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"take care of yourself, damn it." Donnie scolded through the phone. you hung your head, sniffing pitifully at the mucus that clogged the entirety of your sinuses.
it was just a head cold, nothing crazy, nothing life threatening. all you really needed was some warm mint tea with honey every few hours and a day spent flopped on your couch swaddled in fluffy blankets and comfort movies. you had to cancel your plans with the guys to go see the New York holiday lights, much to Donnie's dismay at plans being changed. but it had been a week now and you weren't really feeling much better. the fatigue wasn't as bad, but you were just as congested and still coughing like you were trying to expell a lung. it was no longer "just a head cold".
and now you were getting an earful about health and wellness from New York's resident mutant softshell. "smug hum," Donnie vocalized, "maybe you wouldn't be still sick if you did."
"yeah, Donnie, I get it. I was expecting a little head cold but this thing really knocked me on my ass without warning." you sigh, eager to get off the phone and escape any more scolding. you always shrank under the genius turtle's scrutinizing. "I'll take a nap now and let my body fight it off." you hung up before he could protest. being so curt with him may come back to bite you in the ass later, but that was for future, hopefully healthy, you to deal with.
you plopped your phone face down on the side table and delve into another bout of coughs that sound comically close to the noise an angry goose would make. you weren't going to nap, not even if you tried. the coughing would keep waking you up anyway. so instead you stared into the empty mug of tea in your hand and slowly debated making another or simply just pressing play on your laptop to continue the YouTube rabbit hole you had fallen into. the video won out.
halfway through a 3 part video essay on the worst supplement pyramid schemes the whooshing blue flow of a portal lit your living room behind you. you instantly knew it was Leonardo, blue portals being kind of his signature thing. "heard you're still under the weather."
you could sense him leaning on the back of the couch, and could tell he had that knowing look. honestly, he had probably overheard you and Donnie's conversation, you knew you had been on speaker so Donnie could work on his projects.
you leaned your head back, expecting to see a Leo with a disappointed look in his eye. instead, to your surprise, you found kind sympathetic eyes and a slider turtle with his arms full of things. "so Dr Leon is here to help you make a full recovery." upon his announcement appeared his cheery grin, before he walked around the couch and dumped all the stuff on the coffee table. cold meds, a microwavable bean plush alligator, some special tea blend, a jar of honey, cough drops, the box set of Jupiter Jim, a large thermos of what you suspected was probably soup from Mikey, two tissue boxes, Donnie's old weighted blanket, a small bottle of those chewable vitamins, a sixpack of electrolyte water, and his very own blue silk sleep mask.
"pizza supreme in the sky, Leo!" you exclaimed at the haul, "that's way too much, I'll be fine-" Leo had already pushed two pills of the cold medicine into your hand with a water bottle and looked at you pleadingly. Mikey was the one with perfected puppy dog eyes, but Leo was doing a very good rendition of them. unfortunately, you were chronically weak to all puppy dog eyes from any of the turtles, and you tossed the meds into your mouth to wash down with one of the water bottles, immediately caving to the whims of "Dr Leon".
Leo made quick work of bundling you all up and tucking the weighted blanket around your legs. he set a steaming mug of whatever ancient medicinal tea Splinter had probably recommended and plopped the now warm bean plush alligator onto your chest. you had actually bought the thing for Raph one bitterly cold winter. the guy was a sucker for cute fluffy things and their turtleness made them suspectable to cold temperatures, Donnie said some weird thing about being half cold-blooded and half warm-blooded making it hard for them to keep their body temperature up when it got below freezing. either way, it was blissfully warm, as whatever bug you had caught made you so shivery all the time. he looked you over, seemingly thinking. "what's next on my chart, doc?" you asked teasingly, "you sure Mikey won't try to sue for rights of having the only doctor persona?"
Leo stuck his tongue out at you and swatted playfully. "well since you've asked," you groaned as he continued, "if your not hungry now I'll make you eat in an hour. what have you had today?"
