Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mikey slowly rose to his feet. The explosion had knocked everyone around. It was hard to tell what was going on.

The ringing in his head was loud, louder than most things around him.

The faint yells and screams of humans in the distance, the roars of Super Fly’s massive form as it ploughed through the buildings and cars surrounding him.

He looked around at the others and spotted Mondo’s tail sticking out from some rubble. He dashed towards it, hoping his new friend was okay. He reached his tail and immediately tried to pull him out, but was horrified when only his tail emerged, severed from his body.

He didn’t have much time to panic about it though, as Mondo’s voice came from behind him.

“IT’S OKAY!” He reassured, “IT GROWS BACK!” He explained as he paused, and his tail seemed to almost pop back into existence.

Mikey let out a sigh of relief before he heard Donnie call his name.

He turned around quickly to see Donnie a fair distance away, slowly walking towards him, clearly pained. He didn’t have the time to respond before he noticed something horrifying.

Super Fly was still throwing cars around and one was headed straight for Donnie.

“DONNIE LOOK OUT!” He screamed, he wouldn’t be able to make it in time to get him out of the way, he hoped that someone else would notice and be able to act fast.

Raphael noticed. He had heard Mikey’s call.

He turned towards his littlest brother, seeing him watch a car careen through the air towards them. He looked to where it was likely to land.

Donnie was there, and he wasn’t moving very well, he wasn’t gonna be able to move out of the way in time.

Raph panicked. Struggling to his feet in an effort to reach his brother and protect him. He was too panicked though. He was unable to get his feet steady, tripping over just as he stood up.

He got up once more, darting for his brother.

“DONNIE! MOVE!”

Donnie heard him call out and their eyes met for one brief moment, before the nightmare came crashing down.

He wasn’t quick enough.

-              -              -

Time seemed to stand still. The car had hit its target. It now laid roof down on the road, where Donatello once stood, the young turtle now nowhere in sight.

Except for the slowly expanding puddle of blood leaking out from beneath the upturned car, you would never have known that there was ever a teenage mutant ninja turtle stood there.

Mikey and Raph were frozen. They couldn’t move. Both were struggling to believe what they had just seen.

There brainy, nerdy brother had just been…

“NO!” Raph screamed, darting forward towards the car. He wasn’t going to accept that. That wasn’t how he was going to lose him. He refused to let that be what takes away his bro. He was supposed to save him, protect him. He had failed him earlier, so he wasn’t going to let himself fail him now.

Mikey dashed forward as well. Raph’s scream had jolted him back to reality.

Mikey and Raph tried to lift the car, but struggled, it seemed to be stuck on something.

“HELP!”

“SOMEONE HELP US GET THIS THING OFF OF HIM!”

They both called for help, any help. They needed to make sure their brother was okay.

Luckily, their calls were quickly answered, and Leo and Rocksteady quickly came to their aid.

“What’s going on? Who’s under here?” Leo quickly asked as he got to work.

“Donnie got hit.” Raph got out through gritted teeth as he strained to lift the car.

He didn’t need to explain it anymore than that as Leo’s face turned white. Shock, fear, horror all evident across his face.

“I’ll lift the car; you lot get underneath and get you bro out of there.” Rocksteady commanded, they needed to work quickly and try not to hurt the undoubtably injured teen anymore than he already was.

The three young boys nodded and got down onto their hands and knees ready to crawl under and get Donnie out. Rocksteady counted down from three, before lifting the car up enough for the boys to get under. He would have completely chucked the car away, but, when lifting it, he too felt the resistance and knew that the trapped turtle was likely the cause, and so he didn’t wish to cause too much movement in case it worsened the teens condition.

Mikey, Leo, and Raph scuttled under the car, frantic in their movements, hoping to get to their brother as soon as possible and make sure he was alright.

They spotted him immediately, laying on his plastron, eyes closed, blood coming from the back of his head and his shell. Mikey was at Donnie’s head, with Raph at Donnie’s shoulders and Leo at his feet.

Together they checked him over quickly for damage, as well as for the easiest and safest way to move him.

“Guys, his glasses are broken, some of the glass has cut up his face, some is still in him.” Mikey told the others. His voice was shaking. He was scared. He was overwhelmed. It hadn’t been too long ago that they had their first real fight, and now they had their first major injury. How were they going to fix this? They only knew basic first aid, that wouldn’t be enough to help Donnie, would it?

“That’s not the only glass that’s in him.” Raph responded, his voice sounded haunted. What he was looking at shook him to his core.

The windscreen had shattered, and one large shard of glass, which was still attached to the car, had penetrated Donnie’s upper shell.

“We need to move him now!” Leo ordered taking out his katana, he pulled himself forward and positioned his blade next to the glass. He rested his hand on the back of his brother’s leg in an attempt to comfort him, as he knew the glass was likely going to move when he cuts through it, and that is going to cause Donnie more pain.

He took a deep breath while counting to three in his head. On three he swung, slicing through the glass, freeing his little brother. His little brother who didn’t react. At all.

The brothers look at one another, all even more worried than they were previously. Donnie didn’t react to something that would obviously cause him more pain. They know that he is unconscious, but even unconscious people groan or something as they can still register pain. No groan, no movement, not even a flinch or flutter of the eyelids, as far as Mikey could tell.

“Okay Rocksteady, you can lift the car more.” Leo informed.

Rocksteady followed his lead, rolling the car over, completely freeing the boys from underneath it.

Through the light of the streetlights, various nearby screens and fires they were able to take in Donnie’s appearance.

And they panicked all over again.

On top of the glass shards in his face and back, he had various cuts and bruises, but they weren’t that bad, the main, most worrying injury was Donnie’s head.

The car seemed to have hit him headfirst, cracking open the back of his head. There was a lot of blood, running down from the injury, coating his neck, and adding to the prominent puddle of the ground.

His shell wasn’t much better. The glass shard was still penetrating it, positioned slightly horizontal cutting downwards into his upper shell, right where is spine is. There wasn’t as much blood coming from it though, the shard was likely plugging it too much to allow for it. However, the shard wasn’t the only issue with his shell. There were a lot of cracks that seemed to form from the top of his shell as well. They couldn’t tell if the shard had caused them or if it was the impact, or even a mixture of both, but it was bad. The cracks bifurcated again and again and again; it was a wonder that his upper shell hadn’t caved in.

Leatherhead had come over at some point and looked on in horror at the sight of the young lad.

“Bloody hell.” She gasped out. Out of all the brothers, Donatello was her favourite. She and Wingnut had immediately taken a liking to the boy, loving his enthusiasm over games and his interest in their gadgets. She had hoped to be able to take him as a little apprentice and teach him a few things, but it looks like that will have to be put on hold for a while.

She approached quickly, wanting to waste no more time, and took off her jacket. She placed it on and applied pressure to the back of his head, hoping to stifle the blood flow, while getting her legs and tail under him for support, unsure if he had any spinal injuries.

“Oi mate, think you can carry me and the boy to cover?” She asked Rocksteady, who nodded and promptly got to work, “Be careful, we don’t want him to move around too much.” She said, “Boys, I’m gonna help your brother as much as I can, you need to take down Super Fly.”

The boys looked unsure, they were clearly in shock and terrified for their brother’s wellbeing.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Mikey asked, his voice trembling, clearly on the verge of tears at the sight of his still unconscious, unresponsive brother lying limp in her arms.

She didn’t know if he was gonna be okay, she didn’t know if he was gonna live, but she couldn’t tell the boys that, it would crush destroy them.

“He’ll still be here when you get back.” She told them, “Now go be heroes.”

The three of them took one last glance at their brother, before readying their weapons. They had a newfound motivation to take down Super Fly, their determination was higher than ever, as they turned and charged back into battle.

Aiming to win and return to their brother’s side…

As heroes.

-              -              -

The fight was over, they had won.

Leo, Raph, and Mikey stood on top of where Super Fly used to be. Breathing heavily as the realisation settled. They had won.

Humans surrounded them, smiling, cheering, celebrating them.

They could see their father coming over, carried by Scumbug, as a result of his injured leg. They were happy to see him, relieved that he was alright, but all they could think about was Donnie. They had to get to Donnie.

As soon as that thought got into their heads nothing else mattered. They didn’t care for the humans or their praise, they wanted their brother.

“DONNIE!” they all called, as the thought hit them, turning and sprinting the direction of where they last saw him.

The pushed their way through the humans, though most moved out of the way upon realising their urgency.

They ignored their father’s calls.

The reached the area where it had happened, looking around frantically for any signs of where he may be, where the others might have taken him.

They thankfully didn’t have to look for long as Wingnut came flying over from a partially damaged building, directing them inside.

The boys followed without question, as did Splinter, however he did have some questions: why are we heading here? Where is Donatello? Is he alright? Is my son alright? The more those questions lingered, the more worried he became.

The boys rushed into the building, coming to a stop at the sight of Leatherhead sitting on the floor, with a still unconscious Donatello laying in her lap.

He was still in the same position as when they last saw him.

When Splinter came into the room, not long after his sons, he nearly collapsed, not as a result of his injury, but at what he saw.

His child, lying unconscious, covered in blood.

“DONATELLO!” He shrieked, as he hobbled forward toward his child, “What has happened?!”

When he didn’t get a response, he turned to his other sons. Raphael had his head turned to the side and angled downwards, eyes held firmly closed, breathing heavily, trying to remain composed.

Michelangelo stood, his mouth agape for the most part, occasionally closing as if attempting to form words, though none came out.

Leonardo was similar to Raphael in that he stood with his head down, eyes closed and focused on his breathing, after a few deep breaths he spoke up.

“Shortly after Super Fly blew up the truck that we were near, he threw a car, and it hit Donnie and…” He could finish that sentence, his voice started to break.

Splinter didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have the resources at how to care for injuries this grievous. He placed a hand on his unconscious child’s cheek, careful not to disturb any of the major injuries.

They sat in silence for a minute before they heard a commotion outside.

The humans had followed them. They had realised that something was wrong and sought to help the mutants, like of the mutants had helped them.

As they glanced into the damaged room, they noticed the fallen turtle.

“Oh my gosh, do you need us to get you an ambulance...or a vet?” One woman asked, in a semi frantic tone.

Splinter was about to say no when he realised that the humans… they weren’t their enemies anymore. They weren’t trying to hurt them; they were trying to help. They would be able to help his child, certainly more than he himself can.

“Please.” He pleaded, he needed his son to survive this, it wouldn’t be a victory otherwise.

As the humans called for medical assistance, Splinter kept his eyes on his child. He gently placed his hand on his child’s pulse, wanting that extra reassurance that he was still alive. His son’s pulse was there, but it was very faint.

He just hoped that the ambulance would arrive in time.

Chapter Text

Multiple ambulances arrived quickly, and the family was loaded onto stretchers and taken to hospital.

Donnie was the priority, being loaded up first and taken away before anyone else was looked at. The group watched as he was lifted onto a stretcher after being put in a neck brace, with multiple other pieces of equipment being attached to him, they didn’t know what most were, let alone what they were for.

They watched as he was placed into the back of the ambulance.

They watched as the doors closed.

They watched as it drove away.

They hoped he would be okay.

-              -              -             

By the time everyone else had been brought to the hospital, Donnie had already been taken into the ICU and they were not allowed to visit him.

The doctors had looked at Splinter’s leg, as well as the turtle’s shells and looked over the bruises and cuts they received in the fight.

They had been sat in a medical room for a few hours at this point.

Master Splinter’s leg was in a cast, and he had been given a wheelchair.

The boys’ shells had been a bit harder to treat, the doctors had to call in a vet to help with the procedure.

The vet had proceeded to drill small screws into their shells, on either side of the fracture, then wrapped wires around each of the screws, tightening them, similarly to what happens during suturing. They had each been advised to not put a lot of strain on their shells, and to keep movement to a minimum, they too had been given wheelchairs to help with that, but they weren’t required to use them.

They didn’t speak much to each other, each of them was too worried about Donnie to try and start up any conversation.

April walking into the room, she had been allowed to come to the hospital with them in Leo’s ambulance.

“I just got done talking to the doctor, she said that they are finishing up a few things then they’ll be in to tell us about Donnie.” She explained.

That news was both good and bad.

It was good because the wait would soon be over. They’ll soon know how Donnie is doing.

However, it was bad because of the same reason.

