Work Text:
pen in hand, Donatello drew absentmindedly on the paper in front of him.
notebooks, beakers half full of unknown (and possibly toxic) substances, blueprints and scraps of metal lay strewn across the terrapin’s desk. messy workspace, messy mind, or something like that.
Donnie wasn’t paying attention to what he was drawing, let alone his surroundings. he didn’t even notice when a certain human sidled up beside him in a spare chair he had at the desk.
well, the scientist didn’t notice until the aforementioned human spoke.
“nice work, Dee.”
Donnie yelped, sitting upright and slamming his hands flat against the desk. Casey only snickered at this reaction.
“Jesus- fuck. God, Casey, when did you come in?!” the scientist asked with a scowl, flipping over the paper he had been drawing on.
Casey shrugged, resting his chin on his hands and elbows on the desk. “only like a couple minutes ago. didn’t think you’d be that lost in thought. whatcha drawin’ anyway?” the vigilante made a reach for the paper, only to have his hand slapped away by Donnie.
“aw, come on.” the human pouted.
Donnie grumbled quietly to himself as he inspected the paper quickly. honestly, he wasn’t sure what he was drawing. maybe he was tired, he really was out of it.
Donatello’s sketches started out as tech build ideas, but changed about halfway through the page into sketches of a certain idiot vigilante with his stupid skull hockey mask.
Casey had moved impossibly closer, looking over Donnie’s shoulder at the paper. that stupid human had zero concept of Donnie’s personal space.
“you really think about the great Casey Jones much, huh?”
“what?” a nervous chuckle. “no. why the fuck would I think about you of all people.” Donnie sneered, screwing up the piece of paper and tossing it across the lab.
now that he thought about it, his floor had been littered with paper. actually, what time was it? had the poor terrapin pulled another all nighter?
“you’re a really good artist, Dee. why don’t you do more art?” the vigilante asked, his voice sounding genuine.
Donnie hid his face in his hands, kicking Casey’s chair away, conveniently an office chair on wheels which rolled away from him just enough. “what time is it?” came the scientists’s muffled voice.
Casey rolled his chair back again, just not quite as close as before. “like 11am… don’t tell me you’ve been up all night, Don.”
“…no….. maybe.. yeah.”
he looked out at the lab. yeah, it was a fucking mess. half built robots and tech, plans and papers everywhere, a few broken vials foolishly dropped, empty drink cans. his lab looked like a bomb had gone off. and not a bomb of genius, just a bomb.
“and I thought my room was terrible.” Casey leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up on the desk. this did not last long as his legs were swiftly pushed off the edge by Donnie.
“feet off my workspace, cavemouth.”
after catching himself from toppling over, Casey raised his hands in surrender. “okay, okay.”
a few minutes passed in silence until Donnie dared to speak. “alright, get out, go do something else. I have tidying to do.” he grimaced a bit looking at the job ahead of him. oh well, has to be better than spending unwanted time with the great Casey Jones . right?
“let me help! it’ll be done in half the time.” Casey offered, getting to his feet, giving Donnie that stupid gaptoothed grin.
Donnie would be lying if he said he wasn’t fighting a smile himself. something about seeing Casey happy made him happy. what the fuck? what was wrong with him right now. probably the lack of sleep, chalk it up to that.
“Jones, you’ll put everything back in the wrong place and I’ll have to redo it later, so just go. go find Mikey or something-“
“Dee, I spend a lot of time in here, I know where shit goes. and I’ll just ask ya before putting things down!” Casey affectionately slapped Donnie on his carapace and made his way around to the other side of the desk, starting to pick up some of the papers strewn across the floor.
Donnie hesitated, opening his mouth to speak but subsequently closing it and getting up. sure, maybe Casey would make the task faster and easier. well… maybe just faster. he can’t say spending unwanted time with Casey is pleasant. or at least won’t admit it.
as he tidied, Donnie’s mind started wandering off again.
okay, maybe he had been thinking about Casey. just a little bit. which was weird.. in the past he would have been thinking about April. but no, his subconscious had decided to think about Casey fucking Jones. his… rival? no, not anymore.. his friend. his good friend Casey Jones. God, he had pretty eyes, and cute freckles, and soft hair (when he bothered to wash it) and a dumb smile and he always managed to lighten the mood. but he had a tendency to run his mouth, Donnie wanted to kiss him sometimes to shut him up— shit.
Casey was humming quietly to himself as he continued picking up presumably garbage, unfolding each paper to check it wasn’t anything super important. just in case.
Donnie shook his head, trying to clear his sleep-addled thoughts. he started collecting up metal scraps into a neat pile, vaguely focusing on Casey’s humming.
Donnie definitely noticed when Casey fell silent. a rare occasion, the vigilante never seemed to shut up. wait, what made him shut up? he was looking at a piece of paper, reading it.
