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“Oww-” Mikey whined as Donnie disinfected an ugly clawmark on his little Brother's calf.
“You have to be more careful. If Rahzar nicked your artery-” Donnie fretted, wrapping the gash up.
“Nah dude,I had it under control.” The youngest waved dismissively, his other leg bouncing with left up energy.
“Donnie is right. You have to be more careful.” Leo said, like the hypocrite he was. His whole left arm was covered in bandages when he used it to block an array of shurikens meant for Raph.
Nobody called him on it.
“You guys always get in trouble when we aren't here.” April entered the medbay, carrying bags of food. Casey subtly pushed her to the side, earning a glare.
“Glad y'all are in one piece. We brought food and drinks.” He held up his own bags filled with different refreshers.
“Sweet!” Mikey says, and attempts to jump off the cot, only to be pushed back by Raph.
“Oh no you don't.” The older boy says. “You aren't allowed to walk on that.”
“Raph is right Mikey.” Donnie says before the youngest can protest. “You need to rest. And so do you.” He points at Leo who is trying to sneak off. “You can't heal if you strain yourself. Sit.” Donnie would have bet his shell that Leo wanted to sneak off to try and train with his injury. After a mission failure his oldest brother always ended up in the dojo, running drills until he collapsed. Leo, thank all that is good, didn't argue.
Which was bad, but Donnie already checked him over and can't do much more than that.
“How are you feeling donnie?” April asked, handing him a plate of pizza gyoza.
“Thanks. Yeah I'm fine. I sprained my ankle, that's all.” And he definitely has a concussion from being thrown off a roof but that doesn't matter. He has stuff to do and he can't afford to take a break because of a minor concussion.
“I got you some of that Kinley stuff. They had the ginger ale in stock.” Casey says, handing Donnie the bottle. The turtle's reddish-brown eyes light up.
“No way! You are amazing Casey!” He says, hugging the human. The boy sends a smug smirk to April, who grits her teeth in frustration. “How did you even get these?”
“There's a store that sells em at Chinatown.” The human says with a shrug.
When everyone is settled with their food and drinks, Casey and April on either side of 8Donnie on a cot, Raph in a chair while Mikey and Leo sit on another cot, all enjoying the delicacy that was Murakami-san's genius cooking and some store bought drinks, Leo speaks up.
“We need to take a break.” He says, and if Leo thinks they need a break, it's bad. “We have been on the move constantly. We are getting sloppy.”
“Leo, are you okay?” Donnie asks. “You never call for breaks.”
“Yeah dude usually we have to hold you down to make you get some sleep.” Mikey says, his baby blue eyes squinting suspiciously at his eldest brother.
“There's a new space heroes movie coming out.” Leo confesses after a while and Raph snorts.
“Seriously? Of course. Of course that's the only thing that gets you to rest.” He laughs.
“We shouldn't be out there anyways.” Donnie added on.
“Yeah bro, ya'll are pretty beaten.” Casey nodded, leaning against Donnie. April glares at the other human, and rests her head on Donnie's shoulder in retaliation.
“I'll show you beaten.” Raph snapped, standing up and launching at the human boy, earning a shriek from the vigilante as the two topple over, Donnie leaning out of the way with a huff. Mikey whoops while Leo stands up to break the fight.
—
Donnie's headache got worse as he worked on the shellraiser, his eyes throbbing. Stupid concussion, stupid mission, stupid brakes that broke for some reason!
He wished he had some help.
Donnie leaned his head against the cold metal of the car's bottom lining. Yeah, how well would a lab partner go, he mused. The first one was blown up, the second one turned into some kind of ooze monster-
He stopped himself before guilt started churning in his gut. No. He'll fix it, like how he's fixing the car. He can fix everything, he's the fix it guy, but right now he needs to fix the stupid breaks-
“Donnie?” April opened the garage door on silent hinges. The tortoise startled and almost dropped the soldering iron, which he turned off when he stopped working to spiral.
“Here! Kinda busy right now.” The teen said, glaring at the wiring. His vision was kinda blurry, which isn't good.
“Donnie I can feel that pounding headache from the dojo. You should stop working and rest.” April announced with a worry in her voice. Of course she can, how could Donnie have forgotten.
“I need to get this done, I'll sleep later.” Donnie put out a hand to wave dismissively before he yelped as the makeshift wheeled bench he was laying on got yoinked out from under the car. The harsh leds of the garage made his headache spike and forced him to close his eyes. April looked at him with concern clear in her eyes.
“Come on Dee, I bet Casey can finish that up for you.” She said, dragging him up and running a hand across his cheek. Her palm was pleasantly chill, lessening his headache. He leaned into the touch slightly, missing the way April got a few shades pinker.
“But-”
“I will get Leo.” She warned in a stern voice and Donnie gave up. Leo was injured, but he would go into mama Leo mode if he caught wind of what Donnie was doing, and nothing would stop his oldest brother from carrying him to bed, despite Donnie being taller than him, and tucking him in.
Leo got like that sometimes.
“Fine.” He grumbled as April led him to the couch where Casey was lounging, reading a comic.
“Hey Jones.” April greeted the other human with a smug smirk, Donnie completely unaware as he sat down.
“Red.” Casey acknowledged her with an indifferent tone, and put down the comic, turning to Donnie. “You okay Dee?” He asked the mutant with gentle worry, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“My head is killing me.” He groaned, leaning backwards, his shell hitting the back of the couch. “Can you look at the Shellraiser's brakes? I can't figure out how to fix them.” He asked, his eyes closed.
“Sure.” Casey patted Donnie's shoulder and stood up. “You just rest, Casey Jones got it!” The teen said with a big smile and went into the garage, closing the door silently while sending a withering glare to April, who just looked at him smugly.
Donnie was too tired to protest when April pulled him into a laying position, his head hitting something soft- probably a pillow. The girl covered his eyes with one of her hands, the other massaging his head exactly where it ached, the cool touch a blessing. A soft purr emanated from his chest, which earned a giggle from April, but she didn’t stop. The cold tendrils of her power were a much needed reprieve as they slowly pushed the headache away, and lulled him into sleep.
April watched Donnie sleep, his head pillowed on her lap. Casey stood at the entrance of the garage, his grip around the oilcloth tight.
“Suck it up, Jones.” She whispers just loud enough for the teen boy to hear, who huffs and storms off, presumably to find Raph.