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“You want a what now?” Donatello’s sharp eyes gazed away from the strange chemicals he mixed, both his eyebrows raised.
“A…” Your voice died in your throat. It had been hard enough to gather courage and ask him in the first place. His focused gaze on you was enough to start guts backflips. “Could you…” You turned your face to the floor, littered with wires and scrap metal. “Could you build me a jetpack… please?” Without raising your head, your eyes raised all the way up. Your thumbs made circles around themselves, fast as your short breath. “O-Only if you want to, of course. You seem… pretty busy. I can come back another time-”
The colorful liquids in test tubes bubbled a bit too much for your liking, but the turtle seemed not to mind, leaning back in his purple chair. He raised a single thick eyebrow, your heart accelerating at the sign of his crooked grin.
“As much as my fingers are itching at the proposition”. He caught you staring. A wave of heat ran through your face, but you couldn’t look away to hide. “May I know why?”
That snapped you out of his magnetic glare. What should you say that would not give you away completely? Your heart pounded against your chest like a heavy hammer in a fractured dam, ready to let the feelings pour all over the place, and maybe destroying things in the process.
I really want to spend more time with you.
Oh, if only it was so easy. You couldn’t say that! What would Donnie think of you? Besides, that would come out as incomprehensible mumbles; it wasn’t even worth the try.
“I thought it would be fun to fly around.” You managed to say. It wasn’t a lie though. The moment you saw Donnie coming from the sky, moonlight casting a pale shine on him as an ethereal being, and the perfect ninja land, the image stuck. You still felt the cold and shivers from that night, and the moment they swiped away, melting as he stood in front of you. “And you looked really cool in it- I mean-!” Oh god, that actually came out of your mouth. “It looked really cool! N-Not that you don’t look cool. You do, really! It’s just that the jetpack also looks cool itself, but it definitely looks cooler when you wear it!” Someone, please, make you shut up.
To finish your flawless speech, you let out an awkward laugh. Suddenly the floor seemed a very attractive place to bury your head in and never look up again. Donatello chuckle made your dreams of becoming an ostrich all the more strong.
“No more words necessary, my friend. I got you.”
The boy rose from his place, semi-closed eyes and gentle smile as he made his way over to you.
“You do?”
For a moment, your mouth formed an “O”, all your muscles tensed and relaxed just as fast, a tiny grin formed while your brain went blank, skipping around in your head and throwing rose petals. Donatello was already so close, your head rose up, refusing to content with the view of his feet.
“Yes, of course” He threw a heavy, strong arm around your shoulder, even through your clothes, you felt each definition of his muscles. Your knees threatened to give out. “You want, as one naturally does, look sick in a jetpack.”
Your brain suddenly stopped it’s dreamy skipping, at the same time that your heart stopped pumping blood, a loud shattering sound echoed all the way from your chest to your ears.
“Oh…” You smiled, teeth more ground than they should be. “Sure! That’s totally it.”
“Well, lucky for you, my friend” Oh, there was that shattering sound. “I already drew five blueprints while we were talking.” Donatello pulled the papers out of thin air and held them in front of you. “Are you more of a ‘classic rocket’ or a “battle shell propellant” kind of person?”
Neat, precise pencil work showed awesome projects that, in any other moment, you would praise with excimentment. Right now, however, focusing your attention on anything other than your smile might reveal a frown.
“Whatever you think is better, Dee.”
From behind you, a noise that could only be described as ‘coke with mentos’ grew louder. Turning around, the chemicals that Donnie was experimenting with bubbled out of proportion, a saturated volcano dripping on the ground. The arm that held you suddenly dropped.
“Oh shit-” He whispered.
Another voice shouted from outside the lab.
“Dibs on the floor soda!”
“Nardo, don’t you dare-!”
~ 🐢 ~
The next few days, you went to the lair with no huge expectations about the whole “Alone time” thing. Donatello was fixated on the project and didn’t pay attention to much else. He talked like a proud father who just witnessed his child’s graduation about the new flight model he’d been working on, while caressing the cold metal and even giving it a little kiss. Never before have you been so jealous of a piece of tech.
Still, being around him for that long was enough. It was the first think you looked up to in the morning, and got you through a long and dragged out day of school. Even with the things he talked about being just as gibberish to you as some class subjects, when it came from his voice it sounded so much more interesting than whatever your teachers tried to put in your head. He made a point to show off every little part of the process to you, one of them being the weird subject of how he cleans his work table, and you felt happy to be included. You even learned new smart words without knowing what they fully meant, but hey, it was already something!
“Pass me the tiny blowtorch, my evil assistant.” He reached his hand from behind, keeping his eyes on the almost done jetpack.
Your brown quirked.
“Evil assistant?” Handing him the item, you smiled a bit. “Is this a jetpack for evil?”
“No, but I will not oppose whatever you choose to do with it once it’s done” He looked over his shoulder, offering you a smirk. “But you are my assistant, and we both are in my evil science lair, so, you know.”
You giggled covering your mouth, one of the butterflies fluttering in your stomach every time he smiled at you might escape otherwise.
