Work Text:
Collections/Challenges: Whumpay, Day 24
Prompt(s): “I don’t want to scare you, but..”
Characters: Raphael, Donatello
Rating: Teen
Summary: Raph talks to Donnie a few days after “Slash and Destroy”. He wants to know why his brother missed training and where those bruises came from.
Donnie just wants to ignore his problems and work on his experiments.
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Raphael shifted on his feet, standing just outside of Donnie’s lab. He hadn’t seen his younger brother in days and as much as he didn’t want to admit it.. he was getting a bit concerned.
Of course, it wasn’t unusual for Donatello to lock himself in the lab. Donnie was practically married to the thing, after all, but he never missed training. Ever. So when the tallest turtle didn’t show during their morning session, Raph knew something was wrong.
..or, Donnie passed out on his desk. Again.
He rolled his eyes, bringing a hand up to knock on the cold metal. The sound echoed throughout the lair, bouncing off the walls before it slowly faded into nothing. If the door wasn’t locked, Raph would already be inside.
Alas, Donnie had other plans: privacy.
He waited for a few seconds before he knocked again, louder this time. Come on, there’s no way he didn’t hear that.
”Open up, Donnie!” He yelled, crossing his arms. Still, the door stayed closed, and Raph started to crack. “I swear to fuck if you don’t open this—“
The door swung open with a creak and Raph smirked, arching what would’ve been his eyebrow. “Finally, was that so hard?”
Donnie just stared like Raph was an annoying fly on the wall, squinting at him before he gave his older brother one of the sassiest eye rolls known to man. He turned around without a second glance, walking back towards his desk. “What do you want, Raph?”
The older turtle followed him, shutting the door behind them with a small bang. He stared at the back of Donnie’s head like it should’ve been obvious, eyeing the turtles sling and his clearly sprained ankle.
“What do you think, genuis?”
In front of him the turtle sighed, bringing his good hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Seriously? I’m fine—god, you’re starting to act like Leo.”
Raph blanched at that, his arms falling to his sides in clear offence. “I am not—“
“Yeah, you are.” Donnie snapped, turning around to face his brother.
Raph’s eyes immediately locked onto the bruises covering his collarbone and neck—bruises that weren’t there yesterday. How he hadn’t noticed a few seconds prior was beyond him, they were everywhere. Some of them were black against the skin, others took on a darker green tone, present on every inch of his skin.
“Dude, are those—..?”
“From Slash?” Donnie interrupted, somehow knowing exactly what he was going to say without Raph having to say it. (And it definitely wasn’t because Raph was staring at the injury like it had personally offended him. No, not at all.)
He stayed silent (likely from the shock) and Donnie let out a small sigh. “Look, I didn’t want to scare you, but since you so rudely barged in here—”
Raph’s eyebrows furrowed as he stared at him in clear offence. “Excuse me—“
“You know what I meant.” Donnie sighed. His younger brother sounded tired, exasperated, like this was more of a nuisance than anything. “And unless you think going after Slash is a good idea, you’ll drop it.”
“Don’t give me any ideas.” He huffed, already plotting revenge.
The purple banded turtle let out a quiet snort, shaking his head with a small smile. He turned and walked over to his desk before he leant against it, using his good arm to support his weight.
“Look, Raph, you clearly came in here to check on me, and as you can see I’m fine, so you can go now.”
Raph almost laughed at that—did he seriously just say he was fine? Did a ring of bruises around his neck and a dislocated shoulder really count as fine?
That was a dumb question. Knowing Donnie, anything that wasn’t life threatening was too trivial to worry about.
“Have you looked in a mirror lately? You are not fine.”
Donnie hummed, tapping his finger on the table. “Careful, now you’re really starting to sound like Leo.”
The hot head scowled at that, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. If he was being honest, he wasn’t entirely sure why he was here. He wanted to check up on Donnie and he did that, so why didn’t he want to leave? It wasn’t just his curiosity, right?
For a sickening moment he thought about feelings, and he almost puked. He did not need anymore emotional moments, or—he shivered at the thought—crying. There had been far too much of it within the last seventy-two hours for Raph’s liking. If Donnie cried, Leo might as well start sobbing too.
Raph could not handle Leo sobbing.
Really, Raph knew the real reason he was here. It was something that had been clawing at his brain, nagging at him constantly. A question he needed answered. Something that had bugged him since he first saw Donnie on that rooftop.
He let out a small sigh, not sure what to expect when he asked. “What happened with Slash, Donnie?”
