Just some weirdos hanging out
@white-enamel-ts3, finally it's happening! The thing we have talked about for years! MY FRIEND, we finally meet IN GAME!!! 🥳🥳🥳
Thank you so much for trusting me with your pale beauty, I fucking love Mr. Nice Guy aka Levi, and as you can see, he is already making friends 😉
Also Andy's infamous buttcrack is back!
This is totally inspired by iztarshi's birthday loop fic please go check it out.
After a very long day of fending off several well-meaning friends, acquaintances, and enemies—those might not have been well-meaning. Probably not? Hard to say—Leonardo is exhausted.
Who knew unplanning surprise parties was even harder than planning them?
Look, Raphael made it very clear last year that he did not enjoy his birthday, nor did he appreciate anyone's attempts to make him celebrate it. Leonardo could make some sacrifices to respect those wishes.
But after a whole day of it, he is really and truly beat, so when Michelangelo suggests ordering in and having a movie night, he readily forgoes his planned meditation session. Pizza and bad monster movies: the great panacea for every teenage turtle.
He unsurprisingly spends most of the film just shy of sleep until the snap of the television shutting off startles him back to awareness. Raphael releases the remote to the clutches of the couch cushions with a jaw-cracking yawn.
Donatello and Michelangelo, he notices, are curled together on a pillow nest at the base of the couch. They likely drifted off partway through the movie, equally exhausted from their day of misadventures.
"Well, gang," Raphael announces, perhaps unaware they're the only two awake, "It's officially a new day. And I must say, I am just so crushed that not one of you wished me a happy birthday yesterday."
Confusion laps at the edge of his consciousness as the words filter in. Was it really past midnight alre—
Wait. Crushed? By what?
No, not physically. He's upset. With them?
Oh no, he's hurt his little brother, hasn't he? He told Donatello they should have asked Raphael before making plans behind his back. Leonardo lurches forward to grab Raphael in a hug.
"Oh, you're awake," Raphael pats his shell automatically, "and crying. I was kidding, Leonardo."
Crying, right. The jumble of sensations on his face is starting to make more sense. He clings a little more.
"Man, I always forget how weepy you are when you're tired." Raphael shuffles around, readjusting for as much comfort as possible with his arms full of sniffling turtle.
Raphael sighs, "Look, I may not be a Ninja Master, O Great One, but my senses work perfectly well. Despite what I will magnanimously assume were your best efforts, I know what you three got up to today."
Leonardo blinks until he's somewhere a little closer to wakefulness. "Oh."
"And Michelangelo might be loud, but Mondo Gecko is a lot louder."
He giggles at the memory of Michelangelo trying to yell over Mondo Gecko. At about midday, he'd all but invaded the lair with an unholy number of streamers and party hats, singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of his lungs. "Oh."
Raphael peers down at him with a smirk, "Eloquent."
He leans up to double-check Raphael is un-crushed physically and emotionally, smushing his cheeks with great seriousness. "So, you’re not upset?"
"No, Leonardo." Raphael endures the smothering but not without sounding incredibly put upon. "I am not upset about our quote-unquote 'absolutely, one hundred percent normal, honestly-it'll-just-be-like-any-other day.'"
They both chuckle at the reminder of Donatello's words that morning. They sound silly coming from Raphael, but he has a gift for matching their brother's unwavering earnestness with biting humor.
Then quietly, so quietly Leonardo only hears it because he is fully in Raphael's personal space, he begrudgingly adds, "A day that the three of you went to truly ridiculous lengths to maintain."
And maybe he's just tired, worn out, and bleary, but tucked beneath the familiar sass, Leonardo detects a kernel of gratitude.
"Oh."
With a magnificent roll of his eyes, Raphael finally shoves him away. "Well, now you just sound like a broken record. How are you still awake? You look like the dead."
"Because I am." He sinks back into Raphael's arms, words muffled as he nuzzles closer. "You are speaking with the ghost of Leonardo."
"Hah! Go to sleep, you goof."
"Hmmkay. Good night, Raphael. Happy unbirthday."
He huffs, "Who, me?"
And then Leonardo finally, blessedly falls asleep.
Feta James, Mr. Nice Guy, Apple of My Eye (shared dessert). Leverett Lounge. Fayetteville, Arkansas. 1.17.2024.
NOTE TO SELF: The only other time I've been here, I had the best meal of 2022. This was not as good, but still more than decent. The root vegetables tossed in harissa and feta were the best thing I had, but I should have planned to share it because it's a full meal of root veggies and by the time my entree showed up, I had no interest in more potatoes. The pork was meh. The cake was a little dry and wouldn't have done much for me without adding the scoop of ice cream.
