Story Title: Changes and Chances Pairings: Don/Leo, Raph/Mikey Synopsis: (Post Turtles Forever). The boys find out that they're not actually all related. Leo and Mikey are real brothers and so are Raph and Don, but what kind of implications will this mean for their makeshift family? Complications and chaos ensues.
Chapter 4 - Anything but Nothing
It was a relatively quiet night in the lair. Michelangelo was busy reading his comic books in his room and Raphael was probably asleep by now (who knows what that hothead does during his personal time anyway). Master Splinter was watching his nighttime soaps by the TV on low volume, and there wasn’t any loud noises of machinery coming from Donatello’s lab so he must be on his computers. That left Leonardo meditating in the dojo - or was trying to.
The blue banded turtle never felt so out of sorts in his entire young life and that’s saying something, knowing the kind of life his family’s been leading. The lair was becoming somewhat chaotic ever since the revelations regarding their DNA was brought to light by Don, and Leo felt like he was going deaf and blind at the same time… Though it really was a peaceful night, and the only thing drowning the sounds of his barely controlled breathing was the rush of water coming from the pools of the reservoir station. But it still didn’t calm the disquiet in his mind and only frustrated the leaf green terrapin more, especially when he had failed going into a meditative trance for three hours now and his supply of scented candles were dwindling down to melted wax.
Wax that he had to clean up by morning or his Sensei will have his shell for sure. Groaning and feeling grumpier than he started hours ago, Leonardo set about the room for a kunai and delicately picked out the melted candles and the river of wax staining the dojo mats. A minute into his chore, Leo was starting to think it was actually quite soothing and was helping with his concentration… Or maybe it was his sanity melting off his head and joining the miniature lava on the floor. His thinking did seem erosive these days, thoughts that were flying off to forbidden territory and dubious things he’d rather not dwell about.
“My son, you have been unsettled as of late,” Splinter’s voice sounded from above Leo, and the blue banded turtle was disappointed to note that he had been too distracted with the blade in his hand and the wax on the floor to notice his Sensei’s presence. It must have been close to midnight by now if Master Splinter was turning in. His Friday shows always ended at 11:30.
Leonardo stopped picking at the melted candles and straightened on his haunches so he could address his father in the eye. It was a bit embarrassing being caught unawares when he was cleaning out wax of all things, but he knew Splinter was an understanding parent so his Sensei must’ve known something was troubling him indeed.
The katana wielder suppressed the urge to fidget with the small weapon in his hands and instead replied, “It’s just- things have been changing, Sensei.”
Splinter smiled softly at his son, “I imagine so, Leonardo. Michelangelo has made interesting arguments on the matter, and Raphael is understandably confused and his frustrations are starting to show. I believe you are gripped with the same concerns?”
“Maybe not exactly the same, but things have been going too fast for me to rationalize with. It’s difficult to predict the future with all these unknown variables, Master.”
“You are starting to talk like Donatello, my son. Has he been influencing you well?” There was an odd teasing note in the rat’s tone that made Leonardo feel both perplexed and flustered. If one wasn’t paying attention very well, the little inflection would’ve been missed, but Leo was an observant turtle.
His father mentioning Donnie’s name during their conversation and obviously changing the subject was not lost on the leaf green terrapin. The nature of this action however, was yet to be known.
Leonardo gulped, “We’ve been spending more time training together, believe it or not,” he was proud to note that he sounded lighthearted than hopelessly desperate. Surely, he wasn’t that obvious?
“Yes, I have seen the results and I must say I am proud with both of you,” Splinter chuckled inwardly at the look of panic on his eldest son. Youth will be youth.
“Although, Leonardo… I am quite disappointed in you as a father and sensei.”
Leo’s breath hitched and he thought his heart stopped beating. He could feel his mind becoming foggy from the random thoughts racing in his head, all ranging from the most mundane to the more absurd. Does he know? Of course he knows! He’s a ninja master and he’s our father! I’m so stupid- Am I going to be banished-? Will he punish Mike too? I won’t have to finish cleaning out the wax or-? My legs are starting to cramp! Shell, what if Don walked up here right now? My eyes are going cross-eyed. I really, really want to sit on Donatello’s lap someday-
“You should know better, Leonardo,” thankfully, his father’s words cut off his ridiculous mental tirade.
Here it comes, the blue banded turtle squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the final bow.
“Nothing is ever certain in the matters of the heart.”
Splinter quirked an amused grin when his son opened his grey eyes wide in surprise. He approached the turtle’s form and put a fatherly hand on his shoulder.
“No amount of planning strategies or analyzing the situation logically will help you in your endeavors, my son.”