The doctor could come in and tell them that he’s…

They didn’t want to think about that.

April noticed the hope and anxiety flash in the eyes of the mutants.

“Hey, I’m sure he’ll be okay. The doctor didn’t seem like she was gonna deliver bad news.”

“Yeah, but she’s probably given bad news to families multiple times before, she may be good at hiding it until she has to say it.” Leo said, morbidly.

April didn’t know what to say to that, as Leo was right. The doctor likely had a lot of experience and has probably perfected the art of hiding information from patients or the families of patients, to keep them from worrying until she needs to be honest with them.

She took a seat next to Leo’s bed, and held out her hand, which he took and squeezed for any semblance of comfort he could get.

Raph looked around the room, and noticed the state Mikey was in.

His youngest brother was sat in bed, trying to control his breathing, looking on the verge of a break down.

Despite the doctor’s advice, Raphael got out of bed and walked over to his little brother.

He placed his hand on Mikey’s knee, to silently tell him that he was there.

Mikey looked up at him, then scooted over in his cot, making room for Raph to climb on, which he did.

The two held each other in a strong embrace, well as strong as they could without hurting one another.

They sat like that until the doctor came in.

-              -              -             

It took about 30 minutes before the doctor came through the door, clipboard in hand.

She looked around the room and noticed that Raphael had moved to Mikey’s cot but said nothing.

She took a breath as she spoke.

“The doctors and vets that have been working on your brother have done all they can for now. There is still some work to be done, however they are unable to perform those tasks right now.”

The room took a collective sigh of relief, if they still were planning on conducting more tests and procedures, then Donnie was still alive.

“At this point in time, he is in a stable condition, however there is permanent damage done to Donatello that you need to be made aware of. We will be setting you up with a specialist who will help you understand the changes that his injuries will bring.” She went on to explain.

“Donatello received major blunt force trauma to his head, as of right now we do not know the extent of what his head injury will result in, and we will not know until he wakes up. If you would like, I can explain to you some possible problems that he may face in the future, so that you might know what to expect.”

The group looked around before nodding, they wanted to be as prepared as possible, knowing the damage now would allow them to research it, then if he has them, they know how to help and if he doesn’t, they would know for the future.

“There are many permanent disabilities that can come as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. Donatello may suffer memory loss or even have a different personality when he wakes up. He may also experience speech and communication difficulties and might struggle to process information and solve problems. He might experience chronic headaches and seizures as well as partial paralysis to limbs and it may affect his sense of balance, among other things.” She listed the issues off before stopping, she understood that this was a lot to take in and they likely had questions or needed time to process it all.

She waited for one of them to respond.

Leo was internally panicking. All those things and more could permanently affect his little brother. His little brother was the most approachable one, he couldn’t imagine Donnie having any other personality, and Donnie mind worked faster solving problems than anyone else he knows, if Donnie suddenly couldn’t process information and problem solve, he’d be devastated. On top of that, Donnie loved to talk, and he was fairly eloquently spoken, and they just got told he might have communication issues. How would they deal with all that? How would Donnie be able to be a ninja if he no longer had a sense of balance?

April squeezed his hand, bringing him out of his head, he was still panicked but he could now, at least, process the world around him.

Raph and Mikey had moved over to Splinter’s cot at some point, the three of them cuddled each other tightly. Splinter sat in the middle, an arm around both of his sons.

They all looked back at the doctor, they had no questions yet, they could use their phones to research those things and the doctor said that they’d be in contact with a specialist to help them through it. They each just wanted this all to be over. They wanted to see Donnie.

“The other main issue is Donatello’s shell and spine. The glass that had pierced his shell did, unfortunately, sever his spine. Fortunately, though, the angle of the glass caused it to sever his T2 vertebrae which means that he should still have full use of his upper body, but he will require the use of a wheelchair to get around.”

“’Fortunately’! HOW IS THAT FORTUNATE!?!” Raphael yelled, distraught at the news.

The doctor calmly turned to address him, “It is fortunate because if it had occurred to a vertebra higher up in his spine, he would likely have ended up quadriplegic meaning he would be virtually unable to utilise anything below his neck and may even struggle to breath unassisted. While his actual injury is not good, he is still capable of doing things for himself.”

This day was getting worse and worse.

“You can go and see him if you wish.”

Everyone looked to the doctor at those words.

They could see him?

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Mikey said enthusiastically, wanting to waste no more time.

Some nurses came in to help move Splinter off the cot and into his wheelchair and then they all followed the doctor towards where they were keeping Donatello.

“He has not woken up yet and you will need to be careful of the wires.” She spoke as they approached and came to a stop by a door. “There is a large red button located next to Donatello, on the side nearest the door, should there be any problems, press that button and members of staff will come to help.” She explained as she opened the door for the others.

-              -              -

They entered the room and stopped, taking in Donatello’s appearance.

He laid motionless on the bed, eyes closed. He looked dead, but the faint movement of his chest as he breathed, and the steady beeping of the machines told them otherwise.

His head was lined with bandages. They looked new, as there was no sigh of blood. It was both comforting and terrifying.

Comforting since he looked clean, there was no large amount of blood in sight, but terrifying because they know why those bandages are there, they know what is underneath them.

His glasses are gone too, as well as his mask.

He also has a ventilator on his face.

“I thought you said that he would be able to breathe on his own, that the spinal injury wasn’t bad enough to damage his ability to breathe.” Leo asked worriedly, upon noticing it.

“The spinal injury is not the cause of his breathing difficulties, it is mainly there as a precaution as the glass in his shell did end up breaking up at some point prior to getting into surgery, where it ended up causing some lacerations to your brother’s lungs. The damage is not life threatening and the ventilator is just to make breathing less stressful on him.” The doctor responded.

The group approached Donatello’s bed and sat around him on various chairs that had been provided.

Now that they were closer, they could see the damage up close.

Some of the cuts from the glass that was in his face had been deep enough to require stitches. It had been hard to see where the cuts were before, due to how much blood there was and the fact that they didn’t have the time to fully take in his appearance. Some of the cuts were located very close to his eyes, but thankfully none seemed to have penetrated them, which was a relief.

They couldn’t see his shell very well, due to his position, but they could see that it too was wrapped heavily in bandages.

Donatello’s condition was hard to look at. The various machines monitoring him, possibly keeping him alive, made it all the more unbearable.

But they were together now, back as a family, and they will recover from this. Together.

Raphael carefully took Donatello’s hand in his own, being mindful of the IV in his arm, and held it, hoping that, even while unconscious, his brother knew he was there, and will be there when he wakes up.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since the first time they were able to see Donnie. They would be allowed in for a few hours each day, but they never got to stay.

Most of the time it was because they needed to return to their own shared room to rest, but sometimes it was because the doctors needed to do further checks on Donnie’s condition, which they couldn’t do while they were there.

They had at one point asked if they could be placed in a room where Donnie could join them, so that they could see him at all times, but the doctors advised against it.

For one, it would be too much hassle to have to set up all the equipment that Donnie needed. They couldn’t easily and safely move Donnie and all his gear out of the room he was in, and there wasn’t enough room in his current room for the other four to join him.

Furthermore, Donnie still required a lot of care, and they didn’t want to risk damaging what little progress he’s made in his recovery, by stressing his body through changing or overwhelming his environment.

When they are with Donnie, they talked to him.

They talked to him about anything.

Mikey, at one point, had a 30-minute-long conversation about Attack On Titan. He had looked into it, on his phone, while in recovery. During the fight, his fear for Donnie’s well being kept his brother in his mind, and mid-way through the fight he properly took in just how tall Super Fly was, which led to him recalling how Donnie would talk about the anime none stop when he hyper-fixated on it. He ended up remembering the weakness of the Titans in the anime and used it identify Super Fly’s weak point, which ultimately won them the battle.

The other mutants, their cousins, had also visited them at the hospital.

They had been unable to see Donnie, given the number of them and the fact that the doctors didn’t consider them ‘close family’, but they had been allowed to see the others.

The mutants didn’t come alone through, as members of various New York and Government councils had come in to give them each some documents.

The documentation that they had been waiting for.

Identities.

They were all now officially US citizens, complete with last names, each being ‘Splinterson’, and all the necessary paperwork that would allow them to attend school.

The guys had been so excited to tell Donnie.

-              -              -             

“Hey Donnie,” Raph called as he entered Donnie’s room, running ahead of everyone else, “Guess what? We can go to school now.” He spoke with the enthusiasm that he knew Donnie would mirror in response, had he been conscious.

“Yeah man, and I looked up what other kind of clubs there were.” Mikey spoke up as he entered into the room along with Leo and Splinter, “There’s a games club, and manga club and a tech club. I was thinking I could sign you up for them so that they are there for when you’re ready.” He spoke as if he was asking for Donnie’s permission.

He knew his brother would jump at the chance to be in those clubs, Donnie loved basically all things anime and manga as well as being a hardcore gamer, so those clubs were a no brainer; the tech club was a bit more out there as a suggestion, but Mikey had noticed that Donnie’s favourite kind of anime and games were generally ones that were sci-fi or had some unique technology or gadgets that were integral to the plot or the main characters’ ability to overcome the challenges they faced, so he figured tech may also be a passion of Donnie’s, if he was able to give it a go.

“And prom’s back on.” Leo added, “It’s in a few weeks and we’re allowed to go, so when you wake up, we can go shopping for some suits and show the New York kids how to party mutant style.” His voice nearby broke as he spoke. They had all been so excited at the idea of attending school, and now here they are, with that opportunity, but one of them wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. Leo wasn’t going to stop his brothers from attending, but he decided to himself that he wasn’t going to go unless or until Donnie was able. It didn’t seem fair otherwise.

“Speaking of shopping, when you wake up, we’re going to go out and get you some new glasses, and you’ll finally be able to style your frames.” Splinter knew that Donatello had always wanted to personalise the frames of his glasses, he hadn’t been able to before, due to the fear of damaging them or the lenses; good, functioning glasses were hard to come by in the sewers, so they never risked it, not even trying to spray paint the frames a different colour, they hadn’t wanted to risk staining the lenses.

“Our cousins are keeping the lair warm for us, even putting in some new furniture that was given to us as thanks for saving the world. Our new TV is massive, apparently, and when you wake up, and we all go home, we’re gonna have a movie night, and you can pick the movie.” Mikey promised.

They sat in silence for a little bit, as they tried to think of more things to talk about, but that silence was soon broken.

By Donnie.

A faint groan filled the room, and all head turned towards the source.

Donnie still laid there, eyes closed, but they were moving underneath the lids.

“Donnie?” Leo called, hoping that his voice could guide his little brother to consciousness. “Come on little bro, open your eyes.” He encouraged.

Donnie’s eyes rolled around underneath his eyelids a little more before his eyelids started to flutter, ever so slightly opening.

The group held their breath as his barely open eyes stared off at nothing before they closed.

“No, no, no, no, no Donnie, keep your eyes open little bro.” Raph pleaded as Mikey hit the red button next to Don’s bed, hoping that a doctor or nurse would come in and help keep him awake.

Don didn’t open his eyes again, no matter how much they asked him to. The doctor came back in, and she observed the scene in the room.

Each member of the family was standing beside the bed, leaning over the unconscious young turtle and either holding one of his hands or resting their hand on one of his knees.

Leo noticed her first and quickly started to explain.

“He woke up. He groaned and opened his eyes, but then he passed out again.” He was frantic in his speech; he was worried that his brother was suffering. Did the groan indicate that he was in pain? Why did he close his eyes so soon after opening them? Did he relapse into a coma? Can you relapse into a coma? Why did his eyes not focus on anyone?

“That’s good.” She responded calmly as she approached Donatello’s form.

“Good? How is that good?” Raphael asked, concerned but hopeful at the fact that the doctor didn’t appear worried.

“It’s good because it’s progress and should be a good indication that he will be waking up soon.” She explained, “People in comas are unresponsive, so when they start to respond to stimulus it tells us that they are coming out of their comatose state. Your brother was likely groaning because of the pain.”

“But I though he was on pain meds?” Mikey questioned; he didn’t like the thought of his brother being in pain.

“He is, but just enough to take away most of it.” She told them, “If we gave him too much, he may develop a dependency or addiction to them, furthermore, due to your unique biology, we are apprehensive to give any of you a lot of human medication as we do not know what effects it might have on you. What he was likely feeling was more of a discomfort than pain.”

