I wonder how 2012 Raph feel to see Rise Leonardo acting like a teenager and not a Leader and vice versa bet pennies to pizza Raph is Surprised that Leonardo is not the oldest in his family
Raph flinched as a balled up wad of paper hit him on the back of the head. He growled and returned to polishing his sai.
Another ball struck him. Raph roared his rage and spun around.
Leonardo was standing there smirking a dumb smirk, balling up another paper and tossing it at Raph’s face. Raph just let it hit him as he seethed.
“You just gonna sit there all day?” Leonardo asked.
“What?” Raph scoffed. “You wanna train?”
“We trained yesterday?” Leonardo scoffed. “It’s break day.”
“Then get off my back.” Raph huffed and turned his back on Leonardo, “and leave me alone.”
“But you’ve just been there cleaning.” Leonardo disregarded Raph’s disgruntled attitude and walked over, leaning over his shoulder, “doesn’t seem very fun.”
“You don’t polish your sword?” Raph growled.
“Well I do, but it’s not like I enjoy it! Well, looking at my reflection is a good plus.” Leonardo smirked and pointed to himself.
“You sound just as vain as my Leo.” Raph huffed.
“What? That uptight know it all? No way!” Leonardo scoffed and waved his arms in dismissal, “he’s more like my Raph! If my Raph was a total fun-hating dork. All your brother’s talked about since he got here was ‘Shredder destroying my city’ this and ‘very important mission’ that. The guy really needs to chill. It’ll get done eventually.”
Raph looked up at Leonardo with a baffled look. “You... don’t think it’s important?”
“Of course I do! Just like, chill though.” Leonardo waved his hand, “if it’s important, we’ll get to it.”
Raph shook his head. The thought of a Leo not wanting to get a mission done as quick and effective as possible, a Leo that wasn’t constantly on his brothers shells about getting work done. It just seemed improbable.
“So like, anyway, wanna come skate or something?”
“Skate?” Leo hadn’t extended the offer to skate with him since, well, ever!
“Yeah.” Leonardo shrugged. “I got an extra board if you want it. Donnie made it specially for box shells, so you should be fine on it.”
“So... it’s Mikey’s board?”
“Don makes him a bunch of spares, it’ll be fine!” Leonardo grabbed Raph around the shoulders and lifted him up, guiding him toward where the skateboards were stored. “And it seems like you could really use the break.”
“And is there a catch or?”
“The catch is:” Leonardo pulled his own board out from behind his shell and pointed it at Raph. “You have to try and keep up with me.”
Raph grinned. “You are so on.”
It was harder to keep up with the slider than Raph had anticipated. When on long stretches, Leonardo could quickly outpace him, but it didn’t take long for Raph to notice how clumsy and unsure Leonardo was when he took the curves, always slipping and having to catch himself with his hand to keep up some sort of momentum and not fall flat on his shell. Still, the younger turtle kept in the lead even without his portals and was at the endpoint waiting when Raph finally rolled up.
“Nice skating...” Raph panted, leaning onto his knees as he caught his breath. “Little loose on those turns though.”
Leonardo smirked. “Still beat ya didn’t i?”
Raph shrugged. “Fair point.”
Raph crouched on his knees to rest, and Leonardo sat criss-cross in front of him.
“So, like, what’s the deal with you and your Raph?” Raph asked.
“I mean, haven’t you ever wanted to, yknow, take leadership from him? Like every other Leo in the multiverse?”
Leonardo shrugged. “Not really. I mean, Raph says he’s our leader, but it’s honestly more of a team effort. Raph is just usually the best fit. I take lead sometimes when we need some more strategy, and sometimes even Donnie takes control. It’s not just one of us at all times. That’d be dumb.”
Raph doubted the Turtles words, despite how much sense they Made. “Mikey ever been leader?”
“Ehh... debatable. He went on his first solo mission where he was the one calling the shots, and once when me and Don and Raph were turned into babies by a mutant jellyfish named Jellybean, Mikey took initiative and turned us back to normal. Oh! And he’s the whole reason we got into the underground city to begin with. He has a really good memory, and he’s super creative coming up with ways to escape.”
“Mikey?” Raph scoffed, “really?”
Leonardo looked over with complete sincerity in his eyes. “Totally. Like I said, we all do our parts, even if Raph’s our self-proclaimed leader.” Leonardo turned away to examine his nails under the moonlight and begin to pick them free of grime.
“How’d that happen anyway?”
“Eh, he’s the oldest. You know how older brothers are.”
Raph blinked. “Wait? You’re not the oldest?”
Leonardo laughed. “No? Why would you think I am?”
Raph gave a self conscious shrug. “I dunno... i just figured it was the same as me and mine...”
“Aren’t you all the same age though?”
“Well— yeah— technically.” Raph admitted, “but we all came up with a birth order to, y’know, try and find some individuality...”
“It’s biological for us. We aren’t the same species, so we all hatched at different times. Raph hatched first, then Don, then me, and then Mikey. It was within days of each other but those days made a lot of difference.”
“Wait— YOU’RE NOT EVEN SECOND OLDEST?!” Raph tried to hide his laughter
“Nope.” Leonardo snickered, pointing to his chest, “child number three and still the favorite! You?”
“I’m a third child too!” Raph practically beamed.
“No kidding.” Leonardo laughed, gently knocking into Raph’s shoulder. “See? We do got a thing or two in common!” He leaned against the stone of a closed stairwell and sighed as he looked up toward the starry sky. “Believe me, Hermano, when I say this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”
