Donatello's pen stopped mid way through a sentence for the hundredth time that afternoon as he remembered recent events. He sighed deeply. It had all been rather awkward. He had been drinking a couple weeks ago with Leo, something they never did, after starting a conversation about their loneliness.

"We're just not meant to be with humans." Leonardo had replied to Don's rant and he could only nod his head in agreement.

It had been a long time since their hopes to find a human partner had been shattered and they both were coming to terms with it now, as depressing as it was. "It's just that... I never thought we'd be alone forever, you know? That we'd never find someone who could love us." Donnie answered sadly.

A few beers later and that conversation had steered into a difficult subject, their opinions on the matter lubricated by alcohol. "We could always be with each other. I love you Donnie." Leo had said and planted a sloppy kiss on the olive turtle's cheek as Don giggled and snorted holding his affectionate brother close. "I've always loved you. You are sssso cute. I love your smile," kiss, "your laugh," kiss, "and that adorable gap between your teeth." His next kiss was on his mouth and Donnie was surprised at how pleasurable he found it. They stumbled into the bedroom and onto each other shortly after but passed out before anything more serious happened.

Donatello awoke to Leonardo's ridiculously early alarm and found himself tangled up in the warm, heavy limbs of his brother, tucked into his shoulder. Before his brain could catch up and make sense of it all he felt the air of Leonardo's gasp on his face and noticed just how close to each other they were. Seeing his frightened expression had immediately removed all of the sleepy fog remaining in his head and he extricated himself immediately, if a little clumsily, out of his brother's embrace. He grimaced when he saw Leonardo dazedly wipe his drool off his shoulder. The memory of that sight still made him groan into his hands with an uncontrollable blush caused by his embarrassment.

He had stumbled out of his bed and quickly out of his room after that without a word. He couldn't even think about going back to sleep so he spent the rest of the morning hidden in his lab pretending to be busy and hoping Leonardo wouldn't go find him. He wouldn't be able to stand what would surely become a lecture about how wrong it all was and how they should never speak of it again.

Unfortunately he couldn't hide forever, they shared awkward, mumbled 'good mornings' at the breakfast table before practice. Leonardo handed him his gear he had abandoned in his haste to leave without uttering a word but a look of guilt on his face. That look told him everything he needed to know, he was ashamed about what had happened. Even though he should have known it was coming he realised it hurt a lot more than he expected. He hadn't realised then he was mirroring the exact same expression back.

There was a tension in everything they did after that that wasn't there before. Donatello thought it would eventually dissipate on its own but it wasn't working. It was like he forgot how he used to act in front of his brother. Were there always so many uncomfortable silences between them? All of his conversations with his brother seemed forced and fake. The others eventually noticed and thinking it was because they were angry at each other had tried to mediate, much to their embarrassment. It wasn't like they could tell them what was wrong...

Even Master Splinter had summoned them and made them sit down in front of each other, telling them they would not leave until they talked about what was causing the rift. They sat in silence for nearly ten minutes (though it felt like an hour) just staring at the floor before Donatello couldn't stand it any more and bolted from the room. He headed straight to the lab, ignoring Master Splinter's orders to return and his brothers' look of shock as they watched the normally obedient turtle storm off.

Leonardo had entered shortly after, his usually confident and 'no nonsense' demeanour substituted for a hesitance not like him at all. Master Splinter had probably lectured him and put him up to this but one look between them was enough for him to lower his head and leave him alone.

They should have spoken about what happened immediately, the strange tension between them was piling up and now he felt as if it were impossible to approach him and broach the subject without making things worse. It didn't help that they kept catching each other staring when they thought the other wasn't looking. They were alternating between avoiding each other at all costs and getting caught giving longing looks. It was getting very weird.

Leonardo stepped into the lab and locked the door behind him with a loud click, snapping Donatello out of his reverie. "Uhm... Don... we need to talk."

This was it. They were going to have that conversation neither of them wanted. He guessed it was time. They had to do this so things could go back to normal or... change forever. "W-what is it, L-Leo?" He winced at the stutter and how frightened he sounded.

"Don, I..." Leonardo paused, he looked around as if to make sure no one was there. "I took a pregnancy test..."

