Chapter Text
Donnie grumbled to himself as a tell-tale cramp tightened his stomach. This was why he didn't eat new foods, Leo! His whiny baby of a stomach would get upset and he'd spend the night in pain before managing to relieve himself of the torture.
He really shouldn't have let the slider egg him into eating it - they knew he didn't have Raph's iron gut, but no use lamenting that now. If past experience rang true, he only had about a half hour now before the cramping got bad enough to interfere with his work. Might as well make the best of that time.
As expected, around the half hour mark, Donnie's stomach twisted harshly enough that he dropped his screwdriver and curled up, one arm hugging around his middle. He let out a slow, shaky breath as it eventually passed.
Dammit. That wasn't the type of pain that meant he could do anything about it. Time to make this Leo's problem, since he started the whole deal. With a quiet grumble to himself, Donnie packed his things up, pausing here and there to tense and let out soft whines. This hurt.
Things put away and lights turned off, Donnie left his lab to head to Leo's room. It was late enough that he'd be in there, but not so late that he'd be trying - or faking trying - to go to sleep. Which meant bothering hours were nigh. Donnie didn't even bother knocking, just shoving into Leo's room and flopping on top of his brother.
“Dude!” Leo protested, barely managing to move his comic in time before Donnie crumpled it. “What the hell!”
“My suffering is your fault, ergo, I'm making you suffer with me.”
“What suffering?? Get off me.” This was punctuated by Leo pushing at him. So Donnie went entirely limp. Dead weight. Leo growled, but stopped shoving, apparently accepting his fate. “The hell did I do to you??”
“You convinced me to eat something new. My stomach hurts. I did not want to eat it. My suffering is entirely at your hands.”
“Better mine than a stranger's.” Came the response, Leo's voice a little too dark to pass as a joke.
Donnie raised an eyebrow at him, but was waved off. He may have pushed, but another cramp hit him and his words were replaced with a thin whine as he gritted his teeth. Fucking ow.
“That bad, huh?” Leo's voice came out sympathetic as he rubbed Donnie's shoulders, just above his shell. The comforting effect was ruined by the next comment. “Guess that's what happens when you have the gut strength of a slug.”
“Next time sewer trash ends up on our doorstep, I'll make you eat it. See how it feels then.” Donnie growled through another cramp that had him rigid.
“Alright, get off me.” Leo forcefully relocated Donnie - ie, picked him up and placed him next to him on the bed. “Will a heat pack help?”
“Could try, I guess.” Heat rarely helped. But if Leo didn't feel like he was being useful, he'd get obnoxious.
“I'll be back. You stay put.” A pat to Donnie head and Leo headed out. He hadn't come over here to get taken care of - if he wanted that, he'd go to Raph. Except, no, they were trying to get Raph to feel like he had to take care of them less. Maybe he'd let Leo treat him nicely for now, instead. Let Raph get a full night of sleep for once.
Donnie didn't notice when Leo returned, curled up and panting through another wave of pain. He only realized when a cool rag was laid over the back of his neck and a heat pack tucked under his hands, against his stomach. Donnie peeled one eye open to watch Leo's face as all this happened.
A small frown, but not a guilt laden one. Good. For all Donnie was blaming Leo for his suffering, he did have the gut strength of a slug and it didn't matter if he ate something new or familiar - when his stomach rebelled, it got pissy over anything. There had been a period of time where he couldn't even drink a juice box without wracked with near-incapacitating cramps. He didn't know why, but stomach pain was always something he couldn't ignore. He could push through almost anything else if he felt the need, but his stomach decided to be a little grumpy and he was down for the count.
At some point in Donnie's musings, Leo had started rubbing his shell. Careful, like he was afraid of breaking Donnie, the slider was following the same pattern Raph used that rarely failed to get Donnie to relax, melt into a puddle.
Rarely failed, not never, because it sure wasn't working now. Donnie thought this sardonically as he found himself curled in a ball, jaw aching from the tension as he gritted his teeth. He broke off a long whine he hadn't even realized he was making to take a breath.
“That was three minutes of the same sound,” Leo looked down at him. “Go take a shit, you know that helps.”
“Don't tell me what to do.” Donnie bit out, trying to force his tense limbs to release enough to let him move. It was hard work, as he'd started shivering at some point, but he made it work.
He wobbled as he rolled off the bed - weird, he was usually more sure-footed than that. He blinked when Leo's hand appeared on his arm.
“Are you sure you're okay?” Huh. Leo looked concerned.
“It's just the same shit as always.” Donnie rolled his eyes when Leo snickered. “If you're that worried, you can walk me to the bathroom so you know I didn't faceplant or something.”
To his surprise, Leo got up. He didn't expect that to be taken seriously. He would've scoffed, but he felt a little too worn to be that much of an ass on purpose. Apparently, this was another concerning thing, because he got that look from Leo again. Like the last one, this went ignored.
The two headed to the bathroom in silence. Raph's light was off, meaning he was having an early night - meaning he was extra tired and needed the sleep. It had been a good call to not bother him. Mikey's light was still on, but that meant nothing - the box turtle often fell asleep in the middle of working on a piece. Either way, the middle children were quiet so as not to risk waking the oldest or youngest.
Leo shoved Donnie into the bathroom, having grown the decency to not follow him in when they were six and Donnie accidentally broke his finger trying to shut the door before Leo could get in.
Donnie blinked. What was he doing? He hated when this happened, his head left almost fuzzy… until another cramp hit him. Then he remembered. Angy tummy. Fine.
An unknown amount of time later, Donnie stumbled out of the bathroom and promptly tripped over Leo, who was sitting in front of the door. Faster than Donnie could track, the slider was up and catching him.
“Did that help at all? You still look like shit…”
“I'm fine.” Donnie grumbled, pushing Leo's hands off of him. “I'm going to bed.” He felt exhausted.
He could feel Leo's frown even as he turned away and started wobbling to his room. Why was everything spinning?
“I'm not leaving you alone.” Leo spoke up decisively, grabbing Donnie bicep in a firm hold and ignoring the softshell’s hiss. “Something seems off here.”
“It's fine, Leo.” Donnie growled, trying to pull away. Leo didn't let him, looking oddly serious. “This just happens, it's nothing to worry about.”
“Something feels wrong. I'm not ignoring that.” Donnie rolled his eyes. Since the invasion-that-wasn’t, Leo had gotten weird about taking random things seriously, like his “feelings”. Half the time it ended up being nothing. “We'll go back to your room, but I'm staying with you.”
“Whatever. Fine.” He was too damn tired to argue at this point. If Leo wanted to waste his time and energy, that was his problem.
They got to Donnie's room, Donnie leaning more on Leo than he'd like to admit. Uncharacteristically gently, Leo helped Donnie lay down and pulled his blankets over him. Donnie didn't even try to hold back a content little hum when his weighted blanket was tugged over him, the comforting pressure sending him spiralling into sleep.
Half-awake and barely aware, he felt Leo's hand press against his forehead, then something put into his mouth that he tried to spit out with a sleepy grumble. His efforts went unrewarded, though it was removed when a beep sounded.
“Sleep well, Tello,” Leo spoke through a heavy sigh. He said something else, but Donnie was too far gone to hear it.