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It was no secret that Donnie wished they were human. Out of all the turtle siblings they were the only one who was openly agitated over the fact that they were born mutant turtles instead of normal kids.
Normal kids that went to school, kids that had a spine instead of a shell, who had five fingers, a nose, and hair .
Hair especially was always something Donnie found interesting about humans.
Their Sensei had fur, while close enough, definitely wasn’t hair. The turtles on the other hand were forever cursed with perpetual baldness. As a result, all four of the Hamato siblings treated their mask tails as a sort of ‘hair replacement' to satiate the random urges to do hair (mainly Mikey) or just general self expression (also mainly Mikey). But it all felt like nothing when Donnie finally got to interact with a real human’s hair, courtesy of their (at the time) new friend April.
April’s hair was almost enchanting to the purple-clad turtle, which could be partially attributed to the fact that they were head-over-heels in love with the girl at first sight. But even now, after the feelings faded and all that remained was a strong friendly bond, Donnie still admired April’s hair. The healthy ginger color, the silky texture whenever they braided it. It was perfect in every way.
The exact opposite of the unruly mane that belonged to their other human friend, Casey Jones.
Casey Jones never claimed to be the pinnacle of self care, and it showed. The girl was sloppy, overworked herself, consistently threw herself into harm's way, and her hair was constantly a knotted mess saved only by the bandana she wrapped around her head to hide some of the choppiness she gained from trying to give herself D.I.Y layers a few months back.
Her hair was abysmal, so Donnie had no clue why they were as fascinated – if not more so – about Casey’s hair as they were about April’s.
Naturally, with fascination, came observation. And Donnie, being ever so subtle, had begun to just stare at Casey’s hair whenever they thought the girl wasn’t looking. Like right now, the entire Hamato clan (bar Splinter) was settled in the living room for a movie night. Casey sat across the couch, leaning against Raphael, as she stared towards the TV, completely enthralled with the B-tier plot of the new poorly-dubbed anime Mikey brought out.
Donnie had initially tried to pay attention, they really did! But it was hard to focus when the TV’s light highlighted Casey’s locks from the darkness of the lair.
Visually, they practically had Casey’s hair memorized. The deep, rich black color of it, the way her unbrushed bangs still somehow framed her face perfectly, and the long inky strands that now fell an inch or two below her shoulders. A few pieces of hair stuck out of place – the survivors of her previously mentioned self-haircut – but they didn’t diminish her charm, if anything they made her look even cuter–
Ah right , one last little itty-bitty detail to really just solidify it all.
Donnie had found themselves crushing on Casey Jones – crushing bad .
It wasn’t as bad as they had been with April – lessons were learned – but it was equally as embarrassing. They had finally gotten it through their head that they had no shot with dating a human girl when Casey Jones essentially burst in and destroyed that notion in a single sweep, announcing that she and April were better off as friends and coming out as a trans girl all at once.
Now one might call Donnie foolish for starting to like their friend as soon as they came out as a girl. But in their defense, they were already kind of crushing on the hockey mask-wearing vigilante before any comings had been outed, and were seriously considering they weren’t a lesbian because of it. Their love-struck imagination just preferred to think this was just the universe working itself out. (All this to say they were very relieved when Casey was actually a girl and saved them the sexuality crisis.)
Maybe they were a little coo-coo, and had a near-lethal case of love sickness, it happens to the best of us. At the very least, this time, no one knew that.
Or that had been the case until they met Casey’s eyes across the room. She had presumably been staring at them for a while, the half eaten pizza in her hand paused mid air and her mouth mid bite.
When the two teens locked eyes Casey raised a brow quizzingly and Donnie blinked.
..Oh she just caught Donnie staring at her.
SHE JUST CAUGHT DONNIE STARING AT HER.
Immediately the purple-clad turtle shot up, eyes wide and cheeks flushed in embarrassment. The jerky action garnered quite a bit of attention, their siblings as well as April looked away from the TV to stare at them (even Mikey! God-)
Donnie spouted some nonsense about forgetting a project in their lab to try and save face, hardly focusing on whatever nonsense they were spewing when Casey was looking at them like that – with such confusion, and dare-they-say a hint of actual concern !
