22. Puzzling - TMNT 2012
Don't worry, guys, that wasn't supposed to happen.
When the bit of Kraang tech he's examining (read: poking randomly in the hopes that something will happen) explodes, Donatello's not sure if he or Raphael shrieks louder. He thinks it's Raph. Which would be way funnier under different circumstances.
He blinks against sooty particulates. "Huh, well, that wasn't supposed to happen."
He's amid a cloud of unexpectedly thick, slightly pink smoke. Which is on-brand but frankly annoying. He waves at the air in a vain attempt to disperse it. Maybe he can move this operation to the kitchen, work under the exhaust hood. He should probably install one in here. He gives up flailing his arms, and backs away from the desk. Step one to solving any problem is getting some distance. Step two is—oh, that's weird. The cloud doesn't seem to have moved since the initial explosion. What kind of particles are these? He hasn't seen Kraang tech do this before.
The moment he remembers Raph is also the moment he trips over him. With a yelp, he hits the ground. Hard. Raph giggles. Rude. He's going to have at least two bruises tomorrow. And his scream was definitely louder than Raph's, so he's lost any right to make fun.
"Dude," Donnie groans, pushing to his feet. At least he's away from the Kraang smoke, "Why'd you trip me?"
"I don't know," comes the high-pitched reply, "Why're you so big?"
By the time his eyes clear, he's pretty sure it's a genuine question, not an insult about his height. It makes more sense once he looks down, down, down to find Raph miniaturised.
Donnie throws his hands to his head. "That wasn't supposed to happen, either!" Raph just giggles again.
"Leo!"
As far as they can tell, based on Raph's appearance and memories, he's about five. Donnie can't even remember being that young. Which he counts as a good thing because kids are weird. Or maybe that's just mutant turtle kids. He doesn't have experience with normal children to establish a baseline. Leo and Sensei do, though, and they seem unperturbed by Raph's behavior. Even Mikey takes the whole thing in stride. He is, in fact, absolutely thrilled and oscillates between gathering blackmail material and doing whatever Raph asks.
Donnie will admit he's having trouble making sense of it all. First, and he thinks he’s mentioned this, that was not supposed to happen. He can't figure out how a broken Kraang tech part without any detectable energy source could have caused something like this. Which naturally leads to the question of how he's meant to fix it. Raph has no idea what happened, either, so he's no help. Worse, he just might be the most confusing being Donnie has ever met. Take yesterday, for example.
He's not sure what time it is when he stumbles out of the lab for breakfast, so it might not technically be in the range of the day at which it is appropriate to call a meal breakfast. His brain is too full of viscous pink Kraang smoke to care. It must be some mealtime because everyone but Master Splinter is in the kitchen when he arrives. Leo is at the island supervising Raph and Mikey's mess-making by the stove.
Raph perks up, "Hey Donnie! I wanna tell you a question."
"Ask nicely, Raph," Leo reminds, hiding a smile behind the rim of his tea cup.
"Please, I wanna tell you a question." He barrels on, "How do you open your labrador?”
Open his what? Donnie stares at the space above Raph's head, trying to parse the question until a nudge from Leo resets his brain. "Say what?"
"Your labrador!" He flings his arms out, nearly knocking himself to the floor. Mikey catches the lip of his shell just in time.
“What Labrador? Raph, I don't have a—”
“Yeah, you do!” He's angry of a sudden. Of course, he is. But it's weird. It's not the first time Donnie's made him mad since the incident, but he's never gotten in anyone's face or stormed off with a huff. He just screeches until he gets whatever it is that he wants. It's Raph's anger, but it's not. “It’s how you get to the place you do all your smart stuff!"
Mikey swoops in, crouching to squeeze Raph gently, then translates, “He means the door to your lab, bro.”
“The door? Oh. Why would—?" Donnie sighs heavily, sinking into the stool next to Leo. “Raph, that’s the lab door,” he enunciates, “Not a Labrador. A Labrador is a dog breed."
Just like that, Raph's face unscrunches into something thoughtful. “So it’s not a labrador?”
