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Chapter Text

Donatello’s head bobbed and his foot tapped as driving bass and snappy drums poured from the speakers, the once-familiar music filling the air of the lab and tugging a smile onto his face. It had been far too long since he’d heard this song.

It had been far too long since he’d heard any recorded music, really. Music recordings were hard to come by in an apocalypse.

Actually, Donnie thought as he glanced around the controlled chaos of his past self’s lab, all of this stuff was hard to get in an apocalypse. The sound system is just one of the things in this lab that he hasn’t even seen in years. He had almost started crying when he saw his past self’s mint condition ratchet spanner, but who could blame him? It was adjustable, for pizza’s sake.

His smile faltered at the thought of his past self, who was conspicuously absent from the lab, but he shook it off. He had work to do, after all.

Energized by the beloved tune blaring from the speakers, Donatello turned back to the mess of parts on the desk and got to work. But he’d barely been at it for a minute when…

“What’s with the oldies music, Don?”

He looked up from the wires in his hands and was surprised to see Leonardo in the doorway to the lab. Not his Leonardo, but Leonardo nonetheless. A smaller, brighter, younger version of the Leo that Donnie had shared his life with, a sunny smile on his lineless face that Donnie hadn’t seen on his own Leo in…

“Don? Hello?” Leo spoke again as he stepped into the lab, waving to get Donnie’s attention, “Music?”

“The music?” Don blinked rapidly and realized he had been staring, “Well, what can I say? It’s an eighties jam with a groove you can dance to. Of course I like it.”

“You always did like your jams,” Leo mused. He approached the desk, and only then did Donnie notice something in his hand, “Eighties or otherwise.”

Donnie hummed an agreement, then gestured to the object in Leo’s hand, “What’s that?”

“Oh, this?” Leo lifted it, showing Don a mug of something steaming, “This is coffee. For you, obviously.”

“For me?”

“Yeah. That’s what I just said.”

Donnie blinked. Then, his eyes narrowed. “What did you do to it?”

“Do to it?” Leo looked surprised, “What d’you mean?”

“I mean that you never brought me coffee when we were—when I was—you didn’t do this for me at your age,” Donnie struggled to explain his suspicions in a way that would make sense, “Why are you doing it now?”

“Oh,” a strange look passed over Leo’s face, “I guess I was, uh, I was just thinking that you’ve been working really hard, y’know? I thought it would be nice to…”

He trailed off as he set the coffee cup down on the desk and pushed it towards Donnie. But before Donnie could take it, Leo spoke again.

“Do you, uh, still like coffee? You’re—I mean, present-you is totally addicted to the stuff, but maybe something changed in the fifty-something years since—”

“It’s only been twenty years, and yes I still like coffee,” Donnie cut him off, grabbing the cup as he spoke. His fingers wrapped around the warm ceramic and brought it up to his lips, but before he took a sip, he paused to inhale the fragrant and almost forgotten aroma. A few tears sprang to his eyes, and he had to blink them away before they could fall. That would have been embarrassing, especially with Leonardo watching him so intently.

So… intently…

“Hello, Nardo?” Donnie lowered the cup away from his face, “Stop staring at me.”

“Hm? Oh! Sorry,” Leo shook his head rapidly, as if he hadn’t realized he was staring. Donnie couldn’t help but find the gesture cute. “I just, uh, wanted to make sure you like it.”

“Of course I’ll like it. It’s coffee,” Donnie said flatly, and he raised the cup to his lips once more. But then he took that first sip and had to suppress a hum of delight, because oh shit this was coffee coffee, the bitter, earthy nectar of the gods, and was that a hint of—? He took another sip to be sure, and this time a delighted noise pulled from his throat because oh fuck there was sugar in it too? He hadn’t had something so decadent in decades. It was all he could do not to down the whole thing in one swallow, slam the cup down, and demand another.

“Guess it was good it, huh?” Donnie couldn’t even summon the will to be annoyed by the smirk in Leo’s voice, “You like it?”.

“Yesss,” Donnie purred in response, tipping his head back for another indulgent sip, “Actually, I love it.”

“Great! I mean, I knew you would, but still!” Something about Leo’s voice made him pause. Leo’s voice still held that peculiar quality it always did when he was grinning, but somehow, this time, it didn’t sound like a smirk. It sounded like…

…a smile.

Donnie glanced into Leo’s face to double check, and he was indeed smiling. Not smirking or grinning, but smiling, brightly and openly and honestly. Huh. Maybe it had been too harsh to assume that Leo was smirking at him earlier. Maybe he had just been smiling, with no smugness or condescension behind it at all. Just like his Leo used to smile at him when…

Donnie blinked, stopping the thought in its tracks. This wasn’t his Leo, he had to remember that. Because the timeline had been altered, this Leo would never become his Leo. There was no use comparing the two. He just… had to work on keeping them separate in his mind.

But if Leo kept giving him that look, one so similar to the look that his Leo used to give him, that was going to be hard.

He gave Leo a little smile of his own, then returned to his slow sipping, taking the time to enjoy every taste. He expected Leo to give him a thumbs up or something and leave, but he didn’t. He just stood there quietly, watching Don drink with a strange look in his eyes that set an uneasy feeling in Don’s gut. Donnie never saw that look on his Leo’s face until…

With every sip of coffee, with every second that Leo did not remove himself from the lab, the uneasy feeling grew sharper. But still, neither of them spoke. That eighties song played on in the background.

They remained there in silence until Donnie set his empty mug down on the desk. The tap of ceramic on wood broke the trance that had fallen over them, and Donnie’s blink at the sound broke his eye contact with Leo. That second part was strange, because Donnie didn’t remember locking eyes with him. How long had he been—?

“You have pretty eyes.”

“What?”

“What?” Leo looked at him blankly for a moment. Then, color rushed to his cheeks.

“You liked the coffee? Good, good! I’ll bring you another one later,” his words came out in a rush as he swiped empty mug off the desk, “Maybe. Uh, bye!”

He was gone before Donnie could blink.

And Donnie sat in stunned silence, his mind stuttering as he tried to make sense of what had happened. The blushing, the staring, the spontaneous coffee delivery…

If he was younger, or more inexperienced, he might have missed the signs, or not have seen them for what they were. But today, he is older and maybe a little wiser, and he saw the signs and the way Leo was acting and he knows.

Leo likes him. Leo likes him the way that his Leo had liked him.

Donnie’s heart sank.

That… should have been good, right? It should have been nice, it should have been flattering to realize that even in this completely different timeline, Leo still wanted him.

But it didn’t make sense. Him and his Leo, they were… each other’s best option at the time. They were the leaders of a fallen civilization, and the only two who could really understand what the other had gone through. Leo didn’t really want him like that, he just chose Donnie because there wasn’t anyone else to choose. And in this completely different timeline, Leo had other, better options to pick from. He didn't have to pick Donnie anymore, so why would Leo want to?

But… if he did, wasn’t that a good thing? Wasn’t that what Donnie had wanted ever since—

But it couldn't be, because if this is what he wanted…

Why does it feel like there’s a rock in my stomach?

Donnie didn’t know how to answer that, so he ducked his head and focused on his wires.

…the coffee must be messing with him. There was no other reason for his heart to be beating so hard and so fast.

----------

It was really a fascinating phenomenon.

When Michelangelo had opened the portal to the past and sent Casey Junior through it, he had thrown a metaphorical rock into the metaphorical pond of the space-time continuum. Casey Junior opening another portal to return to his own time had done it again. The chaos caused by those two metaphorical metaphysical rocks had sent ripples barreling through spacetime, and those ripples were causing some unusual activity.

Including but not limited to: unexplained migraines, a total lunar eclipse lasting ten days, and the temporary reappearance of someone who died to the Kraang in the obsolete timeline.

