56Okay- they said it couldn't be done (or was that SHOULDN'T be done?)- but Splinter and Cynlee have done another chibi collaboration fiction! This time it's being posted in my spot until we can figure out how to do this differently. TMNT do not belong to either of us, and that is just as well, as there'd prolly be a fight over Leo...
Stuck on a Dare
For once, Michelangelo and Raphael were the ones up later watching television. It was rare that the two eight year old were minus their brothers unless Father had taken them for a training exercise. That was not the case this night. Donatello and Leonardo had been sent to bed early as part of their punishment for "experimenting." Don had this idea that he could make a candle that would burn longer as a Christmas present for their sensei. Leo had excitedly jumped on the idea, but the two of them nearly burned down the lair that afternoon.
So Mike and Raph, the good sons, were up a whole THIRTY MINUTES past their bedtime to finish watching "A Christmas Story." The two of them giggled at the little boy who wanted nothing more than a gun for Christmas.
"Wonder if Santa would bring us a rifle," Raph mused. "I mean, if I ever wanted Santa to come here again."
His younger brother hid a smile. He knew Raph got just as excited as he did at Christmas. Especially now that Santa had been making regular stops with toys every year.
"Sensei probably wouldn't let him. He wants us to use ninja stuff." He shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth.
"Yeh. Maybe he could bring us some BLADES this year." Raph's eyes shown with excitement at the prospect of weapons. REAL weapons and not the practice ones they'd been using.
The two fell into an easy silence for awhile watching the show and howled with laughter when the boy got his tongue stuck to the pole.
"That couldn't happen," Mike pointed out. "I've put my tongue on ice cubes before and it didn't stick. And I bet ice is colder than a dumb old pole."
Raph shrugged. Real or not, it was funny as hell. "That kid didn't think it would work. Had to have the fire department get him unstuck. Prob'ly had to cut part of his tongue off."
Mike made a face. "No they didn't. Or they'd a taken him home or something. Besides, it ain't real. Father says stuff on TV ain't real."
"He said SOME stuff ain't real," Raph argued. "Some stuff is."
The younger turtle giggled. "You mean like Peter Pan? You still got the scar from trying to fly." Twice actually, but Mike didn't point that one out. It didn't matter that he restrained himself. Raph picked up a pillow and slammed Mike in the face with it.
That may have started an all out pillow fight, if Splinter hadn't poked his head in from the kitchen. "Do you boys need more popcorn?"
"No, Father," they chorused and Raph hit Mike once more with the pillow before setting it back on the couch.
Raph waited until Splinter went back into the kitchen. "So," he said, folding his arms. The Peter Pan comment riled him. "Go stick your tongue to the sewer wall or something."
"Eeeeew! NO WAY!"
"Cuz you know it'll stick," Raph grinned. He was sure he had Mike now.
"No, cuz it's got gunk on it." Mike gagged at the mere thought of putting his tongue anywhere near the sewer wall. "But I'd stick my tongue to a pole."
Raph had no chance to comment- Splinter joined his sons at that point, and the three of them watched the rest of the film, and the controversy regarding tongue vs pole was forgotten. They all laughed some more as the movie played out to its happy conclusion ("Boy, I wish WE could have Chinese food for Christmas Dinner!" Mikey had hopefully voiced, leaning into Splinter with the vague hint that this would be a good idea), and then it was time to go brush teeth and join their disgraced siblings in the bedroom.
In the bathroom, the subject of the forgotten pole then came up.
"So, you'd stick your tongue on a pole, eh?" Raph said, and Mikey, mouth full of too much toothpaste, nodded vigorously.
" 'Course I would, 'cause I know nothin' will happen. And 'sides, there ain't no poles around anyway except above ground, where the humans could see us."
Raph shook his head.
"You're just lucky that I don't believe ya," he said, wiping his freshly rinsed mouth on the towel and leaning up against the bathroom door. "Otherwise..."
Mikey, in the midst of seeing how many times he could rinse and spit in one minute, looked at Raph curiously.
"Otherwise what?"
Raph's face was a study in innocence.
"Oh, nothin'... only there is a pole over in that alleyway off of Bleaker and Third... but yeah, we wouldn't want to be seen by humans!"
Mikey finished his rinsing ritual, and dried off.
"Oh, yeah! That pole!" Mike seemed excited for a moment, and then reality set in. "That's pretty far from here, and I don't think Splinter's gonna let us go topside that far away."
