Rather quickly and at an alarming rate, my health began to drop. I pulled my knees to my chest to try and relieve some of the pain, but it barely helped if it did at all. Sweat began to pour down my forehead, and Mikey-to say the least-was pretty on edge.
"Donnie…" He whimpered, "I think that this is getting serious. Sh-Should I call some-"
"N-No…" I whimpered out, curling into a tighter ball, a deep red blush spreading against my cheeks. "I'm…I'm fine."
His baby blue eyes were wide at seeing me like this. I could tell that he was very terrified. Maybe making him not call someone put him on edge, but I really just thought he was making a big deal out of nothing. He began to tremble where he stood. He walked up to me and placed a shaking hand against my sweaty forehead.
"You…You're really warm, Donnie." He whimpered out. I just buried my face deeper into the cushion of the couch.
"'m fine, Mike. J…Just a little…sick." I gave out a weak cough. I could hear the sound of his bare feet running to some other room in the house, his steps echoing against the wooden flooring.
He may have been gone for about five minutes before I could hear the sound of his feet running back into the living room. He turned my head with his pointer finger. Before I could comprehend what was happening, he shoved a thermometer into my mouth. I was taken aback slightly but realize soon enough what he was doing.
It felt like an eternity before the small device began to beep. I think Mikey thought so, too. Almost immediately, the young boy gripped the thermometer and ripped it out of my mouth. He looked at the numbers before looking at me with concern in his eyes.
"D-Donnie, 104.2 seems a bit high, d-d-doesn't it?" Mikey asked fearfully. I just closed my maroon eyes before nuzzling my head into the cushion of the couch once more.
"'m fine, Mikey. J-Just-" I had to cut my sentence off short due to a coughing fit that ripped right out of my throat. Mikey looked at me worriedly, helping me sit up. He rubbed the middle of my spine, his eight-year-old face lighting up in apprehension.
"You're not fine." Mikey told me. I shivered violently. My eyes fell and I became limp. Or…at least I had thought so.
"Donnie?!" I could hear Mikey scream distinctly. It sounded as if it was underwater, though. "Donnie?!" He tried again. I felt as if I was sort of floating. But I felt like I was sinking at the same time. "Donatello?!" His voice is frantic. I can hear his feet pounding against the wooden floor once again. There was the sound of something scraping against the floor. Like…maybe a chair.
"H-Hello? I-I need help! M-My brother! He…He won't stop shaking!"
Then…nothing.
OoOoOoO
There was a slight ringing in my ears as I slowly came to. I shook my head slowly, feeling something soft behind my head. Slowly, my eyelids began to rise. My vision turned out to be a bit fuzzy and a bit dizzy, but soon enough it began to focus out.
I went to move my right arm to rub my eyes only to find myself not able to. In concern, I looked down to the weighted down appendage. I couldn't help but smile slightly when I was struck with the sight. Mikey's head was pressed against my right arm, his eyes closed signifying his slumber.
I frowned.
His cheeks shone with a vague wetness. My brow furrowed. Had he been…crying? I sighed slightly before taking in my surroundings.
Wait…
Where was I?
White walls…sanitized sent…white sheeted bed…white covers…blue chairs…
The hospital…I groaned inwardly. I moved my left wrist to rub at my eyes only to feel a stinging sensation. I looked to my left wrist only to find a needle inserted in my vein. I groaned as I followed the small tube up to find a small IV drip hanging from one of those hangers specially made for IVs. Great, I thought. What drugs do they have me on now?
I could feel Mikey's grip on my right arm become significantly stronger. "S-Stop shaking…" He whimpered. My brow furrowed into concern as I began to shake his shoulder gently.
"Hey, bud, wake up. It's just a nightmare. Wake up."
"S-Stop shaking! Please! You're scaring me! S-Stop it!"
I began to shake his shoulder more vigorously. "Mikey, wake up!" I say louder. Mikey wakes with a jerk, his eyes puffy and bloodshot.
"B-Brother?" He asked in a small whisper.
I nodded gently. He placed one of his tiny hands against my cheek, not leaving the same position he was already in. "Are…Are you dead?"
I was taken aback by the question. "Wh-What? N-No. I-I'm not-"
"You were shaking…s-s-so much," He interrupted. He buried his face into the crook of my neck. "You…You were sh-shaking, a-and I couldn't…s-s-stop you." He cried.
My brow furrows in distress as I rub his back soothingly. "Hey. Mikey, I'm fine. Everything's ok. Everything is going to be just fine." For some reason this made him erupt into louder and stronger sobs, his arms wrapping around my neck.
"I…I…We've already lost Mom and…D-D-Dad…I…I don't want to lose you, too!" He sobbed into my shirt. My brow furrowed in concern.
"Sh, Mike," I soothed, my hand rubbing up and down his back, occasionally meeting up to his mop of curly, blonde hair and rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here. If there's one thing that everyone knows about the Hamato brothers, it's that we're extremely stubborn, and we don't go down without a fight."