That brought some relief to the worried family, they still didn’t like that Donnie was going to wake up uncomfortable when it was possible to prevent it, but they understood why it was going to happen.

The doctor checked Donatello’s pupil dilation and was happy to report to the family that the pupil dilation was normal.

“He should be waking up any day now.” She told them cheerily. She then did a few more test of Donnie’s responsiveness before exiting the room.

The family sat around Donatello once more, they were relieved to know that Donatello was not in danger, and excited that he would be waking up soon, overjoyed even.

However, Raph couldn’t help but worry about what comes next.

The doctors had said that Donnie might suffer brain damage. He might not wake up acting like himself, he might not remember them, and he could have a multitude of issues.

They may be coming out of one stressful part of Donnie’s recovery, but the next stage might be worse.

And that terrified him.

Chapter Text

They had been in the hospital for a couple weeks now. With the obvious exception of Donnie, they had all been cleared to go home, the doctors and vets noting their unusually fast rate of healing in comparison to the norm for a turtle, rat or human. However, they did not go home. They weren’t going to go home. Not without Donnie.

The doctors mentioned that they believe Donatello’s chance of recovering is greater than they originally believed, due to them now knowing of the increased healing that needed to be factored in. They had mentioned that it could be possible for Donatello’s spine to heal, however, from what they could tell, the increased healing was just that they healed faster than normal, not that they could heal better than normal. The scars on each turtle’s shell being evidence enough that the healing wasn’t perfect.

The increase healing was likely the reason why Donatello had woken up before, if briefly. Given the injuries that he sustained, the doctors weren’t sure if he would wake up at all, let alone just days after the battle. That gave them hope for his recovery. Even if he wasn’t responsive when he was awake that time.

Or the time after it.

Or the time after that.

He had woken up a few times. Never for longer than a minute. He was never lucid either.

Often, he would just open his eyes for a second, maybe groan, then fall unconscious once more.

There was one time, the most recent, where he seemed to try to look around, but his eyes only really twitched to the right before shutting again.

Raph had taken the seat to Donnie’s right and hadn’t moved. He remained seated for hours, only occasionally standing up to stretch his legs, be even then he just stood or marched in place for a few minutes before sitting down again. His eyes never leaving his brother.

He didn’t speak much either, mainly staying in his own head, as he was currently.

His mind kept returning to the battle. To that moment.

If I had just been faster, he thought to himself. I could have saved him.

Over and over, the scene played in his mind.

He remembered turning to see Donnie, seeing him limping.

He remembered the car flying towards his little brother.

He remembered how he tripped when trying to get to his brother.

He remembered the look in Donnie’s eyes as they turned to him.

He remembered how he failed him.

If he had just been faster, Donnie would be okay.

If he had just been better, his brother would be okay.

He vowed to himself that he would be better. He wasn’t going to let his little brother get hurt ever again.

If someone tried to bully Donnie, they would have to answer to him.

He was going to be there for his little brother. He wasn’t going to fail him again.

Raphael had an internal mantra of ‘be there, protect him’ on repeat in his head, only broken when a familiar groan filled the room.

Raph had forgotten that his other brothers and his father were in the room but became aware of them when all their heads snapped towards the source of the groan, and they all came over to surround the bed.

Whenever this happened, it was the same thing. Donnie would groan, open his eyes about half-way, then close them again. But that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter how many times this occurred, it didn’t matter how many times their hope would grow only for nothing to change. They were going to be there when he wakes up, they weren’t going to let him go through this alone.

And he was getting closer to waking up. He was. He would keep his eyes open for longer, even if it was 10 seconds instead of 2. He would groan twice instead of once. His eyes would move. He was making progress.

They watched as Donnie’s eyes opened once more, staring straight ahead as always.

Each time this happened, despite the disappointment when he inevitably closes them without a response, it gave them hope. Not only was it progress, but it showed that he was still fighting, like a true Hamato Splinterson Tello, he was making his way back to his family, slowly but surely.

And anyway, at this point, they had become used to watching his eyes close, so they weren’t going to be too upset when it happens this time as they know he will come back eventually, when he was ready.

Any moment now, his eyes would close.

Any moment.

Except they didn’t.

They slowly start to look around the ceiling. Foggy and confused, but they were looking.

“Donnie?” Raph asked, hopeful.

Donnie’s eyes stopped moving and just stared once more, the hope in the room slowly dying down before they began to turn towards Raph.

Donnie’s brain wasn’t working as fast as typical for him, likely because if a mix of the medication he was on, the pain he might still be feeling, the exhaustion he likely feels, and possibly from brain damage that he sustained.

But he was responding.

“Hey bro.” Raph greeted, with a wide toothy grin, as his brother’s eyes met his own. He spoke in a hushed tone, despite his excitement, not wanting to risk giving Donnie a headache on top of everything else. To be honest he likely already has one, in which case he didn’t want to make it worse.

“hey” came a quiet, tired response, barely above a whisper.

Raph’s grin grew as he heard his brother speak. He turned to the rest of his family, who all looked equally overjoyed by the development.

“how you feeling, bro?” came Mikey’s prompt, to Raph’s right. Mikey knew that it was unlikely that Donnie would be able to have a conversation, but he still wanted to try to get him to talk a little bit more.

Donnie took a moment to respond again, his head angled down towards Mikey’s direction, his eyes squinted a bit, as a result of his lack of glasses making it hard to see what he was looking at.

“like… I s-survived a… D-danganropa… execution.” He responded, speech slightly slurred and with a stutter and speaking between breaths, and still barely above a whisper.

Raph chuckled as he gently wrapped his arms around Donnie in a hug.

The family hadn’t felt so relieved in what felt like forever. They knew that, from what Donnie said he likely felt awful, he did say he felt like he survived an execution after all, but he said Danganropa and that sounds like an anime or something, right? Meaning that at the very least he’s still his anime loving geeky self. Also, he remembers whatever it is, so maybe he doesn’t have memory loss.

As the family took in their relief, Leo headed over to a nearby table and water cooler and grabbed a cup of water, bringing it over to Donnie, being careful not to spill anything.

Since Donnie needed to sit up to drink, Raph and Mikey got on both sides and helped to lift him up, while their dad placed some extra pillows behind him for support.

As they rested him against the pillows, Donnie tried to get comfortable, when he realised something.

Something was wrong.

He could tell that he was in a hospital room, they were always pretty identifiable on TV, in anime or in manga regardless of art style, so he knew that since he was in a hospital, he was injured. He couldn’t remember how though.

The last thing he remembers was the fight with Superfly; he had been heading towards Mikey, but he can’t remember anything after that.

He wasn’t in a large amount of pain, a headache with a few points of aches and pain around his body, but that wasn’t what was wrong. Feeling pain was normal, but something wasn’t normal.

Something was wrong.

That’s when he realised.

He could feel any pain from below his…

“g-guys…” he stuttered, “I c-can’t feel my legs.” He began to panic, trying to reach for his legs. He couldn’t move very well, so he couldn’t reach them, but he realised he couldn’t move them either, nor could he feel the blanket that was laid over them.

Raph came in again with a hug, Mikey joining as well, and Donnie brought his arms up to cling to his brothers’ arms that crossed over his chest.

“My son…” Splinter spoke gently, getting Donnie’s attention. It was difficult to stay calm in front of his son. Donatello was looking towards him, fear and shock evident in his unfocused eyes, as well as tears that had built up during his panic. “during the battle, you… got very injured, and there is permanent damage.” He started to get out, how is someone meant to tell their child that they are paralysed for life? “You are paralysed Donatello, but I want to reassure you that we are here for you, you will not be alone in this. We will be right by your side every step of the way.” He didn’t know how he could have explained it in a way that wouldn’t devastate his child. The only way he could think of doing it was by telling him, then quickly and firmly reassuring him that they will be there for him.

Donatello hadn’t heard anything past ‘paralysed’.

Paralysed? He thought. I’m never going to be able to walk again?

He didn’t get to think much more about it before he completely broke down.

Tears started running down his face and he openly cried, clinging harder to his brothers’ arms.

Raph and Mikey held him tighter, while Leo and Splinter waited.

They weren’t going to rush him.

He needed to cry.

The four of them tried their best to stay strong for him, but a few stray tears escaped every eye in the room.

Chapter Text

It took nearly an hour for Donnie to calm down enough to get to a point where he could try and continue the conversation.

At one point, Mikey had moved away in order to give Leo some the space to give Donnie some water. Raph hadn’t let go of Donnie once.

During one of the few moments where Donnie had been able to take a breath and a sip, he had grabbed a hold of his red brother’s arm and clung to it like a lifeline.

“W-what a-are we gonna do?” Donnie spoke “H-how can I be a ninja w-when my le-legs don’t w-work-k?”

No one really knew how to answer. This wasn’t a situation that they had prepared for.

“Well, maybe you could make the device from AOT. You know? That thing that lets the character grapple and swing around buildings and stuff. Or you could be like Professor X, he fights bad guys and he’s paralysed.” Raph pointed out.

“Y-Yea-yeah but he al-also has Phyc-c-c-ic powers, and how would I b-build somethi-i-ng like that?”

“The high school might have stuff you could use. Like in the tech lab or something.” Mikey suggested.

“I-I’m not steeling f-fr-from April’s school.”

“It wouldn’t be steeling if you got permission during school hours.” Leo reassured.

“H-how am I supposed to g-get permission?” Donnie questioned.

“Well, we are students there now.” Mikey explained.

“W-what? We are?”

“Yeah, some guys came in, while we were recovering, with documents in order to let us attend high school.” Leo explained, “They gave us last names and everything.”

“W-what are our last names th-then?” Donnie asked generally curious, he remembered their initial conversation, back when they first went into April’s school, as funny as calling Leo ‘Nardo’ was, he didn’t want to be called Dona Tello, or would it be Don Atello?

“We’re Splintersons.” Mikey answered excitedly, “We couldn’t all decide on a name, so we looked into naming conventions around the world to try to decide and we read that Old Norse names were created with the name of the father and adding either son or dottir at the end depending on if the child was a boy or a girl. It was the easiest way to form a last name and we all liked it, so we went with it.”

Donnie thought for a second. Donatello Splinterson. He liked it. It would be kind annoying to write out on top of test papers due to how long it is, but that was neither here nor there compared to all the other problems he was going to face, he though bitterly to himself.

“D-D-oes that m-m-mean no more ‘Nardo’?” He asked cheekily.

“No more ‘Nardo’” Leo responded firmly but jokingly.

The four turtles chuckled as Splinter looked between them confused but happy that the sullen mood had be lifted, at least partially.

They absently chatted for a little bit when Mikey thought of something.

“Shouldn’t we inform the doctor that Donnie’s awake?” he asked the group.

“Yeah, probably.” Raph responded.

No one moved. No one wanted to move. None of them wanted to leave the room, leave Donnie, to go get the doctor.

“Do you think Donnie being awake counts as an emergency?” Mikey proposed.

There was a unanimous 'yes' throughout the room’s occupants, which prompted Mikey to reach over and press the emergency button.

The doctor arrived less than a minute later.

As soon as she noticed that Donatello was awake, she got straight to work.

She checked his eyes for dilation and asked numerous questions regarding his well-being.

“It seems that you got incredibly lucky in terms of your head trauma, it appears that you only have a stutter, however I would like to do some tests to find out what kind of stutter it is in order to help best treat it.” She spoke.

“What kind of stutters are there?” Leo asked.

“There are a few types of stutters, but when it comes to those caused by head trauma there are two main options.” She explained, “Firstly, there is the neurogenic stutter. That stutter mainly occurs after a traumatic brain injury, but there are two categories of these types of stutters being Aphasia and Apraxia of speech. I won’t go into all the in and outs right now, but the main points are that Aphasia is caused from damage to the left hemisphere of the brain and Apraxia of speech Is mainly caused due to damage to the cerebellum which is located in the lower back of the brain.

Secondly, there is Psychogenic stuttering which is less linked with the ‘injury’ part of a TBI and more the ‘trauma’ side. It is often developed psychologically, likely as a coping mechanism, for the trauma a person has received.

I believe, given the situation, that Donatello most likely has a neurogenic stutter categorised as Apraxia of speech. However, I still need to conduct some tests in order to confirm that, in order to decide on the best actions to take in his recovery.”

