100 Theme Challenge - 38. Abandoned

100 Theme Challenge
38. Abandoned

Don stormed out of his room full of righteous indignation, ready to feed Casey a dose of cold hard reality.

When he was about to turn into the great room, Don heard a feminine giggle and pulled up short. It wasn’t April’s voice that stopped him though; it was the fact that the sound was accompanied by a deeper masculine rumble.

Flattening himself against the wall, Don peeked around the corner towards the couch. Seated there side by side were Casey and April, their heads practically touching as they stared at the open school book on April’s lap.

Casey said something that Don couldn’t quite catch, sending April into another peel of laughter. Don had never seen anything in a trigonometry book that warranted that kind of humor, which led him to believe they probably weren’t talking about that particular subject.

Their interactions were much too intimate as far as Don was concerned. Only a few short hours ago they were snapping at each other and now Casey was behaving as though April was the center of his world. Don was amazed that Casey had the audacity to be so brazen right there in the middle of the lair, considering anyone could walk in on them.

In the next second Don was nearly startled out of his skin by the sound of Raph shouting, “No, no, no!”

Fearing the worst, Don reached for his bo staff, ready to jump in and break up a fight between his brother and Casey. Before he could move though, he heard the ding, ding of the pinball machine.

Frowning, Don leaned further out and spotted Raph standing in front of the game. Mikey was leaning against the backbox grinning at his brother, whose glare would have melted a lesser turtle.

Slowly replacing his bo, Don processed what he was seeing. Although they were only a few feet from him, Raph seemed unperturbed by the apparent flirtation happening between Casey and April.

Don pulled back from his perusal and leaned against the wall. It was pretty obvious now that any discussion he had with Casey about staying true to Raph didn’t require a warning about April.

Casey had claimed that he thought it was ‘cool’ when Don admitted that April might like him. The boy was clearly willing to enjoy April’s attention right in front of Raph, an occurrence that seemed to indicate that Casey’s bi-sexual interests didn’t bother the red banded turtle.

What was it that Raph had said during their heated exchange while they were hiding in Casey’s closet? He’d told Don “I’m not worried about her motives but I should be able to trust you”. Raph had also said “Just because you think he’s after April doesn’t mean that he really is”.

If their conversation hadn’t been interrupted, would Raph have said that Casey was simply toying with April? Raph’s jealousy certainly didn’t extend as far as April, so he wasn’t concerned about losing Casey to her.

Raph had been expressing a great deal of jealousy about Casey spending time with Don. That had to mean that Raph knew about Casey’s wandering eyes.

Don’s face started to burn. Raph knew. Raph had known all along and instead of talking to his ‘boyfriend’ about his behavior, he’d instead chosen to pick at his own brother.

There was no satisfaction in this apparent corroboration of Don’s theory that Casey wanted to be with him, all it did was make him angry at Casey and Raph. Why should Don have to be placed in the position of telling Casey to back off when Raph should be handling that himself?

From the corner of his eye, Don saw Leo heading into the kitchen and instantly changed course to follow his oldest brother. He had to seriously rethink his approach to both Casey and Raph in light of this latest revelation.

Despite his current inner turmoil, Don was happy to note that there was a pan on the stove containing leftover scrambled eggs. Seeing Leo pouring out a glass of orange juice for himself, it became obvious that Don was the last one to breakfast. At least they’d left him something; Mikey’s eggs were ten times better than anything Don had ever attempted to make.

Leo glanced up at Don as he came in and said, “Those eggs are all yours. Eat up; practice starts in fifteen minutes.”

The greeting wasn’t exactly cold, but it wasn’t warm either. Leo didn’t blow his top about things the way Raph did; he just held a grudge and took it out on the offender by slowly slicing little strips off of them. Don often thought that as much as anything was the reason Master Splinter had given Leo the katanas.

Don wasn’t in the mood for that little game however. He had come out of his room with the intention of laying into Casey and since he couldn’t do that, then Leo was a good substitute.

