Work Text:
Raph woke up in a cold sweat, heart pounding, the remnants of a bad dream still clawing at his mind. He groaned and rolled over, trying to shake it off, but the memories lingered stubbornly.
With a sigh, he reached for the nearest thing that could distract him—a slightly outdated sci-fi magazine. He grabbed it, muttering under his breath, and padded quietly to the lab.
“Donnie,” he called softly, knocking on the glass door. “Yo, I need… uh, a thing.”
Donnie looked up from his workbench, adjusting his goggles. “A thing?”
Raph held up the magazine like a peace offering. “Yeah, a thing. You know… distraction. I got nightmares. Can I hang here for a bit?”
Donnie’s expression softened. “You mean, come stare at my inventions instead of thinking about the scary stuff?”
Raph shrugged, trying to hide the tension in his shoulders. “Something like that. Please?”
“Of course,” Donnie said, setting aside his tools. “C’mon, grab a stool.”
Raph plopped down and flipped through the magazine, but his eyes kept drifting to Donnie as he tinkered with a new gadget. The whirring of motors and the soft clink of metal somehow eased the tight knot in his chest.
“You always know how to make nightmares less… bad,” Raph admitted after a few minutes.
Donnie gave a small, genuine smile. “It’s kind of my thing. And hey, it beats lying awake staring at the ceiling, right?”
Raph smirked. “Yeah… beats that, for sure.”
For the next hour, they worked and chatted quietly. Sometimes Raph would peek at a new gizmo, sometimes Donnie would glance over at him and make a small joke. Slowly, Raph’s racing heart calmed, the nightmares fading into distant shadows.
By the time he got up to leave, the sun was peeking through the lab windows. He gave Donnie a playful nudge with his elbow. “Thanks, Donnie. For… y’know, being Donnie.”
Donnie just laughed softly. “Anytime, Raph. Anytime.”