TMNT: SOD fluff chapter 5: Tickle Fights

TMNT X OC
I DO NOT OWN TMNT, ONLY OC
ART BY ME
WARNING FOR CUTE STUFF AND TICKLE FIGHTS

Celeste was deeply troubled by the fact that tomorrow she was turning 31. It never bothered her when she turned 30 at all, she just thought oh well
now atleast I am a nice solid number but 31....she felt a bit outdated and over the hill for some reason. Thinking back on her life, she had done quite a
lot and now wondered what she really had to show for it other than becoming the 9th mage. What was her entire life for up til now if not only to become mage and adopted sister of 4 mutant turtles. She was too young to be having a mid life crisis.

She rubbed her eyes and dreaded getting up that morning so she lingered in bed an extra long time. She was sure Donnie was the only one who knew about her birthday and he was pretty good about keeping secrets so atleast she didnt have to explain herself there but it wasnt long before a knock came at her door and a familiar male voice inquired about her.

"Celeste are you awake?" Leo asked in a muffled voice.

"Yeah...sort of...." She sighed. He cracked upon her door a bit and peeked in carefully.

"Mikey made breakfast if you want some."

"Thanks but Im going to stay in for a bit...."

Leo opened the door a bit wider and peeked his whole head in. "Are you okay?"

She just groaned and rolled over, covering her head with her blanket.

"Are you sick?" He came in and closed the door behind him. Her Star lamp was on the lowest setting and casted a faint glow on her and the room.
"Do you need me to get Donnie?" He peeked over her huddled form on the bed.

"No, this isnt something medicine or science can fix...." She said depressingly.

That caught his attention. He sat at the end of her bed and turned his head to her.
"Do you want to talk about it?"

She let out a big sigh. "Can you turn back time?"
"Was that a trick question?"

"Not at all....the one kind of magic I cant control is time magic, it takes a very special gift to do that if its even possible....but sometimes I wish I had it then I could get back the past 5 or so years of my life."

"Was it really that bad for you in Japan?" He put his arm over her and leaned in to see her face but she had it shut tightly under her blanket.
"Its not that...I just hate getting older." She admitted.

"You're worried about getting old?! I think you have a few more years to go before that becomes an issue." He laughed.
"I feel old!" She whined.

He couldnt find a snark answer to that. They were silent for a moment before she asked. "Dumb question but can you see bags and wrinkles under my eyes?"

"Are you serious?!" He patted her leg comfortingly. "Celeste, what is this all about?"

"ugh...ask Donnie." He shrugged and left her to her depressive bundle. Outside everyone, even Donnie was sitting at the table enjoying some eggs and sausage. It wasnt often all the boys sat at the table together without joking or fighting but today was a simple relaxing Sunday. Donnie had his face buried in the morning paper as he sipped a cup of coffee. Mikey had just hung up his apron and seated himself at the table, ready to dive into his meal. Raph sat half turned in his chair watching the tv from the other side of the room while Leo pulled up his chair at the end.

"She's not coming?" Mikey asked a bit disappointedly.

"Guess not..." Leo said a bit confused.

Donnie looked up from the paper. "Something happen?"

"Yeah she's having a midlife crisis..."

"Oh..." D said simply. "That makes sense, her birthday is tomorrow."

Mikey spat out his eggs and Leo froze in mid bite looking at his brother. Raph turned his head slightly to see what the fuss was, a toothpick hanging from his lips and one eyebrow raised.
"What did you say!?" Mikey freaked out.

"Didnt you all know that already?" Donnie asked with a confused look on his face.

"Not at all." Leo admitted.

"Wow....so she told me but she didnt tell you." D just had to rub that fact in.

"Well MAYBE she was counting on YOU to tell us!" Mikey snapped.

"I thought you all would have asked her." Donnie said folding the paper and putting it down.

"You dont ask a girl about age stuff, thats like...the biggest no no in the world." Mikey rolled his eyes.
"Well if you have some tact it can be done."

"So....what else can you tell us?" Leo inquired carefully.

