At nine months old, Casey was already an established speed demon on four legs. He had a reputation for being halfway across the room when you least expected it, and had caused one-too-many heart attacks for poor Todd, who quit babysitting duty due to said baby vanishing whenever he looked away.
He also had a knack for always appearing wherever the turtles were, much to Cass's amusement. She'd have him in her arms one second, tickling him to make him giggle, and then she'd blink and he'd be attached to Mikey's leg, shouting 'MA! MA!', as loud as his little lungs would let him each time the mystic turtle took a step. It made her cross her arms and hide a syrupy smile she'd reserved for her family, pick him up and spin him around, just to make the sweet baby even more ecstatic.
There were also times where, during the dead of night, he'd make his way out of Cass's arms and into Donnie's makeshift lab, somehow evading the jagged scraps lying around. Casey would sit patiently by the mechanic's leg until the older turtle inevitably noticed him. The turtle would scoff, give him a glance, look to the entrance of his room and pick the baby up, settling Casey on his lap comfortably before going back to work on whatever he was doing before.
Casey cared not for whatever the scientist was doing, he only cared for the comfy seat and gentle backrubs. He was lulled to sleep incredibly quickly, and after several more hours of work, the baby would be deposited back into Cass's arms so Donnie could catch a quick rest. And avoid teasing from Leo.
_____________
Donnie peered disappointedly into the slightly cracked handheld mirror, sighing dramatically.
"Dramatic sigh, 'Nardo, come here real quick." He called, and amused and curious, Leo obeyed.
"'sup, doc?" He asked, looming over Donnie's shoulder to look into the mirror. Unnecessary, in Donnie's opinion, as he turns around and points at his chin.
"Tell me what you see." He demands.
Leo rolls his eyes.
"Look Dee, if you're worried about acne I have bad news for you-"
"Genuinely couldn't care less, this is a serious question. What. Do you. See."
Obligingly, Leo observes Donnie's chin, searching for whatever made him exasperated.
"Uhm, your markings moved further if that's what you mean-"
"That's exactly what I mean!" He cries, flopping into his twin's arms dramatically. "It looks like a goatee! I'm too young to look like Tony Stark!" He bemoans, while Leo struggles to support his weight with a loose prosthetic.
Being in Leo's arms also gave Donnie the view to discover another thing.
"It's spreading to you too!" He points out. Leo drops him, rudely, and picks up the discarded mirror excitedly.
"Oh man, I hope I get a goatee! How cool would it be to look like Iron Man?" He rambled, searching eagerly for his markings in the mirror. Donnie lies dejectedly on the floor.
"It has yet to look like anything other than stripes on your neck, ding-dong." He helpfully supplies, before hearing the quick pitter-patters of something crawling around the base.
Donnie lifts his head up just in time for Casey to rapidly enter his sight before sprawling belly-first over his face, hugging his face tightly by Donnie's mask-tails. Little leech. He lays back down on the floor, accepting his fate.
Leo chuckles somewhere beside him. Asshole.
"It's funny how he likes you more than me, even though I'm supposed to be his dad."
"Well, maybe you aren't doing a good job." As soon as Donnie said it, he instantly wished Casey would suffocate him. He regretted it.
"..."
"I didn't mean that, I hope you know. It's slash lighthearted. Slash joking too." He desperately tries to convey that it was an accident, he's doing great actually.
Just to enunciate it more, he pries Casey off his face and gives him to the silent and surprised Leo.
Instantly, as if sensing Donnie fucked up and needs damage control, Casey lights up like Leo hung the stars just for him. He starts giggling and wiggling in his hold, baring a mostly gummy-spare his front teeth-smile just for the leader.
Leo softens immediately, moving to tickle the baby.
"See? You're doing great." Donnie awkwardly but genuinely encourages. He even gives him a thumbs up.
Leo rolls his eyes. "Get your goofy ass over here and make him laugh."
_____________
It's two weeks later when they need to do another supply run, because of course they do.
Leonardo and Donatello are surprisingly not in the same group. Donatello's group is in charge of back-up, trailing behind Leonardo's group, who are doing their best to hold their own while traveling. They take turns keeping watch during the nights, and it takes maybe ten days to finally reach where Donnie suspects Michigan might have been once. Where fields and forests once were are now deserted and overrun by vegetation. It has never been a battleground. There are no survivors hiding here. They should be able to find something useful.
They were both right and wrong. There were untouched, fruit-bearing trees and relatively undisturbed shops. There were also hostile survivors convinced that Leo's group were sent by the Kraang to wipe them out.
It... It was a fight.
Donatello had maybe always been slightly squeamish, and he'd never wanted to find out if Leonardo's blades were able to cut cleanly through a living person. Spoiler alert! They could. Fun fact! He had been close enough to offer assistance and be in the splash zone!
Commander O'Neil bats away an enemy from Donnie, who stares at the body in front of him in horror. He gives a full-body shudder, before barring the sight from his mind and rejoining the fight, just in time to ruthlessly jab his bō into the side of someone about to shoot Leonardo with some sort of laser-gun. Lame.
He throws off their shot entirely, so something once aimed for his twin's head instead grazes his side. Donatello can hear the strangled yelp from Leonardo, and he swings his head around wildly to see if someone had gathered the supplies they needed. Hypno, missing Warren, offers a thumbs up before punching an enemy hard enough in the face to send them flying into a tree.
They retreat.
Their ten day trip back is interrupted by only a few Kraang-hounds. When they get back, all the twins can do is take turns passing Casey back and forth like a joint for baby cuddles, before Mikey forcefully drags Leo to the Medbay so he can take care of his injury.
And when left alone, all Donnie can do is quietly cry, his hiccups drowned out by Casey's cooing, the baby patting Donnie on the cheek in something he can pretend is comfort.
YOU ARE READING
Crestfallen at The End of The World
Fanfiction"But at least we can restart?" - At the tender age of sixteen, Hamato Donatello was trapped in a new circle of Hell, along with everyone else. Thank you, Kraang, he thought sarcastically. It was an accident. That's how it started. It was no one's fa...