Well, at least the exasperation is familiar. "I literally just said that. It’s a normal door.” Leo clicks at him warningly. Come on, what is he supposed to do here? Seriously, this feels surreal. Maybe this whole dialogue is a dream, and he's hunched over his desk right now. He straightens his shell to test for any worse-than-usual aching.
“Okay," Raph says. Then he turns around. Just like that. As if the entire conversation never happened. Never mind his original question or whatever he was trying to ask. He makes no sense, literally none at all.
But, you know what, fine. Donnie has to eat anyway so he can go back to the "place where he does all his smart stuff" or whatever. So he can figure out how to get his actual brother back, who at least makes sense most of the time.
Leo finishes his tea, returning Raph's enthusiastic wave goodbye, and then there are three. Mikey and Raph finally settle down to eat whatever noxious concoction they've whipped up as Donnie cleans his dishes. Freshly fed, his brain refills with extradimensional smoke and engineering.
"Well, that's boring!"
He fumbles with his mug at the sudden shout. A glance over his shoulder finds Raph, who had been eating quietly, now glaring at him.
“You should name that boring normal door Labrador so we can just call it that anyway," he says firmly.
He's not sure why he tries to ask, “Why would I—”
“Or or!" And it's like a switch again, anger suddenly dissipating. "We could name it something cooler! Like Thundoor from Crognard!”
“Thundarr,” He corrects. It's too late, Mikey's joins in.
“That’s awesome, little dude!" Mikey laughs buoyantly. "We should name all the furniture!”
“Yeah!”
And Donnie is so tired and so lost, and Raph is too much and too little of his brother at the same time it’s not even funny anymore. He doesn't think it ever was.
“Come one, Dee!" Mikey hoists Raph onto his shoulders, naturally content to ignore the messy kitchen. "Help Raphie and I name everything in the lair!”
Donnie tries to shake his head as Raph reaches for him. “Can you! Can you, please? Just for a little bit, please, Donnie, please?” Oh, now he recalls his manners.
"No, Raph." He bangs his mug onto the drying rack, ignoring Mikey's frown. "I don't have time for your nonsense questions and weird games. I'm trying to fix you."
It's not until he slams closed the lab door that the words trailing after his dramatic exit finally click. A puzzled sort of muttering from Raph: "Fix me? But I’m not broken."
So maybe he got a little too worked up, as tired as he was. But he's better now! He's eaten. He's slept five hours. He's determined to sit here until he cracks this thing.
And then someone bangs on the door.
He drops his head with a groan. How is he supposed to heroically solve all of their problems in these conditions? “Who is it, and what do you want," he shouts into the pages of his notebook.
"Once a second!"
One second, he mouths to himself. He listens to Raph struggle with the door for a lot of seconds and hopes he'll give up. He probably won't. Donnie better unlock it before he hurts himself. Or worse, starts screaming. Only because Leo would find some way to blame Donnie for it.
He shoves the door open, not at all irritated. Or vindicated either, when Raph falls on his shell and his sai skitter across the floor. Wait. “I thought Sensei took those out of your—Hey!”
Five-year-old Raph may not be much of a ninja but he is pretty slippery. He scrambles under Donnie's arm and launches into the rolling desk chair.
“Raphael." He glowers, summoning his inner Leo, "You are not allowed in the lab—”
“Without you,” he recites, spinning the chair so Donnie only catches glimpses of his cheeky smile. “But you’re here too! So it’s okay.”
It most definitely is not. Raph has no understanding of lab safety right now, so if Raph stays in here, then Donnie will have to keep an eye on him, and if Donnie has to watch Raph, then he can't focus on his work. He does not want Raph in here, and he says so.
“Donnie, I'll be so so so good. Please!” Oh, Mikey absolutely taught him how to do that with his eyes. Not cool, Mike.
“Raph," Donnie faux whines back. "I need to work. Go play with Leo or Mikey."
"Ugh," Raph flops onto his shell, letting his head and limbs hang. “But Sensei and Leo are medating, and Mikey’s with Red."
