A/N: Okay, I've been wanting to write a tmnt fanfic for a while now and here we go! A cute little story that I found to be quite fun to write. Thanks to the movie and the Nick show I found myself going on a turtle spree. I even got a pillow buddy of Raphael that I now cuddle to when I sleep. Just don't tell Raphael about it. *cough cough* Anywho, I hope you like the fanfic.
UNEXPECTED HELPING HAND
Donatello sighed as he wondered though the woods of the farm house. It had been a week since they had captured and contained the creature dubbed The Creep in a glass jar. The purple turtle was trying to figure out how things could have happened the way it did. He saved Raphael but he couldn't help but feel that it was his fault to begin with. Once again he had endangered his brothers over something stupid. The turtle mentally beat the shit out of himself as he found a log Raph had previously attempted to cut down and sat down on it. He placed his large hands on his face as he felt a pain in his chest.
"Why does this keep happening?" He whispered to himself. Sorrow building up inside of him. Suffocating him. He sighed as he noticed fire flies starting to come out. He reached one of his large fingers out to see the little glowing bug land on it. "I don't mean to hurt everyone all the time. I'm just… I'm just trying to help."
The bug seemed to flash as if trying to help comfort the turtle, and Donnie would have thought so if he didn't know better. Even so he couldn't help but smile a bit. It was a little bit of a comfort though it was all in his head. He watched as the little guy flew off from his hand and joined with the others roaming around. He watched the lights dance around him feeling it help his spirit's a little.
As Donatello watched, he felt something suddenly behind him. His eyes widened when he looked down to see a familiar pair of hands. It startled him at first but he slowly looked back to see Raphael standing there.
"Raph?" Donnie said curiously looking up at the other. "What are you doing here?"
"We were getting ready to watch a movie and went looking for you. Why are you out here?" Raph said with a curious look on his face. He could see the hurt in his younger brothers eyes though he could see the purple turtle was trying to hide it behind a smile.
"I just needed some time to think, that's all." Donatello said as he turned his attention back to the fireflies. Raph sighed as he looked at them too. He could just tell something was eating up his little brother deep down. Just getting him to talk was the hard part. Raph thought for a moment before he had an idea pop up in his head. A big smirk slipping onto his face. He slipped his hands away from his brother and moved over to sit beside him on the log.
"Hey Don, I learned something a few nights ago on Animal Planet." The red turtle said softly with a bit of a chuckle.
"You watched Animal Planet?" Donnie asked in amazement.
"Didn't really have a choice at the time." He said as he held his hand out and caught one of the fireflies on his hand. His bright green eyes locked on the bug.
"Okay then, what did you learn?" Donnie asked curiously as he watched his older brother.
"Okay. So these bugs here. Fireflies… Did you know they use those lights on their butts to attract mates?" He said curiously.
"Well, yeah." Donnie said blinking a bit as he looked to his brother as if everyone knew that. "So?"
"Well, sometimes they end up accidentally attracting the wrong kind of mate." He said with a smirk. "They'd be focused on trying to get a female and would sometimes end up mating with another male." Raph looked over at Donnie who was unable to stop his blushing a bit. "Isn't that funny? The little guys can't barely tell the difference between their females and males. Makes you wonder how they'd go to bars and have male to male talk right?" He said with a bit goofy smile. "I mean, they'd be talking about a hot female firefly and accidentally be talking to a female about the other female. That would be akword wouldn't it?"
Donnie caught on to what Raphael was saying and couldn't' help but bust out laughing. He knew what Raph was doing. He may have been the tough one of the group but he always found a way to cheer up his brothers no matter what was going on. After a while of laughing he looked back to his older brother. It had been so long since they had a moment like this. Hell, they where kids last time.
Donnie was just a young turtle had a horrible nightmare. He had dreamt his entire family left him behind for being the odd weak one. Without noticing himself, it began to physically affect him. He became distant. Tired all the time. He kept himself in his room unless he absolutely had to come out. His brothers said they were worried, but none of them really did anything to back it up. They didn't really know what to do. Leonardo tried to talk to Donnie to try and get to the bottom of his funk, but the younger one would lock himself behind his bedroom doors and refuse to listen to him.