“Good morning to you too and thank you for asking Leo, but I think I can manage practice this morning. My motor skills are a bit sluggish from the electrical shock I received last night, but since we’re hiding that from father, I’ll just have to push through. Your concern is touching,” Don said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

“That was entirely your own fault,” Leo shot back sharply.

“I knew you were going to throw that in my face the first chance you got,” Don told him. “You’re turning into a control freak.”

“I’m the leader, Donnie,” Leo said in an icy voice. “It would be nice if you guys would remember that and stop leaving me out of things.”

“Are you mad because we didn’t tell you we were going out or is the real reason you’re upset because you think Raph abandoned you?” Don asked. “You’ve got it in your head that he’s trying to ditch you to be with Casey. Don’t deny it; you even tried to manipulate me into coming between them. Before you pop off about being the leader why don’t you handle your own problems with Raph instead of trying to use me?”

“I don’t have a problem with Raph,” Leo asserted vehemently. “I’m just tired of everyone forgetting we’re supposed to be a team. Do you have any idea how hard it is to lead when the three of you make up your own rules? When something goes wrong I’m the one Master Splinter comes down on about it, not you.”

Don opened his mouth to make an angry retort but then shut it before anything came out. Leo was right; it wasn’t easy being the leader considering how all four of them had very willful personalities. Raph and Leo had already clashed about that once. When Raph had taken charge and almost gotten them killed by Snakeweed they’d found out the hard way that Leo was the best at the job.

“I’m sorry,” Don said contritely. “We should have told you but I was afraid you’d say no and Casey was really worried about his mom. You didn’t see his face when he asked me to do that for him. Neither Raph or I anticipated there would be any problems.”

That seemed to mollify Leo, whose facial expression relaxed. “Just do me a favor and don’t leave me out of things again.”

“I won’t,” Don promised. “You have to do something for me though; have a calm, private conversation with Raph over what it is that bothers you about his friendship with Casey. I don’t want to be part of your line of defense against someone in my own family.”

Leo chuckled. “I shouldn’t have asked, but you know how Raph is. I was feeling . . . .”

His sentence trailed off as though he was trying to think of the right word and Don filled in by adding, “Desperate?”

“Something like that,” Leo admitted. “You’d better eat, you’ll need the energy. The rest of us will cover for you as much as we can during practice.”

The mention of practice reminded Don of one of the things that had made him jump out of bed that morning. “What are we going to tell Master Splinter about Casey’s clothes?” Don asked as he layered a piece of bread with the scrambled eggs.

“We came up with a cover story while April was tucking you into bed,” Leo said, grinning when he saw Don’s blush. “Raph and I went out last night. We got the clothes and discovered that the Kraang have brainwashed people into giving off that howling signal. The two of us made it home without incident.”

“Simple and direct. Avoiding a lie by telling only part of the whole story. You are very sly Leonardo,” Don said with a laugh.

“I’ll let the others know you’ve been briefed,” Leo said. “I’m glad you’re okay, Donnie.”

Leo left the kitchen and Don sighed with relief. Leo would have his private conversation with Raph and get Raph to admit what was going on between him and Casey. Then Leo would want to have a talk with Casey and straighten him out about a few things.

That would take the burden off Don who could just avoid Casey for the day. Whatever strange feelings Don was starting to have for the boy would fade if he could manage not to spend any time with Casey.

Adjusting his belt preparatory to heading into practice, Don heard the crinkle of paper and remembered the envelope that he’d grabbed off Casey’s refrigerator. With an exasperated sigh, Don knew he’d have to talk to Casey at some point in order to give him the envelope that had been left by his mom.

Giving Casey that envelope was all he’d do, Don decided. Just hand it over and walk away. Easy as that. No lengthy conversation. Put the envelope in Casey’s hand and leave.

If it was that easy, Don asked himself, then why was he still thinking about it ten minutes later?