“Meditating," he corrects, "And I know you know her name is April.”
“Casey calls her Red.”
“Yeah, well, Casey’s a—” Raph looks at him with wide, innocent eyes. A promise on his face that anything Donnie says will be repeated. "It’s polite to call people by their name."
Raph hums, continuing to spin idly, “But I don't call you Donatello, I call you Donnie. And you call me Raph or sometimes Fai.”
Not a bad point. But what was that second thing? Fai? Oh. His brain retrieves fuzzy, forgotten memories. That's right. When they were both little, that had been his nickname for Raph. Just between the two of them. He can't remember when he stopped using it.
“Right," he says slowly. "But those are nicknames. They're a shorter version of your name.”
“Oh, okay.” Then Raph rolls out of the chair, clunking to the ground shell first, and wanders away to explore the lab.
Donnie retakes the seat, resigning himself to further interruptions. Part of his brain is devoted to thinking up better excuses in case this is one of those conversations Raph returns to without warning. The rest of his awareness is on Raph as he pokes and prods at books and equipment and even poor Timothy. It takes the better part of a half hour for him to realise he's still sitting at his desk not moving a muscle.
He growls, gripping his head. Raph is on him in an instant. "What's wrong? Can I help? Do you need a book? Do you want one of mine? I can get Leo! Or Sensei, or—"
"No," Donnie snaps.
He gapes as Raph's beak trembles and his eyes fill with tears. "You're crying. Why are you crying? Please stop crying." He slides to the floor next to Raph, "I'm sorry? It's just. I'm trying to focus! I need to fix you, but I don't—"
“I don’t want you to fix me!” He shouts, scrubbing his face and hiccupping. “I just want to play! Why won’t you play with me anymore?"
“Raph, I," Donnie looks down at his hands, "I don’t have time,” he finishes lamely.
“Yes, you do! You’re just being mean!” He runs out of the lab. Probably to someone who actually understands him. Someone who tries. Donnie wonders if he’ll ever stop messing things up for Raph.
Because as far as they can tell, this version of Raph went to bed one day, and the family he found upon waking was suddenly different. Of course, Raph is frustrated and confused and probably a little scared. He's not just normal Raph in a smaller body. Donnie might've realised that sooner if he'd spent more time with him instead of causing one mess after the other and then hiding from it all in his lab.
Donnie doesn't remember when he was five, but he's heard Sensei's stories about their childhood. The ones about his younger self hanging on Raph's every word. That one embarrassing retelling of the biggest fight Donnie ever caused by announcing Raph was his favorite brother. His father's memories of them doing everything together, at least until Donnie really got into science. So he steps out of the lab and locks it behind him. His brother, this brother, needs to come first.
He must look contrite enough that Leo only grills him a little before he points to Raph's room. After a single breath of indecision, he sits, shell against the door.
“Hey, Fai?” he starts, tugging at his fingers, “I’m really sorry. I have been pretty mean lately, haven’t I?” It takes a few moments, but a little thud echoes on the other side of the door.
Relieved, he continues, “I’m not as good at this as I used to be. I might need your help. But I’m out of my lab right now, and we can play whatever you want.”
Donnie hits the floor before he realises the door has swung open. Little Raph is looking down at him, eyes still watery but excited. "Really? Anything? Even Space Heroes!"
And Donnie almost can't believe it's that easy. He smiles with Raph's infectious joy. “Space Heroes? Who are you, Leo?”
Raph collapses into him with a laugh that banishes the rest of his tears as Donnie reaches out, tickling him just like he's seen their big brother do. He's still giggling when Donnie staggers to his feet. “Think I could use some bedding to build us the Dauntless?”
Raph cheers. Launching into an explanation of his favorite episodes and characters as he directs them around the lair to collect supplies. If this isn't blackmail material, Donnie doesn't know what is. Raph will never be able to deny that he likes Space Heroes ever again. Once Donnie figures out how to reverse this Kraang-smoke-induced de-aging that is.
