Donatello has had enough with the stuff that has been happening lately to his family, April lost her dad, Casey lost her family, he and his brothers lost their father and Leo had been unconscious for three months.
The smart turtle smiled again when Leo woke up, Leo had stopped breathing a couple of times and he wasn't healing as expected but he finally woke up and Donnie was the happiest being on Earth in that moment but now Donnie's world had crumbled again. His second older brother, Raphael, was laying unconscious next to him, he has never seen Raphael so weak in his life.
Donatello still remembers that panic sensation he felt when he saw that mutant called Creep sucking all of the mutagen out of his brother's body. Not again. The idea of losing Raph made him let out a soft sob and now that Raph was heavily breathing in front of his eyes he was scared at the idea of not knowing if he was going to stay unconscious as long as Leo did, even though he had gotten an old IV to make a mutagen infusion to his brother, hours have passed and Don was still waiting for Raph to open his eyes. Donnie knew he had to give it time but he didn't want to see days pass with Raph out cold there.
"Donnie?"
The purple clad turtle turned to see his brother, Leo, entering the room.
"Oh, Leo! What are you doing here?" Donatello said as he wiped a small tear that was forming in his eye. "I thought I told you to get some sleep"
Leo let out a small laugh as he remembered those days where he had to boss his smart little brother to go to bed. Leo never thought that the roles would have to change; now Donnie was the one getting mad at him for not resting enough.
"Raph stayed with me with me day and night when I was out, I want to do the same for him." Leo said as he took a seat next to his hothead brother "And I'm sorry Donnie but you won't make me change my mind."
"Yeah, I know I can't" Donnie managed to say after involuntary letting out a small sob.
"Don?" Leo said as he tried to stand up quickly but stopped when he felt a sting in his leg forcing him to sit back down "Are you okay?"
Donnie noticed the concern in Leo's voice and saw his brother wincing in pain.
"I'm…I'm the one who should be asking that, Leo. Don't worry about me I'm just a little sad about what happened to Raph, that's all" Donnie said trying to convince his brother but Leo knew that Donnie has been through a lot these past months and the condition of Raph wasn't doing any better to his brother's mood.
"Don't worry Donnie, I'm sure Raph will be fine, the infusion of mutagen worked, didn't it? Just look at Raph, he doesn't look like a pile of mud anymore, well, not as much as he did before." Leo said trying to loosen up the mood.
Even though Leo was right, Raphael still had some parts of his body a little deformed and that was something Donatello could not even see, it hurt him to see his brother like that. What if he stayed like that forever?
Don looked again at Raph and was destroyed by the sight of the horrible state Raph was in. That strong turtle who always took care of him during fights and got angry at him for spending all the day in his lab instead of having some bonding time with the family. Right now he regretted not listening to his brother.
"Leo, I just can't see Raph like this. The mutagen transfusion was working so good, his body was regenerating at an impressive speed but it stopped, it's been 30 minutes and nothing has happened. I've never done this before, working with mutagen is not the same as working with blood." Donnie said letting out few tears "What if it doesn't work?" Donnie let himself fall to his knees as loud sobs started to fill his mouth.
"I can't keep up with this Leo, perhaps you've never noticed but every time one of you ends up hurt in my lab right front of me it kills me inside Leo, it hurts me the idea of not being able to help you someday, the idea of losing one of you. You all have so much faith in me 'Don't worry, Donnie will fix it' and 'Don't worry, Donnie has a solution' are phrases I always hear from you, I'm afraid of failing. Raphael might not heal and you're here trying to cheer me up, w-why do you do it, Leo?" Donnie said as he did his best to not cry.
Donnie felt a pair of hands in his shoulder. It was Leo.
"I guess I can feel that, Donnie. You know I love you, Raph and Mikey with all my heart, right?" Leo said as he got Donnie to look up at him. Leo was in so much pain, his legs and his arms were hurting because of all the hits he got that day but his brother needed him and no pain could stop him from giving support to his brother.
"I train day and night to be good enough for you, because that's what you expect from me" Leonardo said as he gave a warm smile to his brother. Donatello saw Leo's smile but immediately turned to see his red clad brother again.
"But Leo, none of us expect you to be perfect, you do your best and that's the only thing that matters" said Donnie as he felt his brother sitting down next to him.
"But Donnie, none of us expect you to be perfect, you do your best and that's the only thing that matters" Leo said with a smile on his face waiting for realization to hit his brother's thoughts.
Donnie thought about it for a moment and looked at Leo. Leo was right, he never cared if Leo was perfect or not, he will love him for as long as he lives just because Leo is his brother. Leo doesn't expect him to be perfect, none of his brothers actually do, just as they don't expect Leo to be perfect either.
Leo felt a pair of arms wrapping around his shell, he looked down in surprise to find his little resting his head on his plastron.
"Thanks, Leo." Donnie said in a whisper as he felt Leo's warm and protective arms embracing him.
"No prob, Donnie, just remember, we know it's not nice to see us half dead but we are ninjas who fight against evil, we'll never stop getting hurt and…if someday one of us doesn't make it none of us will blame you, you've showed us that you work really hard and that's the one thing that matters, you shouldn't blame yourself either, okay?" Leo said as he tightened his grip on his brother at the idea of losing one of them in a fight.
Donatello felt a small tear in his eye when Leo said those words, the fact that one of them could die during a fight was cruel but it's something that could happen and Donnie couldn't do anything about it.
Leo started rubbing Donnie's head as he turned to check on his hothead brother. He was amazed, Raph looked completely normal now; his body looked as if nothing had happened to him. The blue clad turtle felt a big smile forming on his face.
"Donnie! Look at Raph, he is…" Leo was cut by Donnie carefully letting go of his embrace and standing up. The smart turtle's eyes were wide open when he looked at his brother. Raph wasn't deformed anymore, his body had recovered his normal shape and his breathing was steady.
"Leo, it worked! The infusion worked, I can't believe it!" Donnie tried not to speak to loud as he threw his arms to hug Leo again but noticed Leo was still on the floor. "What are you doing down there?" Donnie asked.
"Well, you know, legs sting, can't get up… a little help, please?" Leo said as Donnie rolled his eyes and helped his brother to stand up.
"I told you to get some rest" Donnie said with a small laugh as he helped Leo to sit down.
"You know you're glad I stayed with you." Leo said "Why don't you go and call the others, looks like Raph will wake in any minute."
"You're right…oh and Leo" Donnie said before giving his brother another hug "Thank you very much, big bro."
After that, Donnie ran out of the room calling Mikey and his friends so they could go to the room and see Raph.
Leo let out a small tear as he closed his eyes.
"Donnie…Donnie's hugs are painful" Leo said as he winced in pain when he felt his arms stinging again.
Sorry if this looks a little rushed and for any spelling mistake. (*ﾉωﾉ)
Got the idea for this story after one of my friends got kinda depressed because of something that happened at school. Magie, you little hothead, I don't know if you'll read this but you have to understand that nobody is perfect. I'll never get tired of saying that the girls and I love you just the way you are because you're our friend and I really hope that never changes, we have so much fun when we hang out with you.
TMNT doesn't belong to me.