It was late in the afternoon when Splinter had finished making himself a cup of tea. As he placed Ol' Skelly back onto the stovetop, his ears pricked towards the kitchen's entrance, where he could distinctly hear the pitter-patter of feet tottering down the hallway, followed by a series of sharp whispers.
"Boys," Splinter addressed, "Didn't I tell you four that you could only have your snacks after you tidied up your bedrooms?" It wouldn't have been the first time his turtle-children attempted to sneak into the snack cabinet and reward themselves for a job half-done.
"U-Um, actually, it's just us three," Mikey answered meekly.
Splinter raised a brow, "Three?" He turned around and spotted Raph, Leo, and Mikey huddled together in the doorway, their expressions mixed. "Where's Purple?"
Raph pushed Leo forward, earning a scowl from his younger brother, "Leo and Donnie were fighting again, and then Donnie ran off somewhere!"
"Tattle-tale," Leo grumbled, folding his arms with a huff.
Splinter sighed, "Blue? I thought we talked about using our nice words towards each other?" He knelt before Leo, who fidgeted under his father's attention.
"But I did!" Leo's passionate claim wavered. He guiltily stared down at his feet, "Well, I mean, I did at first. But he started it!" The slider's fire returned, only quelled by Splinter, who pressed a finger up to his mouth.
"That's not important," Splinter said, "What's important now is finding your brother and setting things right."
"But, we looked everywhere for him!" Mikey whimpered, tears threatening to spill from his watery eyes.
Raph began counting off on his fingers, "We searched the bathroom, all of our bedrooms and the living room! I even looked inside your chair!"
"I still think he could've flushed himself down the toilet," Leo mumbled to himself, earning another look of disapproval from Splinter.
"Then, it sounds like you three have a lot of backtracking to do!" Splinter patted Mikey's shell and took a moment to dry the box turtle's tears with his sleeve. "But worry not, my sons, for I will help you."
-x-
What Splinter had promised was a half-truth. While his boys double-checked their bedrooms, Splinter took his cup of tea into the living room. He could keep an eye out for Donnie while also keeping an eye on his favorite TV show.
Splinter shook his head upon discovering the state of disarray the living room was left in from Raph, Leo, and Mikey’s frantic search for Donnie. He decided he'd make the boys sort out the rest of the living room after supper. Splinter fixed the cushions of his armchair, made himself comfortable, sipped his tea, and then twirled the remote control between his fingers.
Splinter's thumb hovered over the power button. Just before he could click it, there came a strange sound from close-by.
Sniffle...
It was a soft, sad sound that made Splinter's ears twitch. He listened carefully and heard nothing. He shrugged, pointed the remote at the projector screen, and-
Sniff... sniffle...
- there it was again! If Splinter was right, the noise was coming from beneath him? He slid out of his seat and checked underneath the armchair.
"Purple?" Splinter blinked. "What are you doing under there?"
Donnie turned away from Splinter, burrowing further into his hoodie until he eventually disappeared into his shell. He sniffled again, and Splinter frowned.
"Surely, you can't be comfy down there?" Splinter held out his hand. "Why not come out and join me? We can watch Scorpion Treadmill together!"
Splinter only needed to wait a few more seconds before he felt Donnie's hand lightly take ahold of his own. Splinter's fingers curled around the tiny hand and carefully helped Donnie out from under the recliner.
Splinter kept his word. He plopped back down in his seat and placed Donnie on his lap, who was still tucked inside his shell. Splinter turned on the TV and sipped his tea once more, setting the cup and saucer down on Donnie's back.
By the time the first commercial break came on, Donnie finally spoke up from within his shell, "Leo said he wished Laceface was his brother instead of me."
Splinter looked down at Donnie and lowered the volume on the TV, "Laceface? Oh! You mean the football you boys are always breaking things with? Now, why would Blue say something like that?"
"Because he's a big meanie," Donnie murmured sourly.
"Now, Purple. What did we say about using our nice words towards each other?"
"Well, he is!" Donnie's head popped out of his shell, his eyes puffy from crying. "Me 'n Mikey were playing Jupiter Jim when Leo and Raph crashed our game with their stupid Sports Ball game!"
"Uh-huh," Splinter nodded, sipping his tea.
"And then Leo's trick pass caused Raph to break our moon buggy!"
"You don't say?"
