He's Awake: A RotTMNT Making Peace Short Story
Bootyyyshaker9000: He’s awake.
Bootyyyshaker9000: Please refrain from making too much noise whenever you come to visit; he is still quite worn out and needs peace and quiet.
Not two seconds after Donnie sent the texts to the group chat, he heard the sound of pounding feet on concrete.
Donnie glanced over at Leo, who side-eyed him back with his un-bandaged eye.
Leo couldn’t speak, not right now at least, not with his whole…situation. Donnie wasn’t even sure he could use his voice yet, but seeing as how he literally just woke up, Donnie wasn’t about to have him test it.
Leo’s knowing, half-covered smirk communicated enough to Donnie anyway.
Donnie rolled his eyes and smiled too.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Donnie said.
The footsteps came to a crescendo, almost shaking the room. Raph skidded into view behind the glass of the doors to the medbay, Mikey clinging to Raph's shoulder spikes like a determined octopus.
“LEO!” They both shouted.
“Hey!” Donnie complained, standing from his seat beside Leo’s bed. He approached Raph and Mikey at the doorway, waving his phone around. “What did I JUST say?”
“Huh?” Raph said. “You said Leo’s awake.”
“And not to make too much noise!” Donnie hissed.
Raph pulled out his phone, barely glancing at the screen. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, Dee, we missed that. The first text was kinda distracting.”
Donnie shook his head, albeit fondly. “Sigh. I suppose I don’t blame you.”
Donnie stepped aside, motioning his arms into the room in an ‘after you’ gesture. Raph ducked and squeezed through the doorway, being careful not to scrape Mikey off of his perch with the doorway lintel in the process.
As the two approached Leo’s bedside, Mikey hopped off of Raph’s shoulder and rounded to the other side, both of them effectively walling Leo in. They didn’t dare touch Leo with the sheer extent of his injuries, but that didn’t stop them from getting as close as possible. All Donnie could hear were both of their (noticeably much quieter) murmured frettings over how Leo was doing, wondering, “how are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Did you have any weird dreams? How many fingers am I holding up?”
Donnie joined the group, posting himself next to Raph. Donnie worried that so many people would crowd Leo. He began telling Mikey and Raph off for being overwhelming.
Over the din of the brothers’ constant stream of nervous and relieved chattering, a single sound, so quiet Donnie nearly missed it, shut them all up immediately.
Donnie looked to Leo, who was smiling his new half-smile brightly, teary but amused and content.
They all stared. Leo continued laughing softly. Then they looked at each other and began smiling too. Mikey started cry-laughing, wiping at his face with the heel of his palm. Raph’s eyes brimmed with tears, his own smile wobbly and proud. Donnie was totally emotionally stable at the moment and definitely not letting any tears slip free, he would never.
Leo’s laugh was small and raspy and cracked and damaged…but it was purely Leo. Oh, Donnie had missed his twin’s laugh for so long. He hadn’t realized how much until now, weeks later. It was the snicker Leo made when he was about to tell a terrible joke, mixed with his overconfident chuckle when he was being a sassy smart-aleck.
That laugh had often infuriated Donnie in moments of brotherly rivalry.
Now it was the sweetest sound Donnie had ever heard.
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Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed this! :D And thank you to the wonderful @bowandbrush for beta-ing this one!! I really appreciate it!!!!
