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Mikey had always loved bedtime stories. When he and his brothers were freshly mutated and adorable tiny things, Splinter would tell short stories when trying to get them to sleep. Eventually, he told fairytales from all over the world, enchanting his sons. Mikey always loved the stories the most out of his brothers.
When they were a bit bigger and starting to talk, sometimes Raph and Leo would try to make bedtime stories. They were often just short and mispronounced retellings of the stories Splinter told them or whatever Lou Jitsu or Jupiter Jim movie they'd recently watched. But, they'd look so happy while telling it and Mikey would look at them with stars in his eyes, absolutely hooked.
Eventually, they learned to read, so Raph would try his best to read aloud books like The Cat in The Hat, while Leo would try and narrate his comics. Mikey would always listen intently, paying close attention to the words on the page to try and understand reading as well. Splinter would still occasionally read to the kids, mostly fairytales from a book he got at a library sale, (bless those sales). Mikey would always be the most interested, even when he'd heard the stories again and again.
But, as much as Mikey loved hearing the stories and Raph and Leo loved trying to read books out loud, Donnie didn't seem interested in either. He could read better than all three of the other turtles combined, but was always looking at a wall or the bed during story time.
So, a hopeful four-year-old Mikey set out on a quest to help his brother enjoy story time. After all, he loved it, why shouldn't Donnie?
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"Hey Dee, whatcha reading?" Mikey asked, looking at the book his brother was engrossed in. Donnie looked at him for a second, before flipping in his book to find something. Soon enough, he found a chart and showed it to Mikey. The chart had a bunch of numbers and symbols and words describing what they all mean, which left Mikey still confused.
Donnie scrunched his face in concentration, before trying to find another example to explain it better. This time, Mikey was able to get what he was saying. There was a picture with three green squares. Next to it was that cross shape symbol Mikey occasionally saw in the books Splinter was using to teach Raph. There were three more squares to the right, then the two lines symbol, and all six squares in an array to the farthest right.
"Oh you're learning that math stuff dad teaches Raphie?" Mikey asked, to which Donnie nodded. Mikey beamed at his brother, front teeth recently being lost, to which Donnie responded with his own smile, one of his teeth also recently lost.
Mikey didn't mind that his brother didn't talk 'normally' like other people. Splinter tried explaining it to them as Donnie's brain not letting the words out, so he communicated in other ways. Splinter said some people in the up-there world could be mean about it, which Mikey never understood. He could talk to Donnie perfectly well, without using spoken words.
The two sat in comfortable silence, Donnie reading and Mikey just sitting next to him and stimming happily. Eventually, though, Mikey had an idea for something. "Dee, you know how we outgrew some of our socks recently? Well I wanna try making sock puppets, so do you wanna help?" Donnie put down his book, before nodding and following Mikey to the 'Out-Grown Clothes' box.
The two rummaged for a few minutes, eventually gathering up 3 different pairs of off-white socks. One pair was from before the turtles' growth spurts, one was a pair Splinter had accidentally torn holes in, and the third were simply worn thin by Leo's constant activeness. Haul in hand, the brothers went to Mikey's room; the unofficial official 'Art Room' of the house.
Donnie precisely laid out the socks while Mikey gathered supplies. Markers, ribbon bits, buttons, and the eighth wonder of the modern world, glue dots. By the time his arms were laden with supplies, Donnie had all the socks laid out. Mikey tried his best to put his supplies in piles of similar things, knowing Donnie preferred things being organized.
"You make three puppets, I make three puppets, okay?" Mikey asked. Donnie looked at the socks for a moment, before nodding. Mikey grabbed one sock from each pair, leaving the other three to his brother. Donnie seemed fine with this, so Mikey started working on his puppets. The night before, Splinter had read them the fairytale Snow White, so Mikey was trying to make those characters into sock puppets. He decided he should start with the main character and picked up some markers.
The two worked in silence, but it was a comfortable kind. A few minutes went by, and Mikey was nearly done with his puppet. He looked up to grab some ribbons for her 'hair' and buttons for the eyes. But as he was looking through the supplies, his eyes fell on Donnie's puppet.