“Would he be able to get rid of his stutter?” Mikey asked, he didn’t really understand what she just said, he wanted to know if his brother was gonna recover.

“With help from a speech-language pathologist he should be able to recover fluent speech, it may take a while, but it is possible.”

That was reassuring. Mikey placed his hand on Donnie’s head gently, he had gone to pat Donnie’s shell but moved in order to avoid the mass of bandage still there, as he did not wish to risk hurting his brother. He realised, after Donnie face briefly contorted into a pained expression, that he probably should have just kept his hand down by his side, as Donnie’s head was still wrapped up too, as it was still healing, so, even when done gently, touch likely still hurt.

Donnie understood that Mikey was trying to comfort him through his actions and smiled up at him in appreciation.

The doctor quietly excused herself from the room, saying she would be back in a minute, leaving the family on their own once more.

When the doctor return Donnie’s heart plummeted as he saw what she brought into the room. He started tearing up again as he looked at what he might be stuck with for the rest of his life, a reminder of his most grievous injury.

His family seemed to feel the same way, or picked up on what he was feeling as they went straight to holding him and comforting him as they looked at what the doctor was pushing into the room.

A wheelchair.

-              -              -             

It took Donnie a few minutes to calm down a second time before he was able to test out the wheelchair.

The doctor had brought it in, not with the intent to move Donnie to a different location, but rather to test the size of it.

While the turtles were, obviously, bigger than regular turtles, they were pretty regular size in terms of human proportions, with the exception of their shells.

Their shells added a large awkward mass to their backs that would get in the way at times, like when sitting on a chair. So, the doctor wanted Donnie to test out the wheelchair, in order to help determine if it was an alright size or if modifications needed to be made.

The doctor placed the wheelchair parallel to the bed, near Donnie, then lowered his bed, allowing him to reach both arms of the chair.

With Raph and Leo’s help Donnie was able to manoeuvre into the wheelchair, only for it to be too small.

His shell hit the back of the chair, leaving him awkwardly leaning slightly forward. The doctor took note of the position and the fact that the back was the only issue with the chair.

Raph picked Donnie up, by himself, despite protests from his family and the doctor, and helped him back onto the bed.

Donnie sat on the edge of the bed, his legs hanging uselessly off the side as he looked down at them. The fact that it’s likely that those two limp appendages hanging in front of him will never move on their own again, and the tool meant to help him move needs to be modified because his body is too abnormal to make use of it. It was a lot to process, and he was struggling to. He started to cry again, silently this time.

Why am I crying so much? Donnie thought to himself Why can’t there be a part of me that isn’t a mess right now?

Mikey noticed his brother’s tears, wiping them away with his thumb and leaving his hand against his brother’s cheek, which Donnie leaned into.

The doctor took note of Donnie’s current state and hummed to herself before speaking.

“It is normal for you to have these strong emotional reactions?” She asked Donnie.

Donnie shook his head mutely, he was never really a crier, he’d laugh and smile when happy, and scream when scared, but he never really cried when sad. Now he’s cried three time in one day, in one room. It was very atypical of him.

The doctor scribbled down some notes.

“It may just be because of the situation with you being very overwhelmed right now, but your head injury may be affecting your emotions. It’s not uncommon for individuals who have suffered TBIs to respond with higher levels of emotion, particularly with sadness, worry or anger. I’m making a note of it to bring up with your therapist.”

“Therapist? H-H-How are w-we gonna af-f-f-ford a therapist?” Donnie asked worriedly.

“The government is paying for this.” Raph said, “It’s their way of saying ‘thank you’.” He explained.

That was a relief to Donnie, but now he knew that he would be talking to a therapist for sure, and that thought was kinda intimidating.

“I want to keep you in for a few more weeks, just to monitor you while your awake, and in that time, we should have your wheelchair ready to go and you first therapy appointment booked for each of you.”

The other’s heads snapped up at the last part.

“What do you mean ‘each of you’?” Leo asked carefully.

“After what you went through, we feel it would be best for you each to have the opportunity to see a therapist to help you work through any trauma that you feel you might want help with. There is no pressure to accept the sessions, we cannot force you to attend, but we do believe it would be in your best interests.” She explained.

“Now, Donatello,” She began, “Do you feel up to trying to eat something or would you prefer to rest some more?”

Donnie was hungry, but he didn’t feel like he could stomach something right now, so he politely declined the food and took up the offer of more rest. The crying and panic and stress had taken a lot out of him, it was a lot for someone to experience having just woken up from a coma and, now that it was all dying down, he was finally realising just how tired he was.

The doctor left the room, along with the wheelchair, as the brothers helped Donnie get comfortable back into bed.

He swiftly dozed off, with the comforting sounds of his family wishing him a restful sleep.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks went by fairly quickly. For Donnie at least, he spent a large portion of the time either sleeping or otherwise occupied.

Whenever a doctor would perform a test or redo his bandages, he did not refrain from asking any and all questions that came to mind.

What is that?

Why do you need to do that?

Is this the same way you would treat a wound of the same nature on a human?

What does that do?

Can I have a go with that?

Is it more difficult because of my shell?

And more.

Most of the doctors happily answered his questions, they loved his enthusiasm, but some doctors got annoyed after a while. Donnie learned to not ask so many questions when they were in the room.

There weren’t too many issues other than that though; he had gotten a wheelchair that was to his specifications and had gotten his new glasses, but there was one discovery which ruined the good mood he had going on these last few weeks.

He had been in his eye exam.

His brothers and father were seated in the waiting room as Donnie was getting his eyes tested in the room next-door.

The eye exam, while a bit daunting at first, was actually quite enjoyable. For Donnie at least.

Being a mutant, he had, obviously, never experienced any professional medical check-up. So, all the examinations he has been getting recently was all exposure to new things, and he was living for it.

Seeing all the equipment of different shapes and sizes, different purposes and importance was mind blowing for him.

Sure, he’d see them in various pieces of media, but actually experiencing them, being in the same room and being able to observe how they work and ask questions that would be answered in real time was so much better.

He had been fully engrossed with the optometrist, as he explained the ins and outs of the Ophthalmoscope (as Donnie leaned it was called), when his lower body started to ache.

Donnie noticed it immediately, it would be hard not to after feeling nothing with his legs for weeks, but chose to ignore it at first.

It wasn’t too bad, and he would tell his doctor about the occurrence when he next sees them. Furthermore, he could just forget about it, the pain wasn’t that bad, and he had plenty of other stuff to focus on.

Like his new glasses.

He had been able to return to his family after 40 minutes, he would have been back sooner, but he had had a lot of questions.

The receptionist had taken note of the prescription and Donnie was presented with the various frame options. He had been browsing with his family for a few minutes, stuck between whether he wanted round frames or oversized frames, when the pain started to get worse.

The aching had changed to a shooting pain down both his legs and along his lower spine, with some areas being akin to a burning sensation.

He continued to try and ignore it, but it was getting difficult.

It hadn’t taken long for his family to notice either.

Donnie had become less talkative following the worsening pain, which drew their attention.

 Then Mikey noticed Donnie trembling.

“Dude, you okay? You’re trembling.” He asked concerned.

Donnie shook his head “hurts.” He quickly got out; he had started clenching his jaw.

“What hurts?” His father spoke gently, kneeling down in front of his son.

“M’ legs” Donnie managed to answer, “and spine.” He followed up with a gasping breath as another spike went through his left leg.

They then decided to forget the glasses for now, explaining to the receptionist what was going on. She understood and told them that all of the details would be recorded in their system, so they could return at any time to choose what they wanted.

She also offered to call someone to provide assistance, to which they immediately agreed.

It hadn’t taken long for help to arrive and get Donnie back to his hospital room, where he was given a thorough check up and some pain medication.

It had then taken less than an hour for the doctor to return with the news.

Chronic pain.

Donnie remembered hearing those words and wanting to cry yet again.

He knew chronic pain was permanent. There was no cure for it, only treatments, but those treatments were often specific to the type of chronic pain.

He learnt from his doctor that there are treatment options that he could follow, but he would need to do so, for the rest of his life, and even then, that would just be to manage the pain.

So, I’m paralysed and gonna be in pain regularly, for the rest of my life. Donnie thought to himself while summarising his condition.

Donnie had been given prescriptions for gabapentin and morphine shortly after.

The doctor explained that he should regularly take the gabapentin, one capsule per dose, three times a day, with a time difference of 6 to 8 hours between each dose. They also explained that they may increase the dosage after a while, but that would be discussed later down the line.

The morphine prescription was for the flare ups. Donnie was only to take it when in pain. He was also warned that taking strong pain killers, such as morphine, alongside gabapentin might make him tired and dizzy.

The doctors monitored him for a few days following the flare up, during which time the family had returned to the optometrist to pick out Donnie’s glasses. He chose oversize frames that were eggplant purple, ‘similar to his original ones, but with a bit more personality’ as described to him by Mikey.

Then, after one final check-up, Donnie was cleared to go home.

-              -              -             

They had just left the hospital and had approached a nearby manhole cover when they came to a stop.

They needed to find a way to get Donnie and his wheelchair into the sewers.

The wheelchair wouldn’t be so bad on its own as it can be folded up, however they didn’t know how Donnie would manage.

“I got this, you guys.” Raph spoke up after a few minutes of silent consideration.

He approached Donnie and crouched down in front of him, facing away so that his shell was facing Donnie.

“Climb on, bro.”

Donnie hesitated.

While Raph’s shell had healed since it was cracked, it was still tender. They had just left the hospital, Donnie didn’t exactly want to go back sooner than necessary.

But, he knew his brother was stubborn and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, so, cautiously, Donnie leant forward and wrapped his arms over his older brother’s shoulder and around his neck.

Raph stood up with Donnie clinging to his back, legs limply hanging, luckily Raph was taller than Donnie enough so that Donnie’s feet didn’t touch the ground.

Leo acted before Raph could proceed.

“Mikey head down the ladder first, I’ll pass his wheelchair down to you, then you can set it up down there.” He instructed the youngest as he got to work folding up the, now unoccupied, wheelchair.

Mikey headed down into the sewer wordlessly and waited at the bottom of the ladder, as Leo maneuvered the wheelchair through the manhole opening.

Splinter climbed down the manhole shortly after wanting to make sure that there was someone unoccupied available at the bottom of the ladder in case something were to happen.

Raph moved to the ladder and got onto the first step. Slowly, he progressed down the ladder, making sure that they were both fitting through the opening.

“You alright bro?” He asked as he made his descent.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was a little claustrophobic, but it was manageable. The only thing that was making Donnie ‘not alright’ was the thought that this is going to be how he gets home from now on, having to be carried down a ladder, awkwardly, by someone. Maybe we can make an elevator or something He thought absentmindedly.

Raph got down into the sewers without any issues and lowered Donnie back onto his wheelchair before they made their way through the tunnels towards their home.

At this point, they still didn’t know what it looked like. They knew of some of the changes, so they had an idea of what to expect, but they had nothing concrete. It was exciting. They had never come home to a completely redecorated lair before.

As they approached the entrance, they each noticed a few things.

One: Lights. The lair seemed brighter than it was. Whether that was because of additional lights or stronger bulbs in the original ones, none of them knew, but it was a noticeable difference.

Two: Colour. In the small amount of the lair they saw, it seemed more colourful. There were more things on the walls, new carpets on the floor. Whether the colours were just more vibrant in the brighter light or everything they were seeing was brand new, they didn’t know.

Three: Noise. There was a lot of noise coming from the lair. Not lots of passing cars or airplanes flying overhead, not the TV being on full volume, not the various old electronics scattered around, but voices. They knew who’s voices they were.

Their cousins.

Donnie hadn’t been able to see them since the battle. As it turns out, renovating a lair and talking to government officials and arranging applications for school takes up a lot of time.

Upon registering the voices, Donnie tried to move faster, pushing harder on his push rings. Raph took notice and grabbed the push handles of the chair and took off in a jog.

Donnie leaned his head back to look up at his bro, smiling in excitement and appreciation.

They reached the lair in no time, and it went silent.

The mutants occupying the space had heard them approaching and had turned to welcome them but froze when they saw Donnie.

They didn’t freeze for long though, soon erupting into a sea of cheers and calls as they rushed over to welcome the boys and their father home.

It was hard to make out what everyone was saying as their voices layered over one another, but Donnie was able to focus on one. Wingnut.

