20
20. A Massage
Donatello wasn't always the best when it came to his posture. Sometimes he got a little too invested in his work, too focused, and he forgot that sitting properly or, at the very least, having a good stretch every thirty minutes would save you a lot of pain later.
It's something Raph lectured all of them for often, but Donatello got i the most. His shell allowed for more flexibility, but that often meant him sitting in ways he shouldn't be for too long.
The bright side was, Raph taught himself a lot of massage therapy and taught his siblings plenty of tricks too. Donatello knew how to stretch his shoulders, his back, and if it got bad enough he could always turn to his siblings for some additional help.
It was things like that, that made him very aware when it was happening to someone else. For example, this was the fourth time in the span of seven minutes that Jase leaned back in his computer chair, bending his arms back to arch his shoulders, and then slump back onto his desk. His shoulders were tense, raised almost all the way to his jaw, and his hands hovered way too high off the keyboard which they always did when he typed that fast.
Donatello put away his own laptop and climbed off Jase's bed to step over and look at what he was working on.
Code, not surprising, but it did still sometimes surprise Donatello just how fast his friend could churn it out considering he preferred the engineering aspect to robotics over the programming. It just helped to be familiar with both, he supposed.
"Need to take a break?" Donatello offered.
"What for?" Jase said, just as he leaned back once again, like he was trying so hard to make something in his spine pop but it wouldn't.
"Your shoulders hurt." Donatello crossed his arms.
Jase blinked, fingers going still. "Wh-- well it's not that bad. I'm almost done with this."
"Uh huh." Donatello straightened up. "I know you're usually the one to try and lecture me about my health, but you're posture is going to wreck your shoulders." He physically tugged the chair away from the desk. "Go lay down for a minute. Do you have any massage oils in your bathroom?"
"Wh-- Massage WHAT?"
Donatello jumped a bit from the volume of Jase's voice. He glanced back at his friend. Were his cheeks going red?
"Massage oils? You know? To help with a massage?"
"Y-you don't need to do that." Ah, the nervous Jase stutter. Been a while since that came around. "I mean that's... a little personal right?"
Donatello tilted his head. "No? My brothers and I do it for each other all the time, keeps us healthy and in shape." He held up a finger and smiled. "Besides, it's just the shoulders, maybe a bit of the neck and upper back? If I do anything you really can't stand then I can stop."
"I..." Jase's gaze darted around before it settled on the floor, his toe digging into the plush rug. "G-guess we could try."
"Great." Donatello clapped his hands. "So... massage oils?"
"Not sure we have anything, but you're welcome to look for anything that might work."
"Great. Get on the bed then and take your shirt off."
"Huh?" Jase screeched again.
Donatello adjusted his headphones to get rid of the ringing in his ears. "Relax. Do you expect me to rub your shoulders through your shirt? That's not going to work at all. I'll be right back."
He headed out of Jase's bedroom and to the upstairs bathroom. Honestly, what had the guy so nervous? Maybe he'd just never gotten a massage before and didn't know what to expect. No worries. Donatello certainly knew the difference between a light massage and a deep tissue one. They could start easy and get more intense if needed.
Shame they didn't have any of Raph's extra equipment here--some of which Donatello built based on what he could figure out from devices they couldn't get hold of. Whatever, he could make do.
Once in the bathroom he began to dig through the cabinet. Sometimes it surprised him the amount of things in the bathroom considering Jase and his father were the only ones living here. Facial cleansers, lotions, a few tubes of eyeliner and even one for mascara, dry shampoo, a lot of wrapped mini soaps taken from hotels, over a dozen small tubes of toothpaste, and of course a handful of scented lotions. Lotion wasn't ideal, more on the greasy than the oily side--yes there was a difference.
But opening the cabinet over the toilet yielded better results. Among the bath soaps, salt scrubs, and even an odd container of crayons he found a half used bottle of massage oil. The light layer of dust indicated it hadn't been used recently, but the stuff lasted. Just his luck.
Donatello went back to the bedroom and found Jase on the bed, face down, shirtless. A muffled scream hummed through the room, the pillow probably absorbing most of it.
"Wow, does it hurt that bad?" Donatello stepped closer and started taking off his gloves.
Jase spoke, but once again it was barely audible.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Jase muttered after turning his head. Yeesh, his face was still red. Was he starting to feel sick?
"Alright." Donatello cracked his knuckles and put the open bottle on the nightstand. "Let's see what the damage is."
The second he put his hands on Jase's shoulders, his entire body went rigid.
"Jase," Donatello gave a soft laugh. "Relax. I promise this isn't going to be as bad as you think."
