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For the entirety of his life, Leo had always been full of energy and confidence; he always ensured he was at the top of his game. His one-liners always drove his brothers insane, especially when they needed him to focus. For instance, there had been that one-time Repomantis was chasing the turtles for Donnie's tech, and Leo had been too distracted to realize that he was leading Repo straight towards the lair. As a result, Repomantis ended up destroying half of the place while he ran away with everything in Donnie's lab.
Donnie had been livid; if it hadn't been for Mikey, Donnie would have never forgiven the red-eared slider. It took weeks before he could even look Leo in the eyes, and when he finally did, the brothers had promised never to speak of the incident again. As much havoc as Leo caused, his brothers still loved him dearly.
Though, that didn't mean Leo would stop causing trouble; it seemed as though his very existence was enough to irritate the turtles.
Case in point: the day he had fucked up when he let the Foot clan run away with the key.
"You just don't get it, Leo." Raph had been right, and now.....
Now, Leo lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of his room as he gasped for air. It had been a few weeks since the invasion happened, and while he felt fine physically; mentally, Leo still couldn't relax. He couldn't stand to stay in the dark anymore, preferring to remain in the projector room; the fear he felt when he shut his eyes for even a second plagued his mind. Every time he closed them to rest, he believed he'd wake up back in the prison dimension, and when he woke up, he'd be too afraid to fall back asleep. All he saw were the same visions over and over again: the Krang, New York in despair, his brother's bodies.....
Leo swallowed hard as he clenched his fists tightly, trying to calm down. He could feel tears forming in his eyes but refused to let them fall. Instead, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, willing to breathe normally. He wasn't going to fall apart. Not this time, not ever again.
But it wasn't working, the images kept flashing through his mind, and he felt like he was suffocating. It was getting too much, too fast...
Suddenly, a light flipped on, sending Leo scuttling away from his blankets, heavily breathing as he jerked up. The sudden light had startled him out of his trance, and it took him a moment to register where he was, his heart still pounding. Leo slowly turned his head to see who had switched on the lights...and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the face directly in front of him.
"Wha—Donnie?!? What are you doing in here?" Leo hissed, quickly putting on his mask in an attempt to hide the evidence that he was crying. The purple-masked turtle simply stared at him for a moment before speaking. "I-....I just....." Donnie paused, embarrassed that he had been caught, and sighed, "I put a heart monitor on you a few days after the invasion..." He paused again, seeming hesitant to speak any further. "...you haven't slept properly in nearly three days."
Leo frowned as he tried to wrap his head around what Donnie had just said. "Wait....what are you talking about? You put a heart monitor on me??" His voice sounded more defensive than he intended, making it seem almost like he was mad about the whole thing.
"Of course I did! A-After everything that happened, I-I...." Donnie clenched his fists as he struggled to speak, unable to make out his words properly, "Oh! You know I don't do well with emotions! Mikey is the emotional one! I'm usually the logical one!" Leo's eyes widened at the outburst, not expecting the genius to admit how he felt; he carefully stood and made his way to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Dee, I'm sorry. It's okay."
"NO!"
Donnie's reaction startled Leo into taking a step back, tears pooling out and darkening his purple mask. "You were gone, Leo! GONE!! If Casey hadn't told Mikey about his 'magic hands,' we would have NEVER been able to get you back!" Donnie wiped his eyes furiously, refusing to cry in front of Leo, but his shoulders violently shook as he continued, "And even if we DID find a way to bring you back to our world, who knows how long that would've taken?! You would've been dead for months, or years, o-or...we wouldn't even KNOW!!! I put it on you because I wanted to always know whether you were alright." The tears began falling faster, making it harder for him to keep his mouth shut. "I thought you were dead, Leo." His voice cracked, and he was suddenly sobbing hysterically.
The older twin pulled his little brother into a tight hug, feeling tears well up in his own eyes. "Donatello, I'm sorry...I never wanted you to worry so much, but I'd do anything to keep you all safe. If I had to do it all over again, I would gladly go through that pain ten times over...I love you, Donnie, so so so much..." Leo buried his face into Donnie's shoulder, the two brothers clinging onto each other for dear life.
After a minute or two, Leo broke their embrace, and Donnie gave him a small smile in return, sniffling slightly; the two sat quietly in the quiet room, enjoying each other's company. Finally, Donnie spoke up, "Hey, Nardo...would you want to come back to the lab with me tonight?" He blushed slightly, knowing he sounded highly needy. However, he felt comfortable showing how vulnerable he was at the moment; he knew Leo cared deeply, so it would be easy to talk to him about things he usually wouldn't talk to anyone else. "I'm making a Shelldon 2.0, and I could use some help coding him the same way you did."
As the twins worked throughout the night, neither brought up the previous events, and Leo couldn't stop smiling. Despite the circumstances of the last few weeks, he was happier than he had been in a while; he couldn't believe how easily he slipped back into his old habits. When it got late enough that it became difficult to function without caffeine, the two turtles were down for the count. Their heads rested on the computer desk; Leo had fallen asleep first with his arms wrapped around Donnie, and Donnie was curled in on himself. When the Raph had found them in the morning, he threw a cover over them and decided against waking them.