What Happens in the Lair Stays in the Lair

"OW! Raph quit it!" Donnie cried out as Raph put him down on the floor of the dojo and sat on top of his shell. He braced his left foot against the back of Donnie's head and grabbed Don's right leg and started twisting it.

"I'm not stopping till you say it." Raph demanded.

"Okay okay!" Donnie cried out as he pounded on the floor. "Mercy, already mercy!"

Raph looked down at Donnie in satisfaction. A large figured loomed over him and he quickly released Don and looked up at his Sensei with a sheepish grin. He got off his brother's shell and bent down to help him up.

"Donatello," Splinter looked at his son as he got himself off the floor. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure Sensei." He replied, blushing in embarrassment as he looked around. In truth he did know why, but he could never admit it to his Sensei. However, Splinter noticed his eyes constantly wandered over to where April and Leo were currently sparring.

"You must learn to focus your mind Donatello." Splinter told him. "When you are in combat, the slightest distractions can mean the difference between life and death."

"Hai Sensei." Donnie replied and bowed slightly. He sighed deeply and looked around again. He couldn't help but noticed the pity look April had given him as he laid there being held down by Raph. Or the smug look Casey gave him when he picked himself up after the humiliating defeat.

Later that night, after Casey and April left, Donnie turned to Raph. "Why do you keep doing that Raph?" He demanded.

Raph shrugged. "Why do you keep letting me?"

"What?" Donnie looked at him incredulously. "What do you mean I let you?" He pointed his finger at Raph's chest. "Just because you beat me when we spar doesn't mean you need to humiliate me in front of everyone!"

"Don't think of me as humiliating you Don." Raph said with a smug look. "Just think of it as me toughing you up." He patted Donnie's shell and walked away from him.

Donnie narrowed his eyes at him in anger. "Well Mr. Toughing you up," He muttered to himself. "If that's the game you wanna play then I'll up the ante." He smirked at his brother's retreating shell and walked over toward his lab.

For the next several days, Donnie stayed in his lab venturing out only to eat, use the bathroom or go on patrol with his brothers. When asked what he was doing, he would only tell them he was busy on experiments and wanted to be left alone.

Finally, one day out of curiosity, Mikey poked his head in and watched as Don worked furiously on his computer. He had a small box next to him and a jar with three cockroaches. He made his way into the lab quietly and gently placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Hey D whatcha doing?" Mikey called out suddenly behind him as his hand came down.

Donnie let out a yelp of surprise and spun around so fast he banged his shell against the table causing the jar with the cockroaches to fall over. Donnie quickly spun back around and scooped the jar up before it could open.

"Don't do that!" He yelled. He took a steadying breath then turned his shell to Mikey and continued to type on his computer.

Come on Donnie, tell me what your up to?" Mikey pleaded.

"I'm doing nothing, now go away." Donnie told him hotly.

"Come on D," Mikey begged as he tried look around his brother's shoulder to see the computer. "Let me in on your little experiment."

Donnie let out a huff of annoyance. "It's not an experiment." He told him.

Mikey looked from the computer to the cockroaches and saw Donnie had a small box that seemed to look almost like Raph's room. "Hey." Mikey leaned closer to Donnie. "Are you trying to pull a prank on Raph?"

"What? NO!" Donnie sputtered.

"You're a terrible lair D." Mikey told him still trying to look over his shoulder. "Come on, it has something to do with the cockroaches doesn't it?"

Donnie didn't answer but Mikey saw a look of surprise cross his face. "So I'm right, it is a prank isn't it?" Mikey said excitedly. "Come on, let me in on it please Donnie." He begged.

"No Mikey." Donnie said with finality.

"But why? Raph's always picking on me too." He pointed out. "And with my help, we can pull a good one."

Donnie stopped typing and turned to look at him with a thoughtful gaze. "Okay Mikey. But I only need you to help keep Raph out of the lair for longer than the few hours we're usually out for when we go on patrol." Donnie looked at his younger brother sternly. "Okay?"

"You got it D." Mikey said bouncing up and down. "Now when do you want me to do this?"

"In a few days," Donnie told him going back to his work. "Just be ready."