He muttered something else into the pillow, but bit by bit the tension left his shoulders.
Well, sort of. Pressing his palms and thumbs along the muscles running from the neck down to the shoulder blades, it was easy to notice just how tight everything was. You could probably break a rock on some of these.
Donatello lingered for a second, not just to figure out where everything was, but studying Jase's skin. What were all these odd colored spots on his shoulders? Not freckles, he knew what those looked like. They almost seemed to be scars of some kind.
Whatever, he wouldn't ask.
"Got my work cut out for me it seems." Donatello let go to grab some oil. "But no worries. I'll start simple. If it hurts some, that's normal. If it hurts a lot then tell me to stop." He opened the bottle and flinched as the strong aromas hit his nose. Peppermint was good for sore muscles but god did it reek when it was this concentrated.
They didn't usually use scented oils at home. With how their skin was built it never got absorbed the same way, so there wasn't much point. Oil just helped reduce friction.
He kept himself from gagging as he dumped some on his hand and put the bottle back. The scent kept burning his nose, so he held his breath now and then and got started.
The first few minutes were fine, gentle rubs to ease some of the tension, but when he pressed down harder to start forcing the knot out, he could feel Jase holding his breath.
"Does that hurt really bad?" Donatello decided to check in, in case his friend was trying to tough it out.
Jase turned his head to speak. "Little bit, almost burning kind of?"
Donatello hummed his acknowledgement. He went a little bit lighter for the first few rounds, focusing on one side before going to the other.
He kept it up for about thirty minutes, not wanting to overdo it. He finished it off with a few more gentle rubs and pulled his hands away, keeping them a fair distance from himself to avoid the smell or spreading the oil anywhere else on his person.
"There, how's that?" He asked with a smirk.
At first, no response.
"Jase?"
"Huh?" His friend half snapped up, as if coming out of a daze. "Wh..."
Donatello snorted. "Not falling asleep are we?"
"Ugh just, zoning out." He sat up all the way, rubbing his eyes.
"Don't feel bad, Mikey always falls asleep during long sessions. I've timed it before. Our record so far is ten minutes and twenty three seconds."
Jase hummed, then smiled, still rubbing his eyes before passing them over his now very messy hair. He looked so different without his glasses. And he looked sleepy and--
Adorable.
Donatello's heart twisted in his chest so fast it forced him to clear his throat. "Anyway, I'm going to wash my hands. Be back in a minute."
It took a few rounds to get all the oil off his hands--damn this hand soap for not being strong enough. By the time he got back to the bedroom he found Jase still on the bed, laying down, evidently he'd just fallen asleep.
Donatello smiled and tugged the blankets free on the opposite side of the bed before tossing them over his friend. Work shopping was done for the evening it seemed. He grabbed the stack of sticky notes on his desk to leave a good bye message. He glanced over at Jase as he did, watching him grab the loose covers and curl up tighter.
Then he glanced back at the sticky note, realizing he'd drawn a few hearts at the bottom.
Donatello cursed and ripped it off, chucking it in the trash before starting over.
Just what was he doing?
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I'm gonna be anonymous when I say this because I have seen this done by many people... I strongly dislike the "Error and Nightmare gang are the good guys and trying to make the universe stable while The star sanses are the idiots who will not see reason" .. Like... I .. really? I'm not sure if the reason why I don't like it is because I have seen it so many times or what but it annoys me dearly. The members of the star sanses are reasonable and they are just often made as one sided ignorant people-
I mean okay Lets go on the different pov, on the bad sanse side: You see them risk their lives every day getting themselves hurt over and over again all to defend different worlds for the sake of bringing what they believe to be peace and you label them as the fools who just want all the glory- really??? people who get hurt over and over again just do it for that stupid reasons??? I mean come on!
Seeing as generally it is shown that the bad sanses want peace as well why not be trying to reach an agreement??? you fight over and over again and you couldn't even be bothered to try and reach their heads to finally listen to what you are saying like what "in a way" dream has done with nightmare countless times but they cant do the same? Just have them fight knowing that the other side are in the wrong and you choose to do nothing but break them?? Like is this your pride or something?? Why are they labelled as good guys yet they allow the other side to fight to their deaths with a good motive in mind but they only lack the full picture?? How am i suppose to "root for you" if this is what you do????? We get inside information of how peaceful they are and how they care for each other deeply, but if you care so much for each other why would you allow the other side to keep fighting your loved ones when they are missing the big picture, you know the big picture yet you say... NOTHING. NADA. ZILCH!! you cannot tell me that they don't listen to you when you barely speak up about the true issue or find a way to show them- you maybe say it once or twice in the whole story and then any other time you go straight to fighting or just avoid them.. COWARDS!! ALL OF THEM!!
