Work Text:
“And that would be coffee cup number…?” He grits his teeth. Staring at the framework of a new shield, and resolutely ignoring the pest that had decided his lab was now a free for all for nuisances.
“It’s not coffee.” He snarls. A sharp wizzing noise followed by a crack and now he’s gone and burned his fucking fingers on amateur wiring. He wanted to break something, or murder someone.
“I dunno Dee. This tastes like coffee.” Just breathe in, focus on the breathing and not on the homicidal rage, his fingers twitch toward the massive wrench sitting toward the decades old tool box.
“You’re drinking something that has 1% coffee, 99.9% oil and various run off from my battle shells in it.” He smirks when the shrill shrieking followed by panicked choking and other sputtering noises reaches his ears. A holy symphony. Now if only he could crack the code on the shield. He wanted to create a sort of barrier, similar to Raph’s astral mystic armor, but more practical. He was getting sick of his brothers using their bodies as human… well mutant… shields whenever Raph wasn’t around and it was just him and them. He wasn’t weak.
“MOOOOMMMMM DONNNIIIEEE ISSSSS TRYINNNNGGG TO MUUURDDERRR HIS ONE AND ONLY BELOVED TWINN!” He slams his hands into the table, irritation spiking.
“FIRST, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING MOM? SECOND, WE ARE TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SPECIES OF TURTLES WE AREN’T TWINS,” He storms over to the red eared slider, and grabs him painfully by the arm and begins dragging him to the door, “And third, get the fuck out of my lab.” Slamming the door, and locking it several different ways he is pleased to say the sound proofing works, as all he can hear is the faint distant sounds of his brother’s dramatics outside the door. Now back to the stupid shield.
It was rare for him to feel frustrated with his own work. Sure reverse engineering any number of the thousands of mystic junk Leo brought back from his trips to the Hidden City, wasn’t easy. He had a designated pile, neatly labeled
Nard's Nerd Niche
Which he only ever used for dumping failed attempts. However this was his zone, his craft, something he took immense pride in. Being frustrated at any tech, much less his trademarked tech was a horrifying thought. The lights flicker then with a pop go out.
“You. Have. Got. To. Be. FUCKING KIDDING ME!” His hands fly and he flips the table. Blowing a fuse, just great and there goes the rest of his evening.
“Oh thank god you opened the door, I can’t see.” He had forgotten Leo was waiting for him… actually….
“I thought I told you to scram?”
“I did, it’s been 2 hours… I came back.”
Using the light from his repair shell, he notices his brother was sitting on the floor, pointedly avoiding eye contact. “Leeoooooo”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
“I did nothing!”
“Ah huh… and you’re avoiding looking me in the face because?” He noticed his brother was rocking slightly, and was tense as all get out.
“I’m fine sorry for bothering you. Do you have a flashlight I can use to get to my room without dying?” He sighs, his brother’s emotional issues were not his problem. And no one could say he hadn’t tried. Sure he could’ve then gone and burdened himself with listening to whatever inane issue had upset him, but it wasn’t like he understood the problem. He certainly wasn’t going to try and be someone he wasn’t. Did he resent Angelo for so easily talking about his feelings, or Leo for seizing whatever physical contact he craved, or Raph for embracing his inner child? No, of course not. If he had to grow up to make sure his brothers were happy then he would. If he was the odd man out, the asshole for not understanding emotions, so be it. At least he had his tech.
“Tech which I would be doing if the damn fuse hadn’t blown. Come on Donatello, let's fix this then go back to work.” Fixing the fuse went by easily. However when he returned to his lab he realized he was missing several key components that were in his room on the other side of the lair. He groans. His brothers no doubt had noticed the fuse, and they tended to gather during such events. A remnant of Mikey being terrified of the dark and Leo hating sleeping alone.
“Dee? What happened? Are you alright?” He allows the obligatory pat down and subsequent mother henning of Raph. The sooner he got to his room the sooner this whole thing could be over and he could go back to work.
“Blew a fuse, fixed it. Tools, room, need, move, now.” He grits out. He wasn’t really sure where this irritation was coming from. Normally he enjoyed talking to his brothers, even if he hated the touchy feely crap, he did enjoy some basic social contact. He was an introvert at heart so sue him.
“You’ve been working in your lab for days Donnie… you should-“ He snaps, whipping around and shoving a finger in his brother’s Palstrom.
“ I should be doing my work, which you should not be interrupting!” He immediately recoils, letting a sharp breath of air through his teeth. Mikey latches onto his arm, and he flails hard before straight up hissing and spitting at him. “WE DO NOT TOUCH ME, WE DO NOT GRAB ME!”
“It’s been a week of non-stop work…” Leo mumbles, however unlike the others he made no move to get closer, a small gratitude. Albeit Leo is also the only brother who had been bitten enough times by an extremely distressed Donnie to know that touching without explicit permission was an absolute no go.
“If you all just LET ME WORK it wouldn’t take me weeks!” He shouts before storming to his room and slamming the door. His skin felt like thousands of ants, or, shudder, slime, was covering it. He immediately grabs a mug and fills it with water and chugs it. He can feel his nerves were already shot, however being in water or consuming it was always able to calm him down.
