What They Always Tell Us

Chapter 3 - Screen


Don gave a shaky sigh as he looked at the video in front of him. Today he had a presentation in school. And he was terrified. When he was a kid, he had a terrible stutter alongside his lisp due to his tooth gap. With all this speech issues combined with his glasses and physical appearance, it was needless to say he was a target for many bullies. And because of this, his self-esteem had gone down, down, -

"Donnie, come out of your room. Please?"

Down.

"No Mikey. I'm-I'm just go-gonna stay in here okay? I don't feel like eating or hanging out. I'm fine; promise."

He had made a fool of himself in front of his classmates. Stuttering, ruffling, fumbling, overall, he was nervous. If he didn't know any better, and he were just watching himself from a third person, he would've thought about how close he had been from going into shock. His skin had been clammy, his blood pressure was most likely soaring through the roof, his mind was giving itself a headache, and he was light headed and getting dizzy. It wasn't until the teacher finally dismissed him from having to speak, did he finally shuffle to his seat, trying not to puke. Kids laughed and recorded his struggle.

And here was the proof.

"Donatello, are you alright? Here, why don't you sit down; you won't have to present today. And Dan, put that phone away, NOW! The same for all of you! This is no laughing matter- "

Don slammed the laptop; his beloved laptop, treasured like his own child, shut violently. He could hear the nasty words, snide comments, and annoying laughter and snickers in the video and see himself try and fail to keep composure.

He buried his face in his folded arms. He prayed none of his brothers found out, because in all honesty, the first thing he wanted to do when this happened was to cry. Cry and run to his older brothers, yes. But when he realized that would make everyone else in school tease him even more for being a wimp who couldn't defend himself, he dropped the idea. He'd cry alone and figure something out. As he was doing now, crying alone.

He let a small sob out, and took his glasses off and placed them on the desk so he could dab his eyes with a tissue. He knew that rubbing would make his eyes' blood vessels inflamed and his eyes would appear more red and puffy and if he had to leave the room for any reason, he didn't want to look like he was in distress, even though he technically was. He didn't want to bother his older brothers or make it seem like he was incapable of handling himself. He'd be fine.

Fine.

With that, he proceeded to break down even more. Sobbing harshly to the point he was hiccupping and struggling to breathe right. He forced himself to be more silent.

He then heard soft knocking at the door.

"Don? What's up in there? You're getting us worried, come out." Leo's voice was gentle. But Don just cleared his throat and managed what he thought was a good cover up voice.

"Nothing Leo! I was putting eye drops in, remember; I get dry eyes a lot! I'm still, probably never going to, ever get used to it!" He yelled, hoping to convince his older brother.

"Don…"

"I'm serious Leo." He said, well, seriously. At least as seriously and stoic as he could manage.

He heard a heavy sigh, and then footsteps leading away from the door. Don sighed and thought about how distressed Leo's sigh was.

'I'm stressing him out too much… I need to stop. Leo's stressed out enough.'

He wiped his hand down his face and took deep breaths. Then he heard another knock. Or more like pounding at his door; very, very furiously loud pounding.

"Don, open tha fuckin' door right now! What's goin' on, huh? What's up wit ya?" Raph's voice was it's usual, heavy Brooklyn accented, deep growl. Except, if you knew him well enough, you'd know that voice was laced with concern and worry. This made Don's stomach churn a bit.

"N-nothing! Why does everyone keep asking me?!" He yelled, his tone coming out irritated, but in the end of his sentence, his tone died off.

"Because somethin' ain't right wit ya, an' ya ain't tellin' us why! Did someone hurt ya? I swear, if even one person laid a hand on ya, I'll-"

"I'm fine Raph! Please, just go away!"

"No, I'm sittin' here all day 'til ya come out." Don head Raph lean against the door with a heavy thud and then another body, about the same size as Raph.

"I'm here too Donatello. So, unless you plan on opening this door, we're just going to be minding our own business right outside your room." Came Leo's calm and controlled voice.