And in these stories the star sanses always state their reasons for their interference yet you cannot tell them why you are doing this?? All that comes out your mouth are insults and sneers, who would want to believe you when that is all the comes out of your MOUTHS...
Excuse me... Just pissed sorry for the long rant.. Oh my gosh AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON DREAM AND NIGHTMARE, DUDE YOU GOT THE BALLS TO BLAME YOUR KID BROTHER FOR BEING A KID AND NOT RECOGNISING YOUR TRAUMA EVEN NOW AS YOU ARE MUCH MORE MATURE AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO REALIZE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU BOTH AS CHILDREN????? Is he the one holding onto the past or is it you??? Night is always depicted as the dadmare, boss, the caring lover, the brother yet he doesn't even have the decency to face the fact he abandoned his brother in stone for 500 years or so, when he comes out you automatically hate him for something he had no idea or control of and choose to ignore his pleads, when your brother wants to reach you, you break him over and over again not wanting him in your life ever again when as i said before he was your "KID BROTHER" and you want to tell me your the good one for just wanting to cut him off with no answers or anything? You gotta be pulling my leg bro... and it would be a different story if the dreamtale background is different but no! it isnt! nothing is said to make it seem dream was an abuser of sorts, they were both hurt and yet you blame dream for all of it you have a whole ass support system yet that is your mindset??? I cant.... I really cant
Uh sorry again for this long ass rant though =w=
anon our souls are holding hands resonating as one
my two cents on this (that isn't something i said. a million times before already) is that it's usually because people refuse to see the star sanses in the same light they do the bad sanses
the people who actively dislike the star sanses and what they do usually do so because they can't relate to them, from what i've noticed
the bad sanses are easier to root for because of the fact that they are made of struggle and the dirty, gritty parts of morality and life so to say
it's easier to think of good things in the middle of so much bad, because it's in our nature as people to look for hope or root for the good, no matter how little it is
having the ability to look for goodness and love in so much evil is a form of love in of itself
everybody struggles and life sucks and sometimes the world is evil and sometimes we do bad things, but that's the thing, the fact that we as people find something good in the middle of it all (like finding familial love bloom in the bad sanses, as an example) is very inspiring.
at least to me!!! that's how i see it!!!! that's how i like to think people see it as well because that's how i see and enjoy them together
so i can totally see why people find more relatability and love for the bad sanses. i really do get it and i agree!! like a lot!!!!! i love them too
but that exact reason is also why it really sucks that people just don't see the star sanses in the same light?
i wanna reemphasize my point in relatability:
it's difficult for most people to relate to the star sanses because inherently they are the heroes, the protagonists, the main characters, because nobody are any of those things
i feel like people often put them on a pedestal because of their central tropes and characteristics. they have it all already, they don't need more praise, right?
i think the biggest problem people have with the star sanses, like your whole ramble very clearly shows, is that they don't humanize them
i feel like a lot of people assume that just because they are good and choose to be good and are praised for being good, they are unreachable
people don't think they struggle. that it sucks being that.
it's often why i like writing the star sanses with so much struggle and so much mental illness lol, because being good is fucking HARD and they're as imperfect as everybody else.
dream is anxious, ink is brash, blue is a workaholic, stuff like that
there's a lot to say but it's just....the bad sanses and the star sanses are two sides of the same coin.
the bad sanses is finding good in the middle of, basically, evil and misdeed
the star sanses is finding struggle in the middle of trying to do good
people often portray both of them black and white morals and it's why it gets frustrating and flat and badly written.
idk, just like how i find inspiration in the bad sanses of finding hope and love in the middle of darkness, i really admire the implications of the star sanses when you actually decide to humanize them.
because if you make the star sanses struggle throughout their praise, glory, and righteousness, it's...really admirable that they still choose to do good.
like you said, the star sanses risk their lives often and fight, offering treaties and agreements, just to make things right
that's so??? admirable????? like for the amount of times the bad sanses fucking fight them, i genuinely would've just given up completely, but they just....don't??? and that's so admirable and sweet?
it makes them so deserving of their titles as guardians.
idk!!! this is a massive ramble too, i don't even know where i was going with it but like, yeah, i think i wanted to talk mostly about why people preferred the bad sanses over the star sanses and how it makes me sad
i get you anon. with my whole body and my whole soul. i understand what you mean and i see you
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