Sicktember Day 29: Came Back Worse
(Follow-up to Day 5)
“That ‘little throat cold’ is just as stubborn as you are! Master Splinter told you not to push yourself, Leonardo, but did you listen? No! You—”
Donatello elbowed Raphael in the plastron, both to interrupt his rant and to get past him, setting a steaming water bowl nearby for added moisture in the air. “What Raphael means is it’s been nearly four weeks of hearing you cough day in and night out. You haven’t slowed down long enough to shake it and now you’re backsliding even worse. It’s gotta be bronchitis at this point.”
“And what Donatello means,” Michelangelo cut in, squeezing Leonardo’s uncomfortably warm shoulder, “is you freaked everybody way far out, dude! Making that mess of mucus on the dojo floor, and your face was practically as blue as your mask! Or—whatever color green and blue and sorta grayish make.”
“I-I thought I was getting better, honest,” Leonardo croaked. The tight, whistling pressure in his chest didn’t inspire confidence. “Think that pizza burning yesterday…all the s-smoke just re-aggravated everyth-hhhh—” Wheezing, he doubled over against the wrenching pain in his plastron. As Michelangelo thumped his shell, he gagged, depositing another glob of mucus into the cloth that used to be a cold compress. “Hhngh. M’sorry…”
“We don’t want your apologies,” Raphael huffed. “We want you to keep your shell parked right here, let Donatello shove his nebufier in your face—”
“Nebulizer,” Donatello corrected, doubling back to the entryway to retrieve it.
“—and rest. Trust us to take the lead for once.” Just let us help you.
He didn’t deserve their help after giving them a scare but…if this was how he could make it up to them…
With a thin, crackly sigh, Leonardo slumped into his pillows and parted his lips for the nebulizer mouthpiece.
