Work Text:
Mikey walked through the lair, bringing with him his sketchbook, a pencil, a regular and a kneadable eraser, a thin-tipped black pen, and a thick black felt marker.
He made his way to Donnie’s lab, where bass-heavy dubstep was faintly audible through the thick mechanical doors.
He walked up to the door and put his eye up to the hidden camera he knew Donnie had installed on the doorframe. He had to tiptoe a little, but he managed.
“Angelo,” came Donnie’s voice through a speaker somewhere, “please refrain from touching the camera with your eye. It's a complex piece of technology.”
Mikey drew back from the camera. “Can your favourite little brother come and hang out with you?” he asked with a bright grin, holding up his supplies to the camera.
The doors slid open, and Mikey instantly made his way to the beanbag that was always there near Donnie’s desk, almost skipping. It was open to anyone, and it was used the most by Leo, Mikey, and April. Mikey flopped onto it with a ‘nyeh!’. He folded his legs against the beanbag and set his drawing tools on an empty spot on Donnie’s desk.
“Watcha workin’ on today, Dee?” he asked, opening up his sketchbook to a blank page before resting it against his thighs.
“SHELLDON,” came the response. Nothing else.
Mikey looked up. Donnie’s eyes were trained on his screen, hands typing away. Code scrolled across the screen he was looking at, while the spider battleshell arms ran simulations on the other monitors.
“And?”
Donnie opened his mouth, eyes still trained on his screen, before closing it and finally looking down at Mikey. The spider battleshell arms paused. He turned down the music until it was only a little audible.
“Are you trying to make me take a break?” he asked. There was no accusation to his tone, just a question.
“Yeah. And I need my Donniecast! I like listening to your thought process and stuff.”
Donnie smiled, before his face rearranged itself into Lecture Mode.
“Well, dear Angelo, I believe I’ve been getting closer to restoring him.”
For the first little while, Mikey nodded along, being an active listener, watching Donnie gesture with his hands and point to various things on his numerous monitors. A lot of it went over his head, but he was proud to notice that a pretty good amount of words sounded familiar, and that he remembered the meaning of most of them.
He flexed his hand a little, clenching and unclenching it into a fist, making sure for a second time that he’d be able to draw, even with bandages wrapped around it.
Then he started sketching. Every so often, he would nod or say, "Uh huh?" as Donnie spoke.
Suddenly, something occurred to him that he thought might help his brother.
“Have you tried using your ninpo?”
Donnie paused.
“What?”
“Well…” He extended his legs and put his sketchbook on his lap, thinking of the words. “Ninpo is connected to emotions. Maybe your feeling of wanting him back will bring him back.”
“But—” Donnie made a helpless gesture at himself.
“I know, I know, you don’t do emotions. But that’s because whenever you try, you need words.” He thought about it. “Usually. Anyways, feelings are always hard to translate into words. But bringing SHELLDON back…you don’t have to explain it to anyone. Just feel, and let your ninpo do the rest.
Donnie sat back in his purple-glowing gamer chair, his 'I'm thinking of ideas' expression on his face. “Thanks, Mikey. He said with no sarcasm intended.”
“We can try right now—”
“Nope! You almost boiled your eyeballs two days ago, young man! You’re on no-mystic-rest!”
“Aw…”
Donnie sighed.
“We’ll ask Draxum next time he comes over. If he gives you the okay to use your ninpo, then we can try.”
Mikey nodded.
The dubstep stopped. “Great. Wanna come with me to check on the mystic greenhouse?”
Mikey perked up, springing out of the beanbag with his sketchbook tucked into his arm and his drawing supplies in his hand. “Oh-mi-gosh! You got new plants, right? Can I try drawing them?”
Donnie smiled, a toothy one that made his eyes close. “Yes, by all means! Recently I managed to get my hands on a few mandrakes and an iris flytrap! I also planted some germinated bioluminescent berry seeds last week, and I’d like you to see the seedlings.”
He continued updating Mikey on the new plants he got as they made their way towards the greenhouses.