"So I told Leo he owed us a new moon buggy, but he said it wasn't his fault our moon buggy broke so easily cuz it's cardboard! So then I said to him that it was his fault because it was his dum-dum trick pass that caused Raph to break our moon buggy in the first place! And then Leo said his trick pass wasn't dumb, and that I was the dumb one!"
Donnie went on. Splinter could see where all this was going. Indeed, it was a messy situation, though thankfully, he knew of a way to fix it. When Donnie finished recounting his side of the story, the young turtle was just as hurt when he had first hid under Splinter's armchair. Donnie lifted his glasses out of the way so he could wipe his eyes and swallowed the sob caught in his throat.
"Who am I kidding?" Donnie's shoulders sagged with defeat. "They'd probably care more about Laceface than me."
Splinter began rubbing Donnie's back, hoping to calm him down, "You know that's not true. Your brothers care very much about you, including Blue!"
"Nuh-uh," Donnie shook his head in disbelief.
"Yuh-huh," Splinter answered, "Why, surely you must've heard them tearing this room apart while they were looking for you?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Did you know they're still looking for you?" Splinter continued, "Why, they've been so worried about you!"
"R-Really?"
"Really," Splinter petted the top of Donnie's head.
"Even Leo?"
"Only one way to find out," Splinter cleared his throat, "BOYS!"
Splinter's bellow echoed off the walls of the lair. Donnie could hear his siblings clumsily stumble over each other as they piled into the living room, though none of them dared to approach Splinter's armchair, and with good reason too: they still hadn't found Donnie.
"Yeah, Pops?" Raph asked hesitantly.
"Have you boys found Purple yet?" Splinter winked down at Donnie and signaled for him to stay quiet. Donnie, unsure of what Splinter was scheming, obediently covered his mouth with both of his hands.
"Um, n-no, not yet," Mikey spoke up with a sad tremor in his throat.
"Oh, that's too bad," Splinter lamented, "I suppose I will have to find you a new brother, huh? Maybe that football you boys love so much?" He mused aloud.
"What?!" Raph gasped, "Replace Donnie?!"
"With Laceface?!" Leo sounded just as upset as Raph and Mikey, which surprised Donnie. "You can't do that!" Leo protested.
"Why not?" Splinter questioned. "Didn't you say you'd rather have Laceface as your brother anyway?"
"W-Well, yeah, but... b-but...," Leo grew quiet, and then burst out crying; the weight of his guilt finally crashing down on him. "I don't want a football for a brother!! I d-didn't mean it when I said that! I want Donnie for a brother-," Leo's hiccuping stopped abruptly, "-wait a sec, how did you know I said that to Donnie?"
"Because he told me," Splinter replied cheekily and held Donnie out over the side of his armchair for his brothers to see.
"Donnie!!" Leo, Raph, and Mikey ran towards the soft-shell and tackled him out of Splinter's hands. They smothered Donnie in a great big heap on the floor; one could barely spot the soft-shell within the mess of arms as his brothers nuzzled him.
At first, Donnie was uncomfortable. The hug was suffocating and almost unbearable until he noticed how happy and relieved his brothers were to have found him: including Leo.
"I'm sorry, Donnie," apologized Leo, "I never meant any of it, honest!"
"And I'm sorry too," Donnie gritted out, "B-but maybe you guys could st-stop squeezing me? M-My oxygen levels..." He squeaked helplessly.
Splinter smiled, satisfied with their touching reunion, "I hope you all learned a valuable lesson today."
"We sure did!" Raph beamed, "Donnie's the best at hide-and-seek!"
"What? No!" Splinter shook his head, "Well, maybe, but that's not it! Sometimes, when we're angry, we say things to each other that we do not mean. That is why it is super-duper important to always use our nice words towards each other!"
To the four turtle tots, their father spoke words of wisdom. Their eyes glistened in awe and respect.
"Now then!" Splinter's tender fatherly disposition suddenly turned agitated and firm, "Why were you boys playing Jupiter Jim and Sports Ball in the first place?! Didn't I tell you to clean your rooms before my shows started?!"
The turtle brothers yelped and scrambled out of the living room before Splinter could punish any of them.
"Quick, Donnie!" Raph cried out, "Tell us your secret ways of hide-and-seek!" He held Donnie high above his head, leading the gang to his bedroom.
"Yeah!" Leo agreed, "Dad can't punish us if he can't find us!"
The turtle tots giggled and shrieked as they carried on their mischief elsewhere within the lair. Splinter shook his head. He reached for his tea and found that the last few sips had gone cold. Though that hardly mattered, for the laughter of his children warmed him all the same.
