(1727 words)

The small digital clock sitting in the corner of the room flickers at three o'clock AM. The muscular thirteen year old turns once again in bed with a quiet sigh, as to not wake his room mate.

The Four brothers had originally all been in one room but eventually as they got older there were some things that they just couldn't stand about each other at night. Leo got up too early for Raph, Mikey couldn't sleep without a night light and Donnie couldn't stand any light at all, Raph snored all too loud for Mikey, even though he himself snored fairly loudly as well. Leo and Don just were not compatible. Don would have insomnia and keep Leo awake too late and made him unable to get up for his early morning practice, while Donnie would just be getting to sleep when Leo's alarm goes off.

Needless to say, if those two were together, the house hold would have two very cranky teens.

So in conclusion Raph got put in with Donnie and Leo got stuck with Mikey. The apartment they lived in would not allow any more separation without someone sleeping in the kitchen.

Soon the sound of bare feet hitting the hard wood floor meets his ears.

He turns in time to see his brother, Donatello, walk out the door and down the hallway. He squints his vibrant green eyes and flings his blankets off to follow his brother.

"Don," The brown haired teen jumps and turns slowly towards his brother. "Whaddya doin' up so late?" Donnie places his hands on his hips in a very feminine way. "I could ask you the same thing, Raph." Raph crosses his arms and stares into Donnie's brown eyes. "Couldn't sleep, you?"

"Same"

"Huh, and you were getting up to get some warm milk and sleep meds and go back to bed right?" Donnie squirms under Raph's gaze. "Well um, not exactly... it was more like 'get up and find where my brothers hid my computer this time'" he gives his brother a shy smile and backs up a bit. "So if you'll excuse me I'm going to go search the kitchen, kay?"

Raph grabs Donnie's arm. "Not likely bro." he then proceeds to pull a struggling brother back to their room and onto his bed. "Raph!" Donnie wines. "come on, I'm not going to fall asleep so I might as well do something productive!" "Nuh uh" Raph says shaking his head. "You know what the doc. says, you gadda sleep an' stuff or else you're gonna go bonkers."

Donnie, at a relatively early age, had been diagnosed with chronic insomnia. He had been proscribed pills after pills but none of them worked well. Raph had his fare share of insomnia but it was never enough to be proscribed medication for.

"I know but one more night won't do much of anything, right?"He says pleadingly. Raph sighs and looks up with his whole head. "Why not?" Donnie smiles. "Thanks Raph. by the way what time is it?" Raph looks at the clock and sighs again. "Three fifteen. has it really only been fifteen minutes sense I checked the time?"

Donnie chuckles "That's insomnia for you, it surely must make time go slower."

"Man, I need to sleep but there is just no helpin' me" Raph says flopping onto his bed. Donnie chuckles and sits on the edge of his bed. "I know the feeling."

Donnie kicks his feet back and forth for what seemed like a good while. "So... Do you know where my computer is?" He says hopefully. Raph stretches out and looks at his brother. "ugh, I don't know specifically where this time, because last time you convinced me to tell you where it was and now the others won't tell me where it is. But I know the usual places, so we can try and find it that way."

The two teens get up and leave their room, ready to look for the forbidden computer.

"Gosh, I feel like we've been searching for hours!" Donnie whisper-shouts as they walk into the main living area. Raph looks at the clock and lets his head drop back so that he was staring at the ceiling. "It's only been fifteen minutes."

Raph snaps his neck back to the natural position at the sound of someone groaning.

"Ay Don, was that you?"Raph asks, looking around. "Was what me?" The groan sounds again and Raph whips around. "That!"

"Raph, you feelin' okay bro?" Donnie asks, stepping closer to his hot-headed brother. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine..." Raph looks around anxiously and heads over to the couch. "It was probably just the pipes."

Donnie follows Raph to the couch and sits down next to him. "So, we going to watch a movie?" Raph picks up the remote and turns the T.V. on. "Yeah, I was thinking revenge of the snorlax or death by gunshot, what do you think?"

"I think you're nuts."