"Fine!" Don said back. "See if I care. Waste your time." Don sniffed for a minute…

Then the dam broke.

"Just GO AWAY!" Don finally got fed up. "Please, why can't everyone just leave me alone?"

He heard Leo shift against his door and then he heard Raph snap at him, "Ya know what?! Fuck you Don. You wanna sit in there an' pout when we're tryin' ta help ya, fine. Do what ya want, see if I care. Ya want ta be alone, then fine. Fuckin' great." He heard heavy feet fall- Raph's specialized foot fall- going away his door, down the hall. Don couldn't hold in his sobs anymore, he let it all out.

All of it.

"I'm SORRY okay?! Please, just stop!" Don started sobbing so hard, he heard the footfall (trademarked by Raph) stop and turn sharply back towards Don's door.

"Don. Please let us in." Came the soft call of Leo, who unbeknown to Don, had his heart slowly breaking at the sound of his younger brother's aches.

There was some sniffling and heavy burst-sobs as the doorknob was jostled. Don's slick hands (from wet tears and snot of course, to the young genius's embarrassment) struggled with the knob for a minute, and the minute the door was opened, he threw his head to the ground.

Leo and Raph both took a moment to look at their younger brother for a minute. Don's eyes, as hard as he might've tried to avoid, looked red and puffy, with dark circles under the bloodshot eyes. He looked depressed and broken, suggesting whatever was going on has been going on for a while.

"Don? What's up little brother." Leo, as cool and calm as ever, put a calming hand on Don's shoulder, making majority of the tension melt in seconds off the Brainiac's mind.

"Nuh-nu-nothing… It's just some du-huh-umb video." He tried to explain, hiccupping as that was the horrible aftermath of crying.

Don felt another hand on his should, hot and heavy.

Don had always been the best at telling between his brothers. Leo's movements in everything, from footfall to his hand's weight and shape, was always strong and swift. Never a hesitation. Raph's movements were confidently done as well, except his were always done with passion. Whatever mood Raph was in, you'd know. Whether or not you or the hothead himself wanted to know said emotion? That was something different entirely. Raph's movements like footfall and hand shape and weight were always heavy and filled with this passion; always carrying some kind of purposeful weight to it.

"What dumb video bro?" Came from the passionate hothead.

Don wiped at his eyes furiously. No point in trying to save what little dignity he had left anyways.

"S-uh-some kids posted a vide-ee-o of me in class today. I made a fool of mys-eel-elf. I'm s-huh-such an idiot." He hiccupped.

"Let us see." Leo asked quietly. Don knew by the way Leo said these words, he was not happy. Not at all.

"What?! Wh-uh-y?!" Don tried to protest. He really did. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to move his loving, hard headed, overprotective brothers.

"'Cuz we want ta. Now, either ya show us an' we make tha kids that hurt cha pay or we fin' out on our own an' make tha kids that hurt cha pay. Yer choice." Raph crossed his muscled arms over his broad chest and gave Don the 'Don't make me' look he was known for.

Don, once again, broke.

"Okay, okay! It's on my laptop. Go see for yourselves." Don submitted. He opened his door fully and scooted away so his brothers could enter his room.

Leo walked in long, swift strides to the desk Raph shared with Don. On the wooden desk was a black laptop that looked like nothing special. And then when you find out that it's Don's laptop. It's Don's laptop. Don's.

It's going to be a supercomputer. An FBI level supercomputer.

Raph came forcefully into Don and his shared room. His eyes immediately went to the computer Leo had opened quickly. When the screen came back on from it's 'sleep mode', Leo turned to Don, who already knew what he was going to ask.

"It's '5623'." The smart teen sighed.

Leo simply typed in the computer's pin and watched in slowly bubbling anger as the web browser was still opened and showed the video and its tittle.