He watched his immediate younger brother’s eyes widen at the question, his fingers going eerily still as his muscles tensed. After a brief second he seemed to relax. If Raph wasn’t looking for that reaction, he wouldn’t have noticed anything.
“Oh, well, he took me on this relaxing walk through the park and he showed me all his favourite places to have a picnic. What do you think happened?” Donnie’s voice was harsh and dripping with sarcasm, his eyes narrowing into a glare. It was rare that Donnie got mad, but when he did.. boy, did he give Raph a run for his money. “I don’t even know why you’re asking—it’s not like you noticed when I went missing.”
Raph paused at that, his eyes darkening. The familiar guilt clawing its way up his chest before settling in his throat. “Low blow, Donnie.”
The taller turtle just shrugged and fell silent. Raph shifted on his feet, clenching his fists before releasing them.
“Mikey had a nightmare last night.” He said, looking at one of the blueprints stapled to the lab wall. In his peripheral he could see Donnie raise a non existent eyebrow. “Pretty sure he woke everything within a ten mile radius.”
Raph looked back at his brother. “But not you, huh?”
This time it was Donnie’s turn to shift uncomfortably, looking down at his desk.
“I was probably sleeping, or uh..”
“Or.. what, too busy with your experiments to check on your little brother?” He asked.
“What’s your game here, Raph?” Donnie snapped, looking the older turtle dead in the eyes. “You want to check on me, fine, you want to ask stupid questions, fine. Now you’re, what, guilt tripping me?”
Raph arched his mask. “Is there something you should feel guilty about?”
His younger brother narrowed his eyes and Raph held eye contact as he kept going. “You weren’t at training, you didn’t eat breakfast, no one’s seen you in days, Donnie.”
They stayed like that for a while, staring at each other. Donnie’s eyes shifted while he tried to figure out how to play this. Raph’s didn’t move, glaring daggers into his younger brothers soul.
Donnie was the first to break eye contact, dropping his head into his hand while he let out a loud, exasperated groan.
“Fine!” He snapped, looking back up at Raph with an annoyed expression. “You want to hear about what happened with Slash? How he threw me across the roof and fucked my shoulder? Or maybe when he choked me out so badly I thought I was gonna die? Oh, but we can’t forget when he stepped on my ankle—”
Raph stared at Donnie, surprised at the outburst. “Don—“
”No.” Donnie snapped, a manic look in his eyes. “You want to hear about it? Be my guest. You want to know how scared I was when he grabbed me? You want to hear about how I tried to get Mikey’s attention, but failed? About how I tried to fight back and all that got me was a dislocated shoulder? Or when I tried to run away and Slash stepped on my foot so I couldn’t?”
Donnie was standing now, towering over Raph while he spoke. Raph barely noticed, the blood rushing in his ears making it a little difficult to concentrate.
”Or how about when he started monologuing like some cheap knock off sci-fi villain about how we all sucked. That you were too good for us, that you would be better off with him—“ he paused now, laughing. “And then, when I told him he was wrong, he picked me up by my neck and slammed my body into the ground. You really want to hear about that, Raph?”
Donnie’s eyes were dark, leaning down into his face, but Raph refused to back down. His blood was boiling with anger and every time Donnie said something he wanted to tear apart the lab.
”You wanna know how many times he punched me before he finally, finally took my mask and left?” His voice broke, the angry demeaner cracking. “I thought I was gonna die.”
Raph’s eyes were hard and he was doing his best to keep the disgusted scowl off his face. He took a breath—not wanting to lash out on his brother—before he leaned forward, putting a hand on Donnie’s good shoulder. His voice was cold and calculated—detached.
”I’ll never let that happen again.”
Donnie seemed to crumble, his head dropping to his chest. (Raph was still praying that he wouldn’t cry because he could not handle that right now.) To his shock and surprise, Donnie pulled a complete 180 and started laughing. He laughed for a good few seconds before he looked up, a disbelieving smile on his face.
”You are awful with emotions, you know that?”
Raph blinked. A slow smirk made its way onto his face as he crossed his arms over his plastron. “You’re worse.” He said, teasingly.
Donnie looked up and arched what would’ve been his eyebrow, but instead was a clean mask. “Meathead.”
”Shell for brains.”
The taller turtle snorted, shaking his head. Raph stayed where he was, arms crossed, feeling lighter than he had a few minutes ago. Part of him was glad that they talked, the other part was still pissed off, vengeful and feeling very overprotective.
”I’m serious Don,” he said quietly, looking up at his younger brother. “I’ll never let that happen again.”
Donnie’s eyes softened, lifting his good hand onto Raphael’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
“I know.”