"Yeah, me too."

Raph ends up starting a new Disney movie and sitting back on the couch.

Half an hour into the movie Raph hears the noise again. "Don did you hear that?" He asks urgently.

"Raph, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Donnie asks, concerned. "Yeah Donnie, I'm f-"

"Fuck"

Raph stares straight ahead, past the television and into the eyes of a tall creature, bitch black, it's eyes glowing as pin pricks on it's face. It points a long dark finger towards Raphael and lets out a spine shivering groan. "Don, Is there a tall black and creepy standing behind the T.V.?"

Donnie takes his gaze away from his brother and looks behind the T.V. to see-

Absolutely nothing.

"Raph, nothing's there."

Raph continues to stare, unblinking, behind the T.V. "Shit."

The creature, only visible to Raphael's eyes, starts walking painfully slow towards the brothers, it's long fingers that take up it's entire hand swaying each step it takes. "Donnie, it's coming closer."

Donnie takes his brother by the shoulders, making Raph look at him, although he kept glancing back to where he said the creature was. "Raphael, it's not real, It's a hallucination. I've had these before and you just need to sleep and you can make it go away."

Raph glances back to the creature once more to see it only a couple feet away from them. "Donnie"

"It isn't real Raph"

"Donnie, it's right there."

"No, listen to me, it's not real. it isn't there. and you are fine." Donnie tries to reassure his brother who is gradually freaking out.

The hallucination lifts its grotesque hand and reaches out to Raph. "Don." Raph squeaks. He squeezes his eyes shut tight and goes stiff, ready for anything, But what he didn't expect was the warm embrace of his brother. "Raph, would I lie to you?"

"Yes"

Donnie rolls his eyes. "Would I lie to you about this?"

"No" he says with his eyes still shut.

"Then you have to trust me. It is not real and you are safe. Please" Donnie gives his brother a tight squeeze.

"Okay." Raph slowly opens his eyes, taking in a gasp of breath.

The creature was still standing there but it's arms were down by it's sides now. Raph shrinks back into the couch a bit. He takes off his socks, which earns him an odd glance from his brother. He balls the socks up together and hurls them at the apparition.

It swooshes out of the way, like it was made out of silk. Raph almost chokes on nothing and pulls his knees up to his chest.

"Hey bro, it's okay, I'm here, and I'm real." Raph leans into Donnie, watching the creature that his mind had conjured up stare at him with flickering eyes. "Don, you won't leave will you?"

"No, i'll stay, besides what else do I have to do?"

Raph lays his head on his tall brother's shoulder and Donnie wraps an arm around Raph.

They stay like this, Donnie protecting his brother from the delusions that only he could see, and Raph battling the urge to get up and run.

In the morning Leo gets up before everyone else, not having to worry about waking up his roommate as His smaller brother slept so soundly, the sound of a tornado wouldn't wake him.

Leo walks out of his and Mikey's room and into the living-room where he spots two figures huddled together on the couch.

He goes over to the figures and peaks over the edge of the couch.

His brothers Raphael and Donatello were cuddled together, sound asleep, the T.V. on the menu of a random movie. "Aww..."

Leo quickly pulls out his phone and snaps a few pictures

"Black mail."

He continues on to the kitchen and starts making his own breakfast, careful not to make too much noise.

He knew what had happened so why wake them up when they had just fallen asleep?

This had happened too many nights to count, although Raphael hadn't been sleeping well the whole last week.

Donnie would have his normal insomnia and Raph would have a bout of it himself that would come at least once a month. They'd both stay up together and not sleep all night.

Leo quickly finished his breakfast and went back to his room.

He was told by their father that each time he found out that his brothers weren't sleeping he was to log it in a journal so that if anything went on for too long they could try and help.

He'd have to ask them for sure later, but for now he'd let them sleep. They only had five minutes left until their father came to wake them up anyways.

Thank you for reading, this is my first real TMNT fan-fic so reviews would be nice to tell me what you think and if it was good or not. I would like to ask, please only constructive criticism.

~Bye~ .O/