That last part seemed to be all that the news could report on recently, if the channel Don had turned on for background noise was anything to go by.

It was an absolute logistical nightmare of a situation for anyone in a position of authority, but luckily for them, the visitors from the future never seemed to stay for long. The ones who had been interviewed had all described the same feeling of needing to do something, that they had unfinished business that they needed to take care of. Once they had completed whatever that business was, they vanished without a trace.

All of this had been explained to Donatello when he had appeared in the room of his past—no, present—self, and it had been enough of an explanation for him. Why else would the universe have decided to bring him back to life? He had known immediately what task he had left to accomplish, what he needed to contribute to the world before he could go to (or return to?) the Great Beyond, or whatever awaited a mutant ninja turtle.

That’s what he’s been doing for the past several days. Hanging out here in the lab, working nonstop to complete his universally-appointed task. Alone, mostly, but he doesn’t really mind. Not being distracted means he has more time to work on his project, and the sooner he finishes, the sooner he can die (again) in peace. Besides, why would these past versions of his brothers and father spend the time to get to know him? Everyone knows he’s here on a temporary basis.

Everyone except…

“Leo!” Donnie called into the seemingly-empty lab, “Come out, Leo. I know you’re in here.”

The lab was silent, just as silent as it would have been if it was empty. Donnie knew it wasn’t.

“Fine, be that way,” Donnie huffed and turned towards the steaming cup of coffee that had appeared on the desk. He fixed the innocent cup with a glare as he narrated, “Where did this cup of coffee come from? I haven’t left the lab, so I couldn’t have gotten it, and Leonardo – the guy with portal powers – won’t admit to putting it here, so I have no idea how it could have gotten here. And since I have no idea where it came from…”

He paused to hold the innocent cup threateningly over the garbage can.

“…I can’t drink it, so that means I have to throw it awa—”

“Okay, okay!!” Leo jumped out from behind a computer tower, “No need to get violent, Dee.”

“I wouldn’t have needed to ‘get violent’ if you didn’t try to hide in here like some sort of creep.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I did do that,” Leo looked away sheepishly, “How did you even know that I was—?”

“Please,” Donnie cut him off, “A hot cup of coffee just… appears on my desk right when I happen to look away?”

“I mean, yeah, that is what happened, but how did you know I was the one to put it there? There’s other ninjas in the house, you know, anyone could have snuck in here and—”

Donnie rolled his eyes. “Come on, Leo. Did you forget that I’m twice your age and have twice the ninja training? None of you could sneak up on me. Besides,” he paused to take a sip of the coffee and sigh in contentment, “I’m not stupid. Who else could possibly be bringing me coffee, hm? Espeically when you’ve been doing so all week.”

“Okay, fine, you got me,” Leo put up his hands in mock surrender, “But how did you know I was still here? I could have just left after putting the coffee on the desk. And I had a really good hiding place.”

Donnie took a slow sip. “Hmm, not really.”

“Hey!”

“And to answer your question,” Donnie spoke over him, “It’s because I knew you would wait for me to at least take a sip. You had to know… you couldn’t leave without making sure that I liked it.”

An embarrassed flush colored Leo’s cheeks, “Am I really that predictable?”

“…no,” Donnie said after a moment of reflection, “I just know you, that’s all. I’ve known you for—well, I knew you for thirty something years before…”

He trailed off, and the two of them lapsed into silence. There was a long moment, and then Leo broke the silence with a cough.

“So, you, uh, you knew me really well, huh?” Leo said stiltedly. He was suddenly looking anywhere but Don’s face, “Future-me, I mean.”

“…yes, I did,” Donnie’s brow furrowed, “Like I said, thirty-something years. That’s a long time to know someone.”

“I get that,” Leo waved his hands dismissively, “But did you know me really well? Like, really really well?”

“I’m not sure what you mean by—"

“Is it true!?” Leo blurted out.

“What?” Donnie said, reeling in shock at Leo’s sudden volume, “Is what true?”

“What Casey said,” Leo spoke in a rush, meeting Don’s eyes and immediately looking away, “About you and me. Or, I guess about you and future-me.”

Donnie’s stomach dropped. Casey had known, of course he had known, but how could he— he wouldn’t have told them about—

“That depends,” Donnie said slowly, hoping against hope that this was not what he thought this was, “What did Casey say about Leo and me?”

“He said… he said that we were—that you were kind of…” Leo made a desperate gesture with his hands, and his voice crept towards a whisper as he spoke, “…together.”

“Together?” Donnie repeated in a voice that was far too loud, “I suppose we were together. Me and him and Raph and Mikey were around each other all the time until—”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I know! Donnie wanted to yell, but he couldn’t, because how could he tell Leo that he and his future self had been—

“Yes, okay?” Donnie spit the words out, slamming his cup down on the desk, “We were—Leo and I were together.”

Leo’s eyes widened. “As in, together together?”

Donnie nodded stiffly.

“Oh, wow. I mean, great!” Leo said hastily, “I’m, uh, happy for you.”

Donnie grit his teeth. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not!” Leo protested, “I’m happy for you, really.”

Donnie didn’t believe him. “Please. I know I’m not exactly the one you saw yourself—”

“It’s not that!” Leo interrupted, and Donnie fell silent at the strange, wild look in his eyes, “It’s… it’s just that…”

Leo paused and took a deep breath.

“I thought I was crazy,” he said after a moment of quiet, “When Casey told us, I didn’t really know how to feel, but Donnie—my Donnie freaked out. He kind of stopped talking to me after that. It was like he—I guess he doesn’t…”

Donnie zoned out. They knew. They all knew. Casey had told them.

“And at first it was kind of weird to think about being with you—with him like that, but then I thought about it some more, and then it started to make sense, you know? Like, I always thought you were smart and maybe kinda pretty, it made sense that I would—”

No wonder they were treating him so oddly, no wonder his own past self was being so distant. They all thought… they all knew about him and Leo. They had known the whole time.

“And even now, I know we have, like, options, probably more options than we would have had in the Kraang apocalypse, but I still… which probably says something about me, right? Even though it’s pretty clear that my Donnie isn’t interested. Like, at all.”

He wondered if he could explain, he wondered if they would listen if he told them that his Leo had only chosen him when here were no other options. If he didn’t tell them about his own feelings for Leo, then maybe…

“I guess what I’m saying is—”

He needs to finish his project faster. Dying a second time couldn’t possibly be worse than—

“If you want to try it with me” Leo blurted, “I would be okay with that.”

Donnie abruptly remembered that he was not alone, that Leo was still here and had been saying something this whole time. Something about…

“…what?” Donnie croaked, because the words were finally filtering through and there’s no way Leo said what he thought he said, but he wasn’t really listening, maybe he—

“If you wanted to be together with me,” Leo repeated, “I would… be interested. In something like that.”

“Together. With you? Like together together?”

“Yes, like together together,” an odd, strained smile stretched across Leo’s face.

“Oh.”

Donnie was quiet, but his mind was racing. Alarms were ringing in his ears, and something was sitting heavily in his chest and growing heavier by the second as he—

“You do realize I’m way older than you, right?” Donnie said slowly, because if he tried to speak any other way he might start screaming, “Right?”

“Uh, yeah, I noticed,” a corner of Leo’s mouth quirked upwards.

“And because of that you also know that I’m not your Donnie, correct? Because if you’re just… propositioning me because you think I’m the same as him then you’re going to be—”

“I know, and I’m not,” Leo interrupted, his hands waving awkwardly, “I mean, maybe I was at first, but you’re, um, not exactly ugly. For an old guy, anyway.”

Donnie scowled, “I’m not old. I’m not even forty!”

“I didn’t say—I didn’t mean that you were old! I just meant that—”

“And you do also know,” Donnie spoke over him, “That I don’t exist in this timeline.”