“You know, I bet with enough wing power and elbow grease, we could really soup this baby up.” She spoke confidently as she observed his already customised wheelchair. “I’m thinking electronic wheelchair made from stainless steal, with a more comfortable backrest, and some weaponry.” She verbalised.

“Way ahead o’ ya, mate.” Leatherhead cut in, “I’m picturing an automated shield and boosters.” She added.

“And make it purple?” Donnie added, it would be kinda cool for it to match his new glasses.

“Of course!” Leatherhead and Wingnut agreed in tandem.

Sounds like a plan.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since the family returned home from the hospital.

Wingnut and Leatherhead were well underway with making Donnie’s improved wheelchair.

Initially, the plan was to improve his current one, however, when discussions about attending school started, they decided it was best to have Donnie take the regular one to high school with him, instead of the high-grade military weapon version that was currently in the works, but that didn’t mean that Donnie didn’t customise his current wheelchair.

Over the years, Donnie has amassed a large volume of stickers. Mostly anime themed, though there were some other themes including video games, various movie franchises (such as the MCU, Harry Potter, and Stranger Things), and just random stickers that caught his eye.

Much in the same way he did to personalise his bo staff, the stickers now littered the wheelchair, primarily on the back and the arms.

Furthermore, Mondo and Mikey surprised Donnie one morning by spray painting his wheels a vibrant purple to match his mask.

It was now the first day of school for the boys.

Each dressed in their own style, from the clothes they had gathered during the various missions they had been on, and heading up to the surface.

The journey up the ladder of the manhole was easier than going down.

Mikey headed up first to open the manhole with Donnie following shortly behind. Donnie was using him upper body strength to pull himself up the ladder, Raph stayed very close behind him just in case, with Donnie’s wheelchair folded up and tied to his back by Leo who approached the ladder last.

Once on the surface, Mikey got to work setting up Donnie’s wheelchair, which, once it was ready, Donnie pulled himself onto as they sat near the entrance to the high school. Their high school.

They could hear the students inside… smell them too.

The unmistakable scent of BO, along side various designer perfumes and an abhorrent amount of body spray wafted down towards the boys as they prepared to enter the school.

It was everything they ever wanted and more.

The four of them eagerly rushed towards the doors, three of them not noticing one falling behind.

“um, GUYS?!” Donnie’s high-pitched voice cut through their excitement, causing them to turn around, “P-problem nu-umber one.” He informed while looking at the stairs in front of the door, preventing his approach.

The guys rushed down the stair, with Leo and Raph taking Donnie’s wheelchair by the sides with him still seated.

On three, the two of them lifted and carried Donnie up the stairs, placing him down at the top.

“Thanks.” Donnie thanked his brothers, personally he felt it would have probably been easier for one of them to carry him while the other carried the wheelchair, but he wasn’t the one doing the heavy lifting so… whatever worked best for his brothers he was fine with.

“We’re gonna need to talk to the principle about wheelchair accessibility for this entrance.” Leo stated, “You would think that a high school would have those features in 2023.” The others nodded in agreement, surely the school would have had a disabled student by now or at the very least had enough time to consider improving their accessibility for when they eventually got one.

The brothers turned and looked at the doors once again. Taking a deep breath each, they approached, with Raph and Leo opening the doors and letting their little brothers in .

Immediately after the doors closed behind them, the hustle and bustle of the hallway came to a complete stop as all the present students turned to look at the four mutants.

The silence didn’t last long though as the groups of assorted teens broke out into cheers as they rushed over.

Greeting, thanks, compliments, invitations, and cacophony of speech from all sides as they celebrated the turtles.

April broke through the crowd to start leading them down the hall, passing her redecorated locker and further into the school.

“Hey April, can you take us to the nurse’s office, we need to give them Don’s medication.” Raph asked, as much as he wanted to barrel down the hall into the gymnasium to find like minded individuals, he remembered his internal promise to be there for Donnie from now on, and that included making sure his little brother’s medication was stored correctly and as soon as possible.

April didn’t need to be asked twice as she helped them b-line for the nurse’s office, where the boys introduced themselves and gave them the medication and notes from the doctor about the proper storage, dosage, and other necessary information. Shortly after, they headed to first period.

-              -              -

The turtles all shared the same timetable. It was decided during a meeting between Splinter and the Principle that it would be best to keep the boys together. That way they can keep an eye on each other and not be too overwhelmed by being surrounded by a lot of new people by themselves, furthermore, it was decided it would be best for at least one other turtle to be near Donatello at any given time, in case he needed help.

While none of them said anything as to not be overbearing, Leo, Raph and Mikey were all very relieved to hear that they would be in proximity of Donnie at all times. At least until it would be considered alright for him to be by himself.

Donnie was a little less pleased by the idea of needing a caretaker. It’s not that he didn’t want to be around his brothers, he appreciated their company and the effort they were putting in to make life as easy and as comfortable as possible for him, but the idea that he was burdening them was ever-present in his mind.

He knew his brothers wanted to explore and find their own friend groups throughout the school, but they were all stuck looking after him instead.

He knew they each wanted to explore and discover who they are as individuals, but now they are stuck focusing on him instead of themselves.

He loved his brothers very much, and loved hanging out with them, but hated the fact that he himself was keeping them from developing in this new world that they finally have the chance to explore.

They were in their second to last period when Donnie started to receive a flare up.

He could feel it coming. He recognised the aching.

Donnie thought to himself once he realised what was happening.

If I tell them that I’m having a flare up, they’ll all take me to the nurse’s office to get the pain killers, meaning they’ll miss out on education and time to socialise with the class. Maybe I can ask to go to the toilet and sneak to the nurse’s office? No, that probably wouldn’t work. Firstly, my bros might try to come with to make sure there aren’t any issues and they’d probably be allowed. The four of them had been getting treated very leniently compared to other students, Donnie presumed it was the result of a mix between wanting to thank them for saving the city and the fact that most people likely believed they didn’t fully comprehend social norms.

Secondly, taking my pain meds would make me dizzy and if I faint or get lost as a result, then my brothers will never leave me alone again.

Donnie thought for a bit longer. Trying to grasp the severity of the flare up.

It doesn’t seem to be getting much worse, at least not quickly. Perhaps I can last till the end of the day. That way my brothers don’t miss out on anything and I can just take my pain killers at home.

Donnie ultimately decided that was the best course of action. He wasn’t in serious need of pain killers right now, and like he thought, it didn’t seem to be getting worse, so he could last till the end of the day.

He’d be fine.

-              -              -

He was not fine.

They were now about a quarter of the way through the final lesson of the day and Donnie was struggling.

The flare up very suddenly got worse when transitioning from one classroom to the next, he didn’t know if the movement had an affect or if it just got worse for the sake of getting worse, but he could barely concentrate on what was going on.

He now also had a secondary problem.

The teacher.

The final lesson was science and their teacher, Mr Jones, was strict.

April had warned them about him when she first saw that they had him as their teacher.

He, apparently, is the kind of teacher who comes in to do their job and get paid. They don’t try to build a rapport with the class or make lessons fun and interesting, he just teaches and leaves.

Now that wouldn’t be so bad, but he absolutely hates anything that prevents it. He hates distractions. If you interrupt him, you are punished. Regardless of what it is that you did.

According to April, he once kept behind five students during lunch because one girl asked another girl for a pad and the boys nearby, who overheard, reacted immaturely and ‘eww’d’ at the idea of it. The whole interaction lasted maybe 10 seconds, but he kept them for 15 minutes and it caused the girl who asked to have to go home and change.

The pain for Donnie had gotten so bad he couldn’t focus on the lesson at all and didn’t know the topic they were learning about, which, he knew, meant that if Mr Jones asked him a question, he would be unable to answer and immediately get on his bad side.

He didn’t know what to do.

If he asked to leave he would either be punished for interrupting, regardless of if he uses the toilet excuse or the chronic pain reason, or he would be allowed to go, which Donnie knew was unlikely as, to Mr Jones, the toilet excuse was not a reason to leave the lesson, and Donnie didn’t know if Mr Jones would consider chronic pain a ‘valid’ reason considering what he’s heard.

He tried to stay hidden in class and hoped to ride it out until the end of school, but, alas, Donnie’s hope wasn’t strong enough to get him through as a sudden stab of pain caused him to take a sudden intake of breath.

Now, the breath wasn’t very loud, Mr Jones hadn’t heard it, but Donnie was seated next to his brothers. His brothers who are ninjas trained to listen for the slightest of noises. So, he knew the minute he made that noise they all knew something was up.

His fear was confirmed when all three of their heads snapped in his direction.

“Donnie, you alright?” Raph asked in a whisper, careful not to be too long, luckily, they were sat at the back of the classroom, nearest the door, for Donnie’s ease of movement.

Donnie wanted to say yes, but the pain was nauseating and made him feel like if he opened his mouth, he’d throw up. This feeling resulted in him clenching his jaw and shaking his head.

Reacting immediately, Raph stood up and prepared to take Donnie to the nurse, with Leo and Mikey quickly following to do the same.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Mr Jones demanded in a stern frustrated tone.

“We need to take him to get his medication.” Mikey explained, he knew Donnie wouldn’t want everyone to know about the chronic pain, he could tell he didn’t want people to know he was in pain based around the fact that he was still making an effort to seem alright.

“Can he not do that himself?” Mr Jones challenged.

“No.” Raph firmly stated leaving no room for argument.

The two of them were staring each other down, waiting for the other to say something or back down.

Eventually, Mr Jones spoke up.

“Only one of you needs to go with him if it’s that urgent.” He told them, “The other two can sit down.”

Raph didn’t need to be told twice as he swiftly turned and left the room taking Donnie with him.

Mikey and Leo hesitated before sitting down, watching the closing door, wishing they could help their brother, but neither were going to disobey their teacher.

They had never really been separated before this moment. It felt wrong.

Mr Jones grumbled to himself, making no effort to hide his distaste at being interrupted.

Leo did not like how the man seemed to only care about working rather than the health of his students.

“Oh, I’m sorry that our brother’s health is such an inconvenience to you.” Leo said harshly, spitting the last word as if merely referring to the man, who stood up front, left a bad taste in his mouth. “Donnie was only injured because he helped save the city so that people like you could continue live in peace, and I bet he’s done a damn sight more than you’ve ever done to help others.”

Leo decided there and then that he would only respect those who deserved it, and someone with so little compassion definitely does not deserve respect, regardless of whether they were his superior or not.

Leo slumped back in his chair as everyone in class, including Mikey looked at him with wide eyes, everyone except Mr Jones, who looked at him stone faced before turning back to the board and continuing like nothing happened.

-              -              -

Raph rushed down the hallways of the school towards the nurse’s office. His speed hastened as Donnie’s breathing became uneven, even more so as he started to whimper in pain.

When they came to the nurse’s door, Raph slowed down and carefully opened the door before pushing Donnie in.

“He needs help!” He called to the seemingly empty room.

Some shuffling was heard as the nurse stepped out of the walk-in cupboard.

“What does he ne-”He was cut off by Raphael.

“Pain killers! His pain killers! The – the tablets – morphine tablets!” He urged, panicking more as his brother started to tear up from the pain.

Donnie’s teeth were now clenched on show as his shaky breaths carried his pained whimpers and cries as the pain intensified.

The nurse quickly turned back into the cupboard, where all the medication was stored.

Raph crouched down next to Donnie and started rubbing his shell. Donnie had hunched forward a bit due to the pain. The pained noises were getting less and less, and Raph hoped that the pain was receding or that maybe his hand motions on his brother’s shell was comforting enough to help calm him down.

His hopeful thoughts were quickly destroyed as Donnie slumped forward, completely limp, just as the nurse returned to the room and placed the pain meds on a nearby table with a glass of water.

“DONNIE?!” Raph called, alarmed. He placed his hands on his brother’s face and held him upright in his chair, gently tapping his cheeks, hoping to rouse him.

“It’s okay, he’s just passed out.” The nurse stated calmly.

“How is that okay?!” Raph got out in a strained voice, on the verge of tears himself.

“Well, perhaps ‘okay’ isn’t the right word, but he will be alright. I promise. When he wakes up, we’ll give him his medication and then I’ll monitor him for a little bit, but he’ll be okay.” The nurse reassured. “When he wakes up, he is likely going to be confused and panicked. I need you to try to calm him down a bit.”