Don frowned, confused. “Case, what’ve you got there?” a vague memory from the night before hit Donnie. around 2am he had written a letter. a stupid fucking letter listing everything he liked about Casey fucking Jones. “AHA- HEY- why don’t we.. not read things with our names on them!” Donnie made a grab for the piece of paper, but Casey was fast. he turned away and held the paper up higher.
“uh-uh. let me read!” Casey stuck his tongue out at Donnie and continued to read with a smirk on his face.
the terrapin panicked silently. I mean, he didn’t think he wrote anything that could be explicitly written as… romantic or anything along those lines. he hoped, anyway. God, he hoped.
Casey started reading the note out loud under his breath. it was like a pros and cons list but without the cons. maybe the cons have got their whole piece of paper. (they don’t.)
the human’s smile dropped as he read the last line. was he blushing? Donnie could barely tell in the dim lab lighting.
“you wrote this, Dee?” Casey handed him the paper finally, indicating to the last line, scribbled more frantically than the rest of the letter.
‘I think I love you Casey Jones’
oh.
oh.
shit. so maybe that could be read as romantic… Donnie was screwed.
“wh- uhm.” Don scrambled for a way to save this situation. “look, I think I wrote this super fucking late last night, I was half asleep, I-“
“do you mean it? like… any of that list, I mean?”
“…” Donnie quickly skimmed the rest of letter, or more like the ‘pros’ list. “yes..?” he answered tentatively. he did mean all of it. for all the negatives that stupid human has, the pros somehow outweigh them.
that shit-eating grin spread across Casey’s face again. he took a step closer to Donnie, placing a hand on his cheek.
“w-what are you—“
the terrapin was cut off by lips meeting his. ah, the irony, he was the one being shut up by a kiss instead of the other way round as he had thought about.
as the shock subsided, Donnie closed his eyes, fully surrendering to the kiss. he had absolutely no clue what to do with his hands, settling on resting them awkwardly on Casey’s waist, subconsciously pulling the vigilante a little closer. Casey tilted his head slightly, deepening the kiss.
both of them would absolutely be lying if they said they hadn’t thought about this exact moment.
Donnie, regretfully, pulled away for air, opening his eyes slowly. Casey was smiling softly at him.
seconds later, Casey got punched in the arm by a flustered Donnie.
“YOU CAN’T JUST KISS SOMEONE WITHOUT WARNING!!” Don shouted, making his way back behind his desk. like a child trying to hide or something. he was clearly fighting a lot of emotions right now. he walked back to Casey, almost as if he were pacing.
but he didn’t hide away again, grabbing Casey’s stupid face and kissing him again. it was short and a little rough this time, the human getting shoved backwards after a few seconds.
Casey stumbled, but didn’t fall, laughing breathlessly.
“okay. now we’re even.” Don exhaled sharply. “oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that. I can’t believe you just did that. WHAT THE FUCK, JONES?!”
Casey couldn’t hold back anymore and burst out laughing. “YOU SHOULD’VE SEEN YOUR FACE! YOU’RE LIKE A LOVE STRUCK PUPPY!” he managed through laughter. “oh, man. dude, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that, too.”
“wait, you—“
“I think I love you too, Dorkatello.”
“wha- when- how- why-?” the scientist, lost for words. a rare state for him to be in.
“with the whole April thing, I just kept to myself. I didn’t even think you liked guys.” Casey had finally calmed down from his laughing fit.
“but- you liked April too, right?”
“no! she’s an awesome chick and I love having her as a friend but, uhh, girls aren’t really… my thing.” the vigilante confessed, smiling awkwardly and playing with the chains on his belt loops. nervous habit.
“ oh. but you.. played along with the whole rivalry?” Don cocked his head to the side, a little confused.
“I was doing it to bug you. and get your attention, I guess. it worked, didn't it? you fell in love with Casey Jones in the end!” Casey joked, he could never have a semi serious conversation for too long. life’s too short, or something like that.
“shut up.” no malice was behind Donnie’s words.
a few beats of silence passed.
“okay, can we get this sappy shit out of the way so I can get back to tidying? you like me too, and we’re even on the surprise kiss bullshit. conversation’s over! you can either help me in silence or go do something else.” Donnie instructed, too tired to deal with much more. he may be more lenient in the future with at least 3 hours of sleep under his belt.
Casey snickered under his breath and shook his head. “you’re lucky I think you’re cute when you’re bossy.”
Donnie spluttered. “cute?! CUTE?!”
Casey couldn't hold back his laughter again as the terrapin stared at him from across the desk. both of them were blushing like crazy (well.. Donnie moreso) and neither wanted to ask a certain question. but Casey decided to man up and ask anyway.
“so, like… didja want to be a thing now, or…”
“… a couple? I mean- yes. ughh… yes. much to my disdain, I do.”
the vigilante grinned. boy, was he happy. “cool. cuz I do too. my boyfriend .” Casey leaned across the desk, booping Donnie on the snout.
“cut it out!! get back to tidying.” Donnie turned away quickly, trying to hide the goofy smile that spread across his face.
maybe he could get used to some more time with Casey Jones invading his personal space.