Since the love that you left is all that I get

I want you to know

That if I can't be close to you

I'll settle for the ghost of you

***

"Guys?"

He stares at the shelled entities framed by the familiar backdrop of home. The tv hums behind them, pizza boxes littering the floor with a few discarded controllers and blankets. The weak padding that serves as their couch sits him in the pit, a half empty popcorn bag spewing from his lap and all over the floor.

"Hey." Leo looks him over with a tense frown. "You good?"

"That was some nightmare." Mikey gets up from the floor, evidently the one who decided slamming him in the plastron was the smartest bet to waking him. "You need a hug?"

"I'd stay out of range until he processes the fact you punched him." Donnie recommends from his crouch next to Leo. "Like, far out of range."

"But I was helping!"

Raph brushes the popcorn off his plastron. "You hit me."

"There we go."

"I was snapping you out of it!"

"It's not okay when Leo does it and it's not any better when you do it." Raph grumbles as he scrubs as his skin again, half expecting to see movement under the scales. He looks up as Leo makes a sound of understanding and Donnie sighs, "Cockroaches?"

A warning look. "Not talking about it."

"I mean, it would make sense after the day you had battling a mutant roach. Sometimes repressed fears can take form in other ways when our brains attempt to process-" Leo bops Donnie on the head, way gentler than Raph would have done it, but the off button works once again. Raph runs a hand down his face. "Thanks."

"Yep." Leo takes a handful of popcorn from his bag and Mikey seems to decide that he's safe enough to do the same. He is not, and Raph slaps his hand away. "You. Punched. Me."

"It was more of a- bonk!"

"I'll bonk you!"

"You already hit me! Twice!"

"Because you punched me!"

"You're so ungrateful." Mikey whines as he lets his arms sag in front of him. Donnie rubs his head, but Raph knows his pride took more of a hit than anything else. "Tell me about it."

"Alright. Alright." Leo soothes despite being the offender to at least one brother. "How about we just finish the movie and get to bed before Splinter-"

"-was pretty understanding about it, actually."

Raph watches Donnie type on his laptop, a comic book planted in front of him for some real entertainment while his younger brother babbles. His plastron rests on the back of the chair, arm slung over it, chin balanced on scales. "What? You sneaking out behind everyone's back to break into an alien prison and getting locked up?"

"I had it all under control. Mostly."

"You were caged." Raph's stomach turns. He flips the page. "In an alien prison."

"Detention center."

"Don't care, Dexter." The page crinkles and he releases it. "Did you really go out and get yourself locked up because I wouldn't play match maker for you and April-"

"No!"

The denial was far too fast and flustered for him to buy it. He levels him with a glare. "I didn't mean I wasn't going to help you save her dad."

"Wha-well, yeah, I know that." Donnie's gaze darts from the screen and back, face bright red. "I just- uh-you know, I-?"

"Walked right past us?" Raph challenges, hoping for a believable lie. Donnie shrinks in his seat and fury brings Raph to his feet. "I knew it! You coulda woke any of us up but you just left! I can't believe you'd be that stupid-"

"-to go solo?! That's just asking to get your ship blown!" Mikey shrieks at the tv. "Take the team! Always take the team on abandoned alien ships! Go solo and YOU DIE!" Mikey whirls to face him and Raph stares down with mild amusement. "Raph, tell him!"

"Let him die." Raph finishes his pizza, elbow balancing his body sideways. "Jerk has it coming anyway."

"YEAH! DIE!" Mikey decides with zero hesitation, throwing chips at the screen. Raph leans over his shoulder to grab some before they all end up on the floor. "Scream any louder and you'll drag Sensei in here."

Mikey clamps both hands over the bottom half of his face as if preventing any chance of the words climbing around his fingers. Raph shoves some chips in his mouth, uncaring if crumbs slip between the sheets that his little brother hasn't vacuumed or washed in weeks. "Sides, they're totally gonna save his butt. He's not gonna learn zip and everyone's gonna move on with their lives."

"Spoilers!" Mikey gasps in offense. Raph raises an eye ridge. "You've seen this before."

"Well I forgot."

"Not surprised." He whacks him with the pillow with his free hand and Mikey flails as his body tips to the side. "Shocked you manage to keep anything in that empty skull."

