Seeing Double (TMNT)

Chapter 4

Stretching his back as he wakes, Donnie rises, expecting the familiarity of his lab, to no avail of course. He rubs the sleep from his eyes, taking in his surroundings as his hazy vision focuses. A dull ache begins underneath his shell. He reaches to feel for what might cause it, and his fingertips meet with the smooth exterior of his battle shell, rather than the leathery surface of his natural shell. Shit, he left it on, AGAIN. He debates removing it, but reason defeats discomfort when in a new environment. The ache can be dealt with later, right now, his brothers are probably relying on him to make a way home. Donnie hauls himself up from the desk, accidentally stirring his alternate, who he had forgotten was in the lab with him.

"Casey, fuck off.." Donatello mumbles, sounding sour, yet the smile that creeps onto his face says otherwise. 'Interesting' Donnie smirks to himself. He is definitely no expert on romance, being aroace and all, but the look on his counterpart screams crush right at him. He contemplates staying until Donatello wakes, but decides against it. Instead, he vacates the lab, roaming in search of a kitchen and/or meeting place. Honestly, he regretted holing himself up in the lab like he would back home, because he now had no clue where anything was. The rest of his family had been given a tour yesterday, as they were all well enough after 2 days of laying low. He sighs, continuing his search for the kitchen, still trying to wake himself up- he hadn't had his morning coffee yet, which explained his, well, everything. In fact, he hasn't had a coffee at all, in the whole 3 days they had been here! He trudged towards the kitchen, hoping that his alternate also needed a caffeine fix.

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Michelangelo woke to the sound of boiling kettles. Not unusual, considering Donatello's caffeine addiction, but he decided to investigate anyway. He pried the oh-so-warm bedsheets off his body, then swung his legs off the bed. As Michelangelo heaved himself up, he slipped on some rogue comic books. Shit. He landed with a loud thud, wincing as he noticed his 'Mini-me' stir. Mikey pushes up off the pillow he was resting on, blinking a few times before mumbling-

"You need to clean your room... aren't you like, old?"

"Hey!" Michelangelo retorts, plastering a hand on his plastron, feigning offence. "I'm only 25! But you're right- I do need to clean my room, and I am kind of old. We have been occupied with some surprise guests recently." He grins as his counterpart, who's smile falters slightly, but it quickly returns when Michelangelo offers him a hand, pulling him from the bed and tugging him towards the kitchen. The duo enter the kitchen to see the two Donnies sharing a large, dark pot of coffee, talking about something sciencey; Michelangelo heard the word 'particles' and gave up on eavesdropping. The Donnies both turned from their current conversation to greet the newcomers, Donatello giving a toothy grin while Donnie used one of his metal arms to wave in their direction, although his expression morphs from broody to slightly less broody at the sight of his little brother. Michelangelo uses the silence to ask the first thing that comes to mind.

"So are you a robot or what?" He questions, tilting his head to glance at the metal limbs protruding from his shell. "And why does your shell look like that? And why do you have EYEBROWS?!" Michelangelo's pitch and loudness raises at the mention of the elusive eyebrows residing on Donnies forehead. It confuses him, turtles don't have hair? Nor do they have magic powers or the ability to talk, but here they are! He watches Donnie take a breath, smoothing the crease between his 'eyebrows' with his thumb and pointer finger. "Sorry Other-Don, too many questions at once!" Michelangelo smiles, he still hasn't quite learned to control his rants, but he is good at making up for them!