't want to get my brother in trouble. I knew that it had stopped bleeding and wasn't deep, but enough to be noticed by the others.
"I'll clean it for you and then get a band-aide," I told him as he nodded at me, "We gotta clean it so it don't stay dirty no more."
"Okay, Raphie," Mikey agreed, nodding his head again as he watched me. I nodded back at him and turned around for some toilet paper. I got the toilet paper wet and began cleaning my brother's cut, feeling bad when he whimpered a little bit, "Is it really dirty, Raphie?"
"Not really, but Donnie always does this so..." I said as my shoulders slumped as I was reminded of the situation I was in. Mikey frowned at me but said nothing else until I was done cleaning his leg. I went to the cabinet above the sink, where I knew Sensei kept the band-aides, and grabbed one of the big square ones and a small one. I went back to him and Mikey brightened at them as I unwrapped and carefully put the big band-aid on, "There...I'm done."
"Thanks, Raphie! Dinosaur band-aides are the greatest!" Mikey beamed happily as he turned his leg where he could see the band-aide. I smiled a little before frowning when i thought about Donnie again. Mikey looked at me and his smile dimmed when he saw my frown, "You wanna know something Raphie?"
"What?" I asked quietly, feeling tired of a lot of things at the moment. I was surprised when he grabbed my hand and put the second small band-aid on the back of my hand carefully, even though there was so cut there.
"Don't worry about the others. They don't see how nice you actually are when you want to be, but they will. I promise," He replied very seriously as he looked up, his baby blue eyes pinned on me. My eyes widened largely and he smiled, "Okay? I don't like seeing you sad when you don't have to be! You're one of my favorite brothers!"
I laughed because I couldn't help it. He was referring that we were all his favorites. He was so goofy! I smirked at my little brother and surprised him by yanking him out of the toilet seat for a proper one-armed hug. He gasped but was quick to wrap his little arms around me tightly.
"Thank you, little brother," I said with strong emotion, looking at the band-aid of my hand as I squeezed him. I wasn't sure what Mikey knew just exactly what I was thanking him for, but he smiled goofily, the smile that was annoying and yet the smile I never wanted to go away.
"Anytime, bro! Band-aides fix everything!"
I have such a weakness for bro-fluff that it's not even the least bit funny! I loved writing this Raph and Mikey turtle tot scene! Mikey's innocence is adorable and I feel as though Raph is insecure about his standing in Master Splinter's eyes.
I would appreciate any reviews! You know how I love to know your guys' thoughts! :D Stay awesome!