In case it wasn't clear from the previous chapter, these are the Rise turtles. You guys should check out tallgirl14 on tumblr. She has some really great fanart that you need to see. This is also posted on AO3 under the same username.

Chapter Two: Avoidance

"I didn't ask for you to be here."

The day after Donatello yelled at his brothers, he realized just how badly he had messed up. He hadn't left his lab until he was certain that Raph, Leo, and Mikey were asleep, then he sneaked to his bedroom in what silence a New York sewer had at night. When he left his room after a night of weighty regret and no sleep, Donnie couldn't hear a single noise beyond the constant hum of their father's television. His home was quiet. His home should never be quiet. Mikey should be rustling paper and shouting excitedly while showing off his drawings, and Leo and Raph should be arguing over what to eat for breakfast. The soft-shell sneaked down to the kitchen as quietly as he could. Even though he didn't feel overly hungry, he had to see where his brothers were and why they were being so silent.

Donnie just couldn't bear to face them so soon after what he had said, so he stuck to the shadows as best he could and peeked into the room. Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo were all sitting around the island. None of them were speaking or looking at each other. They poked at the food Splinter had scrounged up for them and only occasionally took a bite of it. Maybe . . . maybe now was the time Donnie should apologize. All of his brothers were here, and he had been thinking about how he was going to talk to them all night long since he couldn't sleep. Just as the purple-loving turtle stepped in, however, Raph looked up from his plate and glared at him. He jumped out of his seat and stomped out the other door. Leo glanced towards Donnie and immediately looked away. He slid from his seat and slinked out of the kitchen, going who knows where. Mikey looked confused at first by the others' absence before noticing the soft-shell himself. He yelped and ran from his chair. Donnie barely withheld the urge to flinch when he heard a door slam shut, more than likely the one to Mikey's bedroom.

Donnie felt his heart suddenly constrict with pain from his brothers' flight. He had been so worried about trying to avoid Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo that he never considered that they would be the ones avoiding him. Subconsciously, he knew he deserved it after the way he acted yesterday. He didn't blame them for being mad at him, but why were they treating each other differently? Raph, Leo, and Mikey were tiptoeing around each other for no good reason! Donnie was the one who closed himself off from them. Why were they treating each other like strangers? Donnie slowly concluded that it was his fault. He had torn a giant rift between all of his brothers and himself, and he didn't know how to fix it!

"I didn't ask for you to boss me around, or to bother me when I'm working, or to be general pains in my shell!"

His home used to be loud and full of activity. Too loud, he used to think. Now, there was nothing but silence. Donatello didn't return to his lab after the breakfast incident. It only reminded him of why his home was so quiet. He couldn't hide out in his bedroom either since it was so close to his brothers' rooms. Too close. It was too quiet now, and Donnie never thought that he would come to hate stillness so much. The silence was stifling, and the cold-shoulders that he feared were soul-biting. Ever since that first day, Donatello had been dodging his brothers. He couldn't take going through the same reaction without something inside of him irreparably breaking.

But it's no less than I deserve.

Donnie knew that he had to make up for his mistake. Apologize. But what could a mere apology do after what he said? He hadn't disowned his family as much as he declared that they never were one to begin with! In his opinion, there weren't enough words in the world, or in his extensive vocabulary, to take away the damage he caused. There was only one reasonable solution for him at this point: hide somewhere his brothers wouldn't find him and never come out. And there was only one place Donnie knew that his brothers would never go unless it was a life-or-death emergency. They usually went to his lab first for life-or-death emergencies anyway, regardless of if he was there or not . . . but that was before. Who knows where they would go now?

Stocking up on snacks, Donatello ducked into the TV room to wait out the silence with Splinter and his obnoxious game shows. His dad didn't even question why Donnie had suddenly joined him for hours on end; he just put on one of the soft-shell's favorite movies or shows every few hours. Raph, Leo, and Mikey were normally too rowdy to allow their father to fully enjoy his programs, but Donnie was quiet and still. The perfect movie buddy for long marathons of Lou Jitsu and Jupiter Jim. It wasn't fun in the slightest this time though, not when Donnie was just there to avoid his problems. Not when Splinter would glance at him occasionally when something boring was happening. It got even worse when Splinter would try to get him to take a break for meals. Just the thought of his brothers running away from him again made his stomach heavy and shriveled up his appetite. He blamed it on the snacks he would restock on as soon as the others were asleep.

Speaking of sleep, Donnie almost only slept in the TV room after Splinter went into a milk-and-cake coma. Splinter had told him to go to his room at night the morning he found the soft-shell asleep in the same spot he was in the day before. Donnie had claimed that the beanbag chairs and cushions were much more comfortable to sleep in than his bed, but Splinter was not completely convinced. The aging rat would tell the soft-shell to sleep in his recliner if he was so adamant about staying in the TV room. Only once he was sure that his son was asleep on the warmed chair cushions would the rat mutant go to bed himself.

