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Donnie did a dumb thing. He's well aware that what he did was completely stupid. He didn't even have a good reason to do it! The only thing that drove the soft-shell to this was curiosity. Or... maybe there was more. But that's debatable! At the core, Donnie had a very scientific reason to do this.
It started with the internet. The internet with it's vast amounts of information and forums. He thinks he'd been researching coping mechanisms for traumatic experiences. For his brothers, of course. The whole thing with Shredder had to have been traumatic for them (Not him. Why would he be badly effected when the only things destroyed were very replaceable?) He'd found a post about someone recovering from 'self-harm,' and that started Donnie down a rabbit hole.
Naturally, he began to develop a curiosity on the matter. Why was it so appealing and tempting for people to harm themselves? Why were there so many different methods? Why was it sometimes connected with suicidal thoughts, and sometimes not? What would be different about it if a mutant teen turtle did that?
Their biology may be somewhat like a human's, but they were still turtles. Were there places on them less dangerous to cut? Were there places that were more dangerous? Donnie eventually came to the conclusion that he had to try it for himself, just to understand more what could happen. He chose a day where he should be left alone in the lair (there's still more supplies they need since repairing their home, and he could find a reasonable excuse to stay while they shop). He had his tablet to take notes on, and something sharp to use.
Donnie's heart pounded in his chest as he did it, although he tries to keep a calm demeanor about him. He cuts into his skin with surgical accuracy. He begins his notes with the time, since he plans to keep track of how long this takes. Donnie takes note how fast the blood flows out of him. It's particularly important that it doesn't squirt out with his pulse. Good. A cut artery is hard to fix, especially on oneself.
Wait, where's the first aid kit? The teen genius looks around the room. There's a first aid kit he's always kept in here. It's... Oh. Oh no. No no no no no.
The first aid kit was recked when Shredder attacked. Replacement first aid kits were one of the things the family left to fet. Donnie He swears to himself, fumbling for a towel or something. "Where the heck is the... come on, did I really forget a towel?"
He's trying his best not to drip blood anywhere, but that doesn't really go well. A genius like him should have had the forethought to bring a towel for this! He's starting to panic. How could Donnie be this stupid! He's gonna die. Or he's gonna get caught. He's gonna get caught and he's gonna die! Donnie trips on some sort of scrap metal. He sweeps an arm across his desk trying to catch himself. All that does his bring blueprints and small tinker projects to the ground with him with a loud clutter and crash.
Donnie groans. Great. Now he's probably gotten bruised, and his stuff is a mess. Oh, and there might be blood smeared on that table, now. Perfect. "Donnie?" OH EVEN BETTER!! RAPH'S HERE!!! "Donnie? Is everything okay in there?"
"Yeah, Raph!" He pushes himself up, quickly thinking up some sort of excuse. An explanation for why the heck he's bleeding out on the floor. "One of my experiments didn't work like it was supposed to." Towel. Napkin. Something. "Could you... get me a towel?"
Raph, of course, walks right into the lab. Doesn't even knock. Raph is the kind to go right into a situation if he thinks his brothers need his help. "Donnie-" The oldest turtle stops. The teen genius pushes himself up, ready to explain this isn't as bad as it looks. "Donnie!"
Raph runs in, crouches quickly, and holds his brother by the shoulders. "What happened? Where're you hurt?"
"I'm fine!" Donnie insists. He tries to subtly hide his bleeding arm from view. "Just a little accident."
"Seriously?" Raph gestures behind him. "It almost looks like one of those horror movies we used to watch! That's, like, a lot."
The blood. True, it is a lot of it everywhere. Donnie sighs. "Look, I just need a towel, and some pressure on it. Then I'll be totally fine." He feels light headed. He finds himself relying more on his brother to keep himself sitting up. The teen genius isn't sure at what point he'll need some sort of blood transfusion. He doesn't want it to come to that.
Raph yanks his arm out of hiding, showing the gory wound in all it's bloody glory. The oldest turtle is horrified, and he looks like he's going to puke. "I'm really fine," Donnie lies, because this whole situation could hardly be called 'fine.' "I just need a towel. Or two."
Raph hesitates, but nods in agreement. He moves the younger brother to lean back against the wall, then sprints out of the room. What would have happened, Donnie wonders, if someone, anyone else had found him? April? She may have humored an idea to sneak him into a human hospital. Leo? He'd have immediately called someone, and nervously make quips every chance he could. Mikey?
Mikey would have cried.
Not even a minute passes before Raph is back with a whole roll of paper towels. Donnie snatches some quickly to press against the cut. "Donnie.." Raph trails off, then takes a deep breath. "What happened."
Donnie puts on an annoyed act. I already said. An experiment went wrong." It's not a lie, either.
"But what happened?"
He goes silent. He can't just tell Raph what he was trying to do! He puts more paper towel on his arm. This could kill him. Maybe it's not such a bad thing if it does. Wait, what?