“Since when is this an ‘evil science lair’?”
His smirk grew and grew, enough to see the gum fully. There was almost something twisted about it; wicked. Turning away he turned the blowtorch on, it’s icy blue light illuminating his frame, while the side turned to you was covered in darkness, his shadow projected much bigger than him, covering.
“Oh, always has been.” His voice never sounded so raspy, yet you could hear the ill intended smile. “Welcome to the dark side, my malicious accomplice. There is no running from it!” He stopped the fire, a steam came from where it once was. He turned to you to offer the monstrous result. “Evil grilled sandwich?”
You barely held back a laugh.
“Yes, please.”
~ 🐢 ~
The project was done way too fast, a blink and it was over. Not enough time. Not enough time at all.
You were now in the lair’s skate ramp. A jetpack that resembled too much an actual backpack with you. According to Donnie, it would be easier to carry around without people asking you too many questions.
“Okay, ready?”
“Y-Yeah, I guess” You looked down, face already hurting with the floorboard pattern at the thought of falling hard on it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there with you the entire time! Plus, there’s only a 0.0003% chance of it backfiring horribly.” He smiled wide.
You swallowed your lunch, already in the middle of your throat.
“Alright then. Let’s goOOO-” Holding your forearms, Donnie jumped off the ramp.
It was weird, one moment you are sure that you’re going to feel an indescribable pain as your bones break and hear ambulance sirens before blacking out; waking up only years later to find out the world is irreconocible due to alien colonization. And on the other, you realize every limb is still in place, and you are defying the laws of physics.
Your heart raced, every single one of your body hairs raised. Your feet did not touch the ground.
You barked a laugh.
“This is awesome!” you threw back your head, taking in the high view.
“I knew you would love it.” Donatello gave a cocky smile to himself.
“I love it, Dee! I love it so much! The gravity can’t catch me!”
“Well, technically, the laws of gravity still apply to this situation, but we have the variant of-”
“Who cares? I’m flying! No gravity!”
He looked at you with what you assumed to be caught off guard for a moment, analysing your new adrenaline induced persona. Never before have you talked with that loud tone, or so affront. In the end, he exhaled a silent laugh.
“Yeah” he replied. “No gravity.”
Donatello let go of one of your forearms, his hands playing around with the settings in his tech bracelet, still smiling softly. His hand against your skin, while cold, still triggered something warm within you. It was as if the blood where he touched went to high temperatures, and carried that heat all over your body.
Suddenly, everything felt like too much. You could feel every little thing. See every little detail. He held you firm but gentle grasp, his glove was the softest cloth, contrasting with the rough and dry fingers. For the first time, you could admire him from close. Sure, there were some hugs and arms over the shoulder at times, but you couldn’t recall once where you looked at him in such a serene way without turning away in shame. His eyes were relaxed, and the corner of his mouth lifted up ever so slightly. Everything but his frame grew blurry; the sound of Donnie’s breathing was the loudest in the room, the jet propulsor in your back could not compare. Your heart, once again, pounded so hard, out of context, anyone would send you to the hospital as fast as possible, being sure you were having an attack. You listed the many, many ways this could go wrong and the moment be completely ruined, but the unhealthy amount of adrenaline rushing to your blood got to your head; an impulse of courage to go against the possible heartbreak preservation.
“Donatello…”You whispered, a tiny hope that he wouldn't hear.
“Hm?”He still kept playing with the controls.
A deep breath.
You can do this.
“I love…” you swallowed a lump.
“Yeah, I know, you love it.” He interrupted. “ Just give me a few more seconds and you truly will see what this baby is capable of-”
“You.”
This was unreal. The dam had broken, powerful waves now flooded it all. Some were cold enough to kill narvals, others so hot that the water boiled, overlapping in a chaotic tsunami. And you in the middle of it all, in an inflatable lifeboat.
His fingers stopped tipping. The grip in your forearm eased ever so slightly.
“What?” He asked, eyes wild and unblinking, still fixated in his tech.
“I… love you.”
“WHAT-” His hand slapped the bracelet, the jetpack and the battle shell roaring their engines in response.
You both got thrown around the room. Flying like a lost cockroach, you saw your death coming with a strong hit on the wall. Well, at least you confessed before leaving this earth. Worth it…
Donnie’s arms enclosed around you. It got hard to breathe with how much he squeezed your lungs.
Soon enough, your bodies hit the ground, but aside from the impact, you came unharmed.
Donatello groaned, one arm around your waist and the other on your head. Your hot face buried deep on his plastrol, scared to look him in. If you meet angels that day, at least you wouldn’t have to explain yourself!
“You’re alright?” He asked.
“Yeah…”
“Good. Now…” He took you by the shoulders, a very gentle grip. You finally looked at him. Your orbs almost came out. There he was, the smartest person alive, ever so sarcastic Dee, with sparkly eyes and flushed cheeks. You didn’t think someone only half warm blooded could go this red. He looked deep in your soul. “What was that that you said?”