A week past and things never changed. Then one day, he heard a loud banging on the door. Donatello sighed as he looked to the door. Leonardo was a determined guy, he'd give him that. He tried to ignore it, but the knocking wouldn't stop. After about ten minutes of non stop banging on the door, Donnie couldn't take it anymore and went to the door opening it to tell the blue turtle off. Only, it wasn't the blue brother at the door, but the red one. Raphael. Donatello was complete caught off guard. Now that he thought about it, he should have guessed it was Raph. The guy had a temper on him that nobody could quite understand. The purple turtle went to close the door, but Raphael pushed the door open and walked inside.
"You can't just barge in like this!" Donnie snapped.
"Quit your whining, short stuff." Raph growled as he closed the door behind him. "We're just going to have a talk. B=brother to brother."
"And what if I refuse?" Donnie said a bit annoyed.
"Well, I'll just pester the hell out of you till you talk."
"Raph you're not allowed to curse!"
"Well, it's only us in here right? Unless you're brave enough to tell on me that is." He smirked as if daring the purple turtle.
Quickly catching on, Donnie shook his head and went over to his desk and began to work on a toy car he found in the trash a few nights ago.
"So, what's got your shell all up in a bunch?" Raph asked as he walked over and sat on the edge of the table. He reached over and picked up a piece curiously looking at it.
"Don't touch that!" Donnie quickly snapped as he snatched it away from his older brother and placed it carefully back on his desk before going back to work.
"Okay! Damn man. Don't twist your tail in a not." He growled. Then he watched Donnie for a while. "So…. You going to tell me what happened?"
"There's nothing to talk about Raph." The young turtle spat as he continued to work on the car.
"If that's not a load of shit I don't know what is." The red turtle growled as he watched Donnie more. "Come one. I'm your bro! There isn't anything you can't tell me!" He said quickly pointing to his chest. Then he paused before he pulled his hand to his chin looking off at some unknown object in the opposite side of the room. "Well, unless it has to do with masturbation fantasies… I don't want to know those." He said with a grossed out look.
Donnie's face lit up as he looked to his brother. "What the shell, Raph?! That's so wrong on so many levels!" The purple turtle's face lit up bright red. He noticed Raphael look at him then smirk.
"Oh my God I've never seen you so red!" He teased as he busted out an a loud laugh. "Now come on bro. What's bugging you?" Donnie tried to ignore him as he began to ignore him again. Raph growled a bit getting really mad at how his younger sibling was acting. Then he came up with an idea. "So, I was helping Master Splinter with collecting anything that would seem useful to us," Raph said as he heard the younger turtle sigh in irritation. He had his attention and he could tell the younger turtle hated it a lot. He couldn't help but go for it now. " … and there we where wandering about the sewers one late night. Then I heard something odd above us. There was a lot of moaning and growling." The red turtle said as he saw his younger brother suddenly pause. His curiosity obviously caught. "I wasn't sure what to think of it. Splinter seemed to not like the fact that whatever was happening above us and said we had to leave. Sure I wanted to stay with splinter but I couldn't help but wonder what was going on up there. The moans became sounder as a female voice shouted out a name. " 'Oh David!' " Raph said mimicking her tone seeing his brothers eyes slowly widened as his jaw dropped. " At first I thought whoever this David guy was had to have been hurting this brod but the more I listened the more I noticed it wasn't the case. 'Deeper! Oh deeper! God David!' I mean, the woman was practically screaming this dudes name."
"OH MY GOD RAPH STOP!" Donnie said his face turning blood red.
"What? I'm not done yet Donnie. Now where was I? Oh, yeah! 'Oh God David! So good!" The older brothers words became muffled. He looked to see his younger brothers large hands covering his mouth. Donnie's face was so red, Raph couldn't think of a name for it. Actually the fact that Donnie was so red only made struggle to hold back his laughter.
"OH MY GOD RAPHAEL STOP! I'LL TELL YOU OKAY! JUST PROMISE YOU WILL STOP WHAT YOU'RE SAYING RIGHT NOW AND NEVER BRING IT UP AGAIN!" Donnie yelled. He was so embarrassed that he couldn't take it any longer. He felt one more word would have came from his brothers lips and he would have killed over from the embarrassment. Watching Raphael nod Donnie took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit and slowly removed his hands from his older brothers mouth. "Okay well, It's hard to really think of words to say it."
