D o n a t e l l o

“You can ask me for help, you know. I know I keep to myself a lot these days, but I’ve always got time for you.”

“Well sure, let’s have a look. It looks like we’re still pretty much the same height, at least, so there’s that to go on.”

“I wonder how much I’ve grown since the incident…”

A special delivery for Nico.

An eerie silence filled the alien space craft as they floated along their set path with hopes of catching up with their brothers. Niccolo had just sent Seb to sleep for a while in their makeshift nest, gathering all the extra blankets and pillows from the other ‘bedrooms’ that had been set up. After all, this ship was meant to carry a small bundle of soldiers, so for the two of them there were plenty of provisions to last them for their trip to.. somewhere.

Rusty eyes lifted to gaze out into the vast emptiness. He felt tired enough to only make assumption how long he’d been awake now, but Niccolo couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard he’d try.

Something was wrong. His heart was aching and it felt as though he was being pulled apart from the inside. He could only assume the aching pain in his chest was from Donnie, and he could only make further guesses as to what must have been going through his twin’s head. 

Donnie was hurting. He must have been.

Never in his life had the two of them been separated. Not like this. It hurt, unlike anything else he’d ever felt before, and there was no way for him to stop it. His twin was hurting, and Nico couldn’t be there to make it right.

Snout wrinkled, tears soaked through his mask that was quickly tugged down around his neck as he inhaled shakily. Biting down on his bottom lip to keep himself from making any sound, Niccolo simply sat in the captain’s chair and stared out into space, head ducked down to hide part of his face against his bandanna, the tears flowing and dribbling down his chin like a faucet.

In that moment he wanted nothing more than to see his twin again, to show him that everything was alright. He’s here, he’s okay; he’s coming, Donnie.. Please, just wait a little longer. They can catch up. They have to.

A soft sound escapes him, as his legs are drawn up into the chair, making himself small as another soft sob manages to push it’s way up, bubbling to the surface. It hurts, his heart might as well tear itself in two. Hands move to furiously wipe at his face, another shaky sound escapes him as he breathes in, shoulders shaking as the lavender-clad sank further into the chair.

As much as he wants to get mad at his situation, slam his fists and work through his hurt by lashing out.. he’s gone numb. There’s only the darkness that surrounds them, the cold emptiness, and a broken heart.

“As in my nephew? We have a strong bond, as to be expected. He’s one of Donnie’s greatest, and I wouldn’t trade him for the world. Unless there was some hypothesized situation where both of them were hanging from some proverbial cliff and I were to only save one of them then the obvious choice would be to save my brother, but Shelldon can fly! He’s a drone! So yes. Brother first.. But Shelldon is also equipped to help me when I’m not feeling good; I’d imagine Donnie built that specifically because it’s me, and.. well.” He cleared his throat.

Almost. He almost made it out before Donnie caught on. He really needs to work on his ‘walk and talk’ to buy him more time to get away.

“Mmmaybe only like.. seven stories? Basement level not included. We were out on patrol, and during a descent two of the rotors malfunctioned and I needed to make an emergency landing.” Definitely a little rough based on the scrapes he ended up with, now all neatly wrapped up with some help from Leon.

“Well, you do raise a good point, twin of mine. It is well known that our genius is rather hard to ignore.”

“Hey Nico, I just had the strangest feeling someone’s talking about us.”

@techniicality​

He doesn’t look at Nico when he says that, clenching his fists against the blanket covering his legs. He honestly didn’t mean to hurt his egg twin with anything he’d said, but he went and did it anyway. Why couldn’t his brain just function normally? Why couldn’t he just bury his emotions whenever he wanted? It was like they had a mind of their own, crashing through his head whenever they damn well pleased, and at inopportune times.

He’d worked hard to cultivate being the emotionless, aloof genius persona, and his brain just never let him do it. It was infuriating. After a moment, though, he glanced up… and then reached over to pull his brother into a hug, taking comfort in the closeness. As close as they were to Leon and Vinci… this was different.

“I need you too and you know that. I screwed up… and I’m sorry. It’s just… hard. You know how my brain is, better than anyone. Sometimes I wish I could just turn it off and be the smart one. Nothing else… instead of whatever this is.”

The moment Nico was pulled into that hug, his arms wound around Donnie’s in return, holding him so close, refusing to let go. The two of them were still so bruised and battered from their fight, but it didn’t matter to him; what mattered most was the comfort of his twin.

“I know--” He held on tighter, although cautious not to bring either of them any discomfort. “I know, and it’s okay.. You don’t have to apologize to me. I know that wasn’t what you meant, I-- I agree with you completely. It’s okay..” Pulling his head back just enough, Nico pushed his beak to the side of Donnie’s head, quietly chirping in an attempt to soothe his upset brother.