I smiled sadly when I heard a small, watery chuckle escape from Mikey's throat. It had been short lived, but it had been there, and that was good enough for me. "I love you, Donnie."
I chuckled gently as my hand rested on his mop of curly hair. "I love you, too, Mikey."
OoOoOoO
It had been maybe an hour at most, but to me it felt like a full day. Time passed very slowly when you're stuck in a hospital bed. But I guess I couldn't really complain when I had the best little brother in the world to make the time seem to go by faster.
Leo finally entered the room, a sad smile lined up on his face. If I were to quickly glance at him, I probably could have thought that it was a normal smile. But when you're brothers, you are unfortunately forced to look at each other's ugly mugs.
"How you two holding up?"
I hadn't noticed him enter the room until he had made his appearance known vocally. I looked up at him from the small paper 'football' in my fingers that Mikey had taught me how to make. I smiled. "Mikey's keeping me occupied. Did you know that nine multiplied by three equals twenty-seven?" I asked with a wink towards Leo.
He caught on and let out a smile that made him look like a grand fool. "No, I did not. Mikey's just the genius in the family, isn't he?"
"I guess so." Mikey began to laugh at all that we said. I smiled as I watched his stomach expand and contract with each laughter filled breath he in took and output. It's way better than watching him cry.
"Ah, are you Leonardo Hamato?" I heard a deep voice ask from the doorway. My maroon eyes almost immediately flew to the opened doorway to reveal a taller man with blue eyes and jet black hair. On his chin and cheeks was a slight stubble, but not quite enough to be said as a full on beard. Upon the ridge of his nose sat wired glasses while his attire consisted of blue scrubs and a white T-shirt.
Leo nodded. "That's me."
The doctor smiled at him and then at me. "We believe we have figured out Donatello's condition."
I almost jumped out of my skin at the news. "Really?" I asked him, now propped up on my knees, my hands clutching the footrest that was on the end of the hospital bed. I guess I was kind of in the position a dog would be in while his tail wagged vigorously. "You guys know what's wrong with me?"
The doctor smiled a bit more as he allowed himself in and shut the door behind him. "We believe so. We think you have an immune deficiency called CVID. Even though this is normally diagnosed after someone has turned forty, it is possible to diagnose sooner. CVID is common hence the name Common Variable Immune Deficiency. Treatment is mandatory if you ever want to strengthen your immune system."
I nodded. I would do anything if it meant staying out of this blasted hospital! "The treatment is given through injections, restoring antibodies that may not be there for you."
"So, overall, he should be fine if the treatments go as expected?" Leo inquired, hope written all over his face.
The doctor nodded. "In short, yes."
I smiled. I was going to be fine! Thank gosh! I didn't think I'd be able to go another year of being in and out of the hospital!
OoOoOoO
"I'm leaving." The sentence was so abrupt that it shocked myself. I looked to her curly blue hair that fell to her waist in the bright red scrunchie that held it up.
"What do you mean you're leaving?" Honestly, I was just in denial. I knew what she meant.
I just didn't want to believe it.
She kicked a stone that came in her way as we continued to walk down the sidewalk towards the school. "The orphanage met a nice foster family that is willing to take me in. I had a meeting with them and even spent a day with them. They treated me like I was their own child. I think I'll really like them." She told me.
I looked up from the white cement sidewalk that seemed endless at this point. She just got here, I thought selfishly. She can't leave so soon. "How far will you be?" She didn't look up to meet my gaze. Her eyes stayed directed towards the sidewalk.
"Maybe thirty minutes. It isn't too far…but it isn't too close either."
"When's your last day?" I asked, swiping a piece or dirty-blonde hair out of my face.
"Friday."
Two days? That wasn't nearly long enough. It was already Wednesday. I looked back to her pale face. "So this is really it, isn't it?"
She sighed and finally met my own gaze. "Yeah," She said sadly. "I guess it is."
I don't know what I was thinking. But my feet acted quicker than my head. Or should I say my lips? Without knowing what I was doing, my lips kissed her cheek. I knew that my face looked just like hers.
Shocked.
I looked to her as my cheeks began to burn up only to notice that hers were the same shade as I believed mine to be. "I…I'm sorry. I…I don't know w-what came over me-"
Her lips touched mine. I don't believe it was for too long. Maybe ten seconds. Her lips were on mine and neither of us fought it. I think we both wanted it, really. When we pulled apart we were both smiling gently. "Don't apologize."
I smiled. I felt a bit more courage than I had before. With the courage I had gathered, my fingertips looked for hers. When they found each other, they interlocked and stayed around each other.
And that's exactly how we walked to school.
I'm so sorry that this took so long! And that it's so short! I have become Undertale trash and just kept getting story ideas for Undertale that I couldn't think of any for this story! Ah, I make you wait so long, and for what? This crap! I'm so sorry guys! But, uh, hey! I guess we got a bit of romance in this chapter! Yay? Did you like it, love it, hate it? Let me know! I love hearing from you guys! :)