"You helped her pick out her beddings so doesnt that tell you enough? And mikey you helped her shop for clothes. I think you two beat me when it comes to knowledge of her likes and dislikes. I only took her to the museum...and had deep meaningful...emotional conversations." Donnie was on a role, Celeste really HAD only told him the majority of her life story and some of her hidden secrets. It made him feel pretty darn smug.

"Yeah...well...well she told me that she has 2 sisters and one brother and lived in the Philippines!" Leo spat out quickly.

Donnie pursed his lips. "and I discovered she used to be a solider for the US airforce and a mechanic...and her favorite gemstone is sapphires."

"And she told me picking a bed is like falling in love and she loves lacey things, especially pillows."

"AND SHE TOLD ME SHE DOESNT WEAR PANTIES!" Mikey shouted and then slapped a hand over his mouth.Everyone slowly turned their head to him and gave him the best wtf look they could muster and then they turned to Raph who had gone back to watching the TV. He saw them out of the corner of his eyes and pulled the tooth pick from his mouth.

"Dont look at me, I aint gonna join in this jealously cluster fu...."

Mikey quickly cut him off. "No swearing in the lair!!!!"

Splinter had heard the commotion and came out of his room to join them for breakfast as usual. Hobbling over, Donnie pulled out the extra chair and helped his aged father to sit in it.

"Now what could all this excitement be so early in the day?"

"These jokers are fighting over a girl." Raph said blankly.

"Oh you mean Celeste. Where is she this morning?" Splinter looked around.

"She doesn't want to come out because she is depressed about her birthday." Mikey said and nibbled his food.

"I see." Splinter sipped his tea. A coffee guy he was not."Well what will you do to cheer her up?"

"Why should we bother? Anything she wants she can get for herself." Raph shrugged.

"It does not mean she wont enjoy a present from one or all of you 4." Splinter answered wisely. "Its not a matter of what you can or can not get her but about you taking time to think of her."

"I can make a cake for sure! There isnt a soul in the world that doesnt like cake for their birthday!" Mikey said brightly.

"And I have already been working on something for her." Donnie confessed. "So how about you Leo?" He really emphasized Leo's name a bit harshly.
"I...I....Of course I have something planned for her! What kind of leader would I be to ignore one of my men...uh...women."

Donnie rolled his eyes. "and this is the reason you dont retain girlfriends...." He said quickly under his breath. A great leader his brother was, a apt
lover he was not. Atleast Donnie was single out of choice and not as the result of being completely oblivious the inner workings for a lady.

Splinter looked at his ruffian son "Raphael...will you not celebrate her birthday?"

Raph sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll come up with something." He got up and walked away. The fact was, he already HAD something planned. Some thing he wanted to ask of her a few days ago after their row but didnt have the chance to do at the time.

Leo, the almighty always prepared and fearless leader, was absolutely clueless about all of it and now was frantically searching his mind for something he could do for her that wouldnt be too lame or too cliche. He had to face the possibility that he might loose out to his brothers in this one...and that was something he wasnt willing to take. He had to come up with something fast.

When Celeste emerged from her room it was early afternoon. She was still in her pajamas and shuffled over to the kitchen to grab a cup of tea and slice of toast. The lair was oddly quiet and no one was around. She sat at the empty table and reached over for the paper that Don had left behind. Opening up the first page and sipping her tea she felt the wind shift around her and she looked up. Leo was sitting next to her suddenly. She raised a brow to him, wasnt he supposed to be meditating at this time of day? He just sat quietly looking at her.
"Can I help you?" She asked suspiciously.

"Uh...yeah I was wondering if...maybe you wanted to hang out today?" He asked hopefully.

"Sure, what did you want to do?"

"I was hoping you could pick an activity. Something you like to do."

"Hmmm." She thought on it a moment."Well....there isnt really anything I need to do today and Im kind of down and out so maybe a few movies would be good."

"Alright!" He jumped up and pulled over their movie crate which had some 50 or so dvds in it. "Take your pick."

She looked through them carefully and was surprised at the variety of titles. "Where did you get all of these? I never expected you to have My little Pony or John wayne classics. " She laughed.