Mikey shrugged off Donnie’s less-than-smooth escape easily, returning his gaze to the television. Leo and April’s gazes lingered momentarily before they too gave up. Raph only glanced in the direction Donnie went in before settling an arm around Casey and trying to get comfortable again.
The girl hesitated a moment before lightly nudging her best friend’s arm off and getting up to check on Donnie wordlessly.
In the lab, Donnie was absolutely distraught. It was like they learned nothing after being a total creepozoid with April! Now Casey would catch on and reject Donnie, or worse , she would never want to see them again and leave New York entirely!
The turtle groaned, sitting down at their desk and burying their face in their arms.
They only had a few precious moments of self-pity before the lab door opened and closed and loud footfalls made their way to Donnie’s desk. At first they assumed it was Leo, or maybe even April, those two were the biggest worry warts of the team after all. Though after hearing the footsteps they paused – Leo was silent as a mouse on her feet, even when using her cane, and April was just generally quiet when she walked after all her training with Master Splinter – they looked up to see Casey standing in front of their desk.
“Hey Dee,” she greeted casually and Donnie’s heart simultaneously squeezed and dropped.
“H-hey.” They replied after a moment, fiddling with a mask tail.
Casey stared at Donnie, almost as if assessing them. She gestured with her thumb at the door behind her, “Why’d you book it out of there? It’s movie night.” She explained, as if they weren’t aware that’s what they had been doing prior. Though Donnie didn’t bother to make a snarky reply, not when their heart was thundering in their chest and Casey had this weird guilty look on her face.
“Was it- ..Did I do something? ‘Cause I saw you starin’ and then you just hightailed it outta the room.” She cracked her knuckles after asking, though not in her usual I’m-going-to-beat-your-face-in way, but her I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-my-hands way.
She and Donnie had come a long way in their friendship, they used to fight over everything, every comment was a hidden jab, there was no gentleness or confiding in one another. And Casey was proud to say they had gotten over that! They were closer than ever – or so she hopped – though it was a little hard to believe when said close friend ran away from her like she had just set Mikey on fire and danced samba over her ashes in front of them.
Donnie hadn’t been thinking anything close to that apparently, and they practically recoiled back at the question, shaking their hands. “What! No way, Casey! You didn’t do anything!”
“Then why’d you leave?” She crossed her arms, eyes narrowing in disbelief.
“I- I just-” This was not good. Donnie was nowhere near ready to confess to Casey! Frankly they were fully prepared to just take this crush to the grave. However, lying was out of the question, they were so close at this point that the girl could sniff out their lies like a bloodhound.
Their eyes darted around the room, Casey included, before landing on her hair. The tangled strands helped Donnie come to a realization.
“It was your hair.” They finally admitted, which while it was not the entire truth, it was certainly not untrue .
Casey, clearly not expecting that, picked a piece of her hair off her shoulder and glanced at the locks in confusion. “My hair..?” It didn’t look different to Casey. Was it something she couldn’t see? Oh fuck, was there a chunk of pizza in it?! She should’ve known better than to let Raph snuggle with her, it was so obvious he’d have an ulterior motive– he hated snuggles!
Her internal damming of Raph was cut off by Donnie’s nervous laugh. The turtle rubbed the back of their head, “Yeah, um, it’s beautiful.”
Huh.
Casey blinked once, twice, waiting for the catch. Waiting for Donnie to double over laughing, laughing over Casey’s reaction, how she could ever believe something about her was beautiful .
But it never came, because this was Donnie, and Donnie wouldn’t do that.
“Beautiful?” She questioned, uncharacteristically quiet. She ignored how hot her face felt just as much as she ignored Donnie’s own cheeks flushing.
They nodded, “Yes, that is the word I used, isn’t it?” The question seemed more targeted towards themselves than at Casey. “ Well yes, it’s accurate, as crazy as your hair is.. It’s pretty.”
