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Surprisingly enough, loving Donnie as much as you do now was not all that hard. If anything, it wasn’t even planned. The hard part was getting him to reciprocate.
You were a school friend of April’s, roped together by the dreaded “Group Project”. Little did you know, this group project soon turned into a “Group-Run-From-Some-Big-Lizard-Mutant-Thing!???” Without skipping a beat, April sent out a little “ help! doing a project with a potential NORMAL HUMAN FRIEND and a mutant has appeared? “
The two of you were saved by four highly impressive men—wait no… no, that’s a turtle? No, a frog? No, no, turtle frog men? No, that can’t be right?
“ Watch out! “
A voice startled your thoughts immediately as metallic arms gave you only a second to respond before they yanked you away from the much larger and redder of the four thumping down where you once lay. Your eyes met the cold ones of your savior, who narrowed them with a clicking of his tongue.
“ Maybe you should leave zoning out for when you’re safe?! “
“ Donnie! “
“ Donnie… “
He was scolded by your dearest groupmate, April, and you found yourself parroting the name she said. Now he didn’t seem all that fond of you already!
But, that first impression dissolved over time. Knowing their existence now, you were more inclined to ask April to let you see them. After a few visits, you would even begin going to see them on your own—without her as your safe little guard as you got to know these brothers.
Donnie, though? Now he was who you were most interested in. His lab was where you gravitated towards the most, especially when visiting the lair on your own. Your comfort zone had extended from April’s side to the lab of a rather recluse scientist.
At first, it seemed like you were an annoyance—a pain in his neck, maybe even a thorn in his side. That slowly subsided as you came to know not Donnie, but rather Donatello.
Donatello was someone who had quiet kindness, the kind of nice that gets overlooked—unnoticed for a while. Had you compared the lab before your time and to now, you would have noticed easily that some shelves were a bit higher now, and the floors were less cluttered. Memories of you tripping and bonking your head flooded in, followed by the split seconds of worry you caught on the purple-banded turtle that melted into misplaced frustration as you got carted straight out of the room. Then, you had thought it was the last straw, but now? You knew it was simply him getting you away to basically … “ Y/N proof ” the place.
The spark between y’all had grown during one night that had left Donnie completely and utterly vulnerable.
By this point, you had spent so much time with Donnie that you could proudly vocalize your title as “ Assistant Scientist! “ In fact, you were even more proud to say you could always catch the split-second smiles on the Great, Genius, Bad-Boy-Who-Never-Smiles Donatello when you entered his lab. The smirks he gave when you connected dots during his scientific spiels, the big-eyed worry he had whenever you made an “ ouch! ” or a “ dang it! “ or any less-favorable expletives, even the stiffness his body had before jumping into action when his eyes caught your frame entering an active battlefield—all of it, you noticed. Donnie was a book you had read cover to cover, many times over.
Maybe part of him had noticed that, too, because you were the one who was reached out to immediately during one particular accident on a solo patrol.
With feet running so fast that they rivaled that of Hermes and his winged shoes, you clambered desperately down narrow alleyways, cluttered paths, and much-less-worn trails. You were blindly following a help signal sent to your phone by Donnie—it had quite literally spooked you out of bed. I mean, him? Donnie? He of all people? Reaching out to YOU of ALL people? The intrusive thoughts plowing through your brain were increasingly terrifying, fueling your breathless rush to the destination all the more.
With one last glance towards the coordinates, Y/N’s eyes rose to catch their surroundings. A park? They were at a park? What was he doing somewhere like this, this late at night? Under the cloudy moonlit skies, their footsteps crunched autumn leaves until stopping as the faintest of beeping was heard. Then, there was a stomach-turning stench that whisked through you, followed by whimpers hardly louder than the wind itself. Moving closer, Y/N saw a glimpse of purple and rushed around the bushes to find the frame of none other than the Genius Scientist himself, terribly injured and with his battle shell cast away a few feet.
“ Donnie …? “
Y/N whispered, with a voice just as low.
His hand was over his neck, digits trembling upon where the purple tech that encased his shell usually lay. With a sharp inhale, he turned to you with watery eyes that sent tears blurring your vision.