Raph was going to do that anyway; he didn’t need to be told to comfort his brother.

Donnie was only passed out for about 20 seconds, though, to Raph, it felt much longer.

When he woke up, he was confused, just as the nurse said, looking around, trying to figure out where he was.

Not too long later, it seemed that he had become aware enough to begin registering the pain once again, doubling over, hissing through his teeth, and resuming his shaky breaths while tears began to leak from his eyes.

“Hey Donnie, it’s okay, I’m here bro.” Raph said as he placed his hands back on Donnie’s cheeks and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears. “I need you to take some deep breaths bro, we need you to calm down so you can take your pain meds.”

Raph started to take his own deep breaths while prompting Donnie to follow along, it took a few minutes for Donnie’s breathing to calm down and while it was still shaky and hitched, it was enough for the nurse to consider him calm enough attempt to take his medication, which Donnie accepted with little hesitation.

Raph sat on the floor in front of Donnie as they waited for the medication to kick in. They talked about what they did today. Raph mainly carried the conversation while Donnie added in some extra details that Raph missed or some agreements about the colourful names that Raph used to refer to Mr Jones.

By the time the meds had begun to work it was 20 minutes before the end of the day, Donnie had started to feel quite tired as a side affect and Raph decided that it wasn’t worth returning to class.

Donnie was too tired to focus.

Raph would be too focused on Donnie to care about the lesson, and Raph knew that Leo and Mikey would likely be the same.

After the nurse looked Donnie over, he cleared them to return to class.

Raph pushed Donnie into the hallway and started heading back towards the classroom, but not to return to class. He approached the door before opening it and leaning in.

“Sorry for interrupting,” Raph began purposely talking as loud as possible without yelling as to not get into trouble, “We are going home, so I’m gonna need my bros to come with me.” he explained with a forced smile, that he had made no attempt to make look genuine.

Before Mr Jones could open his mouth, Leo and Mikey hurriedly gathered their stuff and their brothers’ stuff before leaving the room, not bothering with a goodbye or even a second glance.

When they got into the hall, Mikey immediately went to Donnie, only to find his brother half dozing from his medication, though he was able to briefly make eye contact and give a genuine smile at the sight of his family.

Leo noticed too which prompted him to ask, “Is he alright?”

“Yeah mostly,” Raph reassured, “The medication is working, but like the doctor explained it has made him sleepy.” He added to try to further convince them, before realising he needed to explain what happened earlier. “He um… he did pass out though before he took the medicine. The pain knocked him out.”

“what?” Mikey asked worriedly, he knew chronic pain was painful, it obviously would be as ‘pain’ is in its name, but for his brother to be experiencing a type of pain that can render him unconscious, it made him feel sick.

Leo too was shocked at the news, hearing that his little brother was experiencing something like that, and possibly might continue to experience for the rest of his life as well. His heart broke at the thought.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Leo spoke, “Okay, we’ll make a note of this, and we’ll tell dad and ask Donnie later how long he felt the pain before it got to that point. We’ll make note of any other times this happens, and we’ll tell the doctor when we next see him.” They were due to see the doctor in a couple weeks for a follow up check-up, they would have to tell him about this, so they had better make a record of it and any similar occasions.

Raph nodded while Mikey just looked at Donnie with worry, before standing up and pushing Donnie towards the exit, his brothers following behind.

Donnie continued to doze, unaware of his brother’s plan and the approaching conversations that come with it.

Chapter Text

The boys made it home safely.

Following their descent into the sewers, Raphael decided to carry Donatello back home. Donatello had succumbed to the drowsiness that his medication brought him, and had been asleep most of the journey, with his brothers often having to hold him upright as they moved. As a result, Raphael concluded it would be easier to just carry his purple brother home, in a bridal carry, supporting his brother's shell while his head was resting against his shoulder.

The sight of them, alongside the early return, sent their family into a state of panic, rushing over to check on the boys, thinking the worst because of the sullen expressions on the faces of the three conscious turtles.

Raphael made his way to the bedroom and placed Donnie carefully in his tent, as Mikey and Leo explained what had happened. He made sure to fluff Donnie’s pillow and tuck him in shortly after removing his glasses, mask and gear and placing them to the side as to not disturb his brother’s sleep.

Raph then sat down just outside the tent to keep watch over his little brother. He had seen how scared Donnie had been when waking up earlier, after fainting, he didn’t want his brother to wake up alone in case he panicked again.

Mikey and Leo entered not long later, after having calmed down their family. They had luckily been able to convince their father and cousins that it would be best if they left the boys to comfort their brother for now, as to not overwhelm Donatello with over a dozen people surrounding him when he wakes up.

Leonardo had a notebook in hand and Mikey had various coloured pens.

“Dad said we should have a way to take note of things like this, so that we don’t forget anything when we see the doctor.” Leo explained once he saw Raph confused gaze.

“We’re gonna write down all the experiences in one book so that way we just need to take one with us to the doctors, but we’re gonna colour code the events so that we know who it’s about.” Mikey added.

“We also need to have the date of each event and try to be as descriptive as possible.” Leonardo finished as Mikey handed him a purple pen.

Leo made a quick note of the date and worked with the others to write a vague description of what they know.

“We need ask Donnie if he felt the flare up coming or if it was sudden, as well as see if he can gage how bad the pain was.” Leo informed, as he placed the pen down on the still open book.

“I’d say the pain was likely a ten. I mean he passed out from it; it can’t get much worse than that, can it?” Raph rationalised. He hoped it wouldn’t get worse. What would worse even entail?

“I know, but if there was a lead up, where he could feel the pain increasing, it would be useful to make a record of how quickly the pain increased or if it started at a certain point and jumped suddenly to ten, or if it just started at a ten.”

The boys sat in relative silence for a bit, occasionally scrolling on their phones while they waited for Donnie to wake up. The silence was broken after a few minutes, by Mikey.

“What got into you back in class?” He asked Leo in a genuinely curious tone.

“What do you mean?”

“Back in class, just after Raph left with Donnie, you had a go at the teacher, that’s not like you.” If Mikey was being completely honest, he thought it was kinda cool how Leo stood up for their brother, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit concerned for Leo, given how out of character it was.

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, what?” Raph cut in, “You had a go at the teacher?” Raph put extra emphasis on ‘You’ as he pointed at his blue banded brother.

“Well, I mean- I - well -ugh he pissed me off.” Leo initially tried to think of a way to make it see less impulsive, but couldn't think of a good enough cover, “The dude could have shown a little bit of compassion for the people who saved his home, it’s not that hard to do. I mean, I know he was gonna be a dick, but I didn’t think he was that big of one. I know I’m the one who typically respects authority figures, but fuck authority figures like him, if he’s not gonna show appreciation and respect, why should I have to show it to him?” Leo said in an exasperated tone, crossing his arms over his chest.

Raph and Mikey sat staring at him, both mouths agape in shock at what they just heard.

“Damn bro.” Raph managed to get out before breaking out into a giggle and a grin, “You’ve finally grown a backbone.”

Mikey was grinning as well, bouncing where he sat.

It seemed they were too loud as Donnie started to stir.

He groaned and shifted his head towards the noise opening his eyes to see what had disturbed him.

“hey guys.” He acknowledged in his half-asleep state.

“Hey bro, you doing alright, man?” Raph questioned.

“Yeah.” Came a half slurred sleepy response.

“Donnie, did you feel the flare up coming?” Leo asked, getting straight to the point. He knew it was likely unethical, but he hoped that, since Donnie was half asleep, he wouldn’t think before he speaks and would be more honest. After all, none of the members of their family were particularly upfront when it came to things like this.

“yeah.” Came a still tired confirmation.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Mikey quickly enquired, picking up on what Leo was doing.

“I thought I could manage.”

“Why would you need to manage? Your meds are there for you to take, not for you to leave until the last minute.” Raph added.

“I didn’t want to disturb everyone.”

That got the boys attention.

They knew they really shouldn’t be interrogating their brother when he is unable to think properly, but they needed to know his motivation, especially because it put his wellbeing at risk.

“Disturb us from what?”

“School.”

“Can you elaborate?” Leo prompted.

“We w-waited so l-long to be able to go to school. Y-you s-shouldn’t have t-to miss ou-out on the opportunity j-just b-because my legs a-a-ache.” Donnie explained, a bit more awake now but still not fully alert and aware. “I w-want you guys t-to be-e able to at-ttend school a-a-and socialise, like we all alwa-ays wanted to, n-n-not stay g-glued to my s-sides-s wor-or-orrying about me. There are s-so many op-pportunit-ties that I d-don’t want you-you guys to i-ignore.”

Leo quickly jotted down a few notes into the medical notebook:

• Donnie minimalised the severity of his pain (it caused him to pass out, yet he referred to it as an ‘ache’)
• Donnie is willing to forgo taking his meds and cause himself pain because he doesn’t want to be a bother.
• Stutter seemed to increase when tired (or as a result of medication?)

The boys looked at each other, each equally worried about Donnie’s words. This was definitely something they would have to talk to Donnie about when he is more awake.

They decided to call it a day with the interrogation, feeling bad that they just got Donnie to admit to an insecurity, but agreeing that it was a good thing that they were now aware of it so that they could address it at a later date. It was a Friday, so they had the weekend to discuss it.

Shortly after agreeing to continue later, Mikey climbed into Donnie’s tent and laid down next to his brother. After hearing his bro admit to thinking of himself as a burden, Mikey wanted nothing more than to hold him close for a bit. The two youngest members of the family eventually drifted off to sleep as their older brothers sat nearby.

-              -              -             

The next day Donnie awoke with his head resting on Mikey’s arm, his brother still fast asleep. He was briefly confused about why his brother was there when he recalled the previous evening.

He groaned to himself realising that his brothers are going to want to talk about it and he knew he couldn’t play dumb and act like everything he said was just half-asleep nonsense.

He moved his head to try to find where his other brothers were, and, both luckily and unfortunately, he didn’t have to try very hard to find them.

He nearly jumped out of his shell when he saw the faces of his two elder brothers watching him through the tent opening.

“G-good morning to you too.” He said, a bit miffed at being startled. His flinch at being scared resulted in Mikey stirring awake as well, if the grumble and movement was any indication.

“We need to talk.” Leo stated firmly.

“Y-yeah, I know.”

Mikey was able to convince them to wait a moment as he went to fetch breakfast for the four of them. Raphael took his place in the tent, helping Donnie sit up, keeping him arm around him, less for physical support and more so for emotional support.

The four of them ate their breakfast while watching meme compilations on Donnie’s laptop and, when they finished, they put everything to the side, out of the way as they started to talk.

“Last night, you said you didn’t tell us about your flare up until it was too much for you because you didn’t want us to miss out on the new opportunities.” Leo summarised, “Can you explain why you thought that?”

“W-well we w-waited so long to be able to go to school and b-be apart of society, now that we have it I-I don’t want you guys to be limited to only experiencing a part of it because you have to take care of me.” Donnie explained, “I know that I-I’m gonna need hel-help with this.” He gestured to his legs, “like with get-t-ting out of the sewers and moving around w-w-when the pain is too much, but it’s unfair that you g-guys have to stick around me being my… carers… 24/7 instead of exp-p-ploring and making friends. I don’t want to be the reason we a-all stay isolated, so I th-thought if I could last until we were out of school an-nd take my meds at home, then you’d have m-more time to make the most of our new s-situation.”

Raph pulled Donnie closer, bringing up his other arm to embrace his brother, and resting his chin of his forehead.

“Donnie you’re really stupid sometimes.” He began, “First of all, you're not a burden, okay? like, at all, we want to help you, it’s not something we’re gonna moan about or get mad at when we do it, we want to make your life easier.”

“Secondly,” Leo continued, “yeah, we waited a while to be able to walk among humans, but we’ve got that opportunity now. We are experiencing it every time we go to the surface. Plus, the opportunity isn’t going anywhere, we have all our lives to make the most of it and we want to make sure that you’re in a position to join us when we do, and if that means taking it slow and steady then we will. I know that in the story it’s a tortoise that comes out on top by taking his time, but a turtle and a tortoise aren’t too different.”