A few nights later, Leo and Raph waited at the turnstiles for their brothers to join them for patrol. "Where's Donnie?" Leo asked when Mikey showed up alone.

"Oh...ah...he's not feeling well." Mikey said mentally crossing his fingers.

Leo and Raph exchanged looks as Mikey jumped over the turnstiles. "Let's go." He called out to them.

"Maybe someone should check on Donnie first." Leo suggested.

"No, he's sleeping." Mikey quickly told him. "We should just let him be."

The other turtles shrugged their shoulders then followed Mikey out the lair and toward their manhole cover, eventually making their way outside and up to the roof tops. For the next three hours, they jumped from roof to roof, training and playing and challenging each other while looking for any signs of trouble to break up. All in all, it was a good time and they were more than ready to go home when the three hours were up. At least Leo and Raph were, Mikey; however, insisted there was still more to do.

"Come on; let's go down by the docks." Mikey insisted.

"We went there already." Leo told him.

"How 'bout China gate," Mikey suggested.

"We started out there." Raph told him.

Mikey narrowed his eyes and thought hard for somewhere else to go. Donnie had not yet text to tell him he was ready for them to come home and he had to think of some way to keep his brothers from going home till then.

"Come on already." Raph barked. "Let's just go home."

"Wait," Mikey jumped in front of him. "How bout…." The sound of a fight below in the streets interrupts his suggestion. "How bout we break up that fight?" He smiled innocently and jumped down to the street below with his brothers following him, to where the three purple dragons were currently mugging someone.

Meanwhile, back at the lair, Donnie had waited till Mikey texted him the coast was clear. He snuck out of his room and made his way to his lab. Peering around cautiously making sure Master Splinter was still in his room, he grabbed his computer and camera equipment and went into Raph's room. He then went back to his room and pulled out plastic see through white tiles and a tall ladder.

For the next few hours, he went to work putting up a fake ceiling in Raph's room and putting cameras in the corners pointed toward the ceiling. It took some doing since he was alone but after it was done and he was satisfied, he sent a text to Mikey giving him the all clear.

Half an hour later, the three turtles walked in, giving each other high threes and laughing about the purple dragons and how they bested them once again. Mikey suggested staying up and having a snack but it was late and the others were tired.

"Sorry Mike." Leo told him. "I want to meditate then go to bed. See you two in the morning." He waved and went to his room.

"Yeah," Raph said with a yawn. "I'm beat." He waved at Mikey and went to his room.

Mikey watched his two brothers' head for their rooms. He waited a few minutes before tip toeing to Donnie's room and going in. "Is everything all set?" He asked with his hands over his mouth trying to keep his laughter under control.

"Yeah," Donnie replied with a chuckle. "We just need to wait till Raph falls asleep then we'll get everything going."

Leo had gone to his room and was sitting in the middle of the floor. He had lit candles surrounding him, his eyes were closed and he was sitting in the lotus position. He had been in meditation for almost forty minutes when a loud high pitch scream sounded throughout the lair.

He jumped up and ran out of his room and into the hall looking around wildly. Another scream had him running to Raph's room followed by Splinter. They ran in and saw Raph laying in his bed looking up at his ceiling in horror.

"They're everywhere!" Raph cried out. "Get them away from me!" He was frantically scratching at his arms and legs and thrashing wildly in his bed as his eyes looked fearfully upward.

"Raph what's wrong?" Leo cried trying to reach his brother without getting smacked. "What's everywhere?"

"Giant bugs!" He cried pointing upward. "They're crawling all over my ceiling and they're in my bed!" He scratched at his arms and continued to flail his legs while screaming at the top of his lungs.

Leo and Splinter looked up and their mouths gasped open in astonishment. Their eyes searched the ceiling and after a few moments realized what they were looking at. "Raphael calm down!" Splinter ordered. "There is nothing on the ceiling!" He walked over to his son and grasped his wrist. He held him tightly and stared intently into his eyes. "Breath my son and relax." Raph looked back at him with a wild look. "Those are only shadows." He told him quietly.