Out of all the things he expected Leonardo to say this was NOT one of them. He blinked and stared as the turtle squirmed in front of him. "Say that again, I think I didn't hear you properly."

"I said... I took a pregnancy test, Don." He pulled a plastic stick out from somewhere behind him.

"Why? We're not... uh... you're not... we didn't... Why?"

"It's positive."

Donnie's pen slipped through his fingers and bounced against the top of his table before falling to the floor and rolling to the other turtle's feet. Leonardo picked it up with his free hand and reached out to give it back to Donatello but he ignored the movement completely. He seemed to be frozen in place except for the tiny twitch of his eye until he heard the tap of the pen being placed on the desk.

"What are you talking about?! We didn't even have sex! We're both male!"

"You don't remember?" Leonardo asked softly and Donatello froze.

Did they have sex but he was too drunk to recall it? 'Oh my God.' He hadn't ever really gotten a look at Leonardo's erm... anatomy. Maybe he had female genitalia? Male and female turtles were quite similar so it was difficult to differentiate between them. Perhaps Leonardo had always been... He didn't know, he should know. He had never done any tests regarding that aspect. There had never been any need. He had always assumed...

Leonardo's face contorted and he bent over laughing, holding on to his stomach and pointing at Don. "Your face! HAHA! Oh my God Donnie you should see your face! Ahaha!" He wiped the tears from his eyes as Donatello attempted to compose himself and then tossed the plastic stick onto the desk in front of Donnie. It was just a piece of plastic.

Leonardo's laughter died off as he realised Donatello wasn't joining in, just staring at him with a look of absolute confusion. His eyes darted all over him looking as if he had just sprouted another head. "Ahem, sorry. It was Mikey's idea." He looked away sheepishly.

"You told Mikey about us?!"

"Well, yeah! Eventually..."

Donatello leaned towards him slightly and sniffed the air. "Wait, have you been drinking?"

Leonardo sighed. "I didn't know what to do, Donnie! You looked so scared of me. Mikey thought it would be best to break the ice with a bit of humour. 'Laugh about it to be able to talk about it'. I just wanted to be able to talk to you again and Mikey convinced me this was the best way..."

"He convinced you with alcohol." Donatello dead-panned.

"We just talked over a couple beers while he made some suggestions about what worked for him when you were mad at him or distant... You and I have never been at odds this way, we hardly ever argue. I didn't know what to do! He made some very compelling arguments..." Leonardo finished with a sheepish smile.

Donatello snorted and looked away. He could picture what had happened. Damn Mikey, this had his influence written all over it. He always knew how to take him by surprise, shake him up or confuse his inaccessibility out of him when he was avoiding an issue or not talking to him. It almost always worked; it was very hard to prepare for the unexpected specially if it came from Mikey.

Leonardo looked back at Donnie with a half grin on his face. He looked more pleased about all this than he had a right to be. "I can't believe you fell for that. You're supposed to be smart." He said as he poked Donnie playfully now that he seemed more relaxed.

"I can't believe you took Mikey's advice!" Donatello answered with a half grin of his own as he tried to block Leonardo's attempts to poke him in the sides where he knew he was ticklish. He kind of liked this playful, relaxed Leonardo. He moved his hand to block another poke and didn't realise it was a feint. He yelped and squirmed away from prodding fingers as Leonardo laughed. Okay, maybe not so much.

"You scared the living daylights out of me!" He said as he grabbed both of Leonardo's hands and held him still before turning serious. "We didn't... do anything, did we?"

"No." He chuckled, trying to pull away half-heartedly. "Is that what had you worried?" His expression was carefully kept casual but Donatello could tell he was worried about his answer.

Donatello eyed his brother carefully before responding, taking in his soft hopeful smile and how he wasn't really pulling away from him. "The not remembering part? Yes." He said with a cheeky grin.

Leonardo guffawed at his answer, a warm blush taking over his face at the insinuation behind the words before turning serious again. "Are we, ok?"

Donatello nodded as he pulled Leonardo closer, releasing him once they were nearly touching to put his arms around the shorter turtle. "Yeah, everything's fine."