The next day, Leo woke Don up so he could do his morning chores before breakfast. Then he put a blindfold on him and held his hand, leading him to the cell where they kept Mikey.
Don was trying to avoid Leo most of the day, getting on with his chores silently, not even reminding Leo that he'd been promised to see his brother. He half expected Leo to take it back and not let him see Mikey, so he was surprised when Leo came to take him to his Brother.
He wasn’t very comfortable with been blindfolded but he understood that Leo didn’t want him to know where Mikey was being kept. He was reluctant to hold Leo’s hand, not wanting Leo to touch him at all but didn’t have a choice if he wanted to see Mikey.
They walked for quite a while until they reached the infirmary. The door was unlocked and the blindfold removed.
Mikey had been half-asleep, bored out of his mind and constantly worrying about Don and master Splinter. When the door opened he sat up, his eyes wide when he saw his brother. "Donnie!"
"Mikey!" Don pulled his hand out of Leo's and ran over to his brother, hugging him tightly but being careful of his injuries.
Mikey hugged him back as tightly as he could, nuzzling his cheek against Don's plastron, feeling close to tears.
Donnie wanted to cry, but he couldn't bring himself to. He felt too guilty for letting this happen to them. He was the oldest, he was suppose to look after them when Master Splinter wasn't there.
"Is black the new purple or something?" Mikey tried to joke, choking back a sob.
"How you holding holding up Mike?" He asked, ignoring the others joke. He knew they wouldn't have much time together and need to know how Mikey was being treated.
"Well, the food and service sucks. And the entertainment's terrible..." He pulled back, and now his expression was serious. "I'm fine, Don."
Don's eyes dropped from his brothers down to the bandages over his shoulder. "How's your shoulder?"
"It's alright. It doesn't hurt that bad anymore." He shot a glare at Leo, who was standing in the doorway watching them. "How are you?"
"I'm..." His breath caught and his closed his eyes briefly. He didn't know the answer to that himself. "I'm coping." He sighed, glancing back at Leo nervously.
Lowering his voice so that hopefully Leo wouldn’t be able to hear him he asked. “Has anyone…Done anything to you? Apart from...” He gestured toward Mikey shoulder.
The younger turtle blinked. Done anything? "No... what do you mean?"
"Has...Nothing, don't worry about it." He attempted to give Mikey a smile, but it was clearly forced. His hands moved to the bandages, moving them enough so that he could see the wound underneath, checking that the foot had treated it properly.
Mikey hissed slightly. "How does it look...?"
"It looks like it's going to heal fine. A bad scar, but they did a good job." Donnie gave a genuine smile this time, glad that Shredder had kept his word.
"Yeah, can't wait to be sent to Shredder's workcamps." Mikey scoffed.
Donnie turned his head to look at Leo. "Is Mikey...Going to be like me?"
Leo squinted his eyes a second. "No. He'll have a lot less freedom."
Don inhaled sharply, as far as he saw it he didn't have much freedom, he couldn't imagine what lay in store for Mikey.
He pulled Mikey back into a tight hug, not wanting his brother to see the tears starting to pool in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” Everything that happened to Mikey was Donnie's fault for not being able to protect him.
Mikey put his arms around him. "Hey, it's not your fault..."
“I couldn’t stop him.” Don nuzzled into Mikey’s neck, squeezing him tighter before relaxing, worried that he would hurt his brothers shoulder more.
"Yeah, there was like fifty foot ninjas around." Mikey patted his brother's carapace.
"If I'd been more careful with our mission..." Dons heart ached. It would be easier if Mikey hated him as much as he hated himself, but his little brother was just trying to reassure him instead.
"Dude, I was there too..."
"I thought I'd taken out the security."
"Don-"
"Time's up." Leo cut off, moving closer. "Come, Donatello."
Don squeezed Mikey tighter. "I'm sorry." A slight sob broke his voice but he wasn't crying, he couldn't let himself cry in front of his little brother. He pulled out of the hug, looking down at his brother sadly.
Mikey met Don's gaze, and the worry and fear was clear in his eyes. He'd always counted on Don to fix things - that's what he did! - so hearing him all hopeless and apologetic was just... wrong. And it made him more frightened than he'd ever been before. Maybe they weren't making it out of this one? He didn't wanna spend the rest of his life as a maid for the Foot!
"W-wait, Donnie..." But Leo grabbed Don by the arm, already pulling him out of the room.
Don tried to stop Mikey from looking in his eyes, but he could tell that Mikey had seen how scared his big brother was.
“I’m doing what I can. Just…Keep holding on Mikey.” He was pulling against Leo slightly, not enough to stop him from being pulled out of the room, just enough to slow him down enough to try and reassure Mikey. It hurt to see his little brother like that.
The slight resistance had Leo yank him harshly, pushing him out of the room and slamming the door shut. He put the blindfold back on Don.
Apart from a slight whimper Donnie didn't react to the harsh treatment, he'd come to expect it when he wasn't completely obedient.
"Thank you." He said quietly, holding back his sobs. Despite how much he disliked Leo he had to acknowledge that the other turtle didn't have to let him see Mikey.
"It's just to make you remember what's at stake." He took Don's hand again to lead him back to his room.
“When you said he’d have less freedom.” Donnie allowed Leo to lead him, no longer resisting, though he still didn’t like Leo touching him. “What’s going to happen to him?”
"To make sure you honour our agreement, master Shredder has deemed it necessary to have your brother under closer watch."
Don nodded his understanding, he had no intention of breaking their agreement while Mikey was in danger, but he understood that Shredder would want to make sure. After all, hadn’t Donnie demanded to see Mikey for the same reason?
Eventually they stopped, and Leo removed the blindfold. "Come on, I have a few chores for you."
Don blinked a few unshed tears out of his eyes as the blindfold was removed, but was ready to bury his emotions again in whatever chores Leonardo had in mind. Grateful for something to distract him from his thoughts.
They stepped into the room. "Take the sheets to the laundry room and clean them. They got dirty last night."
Donnie blushed but gathered the sheets up, trying to ignore the fact that he could smell himself on them.
Raph was passing by when he noticed that Leo was in his room. As Donnie bustled out the room to go clean the sheets Raph breathed in the scent and his eyes shot to his brother.
“I see you’re enjoying your little pet. Shredder-Junior.” Raph growled, still bitter that Leo got a slave.
Leo crossed his arms, his cold eyes locking with his. "Something wrong, Raphael?"
“Yeah. So which one of you was churring up a storm last night? Humans may not know what that sound means but I do.”
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Bullshit!"
Leo narrowed his eyes. "Master Shredder made him my responsibility. What I do with him is none of your concern."
"Suddenly we ain't the only two of our kind and you spend half the night fucking one of 'em. Like hell it ain't my concern." He eyes narrowed aswell, growling low in his throat.
He took a step closer. "I said, it's none of your concern, Raph."
"Wanna bet?" Raph stayed put, if his brother wanted a fight he would give it to him.
"Don't argue with me." Leo growled. "I didn't do anything."
"Somehow I doubt your little pet just decided to start Jacking himself off."
Leo glared at him for one more moment, then he shrugged, turning away. "Maybe I gave him some... encouragement."
Raph lifted an eye ridge, suddenly less angry and more curious.
"But now I have more important things to do." He walked past Raph. "There's more than one of them, you know."
Raph watched his brother walking away, curious to know what he was doing last night. But considering his words carefully. The other one would be out of the infirmary tomorrow after all.