'Know It All's Afraid! Nerd Can't Even Speak Right!' Was the tittle in bold letters, lining the top of the page. It was on the social media almost everyone in school used, Myspace. (Yes, I took it there.)

The video was under the bold lettering and under the video was the comments section.

'So he can raise his hand every second in class, but he can't even grow the man balls to speak up? What a pu$$y!'

'Lmao had me cracking up. I would love this idiot in my class.'

'omg he can't even stand straight, I'm sharing this. Quality Gold.'

'Sooo this is where the freaks at.'

'r/Oli lmao XD If Jimmy Trumpet was looking for the freaks… he could've just asked tho.'

'r/Yup Yeah gotta class with one of 'em. This geek right here. Comedy I'm telling you.'

'Yo Quincy!'

'r/Wuzsup lol ;D Seriously I'm loving this comment section!'

'r/SHhhhzh Same ;P'

There were many horrible comments going on and on. Raph immediately growled and looked about ready to slam the laptop to the floor.

"Don… Why didn't you come to us?"

"It's not that important…"

"Not that important?! Don ya gettin' bullied! How is this not tha' important?!"

"…"

"Don?" Leo turned away from the laptop, as did Raph, both had their backs turn to the younger and were more focused on giving death glares to the screen than looking at Don.

Both older brothers felt their hearts break a bit when they turned to see their younger brother looking so many years younger than what he was. He was sitting on the bottom bunk of the bed, rightfully claimed Raph's, and hand his hands covering his face. His stomach was doing strong heaves and movements as Don looked like he was trying to control his breathing to cry silently. His whole body was shaking, and his glasses were on the floor, they had fallen on accident.

"Don. C'mon, don't cry." Leo said gently. He made his way towards the younger brother and sat down next to him. He wrapped his arms around Don and gently shushed him, as he had began sobbing once his brothers had taken notice of his silence.

Sometimes, Raph and Leo realized, they forget just how young Don is. He's only 13 years old. Don always made himself seem so much older and smarter then what he was. Well, there was no doubt for anyone that Don was smart, but he always made himself seem…. Just older and wiser. Like, he didn't have no problems and was so patient and kind to everyone. Everyone but himself.

Raph came over as well and sat down, the bed creaking a bit from his new weight combined with Don's and Leo's. He gave a sad glance at the youngest in the room before running a hand through his hair. What was he going to do? Beat up every 13 year old that commented? There are too many people cyberbullying the kid for him to do that. Some kids even younger (and older) than they were.

Leo and Raph shared a worrying glance over the younger's shoulders.

'How do we handle this?' Was the million-dollar question.

And not even Donatello knew the answer to this one.


Two young boys laughed as they ran circles on the grass.

"Gotcha Leo!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yuh uh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yuh-"Young Raphael was cut off as his big brother tackled him down playfully and began to playfully wrestle the younger.

Leo and Raph rolled around in the spring grass for a while. Laughing and shoving and kicking, but not too hard to cause damage. The hardest they could give each other would be a bruise. The trees seemed to work a beautiful image around the two brothers. The gently wind blowing trees and bushes to it's sway and causing leaves to fall around the grass, dotting it. There were others in the park, yes. And of course, the loud traffic and honking of horns and people getting road rage and cussing people off. This was Brooklyn after all. Even at this time of night… The people here never slept it seemed.

But that didn't stop this from being a soft moment, gentle moment. It was one of those times where the two felt invincible and that it was just the two of them, against the world.

"I win!" Leo called out childishly. He placed a foot on top of his younger brother proudly. He smirked down at Raph.

"Hey! I totally won! And get off, you're hurting me!" Raph laughed. The nine year old was extremely competitive, yes. But even he had days where he laughed off a good loss and called it even.

The elder put his foot off, smiling bright, and helped his younger brother up.

They made their way to their younger brothers.

A young Donatello, only eight years old, was telling a made up story to a small five years old Michelangelo. They were sitting against a tree. It was wide and kinda short at the bottom of the trunk but began thinning out towards the top. Mikey was the only person who could get Don to speak out loud and lively, even if it was just to tell some random story. He'd do it for Mikey.