After a few moments, Raph forced himself to take deep breaths and calm his beating heart. Leo walked over and picked up three cockroaches that were in the bed. He walked out Raph's room and made his way to the entrance of the lair where he set them free. As he walked back to Raph's room, he couldn't help but notice that Donnie or Mikey had not come out of their rooms and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He went back into Raph's room and watched as Splinter, using his walking stick, tapped above him showing Raph the false ceiling that had been recently installed. Raph noticed the large dark shadows that ran back and forth were not deterred from moving where Splinter hit. As Splinter moved about and continued to tap, the three heard a sudden crash behind them and one of the shadows suddenly disappeared, turning they saw one of Donnie's cameras had fallen on the floor.

Raph let out a low growl. "It was a prank!" He yelled out. The sound of laughter could now be heard coming from the hallway. Donnie and Mikey had finally come out of Donnie's room, laughing hard and fist bumping. "I'm gonna kill you two!" Raph screamed at them. He jumped out of his bed and was just about to pounce when Splinter quickly grabbed him by the shell and held him back.

"Enough of this!" He yelled out. "Donatello! Michelangelo! What is the meaning of this?" He demanded of his two youngest.

The two turtles calmed down and looked up nervously into the furious eyes of their Sensei. Mikey gulped and pointed toward Donnie. "It was his idea." He quickly said which earned him a glare from his sibling.

"Why you..." Raph started toward Donnie. "Why would you do that?"

Donnie narrowed his eyes at Raph. "Call it me toughing you up Raph." He sneered.

"Donatello!" Splinter narrowed his eyes at him. "Explain."

Donnie sighed and looked from Splinter to Raph to Leo then back to Splinter. "I just wanted to get back at Raph for always humiliating me in front of our friends." He looked down at the floor ruefully then back up at the others. "Especially in front of April."

"I see." Splinter nodded and stroked his beard. "Still, as ingenious as this was, it was highly unnecessary and I am disappointed that you did not use your intelligence more wisely."

Donnie looked at the floor again and nodded. "Your right Sensei," He agreed. "I should have been more mature about how to handle things." He looked toward Raph. "Sorry about the prank Raph." He told him then turned to his Sensei. "What's my punishment?"

"First you will clean up this mess," He stood to the side and pointed toward Raph's room. "Then you will be banned from your computer and lab for one week."

"One week!" Donnie cried out. "But Sensei, what if…."

"One week." Splinter repeated then turned to go back to his room. "Michelangelo, assist your brother in cleaning up this mess and for your part in this, no TV for two days."

"But Sensei…" Mikey started then turned and walked into Raph's room after a glare from Splinter.

Donnie let out an annoyed huff then followed Mikey into Raph's room and began taking down the false ceiling and gathering Don's equipment while Leo and Raph watched.

"You know Donnie." Leo leaned against the doorway to Raph's room and watched his two younger brothers clean. "This was a pretty cool prank." He let out a chuck and elbowed Raph. "Might want to keep this one in mind next time we go up against the purple dragons."

The four turtles shared a laugh while Donnie and Mikey finished cleaning. Once done, they went to their rooms and wished each other a good night.

"Hey Donnie," Raph called out before Donnie could shut his door.

"Yeah Raph," Don turned to him.

"I um…" Raph rubbed the back of his head and looked away from Don shyly. "I'm sorry for humiliating you in front of Casey and April." He ducked his head in embarrassment. "Especially in front of April," He finally admitted.

"Apology accepted Raph." Donnie said patting the back of his shell.

"Yeah well, don't get too comfortable." Raph said with a sly look. "I'm still gonna kick your shell when we spar and no guarantees I won't do the occasional Donnie puppet."

"No worries Raph." Donnie said with a smug smile. "No guarantees I won't come up with more pranks."

Leo and Mikey stood in front of their rooms and smiled knowingly at each other as they watch Donnie slip a cockroach into Raph's shell.

~End~

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I've been wanting to do a Donnie one-shot for a long time and I personally can see him being a bit of a prankster, so after watching an episode of 'Outrageous Acts of Science' and seeing a person put shadows of 'giant bugs' on a wall of a building, I figured this could be something Donnie might do. But please let me know what you think, would love to hear from you Donnie fans out there on this one. :) Peace.