The pillow makes its way across the room. "I can't heeeaarrr."

"Yeah, yeah."

Mikey throws chips at him. He puts rest of the ones in his hand in his mouth.

"Jerk."

Raph nods in acceptance, aware that the only reason that his eyes are burning and his bones are weights is because Mikey's had a long night of horror comics and deadly squirrels. He wants to be in his own bed, but sleeping isn't in the cards for either of them just yet. "Pass the pizza."

"What's the magic word?"

"Now."

"Good enough for me." Mikey hands the box over his head, eyes training back on the screen. It takes approximately two minutes for him to find something else to be mad at. "HEY! YOU MEAN HE HAD THAT THE WHOLE TIME-?!"

"-it was just a ruse! I had us rescuing a bomb!" Leo deflates to the floor, head in his hands. Raph lowers himself down next to him. "We all thought it was Karai, dude. Kinda creepy that he had a whole bomb mannequin of her sitting in a storage closet o somewhere though."

Leo lifts his head, crinkling his beak. "When you put it like that..."

"It was always weird." Raph confirms. "Dude's physco. Not sure why you're letting him get to you."

His older brother sighs, bringing his knees to his chest. "I thought it was over."

"You and me both." Raph leans against the bed, looking up to the roof. "Not really how things go for us though, huh?"

"Couldn't it? Just once?"

"With our luck?"

Leo groans. Raph smirks wryly. "You wanna kick it out in the dojo?"

A pause. "I really should be making another plan..."

"Foot's not going anywhere."

"I know, but..."

"Think someone told me exercise is good for the brain."

His older brother stares at the wall and then looks at him. "Donnie?"

"...Sounds like something he'd say, doesn't it?"

"Yep."

Leo watches him.

Raph thinks he would rather those mopey eyes go back to looking at the wall. "Just sayin'. I don't care either way."

His brother smirks, somehow tinting it with sorrow. "You're really that eager to get your shell whooped a third time in row?"

"Nah. Just looking forward to the look on your face when I clobber yours."

"Big words."

Raph gets to his feet, holding out his hand. "I can back them up."

"Oooh." Leo accepts the offer and Raph brings him to his feet. "I think I'll call that bluff."

"Good." Raph heads to the door, letting his brother pass through and then closing it on his heels. He brings it back open as Leo stumbles and whines at him, snickering as he strides to the dojo.

His older brother catches up quickly.

"Heck. Not to be Mikey, but this all could be worse."

"Oh yeah? How."

Their steps match as Raph shrugs. "I dunno. He could have strapped a bomb to her."

"He wouldn't do that."

Raph doesn't even stop walking, letting the silence say it all.

Leo sighs, "...Right."

He snorts. "Or, you know, we could be-"

"-hundreds of miles from a home infested with Kraang without Splinter and Leo might as well be dead-!" Donnie throws a tool across the barn. They hear it thud against the wall. "It's so hopeless! We already failed! We're together but April and Casey don't even have their family. He had a sister. A sister! And now she's- how am I supposed to fix a city of Kraangatized people? It could spread any day now. It's only a matter of time until they get us."

Donnie kicks at hay and it scatters around them like the fireflies that hover in the trees. "I don't even know if the retromutageon will work against these guys. Who knows what the Kraang have changed to stabilize it? Two months and I've done absolutely nothing to get us home! I don't know what you guys want from me! I'm useless!"

"You're not-"

"I am and we all know it!" Donnie presses his palm between his eyes, voice cracking. "Raph knows it."

Mikey puts a hand in his shell. "He just wants Leo back."

"And I don't?"

"He's- We're scared. It's scary." Mikey leans his forehead against his carapace. "He doesn't mean stuff. You know that."

Donnie stares at his desk, eyes glassy. "Some days that gets hard to believe, Michael."

Raph steps further into the shadows.

He turns to go back to the house-

-and finds himself in the dark.

His head throbs as he stumbles forward, unsure why he's on his feet. He falls on his knees to grip the ground, listening as the hissing begins anew. He doesn't remember it stopping and he doesn't know why this migraine is twenty times worse when he just ate, but his stomach has resumed that awful empty feeling so maybe he'd been sleeping longer than he thought.