"Well, I mean, if you're not up to it, I can continue my story and-"
"Don't you fucking dare!"
"Oh," Raph said with a smirk. "Such language little bro." He saw Donatello give him a glair and he finally couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry. Continue."
Donatello sighed. Then he began to work on his car again. "Okay… so, I've been having this…. Nightmare lately…"
"Nightmare?" Raph repeated curiously.
"Yeah…" Donnie repeated. His tone soft this time.
"Well, what kind of nightmare would cause this?" Raph asked looking at the other curiously. "I mean, they're just your imagination you know."
"You don't understand." The purple turtle said softly. "You may never really understand."
"Well, we won't know till we try." Raph said with a shrug. "Now spill."
Donnie glanced up at Raphael's face. He knew what his brother was trying to do. He was trying to make everything seem okay. How would he know? He wasn't the one who suffered though it. He wasn't the weird one. The weak one. In fact Raphael was physically stronger then all of them. In Donnie's mind, there was no doubt that Raph would end up leading them one day. He paused and he looked back at the car.
"Well, I'm not like you guys at all." Donnie said softly. "I mean take you for example. I could never compare to you."
"Well duh!" Raph said rolling his eyes. "None of you are as handsome as I am." He joked. Then he noticed Donnie's face. It was hurt. He felt a panic rush though him as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I mean, you're not bad either. You'd be number two." He said hoping to see his brothers expression change. Donnie smirked for a second before it faded again. Now he just felt kind of like a jerk. He was there to help cheer up his brother, not make it worse. "Donnie, I'm-"
"You're fine." The purple turtle said softly. "You didn't upset me." He looked up to his older brother with sad eyes. "I mean, look at me Raphael. I'm weak." He turned his head back down again. "When I look at you guys I see amazing heroes. Leonardo is kind hearted and always knows what's right. Michelangelo always see's the wonder of the world and the good in others. And you… You're powerful and brave." He said softly as he placed his hands down fat on the desk and hung his head low. He slowly closed his eyes as he could feel tears forming in his eyes. "I mean, I'm nothing. Weak. No special skills."
"Donnie.." Raph found himself unable to really speak. His heart was having sharp pains. He never noticed how Donnie felt. Sure he'd just stare at them sometimes but he always thought the purple turtle was just studying their moves so he could find a way to get around them. He never thought the guy had any thoughts like these.
"I mean, what could I really do to be of any use to any of you?" He asked as he clinched his hands into fists.
"Smarts." Raph said quietly.
"What did you say?" He asked curiously as he looked up to his brother.
"You're smart Donnie. That's what you are. You always find ways to get about or around situations within seconds because you have a large brain." Raphael said looking at the ceiling. "Not only that, but look around you. Look at all this stuff in your room." Hearing the older turtle's words, Donnie slowly lifted his eyes to look about the room. "Do you think any of us could have made any of this stuff you have?" The purple turtle's eyes widened as he looked about him. Raphael's words seemed to echo in his head in a spiritual since. "Everything here you made to help us in so many ways. Some for fun, some for more serious stuff." Donnie felt almost as if a heavy weight was slowly lifting off his shoulders. He closed his eyes listening to his older brothers words. "Remember how you fixed Mikey's bear? You think Leo or I could have done that? It would have been like frakenbear." he said with a smile. "Donnie.." Hearing his name the purple turtle snapped back to reality as he slowly looked up to his older brother. He was shocked to see Raphael's bright green eyes looking so lovingly at him. Donnie felt his face heating up again. This time, it wasn't unbearable. "There is nothing you could ever do to make you weak or useless. You're a big part of our team. Not only that, but you're our brother. You'll always be a big part of our group."
"Raph…" Donnie said softly as his eyes teared up a bit. He couldn't take his eyes off his big brothers eyes.
Raph rolled his eyes before he looked away and held his arms open wide. "Come here you big baby. I swear if you ever tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE about this, I will kill you."
