Heating Lamp - Drabble

Raph was sulking on the living room floor when Leo found him. The hothead had a scowl plastered on his face that made even gargoyles look jovial.

Leo approached his younger brother with caution.

“Come on Raph, you know Mikey didn’t mean to do it.”

Raph glared at his older brother.

“Y-yeah but he still broke the dang th-thing,” he stuttered.

Leo sighed.

“Donnie will get a new bulb for the heating lamp tomorrow,” Leo assured him.

Raph tried to suppress a shiver.

“Yeah well I’m f-freezin’ my shell off now.”

Silently, Leo grabbed a blanket off the couch and lowered himself down next to his brother. Sidling up to Raph, he threw the blanket over them both and wrapped his arms around his brother’s shell.

“Hey! What d-d’ya think yer doin’?” Raph said in irritation.

“Warming you up Raph,” came the simple reply.

Raph scowled as he tried to wriggle away, only to have Leo’s arms tighten.

“Just sit still Raph,” Leo huffed.

Raph hated to admit it, but Leo’s arms were pretty warm. Muttering angrily Raph decided letting Leo have his way this one time wouldn’t be the end of the world. As he got warmer, Raph felt his eyes begin to droop.

“Aw dude why didn’t anyone tell me there was a sleepover?”

Raph’s eyes snapped open. Mikey stood over them both with a look of excitement on his face.

“Mind if I join?”

Leo glanced up at the eager turtle.

“Only if you promise to hold still,” he warned.

Mikey’s eyes lit up.

“Turtle’s honor!”

Leo started to shift but Mikey just flopped over both Raph’s and Leo’s shells.

“Get off ya little pest!” Raph growled.

Mikey giggled as he curled over his brothers. Sighing in defeat, Leo readjusted himself to accommodate the young turtle’s weight before snuggling back up to Raph. With an exasperated huff, Raph fumed silently until the added warmth of the second turtle coaxed him to sleep.

….

“Okay guys, I found a spare bulb in the back of my desk drawer so…”

The rest of Donnie’s sentence drifted off as he saw his sleeping brothers wrapped in blankets on the living room floor. Smiling, he grabbed another blanket from the back of a chair and rested his shell against the sides of his brothers.

As he drifted off he couldn’t help thinking, “This is way better than the heating lamp.”