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“ Heyyy… ” Leo slid into Donnie’s lab (with his amazing ninja skills), craning his neck to see around his brother’s form, hunched over his desk, “Whatcha working on?”
Donnie jumped from his seat and turned to Leo, covering the workspace with his arms, “Leo! Just the brother I wanted to see! Uhh, I am working on… nothing! Absolutely boring stuff you will definitely, surely, certainly not be interested in!”
Leo squinted his eyes and stared at his twin brother, “I dunno, man. That sounds a lot like something and not nothing…”
“Very real and believable laughter! Wow, nice chat, ‘Nardo!” Donnie pushed Leo out of his lab, still blocking Leo’s view of the table, “I’ll see you around! Mhm. Yeah.”
The lab door closed shut.
Well, that was weird.
Leo shrugged, meh, when were things not?
He looked around the lair, looking for other places where he could be entertained. Maybe Mikey was doing something cool.
— — —
Leo had filed away about Donnie’s strange behavior, and was lounging about the skating ramp a few days later when a sudden crash distracted him from his thoughts.
He panicked for a split second, thinking there were sudden intruders or dangers that he had to fight off. He has absolutely zero real combat experience and was barely even considered trained because all he ever did was play some fighting games with his brothers and watch Lou Jitsu movies and–
“WE’RE OKAY!” April shouted, muffled due to the walls.
Donnie’s weak voice followed, “Ugh, I think I fell on something…”
Okay, not being attacked! Fantastic. Good, good.
Leo walked over to the source of their voices, leading him to the main entrance-ladder area (affectionately called The Front Door), “What’s going on– What are those?”
He stared at the scraps of metal and wire, as well as a bucket of blue paint (thankfully sealed), and looked at their owners. April smiled awkwardly at him and Donnie groaned, splayed out on the floor.
“Oh, y’know, just some… stuff! For… decorations!” April grinned at Leo. He was suddenly reminded of a similar conversation he had with his twin.
“Mhm…” Leo said suspiciously, not looking away from April, who grew more nervous, “And this isn’t… related to that boring thing you were working on a few days ago, right, Dee?”
Donnie, still in his prone position on the ground, let out a groan of pain, “I am wounded, I don’t have to answer hard questions.”
Leo rolled his eyes but still crouched down next to his brother, “Whatever, you big baby. Where does it hurt the most?”
As Donnie complained away, April snuck around them and picked up the junk they had gotten, scrambling away, presumably taking them away to Donnie’s lab.
The lab’s owner breathed a sigh of relief from the ground.
That was really suspicious.
Seriously, what was going on?
— — —
Leo had decided to trust his family, and not grill Donnie and April for answers… yet. He still stared at them accusingly and made sure to showcase his extreme disbelief every time they acted suspiciously, though.
He was content to leave the mystery a, well, mystery , until a certain conversation raised his suspicions more…
Mikey stared at the calendar with an intense look in his eyes, “It’s July…”
Donnie nodded, not looking up from his laptop, “It is July, Angelo, what about it?”
“You and Leo’s birthdays are coming up! I should start planning some stuff… What cake do you guys want this year? Wait, no, I’ll make it a surprise!”
Donnie stiffened, “Ha, ha. Yes! It is our birthdays soon! I didn’t realize that!”
“You are a horrible liar,” Leo said, what was up with Donnie?
“Me? Lie? Of course not! …Bro!”
“Donnie, you okay? You seem a little nervous ,” Mikey said teasingly, laughing at Donnie’s horrible attempts at lying.
Wait, did Mikey know what was going on?
“Mikey, do you know why Donnie’s been acting so weird?” Leo asked.
Donnie death-glared at Mikey.
Mikey grinned, “You’ll find out later, Lee!”
Leo groaned, “Is it like a surprise birthday present or something?”
“WHAT A GREAT TIME TO LEAVE THE ROOM!” Donnie stood up, “I WILL BE GOING TO MY LAB AND WILL BE LOCKING THE DOOR.”
Okay, so it was a surprise birthday present. But what?
Eh, their birthdays were in a couple of weeks, Leo could wait, he had to get Donnie a present anyway.
— — —
He could not wait.
It was the day before ‘their birthday’ (the day between Donnie and Leo’s birthdays), and Leo had been staring at his bedroom wall for the past three hours.
Go to sleep. It’ll go faster.
Please go the fuck to sleep.
Why did Donnie have to be such a bad liar? If he wasn’t, then Leo would’ve never found out…
Go. To. Sleep.
Leo did not go to sleep.