Leo blinked at him. “Apparently not. What do you mean, you don’t exist?”

“I mean,” Donnie knew his tone was too aggressive, but he couldnt bring himself to back down, “That I’m not meant to be here. I’m just a byproduct of the universe righting itself again. And as soon as that happens, I’ll be gone again. I’m not real.”

Leo looked at him blankly for a moment, and a bitter sense of triumph rose in Don’s chest. Now they could both forget this ever happened and—

Leo reached out a hand, and set it firmly on Don’s shoulder.

“I see you, I hear you, and I can feel you, too. I even watched you drink that coffee,” Leo smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, “That’s real enough for me.”

Donnie gaze fell from Leo’s open face to the hand on his shoulder. Maybe… maybe this was good. Maybe he could try being with Leo. He seemed to get it, to understand what Donnie was and how his time here is finite. It would only be temporary, it would only be—

Wait.

“No.”

The word slipped out of Don’s mouth before he could even think it.

“…no?”

“No,” he said again, shrugging his shoulders to remove the firm weight of Leo’s hand, “I don’t— I can’t— it wouldn’t be— I just can’t.”

Leo’s face went suddenly and completely blank. Then—

“No worries, Donnie!” a dazzlingly bright smile was back on Leo’s face, “It was just a question. Don’t even worry about it!”

“Leo, I—”

“You liked the coffee, right? Good! I’ll bring you another sometime. I-if that’s still okay,” the smile wavered, but only for an instant as Leo scooped the empty cup off the desk and bolted for the door, “Bye!”

And Donnie was left alone in the lab, staring at the ends of Leo’s bandana as it vanished around the corner, and torn between wanting to run after him and being pinned to his seat by the rock in his chest.

----------

Another thing Donatello had taken for granted in the Before: hot showers.

Hot water in general was scarce. It was difficult and costly to make, and therefore was almost exclusively used for sanitization purposes. It was never ever used for something as frivolous as a bath. Donnie had hated it at first, but had eventually grown used to cleaning himself in cold or tepid water.

So, it is with great delight and appreciation that Donatello steps into a shower that is, for the first time in decades, warm.

He smiled to himself brightly, ducking his head under the spray and feeling the water get hotter and hotter until it was blazing trails down the worn skin of his shell and arms. He reveled in the feeling for a moment, loving the heat even as it began to border on pain, before turning the temperature down. Just a little.

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with steam as he leisurely reached for the soap.

His mind went softly blank as he squeezed the soap (liquid soap! What luxury) onto his skin and slowly dragged his hands over it. He barely worked up a lather, but the bubbles that formed popped deliciously and fragrantly against his skin. And all the while warm, wonderfully warm water cascaded down around his shoulders, gently rubbing away the lingering soreness of the day and leaving a pleasant, buzzing numbness in its wake.

That numbness seemed to trickle down from his shoulders and through the rest of his body, following closely the lines that his soapy hands drew across his chest, and then his stomach. It followed even as his hands dipped between his legs and lingered there heavily as Donnie continued cleaning himself.

And when the buzzing gave way to a soft pulsing of warmth that spread from his very center, it seemed only natural for Don’s cock to slip out from inside him.

He caught his cock immediately in a soapy hand, sighing aloud and leaning his head against the refreshingly cool tiles as he pumped himself leisurely. The little tingles of pleasure that crept up his spine at the movement only made him relax further, until his entire body sagged gently downwards. Everything from the tips of his toes to the top of his head felt loose and warm.

Loose and warm and wet, he realized as his hand swiped between his legs and felt the slickness that melted from within. A little spark of pleasure lit up in his core at the touch, and another and another when he sunk a single finger inside himself, pumping in and out in time with the slow, steady strokes on his cock. 

And when that was no longer enough…

His ninpo coalesced into a familiar shape almost without a conscious thought. A shape that’s been his constant companion, just a whim of a thought away even when his mate was nowhere to be found. Leo had never gotten to meet Donnie’s friend, but even if he had, Donnie didn’t think he’d be too upset about it. After all, it was modeled after Leo’s own—

The almost perfect copy of his Leo’s cock made enitely of Don’s ninpo pressed its not-quite-warm tip against Don’s slit. He took a deep, steadying breath, savoring the moment. Then, his hips dropped, and the tip disappeared inside.

Don’s eyes fluttered open (when had they closed?) as he bore through the initial burn of the stretch. Not giving himself time to recover, he cupped the base of his ‘assistant’ and used his leverage to nudge it deeper and deeper inside him, until the burn reached all the way into his stomach and became sharp enough that Donnie had to fight the urge to gasp, but still he couldn’t bring himself to—

Something in his posture changed minutely, and the shaft of the cock buried inside him pressed delicately against his prostate, and any discomfort was instantly obliterated by the wave of lighting that spread outwards from that one delicious spot. Suddenly, Donnie was moving, both his hips and the hand at the base of the dildo moving in tandem, not so much thrusting in and out as moving in circles, using the constantly changing angles to send sweet waves of pleasure singing throughout his body. The hand on his cock was moving all the while, stroking and pumping until—

Donnie came with a full-body shudder so intense that he almost toppled over. Even when it ended and the dildo within him dissipated, he still trembled with aftershocks so intense he was forced to lower himself to the shower floor. Everything from the waist down pulsed with ricocheting waves of pleasure, and slowly they began to dissipate under the massaging waves of water still cascading over him.

But as the aftershocks of his orgasm settled away, he was left unsatisfied.

He had hoped that the shower and the orgasm would clear his head, but no such luck. His mind kept going back to Leo, to the way his face had fallen when Donnie told him no. To the tightness that had settled in Don’s chest and not abated since.

Donnie opened his eyes just to scowl. It wasn’t his fault, he reasoned. Leo should have known that it was a ridiculous idea. How could he have even thought that Donnie would say yes? It was stupid of him to even ask.

So why does it still feel like there’s a rock in my stomach?

He shouldn’t feel bad about saying no, Donnie told himself. Leo shouldn’t have even asked, he should have sat on his silly little crush until he it faded away. That was what Donnie himself would have done if his own Leo hadn’t—

And anyway, despite what Leo had said about not translating his unrequited feelings for his Donnie onto him, it was obvious that he was. Casey told them, and past-Donnie had freaked out, had balked at the idea that there was a timeline where he and Leo were together, and had panicked. Leo had seen it, and when he decided that he had feelings for him, he already knew he couldn’t have his Donnie, so he reached for any facsimile that he could. Even if the facsimile was twice his Donnie’s age and size. His ‘feelings’ are misplaced and ingenuine and—

Donnie paused abruptly, wincing at the tone of the voice inside his head. He was being incredibly mean to Leo. It’s unfair of him to be so harsh, especially when his doubts about Leo’s motivations were entirely speculative. Just because his own Leo’s feelings couldn’t have been real didn’t mean that this Leo’s feeling were the same. And… it really hadn’t been that dumb of Leo to ask. It had been daring and hopeful, two things that Donnie had adored about his own Leo. He couldn’t have known for certain that Donnie would say no. He couldn’t have known that every kind gesture of his made Don’s chest hurt. It wasn’t his fault he felt this way.

It wasn’t Leo’s fault that Donnie didn’t believe him.

Donnie froze as a wave of self-awareness washed over him. That’s… what this was all about, wasn’t it? Donnie didn’t believe him. He didn’t believe Leo’s confession, he didn’t think it was real, because he didn’t believe that Leo loved him. He never had.

Donnie leaned heavily against the wall, knees going weak as the realization stole his stability. He hadn’t believed him, that night they lost Raph, when Leo had squeezed him close and muttered his desperate confession into Don’s ear. He hadn’t believed him, because Donnie had watched him tie Raph’s mask to the hilt of his sword, and of course Leo wouldn’t be thinking clearly, of course he would be desperate to keep his remaining family close, and of course he would lie about his feelings to do it. He had to have found out about Donnie’s own heavily guarded but not well hidden feelings for him, and had decided to indulge those feelings in order to keep Donnie close to him.