Leonardo stuttered at the implied meaning of his father’s words “B-but I’m, I- “
“Remember, I am not just a sensei that strives to put his students on the right path, but also a father that wishes to guide his sons to a path of happiness. I will be in my shoji if you ever want to discuss anything in particular, Leonardo.”
The leaf green terrapin nodded dumbly, still staring at his father like he was seeing him for the first time.
“Rest well, my son.”
“You too, Father.”
With those parting words, the grandmaster of Ninjutsu slid the door to his shoji, plastering on a contented smile that was hidden from his eldest son. He heard the shuffling of Leonardo’s feet as he concluded his chore of cleaning out the melted river of candlewax. Splinter felt Leonardo’s presence exit the room and started towards his purple banded son’s laboratory, presumably to talk Donatello into going to bed.
Now that his daily parenting duties were fulfilled, the old rat comfortably settled in for the night.
The purple banded turtle tiredly rubbed one red-rimmed eye with an olive green hand. The dryness was getting to him and it was even beginning to itch. Donnie knew staring at the computer monitors for too long was going to impair his sight eventually, albeit not so seriously nor permanently. He was glad their unique mutations allowed him and his brothers to be physically tougher than any human alive, and their healing rate was pretty ridiculous. So the idea of wearing glasses to correct his vision would be next to useless.
It was a good thing too! He, the scientist, the nerd, as Raphael would put it so eloquently, would be the laughing stock of his brothers if he ever got one. The teasing would never cease and he’d live out his life in complete shameful misery. A little overdramatic, Donatello knew, but he’s learned long ago to never underestimate a brother’s ability to make fun and tease.
He snorted.Look at me, getting distracted with silly things when I should be working.Don shook his head a bit to clear it of any unnecessary thoughts and looked at the time on the clock. It read 11:54 P.M. It’s getting late… Everyone’s probably in bed right now.
Not long after completing his train of thought, the olive green terrapin perked up at a knock on his lab door. He stared at it for a moment before deciding it was safe to permit the person outside into his sanctuary. Probably Leo, ready with a long lecture that’ll surely bore me to sleep, he thought. Donnie always had a sneaking suspicion his older brother intentionally did it for that reason alone. Just merely thinking of Leonardo made his thoughts race like he was high on adrenaline and suddenly, he didn’t feel tired or sleepy at all. Great, he was being weird again.
Pushing past his mounting dread – or excitement – of being alone with his blue banded brother, he cleared his throat and hollered a “Come in!” The genius hastily resumed his initial position on his workstation – brown eyes staring at the monitor in front of him and nimble hands poised on the keyboard, as if attempting to type another string of code. He made sure to look as natural as he felt otherwise.
Leonardo came in with an enigmatic look on his face. He wasn’t looking at Donnie yet, but when he found his younger brother slumped and looking busy on his computer, the leaf green terrapin adopted a concerned pose.
He put his hands on his hips, silently asking the purple banded turtle why he was still slaving away on his computer.
Don sighed and turned his swivel chair to face Leo, “Before you point out the obvious, yes I’m tired and I need to sleep soon but this is something I can’t just finish later, bro.”
Leo did notice the droop on his smart brother’s shoulders and his eyes were a little red, no doubt from using the electronics for more than half a day. The fearless leader knew that if Donnie deemed something important enough to lose sleep on it, then it must be really important.
“You can relax, Donnie. I’m not here to chew your head off even though I probably should,” The older turtle gave him a playful smile, knowing Donatello was stressed enough as it is. He hated it when his younger brother always looked dead on his feet because of their problems in the past.
The genius released a relieved breath at that and muttered, “Oh, good.”
“Anyway, what’s up? This must be something important if you can’t stop right now. Is it about the lair’s security?”
“You can say that,” Donatello replied, feeling soothed by Leo’s presence.
Already, his older brother was being supportive and helpful, even if he didn’t know it. These inquiries helped him set his mind on track and narrow down his main objectives. It never ceased to amaze the olive green terrapin how Leonardo could make him open up without actually forcing him to or voicing it out.
“I’ve been going through New York’s police scanners and found a disturbing pattern with the criminal activities this past month.”
“I take it you don’t trust Karai enough to deal with whatever this is?” Leo was still sore about the alliance but he can’t outright rebel against his father.
Donnie grimaced at the mention of their former enemy, “I still don’t,” he grunted. “And I’m betting the Foot won’t even notice this peculiarity. There’s been seven bio labs broken into for the past four weeks and every time, one or two people would go missing.”
The blue banded turtle straightened up at the information. “That’s very concerning,” he commented, voice tight.