His arm throbs as he hunches over, trying to remember why he was in pain. It's at the tip of his tongue, blocked by the drilling against the side of his skull. He lifts a hand to press his palm against his forehead in a poor attempt to make the pain go away-

-as his door opens and one of his brothers lets themselves in. He lowers his hand to check on the invader, glaring at a blurred Leo as he stops beside his bed. His impossibly infuriating brother stares at him, worry pinching his brow, and Raph wishes he could be left alone for five minutes.

"Another one?"

"Do you need something?" He spits in lieu of an answer, rolling on his side to hide his visible weakness in the pillow. His carapace faces his brother, a clear message to get as far away as possible. The sound of his own voice is grating to his ears, ringing in tandem with the agony that's diluting his world into a haze of misery.

"Hold still."

Leo somehow manages to keep his voice at the perfect pitch, so Raph chooses to trust whatever is about to happen. Something icy falls on his neck and he winces as it shoots down his spine and pokes at his brain. It doesn't hurt, but he doesn't particularly like it either.

The bed creaks as Leo sits next to him, a steady hand on what he concludes to be an icepack and the other brushing over his carapace. "Just give it a moment, okay?"

Raph shivers as it remains, but he doubts Leo's doing this just to torture him, so he stays buried against pillow. He focuses on the trails of his brother's hand against his shell, unaware that his death grip on his pillow is relaxing until he's blinking bleary eyes open, taking in the dark room, light from the hall slipping onto his bed.

He turns over, warming icepack falling from his neck, and Leo looks up from his phone. His brother scans his face as he sits up. Raph's head is as clear as it's going to get despite the dull ache, but he hopes that some pain meds might fix that.

He owes his brother a thank you. Therefore, he vocalizes, "How'd you know to do that?"

"Internet." Leo gets to his feet with a smile. "You were out like a light."

"You try sleeping with a drill in your brain."

Leo picks up the icepack. "Hard pass. You cou'da told someone."

Raph shrugs. "Phone screen was too bright."

The sympathetic look that he gets makes him want to slap the icepack from his hand.

"Did it hurt that much when... Uh..."

Leo hesitates, and Raph gets to his feet, "Couldn't really feel anything once the worm was in there. Kinda that whole point. Donnie says my brain'll get over itself."

"Still. I'm here to help."

"Break into my room, more like." Raph grumbles good-naturedly. "Who gave you permission to be in here anyway?"

"Sensei." Leo shoots back evenly as he follows him into the hall. "Right about the time you decided to skip out on training this morning."

Raph rubs his forehead. "Gonna hear about that."

"He'll understand." Leo pats his arm. Raph sends him a tired glare. "Then he'll make me drink five different teas that taste like dirt."

"Oh, come on, the herbals remedies do help with all kinds of-"

"-adorable!" Mikey squeals as he throws his arms around Raph's shoulders from behind, squeezing him into a very uncomfortable and unnecessary embrace. "I don't care what Leo says, you two are the most precious couple in the history of things."

Raph's face is the shade of his mask as he shoves him to the floor. "We are not a couple."

"You have her space number!" Mikey argues from the ground. "She faced down an alien army for you!"

"Yeah, she's great." Raph agrees dreamily, before catching his brother's smirk. "But that does not make us a couple."

"You kissed her! And you guys are like-" Mikey scrambles to his feet and pushes his palms together until they're as close as possible to touching without completing the act. "-thiiiiis close to kissing. Every time you meet!" He throws out his arms. "Every! Time!"

"We are not!" Raph sputters. "I just like looking at her eyes-!"

No, wait, that doesn't sound right-

"-when I'm close to her I start to get all hot and-"

Stop talking stop talking stop it-!

"-maybe I want her to kiss me but it's not like I'm trying to-"

Mikey presses a finger against his mouth and he settles into a grimace, only refraining from removing it because he really needs to shut up. "Ah, my silly, love-sick, adorable brother-"

He swats the hand away, "You call me adorable one more time."

"-you don't have to be shy with me! I know all your heart's deepest secrets-"

"Do you know it wants me to hit you?"

