The two brothers sat in complete silence, each lost in their own thoughts,

The whole situation was starting to sink into Donatello. Everything that had happened suddenly crashed down with too much force for him to take. 

He was sat on Michelangelo's bed, his knees tucked under his chin and arms wrapped around them, as if curling into himself would protect him from the truth of everything that had happened.

Somehow he'd managed to hold everything in until his little brother revealed the reason why they were really there.

He brought a hand up to run his fingers across the fabric of his collar, they both belonged to Leonardo, but Mikey had asked for it. He could tell that Mikey had no intentions of leaving, whereas Donnie wore his old brown obi and his purple mask tied around his arm, Mikey didn’t wear any of his old gear, Donnie couldn’t see it in the room either.

“What happened to your gear?”

“I‘ve had it packed for weeks.” Mikey tilted his head towards the floor, shifting his weight slightly to look at Donnie. “I was going to have it sent back home.”

“It‘d break Master Splinters heart.” Donnie’s voice was slightly distant, as if he was only vaguely aware that he was talking to Mikey and not himself.

“That‘s why I haven‘t been able to send it.” Mikey frowned. “You two were meant to be there to help him.”

“Raph would have tried to get revenge.” Donnie sighed. “He would have either been in the same position as he is now…Or he’d have died.” His voice cracked slightly at that last word. “Why?”

Mikey shifted uncomfortably, not able to look at the pain in his older brothers eyes. Donnie was always the calm understanding one, but that one word held venom worthy of  their hot-headed brother

“Raph did everything for you, and you‘d have let him get himself killed just so you could be Leonardo‘s pet.” 

“I love Leonardo! We love each other.” Mikey argued. “You said, you understood.”

Once again they fell into a tense silence. 

“If Leonardo loves you so much then how come I‘m here?” Donnie asked through gritted teeth. “If you‘re his boyfriend then why…” He choked back a sob as he thought back to his and Leo’s encounters. “Why does he keep fucking with me.”

Mikey visibly flinched. The swear-word sounded strange coming from Donnie, but it was enough to melt their boiling anger.

“Leo‘s an alpha male.” Makey tried to explain, keeping his voice as calm as possible.

Donnie nodded sharply; he’d already gathered that much. Alpha males matured differently then other males, once they became sexually active they physically need a release when they get the urge to mate. It was a throwback to years ago when they weren’t evolved enough to have a community, and the Alpha’s would mate with any female as a way to preserve the species.

“Why does he come to me.” Donnie’s eye were misting over with tears.

“Most Alpha Kame have…” Mikey paused to awkwardly gesture to Donnie’s attire before continuing. “Leo had one before…”

“Why not you. If you’re his mate that why does he come to me?” Donnie repeated, his hands twisting into the bed sheets as he tried to hold back his tears.

“I haven’t. I mean ,Me and Leo aren’t….I didn‘t want him too.” Mikey admitted, curling his arms around his knees and resting his chin on top. “He said he was going to stop…but then he said you started giving in to him. He told me that you started to like it.”

“I…” Donnie openly cried as Mikey’s words hit him, slumping forward to curl up on the bed. He had started to enjoy it, Leo even made sure that they both got off during their encounters.

His mate was probably being tortured, and Donnie was busy pleasuring the turtle responsible for it, and  actually feeling good while Raph was suffering. 

“I‘m not sleeping with Leo.” Mikey sounded nervous as he spoke to Donnie, gently stroking the genius’s carapace in comforting patterns. “I was too scared to let him take me.” He admitted, ashamed at himself. “If I let him then…He shouldn’t come to you as much.”

“Did you and Raph….” Donnie’s voice was quiet and broken, but Mikey could hear it clearly enough.

“We did… stuff.” Mikey’s cheeks darkened as he thought back. “But we never went all the way. Have you?”

“Leo…Leo was my first.” Donnie swallowed past the thick lump in his throat, shaking his head as if he could shake that fact out of his mind. “Raph didn‘t want to hurt me.” He couldn’t help the sad smile as he thought about his mate.

“You two really love each other don‘t you.” Mikey smiled sympathetically. “I don’t think I ever had that with Raph.”

“Raph loved you.” Donnie wiped at his eyes with the cuffs around his wrists. “Part of him still does, I think.”

