Chapter Text
The night was quiet.
The city hummed softly beyond the apartment windows, the glow of the streetlights filtering in through half-closed blinds. Laughter had returned to the apartment. The playful jabs. The sibling teasing. The unconditional brotherly love. Things felt right again.
But healing… real true healing, the kind that reached into the soul… that took time.
And time had a way of opening doors you thought you’d closed for good.
Donnie sat bolt upright in bed, heart hammering, breath ragged.
His mind raced — echoes of the dream still clawing at his brain.
He had been alone.
Leo hadn’t come home.
He had waited, watched the sun rise and fall for days, only to be told that Leo had died — alone on a rooftop, bleeding out, calling for Donnie in his last moments. All because of their fight. Because Donnie had told him to leave. That he didn’t want him anymore.
And Leo had listened.
He had left.
The sheer, crushing weight of grief had been unbearable.
Donnie pressed a hand over his chest, struggling to breathe. He stumbled out of bed, bare feet cold on the floor as he rushed across the apartment and threw open Leo’s door—
Just in time to hear Leo cry out.
“Donnie!”
Leo sat upright in bed, eyes wide, face streaked with tears, trembling like a leaf in a storm. His blankets had fallen to the floor. His arms were wrapped tightly around himself like he was trying to hold himself together.
Donnie was beside him in an instant.
“Leo—Leo, hey, I’m here. It’s me. I’m right here.”
Leo blinked at him through watery eyes, breath hiccuping as he lunged forward and collapsed into Donnie’s arms. “Don’t leave me,” he sobbed, voice cracking. “Don’t hate me—I’m sorry—I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to hurt you—I didn’t mean it—please don’t hate me—please don’t go—”
Donnie froze for a moment.
Then his heart cracked open.
It was the argument. That night. The horrible, soul-splitting fight. Leo was reliving it.
“Oh, Nardo baby…”
Donnie held him tighter, curling his arms around his baby twin’s shivering frame. “Shh… it’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here, I’ve got you.”
Leo’s sobs shook them both as he buried his face into Donnie’s neck. “I don’t want to lose you. Not ever. You’re my older twin—you’re my heart—and I thought I lost you that night. I thought you’d never forgive me.”
Donnie felt tears prick his own eyes. “Nardo…baby” he whispered, voice thick, “that’s not true. That’s not true at all. We made it through that night. We made it back to each other.”
He gently rocked Leo, stroking his shell and rubbing small circles on his back. Their tears soaked into each other’s skin, but neither pulled away.
“You don’t hate me?” Leo finally asked, voice trembling. “You still love me? After everything I did?”
Donnie pulled back just enough to cradle Leo’s face in his hands. He brushed his thumbs under Leo’s eyes, wiping away the tears that wouldn’t stop falling. “Leo…Listen to me,” he said softly. “I could never hate you.”
He touched Leo’s forehead, just above the red stripes he loved so much.
“You are my baby twin. My other half. My better half. My anchor. My constant. The best part of my life. You’re the piece of me that I never knew I was missing until you were gone. And I will always, always, love you. That's two always”
Leo’s chin wobbled again as he let out a soft cry and collapsed back into Donnie’s chest.
Donnie held him tighter.
“I’m sorry for everything,” Leo murmured. “For the lies… for not trusting you… for hurting you.”
“I know baby,” Donnie whispered. “And I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago.”
They sat there in silence for a long time, wrapped in each other’s warmth, the apartment around them still and safe.
Then Leo tilted his head up, voice small. “How much do you love me?”
Donnie smiled through the tears still sliding down his cheeks.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Leo’s forehead. “More than anything. To the moon and back… times infinity.”
Leo clutched at Donnie’s hand.
“I will love you forever,” Donnie continued, his voice gentle, resolute. “I will love you even after we have both passed on into the afterlife.”
That broke Leo all over again.
He sobbed into Donnie’s chest, hands fisting in the fabric of Donnie’s shirt. “I love you too. So much. More than life itself.”
Donnie curled around him protectively, one leg thrown over Leo’s, one arm locked firmly around his shell. “You’re the best twin in the world, Nardo. I will never leave you. Not ever.”
Leo let out a broken sound and whispered, “Me neither.”
And with his head tucked under Donnie’s chin, his ear pressed over his older twin’s steady heartbeat, Leo finally began to calm. The panic faded. The dread dissolved.
Donnie pressed another kiss to Leo’s temple.
“You belong right here baby,” he murmured. “With me. Always.”