"You wont believe what people throw away." He said. They had found those dvds years ago in the sewers and every year they amassed more and more throw away treasures.

"One mans junk is anothers treasure." She smiled and pulled out a comedy movie "the wedding singer". She happened to really like that one and she handed it to him. He put it into the dvd player beneath the tv and clicked it on with the remote. They both took their place on the couch, both sitting at either end and Celeste sitting comfortably with her legs crossed on the cushions.

As the movie played they watched in silence, Leo ever so often sneaking a peek at her and her reactions whenever something funny happened. She was not a loud laugher and always gave a small chuckle at her favorite parts. Something he noticed though was that as she sat, one shoulder was slightly bigger than the other and she seemed to have a small slump her in shoulder line that couldnt be noticed when she was standing up. He was very perceptive when it came to how someone physically carried themselves and could tell instantly if someone had a handicap or not. She did a good job hiding it but when she arched her back to crack her neck and stretch her arms he realized what it was and it concerned him. He flicked the movie on pause and turned to her.

"You keep cracking your neck, are you okay?" He asked.

She paused and stared at him with one eyebrow raised. "Yeah....is cracking your neck a bad thing?"

"When you do it every 15 minutes yes."

She bit her lower lip. "Well...actually I cant sit still for very long or else by right shoulder blade starts to hurt pretty bad. Its okay when Im standing and moving but when Im sitting it bothers me."

"Has it always been like that?"

"Since I was a kid yeah."

"Can I see?"

She puted her lips a bit as if thinking. "Sure... I guess..." She turned around in the cushions so her back was facing him. He turned his body towards her and brushed her hair to the side. Her pajamas had a low cut back so he could see the line of her spine. Grabbing her shoulder with both his hands he forced her to straighten herself and then he used his thumb to dig into her spine right between her shoulder blades. She jolted as if in pain.

"What the heck?!" She gasped.

"You have a bunch of knots here and some pinched nerves...and your shoulder muscle is rock hard. What have you been doing?" He asked with serious concern in his voice.

"Nothing at all, its always been like this. Even if I stretch I cant loosen that muscle up." She winced as he prodded it again. Each time he did it was like having a charlie horse. "Besides I have scoliosis."

"Holy smokes...can you bend over a little and show me?"

She put her hands up over her head in a divers position and then bent from her waist to curve her back. Sure enough he saw her spine curving right up into her right shoulder blade. She must of been in pain for a long time and just learned to live with it.

"Have you seen a doctor for this?"

"Not since I was 12 years old. He said it would probably stop growing after I hit puberty so I just let it go. It only really started to hurt when I turned
28 and was working a desk job. Its been better since I started dancing but I still cant reach that one area." She said over her shoulder.

"Your muscles are all messed up here and your body has tried to compensate for it by adding more muscle to one side of your shoulder and not the other. I can tell now you are more stronger with your right arm but you have more flexibility on your left leg as a result. This can easily be evened out with the right training...even a massage once a week would help. You must be in pain all the time." He said holding her neck straight and giving it a good crack from left to right.

"Since when did you know how to do that?" She asked, grimacing at the sudden movement.

"I've spent some time studying accupunture and accupressure as alternative medicine. Splinter got me a book on it and showed me some techniques he knows. We have to embrace healing techniques like this since we cant really go to a hospital. When was the last time you had a massage?"

She paused. "Um....honestly never."

"What?! I thought girls were all about spa treatments and messages!" He said very surprised.

"Well...yeah most girls are but Ive never had a chance to go and Im shy about strangers touching my body." She admitted.

"I see...well...would you mind if I tried a couple of things?"

"Sure but is it going to hurt?"

He laughed lightly. "I will try to be gentle."

"Go for it." She said.

Once again he reset her shoulders and had her sit as straight as possible,using his thumbs he pressed up and down her neckline and spine and up again trying to feel her bone structure underneath and pushing it back into proper place.

"If it hurts let me know." He said quietly, concetrating on her back.