"Is that the Evil Queen?" Mikey asked, staring at the sock Donnie held. Said turtle looked to his little brother, before slipping the sock on his hand to make it nod.
"I thought you didn't like story time," Mikey said, confusion lacing his voice. Donnie scrunched his face, something he always did when trying to explain things. He reached for a marker and some paper, then halted. Mikey hadn't learned to read well yet so that wouldn't work. His phone, the only thing equipped with text-to-speech, had also recently broken. Mikey gave him a look of confusion, but Donnie was determined.
He took the puppet Mikey had been working on and set it by himself, then took off his own sock puppet and layed it down. Mikey just watched his brother as he folded the paper into a tiny, book-like shape and placed it by Mikey's puppet. Then, Donnie grabbed some purple ribbon and quickly tied it onto his puppet. He slipped Mikey's puppet onto his left hand, leaving the thumb out to support the book, then put his own puppet on the right hand.
"Who are they supposed to be?" Mikey asked. Donnie held up the right-hand puppet and pointed towards himself, and them held the left-hand puppet with the book, which Mikey took as it being Splinter. 'Splinter' started reading the book out loud, Donnie wiggling his fingers to show talking. 'Donnie' looked at 'Splinter,' but kept moving backwards and real Donnie had a look of uncomfortableness on his face.
Donnie pointed his puppet at Mikey's eyes, then his own, and shivered. Mikey understood that, Donnie never liked eye contact, but was still confused. Donnie scrunched his face again, before taking off the sock puppets. He pointed to Mikey and made deliberate eye contact, while using his hand to mime speaking. Donnie then 'talked' to the hand that had been speaking. It said something to him, and Donnie shrugged his shoulders.
Then, he repeated this, only not making eye contact and staring at the floor. When the hand 'talked' to Donnie this time, Donnie moved the other hand like he was talking.
Mikey sat for a second, before it clicked. "Oh, you like story time, you just can't look at dad when he's telling us stories because then you don't remember!"
Donnie nodded furiously, flapping his hands excitedly. Mikey flapped with him for a second, ecstatic he figured it out. "You're really good at telling stories Dee! You didn't even need to talk and I got it!" Donnie looked like he was about to tear up, a big smile on his face. Mikey reached out to hug, but remembered Donnie sometimes didn't like hugs and pulled back. Instead, he grabbed the two sock puppets, one still supposed to be Donnie because of the purple ribbon, and made them hug. Donnie smiled bigger and rubbed Mikey's head, earning happy chirps from the younger turtle.
"How about we make all these puppets be the characters from the story and you tell the bedtime story tonight?" Mikey asked, grinning happily. Donnie nodded quickly, and just like that, the two were working furiously to make the puppets. They even made props, Donnie's idea.
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The 'Prince' puppet walked up to 'Snow White,' who was laying down. The Prince's nose booped Snow White's which made her wake up. The two hugged, before walking off together to the side. Donnie bowed and took the puppets off his hands, setting them on the pile of other puppets and props.
"You did it Dee!" Mikey exclaimed, flapping his hands, Donnie returning the gesture. He turned to his other brothers and his dad, who looked at him with unreadable expressions.
Donnie felt his face scrunch in sadness, until Raph pet his head. "That was super cool Donnie!"
Leo nodded, then carefully picked up one of the puppets, looking at it with a look of amazement.
Splinter gently took one on Donnie's hands, said turtle whipping his head up to look at his dad. Splinter simply gave a soft smile before speaking. "My son, I am truly proud of you," he said, to which Donnie started tearing up. He leaped forward and grabbed his dad in a giant hug, Splinter stumbling back a bit from the force, but lightly returning it.
"Hey Donnie, how about you, me, Leo, and dad take turns doing story time now?" Raph asked, now also gently holding one of the puppets. Donnie nodded, before burying his face in Splinter's robe.
"Alright my sons, time for bed." Splinter sat Donnie down on the bed, before gently gathering the puppets and props and putting them on the bedside table. The boys all made their customary turtle pile, their favorite way of sleeping since they got to all stay together. Splinter laid a blanket over them and gave each a tiny kiss of the head, before leaving and turning out the lights.