Mikey twirls around him, hands mimicking a spaceship. "-and I will always be your wingman, even when your girlfriend is flying across the cosmos-"

"I don't need a wingman-"

He throws himself down on a knee. "-and when you get married and have a bunch of lizard babies-"

"Married?! Lizard babies?!"

He jumps to his feet, arms up into the air. "-I will be the best wingman uncle ever in the history to exist!"

"We don't even know what marriage means to them!" Raph throws up his hands frantically. "What if I have to take a blood oath or something crazy?! And babies?! I'm not ready for that! I'm seventeen!"

"Dude, you fight giant alien dinosaurs." Mikey blinks. "Why are you scared of babies?"

"You're the one who knows my deepest secrets." He challenges through gritted teeth. "Can't I just have a girlfriend and have my life be normal-"

"Girlfriend?!" Mikey cups his own cheeks with his hands, positively beaming. "I knew you were a couple!"

"Sometimes I don't know why I even talk to you when I have so many-"

"-other options! He's an alien turtle! What do you want me to do, call a vet?!"

"We both know that's not what I meant." His younger brother mutters as he scoots his laptop away, just like Raph knew he would, given enough pushing. "I guess there's no one better than a turtle to figure out alien turtle autonomy. Okay, okay, let me see what I can do."

Raph sets Chompy down as Donnie gets up from his seat. He hovers anxiously as his little brother brings the chair over, sitting in front of him. Chompy watches sleepily, giving a soft chirp when his younger brother reaches out.

"Careful!" It takes everything in Raph not to rip him away when Donnie picks him up. He can't help it if his lil' buddy is fragile, especially right now.

Donnie readjusts his grip but doesn't stop the examination. He runs his fingers over the back of his shell, turning him over to feel along the plastron. Chompy looks mildly confused, but he doesn't fight the improntu check-up. He tries to lick Donnie when his hand is close enough, but the ninja makes sure he misses his mark.

"He's been like that all morning. Just- quiet." Raph presses. "He doesn't want to play or eat- is he sick? Is he hurt? I didn't mean to hurt him! I should have been keeping a better eye on him! What have I done- I hurt him-"

"His shell is fine." Donnie interrupts calmly, brushing over red scales. "At least, as far as I can tell. Keeping natural color. Nails are good. Eyes are clear."

Donnie sets him back down. Chompy seems to consider standing before settling in a crouch, arms and legs brought in close to his shell. The scientist clicks his tongue thoughtfully. "Has he moved much today?"

"Not since this morning." Raph wrings his hands. "He seemed fine when he woke up!" Then, it hits Raph that he doesn't actually remember all that well. Was he fine? Was he slower than usual? More needy? Did he miss obvious signs?! "I don't know what happened!"

"Raph. Breathe." Donnie turns him back over and Chompy reaches out to nuzzle his arm. Donnie feels the skin along the area where the front legs slid into shell, before turning his attention to the back legs. "Here we go. You see that?"

Raph drops forward urgently, a thud against the desk. "What?"

"Extra folds of skin." Donnie reports curiously. "Looks like he's trying to grow bigger than his shell."

"What does that mean?" Raph demands as Donnie sets him back on four legs. "Is that bad?"

"It can be a sign of overfeeding." His younger brother shrugs as Chompy chirps and stretches his neck out for pats. He obliges with a small smile. "It's not a huge deal at the moment. Mostly just uncomfortable, unless, of course, it goes on for an extended period of time. After that, it can lead to liver failure or bloating or a malformed shell..."

Raph stares, feet glued to the ground, horror tight around his soul. He has to be just about the worst baby alien dad ever!

Donnie glances up before clearing his throat. "For earth turtles anyway. It's a fairly common thing. Most domestic turtles don't know when to stop eating. As long as food is available, they will consume. We have more human metabolisms and we're fairly active, but this little guy might have some similarities to an earth turtle. Could have something to do with living on a lava planet. Food is sparce."

He scoops up Chompy and passes him over to his distraught owner. "He just needs smaller portions. He might be huge one day, but that could easily take a millennia. He's not an adult turtle, either, so you can't feed him like you used to feed Slash."

Raph stares at him, baby turtle safely tucked in his hands, processing.