"uhhhh" you supplied helpfully, you hadn't gotten around to getting food yet. Leo crossed his arms with a knowing look, then gestured to the thermos of soup, "Angelo made his famous chicken soup with extra noodle special just for you, and don't think I won't guilt you into finishing all of it." as if you would ever need any encouragement to eat as much of Mikey's cooking as you could stuff yourself with, little tangerine turtle was a god in the kitchen and somehow remembered everyone's likes, dislikes, and any dietary restrictions.
you nodded, making grabby hands at the soup, you were actually starving now that you thought about it. Leo handed you the multivitamins first though and you wrinkled your nose at them. "nooo, they're gonna make everything taste funny." you whined.
"afterwards then, but you probably got sick cus you're lacking on some." Leo relented, handing you a spoon before settling the thermos securely in your lap, "careful not to burn yourself, it is still hot, Mikey gave it to me just off a boil."
you were too busy staring at the spoon you'd been given. it definitely wasn't one from your utensil drawer but one Leo had brought from the lair. specifically, it was a long necked spoon with a fairly weighted handle. why was this so important? because there were only a handful of them in the lair and they were Donnie's special spoons, he liked the heavier handle. it wouldn't have been any coincidence that Leo had grabbed it out of the drawer, they weren't kept there, Donnie would have had to specifically give one to Leo to take. as odd of a gesture it would be, coming from Donnie and his patented Bad Boy™ persona, it was the sweetest thing in the world. they were his spoons and he'd sent one over to let you eat with it.
"hey," Leo was kinda blurry and you blinked back tears, "you good?" he glanced from the spoon to your face and you sniffed.
"it's..." you gave a watery chuckle, "it's such a stupid thing to get all worked up about." you waved the spoon in the air, "but also... I've been getting sick so much and having to cancel plans and it sucks and you guys are all just so sweet about it and-" being sick was definitely making you overemotional.
"hey hey, no no," Leo's scolding was in that gentle tone you'd heard Raph use before, "don't beat yourself up about getting sick. it's not your fault, and don't worry about all that stuff. we don't mind, Donnie used to get sick a lot when we were little. besides," he looked a little sheepish, "I... I like taking care of, y'know, loved ones. so I really don't mind."
you sniffed again and he handed you a tissue with a kind smile, "now eat, it's probably cool enough now." you nodded and took a bite of soup, it was heaven in your mouth. you did not miss that Michelangelo had used your favorite kind of noodles and your vision went all swimmy again. you could hear Leo working on queueing up the first of the Jupiter Jim movies. the guys had been delighted when they discovered that you also adored the rather niche sci-fi series, and insisted on knowing which ones you hadn't seen and which ones were your favorites. Donnie had cried blasphemy when you admitted that you really adored the little-known and very not canon spin-off tv show where they explored the idea of a normal day person getting transported into the Jupiter Jim universe. it had only run for one season, and had the tiniest budget, but the thought of being able to meet and hang out with your favorite characters was comforting to you.
you were halfway through the soup and the movie was nearing it's climax when the coughing fit hit. you shoved the thermos on the coffee table to prevent it from spilling and doubled over. the coughs were a whole body movement, jerking you so hard you nearly kneed yourself it the face a few times. you were crying and snotting and desperately trying to hack up phlegm. but Leo was there, a cool hand at the back of your neck, the other swiping hair away from your face and pressing tissues into you hands. you felt awful and icky. on a particularly violent cough you gagged on the gunk. you could feel it, your body wanting to throw up. the faint taste of chicken noodle in the back of your throat, with an added pinchy acidic quality.
you didn't want to throw up. not only would it waste Mikey's delicious soup, you didn't have any kind of trashcan and you definitely wouldn't make it to the bathroom in time. also, for some reason, you really didn't want to puke in front of Leo. you clamped a hand over your mouth and swallowed forcefully. Leo held out another water bottle, already uncapped, and you grabbed it to down the whole thing. drinking seemed to fix your couching thankfully. you sighed, slumping in your seat woefully. Leo's large cool fingers on your scalp felt heavenly and you leaned your head into them. he took the now empty bottle and crushed it, tossing it into a paper bag serving to hold your recycling.