And Donnie had accepted those ‘feelings’, even though he knew—even though he thought they were false, because he was selfish, so so selfish that he never even thought for a moment that his Leo’s feelings for him might be real.

Until…

Leo’s confession here and now proved him wrong. It proved that Leo really did have feelings for him, because there was no apocalypse, there was no missing piece in his heart, there was no reason for him to lie. This Leo’s feelings had to be genuine, and that meant that his Leo’s love for him had been real, too.

A tight feeling Donnie now recognized as grief welled up in his chest. Grief for all the wasted time, wasted years spent by Leo’s side, pining for something he thought he could never have but had been right there the whole time, if only he had seen it, and grief for what they could have had together, for how much better even an apocalypse would have been if Leo was by his side and he actually believed it.

Maybe he cried. He couldn’t be sure if the wetness on his face was from his own tears or the warm rain from the shower. What he did know is that as he did or did not cry, the grief left. It drained out of him like water, taking the tightness in his chest and the stone in his stomach with it.

For the first time since he died, Donnie took a deep breath.

And then he started to laugh. He laughed until he could hardly breathe, until his entire torso hurt from laughing too hard. He laughed until his little friend was back in his hand, the one that was modeled after his Leo’s—his love’s own—

He laughed the hardest when he was struck by an insane urge, and the dildo in his hand shrank to half its size.

There’s no burn this time, even as he pushed the entire (significantly reduced) length into himself in one smooth thrust. But his laughter abruptly stopped as it did so, because its new size meant that the tip pressed perfectly against his prostate. Donnie hadn’t been expecting the sudden bloom of pleasure that radiated through him so intensely it sent shudders ricocheting up his spine, which made him shake and shove the dildo against his sweet spot once more, and suddenly he was moving, bouncing his hips and moaning aloud and thrusting quickly in and out of himself, the jolts straight to his prostate building the pleasure more and more with every single movement until—

He came with a shout that he only barely remembered to muffle and a full body shudder that would have destabilized him just a few minutes before. But now, he has a new sense of clarity, a new goal to accomplish, and that alone gives him strength. He can’t change the past, but he can run for the future, even if that future has a definite and finite end.

He knows what he has to do.

It can’t wait until morning.

----------

“I changed my mind.”

“Wha-huh? What? Donnie?” Leo bolted upright in his bed, scrabbling at his face to remove his sleeping mask, “What’re you doing in my—”

“I changed my mind,” Donnie said again. He set a still-wet knee on the mattress, springs creaking as he spoke, “About being with you. I want to try it.”

Leo stared at him, dumbfounded, mouth hanging open and sleep mask strewn haphazardly across his forehead, and having absolutely no business looking so cute. Still, he didn’t speak.

“…if the offer’s still on the table, that is,” Donnie said slowly, unsure what to make of Leo’s lack of response, “I don’t mean to—”

 “No, no! The offer’s still—I mean, I still want—” Leo scrambled into action, darting forward and snatching Donnie’s wrist. The contact seemed to ground him, and he took a breath before speaking again. “I’m still open to it, okay?”

“Excellent,” Donnie smiled at him, genuinely, before clasping Leo’s hand in his own, “As long as you understand that this is just a trial. You can back out at any time, but even if you don’t this isn’t going to last long. I have a date with the Great Beyond that I just can’t miss.”

“Hey, I’ll take what I can get,” Leo’s voice was warm as he squeezed Donnie’s hand back. He gently tugged at Don’s wrist, pulling him just a little closer, a wordless invitation.

And Donnie finally let himself rest his weight down onto the bed. The mattress creaked under his added weight as he settled, and Leo dipped just slightly towards him as he sat down. He never let go of Leo’s hand.

They sat there in silence for a while, clasping hands in the dark. Then…

“So what do we do now?” Leo whispered. His eyes, slid up to Don’s face, giving him a look that was both earnest and sweet, and Don’s heart fluttered in his chest like he was a teenager again.

“Well, what do you think we do now?” Donnie couldn’t help but tease, “You’ve seen movies. What usually comes after this part?”

Leo flushed, “Cut me some slack, alright? I’ve never done this before.”

“Scoff! It’s common sense that what comes after the confession scene is the—”

Leo cut him off with a kiss. It was rough and wild and absolutely delightful. Leo’s inexperience was obvious, but that was okay. He had plenty of time to learn, and Donnie had plenty of time to teach.

Chapter Text

“When you said – oh, fuck – when you said I should know what would happen next, I didn’t think— I wasn’t expecting—”

“Weren’t expecting? So what were you expecting, hm?”

“I dunno,” Leo’s voice was high and tight, and cute enough that Donnie almost wished he could see his expression, “I thought we would, uh, smooch a bit and then you would fall asleep in my bed. I didn’t, ngh, didn’t expect… this.”

“And?” Donnie prompted, looking over his own shoulder to meet Leo’s gaze. It was hard to do from where he was, hovering over Leo’s hips with one hand circled around his slick, hard cock, “Do you have any complaints about this?”

“N-no,” Leo breathed, “None whatsoever. Just… just keep going, okay? I’m dying here, Donnie.”

“So dramatic,” Donnie tutted, but still he dropped his hips and the entire length of Leo’s cock disappeared inside him in one smooth push.

A tiny part of him preened at the stark contrast between the satisfied sigh that pushed up from his lungs and the choked gasp that was torn from Leo’s. A very, very tiny part.

He’d meant to give Leo a little more time to adjust, really he did, but suddenly he was moving. His hips circled, grinding down against Leo’s cock and smearing Leo’s plastron with his slick. Leo’s hips pulse beneath him, like he was trying to thrust upwards but couldn’t with Don’s full weight bearing down on him. Donnie’s plastron buzzed in satisfaction even as his eyes fluttered shut in bliss, because Leo’s cock was just the right size to nudge perfectly against his prostate, and oh fuck he’d been right earlier when he—

As soon as it began, it was over. Not for him. For Leo.

The churr and moan that rumbled up from behind was so loud and sudden that it startled Donne into opening his eyes, and so did the tremors wracking Leo’s body where it was pinned below his own. Coupled with the twitches of Leo’s cock inside him… it could only mean one thing: Leo had come.

Huh.

“Already, Leo?” Donnie hummed, not really expecting a response as he waited for Leo’s tremors to die down, “You really couldn’t hold on any longer, huh? Couldn’t do any better for me?”

“Gimme… gimme a break!” Leo panted, and his voice was ragged and so delicious that Donnie actually contemplated turning around to kiss him, “I’m not… used to this.”

“Obviously not."

“Hey!”

Despite the harsh words, Donnie kept his tone light. He wasn’t actually upset that Leo hadn’t lasted long, and any lingering feelings of disappointment were eclipsed by a smug sense of satisfaction that he had made Leo come so fast, that he’s still got it after all these years. Besides, he told himself as he lifted up and off Leo’s cock, he’s already come twice this evening, he wasn’t really expecting Leo to—

Something shoved into his covered shell, making Donnie yelp and sending him pitching forward. He threw his arms out to catch himself and expected to collide with Leo’s legs on his way down, but he didn’t, because they weren’t there anymore. Leo must have moved in a blink of an eye, must have pulled his legs up underneath himself as soon as he was free from Don’s weight on his hips and given himself the leverage to push—

Donnie landed on his hands and knees, dazed by the sudden shift, his fists sinking into the plush mattress. And before he could adjust to the new position, Leo was behind him, destabilizing him with as the mattress bounced with the movement, and suddenly his hard cock was pressing insistently at Don’s messy slit, and dazed as he was Donnie could probably throw him off in a second if he wanted to but…

“How… how’s this for better?” Leo purred, in a voice that didn’t quite have the gravel that his Leo’s voice had but that still made Don’s stomach drop and made him cry out as Leo’s cock slid back into him a single push.

