Chapter Text
"You need to fix this."
Leo's voice was the type of disappointed that made Donnie want to tuck into his shell (sadly he couldn't). He was so thrown off from not hearing Leo's typical calm and caring voice that it made the simple idea of eye contact horrifying, causing Donnie to look down at the ground. They both knew the look that Leo was giving him; the angry mother look where Donnie felt like Leo lost all respect for him.
"I will. They probably have something at the TCRI building-" Donnie fumbled over his words, trying to find a way to make this sound like he'd actually be able to fix this. He was smart, sure, but he can't just figure this out! He didn't even know this would happen! "I mean.. I don't know, maybe. I didn't expect this-" Donnie sighed and ran his hands down his face, attempting to avoid Leo's look.
"I don't care if you did or didn't know, Donnie. You caused this!" Leo's eyes slowly drifted towards Raph and Mikey's bunk beds, watching as the two continued to sleep peacefully. "This is horrible, you know that?" He let out a long, exasperated sigh before looking back at Donnie and speaking in a hushed voice "I trust you to figure this out. I need to get air."
"Wh- you're just leaving?!" Donnie stood up, watching Leo walk out of their room. "Yes! I don't want to be here right now and I don't want to look at you right now!" Leo turned and pointed his finger at Donnie, watching as his younger brother's face went through three different emotions at once. Anger, shock, then sadness. The room fell silent as Leo turned around, ignoring Donnie's reaction to Leo's sudden change of character.
The sound of the sewer lid opening echoed through the sewers and into the bedroom. Donnie let out a huff and looked to their brothers, staring at their new humanoid forms and whispering to himself "Raph is gonna kill me." The concept of Leo being so angry though.. Leo would probably kill Donnie before Raph gets to him at this point.
Leo exited the sewers and stood in the alleyway for god knows how long. His mind was filled with different thoughts that ranged from anger towards Donnie to back to when he first woke up and saw his reflection in the mirror. He felt like crying every time his mind went back to his reflection, remembering the way his fingers looked and felt pressed against his cheek for the first time and how Donnie barely reacted.
He didn't know how to feel towards him getting mad at Donnie now that he thought back. I mean, he caused this! But he was also Leo's brother and Leo was meant to be an example for how he should act. "Maybe I should apologize." Leo mumbled, finding himself walking down the street, attempting to blend into the crowd.
Honestly, it was odd not being noticed. He usually would've had a crowd around him by now, but it was nice to be able to just walk outside without anyone asking for photos. Sure, yes, he enjoyed being popular, but sometimes it was too much. Leo put his hands into his hoodie pocket, letting out a long sigh before continuing down the road.
"I wonder if Raph and Mikey are awake." Leo thought to himself, slowly making his way to the park nearby. He would retreat here often whenever he was upset, although he never really admitted why he was upset when he did— he'd just say he was upset and never expand. Today Donnie got to witness why though, that was just a short moment of weakness that Leo won't show again
Hopefully he won't show it again.
But every time Leo thought back to it he just got more and more upset. His body looked so different now and he felt so.. wrong. He looked down at his hands that were rested in his lap and began opening and closing them. This all felt so wrong. He had just accepted being a mutant in a human world. Leo let out a long sigh as he put his head in his hands.
They always talked about being human and being able to live a normal life, but now that his life was beginning to be normal this is what Leo gets. Donnie didn't mean to do this, sure, but god did Leo really want to strangle him right now. Like, seriously, why was he so calm? Why did he focus on their HAIR? Leo's hand went up to feel his hair again, this was just another thing that made him feel weird. Never having hair then one day just waking up with a full head of hair? Yeah, safe to say Leo didn't know how to feel.
He didn't know how to feel about staying anywhere right now either. Home was where Donnie was and Leo would rather be anywhere but near Donnie right now, but this park felt too exposed, and Leo didn't know which was worse at this point.
Honestly, knowing he didn’t want to be near his brothers felt like he was the worst turtle..uh..human.. ever. Like, what leader doesn’t want to be with his team? This leader apparently. Maybe his brothers really deserved better. He shouldn’t be leading a team if this is how he’s thinking
He should just leave.
Obviously with how he spoke to Donnie he deserved a better brother too.
When the fact that he was human really set into Raphs mind, he didn't react calmly. But like.. when did he?
Raph was yelling at Donnie so loudly that he woke Mikey up, which was when he realized he also unknowingly made Mikey human by going against Leo he went quiet, watching as Mikey looked at his hands in confusion. "Dude.. What the fuck happened?"
"Yeah, Donnie? What happened?" Raph slowly turned to look at Donnie, who was looking at the ground avoiding eye contact. The three of them sat in silence as Donnie slowly lifted his head up and looked between the two, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to find a way to respond.
"I uh.. that ooze from last night.." Donnie's voice got more and more into a whisper each word. "It turned us human."
The silence was deafening, the only thing heard was a sharp inhale from Mikey before he sat up to climb off his bunk to walk over to Donnie and grab his shoulders, shaking him violently. "It WHAT?! Oh my god this is so cool we can finally be human!"
"This isn't cool, Mikey!" Raph pulled Mikey off Donnie and shook his head. "Also stop shaking Donnie dude, are you insane? You should know better." Damn, that one hurt.
Mikey only gave an awkward smile in return before looking around the room, his few brain cells clearly working together for once. "Wait where's Leo? I need to see how he looks."
