Author's Note: This time, Donnie has the dubious honor to be in the spotlight.

Prompt n°4 : Donnie Falls Asleep in his Lab (Does this Turtle Even Have a Bedroom?)

2012 turtles. Set when the turtles are younger.

To the Guest: Thank you so much for your review! I'm delighted to hear that. :D

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It was another early morning in the lair, and Splinter was thoroughly enjoying the quiet as he walked through his home. His sons were still sound asleep, each in his respective room.

…

Each in his respective room?

No. Splinter's sensitive ears could hear the soft breathing of one of his sons, and it wasn't coming from his room. It was coming from his lab.

Again.

Careful not to make any noise, Splinter pushed open the door of Donnie's laboratory and came inside. Sure enough, Donnie was sprawled on his desk, cheek against his computer's keyboard and a pen trapped in his right hand.

"Will require more calculations… More… More…" he was mumbling in his sleep.

Splinter sighed. His son was going to be tired during training, not to mention his sleeping position was nothing but uncomfortable, and would give his muscles cramps.

Besides, it was premeditated: his son had set an alarm. It was put close to his head, as if Donnie didn't trust himself to hear it if it wasn't in his immediate vicinity.

With soft gestures, Splinter replaced Donnie's laptop by a pillow. He tried to take his son's pen, but Donnie's fingers closed even tighter around it, as if it was a cuddly toy.

"Sleep tight, my son," he whispered, even though Donnie had barely half an hour left before his alarm rang.

He had told Donnie over and over that a healthy sleeping pattern was essential to his well-being, but if his son obeyed for a day or too, he quickly came back to his old habits.

It couldn't go on like this.

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That day, Splinter gathered Leo, Raph and Mikey in the dojo. Donnie was happily tinkering in his lab, oblivious to his father's intentions.

"I give you permission to do everything you see fit to bring Donatello back on a healthier sleeping pattern," Splinter said to his sons, knowing perfectly well that he was inviting chaos in his house.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and besides, he had renewed his supply of earplugs.

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They began slowly by asking Donnie why he didn't want to sleep in his room. Donnie blushed hard and pretended that he was too engrossed in his various experiments to be interested in something as menial as sleep and categorically refused to listen to his brothers' arguments.

"You cannot make the mule drink when he is not thirsty." Mikey gave a heavy sigh.

"Excuse me, who are you calling a mule? I'm a proud terrapin," Donnie answered pointedly, and he threw them out.

As reason hadn't worked, they tried sheer force. That night, when the time came for the turtles to go to bed, Raph, Leo and Mikey sneaked up on Donnie and dragged him to his room.

"You can lead me to bed, but you can't make me sleep!" Donnie shouted, his arms and legs kicking.

And he was true to his word. As his brothers stood guard on his door to make sure he didn't go back to his lab, he took revenge on them by singing the periodic table. All night.

"Can I knock him off?" Raph pleaded, as Donnie was chanting the merits of noble gas for the thirteenth time that night.

Leo shook a weary head. "He'll get tired before we do. You just have to hold on a little longer," he encouraged, stifling his doubts.

Raph and Mikey watched him with dubious expressions.

Next morning, Splinter had to train four exhausted turtles, three of them being particularly grumpy and the fourth wearing a smug expression despite the dark rings under his eyes.

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That first night had been a declaration of war, and skirmish after skirmish took place. Donnie was winning with flying colors, but Raph, Leo and Mikey weren't going to give up.

They only tried the sleeping pills once - Donnie retaliated with no TV or hot water, and it was more than they could take.

Mikey tried to sing him lullabies, but he fell asleep before Donnie did, and they found him in his lab the next morning.

It went really out of control when Donnie created a clone to deceive his family into thinking he was asleep in his room, while he was tinkering with his latest project in the garage.

After that, Leo, Raph and Mikey decided that if Donnie didn't want to come to his bed, his bed would come to him. They brought said furniture in their brother's lab, and it took centre stage among Donnie's machines. The compromise worked fine for a while, until Donnie accidentally set fire to the blankets and Splinter exercised his veto.

The turtles were back to the beginning.

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It was Mikey who finally found a solution. One day, he came to Raph and Leo with a huge smile, an old book in his arms. Leo read the title with intense curiosity.

"Hypnosis for Dummies?" He raised an eye ridge, not really wanting to know how such a book had come into his brother's possession.

"I've been studying it," Mikey said proudly. "I'm sure we can use it to help Donnie."

"To force him to go to bed?" Raph tilted his head. "Eh, why not. At that stage…" He shrugged.

"Are you crazy?" Leo protested. "Donnie will notice, and I don't want to miss another week of Space Heroes because he's mad at me."

Mikey shook his head. "No, not to force him. It's to ask him what's truly going on. He's hiding something from us, I know it."

Leo and Raph shared a look. They had the same conviction.

The next evening, Mikey prepared a magic show that Donnie attended to. Donnie was happy enough not to be Mikey's assistant for the let's-cut-this-turtle-in-two part of the show - Raph had the honor - that he didn't protest when Mikey asked him to participate in the hypnosis experiment.

"And now, you're only listening to my voice," Mikey chanted. "My voice. My voiiiiiice."

"It's never going to work," Raph whispered.

"We're desperate, remember?" Leo whispered back. "So why not?"

And indeed, Donnie's eyes soon became fixated and his body straightened up.

"Why don't you sleep in your room?" Mikey asked slowly.

"It's too quiet," Donnie answered in a robotic voice. "My lab is never silent."

And it was true. Donnie always had a machine working and his computing equipment was running twenty-four seven - not to mention the occasional explosion.

"Why is it a problem?"

"I'm not used to silence. It was never silent when we slept together."

Mikey, Raph and Leo blinked. It was true that they didn't sleep in the same room anymore, but they would never have guessed that Donnie was missing it. He had been happy to finally have his own room.

"Aww, Donnie. Do you miss the good old times?" Mikey smiled fondly.

Hypnotized Donnie shook his head. "Mikey moves all the time. Raph's feet smell. Leo takes all the blankets."

His three brothers exchanged embarrassed glances.

"But you miss the noise," Leo said.

Donnie didn't react.

"It has to be my voice, Leo," Mikey whispered. "Do you miss the noise?" he added for Donnie.

"Yes," Donnie admitted.

"Hmm." Leo tapped his fingers together. "Wake him up, Mikey, I think I have an idea."

%

It took the three brothers one week to prepare their gift for Donnie. Leo and Mikey registered all the sounds they could: the humming and buzzing of the lab of course, but also Mikey and Raph's snores as well as the shuffling of Leo's blankets. They added a few conversations and the occasional argument. Then Raph mixed the different sounds to create the perfect lullaby for Donnie.

When they were ready, they enlisted Splinter's help so their father would order Donnie to sleep in his room that night. Donnie shrugged and obeyed, expecting not to find sleep.

As soon as he was lying on his mattress, his brothers played back the recording. Donnie's eyes widened as he realized what they had done, and he chuckled. Then he found himself relaxing in his own room for the first time in weeks, and a few minutes later, he was sound asleep.

"Sweet dreams, Donnie," three soft voices whispered - fond, victorious, and extremely relieved voices.

Donnie smiled in his sleep.