His younger brother waved it away, “What’s really concerning is that nobody knows there were missing people during the heist, or at least there are no proofs of it. All tangible evidence of the laboratories’ documents were either burned or stolen and their computers were crudely wiped using a virus.”
Don met Leo’s eyes and said, “I only knew there were missing people since the robbers were careless enough to leave their stolen data unprotected. I’ve planted my own backdoor program in every laboratory since yesterday and just this afternoon, one of those labs were compromised. My programs had latched onto the virus and I managed to glean on some corrupted data. Not much, but enough to clear my suspicions.”
“And that is?” Leonardo dreaded to ask. The way Donnie explained everything made it sound like something Bishop would pull, or even the Shredder. But the government agent was currently MIA and their nemesis was no more than a dimensional anomaly.
“Someone desperate is hauling off expensive chemicals and biologists to do their bidding. What’s interesting is that all of these missing scientists are studying mutations.”
The leaf green terrapin had his own ideas but wanted to hear it from Donatello himself, “Who is it, Don?”
His genius brother sighed heavily and shrugged, “I think it’s Hun, but I’m not 100% certain. Last time we saw him, he was an ugly mutated turtle and ever since the Foot took up our night jobs, we really don’t have a clue where he is right now. Or what he’s doing. Hence, the uncertainty.”
Leo eyed him knowingly. His older brother had that look in his eye that said he had finally pieced the puzzle.
“If it is Hun, he must be trying to undo his mutation. And you’ve been cooped up here for the past 12 hours trying to locate Hun’s cronies?”
Donnie gave a strained smirk, “Or better yet, their hideout. But the bastards are harder to pinpoint than I expected so-,” he gestured lamely at his slumped form, “here I am.”
The grey eyed terrapin moved from his place a few feet from his younger brother and walked closer to the seated Donatello. Now that he was up close, he could smell the faint traces of coffee in the air around his brother. He was even surprised to note that despite Don’s drooping shoulders, Donnie’s muscles looked painfully stiff with tension.
He stretched out a hand and experimentally squeezed the olive green terrapin’s right shoulder. Donatello visibly flinched and couldn’t hide the grimace from the older turtle.
“You’re a mess and I didn’t even notice,” Leo scolded himself. Donatello looked so spirited nowadays that Leonardo didn’t even consider what he was doing during his free time.
He looked at Don, “You should’ve told me, Donnie. I know our lair’s been compromised already by Hun, and Karai’s promise with protecting our existence visually makes our home safe, but I’m not taking any chances. I never do, I still sleep with one eye open if things do go south and I know the rest of the family does to.”
“Not Mikey,” The genius quipped, despite his older brother’s serious lecture.
Instead of getting angry, Leo only twitched a small smile, “Maybe not Mikey. But still, I’m here for you, Don. You can’t shoulder these problems on your own. Believe me, I know.”
“I do believe you, Leo.”
They found each other’s eyes after that, wood brown on steel grey. The eyes really were the window to the soul. They could see each other’s whole being just from mirroring each other. Donatello who was strong and as unmoving as the mountain, and Leonardo who was as tranquil as water and flows like a river over stone. It was a sensation they were all too familiar with, something a bit like being in a meditative trance. The moment of spiritual connection was brief, but it was enough to shake them to the core.
Leo gasped silently and Don jerked his head away as if shocked. What was that?! They exclaimed internally.
The two turtles were visibly disoriented and then Donnie stood too fast in his seat, just to trip and almost fall to the floor if it weren’t for Leo barely catching his elbow. They grunted in unison and the olive green terrapin moved his legs under him, trying to stand without his brother’s support.
“S-sorry, I think my legs have gone numb,” Don sounded breathless.
The older turtle shook his head to gain his bearings again and helped his younger back to his vacated chair. He decided not to say about what just happened. He wasn’t sure if Donatello felt it too but it was probably nothing. Nothing they could explain that is. Choosing to ignore the awkwardness that followed, Leonardo thought it was time to put his foot down and usher the purple banded turtle to his room.
“Donnie, I really think we should get some sleep soon. You, especially. And yes, I am not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” he responded to the raised brow ridge of his genius brother.
Don threw his hands in the air, frustrated. All thoughts about the curious phenomena he shared with the fearless leader was shoved in the backburner.
“But Leo-”
Leo raised a hand to stop Donnie’s protests, “I know it’s vital that you find Hun’s location but right now, you’re not in any shape to do that without making mistakes in the process. You know that you’ll only make even bigger miscalculations if you proceed without sleep, Donatello.”
Donnie crossed his arms and harrumphed. He knew Leo was right but, but-!
“I’ve planned for a patrol tomorrow, anyway.”