Raph knew that, but still, he felt he held the upper hand.
"Doesn't matter, 'cuz you know it'd stick, and then you'd be stuck all the way far from home."
Mikey snorted water out of his nose.
"Like we ain't never gone far from home before!" he laughed, thinking of a close call he and Raph had had recently. Raph, panicked look on his face, hastily shushed his little brother.
"Jeeze, ya want Splinter ta find out?" he hissed, eyes darting to the door in case their father was lurking just outside. "He don't know about that!"
Mikey finished cleaning up, still laughing.
"C'mon, lets go to bed! We can go there tomorrow," he cheerfully said, tossing the towel like a basketball at the basket Splinter wanted them to put the things to be washed in- and missing. "And then you'll see that NOTHING in the movies is real!"
Next morning was as usual. Chores, lessons, training- and then they were free for the afternoon. Splinter planned on scavenging the sewers (he said, but they suspected that he was really going Christmas "shopping"), and Leonardo and Donatello, still grounded, were admonished to stay in the lair.
Michelangelo and Raphael had received permission to play just outside the door.
"But remember, keep alert to any sewer workers, and do not stray past the boundaries!" Splinter reminded them, as the two stood outside the door to bid him farewell.
"We will," they chorused, fingers crossed behind their shells.
They waited at least a half hour, to make sure that Splinter had actually gone and wasn't lurking there to catch them.
"Okay," Raph, the official timekeeper due to the fact that Splinter had given him something called a "Grandfather's watch" for his birthday, said. "Let's get dressed!"
Inside, Don was trying to repair a remote-control car when he noticed his two brothers suiting up.
"What are you doing?
"It's cold out there," Raph easily replied, pulling on his outside boots."
"Then stay inside."
Mikey shook his head.
"Nope! Me and Raph gotta settle a bet, and we can only do it outside."
Don thought about this as he watched his brothers finish getting their gear on.
"LEO!" he suddenly bellowed, startling the other two. "LEO! COME IN HERE!"
"What the hell's your problem?" Raph asked, edging toward the door as calmly as he could, while Leo the all-knowing tattletale big brother came into the room from the kitchen.
"What?" he asked, then looked at how the other two were dressed. "You can't go back out!"
"Sez you. Splinter sez we can."
Leo took in how they were geared for snow.
"You guys are goin' topside. Again! Don't you remember what happened last time?"
"And besides, you guys promised us on your words of honor that if we didn't tell Splinter, you would never never ever ever again in your entire lives go back to that park!" Don fiercely reminded them. Standing next to Leo, he looked as if he was prepared to physically prevent his brothers from leaving.
"We're not going there!" Mikey said in all truthfulness. "We're just goin' back outside! It's cold, we wanna play, and YOU guys are grounded and just pissed that you can't go outside the door, too!"
"Language, Mikey!"
Pfffft came the raspberry reply from the youngest. "C'mon, Raph, let's get outta here, away from the babies."
"I'm warnin' you both-"
"Leo! For the last time, we're NOT going to that PARK!" Raph shouted, and then the two of them were out the door- and down the tunnels before Leo could follow to see which direction they went.
Don looked at his older brother, who had opened the door as quickly as possible but failed to see which direction they headed in. He looked back and Don and shook his head. Don shrugged.
"Well, we can't follow them 'cause we're grounded," he said, going back to his repair job.
"Right. It's their funeral," Leo agreed, returning to the kitchen.
"Hey! Are we gonna tattle on them?" Don called after a few minutes. There was silence for a moment or two.
"Well, if Master Splinter gets home before they do, there really won't be any need, will there?"
Meanwhile, the two (for the moment) free turtles were laughing at their clean getaway.
"And we'd better not go to that one alley," Raph was saying, as he looked at his special watch. "We gotta be home before Splinter- and I'm gonna need time ta pull you off the pole once you're froze to it!"
Mikey's laugh was louder than was wise, but they were young and invincible.
"I ain't gonna stick! Movies aren't real!"
"Yeah, well remember that when you're stuck to the pole like that kid, cryin' yer eyes out and beggin' me not ta leave ya," Raph playfully punched him on his shoulder.
They continued on in this fashion until they came to a ladder that they knew led to a large alley with plenty of cover. After a struggle to get the lid off, they carefully scrambled out, keeping to the shadows as they'd been taught.