Casey twirled a strand of hair around her finger, cheeks red. She felt like a schoolgirl, which was as embarrassing as it was gender-affirming. She cleared her throat and threw herself in the seat next to Donnie’s. “Soooo what I’m hearing is.. My hair was so gorgeous – with a capital G – that you couldn’t stand it and had to run out?” She leaned her cheek on her fist, staring up at Donnie with her usual mischievous grin.
Donnie rolled their eyes. “No, genius. I ran in here because I was embarrassed you caught me staring,” They hesitated for a moment, meeting Casey’s gaze before quickly looking away. “I didn’t want you to think I was a creep.”
Casey frowned. “Hey dude, no,” she leaned towards Donnie and placed a hand on their kneepad. “I would never think you’re a creep for something like that. You’re my friend, dude.”
Donnie could feel their heart rate skyrocket at Casey’s close proximity, feeling the slightest bit guilty about their feelings. Casey only saw them as a friend and they had to remember that.
“I- um erm. I uh..” They stuttered pointlessly before sighing and just shooting Casey an awkward smile as thanks.
She lingered for a moment before pulling her hand away and leaning back in her seat. “So that’s it? Just my hair?”
Donnie gulped quietly and nodded. “Yup. Just your hair.”
“You wanna touch it or something? I know you like going in with your hands.” Casey wiggled her fingers, going for ‘mad-scientist vibe.’
A loud laugh escaped Donnie, eyes wide and face red. The sound itself sounding more like a dying bird than an actual laugh. They promptly shut their mouth when Casey raised a brow.
“I uh- sure. I’d love to! Not in a weird way obviously- in a normal buddy-chum-pal way, or a purely scientific observation-y way if that's what you want! haha!”
Donnie strained out a smile. Casey just gave them a weird look before shrugging and scooting her chair closer. “Have at it, Doc.” She flicked her hair off her shoulder and turned her back to her friend.
It took a second for Donnie’s brain to reboot and realize ‘ holy shit this is really happening’. They stared at Casey’s long hair, fingers twitching towards the tangled strands. They didn’t need to feel bad, Casey had literally offered, but they still felt their guilt return tenfold. Casey didn’t know about their feelings, was this taking advantage somehow?
Casey shook her head, her hair waving around enticingly. “I’m not getting any younger here dude! My hairs gonna fall out before you play with it!”
“I’m going!” They shot back defensively, much more confident now that Casey was back to being a little shit. Finally, they reached up and ran their fingers through Casey’s hair – until it got stopped by a particularly large tangle and Casey yelped.
But even that couldn’t deter Donnie’s amazement. Without stopping they just tenderly detangled the black hair and began to run their fingers through it again, now with ease.
Casey’s hair was just like Casey, Donnie noted, absolutely and completely exceeding of the turtle’s expectations.
For one, it was soft. Incredibly so. It felt impossible for hair on someone so rough like Casey Jones to feel so silky, tangles and all. Secondly, and probably the most surprising thing Donnie noticed was the fact that Casey’s hair was not as neglected as they assumed. It was definitely damaged to some degree, but a sweet peachy smell wafted off it. That paired with the overall appealing texture definitely pointed to some sort of treatment being done. Overall, overlooking the chunks of shorter hair that stuck out wildly, Casey had amazing hair, on par with April’s.
The purple-clad turtle’s mouth worked before their brain did, an unfortunate outcome that usually came with hanging out with their current crushes. “What conditioner do you use?” They continued to play with the strands, rubbing them between their scaly fingers.
“What? You plannin’ on changing up your hair-care there, Doc?” Casey teased, glancing back at the turtle and their very much still bald head.
Said turtle flushed, pouting as they looked away. “Ugh, obviously not like that, Jones!” Unable to resist, they tugged lightly on Casey’s hair which elicited another yelp out of her. “I just mean, because your hair has a nice texture for... well y’know, you .”