“And… my room’s a mess.” His chest tightens, blinking fast he grabs a broom and begins cleaning.
He stubs his toe on several large pieces of scrap metal. Just breathe Donnie, it’s not the end of the world.
He finds one of the tools but it’s broken beyond repair. He chucks it with a scream into the wall. The task was Herculean, and he was being defeated by a hydra known as cleaning. Count to ten, focus on the things you do have control over.
Two more hours pass and he’s no closer to finishing. If he was capable, he would be crying right now, or at least that’s what the immense stress and tension behind his eyes seem to be telling him. His throat is parched, he chugs another glass of water and just collapses on the floor.
It was too much. He was too much. Of course his brothers were worried. How could they not be? He couldn’t even clean his room without having a mental breakdown. Sharp pain jolts down his spine. He jerks grabbing the tool shell and rips it off, he hated wearing these stupid things. They were heavy, they hurt, but not having a shell and feeling ANYTHING on what he did have was way worse. Nails on a chalkboard worse. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take another moment. Even the sounds of the sewer were causing his skin to crawl. He clutches his arms and rocks. There’s a knock at the door, he flinches.
“…” No words would come out. He panics. He was the smart brother, he always had words. This couldn’t be fucking happening. He puts his head in his hands and keeps rocking. He is even more surprised when he hears a very familiar set of chirps behind him, inquisitive but not demanding response. He turns and sees his brother grinning.
“And Raph owes me $20. Called it. Knew you’d go all no talky, and were dealing with that Miso-Phone stuff.” Misophonia, however he was currently completely incapable of correcting his idiot brother so he just glared. However, the non-talking bit was unpredictable. He’d never done so before, and opens his mouth to immediately correct that assumption. However Leo just snorts and lets out a series of chirps that sound like laughter. He continues to glare.
“Sorry sorry, not mocking. However you used to have no issues replying to me like that? No whistles Donnie Boy?“ The slider immediately makes himself comfortable, and starts digging around the mess of blankets and pillows. He frowns. He can’t remember ever chirping, or whistling at anyone. He knew the slider did, it was a turtle thing, he’d thought his brother had outgrown it.
“Nah I do it all the time, you just don’t listen to me if I don’t talk in words. Mikey and I have developed a whole language.” His surprise and genuine interest must’ve shown clearly, because his brother continues on, “You used to, when we shared a room. I think it was subconscious? Like I’d chirp and you’d reply? Anyways since you seemed confused my darling twin, let me remind you, you go non-verbal when you are stressed, and used to have meltdowns like this all the time when we were kids.” He makes several grunts, Donnie still can’t tell what the damn guy is looking for and is shocked when his throat makes a weak dissatisfied groan.
“Ah Hah!” Leo whips out a blanket and throws it over him. He realizes it’s Raph’s old weighted blanket. He smiles weakly. Several more chirps and whistles emerge along with Leo crawling under the blanket and flopping on his back.
“I ain’t gonna make you talk however I am going to insist you get sleep, or at the very least stay here and chill for the rest of the night.” He begins whistling and humming some random song. However it was interspersed with the nostalgic sounds from their childhood. He’s surprised when he begins replying in like. The look of satisfaction on his brother’s face made something untwist. He opens his mouth, moving his hands, the energy is building and he has no release. He can’t go to the lab and tinker, Leo would follow, and he’s sure Raph and Mikey were guarding it. But he can’t just get up and move around.
“Here, play with this. You need something to keep your hands busy right?” He looks in his hands at the strange puzzle with many colors. “April told me it’s called a Rubix Cube, you gotta get all the sides to match, like this,” he awkwardly maneuvers his hands, overlaying them, and begins moving both to show how the block moves. He lets out a grumble of excitement.
He’s not sure how many hours pass, but the warm blanket and Leo’s occasional chirping lull him into a deep state of calm.
“AHAH! Did it!! Take that RUBIX CUBE!!!” He freezes. Oh he could talk again. That’s nice.
“Mmm hmmm, thads nis, mmm sleep now k?” He turns and see Leo passed out clearly content to take up the floor. That wouldn’t do, he’d complain about his back like an old man non-stop.
“Bed Leo.”
“Naur, m’mfy”
“I’m not kicking you out, I refuse to sleep on the floor, and I’m not so cold hearted to make my own brother do so in his own home. Get up.” He grabs his brother’s deadweight arm and hauls the both of them into the bed. He’s surprised when the usual aversion doesn’t flare up, his hands remain neutral. Guess tonight was going to be full of surprises.
“B’ttr?” Donnie lays down and pulls the weighted blanket over them. Leo had managed to contort himself into an incredibly uncomfortable position against the wall, leaving a good 5 to 10 inches of space on the already narrow bed. He sighs.
“Get over here. I know you were upset earlier about something. No, don't tell me I don’t want to know. Consider this my apology for snapping at you all.” He holds out an arm, and his brother’s eyes narrow. “Come on!” He motions. And soon finds himself with an armful of excited chirping slider. Leo immediately wraps his limbs in a pretzel around him and proceeds to pass out.
Well he supposed one night of contact and comfort wouldn’t kill him.