So I've written a bunch of these and I feel bad for always taking forever in posting for 'Fallen' so I decided to start this up to hopefully make up for it. These will all be drabbles for my story 'Fallen' with Giotto though he may not always be in the drabbles. I will take prompts if anyone has any but I'll write them depending on what they are (I'll probably do most of them though). Hope you all enjoy! You don't necessarily have to read 'Fallen to understand these, and if you do I'll make sure to warn you in the beginning but you can read 'Fallen' for extra background information (wink, wink).

Constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be ignored. Please review! They are craved!

Swimming and Pillow Forts

Summary: Giotto is sick and can't go swimming, his brothers try to cheer him up.

Characters: Giotto, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter

A young eight-year-old Giotto pouted as Splinter set him on his bed. It wasn't fair! Leo and Raph got to go swimming! Why couldn't he? He was older than them! Not by much, but still!

"Put this under your tongue," Splinter ordered, holding out a thermometer.

Gio huffed turning away. "Why should I?"

Splinter sighed wearily. "I need to check if your fever has gone down Giotto. The longer you wait the longer it will be until you can play with your brothers again.

The young turtle frowned, kicking his feet. He didn't want to put that yucky thing in his mouth again. He was feeling much better today! Why couldn't his family just take his word for it for once? With sharp, angry movements he snatched the thermometer from the rats hand and stuffed it in his mouth.

Splinter stared down at his oldest sadly. He had been looking forward to going out into the small pool with his brothers today. Unfortunately he had caught the flu a few days ago and his fever had only started to lower yesterday. It would not be good for him to enter the normally chilled waters and Splinter couldn't take the chance that the boy's fever would come back.

The thermometer beeped and Gio practically spat the thing out. His father patted him on the head, staring down at the small numbers intently.

"This is very good Giotto," Splinter smiled. Hopeful grey eyes looked up at him. "Your fever has gone down quite a bit. It should be gone in a couple of hours." He stared down at his son sadly. "However, it is still there. You can not go swimming today."

Gio glared down at the floor, his eyes burning. They had been planning this for weeks! It was the first time they could go swimming, just the three of them. He always spent the most time with Donny and Mikey, seeing as how they liked to spend their time doing things he could to. Like playing make believe or reading or something. But Leo and Raph liked to play physical games. Gio hardly ever got to hang out with them and this was one of those rare moments where it would just be them and him. Don was to busy finishing some book and Mikey refused to stop playing his game until he beat the boss.

"I am sorry my son, but it is to dangerous for you right now," Splinter consoled, picking the child up and resting him against his shoulder. "Maybe in a few days we can try again. I am sure your brothers would love to take you."

Gio sniffed, burying his face into his father's shoulder.

"No they won't," he cried softly. "Leo doesn't like playing with me after I've been sick and Raphie doesn't do anything he doesn't want to. They will want to play something else and it'll take forever to make them agree again."

"That is not true," Splinter said. "The only reason they were looking forward to today was because they wanted to spend time with you. They love you very dearly, my son."

Gio lifted his head and rubbed his eyes. "Really? They'll really want to play with me again?"

"Of course they will. Now, why don't you rest for a while. It will make your fever go away faster."

The boy nodded tiredly, curling up in his sheets as Splinter rested him on his bed and pulled the blankets over him. The soft material had barely even touched his shoulder before he was out like a light, small puffs of air leaving his mouth.

"Sleep well my son," Splinter whispered, placing a light kiss on his forehead. He carefully left the room, wary of rusty door hinge as he closed the door behind him.

"Dad," a small voice whispered.

He turned to see four small turtles waiting for him in the hall.

"What is it my sons?"

They shuffled nervously before Raphael pushed to the front.

"Is Gio gonna be okay?" He demanded, his voice strong even as he fidgeted nervously.

Splinter smiled lightly down at them. "He is going to be fine. His fever is almost gone." The brothers smiled at each other. "Unfortunately he can not go swimming with you two today Leonardo, Raphael."

"What?" They gaped. "B-but, we planned it and everything!"

"I know, but if Gio were to go with you his fever might come back."

Raph frowned, scuffing his feet on the floor. Leo crossed his arms, nodding his head determinedly.

"Then we won't go either," he decided. Raph looked shocked before nodding vigorously.

"Yeah! It'll be no fun without Gio! Sides', we can always do something else today."

"Yeah!" Mikey piped up. "We could, um… build a fort for Gio!"

"With a bunch of games and books!" Donny added. He could already see the outline for a grand pillow castle in his head.

"And movies!"

"And some snacks!"

"Yeah!" they all cheered. Splinter smiled down at them fondly.

"I am sure Giotto will enjoy that very much. Perhaps it will even make him heal faster." Their father said. The turtles jumped with excitement, dashing towards the main room. He could hear their bickering and ideas echoing off the halls.

He was very proud of his sons. They cared for their older brother greatly and sacrificed their own joy to give some to him. He was relieved to see that they wanted to spend more time with him now. It was only a year or so ago when the effort had been too much in their minds.

"Their bond will grow stronger from this," Splinter decided. And it would only grow even greater over time.