Casey sniggered, going back to staring forward. “I used to use that Old Spice shit, cause like manly stuff or whatever. But now I just use whatever Angel recommends to me, to be honest,”
She shrugged as she spoke. “I like totally wrecked my hair when I was younger, straightening it everyday,” she did a straightening motion with two of her fingers by her head, “-now it’s just like this. But I’m a total hypocrite and always told Angel to take care of her curls, so she knows the good shit to use. It used to be super frizzy and brittle and gross , but Angel saved the day. So yeah, that’s why it’s all silky smooth or whatever.”
Donnie nodded along as Casey explained, slowly but surely untangling all the larger clumps of hair. “It really helped. But I think brushing would help even more.”
The girl crossed her arms with a huff. “I do brush it! I look impeccable at work, for your information! Just fighting and shit messes it up and I can’t be bothered to fix it.” She grumbled, but Donnie could tell she wasn’t seriously upset. If she was they’d probably be shoved off their chair by now.
“Oo ‘impeccable ’, that’s an SAT word. Didn’t know you knew those.” Donnie teased with a smug grin. Now, of course they knew Casey Jones was not an idiot, they hadn’t thought that in years. But that absolutely did not mean they wouldn’t still make fun of her, she was stupid, but not an idiot. A sentiment Donnie knew she agreed with with pride.
So when Casey gasped and swiveled around in her chair to face the turtle, they didn’t worry too much. She fixed them with her best glare and they stayed that way until she huffed out a laugh. “You learn a thing or two after taking the SAT three times, Donnie-boy.”
“That’s not a flex, Casey.”
“Oh, whatever man!” She stuck her tongue out at Donnie before aggressively swatting a piece of hair out of her face to no avail. The traitorous strand just returned to its spot on her face. Instead of continuing to slap at it and risk looking insane, she just looked away.
Donnie chuckled, absentmindedly leaning over and brushing her hair away from her face and curling the loose strands behind her ear.
Both teens eyes widened after the deed was done, Donnie’s head retreating slightly into their shell to hide their blushing face, while Casey just brought a hand up to trace the hair the other had so gingerly tucked away.
Casey carefully met Donnie’s gaze, painfully aware about her own red face. She pursed her lips nervously before swallowing. “Thanks.. It was bothering me.”
She smiled bashfully when Donnie slowly came out of their shell with a twin smile. The turtle let out a nervous laugh, alternating between looking at their hands and Casey’s face. “It’s no biggie.. You have pretty earrings too.”
Casey reached up again and brushed against her piercings, cheeks growing in color. She relished in the warm mushy feeling in her stomach before transitioning back to her shit-eating grin. “You sure know how to make a girl blush, Doc. Be careful, keep calling me pretty and it just might get to my head. Then who knows what’ll happen.”
Casey smirked when Donnie gaped at her, making another choked noise. Really, she couldn’t help but giggle.
Donnie grumbled as Casey laughed, but they couldn’t stay too mad when she looked the way she did, rosy-cheeked and all smiles. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Jones. You’re an asshole.”
They let her regain her composure before standing up. “Come on, we’re totally missing the whole movie because you’re being a goober.” They paused beside Casey’s still sitting form and placed a hand on her shoulder to gain her attention. “And maybe- maybe it’s okay if you let it get to your head a little. I’d like to see what happens.” Donnie’s fingers trailed to her hair, pinching the strands between their fingers again.
Casey stared up, completely dumbfounded and red-faced, her hanging open uselessly.
Because there was no way Donatello fucking Hamato, the walking ball of anxiety themselves, just flirted with Casey Jones– and out-smoothed her!
Donnie didn’t let her answer though, only sending her a wink with a faux-confidence before promptly rushing out the lab. She could hear their quiet mutterings of ‘ohmygodohmygodohmygod’ from under their breath. For a ninja, they really had their moments.
She looked at the lab door, stunned momentarily before jumping up and rushing after them. She practically pounced them from their spot on the couch, stubbornly sitting next to them for the rest of movie night.
And no, they didn’t talk about their feelings that night, and probably wouldn’t for a good while, but if she leaned her head on their shoulder and let them play with her hair some more, then that was between them and the flashy anime protag on the TV screen.