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When Leo’s claws scratch his phone screen again, he knows that it’s time for them to be trimmed.
It’s the single thought then never fails to send pure dread through his vibrant soul. Not because he dislikes it – he knows all too well the importance of trimming claws, seeing as he’s the only medic in their family – but because he knows that he has to persuade his brothers to trim theirs too.
“Fuck.” Leo swears (quietly, mind you, he knows swearing near Raph is a death sentence) and somewhat aggressively flings open the drawer under his desk and grabs his clippers. His claws are the slowest growing out of his family, so he knows damn well that his brothers’ trims are long overdue. Suddenly he realises why he’s barely seen them in a week.
Now, this is where Leo ponders. An event such as this needs careful planning. Preferably days, but he’s left it too late. He begins to clip his claws, and plans.
Alerting Mikey and Donnie is out of the question. Donnie would become feral in seconds, locking himself in his lab with his hand hovering over the missiles button which Leo knows he saves for occasions such as this. Mikey would be in the rafters or fleeing the lair entirely with a loud hiss.
Raph, on the other hand…his big brother is reluctant to clip his claws, sure, but he actually has a brain that doesn’t switch to “feral mode” whenever Leo even mentions claw trims.
‘The Great Claw Trimming Of 2011’ suddenly flashes in his head and he shudders. His eyes drift to the small chunk of flesh that is still missing on his left wrist.
Raph had to pull Donnie off with a crowbar.
“Ok, don’t dwell on the past, we agreed to never mention it again…” Leo mutters. He finishes trimming quickly and takes a moment to admire his neat work (after this he is totally giving them a coat of nail polish) before grabbing his phone. He mentally winces at the light scratches that cover the screen.
He’s never let them get this bad before.
Holy shit, Raph’s claws are going to be huge.
He analyses. He plans. He weighs the pros and cons.
‘Raph, I have a proposal’ Leo texts, grabbing his largest set of clippers.
~
“Have you told them yet?”
“You think I’m crazy?!”
Leo rolls his eyes as he clips Raph’s long claw. Raph grumbles and shifts, and the slider pointedly ignores the low growl that emits from his throat when he moves onto the next finger.
He was absolutely right: Raph’s claws were way too big. He is still unsure how the snapper was even managing to hold a knife and fork, let alone complete day to day activities.
Raph shifts again, his tail hitting the wall and causing some of his action figures to tumble off the shelf. Leo makes a sound of grief as Atomic Lass lands on her head tragically.
“Whoops. Sorry.” Raph apologises with a light chuckle.
“I told you to stop squirming like Mikey does when you hold him by the back of his shell. The ‘feral cat’ personality is more of his style.” Leo grins when Raph huffs and glares at him.
“Raph doesn’t like his claws getting cut. Feels weird.” The snapper does notably try to stay still this time however, so Leo pats his arm.
“At least you still act civilly when this happens.” The slider clips the final finger and tosses the clippers backwards onto his bed. “Donnie and Mikey go completely nuts!”
“I know Leo. I have to watch it every time too.” Raph replies. He hums as he inspects his now shorter claws, taking the large nail file Leo gives him and shaping them properly.
“So you know I could really use your help, big bro. They’re getting smarter. I might actually die this time.” Leo says. Raph, now somehow biting the nail file even though Leo took his eyes off him for one second, nods once in determination.
“I think you might be right this time. At least, Donnie’s gonna try and bite off your arm.” His big brother stands, having to duck slightly to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. “Raph will help you, brother. At least until Mikey tries to crawl into my shell.”
October 2017. The most desperate attempt to escape that Mikey had made yet.
“I’m not gonna let it come to that. That’s why I haven’t told them.” Leo grins.
Raph scratches the back of his neck.
“Isn’t that morally ambiguous?”
“Only if you let it be.” Leo shrugs and hands Raph one set of clippers, keeping the other for himself.
“I’ll go after Donnie. You grab Mikey.” He begins to walk to the entrance to his room with Raph following behind.
“Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to go after Donnie? I have thicker scales. Less biting damage.” Raph points out. Leo shakes his head and tries not too look at his tragically scarred wrist as he does so.
“Unfortunately not, Raphie. Donnie’s gonna know what’s up if you even set foot in his lab – you have a lifetime ban for a reason, you know.”
“I was told I was due an appeal trial next week.”
“Next week isn’t now. Trust me, facing Donnie is going to be tough.” Leo shudders. “But I can probably knock him out for a few seconds if I’m quick enough, and he’s needing out too much to realise what’s about to happen.”
Raph places a hand on his shoulder.
“Good luck.” The snapper tears up. They are about to have the fight of their lives, and they know it, but there’s nothing they can do. They are walking towards suffering with a doomed certainty.
“See you on the other side?” Leo clutches the clippers tightly in his hand and pulls open the curtain. He gives Raph a pat on the arm – this may be the last time he sees him alive if Dr Delicate Touch is placed on the front lines.
“Ok, just do as we practiced after 2017…” Leo quietly creeps to Donnie’s lab. “No biggie. I’m sure it will be…”
All hope dies when he steps into the lab, because Donnie is glaring at him as soon as he steps through the doorway. The lights are flickering an eerie purple that shadows his twin’s face. His eyes shine unnaturally white.
“Do you want to know what Mikey has just texted me?” Donnie’s voice echoed through the room. Leo swallows thickly, beginning to sweat.
