TurtleWrimo 2025: Something’s Wrong with Don
Part 3/30 (Previous Part) (Masterpost)
Description: After the near-end of the world, everyone is finally beginning to heal and put the past (somewhat) behind them. But when Mikey notices Donnie becoming more and more distant, he becomes determined to figure out what’s up with him—no matter what it takes.
General Tags: Mikey Centric, Donnie Centric, PB&J Duo, Mikey POV, Family oriented, No romantic relationships, Post movie, Recovery, Slice of Life, Slow burn, Brotherly angst, Mystic Mikey, Good sibling Mikey, TC/ST DNI, Genre shift, More tags to add later
Words: 1,467 (total 4,328)
Donnie was on the couch, his typical hoodie gone and replaced with his battleshell. He was pulling up his leg wraps, and Mikey felt a twinge of annoyance. His going-out outfit. Mikey frowned at the sight.
"Donnie, you're not going out again, right? You just left a few days ago!"
"We're a large family, and since Raph and Leo have regained their appetites we're running out of food more frequently."
Mikey confidently put his hands on his hips. "I'm coming with you!"
"Mikey, it's fine, really. I like the alone time."
"Rock paper scissors it!"
Donnie blinked a few times before his mouth slightly quirked up. "Alright."
He stood up, standing in front of Mikey. Leo snickered from the distance, and Donnie looked over at him, eyebrow arched before redirecting his focus back at Mikey. They both put out their hands.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
Donnie had a rock, but Mikey... His jaw slacked as he struggled to process Mikey wielding paper.
"Gasp! What? How is this possible?"
Mikey pumped his arms in the air, whooping in victory. He ran over to Leo, high-fiving him.
"Leo! Leo! I did what you taught me!"
"You did! I'm so proud hermano."
"I should've known you'd be behind this," Donnie muttered, crossing his arms.
Leo laughed, pulling Dee close to him with an elbow. "Oh, the look on your face was so worth possibly losing matches w Mikesters in the future. Speaking of which, buddy, you gotta do Raph and April next, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Well, we should be on our way, Micheal. Just a warning, it is rather mundane. You'll definitely get bored."
"That's okay!"
"But boredom is one of your top five nemesises," Donnie said. He put a hand to his chin. "Unless something else took its spot?"
Mikey rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine because I have you, Dee." He grabbed his brother's arm, tugging. "Now let's go!"
"Oh, um." Donnie shook his head. "Okay. Yeah, let's go."
Donnie allowed himself to be led by Mikey, who was eagerly leading the way. They made their way under the sewers for the first few minutes before Donnie halted at a ladder. "Ready?"
"Yup!"
Donnie began climbing and Mikey paused slightly. Maybe he should've thought about this a little more. His older brother looked down at him, humming in thought. "Maybe try putting your elbows on the outside of the rungs to hang on instead of using your hands?"
Mikey held his arms out and squeezed tightly, slowly making his way up. By the time he breached the surface, Donnie had removed the manhole, holding a hand out. Mikey took it, crawling onto the ground. He quickly got up, dusting his legs as Donnie put it back. "We need to hurry before the evening rush."
"Right."
They walked down the street and Mikey took in the city sounds. The chatter of strangers, cars honking at one another, trash rustling in the wind, the sound of construction. Luckily after the invasion, no one really glanced twice at the mutants (Since if aliens existed, so could some human-sized turtles). Mikey patted the sides of his legs as they walked, nodding his head to a nonexistent tune. Donnie murmured something and pointed, and they walked inside a small grocery store. He grabbed a basket and Mikey mimicked him, wanting to feel useful. Donnie surprisingly didn't comment about his hands, instead choosing to peruse the store.
He seemed to know exactly where he was going, squatting to get some things closer to the ground, and using his bō to reach things on the tippy-top of the shelves, catching it before it fell to the floor. Mikey just trailed behind him, not paying too much mind to what he was getting.
Bright colors caught his eye, and he walked over to it. It was a small display of different puzzles and coloring books. Sudoku, crosswords, trivia, mystery coloring books. Oo, that sounded interesting. You didn't even know what you were making until you colored everything. He picked that one up, flipping through the pages. Cool.
