Donnie stared down at his twin's unresponsive face. He should be feeling more, but a strange numbness was weighing on him, the pounding in his head seeming to pulse into his brain. What was he supposed to say? How could he talk to someone that he was pretty sure couldn't hear him? A hand on his arm made him turn his head to see Mikey looking at him with that gentleness that never failed to calm his nerves. Reaching up, he tapped Donnie's forehead with a finger.

"Don't think with this, Dee." He then tapped the finger against Donnie's chest, over his heart. "Think with this."

Dr. Feelings strikes again.

But the genius couldn't feel any annoyance at the thought. In fact, he felt a strange sense of comfort. As much as feelings weren't his thing, that advice somehow made perfect sense. After giving Mikey a slight smile, the genius turned back to Leo. Taking a deep breath, he pushed down the doubt and found the words coming almost without thought.

"Hey, Nardo," he said. "I… hope you're listening now. Draxum said you're in rough shape, but you can pull through this. This… this'll sound weird coming from me, but I feel it."

His face pulled into a small smile again.

"I always used to wonder what got you so set on insisting we were twins. I still remember when you started." He felt his throat tighten a little, and even though he swallowed he couldn't fully stifle the quiver in his voice. "It's… one of the things I remember best, actually."

…

The sensation of a small finger poking his head pulled the little turtle out of his peaceful and quite pleasant slumber.

"Dee? Psst, Dee?"

Donnie let out an incoherent grumble as he smacked the hand away.

"What?" he mumbled.

"Are ya awake?"

Fully irritated now, the softshell opened his eyes to meet the eager ones of his most annoying brother, which were far too bright for this time of night. That always meant trouble.

"I wouldn' be talking t' you if I wasn't, Leo."

"Ya could be sleep-talking," the slider said, then gasped and tilted his head. "Are ya sleep-talking? Cause that'd be so cool! I wanna sleep talk too! Can we sleep talk t' each other?"

Letting out another grumble, Donnie took his pillow from behind his head and pulled it over his face.

"You talk plenty when y'r awake. Are ya gonna tell me what ya want, or can I jus' go back to sleep?"

Leo pulled down the pillow.

"No, no, I wanna ask ya something!"

Donnie let out a sigh and opened his eyes again.

"Okay, what?"

The slider beamed at him, his wide eyes sparkling and eager. Donnie had learned to expect pretty much anything from Leo, but what came out of his mouth was still the last thing he ever would have expected.

"D' ya wanna be twins?"

Caught completely by surprise, Donnie sat up and stared at Leo, blinking.

"Wha… why would… how can we be twins? We're not even th' same kinda turtle."

Leo beamed back at him.

"But we're th' same age! An' size! Raph's way big an' Mikey's little, but we're closest!"

Donnie let out another irritated sigh as he flopped back and rubbed his eyes.

"Being th' same age and size doesn't make people twins. We'd have t' have been in th' same egg for that t' work with us."

Any slim hope he had that Leo would accept that was quickly dashed when the slider went on undeterred.

"So? We got mutated at th' same time, right? So if we…"

Donnie growled as he turned over and shoved his head under his pillow, pressing it to his ears.

"I don't wanna get into this, Leo. Just go back t' bed n' let me sleep."

His irritation neared breaking point when Leo lifted the side of the pillow, the slyness in his voice making it easy to imagine his devious expression.

"Okay… f' you say we're twins."

Donnie clenched his teeth, then took a deep breath.

"I'll think about it," he muttered.

"Cross your heart?" Leo pressed.

"Cross my heart. Now lemme sleep!"

Donnie paused his narrative, taking a moment to close his eyes and swallow the lump in his throat. He was relieved to hear his voice come out relatively steady.

"I figured you'd be on me about it first thing the next morning. You kept looking at me, but you didn't mention it once. I started to wonder if it was my lucky day and you just let it go." A rueful smile came to his face. "But I had yet to learn, you never let something important to you go."

Donnie squinted as he twisted the Rubiks cube. His fascination with the strange device had persisted since Papa brought it home. He'd said it was a brain toy some people used, and you had to make all four sides one color. Naturally, Donnie had made it his personal mission to do just that. He'd been working on it since yesterday, and he was almost there. He wasn't entirely sure why their father looked so stunned when he'd shown him this morning, but the look that followed was extremely proud, and Donnie was just as startled when he told him how hard most grown people found it.

His concentration almost entirely on the cube, the softshell only vaguely registered the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Don't bug me," he said without looking up. "I'm almost done."

The footsteps stopped, but no reply came. Then the newcomer moved up beside him, sitting down. Donnie's face screwed into an annoyed pout.

"I'm almost done," he repeated. "N' I can't concentrate if…"

Looking up as he spoke, he finally saw who it was. Leo sat beside him, but he wasn't smiling. That was the first red flag, and Donnie broke off. The little turtle sat with his knees drawn up, hugging them to his chest and resting his chin on them. Donnie couldn't remember ever seeing him so crestfallen. But before he could say anything, Leo spoke in a small, sad voice.

"R' you mad at me?"

Donnie blinked, startled.

"What? Why'd I be mad?"

The slider gave a quiet sniffle, hugging his knees a little tighter. When he looked at Donnie, his eyes were brimming.

"I… I know we're not real twins," he said softly. "But I think you're real cool, n' I love you a lot n' I thought we'd be closer f' we p' tended we were. I know it's kinda dumb, but twins're real close a lot. I wanna be that with you, but…"

He bit his lip and lowered his eyes to the floor.

"But I… didn' know if you wanna be wit' me, an'… an' I thought if I asked…"

He sniffled again, burying his face in his arms. Donnie could only stare for a few moments, at a complete loss for words. Emotion always made him extremely uncomfortable, but now he could feel something else welling up… guilt. Leo never poured his heart out like that to anyone unless he was serious. Donnie had figured the twin thing was just another one of Leo's quirky ideas, thought up to annoy him. If he'd known what he'd just heard then, he never would have answered the way he did, brushed it off.

Finally, the softshell set his Rubiks cube aside and scooted closer to his brother until he'd closed the distance. With slow, awkward movements, he wrapped his arms around Leo and felt him stiffen in surprise.

"We can be twins f' you want, Leo," Donnie murmured. "'Cuz I think you're really cool too."

A few moments passed, then he heard Leo let out a happy little chirp as he returned the hug.

"'Kay."

…

Donnie looked down as he finished his story, his smile fading as the memory gave way to the tense, gloomy air of the present.

"I never said anything, but… when the portal closed with you in it, something in me broke. It seemed like part of me was… just gone. Then after Mikey opened his, when we pulled you out… I felt it again. So, I guess you were right. But we can't be twins if one of us isn't here. So unless you want to prove yourself wrong and miss the chance to rub it in my face, you're gonna have to wake up."

His voice finally cracked, and he closed his eyes tight as he fought the emotional maelstrom raging inside.

A large hand rested on his left shoulder, then a smaller one on his right, and he swallowed hard before he placed his own hands on each. Though he was often unnerved by sudden touch, even by his family, this time he drew strength from it.