The next morning

Nobody's POV

As usually, Leo was the first one to wake up. He walked to the rooms of his brothers to check up on them, like he did every morning.
Raph was lying on his back with his left arm dangling out of his bed. Leo smiled at the sight of this. Although he and Raph fought a lot, they still were the best friends.
Mikey was sleeping on his plastron with his arms under his head. His blanket had fallen on the ground during the night, probably because he couldn't keep still. Not even when sleeping. Even though Mikey could be extremely annoying sometimes, nobody could stay mad at the youngest one for long.
Leo wasn't even surprised to find Donnie's room empty. It happened quite often that the genius had fallen asleep in his lab or even had worked the entire night because he couldn't sleep without getting his idea worked out. But even Don's lab was empty. Now Leo frowned. Where could he be?, he wondered.

But when he walked down, he saw light coming from the kitchen.
Donnie sat at the kitchen table with his laptop and a cup of black coffee in front of him, typing. He didn't even look up from his work when his brother walked in.
"Good morning, Donnie", Leo said. Donnie grunted to show he had heard him. Nothing unusual, there wasn't much to do with Don before he finished his first cup of coffee.
And since it was only half empty, this was perfectly normal.
"Have you eaten already?", Leo asked. "Not hungry", Donnie replied.
Leo sighed. Why do we have to go over this every single morning?!
"You know you need to eat a healthy breakfast in order to have enough energy for the rest of the day", Leo explained.
Now Donnie sighed and looked at his older brother: "I'm not a baby, Leo. I know what I should do. You don't have to feed me, I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, but-", Leo started, but he didn't get to finish his sentence.
"No but!", Donnie interrupted "Either you trust me, or either you don't. I want an answer right now. Do you trust me to take care of myself or not?"

"I'm curious as well", Raph said as he walked into the kitchen. He had woken up from hearing the talking in the kitchen and had just heard what was said.
"That's not what this is about, Raph!", Leo said "This is about me wanting the best for Don. For all of you by the way."
"We know that, Leo", Donnie explained "But you have to try to understand that we can take care of ourselves. We don't need you to worry about us. We're almost as old as you are! We are trained ninja's!"
"But I'm your big brother!", Leo interfered "and it's my responsibility to take care of you guys. If I can't even make sure that you eat well, how am I supposed to, for example, protect Mikey when he almost gets killed in a fight? I barely managed to do that last time! So what if I can't do that the next time?"

"What?". The three turtles turned around to see a very scared looking Mikey standing in the doorway. "I almost got killed?!"
"No, of course not Mikey!", Leo quickly said.
"But you just said that!", Mikey said "Do you really have to protect me THAT often?"

Raph looked at Leo with a look that said: are you really going to lie to him?
Donnie sighed and stood up from his chair: "Mikey, come here."
"I don't like it when you say that!", Mikey said. Reluctantly, he walked over to the chair Donnie was offering him.
Leo opened his mouth to start talking, but Donnie cut him off: "Let me handle this, Leo".
Then, he kneeled in front of Mikey: "Listen to me. You are a great ninja and an amazing athlete! You have a huge amount of energy and I don't think you will ever run out. In a fight, you're almost as fast as lighting! And everyone can see that you're having a wonderful time! And it's great for us to see that. But sometimes, it happens that you're so into the fight that you seem to forget what is happening around you. And in those very few cases, we jump in and protect you, yes. Of course, we could just yell at you to turn around. But then, the moment would be ruined for you. And we would never want to do that. Do you understand?"

While Mikey thought about what he just heard, Donnie looked at Raph and Leo who were leaning against the counter. Raph grinned and winked. Leo mouthed 'thanks'.
Everybody knew Donnie was the best with words, so he got the hard tasks.
Finally ,Mikey smiled and hugged Donnie: "I believe you!"
Donnie hugged back: "Good. Now, can you please go to my lab and get me the red book from my desk?"
Mikey nodded and ran off.

Then, Don turned back to Leo: "Now we've settles that… I'm still waiting for your answer. Do you trust me to take care of myself or not?"
Leo gulped and looked at Raph, but he wasn't about to give him any support.
Leo looked at the floor as he answered…

Author's note: Cliffhanger! Sorry, couldn't help it! It was SO tempting! :D I know, late update. But just loads of homework!
No update for the rest of the week (I'm going to Paris for two days! :D) I'll try to update as soon as possible