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Donnie grabbed his chin with one hand to keep him from looking away, holding the little flashlight in the other hand as he let it shine directly into his big brother's eyes. Raph winced a little and closed his eyes, mumbling curses. Donnie sighed. "Raph. Keep your eyes open."
"Whyyy?" He groaned, slurring his speech a little.
"Because I need to look."
"Why?"
"Because you inhaled something possibly toxic."
"M'fine"
"No, you're not. You're sick, Raph."
"You're sick Raph!"
"Come on, Raph." Leo said, a hand on his shoulder. "It's over faster if you cooperate. Just do what Donnie says."
"Okay, mom, ughhh..." Raph grumbled, opening his eyes and forcing himself to face Donnie and his flashlight. Mikey giggled. "Dude, this is the greatest day ever."
Leo frowned and gave him a scolding look. "This isn't funny, Mikey."
"Are you kidding me? Raph is high! That's fucking hilarious!"
"I don't know if he's high yet" Donnie said, taking down the flashlight. "He acts strange, but tear gas doesn't have that kind of effect, so that can't be what they used. Then again, no one ever recorded the effects of tear gas on a mutant turtle." He frowned.
"Can you find out what that stuff was and what it's doing to him?" Leo asked, his arms crossed.
Donnie nodded and turned on his chair. "Yes, I just need a blood sample." Before Raph had time to process what he just said - which would take a long time in his current state - Donnie inserted a syringe into his arm and took a blood sample of his brother. Raph widened his eyes and turned to look at him as if he had just slapped him. "Ouch! What the fuck!" He protested.
"I'm already done" Donnie said. He brought the blood sample over to his chemical equipment, looking at Leonardo as he went. "It will take a while until I get the results. Keep an eye on him while I'm working, I don't trust Mikey not to take advantage of his state."
"Hey!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Yeah, me neither." Leo said.
"Hey!"
"Come on" Leo rolled his eyes and took Raph's hand, pulling him out of his chair. They left the lab together, meeting their sensei outside. He raised an eyebrow at them. "You're back from patrol already?"
Leo sighed. "Hai, sensei. We had to come back because Raph..." He gestured at him. Raph smiled and waved. "Hi papa"
"We, uh, we were fighting some guys who were trying to rob a bank and they used some kind of gas on us." Leo explained. "Raph was in front of us, so he inhaled the most. And now he might be a little... high."
"High?" Splinter repeated.
"Well, not exactly, but kind of." Leo said, rubbing the back of his head. "Donnie's trying to find out right now. I'll take care of him until then."
Splinter sighed and approached them, gently laying the back of his hand against Raph's forehead. Raph smiled tiredly and did the same to his father. He whispered; "Why are we doing this?"
His eyes were red and his pupils were widened. Splinter turned back to his eldest son. He frowned worried. "I will make some calming tea for Raphael. Make sure to keep Michelangelo away from him."
"Hai, sensei."
"Bye sensei!" Raph echoed, waving again.
Splinter shook his head as he went to the kitchen. Leo pulled Raph over to the TV pit. They sat down there, but before Leo could turn on the TV, Raph grabbed one of their video games. "C'mon, let's play something!" He said.
Leo raised an eye-ridge at him. "I don't know if that's so good for your brain right now."
"But I'm bored" He pushed the game into Leo's hands. "C'mon, you play and I watch. That's not bad for my brain." He argued, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
Leo sighed and took the game from him, surprised when he looked down at the strategy game Raph had accidentally picked. "You don't even like that one." He said. "You know, because I always win." He smirked.
They had many games at the lair, but Leo absolutely dominated this one. He was holding all the records in their family and no one managed to beat him, which drove Raph absolutely mad. He once even broke one of their controllers in his rage.
"Yeahhhh..." Raph said. "If I have to watch you play, I at least want to see something you're good at, Lame-o-nardo."
Leo huffed amused. "Fine, you jerk. Watch how a true master does it."
He inserted the game into their console, leaning back and picking a level. Master Splinter came out of the kitchen to bring Raph some tea while Leo played, an eyebrow raised because they had decided to play video games while Raph was in such a state. But he had no time to question Leo's methods because he had to convince his second-eldest that the tea was good for him even though he didn't like the taste.
After he had finally managed to make him drink it, he left them alone to play again. Leo was half expecting to get sarcastic commentary from his left, but his brother only showed genuine interest in the gameplay. That alone made him suspicious.
"You know why you're so good at that game?" Raph asked.
Leo sighed, expecting a lame insult that his drugged brother just came up with. "Why?"
"Because you're a strategic genius"
The lack of sarcasm in his tone made Leo raise his eye-ridges in shock. He turned his head to look at his brother, who was smiling again. He waited for a moment to see if anything else would follow that was supposed to offend him, but Raph just smiled.
"What?"
"You're a real tactician" Raph said. He put his arms around him in a hug, resting his head against his shoulder. "That's why our you're leader." He said.
Then he had to giggle about himself. "Our you're... That's why you're our leader." Raph corrected himself.
Leo still looked at him with wide eyes. "Do you... really mean that? You think I'm a good leader?"
Raph hummed in agreement, nuzzling his cheek against Leo's shoulder. Leo smiled, put the controller down and hugged Raph. "Thanks... I know you're high, but hearing that from you means a lot."
"'m not high"
Leo chuckled. "You are. But it's kind of nice." He pet over Raph's shell, giggling when his little brother hummed in reply. That's when the door of the lab behind them opened and Donnie came out.
"Alright, I'm done for now, but I won't get the results until later. Did anything about Raph's state change?" He asked. He looked up, raising his eye-ridges when he saw his two older brothers hugging in the TV pit.
Leo looked up to look at him, smiling "How long will he stay like this?" He asked.
"Uh..." Donnie frowned. "As I said, I don't know more until the test is done. I hope that this will only last some hours."
"Shame..." Leo said, hugging Raph a little tighter. "I really like him like this."
"Is something wrong?" Donnie asked, joining them in the TV pit. He frowned when he looked at the TV. "And why are you playing a game that makes Raph aggressive?"
Leo sighed. "Hey, Donnie? Do you think the weird stuff he says while he's high is what he's really thinking?" He asked instead of answering Donnie's question.
The purple-clad turtle shrugged. "Well, that depends. He doesn't seem to hallucinate, so I would guess he really does think what he says. To me it seems like his verbal filter is removed, or at least his shame level has sunken drastically. That means he's most likely more honest right now then he usually is." He explained.
Raph turned a little so he could narrow his eyes at Donnie while still staying in Leo's embrace. "Are you calling me a liar?"
Donnie rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore that and turn to his sober brother instead. "Why? Did he say anything?"
Leo smiled and pet over Raph's shell again. "No. Nothing important."
Donnie sighed. Obviously that wasn't the truth, but Leo probably wouldn't give him an answer that was less vague. Besides, he still had stuff to do to fix whatever that was. "I'm going back to my lab. Call me if you need any help with him."
He left to get back to the lab and Leo picked up his controller again to keep playing. Raph still had his arms wrapped around Leo's torso, watching him play with tired eyes. After a while of this, he mumbled; "You're the best, bro"
Leo smiled at him. "You really mean that?"
"I'm not a liar." Raph said, sounding indignated.
Leo chuckled. "I know. I love you, little brother."
"'m love you too, Lame-o-nardo."
Leo couldn't help but smile. In the end, Mikey hadn't been all that wrong. This really turned out to be a good day.