“Yeah dude,” Mikey joined in, “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. We’ve Improvised by getting you a wheelchair as a new means of transport, and we are currently Adapting by finding ways to get around using it and making you a better one and getting used to interacting with others, and we’ll Overcome it together, as a team.” He felt like he may have been taking a stretch with his analogy, but he didn’t care so long as it got his point across, which, by the way Donnie’s smile trembled slightly as his eyes filled with tears, seemed to work.

He was able to pull Mikey into a hug with Leo following soon after upon realising his purple brother was unable to reach him.

“Thanks guys,” Donnie said in a small but joyous voice, “I needed to hear that.”

They didn’t know how long the hug lasted, nor did they care, but it was broken when one April O’Neil came into the room, drawing their attention.

“You guys ready to go buy some suits?” She proposed with a grin.

Oh right. Prom.

Chapter Text

The boys, Splinter and April had headed up to the surface to go shopping for suits for prom.

After reading up on what prom was, to see why the boys were so excited for it, Splinter had insisted on coming along to pay for the outfits, as well as to witness his sons preparing for such an important event in their young lives.

They had gone to an expensive clothing store, which had an on-site tailor so that the boys can have their suits modified to fit their shells.

Donatello was the first to get his measurements taken, having to pull himself up to sit on one of the tailor’s tables, in order to allow the tailor uninterrupted reach to his shell.

While that was taking place, the others were encouraged to browse the store for styles and materials they liked, and after Donnie reassured them that he would be alright if they left him alone for a minute, the boys spread themselves out around the store.

Raph had been browsing through a few suits, but none really caught his eye. As excited as he was for prom, he wasn’t really feeling the whole ‘prom outfit’ thing. He just wanted to go to prom and party and have fun, he can do that in any outfit.

All the suits he was looking through looked overcomplicated, like they would take an hour to put on and you’d have to constantly correct them as they fall out of place with each movement. He didn’t know how to tie a tie and he didn’t want to learn just for one day and who really needs a ‘three piece’ suit, just buy one suit and be done with it.

He was so fed up with looking at the suits that he even looked at the dresses on the other side of the store, and while the colours were nicer, they were still over the top in his opinion.

While he was approaching his third lap of the store, something out the window caught his eye.

There was a second store across the street. It was another clothing store and seemed to have a completely different vibe to the store he was currently in.

He knew he likely wasn’t gonna find anything in this store, he already did two laps, so he doubted he missed something, so perhaps that store had something for him.

It was a different store so it should have different options, right?

He headed over to his father who was sitting near the tills, trying to keep an eye on all his children throughout the store.

“Hey dad?”

“Hhhm?”

“I think I see something I like in the store over there, could I go over there and take a look?”

Splinter glanced out the window at the store and seemed a bit sceptical at the idea of something in there being worthwhile. It didn’t look like a store that would sell outfits fit for a prom, but he was willing to give his son the benefit of the doubt.

“Alright, but don’t buy anything yet. If you see something you like in there, come back and get me and I will pay for it.”

“Awesome, thanks dad!” Raph exclaimed as he practically ran out of the store.

Running across the road, narrowly missing some passing cars on his way, Raphael came to the front doors of the shop and entered, a small ring from a bell captured his attention as he opened the door, looking up he spotted the bell positioned above the door.

Raph looked at it for a second, captivated by the fact it was there. He had only seen them in movies and had thought they were a fictional thing or had gone out of style considering that no store he had been too prior to this one had such a mechanism.

Snapping back to reality, Raph turned and headed towards one section that had caught his attention when he first saw the shop.

These clothes were more his style. Jackets and t-shirts and sweatpants, all things that would be comfortable for him to wear.

As he browsed through the options, he noticed a rack of leather jackets. Most were fully black, but some had coloured detailing, like red stripes down the sides. He was looking over the options when one stood out to him.

On its own rack, hung a leather jacket with a flaming skull on the back. The skull appeared to be melting in the flames, as if it was made of wax, the area under the eyes falling in such a way that it appeared to be crying.

Raph picked up his pace, heading straight for it.

He grabbed the jacket just as someone else did.

He turned to look at them to see what he was up against in the competition for this jacket.

Stood to his right was a boy about his height and probably around the same age.

He had black hair in a long curly mop top hairstyle, clearly never brushed, and patchy stubble on his chin in either a pathetic attempt at a beard or this boy had just not bothered to shave. He had a relatively muscular build, but was still quite skinny. So skinny in fact that Raph knew the jacket would swamp him.

“Dude, I saw it first and it’s my size. Go check out one of the others.” Raph told the boy.

“No way dude, I saw it first and I’m building my muscles, and this jacket will look hella sick on me once I’m finished.”

“Dude, you don’t ‘finish’ getting muscle, you have to maintain it, and there is no guarantee you’d even be able to get enough muscle to fill this jacket, I mean look at you, you could fit into one of the sleeves.” Raph explained and teased, “I want this jacket and frankly, it should go to the person who can actually wear it out the store and not look ridiculous.”

“I don’t know man, a turtle wearing a leather jacket sounds pretty ridiculous to me.” The boy stated.

“At least it would fit the turtle.”

The two locked eyes challenging one another, daring the other to try something, neither willing to back down.

After a moment, the boy grinned slyly then extended his left hand towards Raphael.

“Casey Jones.” He introduced himself.

Raph was taken back for a moment; he recognised that name. As his mind worked to remember where he had heard it before, he extended his left hand to take a hold of Casey’s, letting go of the jacket in the first place.

“Jones? As in…?”

“Yep, Mr Jones is my dad.” Casey revealed as he quickly flung the jacket off the rack and over his shoulder, claiming it as his own.

Raph couldn’t care less about the jacket at this point, his head was still reeling, trying to grasp how this shaggy mess of a human could be related to a creature like Mr Jones.

While he still held Casey’s hand, he took in his appearance some more, trying to find any connection.

He couldn’t find one.

Mr Jones dresses in suits that looked to have been freshly ironed minutes before the lesson, perfect with no sign of creases, but Casey… Casey’s clothes don’t look like they have ever been washed.

His black t-shirt was oversized, and baggy as too was his sweatpants, though the bottom of each leg had been rolled up a bit. His sneakers were worn, scuffed, and looked to be falling apart and holes and grass stains littered the ensemble. There was a black bandana tied around his upper left arm and, based on the slight tan line across his forehead, it was supposed to be tied along his hairline.

If it weren’t for the reveal of his last name, Raph would have never in a million years been able to figure out those two were related. There just wasn’t any resemblance whatsoever.

Casey looked annoyed by the fact that Raph was still holding his hand, beginning to regret his genius plan that managed to get Raph to let go of the jacket. He knew the Raph knew his father, he had been in the class were the turtles first interacted with the man, but using the shock value of their relation to get Raph to loosen his grip was not worth this hostage situation. He just wanted to buy the jacket and leave, was that too much to ask?

“You can’t be related to him.” Raph stated in a tone that seemed both certain and unsure at once.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because I can’t imagine that anyone would willingly follow that man to a bed, let alone go all the way.” That made Casey chuckle, he could see why Raph would think that, given how strict and unlikable his father was now, but he knew his dad loved his mom.

Raph jumped slightly when Casey began to laugh, before breaking into his own slight chuckle, mostly caused by how awkward he felt than anything humorous. It was at that point that he realised that he was still holding Casey’s hand. Quickly letting go, Raph brought his hand up and started rubbing the back of his neck.

Casey’s laugh calmed before he turned to Raph, “Hey, I saw the way your bro stood up to my father, I don’t see that very often, it’s refreshing.” He pointed out, “And if your interest in this jacket is anything to go by, you have a good sense of style. I think me and you and your bros could be good friends. You seem cool, you know for that and the fact that you saved the city by defeating that weird giant fly, whale, horse, zoo thing.” He added.

Raph was a bit taken back by that. So far, people have typically focused on their heroism when talking about how great they are, but Casey said it like it was an afterthought. He seemed more interested in Raph’s sense of style, which is odd.

“Yeah well, my sense of style is why I’m here.” He explained gesturing around the store, “I’m meant to be in there,” He said as he pointed at the original store across the street, “but I don’t like anything there. I know your supposed to dress up for prom, but that kind of outfit is just not me.” He lamented.

“More of a comfort over class kind of guy?” Casey knew what that was like, he didn’t like wearing suits very much, granted that was mainly because of his dad, but still, “I have something that may be better for you.” He proposed as he gestured for Raph to follow him to the other side of the store.

Raph followed not too far behind, coming to a stop once Casey reached a rack of t-shirts, leaning over to pull one off the rack, presumably one in Raph’s size. He couldn’t see what the t-shirt Casey was getting looked like, given that the boy’s body and baggy top blocked his view of the one in the front.

Casey stood back up, t-shirt in hand and showed it to Raph.

It was a mostly plain black t-shirt, but with a design on the front, mimicking that of the front of a tuxedo.

“They also come in long sleeves.” Casey added.

Raph thought it was perfect. It would fit and be comfortable to wear and would fit the style of prom.

“Dude, this is perfect.” He exclaimed, “Hold onto it for me.” He quickly checked the price before running out the store. He was back barely two minutes later with some cash in hand, took the t-shirt off of Casey and brought it over to the cash register.

“Hey, did you want to head over there and meet my bros?” Raph invited.

“You know what, sure.” Casey accepted as he purchased the leather jacket, “I’ve been dying to speak to the turtle who put my dad in his place, you lot should have seen what he was like when he got home, it was hilarious.”

Raph and Casey exited the store together, purchases in hand, and the only thing in Raph’s mind was how excited he felt about having made a new friend, a friend who understood him.

He just hoped his brothers will like Casey too.

Chapter Text

Raph and Casey entered to store, bags in hand, just as Donnie finished getting his measurements done.

Before Mikey had the chance to start getting his own measurements taken, Raph rushed over to grab his family’s attention in order to introduce his new friend.

“Guys, this is Casey.” He gestured to the boy who followed behind him.

A chorus of ‘hello’s and ‘nice to meet you’s came from the small group as they focused their attention on the new addition.

“I met him just now and he’s in our science class and you’ll never guess who his dad is.” Raph spoke with a wide grin, looking directly at Leo as he finished off his sentence.

Leo just looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened in realisation.

“Um- and your last name is?” Leo asked, with some hesitation as he felt he already knew the answer.

“Jones.” Casey responded simply, but with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh, I was afraid you’d say that.” Leo groaned, “Look, I’m sorry I had a go at your dad. I shouldn’t have done that, and it was completely out of line. I know that that is how he is, and I should have kept my composure and-”

Casey listened as Leo rattled off an apology. While he could appreciate Leo’s apology, he was a little upset at having received it. Seeing the turtle go off on his dad, like he did, not long after saving the city, and possibly the world, made Casey respect the turtle greatly, but seeing the turtle immediately… crumble… for lack of a better word at being potentially confronted about his actions was disheartening.

Don’t get him wrong, Casey would still love to be friends with the blue turtle, but the strong desire to spend time with him dwindled more and more as the apology was dragged on.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a turtle to be so… soft. I mean you have a hard shell; I would have thought that toughness would have carried on into your personalities, at least in regards to your morals.” Casey stated.

“What do you mean?” came Leo’s curt response, he felt like he should be offended by that.

“Well, you spoke up to my dad because he was being a dick. No one other than me had done that before so I thought you would be someone who could stand up for those around you if someone did something that goes against your morals. You know… that you would stand up for what you believe in, but the minute you were hit with potential confrontation by someone related to the dick you talked back to, you immediately went back on what you did and made it seem like you were wrong for standing up for your brother and his health.” Casey explained.

He watched Leo’s face as it morphed between shame, offence, and confusion, clearly not knowing how to respond.

“To sum it up: You’re not as cool as I thought you were.”

The others looked at Casey with expressions of shock and disgust. The latter mainly coming from Raphael.

“Casey, can I speak to you a minute?” He asked, ushering the boy to one of the aisles towards the other side of the store, “The fuck was that?!” He whisper-yelled, wanting to get his point across, but not wanting his father to hear his choice of language and risk a lecture.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Why did you say that to Leo?” Raph asked getting more frustrated by Casey’s uninterested tone.

“That was me being honest. I thought he was gonna be someone who can stand up to what they believe in regardless of who they are up against. I based that assumption on the fact that you guys went up against that giant mutant, and the fact that he stood up to my dad, but he immediately took back everything he said to my dad when faced with the possibility of confrontation.”

“So?” Raph asked.