"Okay." She said and closed her eyes. She had never had anyone really touch her back before, she was always embarassed about the obvious mishape of her spine and can remember some of the kids in her school days making fun of it because they saw it during their swim lessons. Though they got screened for scoliosis often in elementary school, she was always singled out by the nurses and pulled aside for further evaluation making her the odd one out from the classroom. By dancing and lifting some light weights she was able to even out her shoulder line but if she wasnt paying attention and watching her posture, it showed to the trained eye which Leo definately had. She was always scolded for her posture when she was in Japan and had a bit of a complex about it. She didnt mind Leo knowing though since he had a shell on his back, a curved spine was the least of his worries.

As he worked at her back with his thick fingers she actually began to enjoy it. It was relaxing and felt good to have someone fussing over her health like that but when he hit a certain spotin her back she gasped and doubled over, covering her mouth with her hand as heat crept up her face. He had accidently hit her ticklish spot.

"Oh sorry..." He winced at her reaction.

When she turned her face slightly towards him she still had her hands over her mouth and her cheeks an amazing scarlet red color. "Its cool." She said in a muffled voice.

He gave her a sly smile. "Are you ticklish?"

Her eyes flew open wide and she didnt say anything but her reaction was enough to give him the answer he needed. There was a ackward pause between them before she suddenly jumped off the couch but Leo, being much quicker than her, grabbed her by the arm and threw her back into the cushion on her stomach. He swung himself around and sat over her bum with his legs on either side of her. Pinning her arms with his thighs he dug his fingers into her sides and back.

She squealed in something between a scream and laugh as he tickled her over and over again. Trying desperately to throw his weight off and squirm underneath him as he did so.

"Oh my god Leo you suck!!!!!" She cried and laughed at the same time.

"I What now?" He tickled her more. "Did you say suck?"

"Torture! TORTURE!!!!" She screamed.

"I tell you what, if you say "Leo is the hottest, coolest and most awesome leader of all time." I will let you get up." He laughed.

"Never!!!!!" She shouted back in defiance.

"Okay then." He tickled her some more.

"Im gonna pee!!!!!!!" She cried and gasped.

"You just have to say that one little line...."

"Okay Okay! Leo is the hottest coolest most awesome leader of all time." She panted as he finally released her enough so she could roll over. Tears flowed down her cheeks and her face was beat red as she tried to catch her breath. She punched him in the chest. "You're supposed to be helping me not tormenting me!"

"Who can resist when you have a reaction like that?" He smiled mischeviously. "Besides, now your smiling. You look much better when you're in a good mood. You know...Getting older isnt a bad thing at all and at 31 your just beginning to blossom as a woman."

"Doesnt it feel weird to be hanging out with a girl 10 years older than you?" She smirked.

"Well I've never been attracted to girls younger than me..."Leo suddenly shut up, embarassed he had admitted that to her. "Uh...I mean...." He stuttered.

"Sooooo...." She began and let her fingers trail up his muscular thigh teasingly. He gulped and watched her hand go higher and higher up. "I think its time...for alittle.....REVENGE!" She grabbed his hip right below his lower plaston where the hip bone jutted out below it and dug her thumb in. He hollered out loud and jumped up as if something had bitten him. She had time and enough of a wierd imagination to ponder where a good spot to tickle a mutant turtle would be and she guessed with Leo that it would his hips. Her guess was right on the money.

He tried to jump off of her but she grabbed his waist with her free arm and held him in a semi bear hug so he couldnt escape. She dug her thumb into his hip again as he screamed like a girl and rolled off the couch with her still clinging to him. He landed flat on his shell with a loud  smack on with her right on top of him.

"And if YOU want me to stop you will say "Celeste is the most gorgeous and alluring woman in the universe and I wish to be her slave for all eternity!""

"W...w...what?!" His was laughing to hard to get the word out properly as his face turned a interesting shade of purple.

Someone from across the room cleared their voice loud enough to interrupt them. Raph was standing in the doorway with a visibily pissed look on his face.

"Would you two get a room for crying out loud! I can hear you all the way out in the garage!!!!"