Donnie gestures to the laptop. "We could go over dietary options for the time being...?"

"Yes." He blurts frantically, desperate to put a stop to whatever might cause Chompy discomfort or worse. "Anything. Just tell me what to do."

"Stop giving yourself an panic attack, for one." Donnie reaches over to pull the laptop back in front of him. "Chompy's not in immediate danger. This could be normal Volcanthian Fire turtle growth for all I know. I get Tokka recently gave you official guardianship and I know it can't hurt to be cautious, but there's no reason to-"

"-push us away like this." Leo mutters as Raph gives the trunk a final blow, knuckle throbbing and eyes burning. "If- If Shredder's still out there... We need each other, now more than ever."

Raph doesn't think that's fair. He wasn't the one who'd disappeared from their huddle at the grave, leaving them to hurt alone. He didn't snap at their little brothers to go to the farmhouse when they followed him into the forest like lost puppies, even though he wanted to. He didn't ban them from saying anything as he took out his wrath on the greenery around them.

He just doesn't want to talk.

What was there to talk about anyway?

Their father is dead. Really gone. And he let it happen.

"We need to stop Shredder." Donnie mutters from his place on the ground. It's the first thing that he's said since the funeral was finalized, and it earns him everyone's attention. He stares at his knees, arms coiled tight. "He can't get away with this."

"We have to find him first." Leo prompts gently. "And we have to be ready."

"I'm ready." Raph announces immediately, voice strong. "What do we do?"

"Like I said. We have to find him." Leo decides, eyes soft in gratitude. "Everything else is a matter of weakening him and putting an end to the threat."

"Karai might know." Mikey leans on the tree to the right of the one that Raph has chosen as a punching bag, arms crossed and voice timid. He peers between his older brothers. "She could tell us. Can't she?"

Leo looks to the side. "If she's able."

"Karai's a tough cookie." Raph flexes his hand. "She'll be kickin' butt in no time."

"We should go back to the city." Leo walks over to Donnie, crouching to his level. He holds out a hand, waiting for him to process the request. "Check up on her. Find out what she can tell us. Get some things from the lair."

Donnie tentatively reaches out and Leo takes his hand, leading him to his feet. He turns to Mikey as he walks up, offering a fax smile, small and hopeful. "But, first, we should get something to eat. I'm sure April and Casey will be happy to grab whatever we need."

Mikey pauses, scanning his face, before light enters his eyes. "Anything?"

"Anything editable." Mikey grins, faulty but genuine, and Leo holds out a hand. He latches on, eager to please. "Trust me. Chief Mikey has got it covered."

Leo rolls his eyes, facing Raph. There's a question in his eyes, and Raph isn't sure he has an answer. "We'll be here for another hour or two. Then we should head out."

"Fine by me." He dismisses, avoiding looking at the entwined hands. "You guys get moving. I'll catch up."

They've had time to get all cried out, but that doesn't make any of them okay. This would work out for the best. His younger brothers are covered, getting the comfort that they need. Leo will breathe easier when he has something else to think about. They don't need to be bogged down by him and his instability.

Leo tilts his head, voice level. "We could always eat when we get back in the city."

Raph can read between the lines. He knows the offer is sincere, coming from all the right places, and he knows what he should do. He should invite them to stay. He should hold himself back; saving his anger for the ones who deserve it. It's what his Sensei always taught him.

And yet, he can't. He can't take another minute of being responsible, of being in control.

Or better yet, he won't. Not today.

So the sooner they're out of the way, the better.

"Nah. Mikey doesn't want to be out when it's dark." Raph gestures to the sky, "You guys get moving before that shop closes. Only one in a hundred miles."

"Not technically." Donnie whispers, earning a deadpan. Leo smiles sideways, a tired sort of fondness. "Plenty of time to argue semantics later."

Donnie simply slips his hand out from Leo's and starts walking toward the farmhouse. Mikey's eyes widen, pulling away to circle around the eldest, taking off after him. Leo looks to Raph, and he waves for him to follow them. A slow step backward, a moment of hesitation, and then all three of his brothers are fading into the treeline.

