Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

The End Justifies	By : hummerhouse Category: +S through Z > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Views: 4468 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The TMNT are not mine. No money being made.

Chapter List
- 1-The End Justifies
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Part 13
- 14-Part 14
- 15-Part 15
- 16-Part 16
- 17-Part 17
- 18-Part 18
- 19-Part 19
- 20-Part 20
- 21-Part 21
- 22-Part 22
- 23-Part 23 Final
- 20
- 21
- 22
The End Justifies

Part 21
            Alone in the kitchen after the rest of the family had gone, Raph eased into a more comfortable position in his chair. The breakfast Mikey had cooked was plentiful, thoughtful, and probably damned good, but Raph’s rear hurt too much for him to enjoy the meal.
            He ate a fair amount of it anyway because if he didn’t, Mikey would be more upset than he already was. His youngest brother was always a ball of energy and especially so when unhappy about something.
            Eating what his little brother had cooked was the best Raph could offer Mikey by way of support. He and Mikey had completely different temperaments and when the youngest was having difficulties, the last family member he would choose to turn to would be Raph.
            The reverse was also true. Sharing anything personal with Mikey was an invitation to teasing or worse, the leaking of said information to other family members and friends.
            Up until today Mikey’s relationship with Leo was of a different ilk. Leo was always Mikey’s first choice when the youngest needed a sympathetic ear. Amazing as it seemed to Raph, Leo seemed to take Mikey’s problems more seriously than anyone else did.
            There had been a time when Leo and Raph were very close and had shared their secrets with each other. The best of friends, they did everything together because they were of the same mindset. Then Leonardo had been chosen to lead them and he’d changed.
            Everyone, including Leo himself, thought that Raph’s rebellious attitude was because he’d been passed over for the leadership role, but that was not the case. Raph was happy for his brother; he knew how hard Leo had worked for his title.
            The change in position and the added responsibility slowly turned Leo into someone Raph no longer recognized. Where Leo had once delighted in sharing adventures with Raph, he’d started to limit their outings and to insist that Raph not do certain things, or to only do those things that were a part of Leo’s directives.
            Raph didn’t like it much and he especially didn’t like how Leo refused to listen to his suggestions, often brushing aside Raph’s words with a disdain that was infuriating.
            Thinking back on those things, Raph began to empathize with how Donatello was feeling. Having Leo think that Raph was jealous of him and wanted his job wasn’t quite the same as Don’s belief that all of his brothers ridiculed his abilities as a ninja.
            With Mikey out of the question and Leo no longer the same person, the only member of his family Raph felt comfortable talking to was Don. He found out very quickly that talking to his smart brother was infinitely satisfying. Raph could vent his feelings to someone who listened sympathetically and offered sound advice. Don never told him what to do; rather, he usually put forth a range of several solutions for Raph to choose from.
            Raph discovered that Leo frequently went to Don as well to talk through his frustrations. It surprised Raph, he could have sworn that Leo would either talk to Master Splinter or meditate rather than admitting to a brother that he needed any kind of help.
            When Don announced his intention to accompany Raph on a patrol with Casey, Leo’s reaction gave Raph a little thrill of satisfaction. Whisking Leo’s precious Donny out from under his older brother’s thumb seemed like a great opportunity to stick it to the control freak.
            Having Leo constantly dogging them after that just seemed to prove Raph’s point. If not for Mikey, the questions and suspicions from Leo would have been worse. It was now that Raph understood how Mikey had worked to draw Leo’s attention.
            If Don was right and Mikey had feelings for Leo, then Mikey was probably hurting pretty badly over the way Leo had pushed him aside. Mikey would need to talk and he couldn’t go to Master Splinter because their Father would take Leo’s side.
            Mikey’s obvious choice would be Don. It came to Raph just how much they all, including their sensei, depended on the genius.
            Donatello was their core; ever present, always consistent and evenly balanced. Without him, Raph would feel very isolated.