"That's swo cool! - Leo! Raphie!" Mikey jumped up immediately to run up to and hug his big brothers. The five year old managed a grip on both boys' legs, Raph's left and Leo's right.

"Hey!" Raph playfully shoved Mikey off his leg and off he went from Leo's as well.

"Hey Don." Leo greeted warmly to the quietest brother.

"Hi."

"Leo, Leo, Leo! Please tell a story!" Leo looked down to see his hyperactive little brother bouncing circles around him. Leo chuckled as Raph rolled his eyes in a fond way instead of a irritated way.

"Why?"

""Caz you an' Donny tell the bestest of the best stories!"

"What about Raphie?"

"Raphie's cool too! But I like yours better!"

Raph gave his younger brother a 'glare' and watched Leo take stand in front of the already sitting Don.

Raph took place, scooting in between Donnie and Mikey. Raph sat with one knee under his chin, his head resting on it, and his other leg splayed out. Don sat on the other side of Raph, both his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees. Mikey, on Raph's left side which was farther from the glistening moonlit pond, was sitting on his knees, bouncing on them energetically.

"Tell a story! Tell a story! Pwease Leo!" Even at this age, young Michelangelo knew he had his brothers wrapped around his short and chubby finger.

"How 'bout it?" Leo proposed, a light smirk on his face. He wanted to work Mikey up, he'll admit it.

"Eh." Raph shrugged, though Leo saw the glisten of curiosity and interest in the young, spiky haired boy's eyes.

"I'd like to hear one. Please." Don said shyly, adding the please at the end sheepishly. Don was always trying to be polite and mannered as Leo. Leo never really realized it, until their new father had pointed it out. He found himself smiling brighter as he thought about his loyal little brothers. Sometimes, they were annoying and pestering, but majority of the time?

He didn't know what he'd do without them.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell one." Leo finally said after trying and failing to ignore his baby brother's constant chant of, 'Please!', of course with his cute, innocent, five year old lisp.

"Yay!"

"Cool." Another shrug, yet small glint. Raph was always the 'cool kid', or at least that's how it seemed put.

"Nice!"

Leo stood in front of his brothers, and began telling the story of an ancient dragon who learned his lesson about revenge. It was originally kind of gruesome, but Leo had softened it down.

"When the dragon entered the temple, he began to roar viciously! Someone had stolen his amulet!" Leo told animatedly. He waved his hands around like he was telling a ghost story. Raph looked simply bored but Don looked interested. He loved dragons and dinosaurs for a while. He kept asking Leo 20 questions about the damned thing.

"What kind of Dragon? Is it apart of the lizard family? Of course it is, I'm so dumb, all dragons originate from the lizard family! Wait, what lizard did it originate from specifically?" Don kept his mouth going and to the disappointment of many, it was either Don talked too little, or too much. Raph eventually quieted Don down with a small nudge to the side which shut him up quickly.

After about 30 minutes of storytelling, they were asleep. It hadn't been Leonardo's goal per se, but it happened. He wasn't going to complain. Mikey had been down first, and had cuddled into Raph's side, his head buried into Raph's rib area and his small arms going around his big brother's side, as if he were holding onto him so he wouldn't let go; one of Raph's arms were over his outer shoulder. Raph had gone next surprisingly, as he was the night owl, but Leo had a feeling it was due to inactivity and boredom. He had fell asleep with an arm slung over or around both of his younger brothers on either side of him, his legs splayed out without a care; even in his sleep he was protecting them. Don had finally succumbed last. He fell asleep with his head resting on Raph's chest, his legs were in a loose crisscross-apple-sauce style. Leo chuckled at that, Don was always ready to learn, wasn't he?