Don looked up from his stooped stance and stared at Leonardo, “Wow, really? It’s been so long since we’ve been out in the city!” He was thrilled, the invisibility the shadows granted them and busy traffic below were the only things that allowed them a small taste of freedom.
Leo smiled at him, “Yeah, I think it’s overdue. It would be great for the team’s morale – Mikey won’t get too fat lazing around here, and it’d cool Raph’s temper. We’ll do some reconnaissance in one of the recent bio lab break-in and find some Purple Dragons for information gathering. They might not be working with Hun anymore, but they’ll most likely have useful info for us. What do you think?”
The olive green terrapin didn’t have to mull it over, it was a sound and logical plan, “I think it’s a win-win situation.”
“Great. Why don’t we call it a night, Don? You’re swaying on your feet.”
“Really sounding like a broken record, bro,” Donatello lightly teased his older brother as he started to save his progress in the computer and turned off the remaining equipment on his chaotic worktable.
Leo scoffed good-naturedly and grabbed Don’s forearm, dragging them both to the door, “My point still stands.”
The leaf green terrapin had to watch his younger brother’s footing when they started climbing the stairs. Donatello would grunt once in a while in discomfort and Leonardo figured it was his stiff muscles bothering the genius. He wouldn’t even be surprised if his younger brother was sporting a nasty headache right now, it was expected. Just how many days had Donnie been sneaking down to his lab just to monitor Hun’s activities? Judging from the abused coffee maker on his table earlier, this was not a one-time thing.
They were trudging up to the brothers’ rooms now and were just approaching Leonardo’s when the said turtle had an idea. He stopped them at his door and glanced at Don, “Wait here for a bit, Donnie.”
Donnie was humming his consent when Leo quietly entered. He emerged out of it a few moments later and took Don’s hand, leading him to the genius’ room. The purple banded turtle was probably out of it but Leonardo was quietly savoring the feel of his brother’s warm hand over his own. Leo really didn’t want to let go of him as they entered through Donatello’s bedroom door.
“We’re here, bro. Let me tuck you in.”
The younger turtle woke a bit to blush his embarrassment, “I’m not a child, Leo!” he hissed, feeling his face turning hot.
The leaf green terrapin chuckled at Donnie’s distress but smiled tenderly when his brother complied anyway. He took out the healing salve stashed in his belt and twisted the cap. He scooped the clear goop generously in his hand and took a seat next to Don on his bed. He spread the salve on his younger brother’s shoulders and neck, then proceeded to massage the kinks out of his muscles. Donnie seemed to relax under Leo’s ministrations and the leader could already feel the stiffness melting away from his body.
Donatello gave a low groan from the relief his brother was giving him, and even made little happy churrs during the massage. It was supposed to be encouraging.
Leo didn’t think so. He was barely functioning. His hands were moving like they were supposed to, but his whole body was rigid with excitement and surprise. He didn’t know Donnie could sound like that! He wanted to hear more, but-!
Oh no, this is dangerous. Leonardo, get your head out of the gutter! I think it’s time for you to GO.
“There, all done, bro. Now get some sleep,” Leo’s voice raised a few octaves. The tightness in his throat felt like his heart just crawled up there and started beating like crazy.
Don blinked slowly and smiled dopily at his older brother, “’Kay.”
The blue banded turtle sighed softly and guided his brother’s head on a pillow. As promised, Leonardo covered the olive green terrapin with his old blanket and tucked him in. He whispered, “Good night, Donnie.”
“’Night, Leo. And thanks,” Don murmured and yawned, his eyes half closing.
Leo smiled down at him and caressed his cheek. It was times like these that Leonardo couldn’t even lie to himself and say that Donnie was just a brother to him. He was much more precious than that, much more special.
“… You’re the best… Love you.”
The blue banded turtle pulled his hand away from Don’s face, and quickly covered his lips to muffle out the sound of shock and surprise. Leo knew Don didn’t mean anything else from those words but still, hearing them was so heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. These feelings he’d been having for Donatello seemed to stem for years now if he wasn’t mistaken. It just took him recently to understand why he was feeling them. That familiar tightness in his chest and the fluttering butterflies in his stomach… It all led to those same innocent words.
Leo rose from beside Don’s bed and stealthily crept outside. He took one last look at the sleeping turtle and quietly closed the door. Leonardo vowed, as he began walking heavily to his room, that someday, he would say those exact same words to his beloved Donatello and the genius won’t mistake it for anything but nothing.
Hey, guys! Its been so long since I've updated! I've been very exhausted. College does that to you and so does exams. Fortunately, tests are done so here it is. It's a bit random and a little anticlimactic until the end *gasp* SPOILERS! No really, but please read this one out and just stay until the end. I promise it's nice! Hopefully.
