Title: Can You Hear Me?
Day: Febuwhump 2023 Day 12: "Can you hear me?"
Fandom: TMNT 2003
Word Count: 1766
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: Donatello
Warning: NA
Summary: An explosion leaves Don's senses reeling, especially his hearing.
Notes: Where did the turtles get medical equipment? I dunno. But they've got it. Also, welcome to my headcanon that all the turtles have more than the average medial skills. I mean, who else is going to take care of them but them?
Can You Hear Me?
The first thing Donatello realized was that someone was standing over him. The world was spinning around him, and nothing much was making sense. There was a loud ringing in his ears, and his vision was going in and out. He felt like he should be alarmed at something, but he was having trouble figuring out what. Nothing was making sense.
Whoever it was standing over him, leaned over him, and something in Don's mind went brother and knew he was safe and stopped thinking there. The brother leaned closer, putting a hand on his shoulder and trying, Don thought, to speak to him.
"Can you hear me?"
Don had no idea what his brother was saying. All he could hear was the loud ringing. Everything was making everything else worse, so Don closed his eyes and let the darkness take the confusion from him.
The next thing Donatello knew, someone was carrying him. The jostling of the rapid movement made his head hurt worse, and he opened his eyes again to try to figure out what was going on. The movement was too much, and he whimpered, closing his eyes again. The chest he was against rumbled, and Don opened his eyes again, only to quickly close them.
"Can you hear me?"
He couldn't see his brother's face from here, and all he could hear was the ringing, and something that sounded like far off distant explosions. He felt like there was something important about that, but he couldn't remember what it was, so he closed his eyes and let the welcoming darkness take him again.
His awareness, Don was starting to realize, was coming in fits and bursts. This time he was laid down in something that was moving, a brother bent over him. Don hurt, he realized, and he wanted relief from it. He had no idea how he hurt or why he hurt, but he was suspicious that it was the same reason he was having trouble staying awake, and that he had a ringing in his ears.
His brother must have noticed he was awake, because he leaned over and said something to him.
"Can you hear me?"
Don blinked at him, confused. The ringing was still loud in his ears, and Don wondered if maybe they were near some sort of race, because far of he thought he could hear a really loud engine. It was too faint to be close, after all.
His brother tried saying something else, but Don didn't feel like trying to figure out what. Instead he groaned—or at least thought he did—and watched as his brother came at him with a baby wipe.
Don didn't remember closing his eyes, but he guessed that he did, because the next thing he knew he was home, in the infirmary, and there were people rushing everywhere. It made his head hurt worse, and he was having trouble tracking down who was going where, or even who anyone was at any particular moment in time.
However, right next to his bed, looking at him gently, was his father. Splinter smiled at him and ran a gentle paw over his head.
"Can you hear me?"
Don's brow furrowed as he stared at his father.
"Wha…?"
Don blinked. Wait. Didn't he just say something? Shouldn't he be able to hear himself over that ringing that was persisting? Something fell, he thought, enough to get his father's attention, and Don looked, too, confused as to why an entire cart full of medical supplies and the yelling of his brothers was barely registering with him. It all sounded so far away…
It was too much. Don let his eyes close again, and everything faded away.
When he woke again, it was to much less chaos, although there were still a number of people with him, and Don looked at them tiredly. April was standing near him, focused on something on his arm. He twitched his arm just a little bit, and she looked up. April smiled at him, and he smiled back. But his smile faded as she said something. It sounded garbled and underwater, drowned out by the ringing in his ears.
"What?"
She frowned at him, and said something else, but he didn't catch it either.
"Can you hear me?"
Don stared at her, still confused, and she held up a finger to him, asking him to wait. He did, and she returned to her attention to what she had been doing, which Don could see now was a long row of stitches on his arm.
Stitches? What had happened? Don tried to remember, but he came up with a blank. Fighting panic, Don waited until April had finished and turned her attention back to him. She reached out and put a hand on his cheek, drawing his wandering attention back to her.
"Can you hear me?"
Don frowned. "I can't… You sound so far away. I can't hear you above the ringing, April. I… I can't hear myself." That was a scary thought, but he sounded far away too, almost nonexistent, although his voice had risen the longer he spoke.
April nodded, and the seemed to repeat herself.
"Can you hear me?"