Suddenly Donnie didn’t want to push him off. No, Donnie wanted him to stay right where he was, maybe forever.

“Hey, Donnie? Better?” Leo nudged his hips against Don’s, but noticeably startled at the churr that forced its way from Don’s throat.

“Yeah,” Donnie said dreamily, too blissed out to lie, or even to giggle at Leo’s jump, “Better.”

“Good.”

And that was all the warning Donnie got before Leo was moving, thrusting, pumping his hips in an inexperienced, unsteady rhythm. He cooed in bliss, content to be on his knees and taking it, letting Leo take the lead (and do all the work) this time and Don’s eyes fluttered shut as he…

“S-shit, ah, fuck, Donnie,” Leo’s ragged voice floated up from behind him, “How are you so tight?”

Don’s eyes opened again, a confused look on his face the he knew Leo couldn’t see because he definitely was not—

“Feels good,” Leo murmured, hips stuttering in an uneven rhythm against Don’s thighs, “Feels sooooo good. So good for me.”

Don’s churrs crested in volume at that, nearly constant with the sweet friction of the in-out motion of his cock against Don’s slick walls. This was good, this was sooo good, and he wasn't even vaguely annoyed that Leo was talking so much, because something low and dormant that may have been his ego was preening, cooing at the praise, and his own Leo had never…

“So good on my cock, Donnie. Like you – ngh – like you’re m-made for it.”

And then Leo hunched over his soft shell and his breath tickled his sensitive ridges and the new angle had him thrusting down and perfectly into Don’s prostate, and Donnie actually keened at how good it felt.

“Sorry, sorry, gonna come,” Leo said, hoarsely, apologetically, “You’re gonna make me come again oh god oh shit Donnie I—”

Leo’s hips stuttered once, twice, pressed as tightly as he could get against Don’s hips, shaking but still as he came, filling Don’s body once again with his desire. Donnie churred brightly at the feeling of warmth flooding him yet again, and then choked on a moan as Leo grabbed his neglected cock and squeezed and keep going keep going keep—

Donnie cried out as he came, hard enough that stars swam in his vision, and hard enough that he forgave Leo for coming twice before making him come once. That was fine for a first time. Actually, it was great for a first time, Donnie reminded himself as he lay on Leo’s bed, sprawled out and panting.

His first time with his Leo, neither of them got to come. An explosion in the lower 3^rd quadrant saw to that. Eight hours and a dozen casualties later, there wasn't even a chance to finish what they had started. Even years later, he still hated his first time.

It was nice, Donnie thought to himself as he closed his eyes, not really intending to drift off but to wind down here with Leo, Nice to finally have a good first time. Even if he had to die to get it.

----------

Donnie didn’t sleep that night. He went straight from a snoring Leo’s bed back to the lab, feeling oddly energized by the encounter. He decided to throw that energy and motivation into his project. He’d get work done, and with his head full of wires and charts, he wouldn’t have room in his brain to wonder if he was doing the right thing, or if he had made a huge mistake by indulging Leo’s crush, or how badly Leo was going to be crushed when…

He distracted himself so thoroughly that he jumped at the sound of a cup of coffee being thumped down on his desk.

“Damn, Donnie, sorry,” Leo said sheepishly, letting go of the mug to raise his hands placatingly, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Scare me?” Donnie blinked at him owlishly, “Oh, with the—you didn’t actually—”

He cut himself off. Why couldn’t he form a complete sentence? Why was he getting tongue tied all of a sudden? Why was his face so hot?

Leo looked at him for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. “Did you… sleep at all last night?”

Donnie blinked slowly, letting Leo’s words percolate. It was hard to think when the hotness in his face was creeping steadily down his neck, growing faster with every moment he stared at Leo. He had better not be getting sick.

“Sleep? No, I didn’t,” Donnie finally responded after what must have been far too much time, “I’ve been working, see?” He gestured at the half-formed skeleton of an apparatus on the desk.

Something in Leo’s expression changed minutely.

“Oh, you’ve been working? On your ‘unfinished business’ thing?” Leo’s tone was suddenly far too casual, “Looks like it’s going quickly, huh?”

“No, actually,” Donnie said placatingly, suddenly feeling as if he’d said something wrong, “I haven’t been focusing well so far today—”

“Wonder why,” Leo mumbled.

“—and I’ve also hit a wall, as they say,” Donnie continued as if he hadn’t heard Leo speak, “I can’t get much more work done without some specific supplies that will be… very difficult to get.”

“Oh.”

Leo was quiet for a moment, his face inscrutable. Then…

“Anything I can help with?”

Donnie stared at him blankly. “What?”

“You said you need supplies, right?” Leo clarified. His hands wrung together like he was nervous, but why would he be… “Is that something I can help you with?”

“…I suppose it is,” Donnie said slowly. His first instinct was to be suspicious, to question the legitimacy of Leo’s offer to help, but after last night, he supposed he owed Leo the benefit of the doubt. Still he couldn’t help but ask, “Are you seriously offering?”

“Of course!” Leo almost looked offended that Donnie had asked, “I offered, didn’t I? Why would I do that if I wasn’t being serious?”

“Okay, okay! Point taken. I need to get…”

As it turned out, Leo’s offer to help was legitimate. Any lingering doubts Donnie might have had were washed away by his earnest attention to every little thing that Donnie needed. He was even completely willing to portal into high-security laboratories so that Donnie could ‘borrow’ the things he needed. In the place of his suspicions, an odd, floaty feeling filled Don’s chest and didn’t abate all throughout the time they spent gathering supplies. It stayed there, like an iridescent bubble floating where his heart was supposed to be, as the two of them returned to the lab a final time, placing their arms full of vials and wires down neatly on the desk.

Then Donnie looked at Leo (he had to look down, why was that kind of exhilarating?), and Leo looked at Donnie (he had to look up, why was that kind of—), and the bubble popped in the roaring wave of heat that surged through him.

They were kissing almost before Donnie knew what was happening, his hands cupping Leo’s face and Leo’s arms stretching up to wrap around his shoulders, and he wondered briefly if Leo would melt the way his Leo did when he nibbled on his lower lip and oh shit he did—

After that, he wasn’t sure what had happened. But now, he was hunched over, bent at the waist and clutching the remains of his project. Leo hadn’t really paid attention to where Don’s face would land when he bent him over the desk.

He should have been annoyed at Leo’s lack of spatial awareness and how all his progress he had made today had all been ruined, but he wasn’t. All he cared about was the perfect, rhythmic, endless pounding of Leo’s cock against his sweet spot. Nothing else mattered.

A full-body shudder wracked his frame, sending tremors ricocheting all throughout his body and making a fluttery moan slip from his mouth. It was good, so good, so so good like this, with every single thrust tying that knot tighter inside him, and then Leo changed the rhythm of his thrusts just slightly, and metal groaned beneath his fingers as his eyes fluttered shut and his churrs crested in volume as he came for the… for the…

How many times has he come already? At least once, right, because when they started out, they both were standing. Faint memories rose of an unpleasant ache in his upper back from where he had hunched down to kiss Leo, and then of another ache in his knees from dropping into a crouch so he could bury his face between Leo’s legs and pull his cock into his mouth right as it dropped from his body, and then forgetting about both of those hurts when his own fingers slipped between his legs and dipped inside himself. The pain was worth it, worth it, so worth it, when the velvety head of Leo’s cock was probing the back of his throat, when his fingers were curled around Don’s chin and twitching with each rhythmic suck, and when Leo was churring so loud that Don could feel it where his snout met Leo’s plastron… all of it together had pulled at least one delicious orgasm right from under Don’s nose.

