they call me febreeze because i'm so fresh

starter for @technotello

           as soon as they walked in, he could feel the tension. the hallways of their school were usually bustling with people, at a constant state of noise and movement, filled with angry yells and suspicious whispers. but now, long after the night had taken over the ‘city that never sleeps’, the hamato boys found themselves pacing the dusty halls of their high school, putting aside their homework they definitely should be working on right now, and stress of leo immediately making new friends while donnie was left alone in the background, not that he wasn’t also the one putting himself there. leo couldn’t help but create attention around himself, while donnie seemed to be working overtime just to fade into the shadows, still, leo could tell it sometimes bothered his ‘twin’ that their fellow students seemed to be doing everything in their power to keep the boys separated. 

leo peered into one of the empty classrooms, the last time he was there he remembers laughing with his fellow drama club students, now as the wind howled through a crack in a nearby window the teenager couldn’t help but notice a particularly dark shadow hiding in the corner. “maybe we should check out this room, d,” he cautiously suggested, half of him hoping his brother would suggest they just go home instead and the other half already dreading the time when they have to leave. as a civil war raged within leonardo’s mind he found control of his body. lost to instinct and with shaking hands he slowly opened the door to the once joyful classroom, pulling out his camera just in case something decided to possess him in that moment. the only sound was that of his careful steps going into the dark room, and he quickly turned on his flashlight to try and find any sign of paranormal activity, which he unfortunately did. with all the usual theatrics he dramatically faced his flashlight and camera to the chalkboard next to him and slowly read out loud the words written there to greet him;

prepare to die asshole

“i- it’s probably just a prank, right? from the, from the students?” he turned to his only source of comfort; a lanky pubescent teen with major back problems and less emotional skills than an angry WW2 vet. 

         Donnie followed his twin through the empty halls, his flashlight on and camera up ready to capture everything he expected of tonight. Which was to say a lot of nothing. 

If it was any consolation, as much as he didn’t enjoy being at the school during the day, during the night it was at least a bit nicer. Certainly quieter, what with the distinct lack of noisy, obnoxious teenagers crowding the halls. Still, this wasn’t exactly where he wanted to be on his Thursday night. He definitely had better things to do, or at least better places to look for quote-unquote ghosts. 

He shrugged when Leo suggested a classroom, figuring it’d be no different than any others, only to have his thoughts shoved right back into his face. Across one of the walls was definitely brand new graffiti, threatening the reader with death it would seem. Donnie’s face remained unimpressed even as Leo turned to him for some form of comfort. 

He had a striking suspicion that it wasn’t a ghost who had written those words, as well as another suspicion that they weren’t pointed in Leo’s direction. After all, his brother seemed to be Mr. Popular around school since they had started that Autumn, while Donnie remained a social pariah ( not exactly by his own design but he hadn’t put any effort in against it. ) 

gasp

crrrrrk-

smash!

the sound of ‘something’ outside the classroom door made leo jump and turn his attention to the door. his heart beating in rhythm with his heavy breaths - he felt his palms get sweaty. despite all of that, he tried to reason, “no way there’s a janitor still here right? maybe some other students had the same idea?” he definitely heard a voice before the crash, which means they weren’t alone anymore. he quickly grabbed his camera and flashlight, as he made his way toward the sound.

“i’d assume that the noise came from the trophy display, so we should head there.”

walking through the dark hallway, trying to ignore all of the dark shadows and mysterious figures his mind created in the darkest parts, he silently waited for one of the lockers to slam open and lead them to a horrifying death before warning his imagination to not be so proud. the sound of their feet echoed around them, his own fear distorting the noise into something to hide from. he kept walking, looking back to his brother whenever the fear became too overwhelming. donnie was terrible at comfort, but he was great at soiling the mood.

Botanist’s Window 🌱

Migration

Because i have a brother and i don't find anything strange with the way that tmnt 2012 turtles interact with each other. In fact, is one of the few pieces of media i have seen that actually does a good job at potraying what is like to have a brother/sister.

Like yeah, siblings love each other but fights between them is also a very common thing. And this doesn't mean that they are being abusive or it's toxic relationship, having arguments it's part of what is like to have a brother. You sometimes fight with them, and other times you have fun.

leo didn’t need to see to be able to tell just how much pain donnie was in right now. he slowly lead his little brother into his small apartment, welcomed by the smell of medicinal plants and dust that he never could quite reach. the walls were decorated by graffiti and liquor stains from long before leo got there, and days since when he wasn’t cautious enough to lock the doors. he was careful not to bump him into anything on the way. the last thing leo wanted was to hurt him more than he already had. it was dark, the room only illuminated by a few lonely candles, each one a desperate attempt to make this place feel like some version of a home. leo gently laid his brother on the old couch and began an examination.