Raph intends to turn away, plotting to head further into the trees and farther from any person's view, but his body jolts forward instead. His brain flushes with a panic that should be from the unexpected motion when he knows- he knows- he's supposed to walk away, but the thought is buried under the crushing knowledge that his brothers are leaving.

He wants to call them back, to tell them he was wrong- anything to make them stay.

His brain clashes with a divide of memories. He's supposed to be plunging deeper into the forest, tearing at anything in his way, getting lost in the ever pressing darkness. He shouldn't be trying to follow after his brothers, each step prevented by an unrelenting weight that threatens to knock him off his feet, surrounded by little specks of sparkly yellow that dart into his- woah!

He rams the object in his path, thrown onto the ground by his own momentum, looking up as the glittering spots of yellow solidify into brown and green. He watches the trees continue to sprout, blocking his path after the brothers that are leaving him behind-

He scrambles to his feet, scanning for any chance of getting to them.

He shouldn't been here- he shouldn't be there- he shouldn't- he didn't-

"WAIT!"

He leaps to grab a branch and it cracks under his weight, knocking him into a large limb that sends him flying away. His carapace flattens grass as he lands, the back of his head knocking into the tree behind him. He throws the wood, watching the horizon disappear from view, light glow blocked by the massive treeline. "NO!"

He takes off once more, foot snagged by a root, landing in the dirt. He yanks his foot free, stumbling to his feet. "STOP! STOP IT!"

He doesn't even know who he's yelling at- his brothers have to be too far away to hear him. They had to be- didn't they? Why? Why did they leave him? What did he do? What did he- they just left him but he didn't mean to he didn't-

His carapace hits a trunk and he looks up in horror; the shadow of the tree consuming him entirely. It spreads along the grass, creeping further along the forest floor. He knows what he's supposed to do- he knows what he did- run the other way, escape into the forest, find solace in the quiet- but he can't leave them- can't leave them- they left him- they left- don't leave- he doesn't want to be alone he can't be alone- he needs them he needs them he needs-

-AIR.

Raph tears his eyes open with a gasp.

He stares into the pressing darkness, choking on the sob that presses from his throat. He can't open his mouth- can't get in enough air, wheezing through strangled lungs as he squeezes his eyes shut, an agony perminatly embedded in his skull. He can't think past it and that must be why his body is having such a violent, pathetic reaction.

He grasps at the metal on his face, pulling it back as much as he dares, desperate to get a proper breath in lungs that can't manage the impossible feat.

He wants the silence back. The oppressing sound that sends his ears ringing or even the steady hiss of that stupid vent- anything is better than the sobs that tear passed the barrier forced upon him, or the knife stabbed in his brain. He claws against the concrete below, a rough sensation that flows up his fingers and a scratching that barely penatrates the scream trapped behind clenched teeth. This has to be what dying feels like.

He's dying- he has to be- he has to be-

"-just about the biggest loser." Raph stretches a leg out, shoving back the smirking Mikey from his space. His younger brother is not to be deterred, cheeks smooshed in hands, leaning forward in the bean bag. "Suuuure."

"No one actually likes Jones." Donnie decides from the couch, arm hiding his eyes. "No one more than himself, anyway." Raph slumps in his spot with a snicker, keenly aware of Leo's eye roll from the movie bucket. "That being said- he's tolerated. Barely."

"What brainiac said." Raph concurs wisely. Leo tilts his head theatrically, pointing a VHR at him. "I'll take Donnie's opinions at face value as soon as he admits he wants April to be his girlfriend."

"Who? What? April? Me?!" Donnie darts upward, pratically falling off the couch, "I never said-!"

"Point." Leo inserts the VHR where it belongs. "Proven."

"Casey's your best friend! ADMIT IT!" Mikey pokes his face and he growls. The younger turtle quickly retracts his hand. "He. Is. Not. Get over it. I don't need anyone."

"Not even Splinter?" Leo asks skeptically, attention clearly elsewhere. Donnie flops back on the couch, expression contemplative. "You'd be dead without him."

"Maybe when I was five." He smirks at his aghast younger brother, purposefully aiming for the buttons within easy reach. "I could do without any one of you."

"Is this your way of telling us you're moving out?" Leo sets a movie to the side. Donnie yawns, leaning on his arm. "Good riddance."