— — —
The second Leo heard movement, he jumped out the bed, already dressed for the day. He greeted Mikey as he blearily took out two cakes he had made the day before, and helped him set them down on a table.
Leo took a second to appreciate Mikey’s handiwork, Donnie’s was covered thinly with purple frosting, a plain chocolate cake, like always. Leo’s was blue with black accents this year, music notes dotting the design, and the cake was probably chocolate as well but Leo couldn’t tell from the layers of frosting on it.
The music notes were unexpected though, “Hey, Miguel, what’s up with those?”
“You’ve been getting into Queen recently, so…” Mikey trailed off.
“Why do I get the feeling that it’s related to Donnie’s gift,” Leo deadpanned.
Mikey blinked innocently, “Do you have a gift for Donnie, Leo?”
“Of course, what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t?”
“Good, good.”
“Mhm.”
Leo made himself some coffee as he and Mikey waited for the rest of the family to wake up, which surprisingly did not take much time. Raph walked into the kitchen first, giving Leo a hug and a ‘happy early birthday’.
Splinter followed, patting Leo’s arm, wishing him a happy birthday as well.
Lastly, Donnie stumbled in, looking a little disheveled, probably another all-nighter well spent, “Let’s get this over with,” he yawned.
They all sang happy birthday and cut into the cakes (no candles, after the year Donnie put them out with a fire extinguisher, effectively making the cakes inedible). Once everyone had a slice, they began their ritual of gift-giving.
Splinter went first, giving Donnie a new book on mechanical engineering, which he accepted with a small squeal. And gave Leo a… Jupiter Jim sheet music collection?
“Are you really running that low on Jupiter Jim merch?” Leo asked.
Splinter simply chuckled.
Raph went next and gave Donnie a custom-made knitted blanket, all purple and all warmth. He then handed Leo some kind of backpack strap, a weird-looking stand, and a clip of some kind.
Leo’s confusion grew, “What are these?”
“Nothing too important!” Raph grinned knowingly.
Mikey ignored Leo’s blank stare and handed Donnie a mini wooden (and accurately scaled) carving of the solar system, and gave Leo a small box filled with a handful of thin, triangular pieces of plastic. After a quick inspection, Leo noted that they were all different thicknesses and had different designs on them.
He picked up one that had red, orange, blue, and purple stripes, turning it around, “Okay, you guys are all being weird now.”
He was answered by three mischievous smiles and one extremely nervous frown from Donnie.
Donnie quickly stepped outside, grabbing an object from the hall. He returned with something behind his back.
He cleared his throat, “So you know how you’ve been getting into rock more– even though EDM is way better – and you said you wanted to play guitar?”
Donnie slowly took out an actual, real electric guitar from behind him, “I made it, with April’s help.”
No fucking way.
Leo walked over, admiring the coat of bright blue paint (his favorite color), it had all the little knobs, the six strings, and the line thingies–frets, his mind supplied.
He grabbed the neck of the guitar carefully, it was a little heavier than he expected, but still pretty light. When his fingers glided to the fretboard, he was pleased to note that it was just big enough for his hand.
Donnie stood in front of him, with a small speaker system in tow, “Here is the speaker. You can connect it to headphones if you need to. And also I made it so that you could play easier ‘cuz, y’know the whole only three fingers thing. And I made some spare strings in case they break, and did you know that the frets have to be mathematically divided because sound is all physics and also–”
“Donnie. DT, Tello, Donnie-Teloney, Big D,” Leo set down the guitar and placed his hands on Donnie’s shoulder, “This is the best thing I’ve ever been gifted in my life can I hug you.”
Donnie nodded and Leo put his arms around his twin, squeezing lightly, “Thanks, Dee.”
“You’re welcome, ‘Nardo,” Donnie patted Leo’s shell affectionately, “Also do not ever call me Big D ever again.”
“I will not.”
Leo broke the hug, and looked around at his family, finally realizing what the other gifts he received were, “Oh! Those were the, um, picks! And uh… a capo ! And the sheet music is– self-explanatory!”
Raph nodded, “You get them now?”
Leo nodded back, when he was suddenly filled with an overwhelming sense of affection for his family, “I love you guys,” he pulled his family into a group hug.
They stayed in that formation comfortably until–
“Hey, where’s my present?” Donnie asked from the outer edges of the hug.
Leo blushed, “Okay, now it seems really bad compared to yours.”
“Eh, it’s fine, we all know you can’t really beat it,” Donnie said.
Leo rolled his eyes and took out a small box from his belt pouch, handing it to Donnie.
Donnie opened it and gasped, “ A limited-edition Atomic Lass figurine? Where did you– How did– This beats the guitar.”