After days of this routine, Donnie felt like he was drowning in loneliness and his heart crushed by guilt. The Lair was still too quiet. The television seemed to boom like thunder. Raph was out scavenging for more food for the family by himself. Splinter had told the soft-shell. Leo was wandering further into the sewers and staying out longer. Splinter had given him the update with some disapproval in his tone. Mikey had sequestered himself away in his room, doing who knows what and refusing to leave for anything but meals and the restroom. Splinter, concerned, had informed Donatello. Splinter had been the one to tell him about what was going on with his brothers. Without fail, on every rare occasion that he left the recliner for food and a proper sleep, Donnie's dad would come back with news about how the other three were doing. Donnie never listened without his guilt and loneliness intensifying.

"I never asked for you to be my brothers!"

What would an apology at this point do? The end result of the fight had been festering for so long that now he was afraid to ask for forgiveness. Donatello was terrified that if he tried to talk to Raph, or Leo, or Mikey, that they would turn their backs on him for the rest of their lives. He would be alone until he died! Donnie whimpered at the thought.

"Alright, it's been long enough," Splinter grunted. "What did you do Purple?"

Donnie blinked. His father was speaking to him while a show was actually on, not during a commercial break or the credits like he normally would. Even with all of his guilt, the soft-shell still tried to play innocent.

"What do you mean, Dad?"

Splinter squinted at him from the corner of his eye. Donnie's "innocent act" was a complete failure.

"You know what I mean," Splinter insisted gruffly. "You and your brothers have been acting weird all week . . . and I'm guessing it's your fault."

Donnie jumped to his feet and asked, "How do you—"

"Why else would you be here hanging with me?" Splinter cut him off with a smirk. Going back to a serious expression, he asked, "So, what happened?"

"I, I, I," Donnie floundered, grasping for a response that wouldn't let on to what happened, that didn't place blame on him even though he deserved it.

Suddenly, images of Mikey's heartbroken tears, Leo's forlorn stare, and Raph's enraged face flashed before his eyes. The intense waves of loneliness and guilt building over a week's time finally hit the peak of their crescendo.

Tears streamed down his cheeks as Donnie wailed, "I was in my lab working on that tech bō prototype it took forever to get the parts for! Leo came in, then Mikey came in, I couldn't focus on anything! I didn't want them in my lab! I wanted them to leave! I told them to leave! They didn't! They broke it! I hit Leo, then Raph came, and there were too many people in my space, my space, and I wanted them out! I yelled at them, said things I wish I didn't, made them want to leave me alone, drove them away! It's my fault! It's all my fault, and I don't know how to fix it, Dad! I told them we weren't brothers, and I wish I had kept my mouth shut! They hate me as much as they think I hate them! They all left before I could try to apologize!" Donnie squeezed his eyes shut and choked out, "I'm so scared."

Splinter hefted his wailing son into his lap with his tail, leaving it wrapped around Donnie's waist as a hopefully comforting weight. Donnie leaned heavily against his father and sobbed away a fraction of his pain.

"You better find a way to fix this . . . or you really won't have any brothers."

"Alright, Purple," Splinter sighed while rubbing his son's soft shell. "let me see if I understand what you're saying. You were stressed out from too much going on around you at once, a falling out with your brothers resulted that involved your sibling bonds, and you've all been avoiding each other because of it. You've been spending your time with me to avoid any confrontation with Red, Blue, and Orange. You are worried that they will reject you even if you apologize. Am I correct?" Donnie nodded. "But you also realize that you need to reconcile with them in order for your bond as brothers to be repaired?" Another nod. "Then stop hiding from your problems! Nothing is going to get better if you and your brothers keep stalling out of fear. You must go to Red, Blue, and Orange and apologize to them as soon as possible. A week has already passed since this all began. If you wait any longer, the damage may be irreparable."

Donnie had known that hiding wasn't going to change anything. He knew that his brothers wouldn't just spontaneously forgive him after the way he acted. That still didn't make working up the nerve to talk to them appealing to him. Why would they talk to someone who supposedly hates them? What would he even say?

"I know, Dad," Donnie mumbled. "It's just really hard to face them after what I said."

"But you will," Splinter stated. "I'll let you stay in here until this program has ended. Once it's over, you will go find your brothers and make amends. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Dad," Donnie, so very reluctantly, agreed.

"Good, and take a shower, too," Splinter said, teasingly tilting his nose away from the turtle in his lap. "I know you haven't bathed since you started hiding out with me."

Donnie gave a small smile and slipped out of his father's lap back to the floor. He watched the rest of the Lou Jitsu movie with growing apprehension. With every passing scene, Donatello came closer to his inevitable fate. He had to find his brothers and make things right with them. He missed them, but that didn't make actually connecting with them any easier. What would Raph, Leo, or Mikey do when he tried to show them how sorry he was for tearing their brotherhood apart at the seams? Would they even want to be his brothers anymore?

Please, don't let me be too late!