He would have been happy to stay there, crouched on the floor with Leo’s cock not quite down his throat, even as Leo came with a shudder that crushed Don’s nose almost unpleasantly against his plastron and even as a thin line of come overflowed from Don’s mouth and dripped down his chin. The little voice in his head that would have screamed about the grossness of that feeling was curiously silent. But he didn’t even have time to wonder at its quietness, because almost as soon as Leo came, he was moving again, and the next thing Donnie knew, he was face down against his own desk, bent at the waist and buckled at the knees as Leo thrust dead against his prostate.

And Donnie could do nothing but twitch and thrash at every perfect thrust against his sweet spot. There was something nice, something primal about being bent over like this, with his ass in the air and Leo’s hands gripping his hips so hard they must be leaving bruises. If he had one complaint, it was that like this, their height difference was almost unnoticeable, and if Donnie wasn’t careful he might begin to think the one behind him was…

He was pulled from his revelry by the alarming sound of creaking metal. Don’s eyes flew open, scared that the desk was about to give out and send them both crashing to the floor, but it was just the beam that had once been his project’s main support, bending in his hands from the force of his grip. A surge of annoyance crashed with a wave of blinding pleasure, and Donnie couldn’t help but churr loudly in its wake.

“Look what you did,” Donnie tried for an accusatory tone, but couldn’t quite manage it because god was that really his voice? Did he really sound so wrecked?

“Huh? What did… what’d I do?” Leo croaked, and Donnie suddenly wasn’t so worried about the frogginess of his own voice.

“This, you did this,” Donnie gestured weakly with the bent and useless piece of metal in his hand, “You broke it. You broke my project.”

Leo’s thrusting slowed as he processed the accusation, “What d’you mean? I didn’t do that. I’m – hng – I’m all the way back here.” A single hand pet the lower edge of Don’s shell as he spoke.

“Yes you did. You made me – oh, fuck, there, harder – you made me bend over the… the stupid desk, you pushed me down, you broke it,” this time, Don’s accusatory tone was undermined the constant churrs rumbling beneath his voice, and by the steady flagging of his tail. He could practically feel Leo’s burning gaze focused on it.

“Huh. I guess I did do that,” the smirk in Leo’s voice would have been infuriating if it weren’t for the one dexterous hand petting Don’s tail and the other stroking his cock in time with the deep but slow pounds of Leo’s cock inside him and…

Donnie’s entire body shuddered as he came, his shell arching, his thighs trembling, his entire core vibrating with a churr so loud it was almost deafening as he painted the floor beneath them with his release. His brain whited out and left behind a feeling so floaty, so untethered that he almost missed the cresting moan and bright churr as Leo doubled over his shell, and then the soft spread of warmth inside him as Leo came.

There was a moment of quiet as Leo’s hips pumped weakly, milking himself through his second (?) orgasm. Then…

Leo didn’t so much pull out as he did fall out. He tumbled backwards, landing square on his ass on the cold tile floor of the lab, still panting. Donnie heard the thud and the soft ow, and couldn’t help but snicker.

Then Leo was suddenly and utterly quiet, and Donnie all of a sudden realized that his debauched ass and slick hole were completely visible from Leo’s position on the—

Donnie stood up abruptly, despite the lingering shakiness in his knees that threatened to have him joining Leo on the floor.

“Thank you for that,” he said, just as soon as he trusted the stability of both his voice and his legs, “That was… a welcome distraction.” He turned around and looked Leo in the eye to let him know he was being genuine.

Leo snickered. “Anytime, Donnie-baby. I learn fast, don’t I?”

“I’m not going to answer that.”

“Aww, come on! You can’t admit that I might—”

“Nevertheless,” Donnie said loudly, “A welcome distraction is still a distraction. I need to get back to work.” He began to gather up the salvageable parts of his project as he spoke. “I’ll expect another coffee in an hour or so, and then—”

“Wait wait wait, you’re going to keep working?” Leo clambered to his feet as he spoke, “You’re not going to, I dunno, stop for a while?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, no.”

“Why not? Come on, you haven’t even slept since yesterday, can’t you just take a break?”

“No, I can’t,” Donnie was beginning to get annoyed, and he turned away with a huff, “I need to work more than I need to take a break. You broke what little progress I had made so far today, so I’ll need to rebuild that from scratch. Besides, I have all sorts of testing that needs to be done on the supplies we ‘acquired’ today. I don’t have time for a break.”

“Okay, not a break then, but what about a nap?” Leo persisted, “It’s not taking a break if you’re sleeping, right?”

“That still counts as a break, and I already said no,” Donnie scowled, thoroughly annoyed at his afterglow being ruined by Leo’s pestering. Why was he being so insistent, anyway?

“Alright, you really don’t want to take a break, so…” there was something tight in Leo’s voice, like he was anxious about something, but why would he—? And why did it matter to Donnie when he was being so annoying about—? “…what if you just slowed down a little instead?”

“Slowed down,” Donnie repeated, in a tone that he hoped would convey to Leo how stupid that idea was.

“Yeah, slowed down,” Leo repeated, completely oblivious to Don’s pointed tone, “Like, instead of rebuilding the… the thing and testing the stuff we got, you just did one or the other? Like, just one for today. It wouldn’t be stopping or taking a break or anything like that. It would just be… y’know. Slowing down.”

“I can’t— I’m not going to slow down,” Donnie scoffed, “I have to get this done.”

“I know you do, but can’t you just—”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Donnie rounded on him, and Leo shrunk back under his glare, “I have to keep going. Working on this project is the only reason I’m alive.”

They both froze at the words. A frosty silence spread between them, and Donnie couldn’t even feel guilty about it, because why would Leo even think he could—

“Look, I know this doesn’t make sense to you, but I died, okay?” Donnie raked a hand across his scalp, “I died in my timeline, and the only reason I’m here right now is because I died without having finished this project, and the universe decided I can’t be dead until I finish it. That’s the reason I’m not dead right now, okay? The only reason.”

“I don’t think that’s the only reason,” Leo said after a moment of quiet. His eyes were suddenly wide and wet.

“What? No, that’s not what I—no,” Donnie glared at him, “I meant that I have to keep going because I owe it to the universe. If I stop or take a break it means I’m not working hard enough. That’s the only reason I have to—”

“That’s not the only reason,” Leo’s eyes were wide with an emotion Donnie couldn’t identify, but his voice was hard, “You’re not—you can’t only be here because you’re meant to do something.”

“You’re not listening to me! I told you that—”

“No, you’re not listening to me,” Leo interrupted, something hard and golden in his eyes, “Work is not the only reason you’re alive.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll play your game. Why else am I here, then?” Donnie demanded. He didn’t know where all this anger was coming from, or why it was directed so much at Leo, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from glaring, “What other reason do I have to be alive right now?”

Leo threw up his hands like he was defeated, and a bitter sense of triumph rose in Don’s chest. Maybe now Leo would understand why he—

“Coffee.”

“…what?” Donnie said after a frozen moment. Had he really…? He couldn’t have said—

“You heard me. Coffee,” Leo said solidly, looking directly into Don’s eyes, “Coffee is another reason to be alive.”

“…why?” Donnie felt stupid, so stupid for only being able to respond in single syllables, but how could he even try to say anything else when Leo was actually suggesting—

“Because you love coffee,” Leo said, simply and softly, “You really do. You love coffee with sugar and without and with milk and without and you even love it when I bring you coffee with nothing at all. Because you love it, right?”

Donnie opened his mouth, but Leo didn’t give him the chance to interrupt.

“A-and there’s other things you love too. Like, you love building and inventing and stealing things from government laboratories and eighties jams and… and maybe you love me a little, too.”

Leo shrugged his shoulders. The gesture was not at all casual.