Leo yawned and even though he knew this wasn't the safest spot to sleep, he sat down with his back against the tree with his brothers. His legs were crossed straight out in front of him and his arms folded on his abdomen. His straight and shaggy almost black hair covered his eyes as his head dipped forward down. The dark hair was at his ears now. He was sitting on the other side of Mikey, for extra protection.

Leo had a good feeling they'd be okay. Mr. Jackson was in the area somewhere, right?

'Please don't be drunk again. Please.'


As Michelangelo saw the SUV coming at him, he immediately tried in effort to swerve his board. Even though some part of him, didn't want to.

Forgetting the prospect of saving his board, Mikey straight out freestyled some parkour move from his Ninja Skills belt and jumped right off the board into the air. He felt his hand breeze against the strong and fast surface of the SUV before he 'stumble landed' on the crosswalk, regained his sense of balance, and managed to take in what just happened.

His board had – miraculously – managed to survive the near death accident. Probably slipped right under the SUV. Mikey himself had managed to survive as well. He quickly grabbed his board and ran across the street safely this time. He took a minute to catch the breath that had escaped him and recollect himself.

Mikey slowly got control of himself and his body and began thinking of all the ways that could've went wrong. Ways he could've died.

And surprisingly, he didn't mind the thoughts at all.

Instead, they were kind of comforting.


A/N:

Okay… I tried lightening everything up with the second scene, but I think the ending (Of the second scene in the park) got some people confused probably. So…

The first scene was about the mention in the first chapter that Don used to be bullied. I decided to give him his own storyline and cliffhanger.

The second scene was purely for added backstory. So, for those of you who didn't figure it out (could've blame you, I can barley figure myself out), the boys are blood related, yes, but not to Splinter at all. Splinter IS their father in the present day (The ones from the last chapters) but when they were kids, no. They were in the foster system, but I am going to share why and how soon but not yet. Wait my pretties, wait.

The third scene is a small continuation of the cliffhanger from the last chapter at the end (the ending).

My writing bounces everywhere so if you ever wanna find out the entire storyline and piece everything together; sorry, but cha gotta keep reading. I know I take forever to update, but please understand! I'm getting horrible grades in school (as of current) and I know I can get all A's (Have before) but I just can't focus on the work. I know, shame me. BASH ME! (jk…. Srsly ;/)

Also, if you didn't get some other stuff…

The reference to 'Yo Quincy' in the scene about Don's bullying was a reference to the character 'Urkel' on the TV show 'Family Matters' played by Jaleel White. 'Steve Quincy Urkel', Yep. If you're from America or you've even just been on the internet a couple years ago, you'd know what I'm talking about.

The reference about the freaks and Jimmy Trumpet was because there is a cool song (mostly beats and dubstep and stuff, the guy makes cool music) by Jimmy Trumpet called 'Tell Me Where The Freaks At'…. Well, the song is called 'Freaks' but the chorus everyone knows it by is 'Tell Me Where The Freaks At'.

And last reference/explanation because I make everything difficult, is Myspace. Why Myspace? Because this fic is based around (half of it anyways) the '03 show. Which, back in 2003, was when Myspace came out. The first Facebook. I'm trying to make it as accurate to it's time as possible here, cut me a break! And I'm gonna say this fic is in the 2005 to 2010 because Myspace wasn't really popular until a couple years after it came out I think. (I wouldn't know, Facebook was my generation)

Because majority of Don's school uses Myspace, it's gotta be popular by that time, so yeah, I'm guessing 2005-2010 here. Yeah, yeah, I know, I suck, I don't even have a Time Screen I set my fic in, but at least I have a Time Frame though…. Huh, huh? Nah, not feeling it? The whole, 'You put Screens in Frames' like, like, I don't know, a computer screen inside a screen frame? No? M'kay, bye.

And NO, the pun isn't why the chapter name is 'Screen'. It's Screen because we're dealing with a cyberbully here people. (It's also because of the pun…. Seriously, Time Screen!)

If you wanna lock me up now, I'm ready.