Word: Picture
Pairing: Raph/Don
Warnings: Blood is mentioned.
Donatello often envied his brothers.
Not for their talent, never that.
They all had their own talents, though his was the one they had survived without many times.
No, what he envied was their openness.
When something bad happened, they let it all out.
Leo trained. Snapped. Got better.
Raph went on punk-hunting. Snapped. Calmed down.
Mikey cooked. Snapped. Got better.
But Don?
He couldn't do anything. He couldn't afford it.
He had to be calm, to make sure they wouldn't injure each other to the point where there was no repair.
He couldn't let himself snap at them, because he was the one they went to for comfort.
So he locked his temper away, and it came back in the form of nightmares.
The worst one he had ever had was still stuck in his mind, like a picture.
Different shades of green tainted with blood and dirt. Limbs gone, everyone gone.
It was during those times that Donnie was glad that Raph never asked him why he wanted to sleep in the hammock.
Because he couldn't afford slipping up, and he surely would if Raph ever asked.
But Raph never did, because Raph already knew.
Donnie had slipped once.
He just couldn't remember it.