That time he could hear her, at least enough to get the idea of what she said. "Can I hear you?" he asked. "A little."
She seemed relieved at that and smiled. "Okay. Good. Just hang in there, Don, and let us get you patched up."
He wanted to ask what she was getting him patched up from, but he also didn't want to distract her, especially not as Splinter came over to help her with something, and Don became more aware of others in the room, clearly there with a purpose. He laid back and let everyone do as they needed.
Somewhere in there he drifted off again, although he suspected the medication that he was given helped with that. When he woke back up, things were a lot calmer and he felt a little more aware. Mikey was nearby and looked like he was just putting the finishing touches on a cast on his leg.
"…Mikey?"
Mikey perked up and looked over at him.
"Can you hear me?"
Don blinked. There was still a ringing in his ears, but he was able to at least somewhat understand what Mikey was saying.
"You're a little quiet…" which was honestly unusual for the loud turtle.
Mikey laughed and when he spoke again, Don could hear him better. "I can fix that, easy, bro!" He grinned. "Glad you're back with us, though. I'm just gonna finish this up, and then you're gonna be almost done with the rough stuff."
Don was still confused, but he nodded. "Okay," he said. He looked around. "Am I the only one here?"
"Yep! You're gonna be the only resident of the Turtle Hospital for a bit!"
Don supposed that was good in its own way, and he drifted away again, glad that, for whatever happened, at least he was the only one who seemed to be really hurt.
The next time Don woke up, it was to arguing, although he wasn't entirely sure who what was being said. He opened his eyes to find Raph and Casey standing over his bed, Raph working on an IV bag seeming to be in the middle of an argument with Casey.
"…Raph? Casey?"
Their attention immediately diverted to him. "Can you hear me?" Raph asked.
"Yeah, can you hear him?" Casey echoed.
The ringing was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had been, and he could mostly hear what they were saying.
"Yeah. Just a little bit of ringing."
Raph looked relieved at that. "That's good, bro. Just lay back and rest, okay? I'm just giving you some new fluids."
New fluids, and new meds, Don suspected, if the sudden sleepiness he was feeling meant anything. "What happened?" he murmured.
"It was an explosion, bro," Raph said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "But yer gonna be just fine."
"Yeah, we gotcha, Donnie," Casey put in.
"…Mmmkay…" Don said and drifted back to sleep.
The next time Don woke, it felt like it was hours later, and he felt a bit more clearheaded, although very, very sore. He was definitely in the infirmary, he did have a cast on his leg, an IV in, a brace on his arm, and more than a few bandages wrapped around his middle and his shell. He was pretty sure he had some on his head too, although he couldn't see to be sure. He turned his head slightly, not surprised at all to find somewhere there keeping watch.
"Leo."
Leo smiled at him. "Can you hear me?"
Don nodded. "Yeah, loud and pretty clear," he said. "There's a slight ringing, though."
"Good," Leo said with a hint of a smile. "No one wanted Mikey to get used to speaking at that volume."
"…What happened, Leo?" Don asked, confused.
Leo frowned. "Raph said that you asked him that too. You don't remember?"
Don went to shake his head but thought better of it. "No. Just… moments of awareness. I don't remember what happened."
Leo nodded. "April said that this might happen, especially with your concussion."
Don groaned. A concussion was the last thing he wanted. Leo ignored him and started filling him in.
"We were on a mission to stop production at a Foot warehouse," he said. "Something went wrong, and it exploded. You were close to the explosion when it happened, and got pretty injured, Don." He frowned, setting the book he had been reading down. "You were pretty in and out for a bit, awake, but not really responding to much. You couldn't hear us at first."
"Concussion," Don said. "And the explosion probably blew out my hearing." He paused. "That would explain the slight ringing."
"Whatever it is, I'm just glad that you're going to be alright," Leo said. "Splinter and April seem to think so, anyway."
Don yawned. "I'll look over my chart later," he said. "Give a second opinion on myself."
"Because that sounds reliable," Leo teased him. "Rest for now, Don. You've got a lot of healing to do."
"Yes, Doctor," Don returned, teasing back.
As Don drifted off this time, it was to the familiar little sounds of their home. The pipes around them, someone watching the TVs, Leo humming under his breath as he read his book—all the comforting little sounds that made this place a home. And that was something that Don never wanted to stop hearing.