Chapter Text
“What the fuck , Leon?”
“Don’t give me that attitude, you know how much I hate it.”
“Don’t mess up and I won’t give you any attitude!”
Donnie pressed the tips of his fingers together and steeled himself against a smile.
Across the table, Mikey had both his hands pressed against his mouth as his shoulders shook with laughter. The smallest Hamato made a muffled snorting sound before rolling his eyes fondly.
“Seriously, what the fuck?!”
“ Raph .”
“ Leon. ”
The two oldest boys glared daggers at each other. The tension was even more punctuated by the knife Raph was attempting to twirl with his fingers.
The knife. The whole reason for this argument.
In all honesty, Donnie didn’t even remember why the knife was the reason behind this new argument, but at this point, he just sorta rolled with it. Raph came into his lab with a bruise from falling down the stairs? Okay. Leo bursting into their room to complain about work? Nice. Raph rushing in with a stab wound probably? Sweet. Nothing exciting, just a casual sort of day for them.
“— ridiculous, I can’t believe—“
“You’re just jealous that I can actually play the knife game.” Raph said smugly, placing his left hand on the cutting board, spreading his fingers. He lifted the knife with his right hand and brought it down between his thumb and his pointer finger. “ Ooooohhh —“
“Do NOT—“
Oh, right. That’s why they were arguing over the knife. He sniffed, rubbing his nose with his sleeve.
Mikey pushed away from the table rather abruptly, scooping up his backpack as he did so (ungratefully, he almost fell into the table). “I’m gonna go upstairs before I watch Raph cut off his fingers.” He said cheerfully, before making his great escape and vanishing out of the kitchen.
“He’s got the right idea,” Donnie said to Icy as Leo attempted to snatch the knife away from Raph. The cat tipped her head to the side, meowed in his face, and then hopped off the table and pranced away.
Donnie took a page out of her book, snatching his cup of water and bolted before something went wrong.
The sounds of the fight didn’t fade, not even in the basement.
—
Math, history, chemistry.
Three different textbooks lay on his desk, flipped open to their respective sections as Donnie poured over his homework, laptop open on docs as he attempted to finish algebra before continuing his history essay. The lights flickered above him as he worked, and the small windows near the ceiling didn’t do much to help, considering it was almost nine at night. He was tired, he just wanted to lay down and never wake up again.
With one final buzzing noise, the lights fizzled out and the basement was plunged into darkness.
Donnie swore, placing his pencil on the desk, pushing his chair to lift his laptop and point the screen in the direction of the stairs. He stood slowly and crept forward, eyes flying around to stare at the shadows, desperately hoping there wasn’t anything he would be able to injure himself on.
He walked right into the railing and nearly dropped the laptop in his haste to press his hands against his newest bruise. “Shit!” He groaned, hunching over a bit to limp up the stairs.
The door clicked open without a problem, much to his relief, and Donnie closed the laptop and slipped down the hallway, hurrying up the stairs as lightly as possible. He stepped on the accursed squeaky step and froze, listening to the house. Nothing. No reaction. Good. At least now Leo wouldn’t ask him why he was clutching his hip like he’d just been stabbed or something.
He nudged the door to their shared room open with his foot and tumbled in, scrambling toward his side of the room. The laptop was placed very gently on the desk and he yanked his clothes off and his pajamas on as quickly as humanly possible, throwing himself into his bed to yank the covers up to his ears.
Ah, fuck , that stung.
He closed his eyes and attempted to steady his breathing. Think about math, think about science! It was a welcomed distraction, and the pain was starting to fade anyway.
He was out before he even started naming the periodic table of elements.
—
The next time Donnie woke up, his phone was beeping in his ear.
He rolled over and reached for it, groping blindly for it in the dull light from behind the curtains.
His hand connected with the phone and he yanked it off its cord, pulling it up to his face to press the ‘off’ option, shutting the alarm off.
Leo’s bed across the room was empty, but Donnie didn’t find the energy to notice or care.
His head hurt like hell. It pounded, his throat burned (he may as well have swallowed sandpaper and gotten it lodged in his there), and he was pretty sure it wasn’t normal to have aching muscles.