Donnie nodded as he wrapped his arms around the red turtle nuzzling his chest. "Thank you Raph!" He sniffled as he held the red turtle tighter.
"Yeah…" Raph huffed as he patted his brother's shell a bit unsure if he was comforting him or not anymore. "If you ever have anymore nightmares like that again, I want you to come straight to me okay? I'll chase those horrible things back into the shadows where they belong."
"Okay." Donnie said as he sniffled.
"Donnie? Donnie?! Earth to Donnie!"
The purple turtle blinked and looked about to find himself back in the woods. He glanced over to Raphael who was close to his face. One of his large hands waving up and down in front of his face.
"What are you doing?" Donnie asked curiously.
"Well, I was telling you something funny when I noticed you were zoned out." The red turtle huffed. "I tried to talk to you but you just didn't respond. What the hell was going on in that thick skull of yours." He asked curiously as tilted his head curiously.
"Oh," Donnie said softly as he turned his head away, though is eyes couldn't leave Raphael's. "Well, I was remembering how you helped me out all those years ago." He said softly. A slight smile on his face.
"All those years ago huh?" Raphael said as he turned his face back to the glowing bugs flying about. "You mean the time you accidentally we-"
"NO!" Donnie said quickly covering Raphael's mouth. "Not that time!" He said before he found himself blushing slightly. He removed his hands away from Raphael's mouth and looked away. "I mean that time when I had those bad dreams."
Raph went silent for a moment. "Oh. That." He said quietly as he kept his eyes on one bug in particular. "Why? Have you been having those weird thoughts again?" He asked in an oddly soft tone.
"No!" Donnie quickly said before he felt himself unable to really lie. "Maybe…" He said softly. His eyes now locked on the ground below his feet. "Raphael… I've been thinking…"
"Yes?" The older turtle asked curiously.
"I made that cure to help Leonardo heal faster, but all I ended up doing was make a monster." He said quietly. "Then back in the city when we had to escape, I fought with him over the mech I made. He ended up having to draw the Kraang away so we could get away safely and look what happened to him." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I ended up hurting Leo twice. It seems I may be causing more trouble than fixing them."
"Don't go there Donnie." Raph quickly spat. "Don't you dare go back to that stupid funk again!" He hissed. Donnie refused to look up at him. His eyes kept low to the ground. "How many times do I have to tell you?!"
Donnie tried to shrug off his brothers words. "You'll never understand Raph." Then he felt something odd. He opened his eyes and slowly looked over to see Raphael holding the ends of his bandanna in his hand softly. The expression on his face was heart melting. Donnie felt himself blush more than he ever had before.
"Donnie, for someone so smart, you can be such a dumb ass sometimes you know that?" The red turtle said with a small heart filled smile.
Donatello didn't know why but he felt his heart skipping several beats. His hands couldn't help but feel a bit weak. Hell, his entire body felt like it was melting form that smile. Not only that smile but those eyes. They where never like anything he'd seen before. Unlike the rest of his family that shared an eye color with another, Raphael's bright green eyes stood out so much. He was sure anyone who really took the time to look into those eye would fall for the male. As he watched the fireflies float around he noticed something else. The color of those little lights almost matched his older brothers hues. In fact, they were so closely colored it was almost enchanting. It almost felt like time had stood still. Deep down inside, Donatello wished he could remain in this moment for all eternity. Just spend his entire time lost within Raphael's big beautiful eyes.
"Donatello, never short yourself okay?" Raph said softly as he stood up and slowly allowed the bandanna ends so slide out of his grip. "In many ways you're stronger than the rest of us. Well, other than me that is." He chuckled as he began to walk. "You coming back to catch the rest of the movie or what?"
"I'm coming." The purple turtle said cheerfully as he stood up and began to follow behind his brother. "What was the movie we're watching anyways?"
"Oh, some sci-fi movie stuff I guess." Raph said shrugging. "Bet it's going to be really lame."
"Why do you say that?" Donnie asked curiously.
"Because Leonardo chose it." Raph smirked.
"Oh, well now, this will be interesting then." Donnie smiled as the two of them laughed and headed back to the farm house. As they left two little fireflies landed on the log where the two turtles had previously sat together.