“Don, just let me explain –“
“He’s just told me,” Donnie continues as if he hadn’t spoken. “that Raph had tried to clip his claws a few moments ago, and I do believe he wasn’t notified of this before doing so. Care to explain, dear Nardo?” The soft-shell finishes with a slight hiss.
Leo has two options, faced with the literal jaws of death. There is a chance, whilst Donnie is still humane enough to form sentences, that he could catch him off guard with minimal injury. Or, he could run, and wait for backup, because he did not like that snarl one bit.
“Really? No way! I would – I would never –“ Leo stammers, letting out a small laugh. He clutches the clippers behind his shell tighter.
“Leo, I swear –“
It’s too late for threats. Leo launches himself at his brother with a wild yell, clippers held in front of him like a sword. Caught unaware, Donnie cannot dodge in time and in pinned to the floor.
“Ha! That was easy – HEY!” Leo celebrates too early and is punished when Donnie writhes underneath him, snapping at his hand each time he tries to move the clippers closer to his exposed claws.
“Come on Donnie! You know this day was coming! Just hold still –“ Donnie hisses and throws Leo off him. He attempts to charge further into his lab but Leo, quickly unsheathing his sword, creates a portal that he dives into instead.
The portal pops shut, and it is blissfully silent.
Way, way too silent.
“LEO!” Raph yells in a panic that sends Leo sprinting down to the source of the noise.
“This was a mistake, this was a mistake, this was a –“ the slider cuts off his ramblings when the scene is unveiled to him.
First, his attention is drawn to Raph. The snapper has Mikey’s shell under his arm as he hastily dodges Donnie’s attacks. The soft-shell is hissing as he attempts to bite the snapper mercilessly. Raph makes a high pitched shriek when Donnie lunges for him again, only missing by millimetres.
“Why, just why can’t Donnie behave, just this once!” Leo mutters as he jumps forward before Raph can be attacked again. Unfortunately, the movement places him in Donnie’s line of fire, and oh boy, he is furious.
“Please don’t kill me – HELP!” Leo does not shriek like a girl when Donnie dashes towards him with his overgrown claws outstretched.
“Spicy Meatball!” Raph suddenly yells before Mikey’s shell shoots past him (Mikey audibly hissing the whole time) and into Donnie. The two brothers collide into the wall with a grunt.
“Now!” Leo takes the opportunity as he sees it and charges. Raph grabs Mikey’s shell and Leo himself pins Donnie down before he can recover from the impact.
A flash of metal. Expert precision.
Donnie doesn’t even know what has happened until too late.
It doesn’t stop him from hissing at him when he looks down at his trimmed claws, however.
“Shut the fuck up.” Leo huffs, folding his arms.
The worst part is that was pretty tame for Donnie. He’s thankful he managed to complete the dreadful task before the half hour mark, or else his life would officially end.
“Come on, Mikey…” Next to him, Raph shakes Mikey’s shell. Leo pales, flapping his hands to get him to stop.
“He’s only gonna stay in there if you do that!” The slider protests. He sighs, running a hand down his face as Mikey quietly hisses from inside his fort.
This was a complication that he had not planned. Mikey had the stubbornness and the biological makeup to stay in his shell for literal days if he wanted to. This could very well be the case.
(The current record Mikey held was three days because Raph had refused to get him a milkshake on the way back from patrol. Oddly inspiring.)
Leo thinks, and grins.
“Hey Don, you finished sulking now?” He turns to his twin, who lets out an angry chirp in response. “Good. I need you to turn the heat lamp on, you think you can do that?”
Donnie gestures rudely at him.
“Don’t patronise me, Leon.”
“Sure thing, Donald.”
“Fuck you.”
“Uno reverse.”
“That doesn’t make any sense you off-brand, over-boiled –“
“Donatello.” Raph warns him. Donnie glared as Leo smirks, shuffling towards the giant heat lamp in the centre of the room. Leo has to fight tooth and nail mentally to stop himself diving into the warm light when it switches on; instead he places Mikey in the middle and madly gestures for his brothers to hide out of sight.
“There is no way this is going to work.” Donnie, now slightly invested and past his own annoyance of his claws being trimmed, says unhelpfully. Leo flicks the back of his neck, which only makes Donnie turn around with lightning speed and bite his finger.
Raph’s hand clamping over his mouth is the only thing to stop him screaming. Donnie releases his finger from his jaws when the snapper gestures for them to turn their attention back to Mikey.
The box turtle, unable to resist the lamp, slowly pushes himself out of his shell with a happy chirp.
Leo heartlessly doesn’t give him an extra second before he’s pinned to the floor, hands pinned to the ground.
“No fair! You cheap –“ Mikey’s angry yells (Dr Delicate Touch being close to surfacing) are cut off when he hisses. Raph is by his side in an instant, holding both of Mikey’s arms so Leo can finally, finally cut his claws.
Donnie watches, sipping on soda.
~
“I hate you all, I hope you know that.” Leo grumbles as he gives his brothers “apology pizza” (which was kindly payed for in his own savings) that night. Raph rolls his eyes.
“I’m not dealing with your middle child nonsense tonight, Leo. Eat your pizza.”
Leo, begrudgingly, does so, but not before throwing a slice of pineapple into Donnie’s smug face.