“i need you to tell me exactly what’s wrong with you, and why. -

i haven’t done this to someone else since losing my eyesight,” he smiled, trying to make light of the whole situation and ease some of his little brother’s very obvious tension.

he gently ran his fingers along donnies gear and shell, trying to visualize what it must look like, and trying not to think about how it must feel. the slider put his empathy aside as he felt around, something about the shapes clearly wasn’t right, but he couldn’t quite figure out why, until he reached the left side. donnie subconsciously tended as he reached the most tender spot, which was all the confirmation leo needed.

“i think i figured out where it got you, d.” he used his calm voice to mask just how worried he was, and tried to organize his thoughts as he reached for some pain mediation. “take these,” he handed them in his general direction, foolishly hoping donnie wouldn’t be stupid enough to reach for them if they were too far away.

“if you have more questions i’ll answer but can we at least wait till you don’t have anymore foreign objects literally inside of you?”

         A pained groan left his mouth as he was lowered onto the couch, trying desperately to blink away the spots that had gathered in his vision by the jabbing pain in his back. He was sure he could feel something warm moving its way down in the small space between his shell and his battleshell but he tried not to dwell on the feeling. 

“ That’s not overly reassuring. ” Donnie bit out as he tried to breath through this current wave of pain. He didn’t want to alarm Leo, because he was sure it wasn’t as bad as it felt, just a minor injury to a rather sensitive part of his body. 

As they were offered to him Donnie reached out for the pain killers, a startled gasp reaching his mouth as he stretched a bit too far but he tried to smother it as best as he could in hopes that Leo wouldn’t hear it. 

He swallowed the pain killers dry, wanting the relief too much to wait for anything to wash them down. With Leo’s next words his breathing hitched up as he realized what probably needed to happen next. 

          “ I- I should probably take my shell off, then, huh? ” He asked, his voice shook with trepidation at the idea of taking the shell off. If just moving lead to so much pain he couldn’t even imagine what removing the ( quote-unquote ) foreign object would cause.

as much as leo wanted to scold his brother - who despite being proudly claimed as his twin still was technically younger and therefore still susceptible to the slider’s occasional but nonetheless necessary scoldings - his mind was far too distracted by figuring out how the hell to get this piece of equipment off without torturing his brother. goddamn he just got back and i’m already hurting him agai- he broke away the thought, focusing all of his mental energy on helping what’s left of his family, something he should’ve done a long time ago.

it’s not that the boys had a physic connection, but, rather it was more of an understanding - a bond tight enough that they could nearly feel the other one’s emotions if they tried hard enough. when they were little and donnie’s auditory abilities started to decline, leo did what any big brother would do and stared at him until donnie was able to comprehend the message he was sending. a silent conversation between brothers. he assumed after years of separation and a dark period of trying to remove all memories of his lost friend until all that remained were the ones in his mind - the ones he could control - that their connection would have been broken. after all, leo had devoted almost a year to breaking the bond they had formed, hoping it would help him heal only to discover it made things worse for everyone.

leo could feel donnies hesitation as his shaky hands danced cautiously over the button controlling his gear. he anticipated the pain his brother would be in as it removed itself at dangerous speeds, and so he weighed his options. both of them had studied medicine, though age and an experience with med school had given leo some advantage over donnie. without saying a word leo gently pressed on one of the body’s most powerful pressure points, completely releasing his brother of all feeling below the neck just long enough for him to clumsily remove the “foreign object” penetrating donnie’s extra sensitive shell. it wasn’t a smooth removal considering leo was blind and drunk, but it was far better than leaving it in there. with the press of a button donatello’s self-made protection was off and the true horrors of his injury would normally be exposed to leo, probably leading him to a panic attack or loss of composure - afterall the blood stains only multiplied after he removed the one thing keeping everything inside - his blindness proved to have some unforeseen advantages, this being one of them. for once he didn’t have to see the brutal results of his actions. the next step was to apply pressure to the open wound, which is difficult to do when you can’t see anything and blood is spewing out making an already slippery turtle almost impossible to be steady on. combined with whatever horrible pain donatello was in, it’s a wonder how he ever got the blood to clot, but eventually - thanks to donatello’s thick blood and a surprising side effect of the pain medication he had taken - it did. leo was quick to bandage up the wound once and for all, though it was so messily done he doubted it would stay on long enough for the wound to heal.