            Raph pushed back from the table with his mind made up. Despite Don’s enigmatic words about Leo being right to turn Mikey away, Raph was going to take a big chance and tell Don exactly how he felt.
            Words played through Raph’s head; “I won’t judge you”, “I give a damn about your welfare”. Don’s words, all relayed in a tone so unlike that of a brother. It had to mean that Don was thinking about him in another way as well. It was in the way Don touched him, in how Don seemed to want to be near Raph, and in the closeness they were both experiencing.
            Raph was coming to understand something significant from the last few days of being in almost constant company with Don and that was that the purple banded turtle was Raphael’s whole world. Everything that Raph could want in a friend, a brother, a companion, and a lover were wrapped up in one neat olive green package.
            All Raph needed to do was to find a way to open Don’s heart the way that Raph’s had been opened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Don thought he was going to take a nice long nap but a tap on his door interrupted him as he was removing his gear.
            “Come in,” he called out, untying his mask and setting it on the bedside table.
            He glanced up and was surprised to see Mikey standing there. His youngest brother wore a purposeful look as he stepped into Don’s room and shoved the door to close it.
            “I know you understand what Leo told you about me last night,” Mikey said, staring at Don as though daring him to deny it.
            Sitting on his bed, Don remained calm and relaxed, trusting in his non-confrontational attitude to illicit as much information as possible from his brother.
            “He seems to be concerned about your feelings towards him,” Don replied.
            “I got mad and left before I heard how you answered him,” Mikey said, “so I don’t know what else he said about me.”
            “Is that a question or a statement, Mikey?” Don asked. His brother’s mind worked in fascinating ways sometimes and Don was curious as to what Mikey was leading up to.
            Raph had been on his way to Don’s room when he saw Mikey go inside. Leo was still with Master Splinter and Raph figured out that his guess was correct; Mikey needed to talk and was taking the first opportunity that presented itself so that he could do so.
            Their conversation would probably help Raph understand where Don stood on the subject closest to Raph’s heart at the moment, so he felt absolutely no qualms in parking himself just outside of Don’s room. As fortune would have it, Mikey hadn’t shut the door completely and Raph could hear everything that was happening inside quite clearly.
          “I wanna understand where Leo is coming from,” Mikey said. “I want to know how to get him to be more open to my feelings.”
            Don studied him for a moment. “At breakfast you didn’t sound as though you had any desire to ever speak to him ever again, Mikey. Was that all show?”
            Mikey shifted from foot to foot. “No,” he admitted. “That was ‘cause I’m really pissed at him. He was so worried about you and Raph getting it on that he just blurted out what I told him in private without even thinking about my feelings.”
            “Leo isn’t used to us hiding things from each other,” Don said. “Maybe your declaration threw him for a loop and he grabbed onto the one concept that’s been drilled into him since our mutation, that the team comes first, not the individual.”
            “Yeah, I kinda figured that out for myself,” Mikey said. “He likes my company, Donny. I can tell he likes to spend time with me and I think I’m really good for him. How do I get him to think about himself just this once? You gotta know where I’m coming from; you and Raph have the same kinda special feelings for each other, don’t you? How did you get Raph to be open to having a relationship?”
            Raph’s breath caught and he leaned closer. Had Mikey learned something about Don that no one else knew? Mikey always did have a way of gleaning information and insight into their innermost thoughts and feelings.
            Don stood up slowly, holding Mikey’s eyes with his dark gaze. “Raphael and I don’t have any type of relationship beyond that of being close brothers.”
            Mikey’s brow furrowed. “But . . . the way you stare at him sometimes seems as though you can’t get enough of looking at him. It’s the same way that I look at Leo.”
            “I doubt that,” Don thought. Aloud he said, “You’re confusing a strictly clinical study of Raph’s behavior with desire. Of course I’ve been watching him more closely than usual; I’m trying to determine when he’s lucid and when he might be having a lost time episode. His posture, his balance, even the way his walks will tell me when I need to be concerned.”