“So, he isn’t who I thought he would be and I’m disappointed because I thought he would be someone I could click with. I can’t click with someone who would act all tough then take it all back the minute there could be consequences.”

“That’s not what is going on here.” Raph stated, “He wasn’t taking back what he said, he was just trying to placate you. Trying to make sure you don’t hold anything against him so that you could get along. Most people would be mad at someone if they insulted their father, I know I would be, but I guess you’re not most people.”

“You’re right, I’m not like most people. I’m a guy with a dickhead for a father, who I don’t respect. Sorry for wanting to find someone who shares an equal dislike for him.”

“Dude, no one likes your father. You could ask any kid in school to talk shit about him and they would.” Raph snapped back.

“Yeah well, none of them have the balls to say it to his face like I do. I thought your brother was different, but it seems it was likely a one-time thing.”

“You know, I don’t think it was.” Raph spoke up, “Leo is a peacekeeper, he tries to prevent conflict through words and in the past, he always listened to authority figures, granted that was mainly our father and we didn’t have any other authority figures, but my point still stands, he never goes against authority. Which is why we found it so surprising when he said that to your dad. I wasn’t there when he said it but when I was told about it, I was shocked, and when asked about it, Leo said he wasn’t gonna respect your father for what he tried to do. Leo does not like your dad and doesn’t respect him, but he has enough self-control and sense to not try to stir up unnecessary drama with the guy and his family.” Raph pushed his finger into Casey’s chest, in order to get his point across.

The two stood eye-to-eye for a moment before Raph started speaking again.

“Your dad may be a dick, but that’s no reason for you to be.” He started, “Now I’m gonna give you two options: 1) You apologise to my brother, and we put this behind us and you never act like this towards him or any of my family again, or 2) You walk away.” He warned through gritted teeth.

The two once again were locked in a staring contest. Raph challenging Casey to make the choice and Casey leaving his expression frustratingly blank.

Truthfully, Raph didn’t want to lose a friend this quickly. Yes, he had only just met Casey, but aside from this recent attitude issue, the dude seemed cool. It would be a shame if they couldn’t get along just because Casey had expectations that his brother didn’t meet.

With a sigh, Casey turned around and headed back over to the others, Raph watching him go for a moment before moving to catch up.

“Look, I’m sorry.” Casey began after taking a deep breath, clearly not happy at having been given an ultimatum, “I had built you up in my head and expected you to be what I imagined you to be, then was a dick when you didn’t live up to my expectations. I had thought you would be someone who would help me stand up to my dad, but clearly what you did was a one-time thing, and when I realised that I was kinda bitter about getting my hopes up.” His tone showed how uncomfortable he was; on top of that, his frustration at the situation was leaking through, and Raph could swear he could identify embarrassment in there as well.

“So let me get this straight: you are mad at me for apologising for the way I spoke to your dad?” Leo summarised.

“Yes,” Casey said in an exasperated tone, “I have to deal with that guy every day of my life and I have been the only person who stands up to him, I thought you would be the same, but then you immediately take it back when you think you might face consequences. It’s so disappointing.”

“Well, I wasn’t actually apologising if that makes you feel any better.” Leo stated, crossing his arms, “I saw how happy Raph seemed at having a friend so ‘apologised’, thinking that you would be mad at me if I didn’t, costing Raph the chance at a friendship with you.” He explained, irritated at the logic used by this boy.

“See that, that is the kind of attitude I thought you’d have!” Casey exclaimed excitedly, “You keep that up and we’ll get along just fine.”

The boys looked at Casey in disbelief at just how quickly the boy’s attitude switched up.

Was everything okay now between them? Was a question on all their minds.

Casey glanced at his phone, which he brought out of his pocket ever so slightly, checking the time.

“I gotta go guys, see you around.” And with that, he left, leaving the boys confused as they watched him leave.

“W-what was that?” Donnie asked the group, “Is he a f-friend now o-o-or what?”

“I think so.” Mikey spoke, though the tone of his voice indicating that he was making a wild guess.

The four boys looked at each other, speechless, for a moment, before breaking out into grins and raising their hands to give each other a group high-three.

“Whoo! A new friend!” Mikey cheered.

The four of them were ecstatic at the idea of another human friend, even if the new friend was weird… and kinda rude… and unpredictable… but they were a new friend. Friendship takes work, right? So, if they work to get to know him more, they could develop a really good bond. Plus, it gives them hope. If a guy that acts like Casey can be friends with four mutant turtles, then there must be so many others willing to befriend them as well.

-              -              -

It was now Monday. The school day had passed with little to no issues. Donnie had had a flare up, but he told his brothers as soon as he felt it coming on and they had immediately gone to the nurse and sorted it out before it became an issue like last time. Mikey would have called it a good day if it weren’t for what happened after school.

When Mikey had signed up for the improv team, he obviously didn’t think he’d get it. Not because he wasn’t good at improv, but because, at the time, he didn’t even attend the school. He had just written his name down as he believe it would be his one and only time to do something like that in his life. He believed that for that one brief moment in that hallway, when he was able to take a pen and write his name down on a sign-up sheet on a school bulletin board, he was able to pretend to be a part of something that seemed an impossible ask.

But it paid off. He was having his first day of an after-school club, with other improvising individuals.

After what had happened with Casey the other day, Mikey felt confident that he would be able to easily make friends, or at least a friend, with someone on the team.

And he was right, everyone there seemed so friendly, laughing at each other’s improv and jokes.

Everything was going well until he overheard a conversation.

He had just finished his Australian shoe store bit, laughing with the club, and sat down to let someone else have a go, when he overheard some girls at the back of the room.

“- at least he can improvise, maybe if he could teach the others, they can use it when saving the world to make up for the dead weight.” One of the girls whispered.

Mikey didn’t confront them immediately, not because he didn’t want to, but because he could believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, I mean, the purple one, whatever his name is, is like, cute and all, but how’s he gonna protect the world while sat on his ass?” came a second voice.

That pissed Mikey off, how dare they say that about Donnie? Donnie didn’t have to be able to move his legs to be useful to the team, and even while paralysed he was doing a damn sight more than these girls were to protect their home. And the fact that they had the audacity to talk about his brother like that, while not even having the decency to know his name is astounding.

“I think his name’s Donatello.” Said a third.

“ha, more like Done-atello, cause his days of being a hero are done, he can’t even leave his own home without help, I mean have you seen how the red one needs to carry him? It looks so pathetic.”

At that, Mikey had had enough.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” He screeched as he stood and turned to face the group of girls. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

“Dude, calm down.” Came the voice of another student, Mikey could understand trying to calm the situation, but how was he supposed to calm down in a situation like this?

“CALM DOWN? How am I supposed to calm down? They just insulted my brother; called him pathetic for being paralysed. HE’S PARALYSED BECAUSE HE WAS SAVING YOUR HOME!” He yelled, remaining focused on the girls, “And he will continue to protect this city in any way he can because unlike you, he gives a shit about other people, you ableist pieces of shit!”

Most of the girls were looking at him with wide eyes, shocked that he had overheard them, and clearly scared, or at least caught off guard by his loud voice. One of them had found enough decency to look ashamed, but one of them seemed to be stubborn.

“How’s he supposed to protect New York when he can’t even go down a ladder?” She challenged, her face read as unimpressed and bored, but her voice sounded as is she felt she had won.

“By finding solutions, moron?!” Mikey yelled, his tone showing how he thought that would have been obvious, “We found a way around the ladder. It was because of him that we figured out how to defeat Superfly. The four of us work as a team, and even if he can’t take part in hand-to-hand combat, he is still an essential part of our team. Even as we speak, he and our family are working on a way to help him help us during combat.”

The girl briefly looked taken aback, as if she hadn’t thought about that, but quickly schooled her expression and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, whatever. Go back to pretending to be from Australia, weirdo.”

Mikey was more than willing to follow that ever so polite request and did so as he headed towards the door.

“Fuck off, Cunt.” He said in an Australian accent as he left the room. There wasn’t too long left until the club finished for the day and he really didn’t want to stay around those girls any longer than necessary.

Though seeing their aghast expressions at his words did make him feel marginally better.

-              -              -

Even with the various bumps in the road, as the boys progressed through their first few weeks of being a part of human society, the boys had finally reached their first milestone.

Prom.

The boys had been unable to sleep as a result of their excitement, resulting in their father seeing them all dressed up and ready to go at 6AM.

Seeing them so excited and ready made it hard for him to tell them that they still have most of the day to wait. He had wanted to advise them on taking off their formal attire, in order to make sure it doesn’t become crinkled throughout the day, but his sons were so excited he couldn’t bring himself to.

Mikey had told his brothers about what had occurred during his first day of improv club. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Raph to calm down and stop considering wringing the girl’s neck.

He had told them that he had told the girls that Donnie’s disability wasn’t gonna slow him down, and that they were working on a way for Donnie to continue being a hero, which gave the boys an idea.

Donnie’s new wheelchair was mostly finished at this point, the only thing that needed to be added was the functionality of the weapons, but that couldn’t be done until the resources were acquired and, according to Leatherhead and Wingnut, that wouldn’t be for a month at least, so technically the wheelchair at this point was still a normal (if titanium) wheelchair, and not a weapon.

It looked fancier than his regular wheelchair too, being very sleek in design and clean. A pretty grand and formal looking wheelchair if you were to ask anyone who saw it.

It had only taken a phone call with their headteacher and the Prom planners, reassuring them of its safety, to get permission for Donnie to use it for prom.

The boys were eager to show it off and shut the audacious mouths of any students who wanted to make comments like those girls did; with any luck, those girls would be in attendance and learn to keep their mouths shut about things they have no business commenting on from here on out.

It reached early evening when the turtles started to head for the surface to meet with April and head to prom together.

Each of the turtles were wearing a suit that suited their style and colour, tailored to fit their shells.

They had cut it close when getting their suits. The tailor had taken longer than expected, mainly due to the unusual changes that needed to be made. They got them back the day before prom and had to quickly put them on in front of the tailor, in order to make sure they were done well and to check for last minute alterations that needed to be made.

Luckily though, everything was fine, and their suits were perfect, though Raph did enjoy teasing his bros after the fact, making comments that they should have gone with an oversize tuxedo T-shirt like he had, said it was “way less stressful”, which was ironic considering he was the one stressing the most, struggling to find trousers that match the ‘aesthetic’ he was going for.

Traversing the sewers was a bit of a challenge. It was very difficult to try and avoid getting dirty when walking through those tunnels, thankfully though, their family had found large amounts of red carpets and covered the sewer floor with it, which felt rather fitting considering the occasion. Though it was a bit concerning that no one would tell them where or how they had acquired it.

April met them at the top of the stairs to the school, now fitted with a wheelchair ramp, and they headed inside.

The corridors of the school were relatively empty, with the only exception being a few couples hiding far down some of the hallways. Everyone was in the gymnasium, where the prom was being held.

Upon entering, Raph immediately b-lined for his buddies from the wrestling club he had managed to mingle with during a few lunches throughout the last week. As soon as he was there, their conversation switched to combat techniques and showing them off, getting other students around them to compare their forms for fun, and lightly roughhousing as to avoid messing up each other’s attire.

Leo and April were together most of the night, dancing, and cracking jokes.

The two of them had bonded a lot these past couple of weeks. With Leo now no longer needing to hide in school, the two got to work with their own news show for the school, covering whatever stories they were able to find and explore.

At the moment, their show was referred to as ‘April Tonight’ but they have been trying to workshop the name to include Leo, as he was slowly getting more and more time on camera, rather than just being the camera man. Raph had jokingly called them the ‘Tattling Twosome’ after they did an episode around what the basketball team does behind the bleachers, but they all agreed not to bring that up anymore, ever.

Donnie and Mikey stayed together most of the night, mingling with people from Mikey’s improv club (not those girls though, as they weren’t in attendance, Mikey liked to think it was because they didn’t want to risk confrontation with the brothers), and Donnie’s tech and manga clubs. Together discussing Donnie’s wheelchair as he showed it off and explain some of the mechanics that it could currently perform, such as lights, hidden compartments even a work in progress hover mode, as well as also discussing video games and comics while dancing, having fun, and enjoying the buffet that was clearly made up of the cheapest party food that the school could get.

The quality of the food and drink and decorations weren’t an issue though, they were having to much fun to care.

In fact, they were having so much fun that none of them felt the need to check if anyone was spying on them.