Leo drifted off listening to the beat of his older twin’s heart — his safe place, his home.
And Donnie lay awake for just a few moments longer, staring at the ceiling, feeling the solid weight of his precious baby twin in his arms.
How had he gotten so lucky?
He would never stop reminding Leo of how much he loved him.
Every day.
For the rest of their lives.
Donnie kissed Leo’s forehead one last time before sleep finally took him, nightmare long forgotten — his baby twin held tightly against his chest, exactly where he belonged.
.
.
.
Warm sunlight filtered through the windows, casting soft golden rays over the apartment. The city stirred slowly outside, but inside their quiet home, everything was still.
Donnie blinked awake first, eyes fluttering open to the sound of soft breathing. For a moment, he couldn’t remember why Leo was wrapped so tightly around him. Then the memory of the night before returned — the nightmares, the tears, the clinging desperation.
Leo’s face was nestled into Donnie’s plastron, his expression peaceful, eyes closed, arms still looped loosely around Donnie’s middle. One leg was hiked over Donnie’s and his head rested just under Donnie’s chin.
Donnie smiled faintly, his heart aching in the best way.
“Clingy,” he whispered with amusement, brushing his fingers along the curve of Leo’s shell. “You big baby.” Then he leaned down to kiss the top of Leo’s head “You’re my baby”
Leo stirred, groaning sleepily as a content chirp escaped his lips. “Mmm, not my fault you’re cozy.” He blinked blearily. “...And warm.”
“You drooled on my chest,” Donnie said dryly.
“I marked my territory,” Leo mumbled, voice thick with sleep as he buried his face further into Donnie’s shell. “Shut up.”
Donnie snorted, laughter rising from deep in his chest. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet you still love me anyways”
“I do. Always”
Leo cracked an eye open at that, a small smile forming at the corners of his lips. They lay in comfortable silence for a moment, the weight of the night before temporarily lifted in the soft morning glow.
But then Leo shifted a little, head now angled against Donnie’s shoulder. His voice came out quieter this time, thoughtful.
“Hey… Don?”
“Yeah?”
Leo hesitated. “How did you… how were you already in my room before I even called your name last night?”
Donnie stiffened just a bit.
Leo noticed.
Donnie kept his tone light. “What, I can’t wander the halls dramatically at two in the morning like a proper brooding genius?”
Leo gave him a flat look. “Donnie.”
Donnie sighed.
Leo’s voice turned gentler. “Did… did you have a nightmare too?”
There was no judgment in the question. Just worry. And love.
Donnie looked away for a moment, swallowing hard. He’d been trying to forget it. To let it fade. But the ache it had left still lingered behind his ribs.
“Yeah,” he admitted softly. “I did.”
Leo sat up slightly, still close, his expression now focused and concerned. “What was it about?”
Donnie rubbed at his eyes, then let out a shaky breath. “It was… it was you. Not coming home. I waited and waited, and then I found out you’d died on a mission. Alone. Because of the fight. Because I told you to leave, and you listened.”
Leo’s breath caught.
“I… I saw them carrying your body,” Donnie continued, voice cracking, “and I couldn’t even hold you. I just… stood there. Useless. And then they told me you’d been calling for me. And I wasn’t there.”
He closed his eyes, trying not to let the tears fall again. “I thought I lost you. Forever.”
Leo sat all the way up now, hands reaching out to gently pull Donnie into a hug. Donnie resisted for half a second — and then melted into it, letting Leo hold him as tightly as he had held Leo the night before.
“I’m so sorry,” Leo whispered into Donnie’s shoulder. “You’ll never lose me. Not like that. Not ever.”
“I thought I could live with the argument,” Donnie muttered. “But in that dream, it felt like it had ripped a hole in everything. I couldn’t breathe. I hated myself.”
Leo rubbed his back gently, rocking them a little like Donnie had done for him. “That’s not gonna happen. We’re past that now. We’re together. We made it through, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Donnie nodded into Leo’s shoulder. “I know. I just… needed to hear you say it.”
Leo kissed his temple. “Then I’ll say it as many times as you need.”
They stayed wrapped around each other for a while longer, the morning sunlight warming their shells as the apartment slowly came to life around them.
Eventually, Leo pulled back just enough to boop Donnie’s snout with a finger.
“You really drool when you cry, by the way.”
Donnie rolled his eyes. “You’re never allowed to comfort me again.”
Leo just laughed and hugged him again. “Tough luck. You’re stuck with me.”
Donnie hugged him back, his voice soft. “Good. Wouldn’t want it any other way.”