"I'm calling Dad."
This pulls Donnie away from analyzing that weird random thought. "Wait, no!" Raph pulls his phone out. "No! Come on! The absolute worst this will need is stitches!"
Raph doesn't listen. He speaks into his phone. "Something happened in Donnie's lab, and now he's hurt bad."
Donnie huffs. Great. Everyone's going to know at this point. Everyone will know he messed up. And there's another weird bad thought.
"He won't say what happened. He's bleeding pretty bad though."
Maybe he's...
"His arm. There's a lot, though."
Donnie looks around for his tablet. It has his notes on it. Still open. He finds it's not that far. The screen looks a little cracked, but it should still be usable.
"Okay." Raph puts his phone away. He takes the paper towels from Donnie, taking over. He also lift the arm higher up. Of course. Elevating the wound above the heart. Why didn't he think of that?
"Donnie?" He doesn't look up. He knows what Raph wants to know, and it frustrates him. The big guy just won't give up, will he? "Donnie, please-"
"Fine! Here!" Donnie roughly hands over his tablet, not really caring if it gets more broken. There's no way he's going to say it himself. "I took notes on what I was doing on here. Read it yourself!"
He waits while Raph reads, one hand scrolling and other hand squeezing Donnie's arm tightly. The purple-clad ninja can't even bring himself to look at him. He knows that Raph isn't quite the smartest of them all, but he's definitely putting the pieces together now. "Oh, Donnie..."
"In case you can't tell, it was very scientific," Donnie speaks, because downplaying this is the best way he can think to cope with this stupid mess," and it was pretty stupid, so you don't need to point that one out for me."
"I wasn't going to call you stupid!" He knows this kind of answer won't fly. Who would believe that he hurt himself purely to see what happened? "How... how did you even think to do this?"
"Just some stuff I came across online. Look." No one else can know. They'll see it as something chaotic, broken, entirely emotion driven. Not for how ordered and structured it really was. "Don't tell Dad? I don't think he'd allow me in my lab again, like, ever." His eyes start felling heavy. That's bad. He shivers. "Crap." It's another bad sign. "It's getting cold."
"Cold?" Raph isn't as well versed in the effects of blood loss, but he still seems to recognize this is getting bad very quickly. He tosses aside blood-soaked paper towels and gathers clean ones to press against the wound. "Maybe I should call Dad again-"
"No, no. Just... It's not THAT cold. It's not like I'm..." Dying. It would surely be interesting to see what dying is like. There's another one of those random thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking thoughts like that.
"Wait, are you dying?"
"No!" this situation is spiraling out of his control. He doesn't want to die, really. "I... maybe I'll lose my hand. Maybe."
"Donnie!" Raph is panicking. A little. "Why would you do it?"
"Science." Science was the answer to a lot of things he did.
"No." Raph leans over, somewhat forcing himself into Donnie's view. He still couldn't meet his eyes. "Why would you even think of stuff like this?"
"I have reasons." And Donnie would rather not explain them. "It's complicated." He's getting tired.
"Don-"
Donnie hears their family enter the lair. He finally looks Raph in the eyes and squeezes his arm. "Just don't tell them." He's desperate, and he knows Raph can see it.
"I-"
"Red! Purple!" Both of their father figures hurry into the lab. Of course. Draxum specialized in biological sciences. He's the closest thing they have to a doctor. Raph gets softly told to leave and clean himself up, while Draxum examines the cut.
"How did you get a cut this deep?"
"Science experiment. Kinda slipped." Donnie's tired. He doesn't want to be questioned anymore than Raph questioned him. He wants to sleep. Thoughts of sleep is jolted by Draxum poking the freaking cut. "Ow!"
"It's deep." The yokai continues to prod. Donnie would yank his arm away, but he doesn't have the energy, and Draxum has too tight a grip on his arm. "Very... precise."
He knows.
"Well, like I said. It was an accident."
"Donatello." Dad only uses their full names for something serious. "What caused this?"
"Screwdriver." A lie. He used a shuriken, but screwdriver made it a more believable accident. Although, if they stopped to look, if anyone stopped to follow the trail of blood back to where it began, they would find the bloody weapon. Donnie thinks of some way to keep all attention on him without dropping his 'this is an inconvenience for me' act. "I'm kinda tired, though." He fakes a yawn for good measure. There. That should do it.
It gets Splinter worried, well enough. "Draxum-"
"I have this under control." Donnie's arm is poked by a sharp needle. Again, it hurts. "This isn't that challenging to fix! The wound will close easily enough."
Donnie clenches his teeth. Getting stitches hurts. It should be keeping him awake. But he's. Tired. And he doesn't bother trying to hide that. He already admitted it. He might as well doze off for a bit. Just a bit. It's not like he'll stay like that.
"He might need more blood, however."