“It’s just… you love a lot of things, Donnie. That’s why you deserve to be here. That’s why you deserve to be alive.”

Silence, dead silence grew between them, silence that belied Donnie’s swirling, chaotic thoughts. Did he—? Was he actually—?

Could there really be another reason— other reasons why he was—?

“Wow, I guess that was a lot, huh? Sorry about that,” Leo spoke quickly, looking away and wringing his hands as he spoke, “I didn’t mean to get all heavy on you like that. I just mean— I just want you to enjoy yourself a little, you know? And maybe stay here with me for as long as possible. Which, hey, I know that’s like really, really selfish of me, but I thought—I just wanted—”

“Okay.”

“I just wanted to— what?” Leo met Don’s gaze with eyes as wide as dinner plates, “Did I— did you say—?”

“I said okay,” Donnie tried very hard not to roll his eyes. He thought it would ruin the moment, “I’ll slow down and take breaks and… all that stuff. For coffee.”

“For… coffee.”

“Yes, for coffee,” this time, Donnie did roll his eyes, but he followed it up with a swift kiss pressed to Leo’s forehead, “And also for you.”

“For me?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

And Leo threw himself into Don’s arms and buried his face in Don’s plastron, and his own arms folded around Leo’s shoulders, and a feeling that Donnie couldn’t name sprouted in his chest, but that was okay. He had plenty of time to ponder.

----------

There’s something in his bed.

Something is creeping under the covers at the foot the cot acting as Don’s makeshift sleeping area, lifting them and sliding slowly underneath like it didn’t want to wake him up. Too bad for them, Donatello was a trained warrior who had slept with one eye open for years. He had awoken at the first dip of the mattress.

He kept his eyes closed and his body still so as to not alert his attacker, and feeling vaguely annoyed even as he planned his attack. Tonight was the first night he had managed to fall asleep on a mattress rather than face down on his desk, so of course it was tonight of all nights would be when something would attack him. Just his luck. And right when he’d been getting some decent sleep, too.

His annoyance faded, replaced by confusion as whatever had crawled under the covers crept closer, working its way slowly up the mattress. The marked quality of its gait told Donnie it was a four-legged creature, or perhaps a two-legged creature walking on all fours, so it couldn’t be a Kraang. It could have been Kraang zombie, but that didn’t seem right either. The zombies were all brute strength and no finesse, and therefore were awful at stealth. A zombie wouldn’t attack by sneaking into his bed like this.

But what else could it…?

No time to wonder, because one of the intruder’s hands wrapped around Don’s ankle, and he kicked it away as his bo materialized in his hand and swung down in a brutal arc aimed directly at the lump beneath the covers—

“Ow! Hey, hey, Donnie, ceasefire! It’s me!”

His bo dematerialized before it could make contact. Good thing, too, because if it had it surely would have smashed the shell of—

“Leo?” Donnie said incredulously, flipping the covers back to reveal Leonardo crouched beneath them.

“The one and only. In this timeline, anyway,” Leo winked and sat back on his haunches, casual as could be. Like he hadn’t crawled under Don’s blanket in the middle of the night.

“You—why—what were—" Donnie spluttered, trying to make sense of the situation, “What were you doing under there? Were you trying to get your shell caved in?”

“What? No, why would I—oh,” Leo seemed to remember the distinctive sound of Don’s constructs dematerializing, and that Donnie had gone from dead asleep to wide awake in less than half a second, and his eyes went wide, “Were you really going to hit me with your tech-bo?”

“Yes, dumb dumb! I thought you were attacking me!” Donnie aimed another kick at him, but this time, Leo dodged. Hmph. “And you still didn’t tell me what you were doing under there.”

“Well, I wasn’t attacking you, so that was dumb,” Leo had the gall to roll his eyes, and Donnie considered strangling him, “I was trying to wake you up, though. Nicely.”

“Wake me up,” Donnie said in disbelief, “You snuck in here, crawled under the blanket, and grabbed me because you were trying to wake me up.”

Leo winced. “Oof, yeah, sorry about that. Grabbing your ankle, I mean. I thought I was reaching over your leg, but it’s dark under there, so I wasn’t sure—"

“Leo.”

“Anyways! You still sleep naked, right?”

Donnie must have been more tired than he thought, because he couldn’t possibly have heard that right. Was he seriously asking—?

“Wait, why am I asking? You obviously do,” Leo’s eyes walked appraisingly down his uncovered, and, yes, naked body. A seedy grin grew on his face, and Donnie once again resisted the urge to smack him. “Good thing, too, because like I said, I was trying to wake you up.”

“That still doesn’t make sense, stupid! What do you mean you—"

Leo’s gaze fell heavily on the space between Don’s legs, his expression knitting into something downright lecherous.

“…oh.”

Don stared at him, stunned into silence, but was suddenly very aware of his face growing warm. His heart was pounding, blood rushing in his ears, and didn’t know why. Why is this… why is he reacting this way? He’s nearly forty years old, he shouldn’t be blushing at the mere implication that Leo would wake him up by sucking him off.

What was it about Leo that made him so—?

“Well, that was the plan, but I guess I messed up, huh?” Leo suddenly spoke up, giving Donnie a lopsided grin.

Donnie blinked at him. “What?”

“I mean, you’re already awake, so I can’t exactly… you know,” Leo gestured vaguely at the area between Don’s thighs.

“I suppose not, but—"

“It’s okay though, don’t worry about it!” Leo interrupted, then leaned in quickly and pecked Donnie lightly on the lips, “I’ll just go back to my room and—”

“No.”

“…what?”

“I said…” Leo began to pull away, but Donnie didn’t let him. He slung his leg around Leo’s hip, curled his arms around his shoulders, and pulled until they were nearly nose to nose. Leo, forced off balance, fell flat against his plastron. “No.”

“N-no?” Leo mumbled against his lips, eyes wide, and a rush of something far less innocent than butterflies fluttered in Don’s chest, “Why?”

“Because, you woke me up, didn’t you? That was rude, even if it was an accident,” Donnie deliberately squeezed his legs around Leo’s waist, loving Leo’s little gasp and the roughness of his shell against his own bare inner thigh. His voice dropped into a purr as he continued, “I deserve… a little something to make up for it, don’t you think?”

“A little something?” Leo’s eyes glimmered, his hands curling around Don’s waist to caress his bare softshell, “Like what?”

“Oh, I think you know,” Donnie cooed, pressing in just a little more to give Leo his first kiss of the night, “Don’t make me regret it.”

He didn’t. He couldn’t, because heartbeat later he was lying flat on the mattress, Leo’s face buried in his neck. His head arched back, thunder booming in his head as Leo peppered frantic kisses across his skin, edging closer to the little spot on the underside of his jaw that would make him see stars. And Leo must have known when he found it, because his kisses turned into little nibbles and then bites, little starbursts of pain just sharp enough for Don’s dizzy mind to register as pleasure, and oh shit he might have hickies in the morning but how could that matter when his head was filled with lightning and all the while Leo’s hand were walking up the backs of his thighs until—

There was a sudden movement, a hard shove from Leo with his hands against the backs of Don’s knees, and suddenly Don’s ankles were floating almost by his own face, how had that happened, why was Leo—

He got his answer when Leo tore his face from Don’s neck, growled something that might have been ‘stay here’, and buried his face between Don’s legs.

There was not even a moment of hesitation as Leo opened his mouth wide and sealed it against the wetness of Don’s slit, sucking fervently. Don’s reaction was immediate, his head tossing and legs thrashing against the sudden, overwhelming stimulation, and before he could calm himself, Leo’s tongue was parting him, licking deep within his slit and sending waves of pleasure radiating out from his core. His cried out, unbidden, and was suddenly glad that Leo hadn’t woken him up like this. If he had, Donnie might never have woken up again.