“ You’re, you’re hurt, Donnie, why did you call me? “
You were by his side immediately, his weight leaning into yours as you swiftly yet gingerly hoisted the violet vigilante up with his arm cast across your shoulder.
“ You’re the only one I trust to do this, ‘Assistant Scientist’ “
His joking behavior—though if it were under any other circumstances, surely a blush would paint your cheeks—was frightening enough, as was the journey back to his lab.
The two of you managed to sneak in under the radar, and when you dropped him to the bed, albeit a bit harshly, you hadn’t missed a single beat with the interrogation.
“ What happened to you? And-and why was your battle shell so hot?! “
Y/N’s eyes glanced at the purple tech through the doorway, laying illuminated by fluorescent fixtures in the center of the lab. They recalled half an hour earlier as their eyes laid upon the faint red of burns on their fingertips.
Just a few hours ago, Y/N had learned the hard way his shell was hot. Before Donnie’s warning, call—no, beg— to not touch his battle shell could stop them, Y/N’s hands were already grazing the underside of the purple shell before a hissing leaped from their throat as the chilling rush of red-hot warmth nipped at their fingers. Desperation to get him home grew overwhelming as the realization that the scent they caught earlier had been akin to that of … well, you were frightened to complete that thought.
You shook your head, looking from the shell in the other room back to Donnie. He didn’t seem to want to talk much, so instead, you settled for rummaging through his things for medical supplies. After a few moments, you heard him speak up, repeating his statement again with a groan. With a quick glance, your heart skipped a beat at the sight of him leaning over in his seated position on the bed’s edge, flashing a weary grin.
“ I meant it, you are the only one I trust to help me with this. “
That night, a few years ago today, had become a beloved memory for you, despite how much it had your heart racing. It had also become the exact reason why whenever Donnie had solo patrol, you were always at his side. But, without that frightening night, you wouldn’t be where you are now—on the floor of a particular scientist’s lab, a giggling fit as said genius was relentlessly tickling each sensitive area on your body. Curses slipped through your lips as you kicked and flailed, trying desperately to pry his hands away from their main target: your neck.
Did you know just how ticklish necks are? Clavicles, shoulders, but especially the back of your neck.
This assault had begun when the unsuspecting Y/N happily obliged to help look over Donnie’s latest invention. While you weren’t even nearly as intelligent as this literal sentient computer (hell, he might even be smarter than that), you, as the officially appointed “Assistant Scientist”, had definitely picked up a thing or two! Enough that you were upgraded to being his reviser, the second pair of eyes that looked over his work. With your guard fully down, your beloved Donatello began his relentless tickling of your neck as you were firmly and lovingly pinned to the floor.
The fit of giggles that erupted from your chest as you thrashed under the weight of the turtle sitting comfortably upon your derrière was quickly taken as his reward.
Weakly, Y/N kicked and squealed as tears pricked their eyes. Their cries grew hoarse and then into quiet gasps and silent laughter as the tears stained their cheeks. The experience had left them so out of it that they hadn’t noticed the tickling ceased until oxygen filled their lungs once more.
“ You, you trai … Let me catch my breath, you—you snuck up on me! Hast thou no honor? No shame? “
Y/N slipped from under their bully, lifting into a cross-legged position as the other let out a genuine laugh seldom heard.
“ Hmm, let me check my calculations once more, “
His lips quirked up into an annoying grin as he tapped on the tablet attached to his forearm before his eyes looked up at you—ah, that look, had your heart skipped again? Y/N’s eyes quickly avoided him which only transformed his grin into a victorious one.
“ I am 98% devoid of shame! “
“ Uh-huh, and—pray tell—what about that missing 2%, oh all smart and powerful Sir Donatello? “
“ Realistically speaking, you can never be 100% confident. “
“ Why you—! “
An inaudible squeak erupted from the genius as Y/N lunged forward to tickle him back, only to have their hands grabbed swiftly and intertwined in his.
“ Though, I was 100% sure you would try to get revenge. “
“ 100? Check your math because I almost didn’t do it! “
Y/N gave the cheekiest grin, only to have Donnie’s hands wrap around them and pull them flat against his plastron, his hand holding your head against him.
“ But you still did it. “