He does still have to. They need Raph as he should be: their teammate, their protector, their equal. But if he were here in those roles right now, Donnie knows he would have heard a thousand times over that he needs to sleep, to eat, to take a break for at least five minutes, Don, come on.
So he'll try. He'll take breaks to hang out with his favorite brother. He'll get a lot of experience building sheet spaceships and pillow forts. And by the end of it all, Donnie will realise his little brother really does just want to play and ask silly questions that probably don’t seem so silly to him. He'll decide this little version of Raph isn't a puzzle of confusing emotions. He's the same pieces he's always been, unfiltered and untethered from all the pain and fear of their older selves.
And so, even after Raph returns to 16, whenever the thought creeps up on Donnie that he's not doing enough, that he needs to fix it. He'll lock his lab behind him and say, "Hey, Fai! Wanna play something?"
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The Dragon & The Wolf
Chapter 2
Summary: After reaching Kings Landing for your impending wedding, you finally have a moment with Prince Aemond. Your worries melt away 💭
Aemond took another step to you and you immediately remembered your manners . You dipped a curtesy “My Prince”
By the time you had regained your stance he was directly opposite you, a small gap stood between you. He took your hand ever so gently and planted a kiss to the top “My Lady”
You were sure you were blushing , as he let go of your hand you cleared your throat
“How well you look.” You said with a smile .
He almost frowned but surprise masked his reaction “I do my lady?”
You nodded “When I last saw you I think I was a foot taller than you…”
It was true, you had grown quick for your age but now Aemond towered over you.
“Mmm” he responded .
The silence between you was soon broken by Aemond clearing his own throat , he studied your face , hair and attire - looking as if he wanted to compliment you but couldn’t quite muster the words.
“You have flourished into a great beauty my Lady. “
You could see by the expression on his face that it was difficult for him. Intimacy scared him, you took his hand slowly “thank you…” he offered his arm “Walk with me?”
Wordlessly you took it and began to walk. He steered you both off to a garden that went along the wall, overlooking the coast. The garden was beautiful, many yellow and violent flowers flooded the grounds, a lush contrast to the crystal blues of the ocean.
“Your journey was acceptable yes ?” He asked.
You nodded “Pleasant enough…my brother isn’t the most stimulating of conversationalists”
He looked at you “I am sorry for your misfortune. But glad your journey was safe and successful “
“I am too.” You stopped and looked at the vast sea “I received a very warm welcome too, your mother and sister were too kind”
He paused and watched where your gaze , you looked at him
“I …apologize I was not there to greet you My lady”
“Please…no need. You are a prince , you have many responsibilities.” You said inhaling the fresh sea air.
He opened his mouth to speak “I do but I had no prior engagement…and I fear the truth will make you think even less of me”
You turned to him , almost horrified he would think such a thing “My Prince nothing could ever make me think any less of you…I hold you in the highest regard…why would you think such a thing?”
His lips curled slightly “because of that my lady…I remember that night I lost my eye…you defended me and I I never forgot that …”
You edged closer to him, gently holding his forearm
“Many people who see me after an absence look at me with pity …you do not…and I…..I”
His eye met yours , nervously he exhaled “I lost my nerve…I was fearful of what you would think upon seeing me after these years”
His vulnerability was almost glowing, you gently placed your other hand over his “Aemond…I have, nor ever will think less of you. You ride the largest dragon in the world , are one of the most fiercest swordsman in the realm…and you were scared of seeing me again?”
He actually trembled “You are to be my wife…marriage is something I never thought I would enter…as a prince I expected to marry for duty but…to marry someone you already know and cherish…” he almost whispered. “I do not want to disappoint you”
Your heart felt like it was breaking at his words, you offered him a reassuring smile “You could never disappoint me” . You pulled him gently forward , he rested his forehead against yours. Your thumb rubbing over his large hands, which then entwined with your own fingers and you felt him relax. For a moment it felt like you were the only two people in the realm, the sound of the waves crashing against the wall echoed around you
Chapter 3
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