As Donnie finished up his fixes on the turtle tank, he took off his goggles and sighed. Being up all night had taken a toll on him, but he was determined to keep working. Raph had stepped in the lab earlier that night, and he wasn't too happy when he saw that Donnie was still up.
"You should probably go to sleep now Don," Raph had told him. "You shouldn't work on the tank all night."
"I'll go to sleep in like, five minutes," Donnie had replied. Raph stayed in the doorway for a little longer, then he walked off, still concerned for his soft-shelled brother. Sure, Donnie had meant to go to sleep, but he was so invested in the work he was doing. Soon five minutes turned into thirty, which then turned into hours. He had pulled all-nighters before, and his brothers weren't too happy with how tired their genius of a brother had become. Donnie would just go and drink his coffee as soon as he would finish; which he had done before. He used to put sugar into his coffee, but after pulling all-nighters almost every night, he settled for just plain black coffee.
Donnie had decided to change his attention to something else, so he started to work on more plans for his new battle shell. Being a softshell turtle, he knew that his shell was fragile. He tended to make himself a shell that he could attach to his original so that nothing would happen to it. More battle shells meant more protect he always thought. As he began to work on his blueprints, he stifled his yawns in an attempt to keep working. He would begin to yawn every five minutes, so he decided to go and make himself some coffee. He looked at the clock on his desk before he left, and it had read 3:24 a.m.
The softshell walked into the kitchen as quietly as he could. He saw a figure sitting on the couch and assumed it was his father, so he continued making his coffee. But as he continued to look at the figure, he saw that they were one of his brothers. Once he finished, he walked over to the couch to see Leo playing on his switch.
"Leo," he said. "What are you doing up?"
Leo looked up from his switch. "I could ask you the same thing," he replied. "But I think I know why you're up."
Donnie sat next to his so-called twin and watched him play. He sipped on his coffee as he watched, careful not to spill any on the switch. They sat in silence as the screen lit up their faces. Leo was playing Smash and was about to beat the boss when he got hit and his character had died. Leo grunted as he put the switch to the side as Donnie tried not to laugh. He looked over to his purple brother.
"Now," he said suddenly. "How long have you been up for?"
Donnie stared at his brother, not knowing what to say. He hadn't known how long he had been awake, he didn't even remember when he had started.
"I'm not too sure," he replied. "But I think I started working this morning...?"
Leo looked at his brother with disappointment in his eyes. He sighed at his twin.
"Donnie, you know you have to get some kind of rest," he said. "You can't just pull all-nighters every night, your health is gonna go down."
"I know," Donnie said. "And I'm working on it. It's just that the tank is almost done with its upgrade, and I wanted to finish it tonight."
Leo looked over to the lab and grinned. "Well then," he said as he began to stand. "Let's see what you've been working on."
They walked into the lab, the purple glow of the machines helping them see. Donnie showed the upgrades that he had done; and though Leo didn't understand what they all did, he listened to his brother. Soon after, Donnie did actually get some sleep, and Leo decided to stay in his room until then. Once the purple brother fell asleep, Leo went into his room and played on his switch. Though his insomnia had him awake, he would soon fall asleep as well, giving both of the brothers the rest that they needed.