"Noooo!" He yelps when Mikey tackles him into a hug, groaning when he clings around his midsection. Mikey ignores his obvious scowl and gives him a heavy dose of puppy-eyes. "Don't leave meeee!"

"What would be the point?" He grumbles, patting the carapace in his reach as Mikey sniffles. "You guys wouldn't leave me alone even if I did."

Leo scoffs. "Because you would be so much better off."

"Yep." He crosses his arms behind his head. "Pretty much."

"You wouldn't have electricity." Donnie points out. "Or running water."

"Meh. I'll just make you give me some."

"Ooooh. Lead me to your secret lair. Guess I know why we find you."

"Give me a break." Raph shoots the smug brother a look. "I'll blindfold you and throw you in the back of a van so you can't find your way back."

"...Do you mean the Shellraiser? You're throwing me in the back of my own van?"

"Yes."

"...That still sounds like kidnapping." Donnie muses. "Leo, tell Raph he can't kidnap people."

"Raphael, do not kidnap your brothers."

They all jump, heads turning toward their Sensei as he strolls to the kitchen.

Startled looks are exchanged before Mikey's laughter drags them all in.

"I'm telling you guys- I can make an app to track him." Donnie whispers with a sly grin as soon as he disappears through the curtain. "Just promise not to snitch."

"We are not putting a tracker on Sensei. Being a ghost is a part of his charm." Leo supplies as he comes over. Donnie considers the statement, eyebrow raised. The eldest drops next to his immediate younger brother to pat Mikey's head. "Anyway. I'll find both of you before Raph can get settled and me and Mikey'll drag you back here."

Raph mocks, "How?"

Mikey gasps, "Leader senses!"

"Exactly."

"That is not a thing."

"Prove it." Leo grins deviously and Mikey giggles. Raph throws up his hands. "You prove it!"

"I will. As soon as you man up enough to leave." Leo looks over the bright blue image with a disgustingly familiar face on it. "Which will be pretty difficult with Mikey glued to you."

Mikey kicks the beanbag gleefully, nuzzling the trapped plastron. Raph slumps against the end of the couch, looking up to the roof. "You guys are the worst."

"As long as you stay here, we'll be whatever you want us to be."

A yawn. "Mikey doesn't speak for all of us."

"Now I agree with Donnie."

"Only when it's convenient for you, ey?"

"We would all rather you remain." Splinter provides suddenly. Raph's face burns as he gives him a knowing look, cheesesicle in hand. "As much as it pains you."

"Guess you're not going anywhere." Leo smirks. "Boo-hoo. Stuck with us."

Donnie drapes a hand over his forehead. "Ohhh, the suffering."

"You guys won't be watching forever." He ridicules over their laughter, grin tugging at his cheeks, heat streaking his face. "I'm a ninja for cryin' out loud! I can leave whenever I want."

"Oh yeah?" Leo leans an elbow on the couch. "Then why don't you?"

"Waiting for the right time."

"You always say that."

"Cause I mean it." Raph plucks the movie from his hand and tosses it behind them before his older brother can get it back. Splinter chuckles, making his way from the room. Leo puffs out his cheeks, face reddening, and he returns the devious grin. "Just like that. Poof. Gone."

"I can still see it." Leo gets to his feet and hops over the couch to retrieve it. "Just like no matter how many times you run off, you'll always come runn-"

The eldest picks up the case, only to notice a missing weight.

He holds it up accusingly. "Where's the VHS."

"Oh, this?" Raph mocks, pulling out the black object that he'd dumped against the pillow next to his shell while his brother had been distracted by the moving target. "You mean the movie that would have been long gone if I didn't have this numbskull dragging me down?"

He gives Mikey a friendly bop on the head and his baby brother whines, refusing to relax his grip.

"One day, this'll be me, and you guys'll have to beg to get me back."

"As if we'd ever-"

He tosses the Space Heroes film and Leo yelps as he scrambles to catch it.

"Just you wait, brother."

Leo glares at him, precious movie hugged to his chest. Donnie snickers in the background, minutes away from sleep. Raph smirks, clearly the winner, hand against Mikey's shell.

"Just you wait."