Man, was it cold.
It was one of those nights. It had just turned winter, but the weather felt like a living nightmare. There was snow on the ground outside, making the lair colder. The temperature seemed to drop every hour, and the snow began to fall harder. If he wasn't so cold right now, he would probably want to invent some new invention to make a snowman quicker.
But no. He had to be cold, didn't he? The temperature was only thirty degrees outside, but it felt like zero. The lair got colder and colder, and the softshell only had so many blankets. He had also slept in all of the knit socks and gloves that Raph made him, and he was wearing his signature purple jacket, but nothing worked. He woke up from how cold it was in his room, and he started to shiver from not getting any heat.
"Why?" He mumbled to himself. "Why does this always happen to me?"
Heat. That's what he needed right now. He reached over and grabbed his wrist remote from his side table, and tapped a button to turn on his overhead heat lamp. It turned on with a low hum, and the softshell lightly smiled as he got back into bed. Hopefully this would keep him warm for a couple of hours.
~~~~~
Ten minutes. Ten. Amazing. Short. Minutes.
His heat lamp turned off. Probably from low battery, or maybe it was because he never actually finished it. It kinda needed an upgrade as well, and the softshell had been pushing it back. He cursed at himself, yelling in his own head that he should have finished the upgrade.
It was getting to the point where he could see his own breath. He shivered under the covers angrily, wanting to do something that could get him feeling warm again.
Would it get to the point where he would die? Donnie normally didn't think like this; it was usual for Leo to get into this mindset, but never Donnie. He was getting close though... very close. His mind yelled at him, saying that he wanted to get warm. But what else could he do? His heat lamp went out, and he had layered everything onto of him.
He then knew what he could do. Raph's room. He could go in there. His room was so warm on nights like these, and the snapping turtle would have enough body heat to warm all three of his brothers.
But... That would mean he'd have to cuddle with Raph. Donnie loved cuddling his brothers, but only every once in a while, and he normally did it with Mikey. Was he willing to do this just to get warm?
Donnie shivered again from the coldness of his room. He sighed into the darkness.
"Screw it," he said as he walked to Raph's room with one of his blankets. He could feel the cold floor through his socks, but he didn't care. He would soon get heat from the snapping turtle.
He made it to the red turtle's room and stood outside the entrance. Raph was fast asleep on his bed, but there was enough room for Donnie to squeeze into. He sighed again as he walked into the room and quietly laid down, but he still woke up Raph in the process.
"What the..." the snapping turtle mumbled. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Donnie. He also had felt how cold the softshell was, and his eyes opened up fully. "Donnie?! Why are you so cold?"
"My room's freezing," Donnie answered. "I needed warmth. And don't take this any other way! I was cold, and I'm not doing this just to cuddle."
Raph smiled. He hugged Donnie and pulled him close to his body. Donnie could start to feel the heat from the red turtle, and he smiled a little. He got close to Raph, and he got warmer with each minute. They both fell asleep together as the snow fell harder on the outside.
~~~~~
Donnie had gotten up before Raph the next morning so that none of his other brothers could see him. He went to go and fix the heat lamp, and hoped that it would work tonight. He didn't want to cuddle with Raph every night until winter ended, but he had to admit, it did feel kinda nice. He worked for five minutes before he got hungry. He sighed as he got up and went into the kitchen, taking a few of his clothes off before he went. It wasn't as cold as the night before, so Donnie only wore his jacket.
He walked into the kitchen and saw his two younger brothers already in there. Mikey waved to him while Leo gave a quick head nod, and Donnie did the same to both turtles. He made himself a quick cup of coffee before he got down a box of cereal.
"I don't know about you guys, but I slept great last night," Mikey said to start a conversation.
"Same," Leo replied. "It felt so nice in my room."
Mikey looked over to his genuis of a brother. "What about you, Dee? How'd you sleep last night?"
"Terrible," Donnie replied. "It was freezing in my room."
"Huh, I didn't feel cold..." Mikey said with a frown. Leo hummed in agreement.
"Neither did I," the slider responded.
"That's because you guys don't get cold easily," Donnie grumbled as he took a sip of his coffee. "I had to layer up with all the clothing I had, and even that didn't work."
"Don't you have a heat lamp?" Leo asked him.
"I have a heat lamp, yes," the softshell replied. "Emphasis on the word have."
"It broke, didn't it?" Mikey frowned. Donnie nodded his head. "You could've seeked help from us. We're always willing to help you."
"I would have made you guys colder," Donnie told the box turtle. "Sure, you guys don't get as cold as I do, but I wasn't going to make you guys suffer just because I wanted to get warm."
"So you stayed cold the whole night?" Leo asked in concern.
"Yeah," Donnie lied. He didn't want to say that he had cuddled with Raph; he didn't want to hear the other turtles 'aws' of joy as he explained.
"Well, if you don't get the heat lamp to work, you can come into my room," Mikey offered. "That way you can at least be warm for one night."
"Thanks, Michael," Donnie said with a small smile. Sure, he was lying, but he did like that his brothers cared about his health and safety. "But I think I'll be fine. I'm sure I can get the heat lamp to work by tonight."
"If you do get cold, tell us," Leo said to him. "And you know I'm always awake at night, cause of the whole insomnia thing."
"Yeah, I will," Donnie said as he finished up his cereal. He walked to the lab and smiled. He would soon have a peaceful night, and his heat lamp would be fixed in no time.
~~~~~
"He did what?!" Leo exclaimed with glee.
"Yep," Raph smiled. "He got so cold that he came into my room and cuddled with me."
"Ohmigosh," Mikey beamed. "That's so cute! And to think that Donnie had no heart."
The said softshell rolled his eyes in his lab. He could hear his brothers talking in the living room, and he sighed. He almost made it without his other brothers knowing, but it was fine. He could always get Raph back. He smiled as he thought about what he could do to the snapping turtle. Raph was gonna have to watch his back tonight...
