Raph/Don as turtle tots and Raphie has a huge crush on Donnie but is too young and boyish to get his feelings across
Donnie was so annoying, more annoying even than Mikey and Leo, because he made Raphās insides curl up and snap at each other until his whole body was stupid with a fluttering, squishy ā thing. He had this way of telling Raph things that shouldnāt matter, like how the pipes worked or what electricity was, and Raph hung onto every word without knowing why, glaring up into his long face, watching his mask tails swish as he went on, and on, and on.
Raph learned, quickly, that the fluttering feelings could be replaced, at least kind of, when he lashed out. Normally it went fine: Raph yanked his bandana or flicked his nose or broke whatever he was working on ā and Donnie yelled, or they tussled, or Dad intervened, and Raphās laughter had a way of swallowing the fluttering thing ā for a while, at least.
This time, it wasnāt fine. For half an hour, Raph had watched Donnie take apart a stereo, lovingly putting each part in neat rows ā and then he started to hate the stereo, because Donnieās tongue was sticking out of his mouth and his attention was riveted and he didnāt want anything to do with their game, and ā and Raph finally got sick of it and kicked his way through the careful piles like heād done a thousand times before. A billion times before. Except this time, Donnie didnāt scream ā not at Raph, not for Sensei. Donnie looked up at him, and tears welled in his eyes, and ā and he didnāt even start to cry like a baby, with the ugly hiccuping sobs that grate. He just blinked, and the tears came down, soaking his mask. He sniffed and started to scoop the pieces into a loose pile.
āDonnie?ā Raph said. He knelt down, a tight knot in his throat. He didnāt want that, he just wanted ā wanted him to look at Raph ā
āLeave me alone,ā Donnie said, and the tears dripped down his face, and the shame was so, so much worse than the fluttering thing inside of him, and when Raph blinked, his mask was wetter for it, too.
āIām sorry,ā he said. āIām real sorry. Really.ā He touched Donnieās cheek the way Sensei did for them, cupping his face so that Raph could wipe the tears away. āLemme help put it all back, okay?ā
Donnie blinked up at him, too stunned to cry anymore ā and then he got this look, like he had when he finally figured out the generator. Then: He smiled, and the thing in Raphās stomach didnāt just flutter ā it soared.
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