He reached between his own legs and clutched Leo’s head, desperately searching for a modicum of control, but all he did was pull Leo’s head harder against him. Leo moaned against him, and his deep searches turned into little flicks all around the edges of Don’s slit, lapping up his slick as is poured from inside him, and if it weren’t for the hands still braced on the backs of his thighs he would have curled his legs around Leo’s head and crushed that sweetly sinful tongue against him even harder. And then Leo sucked firmly, and Donnie felt the hardness of his teeth against the tender flesh of his slit and a single warm hand caressed his tail and—

Donnie cried out aloud as he came, thrashing and twitching and churring through the waves of what must have been his quickest orgasm ever. He hadn’t even dropped, he realized as Leo licked him through it, gentling his rhythmic licks against his slit until his quaking subsided, until the only movement in Don’s body was the heaving of his breath.

And then Leo looked up, and his lips were swollen and his eyes were dark and his chin was sticky with Don’s slickness, and he was so gorgeous that Donnie almost missed how he was moving, lifting upwards and pressing the backs of Don’s knees toward his shoulders until his shell curled and his tailbone lifted clear off the mattress. Leo must have had to lift onto his feet to get that angle, but Donnie didn’t even care to think about it, because Leo’s hard cock was throbbing and warm against his wet and messy slit. Leo’s hips moved minutely, maybe involuntarily, thrusting himself against the slickness between Don’s thighs and nudging the head of his cock deeper and deeper between his slick lips with every movement until…

“Donnie,” Leo’s voice was rough and low and sent little tremors rolling through Don’s insides, “Can I? Please?”

“Yes,” Donnie said without thinking, without even realizing that this was the first time they would be facing each other during sex, and maybe that wasn’t such a good— “Yes, Leo. Now, right now, just—”

Donnie cut himself off with a gasping moan as Leo sank into him, his cock sliding in without resistance until he couldn’t push anymore. They stilled for a moment, panting, but Leo didn’t wait any longer to begin thrusting for real.

Donnie’s head tried to fall back, but he couldn’t bend any further. Instead of his gaze reaching to the ceiling, he was forced to stare at his own lower body, at his legs dangling in the air above his head and at his slit as it was filled again and again by Leo’s cock. He’d never watched himself get fucked at this angle before, and there was something absolutely mesmerizing about it, about watching as Leo’s cock pushed into him to the hilt and feeling the parallel curls of delicious friction swirling deep and low inside him. His slit and upper thighs were slick and glistening, and more slick dripped out of him with every thrust until everything below his navel was shiny and wet. With every thrust, Leo’s cock pressed perfectly against his prostate, sending rolls of warm pleasure radiating out from his core, and the added visual stimulation of watching as Leo’s cock sheathed within him again and again only mad what feeling stronger. Even the ache in his lower back from being held upside down at such a strange angle did nothing but light a fire in his belly, so that every gasp and churr and moan had a soft edge of pain to it that only dragged him closer to orgasm yet again.

He came like that, upside down and powerless, watching his own ankles shake as he thrashed through an orgasm so intense it almost hurt. His mind whited out, overwhelmed by the endless waves of pleasure that started from his core and spread outwards into his fingertips and toes, moving beyond pain and into something Donnie couldn’t quite define. It was ecstasy, it was euphoria, it was…

He didn’t have time to think what it was, because a moment later Leo’s thrusting abruptly stopped and his entire body went tight, and suddenly Donnie was full to overflowing of Leo’s release, and once again his mind went completely and totally blank. Leo’s hands gentled on the back of his knees, and together they slowly collapsed until they were flat on the mattress, still tangled together.

He fell asleep there, head nestled in the crook of Leo’s shoulder and neck, feeling pleasantly sore and tired and happy, deliriously happy. Not even the nagging feeling that he missed out on this with his own Leo could bring him down. He had it now, not with his Leo, but with this Leo, and that was the best thing he could ask for.

----------

“It’s done! It’s finished! I’ve finally done it,” Donnie threw back his head and allowed himself a true mad scientist cackle, “My masterpiece is complete!”

“What? It is?” Leo looked over the apparently-completed mass of tubes and wires on a custom-built heavy duty table. Then he turned to Donnie, eyes wide, “You mean it’s done?”

“Yes, my dear Leo, it is,” Donnie picked Leo up by the shoulders and kissed him, “I will go down in history as the scientist who cracked cold fusion.”

“Cold fusion?” Leo looked a little dazed, “I thought that was a myth.”

“It was a myth. Not anymore,” Donnie unceremoniously dropped him and went back to admiring his creation, the worlds first working cold fusion reactor, “Theoretically unlimited power production, and zero greenhouse gas emissions. Isn’t that incredible?”

“That is pretty incredible,” Leo murmured, staring at the wires with new understanding, “And this is… this was your project, right? The reason the universe brought you back?”

Donnie nodded. “I got the idea when I was studying the Kraang energy attacks. I knew I knew how to do it, but I never had the resources to build one. And then…”

Donnie cleared his throat. “I suppose the universe knew I never would have gotten the idea for the reactor if the Kraang never took over, so it brought me back so I could finally build one.”

“But it’s done now?”

“Yes, it is. Now, I wrote down the instructions, so you’ll still be able to make it work after I vanish or whatever, so if you have any questions just—"

“It’s done? Are you sure?” oh, there was something frantic in Leo’s tone, something scared, “It doesn’t need, I dunno another solenoid? Because if it does I can help you—”

“Leo, it’s done,” Donnie interrupted gently, folding his hands around Leo’s own and crouching a little so he could look into Leo’s eyes, “I’m sure of it.”

“But are you really? We could still—”

“It’s done,” Donnie said loudly, “Because I’m done. I’m ready, Leo.”

Leo froze, but his hands shook in Don’s own. His eyes were wet.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Donnie lowered his voice and inclined his head until their foreheads touched, “We both knew this was coming.”

“I knew,” Leo’s voice caught, “Doesn’t mean I’m ready for it, though.”

“You don’t have to be ready,” Donnie let a little challenge creep into his tone, trying for a little levity, “I’m the one who has to be ready. And I am, so…”

It must have worked, because Leo laughed wetly, and when his arms folded around Don’s shoulders, Don’s arms wrapped around him too, crouching a little to squeeze him into a tight hug.

“It’ll work out,” he whispered, eyes closed as he rested his head on Leo’s shoulder, “I promise.”

“What will?”

“Everything will. You and me, me and cold fusion, Pops and Big Mama…”

“Pops and who?”

“You heard me.”

And Donnie pulled back looking directly into Leo’s eyes and pretending he didn’t see the tears gathered there.

“Thank you,” Donnie said, quietly, genuinely, “For everything. For loving me and helping me and bringing me coffee even when I didn’t ask. You made me feel like being alive, being here was worth something other than working on the reactor. You made me feel…”

Donnie took in a deep breath.

“…complete,” he whispered, “You made me feel complete, in a way I never felt… the first time I was alive. So when I say thank you, I mean it, genuinely. Thank you.”

“I… I was just—”

“I love you,” Donnie said softly, but he might as well have shouted it because Leo’s eyes went wide and the tears spilled over before he could speak again, “Never forget that.”

“I—me too, Donnie, love you too,” Leo spoke in a rush, “And I won't forget. Promise.”

Leo kissed him then, quickly, desperately, and Donnie didn’t even mind the wetness on his face even though it was not his own, definitely not his own, because he’s ready. He lived his life, plus a little extra, and that’s more than he ever thought he would get.

And when his eyes fluttered open, all he could see was Leo, older, wiser, taller, and his. The Leo whose love he’d had all his life and whose love had followed him even into his undeath.

He threw himself into his Leo’s arms, and this time the wetness on his face was definitely his.

He didn’t even have to crouch down.