Donnie froze in place, looking absolutely horrified as he tried to find any way to explain where Leo was. "You see, Leo's not really here right now.. he's kinda mad- I mean—not mad mad but he's upset at me because of this.." he began fumbling over his words, Mikey and Raph side eyed him as he struggled to explain. "Okay so maybe he kinda got really really mad because I wasn't scared too. BUT ALL I DID WAS NOT FREAK OUT!" Donnie began yelling, throwing his hands in the air while trying to explain.
"I never expected Leo to say something like that to me." Donnie mumbled, looking down at the floor. Him and Mikey were used to being "babies" in Leos eyes, which had pros and cons, one being that Leo never really spoke that harsh to them.
"So he actually acted like how Raph said he did that one time?" Mikey asked, covering his mouth to yawn quietly.
"Sorta? He was all "I don't want to look at you right now!"" Donnie did air quotes to mock how Leo was talking.
"So he didn't punch a hole in the mirror?" Mikey joked, punching Raphs arm a few times as he said it, grinning as Raph slowly turned to look at him like he was going to strangle him.
"No, no he didn't." Donnie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Damn that sucks.. wait what even like.. caused him to do that again?" Mikey crossed his arms, watching Raph shrug as he clearly began to think.
"I.. forget." Raph looked away and to the ground, biting his lip as he avoided eye contact. "Liar." Donnie mumbled, crossing his arms as Raph went on a defensive rant until Mikey placed his finger over his lips and said "It's okay, we're not all destined to be good liars."
The three stood there for a bit, silence slowly falling as Raph visibly calmed down slightly. "So like.. should we look for Leo?" Raph started, shrugging as he crossed his arms. Leo wasn't the type to just up and leave, especially after making Donnie feel like shit, which he never did so there was no other time to compare to. Does he know he made Donnie feel like shit? Leo always babied the younger brothers (which Raph not so secretly envied by complaining constantly), so this change in behavior towards Donnie really just made him want to make him curl into a ball and hide forever.
"I don't think Leo wants to see me right now." Donnie mumbled, scratching his arm as he looked down at the floor. He was embarrassed to even admit that he thought that, but he couldn't pretend he didn't feel that way.
"Dude. Leo can get so mad at you he like.. I dunno kicks you out of the sewers and he'll always care about you. Take it from me, his twin brother." Raph put his hand on his chest and grinned at Donnie. Even though they weren't really twins, they both said it and acted like it was true.
"You say that but you didn't see him earlier." Donnie mumbled, his voice cracking as he shrugged and thought back on how Leo said straight up he didn't want to be near him. "I mean.. Leo never said anything like that before. Not to me, Mikey, you, nobody!" He threw his arms up and watched as Raph sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose while trying to find a response.
"I- you.. I mean.." Raph struggled to find a response, his words refusing to work with him.
"I mean you did cause this by being a thief." Mikey shrugged, getting a slap on the back of the head by Raph in response. "Ow! Dude, it's true! If Donnie didn't go to the TCRI building this wouldn't have happened." Mikey shrugged before fixing the sleeves on his shirt that was certainly now too large for his body from falling down and watched as the other two stared at him, Donnie more upset than Raph.
Screw trying to comfort Donnie apparently, brutal honesty was the only option. "If you didn't steal illegal equipment this would've been fine. That's logic." He jumped back as Raph went to whack him again. "Dude! Quit it!"
"Quit making Donnie feel worse then!"
The twos voices began to fade as Donnie stood there, realizing that if he had just accepted that everything was over then none of this would have happened.
But obviously it wouldn't have been over. Donnie proved (and caused) it. God, usually he loved being right, but now he couldn't take it. Leo wasn't being the Leo he was used to right now and even if he won't admit it, Donnie wanted his brother back.
"I need to fix this." Donnie mumbled, walking to his dresser and digging around for an outfit. "Wait.. what? You're just gonna leave like Leo?" Raph stepped closer, following Donnie as he walked towards the makeshift doorway before watching him stop to stand with his hand still gripping the curtain the four put up.
Donnie turned, throwing his hands out comically as he spoke. "I'm not leaving 'like Leo'! I'm leaving like someone who ruined everything and needs to fix it before Leo does something dumb! He's our brother, Raph. If he gets hurt because I was why he ran away then I'd be the worstbrother on earth!" His voice cracked as he placed his hand onto his chest to motion to himself.
"So like.. should I go with you so you don't do something dumb again?" Raph crossed his arms, shrugging as he tried to find an excuse to come with. Donnie visibly went through ten different emotions while trying to find a response before letting out a long sigh and tilting his head back.
"Wait I don't want to be here alone." Mikey straightened up, watching as his brothers pinched the bridges of their noses in sync. "What?" Mikey asked, "I don't wanna not go out while I'm human." He shrugged, ignoring his brothers overlapping voices pointing out how he just gave a different excuse.
"You just- you guys aren't coming!" Donnie pointed at the two, putting his hands into his hoodie after Raph swatted his hand away. "Yeahhh no you're completely wrong. Like you said, you caused this so I think we can do what we want since we're innocent." Raph smiled, his missing tooth sticking out like a sore thumb even as a human.
"I.. do either of you know how to stick to one reason? You just said-" Donnie sighed and turned around and let out a long sigh before turning around walking to the bathroom "I give up. Do what you want. I..I don't care anymore."