“He was too…Intense for me.” Mikey admitted, feeling bad about breaking it off with Raph, but he didn’t regret it. “It‘s like his whole world suddenly revolved around me.”

Donnie nodded, understanding what his brother meant. “We’re all he has Mikey. Me and you have friends we can go too, but he only has us.”

Their hot-headed brother was the black-sheep of the clan, though it wasn’t really his fault. The clans were both guilty of racism, the Kame had darker skin and red or yellow eyes and Turtles had lighter skin and more human colour eyes. Some turtles had darker skin or red-yellow eyes, and some Kame had lighter skin or human coloured eyes, but that was very rare.

Raphael’s mother had been beautiful; fair almost-white green skin with bright lavender eyes, but she had never married. Raphael was born after she had been raped by a Kame in the woods, she was alone, but she had told her friends what had happened.

Unfortunately Raph hadn’t inherited his mother’s looks. His skin was a dark emerald green, and his eyes were a burning yellow-amber; there was no mistaking his Kame paternity.

Just because of his colouring many turtles instantly turned against him, parent’s forbid their children from socialising with him, and he’d had to be home-schooled after getting bullied out of school by children who hated him because he looked like a Kame.

Mikey’s parents had been one of the family’s that tuned him away from the young half-Kame, but Donnie remembered his father praising him for helping Raph bandage his wounds after he’s been attack by kids in the street. Neither of them had seen much of Raph until they’d been adopted by Splinter.

All human settlement was ruled over by an organisation called the Foot, and the newest leader of their settlement had been evil and corrupt; Oruku Saki. He’d started a war with the Kame clan and the Turtles got dragged into the fight to prove that they weren’t siding with the Kame.

The three of them had lost their parents during a vicious attack between the humans and the Kame clan towards the end of the war, before the uneasy truce had formed between the two settlements.

Mikey and Donnie had been good friends most of their life, so they stuck together, stealing food to survive and living inside an abandoned warehouse to escape the fights that often broke out on the streets.

They met Raph when all three of them had tried to steal from the same person; A rat who moved into the settlement after practically ending the war single-handedly by killing Oruku Saki, as revenge for his Master‘s murder. 

Hamato Splinter.

Instead of turning the three turtles in to the authorities, he adopted them, claiming that he saw great potential in the skills three young orphans had displayed. Each of them were given new names to represent the new stage of their life.

Donnie frowned as Raph’s skin colour suddenly made him think of something. “Leonardo‘s got light skin for a Kame.”

Donnie’s head was now resting in Mikey’s lap, the youngest stroking his head in the same way that the genius had often done when Mikey was younger and suffered from nightmares.

“There‘s a good reason for that.” Mike hesitated, “It‘s…”

“Very few people are trusted with that fact.” Venus cut in, appearing in the doorway, with her arms crossed.

“We can trust Donnie.” Mikey assured, sitting up slightly straighter with a confident look.

Venus sighed as she looked down at Donatello, her arms falling to he side as she walked over. She took in everything about his appearance; the way he was curled up with his head in Mike’s lap, with tear tracks running down his cheeks.

“Donatello, are you alright?” He voice was soft as she knelt down to be eye level with the turtle, deep red eyes locking with hazel-brown.

Donnie opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it nodding his head instead.

“How much of that did you hear?” Mikey asked, pulling his hands away from his brother as Donnie pushed himself into a sitting position.

“Not a lot. I came to inquire whether you two would be joining us for dinner.” Venus told him, keeping her eyes on Donnie as he started to wipe his eyes again. “Though I don‘t think Donatello is in any state to exchange pleasantries with Leonardo.”

“We‘ll make something later.” Mikey agreed. “Is it okay if Donnie stays here for tonight?”

“If he would prefer it, he could move in permanently. These rooms are nicer then the office he‘s in now, and the two of you could keep each other company whilst Leo is out with work.”

“Donnie?” Mikey asked with a smile, he loved the idea of being able to see his brother more often, but the final choice would come down to Donnie.

“I…Thank you.” He nodded his head sharply, agreeing to move into Leonardo’s living quarters; into the Lion’s den.

“I tell Leo now. He was thinking of asking you what do with Donatello.” Venus chuckled, turning to leave the room. “Oh, me and Leo are going to eat out tonight, so you too have the kitchen to yourselves for lunch.”