Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Twenty bucks to whoever can get Donnie asleep!” April called as she entered the living room. The three other brothers perked up at her offer.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Leo was the first to stand, Mikey and Raph groaning in response. He smirked, striding to Donnie’s lab with a confidence like no other.

“Only rule is you can’t concuss him or anything.” April made sure to clarify before he was out of earshot.

“Not needed. Give me ten minutes and he’ll be out like a light.”

“Since you’re so good at gettin’ him to sleep.” Raph muttered as he continued his knitting.

“ Like a light! ”

————

“Heyyy, Dee?”

“Hm.”

“I like what you’ve done with the place.”

“Nardo you were in here yesterday, nothing’s changed.” Donnie deadpanned, not looking up from his welding.

“I dunno, are you sure? It’s got this new… aura . Yeah. Totally different vibes in here.”

“What do you want?”

“Nothing. Just coming to check up on you.” Leo answered, waving a hand in dismissal of the mere idea of him needing anything—besides those twenty dollars and an intangible first place medal.

“Well, as you may see, I’m just fine. Nothing to check up on here.”

“You sure? Not feeling..sleep deprived, per se? Or anything of the sort?”

“Nope.” Donnie turned him down. Leo pouted.

“Will you take a break? For meeeee?”

“How much is she bribing you this time.”

Leo sighed. “Twenty dollars.”

“Oh, come on, Leo. You can do better than that.”

With a dramatic pose accompanied by a just as dramatic sigh, Leo left the lab with no hope of winning left.

————

“How long has it been since Leo’s attempt at that money?” Raph asked, “And loss ?”

“Way to rub it in, big brother.” Leo grumbled, jabbing his fingers into the Nintendo controller.

“Fifteen minutes.” April answered, head tilting to the side. “You willing to try? Cause we’re running outta time until I’m gonna break my own rule.”

“Sure am. Watch and learn, Leon.” Raph stood, cracking his neck and knuckles, before heading towards the lab.

————

“Dee?”

“Raphala.” Donnie greeted. He was welding; it looked like he was almost done. Good sign, maybe?

“How ya feelin’, bud?”

“I’m fine. You?”

Raph frowned at the genius’s lousy attempt to hide his exhaustion. “Same. What’re you doing?”

“Wrapping up this welding job.”

“You plan on taking a break afterwards?”

“Perhaps,” Donnie answered shortly.

“Donnie, when was the last time you slept?”

“…I’m not tired.”

Wow, Donnie didn’t even know, did he?

“Wrong answer. You needa sleep, Don. Your body’s gonna be real unhappy if you don’t listen to it.”

“Just- as soon as I’m finished with this. I’ll take a break.”

“You keep sayin’ that Dee. I don’t want you to hurt yourself-”

“Leo, I wasn’t so sure, but I think you can live without those twenty dollars Raph.”

It would’ve been helpful to know that Donnie was already aware of April’s incentive. That didn’t matter anymore. It was bad enough that April thought she had to pay them to get their brother to sleep, and Raph really only wanted Dee to get some rest.

“It’s not about that, we’re worried about y-”

“Drop it, Raph!” Donnie raised his voice. He stopped his work, but never turned around. “Just….drop it.”

There were a million things Raph thought to say. But he knew Donnie was too stressed to hear a word of it. Nothing he could do would help, even when he was the big brother and he was supposed to know what to do, and he didn’t and- that was terrifying . With a sigh, he backed out of the lab, hoping they could get Donnie to sleep somehow else soon.

————

“I think we might have to use the burrito technique again.”

“No way. I do not want his ninpo to almost kill me like last time.” Leo was quick to turn April down. “A gun ! Imagine I had died to a magic gun !”

“You guys are just taking the wrong approach.”  Mikey advised, with that kind of matter-of-fact tone in his voice that Dr. Feelings used, “I bet I could get him to sleep right now.”

“…it doesn’t involve a frying pan, does it?” Raph asked, looking more concerned than before.

“Not even a little bit.”

April, Raph and Leo shared a glance, then all nodded at Mikey.

(They all knew that Mikey hadn’t been sleeping well either, though it was obviously not as serious as Donnie. If there was a chance at both of them sleeping, it was a given to take it.)

Raph gave a hopeful grin. “You’re our last chance. Make it count big man!”

“Oh, I will.” Mikey grinned. As he left the living room, he put on his best ‘miserably sick’ face and wrapped his arms around his stomach.

————

The door opened quietly, and Donnie didn’t turn around at the noise. He was typing at his computer, goggles off.

“Is that you, Nardo? I can’t talk right now, I’m busy.”

Busy, busy, busy. For the last week all Donnie had been was busy. Mikey—everyone, really—was getting worried.

Mikey made sure to add his and his family’s upset feelings into play, and when he spoke he was glad to find his voice frail and timid. “Deedee?”

Donnie froze. He swerved around in his chair and his expression grew easily concerned when he saw Mikey.

“Angelo? Is something wrong?”

“I d- I don’t feel good..” Mikey answered flawlessly, shaking his head.

“Come here,” Donnie told him, and he obeyed with a wince.

Dee felt his forehead, double checked with a thermometer, anything basic that he could do now. Mikey would’ve worried that Donnie would get suspicious of him, but he knew that wasn’t the case.

“What feels bad, Angie?”

“My stomach..” Mikey answered. God, he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. So glad I took that online acting class , he thought.

“You need to rest.” Donnie said, always the hypocrite. He completely disregarded his own wellbeing for the sake of others. With this newfound frustration, Mikey used it to make tears prick in his eyes.

“C’n I stay in here? With-with you?”

Donnie nodded, and Mikey whined quietly as he crawled into Donnie’s lap, burying his face in his brother’s shoulder. Dee rubbed a hand along his shell, whispering reassurances.

The youngest whimpered, trying not to sound too dramatic, but still dramatic enough.

“I know, I know.”

Mikey shifted in his brother’s arms, making sure he had his weight on all the right places. He felt Donnie’s hand slow down on his back.

“Thanks, Dee.” He whispered.

“Yeah, it’s- just…rest Angie. You’ll feel a lot better...when you do…” Donnie trailed off. His hand went limp and his head leaned back in his chair.

Finally, this dum-dum gets some sleep , thought Mikey. He was almost starting to get tired himself.

All according to the plan …

————

“Mikeyyy? You two alive in here?” Raph called as he cautiously opened the door to the lab. Leo and April went in after him, and they all stopped when they saw the two.

Donnie and Mikey, both sound asleep, were huddled up together in a chair. Mikey was in Dee’s lap and Dee had his arms wrapped loosely around the youngest.

“Aweeee.” Raph cooed.

“I’m gonna assume he won’t be wanting that twenty bucks anymore, so…” Leo said, silently begging as he reached for April’s pocket.

“Nah. I actually thought none of you would succeed.” April shrugged, shoving a hand in Leo’s face.

“Wha-!”

“Shhh, don’t wake ‘em up.”

“You think we should just. Leave them here?” April asked.

“Raph’ll carry ‘em to bed.” The eldest volunteered, sneaking toward the chair, bravely risking a finger or two being bit off. Eventually, he got under them both without separating them, and they all headed silently to Donnie’s room, the closest one, and put them in bed.

“Welp, looks like it all went according to plan here. Great job at failing team.”

“Thanks a lot Apes.” Leo muttered, crossing his arms just for show. The three quietly left and closed the door, just happy that Mikey and Dee would both get some much needed sleep.