Time skip (A few hours later)

Gio yawned as his eyes fluttered open. His blankets were wrapped tightly around his small form and his head was cushioned nicely in his pillow. He almost didn't want to get up. Sleeping had taken too much of his time though so instead, he pushed him self up and rubbed his eyes.

The gross feeling in the back of his neck was gone and his head didn't hurt.

"I must be all better," he decided happily. With a big smile he swung off his bed. He was not expecting his knees to give out once they touched the floor. "Or not." His body was still really sore. He'd have to be careful then, so he didn't worry his family. With a determined nod of his head he slowly pushed himself back to his feet, waiting until he was sure he could walk, before heading out the door.

The one good thing about being sick all the time was that he got his own room. Sometimes it was lonely but he liked how his brothers couldn't see him when he had trouble sleeping. They would worry a lot and tell dad, then he would have to take medicine again.

Brushing the thought away he quickly made his way to Raphie and Donny's room. Maybe he had woken up in time to go swimming. The room was empty however and he quickly dashed over to the one shared by Leo and Mikey. It was also empty.

Shoulders slumped, Gio sniffed. Of course they had already gone. It wasn't like he could have gone with them anyway. It was stupid to hope. He was about to go back to his own room with the plan of sleeping the rest of the day away when he heard voices from the main room.

"That sounds like Raphie," the turtle thought. What was Raphie doing home? Surely he hadn't slept that long. They couldn't be back already. He walked towards the noise in curiosity.

"No, I told you," Raph growled, snatching a blanket from Leo. "We have to put it in the corner. To make room for the TV!"

"Nu-uh," Leo disagreed in annoyance. "The TV goes at the back. It's already against the wall so we shouldn't move it."

"Yeah, it would just get in the way of the snack table," Donny nodded. Mikey just happily continued stacking video games in front of the television.

Gio stood at the doorway, mouth wide open. A huge fort made of pillows and blankets was stretched out from the TV to the couch. It even had windows. And a flag!

"Gio!" Mikey squealed, rushing over to frozen turtle. "You're awake!"

"What? Gio's here?"

"Gio!"

"How are you feeling? All better?"

His brothers swarmed around him, talking a mile a minute.

"Uh," he stuttered, feeling overwhelmed. "I- I'm fine. I feel loads better. What are you guys doing?"

The four brothers grinned at each other before dragging him towards the fort.

"We made a fort." Leo said proudly as he tugged at one of his arms. "For you."

"It was my idea!" Mikey shouted proudly.

Donny stuck his tongue out. "Yeah, but it was my layout that made it possible. You guys just wanted to throw the stuff together and see what happened."

"Oh whatever," Raph growled, pulling Gio's other arm. "Like you two could have done anything on your own. Don't go hoggin' all the credit."

"W-wait!" Gio cried, digging his feet into the ground. The four stopped to look at him. "What do you mean this fort is for me? I thought you guys were going swimming! And Donny, what about your book? Mikey I know you couldn't have beat your game that fast."

"We didn't go swimming," Leo smiled. Raph threw his arm over his shoulder.

"It would have been boring anyway. Who goes swimming on a Thursday?"

Donny gave him a lopsided grin. "I can already guess at how the book is going to end. I can finish it later."

Mikey pulled his older brother into a hug. "You're way more important than that stupid boss. I bet you could beat him with your hands tied behind your back!"

Gio sniffed, a wide grin spanning across his face. "You guys really did all of this for me?"

"Well it's not like we woulda done it for Leo," Raph mocked.

"Hey!" Leo smacked his brother's arm only to receive a smack in return. In seconds they were rolling around on the floor trying to punch each other.

Donny rolled his eyes. His brothers were so stupid sometimes. He looked back at Gio and panicked when he saw tears gathering in his eyes.

"H-hey, are you okay? Are you hurt? Is your tummy hurting? Should I go get Dad?"

Gio giggled at his brother's frantic expression. Sniffing, he rubbed his eyes.

"I-I'm fine. There's just some dust in my eye."

Mikey grabbed his head and stared at his eye. "Where? I'll beat it up!"

"You can't beat up dust idiot." Donny groaned.

"I can to!"

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Uh-Huh!"

Gio rubbed his nose with a watery smile. "Uh, guys?"

Donny and Mikey paused to look at him. "What?"

His grin grew. "I-I think it's missing something."

This drew Leo and Raph's attention. Raph stopped pulling on his older brother's bandana and scowled. "What? No it's not."

"Hm-hm," Gio hummed, rocking back and forth on his heels. "It definitely is."

Leo stared at the pillows with a serious look. "…I don't understand. What's missing?"

"Well, a fort always has knights right?"

Mikey nodded vigorously. "Duh! We're the knights!"

"Then who are we protecting?"

The brothers froze. "…Protecting?"

-00—

Splinter sipped his tea, his ears twitching towards the open door. He smiled at the sounds of Raphael's enraged yells.

"I'm not gonna be no princess!"

"But you got the prettiest eyes! Princess's always have pretty eyes."

Splinter chuckled as the argument raged on. Perhaps he should go make them dinner now, before it got out of hand.

Giotto's giggles echoed threw the door.

Of course, they always fought like this. What was a few more minutes?