the credits were scrolling as Leo hadn't taken the time to pause the movie. "naptime I think?" Leo suggested, tugging the blankets further up again, "I can reheat the tea and soup when you wake up." you agreed with a hum, suddenly feeling very sleepy... and cuddly. Leo made the movement to stand, but found himself blocked as you flopped yourself across his lap. it wasn't comfortable in the slightest, but you were hankering for some affection.
Leo chuckled, "I don't think I make a very comfortable pillow." you made a disagreement noise, reaching out to grab onto his arm and squeeze it. "okay okay," Leo relented fairly easily, "lemme reheat your little friend here and then we can have a cuddle pile." while Leo watched the little alligator plush rotate in your microwave, you managed to sip some of the now cold herbal tea. it wasn't half bad to be honest. Leo returned with a freshly warm plushie that he put you in charge of as he rearranged pillows on the couch.
he sat down, wiggling into a comfortable spot, and then reached over and picked you clean up. you squeaked, still not used to how casually all of the turtles could manhandle you. you settled comfortably in his lap, leaning against the front of his plastron. you tucked your head into his shoulder as Leo threw the blankets over the two of you. you sighed, content and sleepy, as Leo wrapped an arm around you securely. "if you drool on me..." he joked.
"how about I snot on you instead?" you threatened non-seriously. his reply was a snort. you drifted off to the sound of his heartbeat in your ear and your slightly wheezy breathing.
you remembered waking up a few times, coughing and sputtering. Leo giving you cough drops or water and rubbing between your shoulder blades comfortingly. then you'd settle, snuggle down, and fall off into blissful nothingness. this time though, you were woken up by slightly hushed voices and suppressed laughter.
you groaned, pushing up the sleep mask you didn't remember putting on to glare blearily in the direction of the noise. your apartment was dimly lit by only the remnants of the streetlights outside. the faint glow of purple LEDs told you all that you needed though, Donnie was here. here and pointing his phone at you and Leo, who was quietly cursing his twin out for taking advantage of such a situation to gather blackmail. you moved to glare at the self declared genius hunched behind the couch, knowing that you probably had a red line across your cheek from where it had been pressed into the to lip of Leo's plastron. Donnie simply turned his phone around and let you squint to see the photo. you, completely knocked out against Leo, whose head was bent back to fume directly into the camera. his crescents barely visible from the dark blush heating his face, one of his hands blurry from where he had obviously made a swipe to take the phone.
"oh this is definitely your new contact photo." Donnie taunted. Leo's arm shot out again and this time Donatello was not fast enough to evade him. instead of snatching the phone to delete the evidence, Leo aimed for his brother's wrist. yanking it sideways, he succeeded in pulling the other over the back of the couch. had they been anything other than ninjas, Donnie would have either face planted into the coffee table or landed directly on top of your legs. being the ninja he was, he ended up perched with one hand flat on the coffee table and his knees landing just shy of your ankles as you had yanked your legs to curl away from the landing zone of a 7 foot and change mutant turtle.
"or you could join the party." Leo shot back. Donatello straitened, frowning deeply, before getting comfortable on the other side of the couch and throwing his own legs over yours.