            “What about wanting to spend so much time with him? That was happening before he started having any problems,” Mikey insisted.
            “That was prompted entirely by my own misplaced need to prove something to both Raph and Leo,” Don said. “Trying to show them that I wasn’t helpless by running around with Raph and beating on people was a little childish, but I was hurt by their lack of trust. I thought you understood.”
            “Yeah.” Mikey looked down at the ground, his manner sheepish. “That’s what I told Leo, too, every time he started freaking out about you wanting to hang with Raph. I just thought, you know, that I was picking up more.”
            “Mikey,” Don said, taking a couple of steps towards his brother to get him to look up. “I’m afraid your desire for Leo has colored your view of everything else around you. You’re usually very astute when it comes to this sort of thing, but I’m fairly sure your personal interest is what distorted your comprehension of my relationship with Raph.”
            “I was sorta hoping you guys would break new ground so I could point out to Leo that being with me wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Mikey said expectantly.
            Don put his hands on Mikey’s shoulders and shook his head. “I’m sorry, bro’,” he said, “but I have to go with Leo on this one. I know it’s frustrating to have no natural sexual outlet, but turning to one of your brothers is just too problematic.”
            Eyes wide, Mikey said, “I don’t know why, we’d still all be brothers and I wouldn’t love anyone less just ‘cause I love Leo a little more.”
            “Mikey, do you even understand what it is that you’re asking for? The type of intimacy that’s involved?” Don asked.
            “I’m not five,” Mikey proclaimed hotly. “As hard as it is to believe, I actually do know what goes where.”
            Don was shaking his head again. “That isn’t what I meant, but it does illustrate my point very well. Intimacy doesn’t always imply sex. The kind of closeness that comes from a physical relationship makes a person possessive and protective all at once. If the two of you got together that way, should we go into battle, Leo isn’t going to be able to disassociate himself from his feelings for you. Do you grasp my meaning? In situations where he would normally trust you to hold up your end of a fight he’d instead try his damndest to be near you. He’d forget his duty to the team and he’d forget his job as leader. If Leo can’t concentrate during a fight, someone could get killed and more than likely that someone would be Leo.”
            “If I can manage to stay focused during a fight then he sure as heck can,” Mikey said. “I’ve had these feelings for him for a while now, Donny. We’ve gotten into plenty of fights and I don’t spend the entire time looking over my shoulder to make sure he’s okay.”
            “That’s because the only thing you have to concentrate on is your job,” Don told him. “In a fight, Leo’s mind is subdivided; he has to hold up his end of the battle, but he also has to know where each of us is and what we’re doing. His brain becomes a super computer calculating odds and movements; he’s planning different scenarios down to the nth degree. One tiny slip, one break in that famous concentration, and we’re all doomed.”
            “Why does he have to do all of that by himself?” Mikey asked, his tone agonized. “Why can’t we all take a piece of that burden? Maybe if we didn’t shove it all on Leo’s shoulders he could have something meaningful for himself. I’d take care of him, Don. I’d take care of him for the rest of his life so that he always felt loved.”
            “I’m sure you would, Mikey,” Don said, giving his brother a gentle smile. “The only problem with your proposal is that it wouldn’t work. There can only be one leader; one person directing the course of events. Anymore would cause confusion, controversy and questions during times when we can’t afford to have any of that distracting us.”
            “So you’re telling me that you haven’t ever thought about being with one of us?” Mikey searched Don’s eyes, his own carrying a desperate plea. “You’ve never thought about being with someone in a real relationship; having someone to hold at night instead of just sleeping alone for the rest of your life?”
            Don shrugged, taking his hands from Mikey’s shoulders. “The idea of finding a woman and having a normal love life has certainly entered my mind. But where would I find one who would want to be with a mutated turtle, or live our dangerous lifestyle, or spend her life in a sewer? As for satisfying my lustful needs by having an affair with a brother; never.”
