Chapter Text
The numbers connected in front of Donnie’s eyes like a pair of magnets. He was lucky his father allowed him to have such a valuable piece of technology all to himself. He knew his father was profiting from his genius, (when was he not), but that was fine as long as Donnie had the chance to express himself through discovery.
He didn’t bother to look around the lavish halls of the hotel or pay attention to the ornate food being served at the party, he just stared at his iPad and messed with the code for his new robot.
What a dull day.
Donatello followed his father through the hallways until they reached a set of double doors. The guards simply nodded at his father before pushing the doors wide open. They went inside to find a massive common room.
Donnie finally decided to look around.
Red seemed to be the theme as everything in the room was some shade of red with gold accents. The furniture looked plushy and the walls had fancy sconces. But none of this interested Donnie. Instead, he noted the lack of people in the room.
Why would they go to a fancy party and get all dressed up if they weren’t staying near the commotion?
The doors closed and the loud noise coming from the crowd fell silent. Relieved, Donnie pulled off his noise canceling headphones and was able to hear the soft music playing throughout the room.
It felt calm.
Too calm.
“Mamaaaaaa, why are in hereeeeeee???”
Ah, there it was.
The annoying noise the room was missing.
Donnie was about to move to put his headphones back on and return to his programming when he saw two figures walking down the spiral staircase into the room.
He didn’t get a chance to pay attention to the second figure because the first was some kind of massive spider yokai. Donnie quickly hid behind his father.
The five-year-old knew monsters weren’t real, but this thing was.
His father paid him no mind as he moved forward with arms extended. “Big Mama!”
Draxum called. “How lovely it is to see you!”
The spider yokai, (‘Big Mama’), smiled a creepy, eight-eyed smile and said “Oh Draxum-poo, how I’ve missed you.”
Suddenly, she clicked a button on her chest and light swirled around her. Donnie hated to admit it but he loved watching mystic stuff. The spider yokai suddenly transformed into a regular looking rich lady with soft eyes and a honey-coated smile.
Big Mama extended a hand for Draxum and he bent down to kiss it. Donnie refused to move from his hiding place behind dad.
He tried to pay attention to the adults' discussion but lost his focus when he noticed the boy next to Big Mama. He looked to be Donnie’s height and age as well as a similar type of mutant. From the red streaks over his eyes Donnie guessed he may be a Red-Eared Slider turtle mutant while Donatello was a soft-shell. He wore a stuffy looking light-blue suit with a matching bow tie.
Before Donnie could make any more observations his father roughly grabbed his arm and pulled him to center stage.
“—and this is Donatello,” Draxum introduced him. Then his father put an awkward hand behind his neck, (which Donnie never saw him do). “I apologize for him being underdressed, I did not realize it was a special occasion.” Donnie was very underdressed for the luxurious party outside, wearing just a purple hoodie and his noise-canceling headphones.
Big Mama giggled. “Nonsense sweetheart, tonight he is the guest of honor!” She declared. She kept up her smile as she turned to the mystery boy. “And this—“ she said with a pause “—is Leonardo as you know.”
Leonardo.
Huh.
~
The adults ended up shooing the boys off to play while they spoke. This meant Donnie had to interact with a complete stranger who seemed to have way too much energy.
“What’s your favorite food?”
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Why do we look so similar?”
“What’s the funniest thing you have ever done?”
“How do your headphones work?”
Donnie continued to give one-worded responses or shrugs to this turtle’s barrage of questions as they walked down the empty halls of the hotel.
He expected Leonardo to stop and he just…
…didn’t.
Eventually Donnie got frustrated and snapped. “Stop okay?! I don’t want to talk to you!”
Leonardo immediately deflated. He looked like a kicked puppy more than a turtle.
Whoops.
Donnie hadn’t meant to do that.
“Look, I’m sorry. I just want to go home.” He admitted. He didn’t mean to hurt this kid’s stupid feelings, he just wanted him to stop asking questions.
Leonardo looked down at the ground dejected. “No, it's fine. I can be stupid sometimes.” Then he looked up with a newfound smile on his face. “I can make it up to you though!”
Ten minutes later they were outside the industrial kitchen. Cooking was in full force as the party raved on upstairs. Every few moments the doors would fly open and someone would rush out with food in their hands or back in with an empty plate
.
Leonardo turned to Donnie and asked “Are you sure this is okay with you?”
Donnie scoffed at his new friend. “I’m an introvert, not a coward. Theft is a fine way to forge a friendship.”
Leonardo smirked. “Then in we go.”
The next time the door opened, both boys darted in with practiced skill, (apparently Leonardo was in training similar to Donnie), and hid underneath a table before anyone could notice them. Leonardo pointed across the room to the target table.
Cookies.
COOKIES!
Donnie grinned. Apparently this turtle had similar tastes to himself.
Leonardo held up their fingers and watched chefs dart back and forth across the kitchen. He counted down with his fingers.
3
2
1
And the boys shot through the room like bullets, hiding beneath the coveted cookies.
Both of them looked at the other and giggled. Leonardo smiled and reached up above the counter when the chef in charge of the desserts turned away. His hand returned with two chocolate chip cookies.
Donnie repeated the motion when the chef turned away and produced two of his own.
They did this about three more times before the chef peeked below the table and scared the shit out of both of them.
“What are you two doing?” She demanded.
Both boys screamed and tumbled out of the back of the table.
“Well?” She asked with absolutely zero patience.
Leonardo fumbled for an excuse. “We were just testing them, they’re good!”
“Very,” Donnie agreed through a full mouth.
Someone else asked the chef if she was gonna ‘tell the boss.’ Two which she replied “Fuck no, I’m not loosing my job.” She turned to Donnie and his new friend, “get lost before I tell Mama.”
Both boys made a move to scramble from the kitchen, but then Leo stopped.
And then he decided to test his apparent invincibility.
He rushed back over to the remaining half of the cookies and took the entire tray right in front of the chef's eyes. She looked horrified.
Leonardo simply ran off with his prize and Donnie rushed to catch up.
“What are you doing!” He shouted.
Leonardo giggled. “She won’t say anything and my mama won’t care anyway.”
Donnie simply gawked at this madman before him. “Leonardo, you are something else.”
Leonardo rolled his eyes. “Call me Leo.”
“Donnie” was purple’s response.
~
Later Draxum and Big Mama found them asleep together on Leo’s couch with MarioKart asking if they were still playing from the plasma screen T.V.
An empty plate sat on the coffee table before them and cookie crumbs littered their mouths.