"Mikey, I'm getting checked out so if you're getting something you better hurry."
"Right!" Mikey tucked it under his arm, running over. There was an older woman ringing up everything in Donnie's basket, and wow, he was efficient. It was filled to the brim and they'd only been there for a few minutes! He set his book on the side of the pile, and after a few minutes the total rang up to be $80.57. He thanked the cashier, putting the handles through his arms. He also made sure to hand Mikey his book, which he gladly took.
"Do you need any help with the bags?" Mikey asked, not liking the useless-feeling he was feeling right now.
"I'm fine, Mikey. Now, this next stop is a lot further away. You up for it?"
"Yeah!
* * *
Wow, that was a long walk. Mikey didn't know whether it was because it'd been a long time since he'd last taken a run or what, but he was pooped by the time they arrived. Donnie didn't seem too affected, but then again, he'd been taking these trips for weeks, so he was probably more used to it by now. It was another store, bigger than the last. Donnie put the bags into a shopping cart and made his way inside.
There was a bunch of different stuff, and Mikey eagerly looked at everything he could as he trailed behind Donnie. Very quickly they were waiting at the registers, the items all bagged up, and they were ready to go.
"Hopefully this will last us a few days," Donnie said as he grabbed all the bags. They nearly swallowed him up.
"Days?!" Mikey squawked. There was so much food!
"Yeah, with Raph and Dad's appetites, food goes by quick."
"Have you always done this?" Mikey asked before thinking.
He jerked his arm up, trying to find a more comfortable position from the mountain of bags. "Well, yeah. For a few years. Do you think food just magically appeared in the fridge and pantry?" Upon Mikey's look, he quickly added, "But to be fair, I just ordered the food back then and picked it up at the manholes."
"So why don't you do that now?"
"Well, with the whole—" He pointed to the construction going on, which was still going on to fix what all was destroyed from the invasion. "—going on, the usual websites I use haven't had any delivery options available."
"Oh."
"Yep." A small sheet of purple appeared in front of him before quickly fizzling away. "Thirty-three minutes until rush hour. If we speed walk, we might just beat it."
Mikey gave him a reassuring grin. "We've got this!"
* * *
They did not have this.
The streets were overflowing with people, and Mikey had grabbed one of Donnie's arms and led the way. Several dirty looks were thrown their way, from Donnie's many bags bumping into them or for their appearance, he didn't know.
They cut into an alleyway, and Donnie gasped, setting down the groceries. "Thank god. That was...too much."
He squatted, lifting the manhole and putting it to the side, slowly bringing down the bags bit by bit. Mikey awkwardly stood watch, feeling bad but knowing that Donnie would deny any help. Sometimes he wished he had less stubborn brothers.
After an agonizing wait Donnie got out, motioning to the sewer. He put his coloring book beneath his chest strap so his elbows would be free. Mikey awkwardly climbed down, using the same trick to get back down as he did to get up.
There was a clunk as the manhole got set into place, and Donnie made his way after his brother. He took a few seconds to grab all the bags, and they made their way back home.
When they entered the lair, Raph was leaning against the wall, long tail thumping against the floor. His brow was furrowed, claw in between his teeth. As soon as he locked eyes with them he instantly relaxed.
“How was it, Mikesters?”
He decided to be honest. “Boring.”
Donnie snorted. “I told you so.”
“I just didn’t like feeling helpless,” Mikey huffed. “Why can’t there be a healing magic spell to fix magic injuries?”
“Probably the same way that matter can’t be created or destroyed.”
“Who made that rule? Isaac Newton?”
“No, actually. Albert Lavoisier confirmed the theory in the late 18th century, and...”
Mikey quietly tuned him out, grabbing the least heavy groceries to put in the fridge and pantry. Despite not being the most interesting field trip, it was the most exciting thing he’s done these past two months. He’d missed fresh air, the sun against his scales.
He couldn’t wait until they were all healed enough to go on patrol!