            Closing his eyes, Raph tapped the wall with the back of his head as his hands curled into frustrated fists. There was his answer; Don wasn’t going to be open to the advances Raph had just been on the verge of making.
            Raph should have been happy that Mikey had saved him a great deal of embarrassment, but he was actually a little angry at his youngest brother. Maybe if Mikey hadn’t been so impatient; if he’d gone slower and waited for the problems with Raph’s health and Don’s inferiority complex to subside, his approach to Leo wouldn’t have been met with such stoic opposition.
            If Leo was open to being in a sexual relationship with Mikey, then the odds that Don would be more open to one greatly increased.
            Raph couldn’t stand to hear anymore and pushed away from the wall, going to his room and shutting the door silently.
            Mikey stepped back, preparing to leave. Don had not been as helpful or encouraging as Mikey would have liked, but at least his brother had been honest.
            “You know what, Don? All of that stuff you said makes really good sense to me, honestly it does. The problem is that I still feel the same way about Leo and I know how much he needs me. Someday the rest of you are gonna get clued in that being with each other is our only option and ‘cause I know that will happen, I’m not giving up,” Mikey said.
            “How will you deal with the hurt, Mikey?” Don asked. “Being in denial and continuing a pursuit that’s destined for failure is only going to pile misery on top of pain.”
            “That’s the difference between us, I guess,” Mikey said as he grasped the door and pulled it open. “You see this as a no-win situation and I don’t. That’s why I beat you at video games; you give up too easily.”
            With a flash of his trademark smile, Mikey exited the room.
            Raph was seated on his weight bench when he heard Mikey’s final words to Don. Lifting his head, he listened as Mikey shuffled past his room and bounded downstairs as though nothing at all was bothering him.
            Thinking about what Mikey had said started to make Raph wonder. Don’s answer to Mikey’s dilemma wasn’t what Raph had wanted to hear, but why the shell should that mean it was time for Raph to hang it up?
            He should have known Mikey wouldn’t stop trying to be with Leo; Mikey was absolutely no quitter when his mind was fixated on a goal. That was what Raph needed to do, look toward the goal and not let himself be bogged down by hurdles along the way.
            All Raph needed to do was to find a way to soften Don up to the idea of being with one of his brothers. Don had told Mikey he’d thought about having a normal love life; who was to say that sharing himself with Raph wouldn’t be normal? What about them was exactly normal anyway?
            Unlike Mikey’s situation, neither Raph or Don were the team’s leaders. Raph had already spent a lifetime watching Don’s back, a shift in their relationship wouldn’t change the dynamics of the team one iota.
            Don liked to spend time with him, Raph could tell. Despite what the genius had said to Mikey, being with Raph wasn’t just about trying to prove himself a fighter worthy of the title ‘ninja’.
            If Don appreciated Raph’s strength and forcefulness on the battlefield, he would certainly find it satisfying in the bedroom. Once more an image of Don straddling Raph’s erection, face flushed with desire, rose in Raph’s mind.
            Somehow, someway, Raph would get his brother to be more open to the concept of being his lover. Maybe if he could just give Don a taste of what it would be like, the genius would want it all.
            Whatever it would take, Raph wasn’t going to figure it out sitting on his sore ass. He did his best thinking when he was moving around.
            Leo was going out tonight to break into a drugstore and get the medication that Don said Raph needed. That was peachy, but Leo sure as shell wasn’t going alone.
            When the time came, Raphael was going to tag along with big brother. Even the minor bit of action involved in watching Leo’s back would be preferable to this inactivity. With any luck, something would happen to stimulate Raph’s imagination and he could come up with some sort of plan to win Don over.
            Raph was pretty much willing to try anything.
TBC………………….
- 20
- 21
- 22
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The End Justifies