Discord Likes To Enable Me

discord likes to enable me

———

There’s a familiar clack-step-clack-step-clack-step, and Donnie un-shrimps himself from over his keyboard before he has to hear a lecture about posture.

“Heeey, hermano,” says Leo, and Donnie swivels his chair. He’s leaning on his crutches, an easy smile on his face that Donnie isn’t sure to trust. “You busy?”

“Yes, actually, I am. In fact, I have a prioritized list.” Which is ever growing, mostly because he keeps thinking of things to add.

An alien invasion that nearly kills your entire family is great for creativity and motivation.

“Yeah, I know.” Leo leans more heavily on the crutch so he can rub the back of his head. “Kind of a rhetorical question.”

“If you know then why are you bothering me?”

Leo’s smile falls a bit, and he shifts back and forth for a second. Donnie feels an itch grow under his skin the longer he spends not working, and he has to bite back the urge to snap at him to come out with it.

“Actually, don’t worry about it,” says Leo finally, taking a hobbling step back. “You’ve got enough to do, so… I’ll let you get back to it.”

And Donnie almost lets it go there, gets back to his work and lets Leo go back to whatever he was doing, but…

Something about the whole exchange does not sit right with him. Leo must want something, so why won’t he just tell him? It makes the same itch prickle in his hands, like there’s something here for him to fix if Leo will just let him know.

“You might as well tell me what you need,” he says, turning to his computer and pulling up his list. “I’ll assess it and prioritize.”

“No, no, that’s okay. It’s nothing,” Leo insists.

“Nardo.” Donnie levels his best stare at him. “What is it?”

Leo stops, hesitates again, and then slowly clack-steps his way back to Donnie’s desk. “Alright… but when I tell you, you can’t laugh.”

Donnie laughs once, preemptively. “Well, I can’t promise that. What if it’s funny?”

“Sheesh. You’re the king of sensitivity, aren’t you?” Leo rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t turn tail and bolt. He rocks back and forth one more time, then clears his throat.

“I, uh… I want… more lighting for my room.”

Donnie narrows his eyes. “What’s wrong with the lighting you already have?”

“I mean, it’s fine when I’m awake. I was just thinking, you know…” Leo clears his throat. “I could just have, like… some dimmer lights for nighttime. Just.. just enough that I can see, if I… need to get up in the middle of the night, or… something wakes me up, or whatever.”

Oh, thinks Donnie. This isn’t funny.

Of course, Leo asking him to build a nightlight would have been downright hilarious even just two months ago. But that was before the invasion.

That was before Donnie was woken up in the middle of the night by an alert from Leo’s heart monitor. That was before he found Leo huddled in a corner of the medbay, shielding his head with his arms and begging not to be hurt anymore. That was before they all agreed to leave the lights on, even when - especially when - Leo was sleeping, so he wouldn’t wake up in the dark.

He says he’s fine now. Donnie wonders why he believed that, because Leo said he was fine back then, too.

He turns back to his computer and adds a new entry to his list, under High Priority.

“What kind of lights do you want?” he asks. He doesn’t call it a “nightlight” because Leo would probably tell him to forget about it again.

“Uh, well, they have to be cool.” Leo rolls his eyes up like he’s thinking, even though Donnie imagines he’s rehearsed this in his head. “And not too bright - I don’t want them to wake up anyone else.”

He doesn’t want it to look anything like a nightlight, and he doesn’t want them to be especially noticeable. Donnie can work with that. Compared to everything else he has to do, this is a pretty simple challenge.

“I think I can work something out,” he says. “Just give me a couple days to find materials.”

“No rush,” says Leo quickly. “Whenever you get to it is fine.”

“Yes, yes,” Donnie says. “I’m not going to drop everything for a miscellaneous lighting project.”

He casually moves the lights up a few spots.

“Yeah, sure,” says Leo, already backpedaling out of the room. “I’ll leave you to your nerd stuff. And you better not stay hunched over your computer all day!”

“Scoff!” yells Donnie after him. He got the posture lecture after all.

———

It takes him a little over a week to finish Leo’s lights - longer than he wanted, but it took time to gather the materials.

He steps through the curtain to find Leo waiting for him, tapping his foot. Donnie had unceremoniously kicked him out hours ago with no explanation, but he still thinks the look he’s getting is a bit overdramatic.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing now?” Leo asks, and Donnie grins wide, ever the showman.

“Of course, dear brother.” He grabs the curtain in one hand. “I finished your lights, and I have to say I really outdid myself this time.”

Leo’s irate expression turns shocked. “Wait, seriously? Already?”

“Well, it took longer than I wanted, but yes, I am done. I think you are going to be pleased with the results.”

So saying, he throws the curtain aside with a flourish and reveals the room to Leo.

Leo’s jaw drops, and he pushes past Donnie to go inside, spinning around to get a good look. “Dude,” he says, a grin growing that stretches ear to ear.

He likes it. Donnie feels a rush of relief and satisfaction, and he grins just as wide as his brother. “Yes, I know, I’m amazing.”

“Dude,” Leo repeats. “It looks rad as hell.”

Donnie has to concur with that one, of course. He spent all day installing tasteful and aesthetic track lighting, currently glowing a soft blue. It’s running along the aisle through the middle of Leo’s bedroom, along with a line across the whole car at bar height, and more lines ribbing the ceiling. He even lined out spots on the wall for Leo’s posters, now custom framed in glittering lights.

It looks as rad as Leo said, but the most important thing of all is that now every corner of Leo’s room is lit, leaving nowhere for enemies to hide or threatening shadows to lurk. He will feel safe here, even if he wakes up from a nightmare. At least, Donnie hopes so.

He hands Leo a remote, pointing out buttons as he talks. “I’ve given you a few different options. You can turn the lights on, or set them on a timer, or use this setting to make them motion activated. And here you can change the colors, though of course I have preprogrammed in your signature. Oh, and here…” He presses a button, and the track lights begin to pulsate. “You can set it to different patterns if you’d like.”

“Oh man.” Leo grins, immediately playing with the buttons. “You seriously killed it - this is so cool, Dee.”

“Yes, yes, as I said, I am amaz- oof.”

He’s cut off by Leo grabbing him in a hug, arms squeezed tight around Donnie’s battleshell.

“Thanks,” he says, his voice surprisingly serious. “I really, really love it. Two reallys.”

Donnie sighs, but hugs him back. “I just hope it helps.”

“It will.” Leo steps back, his grin lopsided but real. “Anyway, it looks like a nightclub in here, bet I could throw some great parties.”

Donnie smirks. “Invite me and I’ll waive my fee.”

“Extortion,” says Leo, a laugh in his tone. “I should have seen that coming.”

“Yes you should have. How long have we lived together?”

“Forever.” Leo gives him a light shove with his shoulder. “It’s alright sometimes though.”

“That’s because I’m amazing, as I have said.”

Leo snorts. “Yeah, yeah,” he says, but his smile is real and genuine, and Donnie feels warm to his core.

Another thing crossed off his list.