"I came to make sure you weren't catching their disease." a metal limb unfolded itself from Donnie's battle shell, the little sparkly gift bag on the end of it deposited into your lap. "Raph wanted me to give you this for him. he's convinced it's the cold that's making you sick." as if to prove it, you shivered, but stuck your hand into the bag regardless. you touched something soft (well that was on brand for Raphael) and pulled out a swath of carefully knitted yarn. it was comically long and though the dim lighting seeped most colors away you could tell it was red. you were sure he had probably started the scarf for himself, but had decided to give it to you when you'd gotten sick. inside the bag was also a little hand drawn "get well" card from Casey, the one from the apocalypse timeline, his little skull mask doodled as a signature in the corner.
they were both so sweet. you put the scarf on, winding it around your neck in looping layers. it was very soft and when you took the end of it an pressed it to your face you could smell the lavender cedarwood cologne he really liked even through your congestion. you settled back against Leo with a smile. you knew Raph would get told how much you liked the gift so you made sure to really snuggle into the knitting, it helped that you were looking for a new scarf as your old green one had gotten blown clean off you by a very strong gust of wind and you hadn't been able to retrieve it.
"Dontron, heat up the soup, they didn't finish it earlier." Leo said, pointing to the capped thermos still on the coffee table.
Donnie looked up from scrolling through his phone with a raised eyebrow. "why do I have to do it?" he wasn't really complaining.
Leo gestured to himself, where you occupied most of his lap, "I'm trapped and it's easier for you to get up than me."
seeing his point, but rolling his eyes dramatically anyway, Donnie removed your legs from his own lap and grabbed the thermos. he moved silently through your dark apartment in a way that only someone well versed in the layout and trained in being stealthy could. the kitchen light clicked on as Leo felt your forehead. "well the good thing is you haven't had a fever at all." he said.
you poked at his cheek, "isn't spending all day with me gonna make you sick too?"
"Draxum made us immune to like, nearly everything, so most likely no. you're immune system is no where near as good as ours." Leo replied, jokingly snapping his teeth at your hand like he was going to bite your fingers.
"but-" you had to pause as mucus caught in your chest again and you devolved into wet wheezing coughs. Leo frowned worriedly and reached for a different bottle of pills. "didn't you say Donnie got sick a lot as a kid?" you finished weakly.
"not sick like that," Donnie grumbled from the kitchen doorway, "I have a sensitive digestion system, it was even worse when I was young." he passed the steaming thermos to you, special spoon still there, and you gave it a fond smile. Donatello suddenly found the TV to be exceedingly interesting despite it having been on a loop of the Jupiter Jim box set home screen since you'd woken up.
"and we hadn't figured out he's lactose intolerant yet." Leo added, handing you another pill, "that should help thin out the mucus. if you keep coughing like that in a day or two I'd tell you to get checked for pneumonia."
"what movie did you fall asleep on?" Donatello asked, changing the subject and coming back around the couch to search for the remote.
"I only made it mostly through the first one before my coughing took me out." you admitted. Donnie clicked over to the second movie title.
"no, I watched that one already while they were asleep." Leo whined, you elbowed him in the gut even though it hurt your arm more than it did anything to him.
"you watched without me?" you feigned betrayal.
Donnie deadpanned at the both of you, shaking his head before quirking a smile, "eh that's fine, that one isn't all that good. we could russian roulette it." he scrolled mindlessly through the selections before landing on a seemingly random one. it was a bit of a wildcard featuring cuddly little alien creatures that secretly had a mouth full of sharp teeth and could eat through nearly anything. Raph couldn't handle the cute little puffballs opening their mouths to show rows of teeth like a shark and devouring people in swarms, so it wasn't one you all got to watch often, being reserved for only when Raph wasn't going to be there for movie nights. bummer, because it has some of the best one liners according to Leo (which means they were horridly corny) and some of the worst special effects according to Donnie (who liked to point out contingency errors and mistakes).
"oooh, yes." Leo wiggled in his seat happily and you concentrated on not spilling the soup.
Donnie grinned and pressed play, clicking on the subtitles and pulling your legs back over his lap. you spent the rest of the night marathoning only the "best" of the Jupiter Jim movies. picking apart plot holes, rolling your eyes at Leon quoting bad lines along with the characters, listening to Donnie's trivia facts about the various props and gadgets, and occasionally being interrupted by coughing fits. you'd let your boys take care of you.