He pushed himself out of bed (and immediately regret his decision) and stumbled over to the dresser, pulling a few drawers open to yank out clean clothes.
It was a slow and painful process, putting on the clothes. His head pounded a rebellion against his actions as he bent over to tug socks on.
(It took well over fifteen minutes to get fully dressed.)
By the time he made it downstairs, everyone else was already up. Hell, even Raph, who always insisted on sleeping ‘till the last minute, was up and about.
Speaking of Raph, the older boy was laughing. “— on’t look so hot!” His felt like he was listening to it through miles of water.
“Shut up, Raph,” Leo shot back without looking up from his toast, though he was pretty distorted too. “He’s— wrong, you— so good— Okay?”
“Yeah,” Donnie said without really understanding anything anyone had said.
Apparently it satisfied Leo, because his oldest brother just nodded and returned to his toast. He hoped he hadn’t just agreed to mowing the lawn again. Wasn’t that Raph’s job?
His head throbbed and he let out an unconscious groan, rubbing his temples.
Leo was on him immediately, guiding him to the table to sit down. “— Okay?” He was saying.
Relax, D. Just find a way to play it off.
Oh.
“I have a headache.” Donnie said, hiding his face in his hands.
Leo was saying something, but Donnie waited. And waited. And waited.
And then Mikey burst into the kitchen, bringing sunlight and happiness and incredibly loud noises how does he do it with him, and Donnie won the lottery.
“Oh no, it’s back again.” He groaned for dramatic effect, peeking through his fingers.
Raph let out a snort from across the table and Mikey, who had no idea that he had probably just saved Donnie, figured Raph was laughing at him and threw his binder at the older boy.
Crisis averted , Donnie mused to himself as Leo hurried over to break up the squabble. Nicely done.
His phone buzzed and he reached for it automatically, squinting against the harsh light that poured from it.
Oh. The groupchat. He’d forgotten about it.
~~
^ UNREAD MESSAGES FROM 4:12AM ^
FellonFighter1 : and thats why i should becom a vigilante!!
Reddy : Sure, whatever you say
FellonFighter1 : so u agree w/ me!!?
Reddy : God no
Reddy : Have fun, I’ll be at home. Watching Netflix. Eating popcorn. Not getting beat up.
FellonFighter1 : >:(
Reddy : :)
WalkingFirstAid : What
Reddy : Morning Donnie!!
FellonFighter1 : yo D!!
WalkingFirstAid : Morning. Are you picking me up today?
FellonFighter1 : ofc princess, w’ll be there in 5
Reddy : See you soon!
WalkingFirstAid : Thanks! See you soon
~~
And for some reason the family groupchat had a few unread messages too? What was up with that?
Donnie sat on the couch and scrolled through his phone, squinting against the harsh light. Whatever. Might as well read them later. They’d probably bring some form of a smile to his face during algebra or whatever.
“—sey and April?” Raph was yelling from the kitchen, keys twirling around his pointer finger.
“Yeah.” Donnie said, still not knowing what he was agreeing too. Hopefully he’d been asking if Casey and April were going to drive him.
Raph’s eyes lit up and he waved before sprinting out the door. “—let!” He called back.
It wasn’t like Donnie didn’t know what is siblings did. Every time he caught a ride with Casey and April, Raph and Mikey went to this little coffee shop a few minutes away from school and hid out there until it was actually time to go. No wonder they always left so early on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“—t!” Mikey was laughing, holding what looked like Raph’s wallet above his head as he bolted out the door, skidding and turning back to grab a hoodie before dashing out the door again. The door slammed shut behind them and he winced, rubbing his temples.
“— time.” Leo complained from the kitchen. “Seriously.”
Donnie just laughed and went along with it, even though his head screamed at him to stop stop STOP.
A car beeped outside and he turned his head to look out the window, spotting Casey’s old black car.
“Casey and April are here, bye!” He called, wincing at how congested he sounded. He grabbed his jacket and sprinted, barely hearing Leo’s answering goodbye.
He threw himself into the backseat and smiled at his friends as he closed the door. “Thanks.”
“Anytime!” Casey grinned, and Donnie was glad he was at least able to understand his friend.
April turned around in the front seat to face him, all freckles and smiles, and Donnie felt himself fall even more.